A/N: I believe that this chapter is a little bit longer haha. So, who saw the PJO movie this weekend?? Tell me what you guys thought about my chapter and the movie! Please R&R.

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The world carries on without you,
but nothing remains the same.
I'll be lost without you,
until the last of days
until the last of days.

Through wars and harvest moons,
I will wait for you.
The world carries on without you,
but nothing remains the same.
I'll be lost without you
until the last of days
until the last of days.

Last of Days ~ A Fine Frenzy

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Thalia was awakened by a bright light in the early hours of the morning. Dazed, she slowly sat up, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. She then realized that she had fallen asleep on the ugly orange couch in the main room.

Squinting, she took in her surroundings. Standing in the middle of the room was three figures. Grover and Chris had returned, accompanied by a girl that Thalia did not recognize.

"Who's this?" she inquired.

Grover and Chris shared a knowing look. "It's Katie Gardner," Grover responded.

Katie looked fatigued, frail, and dirty, like she hadn't seen a shower in a while. Her head was bowed.

"Is she okay?" Thalia glanced at the boys.

"Um, we're not entirely sure yet," said Chris.

Thalia wasn't sure how to respond. "I'll go wake up the others. Chris, can you show Katie to the restroom so she can clean up?"

"Sure thing," he led Katie out of the room, with his hand on her shoulder. The poor girl seemed to be a shell of her former self.

---

When Katie was asleep in the girls' room, the ImPercinators gathered around the main room to discuss Katie's condition and Rachel's drawing.

"Where did you find Katie?" Nico asked Grover. Grover was leaning against the wall, clothed in blue jeans and a t-shirt. His satyr's horns were peeking out through his bushy brown hair.

"Chris and I found her sitting on a park bench in Central Park."

"She seemed dazed, and she didn't recognize us at all," Chris chimed in.

"How did you get her to come with you guys?" Clarisse asked. She was sitting on the couch, next to Chris, her boyfriend.

"We asked her if she would like food and a place to stay, and she said that she would like that very much," Chris answered.

"Chris and I didn't want to ask her many questions, so we really don't know much of anything yet. But I think that she has been through some kind of ordeal, although I have no idea what."

"I think that we should give her some space for a while, until we start asking her questions." Annabeth said.

"Agreed," replied Connor.

"Well?" Chris asked, "anything new for you guys?"

Annabeth shifted uncomfortably in her seat at the kitchen table.

"I had a vision," Rachel answered. She had been quiet for the whole conversation.

"About what?" asked Grover.

"Percy," she replied.

Grover's mouth went slack. "What did you see?"

"That's the problem, I don't really remember, but I did draw this." She handed him her sketchbook.

Grover's brow furrowed when he examined the picture. "What does this mean?"

"We don't really know yet," admitted Nico.

"Have you had any contact with Percy through your empathy link yet?" questioned Thalia.

Grover shook his head. This was a frequently asked question but he hadn't felt Percy's presence in almost three years. Percy couldn't be dead, because then Grover would probably go with him, but, obviously, Grover was still standing.

Thalia's head snapped up when she heard the bedroom door open. Katie cautiously peered into the room. She looked a lot cleaner; there was some color in her face. She was clothed in a pair of Thalia's old and ripped blue jeans and a baggy t-shirt of Clarisse's that billowed around her small frame.

"Um…hi," she murmured to the group.

"You can come on in." Annabeth smiled at her encouragingly.

She stepped into the room, quietly closing the bedroom door behind her. "What are you guys talking about?"

"Oh, nothing really…" Thalia said.

Katie's brow creased, obviously not believing them. "Okay…"

Connor shot a nervous glance to Nico. Connor and Katie had never really gotten along in the past, due to an incident involving chocolate Easter bunnies being placed on the roof of the Demeter cabin.

She walked over to the rickety table, where the sketchbook lay with Rachel's prophetic picture of Percy emblazoned on the front. When Katie looked at it, Thalia saw something click in her mind.

Katie let out a bloodcurdling scream.

---

Thalia sat on the ugly orange couch in the main room, rubbing her face with her hands. "How have things gotten so messed up?" she thought. Katie was in no condition to speak to anyone about anything at all. When she screamed, it sent shivers down Thalia's spine. Worse than that, she wouldn't stop shrieking. She had to be sedated by Connor and Chris. Currently, she was on sleeping pills, and passed out in the girls' room, where no one felt like entering. The only thing that Katie had proven to them so far was how unpredictable she could be.

Rachel emerged from the bathroom and walked over to where Thalia was slumped on the couch. "Are you okay?" she inquired.

"Ha, not particularly," Thalia responded.

Rachel cautiously placed her arm on Thalia's shoulder, "It'll be all right." Thalia peered up at her. She appeared so mature to Rachel, albeit she was a perpetual fifteen – year – old.

"I sure hope so," Thalia replied.

"Maybe you should get out of here for a while. You know, Katie can't keep wearing your Green Day t-shirts forever. Why don't you and Annabeth go get some decent clothes for her?"

Thalia chuckled. "You're right; getting out of here would do me some good. I'll go ask Annabeth if she wants to come with me." She stood up and knocked on the boys' dorm, where everyone else was.

"Come in!" Connor chimed.

Again, they were playing a card game. Silly games seemed to lighten the mood and provide a distraction.

"Hey Annabeth, do you want to come with me to get some clothes for Katie?"

"Sure," she replied, leaving the card game. Connor then proceeded to take her cards, which resulted in a scuffle amongst the boys of how the cards should be distributed amongst the remaining players. "Where would we go?"

"I'm not entirely sure. Goodwill maybe?"

"Okay, I'll go and get the wigs." Wigs were important for keeping their identities hidden from the public, who were bound to recognize them, since the demigods' faces were splashed all over "Wanted" posters.

Annabeth came out of storage carrying two wigs. She handed the long and wavy blonde one to Thalia, and stuffed her own hair under a shoulder-length brunette wig.

"Let's go." The now blonde Thalia grabbed a bag of drachmas and went up the stairs, out of the basement.

---

Annabeth squinted as her eyes adjusted to the sunlight. It was mid-afternoon in New Titania. The two girls walked side by side to the nearest subway station. They were headed to the Goodwill at East 23rd Street and Third Avenue.

Taking the subway was the best bet because monsters usually never rode on it. Annabeth supposed it was because they preferred higher forms of transportation. They purchased MetroCards in the station.

As they entered the waiting area, Thalia stiffened. There was a Cyclops sitting on one of the benches. He looked up when the girls entered the room and sniffed. Monsters could sense demigods. Annabeth looked worriedly at Thalia, who looked worriedly back at her.

"Just stay calm," she murmured to Annabeth.

Fortunately, the subway was coming into the station. When it screeched to a stop, the girls casually boarded the train, with the Cyclops entering a few people behind them. Thalia walked with urgency to the end of their car and pulled the door open. She carefully crossed over with her wig whipping in her face. She held it down with one hand, so it wouldn't fly off. Annabeth followed behind her.

"He's following us!" she whimpered.

The girls rushed through another car, until they reached the back end of the train.

"Crap." Thalia stated. "Are you ready?" she asked Annabeth.

She nodded her head faintly. Just then, the train halted, with the conductor announcing their stop. The girls bolted off of the train as fast as rockets.

Thalia pulled Annabeth by the hand into an alleyway. The Cyclops walked right past them. Annabeth let out a sigh of relief.

"I think he's gone." Thalia whispered. They waited a couple more minutes, just to make sure. "Let's go to Goodwill."

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A/N: Loads of thanks to my beta, Kaleidoscope Flowers! And to my reviewers: Minaarocks, lunareclipse3, Karate Chic, PercyjacksonvsAres, TheAverageFan, Colorful Catastrophe, Bluechick13, Theia 47, and Kaleidoscope Flowers!