"Time machine?" Percy's voice was almost an octave higher than it had been. Perhaps it was the shock.

"Correct." Chiron says as they enter a conference room. "Someone stole a time machine."

"How do you steal a time machine?" Percy sounds about as astounded as she felt. First, they're told there's a time machine. Then that it's been stolen?

"How doesn't matter." Someone speaks. Annabeth spots another man in the corner. Younger than herself, possibly. He's scrawny looking with curly hair and covered head to toe in all sorts of gross looking substances. A sharp contrast to the well-kept setting. "Why doesn't matter either. We just need to get it back."

Chiron nodded to Annabeth and Percy. "That's where you come in."

~~~

Annabeth felt sick as they explained. Leo Valdez, genius inventor here at Olympus Industries, had developed a time machine. (He'd tried to explain to them how he'd created a strong enough force to manipulate the fabric of time and create a wormhole but honestly, Annabeth wasn't in the mood to work out how it had happened.)

They were shown footage of someone, Luke Castellan, kidnapping a pilot, climbing in the time machine - which looked like some kind of spherical, robot eyeball about the size of a small building and wrapped in two giant seatbelts - and vanishing.

"So what do we need to do?" Percy was the one to break the silence after their explanation.

"You need to follow them." Chiron said, bluntly. "He has a time machine, he could be changing history as we speak, altering our own timeline and we would never know."

Annabeth's heart sank. "But that could be catastrophic. The butterfly affect that could happen from the slightest alteration could create an entirely different universe."

"We're well aware, Miss Chase," Chiron said, glaring at a guilty looking Leo. "We never intended for anyone to be able to steal it."

Annabeth muttered her thoughts to herself as she tried to comprehend what was going on. There was a time machine. And now it was stolen. How were they expected to follow them unless...

"We have a second time machine. Granted, it's being tweaked now as it was only a prototype, never intended to be used again... but it might do the job. Should do, anyway." Leo babbled, not providing Annabeth with any reassurance.

Chiron cut him off. "We've tracked the mothership to New Jersey, May 6th, 1937."

Percy frowned and went to say something.

"The Hindenburg. Why has he gone to the Hindenburg?" Annabeth spoke up. Time machines and technology weren't really her forte, but history she could do. She lived and breathed history, knew the ins and outs of every textbook she'd ever read.

"We were hoping you could tell us that." Chiron grimaced. "What might a man want to change about that time?"

Annabeth wracked her brain. "There were 37 fatalities, maybe he wants to save someone?"

Chiron spoke quickly to someone stood in the doorway that Annabeth hadn't spotted. "Jason, get someone looking at those casualties. Any connection to Castellan will help." Jason nodded and dashed off.

"We'll look into it. In the meantime, you two need to get into costume."

~~~

Apparently, her 'costume' was a semi-realistic 1930s outfit. Annabeth felt rather claustrophobic under the heavy fabrics that she wasn't used to but she appreciated the authenticity of it all. Except her bra. She made many a comment about the error.

"Underwire bras weren't a thing, they didn't exist." She'd said as she'd been made to hand over her phone and keys.

"Please," Percy appeared from another cubicle near wardrobe. "who's going to see your bra anyway?"

Jason, the man who had looked into the casualties, had Annabeth skim read a list of names, hoping it might ignite an indication of who Castellan might want to save. No one seemed familiar.

A girl with choppy, braided hair handed Percy a wallet which he whistled at. "This is heavy, how much money do we need?" He mused, turning it over in his hand. The girl just shrugged and moved over to fix Annabeth's styled hair.

Chiron returned and handed Percy a gun.

"Whoa, what? Why does he need a gun? You can't take that to the 1930s, they've never seen one like that!" Annabeth asked, incredulously.

Percy smirked as Chiron defended him. "He's the soldier. That's his duty. The weapon will be kept hidden until it is necessary. The only person who should see it is Castellan, and that will be with the intention of him dying by it."

"But-" Annabeth started.

"Only three of you can travel in the Argo II to follow Castellan, and we chose you all very carefully. Percy is the soldier, the defence. He's to keep you safe and kill Castellan. You, Annabeth, are the historian. Keep history the same and provide information with what's going on and how to better blend in. And this..." Chiron gestured to another person as he walked over. "Is Grover. He's going to pilot the time machine."

Grover looked a little older than Annabeth and had a peppering of facial hair down on his chin. He looked nervous, something which certainly didn't calm her heart rate. He was biting his lip. Maybe he was just anxious to going back in time, or maybe he knew this trip wouldn't be a nice trip into history - at least not for him.

Annabeth had her own reservations about going into history as a woman. Granted, 1930s America wasn't the worst place to be a woman, but it was certainly unfavorable. Grover, on the other hand, would have no fun pretty much anywhere in American history.

"Chiron, are we sure this is a good idea? Can't someone else pilot this thing? I don't know how it works across the pond, but I am black. There's literally no place in American history that's going to be awesome for me." Grover mumbled, tugging at his jacket.

"You're the only person here qualified. If you remember correctly, Castellan took our only other pilot." Chiron said, patting him on the back and gesturing for him to climb up the ladder into the Argo II.

Annabeth noticed this ship was no way near as glamorous as the one that had been stolen. Leo wasn't kidding when he'd said they hadn't intended to use it again. It was smaller and looked like some kind of antique. There was a round hatch in the middle that looked to function as a door. It looked tiny inside. Annabeth's heart crept into her throat.

Grover went in first, taking a seat next to all the control panel, they followed afterwards. It was cramped and she had to dance around Percy to be able to sit down. There were various clicking noises as Grover and Percy put there seatbelts on. Annabeth frowned at all the straps.

"Is this really necessary?" She asked, pulling one strap over her shoulder and untangling it from the one that goes around her waist.

"Yes." Grover responded bluntly as the screens in front of him lit up.

She watched as Percy tightened his belt a bit more and did the same, feeling her breath quicken. The room was tiny, she was strapped in tight and there were two other people with her. Her claustrophobia was going to kill her before the machine could.

Percy caught her eye and nodded. Maybe he was trying to reassure her but it did nothing to calm her bubbling nerves.

"I'm Percy." He said to the back of Grover's head.

"Grover." The pilot introduced himself.

"Annabeth." She added to complete the trio.

"Hold on to your stomachs." Grover said, as the machine whirred and the hatch closed. A small light lit above them, illuminating Percy's face as he closed his eyes and gripped his belt, knuckles white. Annabeth barely had time to consider what was going to happen before there was a loud pop and the whole machine started to quiver.