*cue the intro music*

I'm ba-ack! And school has started, so I am sa-ad! But that is oh-kay, because of the chapter to-day!

(You have no idea how hard I tried to make that rhyme.)

Anyway, just a short story so that you appreciate this chapter a bit more:

On my trip I was thinking about this story one night, and how it was coming to an end soon. (NO!) But a problem struck me: planes take only hours to get from coast to coast. Flying warships take one full day. The good guys are going to get there before the Romans, and that is NOT ACCEPTABLE!

So this was born! (And be glad, because if not the story would be over in approx. two chapters.)

Disclaimer: I don't own HoO

Piper

"This is your captain speaking; in the result of an unforeseen event we will be experiencing some minor turbulence. Please remain in your seats until announced safe. Thank you."

Percy's face paled considerably, his grip on the seat's hand rests tightening so much his knuckles turned white. Piper was surprised the seat survived. "Turbulence?" he asked. "Oh, gods, this isn't good, this isn't good…"

In all the months that she'd (barely) known him, Piper had figured out that Percy wasn't afraid of much. (Mostly because he was indestructible with some sort of ancient curse.) But he seemed seriously terrified of this minor disruption.

His girlfriend patted him on the arm reassuringly. "Don't worry, Perce," she told him, resting her head on his shoulder. "It should be over soon."

"Yeah, it's only some turbulence. Basically just wind flying in a river," Leo helped, waving his hand through the air fluidly. "You like rivers, yes? It's very Poseidon-y."

"Actually, Leo," corrected Annabeth, "the way air flows has nothing to do with water."

They hit a bump and Percy's grip on the hand rest tightened, if it was possible.

"I don't particularly like turbulence either," Hazel added, leaning towards them. "I get seasick easily, and bumpy planes are basically the same thing."

A particular violent jolt hit them and they all jumped in their seats.

"That didn't feel so good," Piper noted.

"This is your captain speaking," an announcement said. "Because of the turbulence we're taking a detour towards Texas. This will add about four extra hours to our flight."

Percy turned so pale he could have been hung up in a science classroom and considered a skeleton. "Four… hours?" he demanded.

"Hey, better than falling out of the sky and falling several thousand feet to our deaths, eh?" Leo said good-naturally, punching his shoulder.

Piper allowed a pause before she leaned close and hissed in his ear, "Leo? Not helping."

"This is your captain speaking—"

"Why does he keep repeating that?" Frank wondered quizzically.

"—we are going to be taking a second detour—"

"I just wish he would stop giving us bad news," said Hazel.

"—over towards Canada due to a storm near Texas, which will add roughly five hours to our trip."

"Typical," Leo said, then thought about it. "I hope Aunt Rosa's garden is ruined," he added.

"Thank you for your understanding." Click.

"What I don't understand," Percy said, "is why we keep needing to make these detours."

Annabeth snapped her fingers as a thought hit her. "Of course," she said. "Why didn't I realize this earlier?"

"What?" Frank asked.

"...That we're headed straight towards a chocolate waterfall and we have enough time to stop for a minute?" Leo asked hopefully.

"No," Annabeth told him irritably. "The Romans. They're arriving in warships, but they'll be slower because they still need to consider stealth. We should arrive before them, but by now they will know that we escaped. They're trying to stall us."

"But how on earth would they manage to create some turbulence and a storm?" Piper asked.

Annabeth thought. "I don't know," she admitted. "Maybe Jason—"

"I don't think so," Hazel interrupted. "He could create the turbulence but the storm not so much. He's not a god, you know."

"Then maybe it's the warships," said Annabeth. "They have magic, right? They could help him—"

A thought struck Piper so hard she jerked back violently. "No, it's not that," she announced dreadfully. "I know how they're doing it."

They all stared at her, waiting for her to continue.

"The turbulence Jason could manage," she started, closing her eyes and thinking. "But the storm? No."

"Yes, we know this," said Annabeth. "Keep going."

"…Maybe the storm isn't a storm," Piper continued. She chewed on her bottom lip nervously, waiting for the others' reaction.

"What do you mean?" Frank asked.

"Well… the pilot is 100% mortal, right?" she asked. "And so is the co-pilot. What if something not a storm came our way and they saw it as one?"

Annabeth realized what she was trying to hint. "Oh, no," she said, paling almost as much as Percy. "No, no, no." Despite the pilot's warning, she unbuckled her seat belt and stood, running over to a large window and drawing back the blinds. The others joined her.

Flying towards them at incredibly high speeds were group of five sleek black panthers with wings, with incredibly sharp talons and beaks. On their backs they each held a Roman in full body armour and bearing weapons. And although they couldn't hear them, it was obvious the leading Roman had shouted, "Surrender in the name of Rome!"

"Uh oh," said Piper.

Dang, cliffhanger alert! (And the chapter is short, but school just started and I'm growing lazy again.)

Anyway, I tried finding a flying monster that wasn't already used in the series, but got nothing. So I chose the gryphon just because it's easy, it's agreeable, and they can be tamed by humans if born and raised in custody because they aren't the out-for-intentional-blood kinds of monsters; they're the attack-demigods-because-they're-meat-and-they-are- carnivores type. And technically the gryphons haven't even been introduced yet, because they star in the SoN.

I haven't done this for a while, so I'll do it now.

-o-O-o-

Kupkake: Well, usually the inspiration isn't actually inspiration; I get the story idea, and before I write the first chapter I take out a pencil (because pens are useless because they can't erase) and a sheet of lined paper, and list everything that's going to happen in the story by chapters, so writer's block can't happen, because from beginning to end I know how it'll be. Sometimes I add a chapter or two that weren't planned, just because the thought struck me. But if I had to pick ONE inspiration, it would probably be my lovely readers. COOKIES! (::) (::) (::)

Angel of Darkness will get you: I WAS at the east coast (not New York, if you're wondering, though), and the trip was 12 hours, seeing as my parents decided to conserve money and DRIVE there. It was torture, mostly because my sister was annoying half the trip.

PANDORASBOX1706: I can't say… The romance of this story (a.k.a. Leo and Piper) is a secret! (Although Jason and Reyna are together… sorry Jasper fans.)

awesomeness: He does! That's how he and Annabeth got away! (I remembered that bit! Yes! [The original plan was that Nico busted them out of prison… but I like it this way better.])

I am Haylee daughter of Hades: Strawberries on tacos are a thing? I thought I made that up! (Googling it right now.)

HaileeOfHermes0330: You were away for a month? How cool is that!? Hope you had fun wherever you went!

fantasy137: Maybe the bunker thing at the end… I haven't really thought of that. And, yes, Hazel still has the curse and the flashbacks.

-o-O-o-

Anyway, thank you for all the reviews, and to everyone who wished me fun on my trip! And sorry that most of this story was ANs.

Cheerio!