Di Angelo drives (Not Recommended)

Annabeth and I filled in the holes as we got shirts with some money Annabeth had found in the car and stashed without anyone noticing. I got a grey t-shirt with an astronaut on it and Annabeth got a white sweatshirt with "Smithsonian Air & Space Museum." Then, Annabeth in mercy, bought me some grey sweatpants so I could ditch my stained jeans as well. We threw our neon orange shirts away and headed out onto the mall, towards the Washington Monument. We were trying to figure out a relatively quiet and secluded place to set up the Polias. Annabeth had vetoed putting it down on the grass. She was concerned Grover would come upon us too quickly. So we marched, me with the yarn and her with the polias.

"Grover is able to track our scents as demigods," Annabeth explained. "That's how he found you at Yancy."

"Which is why we ditched our hoodies…"

"Exactly. Dr. Annabeth and… the other Percy… have stronger scents. They're more powerful. But they still smell like us. Grover will be drawn back to the van searching for us once he realizes he doesn't have the real polias. I wrapped some sticks in the back of the van with the bubble wrap so he'd think he'd have the polias. It may take him a bit to trace where we went, but we need to anticipate him catching up to us."

The way Annabeth figured things, Grover and Piper must have spoken while we were meeting Dr. Annabeth and Percy. And Grover had been touching bases with her via phone, trying to negotiate this whole thing.

We passed the Washington Monument and then headed towards town, facing the White House. Annabeth had her knife, which was the only weapon we had. My sword was missing… I wasn't sure where it was. Probably up in the demigod hallway. If we were attacked, it wouldn't be great. We also had a couple hundred dollars in green paper bills and a fistful of golden drachmas. I could tell Annabeth was thinking of using them because she kept pulling one out and glancing at it. But we had no one to call. Chiron had tried to shishkabob us. Grover was against us… Even Luke was out of the picture, apparently.

"Do you think," I asked, slowly, "That… the other Percy and Annabeth were in on it?"

Annabeth stopped short of the path. She kept her gaze on the ground. She didn't pull out the drachma in her pocket, but I could tell she was thinking about it. "I don't know," she said, softly. "That's what's… wrong about this to me."

I stopped a moment, and then cleared my throat and inclined my head to suggest we should continue. But she really was not having it. I wasn't sure what to do. Perhaps Percy and Dr. Annabeth had wanted the polias… but then… why had Grover not wanted us to grab it first? I furrowed my brow.

"Why didn't Grover have us come grab the yarn first?" I asked.

"Because… I think he really only got the idea after Rachel Elizabeth Dare called," Annabeth said.

"He never would have had a chance to talk to Percy and Annabeth," I thought out loud. "I was with him the whole time you weren't with him. And… the other way around."

"You're right," Annabeth whispered.

Washington D.C. is usually misty because it sits on a swamp. And the storm I'd accidentally summoned was still drifting away. The sun broke through the clouds for a few seconds and the mist began to rise. But for a few precious few seconds, a rainbow formed near us. It was kind of lovely. I looked towards the lake and watched the mist rise and the rainbow grow.

Then I looked over at Annabeth to see if she was seeing it too. She was suddenly not beside me. She'd stepped forward and was drawing back her hand. She threw something gold and shiny through the rainbow and said, "Oh Iris, goddess of the Rainbow, please accept this drachma."

Drachma? I was baffled. Was she angry? Why was she throwing things?

The rainbow – about ten feet away – seemed to shimmer and turn silvery. It drifted closer to us. Annabeth cupped her hands around her mouth and said, "Percy Jackson and Dr. Annabeth Chase, Mariana Trench!"

I glanced around. There were tourists here and there, but no one seemed too concerned about the two kids yelling at a rainbow. They were busy taking pictures of the monument in the emerging sunlight.

In the silvery surface of the rainbow Annabeth had thrown the drachma into, I saw the aquarium. And I saw Percy Jackson feeding the fish. "Nemo," he was saying, "Quit fighting the other fish. I mean it!"

"Percy!" Annabeth called. My mouth was swinging far too low to be able to form words.

Percy jumped and turned. "Hi!" he said. "Um, Annabeth! Percy and Annabeth are calling! Right, yes… come and see, Nico."

Dr. Annabeth appeared in the surface of the rainbow with Percy and another kid with pale skin who wore a black biker jacket. He squinted at us, then nodded. "Right. I'm following your story now."

"I'm so happy to see you safe!" Dr. Annabeth exclaimed. "Where's Grover?"

Annabeth's lower lip trembled. "Do you not know?" she asked.

Dr. Annabeth's smile faded. "Do we not know?"

"Is he alright?" Percy asked. "Is he safe?"

"You have the yarn!" Dr. Annabeth noted. "And the Polias. And you're wearing tourist shirts… and…" her face fell. "Percy, where is Grover?"

I cleared my throat. "We think Grover wants the Polias and the yarn."

"Because if it can bring us forward," Annabeth reasoned, "He thinks he can go back and stop you being locked up."

This hadn't occurred to me. I stared at the blue yarn in my hands. Could it?

Dr. Annabeth put a hand over her mouth and looked to Percy. Percy remained solemn and quiet and it made my skin crawl. But then I remembered – we have the same look. We look like we're getting into trouble. But how much trouble could he possibly get into all the way at the bottom of the sea.

"I'll get them," Nico said immediately in the rainbow message. "They need allies – Grover isn't a turncoat. He's just confused and upset. Little Percy, little Annabeth, get to the nearest road. Stay away from Grover."

I wasn't sure about another one of Percy and Annabeth's friends. "How do we know you're not in on it?" I asked.

"I swear on the River Styx," Nico said, very casually.

Annabeth went stiff beside me. "Got it," she said.

"Piper is in it too," I remembered. "She tried to get me to give the yarn back to her, but her charmspeak didn't work."

Dr. Annabeth's jaw swung. "What do you mean, her charmspeak didn't work?" Percy asked.

"It didn't," I said. "It wasn't as powerful as yours was."

Percy folded his arms. "Piper is a Legend," he said. "Only Legends can resist other Legends. If she told you to give the yarn back… there's no way you could be a Legend yet, right?."

"No," Dr. Annabeth agreed. "You both couldn't be Legends. Not this soon. How did you resist her?"

I wasn't sure. I shrugged. "It wasn't hard," I said. "She didn't feel like a Legend. Not like when we met her at your house."

I tried to think about why that was but came up with dead ends. Not even Percy and Dr. Annabeth understood that.

"I'll be there soon," Nico said. "We'll continue chatting then. Get to a road."

Annabeth nodded and shut off the rainbow message. She pointed towards the White House. "Nearest road," she said. "Let's go."

Behind her shoulder, in the direction of the congress building, I saw someone in an orange shirt moving. "Annabeth," I said, and pointed. She turned and squinted. I watched the orange figure getting closer and noticed he moved with the gait of a goat. Grover. Annabeth grabbed my arm. We both began quickly moving to the road. With our white and grey, we blended into the crowd.

I didn't look back because I didn't want to draw attention, but as we made it to the road, I glanced over my shoulder. Grover had made it to the monument and was standing in the shadow, peering around.

I stepped over the street gutter and onto the pavement and heard a rumbling. I looked to my left. A black sports car was blazing towards me. I took several steps back. I heard rubber burning and tires screeching, and the car stopped right in front of me. The driver got out immediately. I tripped and fell because I hadn't been expecting a zombie to appear. This zombie hurried to the other side of the car and opened the door, gesturing for us to enter. Inside was Nico, who had just barely been in Japan at the bottom of the Mariana Trench. I pointed at him. "Where did you come from?" I demanded.

"The underworld," Nico said. "Sorry for the dead smell."

There was a shout behind us. Grover had spotted the car. You couldn't fault him. It was a Porsche. Grover had good taste.

Annabeth hopped right into the car, but I hesitated. I was listening to Grover's yells and hoping he would say something such as, "It's not what it seems!" or "I can explain!"

Instead, he yelled, "You bring that back here right now!"

I got into the car and the zombie shut the door behind me and traveled to the other side at lightning speed.

The car really did smell like dead people. It had a black interior. Nico was blending into the seats. He had a flashlight and a portable humidifier and was shining a rainbow through it. Percy and Dr. Annabeth were on the other side. "Got them," he said. "We're heading- woah!"

The car lurched forward, then dramatically to the right. I had not yet found a seat and was flung across the car into one. I was glad I didn't have my sword. I'd have been skewered.

"Need a place to set this up," Nico was saying. "Some space where we won't be disturbed. We'll keep you posted."

"Wait a moment," I said, and was thrown backwards onto the floor of the car.

"Jules!" Nico yelled. "Stop the car!"

The car skidded to a stop and I rolled towards the front. My stomach was churning. Did no one care that I was being tossed around and beaten by the car? "Hold on a moment," I said, and braced myself on my knees. "Annabeth, Nico, Grover's right. The Gods shouldn't have banished Percy and Annabeth, and the polias and yarn might be able to fix it. Why don't we use it to fix everything?"

Annabeth frowned. "I don't know," she said. "It's not that I don't want to… but… would the yarn stay? This might be our chance to get home."

"When we stepped out of the circle, it stayed until we went back to the room," I remembered. "Then it was gone. I wonder… if it's in the same place we left it beforehand. In 2006."

Annabeth looked at Nico. I realized then that the rainbow message with Percy and Dr. Annabeth had shut off. They couldn't back me up or shoot me down.

Nico looked Annabeth, who still hadn't looked away from me. I had a feeling the decision was going to come down to her. "Annabeth," I said, "Putting aside whether or not we end up like them, or if anything similar happens to us… it's not right to leave them without even trying."

I guess something I said spoke to her.

Annabeth looked at Nico. "Turn around, please. But stay with us."

3/22's chapter will be called "We have no plan."