Authors note: okay, so I just looked back through caspian book one, and it turned out that Ella is a daughter of hermes, not apollo, which I totally got wrong. In the earlier chapters, wherever it says "apollo cabin" or whatev, just mentally replace it with "hermes cabin" please. I don't own any characters from the PJO or HoO serieses. I really like getting reviews!

Casper's POV ~

We borrowed a black camp van. Percy drove and Annabeth navigated. The rest of us crammed into the back seats. "Why did we not take two vans?" I squeaked. I was being squished between Ella and the door. On her other side was Biron, then Nico. There was only room for three, and there was four of us.

"Sorry guys." Annabeth called back. "This was the only one Chiron would spare. He has the satyrs in overdrive lately."

"Why?" I asked. "And why did he want guards at camp? This quest really seemed to freak him out."

"Dunno." Percy shrugged.

I shifted to pull my notebook out of my bag. I drew some of the scenery we passed, and then played 'hangman' with Ella. After she won three times in a row, she switched to playing with Biron and I went to daydreaming.

"Where exactly are we going?" I asked. "Its not like the prophecy said where to."

"It actually does." Annabeth said, and explained. "Given by the powers ties sounds like the gods symbols of power, right?"

"I guess."

"So were going to Olympus. See if anyone is missing anything important, which someone must be, go find it, and return it safely." Annabeth told me. "And Olympus is on the empire state building, so only another half hour."

A half hour later, we parked a few blocks away from the empire state building. We pushed open the front doors, and I don't know what I was expecting, but a completely normal lobby and security desk was not it.

Annabeth fished in her pocket and pulled out a plastic security card. She showed it to the guard, who looked suspiciously at the rest of us. "And them?"

"They're with me. Six hundredth floor please." He nodded and the elevator doors slid open. We stepped in.

"How did you get that security card?" Nico asked.

"They gave me one when I redesigned Olympus after the Titan war." Annabeth told him.

The elevator doors opened, and we stepped into Olympus. Annabeth had done a fantastic job of redesigning it. There was huge marble columns, fountains, and a stage where the muses were singing for a crowd of minor gods.

"Wow." I said. Biron and Ella were just as awestruck, though the others didn't seem to be very interested. They had probably been here multiple times before. We walked through the city, with Annabeth pointing out her favorite buildings here and there.

"Okay." We all stopped in front of a set of double golden doors. "Here goes nothing." He held up one hand like to open the door, but stopped. "Maybe we should knock."

"Of course we should knock." Nico said. "But I'm not doin' it."

"Oh, thanks." Percy said sarcastically. Annabeth rose one hand to knock.

"Hello." A cheerful voice came from behind us. We all spun around, to see a man who was probably some time between twenty and forty, with light brown hair and small beard. He wore a dark blue suit and held a silver pole with two snakes wrapped around it.

"Hi there." One snake said. "Can I have a rat?"

"Don't be rude."

"I'm not being rude, I want a rat." The man snapped his fingers on his other hand the caduceus changed into a cell phone which he tucked into his pocket.

"Sorry about them." He said. "Hello Ella, Biron." He smiled warmly at them, and that was when I fully realized who he was.

"Hermes." I gasped. We all bowed, but he just chuckled.

"Please, please, don't bow." He said cheerfully. "Why are you here? Your quest against Echidna?"

"What about Echidna?" Annabeth asked immediately.

Hermes looked immediately like he wanted to be someplace else. "Oh, well, you didn't hear it from me, okay? Now, what did you need?"

"Well, we wanted to see if any gods were missing their symbols of power? I don't mean to be disrespectful, but-"

"Maybe you should come inside." Hermes said, opening the doors and striding inside in front of us, and we walked into the throne room of the gods.