I hate to admit, but I never planned this part of the story. I'm at the making it up as you go phase. Hope you all enjoy!


Charlie's POV

Simon lay limply in front of me. "Simon," I called as quietly as I could. I heard a him groan. Too loud. No dumby, don't make a sound. The cyclopes aren't deaf. 'Come on. Shimmy. Let's go Charlie.' The crate that was pinning me down felt like a slab of concrete. How did things go so wrong?

"Hey, check these out!" Eric looked like a little kid on Christmas. I mean this was a warehouse full of war equipment. And you know, his dad is the god of war. Simon and I slowly walked down one side of the aisle next the glass cases, not really paying much attention. Only looking for our target. Eric on the other hand was zigzagging back and forth, reading of tidbits of information out loud to us. I felt a bit annoyed. Then I felt bad for being annoyed. I guess I should be admiring all the great workmanship around me. I mean I did like to make weapons, but I was stressed.

'But oh Charlie, why would you be stressed. You of all people shouldn't be stressed. It's not like you have an entire quest riding on you. Or that fact that you could be putting your friends in danger, one of which can't fight because he is flipping cursed!'

I took a deep breath, releasing my clenched fists. A hand was on my arm. I looked up to find the questioning face of Simon. I stared into his sun-like eyes for a moment too long. He was trying to calm me down. I looked away. I had explained my dream. Well part of it. The part where the three of us got separated and there were cyclopes. I left out the part where Aphrodite kept popping up and well doing her whole love goddess thing. I won't go into detail about that, but she threw our operation into the toilet and got us all killed. That's the reason I was so freaked. I watched them die. Eric. Simon. I couldn't handle this.

I felt Simon squeeze me arm. I looked back, giving him a tired smile. I had worn this look too much. It was starting to lose its meaning. The one that said everything was going to be ok, even if it was going to suck, but it was still going to be ok. Was it going to be ok. Simon let go of my arm and surprised me by putting his arm around me and gripping my shoulder, pulling me a little closer.

Eric was still babbling away about the Chinese armies and the types of armor they used against arrows.

It took more than two hours to wind through the make-shift displays. Mostly due to our very slow, but very enthusiastic war expert. We found Achilles' armor halfway through. But as we had decided to strike in the evening, we kept following Eric.

Simon's POV

I heard my stomach growl. It wasn't the first time. I was glad when we finally made it to the last artifact.

"Let's grab something to eat," I said grabbing Eric before he tried to do a second round. I had never realized how much this guy genuinely loved the military. I mean, my dad sings and heals and I mean he has the sun chariot, but that doesn't mean I want to be an idol, or be a doctor, or whatever the heck a mortal does with the sun. Professional tanner? No, that's just idiotic.

Blinking in the bright sun I felt a little better. Maybe because the sun was my dad's thing. I just felt more at ease in the sun. Charlie pulled out a battered sandwich. Travel was not good on this food. The last apple I had was completely bruised.

"We are not eating that." I stated turning my back to my friends. "I'll buy my treat." Before Charlie could mention anything about the fact we were running low on cash. I turned, holding up my wallet. Eric was grinning from ear to ear. Charlie just looked confused. "Not only am I super good looking and a talented archer. I'm the son of an international singer. It comes with its benefits."

Outside the big warehouse, stood a food trailer. There was an area devoted to the souvenirs. I guess it was like a traveling caravan. It would have been way more interesting if we weren't about to rob the place. I could feel Charlie's nerves radiating off her. I tried to calm her down and comfort her, but I wasn't quite sure it worked. She barely touched any of her food while Eric and I chowed down. We even got seconds.

After we finished tossing our garbage into one of the many overflowing trashcans, we trekked over to a nice shady grove of trees.

Charlie pulled out a notebook and started flipping through the pages until she found a blank one. I only got a glance at the other pages, but it looked like a bunch of sketched blue prints. She got to work sketching out the layout of the warehouse, including any cameras she noticed and the entrances and exits. She also added the location of the armor and some of the shelving.

"Wait," Eric pointed to the back half of the sketched building. "Why is this blank?"

"Looking at the building you can tell that the outside is bigger than what we saw. The back wall on the inside just cuts it in half. Most likely storage there."

Eric was nodding. I would have never noticed that until she pointed it out. I stared at the real building, realizing she was right. It was huge compared to the inside.

Charlie was drawing again. "I noticed a door here and here." She pointed to the new darkened lines on the dividing wall. "We are going to need to do another look to make sure we didn't miss anything."

"Us? We didn't do any of that." I spoke. "That was all you. Eric here, was too busy admiring the lethal weapons and I'm just not smart like that."

Charlie smiled. A real smile. Not that one she kept giving. The look like someone had just been smacked and was trying to smile through the tears. She kept giving me that look and it was starting to worry me.

"Alright, so another look around." Eric was already on his feet. Then he turned to me suddenly. "Simon…" I had seen Eric's puppy dog eyes, but he only ever used them on Charlie as far as I had seen.

"What do you want?" I couldn't help but grin at him.

He put his hand on his neck and looked away. "Could we maybe… Visit the gift shop?"

I just burst into laughter. "Sure son," I exaggerated the words. "You were a good boy and ate a good lunch, so we can get you something nice."

Eric ignored my joke, but fist pumped. Charlie still had a grin on her face. Eric was already four yards ahead of us before we started walking. He had to stop multiple times before we made it to the entrance again.

"Hey Charlie," I asked once we were inside.

"Yeah?"

I glanced behind us, "You still need that distraction, right?"

Eric's POV

'I missed this the first time around. A sword from the Byzantine Empire. How the heck did I miss this!'

"Come on guys, you are so slow."

'Ah, did what about the workmanship on the shield. So much detail. I bet Charlie could make something like this. Oh, look at this helmet. No doubt worn by a high-ranking officer. Look it says Lieutenant. Can you believe they have all this cool stuff in one place? Look, at these long-range bows. I bet Simon is just drooling over them. Ah, look! I want them. I mean, who doesn't want throwing stars. Maybe I could talk Charlie into making one for me. Just to practice. Weapons, weapons, weapons!'

Charlie's POV

When we had stepped inside Eric was practically gone. He only ever spoke to tell us to hurry up. I guess our guided tour, courtesy of Eric, was over. I wasn't too disappointed, I hadn't really paid attention the first time around anyways. I counted security cameras, entrances, and studied the dividing back wall. I hadn't missed anything except the large garage door on the back wall. It blended in well with the surrounding wall.

I glanced over at Simon and nodded. I was ready. He smiled and walked to the main entrance. I got closer to the security station.

"Oh, my gosh," I squealed. I noticed Eric twist around towards me. A look of confusion pass over his face. "Is that Simon Neitzel?! His mom is the famous Scarlet Neitzel!" I screamed as loud as I could. Simon had told me his mother's real name was Sandy, but she had changed it when she became famous.

There was a silence, then whispering, then a loud clamoring. A group of more than thirty girls plowed towards the front. They had been the passengers of an all girl's school bus from a nearby county (Sedgewick County's School for Girls). An educational field trip I would assume. Simon was acting totally surprised as a hoard of girls bombarded him, asking him to sign their museum pamphlets, and take pictures with them. All three security guards ran towards Simon and his now screaming fanbase. It didn't take long for that to work.

I did a double take of Simon. Was he blushing? He almost looked embarrassed. I shook my head, no time to think about that.

I jumped behind the desk. I just needed to cut one little wire. A video screen showed all nine cameras. They weren't extremely high tech, but they were still a problem. I followed the cords until I found my target.

Bingo.

A large black box sat blinking, recording all the events. I was thankful for the field trips Chiron organized for us 'year round' campers. Some of them included, after considerable begging, workshops for future engineers. (Cough, cough, me.)

If I could just figure out how to erase all the video and loop it. It couldn't be that hard, right? If this didn't work, I had plan b. It included a lot of hot sauce.

I glanced up and noticed a man in a very tacky suit taking charge of the situation. He had a name tag, which probably meant he worked here. I had to pick up the pace. I was clacking away at the keys as quickly as possible. I was not a fast typist.

I hit enter and jumped over the counter. I leaned on it, like I was trying to get a view of the screen.

"What do you think you are doing?" Uh, oh. Security guard one was coming over to me.

I twirled my hair and opened my eyes wide smiling. "You have like real security cameras and stuff? Like, spy stuff? You must be able to beat up a lot of bad guys!"

The security guard looked taken aback. I wish I had put on tennis shoes and shorts. It would have made me look much younger than my combat boots and cargo pants.

Thankfully the security guard took the bait. He puffed up his shoulders nodding, telling me how he had a black belt in some type of martial arts.

"Charlie," Simon was calling me. He was no longer being suffocated by so many girls. They were now mingling nearby.

I looked back, trying to make myself look as shy as possible. "I better get going." I turned to leave, adding a little skip to my step. I had to look as innocent as possible.

I skipped up and Simon put his arm around me. "Charlie, this is the manager of the museum." The guy in the tacky suit stood in front of me. His name tag read 'Manager Stilson'. "Mr. Stilson this is Charlie."

I suddenly felt very afraid to shake his hand. Something was off about him. I shook his hand, trying my best to act nonchalant.

"So, this must be your girlfriend," Mr. Stilson started. I felt more than ten pairs of female eyes swivel in my direction.

I was about to object and then Eric came up playfully tossing his arm around Simon. "Yes, and I'm their third wheel. Eric's the name." He shook Mr. Stilson's hand. Eric put his hand up to his mouth and stage whispered, "I'm the only reason they came. I just love weapons. I go to a military school, so I just freaked when I heard about this place."

Mr. Stilson looked so ecstatic and started to go on about his favorite pieces that Eric needed to be sure to check out. I looked at Simon with wide eyes when all the manager mentioned was torture devices.

"Well, we better get over to the gift shop. It looks like those girls over there are giving my girlfriend the evil eye."

'Great, not only would I have monsters to worry about, but now hormonal teenage girls. And I was a hormonal teenage girl.'

Eric's POV

The manager led us out personally. Probably hoping someone would blog about Simon visiting his exemplary museum, possibly making the place more popular.

"You sir, have a good taste in museums." Mr. Stilson was now turning his attention to me once we had entered the small area known as the gift shop. It looked as if the plastic weapons, armor, key chains, and plushies had spilled out of the trailer. They more expensive stuff was smartly kept close, if not inside, the opened trailer. It was as if the long side of the trailer had been ripped open and turned into a mini store.

Stilson held up a key chain with a silver painted sword. "Please, as a gift from one enthusiast to another." I was grinning big time as he placed the miniature sword in my hand. I didn't have any keys that I could put on this, but it would be super cool to have.

I glanced back to find Simon and Charlie studying something closer to the trailer. "Ah, you are interested in the plastic replica of the Greek armor." Stilson walked closer, his hands behind his back as if admiring a piece of artwork. "It was said the armor was forged by the god Hephaestus and worn by Achilles himself." Charlie was nodding, giving a polite smile. Simon still had his arm around her and I noticed she place her arm around his waist once Stilson came closer. She tightened her arm around Simon the closer the manager got. I was afraid she was going to injure Simon, but he was all smiles.

Simon gave only a slight shake of his head. Something a normal person wouldn't notice, but I got it. "Well," I started. "We should get our souvenirs and get going. We need to get on the road before supper."

Simon let go of Charlie, she stiffly moved a step over, and let Simon dig in his pockets pulling out his wallet. I was surprised the first time he pulled it out. When I was at camp I barley carried any of my belongings that were from the mortal world and her Simon had a credit card, cash, drivers license, and a bunch of other things. I wouldn't have been surprised if he pulled out a punch card for a 'free coffee after twelve cups'.

"Go ahead Eric, I promised you something from the gift shop." Simon looked to Charlie. "You can get something too," he added softly. I saw Charlie's turn a bit pink. Eric's did the same in return. I smirked at how awkward those two could be and started to wander around. Stilson appeared next to the cash register. I didn't remember when he left us, but I was glad he wasn't breathing down my neck. The way Charlie acted, you would have thought he was a convict.

I ended up picking out a t-shirt. It was black with a crossing spear and sword over a shield, with 'Weapons Through the Ages' scrawled across the top. I turned to show Simon, to find him hitting Charlie with a plush sword. I started to laugh and she just gave me a pleading look that said, 'help me'.

Simon finally went to the front where the manager and his employee were waiting to ring us up. Simon set down the plush sword, added my t-shirt plus two more, and then he glanced back at the armor. "Could you add the armor. I have a little brother who would just love something like that."

"Of course, of course!" Manager Stilson had the plastic armor bagged before Simon was even finished paying. He seemed happy that Simon was buying his overpriced trinkets. I would have to do something for Simon.

With the bags in our hands and our happy smiles on our faces. We thanked the Manager and started to make our way to leave.

"Camp Half-Blood," Stilson started. We turned back to him. "I see you boys have that on your shirts. Is that where you became friends?"

I nodded vigorously. "Yeah, Simon here gave me first aid when I cut myself on a swor- some glass. Yeah, someone left out some glass near the lake."

Stilson paused, eyeing us for a moment before turning back to his chipper self. We left, eager to get out of his sight.

"Let's get some rest," Charlie looked grim. "We have a lot of work to do tonight."