Second chapter of the day! I'm so proud. :P The last author's note was long enough for both chapters, so I'll stop here.

Review?

Disclaimer: Still not Rick Riordan.

His memories:

Travis had stuck around Camp Half-Blood for about a week after Katie went missing – the same day Percy had disappeared. He'd noticed the Demeter cabin slightly disheveled, trying to learn what had happened to their head counselor, but they'd gotten Miranda to replace her pretty quickly and without too much fuss. He guessed they'd figured – and they were right, too – that with their camp so worried about their leader, not many people would be concerned about a comparatively unimportant (at least to them) Demeter girl. Some little ones had asked Miranda about Katie, ("Where Kat?" or, more intelligently, "What happened to Katie? Why'd she leave?"), but as Miranda had no answers to give, she'd merely shushed them and sent them off to do something distracting. They'd given up pretty quickly.

Unlike them, Travis had no intention of giving up. He'd talked to Chiron, but he'd been sitting in his office staring at a picture of Percy and had hardly listened to him. His only advice had been, "She's probably off planning some surprise to cheer us up. Don't worry about her, Connor." It'd been the first time Chiron had gotten the brothers mixed up. Travis left quickly, shaking his head, disgusted at how distracted the centaur was.

Other attempts to learn about Katie's whereabouts had been similarly disheartening. Even her ex-boyfriend, Will Solace, didn't have a clue. And worse, none of them had really seemed to care. They put up with the questions because he was Travis and nobody wanted to get pranked for ignoring him, but their minds were obviously miles away. This was most apparent when he asked one of Katie's most fervent admirers, Lacy, and she'd responded with a vague "I don't know". Lacy knew everything about Katie – a development like this was quite upsetting. Then again, Drew had been walking towards her angrily at the time, so the younger girl probably hadn't paid him much attention.

One thing or another distracted every single person at camp. How the heck was Travis supposed to get a search party organized? Besides, any search party he formed would inevitably start looking for Percy instead. He had no chance. No. One. Cared. It was ridiculous.

Finally, he'd had no choice but to go up to Annabeth herself, the most distracted one of all, to ask for help. He'd waited until after Jason, Piper, and Leo left (she'd be slightly less distant) to confront her. "I've got a favor to ask, Annabeth," he said boldly.

She'd only sighed. "Travis, I'm about to leave and go look for Percy. Can it wait?"

"It's about the search." He'd refused to be put off. "I know your priority is to look for him, and I get that. But Katie is missing too, in case you didn't notice." From the horrified expression on her face, he figured she hadn't. "I don't expect you to give up looking for him to try and find her. But if you happen to find out some clue about Katie, do you think you could maybe follow it? Or at the very least, IM me about it, and I can pick up where you left off. Okay?"

After he'd finished, she'd had to sit down. It took a minute for her to process his request, ("Oh. My. Gods. I can't believe I didn't realize… I'm supposed to be observant… How am I supposed to go out like this… I can't even see when my best friend disappears… What the heck is wrong with me?"), but with tears in her eyes, she finally looked up at him.

"Of course I'll look for her too, Travis. Gods, we should have a whole bunch of people searching for her. It's just… well, they're all out…"

"Looking for Percy, I know," Travis nodded. "I'd expect them to. But if you do find something out…"

"You'll be the first to know," Annabeth finished. "And don't worry. I'll have an eye out for her and Percy both. But… I can't promise anything. I don't even know where to start for Percy." She shrugged sadly. "I know even less about searching for Katie."

Travis looked away, blinking his eyes furiously. Hoping his voice wouldn't crack, he said, "I understand completely. Well… I'd wish you good luck, but you don't need it. You're the smartest person here. Odds are, you'll find both of them."

"You're right. I'll find both of them." Travis could hear clearly that she didn't believe what she said. Her voice was too soft. When Annabeth was confident about something, she was confident. Right now, she didn't think she had a chance. And, as much as Travis hated to admit it, when Annabeth thought something, she was usually right about it.

Unfortunately, she'd been right once again. When she came back, just before Jason, Piper, and Leo did, her expression had said it all. A bit before dinner, she'd pulled Travis aside, only to tell him that she'd found nothing. Nothing. He'd tried to be optimistic about it because that's what Katie would do. "Well, at least I know where not to look now."

She'd almost smiled – which was saying something – and told him, "Yes, don't look in the city. You'll only get mugged."

He'd grinned because that's what Stolls did. When the going got rough, you grinned it off. "Besides, Katie has always been more of the farm girl type anyway. Maybe I'll go upstate."

"Or down to Virginia or something. Think deep South."

"Yee-haw." She'd rolled her eyes, but Travis could tell she was slightly less depressed about the whole thing. He'd managed to cheer her up a little. Katie would be proud.

Then, of course, dinner began, Piper, Leo, and Jason appeared on a table all dramatically, and all talk turned to Percy again. Travis didn't hear Katie's name mentioned once.

Still, though, he'd put on a brave face for the council meeting, acting like his old pyromaniac self and lighting a Ping Pong ball on fire. If Katie had been there, she'd have been able to stop him. Since she wasn't, no one else even tried. While he'd been messing around with his lighter, though, he'd looked around the table carefully. The mood was strangely light. Even Miranda didn't seem concerned – at least not about Katie. She was rather worried about getting her nose back, though. Only Will seemed as lost in thought as Travis, although, knowing Will, he was probably contemplating some future medical discovery he'd make and not thinking about his ex in the slightest.

Once again, Travis had been disgusted at people's utter lack of caring about Katie. Annabeth was maybe the only one who worried. He was at a bad angle to read her face, but he thought she seemed concerned. Of course, the concern could be directed towards Jason's story about traveling west, going to some wolf's house, fighting giants, realizing he was actually Roman, yada-yada-yada Travis didn't care. So there was a whole other side to the gods that had been kept secret! So Percy was at a Roman camp on the other side of the country! So the Doors of Death are letting evil stuff into the world! So what?! Katie was missing!

It was then that Travis decided that enough was enough. He would have to take matters into his own hands. Someone had to find her. Why not him?

Ooh, cliffhanger... ish...

Any thoughts?