Back to avg. length with this chapter. Enjoy.

When Annabeth finished putting her blouse on so she was satisfied with how she looked, she and Percy left the bathroom. The other men were all waiting in the main compartment of the van. Percy had checked her gizmo and ear device (that she had yet to learn the name of) to make sure that they were still properly attached. The men were all back in their disguises again.

They shut all the small panel doors again making the back of the van look like a space with multiple swivel chairs with some screens on the walls and a one-way screen separating the front two seats from the back. Before they got out, Percy handed Annabeth her Yankees hat. She checked her pocket to find that he had grabbed it at some point after she had changed.

Shaking her head fondly, Annabeth placed took her cap from Percy and put it on her head. She went out first alongside Nico who stepped out and closed the left door. The rest of the guys followed when that door was shut. When Frank had gotten out he turned and shut the right door and locked the van. For a brief second after Frank hit the lock button, the van locks all glowed a golden bronze color. It faded too quickly for Annabeth to be sure, but she suspected that it was another one of the Argo II tricks that had been conjured by the main members.

Percy led the way back into the hotel. Annabeth noticed none of them had a bag for Travis's clothes nor any armor. Percy was supposed to teach Annabeth how to use the ear device and gizmo. So far he hadn't. She just had to trust in what he was planning on doing once they got back to their rooms.

When they got to the seventh floor and stepped off the elevator, Percy pulled the group aside. Getting back into his character, he spoke in Greek saying, "I'm going to go through the rooms and do a final sweep. Can I have your key, Fai?"

Frank nodded and gave Percy his key as Nico snickered and said in Italian, "Which of those women down in the lobby will be joining you, Mr. Playboy?"

Percy grinned, switched to Italian and said, "The first one to follow. After all, isn't the expression 'first come, first serve?'" He gave a sly wink in Annabeth's general direction.

"You of all people would know that one."

"Oh yes." With that, Percy turned and strode down the hall with a little strut.

As they had finished their conversation the elevator doors opened and three Caucasian women that looked around twenty-four actually did step out. They noticed Percy and giggled. That quite frankly surprised her. It wasn't like Percy wasn't good looking or something, but even from the back it was obvious he was at least thirty. That's normally an age that many people are married at right?

Annabeth definitely wasn't used to the jealousy that she was experiencing. She knew she didn't have to worry as Percy was married to her and he was in disguise. She simply rushed to follow him to make sure that she would get into their room before any of the others could. She didn't take caution to quiet her footfalls. The only reason they weren't obvious was because the women behind her were also speed walking at about the same speed.

"Excuse me!" One of them called in English. To Annabeth it was obvious they were trying to snare Percy's attention, but he just kept walking or rather strutting.

They sped up slightly and came too close to Annabeth forcing her to also speed up so she didn't get trampled. Percy finally turned at the noise. When he turned, the women attempted to look like they weren't just trying to catch up to him. Annabeth continued, but slowed her pace down to a walk so she wasn't making a ruckus without any cover. She brushed against Percy's arm as she walked by. He raised his eyebrows at the women who had slowed down to a walk as they kept coming closer.

In Italian Percy asked, "What are you all doing?"

The one that called to him earlier responded in the same language. Not fluently but good enough to barely get by. "Oh we were just going to our room and we saw you. We thought we might be able to make a fast friend." She said the last part with a wink.

Percy raised an eyebrow and said with a subtle wink, "I don't know if I can handle three women at once, but come to my room tonight around eight. We'll see what we can do."

Percy then took out a piece of paper and a pen. He scrawled something on it then handed it to the one that had been speaking. Annabeth wondered what he put on it. He figured that he was going to set up a prank. That would make her day. She was going to make it a point to ask him that once they got in their room.

Once they had gotten to their room, Percy opened the door but lingered in the hall smirking at the women. Annabeth figured this was when she was supposed to enter. She went inside and ran her finger across Percy's chest as she walked past. She felt his breath catch slightly as she did and she smirked. When Percy had closed the door, Annabeth pulled off her cap with her smirk still prominent on her face.

Percy turned around to face Annabeth noticing the smirk in her features. He shook his head, grinning. "Did someone get a bit jealous?"

Annabeth's face flushed. "Shut up, Percy."

Percy grinned and came over, sitting on the edge of the bed they had been sleeping in. He patted the space beside him on his left, her right as she was facing him. Annabeth rolled her eyes but came to sit by him. He brushed her hair back with his left hand. She tried to turn her head, but Percy's right hand gently stopped her.

"I'm checking your earpiece. I don't think it's been calibrated."

So that's what it's called. Annabeth thought, but she asked, "Calibrated?"

"Yes. It might not be fitted or activated. I'm not sure if this one will do that automatically. I don't think it did." Percy explained.

"Uh huh. I assume you're going to calibrate it right now."

"If you don't want to be exploded in an amazing firework show, yes I am."

Before Annabeth could respond she felt another sharp pain from the earpiece. It lasted slightly longer than the first one. Once Percy was satisfied her earpiece was calibrated, he knelt down on the floor.

"I'm checking your shitbox now." Percy said before Annabeth could ask what he was planning on doing.

Annabeth raised an eyebrow. Percy glanced up.

Percy was grinning again as he asked, "What? Do you not like my word choice?"

"Not particularly. It sounds like you're insulting it."

Percy raised an eyebrow. I don't think so. When we say that, we're just reminding each other that the first prototype looked like-" Annabeth gave him a look. "Crap. I was going to say crap. Either way, it's not just insulting Leo's choice of colors, we're also insulting everyone else that was deciding the design!"

Annabeth sighed and said, "Fine. But is the official name a gizmo?"

"Sure. If you want it to be. We're not exactly inventive when it comes to naming our inventions. Nor have we patented any of them so we don't need to be. Only certain people are allowed to use these inventions and they are a select few."

"Do me a favor and call it a gizmo in respect for Leo's name of his invention."

"Whoa. Who said it was Leo's?"

"I guess I assumed-"

"Nope. It was a combination of Jason, Leo and me who made the two devices you've got on right now. Nico came up with the earpiece design of an individual color unique for the wearer."

"Oh. Sorry. So, each earpiece has to be worn by a certain person, but each gizmo can be worn by anyone?"

"Yes and no. Each gizmo can only be worn by someone who already had an earpiece assigned. Then it will connect with the earpiece and be that person's and only that person's."

"Ah. How do you know which is is yours when the light isn't on?"

"The light blinks your color when you activate a tracker in the earpiece."

"You make it sound like they're a lot more than communication devices."

Percy grinned. "That's because they are. They're supposed to look like a type of bluetooth device to basically disguise its actual purpose."

"Smart."

"Did a daughter of Athena just complement a son of Poseidon on intelligence?"

"Don't push it."

Percy laughed. "I wouldn't dream of it." He stood and gestured for Annabeth to do the same. "Alright. I said I'd teach you the basics of these things and I will. We are under the pretense that I am doing a final sweep of this room and the one across the hall."

"So we have a limited time." Not a question a statement. Although Percy treated it as a question.

"Yes. That's why I'm only teaching you the basics. I'm teaching you what you might need to know for now. To get you out of this hotel safely with your cover intact."

"I don't have a cover." Annabeth protested.

"Of course you do." Percy argued. "Your hat is a cover. Just a different kind than the one the rest of us are using."

Annabeth rolled her eyes, but didn't argue the point. Annabeth didn't know their exact time limit so she said, "We should probably start then."

Percy nodded and turned Annabeth so she was facing the wall opposite the beds. Then he moved her forwards, closer to the wall, so he could stand behind her. He stood very close to allow him to guide her body movements in certain situations.

"The first thing you need to understand is many of the actions you can perform with these devices is operated by your mind. You've got to have a relaxed mind to do them though. A focused one as well." Percy said quietly in Annabeth's ear. It sent shivers down her spine which didn't help the concentration that Percy was saying the devices required.

That must have been why Percy was talking to her the way he was. Trying to quickly train her to focus both her mind and body especially in the midst of distraction. As the thought came to Annabeth, Percy ran his hand down her right side starting at her waist and tracing her figure very carefully. Subconsciously, Annabeth leaned back into him slightly. She could feel his heart rate speed up slightly, but gave no other signs she was having any effect on him (intentional or not).

"Now Annabeth, this exercise is for your benefit. Stand up straight." Percy said with a small chuckle. He was still speaking into Annabeth's ear. She did stand up straight though. She could feel Percy's smile against her skin when she did.

Percy's hand which had been traveling up and down the front of Annabeth's thigh stopped and went to rest on the gizmo. He began to kiss Annabeth's neck up and down. "Don't we have a time limit?" Annabeth gasped out.

"You tell me. You were always the punctual one between the two of us." Percy mumbled into her skin.

She didn't want to stop him, but she remembered that they were there for a reason and they had a very pressing time limit before they had to check out and where Daniel may or may not launch some sort of attack on them. She needed to focus.

The earpiece beeped into her ear. A mask of sorts came and covered her eyes. Different displays came up. There was an outline of her body in the bottom right corner. She found that rather odd.

She wanted to remind Percy that they needed to focus on the situation on hand. The gizmo buzzed. There was a cold feeling that seemed like it was spreading all over her body. Like quickly spreading frost. The gizmo buzzed again and Percy flew back onto the bed. Annabeth quickly turned around. Instead of being irritated or angry, Percy was grinning from ear to ear.

"Was that a test?" Annabeth asked apprehensively.

Percy nodded and said, "In a way and you did extremely well. All you have to do is channel you energy and what you want. It always helps when you have a clear goal in mind as well. You knew we needed to get going because of the time limit. That was your goal, you took the steps to achieve it. Although, that was very interesting for both of us. I've never gotten to train something in that way."

Annabeth shook her head. She looked at the different diagrams displayed in her eyes. She could see multiple things. There was a circular map in the top right corner above her body outline. It looked like a bird's eye view of where she was. There was a grey pulsing dot where she was. Annabeth assumed it was representing her as a pulsing green dot was a few feet away representing Percy.

There was a dark grey lines which looked to represent the walls between rooms. There was no furniture represented. There were lines for buildings and streets, but no sidewalks or cars either. In the next room there were multiple pulsing dots. One was black, another red, light brown, and a rust red/orange combination. The last dot was not pulsing but was black. Three other black dots were in the hall a few rooms past the one she was in. They were not pulsing either.

"How many people have the gizmos and earpieces?" Annabeth asked.

"Eight. Nico, Travis, Frank, Leo, Connor, Jason, and now you." Percy answered. He was now sitting back on the edge of the bed again. He was watching Annabeth closely. He looked like he wanted her to figure everything out for herself. He didn't seem too eager to explain much until she figured out the main parts of it herself.

"I don't mean to sound insensitive, but Jason is dead. Should you really count him?"

"He still had them attached when he died, along with his implant. If we wanted to, we could track exactly where his body his now. His pulsing signature is an bright electric blue. I'm sure you can figure out which signature belongs to who in the next room." Percy explained. "Jason's light would tell us he is dead, but the signature would still be there. When we got within range to see his pulsing signature, it would also flash DEAD on the map."

"I see." Annabeth said. "How do you take them off?"

"The same way you do anything else with them. If you want to detach it, you use your mind. The, ah, gizmo is taken off quite often. Reattaching the earpiece might be more of a hassle than necessary though. It does not bring any discomfort at any time." Percy said with a shrug.

"Why did I have one already made for me?" Annabeth asked remembering how it seemed to be already prepared even when Percy first brought it out.

"Good question. I was hoping you had forgotten that everything seemed prepared. I had a feeling you were on the plane before we took off. That blonde head of yours wasn't always as conspicuous as it could have been. I had Leo get an extra set and prepped some of the features to your personal statement."

Annabeth raised an eyebrow. "You don't sound like you're regretting me coming as much as you initially did."

"It's nice to have a field strategist who has actually spent a fair amount of time thinking under pressure and still coming up with ways to keep everyone alive. Along with other reasons." Percy shrugged with a wide grin. "Listen, we don't have time to learn much more about these things. Any other questions I'll be able to answer once we are safely en route to Xi'an."

Annabeth nodded. "Alright. You should probably put that nice goatee back on your face."

Percy raised both eyebrows and asked in a false proper voice, "Would you be referring to my disguise that I dropped for our short lesson?"

"Yep." Annabeth replied, keeping it short and simple.

Percy just laughed. He went to the bathroom to watch himself in the mirror so as not to mess up such a detailed disguise. When he came out, he was Peleus once again.

"Alright. Annabeth, you need to put your cap on, but keep the armor up."

"What armor?"

"Not now. I'll explain when we're safely away. Just put your Yankees cap on and don't be surprised when it's not as noticeable and slightly snugger than normal."

"Fine." Annabeth said as she lifted her Yankees cap up and placed it on her head once more. As Percy had predicted, it was snugger than it usually was, but she wasn't as aware of its presence. She couldn't feel it sitting on her head as acutely as she normally could.

They left the room and Percy was practically cornered by the three women who, according to Annabeth's map, rushed to the door when it opened. When Percy stepped into the hall the one that could speak Italian came too close for Annabeth's liking and blocked the door from closing. This was good and bad for Annabeth. She did still have to get through the door so it was good it was still open, but she didn't like that the woman was so close to her husband.

In Greek Percy asked, "Why are you blocking my door?"

"Sorry? I speak Italian remember?" The woman replied in Italian.

Percy switched languages saying in Italian, "Of course. My bad. I was asking why you are blocking my door from closing."

"Ah! Well I was under the impression that we were meeting up. That is to say all three of us-" she gestured to the other two women standing a foot away "-had an appointment with you around eight. We were to come to your room and we would all become friends."

"Oh yes. I remember that. I just thought that I would go to a friend of mine's room. I just want to speak with him. After all, we aren't meeting until after dinner and it isn't even fifteen hundred!"

"Oh. I'm sorry. My friends and I must have just gotten excited and the time became something of unimportance." The woman said. She was getting slightly flustered. She seemed to be used to becoming 'acquainted' with men right after they met. Not having to wait for a certain time when they were going to meet.

"It is no problem." Percy said. He made a show of holding the door for her to step away from it. He must not know if Annabeth had been able to go through during the conversation. Thankfully his precaution was just what Annabeth needed to get through the door.

Percy allowed the door to shut. Then he turned to the women who were standing in the middle of the hall a few feet away. He winked at the one he talked to then turned and knocked on room number 7708.

A/N: Got a PM asking about my POV that I write from. It's very similar to what Rick Riordan does in Heroes of Olympus. He writes from different characters' POVs except using 3rd person pronouns (character's name instead of 'I'). That's what I'm doing except all in Annabeth's. I might do another character's, but it's not likely.

Hope you liked the little spurts of jealousy from Annabeth in this chapter.

Reviews & PMs are all read and taken into consideration especially when they are feedback of sorts.