Percy

The smell of horse sweat filled my nostrils and I felt a little guilty. We had been pushing the horses to the extreme for the past three hours. I knew they were tired, they told me. But I encouraged them to keep going, saying that we would rest soon. I didn't want to cease running, because that would give Luke and his men more time to escape. I didn't want them to get too far.

"Percy, we need to stop!" Jason called to me from atop Tempest, his storm spirit horse. I didn't think Tempest could get tired, but Jason was probably looking at the other horses who were sweating and breathing laboriously.

I grit my teeth, angry for the moment at the horses who were forcing us to stop, but I knew that was pointless, and wasn't true. All the Questers looked pretty wiped out as well, consequence of the three hours with no stop. We still had about an hour of sunlight left, but we had better quit for the night. I sighed, then reluctantly held my hand up, signaling everyone to stop their horses. Choruses of "woah" rang out, and the thudding of the horses hooves slowed. Their heads tossed, and in my mind, I heard gratitude towards me from them for stopping. It didn't cross their mind that I had pushed them really hard, they just thought they were getting tired and I was gracious enough to get them to stop. It made me somewhat contrite, but I accepted their gratitude nonetheless. They all looked up to me as their owner, which most of the time I didn't like. I just felt like I shouldn't have the power to boss around the horses, or anyone for that matter. No one should have that power over others. That's one reason I wasn't really buddies with most of the gods. They tended to abuse that power, and I hated it.

My train of thought was derailed as I heard Blackjack speaking to me.

Uh, boss? Can we get some sugar cubes?

I rolled my eyes. "Blackjack, for the last time, you don't have to call me boss. Last I checked, my name was Percy. And we can try, but it might not be until later that we can get some."

Alright, boss. But let's make it soon.

I didn't bother correcting his "boss," I just dismounted, absentmindedly rubbing his muscled neck. Blackjack's ebony hair glistened in the dying sunlight as he sighed in content. I was lucky to have him. He always stuck by my side, helped me through bad situations. He knows how I feel most of the time, and tries to help me out if I don't feel good. I would never even dream of calling him my "pet" or something like that. He was my friend. Well, technically, he was actually my step brother or whatever, because Poseidon is the god of horses, but it's really weird to think I'm directly related to horses, so I stick with the term friend.

"Percy," Nico said, his horse sidling up to mine. He also dismounted and stood by me, starting to untack his steed. "How far behind do you think we are?"

I shrugged. "Hard to tell, Nico. We should find out, though. I was thinking of sending your sister and Arion to find out where they are and find some details, but I know she's tired. I can't ask Frank to, either. He's tired also, and he didn't take well to that stab he got when we were fighting those Laistrygonians. Apparently he still isn't fully healed."

Jason responded, having joined in on the conversation. "Well, Nico or I could take Arion. If he let us, that is."

"No." I shook my head. "You guys should rest, too. And I don't think Arion will let you. But he'll probably let me."

"Um, no, Percy." Hazel and Frank had joined, and Hazel was shaking her head at me. "You are not going alone."

I spread out my hands, an exasperated expression on my face. "Why not?" Of course Frank would agree with Hazel, that's his girlfriend. It seemed as if boyfriends and girlfriends always agreed with each other. Actually, usually it was just the boyfriends agreeing. If Annabeth was here, she'd probably agree with me, though, but she's not. That's why I needed to go and find her.

Hazel have me a stern stare. "Because you'll go, try and rescue her all by yourself, and make stupid and reckless decisions."

I raised an eyebrow at her. "Oh, I love you too, Hazel." Inside of me, however, I knew that if I saw Annabeth in Luke's hands, I wouldn't be able to restrain myself. The first thing I'd do was try to rescue her and get her out of there. But I wasn't going to tell Hazel that.

Hazel gave me a look, golden eyes flashing. "Percy, that's exactly why. You're like my brother, and I love you too much to let you go and kill yourself."

"I wouldn't die! I can hold my own pretty well, Hazel!"

"I know, but even you can't hold back Luke and all his cronies that he probably has. You need at least one more person to go with you."

"Well, are you volunteering?" I couldn't keep the spite out of my voice, but before Hazel could say anything back, another voice rang out.

"Sure!"

I rolled my eyes, turning to face Leo. "Leo, I was talking to Hazel."

"Cool. And I'm talking to you." He nodded, as if he were discussing what his favorite cake was, not talking about a perilous journey. Then again, Leo had a hard time taking anything seriously.

"Leo, don't be stupid-" Frank started.

"Stupid? I don't think 'Leo' and 'stupid' quite go together, Zhang," Leo said, cutting Frank off. The son of Ares just rolled his eyes.

Leo flashed a wide grin that didn't make him look altogether sane. "Oh, come on. You all know I'm the best for this mission. It's night out, so you guys are going to need light. That's basically my middle name, peeps." To prove his point, he set his head on fire abruptly. Hazel let out a sharp yelp of surprise before glaring at Leo.

"Fine, but you two be careful. I don't like this. Just be careful and think things through thoroughly." She added with a mutter, "Unfortunately, if it's Leo and Percy, they are the complete opposite of careful and thinking before acting."

I offered her a small smile. "It'll be alright, Hazel. We should be back before tomorrow."

"Alive," she stated, making it a command.

Leo smirked. "Baby, I'm so alive people die just by looking at my aliveness!"

"Don't call her baby," Frank said, putting an arm around his girlfriend. She looked incredibly small next to his big stature, but they went together well. Like they evened each other out.

"Okay, okay, Mr. Touchy Animal Dude." Leo held up his hands, a gesture of surrender. Frank made a face at him. Don't let them confuse you, they were really good friends no matter the teasing. They had a rough start, what with the love triangle and all. Leo and Frank both like Hazel, but they got that worked out, Leo was over her. But Frank wouldn't ever stop being at least a tiny bit cautious around the son of Hephaestus. But Leo pretty much called every girl baby. He didn't have a girlfriend, but he always seemed like he wanted one. Or he just assumed every girl would love him.

I just shook my head. "Alright, come on, Flame Boy, we need to get going." I checked my pocket for Riptide. I knew it would always be there, but I just checked to calm myself. Leo didn't really have a signature weapon for himself, other than his fire. But he pulled out two heavy hammers that he has used a couple times before, and swung them around. We both wore greaves, gauntlets, and breastplates and backplates. Anything else would wear us down. The armor we had on now was the best to wear for protection but also for swiftness and lightness.

"I'll be able to travel pretty quickly on Blackjack, if he isn't too tired." I directed it kind of as a question towards Blackjack, who snorted and stomped his hooves, indignant.

You kidding me boss? That last run was just a warm-up. A small one.

"Well, he says he's fine. So that leaves you on Arion, Leo."

Leo clapped his hands together, "Oh yeah! Me and Fasty. Let's do this." Arion nickered, and I won't translate what he said. I don't even think it's appropriate for me.

"Um, Leo? I don't think Arion likes that name," I said, warning Leo. "I think you should just stick with Arion."

"Touchy much, man?" Leo directed his question at the horse, who nickered in opposition. "That is somewhat a compliment. No hard feelings, right?" Leo held out his hands in a placating gesture. Arion tossed his neck, snorting. He accepted the apology, albeit with some curses and words that made me cringe.

"Right, well, we should get going," I said. "We'll just see how far ahead they are, assuming they aren't far enough that we won't be able to reach them by the end of the night."

Hazel looked me in the eye sternly. "No brash decisions. You need to stay safe, you're our captain. I'll expect you two home before the sunrise."

"Jeez, mom. You gonna ask me to remember to eat healthy and brush my teeth, too?" Leo asked, eyebrows raised.

Hazel rolled her eyes, pulling Leo into a small hug, then turned and did the same to me. "I mean it, be safe, and don't try to do anything too dangerous."

"Don't worry, we won't," I reassured her, but I definitely didn't make any promises on the River Styx. She nodded, then petted Arion's head slightly before beckoning Leo over. He mounted gently, hoping to not offend the horse by doing anything mean. After carefully settling down, he looked at the horse.

"Um, yee-haw?" He asked cautiously. Without another word, Arion took off, leaving only a trail of dust behind him. In no time, he had disappeared behind the trees, but I still could hear Leo's screaming and curses as he struggled to stay on. Jason and Nico snickered, and I did so as well. I got back on Blackjack, and without saying anything, he spread his wings. The black feathers rustled in the stray wind that was creeping by us. I looked back at the Questers, and some of them waved. I waved back, and then Blackjack brought me into the air. He climbed higher and higher with astonishing speed, his great wings sounding like a large breath being exhaled but ten times as loud and powerful.

Air swam through my hair, making it even more unruly (if that's possible) and sending a chill down my back. Partly because it was a little cold, and partly because this was Zeus' domain. He didn't like it much when a son of Poseidon flew very high, if he permitted them to fly at all. Even though he gave me permission when I became the captain of the Questers, I still didn't feel comfortable too high, so Blackjack didn't go far from the tops of the trees.

A little ways ahead, I could see a streak of light brown that I knew was Arion. He was going slow enough so he didn't outrun Blackjack by too much, but he still amazed me. That horse could basically do anything. He could run on water, up stairs, and vertically. Heck, I wish I could do that.

Naw, you don't, boss. People would think you're more weird. I always forgot that Blackjack could practically read my thoughts.

"'More weird'?" I raised an eyebrow, peering at the pegasus. "Does that mean I'm weird to begin with?"

Blackjack, being a pretty smart horse, didn't fall prey to my question and just kept on talking. Besides, you can walk on water anyways.

I nodded. "True."

We flew in silence a little longer, until I saw Arion racing back towards us. I made Blackjack stop, hovering about twenty feet over the ground. Arion skidded to a stop under us, and Leo promptly fell over the head of the horse. He landed on his face, his butt up in the air.

"Ow." I heard him grunt that word as he picked himself up, dusted off, and glared at the horse that had deposited him onto the ground. Arion whinnied amusedly.

Idiot. The fire wimp can't even stay on my sleek back. What a loser, Arion nickered. Mind you, before I put that into words, I omitted most of the cussing in the sentence.

"What did he say?" Leo demanded, still on the ground, as Blackjack lowered himself to the ground. He buffeted his wings, slowing his descent so it wouldn't be bumpy. The grass around us flattened, and Leo's hair was tussled back. Blackjack landed without jarring me one bit and I hopped off, walking to Leo. I held out a hand and helped him up, chuckling.

"You probably don't want to know."

He huffed, glowering at the snorting horse by his side. I didn't tell him that Arion was also laughing at him.

"So, did you see anything?" I asked.

Leo tore his gaze away from the taunting horse and said to me, "Yeah, we did. Pretty far ahead, about five miles or so. This horse can run fast, man."

Darn right, I can, Arion commented with more words I won't say because I'm pretty sure Zeus would zap me for being so dirty. I gave the horse an incredulous look, then gently told him to clean his mouth. I was answered with more curses. Surprise, surprise.

"Well, did you see anything you think you should tell me?" I prompted, expecting an adequate report, which was not what I got.

"Um, yeah. There were some guys, and I saw Annabeth chained to a tree." Leo nodded, as if that's all.

I raised an eyebrow. "Nothing else? Like how many people there were, and if they had weapons? Or if the chains around Annabeth weren't too tight or secure so we could maybe get her loose? Or who the leader was? Or where the leader's tent was? Or maybe even where exactly you were?"

Leo gave me a blank look. I scowled at him.

"Hey, man! You try to look for details when the horse beneath you is going one hundred freaking miles per hour! It ain't easy to stay on, do you think I'd be looking for how rusty Annabeth's chains are?" Leo protested in his defense.

I pinched the bridge of my nose. "Can you at least recall where they were?"

"Yeah!" Leo said, snapping his fingers. "They were in a forest."

I stared at him long and hard.

We were surrounded by a forest. That stretched for miles. Everywhere.

Leo looked around and it suddenly dawned on him that that wasn't the right answer. "Um, just kidding?" He said weakly. "I- I don't know if I'll be able to exactly recall, but I could probably lead you to it!"

"Then why don't you do that?" I asked through gritted teeth, resisting the overwhelming urge to roll my eyes and throttle the son of Hephaestus.

"Right!" Leo said excitedly, clambering back onto Arion, who barely tolerated that. Arion told me that he knew where Luke had set up camp, then he pivoted and took off into the trees. I hurriedly got on Blackjack, who started flying. I spotted a streak of brown racing in and out of the trees, and Blackjack started following it. With Arion's speed on ground, and Blackjack's swift flying, we covered the five miles in no time, and soon I saw a small light in the distance that I labeled a fire. I was surprised they would light a fire, seeing as fires were visible from a mile away at least. But then again, they were in the middle of a forest. I think they had good enough coverage, courtesy of the countless trees circling them.

Leo and Arion had stopped about a hundred feet from the clearing, and Blackjack dove down as I called out softly to Leo, "I'm going to go scout around, I'll be back in ten minutes or so." Leo nodded, and Blackjack flew high again. A good thing about having a pitch black pegasus is they are hard to see at night. If I cowered down close to Blackjacks long neck and tucked in my legs, you couldn't really see me from looking underneath the pegasus, so we were pretty much invisible. Blackjack could fly with basically no noise as well, that helped a lot. The only noise was the now soft swishing of his wings as he beat at the air, but mostly he flew up high, then glided along lifts of wind so he didn't make any sound.

Finding a smooth and long lift, Blackjack soared evenly in the air, high enough to not be spotted, but low enough for me to see. I squinted my eyes, studying the camp.

About ten or so tents were slung up around the fire, so I estimated around twenty people, seeing as the tents looked big enough to fit at least two people. There was a noticeably nicer tent that was closest to the warmth of the fire, and I guessed it was the leader's tent. Luke. It took all my willpower to not just rush down there and beat up Luke right then, but I restrained myself. If I did so, I would most likely be captured. Then I couldn't get back to the Questers to tell them where Luke and his men were, so Annabeth wouldn't be rescued. If Annabeth's safety depended on this, then I would do anything not to cross any lines that shouldn't be stepped over.

I had to admit I admired the plan Luke had set up for cover. The close-knit trees around them acted as a wall, no full line of attackers could assault them, they'd have to go in small groups. The trees were also tall, so there was no way you could see the sparks and smoke rising from the fire, they were safe from that. At first I didn't see men standing guard for the night, which would be a rookie mistake, but when Blackjack flew closer to a tree, I had to cover my mouth to keep from gasping, and I urged Blackjack up higher. Less than ten feet away from us, sitting on a tree branch, was a heavily armed demigod, eyes alert and watching the ground like a hawk. He must've heard something, because he looked up at the sky, searching for any sign of danger. But Blackjack had already flown behind some tree tops, swerving to miss branches, but staying out of sight. I was lucky that guard's eyes were trained on the ground, or we would've been spotted. I let Blackjack fly up again, because his wide wingspan was making it difficult for him to fly through the trees. He rose far away from the watchman, and flew higher.

The guard, apparently thinking it was just his imagination, looked down again, watching the camp and surrounding forest. I let out the breath of air I had been holding, patting Blackjack's neck. He had been just as nervous as I was.

There's more of them, now that I know what to look for. Most are in the trees, but there are some on the ground, boss, Blackjack said. I looked around, and sure enough, I spotted more of the watchmen in the trees, perching on thick branches. Gazing at the ground, I could pick out people scattered among the trees. They were near invisible to onlookers who weren't expecting them to be there. Blackjack made sure not to come too close to the trees anymore after that last encounter.

I looked back at the night watch who had seen us. He was still peering at the ground. I recognized him. It was Ethan Nakamura. I glared at him, even though he wasn't looking at me or could see me. I wanted to recapture him and chain him to a tree in Tartarus for the rest of his sorry life so he would have no chance of escaping and attempting to harm Annabeth again. Man, I really hated him.

Speaking of Annabeth, I saw a huddled form slumped against a tree at the far edge of the clearing. Surrounding the girl stood three guards, making sure she wouldn't escape. I recognized the girl as Annabeth. Her head was drooped, either sleeping or thinking. Considering she's a daughter of Athena, I'm pretty sure they think more than breathe, so I bet she was awake. I wanted to go and rescue her, but I had no plan. I'd be overtaken and chained to a tree just as she was. Still, I loathed the sight of her captured and in Luke's hands.