I'M BA-ACK!

MWA HA HA HA! A HA HA HA HA! HA HA! HA! HA HA HA HA!

Oh, that felt good. A little more...

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!

And boy, have I got a story for you!

HE HE HE HE HE! NARF!

So... anyway, I read the Mark of Athena and it is flipping epic. And I finally got to read The Demigod Diaries... and started cursing Rick Riordan within an inch of his life. Because I spent half the summer researching really good monsters for my stories, thinking I was all creative and stuff. You guys know about my Cacus thingy, how I wrote that before the Demigod Diaries came out and low and behold there is Cacus in the middle of the book with Percy and Annabeth because Rick hates me. And then I read the book today, finally, and BOOM! There goes another few of my monsters that I was going to use. CURSE YOU RICK YOU FREAKING EVIL GENIUS MAN!

Enough of that, though...

I was going to give you a long authors note on my life, but decided not to since you don't want to read that. Anyway...

HERE IT IS! THE SEQUEL TO MY MARK OF ATHENA! THE MOMENT YOU'VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR! CHAPTER ONE!

Oh, and for you newbies, it IS recommended that you go and read that one first. Or at least the last few chapters. Yeah. But I've included a little blurb from that just in case you guys forgot what happened when we last left our heroes, or you're just to lazy to go read the other story. Whatever.

ENJOY!

And then he realized his feet had carried him home. To the place where he knew his mother and Paul were sleeping, waiting for their son to return to them. He would surprise them.

His speed picked up. His feet pounded the pavement as he raced towards one of the three places he had missed so much. Back to people he loved.

He would've gotten there too, if it weren't for the teenager falling from the sky.

The next thing he knew, Percy was flat on his stomach, all of the air knocked out of him. He felt something heavy lying on top of him, not moving. He managed to shove the thing off and roll over.

A teenage boy was lying on the sidewalk, about his age, unconscious. Percy took in the blonde hair, the familiar purple t-shirt. He didn't just recognize it, he knew it.

He glared up at the sky. What were the gods playing at now?

The boy's eyelids slid open, revealing blue. He groaned. Percy stared in shock at someone who shouldn't be there, someone who was totally wrong, someone who had his own home, far on the other side of the country.

"Jason?"

I

Percy

Percy figured that the worst night of his life was during the Titan War. He was wrong.

After Jason had fallen from the sky on top of him, Percy was irritated, to say the least. He had been knocked out by a creepy magical goddess, flung in to the middle of New York City, he didn't know where any of his other friends had gotten to, and they were in the middle of trying to save the world. Actually... that was a pretty typical day, in demigod standards.

Jason was on his feet now, trying to clear his head. "Ow," he said.

"What happened to you?" Percy asked, looking up and down the streets to see if anyone (like, how about, Annabeth) was coming down the street.

Jason screwed up his face like he was trying to remember. "There was this... woman. A goddess. Probably. She told me something about... I can't remember. Then I woke up here."

"Yeah, sounds familiar," Percy said. "Did you see anyone else?"

Jason shook his head. Percy sighed. "Great. Now we have to search all of New York to find them."

"Assuming they're in New York," Jason pointed out.

"Thank you, Captain Optimism. Any other words of wisdom you'd like to share?"

Jason rolled his eyes. "Ha ha."

"Come on," Percy said. "Let's look for something mystical and find everyone else so we can get out of here."

They wandered up and down the streets for a while. Percy had been afraid that he was going to get them lost, considering how long it had been since he had been around the city and the fact that it was always changing, but he was relieved to find that he could still find his way around at the drop of a hat.

Finally, Jason slid down a wall. "We've been searching forever and we haven't found anything."

"I know," Percy said, sitting down next to him. His head was spinning from being thrown into a wall by Cacus earlier, his feet were killing him and he was terribly confused. He snuck a glance at Jason. "Hey, wasn't your leg broken before?"

Jason looked down at it in surprise. "Oh. Yeah. When Frank took me back to the Argo, Tyson and Ella fixed me up. Ambrosia and stuff..." His eyes grew wide. "Tyson and Ella!"

"What about them?" Percy asked.

"They were still on the Argo when I went back, looking for you guys! If we can get a message to them-"

Percy interrupted. "-then they can come and get us! Or find the others!"

Jason grinned. "Exactly."

Percy struggled back to his feet. "Fantastic!" He looked around for a water source and located a dripping pipe, broken and sticking out of the wall. He closed his eyes and the water immediately began to mist into the street. Luckily, the streets of New York were so well lit that there was plenty of light to cast a rainbow with.

"Jason, drachma," Percy ordered. The son of Jupiter dug the coin out of his pocket and tossed it into the water. "Oh Iris, goddess of the rainbow, please accept my offering. Show me Tyson, on the Argo II."

Percy and Jason waited as the mist spurted into the cool air. Suddenly, Tyson shimmered into view. He looked worried. Ella was preening anxiously on the deck.

"Tyson!" Percy shouted. "Tyson!"

The mist crackled and the picture suddenly turned to static and became red hot. A voice like a telemarketer started speaking. "This message has been terminated due to out-of-range contact. Iris Messaging Service (IMS) apologizes for the inconvenience. And now, a word from our sponsor: R.O.F.L. Serving the mythological world organic nutrients since 1942, we strive for excellence in our all-natural, great tasting products, such as-"

Percy let the water drop before the ad could start talking about soy cupcakes or gluten free doughnut simulations.

"Okay," Jason said, "Is it supposed to do that?"

"No," Percy said. "And this means that we're on our own."

Jason nodded. "Just great."

"Let's go," Percy said. "Maybe we can make it back to Camp Half-Blood before we get attacked by monsters or eaten by a giant worm or mugged by teenagers."

"That can happen?" Jason asked. "Wow, I didn't realize New York was that cool."

Percy cracked a smile at that. "Come on, California."

They headed off down the street. Percy glanced at the crowded streets for an empty taxi cab. He prepared to give one of his New York born-and-bred whistles when someone came hurtling down the street and knocked into him.

"Whoa!" Percy said, regaining his balance and looking at the person who had almost bowled him over... and did a double take.

Because standing in front of him was Nico di Angelo.

"NICO?!" Percy couldn't keep the shock out of his voice. And his face probably portrayed that a bit too well.

"Percy?" Nico's eyes widened. "What the Hades... oh no. No no no no no. This is not good, not good, very very not good."

"What in the world are you talking about?" Percy asked him, "And how in the world did you escape from Gaea?"

Nico didn't seem to be listening. "We have to get out, we have to get out... Percy! Did you leave anyone in back? In the real world?"

"Um, I don't know. I was kind of unconscious for a lot of it," Percy said, before Nico's words sunk in. "What do you mean in the real world?"

Nico either suddenly noticed Jason or was very effective at changing the subject. "Jason! You're here too? Oh, wonderful. Just what we need."

"I take it you're not happy to see me." The son of Jupiter didn't look that pleased either.

"Sorry, but I don't really have time to sugar coat this," Nico said. "We have to get out of here. And fast. Percy, have you tried communicating with anyone?"

"Tyson," Percy said. "They're back on the Argo. But something happened to the Iris Message and we got cut off."

"Great, now we don't have contact. Have you tried anyone else that could possibly be here?" Nico was getting increasingly nervous. "Anyone at all?"

"No..." Percy said. "Nico, what's going on? Where are we? And what in the world are you talking about?"

Nico opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, he shimmered. "Styx. They're bringing me back. Percy!"

"What?"

"You have to get out of here. I'll try and contact Tyson, if he's the only person that can help. But you need to leave!"

"Nico, where are we? What's happening?"

"No time!" Nico was starting to fade from sight. "Go find the others! I'm assuming they'll be at the concert. Hurry!"

"What concert?" Percy asked.

Nico's image was almost gone. "Look to your left!" he cried before completely disappearing.

"Well..." Percy said, "That was the weirdest thing I've seen for a while." He turned to Jason. "What's the concert?"

"I'm thinking he means that concert." Jason pointed to a poster taped to a streetlamp that read COME JOIN THE BEST SINGERS IN HISTORY! ONE NIGHT ONLY!"The one with the dead people."

MWA HA HA HA! BOW DOWN MORTALS, FOR I AM SUPREME!

Not really. But I have LOTS of super-duper-uber fun ideas for this story! It's going to rock now that I've gotten off my lazy butt and actually done something with this. Heh.

Anyway, this chapter is dedicated to Hugs6 for being the best FanFiction buddy I could hope for. And for being endlessly patient while I try to process her request. LOVE YA HUGS! I'M SO SORRY IT'S TAKEN ME THIS LONG! :3

LOVE YA ALL!

Oh, and Happy Thanksgiving, Americans! What are you guys having to eat? Right now my dinner consists of take-away pizza and pumpkin pie... PERFECT! XD

REVIEW IF YOU LOVE ME! OR PERCY JACKSON! TAKE YOUR PICK!

Disclaimer: NOODLES ARE SCRUMPTIOUS! NOODLES ARE SCRUMPTIOUS! DAVID TENNANT IS A SEXY BEEAAAAST!... Yes, I'm procrastinating. Characters are all property of Rick Riordan. I just enjoy making their lives miserable and coming up with insane ideas. XP I don't own anything.