Chapter 5; The Incident

2 months later.

Two months had gone by since Percy and Annabeth had announced that they were leaving camp. After working out all of the details with Jason and Piper, they had all gone to speak to Chiron to tell him their decision. He had been sad to see them go, but he had understood that they couldn't remain at Camp Half-Blood forever, no matter how much he may have wanted them to.

Chiron had then announced it to the campers at dinner that night, and there had been a general mood of sadness, and even a few protests, but they generally understood that there was nothing to be done about it. After dinner, Percy, Annabeth, Jason, and Piper had approached their replacements. Clarisse, Travis, Connor, and Will for combat training, and Katie and Lou for diplomatic positions. They had discussed what they would need, and while they had all been hesitant at first, they agreed.

The 2 months since then, had been spent instructing the camp's new combat instructors on how to actually teach the younger ones. It was one thing to be able to do something, but teaching it required a whole other set of skills. Luckily, they had all taken to teaching reasonably well. There had been several trips to the Roman camp, to show them what could be learned from them, and integrated into the Greek way of doing things. As Percy had predicted, they were all slightly unwilling to admit that the Romans had some good ideas at first, but they warmed up to it. By the time they were ready to take over instruction of the camp, they had devised a plan to teach the Greek campers the perfect blend of Greek and Roman fighting styles. They were all over the moon that they had managed to agree on a course of action.

During that same two months, Percy and Annabeth had also spent a large portion of their time training Lou and Katie to take over on the diplomatic side of things. The two girls had also been brought to Camp Jupiter whenever the combat instructors had gone. In addition to representing the Greek campers to the Gods, they would also function as an envoy to the Roman camp, so they would need to be familiar with the Romans to ensure peaceful cooperation. There had also been several trips to Olympus, where they had discussed certain matters with the Gods themselves.

There was one big meeting on Olympus every year, where the most senior members of both camps were invited. But Percy and Annabeth met with the Gods, and the Roman envoys at least once a month. It was important to keep up a sense of familiarity and even intimacy with one another.

That meant that within the 2 months since Percy and Annabeth had been training their diplomatic replacements, there had been 2 meetings. They had brought Katie and Lou to both of them. Not to add anything of their own, they had explained to the Gods, but to let them adjust to the Gods' presence. It could be very daunting to be a demigod in the company of Gods, but Percy and Annabeth had long since adjusted to the feeling. That was part of what made them good envoys. It would probably take some time for Katie and Lou to adjust to the Gods as Percy and Annabeth had done, but it would happen. Overall, things were going well.

But there was one exception to the positive status quo throughout the camp. Jack. Percy and everyone else had been hoping that Jack would calm down a few hours after his original outburst when he'd found out they were leaving. They had found out that they had all been wrong the next day when Jack went the entire day without breathing a single word to anyone. Then he did the same thing the next day. And the next day. And the next.

One day, nearly a week after the night when they had told him, Percy had gotten sick of this behavior from his younger brother.

"Jack, you're acting like a child. Now, Annabeth and I have both told you that this isn't the end. We'll still see each other all the time. But this is happening. Annabeth and I are moving, whether you like it or not."

Jack turned to his brother with a murderous look in his eye.

"Are you fucking kidding me?! After everything, you're just gonna fuck off and leave me here?! Where's this coming from?!" Jack was screaming.

One part of that whole thing, confused Percy a little.

"What do you mean, 'Where's this coming from', Jack?

"I mean, is Annabeth pushing you to do this?"

"Why would Annabeth try to convince me? Jack, you're way too young to really understand this, but New Rome is really the only place in the world for older demigods like us. We want to have an actual life, and that's the only place we can go to have it. She doesn't need to push me into anything."

"Yeah right. I can't believe you're covering for that stupid-" Jack muttered before Percy cut him off.

"JACK!" Percy was mad now. It was one thing to talk back to him, but insulting Annabeth was where he drew the line. That was too far, and he wouldn't stand for it."

"You know what? Forget it. I'm out of here, I've got archery."

And with that, Jack had left. Percy had been fuming and had immediately sought after Annabeth to try and calm down. They had discussed what had happened between the brothers, and Annabeth had done her best to get him to relax.

After that, the relationship between the two brothers had become far more strained than before. They saw each other every day since they stayed in the same cabin, but they rarely spoke. When they did, it was using the shortest possible amount of words, lest they break out into another fight. That was how they had operated since then.

Plus, due to all of the added stress of training the new instructors and diplomats of camp, Percy and Annabeth had been forced to hit pause on their wedding planning. That had been a shame, but they needed to put their duty to their home first, ahead of their wedding. They could get back to it anytime they pleased.

As it stood, their responsibilities with training their replacements had nearly come to an end. Clarisse, Will, and the Stolls were quite well, but they still weren't quite ready to completely take over the position. They had formed a good teaching plan that they felt combined the best elements of Greek and Roman techniques, but they still needed some help imparting it to the younger campers. So, the seasoned instructors were still with them to address any questions the newer ones had. It was quite a process, but it was coming along quite well.

Katie and Lou were doing quite well as the camp's ambassadors to Camp Jupiter and the Olympian council, but they were still slightly timid, so Percy and Annabeth stayed with them whenever there was something that needed to be dealt with. They even created some fake scenarios as tests, to see how well they could do under pressure. Annabeth was quite pleased with the results, but Percy was still a little bit hesitant. The welfare of the campers was a big issue with him, and he felt like his oath to Luke at the end of the second Titan war, was still of great importance. It always would be. But Annabeth managed to convince him to let it go for the time being. If anything happened, they would only ever be an Iris-Message away. Plus, they were moving to New Rome, not the moon. If need be, they could be back at Camp Half-Blood relatively quickly. A flight from California to New York would take 8 hours with no stopovers. While Percy was naturally against flying, he could suck it up if the camp was in some kind of danger. Plus, they could pray to Zeus to ask permission beforehand. He would probably allow it if the situation was dire enough that Percy of all people, would be willing to brave the skies.

One night, when Percy and Annabeth found themselves in the rare position of having a moment to themselves, they'd gone down to the beach and laid down together on the sand. Percy kissed the top of her head gently, as she leaned against his chest.

"Soon," he said softly.

She smiled.

"Soon," she repeated.

1 month later.

Finally, it looked like things were going to begin to calm down. The last 3 months had been extremely hectic, but the 4 demigods had managed. They had spent most of their time training their replacements, and after a lot of effort from everyone involved, they were finally ready.

Clarisse, Will, and the Stolls had had their first solo classes that day, and they had done admirably. Up until that point, they'd had either Percy, Annabeth, Jason, or Piper with them whenever they taught. But that time, the 4 demigods had simply sat in the stands and watched their replacements handle an entire day of classes by themselves. They had done very well. Clarisse had lost her temper a few times, but that was hardly unexpected. Daughter of Ares, and all. It hadn't been too bad.

So, the new instructors were pretty much ready to handle things on their own, which came as a massive relief. That meant that Jason and Piper were pretty much free to move to New Rome at any time. But, they decided to wait until Percy and Annabeth were ready to come with them.

The very last thing that Percy and Annabeth needed to take care of before they were done, was making sure Lou and Katie were ready to take over as ambassadors for camp. The only way Percy was willing to let control shift over fully, was to see them in action. So, he wanted to see them on their own, in a meeting with the Gods, and a meeting with the Romans. The meeting with the Romans was easy enough. They had one every 2 weeks, so they didn't have to wait long. But the meeting with the Gods was once per month. So they needed to wait a bit before they could see them in action there.

That left Percy and Annabeth with nothing to do in camp until the next meeting on Olympus. They had no responsibilities. They, Jason and Piper could do as they pleased. It felt like a vacation after all of the work they'd put into training the new instructors. They spent their time at the beach, going into the city, and small road trips over the weekends. They even went to Camp Jupiter for dinner with Frank, Hazel, and Reyna every couple of nights.

All of the free time they suddenly had, meant that Percy and Annabeth could go back to planning their wedding. They'd been forced to put it on hold for the last few months, but they had time for it again. They were still very eager to get married, if only to admit to their parents that they'd slept together. They technically weren't supposed to have done the deed until they were married, but they were horny teenagers who were in love. What were they supposed to do?

But they weren't the only couple that was getting married. Piper and Jason had gotten engaged a few weeks before Percy and Annabeth, and they too were planning their wedding. But there wasn't very much for Percy and Jason to do. Even though neither of their girlfriends were typical 'girly girls', they were managing to plan their respective weddings almost singlehandedly. Piper was a daughter of Aphrodite, so she could plan a glamorous wedding in her sleep, and while it might seem unnatural that Annabeth would want to plan anything like a wedding, she was still a daughter of Athena. Planning was in her DNA and she was incredibly organized. She was doing a hell of a job with it. Plus, the two girls conferred on basically everything, so they got the best of both worlds.

Before the two guys knew what had happened, both of their weddings were pretty much planned. There was only one detail left, and it was a pretty important one. The wedding dresses. Despite Percy insisting that Annabeth didn't need a dress, and could simply go naked, she was adamant that she needed one. From what Percy had heard, Jason had tried to convince Piper to do something similar, but she had also denied him.

In the end, Percy's mom had offered to take the two girls shopping in Manhattan, to find them each the perfect dress. They had agreed. Annabeth; because she wanted some time to get to know her future mother-in-law, and Piper; because she had never really met the mother of the man she considered her brother, and she wanted to fix that. So, one day Annabeth and Piper left camp in the back of the strawberry van that the camp used for transportation. Percy and Jason had been there to see them off. Once the girls were out of sight, Percy turned to the blond.

"So," he began, "What do you wanna do today? I guess it's just us."

Jason turned to him, looking apologetic.

"Actually, it's just you. I'm sorry man, but there's something weird going on at Camp Jupiter. I've got to get over there."

"Oh, shit. Anything I should be worried about?"

"I'm not totally sure yet. I mean, if it's important, I'll let you know as fast as I can. But I don't want to worry you if it turns out it was nothing. I know you've been super stressed making sure that Katie and Lou can handle their new jobs."

"True... Well, do you want company then?"

Jason smiled at him

"Thanks, but I'm good. Besides, I'll be flying there and I know you're… oh, how to put this delicately… not a fan, of flying."

Percy shivered dramatically, making the blonde laugh.

"Alright, fair enough. Iris-Message me if anything changes, alright?"

"You got it, brother. Stay safe."

"You too. Good luck."

So, Percy was alone for the day. He spent a few hours relaxing on the beach before he had a thought. He and Jack still weren't really speaking, so he decided to try and make up with him. But try as he might, he couldn't even find his younger brother. He looked everywhere in camp, but he wasn't anywhere to be found. He asked around, and apparently, no one had seen him all day. That worried him a little. Percy walked over to the Big House and found Chiron and Mr.D sitting on the porch, playing pinochle. Chiron saw him coming and put down his cards, face down, on the table.

"Percy, m'boy. Is there anything I can do for you?"

Mr. D looked up from his cards, seemingly frustrated that their game had been interrupted. Then he saw that it was Percy that had interrupted them and got even more frustrated. After Percy had mandated that the Gods hold a monthly meeting between themselves, and the ambassadors from each camp, the God of wine had found that he had even less free time than he had before. Dionysus was very fond of his free time.

"Hey, Chiron. I was just wondering if you'd seen Jack?"

Chiron looked thoughtful for a moment before he pulled a sheet of paper from a sack in his wheelchair. Percy had never seen it before, but he guessed that it was a schedule for the campers' activities. Chiron studied the paper for a while before he turned back to Percy.

"He's supposed to be at sword fighting right now, with the Aphrodite and Hermes cabins," he said.

"I already checked, but he's not there. They said they haven't seen him all morning." Percy replied.

Chiron looked slightly concerned when he heard that.

"Are you sure?" the old trainer asked inquisitively.

"Yeah, I'm positive. I just came from there. And he wasn't in his bed when I woke up this morning."

"Well, I'm not sure what to tell you, Percy."

"Alright. How about you, Mr. D? Do you have any idea where he might be?"

The god just grunted in response. It was neither an affirmative nor a negative grunt. It was simply a grunt. So, either the god didn't know where he was, or he did know, but simply didn't want to tell him. He was such a dick.

Percy was about to pray to his father to ask if he knew where his brother was, when suddenly he stopped dead. There was some kind of feeling in his chest. It was a feeling that he couldn't really describe. He didn't know what it was, or what was causing it. He didn't know what it meant. He just felt like an anvil had suddenly landed on his chest and crushed him. His head was spinning. His palms started sweating. He wanted to throw up. There was something pulling him away from camp. No, not away from camp. Towards something. Towards Manhattan.

"Annabeth." he thought.

Without another thought about Jack, Percy ran down to the beach and jumped into the water. He used his powers to propel him towards the city faster than a bullet. He was there before long. He shot out of the sea, onto land. He didn't give a shit about what the mortals around him saw. He knew the mist would take care of it. Even if it didn't, he didn't care.

He started sprinting into the city, dodging traffic, and bumping into people as he ran. Everyone was screaming at him to slow down, but he didn't. The feeling in his chest was guiding him. It was pulling him towards something. Leading him there, like a compass. He ran faster than his legs should have let him. He barely even noticed. As a demigod, Percy was very fast and strong. Not to the levels of a superhuman, or anything near that, but still stronger and faster than the average mortal. 

But he was still too slow.

After what felt like a lifetime, he arrived at an alley, hidden away from the world by shadows. He ran into the alley and stopped in his tracks as if he had run into a brick wall. The sight in front of him made him go numb on the inside.

Annabeth and his mother. Annabeth and his mother on the ground in the alley. Annabeth and his mother with bullet holes in their chests. Annabeth and his mother, dead.

He ran over to them and collapsed on his knees. He tried checking for a pulse, but it was no use. They'd been shot through the heart. They were long gone. Evidently, Annabeth had been the first to go down. She had a look of confusion etched on her face. His mother had been screaming when she'd been shot. She must have seen what happened to Annabeth, and screamed right before the same thing had happened to her.

Percy didn't know what to do. He just sat there, kneeling next to their dead bodies. He felt a pressure build in his body. He was going to explode. Suddenly, without him even realizing he was going to do it, he let out a bloodcurdling scream. He screamed because he didn't know what else to do. He had never felt so helpless in his life. Not when he was a child, and a man 4 times his age was beating the shit out of him. Not when he had been 15 and had led an army to defend Olympus against the Titans. Not when he'd had to fight against Gaia and the Giants. There had always been something to do. Something to try. But not now. There was nothing to do. The time for doing and trying things, had past. His fiancee and his mother were dead, and nothing was going to change that.

He didn't know how long he sat there like that, but it couldn't have been longer than a few minutes. Piper arrived on the scene and collapsed next to him. She saw what had happened and brought a hand to her mouth. She started tearing up before she looked over at him and saw him staring at the bodies numbly. She wrapped him in the tightest hug she could manage. He barely noticed. He barely even knew she was there at all. He was vaguely aware of her screaming for someone to call an ambulance. There was no point. There was nothing that anyone could do. Even the fleece would be no help. They were too far gone, even for its amazing healing powers.

After another uncertain passage of time, Percy felt another presence in the alley. The police were there. An ambulance too. The ambulance people tried to take them away. They tried to take Annabeth and his mother away from him. Percy almost lost it on them. He would have, if Piper hadn't still been right there with him, squeezing him with all of the strength that her small frame could muster. Instead of killing them, Percy simply watched helplessly as the paramedics put two of the women he loved most in the world, into the back of an ambulance. And then they were gone. Off to a hospital. Pointless. They were gone. 

Gone. 

Percy still just felt numb.

Then, a cop put a hand on his shoulder.

"Son, we need to take you down to the station to take a statement. Did you know them, or were you just passing by?" the cop asked.

Percy said nothing.

"Son?" he asked again.

Again, Percy said nothing. Piper decided to intervene before the cop took Percy's silence as a sign of guilt.

"The older one was his mother, and the young blonde was his fiancee," she said quietly. As if he couldn't hear her. As if he didn't know.

The cop nodded somberly, took his hat off his head, and stook back to give them a moment. Piper still clung to Percy. After a few moments, the cop came back.

"I'm really sorry for your loss, kid," he said gently, "But we really need to get you to the station. You can't stay here anyway, we need to close this off and bring our forensics people in."

Percy still didn't speak. Piper just nodded.

"Sure officer. Give me a sec."

The cop nodded and stood back again. Piper turned back to her brother in everything but blood.

"Percy," she whispered to him, "I know you're really hurting right now. But we need to go down to the station. This was a mortal thing, we should let the mortals deal with it. You can help them find who did it."

Her last sentence struck a chord with him. "who did it" she had said. Someone had done this to his mother. Someone had done this to his fiancee. He wanted to find that person and beat them to death with his bare hands. He wanted to make them beg. He wanted to make them scream until they couldn't scream anymore. He wanted them to die. He wanted them to die regretting with every fiber of their being, the decision to shoot his mother, and the love of his life. He wanted to make them pay. He wanted to make them feel what he felt, a thousandfold. But he couldn't do any of that. He didn't know who had done it. He had no way of finding out. Percy was probably one of the smartest people in the world, not that he ever let people know that, but he was no detective. He had no idea how to track people down. How to hunt them. So he would leave that to the police. And once they found the person that had done it, Percy would kidnap them, and make them regret their very existence.

Percy stood up slowly, robotically. Piper was forced to let him go from her bear hug, and instead wrapped her arm around his waist, and brought her other arm to his shoulder. He was unbelievably grateful that Piper was with him. They walked like that, all of the way to the squad car which the cop guided them to. They got in the back. The drive to the station wasn't comfortable, but Percy didn't notice. What did it matter?

Eventually, they arrived at the precinct. The cop had to open the door for them. The backdoors of police cruisers didn't open from the inside. The cop led the two demigods through the station until they arrived at an interview room.

"I'm sorry kids, but this is where we're gonna have to separate you. You can't both be in here at the same time. You come with me kid," he said, gesturing to Percy, "And someone will be here any minute, to talk to you too." he finished, looking at Piper.

Piper was monumentally reluctant to leave Percy alone. She wanted to be there for him, more than anything. But she knew that wasn't allowed. And she couldn't charm-speak the entire station into thinking it was ok. Besides, they would just arrest her as soon as the effects wore off. She let go of Percy, reluctantly, and let him go with the cop. She looked around and sat down at an empty seat next to the door.

Percy walked into the room and sat down at one of the seats in front of the table. The cop sat down opposite him. The cop was a young guy. Unremarkable. Brown hair, brown eyes. Medium height, medium build. He was probably in his early 20s. His nametag read "Jones". He was a beat cop, not a detective. Which meant that he wasn't the one who was going to question him. Jones sat down at one of the seats opposite Percy and steepled his fingers together. There was a silence for a few moments before the door opened, and a woman in a suit walked in. She also had brown hair, but her eyes were blue. She was pretty tall and quite slim. She might have been 30. She had no nametag. Clearly, the detective they had been waiting for. She sat down at the empty seat next to Jones and pulled a notepad and pen out of her jacket pocket. She was the first one to speak.

"I'm detective Elise Williams, this is my partner, Officer David Jones. We'd like to ask you a few questions."

Percy just stared into space. The cops shared a look and decided to continue without an affirmative answer.

"My partner tells me that you knew the victims. Is that true?"

Percy nodded his head. Williams made a note.

"My partner said there was a girl with you at the scene. Who is she?"

Percy stared into space.

"Is she your friend?"

Percy nodded. Williams made another note.

"My partner says she told him the older one was your mother, and the younger one was your fiancee. Is that true?"

Percy nodded again.

"What were their names?"

Percy stared into space. A moment went by before he took a deep breath.

"My mom's name i- her name was Sally Jackson. And my fiance's name was Annabeth Chase."

Williams made another note.

"Did they have any family?"

"My mom was married. Paul Blofis. He's a teacher at Goode High," he said, "My fiancee had a dad, a stepmom, and two stepbrothers in San Fransisco. Frederick Chase, his wife Hellen Chase, and their sons, Bobby and Mathew Chase."

Williams made another note.

"Was there a particular reason you were all out together today?"

"We weren't. My mom, Annabeth, and my friend outside met up to try and find wedding dresses. She's also getting married."

Williams made another note.

"So, what were you doing?"

That was a tough question to answer. Mainly, because there was no answer. He had no idea why he had been there. He had just gotten that feeling in his chest and made his way there. He couldn't say that to the cops. They would either arrest him or lock him up in a psych ward.

"I was in the area getting lunch. I heard the gunshots and ran over to see what happened. Then, I saw who it was."

Even in his near-catatonic state, he was able to lie perfectly. It was pure reflex by that point. Williams made another note.

"Ok. Do you have any idea who might have wanted to hurt your mother or your fiancee? Or even your friend outside maybe?"

Percy thought about it. But he came up empty. He had no idea why anyone would want to do what they did.

"No idea."

Willimas nodded gently.

"Ok. What's your first name?"

"Percy."

"Alright. What's your address?"

He recited the address of his mother's apartment in the city. Williams wrote it down.

"What's your phone number?"

"Don't have one."

That shocked her.

"What?"

"I don't have a phone number. Or a phone."

"Seriously?"

"Do I look like I'm joking?"

"Right. Sorry. Why don't you have a phone?"

"I just don't. Is this really important right now?" he said, irritably.

Williams took a breath.

"No. I'm sorry. How could we reach you? You know, if we have any more questions for you?"

Percy thought about it.

"You could call the Chase family in San Fransisco. They'll know how to reach me."

Williams looked reluctant to accept that, but she did. She was probably willing to cut him some slack.

"Ok, Mr. Jackson, we're done here. We'll let you know if we have any news or any more questions for you. Do you need to be driven home?"

Percy stood up.

"No."

"Ok. Just don't leave the state, yeah?"

"I won't."

He walked out of the interview room. Piper wasn't there. There was one more room just down the hall with its door closed, so he assumed she was in there. He didn't wait for her. He just left the police station and started walking.

Piper was, indeed, in the room Percy had thought she was in. There was another cop-detective duo questioning her. They went over all of the same questions as with Percy, and she gave the same answers. Once they told her that she was free to go, she left the room and looked around for Percy. He wasn't there. She saw the cop that had brought them to the precinct and walked over to him.

"Excuse me, do you know where my friend is?" she asked him politely.

"Oh, he left a few minutes ago. We offered him a ride, but he said no."

"Shit. Thanks," she was about to walk away when something occurred to her, "Hey, do you have a phone I could use?"

"Yeah, right over there," he said, pointing down a hallway.

"Thank you." 

She went down the hall that the cop had pointed her towards and found a row of old-fashioned phones. She dialed the number she knew by heart, and waited 4 rings before there was an answer.

"Contemporary Rome, how may I help you?" a voice sounded through the receiver.

'Contemporary Rome' was a front, used by the Romans to communicate with the outside world, should the need arise. They had set it up after the second Giant war. Officially, 'Contemporary Rome' was listed as a professional coaching company, with a Roman theme. It was very cute. But if anyone ever called to hire their services they were told,

"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid we aren't seeing new clients currently."

But if any demigod called and asked to speak to 'Remulus and Romus', a fun play on words of the actual names of the founders of Rome, then they were connected to Camp Jupiter.

"May I speak to Remulus and Romus please?" Piper said.

There was a brief clicking noise, and then a new voice came over the phone.

"Who am I speaking to?"

"This is Piper McLean, daughter of Aphrodite. You know who I am." 

The last sentence was a statement, not a question. It was a guarantee that this random Roman soldier knew who she was.

"Yes, of course. May I ask, who you are trying to reach?"

The difference in the voice was immediate. As soon as he knew who he was speaking to, it was as if he snapped to attention.

"Jason Grace. If you don't know where he is, then transfer me to either of your praetors."

"Stand by, and I'll transfer you to praetor Zhang immediately, miss."

There was another clicking sound, and then Frank's voice came over the line.

"Hey Pipes, what's up?"

"I need to talk to Jason right now. I heard he was at your camp today. Is he still there?"

"Yeah, he just stepped out. Is everything ok?"

"No, it's really not, Frank. I need you to get him, right now. Put him on the phone."

"Alright." Frank sounded worried, but she heard him put down the phone.

A few seconds later, there was yet another voice on the line. This time, it was the voice she had originally wanted to hear.

"Pipes, what's wrong? Frank said it was urgent." Jason's voice said.

"Jason... Sally and Annabeth... they're dead."

Across the country in California, Jason Grace's blood went cold.

"What the hell happened!?"

"We were shopping and I went to look for a bathroom. I was on my way back when I heard this scream. It was Percy. He'd found them dead in an alley. I'm at the police station right now. Jason, I don't know what to do." she started crying by the end.

Jason had never felt so useless in his life. His fiancee was in tears, he had lost one of his closest friends, and the man he saw as a brother, had just lost the girl of his dreams and his mother. Meanwhile, he was stuck in California.

"Fuck, Pipes. I can't believe it. Is Percy there?"

"No. They separated us to ask us some questions and they finished with him before me. I asked one of the cops where he was, but they said he left. I don't have a clue where he went."

"Alright, Piper listen to me. I'll be there as soon as I can, ok? If I take Tempest, I could be there in about 5 hours. You said you're at the police station, right?"

"Yeah, I'm at the police station."

"Ok. Can you get back to camp by yourself, or do you need to stay there?"

Piper thought for a moment.

"No, I can get back to camp."

"Alright. Go back, and I'll be there soon. Tell Chiron what happened. The sooner we start looking for Percy, the better. We can find him together, ok Pipes?"

"Ok. I'll see you when you get here. I love you, Jason."

"I love you too, Piper. See you soon."

She hung up the phone and ran her fingers through her hair. Jason had told her to go to camp, and she would, but there was one stop she wanted to make first. She left the hallway and started looking for the cop who had brought her and Percy to the precinct. She spotted him at one of the desks, working at a computer. She walked over to him.

"Excuse me? Do you think you could call me a cab?"

"Yeah, don't worry about it. Why don't you go sit down over there while you wait for it, I'll let you know when it's here." he said with a friendly smile.

Piper thanked him and sat down in the small waiting area he had shown her. A few minutes later, she spotted the cop waving at her from across the room. He pointed at the door, and she assumed that her cab was there. She waved her thanks to him and walked out. There was a classic yellow New York City cab, parked right outside. She gave the cabbie the address for Percy's mother's apartment in the city. She thought he might have gone there after he left the precinct. A few minutes later, she was outside Sally's apartment building. She asked the cabbie to wait for her and stepped up to the main entrance. She checked the buzzer list next to the front door. She found "Sally Jackson, apt. 4B"

She rang apartment 4A and waited for a response.

"Yes?" a nice-sounding man responded. He was probably in his 50s, based on the voice.

"Hi, I'm a friend of Sally's. Could you buzz me up please?"

"Sure thing." the nice man replied. He was far too kind for Manhattan.

"Thank you so much!"

The door buzzed open and she stepped inside. She called the elevator and rode up the 4 floors to Sally's apartment. She stepped out into the hall and found 4B. After looking around for a moment, she found a spare key in one of the light fixtures in the hallway. She took the key and opened the door.

"Percy!? Percy, are you here?!" she called out. No response. But she didn't let that deter her. He could just be ignoring her. She searched every room of the apartment but found no trace that he had been there. She sighed. With nothing else to do there, Piper left. She locked the door behind her and put the spare key back in the light fixture.

She got back in the cab and asked him to take her to the approximate location of Camp Half-Blood. He told her that was a long way, but her father was a famous movie star, so she didn't need to worry about cash as much as most demigods.

On her way back to camp, Piper cried. She wasn't sure why exactly she was crying. She didn't know if it was for Sally, Annabeth, or Percy. Or all 3. She just cried. The cabbie asked her what was wrong, but she told him that she didn't want to talk about it.

2 hours later, the cab left her 100 yards from the camp's borders. That was as far as normal mortals were able to get before they got so disorientated that they had to turn back. She paid the guy, and started walking toward camp. She knew she would need to tell everyone. If Percy had come back, then he wouldn't have said anything. He would have gone straight for his cabin, shut himself in, and refused to speak a word to anyone. Or he had decided to go somewhere else entirely, and no one had seen him.

Piper crossed the border into camp, and her first stop was the Poseidon cabin. She walked in and looked around. He wasn't there. It was dinner time. She walked to the Pavilion and scanned the area. Percy wasn't at the central table. Jack was alone at the Poseidon table. Chiron and Mr.D were at the head table. No Percy anywhere. She walked over to Chiron and told him she needed to speak to him in private.

They left the pavilion together, and Piper told Chiron everything that had happened. Once she was done, Chiron's jaw was agape. He couldn't believe it. He had known Annabeth since she'd been 7 years old. And Percy was missing. The demigod and the immortal trainer stood there for a moment, absorbing what had happened. Then, they went back to the pavilion, where Chiron told the entire camp what had happened. How Annabeth Chase had died. How Sally Jackson had died with her. How Percy Jackson was missing. The entire camp was stunned into silence. There were tears. Even Dionysus looked perturbed. He mumbled something about informing the Gods, and flashed to Olympus.

After the news had sunk in, there was an uproar throughout the camp. There were cries to find the killer and bring them to justice. But they were dissuaded from such action by Chiron, who reminded them that none of them had the skills necessary to find a murderer. Once the camp accepted that, they demanded to form search parties to find Percy. To that, Chiron had no reason to say no. He had Clarisse, Will, and the Stolls organize the demigods into groups, while he figured out search grids where Percy was likely to be found.

Piper got in touch with Nico, Leo, and Calypso and asked if they would help them look for Percy. Once she had explained the situation to them, they instantly agreed to drop what they were doing and get to camp as fast as they could. After that, Piper Iris-Messaged Thalia with the Hunt.

"Hey, Piper, what's up?" the goth girl asked.

Piper took a breath and explained the situation to her. The daughter of Zeus was devastated to learn that her best friend was dead. And she got scared when Piper told her that no one had seen Percy since the police station.

"... so I was wondering if the Hunt could help us look for him? If you guys aren't busy?"

"Of course, we will. Where should we go to look for him?" Thalia replied instantly.

"I'm not totally sure. Call Chiron and he'll tell you."

Thalia nodded and swiped through the rainbow image.

Piper sat down and dropped her head into her hands. She couldn't believe what was happening. But she didn't let herself stew. She needed to find her brother. She joined one of the groups that were going out looking.

But they didn't find him. They searched for 8 entire hours before they had to come back to camp so that they could regroup. They decided not to go out again, but rather, to sleep and come up with a fresh plan in the morning, but there were still sentries placed around the camp borders. If any of them saw Percy, they were to immediately tell someone.

5 hours after that, a disheveled figure walked across the border, into camp. He looked like Percy Jackson, but at the same time, he looked completely different. This person, looked like he hadn't slept in years. He looked like he had walked across broken shards of glass for several days. He looked like he had just come back from a war, and seen some horrific things. The sentries were reluctant to admit it, but the figure was indeed, Percy Jackson.

"He's back! Percy's back!" one of them shouted, as per instruction.

Percy ignored him though. He didn't care if anyone knew where he was. Suddenly, campers were streaming out of their cabins, running over to him, shouting his name. He ignored them. They started crowding around him, asking questions. They wanted to know what had happened. Where he had been. He didn't answer any of them. He just pushed past them all and went straight to his cabin, slamming the door behind him, and locking it. He sat down on his bed and stared into space.