Percy took the fur from Zoe, the pelt shifted and changed into a coat—a full-length golden-brown duster. "Not exactly my style," I murmured.

That's true, kind of makes him look weird. "We have to get out of here," Grover said. "The security guards won't stay confused for long."

Yeah, that's right, I haven't seen a single mortal around while they were fighting the lion. I looked at the guards behind us. They were scrambling in all directions except ours, like they were madly searching for something. A few were running into the walls or each other.

"You did that?" Percy asked Grover.

He nodded, looking a little embarrassed. "A minor confusion song. I played some Barry Manilow. It works every time. But it'll only last a few seconds."

"The security guards are not our biggest worry," Zoe said. "Look."

Through the glass walls of the museum, I could see a group of men walking across the lawn. Gray men in gray camouflage outfits. They were too far away for us to see their eyes, but I knew who they were looking for, Percy. I'm not sure, but they seemed to be only looking right at Percy.

"Go," Percy said. "They'll be hunting me. I'll distract them."

"No," Zoe said. "We go together."

Percy stared at her. "But, you said—"

"You are part of this quest now," Zoe said grudgingly. "I do not like it, but there is no changing fate. You are the fifth quest member. And we are not leaving anyone behind."

We were crossing the Potomac when we spotted the helicopter. It was a sleek, black military model just like the one we'd seen at Westover Hall. And it was coming straight toward us. Just seeing it brought back awful memories. I wanted to blast the thing right out of the sky, but unfortunately I can't.

"They know the van," Percy said. "We have to ditch it."

Don't ask how I got into the van…It is really hard to explain, so just know I got in.

Zoe swerved into the fast lane. The helicopter was gaining.

"Maybe the military will shoot it down," Grover said hopefully. Don't we all want that? But they won't.

"The military probably thinks it's one of theirs," Percy told Grover. "How can the General use mortals, anyway?"

I've said this once before, there are some mortals I will never like.

"Mercenaries," Zoe said bitterly. "It is distasteful, but many mortals will fight for any cause as long as they are paid."

"But don't these mortals see who they're working for?"

Percy asked. "Don't they notice all the monsters around them?"

Zoe shook her head. "I do not know how much they see through the Mist. I doubt it would matter to them if they knew the truth. Sometimes mortals can be more horrible than monsters."

I really have to ask Chiron about this 'mist' thing they keep talking about.

The helicopter kept coming, we were making a lot better time when we went through D.C. traffic.

Thalia closed her eyes and prayed hard. "Hey, Dad. A lightning bolt would be nice about now. Please?"

But the sky stayed gray and snowy. No sign of a helpful thunderstorm. Predictable.

"There!" Bianca said. "That parking lot!"

Is she crazy? Wouldn't we get trapped under there? Well not really I guess. Since if I have to, I'll just shadow travel them out of there.

"We'll be trapped," Zoe said.

"Trust me," Bianca said.

Zoe shot across two lanes of traffic and into a mall parking lot on the south bank of the river. We left the van and followed Bianca down some steps.

"Subway entrance," Bianca said. "Let's go south. Alexandria."

That was close…I almost got stuck in the van. As I was about to get out, they closed the door on me. I didn't want to let them know I'm following them, so I shadow traveled out of there.

They bought tickets and got through the turnstiles, I was looking behind us for any signs of pursuit. A few minutes later we were safely aboard a southbound train, riding away from D.C. As our train came above ground, we could see the helicopter circling the parking lot, but it didn't come after us.

Grover let out a sigh. "Nice job, Bianca, thinking of the subway."

Bianca looked pleased. "Yeah, well. I saw that station when Nico and I came through last summer. I remember being really surprised to see it, because it wasn't here when we used to live in D.C."

Grover frowned. "New? But that station looked really old."

"I guess," Bianca said. "But trust me, when we lived here as little kids, there was no subway."

Thalia sat forward. "Wait a minute. No subway at all?"

Bianca nodded.

"Bianca," Zoe said. "How long ago…" Her voice faltered. The sound of the helicopter was getting louder again. Persistent mortals…

"We need to change trains," Percy said. "Next station."

Over the next half hour, all we thought about was getting away safely. We changed trains twice. I had no idea where we were going, but after a while we lost the helicopter.

Unfortunately, when we finally got off the train we found ourselves at the end of the line, in an industrial area with nothing but warehouses and railway tracks. And snow. Lots of snow. It seemed much colder here.

I'm glad I have Apollo's power to be warm wherever I go, whether it be hot or cold. And Percy seemed to be pleased with his new fur coat. We wandered through the railway yard, the only things out here were just rows and rows of freight cars, most of which were covered in snow, like they hadn't moved in years.

A homeless guy was standing at a trash-can fire. We must've looked pretty pathetic, because he gave us a toothless grin and said, "Y'all need to get warmed up? Come on over!'

I watched the homeless man carefully, everyone huddled around the fire, Thalia's teeth were chattering. She said, "Well this is g-g-g-great."

"My hooves are frozen," Grover complained.

"Feet," Percy corrected Grover, for the sake of the homeless guy.

"Maybe we should contact camp," Bianca said. "Chiron—"

"No," Zoe said. "They cannot help us anymore. We must finish this quest ourselves."

This old guy…He seems…Familiar. "You know," the homeless man said, "you're never completely without friends." His face was grimy and his beard tangled, but his expression seemed kindly. "You kids need a train going west?"

"Yes, sir," I said. "You know of any?"

He pointed one greasy hand. I know this guy…Well I can't tell who it is exactly, but this is a god. Because suddenly there was a freight train, gleaming and free of snow. It was one of those automobile-carrier trains, with steel mesh curtains and a triple-deck of cars inside. The side of the freight train said SUN WEST LINE.

Once I read that I knew who it was, Apollo, god of the sun.

"That's… convenient," Thalia said. "Thanks, uh…"

She turned to the homeless guy, but he was gone. The trash can in front of us was cold and empty, as if he'd taken the flames with him. I knew it. It was Apollo.

An hour later we were rumbling west. There was no problem about who would drive now, because we all got our own luxury car. Zoe and Bianca were crashed out in a Lexus on the top deck. Grover was playing race car driver behind the wheel of a Lamborghini. And Thalia had hot-wired the radio in a black Mercedes SLK so she could pick up the alt-rock stations from D.C.

I picked a car I actually knew. Which most people wouldn't even think about getting into, it was a 1939 ford, I have seen these cars around where I was training with my father, from time to time I would shadow travel to the mortal world and take a look around. Those times were fun…I would scare a homeless guy, or just scare about forty people when I just pop out of nowhere.

I've never actually drove a car…Father never let me out of his sight until the prophecy came along and killed me…Whatever that's in the past. I decided to be a little kid and play around in this thing. I was moving the wheel left and right, pretending that I was in a race. The imagination is a wonderful thing.

After an hour of playing around I got tired and decided to check on everyone. The sun was now gone and replaced with a dark evening sky.

I checked on everyone, they were all asleep, and so I decided to do the same thing. I went back to my car and fell asleep. In my dream I was floating above Artemis, she was straining to keep the sky up, those bastards…Artemis had cuts all over her face. Her face was beaded with sweat.

After a while, Atlas came out of nowhere, "Do you still honestly believe that brat will come back and save you?"

Atlas roared with laughter, "He left you here so he could get away, he was afraid to even face me himself!"

Artemis had an angry look on her face, "He is more of a man then you will ever be. He will save me and Annabeth…He will come back, unlike you, he is not a coward!"

The edge of Atlas's mouth twitched, "Where is he then!? Unlike him, I do what needs to be done!" Atlas shouted. He turned and left Artemis alone.

Artemis looked tired, "Please hurry…Wyatt."

I woke up, "Artemis…"

I'm guess I'm addicted to this story D: I just really love this book itself, and writing a fanfiction about it makes me excited!

Thanks for reading! I hope you all have an awesome day!

Rilurz~