Chiron gazed around at everyone. "Well, I'm not the one leading this quest." He said quietly. "You guys can pick."

"Leo, Piper, Annabeth, Jason, Hazel, Frank!" Percy yelled. Chiron stared at Percy for a moment. "That's more than three people, Percy. How are you all going to move around?"

Percy grinned. "Leo's got a plan. Don't you, Leo!?"

Leo stood up and walked towards the head table. "Why, yes I do, Mr. Jackson. In fact, I think it's time to show everyone how brilliant my brain is." I snorted. "Okay...Festus! Bring it in!"

A giant bronze dragon swooped over the pavilion with something huge and wooden in its claws. "Nice and easy now, Festus!" Leo ordered, watching the dragon set down what he was holding.

"Oh my gods." Annabeth whispered, appearing behind us with everyone else we had picked to go and save Nico. I stared at the ship Festus had dropped on the ground. "Is that...?" I asked no one in particular. "Yeah." Hazel replied, her eyes shining. "Oh my gods."

The Argo II sat before us, gleaming in the early morning sunshine. Sails billowing, wood shining and polished.

"It's like a day never passed." Jason said quietly. Piper smiled sadly. "Despite the fact that it was before a war...well...gods I miss that ship..." She told me.

"I'm going to go on the Argo II!" I yelled. Frank chuckled. "You build her an extra room, Valdez?" He called. Leo grinned evilly over his shoulder. "I always plan ahead, Zhang. Stocked 'er up with three more rooms. Hey, see this wood?" He pointed to a burned and blackened plank on the hem of the ship. "Original."

"How?" Hazel asked. "I'm the Super Sized McShizzel, Hazel. I'm just that amazing." Leo replied, smirking.

"Uh-huh." Piper muttered sarcastically. "What was that, Piper dear?" Leo asked. "Repair Boy," Piper coughed into her hand. Annabeth, Hazel, and I started cracking up.

"There's no time to wait." Chiron interrupted, clopping over. "You should go pack and leave now."

Everyone shrugged, and we left the dining pavilion in a line.

Percy and I jogged to the Poseidon cabin, grabbed our packs, and stared shoving stuff into them. Obviously, I packed a few extra pairs of clothes, my Harry Potter books, extra ambrosia, extra nectar, and my stuffed snow leopard that I carried everywhere when I was little.

"Really?" Percy asked, raising his eyebrow as I tried to shove my snow leopard into my bag. "Yes, really." I replied irritably.
"You're a monster killing demigod going on a quest, brining a stuffed snow leopard."
"Yup."
"Do you have any dignity?"
"Plenty."
"Then why are you doing that?"
"I'm stubborn as well as dignified, Percy."

Percy snorted, shook his head, and shouldered his pack. "You ready?"

I zipped my bag and nodded, heaving it onto my back. "Argo II, here we come."

~*~

I sat in the mess hall with everyone on our quest. "So yeah. I just rigged 'em with TV channels instead. And blu-ray." Leo said, gesturing to the screens on the wall. According to him, they used to show live footage of camp.

"Sweet!" Percy said, grinning. "Now we can watch Finding Nemo!" "NO!" Everyone yelled, making Percy cover his ears.

"Okay I get the point." He said, scratching his ear with his finger. "Gods you guys are loud." I smiled innocently. "Aren't we?" Percy scowled at me.

"Okay, so, how are we going to do this?" Annabeth asked, setting her freshly polished dagger on the table. "Um..." I stammered. I hadn't really thought this through.

Annabeth smiled at me. "Don't worry, I get it Erica." She said, laying a hand on top of mine. I grinned sheepishly.

"Piper...I know Katropis stopped working a while ago..." Annabeth began, shooting Piper a sideways look. "But maybe you could double check? Just to make sure?"

Piper shrugged and dug her dagger out of her belt. She stared at it for a while before looking up and shrugging. "I don't know. I don't see anything right now, but it's possible that they'll start up later." Annabeth sighed, obviously not content with that answer, but she shrugged nonetheless. "Keep an eye out."

"Okay...so since we can't do anything serious right now..." Leo said, grinning devilishly. Jason's mouth twitched. "What are you suggesting, my friend?" He asked.

"I was just...ah...thinking that we could have a little fun, like old times." "And how could we do that?" Percy asked, suddenly grinning too. "Syrup race?" Leo questioned.

"You didn't bring it." Frank said, leaning back in his chair. Leo dug two bottles of syrup out of the extra pack he had brought. "I've got thirty-eight more." He said slyly.

~*~

Twenty minutes later, the hallway was drenched in sticky syrup, and all of us were lined up. "We used to do this all the time." Percy explained to me. "We would jump and see how far we could slide without any boosts."

"Sounds messy." I replied, grinning. "'Cause it is."

Everyone slid down the hall and spattered syrup all over the walls and ceiling. I didn't slide the farthest, Hazel did. Either way, it was fun. We did it until Buford the table, Leo's little invention, came over and started shooing us into our rooms with a bottle of Pledge.

I was tired, and I was secretly hoping that I would have a dream tonight. Not about a goddess, or a monster, or anything like that. I wanted to dream about Nico. I wanted to know where he was, so we could start going some where.

I was, after all, technically, in charge of this quest. A lot of responsibility rested on my shoulders. A lot of lives that could be lost in a second.

I think I'm making myself more worried than I should be. In my defense, I'm fourteen. I shouldn't have to handle this much stress.