Hey guys! Short chapter today. I would've had it done sooner, but I've been sick the past few days so I haven't worked on it since mid-last week. Probably would've been a disaster if I'd tried to write while bone-tired, haha.

Thanks for the reviews! Enjoy!

This ain't about all the friends you made / But the graffiti they write on your grave

Percy could think of a lot of places that were suitable for an important strategy meeting. A friend's apartment, maybe. Or his dad's building. The upper room of the bar he used to work at. A secluded section of the park that didn't see much foot traffic.

Not on that list, however, was the food court of Queens Central Mall at five o'clock on a Thursday evening.

"There's got to be a better rendezvous point than this," he muttered irritably as he quickly sidestepped to avoid a pair of chattering girls pushing carelessly past him. "This place is packed."

Beside him, Silena only shrugged. "Trust me, we're much less likely to be overheard in a crowded area. Besides, this was a good central location for everybody. I told you, Charlie said they don't have a lot of time. You wanted to move quickly, too, right?"

Percy grumbled an affirmative reply as Piper stood up on tiptoe, craning her neck to see above the heads of the bustling crowd.

"I'll go grab some grub," she volunteered. "You guys find a table. Kick some stragglers out, if you have to." She shot them both a salute before shoving between two groups of shoppers and disappearing into the throng.

Surprisingly, Silena and Percy didn't end up having to kick anyone out (not that he would've minded doing so). They were able to snag a round, six-seat table in the left wing of the food court just as a group of teenagers was getting up to leave. They quickly sat down and spread their coats out over the remaining chairs to divert any attempts to steal them.

"So what time are they getting here?" Percy asked, leaning across the table toward Silena and raising his voice so she'd hear him.

Silena checked her phone. "By quarter after," she responded, unlocking the screen and tapping it rapidly with her thumbs. "I'll let Charlie know we're waiting."

Percy nodded and sat back in his chair, folding his arms and turning to lazily scan the crowd. He wasn't sure what to expect from this meeting Silena had set up between them, Beckendorf, and Frank Zhang. Percy knew Beckendorf well enough, but Tony La Rue's illegitimate son was another story entirely. He knew Frank was his age and had been involved in the gang life almost as long as he had. But beyond that, he was going into this blindly. If what Silena said about Frank's distrust in Zeke was true, then he probably didn't have anything to worry about. But still, a nagging voice in the far reaches of his mind kept insisting that the more people knew he was alive and going after his uncle, the more dangerous his movements would become. If this escalated to a full-scale revolution—a civil war within the organization—there was a better-than-average chance things could get messy. Very messy. And with so much at stake, he was determined not to let that happen.

But all of it was riding on this meeting.

After a few minutes, Piper materialized through the mob and dropped onto their table a food tray stacked with baskets of chicken strips and cheese fries, boxes of Chinese food, and five bottles of spring water. She plopped into a chair beside her sister and looked up as Percy shot her a skeptical look.

"What?" she said. "Rich dad, remember? Dig in." She pulled a box of vegetable lo mein toward her and promptly set to work on it, obviously deciding that no further talking was necessary.

"Thanks, Piper," Silena said with a simple smile as she reached for the tray and claimed a water and a box of sesame shrimp. With a shrug, Percy took a chicken basket and they lapsed into silence.

It was another six or seven minutes before Silena's cell phone screen suddenly lit up on the table beside her. She set down her water bottle and picked it up, touching the screen before pressing it to her ear. "Charlie?" she said loudly into it. "You're here? Yeah, I know, I can barely hear you." She stood up and peered over the crowd. "We're by the Chipotle, just head that way. We've got food for you guys. Oh—hey, I see you!" She waved an arm in an arc over her head, stepping up on her toes as her eyes locked onto something in the distance. "You do? Right, see you in a sec." As she lowered her phone, Percy twisted sideways in his seat and searched the edges of his vision until Charles Beckendorf pushed his way into view. Six feet tall and built like a wrestler, he didn't seem to have much difficulty maneuvering the crowd.

As he approached their table and Silena moved to greet him with a kiss and a tight hug, Percy's eyes narrowed when they landed on the person following him—a tall, burly woman with scraggly brown hair and a permanent scowl. People seemed to be giving her a wide berth, dodging around her and shooting her nervous glances as they passed. It was clear she aimed to intimidate, dressed in worn leathers and heavy boots, a bandanna around her neck and studded, fingerless gloves on her oversized hands.

"What are you doing here?" Percy asked in a slightly less-than-friendly tone.

"That coming from our very own Lazarus," Clarisse La Rue replied, lifting an eyebrow but seeming otherwise unconcerned. "I wanted to see if the rumor was true—if you really were back from the dead."

"Rumor?" Percy repeated sharply. "What rumor?"

"She just means what Silena told us," another voice said evenly as a third person came to stand by their table. This guy was taller than both Clarisse and Beckendorf, and was the size of an offensive lineman. He had Tony La Rue's broad shoulders and short-cropped black hair, but the similarities stopped there. His skin was lighter and his brown eyes were narrow and slanted, his face more round. His gaze was alert but not unkind, and though he didn't smile he also didn't look angry or unapproachable. He was dressed in jeans, sneakers, and a dark gray pullover hoodie, blending in with their surroundings a lot better than his half-sister.

"Frank Zhang," he introduced himself, pulling out the empty chair beside Percy and dropping into it. He held out a hand, which Percy shook. "You must be Percy Jackson. I've heard a lot about you."

Percy gave a wry grin and ran a hand through his hair. "Good stuff, I hope."

Frank lifted a shoulder, the corner of his mouth twitching upward. "If you count being dead as good."

"Which brings us to the real story here," Beckendorf said as he sat down between Percy and Silena, prompting Clarisse to claim the last seat between Piper and Frank. Beckendorf plucked a cheese-coated fry from his girlfriend's tray and took a bite of it before pointing the rest at Percy and saying, "You. Spill it."

So for what felt like the millionth time, Percy explained the events of the past few days. Apparently, all Silena had told Beckendorf over the phone was that Percy was back and that he wanted to talk about Zeke, so he had a lot of gaps to fill in. He did his best to hide his reservations as he spoke, telling himself that he needed to appear confident if he was going to convince any of them to help him.

When he finished, Clarisse pounded a fist on the table, knocking over Piper's bottle of water (which thankfully had the cap screwed on) and causing it to roll off the table and onto the floor. Percy expected her to make some jibe about going out of her way for him and his fiancée, but all she said was, "That was low, what Zeke did. Dirt-low. You don't see all of us just goin' around pickin' off people we think are in the way." She waved a gloved hand. "'Honor among thieves', and all that."

"Well said," Beckendorf grunted in agreement. "Olympus is a family. We look out for each other. We don't send assassins and bombers after other members—let alone your own blood. He had no right to go after you, not when you'd done nothing to him." His eyes rose to the ceiling. "Another misguided act."

Frank wrinkled his nose. "Add it to the list."

"Silena told me you guys have had issues before," Percy remembered, interested. "What else has he done since I left?"

"Tough question to answer," Clarisse said wryly. "He's been lax with personal involvement lately—hardly anybody sees him unless they work at the Tower. He's had a bunch of his people on some covert assignment—zero details to us lay folk."

"Looking for me, you think?" Percy suggested dryly with a rueful shake of his head.

"Probably," Beckendorf agreed. "But that's not all that's going on. He's had my dad working around the clock, cranking out equipment—mostly light weapons, but the occasional heavy artillery keeps slipping in. He must be stocking up for something, but I got no clue what."

"Either he's expecting an attack," Frank spoke up, "or he's planning one."

"Whichever it is," Silena said, dark eyebrows knitting together, "it's strange. He hasn't brought Parker or Harley in on any of it. We haven't talked to Harley—you know how busy he always is—and your dad won't say much, but we can tell he's got doubts."

"We can't drag him into this, though," Percy said adamantly. "I'm not starting a war between the division heads. I don't want this any bigger than it needs to be."

"You're talking about going after Zeke," Beckendorf pointed out with a frown. "The leader of the organization. It's plenty big already."

Percy cringed. "I know. I already feel bad about getting you guys involved. But… now that you are…" He let his voice trail off and looked at each of them, asking the unspoken question he knew they all would understand.

Clarisse, Frank, and Beckendorf exchanged unreadable glances. "We… need some time to think about it," Beckendorf decided after a minute.

Percy wrung his hands, fighting back apprehension. "I get that. But I haven't exactly got time. Annabeth and Thalia have got to be in Chicago by now. Hopefully they're biding their time, but I'm not trying to take any chances."

"A few hours, that's it," Beckendorf bargained. "We've got a job tonight, the three of us. Straight from Zeke. If we ditch, he'll know something's up."

"A job?" Percy repeated with a frown. "What kind of job?"

"Deal crash," Clarisse supplied. She scowled over her shoulder as a teenage boy accidentally bumped her from behind, and he quickly scampered away. "There's an exchange in Central Park tonight at midnight, between Cyclops and Medusa. Boss wants us to intercept it."

"Just the three of you? You're kidding, right?"

"Zeke's sending us a back-up squad," Beckendorf explained. "It'll be dangerous, I know, but we can't just say no. Messed up or not, he's still the boss."

"Let me go with you," Percy decided suddenly, barely considering before speaking.

Silena and Beckendorf exchanged skeptical looks. "But," Silena said slowly, "if anybody else finds out you're still alive—"

"They won't," Percy said. "I can keep hidden. Come on, you guys could use some extra cover, right?"

Clarisse grunted. "Can't argue with that."

"Exactly," Percy said, pointing a finger at Clarisse. "Then after it's over, we can… discuss this again."

Silena huffed and shot Percy a glare. "In that case, Piper and I are coming, too. We'll keep an eye on you." Percy opened his mouth to protest, but Silena quickly shot him down. "Frankly, I don't trust you on your own. You'll do something stupid and somebody will see you. You are not getting yourself discovered and ruining this whole thing before it starts."

"Alright, alright," Beckendorf interrupted, flattening his hands on the table in a placating gesture. "You're all in. Happy?"

Piper grinned as she tossed her water bottle in the air and caught it again. "Sweet. Hanging out at home was getting boring." Silena gave a small smile and rolled her eyes.

"All that time on vacation overseas—you better not have gotten rusty, Jackson," Clarisse said with a light smirk.

Percy smiled grimly as he thought back on the hospital incident the previous day. It was true, his time in London was something of a vacation, considering how much it differed from the life he'd been used to back home. But still, when danger had come unexpectedly, it was a little surprising how easily he'd slipped back into his role as the heir to the largest criminal organization in the United States. It was almost like he'd never been gone at all.

With a nonchalant shrug, he glanced across the table at Clarisse and replied, "Guess we'll find out tonight."

So yeah, no meet-up between our heroes just yet. It'll happen eventually, just give me time ;)

On a different note, you guys read Blood of Olympus? I liked it a lot, personally - thought it was way better than House of Hades :D

See ya when I see ya! Later days!

-oMM