Eventually Annabeth drifted off into a doze as the men worked on. Just when she was about to enter REM, Percy jumped on the bed shaking her awake. When she had regained enough consciousness to hear correctly, she heard shouting about food from all the men except Percy because he was trying to wake Annabeth up.

When he noticed Annabeth flutter her eyes open, he jumped back off the bed and shouted to the rest of the guys, "She's awake! We can go eat a late lunch now!"

The men seemed to be having one of their childish moments because they all cheered and ran for the door. Percy stayed and dragged Annabeth out of bed, following the rest of the men down the hall to the elevators.

They went to lunch at a restaurant that was across the street from the Lido Hotel. Annabeth couldn't remember the specific name of the place, but she did know that the word Yao was in the name. What that meant, she was completely lost. As smart and bilingual as she was, she couldn't read, write, speak, or understand any Chinese languages or dialects. The fact that Percy could irritated her to no end, but she also felt pride that Percy knew what he needed to know for his work.

When it came time for the group of six to order, Percy ended up translating drinks and food to the waitress who apparently only spoke strict Beijing accented Mandarin. Even Percy was barely keeping up. They ended up practically guessing at what they were going to eat for lunch and hoping it wasn't too strange. Granted, according to Percy, some of the strangest sounding or looking things turned out to be the tastiest and sometimes healthiest.

When they finished lunch, left and paid for their meal, Percy and the other men retreated into Nico and Leo's room. Percy told Annabeth to go and stay in their room. His voice had an urgent tonality to it. Annabeth went to their room, but without Percy noticing, slipped into Nico and Leo's room just before the door shut. As the bathroom was close to the initial entry, Annabeth ran into it. She thought she might've been too loud, but when no one came she relaxed slightly.

She was able to hear the men speaking. All their voices sounded rushed and slightly panicked.

"It's too early! We won't be ready in time - "

"I know. I got that part, but we have no other option. We can't control time, sadly. We'll have to make it work - "

"But it's impossible - !"

"With everything that we've done in both worlds, I think we can figure out a way."

"Yeah. Definitely. We can do this if we stop panicking and use our heads to figure this out."

There were so many voices talking over each other. Annabeth could hardly decipher whose was whose. She could tell the first voice she heard was indefinitely Leo's. The one that reminded them they were demigods was Percy's without a doubt. Annabeth was fairly sure that the voice that agreed with Percy was probably Nico, but the other ones she couldn't be sure of. When they started speaking again, they sounded much more controlled and professional.

"Alright," Percy started, then Nico immediately jumped in to speak.

"First, we have to confirm our time limit. We might have to make a couple calls. Travis?"

"Yeah. We might also have to speak with some people in the government." Travis said.

Annabeth risked peeking her head around the doorway of the bathroom into the big room, keeping it close to the ground. All the men were gathered around a piece of equipment that had holograms floating around on it. However, none of the men were paying any attention to the holograms or the computer-like object they were being projected from. No. All the men were focused on different points out the window or each other. They all seemed to be attempting to find a solution to whatever extra problem they seem to be having. She slipped her NY Yankees cap on and walked closer to the men.

"Look. If we do have to make a plan, maybe we should first get someone who's actually good at strategizing," Leo suggested.

With that suggestion, all the men turned to Percy. Annabeth saw him raise an eyebrow to show he was confused.

Then Percy responded, "If you're implying that we call Malcolm into this after what happened last time we took him to the field….." he trailed off.

The men other than Percy looked at each other then Frank said slowly, "Not quite. We were more saying that maybe we should involve Annabeth - "

Before Frank finished saying the last syllables of Annabeth's name, Percy had stood and said, "Not a chance. She isn't here because she was supposed to be. I don't want to put her in any more danger than I already have by allowing her to stay on the jet. We should have turned around right then and there. Taken her back. No. I don't want her in the field with a matter she is unfamiliar with."

Nico said, "She wouldn't want you to be protective over her. She would want to go into the field and it's not a bad idea. She could get us all out of this sticky spot."

Percy was listening, but shaking his head. "Nico. I know that she might not want to be protected, but that's who I am. I'm protective of my wife! Is that so bad?" His voice was rising with every sentence.

"Of course not!" Nico was shouting now. "It's not bad, but in times like this, you can get overprotective! Maybe she was meant to be a stowaway on that jet so she could help us. Maybe someone influenced you not to turn the jet around and drop her back off in the USA! We don't know!" He took a deep breath and lowered his voice again saying, "What we do know is that we need a strategist and that is her home turf."

Percy turned and with a resigned sigh asked, "How much did you hear, Annabeth?"

Annabeth was shocked. She was invisible! How did he know she was standing there, or even in the room?

Percy said, "I know you're in here. Where are you?"

Annabeth was nearly directly in front of him. She was only off to his right slightly when he was turned around. She took off her Yankees cap and shimmered into existence. Percy nodded like he suspected it all along, while the other guys stared for a few seconds then turned back to Percy who had sat back down, leaning back in his seat. He scooted the chair back as if to welcome Annabeth into the semicircle they had made around the hologram generating computer. That was not to be the case. Percy adjusted himself in his seat, then gently pulled Annabeth into his lap. She leaned into him, enjoying the moment where she was in the arms of the Percy she was used to. Not the business one, the carefree, easygoing one that lived life on the edge. Even if she found the business one very attractive.

Percy began the conversation again by saying, "You up for the job, Annabeth?"

She didn't even hesitate. "Yes."

Nico grinned and said, "Sure as shootin'. How much did you hear?"

"I'm fairly sure I heard everything since you guys came in."

"That'd make sense," Percy agreed. "She would've slipped through the door with the cap and we didn't start talking until the door was closed, so it makes sense that she heard everything we said in here."

Annabeth was again surprised at how intelligent Percy could be when it was required. Leo said, "We should probably fill her in on the things from whenever it all started. She'd need all the information if she's gonna help us right?"

The others nodded, but Percy's arms had stiffened slightly around her waist. He said tightly, "We can do it tomorrow or I can tonight. Either way, I don't want to now."

The men all looked at him questioningly. Annabeth even looked up at him. He just shook his head subtly. Then there was a knock at the door. All the men jumped up. Percy rushed Annabeth to the bathroom. She saw the men taking beers and chips out. Leo was shutting the computer down and Nico was getting up calmly.

Percy gently pushed Annabeth into the shower behind the curtain, pushed her Yankees cap onto her head, and said lowly, "Don't come out until I say the keyword. It has to be me saying it too. The word is," and he put his lips to her ear and spoke softer than ever, "hamslice." He gave her a lingering kiss then ran out of the bathroom.

When Nico opened the door he acted slightly tipsy. The other men in the room had beers all over, dug bottles out of the trash to spread around the room. They did put a couple near the trashcan so it would look like they had tried to throw it in. The chip bags were all opened and the television was on. The volume was blaring from it as the men shouted and joked around like they had been doing that since they came back from lunch. Travis was actually lying on the floor between the beds at an odd angle.

The man who Nico had opened the door to looked American. He was caucasian and had the style and air of a wealthier American. An air that was far too arrogant for any of the others in the room. When the man who had knocked on the door stepped in and saw this scene he turned to Nico who was acting the most sober and asked in English, "Who are all of you?"

Nico replied in Italian, "What?"

The man raised his eyebrows. He repeated, "Who are all of you? I don't speak Italian!"

Nico looked to the other men who were paying them no mind. He said in Latin this time, "I can't understand. Do you understand Latin?"

The man was getting frustrated. He nearly shouted, "No! I don't even know what language that was!"

Nico put on a confused face. His left eyelid was also drooping. He stumbled into the big room with the other men and closed the door. The walls and doors are soundproof which was why they got away with the sudden loud volumes. Nico shouted to the men in Greek, "Do you understand what this fool is asking. He doesn't speak Greek, Latin, or Italian. I'm getting offended!"

The men looked at each other then Frank responded in the same tongue, "What has he been speaking?"

"English."

Again the men cast glances at each other. Leo said in Spanish, "Does he speak Spanish? English is the only English word I know."

They all looked at the man. Frustrated, he said, "I don't speak that language either! I am white! I am from America and I speak English! Do any of you understand that?"

Percy tried French saying, "Cool it! We're trying here! We want to understand you just as much as you want to understand us!"

The man clearly didn't understand French because he shouted again, "Damnit! How do you not know English? That man passed out looks American! Wake him up maybe I can speak with him!"

Little did Annabeth know, the men had changed their looks to look more like their ancestral heritage, but could change how far back that would go. Travis was the only one who didn't. Percy changed to look Greek, Nico looked Italian, Frank looked Asian, and Leo looked extreme Latino. It was an ability inherited from the combination of mortal and god. The godly side gave the ability and all the roots where the fire of the West was once the strongest. The mortal side gave their own family heritage. Complexion, eye and hair color were normally the only things that might have to be changed. They stayed in their clothing though.

Percy changed to Vietnamese and said, "Do you know any other languages?"

The man threw his hands into the air in exasperation. "If you think I know that language, you're wrong! Does the man on the floor know English?"

The men looked at each other with questioning stares, but just for a second, Percy allowed his eyes to show how much amusement he was having with the repetitive conversation.

Leo said in Cantonese, "Just get rid of him, Perce."

Percy nodded and turned to the man. He said in French, "Give us a phone number to call when our friend here wakes up." He pointed to Travis. Then he gave the man the pad of paper and pen the hotel room came with. When the man looked at him confusedly he put his fist to the side of his face with his thumb sticking out by his ear and pinky out by his mouth.

The man understood and wrote a phone number down. Then wrote at the bottom in Latin, I can read and write Latin. When your friend wakes up and gets oriented, call this number ^ and I can explain my reasons for being here.

When Percy read the note he said to Nico in Latin, "This guy can read and write Latin, but he can't speak it!" All the men had a good laugh while the man who just finished writing looked on, confused. Then Percy turned to him and wrote in English, YES. It seemed like he struggled when he was writing. The man first thought he wrote in all capital letters for emphasis, then he thought of the struggle he had to write those three letters and figured that capital letters were the only ones he knew how to write.

The man nodded and left. When he was leaving, Nico left the door open until the heard the elevator's pleasant ding. Then he waited about five more seconds before closing the door again. The men all changed into their birth form as it is commonly know. Travis stood up off the floor and helped the others clean up. Percy walked into the bathroom and, without opening the shower curtain, said, "Hamslice."

The curtain opened and out stepped Annabeth lowering her Yankees cap. Percy gave her a hug then they walked back out into the main room.