Percy and Thalia followed Nico down to Hades's castle. Hades met them out front. "What are you doing here?" thundered Hades. "You are needed elsewhere! You are needed in Olympus!" Nico stepped forward. "We went to Olympus, but they said that you needed us." Hades glared at them. "I told Hermes that they needed to go talk with the Olympians, not me!" Thalia spoke up as well. "We Hermes said that you needed us more!" Percy stepped forward slowly. "Um, where is Hermes?" Hades shrugged, and then left.
Thalia, Nico, and Percy ate a café near the entrance to the Underworld. They thought of where Hermes might be. "Ask Annabeth," said Nico. Percy agreed, and sent an iris-message to Annabeth. "Percy!" said exclaimed. "Annabeth, where is Hermes?" "Why . . . never mind. Explain later, Hermes went to deliver a message to Chiron. He said he was very busy, and he had to hurry to deliver a message to Ares, who was visiting Gettysburg." "Why Gettysburg?" "It's the bloodiest battle in the Civil War, why do you think?" Percy smiled and said thanks.
The gang headed to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Walking around, Nico cleared his throat. "Is it me, or are we getting suddenly angry?" Percy and Thalia turned in the direction Nico was looking. A guy, who could only be Ares, was walking towards them. Next to him was Hermes. "Yes?" asked Ares. Thalia quickly explained the situation. Hermes looked confused. "Sorry, I kept getting different reports. I must have not cleared it up." Ares nodded. "But why did you get different reports?" Hermes took a deep breath. "I don't know. You three, return back to camp."
Thalia, Nico, and Percy spent the night at a hotel. Thalia stopped by their rooms. "Something bad has happened." "What?" asked Nico, but Thalia shrugged. "It was something we could have stopped." Percy yawned. "What makes you say that?" Thalia looked him in the eye. "Why else would they send us on a wild goose chase?"