Disclaimer: I only own the plot and my OCs. Anything you recognize as not mine belongs to Marvel Studios, Disney, and/or their otherwise respective owners.

Author's Notes: Oh my God had a short second where I was like, "where's the chapter I wrote? I wrote another chapter besides 67!" this morning. In my defense, I keep on waking up to headaches and they're making me a little loopy lol.

As always, I hope you enjoy. Until next chapter,

~TGWSI/Selene Borealis

~The Finding Home Saga~

~Finding Home~

~Chapter 68: We Meet Annabeth's Mortal Family~

Katie was already moving as the rainbow formed, fishing around in her pockets for a coin. She threw a golden drachma into the mist and yelled, "O' goddess, accept my offering!"

The mist rippled.

"Camp Half-Blood!" I said.

And there, shimmering in the Mist right next to us, was the last person that I wanted to see: Mr. D, wearing his leopard-skin jogging suit and rummaging through the refrigerator.

He looked up lazily. "Do you mind?"

"Where's Chiron?" I shouted.

"How rude." Mr. D took a swig from a jug of grape juice. "Is that how you say hello?"

"Hello," I amended. "We're about to die! Where's Chiron?"

Mr. D considered that. I wanted to scream at him to hurry up, but I knew that wouldn't work. Behind us, there were footsteps and shouting – the manticore's troops were closing in.

"'About to die,'" Mr. D mused. "How exciting. I'm afraid Chiron isn't here. Would you like me to take a message?"

I looked at my friends. "We're dead."

"Then we'll die fighting," Katie said, her expression serious.

"How noble," Mr. D replied, stifling a yawn. "So what is the problem, exactly?"

I didn't see how it would make any difference, but I told him about the Ophisbous.

"Mmm." He studied the contents of the fridge. "So that's it. I see."

"You don't even care!" I screamed. "You'd just as soon watch us die!"

"Let's see. I think I'm in the mood for pizza tonight."

I wanted to slash through the rainbow and disconnect, but I didn't have time. The manticore screamed, "There!"

And then, we were surrounded. Two of the guards stood behind Dr. Thorn. The other two appeared on the roofs of the pier shops above us. The manticore threw off his coat and transformed into his true self, his lion claws extended and his spiky tail bristling with poison barbs.

"Excellent," he said. He glanced at the apparition in the mist and snorted. "Alone, without any real help. Wonderful."

"You could ask for help," Mr. D murmured to me, as if this was an amusing thought. "You could say please."

I didn't want to. I really didn't want to. I was remaining loyal to the gods outside of my relationship with Luke, but gods did I hate this particular one.

But as Zoë and Iphigenia readied their arrows and Katie grew her vines again, I knew that I didn't have a choice.

"Please, Mr. D," I muttered. "Help."

Of course, nothing happened.

The manticore grinned. "Spare the son of Poseidon. He will join us soon enough. Kill the others."

The men raised their guns, and something strange happened. You know how you feel when all the blood rushes to your head, like if you hang upside down and then turn right-side up too quickly? There was a rush like that all around me, and a sound like a huge sigh. The sunlight tinged with purple. I smelled grapes and something more sour – wine.

SNAP!

It was the sound of many minds breaking at the same time. The sound of madness. One guard put his pistol between his teeth like it was a bone and ran around on all fours. Two others dropped their guns and started waltzing with each other. The fourth began doing what looked like an Irish clogging dance. It would've been funny if it hadn't been so terrifying.

"No!" the manticore screamed. "I will deal with you myself!"

His tail bristled, but the planks under his paws erupted into grape vines, which immediately began wrapping around the monster's body, sprouting new leaves and clusters of green baby grapes that ripened in seconds as the manticore shrieked, until he was engulfed in a huge mass of vines, leaves, and full clusters of purple grapes. Finally the grapes stopped shivering, and I had a feeling that somewhere inside there, the manticore was no more.

"Well," said Dionysus, closing his refrigerator. "That was fun."

I stared at him, horrified. "How did you...how could you..."

"Such gratitude," he muttered. "The mortals will come out of it. Too much explaining to do if I made the condition permanent. I hate writing reports to Father."

"Mr. D," Katie said in amazement. "You...you saved us."

"Mmm. Don't make me regret it, girl. Now get going, Percy Jackson. I've bought you a few hours at most."

"The Ophisbous," I said. "Can you get it to camp?"

Mr. D sniffed. "I do not transport livestock. That's your problem."

"But where do we go?"

Dionysus looked at Zoë. "Oh, I think the Lieutenant of the Hunt knows. You must enter at sunset today, you know, or all is lost. Now, goodbye. My pizza is waiting."

"Mr. D," I said.

He raised his eyebrow.

"You called me by right name," I said. "You called me Percy Jackson."

"I most certainly did not, Peter Johnson. Now, off with you!"

He waved his hand, and his image disappeared in the mist.

All around us, the manticore's minions were still acting completely nuts. One of them had found our friend the homeless guy, and they were having a serious conversation about the metal angels from Mars. Several other guards were harassing the tourists, making animal noises and trying to steal their shoes.

I looked at Zoë. "What did he mean, 'you know where to go?'"

I was half-expecting her not to answer me, and not just because of the fact that it had been revealed that I was dating Luke. Her face was the color of the fog. But she pointed across the bay, past the Golden Gate. In the distance, a single mountain rose up above the cloud layer.

"The garden of my sisters," she said. "I must go home."

Don't worry, though, if you'd been expecting there to be a confrontation on the Hunters' part about my dating Luke, because there was one.

"We will never make it," Zoë said. "We are moving too slow. But we cannot leave the Ophisbous."

"Moo," Bessie said. She swam next to me as we jogged along the waterfront. We'd left the shopping pier far behind. We were heading towards the Golden Gate Bridge, but it was a lot farther than I'd realized. The sun was already dipping in the west.

"I don't get it," I said. "Why do we have to get there at sunset?"

"The Hesperides are the nymphs of the sunset," Zoë explained. "We can only enter their garden as day changes into night."

"What happens if we miss it?"

"Tomorrow is the winter solstice. If we miss sunset tonight, we would have to wait until tomorrow evening. And by then, the Olympian Council will be over. We must free Lady Artemis tonight."

Or Silena will be dead, I thought, by I didn't say that.

"We must acquire transportation," Iphigenia said. "A car."

"But what about Bessie?" I asked.

Katie stopped in her tracks. "I've got an idea! The Ophisbous can appear in different bodies of water, right?"

"Well, yeah," I said. "I mean, she was in the Long Island sound. Then she just popped into the water at Hoover Dam. And now she's here."

"So maybe we could coax her back into the Long Island Sound," Katie said. "Then Chiron could help us get her to Mount Olympus."

"But she was following me," I pointed out. "If I'm not there, would she know where she's going?"

"Moo," Bessie said forlornly.

"I'll go with her," Katie said. "I can do it. I – I'll just need some help again."

I stared at her. I knew that what she was saying was probably right, but –

Before I was able to finish that train of thought, she was continuing on with, "Percy, pray to your dad. See if he will grant us safe passage through the seas."

I knew that I wasn't technically supposed to be doing that, nor was my dad supposed to be doing that, but after how many gods had already helped us, I figured one more couldn't hurt.

I tried to concentrate on the waves, the smell of the ocean, the sound of the tide.

"Dad," I said. "Help us. Get the Ophisbous and Katie safely to camp. Protect them at sea."

"A prayer such as this one needs a sacrifice," Iphigenia cut in. "A large one."

I thought for a second. Then I took off my coat.

"Percy," Katie protested at once. "Are you sure? That lion skin...that's really helpful! Hercules used it before!"

As soon as my best friend said that, I realized something.

I glanced at Zoë, who was watching me carefully along with Iphigenia. I realized that I did know who Zoë's hero had been – the one who'd ruined her life, gotten her kicked out of her family, and never even mentioned how she'd helped him: Hercules, a hero that I hadn't exactly admired all of my life, but I knew that most people did.

"If I'm going to survive," I said, "it won't be because I've got a lion-skin cloak. I'm not Hercules."

I threw the coat into the bay. It turned back into a golden lion skin, flashing in the light. Then, as it began to sink beneath the waves, it seemed to dissolve into sunlight on the water.

The sea breeze began to pick up.

Katie sucked in a deep breath. "Well, no time to lose."

She jumped into the water and immediately shivered at its cool temperature, but then Bessie glided next to her and let Katie take ahold of her neck, which seemed to make the temperature feel better because the daughter of Demeter stopped shivering. "This is better," she said after a moment, proving my point.

"Be careful," I told them.

"We will," Katie said. She bit her lip. "Okay, um...Bessie? We're going to Long Island. It's east. Over that way."

"Moo!" Bessie said. Then she lurched forwards, starting to submerge.

Katie had just enough time to exclaim, "Wait, I can't breathe underwater!" Then:

Glub!

Under they went, and I hoped that my dad's protection would extend to the little things, like breathing underwater for Katie.

"Well, that is one problem addressed," Zoë said. "But how can we get to my sisters' garden?"

"Iphigenia's right," I said. "We need a car. But there's nobody to help us here. Unless we, uh, borrowed one – actually, wait, shit."

"What?" Zoë and Iphigenia asked me in unison.

I felt like an idiot. How had this not occurred to me before?

"I think there is somebody who can help us here in San Francisco," I said. "Hold on, just give me a sec."

Another quick Iris Message later, we were on our way. And this is when Zoë and Iphigenia's confrontation of me came in as we took a taxi to our destination, all three of us squeezed in the back. The taxi driver didn't seem to speak or understand English well enough outside of directions, which was probably a point in our favor because of this. Otherwise, he probably would've ended up like the homeless guy who thought there were metal angels from Mars now.

"So," Zoë said, her voice...not emotionless, but not full of emotion, either. Somewhere in between the two. "What the manticore said about thee and...Luke is true."

I barely glanced over at her, keeping my eyes firmly on the outside. I was too afraid of what I might see if I didn't. "Yes," I said. "But right now, it doesn't matter. I'm not going to side with him or the Titans, you don't have to worry about that. We're going to save Artemis so she can go to the Olympian council tomorrow, and...I understand if you two want to reveal to her what I've been doing so she can bring it up then." The idea pained me to entertain, but I had already been through the possibility once with Clarisse. What was more, maybe this time I would have more than just one Olympian protecting me...provided that Demeter wasn't in the unknown about me rekindling my relationship with Luke and, if she was, that she didn't turn her back on me now because of it.

"How long has thee been with him?" Iphigenia pestered. To be fair, though, it was a question I had expected her to ask.

I wasn't going to lie to her and Zoë. "We were together the summer before last, then broke up when he, uh...tried to kill me," I admitted. "We didn't get back together until after I went home this past summer. So...five months, I guess, if you do the math."

Zoë made a sound that was a lot like a scoff. "You got back together with him after he already tried to kill thee?"

"Look, I don't expect you guys to understand," I snapped back. I felt bad about doing it, too, because of the faces that they made and how they flinched back. I mean, it was clear from their reactions that they probably realized I had a point, because they were Hunters, but...in all honesty, now that I'd gotten to know them better, I didn't want to assume things like that anymore. But still, "I love Luke. I know that he's done horrible things...and that he's going to keep on doing them, because I can't make him come back to the gods. That has to be a decision he'll make himself, and I know that he won't. But, I love him. I love him so much that, while I won't let the Titans win, I've been willing to..." I trailed off, not sure about how much I was willing to fess up to right now.

After a moment, I shook my head. "Forget it," I said. "Let's just concentrate on saving Artemis right now."

Neither of the Hunters were willing enough to contradict me on that.

When we got to our destination, we paid the taxi driver and he left. We were standing in front of one of those houses that San Francisco was known for, the ones that kind of looked like the brownstones back in New York City but were made out of different material. Sucking in a deep breath, I walked down the path leading to it and then up its steps to the front doors, and the Hunters followed behind me. I rang the doorbell.

We only had to wait a couple seconds for somebody to open the door, but the person who did was not the person that I was expecting. He was wearing an old-fashioned aviator's cap over his dirty blonde hair and goggles, the latter of which gave him a bug-eyed appearance. "Hello," he said in a friendly voice. "Are you the three that Annabeth was talking about?"

Yep, you read that right – not only here, but in the chapter title, too. This guy was Annabeth's father.

To be honest, he was a lot different than what I'd been expecting. While I'd never been close with Annabeth, I'd still heard the way that she'd griped about her mortal family for two years, and had been told the little about him that Luke knew by my boyfriend, too. I'd kind of been expecting him to have devil horns and fangs because of those two references, the only ones I'd had to go off of.

But Dr. Frederick Chase just seemed...normal. Almost frighteningly so.

From behind him came a familiar face: Annabeth herself. Although she'd told Bianca about how her dad moving to San Francisco wasn't really a good choice for her, she'd still chosen to come visit him for the holidays from her boarding school. I couldn't exactly blame her for that, even though the end of the world could very well start from a place not too far away from here. I kind of (read: really) wanted to be with my mom right now, too.

"Yes, Dad, this is them," Annabeth said, rolling her eyes. Then she nodded at me. "Come on in Percy, Zoë, Iphigenia."

The house didn't look like one that they had just moved into. There were LEGO robots on the stairs and two cats sleeping on the sofa in the living room, the latter of which Bob raised her head from my hood and quietly mewled at, but didn't do anything more. The coffee table was stacked with magazines, and a little kid's winter coat was spread on the floor. The whole house smelled like freshly-baked chocolate-chip cookies. There was jazz coming from the kitchen. It seemed like a messy, happy kind of home – the kind of place that had been lived in forever.

"Dad!" a little boy screamed. "He's taking apart my robots!"

"Bobby," Dr. Chase called absently, "don't take apart your brother's robots."

Annabeth opened her mouth.

Her brother beat her to it: "I'm Bobby!" he protested. "He's Matthew!"

"Matthew," Dr. Chase called, "don't take apart your brother's robots!"

"Okay, Dad!"

Annabeth turned to look at her dad. "We should take them upstairs," she suggested.

"Good idea," he said. "This way."

"Honey? Annabeth?" a woman called. It didn't escape my notice how Annabeth tensed as her stepmom appeared in the living room, wiping her hands on a dish towel. She was a pretty Asian woman with red highlighted hair tied in a bun.

"Who are our guests?" she asked.

"I told you," Annabeth said, an edge lacing her voice. But she quickly corrected herself – too quickly for my liking. "These are Percy Jackson and the Hunters, Zoë Nightshade and Iphigenia."

"Oh," Mrs. Chase said. She smiled. Abruptly, I wasn't sure if I liked her smile. "Well, take them upstairs, honey. To your study."

"That's what we were doing," Dr. Chase agreed.

The five of us walked upstairs. When we got to his study, my mouth just about dropped open. "Whoa!" I exclaimed.

The room was wall-to-wall with books, but what really caught my attention were the war toys. There was a huge table with miniature tanks and soldiers fighting along a blue painted river, with hills and fake trees and stuff. Old-fashioned biplanes hung on strings from the ceiling, tilted at crazy angles like they were in the middle of a dogfight.

Dr. Chase smiled. "Yes. The Third Battle of Ypres. I'm writing a paper, you see, on the use of Sopwith Camels to strafe enemy lines. I believe they played a much bigger role than they've been given credit for."

He plucked a biplane from its string and swept it across the battlefield, making airplane engine noises as he knocked down little German soldiers. Annabeth looked equal parts amused by this and embarrassed.

"Oh, right," I said. I knew, again from Annabeth's griping and Luke's storytelling, that her dad was a professor of military history. But she'd never mentioned before that he played with toy soldiers.

Zoë came over and studied the battlefield. "The German lines were farther from the river."

Dr. Chase stared at her. "How do you know that?"

"Iphigenia and I were there," she said matter-of-factly. "Artemis wanted to show us how horrible war was, the way mortal men fight each other. And how foolish, too. The battle was a complete waste."

Dr. Chase's mouth opened in shock. "You – "

"She's a Hunter, Dad. I told you, they live forever unless they quit the Hunt or are slain in battle," Annabeth cut in. "But that's not why they're here."

"Yeah," I said.

But Dr. Chase didn't seem to have heard us. "You saw the Sopwith Camels?" he asked Zoë. "How many were there? What formations did they fly?"

"Sir," I interjected. "This is important. Everyone in San Francico – and the entire world – is in danger."

The indirect mention of how his daughter and sons were in danger did the trick. Dr. Chase set the biplane down. "Right," he said. "Tell us everything."

It wasn't easy, but we tried. Meanwhile, the afternoon light was fading outside. We were running out of time.

When we'd finished, Dr. Chase sat down in his leather recliner. Annabeth didn't look much better. "Poor Silena," she said, her face twisted. "Bianca already told me what happened to her, but – "

"Sir, we need transportation to Mount Tamalpais," Zoë said to Dr. Chase. "And we need it immediately."

"I'll drive you," he agreed without question. "Hmm. It would be faster to fly in my Camel, but it only seats two."

"Whoa, you have an actual biplane?" I said.

"Down at Crissy Field," Dr. Chase said proudly. "That's the reason I had to move here. My sponsor is a private collector with some of the finest World War I relics in the world. He let me restore the Sopwith Camel – "

"Dad," Annabeth said, making a face.

"Sir," Iphigenia spoke. "Just a car would suffice. Truthfully, it might be better if we went without thee. It is too dangerous."

Dr. Chase frowned uncomfortably. "Now just wait a minute, young – "

"Snacks," Mrs. Chase announced, which caused Annabeth to jump. The daughter of Athena's stepmother pushed through the door with a tray full of peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches and Cokes and cookies fresh out of the oven, the chocolate chips still gooey.

I inhaled a few cookies, because my body was in desperate need of sugar even though I didn't really want to accept them, as Zoë said, "I can drive sir. I am not as young as I look. I promise not to destroy your car."

Mrs. Chase knit her eyebrows. "What's this about?"

"They need to get transportation to Mount Tam," Dr. Chase said. "I would drive them, but...apparently it's no place for mortals."

It sounded like it was really hard for him to get the last part out.

I waited for Mrs. Chase to say "no." I mean, what mortal parent would allow three underaged teenagers to borrow their car? But to my surprise, Mrs. Chase nodded. "Then they'd better get going."

Annabeth looked relieved at her words, probably because Dr. Chase jumped up and started patting his pockets. "Right! But, my keys..."

His wife sighed. "Frederick, honestly. You'd lose your head if it weren't trapped inside your aviator hat. The keys are hanging on the peg by the front door."

"Right!" Dr. Chase repeated.

Zoë grabbed a sandwich. "Thank you. We should go. Now."

We hustled out the door and down the stairs, the Chases right behind us.

"Percy," Annabeth called out to me just before we left, the keys in Zoë's hands.

I turned around.

"Good luck," she told me.

"Thanks," I said.

I didn't tell her just how much I had a feeling we would need it.

Word Count: 3,779

Next Chapter Title: The Dragon Of Eternal Bad Breath