Hello, my friends! Here is the next chapter! (duh.)

Also, I did it in Percy's point of view. I figured I haven't done that in a while.

Kay cool.

Let it commence.

Percy

We waited until everyone got off the bus. I took Annabeth's hand in mine, and it was sweaty and clammy. Her face was still pale from the dream, and with her other hand she was messing with her hair; tucking it behind her ear, pushing it behind her shoulders, and bringing it forward again.

Bethany walked down the aisle, with Annabeth and me behind her. We stepped into the street, and Bethany walked quickly behind a luggage cart. We followed her and ducked behind it.

"I have a feeling that this station will be crawling with guards," Bethany said. "We need to find a way out of the station and to the entrance of the tunnel without getting caught and as quietly as we can so they won't know what we're doing until we hit them from behind." She bit her lip. "Yeah, this is totally going to work."

"I can use my hat to take down the guards at the tunnel," Annabeth said. "Also, I think our best bet is before the sun rises. We need to get Reyna and everyone else out of the prison before dusk today. What time is it now?"

I saw a digital clock mounted on a wall. "Four-thirty in the morning."

Annabeth exhaled slowly. "The sun will rise soon. That doesn't give us much cover. But, it does give us a lot of time to get everything together and get Reyna out before dusk. Now is our best bet."

Another bus pulled up to the curb, its headlights flashing over the luggage cart, and we all ducked instinctively into the shadows. The doors slid open, and tired passengers stepped out.

"Oh, my gods," Bethany gasped, peeking between two suitcases. She moved over so Annabeth and I could look.

It was him. The kid at the bus station.

"Nate?" Annabeth said, surprised.

"I guess he didn't stay knocked out for very long," I commented.

Annabeth shot me an annoyed look. I forgot she was touchy in the mornings.

Nate glanced around with his hands in his pockets, and then walked over to a bench right next to where we were hiding. We ducked into the shadows even further and stayed silent.

After what felt like an hour, Bethany risked a peek through the luggage. "It's okay," she whispered. "I think he's asleep."

I let out the breath I'd been holding. "Okay. So what we're doing is sneaking out of this bus station, knocking out the guards at the tunnel, making it to the place where Reyna is hidden, bust them out, and kill Octavian. Right?"

Annabeth nodded. "Right." She suddenly paused, thinking. "Wait a second."

"What?" I groaned.

"Bethany, where are we going to get the keys to the prison?" Annabeth asked, frowning.

"You could use me," a male voice said.

I whipped out Riptide and had it pointed at their throat in less than a second. Annabeth pulled out her dagger, and Bethany had two knives in her hands, looking pretty scary.

Nate leaned his head away from Riptide, hands up.

"Nate?" Bethany exclaimed.

"Hi, Beth. Uh, could you tell your friend here to relax?" he said, eyeing my sword warily.

Bethany walked over to him, knives still drawn, and looked at him stonily. "What do you want?"
I'd seen that look many times. It was the same one Annabeth gave me that made me tell the truth.

"I'm here to help. You won't be able to get the keys without me," he said quickly, hands still raised. "I want to see Octavian go down as much as you do."

She looked at him a bit longer, and then put her knives away. "He's telling the truth."

I lowered my sword and put the cap back on, and Annabeth sheathed her dagger.

Nate let out a huge sigh. "I thought you were going to skewer me."

"I would have," I said.

A smile twitched on his lips. "I know, Percy."

I jumped, but then realized that I was praetor at Camp Jupiter.

Bethany looked slightly uncomfortable and kept shooting glances at Nate, but Annabeth gave her a reassuring nod.

"How can you help us?" Annabeth asked.

"I'm one of the guards of the prison," Nate said. "We're all given a set of keys, and I can get them easily without raising suspicion. I can also get you purple t-shirts so you can blend in."

"One more thing," I said. "How did you know we were here?"

"I heard you say Octavian's name. You guys weren't that quiet."

An awkward silence fell between us, and Nate reached up and scratched at his light brown hair, but his hand jerked away from his head and he winced.

"Sorry about that," Annabeth said. "I'm Annabeth, by the way."

He looked surprised, but then recognition dawned on his face. "You were the one that knocked me out?"

"I didn't realize you were on our side," Annabeth said defensively. "Your head will be fine."

"Okay, enough small talk," I said. "We need to get to Camp Jupiter. Do you know how to get from here, to there?"

"I do," Bethany and Nate said at the same time. Bethany glared at Nate, bright red, and Nate looked slightly sheepish.

I tried hard not to roll my eyes. This was so not the time to have drama.

"Awesome," Annabeth said, trying to break the icy silence between the two. "You can both take us there."

Nate nodded and walked off. Bethany this time shot a glare at Annabeth, but Annabeth just shrugged.

"Just try," she said.

I instantly got the feeling that I had missed out on something between Annabeth and Bethany, but I didn't say anything.

"Are you coming?" Nate called.

Bethany heaved a sigh, squared her shoulders, and walked stiffly over to Nate.

I raised an eyebrow at Annabeth.

She rolled her eyes and grabbed my hand, pulling me after Bethany.

"I'll give you the condensed version," she whispered quickly. "Exes are awkward, especially if they both like each other and one won't admit it to herself."

"Girl talk on the bus?" I asked.

"Yeah," Annabeth said shortly. "Now stop being a Seaweed Brain. Don't forget what we're about to do."

She looked annoyed at me, but she squeezed my hand.

"I haven't forgotten," I said.

We managed to make it away from the bus station, and skirted across empty highways and hid in the bushes from headlights. None of us talked, but Annabeth was twitchy, Bethany kept drumming her fingers on her sword hilt, and Nate kept glancing at her.

I was lost in thought, moving mechanically. Things would be awkward between me and Reyna. I felt like I had abandoned her to Octavian, even though I didn't have much of a choice, considering I couldn't remember a thing.

My head had taken a huge bashing. I kept getting headaches, and sometimes it felt like my brain was desperately trying to mend itself from the gashes of the Lethe and Hera's memory loss.

And what would I do if I faced Octavian? When I fought Luke, it wasn't that hard because I knew that Kronos had taken over. But Octavian? He never acted possessed. He had done this on his own free will, and he was going to pay. But how much would it cost for me? As much as I despised Octavian, would I have enough guts to actually kill him?

I stared into space as we ducked behind some bushes as a car drove by, and suddenly their headlights illuminated an object.

The pithos.

I gripped Annabeth's hand hard, and she looked at me worriedly. I pointed just a few feet away from us, but it was gone.

"What?" she asked.

"I saw the pi—"

"Let's go," Bethany said. She jumped out from behind the bush and ran across the street, Nate right behind her. Annabeth shot me one last glance, and then pulled me up. We ran across the street, and stopped behind Bethany and Nate.

"Well, we're here," Nate said, standing in front of the tunnel. The entrance to Camp Jupiter. He looked at Annabeth and I holding hands, and then back at Bethany. She didn't notice.

"Are you ready?" Annabeth said. I could tell that she really meant Are you okay?

"I am," I said, swallowing down the nervous feeling that had clawed its way into my mouth.

"Then let's go," Bethany said, and ran towards the tunnel.

Dun dun dun.

Nate has now joined the group, and an icy drama has come between him and Bethany! Will they be able to fight past it?

Sigh, I knew he would join the group all along.

Also, I just realized that I never described him. He's medium height (about 5'11"), and muscular from all the fighting. He is a son of Apollo (Apollo's Roman name is just Apollo.) He has light brown hair, nearly blonde, and green eyes. He prefers a bow and arrow, but can fight well with a sword. He's loyal, kind, and has a similar personality to Percy. That's why Bethany was slightly jealous of Percy and Annabeth on the bus.

Basically, he's my dream guy in a nutshell.

Anywho, I hope you guys like him!

I'll see you next week, if not sooner.

OKAY BYE.