Woo! Chapter 29!

I don't know if I'll be able to finish this story by Mark of Athena. Probably not. BUT, that does not mean that I won't stop writing! This story will still continue, even if Mark of Athena comes out. It might be annoying because you'll have two parallel things going on, but I'm not planning on discontinuing this story. It's obnoxious when authors do that, because I think that if you start a story, you commit to finishing it. So that's what I'm doing.

Let it commence.

Annabeth

We sat together on the bench for a while. It was like we were trying to avoid what was waiting for us in Camp Jupiter. We had to leave quickly, though. I didn't know how long the Greeks would fare being chained up in New Rome.

"Annabeth—" Percy started to say.

"Percy, we need to get to Camp Jupiter as fast as we can," I said, talking over him. "We can't let Octavian think he's won, because he hasn't."

He gave me a tiny smile. "I was just about to say that."

"Good," I said, standing up. "This means we're on the same page. Let's go."

I took his hand and helped him get up. I started to feel slightly nervous, and my hand jumped to my back pocket. My hat was still there, and it made me feel slightly better.

"Okay…" Percy said, "How do we get out of here?"

"I'm not…sure," I said, looking around as if a floating arrow would point me in the right direction. "I don't even remember how we got to DOA Recording Studios."

"Wait!" Percy said. He put his hand in his front pocket and pulled out a folded orange piece of paper. "If we look at the map on the flyer, we can just retrace our steps and get back to the beach."

I stared at him.

"What?" he asked, looking uncomfortable.

"Percy, that's genius!" I said.

"Oh," he said, starting to get a stupid grin on his face. "Sometimes I have my moments." I swear he puffed out his chest a bit.

"Yeah, but they don't happen very often. When they do, it's a miracle," I said.

Percy scowled. "You always know how to ruin it for me, don't you?"

"It's my job, Seaweed Brain. Now hand me the flyer."

He begrudgingly handed me the flyer, and I looked at the map.

"I know where we are," I said. "I guess I did know where I was going when we went into that alley. The beach is just down there a couple blocks." I pointed down the street.

We started to walk, our shoulders gently bumping into each other. We didn't say much. We just took in each other's presence again. It was like we were making up for the lost time.

"Annabeth," Percy said suddenly.

"Yeah?"

"I've been thinking…"

"That can't be good."

He glared at me. "Hear me out. How long exactly did we spend in Hypnos's cave?"

"What?"

"When we got to DOA, it was starting to get dark. And when he teleported us out, it's morning. And when we fought the leukrokottas, it was light outside, too."

"I don't…know."

Percy frowned, looking ahead.

"I think that time speeds up in his cave," I said. "You know how when you go to sleep, right when you close your eyes, it feels like you wake up even though it's been hours? I think his cave has the same effect, considering he is the god of sleep and all."

Percy looked at me, satisfied. "Thanks for clearing that up. I was just wondering."

"Yeah…how long have we been in there, exactly? I'm really curious, now."

A man was walking down the street towards us.

"Excuse me," I said, stopping him. "Can you tell me what the date is?"

He told me.

"Uh, thank you," I said, my insides twisting. I walked back to Percy, feeling sick.

"What is it?"

"Percy, we've been in there for five days. Five days."

His jaw dropped. "Five?"

"Oh, gods. What has happened to Camp Jupiter since we've left? What's happened to Jason? Leo? Coach Hedge? Malcolm?"

"Jason? Leo? Coach Hedge?" Percy said, looking confused.

"We've got to hurry," I said, grabbing his hand.

Percy and I were practically running through the streets, trying to find the beach and a bus station that could take us to San Francisco.

We were sprinting down a street, trying to avoid knocking over as many people as possible when disaster hit.

"We've found them! Send a message to Octavian immediately!"

Percy and I skidded to a stop and turned around.

Four people in purple t-shirts were running towards us, three boys and one girl. And they had swords strapped to their sides and were quickly pulling them out. Mortals shrieked and dove to the ground. They probably thought the swords were guns.

"Run!" I screamed, grabbing Percy's hand again.

I don't think I've ever run so fast in my life. The people from Camp Jupiter were gaining on us fast.

"We'll have to fight them," Percy gasped between breaths.

I jumped over a coffee table where an outdoor café was set up and twisted my way around the maze of chairs. Percy was right behind me, mirroring my movements.

"That should hold them off!" I said, running faster. I looked behind me and saw one of the pursuers trip over a chair and do a face-plant, taking out two others. The fourth-the girl-managed to jump over them and run after us.

"Wait, stop!" she called.

"Forget what I said about holding them off!" I yelled.

Percy ran ahead of me, and suddenly dove down a small street. I barely managed to turn fast enough. We ducked behind a stand advertising some marked down price, breathing heavily. The girl from Camp Jupiter ran down the street and didn't notice us.

I leaned against the building, trying to get my breathing in order.

"If there are four of them that know that we're in LA, we've got to get out of here soon. Like, now," I wheezed.

Percy nodded, not saying anything.

After getting my heart rate back to normal and checking to see if any more of them were around, I stood up and walked around the stand.

"What is this place?" Percy said, looking up at the building.

I squinted, trying to read the words. I could read short sentences without too much trouble, but this was hard. It looked like it said RAODS ROTSAGE NUTI.

Percy squinted, trying to read the sign. "I can't read it."

After concentrating hard enough, the words finally managed to make sense. "I think it says Dora's Storage Unit."

"Huh," Percy said. "Too bad it's not a bus station and that we don't have time. Let's go."

"Where did they go?" a rough voice said around the corner.

"Let's check down here," another said.

"Looks like we have time," I said quickly. I jumped inside the building, Percy right behind me. We managed to slam the door shut just before they ran down the street.

"That was close," Percy said.

I nodded and turned around to find a sword pointed at my throat.

"Just kidding," Percy said in a small voice.

Instead of slicing my neck open, the girl lowered her sword and sheathed it.

It was the person who was chasing us earlier.

Percy quickly uncapped Riptide and aimed it at her. "What do you want? How did you know we were in here? We were hiding from you."

She raised her eyebrows. "I used the back door," she said, gesturing to it.

"How did you know we were coming in here?" Percy repeated.

"When you try to hide behind a small sign with two people, is slightly obvious."

"Why didn't you get us, then?" I asked.

"Because I'm not going to turn you in to Octavian, that's why," the girl said, leaning against a counter.

I narrowed my eyes. She seemed to be about sixteen or seventeen, and she had short strawberry blonde hair. She was extremely tan with lots of freckles, and had small scars dotting her arms and legs, probably from combat. Her purple t-shirt was slightly loose, and she was wearing cutoff jeans that went to the middle of her thighs. She had an air of confidence, but she didn't seem cocky. If I had met her in a different situation, I would have thought she looked nice.

Percy slowly brought the cap to the tip of Riptide and it shrank back into a pen, but he didn't put it away; he clenched in his fist at his side.

"Who are you?" I finally asked.

"Bethany Crowne, daughter of Victoria," she replied easily, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

"Victoria?" Percy asked.

"Victoria is the Roman counterpart of Nike, goddess of victory," I told him.

Percy nodded, but didn't take his eyes off her. "I still don't understand..."

"What I'm doing?" she asked. "Octavian has completely taken over New Rome, and not in a good way. He's imprisoned Reyna and all of her followers, but no one knows where. I never agreed with anything that he did, even though I'm in a high cohort. When he took over, instead of becoming imprisoned like the others, I decided to be a double-agent of sorts. I had a feeling that I would be the one to find you, so I volunteered to be sent out. And when a child of Victoria has a feeling of accomplishment or winning, it's hardly ever wrong."

"So you knew that you would find us?" I asked.

Bethany nodded. "I'm completely on your side. But I can understand if you don't trust me."

Percy finally put his pen away. "You want to join us."

"If you'll let me," Bethany said.

He sighed. I looked at him and shrugged. She seemed trustworthy, and if we had someone who had been on the inside of Camp Jupiter, it would be one of our greatest assets.

"If you turn me away, I can swear on the River Styx that I won't tell anyone that I've found you. I'll keep you secret," Bethany said.

"Alright," Percy said. "This has happened extremely fast, a bit too fast, but we really need someone from Camp Jupiter on our side, especially one who has been on the inside for such a long time. But, this doesn't mean that we completely trust you. One bad move…" Percy let the threat hang as he pulled out Riptide, but Bethany seemed satisfied.

"I understand. I would be slow to trust, too."

I glanced at Percy. For some reason, I knew that we could trust Bethany. Maybe it was just a gut instinct—and sometimes they're wrong—but it felt good.

"Well, I guess our group as gone from two to three," I said, trying to lift the tension.

Bethany grinned. Percy still seemed apprehensive.

"Two to three," he said quietly.

*insert trumpet fanfare here* A NEW CHARACTER! *confetti*

This fine character here belongs to PercabethAndZebrasFTW! Since she was the 200th reviewer, she had the opportunity to have her own character become part of this story. Also, this works well because I'll be appealing to another reviewer who said I should include a band of demigods that help storm New Rome. And so it shall happen.

The reason why I didn't say "If you're the 200th reviewer you get an OC in the story!" because I wanted it to be a surprise, and shock the reviewer with my PM. I just like surprises is all.

I hope you guys like Bethany! I think she's pretty awesome, and I can't wait to see how her personality spins out during the story. Thank you, PAZFTW!

I think that's it. I'll see you guys for sure next Sunday, but I might see you sooner during the week. We'll see!

OKAY BYE.