Ares was waiting for us in the parking lot of the diner. "Well, well. You didn't get yourselves killed."

"You knew it was a trap," Percy said.

"Bet that crippled blacksmith was surprised when he netted a couple of stupid kids. You looked good on TV," Ares smiled wickedly.

Percy shoved Ares' shield at him. "You're a jerk."

I pinched my nose and shut my eyes.

Ares grabbed the shield and spun it in the air like a basketball and it changed form, turning into a bulletproof vest. He slung it across his back and pointed across the street. "See that track over there? That's your ride. Take you straight to L.A., with one stop in Vegas."

It was an eighteen wheeler that had a sign on the back. I could read it because it was reverse printed white on black: "KINDNESS INTERNATIONAL: HUMANE ZOO TRANSPORT. WARNING: LIVE WILD ANIMALS."

"You're kidding," Percy said.

Ares snapped his fingers and the back door of the truck unlatched. "Free ride west, punk. Stop complaining. And here's a little something for doing the job."

He slung a blue nylon backpack off his handlebars and tossed it to Percy. Inside of it were fresh clothes for all four of us, twenty bucks in cash, a pouch full of golden drachmas, and a bag of Double Stuf Oreos.

"I don't want your lousy-" Percy was cut off by Grover not long after he said those words.

"Thank you, Lord Ares," Grover interrupted. "Thanks a lot."

Back at the diner, which now only had a couple of customers. The waitress who'd served us dinner was watching cautiously out the window, like she was afraid that Ares would hurt us. She dragged the fry cook out from the kitchen to see. The fry cook got a disposable camera and snapped a picture of us.

Well, now the world's gonna know that Percy Jackson has a couple of friends who are helping him on his "Terrifying Crusade of Terrorism".

"You owe me one more thing," Percy told Ares. "You promised me information about my mother."

"You sure you can handle the news?" Ares kick-started his motorcycle. "She's not dead."

The ground spun beneath us. "What do you mean?"

"I mean she was taken away from the Minotaur before she could die. She was turned into a shower of gold, right? That's metamorphosis. Not death. She's being kept."

"Kept. Why?"

"You need to study war, punk. Hostages. You take somebody to control somebody else."

"Nobody's controlling me."

He laughed. "Oh yeah? But I'm guessing you're not the only one 'Not being controlled', see you around, kids."

"What are you even talking about? You know you're pretty smug, Lord Ares, for a guy who runs from Cupid statues."

He pulled down his sunglasses. "We'll meet again, Percy Jackson. Next time you're in a fight, watch your back. And Golden Boy, you might wanna reconsider this quest if you know what's good for you."

Ares threw a look at me before he pulled off. The thing about that look was that it was the exact look that Luke gave me when we were talking to him.

"What was he talking about?" Percy asked me.

"I don't know," I lied. "He's just trying to get under our skin."

"That was not smart, Percy," Annabeth said.

"I don't care."

"You don't want a god as your enemy," I said. "Especially not that god."

"Hey, guys," Grover said. "I hate to interrupt, but…"

He pointed toward the diner. At the register, the last two customers were paying their check, two men in identical black coveralls, with a white logo on their backs that matched the one on the KINDNESS INTERNATIONAL truck.

"If we're taking the zoo express," Grover said. "We need to hurry."

We ran across the street and climbed in the back of the big rig, closing the doors behind us. Immediately upon getting in I smelled something gross. Percy uncapped his sword and the blade cast a faint bronze light over the scene. Sitting in a row of filthy metal cafes were three pathetic-looking zoo animals: a zebra, a male albino lion, and an animal that looked like an antelope.

The lion had a sack of turnips, which it did not want to eat, obviously. The zebra and the antelope had each gotten a styrofoam tray of hamburger meat.

"Okay, either one of two things is going on," I said. "Either these guys just don't care about their job, or they're very stupid."

"This is kindness?" Grover yelled. "Humane zoo transport?"

I sat down next to the Zebra, but then it rammed its head against the cage at me. I jumped, not really a smart decision. Poseidon created horses and zebras by extension. So I moved over to where everybody else was. We all sat together.

"Hey," Annabeth said. "I'm sorry for freaking out back at the waterpark, Percy."

"That's okay."

"It's just," She shuddered. "Spiders."

"Because of the Arachne story," Percy guessed right. "She got turned into a spider for challenging your mom to a weaving contest, right?"

Annabeth nodded. "Arachne's children have been taking revenge on the children of Athena ever since. If there's a spider within a mile of me, it'll find me. I hate the creepy little things. Anyway, I owe you."

"We're a team, remember?" Percy said. "Besides, Grover did the fancy flying, and Alaster helped with his powers."

"I was pretty amazing, wasn't I?" Grover mumbled.

We laughed.

Annabeth pulled apart an Oreo and gave us each part. One for me, one for Percy, and one for her. "In the Iris message…did Luke really say nothing?"

Percy ate the oreo. "Luke said you and he go way back. He also said Grover wouldn't fail this time. Nobody would turn into a pine tree."

I tightened my fists. Grover let out a mournful bray.

"I should've told you the truth from the beginning," Grover said, his voice trembling. "I thought if you knew what a failure I was, you wouldn't want me along."

"You were the satyr who tried to rescue Thalia and Alaster," Percy said. "The ones who got safely to Camp were Alaster, Luke and Annabeth, wasn't it?"

"Like you said, Percy, a seven-year-old half-blood, wouldn't have made it very far alone. Athena guided me toward help. Thalia was twelve. Luke was fourteen. Alaster was seven too. All four of us had run away from home. They were happy to take me with them. They were…amazing monster-fighters, even without training. We traveled north from Virginia without any real plans, fending off monsters for about two weeks before Grover found us."

"I was supposed to escort Thalia and Alaster to camp," he said, sniffling. "Only them. I had strict orders from Chiron: don't do anything that would slow down the rescue. We knew Hades was after them, see, but I couldn't just leave Luke and Annabeth by themselves. I thought…I thought I could lead all three of them to safety. It was my fault the Kindly Ones caught up with us. I froze. I got scared on the way back to camp and took some wrong turns. If I'd just been a little quicker…"

"Stop it," Annabeth said. "No one blames you. Thalia didn't blame you either."

"Alaster does," Grover said.

Annabeth and Percy both looked at me. "Grover…I just don't know what to say. I was and I guess I still kind of am going through a dark period in time. This quest is currently changing my way of how I think. I'm still not completely over it. I don't want to invalidate how you guys feel about it, but you don't understand. I grew up with her, she was the caretaker that my mother couldn't be. I even dress like how she used to so I can honor her. Then she was taken from me right in front of me. I couldn't do anything to stop her. That's why I've been trying my best to be the best child of Zeus I could be. Even after all this time, my father wouldn't even pay attention to me. He ignored me until now and even now he's acknowledged me, but he thinks I'm his enemy."

"You're Dad…you just want him to acknowledge you?" Percy asked.

"Acknowledge me for my accomplishments," I said. "Acknowledge me for being a hero. You're lucky, Percy. Your dad has already done that."

"What are you talking about?" Percy asked. "My dad hasn't seen me since I was a baby."

"Percy," Annabeth said. "That's not what he's talking about."

Percy looked at me, after a few seconds his eyes widened a bit, it looks like he finally got it.

"Alaster," Percy said. "You haven't been claimed."

I nodded. "My father's never bothered to claim me."

"Then how'd you get into Zeus Cabin?" Percy asked.

"Well Thalia was my sister so they took a guess. Also in the moment when Thalia died I got so sad that I summoned so many bolts of lightning, I couldn't even count how many I summoned. The lightning killed all the monsters that were there. Everybody at Camp saw. Only children of Zeus can do damage on that scale, there was no way I was the child or anybody else. Then I passed out from using too much power. Grover. I'm sorry for how I've treated you after Thalia's death. I was wrong. I hope you can forgive me."

"No, it's okay," Grover said. "You were seven, you just lost somebody very important to you. Your life was turned upside down."

"Grover, just by going on this quest," I said. "You're the bravest satyr I've ever met. Don't let anybody tell you anything else."

Grover smiled.

"It's not luck that you found Thalia and me, Grover. You've got the biggest heart of any satyr ever. You're a natural searcher. That's why you'll be the one who finds Pan."

Grover gave a deep, satisfied sigh. The life goal of satyrs is to go out and find Pan, the God of Satyrs and the Wild. Pan has been missing for a very long time and Satyrs want to find him so he can purify the wild.

Grover's breathing got heavier…and he fell asleep.

"How does he do that?" Percy asked.

"I don't know," Annabeth said. "But what you guys told him was very nice."

"We mean it," I said. For a few miles we rode in silence. Annabeth rubbed her necklace.

"Those pine tree beads on your necklaces," Percy said. "Are those from your first year?"

I nodded. "Yeah."

"Every August, the counselors pick the most important event of the summer, and they paint it on that year's beads. We've got Thalia's pine tree, a Greek trireme on fire, a centaur in a prom dress-now that was a weird summer…"

"And the college ring is your father's?"

"That's none of your-" She stopped herself. "Yeah. Yeah, it is."

"You don't have to tell me," Percy said.

"No…it's okay," Annabeth took a shaky breath. "My dad sent it to me folded up in a letter, two summers ago. The ring was like, his main keepsake from Athena. He wouldn't have gotten through his doctoral program at Harvard without her…That's a long story. Anyway, he said he wanted me to have it. He apologized for being a jerk, said he loved me and missed me. He wanted me to come home and live with him."

"That doesn't sound so bad," Percy said

"Yeah, well…the problem was, I believed him. I tried to go home for that school year, but my stepmom was the same as ever. She didn't want her kids put in danger by living with a freak. Monsters attacked. We argued. Monsters attacked. We argued. I didn't even make it through winter break. I called Chiron and came right back to Camp Half-Blood."

"You think you'll ever try living with your dad again?"

She wouldn't look at him. "Please, I'm not into self-inflicted pain."

"Maybe you should try reaching out to him," I said. "You don't have a mortal parent that doesn't care about you. You should try again."

"Exactly, you shouldn't give up," Percy said. "You should write him a letter or something."

"Thanks for the advice," Annabeth said coldly. "But my father's made his choice about who he wants to live with."

Another few miles of silence.

"So if the gods fight," Percy said. "Will things line up the way they did with the Trojan War. Would it be Athena versus Poseidon?"

Annabeth put her head against the backpack Ares had given us and closed her eyes. "I don't know what my mom will do. I just know I'll fight next to you."

"Why?"

"Because you're my friend Seaweed Brain, any more questions?"

Annabeth was asleep soon after that. It was just Percy and I.

"Would you?"

"What?"

"Would you fight next to me?" Percy asked.

"If there's one thing I learned on this quest it's that you're not as bad as I thought you'd be," I said. "And my Dad's not the guy I thought he was. If we fail this quest, if we don't get the bolt and he decides to try and take us out, then let's just say I won't be fighting with him. Now let's at least try to get some sleep. G'Night, Barnacle Breath."

"Goodnight, Lightning Rod," He said back.

We both smiled. I took the waterland backpack and I placed it on the floor. I rested my head on the backpack and drifted off to sleep.

When I opened my eyes I was surrounded by darkness. I could only guess where I was this time.

"Little Hero,"

"It's you again," I said. "What is it now?"

"I have been watching you. It seems that you are conflicted?"

"Maybe before," I said. "But not anymore. I've made my decision. I'm not gonna help you."

The entire place shook. I guess I made it angry. "You traitorous ant! I promised you everything and now you turn back on me? ME!?"

"Yes, you," I said. "I know you aren't telling the truth. I know who you are now. My Dad and I might not be on the best of terms right now. But if there's one thing he did right, it was putting you away for good."

"Alaster Grace. You have made a very powerful enemy today. You will regret turning your back on me. You are just like your father."

"I am not!" I yelled.

"History repeats itself, Alaster Grace. Sooner or later you will fall, just like your father has,"

"Your time has passed, Grandfather," I said. "Waste away in Tartarus, like the scum you are."

An angry roar shook the place. The next second, I was up.

Annabeth was shaking me. "Get up, Alaster!"

"What's going on?" I asked.

"The truck's stopped," Grover said, his hand on Percy's shoulder as he woke up. " We think they're coming to check on the animals."

"Hide!" Annabeth hissed. She put on her magic cap and disappeared. I slung the waterland backpack on and dove behind feed sacks with Percy and Grover. The trailer doors creaked open. The Sunlight and Heat of the morning sunk in.

"Man!" One of the truckers said. "I wish I hauled appliances."

He climbed inside and poured some water from a jug into the dishes of the animals.

"You hot, big boy?" He asked the lion. He splashed the rest of the bucket right in the lion's face. The lion roared in annoyance. "Yeah, yeah, yeah."

Grover tensed. He looked like he wanted to tear that guy apart. The trucker threw the antelope a Happy Meal bag.

He smirked at the zebra. "How ya doin' Strippes? Least we'll be getting rid of you this stop. You like magic shows? You're gonna love this one. They're gonna saw you in half!"

There was a knock at the side of the trailer. The trucker from inside yelled. "What do you want, Eddie?"

A voice outside shouted. "Maurice? What'd ya say?"

"What are you banging for?"

"What banging?"

Maurice, the guy inside, went back outside, cursing at Eddie. The next second Annabeth appeared next to us. She must've used her cap to bang on the side of the trailer.

"This transport can't be legal," Annabeth said.

"No kidding," Grover said, he paused as if he was listening to something. "The lion says these guys are animal smugglers! We've got to free them!"

Annabeth and Grover looked at Percy and I. Since technically this is our quest, it's up to us whether we free these animals.

Percy sprung up with his sword and slashed the lock off the zebra's cage. I got up and used Hero to slash the lock off the antelope and the lion.

Maurice poked his head back inside to check out the noise. The zebra, the lion, and the antelope all ran out into the street. There was yelling, screaming, and honking. We rushed to the doors and saw hotels, casinos, and neon signs. We had just released wild animals into Las Vegas.

Maurice and Eddie ran after the animals, with some policemen running after them shouting, "Hey! You need a permit for that!"

"Now would be a good time to leave," Annabeth said.

"Will the animals be okay?" Grover asked. "I mean, the desert and all-"

"Don't worry," Grover said. "I placed a satyr's sanctuary on them."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning they'll reach the wild safely," He said. "They'll find water, food, shade, whatever they need until they find a safe place to live."

"Why can't you place a blessing like that on us?" Percy asked.

"It only works on wild animals."

"So it would only affect Percy," Annabeth reasoned.

"Hey!"

"Kidding," She said. "Come on. Let's get out of this filthy truck."

We stumbled out into the desert afternoon. It was hot as Hades, and people probably would've recognized us if they weren't distracted by the wild animals.

We passed the Monte Carlo, the MGM, pyramids, a pirate ship, and a small replica of the Statue of Liberty.

We were trying to look for a place to get out of the heat. I was thinking that we took a wrong turn because we turned at a dead end, in front of the Lotus Hotel and Casino. The entrance was a huge neon flower, the petals lightning up and blinking. No one was going in or out, but the glittering chrome doors were open, spilling out air conditioning.

The doorman smiled at us. "Hey, kids. You look tired. You want to come in and sit down?"

The four of us headed inside. We took one look around.

"Whoa," Grover said.

The entire lobby was a giant game room. There was an indoor waterslide around a glass elevator, which went up at least forty floors. There was a climbing wall on the side of one building, and an indoor bungee-jumping bridge. There were virtual-reality suits with working laser guns. And hundreds of video games with a widescreen TV. There were waitresses and snack bars all around, serving any kind of food you could imagine.

"Hey!" A bellhop said. He wore a white and yellow Hawaiian shirt with lotus designs, shorts, and flip-flops. "Welcome to the Lotus Hotel and Casino. Here's your room key."

"But we don't-"

"No, no," He laughed. "The bill's taken care of. No extra charges, no tips. Just go on up to the top floor, room 4001. If you need anything, like extra bubbles for the hot tub, or skeet targets for the shooting range, or whatever, just call the front desk. Here are your LotusCash cards. They work in the restaurants and on all the games and rides."

He handed us each a green plastic credit card. I didn't argue, this person potentially just gave us free money. "How much is on here?"

His eye brow raised in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, when does it run out of cash?" I asked.

He laughed. "Oh, you're making a joke. Hey, that's cool. Enjoy your stay."

We took the elevator upstairs and went past a lot of doors until we finally found our room. It was a suite with four separate bedrooms and a bar stocked with candy, sodas, and chips. A hotline to room service, fluffy towels, water beds with feather pillows, a big screen TV with satellite and high-speed Internet. The balcony had its own hot tub, and there was a skeet-shooting machine and s shotgun, so you could launch clay pigeons right out over the skyline.

"Oh, goodness," Annabeth said. "This place is…"

"Sweet," Grover said. "Absolutely sweet."

"Sweet is an understatement," I said.

There were clothes in the closet that fit me perfectly, which was weird. But I didn't put on any of them. I decided to take a shower and wash my clothes before I headed out into the main lobby. As I went on I could've sworn that I'm forgetting something. Wasn't I supposed to be doing something?

…If I am then I'm sure it can wait. It can't be that important.

Annabeth was watching National Geographic, Grover was eating potato chips, and I was drinking a can of Coca Cola with freshly dried and clean clothes. Percy came out of the bedroom and looked at the TV and then at Annabeth.

"All those stations," He told her. "And you turn on National Geographic. Are you insane?"

"It's interesting,"

"I feel good," Grover said. "I love this place."

Without realizing it, wings on his shoes sprouted and lifted him up by a fo before lowering him back down.

"So what now?" Annabeth asked. "Sleep?"

Percy, Grover, and I looked at each other and grinned. We took out our green plastic LotusCash cards.

"Play time," Percy said.

I had the most fun I had here than I've had in a very long time. The first thing I did was to do the skydiving simulator for about a few moments. A virtual reality game where I had to kill monsters (I got Number One on the leaderboard, of course).

Then I played a two person shooting game where the goal was to kill more opponents than the other player. I was able to win just by a bit. My opponent was a girl. She was Asian. She was older than me, maybe fourteen? She looked almost as tall as Clarisse (five foot, six) with long straight black hair, eyes that, no offense, were a rotten green color. She has light skin and freckles across her nose. She was wearing black a net cap that said "I Survived The Tilt A-Hurl" in white letters, a black bomber jacket, black shorts, and white sneakers.

She put down her laser gun and held out her hand for a handshake. "Good game."

I put down my laser gun and shook her hand. "You too. You almost got me there, stranger."

"My name is Anh," She told me.

"I'm Alaster," I said.

"You're not half bad, Alaster," Anh said and walked away. I don't know what was up there, she gave off a vibe to me. It felt like…like Percy, a great aura of power, but it was different.

I went to go find something else to do but then I bumped into somebody.

"Sorry, man," I said.

"No problem," He said, smiling at me. He wore a gray hoodie that had the sleeves rolled up, dark blue jeans, and light blue converse chuck taylors. He had black hair with a bun at the back of his head. He crossed his arms. "Oh, you're here. Didn't expect to find you here."

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"I mean, aren't you supposed to be looking for the bolt?" He asked me.

"Bolt? I don't know what you're talking about man," I tried to leave but he grabbed onto my shoulder. "Remember, Alaster Grace. Remember Camp Half-Blood, remember the gods. Remember Thalia."

I sucked in a breath, everything came back to me. I feel like I was just freed from something. "I'm…what am I doing here? How much time passed? How long have I been here?"

"I don't know," He said. "Let's hope for your sake not long."

"Who even are you?" I asked him.

"You haven't guessed?" He turned and on the back of his hoodie was an image of a silver Caduceus.

"You're Hermes," I said. "You're Luke's father."

"Yes, little brother, I am," Hermes told me. "You shouldn't be in this place. Especially with the quest you and your friends have got."

"Why? I mean, yeah we're wasting a bit of time but you're treating this as if…as if it's been longer than a couple hours," I said.

Hermes nodded. "This place has an effect on mortals and demigods. It makes you stay here longer than you think. You can stay here for a month and you'd already been here for a century out in the real world."

"This is crazy," I said. "Why hasn't the gods done anything about this place? This seems weird, these people are pretty much kidnapped, in a sense."

"Well because it's hurting anybody on the inside. Everybody in here gets to live life free of consequence. They get to live for free with anything they could ever want until their very last breath," He explained.

"I mean…when you put it like that," I said. "I guess it's time for me to leave, go and save the world."

"It's your destiny," Hermes said.

"Does that mean I'm the Half-Blood in the prophecy?" I asked.

"I don't know," Hermes said. "If you need to ask anybody that question, ask Apollo. Also, take a look at your shoes."

"My shoes?" I looked down and my shoes, they weren't black boots anymore. Instead they were black converse chuck taylors with white laces. Instead of a star symbol on them it was a black A. No way, he didn't. "Maia."

The shoes sprouted white wings and lifted me up. "Maia."

The wings disappeared and I dropped down to the floor. "Wow, thanks."

I looked up and Hermes was gone, but suddenly there was a sticky note on my leather jacket. I took it off and read it: "Thought you needed something new after what happened with your spear. Good luck, little bro, we're watching you guys."

All right, we have no time to waste. I have to find Percy, Annabeth, and Grover and we need to leave now.