Sorry for the long absence. I may take a lot of time off, but rest assured, I always come back to writing PJO fanfiction. Eventually.

So, here's this chapter. I'm writing this before it's done, but I'm pretty sure it'll be shorter than normal, so I apologize in advance, although the alternative is that it'll take another week for me to upload.

Please forgive the grammar mistakes and the weird spelling mistakes that I know are there. I've proofread it a lot but I'm more focused on other things at the moment so there's probably lots of like weird things that make no sense. I'll probably re-edit it later once I read it and there's tons of mistakes... oh well. It is what it is.

Percy quickly scooped all the cash and drachmas out of the cash register in Medusa's office, taking one of the packing slips he knew he'd find there. This, he was well aware, was incredibly important. He needed to mail Medusa's head to the Olympians, so they would send it to his apartment, where his Mom would use it to petrify Gabe, that son of a bitch. Even while Percy was busy being incredibly embarrassed after pecking Nancy on the cheek, his anger for Gabe cut through to the front of his mind sharper than Body Odor or Riptide ever could. He deserved worse than whatever he was going to get down in the Fields. But, Percy knew he had to put on a show of irreverence, rather than pure hatred. After all, how could he know the gods would send the head back to him? He made sure he had a crooked smirk on his face when he left the office and headed back to his friends.

Nancy was still standing in the same position when Percy came to retrieve the head. Grover was desperately trying not to look at the two of his questmates while he finished off all the linoleum wrapping he could find, even nibbling on the plastic baskets the food came in.

Percy knew he had to dispel the atmosphere of weirdness here, and he wasn't quite sure how. Still, he had to try.

"Come on, guys. It's not that big a deal. It didn't even happen."

The second Nancy's head snapped towards him, with a dark look in her eye, he knew he messed up. Dammit, why did he have to deal with this? He felt weird enough being attracted to a twelve year old, even though, in theory, maybe, he was twelve, too. He didn't also need said twelve year old to start holding a grudge. Especially since she was his best friend.

Percy quickly amended, "Okay, so it did happen. And we'll discuss it later. For right now, we're on a deadline. That, and the longer we stay still, the easier it'll be for more monsters to find us. So let's, temporarily, forget about this. At least 'til we make it back home safe, alright?"

Nancy begrudgingly mumbled, "Yeah, okay." Grover stayed out of it.

Percy decided to get the show on the road. "Okay, so, guys. I've been thinking. Medusa's head is a powerful weapon. The original Perseus used it to petrify some sea monster back in the day, so we know it can turn monsters to stone, and obviously it can turn any mortal. Which means that the only thing it can't do is kill a god."

Unfortunately, that's the only thing I really need to do, he thought to himself.

"That's great!" Nancy added, already cheerful. She tended to forget about being upset fairly quickly. At least, that's how it seemed to Percy.

"Yeah, it seems like this is the answer to a lot of problems. We should definitely keep it," Grover decided.

But Percy knew he couldn't allow it. His mom needed it. Then again, he could just give it to his mom, once he had her back. And then, once Gabe was gone, the camp could use it in the war! This was an incredibly important find. Why was he so ready to mail it away?

He was about to agree with Grover, when a thought occurred to him. Why hadn't Annabeth suggested using it as a weapon the first time? There had to have been a reason, right? He thought for a few seconds, before he realized what it was.

It was too powerful. Too dangerous. If any demigod even so much as glanced at it, they were dead. Not to mention the regular mortals. In large battles, it would be nearly impossible to coordinate a unified turning away, and once they averted their eyes, if any monsters managed to avoid looking at it, every unit would be vulnerable. It was a huge risk. But, it did give Percy an amazing idea. He'd have to remember it the next time there was a battle he knew was next to impossible to win.

And anyway, a weapon that could kill monsters instantly with no effort whatsoever seemed a whole lot like cheating. Since Percy could just start over, things like dying seemed like less of a factor in decisions like that. Honor was suddenly much more important to him. He had the luxury of honor, now that he was basically immortal.

"Grover, it does seem like it would solve a lot of problems, but it's too risky. If anyone saw, they'd be dead instantly. If a mortal happened to look, they'd be dead. It's just too big of a liability," Percy explained.

"Oh, that does make sense," Nancy said, somewhat disappointed.

"But, if we don't keep it, how do we get rid of it? How can we make sure no one will ever see it?" Grover questioned.

"Oh, don't worry about that." Percy held up the packing slip.

"You're going to mail it? To who?" Nancy asked incredulously. (back at Camp, Chiron says "To whom" to no one in particular. He is confused by this, but forgets about it soon enough)

Percy just pointed to the sky.

Nancy's eyes opened wide with surprise before she started laughing. Grover rolled his eyes, but he was smiling. He was used to Percy's antics.

After Percy mailed the head, Nancy was looking a bit worried. "So, where are we going, exactly?"

Percy actually had to think about this. He vaguely remembered something about a poodle who gave them money, or something? It was four years ago, after all. Percy's memory wasn't perfect, okay?

"Uhh, I guess we just keep walking down this road 'til we hit civilization. Then we can get a train to LA. By the way, that's where the Underworld is. DOA recording studios, West Hollywood. I saw it in Medusa's stuff the first time I came in."

Grover spoke up, confused, "But Percy, didn't we agree that Hades didn't have the bolt? Why would we still go there?"

Percy thought for a second. "He might not have the bolt, but he does have my mother. Also, the prophecy says go west. So we'll go west. You still have a bunch of cash, right, Nancy?"

"Yeah..." she said, suspiciously.

"Oh, please, Nance. We have to get there somehow. You've got over eight hundred bucks. Plus, there'll be plenty of mortals to pickpocket on the train. You'll make thousands. Think of all the mortal cash you could steal. It's just a little investment. Come on," Percy goaded. He felt bad, using her fatal flaw against her like this, but it was for their own good. And it's not like he was lying. She probably could steal loads of cash.

Nancy was practically drooling. "That sounds like an excellent idea, Percy. We should definitely take the train. It's not like we could hoof it across the whole country in a few weeks."

Percy snickered when she said 'hoof it,' looking over at Grover, who was looking back, unamused.

Percy spoke up, in a commanding tone. The one he used with his troops in the Battle of Manhattan, or whenever he was ordering troops. "So, let's get a-movin'. Well, forget the apples. Slap some bacon on a biscuit and let's go, we're burnin' daylight!"

"Um, Percy... it's already dark," Nancy tentatively informed him.

"And I'm a vegetarian. You know that," Grover added.

"And what apples? We don't have any apples."

"Yeah, I already ate them all. I'd know if we had any left. I will not forget the apples."

"Yeah!"

"Guys- oh come on, guys, it's from a movie, obviously." Percy grumbled something about John Wayne as he walked towards the door.

When neither of his friends followed, he shouted over his shoulder, "Well, quit standing around, we've got places to be, trains to catch, people to pickpocket, gods to face, and bolts to find! It's not all that late yet. I still got some walk in me. Let's go!"

~bric-a-brac~

~bric-a-brac~

"Gods, it's like a million a clock, Percy. Can we please stop walking?" Nancy whined.

"Yeah, my legs hurt, too, and they're way stronger than yours," Grover added, or complained, more like.

Percy was about to tell them to stop whining, but realized that he was being kind of a jerk, and they weren't used to high stakes all the time. They weren't really in a war yet. They didn't know for certain Kronos was rising. Nancy barely knew anything about being a demigod. He was used to every second potentially being the difference between life or death. But now, things weren't so dire. They could rest.

"Alright then, let's set up camp. I guess. Let's get off the road a bit."

A few minutes later, Nancy was fast asleep in her sleeping bag.

The place they ended up stopping at was totally trashed. All sorts of litter everywhere. Grover had a look of disappointment and disgust.

Before Grover could say anything, Percy told him, "I think you'll be the first, you know. To come back alive after going to search. I believe in you."

Grover didn't say anything. It was too dark to tell, but Percy thought he might be crying. He didn't ask why.

"For what it's worth, G-man, I'm sorry for what human have done. All the trash, all the destruction. I can't even imagine what the night sky must look like filled with stars. But you'll find Pan. I know you will."

And it was true. Percy did know that Grover would find Pan. Unfortunately, he also knew Pan would die for real, soon after. But, then Grover would take over Pan's old job, so... it all worked out. That is, it would all work out if Kronos was stopped. That was priority number one.

"Thanks, Perce. I'll take first watch. You're a good friend."

Percy dreamt of Kronos. He was standing in a cave, in front of a huge pit, one of the entrances to Tartarus. The Crooked One whispered, ancient and heavy, for him to come toward the pit.

Percy didn't move an inch.

The next day, they headed down the road after eating some snacks they took with them from Medusa's. Eventually, they came to a town, and after asking a few locals, located an Amtrak station.

Percy made sure to get them a train with a layover in St. Louis. He was starting to realize just how important every little detail was. If he had gotten tickets that didn't stop there, he wouldn't fight the Chimera, and he would have no need to jump into the Mississippi River, and the Nereid couldn't tell him to to Santa Monica, so he couldn't get the magic pearls, and he wouldn't be able to get out of the underworld. So, it was a great relief to him when he saw the train to LA stopped in St. Louis.

On the train, Percy was restless. He didn't like sitting still; no demigod did. He felt like he should be fighting, or training, or something, but it would be too suspicious to the mortals.

Speaking of mortal suspicion, Percy realized that people definitely took notice of Body Odor. He don't know what they saw, but it wasn't normal. So, to avoid suspicion, he put BO with the rest of the party's stuff, but people were still looking at him funny. He realized that whatever his armor looked like to them was also suspicious. He kept his helmet off most of the time, but it too was suspicious. It seemed to him like people thought he was dressed in full football (American) gear, pads, helmet, and all. Which would be pretty weird. He decided that when he got back, he'd have to convince Beckendorf to enchant his armor to look like a jacket, and a baseball hat, and like, some decorative chains on his belt or something, enchanted to turn into armor when he drew his sword. That would be awesome. The hat would turn into a helmet, the jacket would be the breastplate, and the chains would turn into the leg armor. He wondered how he'd convince Nancy to pay for it.

After what seemed like 30 years to the demigods, they arrived in St. Louis. Grover wanted food, quite desperately it seemed, though that's how it always seemed with Grover, and Percy knew he had to convince them to go to the Arch.

"Come on guys, let's go see the Arch. When are we ever going to get another chance?"

"Will there be an elevator?" Nancy asked, hopefully.

"Umm, yeah, I assume," Percy responded, not without suspicion.

"Perfect," Nancy said. She was clearly planning to steal from tourists, one of her favorite pastimes. No doubt everyone on the train had already found that they brought a lot less cash with them on their trip than they thought.

"I'm guessing you guys aren't going to let me stay here, are you?" Grover inquired, dejectedly.

"Not a chance."

The three left the train and made their way to the arch. It was incredibly boring, until they got to the elevator. Percy recognized Echidna and the Chimera immediately. He knew he had a tough fight ahead. Nancy looked rather upset, because the elevator was very small, and there weren't many targets.

Percy had taken his full armor with him, and when they got to the top, everyone was looking at him like he was a freak. That was his excuse to leave.

Percy made sure that when they were leaving, there was no room in the car for him, so he'd have to fight the Chimera alone.

Speaking of the Chimera, it was starting to growl at him.

Echidna went to talk, but Percy did instead. "Let all the people down, first. They've got nothing to do with this."

Echidna, and even the Chimera, to a certain extent, looked shocked. "You know who we are?" She asked, intrigued.

"Of course. It's pretty obvious. There aren't pets allowed up here, but the guards didn't say a word. And I know for a fact they don't give people Chihuahuas as seeing eye dogs. Plus, I'm a very smelly demigod. I'm certain you're some kind of monster. And, given that there are only a few dog ish cat ish monsters, and Cerberus is tied up in Hades, and I saw the Nemean Lion in the woods a few states back, I'm guessing that the dog is Chimera. Which makes you Echidna, his mother."

Echidna smiled slyly, saying, "Well, well, well. A halfway intelligent demigod who isn't a child of Athena. You're part of a rare lot."

Percy wished he was smart. He just already knew it was the Chimera.

"Chimera, I challenge you to a fight. On the condition that before you attack, all mortals must be out of the arch."

"We accept. Sonny-" she nodded toward the Chimera, and it started to transform, and eventually roared. It took a few minutes for the mortals to notice something was wrong and run down through the emergency exit. Soon, Percy was alone with the monstrous duo.

"Well, aren't you going to attack me, you big ugly mutt!?"

With that, the Chimera lunged, while Percy drew Body Odor and jumped to the side and swiped, managing a small slash on the Chimera's side.

"Very, good, Perseus. Not many have managed to harm the Chimera. Unfortunately for you, he hasn't even gotten started yet!"

Percy took out Riptide with his left hand, and prepared to flick off the cap. He smirked. This time, he was armed with something better than two swords. Knowledge. He knew that because he was the son of Poseidon, he was harder to burn than other mortals. He believed he could withstand the full brunt of a single breath attack, and he could use that time to kill the beast, though he was hoping it would still bite him with its tail. He was actually really banking on that.

He didn't have time to rethink his plan, as the Chimera opened its mouth. Just before the flames came out, Percy lunged as fast as he could, praying to all the gods he could think of that his plan would work.

Then, several things happened at once. Percy flicked off Riptide's cap, got blasted with flame right in the face, stabbed the Chimera through the roof of its mouth, and was bitten right on the neck with the snake tail.

The poison was racing to his heart, much faster this time.

"NOOOOO! My son!" Echidna screamed. With his last breath, Percy cut off her head, sliced through the window, and jumped through it, hoping he guessed right about where the river was.

~bric-a-brac~

~bric-a-brac~

He woke up somewhere very dark. He groaned. He was back at Yancy.

At least, that's what he thought. He soon realized that it was dark because it was night, and he was definitely in the Mississippi river. He wanted to jump for joy, but he was still quite weak.

He felt terrible. His mouth was dry, and Nancy and Grover were probably worried sick. He wondered where they were for a while, while regaining strength, slowly but surely.

He was brought out of his thoughts when he heard a voice, faint as could be, whisper, "Santa Monica..." before fading away. He felt terrible for making the Nereid stay in this disgusting river for so long.

Weak as he was, he needed to get moving. He slowly propelled himself to the shore, using his powers even more easily than he could have walked.

He let himself get wet as he emerged from the river, until he was sure no one was looking, and then dried himself. He looked around for Nancy and Grover, but they were nowhere to be seen. Surely they hadn't gone home, had they?

Percy went back to the Amtrak station, but they weren't there. Percy decided he'd find the place closest to the arch that served food. Grover would probably be there.

Lo and behold, when he went to the only place open within a few blocks, a TGI Fridays, he found Nancy and Grover, sitting at a booth, Grover drowning his sorrows in white cheddar broccoli soup, gods know how many he'd had before then, and Nancy too heartbroken to eat, though it looked like she'd had a salad at some point.

Percy walked up and said, "Hey, guys, why are you so sad? Who died?"

Grover looked at him with wide eyes, and Nancy said, without looking up, "You did. We looked forever, but-" at which point she stood up and punched him right in the face. Percy, being too weak to block the punch in time, got knocked out for the second time that day.

He woke up when they splashed water on his face, and he saw Grover standing over him with a grimace on his face. Soon Nancy was practically on top of him, apologizing profusely.

"I'm sorry, I'm so so so so sorry! I was just really mad because you were dead but actually you're alive and-"

"Shut up, Nance," Percy said, sweetly. "I'm fine. But we've got to go. I was in the river, and I heard a voice say, 'Santa Monica.' It's gotta be important, right?"

"You were in the river!? Well, I guess that makes sense. Yeah... I guess it's a good thing we didn't leave without you. We almost got back on the train to LA," Nancy said, remarkably calm. She was probably still in shock, or something.

"Anyways, I guess we've got to get another train to LA, then. That's where Santa Monica is, by the way. Pretty convenient."

Nancy didn't look thrilled about having to buy more tickets, but eventually she relented.

"Well, let's get out of here. Time to get this quest on the road. I'll tell you about what happened after you went down the elevator while we're on the train," Nancy said.

Percy spoke up, "By the way, Grover, cheese broccoli soup usually isn't vegetarian. It uses a chicken base."

~bric-a-brac~

~bric-a-brac~

They had already boarded the train when Percy realized they needed to stop in Denver. That was where Ares showed up. If Ares didn't give him the bolt, he was screwed. The train was supposed to pass through Denver, but it wasn't scheduled to stop. What in the world was Percy going to do?

It turned out he didn't need to worry. As the train was about to pass the Denver station, there was a violent shake, and the train skipped the tracks. No one was hurt, but they would be delayed by a day while they got the train off the tracks. Or maybe back on the tracks? Percy wasn't quite sure how it worked. He wasn't really paying attention. He was too busy internally celebrating. Though, soon his celebration turned to questioning. Did this mean certain things were destined to happen? But the prophecy was different, which meant he could change the future. Maybe? It was all so confusing. He guessed he'd deal with it when it happened.

They all decided that they'd get something to eat while they talked about what they'd do next. Ares got there like last time, but this time, Percy stayed calm and Nancy turned hotheaded.

"So, you're old seaweed's kid?" Ares asked, gruffly.

"So what if he is? What's that got to do with you?"

"Nancy, just calm down, please," Percy soothed.

"I'll calm down when he stops being a jerk!"

"He hasn't done anything yet, Nancy, just let him talk."

Nancy was about to object, when Ares laughed loudly. "Ah, to be young again."

Percy loudly rolled his eyes. It actually kind of hurt. He wasn't used to doing it so intensely.

"Listen, kids. I need you to do me a little favor."

Nancy spoke before Percy could even think of what to say, "What's in it for us, if we do?"

"Well, I happen to know-"

"Two hundred," Nancy said, flatly.

"Excuse me?" Ares looked bewildered behind his shades.

"We'll do it for two hundred, not a drachma less," Nancy stated authoritatively.

"Kid, you don't even know what I'm asking you to do."

Nancy blushed heavily, but she wasn't backing down. "Doesn't matter. We'll do it for two hundred drachmas."

"That's a lot, kid. Like-"

"Two. Hundred."

"Alright, fine! Zeus above, you're annoying. You're lucky I don't feel like turning you into a fly, little girl. Just go get my shield from the abandoned water park around here somewhere. I'm outta this place."

Ares took off on his hog, and the three heroes shared a look of disgust.

Grover nervously said, "Hey, Nancy. You, uh... you narrowly escaped death just then."

Nancy was quite pale, now that she wasn't under the effect of Ares's magic. "Yeah, I think I'm figuring out that that's kind of what being a demigod is like. Like, all the time."

~bric-a-brac~

~bric-a-brac~

They made it to the theme park with a few hours left of the sun. Grover showed off by flying over the fence. Nancy was about to suggest they hold down the barbed wire for each other, when Percy unsheathed BO and easily cut a human sized hole in the fence.

"Won't people notice that, Perce?" Grover said, upset that Percy'd rendered his acrobatics a redundant display of showmanship.

"Yep," Percy said, bluntly. "They probably will."

"But-"

"Don't care. Our fingerprints aren't in the system, so we should be fine. I don't really want to waste any time in here. I really don't like Ares. He's like... well, he reminds me of when Nancy wasn't Nance yet."

Nancy looked down at her feet, and opened her mouth to apologize, but Percy spoke first, "Don't apologize, Nancy. You're different now. You're our friend. You've felt bad enough for it, and you're not even the same person, really, so I think you're fine."

Percy didn't like bullies. In fact, he hated bullies. But he also believed anyone could change. Well, almost anyone. He doubted he could convince Luke he was wrong about the gods. But he truly believed that if someone had truly changed, then they shouldn't be punished for who they once were. After they'd proven they were changed. And Nancy had proven that. Even if she was still a sneak thief.

They passed by the souvenir shop with taking anything, which was odd for Nancy, but Percy figured it was because there was no challenge, and it's not like they were being sold, or anything. No value. While their clothes were dirty, they decided that Nancy could just steal them better clothes, anyways. Plus, they'd probably get their clothes dirty again when they got the shield. Percy knew that he could probably get the shield no problem this time, but the other two didn't know that, though they knew it wouldn't be as easy as finding it.

Eventually, they made their way to the X-treme Tunnel of Love, or whatever it was called. Nancy immediately got so embarrassed that she couldn't even look at Percy, and in shielding her eyes, she noticed the Eta on the cupid statues.

"Hey, Percy, there's a Greek letter on this statue. Isn't that odd?"

"Yeah, that's really weird. Stand back, would you?"

"Huh? Why do you-waagh!" She yelped as Percy sliced downwards with Body Odor, splitting the statue in two, almost silently, up until the statue exploded.

No one was hurt, but it gave Nancy quite a shock. When they examined the statue further, they realized what had happened. Inside the statue was a bunch of machinery, and a camera. Percy went around and destroyed every statue, Nancy yelping every time one exploded.

Finally, once they were all destroyed, he made his way into the empty pool. Nancy called down from above, "Wow, this would be awesome for skateboarding! Wouldn't it?"

"Yeah, it'd be pretty sick. Maybe we should try to convince Chiron to build a skate park at camp!" Percy was getting legitimately excited, now. He'd never really had the cash lying around for high end skateboarding equipment, so he didn't miss it in camp. But Camp plus skateboarding? What could be better?

"Yeah, yeah! We could convince him it would like, improve our balance, or something!"

Grover rolled his eyes, preferring simply to listen to the two dorks.

"Yeah, and we could like, sword fight while skating!"

"That would be so awesome!"

Finally, Grover put a stop to this. "Guys, seriously, shouldn't we be getting the shield?"

"Yeah, yeah, you're totally right, Grover, as usual," Percy said.

Percy had stuffed Aphrodite's scarf in his pocket while he and Nancy were conversing, not wanting to risk any... complications of a romantic disposition while on this quest. One was more than enough.

"Hey guys, it looks like this shield is attached to something. I have an idea. I'm going back up."

Percy scrambled up the edge, and cut a wedge out of the rim of the pool. Sure enough, there was Hephaestus tomfoolery inside.

Nancy put it together much faster than Percy expected. "Ares must have set us up. They were going to broadcast us to the gods or something. This trap was supposed to be for Ares and Aphrodite. But they figured it out and so Ares sent us instead. How rude? They are not nice gods."

Here comes a distant thunder, Percy thought to himself, and soon enough, the distant thunder came, upset they'd figured it out.

Percy, while he knew everything about how the trap would attack, so to speak, wasn't quite sure how to disarm it, so he went for speed instead. He scrambled back down into the pool, grabbed the shield with his right hand, and threw it like a Frisbee towards Nancy and Grover, who caught it without incident. Before many spiders had come out at all, he summoned water from the plumbing, and shot himself back to the rim of the pool, walking as he stepped down, with his hands in his pockets, really showing off.

Nancy and Grover were standing by the edge of the pool perfectly still, with stunned looks on their faces, clearly not used to Percy having water abilities. He didn't manipulate water in public very often, so they were utterly shocked.

"Hey, you guys coming, or not?"

So, yeah, this is me getting back in the swing of things. I'm going somewhere I can't write for a few days, so don't expect a new chapter until, at the soonest, next Monday.

Here are some writing lessons from Sam-sensei:

1. "How rude" is short for, in the case of Nancy's last of dialogue, "How rude they are?" which may look strange with a question mark, but that is the proper punctuation. It is an exclamation, but it is also technically an inquisitive statement, thus necessitating the use of a question mark to punctuate the sentence.

2. This is not a cliffhanger. Please stop saying every chapter ending is a cliffhanger (not like in reviews for this story, but in the actual stories other people write, i.e. 'don't be mad at me for this cliffhanger, guys!'). Yes, this chapter ends right after a question, but if I had put another line break there, I could have continued, at a different setting. If the chapter ended as soon as he touched the shield, but we didn't know what was going to happen, and there was a lot of tension as to what the outcome was going to be, then it would be a cliffhanger.

3. Make sure every line of dialogue is its own paragraph (almost always, there are always exceptions, but if this rule will help you, you don't know how to use the exceptions.)

4. When you proofread your work before sending it to a beta, wait a few hours or read something else for a while before proofreading. It'll help you forget what you wrote, so your eyes won't skip over as many mistakes. Because we remember what we've written, and our brains tend to ignore things that don't agree with our memory, we often miss simple errors, just because we remember what it's supposed to say. So even if you have a beta, it's common courtesy to clean up your work before sending it (unless you and your beta have talked and you know what each others expectations are of each other, and your beta expects the first draft stuff) I don't have a beta, so I just proofread many many times.

That's the end of class.

I'm sorry it's so short, the story not even being 5k words, but I've always said that I'll end a chapter when I feel it should end. To me, this is much more natural than after they return to Ares, or after that, because... yeah. This chapter could have been 5 or 15 k words, and if it was 15, it'd take me another three weeks. I assume you want it now.

So yeah! I'm back now, and when I inevitably leave again, just remember, I'll always be back, eventually.