I cannot believe my stupidity! I can't believe my negligence! I see this in every story I read, and I forgot it!

I hereby disclaim any ownage of either the Maximum Ride characters or the PJO characters. Those belong to James Patterson, and Rick Riordan respectively. I'm just an author hopeful who can't make up his own characters. And this goes for all my previous chapters in this story, as well as all the others I forgot to disclaim on. I apologize. Or, to simplify, I own nothing you recognize.

Thank you for all reviews. And thanks for all those who submitted names. I can't think of any myself. I chose Mauro and Onyx, from coocoo4coco.puffs and randompanda940. Hopefully I spelled those right. And, one more thing, I know pegasi fly very fast, faster than the flock, but for this story, they fly at the same speed. OK? Enough said, enjoy the next chapter!

Max's POV:

Percy left our morbid scene. I jolted back to my senses.

"Report!" I said reflexively. I got five responses, varying from cool and unruffled to somewhat tired. Everyone was here, good.

Gloominess pervaded the air. The mystery girl, who I gleaned was called Bianca, was gone. And she wouldn't be coming back.

Percy came sprinting back through the trees. "Guys," he said breathlessly. "Pegasi."

Now if I knew what the heck pegasi were, maybe I'd be happier. But Annabeth's eyes lit up, and she looked like she wanted to kiss him. Which she didn't, of course.

"What do pegasi have to do with anything?" Thalia inquired.

"We can keep up with the flock!" Annabeth said, as if it were obvious. What could keep up with us, anyway?

Thalia looked obviously reluctant. "We are not taking pegasi."

"What are pegasi?" I made up my mind to ask. I hated being left in the dark.

"You'll see," Percy answered, and we all followed him through the trees. I did so impatiently.

I heard laughter behind me. Gazzy and Iggy seemed to be sharing a joke. There was also a faint prickling on my neck.

I spun around angrily. Fang was almost smiling. I had to try hard not to smile back.

We walked for a while more. "I'm hungry," Nudge complained.

"Maybe later," I replied. "Maybe we can take these pegasi to a restaurant."

Percy chuckled. "I wouldn't recommend that." As he finished, we came upon a clearing.

What I saw made me say in disbelief, "You are freaking kidding.".

Three black horses. But that wasn't the outright weird part. They had huge wings. And I thought we were the only successful "mutants".

"Tell me what you see." Iggy said, almost bitterly. I felt so incredibly sorry for him. He couldn't see anything, and he probably never would.

"Three black winged horses." I said without turning around. I know, lack of detail, but I was still stunned. More mutants.

"They're not recombinants," Annabeth said, as if reading my mind. "They're just like that." She looked questioningly at Percy. "Why the black ones?"

I just stared in silent astonishment. Pegasi. Winged horses.

The flock was with me, more or less. Completely blown away. Fang hid his surprise under his usual mask of impassiveness.

"These are-" Percy paused. "Mauro and Onyx. And Blackjack." He indicated each one in turn. "They will take us to the School."

Annabeth climbed on Mauro, and Percy on Blackjack. Thalia appeared to be having misgivings. She got on Onyx, but he bucked her off. She swore angrily in Ancient Greek.

Percy's POV:

I laughed when Onyx gave Thalia the boot. Then I got a death-glare in return. A quite potent, evil death-glare.

Apparently she thought I told him to. I did. But I wasn't going to tell her that. I put on an innocent face.

All right, you three. We need to go to California. For specifics, we'll follow the other six. I told the pegasi. They accepted my instructions with cool accordance. Thalia got on Onyx, grumbling.

The flock whipped out their wings. Now it was the pegasi who were amazed.

What is this, my lord? The ill-fated mating of one of us and a human? I grimaced. Not even close.

Just follow them! I ordered exasperatedly.

As you wish, my lord. Mauro replied. I was too annoyed to object to the "my lord" title. His wings cut at the air and dust flew as he lifted off. Blackjack and Onyx did likewise. Thalia was slightly pale. Annabeth's blonde hair blew around her face in the wind like a halo, making her look just gorgeous.

What in Hades are you thinking? She's your friend! I screamed at myself. I drove my thoughts from Annabeth with difficulty.

Aphrodite's face swam from my pool of memories. It's no good, you know, she whispered in my head. It is - what's the word? - inevitable. Yes, inevitable. She laughed, a high-pitched giggling.

I growled in frustration. Annabeth turned to me, confused. "Nothing." I affirmed. She eyed me for a few more moments, then turned away.

Was Aphrodite right? No, she can't be right.

But what if she was?

Haha, I couldn't help it. I had to write some Percabeth. If I make any plot mistakes, let me know. An ominous feeling of missing something accompanied me writing this. Apologies for such a late chapter, as well. Don't forget to review! Seven reviews, then I'll start the next chapter. Understood?