When my vision cleared, the first thing I saw was Easton helping Kezi onto the roof. The second: the bloody knife in her hand.

When I asked Kezi why she stabbed the guy, she sheathed her knife and looked at me straight on, very seriously, and said, "I've had enough guys try to kill me. My daughter doesn't deserve that in the slightest."

I decided it wasn't a good idea to mess with Kezi, especially when she was pregnant.

Kezi turned and watched as the three remaining figures shoved Nico and Athan down the alley and into a dark vehicle. Athan hung limp between two of them. Kezi's face became completely void of expression.

"What happened?" Kezi asked quietly as though she were asking herself.

Easton scuffed his shoe against the asphalt roof and wouldn't look at her.

In an instant, Kezi whirled around shoved Easton hard. "What happened?" She repeated much louder this time.

"Kezi-" Easton sighed.

"Don't 'Kezi' me! What the hell happened? Why wasn't he moving?" Kezi shouted at Easton.

"Look, Kezi," She glared at him, "They hit his head off the side of the dumpster."

Kezi studied his face for a moment, then blinked and looked down towards a vent in the roof. I swear I heard her mumble something like "He can't handle that."

Easton pulled Kezi gently into a hug. "He'll be fine."

"How do you know?" Kezi whispered into his shoulder.

Easton laughed as he pulled away. "Because anyone who can spend as much time around you as he does has to have one hell of a will to live." Kezi narrowed her eyes at him. He shook his head. "You rub off on people."

Kezi looked at him briefly then turned and walked towards the other side of the roof. She disappeared over the side before I could even think to stop her. Easton didn't even blink. In fact, he followed suit.

I winced but stepped cautiously over to where they'd disappeared. I don't know what I expected. One would think I would have thought about a fire escape, what with growing up in New York and being married to an architect, but I didn't.

When I looked over, Kezi was leaning against the railing looking up at me. "So are you going to come down this way or are you gonna fly?"

"I'm sorry if I don't see people jump off the sides of buildings every day." I said as I jumped down to the top platform. "You could warn a guy."

Kezi shook her head and started down the stairs. "Come on, now. You can't really think that I'd just jump to my death."

"Lapse of judgment, sorry." I mumbled and Kezi just shook her head, a smile playing on her lips as she took off down the stairs.

Easton stood waiting for us halfway down. He grinned when he met Kezi's eye and pointed down the street to a guy wearing a trench coat and holding a black umbrella.

Kezi smiled too as she followed his hand to the guy. Without warning, she let out a high-pitched whistle and the trench coat guy turned towards us.

After my ears stopped throbbing, I turned on Kezi. "What the hell was that? Did you forget what just happened? Why would it ever be a good idea to draw attention from a guy in a trench coat?"

Kezi just looked at me amusedly. Easton laughed and followed her down the stairs.

"So now somebody else gets kidnapped." I muttered to myself and reluctantly started to descend.

The guy was waiting at the bottom when Kezi stepped off the last step. She immediately walked under his umbrella and pulled him into a hug.

He held the umbrella up a little higher as he started to scold Kezi.

"Are you crazy?" He hissed at her.

Kezi shrugged. "No more than usual."

He shook his head and took his coat off, putting it around Kezi. "You have got to learn something about common sense before you put yourself into an early grave, sis. I mean, you can't just go walking around in the rain when you're pregnant. It's not good for either of you!"

Kezi just narrowed her eyes at him and he shook his head again.

"He's your brother?"

"You can't guess? We really do look like twins, even if we can't be identical." Kezi pursed her lips as she tried to situate the coat over herself comfortably. She sighed exasperatedly when she couldn't get it around her belly and gave up.

"Be nice," Kezi's brother scolded her teasingly. He stuck his hand out to me. "Taylor Blake."

I shook his hand. "Percy Jackson."

"Percy Jackson." He repeated and glanced over to Easton. Taylor shrugged and nodded. "I assume you three need a place to stay tonight and probably until the other two catch up again?"

"Well," I started.

Taylor looked me straight on. Not only did he and his sister have similar shades of red hair and green eyes, they also both had this look in their eyes, like they were daring you to go against them and see what happened.

"Let me rephrase that:" Taylor's voice had dropped from easy-going to threatening, "Kezi will be coming with me. She needs to get warm and dry. You can stay here, in an unfamiliar city, in the dark, in the rain, or you can come with us. It's up to you."

I glanced over to Kezi to see how she would take being told what to do. She didn't seem to mind, she just looked at me for an answer. Then I noticed she was trembling in the cold air, her wet hair plastered against her face. I realized I really couldn't push her any farther today; she'd already done a lot for me. I would've hit any guy who asked Annabeth to do something like this while she was pregnant.

"Yeah, okay." I nodded in agreement. Taylor threw an arm across Kezi's shoulders and started walking up the hill.

Kezi immediately went to take a shower when we got back to Taylor's apartment. Easton started shifting through huge stacks of books in the living room as though he were looking for something specific. Taylor eyed me up and then walked into the kitchen as though he'd just dismissed me as a threat. I followed him.

"So, you and Kezi have lived her forever?" I asked. "You should-" Taylor cut me off with a snort.

"We can't possibly have lived here forever. This place hasn't existed forever. We haven't been alive forever. We're not gods. Besides, we were born in Canton."

"Where's Canton?"

"Ohio, you moron."

"You're annoying."

Taylor laughed and put a kettle of water on the stove. "I try. Gotta have something that sets me apart from my sister."

"Sibling rivalry at its finest." I shook my head. "Do you know of any place where somebody might be hidden? Any place Kezi might have forgotten, having lived somewhere else for a while?"

Taylor sighed and leaned against the counter. "Look, there are a lot of places in this city that would hide a person pretty well. Lots of creepy, rundown old buildings around. Every rose has its thorns, you know?"

"What?" I asked. I had no clue what he was talking about.

"Not into the oldies. Got it." Taylor muttered. "When the steel mills shut down, like, fifty years ago, thousands and thousands of people lost their jobs. Thousands of houses and other buildings were left unoccupied. We've done our best to recover from that and turn to other specialties like medicine, but it's a slow process. We still aren't anywhere near to operating on all cylinders. Getting there, but-" Taylor shook his head and trailed off.

"If it's been fifty years, how could there be anything left to do? That's a really long time." I could feel my eyebrows scrunch together in confusion.

Taylor shot me a weak half smile, making the faint freckles across his nose stand out more. "Being from New York, you wouldn't understand. New York hasn't faltered since it became important. What you need to understand is that Pittsburgh was vastly important to the world back then. It's not called the steel city for nothing. No city even came close to the steel production we had. Then they found a cheaper process and we just couldn't compete anymore. But at least good old Carnegie put us on the map." He said the middle syllable Carnegie like someone would say negative.

"You mean Carnigie?" I asked, stressing the word.

"No, absolutely not. It's Carnegie."

"Dude, Carnigie Hall."

"Dude," Taylor said, mocking me. "Carnegie Mellon University. Carnegie Science Center. The Carnegie Museums."

"I swear it's Carnigie." Annabeth's voice echoed in my head about all that Andrew Carnigie did.

The kettle started to squeal on the stove. Taylor yanked it off and filled a mug, tossing a tea bag into the boiling water.

"You lousy jagoff New Yorkers would think that," Taylor raised his voice at me. "But it's not. It's f-"

"Be nice." Kezi's voice sliced through the air with a powerful finality that few could muster. Taylor turned and ripped the tea bag out of the cup and swung it into the sink where it landed with a thunk. He shoved the mug at Kezi and some of the scalding liquid spilled down her arms. She barely even flinched.

"Your tea." Taylor hissed and turned to stalk out of the room.

Kezi grabbed the back of his shirt collar and he stopped in his tracks. "Don't you ever do that again."

I got the same feeling from these two that I did the one time I witnessed an argument between Thalia and Jason. Let's just say I will do everything in my power not to witness something like that ever again.

I could almost feel the energy crackle around the twins as they stared each other down. Luckily for me, however, they didn't have control over actual electricity.

Taylor rolled his eyes and glanced down at the red lines now running from Kezi's wrists to her elbows. Kezi finally let go of his shirt as he started to walk away again.

She turned to face me. "It really is Carnegie, by the way."

"You are one scary girl." I said, stepping back to give her space.

Kezi merely shot me a devious smile and followed her brother.

"Dude, why the hell can't you at least organize these a little?" Easton asked from behind a pile of books.

"They are." Taylor answered. Easton stood straight up so quickly he knocked over a pile. Dust floated up in a cloud.

Kezi sneezed and covered her tea. "By the date at which he finished them." She gagged and coughed as more dust started to circulate. "I'm so glad I don't have to deal with your organizational systems anymore."

"Not everyone is as OCD as you two. It's weird how you sort things." Taylor hissed.

Easton looked up from trying to reassemble the pile he knocked over. "I loved Kezi's room in high school. Quotes everywhere. Books sorted alphabetically." He paused as though gauging whether or not he should say what he was thinking.

Kezi took a sip of her tea.

Easton decided to say it. "Maybe that's why we got into an Ivy League school and you didn't."

Kezi choked on her tea.

Taylor stood back up, his fists clenched. He slowly moved towards Easton. "What did you just say?"

Easton stood up and looked at Taylor dead on. "You heard me."

Both were deadly calm as they stared each other down. Taylor leapt first.

They swung at each other, doing their best to maul the other.

Kezi continued to cough.

"Guys, come on." I tried to reason with them. "Guys, knock it off." I said louder and tried to pull them apart. It didn't work.

Kezi finally managed a deep breath and shrieked, "Stop that!"

Easton jumped and did his best to separate himself from Taylor. Kezi nodded at me and I moved behind Taylor to restrain him.

Taylor fought against me as hard as he could. I was kind of glad he was short, I don't know that I would've been able to hold him back if he weren't a good three inches shorter than me.

"What is wrong with you two?" Kezi asked, looking back and forth between them.

"He's just mad because I love a girl." Easton hissed.

"You're dating my sister and you didn't tell me, you son of a bitch!" Taylor spat and struggled. I nearly lost my grip on him in shock.

Easton lunged forward but Kezi grabbed his arm and rooted her feet in place so all he did was walk in a circle. "Don't you dare call my mother a bitch!" He yelled over Kezi's head.

Kezi kept her fingers wrapped tightly around Easton's arm but turned to face him. "You're dating Allie?" I didn't know what to make of her tone. It could've been anything from anger to shock to smugness.

Easton's tone, however, was softer. "Yeah."

A smile stretched across Kezi's face and was mirrored in Easton's. Kezi asked about twelve thousand questions in a row.

Taylor stopped struggling. "Wh- what? How can you just move on like that? He's been dating her for two years!"

Kezi looked at her brother and then turned back to Easton. "She made you swear to secrecy?"

Easton nodded. "Of course."

Kezi just shrugged. "Seems legit."

Taylor broke free of my grip and walked up the hall. A few seconds later we all jumped at the sound of a door slamming.

Kezi sighed and placed one hand on her belly, the other on her forehead. "What were you even looking for, East?"

Easton pulled a book out of the mess. The cover showed the iconic view of Pittsburgh. Kezi took it from him and ran her hand over the binding.

"Do you really think this is going to help?" She asked. Her voice was soft and unsure. Looking at her in this moment, I realized just how small she actually was. She was only about an average height, and her whole frame looked smaller than it did about a minute ago. She had to be wearing one of Athan's sweatshirts since it fell about half way down her thighs even with her being pregnant. Her red hair was darkened and dripping with water, making her skin seem pale and freckles I hadn't realized she had stand out. Kezi trembled as she looked up at Easton.

Easton noticed Kezi's shivering at about the same time I did and immediately took the book away from her, handing her the cup of tea and grabbing the blanket from the back of the couch and tossing it around her shoulders.

"If something happens to you while Athan's gone, he'll kill me." Easton muttered and guided her over to sit down.

"I would argue with that, but I don't feel like it." Kezi took the book back and started to flip through it. Easton put his hand against her forehead. "Easton, I'm fine. I'm always cold."

Easton shook his head. "I don't get that. You're pregnant. All pregnant women feel hot. Why would you feel cold?"

"Athan calls me a chameleon for a reason." Kezi dismissed him with a wave of her hand. "Besides, this is about Percy finding Annabeth, nothing else."

"Hold on," I interjected. "Why did your brother just do a one-eighty? And then you did like three of them?"

Kezi sighed. "Because he's dramatic. Because I'm a chameleon. What difference does it make? Do you want to find Annabeth or not?"

I winced. Annabeth had been missing for days now. Anything could've happened. She could be lying in a pool of blood somewhere, both her and my baby dying. Some guy could be torturing her, raping her. I shuddered at the thought.

Easton suddenly had his arms looped under mine and I realized my knees had given out. Kezi had one hand over her mouth, something she probably didn't do very often.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't mean- We'll find her. We will." Kezi stammered.

Easton helped me over to the other side of the crappy sectional. I shook my head. "It's fine. What's in the book?"

"It's twentieth century Pittsburgh, published in the eighties. It has a lot of places where it would be possible to hide a person." Easton said as Kezi handed me the book. He looked over at her.

"Percy," Kezi continued as they broke eye contact. "It really doesn't seem likely that Annabeth is in the US Steel building. At all."

"I realize that." I said while I flipped through the pages. "But I want to make sure."

They fell silent as I continued to study the pictures. Kezi continued to drink her tea. I was vaguely aware that Easton got up and came back with a pile of blankets. He tossed another to Kezi and set a few near me, then proceeded to spread the rest out on the floor by Kezi.

I froze when a picture of a red brick factory-looking building came into view. I remembered this building from somewhere. Some distant dream with it in the background. Or maybe it was when the fates had looked at me when they were taking Luke's body away.

Kezi's voice broke into my thoughts. "See something you wanna check out?"

I shoved the book at her a little too roughly. "What is this place?" My voice cracked.

"The Heinz plant?" Kezi asked. "That's where they first made Heinz ketchup and other stuff. Why?"

I stood up and started to pace. "I- I remember seeing it somewhere. I just can't remember where, or why."

Kezi looked at Easton with an extreme look of confusion. Easton looked at me. "It's just a warehouse now, man."

A warehouse, his words echoed inside my head. I froze. My vague recollection had just become a little more precise.

"We need to go there right after we finish searching the other place. We have to." I hissed at them.

Kezi nodded emphatically. "Absolutely. If you think she might be there."

"How can you say that? You don't know anyone who could get you in there." Easton argued.

Kezi looked at him with an intimidating and determined look that I'm pretty sure was also on my face from the way Easton muttered "Damn Poseidon."

"Looks like we're breaking into one of the most iconic buildings in Pittsburgh. Joy." Easton sighed.

I was first to be ready the next morning.

"All right, all right," Kezi groaned after I asked if we could leave for probably the eleventh time in the last ten minutes. "Just give Easton a minute to catch up."

Easton had been in the bathroom the whole time I'd been questioning Kezi. I couldn't think of a good reason why that guy could possibly take that long.

Finally footsteps echoed in the kitchen. When I moved to open the door, Taylor walked into the room, not Easton.

Kezi looked up at her brother from the map she'd been folding. "So?"

Taylor sighed and took the map from Kezi, gently zipping it into her bag.

"I'm sorry." He whispered. "That was totally uncalled for."

Easton silently walked up and leaned against the doorframe behind the twins. I realized he had probably talked Taylor into admitting his guilt.

"I can still get you guys into UPMC, if you want." Taylor offered and looked over at me.

Kezi turned to me as well. "What do you think?"

I pulled open the door. "Anything to make finding Annabeth easier."

All right guys. I'm back. Here's a chapter. I have most of the next written and just need to type it up.

You can thank (or blame, as may be the case) my French teacher (or lack there of) for the update. She missed three days last week and didn't send anything in for the subs to give us.

You can also file complaints with the state of Pennsylvania (or commonwealth, whatever the hell they call themselves). They decided to switch out the standardized tests for high school students so that we have to pass the test to pass a certain class (so that "our graduation is decided by more than just the teachers we had"). I say bull 'cause I had to take a Biology version of the test, I finished biology over six months ago and had the worst teacher ever (litterally, at the start of this year they discovered he'd had a secret relationship with one of his students for the last three years), I have no freakin' clue what anything was on the test. There was a question about why fish don't explode under water.

Although, PJO got me through.

Peace out. And don't forget "Hernias Are Us"