Hi guys! Second chapter! Thanks for reading, it means a lot :)

I hope you like it so far!!

~Alex

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".....Huh?" Frank mummbled into the darkness.

"Shhh, rest."

"H- Hazel?"

"Not Hazel." The voice soothed. "Just Lesley."

***

Piper Mclean was lost, muddy, cold, and alone. She had woken up lying next to a gas station vending machine. The metal was felt like an iceblock against her bare legs, but she managed to protect her arms with her jacket. She'd stayed like this for twenty minutes until her knees started turning blue. Piper crossed her legs instead.

Piper remembered tumbling over the side of the ship, hearing Jason's panicked yells to try and save her before she plummeted over the edge. But he was too late.

She pressed her jacket sleeve to her eyes to block out tears. Jason watched her fall to her death. She's watched others - Leo, Percy, Hazel - fall with her into the bottemless ocean. Now she was alone with noone to go to and no idea where she was. She wasn't even sure if Jason was alive.

She sniffed and rubbed her nose. Why did she get all the the rotten luck? Why did she always have to fall off cliffs? What was it with that?

For the millionth time, she thought about standing up and getting help, perhaps call her dad, but she couldn't. One of the harpies had slashed through her back, sending up an electric chill up to her head. Not fun. Her spine ached horribly, making it difficult and painful to stand.

"Hey, are you okay?" A deep voice asked. The first thought that went through Piper's mind: yeeeesss.

Finally! Help had arrived! Piper looked up to see a freckled young boy with brown hair and a flat chin. He wore a black tshirt and jeans. Two shiney studs went through both of his ear lobes. He looked maybe eighteen or nineteen, much older than Piper.

She cleared her throught, ready to use charmspeak, but soon found she didn't need it. The boy reached out his hand. "I'm Charlie."

Piper took his hand and stumbled into his arms. Searing pain zipped through her back and theighs.

"Woah!" Charlie said, surprised, then he saw her back. "Oh, geez! We've got to get you to the hospital!"

"No, no, I'm fine..." Piper thried to convince him, but he didn't listen and called a cab. He helped Piper in.

"Thanks," Piper mummbled. Maybe her luck wasn't as bad as she thought. "I'm Piper."

Charlie smiled. "Like Piper McLean?"

Confused, Piper responded, "Um... yeah...?"

He nodded and smiled some more.

Stop smiling! You're making me nervous! Piper wanted to say, but she just turned around and stared out the window, wishing more than ever Jason was here. He would hold her hand and hug her and tell her it was going to be okay, and she's snuggle up to him and kiss him. She would feel warm and safe.

Instead, all she had was an awkward freckled boy named Charlie.

Piper sniffed and held back a sob. She missed Jason. She missed everyone on the Argo II. She just wanted to get home.

Soon, they arrived at the hospital. Charlie handed a roll of money to the cabbie and put his arm around her waist to help her out.

Piper leaned on Charlie while he helped her to the front doors, and after leaning against a freezing cold drink machine and enduring uncomfortable pain in her back, she fell asleep in Charlie's arms.

***

Percy waited ten minutes for Frank until he gave up.

At first he was annoyed that he was late, but that soon turned into worry. Was he okay? Was he lost? Did he find something? Percy could only hope he was still out in the woods, for better or worse.

Percy found an annoying sense of irony coming to him. Separated from all the demigods, trips over one of them (literally!) and loses him immediatly after. Percy had always felt the Fates were out to get him, but this was devious.

Percy had started wandering around the maze-like forest in Frank's direction after about ten minutes of waiting. He was hoping he might run into him, or maybe see him collapsed on the ground... he was okay with him taking a pit stop for the bathroom. He just needed to know he was okay.

Now Percy had been searching for about an hour, and had fully lost hope. He leaned against a tree and sighed. He should have thought this out more throughly. When he sent Frank out to search for the others, he should have had a plan B or something. He should have known what to do if someone got in danger, or in Frank's case, simply gone missing.

Percy closed his eyes. He wanted Annabeth. He could always count on her to figer something out. But this time, he was on his own, with noone to turn to, left with his own horrible ideas and thoughts.

Maybe this is some sort of test? Percy wondered. If so, he was is bad luck, because tests never really worked out for him. Like, ever. He was on shaky grounds.

He opened his eyes to someone's voice.

"Excuse me?"

Percy turned around. "Who are-"

"I'm Lesley," The girl had oval green eyes and deep blond hair tied back with a rubber band. Her baggy jeans looked about as dirty as his, and her green tank top was loose around her shoulders. She held a red backpack over her shoulders, obviously stuffed.

"I'm here to help." She said, with no expression on her face. Percy almost asked who she was again, but remembered and asked, "What do you mean?"

"Your friends are in distant parts. Nearby, but not close enough to find you just yet."

"How do you know about us?"

Lesley bit her lip thoughtfully. "That will be explained once you and your friends have found each other. You'll understand when you get there."

"But-"

Lesley cut him off. "No buts, Percy." She pulled out a tool Percy couldn't remember the name of - the needle thingie at doctor offices doctors used to give people shots. Yeah, that sounded right.

Lesley stared at it devilishly. "Good thing I brought backup. Wasn't expecting more than one demigod."

She turned to look at Percy, not at all evil but more terrifying anyways. Then she approached him, needle in one hand, probably a back-up fist in the other. She was starting to look evil now.

So naturally, Percy ran for his sorry life. He knew sticking around would'nt do him any good, no matter how many times the girl said it. He ran.

***

Nico was sick of waiting. All he and Annabeth were doing were looking and comparing the pictures on the screen to the book in her hand. Nico had already come to the conclusion they're being watched, perhaps stalked, for the past five years, but it sounded silly even when he said it. Annabeth was panicking more and more as she scrolled through every picture, clicking them to get to more pages, and flipping through all the books she got. Annabeth had made Nico go get more books that related to the book she had before, so Nico had to scavenger hunt them until he found two others that looked familiar. One was a picture of a boy on a pegasus wrapped in what looked like grape vines. The other was a couple of kids running across a long bridge with a freekishly gigantic eyeball looming over them. Annabeth had drooled over them, like she was trying to squeeze out their secrets out of sheer will power.

Even worse, they had been getting a lot of strange looks from the students, especially at him. He had seen them be confused, or be sarcasatic, or interested in him. He had even heard one person mutter, "Probably a costume..." Which only made him feel worse. He had already come to the conclusion that they were know by these people, not by person, but... something else. A source.

He started to understand why Annabeth wanted the books.

He sat on one of the tables. He was so worried about his sister he couldn't even speak. The last thing he needed after this crazy quest against Gaea was to see another sister lost and unreplacable. Hazel was his hope. She saw the good in him. He couldn't break that.

"Ehem?" A young blond girl, probably fifteen, walked up to him and Nico. "Thats my seat."

Annabeth jumped up, startled. "Oh! Oh, I'm sorry, sorry." She stammered.

The young girl sat down and frowned. "Where's my page?"

"Oh, um, you can press the 'back butten'". Annabeth pointed to the top left corner of the screen. Some snickers sprouted from the back of the library.

The girl shook her head and sighed, then said something so quiet only Nico managed to hear it.

"Demigods," She pouted, then clicked one of her top tabs to her email.

Annabeth walked sheepishly to Nico. "Come on, lets go."

"Where?" Nico asked as she pulled him towards the door.

"Out."