Disclaimer: I'm not Rick Riordan. Therefore, I don't own the Percy Jackson series.

One snap decision caused Percy Jackson to consider following the group on the quest. He had promised Nico that he'd watch over Bianca. How was he supposed to follow a group of people in a car when he only had Annabeth's cap, the clothes he was wearing, and his sword? He'd just finished thinking over his getaway when Blackjack arrived. Next thing Percy knew, he was flying on a pegasus over New York. He attempted to keep Blackjack in the clouds and watch the van that the quest kids were traveling in. After losing the van twice, Percy decided to fly a little lower. He'd figured that the group would go to Manhattan. Percy grew tired of following the van.

"Why aren't they stopping?" He asked himself.

There's a girl driving.

"A girl? I thought Argus was-"

Yeah, the Hunter girl with that silver crown thing on her head.

"You mean Zoë?" Percy asked.

Yes… I think

Percy landed Blackjack on the roof of the Chrysler Building.


Around nine a.m., Dionysus woke up. He tried to sleep in a lot of the time, but it was almost impossible to do. The campers always woke up at ungodly hours of the morning. As the head of the camp, it was sort of his job to make sure that the kids were always fed and stuff. He never did. That was why he left Chiron in charge of just about everything. After getting dressed in his normal outfit of tiger print t-shirts and khakis, he exited the big house. The campers were already up. The members of Aphrodite's cabin were fighting with Hermes' cabin. Kids were throwing snowballs at each other. Dionysus looked at his watch. There was about five more minutes until breakfast was served. He slowly made his way over to the mess hall, just as the bell signaling breakfast went off. As head of the camp, there was one thing that Dionysus kept track of. That thing was the students who came and left the camp. He knew that four people had left the camp to go on the quest. So there would be no one at Zeus' table, two hunters missing from Artemis' table, and one Satyr missing. He also knew that Annie or whatever her name is was M.I.A. So there would be one kid missing from Athena's cabin. Dionysus counted the campers as they settled into their tables. Everyone was accounted for except Poseidon's kid. Wait a second... Poseidon's kid was gone. Dionysus ordered Chiron to go look for Percy.

A few minutes later, Chiron came back.

"There's no sign of him." Chiron announced nervously. Dionysus nearly exploded.

"What do you mean there's no sign of him?" He asked angrily.

"I mean there's no sign of him… as in he's not here." Chiron said slowly.

"No one is supposed to leave this camp without my permission." Dionysus said. "I'm going to find Perry Johnson and I will bring him back here." He stood up and walked away from the table. Using his camper sensing powers, he found the location of Percy.

Dionysus changed to his godly form and disappeared. He reappeared at the top of the Chrysler Building in his human form. After spotting Percy and Blackjack, he began to mumble a few words in ancient Greek. Grape vines began wrapping themselves around the two. Percy and Blackjack were completely oblivious to the vines.

"Let's go." Percy said. Blackjack reared up to leave but he couldn't move. The pegasus whinnied, just noticing the grape vines. Percy looked down and saw the vines.

"Where do you think you're going?" Dionysus asked, announcing himself for the first time.

It's the wine dude! Blackjack announced.

"The 'wine dude' can hear you." Dionysus said.

"Mr. D, wh-what do you want?" Percy asked "calmly".

"You're asking me what I want? Did you honestly think I wouldn't notice that you left camp without my permission?" Dionysus asked.

"Well, yeah. I figured there was a slight chance of you not noticing." Percy answered; he was starting to get angry. "Why do you care? Don't you understand? I have to go on this quest. I can't just abandon Anna-my friends. I need to help with this quest. Can you try to understand that?"

Don't anger him. I don't want him to throw us off the building. Blackjack thought.

Dionysus was beginning to lose his temper. He made the grape vines tighten themselves around Percy and the pegasus. Percy tilted his head to keep track of the van. It took him a moment but he found it. It was getting farther away. If he couldn't come up with a way of convincing Mr. D to let him go, he'd never make it.

"Why should I understand that? You're exactly like all of the other little heroes that appeared throughout my life. Have you ever heard of Ariadne?" Dionysus didn't pause for Percy to answer. "She helped her friends. In fact, she helped Theseus. She gave him a ball of yarn. The yarn was magical. It helped Theseus get out of the Labyrinth. Theseus promised to marry her. He didn't. He abandoned her on an island. That was where I found her. I fell in love with her and now she's my immortal wife."

"Didn't you get in trouble for chasing a wood nymph?" Percy butted in.

"That's unimportant." Dionysus mumbled. "All I'm saying is that you heroes are selfish kids who use everyone. You don't ever repay people. If you must know, go ask Zoë Nightshade."

"Why should I ask Zoë?" Percy asked.

"You know what, never mind. Why don't you go back to following your friends?" Dionysus said.

"Wait a second?" Percy asked. "You're letting me go?"

"Yeah, maybe I am Perry. Besides, the prophecy says that two of you will die. If I'm lucky, it'll be you."

"Sir, my name is Percy." Percy said.

"Whatever. Even if you do survive, you're not going to change my view on half bloods." Dionysus said. With a snap of his fingers, the vines around Percy and Blackjack disappeared, taking Dionysus with them.


Apollo cleared his throat. He'd been watching over everything that'd happened between Percy and Dionysus.

"Umm… I do believe Dionysus just 'helped' out with the quest." He said. He wasn't really sure of whether or not what just happened would count on the list. But, Aphrodite was the one who came up with the idea; she was rather relaxed about almost everything; so, Dionysus probably counted.

"What happened?" Hermes asked excitedly.

"Dionysus stopped Percy from leaving. Then he gave him some... Constructive words after allowing Percy to join the quest." Apollo said. "I wasn't sure if that'd count."

"YES! Of course it counts" Aphrodite cheered. "That's one god down." She took the list off of her chair and checked off Dionysus' name. She decided that everything Dionysus said after "go back to following your friends" counted as a god helping. Even if he did wish the worst for Percy.