Outside camp, Annabeth put her fingers to her lips and whistled as loud as she could, summoning the mystical taxi Percy hated with a passion. "Annabeth, last time we rode in this thing, we almost died. Like five times." Annabeth did her best to reassure Percy, and produced a bag of drachmas large enough to get them to Blue Marsh Lake; but what happened next was unexpected. The taxi did appear, but fell from the sky like a stone, crashing into the earth. The three eyeless fates immediately exited to cab, throwing the hood into the air, letting a plume of smoke escape. They squabbled amongst themselves for a moment until they realized where they were, and turned to face Percy and his companions. "Not you again!" "Who is it, where's our eye?" "It's squid-boy and the smartass." Annabeth crossed her arms in front of her, taking exception to the name calling. "That wasn't nice" muttered Tyson. Annabeth had lost her patience; she shook the pouch of drachma at the drivers with a condescending smile on her face. "Look, we have enough drachmas this time. So are you going to give us a ride or not?" "We can't, this thing's broken." "I told you it was time to take it to the shop you nitwit!" the fates erupted into another argument shouting and pushing each other about. Percy took it upon himself to interrupt, "How about I take a look, maybe I can fix it", and with a shrug of his shoulder, walked to the front of the dilapidated taxi. Percy looked under the hood and then ran his hand through his hair in utter confusion. Inside he saw thousands of strands of string, spinning from one spool to another. One of the fates had gone into the trunk, retrieving a ridiculously large pair of garden sheers and began to walk toward Percy. Annabeth was alarmed and ran to his side, Tyson in toe. "Woah! What are you doing?" she yelled. The fates looked at one another and chuckled. "One of these strings needs to be cut, but we don't know which one." "This has never happened, usually it's obvious, but even our eye can't tell anymore", "Maybe we need to go into the shop" Joked the tallest of the fates. "Looks like we're walking", said Percy kicking at the dirt.
Back inside camp half-blood, Clarisse's absence had not gone unnoticed. Mr. D asked the few campers still by the gates if any of them knew her whereabouts. Grover admitted to seeing her in her cabin the night before. "Well then, since you were the last person to see her, go find her." Grover scoured the common areas of the camp to no avail. She could not be found training, scouting, or even eating. Grover made his way toward Big House to tell the deities he had come up short, when he noticed the door to the camps vault, where the prizes from quests were stored, had been kicked in. Clarisse was inside, sitting in Aries' chariot. "Clarisse, what are you thinking? If Chiron or Mr. D find you in here you're going to get expelled." Clarisse let out a sigh. "I don't care, I really just don't care. I'm the best quester here, and now I'm stuck. If they kick me out at least I can track down Percy and help." Grover could see the sadness she felt had not subsided. "Mr. D wants to see you, and I can tell you're mad but maybe a trip to Big House is just what you need." Clarisse rolled her eyes at Grover. "Why? So Mr. D can hand ME a rake and tell me to clean up Percy's little parade". A mischievous smile crept over Grover's face. "Yeah, maybe. But seeing as you're bent on going places you shouldn't …" Grover's words trailed off and the smile was now displayed on Clarisse's face "… the attic." Clarisse snapped to her feet and made haste toward Big House, slipping Grover a quiet thank you as she passed. Upon her arrival, she found Big House empty; Mr D and Chiron were nowhere to be seen, so quietly she entered, climbing the stairs to the attic. Clarisse quietly closed the dusty wooden door behind her, rousing the spirit of Delphi. Candles lit with every step she took, until the keeper of prophecies eyes snapped open, glowing red. "The daughter of war, seeking answers to a legacy of which I cannot speak. Shrouded in secrecy from mine and the fates eye Zeus does keep. Head Hermes' words, or the destruction of camp half-blood, you shall reap." Delphi's eyes and the flames were then extinguished. Clarisse had not found what she was looking for. In disappointment she descended the stairs to the main floor of Big House. Mere steps from the entrance, Clarisse was startled by Mr. D, who had come inside while she was in the attic, "So what did she say?" Clarisse turned and walked into the office, slumping down to the chair on the opposite side of his desk. "Nothing helpful. Just that if I don't listen we're all going to be homeless or dead. I'm not sure which." Chiron sauntered into the room. "Well then you had better stay on task Ms. La Rue. How many packages were there?" Clarisse reached in her pocket, retrieving a folded piece of parchment. "999, all addressed to camp half-blood." Chiron looked half pleased to hear the news. Mr. D slid his fingers across the bill of lading that Hermes had provided him. "The only one that's missing is the one Percy is after." Chiron grabbed something off of the table to his right then outstretched his arm to Clarisse. "Well Ms. La Rue, you had better get to work." Puzzled, she retrieved the object from his hand. "What is this?" "That is a never-ending tube of superglue my dear. The best I can figure is the parcels each contain a piece of a statue of some sort. A statue that should be reassembled. Clarisse would have preferred the rake.