It hurt to wake up that morning. Partly because she was sore and tired from Capture the Flag, partly because she had only slept for four hours, but mostly because it was four thirty in the morning when she had to start packing.

As she pulled together her pack, which wasn't too hard - she'd barely unpacked after the trip to Westover, so all she had to do was stuff a few changes of clothes and extra socks into her bag - she pondered the situation. She was about to go face chances of death somewhere between 40 and 100%, with two girls she hated and one she barely knew, in the hope of saving Artemis - from something which could overpower the goddess, so that probably wouldn't go well, either.

Still, at least she had Grover, she supposed.

She decided to put the problems ahead of her out of her mind and take a quick shower. She made the water as hot as it could go and stepped in, letting it pour down her back - but careful not to get her hair wet. Percy hadn't gone to the "good luck" bonfire, and she couldn't figure out why. Was he pissed at her in particular, for not putting up a fight and bringing him with instead of Grover, or for not stepping down to let him go? Was he staging a general protest that he couldn't go, or one of the quest as a whole? Maybe he was just setting out on his own - but Grover said Percy was going to go home for the rest of his winter break, so that didn't make much sense. Maybe he'd just gone home. Still, Thalia couldn't shake the sense that he was somehow snubbing her intentionally. She just had no clue why that might be.

Whatever - not her problem now. She stepped out of the shower and let the draining water carry her worries with it. Now was not the time for boy trouble and stress, it was the time to step up and save Annabeth (oh, and maybe the world too, if it came up).

When she stepped out the door at five, Zoe and Bianca were waiting for her, holding a hushed conversation. Phoebe was suspiciously missing, and Grover was at the other end of the central lawn area between the cabins, rushing over as fast as he could.

"Where's Phoebe?" Thalia asked, sounding much less sleep-deprived than she felt. Zoe and Bianca exchanged a glace.

"Those Stoll boys perpetrated a foolish prank. Centaur's blood, like acid, sprayed inside of the shirt which they 'gifted' her. Were it not for the urgency of our quest…" Zoe trailed off, and Thalia really hoped that the Stolls avoided being near Zoe when she had a knife handy for the foreseeable future. Then again, Zoe probably wouldn't need a knife.

"There's no way she can go," said Bianca, "She can hardly move, and it won't be healed for weeks. But with only four, we're not certain the prophecy will be satisfied."

Thalia nodded, and Grover arrived, panting. After he was filled in, Thalia came up with something. "Phoebe is a daughter of Hermes, isn't she? Two shall fall at family's hand. Maybe, maybe this was meant to happen?"

Zoe pondered it for a moment, then shook her head. "It matters not. We do not have time to bring another with us, and they may meet a fate worse than Phoebe's if we were to. We must leave now. There is no alternative."

Thalia's mind instantly snapped to Percy, but she didn't know where he was - and he was famously a heavy, late sleeper. Probably not. Besides, a fate worse than having your entire torso burnt with acid and being bedridden for weeks? Thalia wouldn't wish that on her worst enemy… hell, not even on Percy. She nodded. "Let's get moving, then."

The group shouldered their bags and set off towards Thalia's pine (and that was a weird name for Thalia to think about). At the top, Argus was waiting, tossing Zoe the keys to the camp van. Thalia was a little put out by that but it made sense - Zoe was by far the oldest of them, even if she didn't necessarily look it. After some mild jockeying for position, Thalia secured her spot in the passenger seat and they were off.

New Jersey passed by in a flash, probably because Thalia had her eyes closed tight for most of it in fear of the way Zoe was driving. The huntress was grumbling something about 'manual transmissions were better' and 'silly mortal laziness' but the speedometer needle had just about wrapped around back to zero. Thalia shivered. Bianca seemed completely at ease with the situation, though, and Grover was simply too overjoyed to be trying to help Artemis to worry too much. Plus, he had a lovely seat to munch on - what more could a satyr need?

Maryland came, and finally Zoe slowed down to about 80 to get gas and coffee. Thalia breathed a sigh of relief and unbuckled her seat - only to realize when she opened her door that they were still doing 30. She quickly shut it again and waited for the huntress to pull up at a pump before she opened it again and stepped out to grab the group's coffee order. It was just a grungy little truck stop, but the coffee smelled like Elysium, which matched up with Thalia's experience of grungy little truck stops. Good to see Maryland wasn't going to buck the trend.

When she returned to the van, Grover had some acorns out, which danced around while he played something on his reed pipes that sounded suspiciously like ABBA. "Alright," he said, "I'm ninety-five percent, maybe eighty-five percent, sure. D.C. is where we're supposed to go."

Zoe looked particularly skeptical, so Thalia stood up for Grover. "That makes sense to me. D.C. is big, it's west, it's important. Would make sense for Artemis - or our monster - to have passed through or be there." Grover cast her a grateful look, but Bianca didn't seem entirely convinced.

"D.C. is only sixty miles away… and you did this with acorns."

Zoe nodded. "I dislike this. The prophecy said west. We should head straight west."

Thalia couldn't hold back her growl. "Oh, like your tracking skills are any better out here? I trust Grover." Zoe bristled at the insinuation, but Thalia didn't back down.

"You challenge my skills, you snoutband? You know nothing of hunting!"

Thalia didn't even know what a snoutband was, but she knew it was offensive and she straightened, feeling her ears redden. Before she could whip out what was certain to be an epic, devastating retort, however, Grover interrupted with a nervous bleat. "Guys, not again!"

Bianca stepped between the two. "Grover's right, guys. D.C. is the best bet. Besides, we have to keep moving."

Thalia didn't back down, but Zoe did, though she didn't seem too convinced by Bianca's logic - no matter how similar it was to her own. Begrudgingly, the pair returned to the van, Zoe taking the coffee Thalia offered her with a reluctant smile.

Then, they were off, once more at breakneck pace, now towards the Potomac. Thalia got the strange sense they were being followed, like someone was chasing them from above - but everytime she looked behind there was too much cloud cover to spot anything, and it wasn't a pervasive feeling, so she shrugged it off as best she could to focus on cringing away from every sports car Zoe dusted. This van must have had a million horsepower or something, and Zoe wasn't sparing the horses any, that was for sure. When they arrived in D.C., Zoe slowed down, and Grover did more acorn magic in the backseat. Shortly, they were at what Bianca called the National Mall. Apparently, she'd been there a few times with Nico back when they were kids living in D.C., but it had looked different then - clustered with temporary government blockhouses there was no evidence of today.

Thalia was pretty sure that the Mall hadn't changed much since the 90s, and it looked pretty much the same as it had when she and Luke and Annabeth had dropped by, so that was weird. There wasn't much time to be concerned about Bianca's spotty memory, though. Grover was already pulling them into the Air and Space Museum. Not entirely sure what they were doing, the group fanned out and began to search.

Thalia wandered around and was busy admiring an Apollo space capsule, wondering whether Apollo had liked the naming (or, alternatively, how much Artemis had hated that the mission to the moon was named after the sun god, of all things), when something massive barrelled into her and launched her into the resin heat shield on the bottom of the capsule, dropping her like a stone onto the ground. She sucked in a breath and leapt to her feat, spear and shield already coming out, when Percy shimmered into existence. By the time she got her spear around to him and realized who he was, Zoe and Bianca already had arrows knocked and trained on him.

"Percy! Thank goodness," Grover bleated as he slid to a halt, having rushed up from the balcony below. When Zoe turned a furious eye onto the satyr, he blushed. "I mean, uh… gosh, you're not supposed to be here."

"Percy, what are you doing? I thought you were going home," Thalia said, doing her best to forestall Zoe's outraged outburst and keep the huntresses' arrows out of Percy. "You shouldn't be here."

Percy looked vaguely hurt but mostly worried. "Luke's here. And the General. And some scary-looking skeleton dudes. And Thorn, too."

Zoe lowered her bow. "Where?" She demanded.

Percy rushed out a quick explanation, and when he mentioned the General sending them a 'playmate,' Grover muttered. "Artemis must have followed this monster here… a powerful monster scent. She thought it was the Bane, got trapped by the General."

Zoe grimaced. "It cannot be the General. Percy must have seen an illusion… perhaps an Iris message."

Percy snorted. "Iris messages don't crack marble floors," he said. "Also, the skeleton warriors obeyed him like he was really there."

Before anybody could question the whole 'skeleton warriors' deal, a monstrous bellow shook the balcony beneath them. The group exchanged nervous glances and Thalia checked over the balcony quickly to make sure none of the rocket engines were starting up.

A child screamed with joy. "Kitty!" Their mother screamed in terror and dragged them off.

A pickup truck barreled up the ramp, except it had a golden coat and four legs and a massive mouth and giant silver claws and wasn't really a pickup truck at all. Thalia swore. She knew this thing, from when it was just her and Luke. She still had a nasty scar on her thigh from it, and all they'd managed to do was run away. "The Nemean Lion," she whispered. "Don't move."

The lion roared and batted at the air with a paw the size of Thalia's chest. Its claws looked like they were forged from stainless steel. Percy settled down into a combat stance, and so did the others, doing their best to move as slowly as possible. "It might be a bit late not to move," he hissed to Thalia. "I think it sees us."

The lion lunged, and the group scattered. Percy dove straight between its massive legs, slicing upwards as he went. Percy's sword clanged harmlessly off the beast's belly, and Thalia lurched against the balcony, pitching dangerously over the railing for a moment and turning green, before the lion chased Bianca and Zoe in the opposite direction and she could straighten and regain her footing. Thalia swore again.

Bianca and Zoe were alternatively launching arrows at the beast and running away from it, each covering the other's retreat with arrows before they swapped roles and beat their own hasty escape. Thalia sprinted into its path and thrust Aegis into the monster's face. Usually a monster would cower away from the face of Medusa emblazoned on the front, sometimes permanently - but this time, it merely recoiled before striking out as it returned to all fours. Thalia ducked under the swipe and thrust with her spear, hoping to score a shot to the eyes or perhaps the nose of the ferocious feline.

Grover played a jaunty tune on his pipes, poorly, and the lion turned towards him, but Percy was already there, grabbing a handful of mane and swinging himself aloft like it was simply a massive horse. Balling his fist, he straddled its shoulders and reversed Riptide in his hands, striking downwards at the ears of the lion. After a few near misses, though, the cat launched itself into the air and crushed Percy against the roof, leaving him dazed and winded. A massive paw batted him from his tenuous perch and onto a P-51 hanging from a set of cables. On his path, though, he connected with a ceiling mounted sprinkler spigot, and that seemed to give him an idea.

"Zoe! Bianca! The sprinklers!"

Instantly, Thalia understood what he was thinking about, and set about occupying the monster as much as she could so that the huntresses might best target the sprinklers. She sent a massive blast of lightning into the lion's roaring maw, following with an opportunistic thrust at the roof of its mouth. Unfortunately, it dodged, but she could tell that the water was already beginning to piss it off - and even better, it seemed to multiply the damage her lightning did, frying the beast internally despite its impervious fur. That wasn't quite enough to distract it from taking advantage of Thalia's overextension, though, and it lashed out with a forepaw.

Percy stumbled to his feet and launched himself to intercept the paw like a linebacker taking a wide receiver out in midair. Though he didn't stop it completely, he managed to slow it significantly enough for Thalia to brace her shield against the massive and sharp claws bearing down on her. The lion growled and lunged for her with its mouth, and she quickly thrust at its tongue with her spear. Evidently, the lion was getting tired of making that mistake, and tired of getting soaked by the sprinklers the huntresses had managed to trigger.

It reared up onto its hind paws and then leapt into the air, coming down with its forepaws like a housecat with a toy - except this was a dozen tons of housecat and the toy was Percy, who lashed out desperately with his hands. The lion froze in midair, suspended by the water clinging to its coat, and it roared in frustration. As it did, Zoe launched an arrow into the roof of its mouth. Bianca followed that up with another two, and Thalia took the chance to scramble backwards, clear of the beast's flailing paws. Percy's hands shook with exertion and Thalia realized she needed to end the fight fast.

The lion roared once more, and Thalia focused, funneling all her concentration and power into a single great blast of lightning which rocketed into its mouth. The water which poured into its mouth gave extra conductivity to her strike, and the monster fried from the inside out. Percy was gasping for air at this point, doing his best to hold it in the air as Thalia and the huntresses continued to pour whatever they had down its yawning chasm of a throat.

Eventually the son of the sea's strength gave out and the lion plummeted towards his supine body, which he had barely managed to tuck under his shield before the corpse of the creature landed on him. Unthinking, Thalia leapt the banister of the balcony she was on and dropped to the one where Percy had been, now buried under a massive cat slowly dissolving into golden dust. Grover, similarly, rushed to the location, and Bianca and Zoe arrived shortly after. Working unconsciously as a team, they began to dig into the dust, lifting off what they could of the beast while they searched for their friend.

Eventually, they heard a sputtering cough and found his shield. Beneath it, Percy was curled into a fetal position, sword arm shoulder dislocated and ribs cracked but otherwise intact. On top of the shield, however, was a shimmering lion's coat, beautiful gold fur lined ornately with silver and blue trim. Bianca picked it up reverently as Thalia and Grover helped Percy stand.

Zoe reached a hand out to Percy, as though she were going to shake his hand. Confused but accepting, Percy reached out with his dislocated arm by habit with a wince, trying to retract it. Unfortunately for him, Zoe had already grasped his forearm. "Well fought, Perseus," she said calmly. "Take your spoils." Then, she yanked heavily on his arm, and with a thunderous, echoing 'pop,' the joint reseated itself in its socket.

Percy bellowed at the ceiling. Then, after a moment of intense breathing, he calmed himself and nodded in thanks to the huntress lieutenant. "Thanks," he said, "but what spoils?"

Bianca held out the pelt.

Percy shook his head. "No, that's Thalia's," he said. "She actually killed the thing."

Thalia snorted. "Only because you held it in the air and got its mouth open! It's yours."

Percy opened his mouth to protest, but his eyes shot past her before he could say anything. "Duck!" Doing as she was told on instinct more than anything else, Thalia dove to the floor, Bianca and Zoe following shortly behind. Grover scrambled behind one of the exhibits and Percy tucked himself behind his shield once more, grimacing at the pain which remained in his shoulder. Several hisses whizzed past over Thalia's head, accompanied by sharp cracks each time. Bullets.

The group scrambled back to their feet, Bianca pulling the pelt onto herself where it formed a duster. "Go!" Percy roared to the others, swiping his sword through the first of the skeletal warriors to approach and checking the next over a railing with his shield. "They're looking for me, I'll distract them! Go finish the quest!"

"No!" Thalia answered, blasting the third skeleton with lightning. "We go together!"

Zoe slashed at one with her knife, and Bianca loosed an arrow. "That is not thy decision, Thalia! You never had any wisdom when it came to boys. You need to learn how to leave them behind!" Thalia fumed but couldn't retort because she had to dodge a strike from one of the skeletons and knock the skull from another. Each time they killed one of the dozen, though, it would collapse for mere moments before the bones began to knit themselves together.

Grover bleated nervously and played a song on his pipes, causing strawberry vines like those at Camp to tangle around the bones on the floor, slowing their progress in healing and rooting the ones which still stood to their spot temporarily. "GUYS! Not the time," he shouted. "Let's GO!"

As one, the group leapt the balcony railing and landed with a thud on the level below, taking only a moment to gather their bearings before they set off at a dead sprint towards the exit and the van. They piled in quickly, Percy climbing in the very back, and Zoe tore off while the remaining skeletons took potshots from where they were still anchored.

"Hey, Grover, good job with those vines," Thalia said.

Grover looked a little embarrassed. "Thanks," he said. "Nickelback."

Thalia groaned. "Oh my god, you are so lame."

The whole van burst into laughter, though they all knew it wasn't really that funny - they were just relieved to be alive and on their way away from that museum. Somehow, the topic of Percy joining them on their quest didn't come up again. It was simply accepted that he was there now, and that he was useful, so he was going to stick around.

However, when he next spoke up, it was with more bad news.

"Guys, there's a helicopter that's been following us for the last 5 minutes. They know the van, we need to ditch it."

Thalia closed her eyes and prayed as hard as she could for a lightning bolt from her father. Or a gust of wind, maybe, or a well-timed cloud to allow them to ditch the chopper with some clever maneuvers.

No such luck - the helicopter kept right on trucking, gaining on them quickly even at Zoe's breakneck pace. It didn't look like there was even a breeze to bother it.

Suddenly, though, Bianca had a brainwave. "The subway! Take this exit."

Zoe swerved across four lanes of traffic, all four tires locked up and the van at a full thirty degree angle of drift, to make the exit. The helicopter, doing almost one-sixty by Thalia's guess, overshot heavily and began to wheel around to follow. By the time it had circled, though, they were already ducking out of sight behind an underpass and then, thanks to some expert maneuvers from Zoe (and a few seconds of airtime down a stairway into the subway), both they and the van were completely hidden. Grover opened the sliding door and stepped out right into the subway car.

"Right, all aboard!" Percy joked.

Soon, the train was above ground again, and though they could still hear and see the helicopter, it didn't seem to be following them.

"Hey, good call on the subway," Thalia said. Bianca looked pleased with herself but not overly so.

"Yeah, I remembered that station from when Nico and I came through here last time. I was super surprised to see it, because it wasn't here when we used to live in D.C."

Zoe looked troubled, and Thalia felt a thought come to her unburdened. "Bianca, the subway was built in 1973. Annabeth… she told me that a whole bunch of times when she was here with me. Are you sure it wasn't there when you lived here?"

Bianca frowned. Suddenly all the pride she'd felt was gone, replaced by concern. "Certain. We were little kids, but there was no subway at all. It would have been a big deal."

Zoe leaned forwards. "Bianca, how long ago…" She trailed off, looking out the window. "We must change trains." The helicopter had returned. The group immediately stood up and, at the next stop, changed trains as stealthily as possible. It took almost half an hour to lose the helicopter for good, and when they did, they found themselves in a rail depot on the outskirts of town. The whole place was filled with mostly decrepit freight cars, locked into rows with no locomotives to pull them.

Thalia shivered, suddenly wishing for the warm fur coat Bianca wore. As though the girl was a mind-reader, though, she handed it off to Thalia with a smile. "We all killed it," the girl explained, "But you need this most right now." Sure enough, Bianca and Zoe weren't shivering nearly as hard as she was, and Percy looked downright comfortable despite only wearing a T-shirt and jeans. It must have been twenty degrees Fahrenheit out - Thalia could see her own breath pluming for feet in front of her - but he didn't seem that bothered, the only giveaway that it wasn't a nice spring day being the goosebumps lining his well-muscled arms.

Thalia shut that thought down quickly and looked away - right at a hairy homeless guy warming his hands on a trash-can brazier fire. "Hey, guys, you look cold. Come warm up with me," he called. Too cold to protest, they shuffled over.

Grover sniffled. "My hooves are frozen."

Percy, still somehow unbothered, grinned and corrected Grover, presumably to protect the sanity of the poor homeless guy. "Feet, G-man."

"Whatever," said Thalia, teeth chattering. "How the hell can we keep going west?"

The homeless dude answered her question, weirdly enough, by pointing behind them. She spun around and the railcar he was pointing at read: Sun West Line, est. 1901.

"You're never completely without friends," the man said. When she turned around to thank him, though, he had vanished.

"Well, that's convenient," Percy said. "Shall we?"

Fair warning: Updates are probably gonna slow down a fair bit starting soon. Appreciate the support and you all reading this, but I've got little enough time as it is - this might go from the daily updates it's been getting to something more on the order of weekly or biweekly. Sorry in advance.