It's been a little longer than I intended it to be, and I apologize for that. I did post my reasons for the delay on my profile and Tumblr, so hopefully some of you got the message. Most of this chapter was typed in the back of a car, so sorry for it's general shittiness.

That being said, the response for the last chapter was absolutely overwhelming and incredible. So, thanks to bxexlxlxa, henrie locker, Rosario Central, Guest, Guest, mila-is-a-bookworm-101, Burned Blue Cookie and SomethingMoreCreative. I love you all and sorry if I didn't respond to your PM's yet!

I hate this chapter. I really do. So, I apologize in advance, on behalf of myself and all of Canada.

Anyways, enjoy!

Percy

"Luke, what the hell are we listening to? It sounds horrible," I groan from the backseat, where I'm sprawled sideways. Beside me, pressed up against the window, Grover nods in agreement, looking up from the pipes he's been fiddling with all day. It's mid-afternoon now, and we've almost reached Virginia Beach.

Annabeth shoots me a glare from the passenger side, lifting her face up from her sketchpad for the briefest of moments. "Oh, shut up, Percy. We're almost there, anyways. Why does it matter what music we listen to?"

I scowl, but don't respond, sinking further into the seat. Normally on long car rides, I would play on my phone until it died, but Annabeth had driven over everyone's cellphones before we left so that we couldn't be tracked, leaving me completely and utterly annoyed. Besides, Annabeth and Luke had been talking in low, hushed tones for the past two hours, complete with flirty giggles and little touches. For Gods sakes, he's seven years older than her! And now she's agreeing with him about this horrible music, even though I know for a fact that she hates rock with a passion.

Luckily, Grover, seeing my furious expression, quickly leans towards the front of the car and flips the radio station to a different channel, claiming that his eardrums shouldn't have to suffer so much. Instantly, Jesse McCartney's voice comes blaring out of the speakers, a ridiculously old song playing- Beautiful Soul.

I can see Annabeth stiffen in the front seat, and my own shoulders tighten a fair bit as the song progresses. Our Grade 8 graduation, someone had requested this and Annabeth and I had been shoved together by mutual friends to dance. It had been awkward at first, with me being a klutz and stepping on her feet, and her desperately try to make conversation, but then her head was on my chest, and we were swaying back and forth, and it was that precise moment I realized I was head over heels in love with my best friend.

And you can see just how well that worked out.

Luke takes one hand off the wheel, and begins to move it towards Annabeth as an irrational jealousy overtakes me. Annabeth can be with whoever she wants. It's none of my business anymore. However, that doesn't stop me from barking out, "Hey! Both hands on the wheel!"

Everyone swivels around to face me, looking confused, and I feel my cheeks redden. "I mean, um, Luke, you should probably drive with both hands. You could… you could run over… a… llama otherwise." I mentally facepalm. Nice. Since when have there been llamas in Virginia, or anywhere in the USA, for that matter?

"Er, alright, dude," Luke shrugs, placing both hands back on the wheel. "You guys want to grab a bite to eat before we stop by the beach?"

I scowl at his laid-back attitude, expecting him to at least inquire a little more about my sudden outburst. However, before I can make a snarky comeback, I catch Annabeth's eye. It's a warning, one that tells me that I need to get over whatever animosity I have for Luke so he can continue helping us. As usual, her point is ridiculously valid, so with a scowl I simply nod, staring out of the window. "Sure, I'm up for a burger."

Luke nods, and within minutes we've pulled into the parking lot of an old-fashioned diner, complete with pastel coloured booths and a checkered floor. There's no drive-through, so we quickly park the minivan and walk inside, to find the place practically deserted. I suppose that makes sense, though. It's only around three in the afternoon- too late for lunch, too early for dinner.

I get delegated as responsible for ordering everything, so by the time I make my way back to the booth Annabeth and Luke have already claimed one side for themselves. I toss the tray onto the table, almost making the contents spill, before sulkily sliding in next to Grover. Annabeth and Luke's history, whatever it is, is quickly making me feel like the awkward third wheel.

"Mmmm…." Annabeth grins into her chocolate-strawberry milkshake, the top of it frothing on her upper lip. "I haven't had one of these in forever."

"What are you talking about?" I ask her, confused. "The café across from the school is always selling them! You used to get them every day after school!" Annabeth's face freezes, and I realize what I've just said. She probably hadn't been to the café since our falling-out. "I mean, umm, never mind."

Luke looks confused, and I feel relief for a brief second. Annabeth still hasn't told Luke about our history. She doesn't fully trust him yet, which makes my childishly one-up him in my mind. This is ridiculous. I'm hating on a guy who's been nothing but friendly to us! Annabeth is a big girl, and any feelings I once had for her are long gone. She's smart enough to make her own choices.

The bell over the door jingles, shaking me out of my thoughts as a group of large, buff men dressed in flannel shirts push through the door. One of them has an axe attached to his belt, and a few others carry small knives. I swallow down my worry. This may have nothing to do with us. These guys are probably looking for a quick place to grab a bite, same as us.

The man with the axe grunts something to the girl behind the counter, and she nods, punching it in to the register. I'm not sure, but it sounds a lot like he said, "fingers, with blood on the side". I turn back towards my friends, but all of them are still enjoying their meal, oblivious to these new arrivals. I'm probably just overthinking this whole thing. Annabeth would have caught on by now if something was actually wrong.

As if on cue, Annabeth jumps as if scalded, and I realize she probably has been, as she pulls the piping hot coin from her pocket yet again. Gods, if Athena was so worried about us getting hurt, then why didn't she make sure that her magical beacon wasn't burning her daughter, one of the saviors of the world and a hero of the great prophecy?

That had to be one of the strangest sentences I've ever thought of. And that includes the time I thought that the East and Hudson rivers were talking to me.

"What is it?" Luke looks towards Annabeth, concerned, and I bite my tongue to keep myself from lashing out again. Of course she's hurt, dumbass. You don't need to ask her. Annabeth just shakes her head dismissively, grabbing an ice cube from a glass of water and placing it against her burnt hand yet again. She looks fine on the outside, calm and collected as always, but I can tell that she's realized something about our new 'visitors', judging by the way her eyes continuously flick over.

"Hey," Grover's finally caught on to what's going on, and he leans in a bit to whisper to the three of us. "Those guys over there… what are they eating? It looks like blood." I nod, staring at their trays, with are covered in some thin, slender deep-fried meat with a drippy red sauce on the side. Fingers and blood.

Luke snorts, leaning back carelessly against the edge of the booth. "You know what they looks like to me? Cannibalistic Canadians. I mean, look! They're giant, dressed like lumberjacks, and eating fried human body parts. They only look like that up North, eh." He lets out a chortle, but it dies abruptly, as a knife flies through the air, landing inches from Annabeth's face. She gulps, carefully prying it out of the wall, as the 'Canadians' stomp over to us, size fourteen work boots covering the diner floor in mud.

"What did you just call us?" The front one, with the axe, leers in Luke's general direction, who in turn looks like he's pissing himself. "Huh? Want to say that again to my face, pretty boy, or should I give you another scar to match the one already there?"

Annabeth stands up, holding her knife at arm's length. "Alright, gentleman, back off. My friend here wasn't trying to offend you. He was just making a joke." Her gaze never falters as she stares up at the giant Canadian, and I realize that out of all the people at this table, she's probably the bravest one out of all of us. I never would have had the guts to stand up to these guys, and yet Annabeth's doing it like it's a breeze, grey eyes dark and cold.

"So you think our heritage is a joke?" Another man to the side shoots spittle all over the table as he speaks. "Damn Americans, thinking you run the whole world. Well, I'll tell you something, little lady. If you want our help, you better stop offending us."

I finally find my voice and pipe up, "Help? Like, with our quest?"

The man in front lets out a barking laugh. "No, boy, with your laundry," Seeing my puzzled expression, he continues, "Never thought the savior would be so dumb. Anyways, we were sent from the old lady. She reminds you to think about your true objectives, and what the cost is for losing focus at the task at hand."

Although that phrase could have multiple connotations, I feel like it's Athena taking a jab at Luke and Annabeth's incessant flirting, which makes me grin for a brief moment. "Alright, uh, thanks. We'll let you get back to your meal, then."

"Hold on, kiddies," A man from the middle of the mob unsheathes his knife. I glance around the diner in worry, but it seems like the few other guests and servers have all disappeared, leaving us completely alone. "We did what we were paid to do. But you all are important, and well, we have multiple loyalties to obey. It's time for dinner."

"T-t-technically speaking, it's only three thirty, so…" Grover trails off as four daggers are suddenly pointed at the end of the wispy beard on his chin. "My apologies. Carry on."

"With pleasure," The man snarls, and within seconds, our booth is surrounded. I shoot a helpless look at Annabeth, who looks like she's lost deep in calculations. Luke just looks terrified, and Grover is still fiddling with those ridiculous reed pipes.

I shoot him a glare, fidgeting for my own pen/bomb in my pocket. "Seriously, dude, could you just put those down for one second? We're kind of in the middle of something here." Grover looks at me, as if telling me that he knows what he's doing, and right before the first man lunges towards us, he lifts the pipes up and begins to play Hillary Duff's 'So Yesterday'.

Annabeth and Luke look over at him in surprise, as all of the men surrounding us begin laughing. I wince, my hand closed over the top of my pen. Grover's just embarrassing himself. If he doesn't stop soon, I'll have to blow this place up.

And then the first man falls to the ground, clutching his ears and twitching before going unconscious. His comrades look at him in surprise, before they, too, are all knocked off their feet one by one, until the four of us are surrounded by a pile of still bodies. I gape at Grover in shock. "Mind explaining to me what the hell just happened?"

Grover shrugs. "That was the song I played to my hamster when I knocked it unconscious. I figured it would work on those guys too."

I grin somewhat maniacally, lunging towards the other boy and giving him a brief hug. I'm not a hugger by any means, but the fact that Grover managed to come up with a way to knock a group of Cannibalistic Canadians unconscious while the rest of us merely quaked in terror makes me want to give him a quick squeeze. "Grover, you're amazing, you know that?"

Grover looks down at the ground as he carefully hoists himself to his feet, adjusting his crutches. It occurs to me suddenly that he probably doesn't actually know that at all. Based off just my time around him (which hasn't been that long, mind you), and even back at school, he was the one who was always picked last for groups, who had to be the awkward person left alone for projects. I judged him before knowing him, as most of our student body did, and honestly, now that I know him better, that was a big mistake I really want to take back. I clear my throat, realizing the awkward silence that has just fallen. "Um, let's get going now, okay?"

We begin to make our way back to the van when Annabeth grabs my arm and pulls me to the side, motioning for Luke and Grover to go on ahead. Her fingernails dig into my arm as we walk over to a clump of bushes, stomping through the thick undergrowth before finally we're out of sight from the van. "What was that?" Annabeth hisses, kicking a tree stump angrily. "You just about let Grover get killed by crazy Canadian lumberjacks!"

"Hey, I didn't see you defending him either!" I retort, although it's only half-hearted. It isn't her fault, not really. "But, now that we're on the subject about being defensive, what happened at breakfast this morning? You seriously can't think we didn't notice."

Annabeth's face pales. "It's none of your business, Percy. I'm fine now, right?"

I sigh, rubbing my temples. "Was there a reason for dragging me out here, or did you just want to discuss Grover, which, might I add, is a discussion we could have had back in the van?" I know there's another reason she dragged me out into the woods. Annabeth's nothing if but a strategist, and by the way she dragged me out of the line of sight from the van, I can tell she has something she needs to talk to me about in private.

"Um… I needed to talk to you about Luke, actually," Annabeth runs a hand through her curly hair and scowls. "Percy, I know that he may not be your favourite person in the world…"

I snort loudly. "Really? What gave you that idea?"

Annabeth shoots me a glare before continuing. "But we need him if we're ever going to find the secret to the Mark of Athena. Chiron trusts him, he knows what he's doing, and besides, the prophecy said we'll make new friends, right? That's probably why Luke is here. The Oracle predicted it, and despite my feelings of all of that being mumbo-jumbo, there's no way they could have faked that skeleton. Luke's meant to be here, Percy."

"As a friend or a foe?" I mutter, kicking the ground. "Did you see him back in there? He's the one that provoked the giant Canadians, and then he didn't even help at all when we were being attacked. Besides, you just want him to stay because you have a ridiculous crush on him."

"I do not have a crush on Luke!" Annabeth looks around quickly, as if making sure no one heard her outburst. "We just have history from when we were little. Before even you and I met." She bites her lip. I don't know much about Annabeth's past, although we've been friends since Grade 6. All I know is that she moved to New York when she was eight, but I never found out why.

"You know there's seven years age difference between you two, right?" I roll my eyes, leaning back against the tree stump. "You're sixteen, he's twenty-three. Doesn't that seem a little odd to you? Liking an older man?" I'm purposely provoking her at this point, but hey, sue me for wanting to wind her up a little.

Annabeth rolls her eyes. "We're friends, that's all. And we've been through a lot together. There's no reason for you to get unnecessarily jealous."

My responding laugh is too false, to brittle. My palms begin to get sweaty, and my t-shirt collar feels too tight. She's jabbing at any weak spot she can find, which I suppose is fair. After all, I did do the same to her. However, jealous or not, I can't let her get the upper hand. "Jealous? Of Luke? Honestly, Annabeth, if you like him, then I give you both my best wishes. I'm over you. I hate you. You hate me. That's the way the world is now, and like it or not, there's no going back."

There's a crack behind us, and Luke approaches our clearing, looking unapologetic. "Those guys at the diner are beginning to come to, so I figured that we should get going before we get mobbed by angry Canadians. You two done talking about… whatever it is you needed to figure out?"

Annabeth nods stiffly, grabbing Luke's hand and dragging him out of the clearing. "Yep. It's all figured out now." Her eyes, which had been gradually softening around me for last little bit, are hard and cool yet again. In trying to save my own skin, I may have accidentally sent myself back to the start, the point of no return. I know I should be happy- Annabeth and I getting close has proved to be a recipe for disaster before, and there's no way I want to revisit the big blow-up two months prior- but instead another emotion threatens to engulf me. I can't quite place it, however, so I settle for angrily stalking back to the van, buckling myself in next to Grover in the back. Luke starts the car, and once again, we're back on the busy interstate, signs telling us that Virginia Beach is very near.

After a while of listening to Luke's annoying rock music yet again, the car stops, and I'm out before the ignition even clicks off. This is it. It won't be just me and my mom anymore. I'm going to have an uncle, or maybe a cousin, or maybe even grandparents. I'm going to go and see my family.

This thought entertains me as I begin to walk along the busy boardwalk, ignoring my three companions, who are a little ways back. Street vendors shove food in my face, loud music blares from stores, and tourists all over snap photographs, but I only have one thing on my mind as the Neptune statue appears in my line of sight. It looks exactly how it did in my dream, only now there's countless people posing beside it. I study them all, one by one. Maybe the girl with the long black hair? Or the man with the green eyes?

"Brother?"

Or it could be the five-year old boy toddling towards me.

I wonder who that could be… the next chapter's going to be fun to write! And the lumberjack part… it was based loosely off of the scene at the beginning of Sea of Monsters, but I really don't know. No offense to any Canadians, cannibals, or lumberjacks!

I'll try and get another chapter up soon, but… life. I have this massive Science project to do, which is gonna consume a lot of time. Also, I flunked my last Math quiz, so if I'm not on for a little while that means I've been grounded/am hiding in terror/dead because my parents will go ballistic when they see, and we're getting reports on Monday, so….

Can you tell I'm terrified?

Anyways, enough about me. I hope you enjoyed!

Thanks for reading,

-Jace ;)