Grover was harder to find than Percy thought. Leneus only scowled at Percy when he asked where Grover was and said, "I haven't seen him."

Percy searched the servants barracks. Everytime he asked about Grover, the reaction was the same. They'd look as though Percy had just stuck something nasty under their noses. Finally, a young girl with auburn hair responded.

She looked around to make sure no one was listening before saying in just above a whisper, "He was suspended until Zeus's property is found."

Percy felt immediatly sympathetic. "Do you know where, I can find him?"

Again she looked around before she whispered, "He sometimes goes to the town center when he is upset.'

Percy thanked her and headed toward town. Percy didn't have to look long. The town center had a large fountain in the center with tall trees on the outskirts surrounding it. It would have been quite peaceful, if it wasn't bustling with people going about their business. Grover was sitting under one of the trees. He looked up when Percy called his name. His eyes were red and blotchy as though he had been crying.

"What do you want?"

Percy was a little irked at the guy. He felt like he didn't really have any reason to cry. From what he understood, he only temporarily lost his position. Percy and Tyson's life was on the line. However, Percy swallowed his anger. "I'm here to help you get your job back."

"Huh?" He looked at Percy closer. "Hey you're that kid that was with me. How are you going to help me?"

"Well, I'm going to find Zeus's lightning, but I need your help. What exactly happened yesterday."

"Yesterday?" Grover seemed to be thinking about it. "They had the tournament. Zeus went to bless the victor. And then he said he couldn't find his lightning. He got really mad. Queen Athena had us search the palace top to bottom, but no one could find it. Zeus got really mad then and put the kingdom under lock down until it was found. He had his soldiers tear the entire place apart. He's threatening war if it is not found."

"War." That was all Percy could think. There were a lot more lives at stake than Percy thought. He shook himself. "Okay, the kingdom is on lock down, so it has to be here somewhere. Unless they climbed the wall last night or left by sewer." Percy's spirits fell.

"The wall is out of the question. It's too heavilly gaurded."

"Okay, so any idea what this lightning looks like?"

Grover shook his head. "I just know it's powerful. They thought it might have been me, but i was with Zeus the entire time. He still accused me." Grover sighed.

"Okay, so we still have no idea what it looks like. And zero idea where to start."

"Well, we know that it was stolen during the compitition."

"Everyone was at the compitition."

"Not everyone." Grover had a sad smile on his face. "The castle was full of servants."

Percy thought about it. "Do you know of anyone who would want this lightning?

"Not really, but I know of lots of royals who would want something powerful like that. They could have had their servants do it for them."

"Lot's of royals? Okay where do you propose we start?"

Grover hopped up from his position against the tree. "I know just the person to talk to. Melina. She knows everything that goes on in the palace.

Grover snuck them in through a side entrance that was cleverly hidden with ivy crawling all over it. Percy thought that they might go back towards the servants barracks, but instead he took him toward the palace itself. Percy was afraid that he would be recognized so he kept his head ducked down. Soon they came to a woman giving orders to a group of servants around her.

"Get the fresh picked flowers put in Queen Hera's room right away. I want them already there before she arrives back from the garden. Attention to detail. Check the roast for tonights dinner and make sure the chives are properly added. I want the floral dinnerware for tonight, not the patterned. And . . ." That was when she saw Grover. She waved her hand and dismissed the servants around her. She motioned for them to go into a small room. She followed shortly after. "What are you doing here Grover? You know I can't put you to work."

"I'm not here for . . . that." Grover looked sad for a moment then perked up a bit. "We need to find what was stolen from Zeus. The palace was full of servants under your command. Did you maybe see anything?"

Melina sighed then busied herself in the small kitchen and put together some sandwiches. "I am sorry about this whole situation. I know Queen Athena is at her last straw with it. She may just declare war before Zeus is out the gates. But as usual she is patient, bidng her time. I was ever so sorry to hear about your brother." She motioned to Percy.

"He's not dead yet. Please any information you could have. What is this lightning? Who here would want to steal it and cause a war?"

Melina chucked at that. "Here have something to eat." She handed them the sandwiches. "Probably haven't had anything since you got out." She smiled. "Now, a better question would be who wouldn't want to cause a war. The relations between the royals is fragile at best. Athena and Posiedon are always at odds. Zeus is paranoid that everyone is after his throne. Hades and Ares hate everyone. And everyone just distrusts Hermes, smiling and laughing while he steals your money. So that I can't answer. i am afraid I don't know exactly what item was stolen either. Zeus was rather . . . private in that regard. It has been a topic of great discusson among the staff. No one seems to have a clue."

"Anyone acting strange or did anyone see anything Maybe a royal had their servants steal it." Grover pressed.

"No one acting stranger than usual. The palace is too closely guarded for anyone to just walk into Zeus's room. While I am in there, the guards are watching my every move. But I did notice something that day. While the royals were at the competition, I personally checked the rooms to make sure they were up to par. After I left Zeus's room, I went to check Hera's room."

"Wait Zeus and Hera don't share a room?" Percy questioned.

"Most royals don't. Anyway, once I was done with Hera's room, I heard a crash in Zeus's room. Which is odd since no one is supposed to be there. So I went to check it out. The boquet of fresh flowers had fallen off the table and onto the floor. I immediately called for a boquet of fresh flowers and had the other ones disposed of. It was a close call before Zeus returned, but we did it in the end. I didn't think anything of it at the time, but in light of what happened I am pretty sure the theif was in there while I was in Hera's room."

"How is it that you didn't get inqusitioned?" Grover said grumpily.

"Because everyone knows, you don't incriminate yourself, especially when royals are involved. Zeus went after you and this young man because Zeus saw you there."

Percy knew the injustice of it all, but also knew it to be true. Even if you had information to what really happened, you couldn't trust a royal. "Okay, so they didn't leave by the door, but how else could someone get into Zeus's room?"

"There is only one other opening to Zeus's room, the balcony. But it is a three story drop to the ground from there. It would be suicide."

Percy thought about it as he munched on his sandwich. "Anything else you can think of?"

"Yes, the flowers weren't just knocked down, they were stepped on."

"Okay." Percy had no idea what to make of that piece of information. "Well, thanks for the food."

"Don't mention it. We lower class have to stick together. Eat your fill."

She didn't say it, but Percy could hear the rest of the sentence, It may be your last.

Percy and Grover decided to check out Zeus's balcony. Since they wern't allowed in the palace, they settled for the palace grounds. Grover found it over looking a garden of tall rose bushes. There were lattices covered with roses all around the balcony, but nothing close enough to climb from the balcony onto. Not that that would be a good idea. The Roses just near Percy were poking and grabbing at Percy.

"Ahh," Percy cried when he poked his finger on a thorne as he tried to pull it from his clothes. "This is pointless. The thief would have to be insane to go this way."

"Maybe not." Grover was on all fours and looking at the ground. Look, it's bits of stone. This stone is from only the palace."

"And you know this how?"

"I work in the palace. You become familiar with the type of stone you're cleaning really well. And look their are stratches on the wall here. Athena would throw a fit if she saw one mark on her palace. He was here. He could have used a rope to get up there and then climb down."

"Into the roses." Percy still wasn't sure.

"Well, no guards would be around here, and no guests either. It is completely secluded. That's why Athena chose it for Zeus's room. He likes his . . ."

"Privacy." Percy finished for him. "So where did the theif go after that?"

Grover looked at the rose bushes around them. "Look, a dying flower."

Percy looked. A branch that a rose was attached to was broken and hanging limply down. Grover inspected it closer and then pointed to another one a few yards away. Looked like Percy wasn't the only one fighting the rose bushes. They followed the trail of broken limbs and came to a wall. There was a torn peice of cloth on one of the thorns that Grover pulled off. Grover looked at the scuff marks on the wall again.

"They went up and over." Percy guessed. Grover nodded in reply. "What's on the other side of the wall?" Percy asked.

"The town." Grover groaned.

Percy closed his eyes and put his head against the wall. The town. Percy had been outside of the palace walls enough to know that you could get lost in Athens. Now that the theif was in Athens, he could dissapear. Percy opened his eyes and stared at the bushes beneith the wall. They looked pretty roughed up. Not that Percy was an expert of plants, but compared to all the other bushes along the wall these had broken limbs and lost leaves. Then Percy noticed something. There was something stuck in the bush. Percy reached in and pulled it out. It was a tankard. Percy grinned. "I think I found out where the thief is."

Grover looked up hopefully and grinned when we saw the tankard. "Good find, Percy!"

Now they just had to get back through the maze of roses without getting scratched up.