A/N: Hey guys! VERY IMPORTANT NEWS AT THE BOTTOM! PLEASE READ! Thanks!

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Percy POV:

The lobby was elegant, compared to all the hotels I've been in. The chandelier was glimmering above us, and smooth jazz played throughout the hotel.

"How many beds?" asked the guy at the counter.

"Two. Please, two." Clarisse said like she was begging for mercy.

"Okay, you're checked in. Breakfast starts at five and ends at seven. Thanks for staying at the Stay Inn."

Clarisse took the credit card back carefully and stuffed it in her pocket. "Let's go, Prissy."

We rode the elevator and got off at the third floor. The walls were dark red and the lighting was dim. For some reason, I couldn't hear the jazz music.

I put my hands in my pockets and searched for the key card. Oh, gods. Where did I put it? I pulled every pocket inside out searching for it, and had a panic attack in my mind. If I had lost it Clarisse would pull the Sleeping Cobra on me and leave me in the street…

"Looking for this?" Clarisse held up the black key card and smirked.

"How did you do that? It was there when we were checking in!" I said, amazed by her sneakiness.

"Every Ares kid forces a Hermes kid to teach them how to pick-pocket." She unlocked the door and we stepped inside. "Or they learn it themselves."

It was an underwater themed room. Bubbles were painted on the walls and the lamps were shaped like seahorses.

"Ugh, gag me with a spoon." Clarisse muttered as she set the key on the table.

"I don't think I want to," I reply, imagining what that would look like in my head.

"Look," she turns around, and adds a hint of aggravation to her voice. "Travis and the kids are gone. We've searched everywhere for them and we still can't find them. He's probably killed them by now. Travis is the crappiest babysitter—"

"Hey! Don't doubt him now. Sure, he is…immature, mischeavious, greedy, kind of stupid. But he's nice and loyal. He'd sacrifice himself for those kids if he were faced with a problem."

"That's exactly why! He always causes problems!"

"He had the backpack." I pointed out. "Hopefully he's set up camp somewhere and is keeping them safe. We don't have a lot of time. We need to get to him before—"

"Before he accidentally kills the kids by making a fire in his hiding spot, telling every monster within a fifty-degree radius where he is?"

I raised my eyebrows. Since when did she become the Oracle? "No…I mean before the psycho teacher kills the hostages."

"Oh, that'll work too, Prissy."

I moaned. "Let's get some sleep and try to call him tomorrow."

Clarisse held up a cell phone. It was blue with a trident on it. "Why don't we call him now?"

"Hey! That's my phone!" Like the key card, it was in my pocket too.

"Yep, and this is your wallet, your photo of Annabeth, your blue earphones, your necklace—"

"What? I was wearing my necklace!"

"Oh, right. Let's just call them."

"Fine."

Clarisse put the phone on speaker and we sat impatiently waiting for Travis to answer.

"Hello?" a hyper voice asked into the phone.

"Hey, it's Percy. Tell Travis that we need to know where he is and—"

I heard another voice faintly from the phone. It sounded like Travis.

The boy on the other side of the phone screamed. "Crap, it's the cops! Run, Annabeth, ruunn!"

The kid hung up and all we could hear was the never-ending tone of the disconnected line.

Clarisse sighed and turned off the cell phone. "He's probably given them crack or something! Where did Nico learn 'crap' from anyway?"

"Travis," I suggested.

"Of course, who else would it be? It's not like Elmo starts cussing out puppets on Elmo's World." Clarisse said sarcastically.

"Why do you care so much about them anyway?" I asked.

"If they die on this quest, I'll get blamed. I'm the only mature teen here, anyway."

I ignored Clarisse's comment. "We need to get to them. Now."

I forced my eyes shut—I hope Clarisse had done the same. A bright white light had filled the room, and I felt myself burning away already. I only knew one thing right then—I was about to meet an immortal, who was either going to do me a favor, or give me yet another quest.

A/N: Sorry about the short chapter. This is what happened when Nico, Annabeth and Connor were crazy off of Red Bull.