Disclaimer: I sadly don't own little Nico, Annabeth, or Connor.

No POV:

Annabeth was determined to get that toy. She pressed her face to the glass and stared at it in awe. Connor and Nico were already inside, looking around the toy store. Of course, Clarisse had stayed with them to make sure they didn't get in trouble. Percy was standing behind Annabeth, checking his phone.

"Annabeth, why don't we go inside? You can tell me which toy you want." Percy said.

I will get that toy, Annabeth thought to herself. First, be innocently cute.

"Okay!" she took Percy's hand and pulled him inside the store.

The store was packed with hyper children. There were aisles and aisles of almost every toy you could think of. Above Annabeth and Percy, was a train on train tracks, the tracks being held up by wires. It blew its whistle as it passed above them. Colored balloons were floating to the ceiling. Laughter was the first thing you heard when you stepped in. Annabeth smiled as big as she could and led Percy towards an aisle with dolls.

"I may want this one," she held up an American Girl Doll. "Oo, or maybe this one! How about this one?"

"You can only have one, so pick the one you think is best," Percy reminded her.

"Which one do you think Snow will like better?" Annabeth asked as she held up two dolls.

She had named her owl Snow, because it was snowy white. Connor named his stuffed snake Slither, and Nico had named his happy skeleton 'Captain Terror the Third'—for some unknown reason.

"Whichever one you think is best. You've known Snow longer than I have," Percy reasoned.

"Hmm. I choose this one." Annabeth picked up the doll with long brown hair.

"Okay. We're supposed to meet Clarisse at the check-out counter."

"Let's go, then!" Annabeth pulled Percy's hand once more.

The checkout line wasn't very long. Most of the kids were trying to decide what to get. Clarisse had Connor on her hip, and Nico holding her hand. She didn't look very happy. Travis was behind her, carrying one nerf gun and a bat cave toy set.

"Connor wanted the nerf gun and Nico wanted the bat-cave thingy majiggy." Clarisse told Percy. "He doesn't even know who Batman is!"

Nico looked up at Percy. "The superhero has a cape, so I want it."

"Okay. Annabeth wanted this doll." Percy said as Annabeth showed Connor and Nico the doll. She must've seen something behind them, because she gasped and dropped the doll.

"Annabeth, where are you going?" Percy asked, but she was already at the shelf behind Connor and Nico. She stopped and picked up the package.

"This is even better than the doll!" Annabeth exclaimed.

Connor took it out of her hands and tried to read the name. "What's a Figgy Fried?"

"It says Fijit Friend." Travis pointed out. "I saw a commercial for one of those on TV the other day. It raps and dances and all that cra—"

"It does? I want it!" Annabeth said eagerly.

"Are you willing to give up the doll for it?" Travis asked.

"Yes! Now give me my toy, Connor." Annabeth swiped the Fijit Friend out of his hands. Connor looked up at Travis, obviously confused at why Annabeth was mad at him all of the sudden.

They checked out the toys and when they got outside, Clarisse put them in the backpack, but took out the kids' stuffed animals.

"Here's Snow, Slither, and Captain Terror." Clarisse said in monotone as she passed them out.

"His name's not Captain Terror. It's Captain Terror the Third." Nico corrected.

"Yeah, whatever."

They walked down the streets of Manhattan, unsure of what to do next. Travis was scrolling down on his phone when he saw something.

"Um, guess what?" he asked in shock, still staring at his phone.

Clarisse rolled her eyes. "What?"

"Nursery Times Daycare is 720 miles away,"

"What! I thought it was here in town!" Percy protested. "It has to be in town!"

"Nope. The news reporter says it's a chain daycare. There is one here, but not the one with the crazy teacher lady. That one is in Tennessee."

"You've got to be kidding me," Clarisse took Travis's phone and read the article. "He's right for once.

"How could I have actually thought this was going to be easy?" she thought out loud.

"It's never easy, Clarisse." Percy reminded her. "Let's just go to the nearest airport and get a flight to Tennessee."

"That's our best bet." Travis agreed.

Annabeth, Connor, and Nico weren't even paying attention to the three teenagers. They were just playing with their stuffed animals quietly.

"Hey, who wants to fly?" Travis asked them.

"Me! Me! Me!" Nico put his hand up in the air.

"No, I want to fly!" Connor protested.

"I want to fly more than you!"

"Nu-uh!"

"Yeah-huh!"

"Nu-uh!"

"Yeah-huh!"

They both were about to punch each other when Clarisse stepped in.

"Well, you both get to fly," Clarisse interrupted. Then added quietly so they wouldn't start crying, "So shut up."

"Yay!" They cheered.

Annabeth just rolled her grey eyes.

The airport wasn't very far away, considering that they took a bus from Steve—the satyr they had met that had helped them on their previous quest—it didn't take that long to get there. The bus zoomed past people, as it did last time, except it stopped for other demigods. They all had sat in the front of the bus, listening to Annabeth, Connor, and Nico play with their stuffed animals. Steve only made them pay one drachma, since they were friends with his old pal, Grover.

They now stood inside the airport, watching people rush in and out.

"Don't get lost," Percy said.

"What if we want to get lost?" Connor asked.

Percy raised his eyebrows. "Why would you want to get lost?"

"To meet hot girls,"

"What kind of hot girl is going to be at an airport, searching for a five-year-old to hit on?" Travis questioned.

Connor put his hand to his forehead. "A hot five-year-old girl, duh!"

Annabeth punched him on the shoulder.

Connor put his hands up. "Don't hate the player, hate the game!"

Annabeth sighed. "And have you ever had a girlfriend?"

"I can't remember—but I want one," Connor wiggled his eyebrows at Annabeth.

Annabeth slapped him hard. He fell to the ground.

"Percy, looks like a five-year-old is hitting on your girlfriend," Travis whispered. Percy glared at him.

"Well, they have the same personalities from when they were older," Clarisse snickered. "No PDA! Especially you, Connor. If I see you flirting with anyone, I will tell your mom."

"Ooh!" Nico said under his breath.

Clarisse turned to him. "That includes you too, Nico."

"Ooh!" Connor said as he passed him.

"I'm bored!" Annabeth complained.

"We're about to buy our ticket. It'll take a few more minutes." Clarisse assured her.

During those few minutes there was a lot of arguing and complaining. Clarisse was glad when it was finally over.

"Hello, name please." The woman at the desk said in monotone.

"Travis Stoll, Connor Stoll, Annabeth Chase, Percy Jackson—"

The woman's eyes lit up. "Percy Jackson?"

Percy quickly answered her with: "Percy Jackson? You must've heard wrong. I'm Peter Johnson."

"No, you're Percy Jackson!" she screamed angrily. "Get them!"

Clarisse turned to Travis. "Get them out of here now!" she ordered.

"On it." Travis turned to the kids, who looked terrified. "Look, we need to run towards the exit right now unless you plan on becoming a monster's stew."

"Wonderful description, Travis." Clarisse yelled over her shoulder as she pulled out her spear. "Take the backpack, too!"

He grabbed the backpack and gave it to Annabeth. "You know how to run, right? Good. I need you to run in front of me and protect that backpack."

"Why?"

"Because your Fijit Friend is in there!" he said quickly.

Annabeth's eyes widened and she took off towards the exit. Travis put Connor on his back and took Nico's hand.

"Let's go!" he told them.

They had reached the exit, but Clarisse and Percy were still fighting.

"C'mon, we'll meet them later." Travis said to the kids.

They ran down the street, and Travis was sure that something was chasing them. He looked back for a second and saw a chimera running at top speed towards them. He dropped Connor really quick and drew his weapon. Connor yelped as he hit the floor, but seemed fine. Nico quickly held Annabeth and Connor's hand, and Connor held Travis's. They were all linked together. The chimera pounced on Travis but before it could do damage, Nico shadow-traveled them to a forest.

Travis yanked his hand out of Connor's and threw the chimera against a tree. He was holding it by its neck and pointing a dagger at its throat. The chimera inhaled deeply. Travis's eyes widened and he turned to the kids.

"Guys, duck!" he warned them.

They all ducked just in time, for the chimera had breathed fire right after Travis's warning. Travis lost grip on the chimera and in ran into the trees.

Travis brushed his hands off on his jeans. "Well, it's gone."

Annabeth's eyes widened. She quickly searched through the backpack.

"Travis, look out!" Connor screamed.

Travis fell on his stomach as the chimera attempted to attack him, but it just jumped over him and headed towards—

"No!" Travis shouted. For some reason, he closed his eyes.

Annabeth screamed.

Travis knew he was a horrible person now. Letting Annabeth get killed? She was his responsibility. He had taken Connor's warning instead of protecting them. He was the worst babysitter in history.

"Oh my god," Travis heard Nico say.

Did he dare open his eyes? He slowly did…expecting to see Annabeth in a pool of blood. But instead, he saw her holding her own celestial bronze dagger, and a pile of gold dust.

"H-How did you that?" Travis managed.

"I was hoping to find a weapon in Clarisse's backpack, and I did. I pointed it at the monster at the last moment, and he disappeared. What's this stuff?" she explained as she scooped some gold dust in her hand.

"Chimera ashes," Travis said with a grin.

Annabeth quickly wiped her hands on Nico's shirt.

"How did we get here?" Annabeth asked.

Travis was hoping that she wouldn't mention that. He sighed. "You all have powers. Annabeth, you're super smart and know how to defeat almost every monster—like just now. Connor, you're very athletic and know every single prank ever pulled. Nico, you can control rocks and summon ghosts. You can also shadow-travel—which is how we got here.

"One of your parents is a Greek Olympian. Annabeth is the daughter of Athena—goddess of wisdom. Connor is the son of Hermes—god of travelers, roads, thieves, medicine. Nico is the son of Hades—god of the Underworld. The other parent is a mortal. We'll probably get attacked by monsters like that one a lot." Travis finished.

They stood in shock.

"That's new," Connor stated.

"Annabeth, I need the backpack." Travis added.

She handed it to him and he set up a tent.

"We're going to camp out here for the night. I'll figure out something at morning." Travis told them.

When they entered the tent, it looked like the one that the Huntresses of Artemis used. It had a small kitchen and bathroom, along with two small bunk beds, and a pull-out couch. It also had a flat screen TV, like Travis had saw in the Huntresses' tent. The floor was carpeted but the walls were curved, like the tents.

"How can it be this big?" Nico exclaimed. "It's small on the outside!"

"It's like those tents on Harry Potter," Travis explained.

"Harry who?"

"Never mind. Get some sleep."

"I call top bunk!" Connor climbed up the small wooden ladder.

"Wait, you need to put on pajamas." Travis held up three pairs of nightclothes.

Once they were all changed, they climbed in the bunk. Connor was on the top and Nico was on the bottom. On the other bunk, Annabeth was on the top, snuggling with her owl.

"Night," Connor said.

"I'll be on the couch if you need me for any reason," Travis yawned, realizing how tired he was. "Good night."

Nico looked scared. "What if a monster comes in the tent?"

"I already planned that out. Top security system outside. I can imagine what I want the tent to look like on the inside and out when I pull it out of the bag."

"Oh. Okay, good. Night." Nico closed his eyes, and drifted into sleep. Whatever shadow-traveling was, it had made him tired.