Disclaimer: Rick Riordan owns all characters

"Zhang." The Latina placed the mug of coffee in front of him on the table before taking her seat beside him. Her braid of long, dark hair swung off her shoulder and fell down her back. Her nimble fingers grasped her own cup and she took a sip.

Without glancing away from the wall he had been staring at for hours, he nodded. "Ramirez-Arellano." He clenched the mug in his white knuckles and downed it in three gulps.

The woman placed her cup down and studied the Chinese Canadian man. "What's wrong? Pull it together. He'll be here any minute. You don't want to scare him. He's relying on us."

"I know." He groaned and turned to his colleague. "It's just- I don't think we can do it. All the agents we've sent on this case have disappeared. They're probably dead."

She opened her mouth to speak when there was a curt knock on the door. She straightened her purple blazer and placed a hand on his arm. "It's going to be okay, Frank. We'll solve this soon. We have too."

"Come in." She called.

The door opened and a man with blond hair and permanently red-stained lips from drinking too much Kool-Aid that was no longer served in the break room. "Sir, Ma'am, this is Aphrodite Oceania and her daughters, Piper McLean and Drew Tanaka."

"Thank you, Dakota." The blond man nodded and closed the door.

"I'm Reyna Avila Ramirez-Arellano. This is Frank Zhang. Pleasure to meet you." She shook the other woman's hand. "Please, sit."

The woman, Aphrodite, had gorgeous blonde hair curled over her shoulder with steaming green-blue eyes. She sat, perched on the edge of the chair, as if she were to bolt any second. She glanced at her daughters and wringed her hands. "Thank you. So, um, the reason I'm here is because, I've been robbed. It isn't the first time either. This is the seventh time my things have been stolen in a month. It isn't even from my house anymore. It's from the line of boutiques I own." She glanced at her daughters. "Isn't that right girls?"

They didn't seem to be paying any attention to her.

The caramel toned girl had choppy brown and kaleidoscope eyes had her camouflage green boots propped up on the desk. She was wearing a turquoise dress with black leggings and a skaters jacket on top. Her eyes were blank as they stared into nothing. "Hmm?" She mumbled.

The other girl had lighter skin and long black hair. Her arms were covered in bangles that clanged together every time she shifted. She was wearing an orange top with faded letters and a black skater skirt. Her legs were crossed and she was typing away on her phone. She didn't bother responding.

Aphrodite looked genuinely concerned for the two. "Oh, they haven't been themselves after their other sister disappeared. It affected them both greatly."

"Other sister?" Reyna questioned, leaning on her arms.

"Oh yes, my oldest daughter. Silena was the glue between the three of them. Now these girls have been fighting nonstop and it's driving me mad. I sent them away to their fathers so I could get some peace for awhile but then the thefts became more quicker and started spreading to the other branches of my shop. It's been terrible." She shuddered.

Reyna looked from the women to the two girls and then to Frank. "What do you think?"

Frank stared at Aphrodite and then disappeared into thin air. Aphrodite gasped and fell back in her chair.

A small black cat crawled onto the table from Frank's chair and made himself comfortable, licking his paws and resting his soft head.

Reyna rolled her eyes. "Frank."

Aphrodite looked absolutely stunned. "That's him? How did he- what?"

"He's a shapeshifter. Makes it easier to spy."

Frank the cat looked up at Reyna and purred softly.

Reyna smiled at the three ladies. "Don't worry Miss Oceania. Pretty soon, whoever this thief is, we'll have him behind bars."

Swiftly, she had made it to the roof of the small boutique owned by the wretch who'd cost her her family.

Slitting the lock with the same knife, she sighed. When were they going to change things around? Every shop in the whole chain were locked the same exact way. She could break in blind at this point.

Slipping through the door and fell into the storage attic. She took her time, admiring the dresses and jewelry that were out of style and covered in a thick layer of dust.

The alarm only rang when she exited the attic. She could spend hours up here. She rather liked the 1940's. Most of the styles here were exactly that. She used to snag something or the other but realized nobody noticed if something was missing from the attic.

The whole reason she was doing this was so she could get attention.

And because she loved seeing Aphrodite suffer.

Shouldering her bag she yanked open the door and the alarm went off immediately.

She lunged and landed on the floor of the shop, nearly cracking her ankle. She heard scurrying and spun around and saw the white kitten that had gotten used to her visits. It meowed loudly and hid underneath one of the perfume displays. She could feel it shivering.

She slid behind the counter and brought out her hammer and brought it down on the cash register and a few of the glass displays. Grabbing a handful of pearl and diamond necklaces, she hurried to the back of the shop and gazed upon the rows of hair dye and wigs.

Aphrodite changed her look every few days.

She emptied a couple into the sink and added food coloring in others. This was new. She'd never thought of the coloring until last night. She'd went to the store immediately.

She could hear police sirens in the distance and smiled. Exactly 59 seconds since she'd opened the attic door and set off the alarm.

She heard the door of the boutique open. "Put your hands up. You are under arrest."

Smirking, she pulled the black beanie off her head and let her cinnamon curls cascade down. Her eyes mirrored the golden displays. A smile played with her lips.

"Aren't you getting bored of this? It's kind of a routine so you know exactly what's going to happen now. Unless they're sending new recruits." She laughed and hurled her hammer towards the three policemen. They'd stopped sending full groups when she'd started kidnapping them.

They all ducked as the lump of iron whizzed past their heads and shattered the doors of the shop. This was the most damage she'd done to this certain shop in weeks. She loved it. Towering over the policemen, she grabbed one by the collar and yanked him up.

"P-please d-d-don't kill m-me."

"Kill you? Never. You're giving in too easily. Come on. One punch?"

They all stayed silent.

"You're not going to hit a girl, are you? Good. I like you." With a swing of her band she knocked them cold.

Grasping their legs, she dragged them out the back door of the boutique and through the woods, the alarm still blaring and the empty police cars shining their lights red, white and blue.

They lit up the night like the Fourth of July.

"Hey Thalia." Hazel Levesque laid down on the bed across from her cousins.

"Hey Hazel. Where have you been. You skipped movie night. Now that I think of it, you've been missing movie night for months.

The golden-eyed girl shrugged. I've been busy."

Thalia got an evil look in her eye. "Have you been meeting someone?"

Hazel glared at her. "No. Just some late night shopping."

"Than what have you gotten? And where do you get the money?"

"I have a job."

"Do you?"

Hazel dug through a pile of food coloring and knives and pulled out a bunch of necklaces.

Thalia's eyes widened. "How much was that?"

Hazel shrugged again. "I forgot."

"But where-"

"THALIA! JASON'S HOGGING THE BATHROOM!"

Thalia rolled her eyes. "They've been doing this for hours."

She yanked open the door of the bedroom that connected to another bedroom. There were three beds in a triple bunk bed that the rest of their cousins shared. Nico was lying on the bottom bunk with a pillow over his head, groaning loudly.

Percy was standing with his back to the bathroom door, jumping nervously. "I have to pee."

"Aghhhhhhhh," Nico groaned.

Thalia stormed up to the bathroom door and banged at it with her fists. "GET OUT, JASON!"

The door swung open and Percy fell. He scrambled up, shoving Jason out of the bathroom with nothing but a towel, and slammed the door shut.

"Aghhhhhhhh."

"I need my clothes."

"Why did you take your clothes in the bathroom?"

"Aghhhhhhh."

"What else am I supposed to do?"

"Kick Nico and Percy out of the room then change!"

"Aghhhhhhh."

"Where?"

"I don't know! The kitchen?"

"AGHHHHHHHH."

"SHUT UP, NICO!"

Everyone flinched at Thalia's sharp voice.

Percy came out of the bathroom, relieved. Jason scurried back in.

"I give up!" Thalia stalked back to her room and flopped face first onto her bed.

"Aghhhhhhhh."

Slipping through her normal routine, she slid into the back door of a different shop of the same boutique. How many of these are in California, anyway?

The alarm set off the moment she cracked open the glass of the door.

Taking out her hammer, she whacked a couple of cases and tore a few dresses. She didn't notice the chameleon sitting on the rack.

Yawning loudly, she picked the lock on the cash register and stuffed a wad of cash into her black bag when she heard the familiar jingle that sounded every time someone opened the door.

She froze. It hadn't even been 35 seconds. They were early. She wasn't ready.

"Put you hands over your head. You're under arrest. For real this time. And it isn't by the police."

She spun around, keeping her look confident, and saw who was here. There were no flashing lights. The alarm had been turned off. She'd barely noticed.

There was a man with stringy blond hair and cold blue eyes. There was a teddy bear and a knife on his belt.

She scrunched her nose up in disgust. "Octavian."

Smirking, he loaded the bullet into his gun.

"Alive or dead."

He pulled the trigger.

Part Two up soon. :)