Some of this is copied from Rick Riordan's books. He owns the characters.

The camp store loaned me one hundred dollars in mortal money and twenty golden drachmas. I already had some drachmas, but I would take as many as I could get. They're useful. I had some ambrosia and nectar in my backpack, but Chiron gave some for Annabeth and Grover to keep too.

Annabeth was bringing her invisibility hat, obviously. She carried a famous classical architecture, written in Ancient Greek, to read when she got bored, and a long bronze knife, hidden in her short sleeve.

Grover wore fake feet and his pants to pass as human. He wore a green hat to cover the tips of his horns. His bright orange backpack was full of scrap metal and apples to snack on. In his pocket was a set of reed pipes his daddy goat had carved for him, even though he only knew two songs: Mozart's Piano Concerto no. 12 and Hilary Duff's "So Yesterday," both of which sounded pretty bad on reed pipes.

We waved good-bye to the other campers, took one last look at the strawberry fields, the ocean, and the Big House, then hiked up Half Blood Hill to the tall pine that used to be Thalia, daughter of Zeus.

Chiron was waiting for us in the wheelchair. Next to him was a dude with blue eyes all over his body. He was the head of security, and supposedly had eyes all over his body.

"This is Argus," Chiron told me. "He will drive you to the city, and, er, well, keep an eye on things.

I heard footsteps behind us.

Like came running up the hill, carrying a pair of basketball shoes.

"Hey!" He painted. "Glad I caught you."

Annabeth blushed.

"Just wanted to say good luck," Luke told me. "And I thought... um, maybe you could use these."

He handed me sneakers.

Luke said, "Maia!"

White bird's wings sprouted from the heals. The wings flapped around until they folded up and disappeared.

"Awesome!"  Grover exclaimed.

Luke smiled. "Those served me well when I was on a quest. Gift from Dad. Of course, I don't use them much these days...." His expression turned sad.

"Thanks, Luke." I smiled. Then a thought came to me. Luke calls me friend....

Luke smiled. "No problem, Percy. Just... kill some monsters for me, okay?"

"Sure thing, Luke."

We shook hands. Luke patted Grover's head between the horns, then gave a good bye hug to Annabeth to Annabeth, who looked like she might pass out.

After Luke was gone, I told her, "You're hyperventilating."

"Am not," she denied.

I rolled my eyes. Annabeth walked down the hill, where an car waited on the shoulder of the road. Argus followed, jingling his car keys.

I lifted the flying shoes. "I won't be able to use these, will I?"

He shook his head. "Luke meant well, Percy. But taking to the air... that would not be wise for you.

I nodded, then turned to Grover.

"Sorry, Grover," I said, looking at his hopeful expression. "I'm going to keep this in my bag. I don't think any of us should use these. You know, betrayed by a friend, and all."

Grover nodded, but looked disappointed.

"Hey," I told him. "Don't be sad about it. I have extra tin cans and apples and stuff. I also have an extra pair of reed pipes in case yours break. I also have lots of water bottles. And lots of other stuff."

Grover looked at me and sniffled. "Y-you brought t-tin cans f-for m-me?"

"Yes," I said. "Lots of them. You'd be surprised by how much stuff my backpack can hold. I also have more weapons than it looks like."

"Oh, what am I thinking?" Chiron cried. "I can't let you go away without this."

He pulled a pen from his coat pocket and handed it to me. I immediately took off the cap.

I watched as it turned into a sword. It fit perfectly in my hand.

"Finally, a sword that's balanced!" I exclaimed. "I guess I won't be needing these!" I unzipped my backpack and reached into it. I kept pushing in my arm until it was in to the shoulder. Both Chiron and Grover looked surprised. I grabbed what I was looking for and pulled it out.

I had a hand full of different sized swords that should not have fit in the pack.

I dropped them all on the ground, then thought better of it.

"I should keep a few, just in case," I said, then took two of the swords and stuffed it into the bag. I have some knives in there, a lot of knives on me, made from all the different mortal and demigod metals, some swords, and a bow and quiver of silver arrows.

"Anyway," Chiron said, "it's name is Anaklusmos."

"'Riptide,'" I translated. I recalled the pen and stuffed it in my pocket.

"And you can't lose it either," Chiron said. "It magically returns to your pocket."

I threw the pen as far as I could, and it flew out of sight. I could hear it land in a tree in the middle of the forest.

"Seriously?" Chiron asked. I shrugged.

I checked my pocket. It had reappeared.

"Awesome," I murmured.

"Now hurry along, Percy," Chiron said, "you should start you quest."

"Okay," I said, then walked off. "Bye!"

"Bye," Chiron replied.

Argus drove us out of the countryside and into western Long Island. It felt weird to be on a a highway again. I hadn't been on a highway in over seven years.

Annabeth was trying not to look at me. She was still angry at me.

I sighed. "Annabeth," I said.

Annabeth glared at me.

"I know our parents are rivals, but can't we just get along?" I asked.

Annabeth thought about it.

"Okay," she relented.

Argus dropped us off at a bus station. It wasn't very far from where I had lived all those years ago.

We said bye to Argus and walked silently.

The rain kept coming.

We decided to play a game of Hacky Sack with one of Grover's apples. Well, more like they had to teach me how to play, but I wasn't too bad at it.

The game ended when I bounced an apple off my head the and the apple went towards Grover and it got too close to his mouth. In one mega goat bite, our Hacky Sack disappeared---core, stem, and all.

Grover blushed. He tried to apologize, but Annabeth and I were too busy laughing.

Finally, the bus came. As we stood in line to board, Grover started looking around and sniffing the air. I realized I was tense and my hands were resting on my knives.

"I know," I whispered. Grover looked at me.

"What?" He asked.

"Monsters," I replied. "I sense them too." Grover nodded.

"Let's get on the bus," he said. I nodded.

We found some seats at the back of the bus. Annabeth was slapping her Yankees cap nervously against her thigh.

I looked towards the front of the bus. There were three monsters with talons, wings, and yellow fangs. The mortals probably just saw three old ladies. But I knew what they really were.

They were the three Furies.

They sat in the front row, right behind the driver. The two on the aisle crossed their legs over the walkway, making an X. It was casual enough, except for the fact that they were three of the worst monsters from the Underworld, but it sent a clear message: nobody leaves.

The bus pulled out of the station.

"All three of them," Grover whimpered. "Di immortals!"

"Its okay," Annabeth said, obviously thinking hard. "The Furies. The three worst monsters from the Underworld. No problem. No problem. We'll just slip through the windows."

"They don't open," Grover moaned.

"A back exit?" She suggested.

There wasn't one.

We hit a tunnel, and the bus went dark except for running lights down the aisle. I could still see good enough, and my other senses were very good from hunting inn the dark.

One of the Furies got up. In a flat voice, as if she'd rehearsed it, she announced to the whole bus: "I need to use the restroom."

"So do I," said the second sister.

"So do I," said the third sister.

They started coming down the aisle.

"You're the one they want," Annabeth said. "Take my hat. Let them pass you. Maybe you can go up front and get away."

I reluctantly agreed.

The Furies stood around my friends lashing their whips, hissing, "Where is it? Where?"

Then the Furies attacked them.

They managed to defend themselves for a few seconds.

I threw one of my knives at it and it hit one of them in the back. The Fury turned to yellow powder.

They looked around wildly.

"You looking for me?" I asked, talking off the hat and putting a hand on my hip(I picked up the knife there).

Annabeth stabbed one with her knife and Grover had ripped the whip from one of their hands. He dropped it because it burned his hands.

The hair rose on the back of my neck.

"Get out!" Annabeth and I shouted at the same time. All three of us did.

We rushed outside and found the other passengers wandering around in a daze, arguing with the driver, or running around in circles yelling, "We're going to die!" A Hawaiian-shirted tourist with a camera snapped my picture right before I put away my knives.

I was the only one with my backpack.

"Our bags!" Grover realized. "We left our----"

BOOOOOM!

The Windows exploded as the passengers ran for cover. Lightning shredded a huge crater in the roof.

"Run!" Annabeth yelled. "She'll come back! Probably with reinforcements!"

We plunged into the woods as the rain poured down, the bus in flames behind us, and nothing but darkness--- though I could still see perfectly pretty well ---ahead.