Thank you thank you thank you to all my reviewers/followers/favoriters! Okay, I know that last one wasn't a word, but that's okay - I'm allowed to use made-up words in author's notes, just not in the actual story... right?

Anyways, thanks again, and have a chapter!

Disclaimer: Still female. Still not Rick Riordan. :)

His preparations:

After ending the Iris-message, Travis was pumped up on adrenaline and way too worried about Katie to sleep. Instead, he untied himself and sprinted back to camp. He needed to use a certain daughter of Athena's laptop.

The two-mile run was no problem for Travis. He reached camp in about twelve minutes. It was still dark. Ignoring the rule about waking other cabins up rudely before 5 a.m., he ran over to Cabin 6 and banged on the door four times (because three was cliché). Exactly nineteen seconds later (Travis was bouncing from foot to foot each second, counting, to relieve his ADHD need to do something), Annabeth opened the door, blond hair in a vague representation of what might have once been a ponytail. "What in Hades, Travis?" she whisper-shouted. "It's three-freaking-twenty-seven in the morning! Couldn't it wait?"

"I need to use your laptop," he said quickly, still bouncing. "It's about Katie."

That was it. The magic word. Katie. She sighed. "Just a second." She came back – actually seven seconds later – and they sat on the grass outside her cabin ("so that someone in there might actually go back to sleep").

"Thank you, thank you, thank you," Travis said as he pulled up Google and typed in "recent flash floods in New England". "And thank you Daedalus for making your laptop monster-proof."

"So why are you looking at" – Annabeth squinted at the screen – "recent flash floods in New England?"

While he read through the results – his dyslexia actually not bothering him for once, thank the gods – he explained to Annabeth about Katie's Iris-message. "And that's why I'm looking for places covered in mud in the middle of nowhere less than 200 miles from camp."

She nodded, not even annoyed at him for waking her up anymore. "There can't be many of those around."

"Yeah, I hope so – Yes! Look!" he said excitedly, not bothering to keep his voice down. "'New Jersey Mudslide After Flash Flood Thankfully Leaves No One Injured'! It's in the middle of a section of abandoned farms! That must be it!"

Annabeth shushed him. "I know! That's great!" she whispered quickly. "But do you have to wake up the entire camp?"

"Oh yeah," he said as an afterthought. "That's probably a bad idea…"

She rolled her eyes. "So… how are you going to get there?"

He smirked. "Look at this. 'Tour buses run daily from New York City to the area.' I think I'll go site-seeing."

Thirty-eight minutes later (He didn't count this time! He just saw the clock on Annabeth's laptop!), they'd worked out a route for him to take to get to New York the fastest, and Travis had grabbed some of his cabin's mortal money stash (so that he could afford the bus) and a few magical items he had a feeling would come in handy later. "I would come with you," Annabeth began, as they figured out the last details, "but…"

"They're just getting started on the warship, and they might need your brains, not to mention that with Percy gone, you're kind of our backup leader," Travis grinned. "No, I get it. This is more of a solo mission anyway."

She sighed and then offered a last bit of Athena-daughter-wisdom. "Don't get yourself killed, and find Katie before… well, you know. Bring her back safely."

He mock-saluted her. "No problem for a son of Hermes!" Then he was gone.

Sooo... Any chance I could get some more reviews for this chapter? :) Thanks!