Chapter 57: Annabeth's dad.

Annabeth told Kurayami the address and he drove to her father's home. On the way, she kept her lion in her embrace and it seemed she was a bit ashamed. She had not seen her dad in years, so Kurayami looked in the rearview mirror and shook his head.

"Let's just see. If he is a dick we leave." Annabeth nodded and they arrived fairly quick. They got out of the car and Annabeth knocked on the door. When he opened the door they expected him to have devil horns and fangs.

They did not expected for him to be wearing an old-fashioned aviator's cap and goggles. He looked so weird, with his eyes bugging out through the glasses, that they. all took a step back on the front porch.

When he saw Annabeth he got her in a tight hug. "Annabeth! I was so worried I would never see you again. Not even a note. I am glad your back." Dr, Chase looked over them all and he could see through the mist as well, so he saw all the things that Rachel did.

He let go and sighed. "I guess this is not a visit to your dad." Annabeth nodded.

"Sorry I left without notice, but things got scary. It seemed you didn't want me around." He shook his head.

"That was never the case. Come in all of you."

They all entered the house It didn't look like a house they'd just moved into. There were LEGO robots on the stairs and two cats sleeping on the sofa in the living room. Kurayami's eyes shined when he saw them and the two cats woke up and rubbed upon his leg. He hoped they didn't mind super cats as that might happen.

The coffee table was stacked with magazines, and a little kid's winter coat was spread on the floor. The whole house smelled like fresh-baked chocolate-chip cookies. There was jazz music coming from the kitchen. It seemed like a messy, happy kind of home—the kind of place that had been lived in forever.

"Dad!" a little boy screamed. "He's taking apart my robots!"

"Bobby," Dr. Chase called sternly. "don't take apart your brother's robots. Say hi to your sister."

"I'm Bobby," the little boy protested. "He's Matthew! Hi sis." He ran off after that.

"Matthew," Dr. Chase called, "don't take apart your brother's robots!"

"Okay, Dad! Hi sis." He also ran off after just that. Annabeth smiled and Dr. Chase looked at the golden lion in her hands. "Now what is that little creature?" Annabeth told the story of how she joined Grigori and how Kurayami caught it for her.

Dr. Chase looked at Kurayami and needed to know. "If you are a fallen angel that means you have wings. How do they work? How aerodynamic are they? If you have more that must mean you have more nerves to control them. Are they retractable? If they are where do they go."

"Dad." Dr. Chase smiled.

"Sorry, a force of habit. We'll go upstairs to my study. This way."

"Honey?" A woman called. Annabeth's stepmom appeared in the living room, wiping her hands on a dishtowel. She was a pretty Asian woman with red highlighted hair tied in a bun. When she saw Annabeth she got her in a hug.

"I am glad your back dear." Annabeth nodded.

"Thank you.

"Who are our guests? Beside's Annabeth," she asked.

"Oh," Dr. Chase said. "This is…"

He stared at them blankly as he didn't ask their names."

"Frederick," she chided. "You forgot to ask them their names?"

Everyone introduced themselves, and Mrs. Chase seemed really nice. She asked if they were hungry. They admitted they were, and she told them she'd bring us some cookies and sandwiches and sodas.

"All right. Go on up to the study and I'll bring you some food." She smiled at the group. "Nice meeting you all."

Upstairs, they walked into Dr. Chase's study and Percy said, "Whoa!"

The room was wall-to-wall books, but what really caught his attention were the war toys. There was a huge table with miniature tanks and soldiers fighting along a blue painted river, with hills and fake trees and stuff. Old-fashioned biplanes hung on strings from the ceiling, tilted at crazy angles like they were in the middle of a dogfight.

Dr. Chase smiled. "Yes. The Third Battle of Ypres. I'm writing a paper, you see, on the use of Sopwith Camels to strafe enemy lines. I believe they played a much greater role than they've been given credit for."

He plucked a biplane from its string and swept it across the battlefield, making airplane engine noises as he knocked down little German soldiers.

Zoe came over and studied the battlefield. "The German lines were farther from the river." Kurayami looked at it as this was beyond his time. Sometimes he forgot he was younger than Zoe as she looked like a young girl.

Dr. Chase stared at her. "How do you know that?"

"I was there," she said matter-of-factly. "Artemis wanted to show us how horrible war was, the way mortal men fight each other. And how foolish, too. The battle was a complete waste."

Dr. Chase opened his mouth in shock. "You—"

"She's a Hunter, sir," Thalia said. "But that's not why we're here. We-"

"You saw the Sopwith Camels?" Dr. Chase said. "How many were there? What formations did they fly?"

"Sir," Thalia broke in again. "We need a place to stay until tomorrow."

That got his attention. He set the biplane down.

"Of course," he said. "Tell me everything."

They told him of what they were doing, what they did, and why they had to get Artemis." He nodded and sat in his leather recliner. He laced his hands. "Go ahead. I get to find new info if you don't mind." Zoe shook her head and would tell him what she knew.

"Snacks," Mrs. Chase announced. She pushed through the door with a tray full of peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches and Cokes and cookies fresh out of the oven, the chocolate chips still gooey. Thalia and Percy inhaled a few cookies while Kurayami ate some.

"Just like my mom's." She looked at him who looked like an adult.

"She must be a nice lady. She must be proud of a young man like you." They all broke out laughing and she was confused. "Something wrong." Kurayami smiled.

"I'm only 15. I look older because of my heritage." She looked embarrassed as she thought he was 20 and his mom was middle-aged. What would she say if his mom was even younger than her? That would be funny.

Mrs. Chase knit her eyebrows. "What's this about?"

"They need a place to stay until sunset tomorrow. They need to rescue a kidnapped goddess. Dr. Chase said. "On Mount Tam." It sounded like it was really hard for him to get that last part out.

They waited for Mrs. Chase to say no. What mortal parent would allow 5 demigods and a fallen angel to stay in their home? To their surprise, Mrs. Chase nodded. "Stay the night I will get the guest bedroom ready. You all look like you could use a warm shower."

Annabeth put down her pet lion and Mrs. Chase looked at it with squinted eyes. "To me, it looks like a bobcat. What is it really?" Annabeth told her what it was and Mrs. Chase nodded. "Hope it knows how to use a littler box."

Kurayami sat on the couch with two cats laying on his lap and his head. It reminded him of Kuroka and he opened up a call to see how they were. He called Akeno who picked up on speed dial. "KURAYAMI HIMEJIMA. YOU HAVE NOT CALLED IN DAYS!" Her yells scared the cats who already were looking a little more than cats.

He opened his mouth to speak, but she frowned. "Not a word. I am calling the others. They are all pissed." He sighed while Percy, Annabeth, Bianca, Zoe gave him his space. In just a minute all the girls were looking at him with pissed looks. Raynare shook her head.

"So he finally remembers us. How sad that after years of being together he does not even bother to call me." Esdeath held her face and sighed.

"When are you coming back? The bed feels lonely without you. I miss your warmth." Natsume didn't even look at him and he sighed.

"Natsume." She glanced over and like a tsundere refused to look at him. "Look, I am sorry alright. I lost track of time. If things go well I will be back home, in two days." Lavinia smiled as she was not really mad at him.

"I want a date." One after the others the girls all wanted dates and Kuroka smiled with fake tears in her eyes.

"Come back to me *sniff* I am all alone Nya." He sighed as these girls were probably going to keep him busy with making it up to them. He talked to them for a whole hour and hung up. He laid down on the couch and fell asleep. They spent the day just relaxing as they will be busy and a few hours before sunset they set off.

Dr. Chase and Mrs. Chase both hugged Annabeth goodbye. He looked at his daughter and patted her on the head. "Go kick some ass for me." Annabeth nodded and before they left Mrs. Chase looked at her cats with annoyed looks.

"Can someone tell me why my cats are as big as a German shepherd?" Kurayami coughed and looked away a little embarrassed.

"Maybe if animals stay close to me they get stronger. That might be the case." The cats were huge and were still rubbing up on his leg. She sighed as her adorable cats now looked like pathers. Kurayami and the rest got in the car and drove toward the mountain at many times the speed limit. A good thing is he turned the car invisible and he drove at fast speed.

It would have been bad if he was normal, but he weaved through traffic like it was easy. They were impressed with his driving skills and it was a good thing they could get there fast. He weaved in and out of traffic on the Golden Gate Bridge. They had about 3 hours left more than enough time when we finally got into Marin County and exited the highway.

The roads were insanely narrow, winding through forests and up the sides of hills and around the edges of steep ravines. Kurayami didn't slow down at all.

"Why does everything smell like cough drops?" Percy asked.

"Eucalyptus." Zoe pointed to the huge trees all around them.

"The stuff koala bears eat?"

"And monsters," she said. "They love chewing the leaves. Especially dragons." They all looked at Kurayami who just needed to know. He stopped the car and he let Tyrant out. When Tyrant smelled the leaves he turned huge and took a huge mouthful and began to chew it. It steamed in his mouth and he looked back at Kurayami. He grunted and kept chewing.

"Says it tastes like mint." Kurayami got him back and he kept driving. Ahead of them loomed Mount Tamalpais. In terms of mountains, it was a small one, but it looked plenty huge as they were driving toward it.

"So that's the Mountain of Despair?" Kurayami asked. "Does not look like much?

"Yes," Zoe said tightly. "Zeus sheared the top off when he knocked Kronos off his throne."

As he kept driving he looked back. "So, why do they call it that?"

She was silent for almost a mile before answering. "After the war between the Titans and the gods, many of the Titans were punished and imprisoned. Kronos was sliced to pieces and thrown into Tartarus. Kronos's right-hand man, the general of his forces, was imprisoned up there, on the summit, just beyond the Garden of the Hesperides."

"The General," Percy said. Clouds seemed to be swirling around its peak, as though the mountain was drawing them in, spinning them like a top. "What's going on up there? A storm?"

Zoe didn't answer and Kurayami knew why. Her father would probably kill her in this mission, but she was ready for that. They knew the could meant more than just a storm, but she didn't say what.

"We have to concentrate," Thalia said. "The Mist is really strong here."

"The magical kind or the natural kind?" Percy asked.

Kurayami and Zoe said in tendent. "Both."

The gray clouds swirled even thicker over the mountain and they kept driving straight toward them. They were out of the forest now, into wide open spaces of cliffs and grass and rocks and fog. Percy happened to glance down at the ocean as they passed a scenic curve, and he saw something.

"Look!" But they turned a corner and the ocean disappeared behind the hills.

"What?" Thalia asked.

"A big white ship," He said. "Docked near the beach. It looked like a cruise ship."

Her eyes widened. "Luke's ship?" Bianca didn't know Luke, but from what she heard he was bad enough as he sided with Kronos.

Annabeth hoped they could help him as he was not a bad guy in his early days. She wanted to believe he was being controlled, sadly Kurayami did not plan to let him have a peaceful end. He promised a soul and he will deliver. Luke's demon cruise ship, was docked at that beach.

"We will have company, then," Zoe said grimly. "Kronos's army."

Kurayami was about to suggest he send Tyrant to destroy it when suddenly his eyes narrowed and he looked up. Thalia shouted, "Kurayami, blast that lighting."

Kurayami let go of the wheel and moved his leg up to keep steering. Somehow he could control it as well as with his hands. Kurayami destroyed the entire roof of the car and on his arms burned with purple flames. From his hands an extreme stream of flames that made any heat they felt before going to shame clashed with a giant lightning bolt. They felt their body hit with a massive explosion of lighting and fire, but Kurayami's flames prevailed.

He sped up in the now roofless car to the summit. They looked at him like he was insane, but it worked.