A/N: yay! Chapter four! So, a reminder that this chapter is taking place at the same time as chapter three is. :) Enjoy! Oh, and for those wondering, this is not Grover/Annabeth. Nope. They have a more sibling-like relationship. This is just so you know.

***I have put a Modern Family reference I here. I'll give you a hint- Ria says it. Good luck! :)

Percy's POV

It was weird. As soon as I heard voices around me, I knew where I was. The infirmary. Again. Wait. What happened? I couldn't really remember, and that scared me. "Ai he's coming to, you should have that stuff ready for him." said a voice. I recognized it. Who was it? It was a female voice... an accent. Man, I did not like this one bit. I like having my memories. Even the bad ones. At least I remember them! I didn't remember anything about this day. Wait. Something... something big was happening.

"Perseus, can you hear me?" asked the same voice. Who was that? I slowly opened my eyes. Everything was a bit blurry, but it wasn't bad. I saw a girl sitting on a stool beside my bed. Something told me that I knew her, but I couldn't remember her name. I looked her in the eyes- and then I remembered her. "It's Percy..." I mumbled.

Ria. Ria... something. I remembered that I only got her last name once, therefore, I forgot what it was. Oh the irony.

"Do you remember what happened?" she asked. "You seemed to have trouble remembering me, so that's why I'm asking." I thought back to when I woke up this morning. I couldn't even remember what happened then. I didn't like this. Did I mention that? "No. I don't. I remember what happened the day before yesterday, but, nothing yesterday." I said. Oh crap. I just realized that this must be what Ria feels like everyday. She doesn't remember her entire past. Actually, it must be worse than this.

I sat up and rubbed my eyes to try and make the blurriness go away. When I looked at Ria, she almost seemed, ashamed of something. Maybe it was what had to do with what happened? She was holding a cup of ambrosia, and thank gosh for that. I felt weak. I wasn't exactly in pain, just weak and tired. Although, maybe the pain would come later if I didn't drink that ambrosia she was holding. I think she was debating whether or not to tell me what happened. I decided to do my best at asking what was wrong, without sounding like a jerk. It um, surprisingly happened quite often.

"Hey, uh, are you-" she suddenly reached out and grabbed my hand, and gave me the ambrosia.

Suddenly I remembered everything.

Everything from when I woke up, to us arguing during my training, to how I ended up in the infirmary. Again. Man, if this keeps happening, I'll miss the food festival in Manhattan. That's just my life though, isn't it? I tried to ignore the tingly feeling in my hand when Ria let go.

"Oh man, I remember everything..." I sighed. I took a sip of the sweet ambrosia and laid back in the bed. "So, does anyone know where that ***** went?" I asked. Ria gave me a look. "What?" I asked.

"You mean, witch, right?" she asked. We had a moment where we just looked at each other awkwardly. "Uh, yeah. That's um, what I said. So..." I said. Why did this have to be so awkward! "Uh, so where are the others?" I asked. Although, judging by the look on her face, I wasn't sure I wanted to know the answer. She took a deep breath before explaining.

"Um, well, after we visited you here once the doctors fixed you up, Chiron called us in. He explained that there was in fact someone threatening us, and said that there were three items that we had to find." she said. Great. Another quest. "They are spread out around the world, and they were each last seen in Rome, Rio de Janeiro, and Singapore. In order to save time, Chiron split us up into groups of two. Annabeth and Grover went to Singapore, and Tyson and Clarisse went to Rome." she paused. Awe crap, that meant I was stuck with her. As if it wasn't awkward enough. "Grover and Annabeth have to find a gem that can bring the dead to life, and Clarisse and Tyson have to find a pocket watch that allows the user to time travel. We have to search for this." she pulled out a sheet of paper with a bunch of writing on it, and a drawing.

"A feather?" I asked.

"This feather holds the power of the wind. Chiron says it's very powerful. If it fell into the wrong hands it could spell disaster." said Ria. Oh, now it made sense.

"Hold on, if what we're looking for is in Rio, how does he expect us to get there?"

Ria pulled out two maps. One was of Rio and the other was of... wow, secret portals? I didn't know those existed. "Chiron said that very few people know these portals exist," said Ria. Oh, that's why. "The gods created them when they were travelling the world, and thought they would create an exchange camper thing. But then the whole thing with the Romans happened, and the idea was forgotten." explained Ria. I almost wish it wasn't. I'd love to see the world someday when I wasn't on a quest. Then Ria pulled out a couple of pearls that were attached to a bracelet and a necklace.

"These are communication devices. You just say the name of one of the other four, and a holographic image of them appears on the closest flat surface. Just watch, it's easy." said Ria. She handed me one of the pearls. "Perseus Jackson." she said. No sooner after, my image appeared on the bed from her pearl, and her image appeared on the bed from mine. "And you just talk normally, and the pearl apparently knows when the conversation has ended." said Ria. Huh. Surprisingly much easier than a phone, and faster. I was sure that these would sell out in the mortal world.

"So we'll leave first thing tomorrow morning. The doctors want to keep you here another night, and they said I could help." said Ria. I silently sighed. I know it sounds mean, but I just didn't like her. "Uh, that's okay I don't-" I started, but she interrupted.

"Don't be such a baby. I can easily heal the smaller cuts." she said. "Besides, we're going to spend the next few days together, so we might as well start now." I sighed. But why did it have to be her?

After a few minutes of arguing about where we'd look first, we got into another argument about her healing me again. I didn't understand why Chiron paired us up. We didn't get along, and we kept arguing each others decisions. No doubt, we were the worst team in history. Well, actually, I'm not sure if Tyson and Clarisse were doing any better. I was pretty sure that Clarisse would lose it sooner or later. I'm also pretty sure my dad was disappointed in me... He hasn't said anything to me all day. Not that he does everyday, but still.

"It's fine, it doesn't need-"

"Perseus, just let me-"

"It's Percy, and-"

Without warning, she went to the other side of the bed, grabbed my left hand and held it down on the bed so I could interfere. She then proceeded to work with the flowers that were on the table beside it. She stretched the stem of one of the small flowers out until it reached the cut on my cheek. Ria placed her hand on the flower and pressed down lightly. For some reason, I couldn't move. I figured that had something to do with her power. I also decided that the tingly feeling I got on my face, was because of her power. But then, I was confused as to why I felt it in my hand she was holding. The feeling in my cheek followed her hand as it slid down to the cut on my neck. I could have sworn she was glowing a little. Maybe that was just part of her power. Yeah that's it. After a few more seconds, she stopped using her healing powers.

"There." she said. Then she slapped me in the head. Probably for being stubborn. I tried to ignore the tingly feeling that was still there.

So that's pretty much how the rest of the day was. Annoying.

The next morning, I woke up early and walked out of the infirmary. I felt normal again. "Perseus!" Ria called. Strangely, the only thing that came to mind as I waved was, "what was with her and bright colours?" I tried to ignore the thought.

"Percy, uh, hi." I said quickly before she slapped me again. But she slapped me anyway. She did that whenever I corrected her, and it wasn't just when she said Perseus. It was just in general. I had a feeling she loved causing me harm, which was a bit disturbing to me. This gave me the feeling that she didn't like me either. I took out the map of the portals. Beneath the camp. That was weird, that's all it said. Beneath the camp could mean anything. "Hey Perseus are you coming?" called Ria. She was already passed me, and on her way to- the Big House? Why there? I ran to catch up to her. "It's Percy!" Yes, she hit me. "So, you wanna tell me why the Big House?" I asked. It was probably harsher that I meant it to be. She didn't answer. Apparently not. We went the rest of the way in an awkward silence.

It was almost as if she knew exactly where to go. I followed her through the hallways of the Big House, until we came to an old office. In the basement. Oh, duh. Of course! Where else would the portals be? In no time, Ria had led me straight to the door of portals. Seriously, the door said portals on it.

Inside the room, were rows of doors all leading to somewhere different in the world. Where was Rio? We had no idea. They weren't even in alphabetical order! There wasn't even a colour scheme. Just random names, random colours, and a large sleeping hell hound- WHAT THE HELL!

"Uh, do you see what I see?" I asked Ria. She turned, and almost freaked out. She gasped and I instantly covered her mouth with my hand. There was no need to wake up the hound. We didn't need any trouble. Knowing that Ria wouldn't scream or anything, I removed my hand. Again, I tried ignored the tingly feeling. What was with that? Hades had some explaining to do to Zeus and the other gods and goddesses. That was one of his creatures after all. "If we stay quiet, it won't wake up." I said.

"Perseus, I see our door." whispered Ria. She pointed down the first hallway to a purple door with a red doorknob. "It's Percy." I said, and glanced back at the hound- only to find it not there. "Wait. The hound, it's-" I suddenly heard growling behind us. Awe come on, why couldn't there just be one moment of my life where I'm not in danger?

At first neither us, or the dog did anything. The thing only growled as if it were warning us not to go through our door that it was guarding. "Well, I guess we don't have to whisper anymore." I said. Ria hit me on the arm pretty hard. "Ow!" I said as quietly as I could. "What?"

The dog barked at us, but it still didn't do anything else. "I have an idea." said Ria. She started to back up, so I followed. We backed up until the end of the hallway, and went into the one next to the one we needed. I took out Riptide as quietly as I could. We walked slowly down to the other end of the hallway. We were going to try and sneak up on the dog from behind it. We almost made it! If only the dog hadn't turned around. The hell hound barked a bunch of times at us, and looked ready to pounce.

Suddenly Ria got in front of me, and kicked the dog in the head with her heel. "Let's go, let's go, let's go!" shouted Ria. She shoved me through the portal to Rio and we were soon safe. We took a moment to calm down after the hound. "You know I could have-" but Ria interrupted me.

"But you didn't, so I did." she said. She brought out the map of Rio. "Where should we start?" she asked.

"I say we start with some food-"

"You're worse than Grover!"

Just then said goat man's image appeared from her pearl. Oops. "Uh, hey guys. Now's not exactly a good time. See- Annabeth wait! Sorry, I gotta go stop her from breaking and entering into a rich person's home! See ya!" Grover said quickly. Then he disappeared.

"Okay. That was weird even for him. And Annabeth. So I guess we have to watch ourselves when we say their names." I said. There was another joyful awkward moment of silence. "So, where's the nearest restaurant?" I said. Ria sighed. "What? I missed breakfast, so I'm hungry." Ria rolled her eyes, and looked as though she was resisting another sigh. She dug around in her big purse, and pulled out a... banana? She handed it to me. "There. Eat." she said, and went back to looking at the map.

"So- so you just have a banana in your purse?" I asked. I started eating the fruit anyhow. I really was starving. Ria scoffed. "You don't know much about women do you Perseus?" she said, smiling. This time I sighed. "We keep all the small things we need in our purses." she paused. "Including weapons." I almost choked. Weapons? I guess I had to watch my back and not tick her off any more than I already do...

"You know that I could just knock you out cold in a second right Perseus?" said Ria.

"It's Percy, and I can defend myself, and I do know stuff about- uh, never mind. Where are we going to first?" I asked. I thought this conversation might head to a weird place, so I changed it. Ria's face scrunched up in thought. "Well, we are looking for an ancient feather. It could either be hidden in the local zoo, or in a museum- or in the dark and dangerous jungle where there is said to be spirits that haunt it and are related to ancient times." she said. There was a pause. Then we said two very similar, yet different things at the same time.

"Let's go to the jungle-"

"I say the jungle."

Grover's POV

So note to self, when in Singapore or travelling with Annabeth- don't let her eat spicy food. She gets a very strange reaction. Sure, she says she's fine. But her brain turns to mush. Too bad I didn't know that until after we went to that fantastic restaurant. Who knew miss brainy pants would have such a weird reaction to spicy food? It made me wonder if all Athena's children have the same reaction. I might want to let Chiron know. Anyways, since we ate at that place for a quick lunch Annabeth's been... oh what's the word I'm looking for? Weird doesn't really cut it, we're all weird every now and then. What word is it...

Then I'm whisked out of my train of thought at the sight of Annabeth... breaking into an abandoned building?! "Annabeth!" I whispered loudly. I ran over to her and dragged her away from the building. "What in the name of Hades were you doing?" I asked hastily. She raised her crowbar- I have no idea where she found it- unintentionally near my face as she started to explain. I grabbed it from her just to be safe. "Well, I was- hey!" she whined when I took the crowbar. She made a grab for it, but I was too tall for her so I held it up high above her head. As I had dragged her away earlier, I made sure that we were hidden from the other people. "Ugh. Fine. Okay, I just saw the building. So then I figured, hey if I wanted to hide a precious gem, why not take it to an abandoned building? It's genius!" she said. Oh boy. This was not Annabeth Chase. The girl I know, would have thought of the obvious fact that it wouldn't be in some random building. She would have also thought of the safety factor!

Just then, with perfect timing, Ria and Percy's image appeared from my pearl. Why did people keep calling me? "Uh, hey guys. Now's not exactly a good time. See- Annabeth wait! Sorry, I gotta go stop her from breaking and entering a rich person's home! See ya!" I gave their confused looks a wave, and ended the call. I ran after Annabeth who took the time to find another crowbar- where did she find these things? I found her walking up behind a very tall and pricy looking house. I was seriously thinking about calling up Chiron and asking if this was an Athena cabin thing, or just an Annabeth thing. I was hoping for the second one of course.

"Grover! I got this! Just let me break in and find the gem-" she started. I shook my head and grabbed her second crowbar from her.

"No more crowbars. No more breaking and entering." I said very sternly. Annabeth pouted like a little kid, crossed her arms, and sat herself down on the grass. "You're no fun." she mumbled. Seriously? I was going to have to deal with this the whole- however long her reaction lasted for? Forget it. I guess I'd just have to think back to when we were kids for the time being. Man, why did I have to be a sucker for Laksa? Oh well.

"Annabeth, breaking and entering can get us into very, very bad trouble with the cops. You don't want to get into trouble and get a time out do you?" I said. It wouldn't exactly be a time out, but obviously Annabeth wasn't in the right mind set to come to that conclusion. She pouted for a few more seconds and glared at me. Sheesh, a part of me wondered if she was really like this as a kid sometimes. Oh what was I saying- uh, thinking? At least all kids were like this at some point in time, duh. Even me. I still remember my reaction when my Uncle Ferdinand took away my favourite toy because I did something bad.

"No." she grumbled. I sighed in relief. I wondered if Athena ever had to deal with this. "Okay. So you have to stick with me, you can't just go wondering off to break into some place. Got it?" I said. Annabeth glanced away, still pouting with her arms crossed. Then she sighed in defeat. "Fine." she grumbled. I sighed in relief. Thank gosh. Yep, no more spicy food for Annabeth.

Tyson's POV (The day before Ria and Percy leave.)

Clarisse and I stared at the door in shock at what had just happened. We had just been pushed through the wrong portal by a hell hound! One of Hades minions! This was not good. We didn't even know which door we went through. We could be anywhere in the world! Anywhere but Rome, where we were suppose to be. Clarisse walked up to the door. She grabbed the door knob and tried to open it. The key word being tried. "No." she said. She kept trying. "No. No, no, no! No! This isn't happening! No! No- no! This- this has to- this can't be happening! Come on! Open you stupid door! Open! No!" she shouted. Uh oh. I was stuck somewhere in the world that wasn't camp or Rome, with Clarisse who was failing to keep it cool. This was not good!

What was I suppose to do? How could I calm her down? I didn't know Clarisse. I had just met her. I had no idea what other people did to calm her down! If they ever did. She seemed like a tough girl most of the time. One that rarely needed someone's help in calming down. This just happened to be one of those rare times. But sadly I figured it was too late to say something stupid like "calm down," or "don't panic." So, instead I said the first thing that came to mind.

"It's okay, we'll fix this. It'll be alright." I said. Well, crap. I mentally slap myself in the face. That was probably just as stupid as the other two. Clarisse suddenly stops fiddling with the door knob, and gave me the coldest, most frightening glare I have ever received. "Okay? Alright?! How can you even say that! We're stuck somewhere that isn't Rome, or even camp! What if there isn't another portal here? What if this is the only one and the only way to access it is by waiting til dawn for it to open! And what about that Hell Hound? What does Hades think he's doing? Does it even belong to Hades?" she said. She then began to ramble on in a slight panic mode. I repeat, uh oh. There were only two ways of calming her down that came to mind. Both would probably get me killed by her. But one was much worse than the other, so I went with the second choice.

I punched her in the face, not hard mind you, but just enough to get her to stop talking and breath.

She instantly stopped just as I had thought she would. But the glare that I had thought would come afterwards, didn't come at all. She just kind of... stared at me. Maybe no one has punched her in the face before? Clarisse seemed to be a pretty good warrior, so she could have easily dodged it if she had been paying attention. So I guess it's possible that it's never happened before. But soon after there was an awkward silence. I regretted punching her and not doing what I had first planned. The first plan was to kiss her on the lips. The results would have been me getting beaten up. I would have gladly taken that over the awkward silence. It was deafening. I decided to try and break the silence.

"U-um, Clarisse? Uh..." I couldn't form a sentence though. There was this, weird feeling in the air. Along with the awkwardness of course. That was still there. I wondered what Clarisse was thinking... Although I had a pretty good idea. It was probably something along the lines of: "What the Hades just happened?" Well, it was either that, or she was trying to decide what was the best way to kill me. I awkwardly glanced away for a second. She wasn't saying anything. I couldn't figure out if that was a good thing, or a bad thing. But for the time being, I went with the second one. I cleared my throat. I hated this silence. I liked it better when she was speaking. Even if it were mostly insults towards my brother and I. It would be so much better than this!

Clarisse finally blinked and cleared her throat. "Um... We should uh, find out where we are yeah." she finally said. No more silence! I silently thanked the Gods for that. Clarisse walked past me and up the stairs at the end of the portal tunnel. I followed. What we saw next, didn't exactly bring us any good news. We peaked out of the trap door to the world above us. There was one lonely sign next to the door. It turned out we were in a field just outside the nearest town.

In China. The nearest town, being Beijing. This was most definitely NOT Rome, Italy. We quickly got out of the portal tunnel and looked around. Yep, we were in a field.

"AWE CRAP!" shouted Clarisse, breaking my train of thought. "China? Really! Well, I guess we either look for another portal, or wait for this one to reopen at dawn. Dammit, that means we'll loose a day."

"Wait. Beijing is twelve hours ahead of New York." I said, looking at the portal map. Apparently it changes your location as you travel. Cool. "Yeah? So? Oh, what are you going to do about your um, eye?" asked Clarisse. Oh yeah. Right. "Oh, right, I forgot that Chiron gave me this mist stuff to spray on it to blend in. But I wasn't going to use it until we arrived at our destination so it didn't get wasted." I said. Clarisse nodded. I couldn't tell if she was impressed, or just annoyed that we weren't in Rome. "I was also going to say that since Beijing is twelve hours ahead of New York, we don't have to wait til dawn. That is if the portals are set to New York's time. But it wouldn't hurt to try, then we'll only have to wait twelve hours, instead of twenty four." I explained.

Clarisse stared at me. Another awkward silence filled the air. If only I knew whether or not she was impressed or not! Man, I hate this. I almost wish I could have gone with someone else. But, I decided that if I go with her, I might be able to stop her from bullying my brother. And the others and I for that matter. Not being able to stand this silence, I broke it.

"So. What are you thinking right now?" I asked. Clarisse blinked out of her stupor.

"I was thinking that since we only get to have one day here in China- we should do some exploring." she said smoothly.

"Exploring, huh? I have always wanted to try actual Chinese food." I commented. Clarisse smirked as I sprayed myself with the Mist, and we started heading towards the big city. This whole trip was going to be more interesting than I thought.

A/N: Uh oh, looks like Percy and Ria aren't off to a great start, Annabeth's acting nuts, and Clarisse and Tyson are in Beijing when they're suppose to be in Rome! What could happen next?

Well, there's chapter four! :)

R & R please!

Come on, I know you want to. ;)

How about now?

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