PJO+Storm Runner book

Land ho!

not mine, you know that

We landed in a clearing far from the city. Annabeth and Reyna wanted to try to find Zane's dad. Zane wasn't any help and Bird and Zotz said it was a bad idea. You'd figure we'd listen to the people that have lived hundreds of years more than us but no. They had to try to find him. We made it to the city quickly since Zotz could open a gateway for us to use to get there. We made it to an area with more fancy houses when I saw somebody leaning against a lamppost at the end of the street. Reyna and Thalia weren't here so we couldn't try to snipe the guy. Zane didn't even stop like everyone else he just kept on walking. Annabeth walked at the same pace as him now, trying to trick him into most likely walking to where his dad lives. It didn't work. Annabeth stopped at a nice house at the end of the road, it looked abandoned like nobody had been there for weeks or even months. Annabeth pulled out some lock picking tools, and tried to open the lock. I looked around for Zane but he was nowhere to be seen and that creepy guy was looking at us now.

"Annabeth, maybe this isn't a good idea. We're being watched," I told her and in return I got duct tape on my mouth. When Annabeth finally opened it, Zane was already inside with a stopwatch.

"That took you guys longer than I thought it would," Zane said nonchalantly, like it wasn't a big deal. (It was)

"WHY DIDN'T YOU LET US IN ZANE!?" Annabeth was furious now. Zane just shrugged and walked further into the house. I ripped the duct tape off my mouth and followed. Somehow the door had closed behind us even though we weren't near it. This house is definitely haunted. Zane led us to a kitchen and pulled a coke out of the fridge for himself. He kept it open so we could take something. We all settled for water from the sink. We continued walking through the house until we stopped in front of a door that was decorated with fire stickers. It was clearly Zanes. He opened the door and walked inside then closed the door on us. He came out 5 minutes later in different clothes and a restocked bag.

"Take us to your fathers study or library or office." Annabeth told Zane and he did that. We arrived in front of two very tall grand doors. His dad was definitely rich. Zane kicked them open leaving a footprint on the doors. There were multiple story bookshelves so high I couldn't count how many stories there were of bookshelves. Multiple bright wall lights lit up the place. There was a desk in the middle of the room with a nice leather spinny chair. A corkboard was behind it on a separated wall. The bookshelves still stretched on in all directions, but they stopped two bookshelves behind the desk.

"Don't worry there's not too many books. I've walked around here before. Every Side that branches off the main bookshelf hall goes for about 5 more bookshelves. Still the same height though all throughout." Zane informed us as he sat down in his dads chair. There were papers all across the desk and floor. Some ink was spilled on some of the papers. And on the cork board there was a red string attached to the papers and photos all leading back to one paper. "defeat"

"What does that mean?" Zane asked.

"No idea... Was your dad going insane last time you saw him." Piper asked, most likely putting a little charm speak in her words.

"Nope. He just looked stressed like he always does." Zane answered. One of the papers on the board said I trusted her with it, the one it connected to said her demise is imminent because of me. This was deep stuff.

"Dude you're a rich kid!? Do you have any gasoline I could borrow?" Leo asked and Zane pulled out a canister from under the desk. Leo patted Zane on the back and resumed his ADHD activities. Annabeth was analizing stuff when we heard footsteps. We all dashed into one of the side bookshelf halls, minus Zane since he did kinda live here. The man that was leaning against the lamppost was standing in front of the desk.

"You're far from home Zane," The man said, "You aren't supposed to be here until next month you know." Oh phew. So far so good.

"Is my dad okay?" Zane asked.

"No. he isn't," The mysterious man replied. Zane stared at the board trying to figure out what his dad was onto.

"He tried to decipher something and succeeded. However everyone knows including him somethings are better left to just unfold, you can't stop the imminent. You can only delay, which is what he is trying to do." The man continued as he put a tarp over the board. Patted Zane on the shoulder and left. We came out of our hiding spot while Zane still stared at the trap covered board. He looked like he was on the verge of tears. Bird and Zotz looked at each other and mouthed a few words. I had no idea what they were talking about since I couldn't read lips. Piper patted Zane on the back since she knew what it was like to have a loved one go insane.

"It might be a good idea to leave now," Bird said, "I know a place where we can get to the gods' realm!"

"Then let's go! C'mon Zane!" Annabeth exclaimed as we all followed them out of the house. We were in the middle of the forest now in front of a cave entrance. We confidently followed Bird and Zotz as they walked inside the cave. Suddenly we were falling down. Somehow we fell right into a trap.