I cursed to myself as Harpocrates flashed back into my room, causing him, Lupa, and Edward to look at me with raised eyebrows.
"She still had James' sword," I explained, and the three of them laughed as I stood up to follow them out of the room.
"Only you would be concerned about that," Lupa replied, shrinking slightly so she could accompany the rest of us through the winding halls of my house/office/base of operations.
"Of course I am," I countered as we entered the meeting room. I had specifically placed the room where it was not long after I started building when I discovered that the Labyrinth had somehow come back, despite me having seen Daedalus die with my own eyes. Harpocrates thinks that it has to do with the Labyrinth being such a famous myth, as well as so many cultures around the world having stories about mazes, that it reformed on its own without its creator's life force. As soon as we found that our little island had an entrance, though, I asked Harpocrates to seal it with as much of his power as possible before informing everyone who came to live with us where it was. That way, if anything happened and my friends needed a quick escape, they would know where to go, but only I could bring people in on the secret, otherwise, for them, it simply wouldn't exist. I looked above my seat at the massive round table, where the shattered pieces of my oldest companion were mounted on the wall and smiled fondly. "There's a special bond between a boy and his first sword."
"No innuendo to be found there at all," Prometheus drawled as he strolled in.
"Speaking of which," Hecate added as she followed close behind. "Could you please try to avoid strutting around in the nude before I have to treat any more of your friends for aneurysms?"
"You know regular clothes don't survive my transformations," I countered as I took my seat. "Besides, I thought the Greeks were all about appreciating the human form?"
Hecate rolled her eyes and I grinned as the door opened one last time and Reyna walked in followed by Calypso. Soon we were all seated around the table, with Lupa reclining on a large, plush cushion.
"So," I said, calling the meeting to order. "Now that our guest has been returned to her hunters, why don't we get down to business. Calypso, how did things go with Nico?"
"I managed to get him just as he was leaving Camp Half-Blood," she replied. "He was a little resistant, but I managed to knock him out and force the potion down his throat."
I nodded. "That's good. Did you manage to leave the evidence of his kidnapping?"
"I did," she answered. "I assume this means things went as well on your end?"
"New Rome's Praetor will be waking up on a bus soon with no memory of who he is, along with two demigods I found along the way. If all goes according to plan, they'll suspect that the same person who took him is the one who stole the rest of their standards."
"What about the Goddess?" Hecate asked. "Our plan hinges on the Greeks and Romans being at each other's throats. She could ruin everything."
"She won't," Prometheus replied. "Not only will the gods be occupied by their two aspects fighting one another, but she, like all of us, is bound by Harpocrates power. In fact, if I had to guess, she would be the one on the Council most likely to come to see things our way."
"Please," I scoffed. "I may feel bad for how she's going to be treated in the near future, but she's an Olympian."
"We eventually got over ourselves," Hecate ventured. "Who's to say she couldn't?"
"If anyone could, it would be her," I conceded before a growl rumbled up my throat. "But I won't allow her or anyone to bring more danger to our home."
"Says the man plannin' on wagin' war on Olympus itself," Edward teased while Lupa's lips pulled back in a vicious grin and she cackled.
"Something you want to add, Wolf Mother?" I asked, forcing myself to calm down once again. It must have had to do with her being the Goddess of the Hunt, or something, but ever since I found that child of Lycaon dragging her away, I've been on edge. Even now, I could still smell her, and had to force myself to calm down before I went off and hunted her down myself.
"I believe young Perseus - or at least his wolf spirit - has stumbled across some of the more. . . base instincts that come with my blessing."
"Then I'll just have to learn how to control them," I decided. "I came far too close to hurting her last time."
Calypso chuckled and shook her head when I looked her way, causing me to roll my eyes. "Anyway, is there anything else we need to discuss?"
"My children have been praying to me a bit more," Hecate replied. "It seems that they one of their experiments has attracted more and more monsters to Camp Half-Blood. There haven't been any casualties yet, but they are afraid that the other campers are going to start blaming them."
"I can ask my sister if she could spare some warriors for the surrounding area," Reyna suggested.
I cringed at the mention of Reyna's sister and her Amazons. Between their enslavement of men, and the Hunters' desire to kill them, I could hardly decide who I had more distaste for. Then again, the Hunters never tried to seduce me whenever I saw them, so that was a definite point in their favour.
"You're going to have to get used to dealing with her at some point, Alpha," Reyna teased. "She and her girls are always asking when you'll come spend the night with them again."
Growling as the others laughed at me, I pinched the bridge of my nose. I had tried to get them to stop calling me Alpha, as I wanted all the leaders here to be on equal footing, but that never stopped them. Eventually I just gave up.
"Fine," I conceded. "Ask her. And remind her that she knows exactly why I'm not thrilled at the idea of spending another night with her."
Reyna nodded, and Calypso took the opportunity to speak as well, her leg bouncing restlessly. "Are we nearly done?" She asked. "My crew and I are eager to get back out to sea, and we need to get some rest."
"Are you sure?" I asked. "You've barely been back at all over the last few weeks."
Calypso smiled and reached over to grab my hand. "I've spent too long in one place, Percy. I need to get back out and see the world I've been missing."
"I get that," I replied. "But the world isn't going anywhere. You can take some time to just relax at home."
"Just knowing that I have a home where I can come and go is enough," she said. "Besides, I think we're closing in on the location of Delos."
"All right," I said with a sigh of defeat. "I just worry about you is all." I may not have been able to properly return Calypso's feelings for me when I finally freed her, but she and I have grown closer and closer over the last few years. Nowadays, she was one of my best friends, and it gnawed at me to not know if she was safe when she and her invisible servants were at sea on their own searching for other people the gods had abandoned.
"And that's why you are the Alpha," Lupa said kindly. "Your concern for the pack overshadows even your spirit of dominance."
I smiled at her and turned back to the others who were nodding in agreement. We spent the next three hours discussing the more mundane, day-to-day aspects of our little island home. Once that was finished, I decided to take a walk around the island. I nodded to everyone I passed along the way as I took in the sights and smells of my new home. It had definitely come a long way from the slab of volcanic rock I had originally made when I freed Calypso and Harpocrates. Thanks to her amazing gardening skills, and some friends we made in the mortal world who provided us with the right seeds, she had been able to somehow create a little forest of her own in only two years. After that, the dryads who accompanied the new trees were able to take the reins and, in no time at all, our home was covered in greenery. Thanks to them, we were never short building materials so long as we respected them, and came to them when we needed wood and lumber. We weren't able to completely sustain ourselves yet, but we had just started introducing some animals into the forests to be hunted, and in a few years we would be able to do so with moderation; in the meantime, I thought it was actually good to have groups leave the island on occasion.
It gave the ones whose families hadn't been able to join us a chance to visit, and was good practice dealing with monsters in a safer group setting - especially for the mortals, who wouldn't be as used to the fact that all sorts of monsters from ancient myths existed and were usually out for their blood. Of course there was always the chance of them catching the attention of the Olympians, but thanks to the pendants that Prometheus and Hecate had made, I would be able to instantly get to them if they needed me.
This train of thought led me back to the Goddess of the Hunt. Of all the major gods, she was the one I felt the closest thing to respect for. Sure, I didn't approve of some of the things she taught her hunters, nor of how she acted when it came to most men or people in love, but she was the only one of the major gods who actually helped those in need and actively protected her hunters. I convinced myself that my relative respect for her was the reason I had saved her from Lycaon when he and his wolves had ambushed her, but there was some small part of me that doubted that. Something about the way I felt when I smelled the King of Werewolves practically slobbering over her had made me blind with anger as I hid the praetor I had just abducted and prepared to attack. Thankfully, I had retained enough common sense to turn back into a human and use the hood on my duster to turn myself invisible before dispatching the wolves one by one, making use of the blessing Zephyros had given me all those years ago to mask my scent. Silver might have been the only thing that would kill him, but I had no doubt that Lycaon would be nursing the assortment of broken bones and bruised ego for a while.
Without thinking, I had then brought Artemis back to the island and instructed Edward to watch over her while I finished the task I had originally left to do. Granted, that probably wasn't the best idea on my part, but it was in the past now, and there was nothing I could do about it. She had left, and would soon find just how strong Harpocrates' power to keep secrets was. To be honest, I really should have left it at that, but as I strolled through the little village we had built near the center of the island, I couldn't help but be worried about her. Harpocrates' powers would force her to lie about the island and everything she learned while here, but if that happened in front of the Council, and Apollo caught on, I had no doubt that Zeus would be more than a little unhappy she was keeping secrets from him.
"You seem troubled," a familiar voice said as I took a seat at the massive bonfire burning in the middle of our village. I turned to my right and smiled at the figure of a young woman with long, brown hair, and flaming eyes.
"Am I?" I asked, turning back to look into the dancing flame in front of me.
"If I had to guess," Hestia replied, and I could hear the smile in her voice. "I would say you are worried about my niece."
"More like worried about her siccing her hunters on us when she blames me for what her dad does," I countered. "I don't want to have to fight Thalia as well."
"And yet you orchestrate tensions between the two camps while preparing to wage war on my home."
"You know as well as I do that there's more to it than that," I snapped before taking a deep breath and glancing at the Goddess of the Hearth. "Sorry."
"It's fine," she said softly, placing a hand on my shoulder. "That being said, can you be sure that it's not Artemis blaming you that worries you, so much as the fact that you will blame yourself?"
"Maybe," I sighed. "Sure, she could definitely do with being knocked down a peg or two, but that doesn't mean I want her to suffer."
"Then what do you plan on doing about it?" Hestia asked.
"I don't know," I admitted. "I suppose there's no point, really, seeing as she and I will be enemies in a few week's time anyway."
"You know," Hestia said with a small smile as she turned to face the fire as well. "Artemis has always been my favourite niece. Despite preferring the company of her hunters and living primarily in the mortal world, she remains on the Council and deals with the abhorrent behaviour of her fellow members. Can you guess why?"
"Ego?" I replied jokingly.
Hestia shook her head. "Duty. She has a responsibility to her hunters. She, like the rest of us, may have forgotten or been warped by the burden of ruling alongside beings who have no love for the mortal world and care little for its happenings, but if you dig down to the core of her being, to the one who founded the Hunters, you would simply find a girl who would do anything to keep those she calls sisters safe from harm."
I found myself at a loss for words as I considered Hestia's words. The two of us sat there in silence for a long time as the sky got darker overhead. Eventually, Hestia stood up and put a hand on my shoulder.
"I'm sure you have much to think about and do," she said with that knowing smile she always wore when she knew what I was going to do before I did. "The winter solstice is in just a few weeks, so I doubt we will see each other until then, in which case, I wish you the best of luck, Perseus."
"Thanks," I replied, standing up in front of her as she wrapped her arms around me.
"Artemis might be my favourite niece," she whispered in a conspiratorial tone. "But remember who my favourite nephew is."
I returned the hug, absorbing as much of the comfort Hestia radiated as I could while I closed my eyes. "Stay safe," I whispered into her hair.
"I'm fairly certain I should be the one telling you that," she replied as we pulled apart.
"But we both know it won't happen," I finished, smiling at our little joke before she disappeared in a burst of flame.
I sighed as I turned away from the bonfire and walked back to my room before changing out of my clothes and shifting into my wolf form, figuring that a nice hunt might help me take my mind off things so I could come back tomorrow with a clear head.
After all, I had a war to win.
A/N: And here we are. A little bit of exposition, and an introduction to what Percy has been up to for the last five years. I know many of you can probably see where I'm going with this, but hopefully that doesn't take away from your enjoyment of the story as a whole. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it, and tell me what you think in the reviews.
