Chapter 7 out now!

To: Jeramy-Toombs: Yes there is. I'm not uncomfortable with it, it's just another type of writing, and it's harder to write than a guy/girl pairing.

Percy P.O.V.

When I woke up, the smell of food hit my nose. Greasy, deep fried, excellent food.

"Food," Luke moaned, and I knew he was awake.

"Boys," Annabeth grumbled. "Always ruled by their stomachs."

"Hey!" I shout indignantly. "We are not ruled by our stomachs! Our brain has the thinking capacity of our-"

"FOOD!" Luke shouted.

"Okay," I reasoned. "Only Lukes are ruled by their stomachs."

Luke sat up. "That's some good-smelling food. Follow the scent and get a bite to eat."

Annabeth sighed. "Well, we haven't eaten since camp. Let's go, food-dominators."

Ignoring the comment, I took off at a leisurely pace. Soon, I found a shop that said YNAUT ME'S ARGDNE GMOEN EMMORUIP.

"What does that say?" Luke asked. I felt guilty that I left them behind.

"I don't know," Annabeth replied, coming up behind me. I forgot that they were dyslexic as well.

After staring at it for a couple minutes, Annabeth snapped her fingers. "It's AUNTY EM'S GARDEN GNOME EMPORIUM."

"Explains the gnomes she has flanking the entrance," I said, pointing to the stone statues of people on either side of a path that lead to the shop. But the faces looked startled, even terrified.

"Guys," Annabeth murmured, "It doesn't look natural to me."

"Come on," Luke protested. "It's just food."

After a silent staredown, Annabeth relented. Right before we knocked on the door, it swung open to reveal a woman in a headdress.

"What are you doing here, young children?" I placed her accent to be Middle Eastern, and her age to be in the fifties.

"Uh, we're-" was as far as Luke got before Annabeth stepped forward.

"We're orphans that ran away from an abusive orphanage, and we haven't eaten since two days ago," Annabeth lied. Well, mostly, because we were starving.

The woman gasped. "But then you must be hungry. Come, come!"

We followed her into the store. She seated us at a table and hurried off to cook something.

As she cooked, I couldn't help but admire her work. Everything was lifesize, and the detail was incredible. But in most of the statuettes, the faces looked scared, as if they were looking at something incredibly scary.

Reminds me of Medusa, I mused, then I froze.

Aunty Em.

Aunty "M".

But I couldn't be too sure yet.

When Aunty Em came back with heaping trays of food and drinks, I pinched myself after every bite and every sip. Then, I started the questions.

"So," I asked. "Do you make these statues?"

Aunty Em looked pleased. "Oh yes, sculpting is my forte. I do it alone. I used to have two sisters, but they have passed away…" She looked distracted, as if she was lost in the memories. She didn't realize she'd given away too much.

"And," I started creeping my hand to my knife. "Your name would happen to be Medusa, wouldn't it?" I kicked Annabeth and Luke in the shins.

Medusa froze, then chuckled darkly. "How did you know so quickly, young hero?"

I whipped out my knives and slashed, but she backed away. Annabeth put on her invisibility cap and disappeared. Luke jumped up and tried to deliver a powerful kick to her jaw, but she dodged out of the way, and Luke fell face first onto the ground.

Medusa's hand rose to her headdress, and I flung myself away. I ran around trying to find a mirror, then an invisible force slammed into me. Annabeth's cap of invisibility fell off her head.

"Here," she hissed. "Take my glasses!"

She fumbled around in her pockets until she produced a pair of glasses. I put them on, and whirled around at Medusa.

"Aha!" She cried out triumphantly, then realized I wasn't turning into stone.

I slashed at her neck, but she ducked and lunged at me. I jumped up and brought my knives down in two powerful stabs. She froze, and I leaped back.

Then her wounds started closing.

"Foolish demigod!" She shrieked. "I can only be killed if you cut off my head! For your impudence, you will-"

I silenced her with a quick slice of my sword. I had drawn it when I realized it had a bigger reach.

"I'm going to cut off your head, that's what," I muttered.

Turning, I ran to a room, Medusa's office, by the looks of it. I took a look at the six recent sales, all going to Persephone's garden at DOA Recording Studios in Los Angeles, CA. I took note of the address and ripped open the cash register, stuffing money into my pockets.

"Percy!" Luke shouted. He had stumbled around the house, trying to find me blindly. He ran into me-literally. He yelped and swung horizontally and me, but I deflected the blow.

"You idiot," I stated. "Don't try to kill me! And you can look now, Medusa's dead."

Luke opened one eye cautiously. His eyes widened when he saw my glasses.

"Percy, those are Annabeth's glasses! Where-"

"I'm right here." Annabeth dropped down from the roof. I scowled.

"You've been running along the support beams and stalking us? Seriously, couldn't you have helped me carry some loot? It's heavy, you know!"

Annabeth rolled her eyes, opened a box that somehow managed to find its way in her hands, and shoved all the drachmas into the box. After neatly putting the bills in the box, she turned to us.

"Now, let's roll."

I didn't protest as we staggered along, collapsing nearby the road.

Luke yawned. "Come on guys, let's sleep."

When I woke up, the smell of chips and-perfume?- were the first things I registered. The next thing I registered was that I was face-to-face with a bright pink poodle.

I screamed.

Luke fell out of a tree, but he was so busy laughing he didn't register the pain.

Annabeth sighed. "So predictable. You're looking at our next ticket west, to St. Louis."

I sat up. "So, I'm guessing we either take this poodle to its home and take the reward money, or sell it to an animal shelter."

Luke looked surprised. "You're pretty smart, Perce."

I waved it off. "It's logic, Luke. Use it, it's good for you."

Annabeth laughed. "Anyway, your first assumption is right. Let's go, the address is close by."

Right around a half-mile later, we turn a corner and find a gigantic house-no, mansion. No wonder they had a dog, the owners were rich.

Annabeth walked up to the door, had a chat with a girl with eyes that glowed and changed colors, gave the poodle to the girl, got the money and left. Thirty minutes later, we were on an Amtrak to go prevent the bloodiest war in millenia. Just your average summer train trip.

When I finally fell asleep, however, Dream Communication Co. wasn't down for maintenance.

I was standing in the same cavern as the one I saw Kronos and Luke conversing in a couple days ago. This time, I was the only one having an audience with the Titan Lord of Time.

"Excellent progress," he rasped. His voice sounded a little different, like it was a different knife scraping against the floor. "A little doggy-" he said that in a mocking tone- "is prowling St. Louis, so try to isolate the Athena girl. It would be best if she was cast aside so our plan can begin with no interference.

My dream self tensed. "My lord, it would be wise if we captured her as bait. She is popular within the camp, and she would attract a quest for sure."

Kronos was silent. When I lost my patience and stood up, he spoke: "Do you truly think that?"

"Yes, my lord."

I could feel Kronos mulling this over. "All right. Now, I believe our other spy is trying to wake you up. Go."

I was flung back, my vision spiraled out of my grasp, and everything went dark.

"Percy! Percy-oh, the zombie lives." Luke stopped slapping me, and I groaned.

"That's a horrible way to wake someone up." I sit up and frown. "Wait, we're at St. Louis already? That's-"

"Like 900 miles," Annabeth supplied. "But it's pretty late in the morning. You slept in."

I was instantly alert. Checking a clock on the train, I gape. "I was asleep for that long?"

Luke snorted. "Of course. Where'd that logic go?"

We climb out of our train, and instantly Annabeth froze. She slowly turned towards the St. Louis Arch.

"What is it?" I whisper. "You see something?"

Luke made a sound like he was trying to groan and laugh at the same time. "Oh, she's just fascinated with architecture. She's gawking at the Arch."

"Ah. Well, Luke, prepare for sightseeing." Right as I said that, Annabeth turned towards us, with big puppy eyes. Luke laughed and said, "Lead the way, Annabeth."

After getting admitted, Annabeth started spouting off random facts about the Arch. I tuned out in the middle of her rant about the structural support.

We went in a curve in the elevator, which my stomach was not happy about. When we got out, we would've probably stayed there for hours, if not for the staff making an announcement that the observation deck would close in a few minutes and everybody needed to go then.

A family packed in the elevators, and we would've followed when the security guard held up his meaty hands. "Too full, one of you needs to wait."

Luke shook his head. "We'll wait with you, Percy."

I nod, and Annabeth got out as well. The elevator doors closed, and the only people left on the deck was the security guard, a fat lady with a chihuahua, and us.

The fat lady smiled at us. Deciding to make small conversation, I leaned over to the lady.

"What's your name?" I asked politely.

The lady grinned sadistically. "Echidna, and the Chimera."

INEEDTOHITMYHEADONAWALLFORFURTHERINSPIRATIONI'MSOSTUCKIDON'TKNOWWHATTOWRITE Anyways, now that my rant is over, I've decided to make this a Percy/Zoe fanfic. Anyone that voted otherwise, I'm sorry, but Zoe received an overwhelming response.

Remember to R&R!