Chapter 4

I threw the piece of metal to Thalia. She looked at it carefully. My hand still tingled from holding it. "Well, Percy, I have no idea what kind of metal this is." Thalia told me.

Thalia threw it back to me. "Jake!" I called.

He appeared next to me. "Jake, you're a son of Hephaestus, any idea what kind of metal this is?" I handed him the piece.

Jake turned it around, flipped it, and a whole lot more. Then gave it back to me. "You got me, Percy." Jake shrugged.

Grover shivered when he looked at it. The Stroll Brothers just said, "Wicked." I rubbed my head and placed the metal in the pocket of my jeans.

Pollux leaned against a wall. Clarisse came up to me and gave the piece out of my pocket. "Clarisse-" I started.

"Shut it, fish head. I am a daughter of Ares, the god of war, may I remind you. Hephaestus isn't the only one who knows metal." Clarisse snarled.

"Are you mocking my father?" Jake growled.

Clarisse's eyes flickered, "Maybe." Jake's face got red. "What are you gonna do about it, Mason?"

Clarisse mocked him. Jake reached for his pocket but Thalia grabbed his hand. "Don't." Thalia said.

Jake pulled his arm away from her and folded his arms. "Baby." Clarisse muttered.

Thalia's blue eyes shot toward Clarisse. "Shut up. How are we ever going to find Annabeth if we can't even get along with each other?" Thalia glared at Clarisse.

Clarisse mumbled a curse in greek. "Sorry." she sneered. She threw the piece back to me, "I don't know what it is."

"Whatever." Jake muttered.

I was so sick of Clarisse bullying everybody. Well, she wouldn't dare mess with Thalia. Thalia could pin her to the ground in five seconds flat. As I starred more at the metal piece, I noticed some words written on it. The words were covered by dust and dirt from the ground. I wiped them off carefully. It said Tom's Weapon Shop. Could that be a store name? "Hey guys." I said.

Everyone turned to me. Kaite came up next to me. "Is that a shop?" Katie asked.

"Probably. Only problem is: there are thousands of stores in Manhattan." Pollux reminded us.

"So lets find a map or something." Chris suggested.

"Alright. We'll go in teams of two, look for any maps you can find and meet back here in thirty minutes. Clarisse and Chris, Jake and Katie, Travis and Connor, Pollux you can go with Travis and Connor. Thalia you're with me." I gave everyone their teams.

Thalia and I wondered around Manhattan for ten minutes. In the back of my mind was the question-How long does Annabeth have? I was scared that we didn't have much time to find before the Demigod Hunters killed her. "You're quite." Thalia said.

I didn't say anything. As we walked pass store windows, I caught a glance of a reflection. Luke's reflection. It disappeared after a second. It was probably my imaginion. Thalia and I stopped at a map store. "Do you have a map of Manhattan?" I asked a man at the front desk.

He put his newspaper down and looked at me. "A map of Manhattan? In a map store, in Manhattan? Oh geez, man, I don't know." he mocked.

"Could you just show us where the stupid maps are?" Thalia said.

"I don't know, if we have maps of Manhattan. I mean, we're in Manhattan!" he continued.

He continued to mock us for awhile. Then I grabbed his shirt and pulled him over the desk. "Look, my girlfriend's life is in danger! We might not find her in time, if you don't give us the freaking map!" I hissed.

"First aisle, on the right." he choked.

"Thanks." I let him go.

We walked down the aisle and found the maps. I unfolded it. "There!" Thalia pointed to a spot on the map.

"Good. Now, lets get out of here." I folded it back up.

As we were walking out of the store, the guy yelled, "Hey! You have to pay for that!"

I walked over to him and slammed the money on the desk. He jumped back like I was going to attack him. "No tips." I said and walked back to Thalia.

The thirty minutes had passed and everyone was back on the side street. "Alright, we found a map. Here's Tom's Weapon Shop," I pointed to the spot on the map.

"It looks like it's between Macy's and Target." Chris said.

"So what's our plan?" Travis asked.

"We'll go in and ask if we can talk to Tom." I shrugged.

"That simple, huh?" Connor looked disappointed.

"Fine by me." Jake muttered.

"Won't the workers or whatever think something is going on, if a lot of teenagers just come into his store?" Katie said.

"Good point. OK, then, here's what we'll do. We'll go in one at a time. I'll go in first then a few minutes later one of you will come in. Can you guys handle that?" I told them.

We followed the map to Tom's Weapon Shop. I went in first. Swords and axes lined the walls. Whips and ball and chains were in glass cases. Some shields were also on the walls. A fan hung in the middle of the ceiling and was moving slow. I looked in one of the cases. Brass knuckles were inside. I gulped at imagining being punched by them. A black haired man came out from the back. "Can I help you with something?" he asked, starring intently at me.

"No, no. I'm just looking." I smiled at him.

He wearly watched me and I looked at all the weapons. Sortly after Pollux came in. We kept our distance. The guy kept starring at me, like he expected me to slice his head off with one of the swords.

The bell at the front door rang. Clarisse came in. After awhile all of us were in. "You guys wanna tell me what's goin on here?" the man said.

"Huh?" Jake played dumb.

"Suddenly, all you kids want to come into my store? I don't think so. What do you guys want?" he asked.

I nodded at Thalia. "You're right. We're all here together. We're looking for some information." I walked toward.

"I don't any information on anything you would want to know about." he shrugged.

He started walking back into the room he came out of, but Travis and Connor got in his way. They stood on both sides of him. "We want to talk with Tom." Travis said.

"You are right now." Tom said.

"Cool." Connor said grabbing Tom's arm.

Travis grabbed his other arm and they pinned Tom to the wall. Clarisse folded her arm, "Look, one of our friends is missing."

"And what do you want me to do about it?" Tom grunted.

"The people that took her, were using weapons, made at your shop." Thalia threw the piece on the glass case in front of Tom.

"So we think you made the weapons that took her. We want to know who asked you to make them." I stood in front of Tom.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Tom snapped.

Jake stepped forward and looked intently at Tom. "You're a son of Hephaestus, aren't you?" Jake said angerly.

"Hephaestus? Like the greek god?" Tom asked.

"Stop playing dumb." I growled.

I drew Backbiter and pressed it to his throat. "You can't hurt me with that weapon." Tom sneered.

"Now, how would you know that?" I grinned.

Tom's eyes widened. "Fine, I'm a son of Hephaestus. So what?" he admitted.

I grabbed the metal piece and held it close to his face. "I want to know, who bought those spears from you." I said.

"Why would I tell you?" he smiled.

"Cause if you don't, I kill you slowly." I said, like I meant it.

His grin faded, "Why does who bought those spears interest you anyway?"

"Because whoever bought them took my girlfriend. I'll go to the ends of the earth if I have to, in order to find her." I growled.

I held Backbiter to his throat again. "Fine, I'll tell you! It was some guy...what was his name? John and uh, Cain! That's who bought them!" Tom told me.

John and Cain. "Where did they take the spears?" Grover asked.

"Somewhere under Manhattan, I think." Tom said.

I looked in the back room. The wall was covered with...demigod weapons and shields. "Travis, Connor! Bring Tom in here!" I yelled.

They brought him back. "Where did you get these?" I held a sword to Tom.

Tom looked to the ground. "What? So you make spears for the Demigod Hunters, and they give you the weapons of the demigods they capture? Is that it?" I demanded.

Travis and Connor tightened their grips. "Well?" Travis said.

"Yes! OK, they give them to me and I sell them. The Demigod Hunters know that mortals can't be harmed by the weapons so they give them to me or they..." Tom stopped and looked pained.

"They what?" I knelt in front of him.

"Sometimes they torture the demigods with their own weapons...to get information from them.." he whispered.

"AND YOU JUST SIT BACK AND LET THEM?" I snarled pointing Backbiter at his neck. I could probably kill him, without even a second thought.

I stood up and headed to the doorway. "Travis. Connor. Let him go, lets get out of here." I said.

"But-" Connor started.

"No buts." I broke in.

Travis and Connor pushed Tom to the floor. "We'll have a longer talk with you later, Tom." I hissed.

After we left Tom's shop, I spotted a subway station. Well, if the Demigod Hunters were underground, a subway was the best place to start.