Grover had just left with Bessie (after prying Kia off of him; she wouldn't stop smothering him and saying stuff like 'stay safe' and 'be sure to finish all your tin cans') and Kia immediately collapsed onto Percy.

It was weird because Kia wasn't usually a very touchy-feely person, at least, as far as Percy knew (bar that one time with Thalia), but Kia seemed more yearning of physical contact ever since the whole thing with the manticore. Percy didn't mind, though. He adjusted her in his arms to make it so he was hugging her back while she was attached to him like a koala.

"I miss Grover," she muttered into his shoulder half-heartedly. It had been, like, two seconds since Grover left. Percy patted her back in sympathy.

Zoë threw him a bewildered look, to which he shrugged—he had no idea what was going on either (that was becoming a common feeling for him).

Zoë shook her head. "Well, that is one problem addressed. But how can we get to my sisters' garden?"

"Thalia's right," Percy said. "We need a car. But there's nobody to help us here. Unless we, uh, borrowed one."

It went unsaid, but by 'borrowed,' he meant stealing, which, despite the harrowing feeling of imminent danger, seemed morally wrong. Plus, it'd draw attention to them that they didn't need.

"Wait," Thalia said, rifling through her backpack looking for something. "There is somebody in San Francisco who can help us. I've got the address here somewhere."

"Who?"

Thalia pulled out a crumpled and messy piece of notebook paper and held it up. "Professor Chase. Annabeth's dad."

Kia's head shot up like a dog's at the mention of treats. "Chase? As in Per—" she coughed, "—I mean, Annabeth's dad?"

She'd almost forgotten that she'd been referring to Annabeth as Percy's-not-girlfriend in her head all this time.

Thalia nodded, the ghost of a smirk on her face. "Yep."

Even after all the life-threatening experiences and monsters they've met, Thalia thought with her eyebrow twitching in annoyance, they still bicker about dumb things like this.

Percy and Kia were currently repeatedly shoving each other to ring the doorbell of the Chase residence.

"I let you latch onto me like an overgrown koala, didn't I?"

Kia let out an irritated puff of air. "And? You act like it's the biggest virtue in the book!"

"Why don't one of you just ring the damn bell?" Thalia said irritatedly.

"Oh, be our guest," Percy said sarcastically, sweeping his arms in a gesture to the doorway.

Woah, now. Thalia never said she wanted to do it either. There was no way in hell she'd be the one to willingly bring them-self face to face with the literal devil first. Annabeth had definitely told her enough about Dr. Chase to know what to expect.

A indignant sound of protest grew out of her throat. "Not a chance in Hades—"

Zoë shoved passed the three well-thought out band of idiots and calmly rang the doorbell herself.

"Imbeciles," she muttered to herself.

The door in front of them opened shortly after, and a man appeared wearing an old aviator-style cap and goggles and a white shirt (or at least, used to be a white shirt since it looked closer to beige) that was buttoned incorrectly with a pair of ragged blue jeans. His eyes looked like the one's you'd see in cartoons of mad scientists—bugged out like they were absorbing all the information they could through their eyes alone. They were all so startled that they took a step back on the porch.

"Hello," he said in a friendly voice, "Are you delivering my airplanes?"

Now, Kia didn't know much about Dr. Chase, but she knew that he wasn't supposed to be this nerdy friendly type guy. She, Thalia, Zoë and Percy sent each other wary glances.

"Um, no, sir," Percy said hesitantly.

"Drat," he said, clicking his tongue. "I need three more Sopwith Camels."

"Right," Percy said again, looking him up and down weirdly. "We're friends of Annabeth."

"Annabeth?" He straightened as if he'd just put his finger on a live wire. "Is she all right? Has something happened?"

No one answered, but Percy figured their faces must've betrayed the answer. He pulled off his aviator cap and goggles. He was pretty handsome, with sandy blond hair and brown eyes. They kind of reminded Percy of Kia's eyes, with the same sort of intensity—except with Kia's, you could tell that she was just a little bit more than human.

Percy found his brain getting off-track and shook it off. Dr. Chase definitely hadn't shaved in a couple of days, what with the stubble on his chin growing into jagged little lines and the improper way his shirt was buttoned had one side of his collar sticking up higher than the other.

"You'd better come in," he said.

The house was... homey, to say the least. It had an air of a house that had been lived in for a while, with LEGO robots littered on the stairs and two snoring cats on the sofas, magazines stacked messily on the coffee table at one end and a kid's winter coat sitting on the floor. The scent of warm and freshly-baked cookies hung in the air and jazz music could faintly be heard from the area where Percy guessed the kitchen was. It seemed messy and loved, like the family had enough love that it spread into the walls of the house.

"Dad!" a little boy shrieked. "He's taking apart my robots!"

"Bobby," Dr. Chase called absently, "don't take apart your brother's robots."

"I'm Bobby," the little boy protested. "He's Matthew!"

"Matthew," Dr. Chase called, "don't take apart your brother's robots!"

"Okay, Dad!"

Kia nudged Percy with her foot. She muttered in a low voice, "We aren't going to talk about how these kids just listened? They're definitely evil."

Dr. Chase turned to the demigods before Percy could answer. "We'll go upstairs to my study. This way."

"Honey?" a woman's honey-like voice called. Annabeth's stepmom stepped into the living room, wiping her hands on a baby blue dish towel. She was a pretty Asian woman with hair highlighted with auburn tied in a bun, with strands dangling carelessly around her face, wearing a white apron tied around her waist.

She raised a questioning eyebrow at the unanticipated company. She asked not unkindly, "Who are our guests?"

"Oh," Dr. Chase said. "This is... "

He stared at the four demigods blankly.

"Frederick," she chided. "You forgot to ask them their names?"

Kia muttered to Percy, "You think her name's Daphne, then?"

Percy murmured back, "It better not be Velma."

They introduced themselves, still a little uneasy, but Mrs. Chase seemed nice enough to make them relax just a little. She asked if they were hungry, to which they admitted they kind of were. Mrs. Chase enthusiastically told them she'd bring them a few snacks and sodas to the study.

"Dear," Dr. Chase gently interrupted, his voice loving towards his wife. "They came to us about Annabeth."

Mrs. Chase pursed her lips, a look of concern quickly etching itself onto her features. "All right, go on up to the study and I'll bring you some food." She smiled at Percy. "Nice meeting you, Percy, I've heard a lot about you."

Kia and Thalia snickered to each other at Percy's face turning into a blazing shade of red.

Once they were upstairs, they walked into Dr. Chase's study and Percy said, "Woah!"

Woah, indeed. Kia's eyes traced the entire room hungrily. The room was lined with back-to-back books, a few Kia had read before like The Art of War by Sun Tzu, and The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. However, what truly had entranced her was the set up on the table of some war scene. The huge table was strewn with miniature toy tanks and soldiers in different poses lines along a painted blue river. It was even complete with hills and fake trees, and the frosting on top that really sold the entire thing was the biplanes hung from the ceiling, tilted at weird angles as if they were actually flying across the field.

Dr. Chase seemed to recognise the looks of childish wonder on their faces and smiled. "Yes. The Third Battle of Ypres. I'm writing a paper, you see, on the use of Sopwith Camels to strafe enemy lines. I believe they played a much greater role than they've been given credit for."

He tugged lightly on one of the biplanes and swept it across the field, making little aeroplane noises as he knocked down German soldiers along the line.

Kia tilted her head. "Wouldn't that be obvious? The aerial attacks must have been important for a better vantage point. There wouldn't be any other way to have gotten those kills."

Dr. Chase beamed at her and thrust his hands out. "That's what I was thinking!"

Percy and Thalia shared a look, rolling their eyes. Nerds.

Zoë was studying the battlefield. "The German likes were farther from the river."

Dr. Chase stared at her. "How do you know that?"

"I was there," she stated rather matter-of-factly. "Artemis wanted to show us how horrible war was, the way mortal men fight each other. And how foolish, too. The battle was a complete waste."

Dr. Chase's jaw went slack in shock. "You—"

"She's a Hunter, sir," Thalia said. "But that's not why we're here. We need—"

"You saw the Sopwith Camels?" Dr. Chase interrupted, his eyes shining like a child's. "How many were there? What formations did they fly?"

"Sir," Thalia broke in again, this time with a heavier sense of urgency. "Annabeth is in danger."

His gaze snapped to Thalia, paying full attention. He set the biplane down seriously.

"Of course," he said, wringing his fingers together. "Tell me everything."

They tried their best to explain the situation, trying to omit all of the crazy stuff, but it didn't really work. Demigod life was batshit insane. Still, looming over them was the deadline; the afternoon light was giving out. They were running out of time.

They finished, and as soon as they did, Dr. Chase collapsed in his leather recliner. He drew out a breath of contempt. "My poor brave Annabeth. We must hurry."

"Sir, we need transportation to Mount Tamalpais," Zoë said. "And we need it immediately."

"I'll drive you. Hmm. it would be faster to fly in my Camel, but it only seats two."

"Whoa, you have an actual biplane?" Percy said at the same time Kia said incredulously, "You actually have a biplane?"

"Down at Crissy Field," Dr. Chase said proudly. "That's the reason I had to move here. My sponsor is a private collector with some of the finest World War I relics in the world. He let me restore the Sopwith Camel—"

"Sir," Thalia said. "Just a car would be great. And it might be better if we went without you. It's too dangerous."

Dr. Chase frowned uncomfortably as if he weren't okay with the thought. "Now wait a minute, young lady. Annabeth is my daughter. Dangerous or not, I... I can't just—"

"Snacks," Mrs. Chase announced cheerfully, interrupting the tension in the room. She pushed through the door with a tray stacked with peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches and Cokes and cookies fresh out of the oven, the chocolate chips still warm and gooey. Thalia, Percy and Kia scarfed down a few cookies while Zoë said, "I can drive, sir. I'm not as young as I look. I promise not to destroy your car."

Mrs. Chase knit her eyebrows. "What's this about?"

"Annabeth is in danger," Dr. Chase said. "On Mount Tam. I would drive them, but... apparently it's no place for mortals."

The last part he choked out, like it was difficult for him to say.

Kia expected the protests to come in full clutch, mentally preparing all sorts of debates to contest it, but surprisingly enough, Mrs. Chase nodded. "Then they'd better get going."

"Right!" Dr. Chase jumped up and started patting down his pockets. "My keys..."

His wife sighed exasperatedly yet fondly. "Frederick, honestly. You'd lose your head if it weren't wrapped inside your aviator hat. The keys are hanging on the peg by the front door."

"Right!" Dr. Chase said, perking up again.

Zoë grabbed a sandwich. "Thank you both. We should go. Now."

Kia grabbed an extra cookie and a Coke for good measure.

The demigods hustled out the door of the study and down the stairs, the Chases hot on their heels.

Kia saw Percy get held back by the Chases, a minute flash of panic reflecting in his eyes, before seeming to realise that these people were okay. She heard Mrs. Chase day something indistinct to him before Percy glanced across the living room, his eyes softening and his lips moving in some sort of affirmation while he nodded his head.

Kia didn't feel like it was something she should prod about, so she kept quiet while they ran out to the yellow VW convertible parked in the driveway. She glanced at the sun that was setting, the sight giving her a sense of calmness instead of burning her eyeballs to the point of no recovery. Despite it, the feeling of dread washed over her; they had less than an hour to complete their quest. Looking back at the sunset one more time, the sun seemed to give her a big warm hug as if to say: You can do this.

With a newly hardened resolve and her determination up to full strength, she... sat in the car.

Yes, riveting, the experience was (note the sarcasm).

"Can't this thing go any faster?" Thalia demanded from the shotgun seat.

Zoë glared at her. "I cannot control traffic."

"You both sound like my mother," Percy said.

"Shut up!" they said in unison.

It had kind of become an unspoken rule that Percy and Kia would sit in the backseat while Thalia took to the passenger seat in front and Zoë drove. The arrangement worked well enough when Thalia wasn't trying to throttle Zoë while she drove. Kia was sure Thalia would zap Percy in between the eyes with a thousand bolts of lightning and Zoë would notch an arrow at his heart if he started drumming his fingers along her arm like he was currently. Kia didn't mind. He was probably really stressed (even if he hid it well under layers and layers of juvenile humour) about Annabeth and Artemis and this Luke guy and—

Well. You get the picture.

Zoë was a surprisingly evasive driver. She weaved expertly throughout heaps of traffic on the Golden Gate Bridge. The sun was sinking even farther down the horizon by the time they got to Marin County and exited the highway.

The roads were dangerously narrow; thick bushels of trees and other wildlife surrounded them as they passed through forests and swerved around steep ravines. Kia thought Zoë was mad for not even slowing down the slightest bit.

Percy made a sour face. "Why does everything smell like cough drops?"

"Eucalyptus," Zoë said simply, pointing to the huge trees all around the car.

"The stuff koala bears eat?"

"And monsters," she said, a grimmer tone to her voice this time. "They love chewing the leaves. Especially dragons."

"Dragons chew eucalyptus leaves?" Percy asked at the same time Kia asked, "Dragons exist?"

"Believe me," Zoe said ignoring Kia's question, "if you had dragon breath, you would chew eucalyptus too."

"Mr. Dragon would be very offended if he heard you ask that," Percy said in a hushed tone to Kia.

"Well I'll be sure to avoid asking it if i'm not to busy trying not to die," Kia snarked back.

In front of them, Mount Tamalpais towered over them like the gates of hell (Percy could say that confidently). What a fun thought. It was pretty small compared to other mountains he'd seen or heard of, but all those seemed to melt away as they drove directly towards it.

"So that's the Mountain of Despair?"

The nickname really brings out its eyes, you know.

"Yes," Zoë answered, voice tight.

"Why do they call it that?" Percy asked again.

It was silent for a few minutes before she answered. "After the war between the Titans and the gods, many of the Titans were punished and imprisoned. Kronos was sliced to pieces and thrown into Tartarus. Kronos's right-hand man, the general of his forces, was imprisoned up there, on the summit, just beyond the Garden of the Hesperides."

"The General," Percy said, looking up at the clouds swirling around the peak like a vortex of evil winds. It was like the mountain was summoning them all, spinning it about the pinnacle—like it was a breath being held to let out. "What's going on up there? A storm?"

Zoë didn't answer. Percy got the uneasy feeing that she knew precisely what the clouds meant, and she didn't like what it meant for the demigods.

"We have to concentrate," Thalia said grimly. "The Mist is really strong here."

"The magical kind or the natural kind?" Percy asked.

"Both."

The grey clouds seemed to be thickening, like the force calling them was using even more power than earlier, but they kept driving toward them. They were out of the forest now, out into the space of cliffs with moss and dewy grass and smooth rocks here and there.

Kia felt Percy jump up slightly in his place. She looked over at him concernedly. "Is something wrong?"

"Look!" he shouted, pointing at the most generic hills Kia had ever seen.

"What?" Thalia asked.

"A big white ship," Percy said, his breathing turning slightly ragged. "Docked near the beach. It looked like a cruise ship."

Her eyes widened. "Luke's ship?"

Kia had no idea of what importance this ship was supposed to be, but from the tone in Thalia and Percy's voice while they discussed it, she could deduce that it didn't mean anything good. She might've cracked a joke about their arch-nemesis being a pirate had they not been so engrossed in the building tension of heading straight into battle.

"We will have company, then," Zoë said grimly. "Kronos's army."

Oh, said a small voice in Kia's head. A giant Titan lord's horde of monsters. That's what it meant.

Kia suddenly felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. Lightning. Thalia shouted, "Stop the car. NOW!"

Zoë must've realised something was deadly wrong too, because she slammed her foot on the breaks with no hesitation. The VW spun around in a circle twice before it came to a stop against the side of the cliff.

"Out!" Thalia opened the door and pushed Kia and Percy hard. They both rolled onto the pavement, even more scratches and nicks littering their skin now. The next second, a huge BOOOM! went up.

Lightning arced across the sky and bolted down right in front of them, utterly decimating Dr. Chase's Volkswagen. Shrapnel could be heard tittering against metal, and it was only until she raised her head that Kia realised she would've been dead meat had Thalia not been protecting her and Percy with her shield. A sharp metal ram sounded, and Kia opened her screwed closed eyes to see that wreckage stretched all around them. Part of the Volkswagen's fender was impaled on itself on the street, the hood was spinning in circles with tendrils of smoke coming off of it and pieces of yellow metal was littered across the street.

Percy looked at Thalia. "You saved my life."

Kia was about to step on his foot and say 'you could sound more grateful,' but Thalia didn't seem to care.

"One shall perish by a parent's hand" she muttered to herself, anger protruding out of each syllable. "Curse him. He would destroy me? Me?"

Kia was quick to try to diminish her rage. "Hey, hey, hey. I doubt it was Zeus. There's no way he'd try to kill you."

"Whose, then?" Thalia demanded sharply.