Chapter 6:

Percy POV-

"Were you able to get a hold of Chiron?" I muttered to Annabeth as we waited in the containment area.

"Yeah, I sent him an Iris message last night, but there's a lot of…stuff going on at camp, so, at least for the time being, we're on our own," she sighed in a low voice.

"What stuff?" I said quietly.

"Monster attacks probably, he didn't go into detail," she whispered, giving a shrug.

"So what does that mean for us now?" Thalia asked.

"We're just going to have to wait it out. So far they have nothing on us, and hopefully they won't be able to find anything, so until Chiron clears us, we'll just have to sit tight," she sighed. I didn't like it, none of did, but we had little other options, and to add insult to injury, most of us, with the exception of me, were weaponless because the police had claimed our "baseball bats" and Annabeth's dagger when we were arrested.

"Doesn't it seem weird to you that Miss Sunshine took us into her house so easily?" Clarisse asked.

Thalia shrugged, "A little, but, I guess, she thinks we're innocent. Plus, our only other option was to spend the night in jail."

"Yeah, maybe, but what if she knows something?" Clarisse pressed.

"I doubt it Clarisse," Annabeth shook her head, "And even if she does…that could be better for proving our innocence."

Clarisse huffed and slumped into her seat.

We went on in silence for a few minutes when suddenly two furies burst through the honey-comb-mesh-covered windows.

We all jumped up immediately, standing defensively, and I immediately pulled Riptide out of my pocket, uncapping it, and slashing at the furies that circled us like vultures over road kill. Clarisse landed a well-placed kick in it's beak sending the fury spiraling backwards into one of the frosted-glass walls of the room. The guard outside of our room must have gone on break because I was surprised that no one had showed up yet. I slashed the fury, dissolving her into golden dust, and as the other one swooped them I slashed it too, giving it the same fate.

I exhaled, capping Riptide, and sliding it back in my pocket, just in time for Calleigh and Ryan to charge in, followed by Eric and Horatio. I'm sure it didn't look good. We were alone in the room surrounded by four walls of broken glass. We were empty handed, but I'm not sure that meant much as they put our hands behind our backs and lead us out.

Calleigh POV-

"What the hell happened in here?" Ryan asked as we inspected the broken shards that lay on the ground. I knelt down on the floor, rubbing a little of the golden dust between my fingers.

"What do you think happened in here?" I asked him, anxious to know what he thought of the scene.

"They—the kids—they must have…" he trailed off, his shoulders drooping a little, "Honestly, I have no idea. The glass from this window is inside, so something came in here…but…the rest doesn't make any sense. The table is unharmed, so they didn't use it to break any of the glass. They didn't use the chairs either. And they were all unarmed…Calleigh, what did happen here," he wondered.

"Well that would make the kids 'it was a bird story' make sense but, why don't you check the security footage," I suggested. Ryan nodded then went down into the lab to do a search on the footage. Meanwhile, I went to find Horatio.

"What now, Horatio?" I asked him as he gazed out one of the windows. He removed his sunglasses, and looked at me.

"Do you believe they are innocent?" he asked me suddenly.

"Yes, sir, I do. And I'm sure they didn't destroy the room either," I said. He nodded slowly, turning back towards the window.

"I think it would be a good idea for you to take them home for the rest of the day, and possibly tomorrow until we figure something out," Horatio told me.

"Yes sir," I nodded, leaving the room to collect the teenagers.

On the way home, I stopped at a local café. I ordered drinks for all of them, and myself, and we sat at the large booth in the back of the restaurant.

"Now, I know you guys aren't being completely honest with me about what has been happening," I arched an eyebrow. They looked down at their drinks but didn't make eye contact with me. I sighed, apparently we would be doing this the hard way.

"Do you know what kind of bird it was that crashed through?" I asked.

"An eagle," Thalia suggested.

"Hmm…" I mused, "Too bad I couldn't have seen it. There really are too few eagles in Miami. And the few we do have generally live in the glades. It seems weird that an Eagle would fly all the way into the city just to crash through the Miami Dade police station, in exactly the room you all were in." They said nothing.

Suddenly, Annabeth, who was on the end of the booth across from me, looked up, but her gaze wasn't on me, it was on the other end of the room. In a daze, she stood up and took a few steps toward the door which the turned into strides, but not to the door, to a table where a dark haired woman sat reading. I stood up too behind her in an instant.

She stopped at the table, and I was vaguely aware that all of the other kids were behind me.

"Mom?!" she asked incredulously. The woman looked up and my breath caught in my throat.

"Mom?!" I heard myself say in the same stunned tone that Annabeth had asked.

"Hello Annabeth, hello Calleigh, long time no see," Athena smiled.

"Wow," Percy stated, 'I did not see that coming."

What? Did I just add a plot twist? Yes, yes I did. Whahahahahaha