For the next three days, no one slept as the search for Percy Jackson continued. The first to fall asleep had been the children of Hypnos (surprise, surprise), who had to have beaten some kind of record as all three boys, including Clovis, stayed awake for seventy-three hours. Once the Hypnos kids were gone, the rest of the camp quickly followed suit.

But, like always, there were exceptions. Clarisse and Chris, for example, absolutely refused to get any sleep until they were given enough satisfactory news about Percy's whereabouts. Although the pair looked exhausted and had probably drank their body's weight worth of coffee, they stuck by Annabeth, going wherever it was she asked them to go.

Luke and I had been the exact same way. And though the sleep deprivation didn't really affect me, I could tell Luke was struggling from the way that he staggered while he walked, or the way he'd nod off whenever he sat down before jerking awake. I'd tried to force him to get some sleep yesterday, but he refused, saying that Percy wouldn't have slept had it been Luke that went missing.

He'd also been mumbling something about his arm hurting, pulling away from me whenever I'd try to ask him if he'd injured himself, refusing to let me glance at his right arm higher than his wrist. I knew I'd have to look into that, and soon, but there were more pressing matters to be dealt with.

And then there was Annabeth, still hunched over dozens of books and maps, spending countless drachmas on IM's to contact the Hunters, Grover, and Tyson. She'd even gone as far as IM-ing Nico, which he responded with a scowl and a curt promise that he'd help look.

"I'm missing something," she muttered to herself, her fingers tracing over the outline of a map.

"No, you're not," Rachel Elizabeth Dare said, setting down a mug of tea in front of Annabeth, gently moving the books and maps aside. "You have done your best to contact Percy in every single way. Now, take a seat and drink your tea before you drop dead from exhaustion."

Annabeth begrudgingly took a seat, rubbing her face before picking up the mug, just holding it in her hands for a while. Rachel gave her a small smile, taking a sip of her own tea. Luke, who'd been sitting next to me at the table, had slumped over in his seat, softly snoring as his sword fell out of his grasp.

I was just about to get up to get some coffee from upstairs (we were in the Big House's rec room), when Annabeth went rigid, her eyes rolling into the back of her head, her mug falling to the floor and shattering.

"Is she having a seizure?!" Rachel exclaimed as I hopped up out of my seat, moving Annabeth onto the floor, away from the broken glass and spilled tea.

"No," I said, realizing that she wasn't convulsing. I placed a finger on her forehead and shivered, feeling the presence of another goddess in her mind. "She's having a vision, that's all."

"But isn't it supposed to be me that gets visions, you know, being the Oracle and all?" Rachel didn't sound jealous; instead she was deeply concerned as well as curious about why Annabeth had just seized so suddenly.

"Yes, but this is different."

Annabeth breathed a sigh of relief as her body relaxed again. She slowly sat herself up, clutching her head while she groaned. Then she stood up so quickly that she nearly passed out, staggering as she kept herself upright with the nearest wall.

"Woah, there," I said, keeping my hands on Annabeth's shoulders to keep her steady. "Slow down. Whatever you saw can wait until you catch your breath."

"No, it can't," Annabeth said, shaking her head, the smallest twinge of hope in her voice. "Hera…Hera told me that I need to go to the Grand Canyon right now. There'll be a boy wearing one shoe, and he'll lead me to Percy." Her eyes widened. "I need to get Butch!"

"I'll get Butch," I said, preventing Annabeth from sprinting out of the Big House. "You go eat some breakfast while I help harness the pegasi. It'll take at least another half hour before we can go."

"Wait, why don't you just shadow-travel?" Rachel asked, looking at me suspiciously. "That way, you can get there in a few seconds."

"Rachel, for the time being, I have to travel normally, err, as normal for a demigod that is. I'm being watched by Olympus right now, and every time I shadow or mist-travel, Zeus finds out about it. Unless something's life threatening, I can't be traveling like that right now," I said, not entirely lying. Even as a goddess, I figured Zeus still had some kind of tracer on me, the same way he'd done with my chronokinesis when I was growing up.

She nodded, seeming satisfied with my answer. "Well, while you two go play hero, I'll make sure this one" – she gestured towards Luke, who had drool dribbling down his chin – "gets into his own bed. I'm sure Will will be willing to help."

I smirked, proud of her puns. "Thanks, Rachel. We'll keep you updated."

"Same here. I've got some things I need to check out in the meantime."

After making sure that Annabeth was going to get some breakfast and not run directly to the stables, I went to find Butch, who was riding a pegasus over the lake. I flagged him down, watching the shock set in as he flew back to the stables, already harnessing up two fresh pegasi to the flying chariot.

"Are you coming?" Butch asked, tying off the last knot to the harnesses, tugging to make sure nothing would come undone.

"Of course," I said. "But I'll be taking Star. We don't know how many demigods we'll be encountering, and I reckon we'll need the space."

"Do you need my help with Star?"

"No, but thank you for your offer." I walked to the end of the stables, knocking on the wooden gate to wake up Star, who'd been peacefully sleeping in the corner of her stable. She shook her head as she woke up, peeking her head over the door to see why I was here.

Mistress? she asked, blinking her eyes in confusion. Why are you here so early? Flying lessons aren't today, are they?

"No, they aren't," I confirmed, petting her muzzle. "But we have a rescue mission, and I'd like your help."

"Are you…talking to Star?" Butch asked, brushing off some stray hay from the coats of either pegasus.

"Yeah. I can talk to horses." I turned back to Star. "So, you up for it?"

Of course, Mistress! It's been so long since I've stretched my wings!

"You and I literally flew to Virginia two weeks ago."

That's too long! So, where are we going?

"The Grand Canyon. It's a little far, I know-"

Are you kidding? Star interrupted, her body positively thrumming with excitement, her wings twitching with anticipation. Far is Argentina or China, not the Grand Canyon! I can get us there in a jiffy!

So can we! the other pegasi exclaimed, joyously flapping their wings. We want to help too!

"You'll all be a great help, I'm sure of it." I handed Star an apple, which she snatched so quickly that it was a miracle I still had all my fingers attached to my hand. I ended up giving the other two pegasi apples as well, as they began whining that they were good pegasi that deserved apples too.

"Ready?" Butch asked, strapping his sword and its scabbard to his waist, stepping into the chariot.

"Yes," Annabeth declared, pink in the face and out of breath as she ran into the stables, hopping into the chariot with Butch, her dagger gleaming at her side. "The sooner we leave, the sooner we'll find him."

"Let's go," Butch called out to the pegasi, pulling ever so slightly on the reins until the chariot was out of the stables before tightening his grip, sending the pegasi into the air. Star and I followed suit, keeping up with Butch and Annabeth.

Then Butch flicked his reins, making his pegasi go supersonic, which Star was quick to match. The world became a blur of blues and greens and grays as we zipped across the country. But even though we were moving about the same speed as the fastest plane ever invented, we wouldn't reach the Grand Canyon for another hour, at least.

And despite the fact that Annabeth looked like she was about to drop from exhaustion, her eyes constantly shutting for a few seconds before flying open, I couldn't tell her to sleep lest she'd fall out of the back of the chariot. Seriously, who thought it was a good idea to make chariots without a backside – or seat belts for that matter? I understand these safety hazards back in ancient times, but in 2009, really?

To speed things up, I warped time around us, sending us about four times as fast as we'd been moving, cutting down our travel time from an hour to fifteen minutes. Yeah, if I thought my face was going to peel off during normal shadow-traveling, then moving this fast made me feel like my soul was going to be ripped from my body.

Butch didn't seem bothered by the increased speed, a huge smile on his face as he whooped and wailed happily while Annabeth was holding on for dear life, her knuckles white against the chariot.

We're here, Mistress, Star announced, relaying the message to the other pegasi as we slowed down to a much more normal speed.

"Down there!" Annabeth cried, pointing to the glass bridge that spanned the length of the Grand Canyon, where three blobs were standing.

We swooped downward, landing on the opposite edge of the skywalk, the pegasi skittering nervously as they sensed how fragile the glass was underfoot. I hadn't even started to dismount from Star when Annabeth leapt from the chariot, knife in hand, charging towards Jason.

"Where is he?" she demanded, brandishing her dagger.

I swore under my breath and hopped off Star's back, telling her to stay there with Butch while I made sure Annabeth didn't kill anyone.

"Where's who?" Jason asked, genuinely oblivious as to who Annabeth was referring to. Then he looked up at me, his blue eyes lingering a moment too long on me as he frowned. I wondered if he remembered me or not. Jason's eyes started to drift towards my arm, which I responded to by casually rolling up the sleeve of my jacket, showing that there was no tattoo. I'd made sure that it was hidden since the day I left Frank at the Wolf House.

Annabeth scowled, turning towards Leo, who was staring at me with wide eyes, and Piper, who was clearly trying to process everything she was seeing. "What about Gleeson? Where is your protector, Gleeson Hedge?"

Leo cleared his throat, breaking out of his stupor. But there was something in the way that he looked at me that said that we were going to have a long conversation about this later. "He got taken by some…tornado things."

"Venti," Jason said. "Storm spirits."

"Isn't that a Starbucks size?" Leo asked, hoping to raise everyone's spirits. I snorted at the joke, but Annabeth merely raised an eyebrow at him before returning her gaze to Jason.

"You mean anemoi thuellai? That's the Greek term. Who are you, and what happened?"

"Slow down," I said to Annabeth, placing a hand on her shoulder. "They've just been attacked. Give them a second to collect their thoughts."

Annabeth gave them a few seconds, but Jason, having been intimidated by her piercing gray eyes, spilled his guts, telling us everything about the attack, including the storm spirit, Dylan. Piper sneered at the mention of his name, having been thrown off the skywalk because of him.

Once Jason finished his story, Annabeth dug her nails into her palms, looking deeply unsatisfied. "No, no, no! She told me he'd be here. She told me if I came here, I'd find the answer."

"Annabeth," Butch, who'd joined us halfway through Jason's story, grunted. "Check it out." He pointed at Jason's feet.

"The guy with one shoe," I explained. "He's the answer."

Jason wriggled his toes, checking that they still worked despite the fact that his foot like it'd just been charbroiled in a giant's barbeque.

"No, guys," Annabeth insisted. "He can't be. I was tricked." She looked up, glaring daggers at the sky. Even though her glare wasn't directed at me, I still shivered. Give me monsters any day of the week instead of Annabeth's death glare, which was easily much more terrifying than Percy's, and that's saying something. "What do you want from me?" she screamed. "What have you done with him?"

The skywalk groaned beneath us, causing the pegasi to whiny nervously.

Mistress, the glass is going to give way, Star warned me, commanding the others to stay as still as possible. We should really get going before we all fall.

"Working on it, Star," I said, ignoring the way that Piper, Leo, and Jason were staring at me.

"Who's Star?" Piper asked.

"My pegasus," I answered, waving towards Star, who bowed her head to identify herself to Piper. "I rode her here. But don't worry about that. We've gotta get back to camp."

"We can figure it out there," Butch agreed. "Those storm spirits might come back, anyways."

Annabeth looked like she wanted to punch someone's lights out – most likely Hera's. "Fine." She shot Jason a resentful look. "We'll settle this later."

She turned on her heel and marched towards the chariot.

Piper shook her head. "What's her problem? What's going on? And why do you have a pegasus?"

"Seriously," Leo agreed.

"I'm not going anywhere with her." Jason gestured towards Annabeth. "She looks like she wants to kill me."

"Not true," I said, shaking my head. "She's just really upset about how this turned out."

"Great, so we're disappointments," Piper muttered darkly, pulling her fleece jacket tighter around herself.

Butch hesitated. "Annabeth's okay. You gotta cut her some slack. She had a vision telling her to come here, to find a guy with one shoe. That was supposed to be the answer to her problem."

"What problem?"

"She's been looking for one of our campers, who's been missing three days," Butch said. "She's going out of her mind with worry. She hoped he'd be here."

"Who?" Jason asked.

"Her boyfriend," I answered, chewing my bottom lip. "A guy named Percy Jackson. Neither one of us has gotten any sleep in three days, because we've been trying to find him. So if Annabeth's coming off as a little abrasive right now, I promise, she's not like that all the time once you get to know her."

"Now, into the chariot, everyone," Butch said, waving the trio to the end of the skywalk. "I'm no child of Hephaestus, but even I can tell that this bridge is compromised. Let's go before we learn what it's like to fall to our deaths."

"I wouldn't let that happen, Butch, you know that."

"Right, forget. Sorry about that, Andy."

I shrugged my shoulders. "No biggie."

"So it is you," Leo exhaled, rushing to walk side by side with me. "I hadn't seen you in so long that I thought…"

"Do you still have those charms I gave you?"

Leo raised his wrist, revealing the same piece of wire that he'd used the day I gave him his charms, which were still dangling there. "What did they have to do with you?"

"I told you I'd always be there if you needed me, Leo. All you had to do was think about me, and those charms would've sent me a message to come and get you." We walked towards the chariot, having fallen behind the rest of the group.

"I tried to find you after you ran away," I continued, my voice barely above a whisper. "Raina said she couldn't find you either. But I never stopped looking, Leo."

"Andy, come on!" Butch exclaimed, pointing to the growing crack in the glass.

"We'll talk more at camp," I promised, motioning for Leo to get into the chariot as I hopped onto Star's back. "Let's go!"

After a somewhat chaotic landing at camp, one which resulted in the chariot being thrown into the lake, Annabeth, Butch, Jason, Leo, and Piper stood in front of the Aphrodite cabin's industrial sized hairdryer (to this day, no one knows why the Aphrodite kids use it), drying them all in two seconds.

"Annabeth!" Will shouted, pushing through the rest of the crowd of about twenty campers. "I said you could borrow the chariot, not destroy it!"

"Will, I'm sorry," Annabeth sighed. "I'll get it fixed, I promise."

"I've got it," I said, waving a hand over the broken chariot, reversing it until it was whole again. "There you go, Will: one flying chariot in perfect condition."

Will seemed mollified now that the chariot was no longer in shambles. Then he sized up Piper, Leo, and Jason. "These are the ones? Way older than thirteen. Why haven't they been claimed already?"

"Claimed?" Leo asked.

"By your-" I tried to explain, before getting cut off by Will asking, "Any sign of Percy?"

I winced.

"No," Annabeth admitted.

Campers muttered amongst themselves, mainly in despair and anger. Percy had been like an older brother to so many of them that the reality of his disappearance deeply bothered almost everyone.

"Where are we?" Piper asked, turning around in a small circle, taking in the awesomeness that is Camp Half-Blood. No offense to the Romans, but I still think Camp Half-Blood is better.

"Welcome to Camp Half-Blood," Luke said, pushing his way through the crowd as well. "Hopefully, you three will be claimed by tonight, so we can introduce you to your cabin mates and give you the official tour."

"Would someone please tell me what claimed means?" Piper asked.

Suddenly there was a collective gasp. The campers backed away.

Floating right over Leo's head was the image of a fiery hammer – the symbol of Hephaestus.

"That," Annabeth said, "is claiming."

"What'd I do?" Leo backed toward the lake. Then he glanced up and yelped. "Is my hair on fire?" He ducked, but the symbol followed him, bobbing and weaving so it looked like he was trying to write something in flames with his head.

"This can't be good," Butch muttered. "The curse-"

"Butch, shut up," Annabeth said. "Leo, you've just been claimed-"

"By a god," Jason interrupted. "That's the symbol of Vulcan, isn't it?"

All eyes turned to him, causing for Jason to turn pink.

"Jason," Annabeth said carefully, "how did you know that?"

"I-I'm not sure."

"Vulcan?" Leo demanded. "I don't even LIKE Star Trek. What are you talking about?"

"Vulcan is the Roman name for Hephaestus, god of blacksmiths and fire," I explained. "That means you'll be in cabin nine with the rest of the Hephaestus children."

"The god of what? Who?"

Annabeth gave me a pleading look. "Would you please give Leo the tour, Andy?"

"Of course. Come on, Leo." I placed a hand on his shoulder, gently steering him towards the cabins, away from the commotion at the lake. Gods know we'd have enough drama to deal with as soon as the others saw Jason's tattoo. "Feel free to ask me any questions. I don't mind answering them."

As I expected, Leo bombarded me with questions so quickly it was amazing his voice was able to keep up with his thoughts. I did my best to answer the questions that I did understand, which seemed to make Leo a lot happier, but then he asked the dreaded, "Why didn't you tell me about this place sooner?"

We stopped right outside of cabin nine. I sighed, brushing a strand of hair behind my ear.

"If it was up to me," I said, looking Leo straight in the eyes, "I would've told you the truth the day that I met you. I would've brought you here, where I know you would've been happy with your brothers and sisters. But, like I explained all those years ago, I was sworn to secrecy, and I couldn't tell you anything about this place or the truth about you."

"Is that why you gave me this dagger?" Leo reached into his army jacket, pulling out the dagger I'd given him the day that we met. It was much duller than I remember it being, but that meant it was being used, which made me feel both happy and anxious at the same time.

I nodded. "Although I couldn't tell you everything, I wanted to give you a weapon that could kill monsters, if the situation ever arose. That was another reason I wanted you to live in that safe house. The others would've trained you so that you'd be prepared." I bit my lip again. "I'm sorry if I'm the reason you ran away. I just wanted the best for you, Leo."

Leo managed a weak smile. "You're not the reason I ran away, Andy. If I had any say in the matter, I would've lived in that safe house the rest of my life. You were the only one who believed me about my mom – that meant, still means, the world to me."

"So, now that that's out of the way," I said, smiling at the younger boy. "Let me introduce you to the rest of cabin nine."

"And just so I'm clear, everyone I'm about to meet are my siblings?"

"Yup."

"Great," Leo said, rubbing his hands together mischievously. "More victims to prank."

"Leo."

He held his hands up in surrender. "I'm joking. Maybe."

I rolled my eyes but laughed anyways. "Be nice," I said, "and be careful about what you touch. Even though this isn't the forge, there are a few projects scattered about, and they might blow up in your face if you so much as nudge it the wrong way."

Nervousness flickered over Leo's face for a few moments, but he plastered on a smile and said, "Explosive projects? That sounds awesome!"

"Then you're ready to enter the Hephaestus cabin. Welcome to Camp Half-Blood."

After terrorizing Leo by showing him Jake's newly cast-covered body and revealing the fact that his bed used to be James's, I took Leo on the rest of the tour of camp, which seemed to calm his nerves just a bit. However, he still seemed jumpy, constantly gazing back towards the hearth, where I knew he saw Hera as his Tía Callida staring back at him even if I couldn't see her.

Once we finished our tour, I led Leo down to the forges to introduce him to the rest of his cabin mates. I warned him a second time to be careful about what he picked up in the forges, these inventions much more dangerous and temperamental when compared to the inventions back in cabin nine.

Before I left him to settle in with Nyssa and Harley and the others, Leo grabbed a hold of my wrist and gently pulled me aside.

"So, Hephaestus is the god of fire, right?" he asked, his hands fidgeting by his sides, fiddling with the zippers from his army jacket.

"Yeah," I answered. "He's also the god of the forge and blacksmiths. Why do you ask?"

Leo stared intensely at an oil stain on the floor.

"Oh, right. Well, most children of Hephaestus don't have control over fire, contrary to popular belief. The last son of Hephaestus who was pyrokinetic was named Thomas Faynor. In 1666, he started the Great Fire of London, destroying most of the city."

"So I shouldn't mention my power, then?"

"That's up to you, Leo." I gave him what I hoped was a reassuring smile. "But if it makes you feel any better, they already know about me, so it wouldn't be too much of a shock, I don't think. Well, I'll let Nyssa take over from here. Keep him safe, would you?" I asked, looking at the eldest daughter of Hephaestus, a smiley face Band-Aid resting on her chin.

"As safe as these forges can be," Nyssa promised before gesturing for Leo to follow her further into the forges. Leo gave me one last look that screamed help, but he followed Nyssa anyways, his worry quickly turning to awe as he took in the intricate details of the forges.

I left the forges and headed back to cabin three, sure that Annabeth and Will would take care of orienting Piper and Jason. As for me, well, I flopped into my bunk, falling asleep the moment that my head hit the pillow.