AN: Here's chapter 16. First chapter of the actual quest. Its another long one and the title is from that one Spiderman meme about Tony. Not much to say, so I hope you enjoy this one.

I don't own Percy Jackson and the Olympians. All credit goes to Rick Riordan.

Chapter 16: Everywhere I Look, I See Her Face

Argus drove us till the edge of Long Island. It was June 13th today, so if I did the Math right, we would have 8 days to complete the quest.

During the drive, I had time to reflect on some things. I thought about the prophecy. It said that I would face a god in the west. Chiron was pretty convinced that its Hades and I remember Hades' minions chasing us while on the run so it checks out.

Next, I will find what were stolen and return them. It obviously talks about the bolt, however it used 'were' so it means there's more than one thing to return. I couldn't help but think about my mom.

I felt a weird feeling bubbling in me. Anger? Sadness? Guilt? It was a mixture of all of them.

I thought of the apartment complex in my dream. It probably looked so normal right now. As if my mom hadn't just been killed there a few days ago. My mom who probably died because I was born. This made me feel resentment for my dad. He had the audacity to put her in danger by conceiving me but can't even protect her? How is that fair?

I guess I am also partially at fault. If I hadn't been born, mom could live a normal life and she wouldn't have to deal with this mythology BS. She spent close to a century moving state-to-state just because monsters were following us and so people wouldn't get suspicious of the weirdly 2 year old looking 12 year old.

We were heading to the underworld, weren't we? What if I could just go and grab her on our way out? She was forcefully taken from the living, which is technically stealing. At least I think so. Cut me some slack, I don't go reading dictionaries.

Grover must have sensed my inner conflict (curse emotion reading) because he looked at me with concern.

I tried to give him a reassuring smile to tell him I'm fine, but it probably looked more like a grimace. He still looked unconvinced but looked away, which I was really thankful for.

I decided to move on because I didn't really want to dwell on my mom for the rest of this quest. It will only make me sad and depressed.

I don't even want to think about the last 2 lines so I just tried to ignore them.

We hopped off the van near a bus stop. We waited patiently for the bus, but it took so long that we just decided to play Hacky Sack with one of Grover's apples.

I would say I was doing pretty well. That was before I tossed it to Grover and he swallowed it whole. Annabeth and I almost fell off the bench out of laughter. Grover's face went bright red and he ducked his face into his hands as he mumbled an apology.

This left us waiting for the bus in silence as we didn't want to waste more apples.

I was gazing around as my ADHD got the better of me when I saw there was a guy sitting next to us reading a newspaper. It wasn't anything interesting until I saw a picture of my mom on the front cover

It was hard to read with dyslexia, but I figured out that the headline wrote:

WOMAN FELL FROM A WINDOW & MYSTERIOUSLY VANISHED.

I stopped at that because I can't read even smaller text and also, DANG IT! Why does everything have to go back to mom? Even worse, it confirmed that my mom is missing and most likely dead.

I stayed quiet the rest of the time waiting and not looking anywhere near my comrades in case Grover read my emotions again and sent me more concerned looks.

When we got on the bus, we headed to the back, stored our bags in the upper storage and took our seats.

I stared at the bus entrance, impatiently waiting to move already because the GODS DAMNED WORLD is at stake. I watched as three elderly women entered the bus. Now normally this wouldn't bother me, but I recognized them. Well, one of them.

The senior citizen at the head was the all too familiar face of Mrs. Dodds. I deduced the other two must have been the ones accompanying her with her attack on my mother. DANG IT! There it is again.

I looked over to Grover to see that he was looking nervous as well.

"P-P-Percy." He stuttered. "Isn't that…"

"Yeah." I responded. "I saw her too."

Annabeth looked at us questioningly, but she seemed to have figured out something was wrong as well from the looks of our faces.

"What is it?" She asked.

I replied with, "Kindly Ones." and she instantly tensed in her seat. She looked to the front of the bus and probably sensed the palpable demonic aura emanating from the grandma trio.

"All three?" She asked disbelievingly. Grover nodded nervously and Annabeth started to mutter something like, "Not this again, Not this again."

I didn't know what she was talking about but Annabeth started to frantically look around. "Check for an exit." She ordered. "We have to get out of here."

Even though I beat Mrs. Dodds just a few days ago, I did not like my chances against her and her sisters so I checked for the backdoor. There was none.

"Windows?" Grover suggested. Locked. I was tempted to just pull out my sword and cut a hole in the bus, but I didn't think that would be very polite.

Annabeth grabbed my hand and went to stand. "Come on. Let's rush for the front." she said. However, at that moment, the bus lurched forward and Annabeth fell back into her seat as the bus started driving.

We sat anxiously as the bus drove all the way into the Lincoln Tunnel. Once, the bus was shrouded in darkness, the headlights being the only thing to show the way, Mrs Dodds stood up from her seat.

"I need to use the restroom." She announced.

"Me too." Her sister said whilst standing up as well.

"And so do I." The last sister finished.

The three went to the middle and slowly made their walk over to the back. Every seat they passed, their form looked more and more gruesome.

They kept checking their sides. I guess they still don't know where our seat is. Luckily, we were at the back so we had time to think of a plan.

"Percy." Annabeth hurriedly whispered. "Take this and run. Escape. They were probably sent by the Lord of the Dead to get you."

She thrusted her Yankees cap into my hand. I remembered how it could turn me invisible, but could it hide my scent as well? No time to think about that. "I can't just leave you guys." I told them.

I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned to look at Grover. "We'll be fine Percy. Your scent is stronger than most demigods so the bus is probably filled with so much of your scent that they won't realize we're a demigod and satyr." He said all this while acting so brave, but his entire body was shaking so badly, you would think he was having a convulsion.

I was about to respond when Annabeth took the cap from my head and placed it on my head. Instantly, my whole body disappeared. I looked down on my hands, to see there was just empty air. BUt I could feel and move just like normal.

As I was admiring my new body, Annabeth shoved me to the ground. It took all my restaurant to not make a single sound because in front of my head, was the clawed foot of one of the Furies. I didn't stick to find out as I immediately crawled to the seat next to me. I managed to slip through without alerting them, having a 10 year old body is very useful sometimes.

However, they must have sensed my presence since one of them ( I didn't know which one, they're all equally ugly), stared right at me. For a second, I thought I was screwed, but the monster just continued to walk down the bus with her sisters.

I walked to the end of the bus when I heard shouting from the back.

"Where is it? Where is she?" one of them snarled at Annabeth.

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Annabeth shouted back.

You would have thought the shouting would have attracted the attention of the passengers, but they only looked slightly irritated, as if there was particularly bad music playing in the bus. No help from them I'm afraid. The Mist is truly both helpful and unhelpful.

"Surrender the princess and we will let you go peacefully." another Fury said. She said 'princess' as if it was the worst slur she could call someone.

"We know you are working with her." the last one said.

"You're not getting your hands on her!" Surprisingly, Grover was the one who shouted and, at the same time, threw a slightly chewed up tin can at one of them. I would have felt happy at that, but Grover was promptly pinned to the wall and he struggled to free himself to no avail.

I didn't like seeing one of the few friends I have being hurt, so I decided to let ADHD take its course.

I grabbed the wheel and yanked it to the side. The driver, being unprepared, couldn't control the bus and it went spiraling into the woods.

The bus stopped after hitting a particularly sturdy tree. Afterwards, all sense went away. Passengers were screaming and rushing to get out of the bus. I was shoved, punched, kicked, and I think I might have gotten a black eye. Not that they would know, I was still invisible. Once the mortals cleared out, I saw the monsters, Grover, and Annabeth sprawled on the ground.

Grover had a huge gash on his head and Annabeth had a few scrapes but overall, they were fine.

Mrs. Dodds and her sisters stood up while looking around cautiously.

"What was that?" the one that sounds like Mrs Dodds said.

"What did you do?" a Fury asked the still sprawled on the ground Grover and Annabeth.

"Hey!" I yelled. I took off my cap as the three looked directly at me. "Stay away from my friends!"

I reached into my pocket and uncapped Riptide. Mrs. Dodds and her sisters were clearly apprehensive at the sight. They probably heard how it killed one of them in one hit.

That apprehension didn't last however as all three brought out the whips I saw them wield in my dreams.

A Fury rushed forward and I followed suit. We met in the middle as I swung a downward arc that cut cleanly through the monster. I felt a burning sensation in my right arm that turned to agony as my forearm was wrapped in one of their burning whips.

The pain was so great that my vision blurred and I couldn't see anything. When I regained my vision, I saw Grover still sprawled on the floor.

Meanwhile, one of the Furies was being piggybacked by Annabeth holding her knife. She seems to be calculating where to strike, but the constant movements made it hard.

I also noticed that my arm was no longer being burned. There was a clear mark of burnt flesh. Blisters were starting to form, but I could deal with that later.

I picked up my sword and got ready to charge. Annabeth finally stabbed the one she was riding but yelled at me to get out.

I didn't know what she meant so I just walked towards them.

"What?" I asked her as she was shouldering a delirious Grover.

"We have to run." She repeated.

"Why?" I asked but I didn't receive a response. I looked at the last Fury to see she was looking around frantically. I didn't know what was happening so I just ran out after Annabeth.

Once we were out, I asked her again what was happening when a huge explosion came from the bus. I saw a faint mist going up from the wreckage. It was demonic and it felt like the spirit of a Fury being released. What had happened? Lightning? Another monster?

"Annabeth. What happened?" I asked frantically.

She seemed to be calming down. She looked at me like I was stupid. "You happened." she told me. "I realized the gas tank would probably explode from the impact with that tree. The heat of the whips didn't help either."

"Oh." My face felt hot like it was being wrapped by a flaming whip.

"Come on." Annabeth said. "Help me carry Grover."

I did as asked and asked, "Where are we going?"

"West." she answered then walked to the woods as I trailed behind her.

AN: And there it is. The first chapter on the quest and next will be Medusa. Again, please review and I hope you liked it.