Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson or any related characters! Please, please, PLEASE review if you read; all feedback is greatly appreciated. You all are awesome, and thank you for reading my story!

It was tough wrestling the Pegasi out of their premium package stay at the Horse Hotel. According to Blackjack, everyone should stay here for the rest of their lives because there was five-star Pegasus food, an on-call employee that shampoos, conditions, and dries the Pegasi's hair at request. They got their hooves cleaned and shined, they were free to graze whenever they want, and there were multiple Pegasi of all genders, so they all had fun together. Percy convinced them to help them by telling them that he was the one who got them the premium package in the first place.

They only had to fly a couple minutes with Percy as the demigod-edition GPS. Grover, at Percy's request, played a tune on his reed pipes that would make Thalia sleep on the way to the shop. Once he did so, Thalia was out like a light. Percy and Grover grinned at each other and gave each other an air-five. They boomed over to the shop and the Pegasi dove down towards the hills. They were going Mach-level speeds again and Percy noticed a golden glow around all of them, no doubt Hermes' blessing so they don't burn up. Grover was yelling and Percy was screaming as well, but both of them were doing so as if they were on a roller coaster. This time, it was Thalia's snores that were swept up by the wind. The Pegasi landed, and the crew noticed that there was a light rainfall. Percy and Grover dismounted and pulled Thalia off her ride. The rain sprinkled on Percy's skin, sharpening his senses and heightening his awareness.

He thought back to a few months ago, when Leo questioned Percy's credentials to wield as many powers and abilities as he does.

"How come you get all these powers, and people like the children of Hermes or the children of Hephaestus (not speaking about anyone in particular) get very little powers. If anything, they just become gifted at related things. Like children of Hermes are good at stealing and children of Hephaestus are good at building and fixing. But we don't get like fire breath, telepathic communication with donkeys, control over metal, and control over volcanoes! Like, come on! How is that fair?"

Percy hadn't thought it was fair. Annabeth was with Percy at the time and they were lounging on the Argo during one of the Seven's monthly get-togethers. Annabeth had laughed a little bit. "Besides the fact that he's a child of the Big Three? How the demigods' power works is that there is almost like a pool of a gods' genetic power. The more kids a god has, the more that the pool gets depleted, and the less of that pool water that each of the children get to work with. Hermes, for example, has countless children, so his pool water distribution is very low. His children are usually skilled at lying, cheating, and stealing. However, if Hermes only had one child in the past millennia and it was Connor Stoll, then Connor would most likely have super-speed, limited control of the winds, a hypnotic voice, a supernatural skill at thievery, proficiency in every single sport he played, along with the ability to grow wings on whatever he wanted. See what I mean?"

Leo had thought about it for a second. "So if Poseidon had gotten around—sorry Percy—and Percy was one of maybe 50 demigods who lived at the same time as him, his only ability might be that he was a good swimmer? Or that he could breathe underwater?"

Annabeth had nodded. "Exactly."

The store was on top of a large hill, and Percy thought back to when Iris had thrown a muffin at a giant. He remembered that adventure with Frank and Hazel back in the day. For a rainbow goddess, she was pretty tough. It reminded him of Rachel being brave enough to throw a hairbrush at Kronos, Lord of Time. Something was off though; usually the name of the store, Rainbow Organic Foods & Lifestyles, was lit up with either a rainbow in the day or neon lights at night. However, now the store name seemed to be devoid of light, as if someone had unplugged the entire store. Grover played a wake up tune that woke Thalia up quickly. She grinned at the two after she woke up completely. "I got over my fear of sleeping while flying! Not my fear of flying, but my fear of sleeping while in the air!"

Grover hopped up and down. "I can't believe I'm actually about to meet Iris. She is my favorite goddess!"

Thalia made a gagging face. "What about Artemis? I thought she was your favorite?"

Grover started to head towards the store. "They're all nature goddesses, Thalia. Don't discriminate."

Thalia groaned and Percy grinned for a second, then turned towards the store. He didn't feel like he needed to, but just in case, he uncapped Riptide. It felt balanced in his hand, but it almost felt foreign. Percy realized that he was probably terribly out of practice. Grover and Thalia followed suit, taking out their respective knives and spear. They reached the door and Percy counted down silently from three. At one, they pushed the door open. Percy braced himself for the lights, flute music, and the smell of flowers on fire. However, none of that happened. It was still dark, though Percy could see the usual wide aisles lined with bins of nuts and dried fruit, baskets of apples, and clothing racks with tie-dyed shirts and dresses. Thalia picked up one the dresses and made a face. "Looks like anything your friend Rachel would be interested in?"

Percy ignored the question and looked up. The ceiling was covered in wind chimes, but they stayed deathly still. No candles were on, and Percy caught whiff of a familiar scent. On cue, Grover asked, "Do you guys smell that?"

"Ichor," both Percy and Thalia said simultaneously. Ichor was the golden blood of all immortal beings such as gods and Titans. The grips on their weapons tightened as they continued to go through the store. Percy followed his nose to the produce aisle. Grover sighed and muttered how he loves kiwis, but Percy froze at the sight in the produce aisle. Thalia saw it and closed her eyes.

The dead body of Fleecy was lying on the ground.

Fleecy had the same yellow t-shirt, lace-up boots and cargo shorts as she did in she and Percy's first encounter, but it seemed to have been stained by ichor that had flowed from a wound in her neck. Fleecy was Iris' assistant, the one in charge of the Iris-Messaging once Iris got tired of doing so herself. Thalia and Percy bent down next to Fleecy's body as Grover reached for a shelf for support. He started to gag. Percy thought back to the last time he was in this shop; he was so sick that he could not function properly. Grover walked away and screamed once more. Percy jogged over and saw the dead body of Iris on the ground. There was a pool of dried ichor that stained the floorboards underneath the body. Iris had an identical wound in her neck and her lifeless eyes were staring off into space. One of the strangest parts of this image was that her hands were balled up; Percy knew that Iris and Fleecy were non-violent immortals; they only fought in self-defense. Percy glanced over at Thalia who was still at Fleecy's body. She stood and strode over to Percy and Grover.

"This wasn't an accident; it was an assassination. Two wounds to the neck, perfect sword intrusions. It's impossible to fight two immortals and get them both with the same move. This adversary must have been sneaky, or fast, or something."

Percy looked at the bodies again. He suddenly felt anger in his heart; Fleecy helped him out when he was suffering from his giant allergies, and Iris had ordered him some green tea with organic honey, wheat germ, and her medicinal powder number five. Frank had promised Percy that he would bring Iris-Messaging to the Roman camp in return so that business would double for Fleecy and Iris. These people had helped him and now they were dead. Probably because of him.

Percy shook his head. "How does an immortal even die?"

Thalia tilted her head. "I don't know. You would need a special weapon, I assume, something that can impose death upon anything, even overriding natural laws of godhood."

Grover took a shaky breath. "We need to bury them. This is not natural, them just lying in the store like his. Help me take them outside."

They picked up the bodies and took them behind the convenience store. The rain was coming down hard now, with droplets as big as pen caps. Since the store overlooked a hill, there was a large perimeter view of the whole grassland, which would've made for a beautiful shot if it wasn't storming outside. They placed the two side by side on the grass. Grover designated different tasks; Thalia was going to go and get as much fruit as she possibly can while Percy's job was to grab the best shirts, wind chimes, candles, and flowers he could find. Grover was going to find the best tune for a rainbow goddess' burial.

After about ten minutes, Percy and Thalia met back up with Grover and they distributed the fruit, shirts, wind chimes, candles, and flowers around and on the bodies. Grover started to play his reed pipes, a slow, sad song that matched the pouring rain. As he played, vines started to erupt from the ground and wrap around the bodies. Thalia looked up as the music played and made eye contact with Percy. He put his head down and listened to the music, wallowing in his own misery. It was his fault that this all happened.

Then, the tune changed. The melody turned from something very sad to something that was dramatic and grand. The transition resulted in a swarm of bugs coming up from the ground. Thalia and Percy flinched when they saw it, but they saw that those weren't just any insects. They were fireflies. The flies glowed and darkened on rhythm of the song, and they rested on each of the vines. The vines now covered the entire bodies, and were illuminated by the yellow-orange glow of the fireflies. As the tune reached its climax, the fireflies started to change colors! They glowed all different colors of the rainbow in succession, so much so that it seemed like a swarm of bugs sent by Iris herself. They pulsed with the rhythm. Percy thought about Cyrene and he promised himself and everyone he knew that he was going to find her.

Then the tune changed one last time, into something beautiful and peaceful. The fireflies crawled into the vine coffins, and the inside glowed with a faint yellow-orange. Leaves and grass flowed over the makeshift funeral, and the rain slowed to a drizzle. Percy realized that his feelings were changing with the music. He felt at peace now, and on a whim, he reached out towards the coffin. Thalia looked up to see what he was doing. There was a slight tugging in his gut, and the drizzle of rain began to collect around the bodies. Percy curved his hand and the drizzle exploded into a large column of mist around the bodies. The mist continued to swirl until a natural rainbow appeared. Thalia smiled through red eyes and Grover concluded his tune. The ground seemed to swallow the bodies.

Percy had another idea and pulled Thalia into the store. They grabbed one half of a marble sphere and put it face down on a stone table. The two of them lifted the table and put it over the two bodies. Thalia turned the half sphere over. Percy uncapped Riptide and stabbed a hole through the sphere and table. He gave Thalia a thumbs up and she took multiple crystals and tie-dye shirts out of her pockets. They spread out the crystals over the table around the half sphere, as well as put two folded T-shirts on either side of the half sphere. Percy stuck out his hand, and after a tugging of his gut, water burst from the ground, bursting through the hole of the table and the half sphere, making a makeshift fountain. That, plus the glowing rainbow crystals and the tie-dye T-shirts, made an altar personalized to Iris herself. A shrine. Frank had mentioned that Iris was upset that she did not have an identity or any shrines dedicated to her. Percy hoped that this humble shrine was enough to convince her that she was her own person, and she was a good one.

Grover sighed. "Without rain, there would be no rainbow. We all should strive to be the rainbow in life's storms."

When Percy admitted that he wanted to go see Nereus to Thalia and Grover, they didn't blink. They just asked him when he wanted to go, which Percy appreciated. The three of them had decided to go to Nereus first, and then report back to Camp Jupiter. The commute to San Francisco Bay was silent between the three adventurers. There wasn't much to say, and frankly, that was okay. Percy was glad that no one was making jokes or trying to force conversation; their presence was enough support for each other. The Pegasi even seemed to pick up on the mood and were tacit during the ride.

They reached the Bay and they dismounted, talking strategy as to how to catch Nereus. Once they agreed on the strategy, they split up. Percy walked along the Bay, using his heightened wolf senses to smell. Using these, he smelled Nereus immediately. This time, he was on the docks, shirtless and tanning his back. He didn't seem to see Percy as he approached, but once he got within ten feet of Nereus, the old sea deity scrambled up and dipped. Nereus sprinted for his life as Percy started to run after him. Percy continued to call Nereus' name, and when Nereus turned back for the third time, a flash of lightning caused Thalia to materialize in front of him. He turned around and ran right into Thalia as if she was a brick wall. He scrambled up, but Thalia had backed up and leveled her spear towards him. Nereus turned around and saw Grover approaching him with his large knives. He saw Percy approaching from another angle. They had made a triangle around him. Trapped, with no place to go, he sighed as Riptide got pushed under his chin.

Percy cocked his head. "You're captured. Let me ask my one question."

Nereus spit. "Go ahead, demigod. One question."

Percy blanched. Cyrene was his main focus, but if he could find Annabeth, he could get some really valuable help on this case. However, his mother would never forgive him if he found Annabeth, but did not find Cyrene.

"Where is Cy-"

Thalia interjected. "I need addresses, coordinates, cities, and states. No vagueness and as clear as possible. Include any information you think will help us track them better. Understood?"

Nereus nodded as much as he could with a sword at his neck. Thalia shocked him with her spear. "SWEAR ON THE STYX!"

He cried out loud, "I SWEAR! I SWEAR, DAMN!"

Thunder rumbled in the distance. She put her spear up. "Where are Cyrene Jackson and Annabeth Chase right now?"

Percy stared at Thalia. He could not believe that she had taken his question, but she had done something that he'd never contemplated; she asked one question that had more than one answer.

Nereus answered immediately. "They both are at the full-scale replica of the original Parthenon in Tennessee. It's located at 2500 West End Avenue, in Nashville, Tennessee. The zip code is 37203. The coordinates are 36 degrees North and 86 degrees West. They're scheduled to be there until tomorrow afternoon!"

Percy couldn't believe it. The Parthenon? The Parthenon was a temple on the Athenian acropolis of Greece, dedicated to Athena. Annabeth had told Percy by the Gateway Arch in St. Louis that she always wanted to see it one day. Though this was a replica, Percy has something concrete: he finally has a location, and a time frame. Percy nodded and capped Riptide. "Thank you, Nereus. For everything."

Nereus rubbed his neck. "Yeah, yeah. But kid?"

Percy looked at Nereus, who seemed to have a genuine expression of sadness on his face. "You don't want to pull this thread. This'll only result in hurt for you."

Percy couldn't believe Nereus cared for his well-being, especially since he was the kid of some 'upstart.' He looked down at his lethal pen. "Cyrene is my baby sister, and Annabeth is my girlfriend. They, along with my mother are my three most important women in my world right now. I will not give up on this mission to rescue them. Whoever took them-"

He clenched the pen in his hand. "-I will kill them with my bare hands."

Grover made a choking sound in his throat. Percy felt Thalia's eyes on him. Nereus sighed and looked out to the Bay. "Kid, betrayals happen all the time. Jason betrayed Medea in spectacular fashion. Leaving and denying his wife and the mother of his children for some king's daughter who was fifteen years younger? That's cold. But listen to me. When someone betrays you, what you sometimes have to do is to get vengeance in a spectacular fashion."

Thalia raised an eyebrow. "Like Medea killing their children?"

Nereus waved his hand. "Semantics. But do you understand what I'm saying, kid?"

Percy shook his head. "No…why are you telling about betrayals? Who betrayed me?"

Nereus stared at Percy and he noticed a bit of green in the old deity's eyes. "Only one question per capture," Nereus stated miserably. He walked towards the sea and jumped in, turning into a seal and swimming away.

Percy left the encounter with Nereus with a few answers, but more questions. Annabeth and Cyrene were both at the Parthenon replica in Tennessee. They were going to be there until the afternoon of the next day. The kidnappings, and probably the murder of Iris and Fleecy were all related. One person, or god, or Titan, or monster did all of this. But somebody betrayed him. Nereus would not go out of his way to lie to Percy about it; he has no horse in this race.

One thing was for sure to Percy, though, whoever betrayed him would pay.