Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson & the Olympians

Apollo's Daughter

Sea salt and brine, the smell of the ocean. One of my favorite smells. It's been a long time since I could walk freely on the Earth. Not since Atlantis...A very long time indeed.

The long shadow that fell across the deck of the fishing boat was that of a teenage girl. The ship itself was headed for Manhattan, New York. She had been told to go there by her father. There was a person that he wanted her to meet. Sighing softly the girl laid down, her long sun blonde hair spreading out around her lithe body. She couldn't have looked more then 17 but her azure eyes gave away her years of life. When they finally landed the sun had gone down. It was hard to see the stars in this area, though she was sure they could see her. Slipping into her flip-flops she got off the boat.

"Thank you for allowing me passage on your boat. May the sea be kind!" The captain smiled widely. He was a stout man, but kind and warmhearted. Irish in his heritage if she made the accent right.

"So polite for a girl so young. Are you sure you don't want one of my men to take you into the city. It's dangerous for a girl to go anywhere at night by herself anymore." Shaking her head the blonde smiled.

"I'll be fine. Thank you for your concern captain but I have much better protection then your fishermen. Take care." With that she walked away. Her flip-flops made splashing noises as she walked from the dock. She didn't fear the darkness, nor cared for what it concealed. If anything came her way she'd know. The only difficult thing she had was navigating the city. There was so much noise and so many lights it was almost as if the sun was still up...though it gave her no power. Finally, after a few hours, it started to fade. The cars, the people, even the noise died down until she was completely out of the city and in the countryside. The girl wasn't sure she was in Manhattan anymore but the river was still flowing near her. At least she could follow that if need be.

"You shouldn't be out here alone. You know how it makes him worry." Her hair circled her body with how fast she turned around. Though what faced her was not something she expected. There were several girls, all looking younger then herself though some were as old as she was. One wore a laurel crown...

"Hunters. Artemis you startled me. What are you doing out here?" A small girl of about 11 at most came forward and smiled.

"I should ask you the same question niece. Azurana, you know you shouldn't be alone. You attract so many monsters."

"I wasn't alone. I was with Captain Rankin and his crew. Besides, father wanted me here. He told me there was someone here he wanted me to meet but there's so many people I haven't a clue who he meant." The Hunters were making camp, the one in the laurel crown was starting the fire.

"Come, sit and eat. We'll get you to where you need to go dear niece."

"Artemis...where's Zoe?" The goddess stopped and looked down.

"She died a few summers back. She lives in the stars now. Have you seen it?"

"The Hunter constellation? I haven't seen it yet but I was told about it. Then who is your new lieutenant?" Azurana sat down by the fire as the other hunters brought out food and joined them.

"My name is Thalia. Who are you?" The girl was dressed mostly in black, matching her equally dark spiky hair.

"Azurana Minas, daughter of Apollo. You smell like the mountains..."

"We've been hunting in the Rockies for a few days. What's it to you?"

"Thalia, please. She is our guest." Artemis was drinking nectar as she studied her brother's daughter. True, Azurana was one of his more...'lively' children, but she was also far more powerful then any others he'd had. If angered, Thalia would be in trouble.

"No. You smell like the mountain air...fresh air...and charged, like before a big storm. It seems Zeus had another child. Hera probably reigned him for that one." Thalia's body stiffened, the air around her getting tense.

"Excuse me?"

"You are Zeus' child, are you not? First one since Ariel to be a hunter. I'm impressed."

"Azurana. Don't provoke her. There will be no fighting here. Be civil."

"Lady Artemis why are we here anyway? The monster we were hunting headed west." A small redheaded hunter asked quietly.

"We are here as a favor for my brother. He can't escort Az himself so he asked me to do it. Normally I would have said no but seeing as how it is Azurana, I thought it best to comply." The blonde scowled as she started to braid her hair.

"Oh great, a babysitter. Like that's ever gone over well. You did hear about what happened to the last one he sent right?"

"I did, but I highly doubt you're going to tie me to a tree and burn off my hair." Artemis shared a smile with her niece, offering her an ambrosia square.

"Doubtful. You'd have me arrowed to a tree before I got close enough with the rope."

"Which is why he asked me. He knows you wouldn't try to cross a god. At least, not me. Now if it were Ares..."

"Game on. It's always so much fun messing with him. Him and Hermes. Oh I miss him. He was so much fun. I wish I could stay with Hephaestus for awhile. Maybe I could play a prank on Ares and Aphrodite." Az's bright blue eyes were sparkling with excitement at the thought of adventures she had yet to have.

"I wouldn't. Aphrodite makes it hard for those that help her husband."

"Like she could do any more damage to me. Poseidon took care of that for her."

"You sank his palace Azurana." Artemis reminded her niece as she drank more nectar. The rest of the hunters were watching in slight fascination. No one had ever gotten so much from their leader in such a short time...no one that wasn't an Olympian anyway.

"It was an accident for the billionth time! I didn't mean to sink it, besides; I hear he likes it better under the ocean." It almost looked as if the tan girl were pouting. Thalia's eyebrows raised together in skepticism.

"You sank Atlantis?"

"On accident. I just...I was over excited and I let out too much energy and well...it sank. I don't know how. Poseidon could've stopped it you'd think. Oh well. At least it wasn't as bad as Babylon was. I thought Demeter was going to kill us."

"Babylon? No way. You're lying." Thalia wasn't buying it. Babylon wasn't even proven to have ever existed...then again neither had Atlantis. But since the gods were said to be myths too, well it made one revise what they believed to be fact and fiction.

"Not on my own. Ari took my bow and Natalia's helm of invisibility. Both gifts from our fathers. She got so angry she started killing things. The land, the animals, the people...it was like plague or something. She even started to kill the gardens, which is like attacking the golden apples of Hera. Anyway, I was so angry at him I started trying to hit him. Of course without my bow I resorted to my god given gifts and set most of the city on fire, including the gardens. In an attempt to stop the fighting and the fires, Cadan doused the entire city. But since it was surrounded by dirt hills he caused a mud slide and buried everything. Oh Demeter was so mad. She locked us all up in plants for a month. Natalia was always in the sun. I was always in the shade. Cadan was in the ground with only his head above the Earth and Ari was tied up in rose and camomile vines. It was horrible."

"The hanging gardens of Babylon. You destroyed the hanging gardens of Babylon. Not to mention Babylon itself and sank Atlantis. What next? Pompeii?"

"Thalia." Artemis was warning her lieutenant about the tone of voice she was using but it seemed to have been missed by Azurana.

"No, that one was not me actually. Oliver was responsible for that one."

"How old are you?"

"Old."

"Well if you can do all that then why are we taking you to Camp Half Blood?" The lithe blonde tilted her head in confusion.

"Camp Half Blood?"

"It's where Apollo wants you to be. We're taking you there." The goddess set her cup down and looked out into the woods.

"We should be going soon. Thalia no more questions until we get there. Chiron and Dionysus need to be in attendance for some of these questions." The Hunters were packing up the camp and getting ready to leave.

"I would race you Artemis but I have no idea where I'm going." Smiling Artemis stood and came up next to Azurana with her Hunters behind her.

"Maybe next time. This way." The woods were dark and almost menacing in nature. It wasn't an odd sensation, just one the halfblood hadn't had in a long time. Along their way was an old strawberry farm. Even from the bottom of the hill, Azurana could see the dragon guarding the gate to what she assumed was this camp her father was sending her to.

"A dragon? My, my, this place has the nicest pets. May I ask why Dionysus is here?"

"Ask him, dear niece." The area beyond the gate looked like a summer camp. There was a big house where counselors would stay, about 20 cabins for campers, each looking different from the next. An archery area, a forge, a pavilion, horse stables, docks with boats...it really was a summer camp.

"Please tell me he's kidding. There's so many halfbloods here it's making my nose itch." There were too many different smells. Az didn't like it one bit. Having five halfbloods around her was hard enough but a camp full of them? On their way to the counselor house she noticed something in the pavilion.

"Mrs. O'Leary? What's Natalia's hellhound doing here?"

"She doesn't belong to Natalia anymore." Her aunt replied as she knocked on the door. Apparently the people in the house had been informed that they were coming. A girl of about 16 opened the door, her bright red hair shining in the light. It was a different form from the last time she saw her but the scent was definitely the same.

"Delphi? This place has my oracle?" There was a smile on Artemis' face as she led everyone into a large room just off the foyer.

"Your oracle? Excuse me but I belong to no one and the name's Rachel, not Delphi."

"Well she's spunky isn't she?"

"Quite. Please, come in." The red head sat down at the table just as a man came around in a wheelchair.

"Hello. I see you got her here safely. Thank you Lady Artemis."

"It was no problem. Azurana came peacefully."

"You make me sound like a prisner." The man in a wheelchair smiled.

"In a sense you are. You aren't allowed to leave the grounds unless it's summer's end or you are given a quest. Seeing as you are going to be a year round camper, you will have to wait for quests." The teen's blue eyes flared.

"What! I can't leave!? You have got to be kidding me. This is so unfair. Haven't I been punished enough? Put me back in Lily's care. O-or Oliver. Juliet. Bridgett. Luna. Cristian. Natalia. I'll even take Ari. Don't confine me to this place. Please."

"Wow...you almost named all 12. I'm sorry Az. This was your father's decision and I won't change it. This will be good for you, you'll see. You'll get to be around other halfbloods and be somewhat normal. Promise me you won't make trouble...or much trouble at least." Her aunt was looking at her the way a mother would look at their eight year old when telling them they're going to a babysitter's for a week.

"...Fine. But I'm staying under protest."

"Just don't make trouble." The man at the end of the table finally spoke up. His face couldn't be seen but he was reading a wine catalog and drinking diet soda.

"Dionysus, why are you here?"

"I did something my father told me not to. Sound familiar?"

"He never said not to sink that blasted city!"

"He said not to go near what was in the city. You did, you sank it, and this is your punishment."

"Cause 4000 years of being tossed around from one jailer to another isn't enough."

"You should've left him alone."

"Yeah and you should lay off the wine but will you ever stop doing that?" The girl crossed her arms and glared at the god as he lowered his magazine down.

"Watch it or I'll turn you to grapes." Azurana rolled her eyes.

"Uh, huh. Well alright then. Hello, I'm Azurana if you haven't guessed, Az for short, and I'll be your newest 'camper' I suppose." She greeted the rest of the kids that were at the table. There were 11 in all but she had a feeling there were a few missing.

"I'm going to go out on a limb and say you all are the head camper people right?"

"Yeah, how'd you know?"

"Lucky guess."

"Well, I'm Miranda and this Jake, Katie, Connor and Travis Stoll, Nico, Percy, Annabeth, Clarisse, Will, and Pollux." The brunette went around pointing to each teen in turn.

"Yeah, I'm not going to remember all that so I may ask again. Any of you Apollo's?" Will raised his hand with a curious look on his face.

"How many of his children are there?"

"Well all of Apollo's children stay in his cabin. That's what the cabins are for. You stay in the cabin of your parent. That's why there's so many. Percy got the gods to agree to it and since then we've gotten a lot more campers...and cleared out a lot of the Hermes' cabin. There are 14 of us in Apollo."

"14? I have to share a cabin with 14 kids? Why not put me back on the Olympus? Well, at least it won't be boring."

"You're a child of Apollo?" Connor, or was it Travis, asked looking at Az with appealing eyes.

"Have you met my dad? There's no mistaking I'm his kid. Don't look at me like that. It's looks like that, that got me in this mess. Damn those green eyes." Artemis tried to hid the smile that threatened her lips.

"Well at least you know who is in charge of your cabin." One of the Hunters said.

"Yeah. I'd take being a hunter over this...except I can't."

"I'm sorry Azurana. I would if I could but even if you were able to, Apollo might hold a grudge for taking you. I love you but that is a wrath I wish not to deal with. Try to enjoy your time here." Artemis was trying but Az didn't seem to be warming up to the idea of the camp.

"Give me one of the others and I'll deal. Oo! Give me Natalia! We can take back Mrs. O'Leary from whatever creep took her."

"That would be Deadulus and Mrs. She gave her to him."

"The labyrinth guy? Victor was talking about him ages ago. He's still breathing?"

"No, he died and left Mrs. O'Leary to me." Oh dear gods...those green eyes.

"Uh...w-who are you again?"

"Percy. Percy Jackson."

"Uh, huh..." This is just cruel. A child of the sea.

"Who's Natalia?" What seemed to be the youngest one there spoke up. The black hair and dark brown eyes made his already pale skin stand out more. Az looked down at him and leaned in a little closer to get to his level.

"Death."

"Excuse me?"

"She's death in the simplest terms. The immortal child of Hades. She's grief, suffering, sadness, and death. But I assure you, she's really quite upbeat for what she is. Natalia is and always will be the heir to Hades' throne, which probably means she's in the Underworld. I hope she hasn't gotten herself into trouble. She gets bored about as easy as I do and when we're bored, we cause trouble in most cases. You'd like her. Just don't get her upset...though being a son of Hades yourself you might be able to take her if she does anything."

"How did you-"

"Know? You smell like death. Hades' reaks of it given where he is so all his kids do too. You pick up the scents after awhile. And your name was?"

"Nico Di Angelo."

"Italian? Nice." The blonde smiled and turned to Artemis for the answer to her question about one of the others joining her.

"I'll see. For now just get along with those that haven't been alive since the first war. Just for something new. I have to go, it was nice seeing you all and Azurana, always a pleasure. Good night."

"We race next time don't forget!"

"Never." A bright smile and the hunters and their goddess were gone.

"Well...that was fun. Now what?" The teen looked back at the table of people that would soon become friends.

"Bed. Sleep. Hopefully no nightmares." Nico's head rested on the table.

"What? But the sun's about to come up! I can't go to sleep...man. Where's Nicolai when you need him?" Sighing the daughter of the sun god sat down in an empty chair. This was going to be a long summer.