Annabeth's Pov

-Grover!?

Perseus crouched down, sitting right next to Grover. I also stood there to monitor the situation. Surely he will be okay? Grover's face was rosy and full of life, less pale but he still hadn't woken up. Maybe he needed to rest. I breathed a sigh of relief in my heart, if anything happened to him, I would regret it for the rest of my life.

Perseus also sighed, his face relaxed as he saw that Grover's condition was better than before. But then he turned his face towards me.

-Hey, Annabeth Chase..thank you? It was..um, it was a dangerous promise, right..If it weren't for you..Hades wouldn't have accepted it.

He was thanking me. Thinking back, I promised to do everything to help the Underworld gain everyone's recognition..it was reckless but I think it was worth it? I can't get a normal life anyway.

-It's okay, but I'm sorry Perseus Jackson..

I said, anyway, stalker people isn't very nice.

-Hey! Just call me Percy! It's weird to be called Perseus! And if you want to go together, just say so! I don't mind!

Percy smiled a little, it seemed like the situation was much better. Fine.

-Why did you bring it up to trade with Hades just now? I mean Medusa's head? How did you know?

I asked, this guy has never met Hades, right? But what he said wasn't superfluous and hit the nail on the head of what Hades wanted. Could it be that he also..?

-Well, I guess I know what a lonely, ostracized person wants.

So my secret guess was correct. Percy said in a slightly pensive voice, his eyes drooping. I understood that feeling, the loneliness of being an unnecessary person. It's like something that when you go through it, you feel strangely empty inside, not feeling anything, but your body feels like crying. And when you remember that feeling, the loneliness inside you flares up like a sad fire

-So when did you know I was following you? And why did you believe I would rush out to save you? Isn't that too reckless?

I changed the subject, loneliness is not a pleasant topic for me and him anyway.

-Oh. Since I crawled out of the bus.

Percy said without caring (I knew he was trying to be modest). Wh- WHAT!? I guessed he saw me peeking out the window so he knew but he knew from that moment?? How the hell did he!?

I was shocked, looking at him with a surprised look. Percy saw the surprised look on my face so he smirked a little, looking smug. He looked exactly like a little brother who just solved his sister's high school math problem and acted modest to be more conceited!

- Haha, you should look at your face right now. After all, it was partly because you were such a bad Stalker. You really think I wouldn't suspect anything about getting into a bus accident but not being seriously injured? Not to mention the smell of your death! Anyway, thanks for Nectar. Since you gave me and Grover Nectar, I guess you're not really a bad person so I risked my life to distract Medusa, after all, if I failed I'd die and if I did nothing I'd still die, so why not try?

Percy said with a laugh. I felt a sense of anger rising in my heart at being laughed at.

- You guessed it all but got fooled by Medusa? Who would sell statues in the middle of the forest! You say that but you're as naive as a child!

I argued back, trying to mock him.

- Look! She used a spell to distract me! It doesn't count, it doesn't count! Good people are rare these days.

Percy said with an annoyed look but he still laughed as he spoke, clearly not taking me seriously. Well then, I don't care about children!

-What do I do to prove that I know Medusa?

I asked, because I remembered that in the myth Perseus brought the head of this snake demon outside and held it up for everyone to see. I couldn't do that, everyone would look at me like I was crazy.

-Um...Follow me.

Percy said and then he stood up, holding Medusa's head in his hand and went into Medusa's house. I followed him. I didn't like this house. It was filled with the pitiful fates of Medusa's victims.

I looked around and suddenly saw a half-packaged box with the words "To Lady Persephone", so did those strange statues in my godly stepmother's garden come from this place? Well, hopefully Medusa will let me off the hook for having my stepmother as her best customer.

Percy randomly picked up a box and put Medusa's head in it. Hey, don't tell me? I gave him an unreadable look but he ignored it and handed me the pen he picked up from the floor.
-Hey! Write down the address! We're sending Hermes Express straight to Olympus!
Crazy, this guy is either crazy or too childish, too brash! Okay, I'll just treat him as a kid with a "sometimes" smart mind from now on.

-Are you crazy!? This is really crazy!

I tried to stop him.

-Are you scared? This is a great way to impress, isn't it? Miss Chase, the strong emo daughter of Hades?

To be honest, I was planning on sending this to Alecto so she could do whatever she wanted, and I didn't care much about it, to prove to Olympus. What does emo mean? But this crazy idea...well, it's okay to surprise the Olympians once, right? It's not like I was offended by his pride or anything! My pride is low (not worth being proud of).

I took the pen and wrote down the address of Olympus "600th floor of the Empire State Building, a gift from Annabeth Chase - Hades' daughter". After that, Percy and I sent the package and went back to carry Grover (Percy carried him first, we planned to carry him in shifts until he woke up).

So I became part of this mission.

-If Hades was also robbed and he sent you to follow me to find clues about the Helm of Darkness, then who is the culprit? And where should we go?

Yes, the prophecy said west, but where exactly? Los Angeles, no longer the destination of the journey.

-So... Hey Chase? Have you ever heard of Camp Jupiter? Or the Roman demigods?

Percy said, his eyes looking up at me.

Huh? Jupiter..? That's the Roman name for Zeus, right? Romans? What was he trying to say? And there were other demigods outside of Greece?

- Huh? What do you mean? Roman demigods? Camp Jupiter what?

I asked him.

-So you don't know. Under the Bunker of Cabin 9, there is a secret document left by a brother who also has the ability to control fire like me. It's from the American Civil War. Currently, only I know it, and Grover too. The brothers and sisters in Cabin 9 call it a forbidden document, isn't it funny? Everyone thought it was some dangerous weapon design. But only I can open it. This must be thanks to that damn fire curse.

He smiled as if to ease the increasingly tense atmosphere. Wait, is he talking about another group of demigods? Is he suspecting that a Roman demigod stole it? That makes sense, but what proves that Roman demigods really exist just through some old papers?

-I'm not sure it's true! Because there's no evidence that they really exist. But they're the only possibility I can really think of right now. Poiseden attacking the bus could be because he thinks you stole the lightning bolt. I don't really think Hades is innocent yet. But right now I don't think I can fully believe Hades being behind it especially after he clearly wanted to do everything to get recognition, which definitely goes against stealing the lightning bolt anyways since there was no evidence for that theory in the first place. And Poiseden was clearly desperate enough to attack you even though the possibility of you stealing it is zero if you think about it, if that's the case I think the most likely possibility is that the demigods came from Rome like the one in the documents my brother left me.

Percy said with a face that looked like the one the cops used to make in the detective movies I watched as a kid. So he noticed that the bus flipped because of the water? I swallowed, gritted my teeth and was quite nervous because of his reasoning.

-So we're still going to California! We'll find Camp Jupiter or something first and then if it doesn't come out, you'll have to take me to Hades!
Percy turned around with a cheerful face as if he hadn't said those deductions. He was a smart kid.

-Yeah, I promise.

I answered him softly. So we'll be crossing the country. I can't shadow travel that far, especially with three other people. It's tiring but probably better than sneaking around.
-So what do you think, the Romans? Do they know about us?

I asked him.

-If they're the culprits, of course, but if they're not real and just made up, of course not. And if they're not involved, then it's highly unlikely because the records about them at Camp Half-Blood have been almost completely destroyed anyway. The gods obviously don't want us to know about them, and getting to Camp Jupiter is hard enough as it sounds. But it's not like we have much choice.

He said it matter-of-factly. I knew it was a stupid question, perhaps in my confusion I had blurted out something I should have known all along.

-So where are we going?

I asked him.

-When you wrote earlier I quickly took the money from Medusa's house, it seems she still has the luggage left behind by the unfortunate people, I got 350$ let's pool the money, okay? And I think we should save as much money as possible. And you don't want to imagine how much it would cost to take a taxi to the other side of the country, Chase.

Percy smiled slyly and held a wad of money in his hand that I hadn't noticed he had been holding for a while, the last part he said with a sigh, shuddering at the memory of the money. I know, I've been wandering around everywhere, of course I know the prices will be even higher than Mount Olympus.

- Then let's take the train? It would be a more economical option for long distance travel.
I suggested, I absolutely couldn't let my feet leave the ground, it was too dangerous. And the trains don't usually go near the sea, so stay as far away from Poiseden as possible. Oh, I love the land.

-I've never been on a train before, but that sounds good! And where's the nearest train station? Do you know?

Percy asked me. Of course I didn't! I didn't even know where we were!

-Haha, you don't know, but I do. I have a map right here, anyway!

So I was tricked into following him all the way there, he had clearly gone on purpose to get me to follow his plan, even though the Medusa part was probably not part of the plan.