Phone Calls and Discovery

OMG the Last Olympian is awesome! I got it on the day it came out and began to read it as soon as I got home! I finished in 7hrs and 30min! Yay! It's too late to change the story to fit, so that sucks. I'm not going to spoil!

PLEASE READ THIS PART: Should I do a chapter for the quest? This almost was about the quest, but I realized that I had nothing to write about. Basically, they're going from New York to Forks, Washington (this is not a Twilight crossover, that's a coincidence) and the Olympic Mountain Ranges. More specifically: Mt. Olympus. They get captured at the base of the mountain, all but one of course.

Disclaimer: I don't own PJO. Duh.

Sophia's POV

I was still thinking about my best friend. Really, I wanted to know what Ashley was thinking about right now. School started back up again two days ago, now. I decided to tell Greg again about my thoughts; maybe if I asked him again he'll help me.

I searched camp for Greg, and finally found him practicing his archery (of course). I watched him for a while, impressed with his accuracy. I was sitting on the bench on which archers took breaks, so I new this was where Greg would come sooner or later. I didn't want to interrupt his practice.

Greg finally quit training and turned towards my bench. His face broke into a grin when he saw me sitting there, waiting for him. I smiled back, and he walked over, "Hey!" he greeted.

"Hey," I said as he pecked me on the cheek. I bit my lip, something I always do when I'm thinking, and Greg knows that. He put his hands on my shoulders and looked into my eyes, "What's wrong?" he asked in a concerned voice.

I smiled slightly at his concern, "Nothing. I'm just thinking about things."

The right corner of his mouth curled up as he said, "I know what this is about. You're still thinking about Ashley."

"Yes," I sighed.

I looked at me hesitantly, "Well…for some reason, she thought that I would be around you a lot when we first met. She told me that since you didn't have a cell phone and you might want to contact her, she gave me her number. You can use my cell phone to call her."

"Cell phones attract monsters," I pointed out.

"Monsters already know we're here," he countered.

I sighed, "True. Give me your phone. What's the number?"

"I don't remember, but I put it in my contacts because I figured that would happen," Greg answered. I nodded and opened his contacts. Ashley was the first one, as it was in alphabetical order. I used that number to call her. After the fourth ring, she picked up, "Hello, this is Ashley."

"Ashley? It's Sophia," I said through the phone.

"Oh my God, it's really you! Sophia, where have you been for the past few weeks? I hear a crash on the other end of a phone line, and never hear from you again! You didn't come back to school, either! And…I don't recognize this number. What the hell, Sophia?" Ashley exclaimed.

"I'm fine. I'm at a…boarding school. I didn't do anything bad; my parents are here as…teachers, I guess. I'm calling from Greg's phone," I answered.

"Whoa, wait; you're calling from Greg's phone? You're with him, right now?" Ashley asked.

"I think I have the right to be around my boyfriend," I smirked. I let Ashley think about what I just said. It didn't take her long; she's a smart girl. She started squealing so loud that I had to move the phone away from my ear.

"You and Greg are boyfriend and girlfriend?! Congratulations, my awesome BFF!" Ashley screamed.

"Ashley, calm down!" I shouted over her, "I'm not going to be coming back to school this year, at least I think, but it's more likely that I'll come back next year. I'm not guaranteeing anything, though."

"Okay…I hope I survive without you and your weirdo parents," Ashley sighed, adding a joke.

"Actually, my parents are not that bad. I got to know them more, and they're…awesome! Part of the reason is because I met my secret grandparents finally," I defended my now officially cool parents.

"You're joking right?" Ashley asked, "You're always complaining about your parents…."

"Nope. Greg did too," I confirmed.

"What are your secret grandparents like?" Ashley asked.

"Um…they kind of radiate power. No joke," I answered honestly.

"Sweet," Ashley commented. I heard a woman's voice in the background, and knew it was her mother. Ashley spoke again, "I have to go. Bye!"

"Bye," I said and closed the phone, "Thank you," I told Greg.

Hallie's POV

I walked through the halls of the Big House, searching for my parents' room. Sophia had told me about some weird gloves she saw Aphrodite give Dad, and described their reactions. I was curious, because they must be godly. I wondered what they did, and why Mom had mimicked pushing something when trying to tell Dad what they were for.

I finally found their room. I searched through the drawers, the suitcases, and looked for catches in the floorboards. Taking a break, I flopped down onto the bed. My hands instinctively wrapped around the pillows. I felt something under one of them and lifted it up. Under the pillow was a pair of metallic-gold gloves, just as Sophia described. Curious, I slipped on the gloves.

I admired them on my hands, but I didn't feel any different. Sophia said Aphrodite said that these were from Hephaestus. Maybe the Hephaestus Cabin knew how to work them! But I wanted to see if I could figure it out first. I thought about how Sophia's description of our parents' reaction. Mom had put her hands in front of her as if she was pushing something. I did that. Nothing happened, and I frowned.

I studied the gloves up close. Maybe I missed something, like instructions? On the wrist of the gloves were some weird symbols that I realized were Greek characters. I wished that I had paid more attention to Mom's lessons about the language. Maybe Sophia did! I stuffed my hands in my jacket pocket; I didn't want to attract too much attention with golden hands.

I searched camp for Sophia. I found her with Greg in the archery range. She just closed a phone and handed it to Greg, saying 'thank you'. What the Hades? I jogged up to them and tapped Sophia on the shoulder. She turned around and smiled at me, "Hey, Hallie!"

"Hi. Can you read Greek?" I asked.

"A little, why?" she asked. I removed my gloved hands from my pockets.

"Oh my gods, you found them!" she exclaimed.

"Yeah, and I think the instructions are in Greek," I told her, showing her the wrist. Greg watched curiously.

Sophia squinted at the tiny lettering. She sighed in frustration and angrily pushed her blonde hair out of her face. She glared at the symbols for a while longer, and finally smiled triumphantly, "It says, 'Product made in the forges of Hephaestus. Instructions for use: hold hands out in front of a television as if pushing an object. Next, state the name of the person you would like to see. If instructions are followed, an image of said person should appear and you shall see what they are doing. Not a communication device.'"

"Sweet!" grinning, I exclaimed, "I have to try these out!"

"Do you realize what we could do with these?" Sophia asked.

"We could watch your parents!" Greg answered in realization.

"Exactly," Sophia confirmed.

"Come on; there's a TV in the Big House," I said.

We ran over to the Big House (the gloves were on my hands in my pocket), but we were stopped once we got there. Chiron and Mr. D were playing pinochle like always, and Chiron wanted to know why we were in such a hurry, "Children, why the hurry?"

"We need to use the TV," I said breathlessly.

Chiron raised an eyebrow, "Why?"

Sophia was obviously getting impatient, "We want to watch it."

"Why do that when you could train?" Chiron asked suspiciously.

The three of us glanced at each other. I sighed in defeat, "We want to check on our parents."

"How?" asked Chiron.

"Hephaestus gave Peter some special gloves that give a mortal the power of watching anyone," Mr. D answered in a bored voice. Who was Peter?

"Percy," Chiron corrected. Oh, my dad!

"So can we?" Greg asked.

"Can you what, son?" asked a man's voice behind us. We whirled around to see Greg's parents, hand in hand, behind us.

"You may," Chiron answered.

"We'll show you," Sophia answered Tommy's question.

Sorry for the long wait; I have been busy with schoolwork and family stuff.