When Things Fall Apart

Chapter Six

By now, Percy had ended his control over the seas and earth. It wasn't because he couldn't handle it and ran out of strength. Heck, he didn't even know he was doing it. At this point, the emotions had subsided, and all that was left was pure determination. He improved in his abilities to travel by vaporizing, though he realized it was easiest when he was near the seas. He followed the East coast all the way down to Florida, across the Gulf of Mexica, to the Pacific ocean, and found himself in California. He entered DOA Recording Studios.

*clinck* a bag of drachmas hit the counter.

"Well, look who we have here. What was your name again? Hmm... Percy Jackson, that's it," said Charon. Percy just stood there with his hood up.

"Hmm, I remember bringing you inside a little while back. You and your friends came here," Charon commented. He tussled on the lapels of his Italian suit.

"But you're back, and you're still alive... Mortals, I will never understand you people. You can't just accept death, you have to get all curious about it and try to do something noble. Although, I did see your friend just a couple of weeks ago, but I'm afraid that she was not in the same, uh, living condition as you are currently." Percy steeled his mouth at that one.

"Can you just let me in?" he asked with a bit of an edge to his voice.

Charon looked at the bag of drachmas in front of him. "Hmm, I suppose." He spoke up, "Alright, you dead, good for nothings. I'm going to take this mortal, you guys just wait a couple more years. Thank you for stopping at DOA Recording Studios." All the dead moaned after that.

As they crossed the Styx, Charon looked back at Percy. "You know, I really do not care about mortal affairs, like at all. But if I might ask, what are you doing here, man? I remember last time, you three had your pearls to escape the Underworld, but I don't sense one on you now."

Percy just stared in front of him. "Why I am here doesn't matter. But you are right, I only planned for a one-way ticket."

And with that, they kept sailing.
______
Meanwhile, the hunters of Artemis were having zero luck in finding Percy. Artemis was getting frustrated. There wasn't a thing she couldn't track down, yet Percy seemed to elude her at every step.

The Hunt had set camp in Yellowstone National Park. This was their meeting point, and during the day, Artemis deployed different groups in different directions, while she searched alone. At the end of the day, they all reconvened and discussed any leads they had on him. Sadly, they had nothing on him yet again. The girls all sat around the fire talking trash about Percy.

"Why are we even searching for a worthless boy, anyways?" asked Phoebe. "Shouldn't we be glad there is one less boy out there for Olympus to worry about?" A bunch of the girls snickered and nodded their heads in agreement. One of the ones who didn't was Thalia.

After a couple of other girls dissed Percy, Thalia decided that she had enough. "Girls, stop it. I understand that Percy is a male. But Percy is also the best male I have ever met. When Zoe was living her final moments, she realized that not all men are bad because of Percy. If you want to respect the death of a fallen maiden such as Zoe, you can start by honoring her words." By now everyone had gone silent. She pulled out the Zoe-card.

After the conversations picked up a bit, Thalia looked at Artemis. Artemis gave her a solemn smile across the fire.

"Alright girls, let's put out the fire. Tomorrow we'll be tracking even further from base camp." The girls went back to their tents.

Artemis didn't realize how tired she was until she laid down. Immediately, her body just let go. Although she didn't admit this to her hunters, she had searched five times as far as them. For one, she didn't like failing to catch a demigod. Second, she wanted to make sure Percy was alright. Percy was the first, erh, well, maybe not friend, but her first male acquaintance who she could tolerate.

She recalled the last time they saw each other after the defeat of Kronos and Typhon. She asked him to dance, and she ended up enjoying his presence. Granted, she also slapped him across the face that night, but it was still nice to have the reminder that there was potentially hope for the male community.
______
The next morning, Artemis jumped out of bed. She quickly put on her uniform and went outside. She went over to Thalia's tent and knocked.

"Milady, isn't it a bit early?" Thalia asked, her hair looking like a pine cone.

"Thalia, I know where Percy is," Artemis replied. Thalia widened her eyes.

"What? How?" she asked.

"The Fates ordained me with his whereabouts in a dream. But if what the dream showed was true, I must go alone. I will contact Apollo, he is going to take you girls to Camp Half Blood."

"But milady, you could use ou-"

"No Thalia, I must go alone. Although the dream didn't tell me everything, one thing is for certain. Percy is planning something dangerous. I have to stop him." Artemis looked at her seriously. Thalia slowly nodded her head.

And then Artemis was off, towards the West coast.