AN: I was in such a hurry to get the last chapter up that I forgot to do this- Thanks to everyone who gave me suggestions on which other demigod to include. In the end I didn't want to go with Nico simply because I have a hard time writing stories about him and Percy where they don't actually end up together. Besides, I think Malcolm will fit in really nicely with what I have planned. Anyways, enjoy this next chapter!

"73 bottles of nectar on the wall, 73 bottles of nectar!"

"Why is he so obnoxious?" Jason groaned.

"The sad thing is he actually sings really well, you know, being the god of music and all. It might sound good if he wasn't doing the stupid nectar song on rotation," Hermes answered.

"Might being the key word in that sentence," Malcolm added.

Percy didn't say anything, because she couldn't hear them. She had put in her noise cancelling headphones the minute Apollo started singing (and people said she wasn't good at planning ahead). She was actually kind of glad that Hermes hadn't let her take his place up front, because now she had the entire third row of seats to herself. She laid back, cranked up her music, and sighed happily.

"What are you smiling for?" Jason demanded.

"Yep, I totally agree." Percy yelled back.

"I don't think she can hear you," Malcolm informed him helpfully.

"Yes. Thank you for that information."

Hermes glanced in the back. "Maybe we should make a pit stop. Everybody seems to be getting a little tense. Apollo, land the car. APOLLO!"

"68 bottles of… huh? Oh great, we're stopping! You know what that means: snack food!"

"Maybe I should drive from now on. You know, let you have a break. You could go take a nap in the back. Waaaaay in the back."

"Aw, thanks little buddy. You're so thoughtful. We're here!" he bellowed over his shoulder.

Jason looked outside the window. Where before there had been clouds and the occasional frightened bird, now there was a dilapidated gas station.

"So where are we?" he asked, a little scared of what the answer would be.

"We're not far from Chicago. We're a fifth of the way to Alaska, with approximately 3,000 miles left until we reach the border." Hermes said. When he saw the boys staring at him he huffed. "I am the god of roads and travel."

"And thieves."

"Yes, well done, Apollo. Everybody out!" Apollo raced inside with a big grin on his face, and the demigods followed behind more slowly, shaking their heads. Hermes chuckled when Percy stayed exactly where she was, bobbing her head and humming.

"Percy. Percy Jackson. Percy Jackson, Daughter of Poseidon. PERCY!"

"Huh? Oh, we stopped. Food!" She pulled her headphones out and tried to climb over the seat back in front of her. Of course, she caught her foot on one the headrests and ended up crashing down in a big heap.

"Do you need any help?" Hermes asked with a gigantic evil grin on his face.

"No I do not," Percy twisted and flailed until all her limbs were in the right place. "So tell me, oh master of travel, how much farther do we have to go?"

Hermes smiled a little less evilly now, happy that she remembered his title. "You really don't want to know. Also, I may have given Apollo your seat."

Percy looked betrayed. "Why would you do something like that?"

"Well, if I know Apollo as well as I think I do, he'll be in there right now consuming as much candy as he can physically stuff in his face. That means he will be extremely hyper for the next 30 minutes or so, and then he'll crash for two hours. We don't want him to be behind the wheel while either of those phases run their course, now do we? Which means I'll have to drive, and I want him as far away as possible until the sugar wears off."

"He offered to let me drive once."

"Now that's just irresponsible."

"Hey!"

"Well it is. Letting any demigod drive the sun chariot is not a good idea. If it makes you feel better, I'll let you call shotgun."

"Really?" Percy started grinning, too. "In that case, SHOTGUN!"

Malcolm was frowning, staring at the front seat where Percy was laughing at something Hermes just said. Jason was looking into the third seat, where Apollo had finally passed out, a happy smile on his face.

"I can't believe he ate two whole packages of Oreos. Plus all those Reese's and Kit Kats." Jason shook his head in begrudging admiration.

"Why is Percy sitting up front?" Malcolm asked, completely ignoring him. "Apollo should be up there."

"Well he is a god, I suppose, so maybe sugar doesn't affect him as much as it does us."

"I mean Apollo's a god; the gods should stick together. They shouldn't go getting all chummy with the demigods when they'll leave again the second the quest is over."

"Not to mention that six-pack of Coke he drank. That was impressive how he chugged them one right after the other."

"You can't trust the gods, they're not reliable."

"I mean I thought I was going to have to decapitate him there for a while, man, he was hyper. But now he's so quiet. I wonder what he would be like on Mountain Dew."

"I'm glad you agree with me," Malcolm finished happily. "We should talk with Percy about it later. We do this quest, and then we go home. No immortal pen pals. It's just not good for either party. I think I'm going to read a little now, try and figure out what we're facing."

"It's settled; we'll slip Apollo some Mountain Dew and see what happens. You know, you're actually a pretty cool guy, Malcolm. I think I'll get a little shut eye now, while it's actually quiet."

So the conversation ended with Malcolm having no idea that he'd just been enlisted to give Apollo dangerous amounts of caffeine, and Jason having no idea he'd just been recruited to stage an intervention.

Even in the sun chariot, it took them almost an entire day to reach the Alaskan border. Mostly because when Apollo woke up, he insisted on driving. He kept making pit stops, the longest of them in the province of Saskatchewan, where he managed to find a junky tourist shop and bought everything in the store that had the word Saskatchewan on it. Then he spent the rest of the drive repeating "Saskatchewan. Saskatchewan. Saskatchewan." He also kept poking Hermes with one of the yellow and green flags he had bought.

Jason had claimed the third seat; Percy even lent him her headphones just because she didn't want to hear him complain any more. Malcolm was reading up on little known monsters, and he kept showing Percy what he found. Surprisingly, it was really interesting. Percy had found most of the Athena kids (including Annabeth sometimes) to be really condescending, but Malcolm came across as someone who just loved reading and learning, and he was a really good story teller. He reminded her a bit of Paul, actually. That thought left her as she leaned forward to hear about taraxippoi, spirits that frighten horses.

They finally touched down in the middle of a National Park, and everyone piled out of the car. They grabbed their bags and walked the short distance to the border in uncharacteristic silence. Even Apollo looked somber as he turned and waved his hand, making the sun chariot disappear.

"Well, this is it." Jason finally broke the silence. "Last chance for you guys to use your powers."

Apollo and Hermes looked at each other uneasily. They both knew exactly how serious this was.

"No time like the present," Percy said, and shoved both the gods into Alaska.