~Amy's POV~

Amy woke up on the floor of the Empire State Building. Her head ached. She groaned and sat up strait, holding her head. Amy noticed that she was just sleeping on the ground.

Huh? She thought. How did I get there?

She then remembered what happened. Ian yelled, "Vespers!" and someone injected a needle in her shoulder and then she collapsed.

Amy studied her surroundings. The other two groups of teens were still there, lying unconscious on the floor. No one was still in the building. Even the mysterious guy at the main desk disappeared. Then she noticed that Ned, Ted, Madison, and Reagan weren't there.

Oh no, did the Vespers kidnap them?

She was about to go over to Dan to see if he was all right, but then a girl that looked around Dan's age with caramel colored hair with dyed streaks woke up. She stood up gripping her arm. She scanned the room, not noticing Amy, and her eyes widened. "Walt?" she cried out. "Walt! Where are you?" she yelled more frantically.

"Who's Walt?" Amy asked.

"My-my friend," she stuttered. "I can't find him! He was with us when I blacked out!"

"I can't find four of my friends either," Amy explained. "Ned, Ted, Madison, and Reagan."

The girl didn't answer. She shook the boy lying at her feet. "Carter," she shook him. "Carter!" she yelled.

"What?" he sounded annoyed.

"Walt's not here!" she yelled.

The boy whose name was Carter sat up immediately. He looked around the room with a concerned expression on his face. He spotted Amy. "Who are you?" he asked.

"My name's Amy," she responded. "Who are you?"

"My name's Carter," the boy said. "And this is my sister Sadie."

She didn't answer. Amy walked over to Dan and shook him. "Wake up you dweeb!" she snapped.

"Ninjas!" Dan yelled as he sat up. "Oh, hi Amy."

"This is serious," Amy said. "Ned, Ted, Madison, and Reagan aren't here." She explained. "And they," she pointed to Carter and Sadie. "can't find their friend either."

Dan didn't respond. He wasn't paying attention. He gave Amy the "quiet" sign and tiptoed over to Natalie. He put his mouth near her ear, and screamed, "GET UP COBRA!"

Natalie screamed and punched Dan in the face. "Daniel! Don't wake me up like that!"

"Sorry," Dan shrugged while rubbing his nose.

The yelling seamed to wake everyone else too. "Wow," Amy muttered. "Dan, I always new you had a big mouth."

"That was a great joke Amy," Dan replied sarcastically while rolling his eyes.

"What happened?" a girl with blonde hair and startling gray eyes muttered.

Ian pulled the needle out of his leg and examined it. "It looks like the Ves- uh, those people shot us with darts that were contained with a poison that would put us to sleep for a half-an-hour."

"How do you know that?" a kid that was wearing all black replied.

Ian shrugged.

A kid that looked Spanish with curly, dark brown hair said, "Where's Thalia?"

"Ned? Ted? Where are you?" Sinead yelled with concern.

"Madison? Reagan?" Hamilton called with a frantic look on his face.

"Our friend Walt isn't here too," said a girl with tanned skin and long, dark hair pointed out.

"Did those people kidnap some of us?" a girl with uneven and choppy brown hair said with anger.

"Looks like it," Jonah replied with a sigh.

"Oh no," a boy with jet-black hair and sea green eyes said. "There's a note on the door.

Sinead got there first. She read the note aloud:

It looks like you noticed that your friends aren't here. You maybe will see them again. Maybe. All we ask is for the recipe to the Master Serum, Zeus' Master Bolt, and the Crook and Flail that the almighty god Ra used himself, and we'll give you your friends back. Don't tell anyone about this. Don't go to anyone else for help. You shall all work together. We will keep track of your progress and send you messages for hints on finding our hideout. Don't even think about showing up without the items once they are all gathered. If you disobey our rules, a hostage will die. You may only include only three other people of your choice.

Sincerely,

Isabel Kabra, Sarah Jacobi, and Porphyrion.

~Percy's POV~

Zeus' Master Bolt? Were these people crazy? They want the Master Bolt? Zeus would turn him to ashes if they were caught.

But if Luke could do it, so could we… he thought.

The other part of his mind argued with him:

No! You can't do that! Zeus will kill you!

But we have to if we ever want to see Thalia again…

He saw whom it was signed from. Porphyrion. Didn't they defeat all of the Giants during the war?

Apparently not.

A girl with jade green eyes and reddish-brown hair looked surprised. "These people are insane! Zeus and Ra? They don't even exist!"

A guy that looked like a male model took in a sharp breath. "Isabel? I thought she was in prison!"

"Well, it looks like she escaped." A girl that looked Nico's age said. Percy recognized that she looked exactly what the boy that just spoke would look like if he were a girl.

"And Sarah Jacobi? She's dead! We saw her die!" another girl said.

"I guess somehow she survived," a boy said.

"Porphyrion?" Annabeth exclaimed. "I thought Jason defeated him at the Wolf House!"

"Not exactly," Leo said. "He sort of just disappeared into the earth."

"Guys!" Nico said. "We shouldn't be saying this stuff out loud in front of these mortals!"

"Mortals?" a buff looking guy replied irritated.

"Nico, it doesn't matter," Annabeth explained. "It looks like we have to work with them if we want to see Thalia again, so they would figure it out eventually."

"Figure out what?" a boy asked. Percy looked. What was the world-famous Jonah Wizard doing here?

Annabeth ignored him.

"I think I know the three extra people to bring," Percy thought out loud. "Didn't it rain earlier today?"

"Yeah. So?" a boy with dark blonde hair replied.

"Follow me outside." Percy responded.

Percy led everyone into a dark alley. When Percy finally found a puddle, he used his waterpower to create mist, thus creating a rainbow. Everyone who didn't know him stared at him in shock.

"Annabeth," Percy asked. "Do you have an extra gold drachma?"

She nodded. Annabeth handed him one and Percy began chanting. "O, Iris, goddess of the rainbow, please accept my offering."

He threw the golden coin into the rainbow and it disappeared.

"Jason Grace, Camp Jupiter," Percy requested.

Jason's face appeared in the mist. He was sitting next to his co-praetor, Reyna, while watching the War Games.

"Jason!" Percy yelled.

Jason jumped and looked at the mist. "Percy! Don't scare me like that! You know we don't use Iris Messaging here."

"Sorry Jason, but that's not important right now," he replied. "We need you to meet us here in New York City as soon as possible."

Jason nodded. "Anything else?"

"Yeah," Percy replied. "Bring Hazel and Frank with you too."

~Carter's POV~

Carter thought this day couldn't get any weirder. First he sees that the Empire State Building is completely empty except for two groups of teens and then one group is wearing armor and they're holding swords and knives. Then these weird people walk into the building, a kid yelled "Vesper!" and then the people all shoot them with darts and knock them unconscious. Walt was kidnapped. There was a ransom note that said that Sarah Jacobi wanted the Crook and Flail. Carter's Crook and Flail. Then the boy that said his name was Nico called them "mortals". Then Percy levitates the water and creates mist, throws a gold coin and it disappears into the water. This was definitely not the work of Egyptian Magic.

After everyone introduced each other, Carter asked if he could talk to Zia and Sadie in private.

"Sarah Jacobi wants my Crook and Flail!" Carter exclaimed after he pulled them aside.

"Oh, really Carter?" Sadie said sarcastically. "We haven't noticed."

"No! My point is do we trust the others enough to tell them that I have the Crook and Flail? And if we do tell them, we will have to tell them about everything from the Egyptian gods down to the very last wand!" Carter replied.

"Carter, I see your point," Zia responded. "But, by the looks of it, the kids with the armor have a big secret too, because they called us mortals and stuff. And if we both have a huge secret, I bet that last group with Amy and Dan has a secret too. Plus, the sooner we give Jacobi the Crook and Flail, the sooner we get Walt back."

Carter nodded. They walked back to the others. "Guys," Carter said. "There's something we need to tell you."

Carter showed them what he was holding. "This is the Crook and Flail that they want. It's been in my possession for almost a year now."

They stared at him. "The note said that they needed the Crook and Flail that Ra used himself. If this is the one they want… then, is Ra real?" Amy asked.

"Who's Ra?" Hamilton asked.

"He's the king of the Egyptian gods. Or at least he was until he grew old, died, and yeah. You probably get my point." Sadie explained.

"Wait, what are you trying to say?" Piper asked.

"I guess what we're trying to say is… the Egyptian gods are real."