Thank you everyone who left me a review! Although I know that there aren't that many, every review helps me out.

A small disclaimer: I used some dialogue from Rick Riordan's the Lost Hero in this chapter. All characters belong to him. Dialogue from the book will be used in future chapters.

Please keep in mind that this is Annabeth's point of view of the whole situation, so dialogue from his book was necessary.

Butch flicked the reigns casually and the pegasi lurched forward in the air. Sunlight gleamed off of his bald head and the rainbow tattoo on his arm looked like it was rippling. I sighed and leaned against the edge of the chariot, my hair whipping into my face. I brushed it into a ponytail, feeling irritated.

Apparently I made some sort of noise because Butch turned around and tried to give me a reassuring smile.

"Don't worry, Annabeth. Just a few more hours."

I nodded.

Ever since my dream last night, I kept feeling like I was missing something. That there was a hidden meaning in my dream, and I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

I was practically positive that the boy in my dream was Percy, but I still had a small shred of doubt nagging at me.

I put my hand on my hip where my knife was sheathed, and then felt my Yankees cap in my back pocket. They always gave me reassurance.

"It's okay, Annabeth," I mumbled to myself. "Everything is fine. Percy is just a few hours away." Then I felt stupid for talking to myself.

If Butch heard me, he pretended not to notice.

The rest of the chariot ride passed in agonizing silence. Butch wasn't one to talk with, and even so, I didn't really want to talk at all anyway. I slid down to the chariot floor.

I ran the events of my dream in my head. Lightning, a storm, and a boy with a missing shoe.

The gods were always ones to give annoyingly obscure hints.

I suddenly felt the chariot dip forward. I leapt to my feet and stuck my head over the chariot, taking in my surroundings.

The Grand Canyon was huge. A natural crevice in the ground, stretching for miles.

"Where exactly do we need to go?" Butch asked from the front.

I glanced around and spotted an observation deck completely surrounded by unnatural clouds. A fork of lightning flashed ominously in the mass.

"That's where," I said, pointing.

Butch nodded.

"Remember," he pointed out. "We're here for the demigods. Percy is just a…plus."

"I know. Faster."

The chariot hit the ground with a jolt. I leapt off before it even stopped rolling, unsheathing my knife. Three demigods were staring at us with shock on their faces. I narrowed my eyes, taking in the surroundings.

The observation deck's floor was made completely of glass, and it was cracked in several places. Paper worksheets were strewn across the deck and fluttering in the wind. Several backpacks and jackets were heaped around the deck, apparently forgotten.

My eyes slid over to where the three demigods were standing.

The boy in the center was wearing a purple t-shirt and he had cropped blond hair. His eyes were an electric blue and they looked vaguely familiar. A scar traced the top of his upper lip, and he had a hidden look of confidence on his face.

The boy on his right was Latino, and he had an annoying look on his face. His eyes glinted and it looked like he was trying hard not to smirk. He kept fidgeting, like he was on five cups of coffee. His hands fluttered nervously around his pockets, pulling gears and bolts out of them.

The girl had dark skin and her hair was peppered with braids. She looked at me incredulously, her dark eyes narrowed. She was wearing an old snowboarding jacket, and she looked tough. I could tell that she had been through a lot.

"Where is he?" I demanded, pointing my knife at each of them. They all looked startled, and the Latino's smirk was wiped satisfyingly off his face.

"Where's who?" the blond boy asked.

My heart skipped a beat. He wasn't here. I frowned, distressed.

"What about Gleeson? Where's your protector, Gleeson Hedge?" I snapped. I felt annoyed at the three demigods, even though I knew I shouldn't. They were just in the wrong place at the wrong time, like all of us were at the beginning.

The Latino cleared his throat. "He got taken by some…tornado things."

"Venti. Storm spirits," the blond boy said.

The kid spoke Latin? I was confused. "You mean anemoi thuellai? That's the Greek term."

I started to feel uncomfortable around the guy in the purple t-shirt. He felt extremely different.

"Who are you, and what happened?"

Thank you again for reading my story! I'm sorry I wasn't able to update like I said I would. Packing for tour was hectic and I just got back two days ago. (SO FUN!)

Getting my life back into check was stressful, but I've got it back on track! Chapters should be up a lot sooner now.

Don't forget to drop a review! :)