Long time, no update! Gah. I feel so guilty.

Trying NaNoWriMo this year, and yeah. :)

IIII Winter Wolf IIII- Don't worry. There's some Percabeth in here. Haha.

DigiDestinedkid6 (Guest)- Well, this is only going to go up to the Last Olympian. I'm going to end it there. If I happen to write a sequel (I have a few ideas, but I'm not sure if I'll write one), then that will follow HoO.

Ravenclawdaughterofposeidon- Thanks!

I'm so sorry if this chapter isn't the best. PX But still, I hope you enjoy.

"Oh my gods!" I yelled as I fell face-flat on the floor.

Nico clucked his tongue. "Look at who has a bad sense of balance."

"Gee, thanks," I mumbled.

Mrs. O'Leary barked and wagged her tail in the narrow hallway. I winced, thinking about the people who would wake up because of that.

There was a lot of cursing as Clarisse stormed towards us. "What the heck are you doing?" She glared at Mrs. O'Leary. "With that hellhound?"

"Long story," I said. "What time is it?"

"Six," Rachel said. Her red hair was mussed, and her eyes were half-closed.

Nico cleared his throat. "Well, I'll go find a place where Mrs. O'Leary can stay. She's gonna barricade the whole hallway."

He had her shadow-travel out somewhere.

"Well, since everyone is awake now, we'll meet downstairs in ten minutes," Annabeth said. "Percy, go tell the boys."

My heart pounded when I saw her, which was silly. She wasn't trying to look good, but she was. Her hair was messed up and her clothes were wrinkled, but I still thought she looked beautiful. I shook my head widly.

"Right," I said, and ran up the stairs.

I knocked on all of the doors and told them to get ready and come down in five minutes. Nico was back in his room too, but he was packing.

"You're leaving?" I asked.

He nodded. "I want to try seeing things from the other end—from Olympus. I want to try to talk to my dad." He moistened his lips. "About Bianca and this thing going on with us and Othrys."

"Oh," I said. "Won't you stay a little longer? You can—"

"I made up my mind," Nico said quietly. "Hopefully I'll see you later."

He melted into the shadows and disappeared.

"Hey, man, you coming?" Grover asked.

"Yeah," I said, wondering if Nico left because of me. I sighed and went downstairs.

"Well… this is an interesting mix," Annabeth said from the head of the table.

Interesting was the right word, I guess. I mean, what else do you use to describe hundreds of kids that were experimented on with special powers?

"So why are we here?" Silena asked. Her eyes were red as if she was crying before. "I mean, like what are we planning?"

"We're going to try to attack Othrys first," Annabeth said. "Percy, did you find out anything else?"

"Huh?" I said. "Oh, right. Yeah."

I told them what happened with Daedalus, and passed Annabeth and Grover the gifts. I kept my own in my pocket. I wouldn't tell anyone about that—at least, not yet.

"Thank the gods," Grover said. "I'd die if I turned into a hundred percent goat."

He covered his mouth when he realized what he said.

Luckily, Annabeth moved the conversation off of that subject. "So Luke, is he going to support Kronos?"

I nodded. "Probably."

"That's great," she said, and I sensed that there was more she wanted to say. "I think they're planning on trapping us in the city, according to Daedalus's notes."

"Like, in Manhattan?" I asked. "How?"

"Putting people to sleep, barrier," she muttered.

"So we should stop that," Clarisse said. "We should go right now."

Annabeth hesitated. "We might be too late anyway. The best thing we can do right now is to get allies. There's going to be a huge battle."

"That's ridiculous," a girl named Drew or something laughed. "We don't even know how to fight! And by allies, what allies? The military?"

"There are probably more of us," Annabeth said. "I don't think we were the only ones who were experimented on. There's bound to be others."

"I'll go check the park areas for nymphs," Grover said. "I saw a few of them at Goode, so I'm guessing there are more."

"Alright," Annabeth said. "Anyone else? We need all the help we can get."

A few more people volunteered, and they left right away.

"As for us," Annabeth said, "we're going to learn how to use our powers and to fight." She glanced pointedly at Drew. "Any objections?"

No one raised their hands.

"Alright. Anything else?" she asked.

Will raised his hand. "We need something to call ourselves. Personally, I don't want to go around referring to ourselves as experiments."

"'It is really an assembly of demigods,'" Annabeth quoted. "That's what Thomas Jefferson in his letter. We'll call ourselves demigods."

I laughed. "Of course you had to reference some kind of historical thing."

Annabeth smiled, and the others laughed.

I stood up at the opposite end of the table across from Annabeth. "Alright, then demigods. Are you ready?"

They nodded gravely except for a few who looked skeptical or uninterested (like Octavian).

"Then let's get to work!"

Hestia came down to find us working out the details of how our powers worked and pairing up. She met my eyes and gave me a warm smile that encouraged me to keep going.

"We need weapons," Annabeth said at dinner. "We can't win this with just our abilities."

"I'll cover that," Rachel said. "Just wait until tomorrow."

Annabeth nodded stiffly. "Percy, anything else to add?"

I shook my head. "You guys did great today. Keep up the good work!"

We cheered and started digging in. I looked over at Annabeth who was talking with Malcolm, who apparently had the same power as her—enhanced wisdom.

"Percy," Rachel said, sitting to my right. "Hey."

"Hey," I said. "Were you serious about the weapon thing?"

Her eyes twinkled as if sharing an inside joke. "Definitely. If things don't work out, I have a Plan B—using my dad's good-for-nothing money."

I laughed. "Nice."

Rachel nodded in satisfaction. "I want to enjoy the regular world too. Like campaigns and all that. I used to do those all the time."

"Why don't you? No one's stopping you," I said.

"Yeah, but I feel like I should be here training, but I don't feel… right here," she said.

"Well, since Annabeth sprang a history reference on us in the morning, I'll spring another one on you," I said. "No one can limit your freedom, so just do what you feel is like."

She smiled. "Such deep words for a simple thing."

"Sometimes that's what it takes," I shrugged.

I finished up dinner and decided to take a walk outside.

"Hey, girl," I said, when Mrs. O'Leary bounded over to me. "How was your day?"

She barked and wagged her tail. I brought out a six-foot god biscuit that Hestia had somehow made. She wolfed it down her throat.

"Daedalus's dog?" Annabeth said, sitting next to me on a fountain.

"Yeah," I said, scratching behind her ears. "Hey, why was Silena so upset back there?"

"Beckendorf," Annabeth said softly. "He-he died back at Goode."

"No," I said, shaking my head. "That's not possible."

"He died trying to get Silena out," she said. She bent down and plucked a piece of grass. "Worked so hard to build a good reputation, and gone, just like that. It's just not fair."

"I know," I said.

"It's just that… Everything is unfair. All these deaths, these powers, and just everything," she said.

She looked so miserable that I couldn't help putting an arm around her and bringing her closer to me.

"Hey, it'll be alright," I said. I frowned. "What about your family?"

"I don't know," she said. "I didn't see them since I was seven, and they were in Virginia back then. I didn't know who my mother was until I met you."

Athena. Right. Did the Olympians all leave their children behind like that? I suspected that there were more in our group of demigods.

"I'll tell you what," I said. "Tomorrow, we're going out." My face flushed. "Not like that, but just, you know, outside."

She smiled. "Sure. But where?"

I was about to say my mom's place, but she left. Only Smelly Gabe was there, and I sure as heck didn't want to introduce her to him. So instead I said, "It'll be a surprise."

Annabeth laughed. "Alright then. Don't let me down Seaweed Brain."

My heart pounded. "Sure. Whatever you say, ma'am."

"I have the weapons ready," Rachel announced next morning. She looked behind her and yelled, "Come in!"

A familiar man in a wheelchair and a tweed jacket rolled in.

"Chiron!" Annabeth and I cried.

"Nice to see that everyone got out safely," he said.

"You too, Chiron," I grinned. "Where were you?"

"Being questioned with a few other teachers," he said. "Hello again, Hestia."

"Same to you, Chiron," Hestia greeted. "Would you like some breakfast?"

"That would be great."

Hestia hustled back to the kitchen.

"Chiron will be training us with sword-fighting and whatnot," Rachel grinned.

"We're gonna kick some major butt!" Connor whooped.

"Where are the other teachers?" Annabeth asked.

"Some are still with the cops," Chiron said. "Mr. Blofis is here, along with a few other teachers."

"I'll pay for my stay," Mr. Blofis insisted, talking with Hestia as she walked out with more breakfast.

"It's fine," Hestia said, waving it aside. "No worries."

"Hey, Mr. Blofis," I said.

"Hello, Percy," he said. His eyes had bags under them, and his hair wasn't combed.

"We should have a free day today," I suggested to the others. "Get some of these craziness out of our systems."

"What if Othrys launches their attack?" Clarisse asked.

"They won't, and besides, we need it," I insisted. "The teachers can get settled in today without the craziness of us running around and screaming."

Mr. Blofis laughed. "Yes, that would be a nice change."

"Okay, sure. Why not?" Drew said, looking at Silena. "We can go shopping!"

For once, Silena didn't show any interest.

"Mr. Blofis. Can I talk to you for a second?" I asked, and we walked out of the dining room.

"So what's up?" he said.

"I'm worried about my mom," I admitted. I didn't know why, but I told him all about Smelly Gabe and what happened to my mom.

He fished his phone out of his pocket. "Here."

I looked at it in surprise. I'd gotten so used to only being able to call once a week. "Really?"

He nodded. "You should go see her. Do you know how to drive?"

"Yeah," I said. I knew how to drive since 8th grade when my mom let me drive her car sometimes. "But I don't have a license."

Mr. Blofis shrugged and tossed me his keys. "Be careful with it."

I looked at them as if they were gold. "Th-Thanks, Mr. Blofis."

"Just call me Paul," he grinned and walked away.

I punched in my mom's number, and prayed that she would answer. I wanted to cry when I heard her voice at the other end of the phone.

"Hello?" she said.

"Mom…" I said hoarsely. "It's me, Percy."

Silence. "Percy, is that really you?"

"Yeah."

"I told you not to contact me! Whose phone is this?"

"My, uh, teacher," I said. Technically he wasn't now, but I wasn't sure what else to call him. "Can I stop by for a visit?"

"Sure… But honey, are you okay?"

Okay? What the heck was okay these days? I mean, after you're part of an experiment and seeing a bunch of people die, what the heck was okay?

"Yeah," I said. No need to worry her more. "I'll tell you more when I see you."

"I'll text you the address," my mom said. "I'll bake you some blue chocolate chip cookies."

A wide grin split my face. "You're the best, Mom."

She laughed. "See you later, honey."

She hung up, and I still had the silly grin on my face when I walked back to get Annabeth.

"You ready to go?" I asked.

"Huh?" she took a moment to remember last night. "Oh, right. Sure. Yeah."

"I'm driving," I said. I held the door for her as we walked outside.

"Should I be worried?"

"Nope," I said, popping the 'p.' "You have the best driver around town."

She scoffed. "Right."

"You'd better believe it Wise Girl."

"Sure, when you get your license," she said, rolling her eyes.

I found Paul's car and hopped in.

"So where to?" she asked, buckling her seatbelt.

"I told you. It's a surprise."