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"Percy?" Nico called sleepily. He'd been sleeping in the back, right next to Grover, something neither had been too happy about. Neither had forgiven each other for the insults yet. Still, Annabeth was not going to let Nico sleep on her lap, and I wasn't going to stop driving, and Grover didn't have a good weapon (he lost).

I gritted my teeth. Nico thought it was really funny to annoy me. I thought otherwise.

"Nico? Can I ask you a question? Why do you find it impossible to not annoy me for more than ten minutes?"

"Seriously, Percy, listen to my idea! Let's stop by, like, Wal-Mart and get one of those mini DVD players! We can totally watch a movie," said Nico. I cracked up.

"Why are you laughing?" He glared at me.

"Dude, since when do you say 'totally'?" I couldn't stop laughing. Annabeth whacked me on the head.

Nico looked sheepish. "Elle rubbed off on me."

I had to smile.

***

Two hours later, we were sitting in the car, somewhere in Philadelphia. The reason? We were out of gas. And it was all Nico's fault. I had given up to them an hour ago, and decided to crash in the back. Grover was sitting up front, because he said he didn't want to sit next to another sleeping person. So Annabeth had to come sit back here. (Was it just my imagination, or did she look a little pleased?)

So Nico had been driving for a while now. Even though I told him, repeatedly, to check the gas level once in a while, he 'forgot'. And now here we were, sitting somewhere in the Appalachian Mountains, miles into the wilderness, with nowhere to go.

"Percy, chillax! I'll walk back to the gas station we passed a while ago! Dude, you'll get white hairs soon…" his voice trailed off as I pointed to the white stripe already in my hair.

"Okay, so you already have white hairs. Big deal."

"Nico, I'm not really mad. It's just that we have to get to the coast soon…"

"I know. That's why I'm going, with Grover, to the gas station," he said a little sheepishly.

"What? Why do I have to…?" Grover started. Nico hauled him out of the car and said something. I couldn't hear what he said, but I saw Grover smile slowly. Anything that would make him smile like the Grinch when he figured out how to ruin Christmas…well, I just had a bad feeling that I wouldn't like what was going on here.

They started off, but I yelped, "Hey, wait!" Grover opened the door.

"What?"

"I can't let you guys go alone," I started to open the door, but Nico held it closed.

"If you come, then who'll watch Annabeth?" he asked, pointing. I looked down. Annabeth had fallen asleep, using her wadded up blue sweatshirt as a pillow.

"Then you stay here, and I'll go," I pointed out.

"If I stay here, then she'll wake up and yell at me for letting you guys go alone," Nico said.

"Grover?" I pleaded. As nice as getting staying in the car sounded, I didn't want Nico or Grover to get hurt or something.

"No way, man. I'm not going to stay here," he said.

I sighed. If we all went, then Annabeth could be attacked or something. If I didn't go, then if Nico or Grover could be attacked, and I'd feel guilty; and if we woke up Annabeth…

…it would not be pretty.

"Fine," I groaned. "But hurry back and iris-message if there's a problem."

"Geez, Percy. We're not kids!" Nico yelled.

"Well, sorry!" Nico rolled his eyes and slammed the door. In a moment both of them were gone and Annabeth and I were left in the car.

***

"Um, Annabeth?" I asked. Nico and Grover had been gone for half an hour, and were supposed to be back any moment. Annabeth was still sleeping.

It was nice to see her sleep. She didn't look all tough; she seemed like a little kid—something she'd never really had a chance to be in real life.

After staring at Annabeth's face for a while (yes, I know how creepy that sounds) I guess I must have fallen asleep too, because the next thing I knew I was waking up. Next to me, Annabeth was awake, smirking at me.

"Hey, why is it that whenever I wake up, you're always there, staring at me?" I complained. "The first time I woke up at Camp, you were feeding me popcorn pudding and liquid chocolate chip cookies. Then when Lu—that pit scorpion attacked me, you were there, feeding me nectar and ambrosia again. I can go into a million other times!"

She was watching me amusedly. "Well, maybe that's because somebody needs to be the adult in this relationship!"

Before I said anything, she continued. "Percy…we defeated Pallas yesterday, didn't we?"

I got it—Etgroftnig again. "We defeated Pallas, and then Nico drove the car for a while. Then he forgot to check the gas level, and now he and Grover are at a gas station, buying gas."

"Oh. Percy…thanks."

"For what?" I asked.

There was a flash of cranberry red light and another of golden yellow, and then in front of us were two goddesses.

"Lady Demeter, Lady Persephone! What…I mean, did you need anything?" asked Annabeth.

Demeter-I guess she was Demeter-smiled kindly and said, "No."

There was a minute or two of silence.

"Oh, to Hades with this!" exclaimed Persephone. "No offense, husband. Percy, Annabeth, we noticed that you were having difficulty on this quest. That is why we have come to offer you a gift."

I was about to say 'Sure, thanks,' but Annabeth said something first.

"That's nice of you, my ladies, but are you sure that you want nothing in return?"

Persephone smiled sneakily. "Now that you mention it, there is one thing…" I groaned under my breath. I had a feeling that this was so not going to go well.

"There is a party being held in my honor tomorrow. A Halloween party," continued Demeter.

"Isn't your holiday Thanksgiving?" I asked.

She waved a hand dismissively. "Melinoe doesn't care for Halloween, my dear, so I took it. Anyway, you, Annabeth, Nico, and Grover must attend it."

"What kind of a party is it?" asked Annabeth.

"It's a masquerade. And you must attend or you will not be favored by the gods."

In yet another flash, the two disappeared, and in their places were Grover and Nico, with dumbfounded looks on their faces.

Annabeth started telling them, "We have to go to a masquerade, or else 'we will not be favored by the gods'. Meaning we'll be cursed.

"How do we go to a masquerade?!" yelled Nico. "We don't have masks or costumes!"

Grover nodded. "And it's not like we can just go to a store and pick up a few costumes, either."

"Um, why not?" I asked.

"Because, my dear Percy," said Annabeth. "We need to watch our spending!"

"So then what do we do?"

Annabeth smiled. "I don't know what you guys are going to do. I know what I'm going to do." Without another word, she set off into the forest.

"HEY WAIT! Annabeth, where are you going?" I yelled.

"Don't follow me!" she shouted back. Soon the forest closed around her and the tree of us looked at each other, hoping that a few costumes would drop out of the sky.

If you celebrate it, happy Halloween, everybody! And guess what? If you press that MAGICAL green button and send me a review, you'll get lots of free candy…and possibly another update TODAY!