A/N: Chores? NAH! Actually my mother loaded me up today with laundry and dishes. L And I am currently BREAKING THE LAW, BREAKING THE LAW!

Charles POV:

James and Silena's injuries heal up pretty well. I was really luck I didn't have any wounds, but plenty of close calls. We currently were in the cab, driving to Death Valley.

From the state I saw Dad in last time, I didn't know how long he could hold on. It had been at least a day since we made contact with him and those vultures were very gruesome looking. Only a Titan is supposed to with stand them, not a human being. I know I wouldn't stand a chance. I don't know how Dad has survived this long. I don't even know if he has survived.

That thought made me gulp. I couldn't afford to think like that. So I asked Silena and James how they were doing. I couldn't believe that through all of this I still had my wallet with my license. James never leaves camp so he doesn't need a reason to drive. I am sure he knows how but I am driving so they can rest.

"Good. I am hungry though." Silena complained. James pulled out his pretzel bag that he didn't finish and Silena pulled out my cookies. They munched on snacks and occasionally handed me some. I looked at the time. 12:14. We needed to get there as soon as possible if we were going to have the maximum searching time that we planned for. I threw a pretzel in my mouth and punched it. The taxi sped down the freeway as I kept the gas floored.

"Welcome to California!" I announced to the sleeping teenagers in the back seat. The sign whizzed by and they didn't move a muscle. James had a pretzel hanging out of his mouth and Silena had her head back, eyes closed and sleeping softly. I hit a few potholes but they went back to sleep.

A brown sign appeared on my right informing drivers that the national park for Death Valley was up ahead. Exit 97 had an off ramp and I took a right. I reached back and shook Silena's knee. She opened her eyes and took a look around. Her eyes widened as she woke James and packed her bag, getting ready for action.

The entrance to Death Valley was only a few miles off from the highway. It wasn't much. Some picnic tables and a fence keeping people out of the desert. Even with the cool air blowing our way, I was starting to sweat. The heat was a lot. There were a few family caravans parked in the small parking lot. One family was sitting down at the table with their kids. One older couple was sightseeing and leaning on the fence.

I pulled into the parking spot next to the fence. We exited the vehicle and stood next to the fence. We planned this. If there were people, we were going to wait until we had the chance to slip through the wooden planks and run off.

Then there was our chance. The older couple got back into their cars and the family at the picnic table lost a kid and had to run around looking under the vans and table. I crawled through the space with James and Silena right after me. My foot touched the desert floor and we started walking. I would have run, but then I would loose all my energy in the heat.

We walked for what seemed like days. The sun was burning our shoulders and face. My legs burned and I wished to curl into a ball and fall asleep. Getting eaten by some birds wouldn't be bad as long as I wasn't walking through an endless desert.

After two hours of dragging my feet, a bird of prey flew dangerously close over our heads. With closer look it was a vulture. We were getting close. We started walking in it's direction.

I didn't know how close were, until I heard it.

A scream pierced the sky and echoed in every direction. It was male. It had to be Dad. I started running. Silena ran right next to me and James was behind us. I didn't stop running. I kept going until I saw him.

Dad was laying on his side. The birds had now ripped off his shirt. All that he was wearing was a couple of rags and beat up jeans. His hands and ankles were red and raw from the irritating shackles that ran around the rock. He was worse. Some of his wounds had scabbed over but the one on his stomach was even worse. It ran at a diagonal from about six inches from his right armpit to where his hip is on his left side. His eyes were wide open and staring blankly at the sky. The green he had now in his eyes was gone. They were filled with a few tears. It was really bad.

"Daddy!" Silena cried. We knelt by his side and James came up too.

"Annabeth… Where's… Annabeth…" He sounded horrible. His breath was scraggily and short. Dad's eyes were unfocused and were moving around rapidly trying to focus on something. Anything, but I could tell he couldn't. The immense lose of blood was to much for him to handle.

"Dad, it's Charles, and Silena." I watched a smile spread across his face. It quickly disappeared when James started to work on Dad. He handed me many squares of ambrosia. I slowly fed them to Dad. James whipped out his medicine kit and was patching him up.

His hands were moving so quick, I couldn't register what they were doing. I saw him pull out a long bandage. James soaked the fabric with nectar and started to wrap it around Dad's middle. He had to slowly move his hand underneath his back to reach the other side.

We were ordered to do many things. James had Silena put pressure on his stomach and I was working on adding butterfly band aids to the minor cuts. They had to be closed so that they didn't get infected.

We kept talking with Dad so he stayed with us. He listened to how our plane rides went. Sometimes he would chuckle but then would get caught in a massive coughing fit. Dad would arch his back and turn on his side so he could convulse with the body racking coughs. Silena rubbed his back speaking encouraging words.

I was applying another band aid to a cut on his arm when Silena gasped. Dad had a small trail of blood pouring out from his mouth. It was small but a cause for worry. James looked up at Dad's dirt caked face and gave him a quick swig of nectar. Dad drank it appreciatively.

"Mr. Jackson, can you call your Pegasus please?" I don't know what Dad did but he nodded letting him know that a Pegasus would be coming soon. I looked at him confused. He then whispered to me. "Blood out of the mouth is never a good sign. We need to get him out of here NOW. I don't have enough supplies to keep him alive for much longer."

Silena looked worried and grabbed Dad's bloody hand and squeezed. He closed his eyes and squeezed back. Another coughing fit and a bit more blood than last time was spit up. A shudder went down my spine.

Suddenly Dad's face turned into worry. His eyebrows scrunched up.

"Don't… Look…" He managed and I got the feeling something was coming. He pulled us in close, lifting his arms with as much strength he had. I leaned in, and closed my eyes. I could smell the metallically smell of his red blood that coated us, the ground, and almost every inch of his body. Something became really bright and it felt as if the rays of the sun were licking our back.

The light died down and we all looked at the source.

Prometheus was standing with his arms straight out, trying to make a grand and magnificent entrance.

"Miss me?"

A/N: Oh no! That's not good… Read and Review please! Have a wonderful day J