Maria was swept along in an ocean current, willing herself to find Poseidon's palace. She swam through endless waters, never getting tired, until she reached a coral reef. Before her stood a white stone palace…or what was left of it. Mermen were gliding through the water in a rushed chaos. On top of the building stood three men and a woman, talking. Fire and lightning sprang up in the distance. As she reached the group of people, Maria noticed that one had two tails and carried a trident. The man beside him had brown curly hair like her, but had sea green eyes. He too carried a trident. Another, maybe 29, stood beside the brown hair man. He was the first to notice me.

"Who are you?" He asked.

"Maria Grace Jackson. You have his eyes…which would make you Percy Jackson, my father. And that must mean that you…." Her voice trailed off as she returned her gaze to the man beside him.

"Poseidon. What are you doing here Miss? I can see you have not been crushed by gravity down here, so you must be speaking the truth. Percy?" Poseidon nudged Percy towards Maria and continued on with his planning. Percy took his daughter down the building and into the rubble filled courtyard. There were a couple of benches still standing, protected by the wall of blue coral.

"How did you get down here Maria? Where is your mother?" He asked, not taking his eyes off his daughter. She quickly told the story of fighting the hell-hound, her near death experience, joining the Huntresses, being captured by Kronos and Alex, her release, and finding Calypso. Percy's eyes grew sad when he heard about his old friend. "Well, I guess I need to get you back to Artemis. Where were you when you were captured?"

"Forest of Acridest, off the Massachusetts coast. But…I want to help you rebuild the palace!"

"No, you are needed on Land with the Half Bloods, or even better yet; The Hunters of Artemis." Marias father turned her down without a second thought. "Now, I want to show you something." He got up and walked out of the courtyard, not even looking back to see if she was following. Percy whistled loudly then waited. Within seconds, a sea horse could be seen swimming wildly towards them. It stopped and nodded to the two half bloods.

"What can I do for you?" The sea horses voice whispered in Maria's head. She gasped when she heard this, having not known it was possible for her to hear horses.

"Take her to Camp Half blood." Percy turned to Maria, "And from there you can contact your troop. Say hello to everyone for me and stay out of the ocean if you know what's good for you!" He warned as she hopped on the sea horse. They rode off into the dark ocean, not looking back.

"Maria! How did you escape?" Annabeth cried as soon as she saw the drenched girl scramble onto the beach. Maria looked up at the counselor and smiled.

"I just gave them my mother's attitude and they wanted to get rid of me so bad, they dropped me off the next island!" She replied. Maria decided to leave out the part about Kronos dropping her off on Island Ogygia. Annabeth sighed and took her up to the Big House to get dried off. There, Chiron gladly gave her a blanket and a cup of hot chocolate to sit down with. She told her story again, this time starting from the point of her capture. Apparently, Thalia had messaged Chiron to tell him where Maria was. "Oh, and by the way, my father says hi." She said as she ended her story.

"Obviously, Kronos is planning something bigger than before. Annabeth, would you get the head campers for a war council? We need to discuss this before it gets worse." Annabeth left the house while Chiron dug through his shirt pockets for a golden drachma. "Accept my gift Goddess." He murmured before tossing it into a rainbow created by the sun on a glass of water. Immediately, a mist cloud appeared. In the cloud, there was a scene of fighting girls in a castle on a mountain. A girl with a gorgon shield was fighting a dracaena….and failing. She fell backwards, her sword flying 10 feet away.

"Mother!" Maria cried, though she knew Thalia could not hear her. Chiron gasped as the dracaena tackled Thalia before she could reach the hilt of her sword. Quick movement brought Thalia to her knees and her shield between her and the enemy, but it wasn't over yet. A demigod came up behind her and wrapped his strong arm around her neck. The girl struggled fiercely, but it was no use. The dracaena took the opportunity to throw a couple of blows at Thalia. It wasn't long before she was on the ground; unconscious. Maria jumped up; spilling what was left of her hot chocolate, and ran out the door. She didn't know how she would get there, but she knew she had to. Her mother was in danger and she had to help! On her way to the beach, Maria met the head campers. They stopped and bombarded her with questions.

"Maria, where are you going?"

"What's going on?"

"Why are you in a hurry?"

"What happened?"

It was all so confusing; she had to get to her mom! Maria pushed through the crowd and started running again. When she reached the shore, the girl didn't hesitate to jump in the freezing water. Again, the currents pulled her along, although she willed them to go faster. It seemed forever until the shores of the Titans Mountain came into view. She scrambled onto the sand and shook out her clothes. A long climb stood before her like a hovering shadow. There was no time to waste, so Maria called the waters into a wet Tornado, propelling her upward. When she reached the top, Maria leapt out of the spiral; straight onto a fighting demigod. The impact knocked the armed girl to the ground, allowing Maria to pick up her sword and shield. With these newly acquired weapons, the young girl charged into battle. She fought her way to her mother, and then fought the monsters that threatened to harm her even more. As Maria fought the same demigod that had tried to strangle her mother, she caught sight of the Minotaur coming at her. Her momentary pause was all the demigod needed to fling Maria's sword across the rocks. Just like her mother. Anger pulsed through her veins, directed at the horrific monsters that were attacking her fellow Hunters. She rose with great effort and staggered to the rocks where her sword lay. The Minotaur came down on her with a roar that shook the mountain. Maria only had time to roll out of the way of his ax, though it demolished her only weapon. She crawled behind the rocks and sat there, not daring to breath. She had to think of something…and fast. No weapons; surrounded by the enemy with her few allies falling every second, on a mountain surrounded by water on three sides. Wait! Water? Maybe…….just maybe I have another weapon ready to be used! She thought. Maria scrambled to her feet and climbed the rocks to get a good view of the havoc around her. Hunters were lying on the ground, dead or dying. There seemed to be more monsters than she had seen on the Princess Andromeda. Taking a deep breath, Maria prayed to her grandfather for the strength to fight off this evil. Then she opened her eyes and willed a great wave to rise from the ocean. It came, spraying water on her head and shoulders. The wave flew over her and swallowed up the mountain, crashing into the protected city below. It was an amazing sight to see; Water rolling off of a giant bubble over San Francisco, and the hundreds of creatures it took with it. Fortunately, her mother and the rest of the Hunters of Artemis had been spared by Marias small tsunami. She leapt off of the boulders and ran to Thalia.

"Mom…mommy wake up. Mommy it's ok now. I'll take care of you, I promise. Mommy we can go home!" She whispered, shaking her mother gently. Still, Thalia did not wake. She laid her head on her mother's chest and listened. Nothing. "Mother...don't leave me. I need you!"

"She's dead Maria. You can't save her." Said a voice behind her. Artemis knelt down beside her fallen lieutenant. The goddess held Thalias hand, muttering Ancient Greek. Marias mother turned into a clump of roses.

That night, Maria sat in Artemis's tent in the middle of a clearing. They were discussing the outcome of attacking the Titan's mountain.

"Your mother was a wonderful lieutenant, but now I must appoint a new one. Maria, would you like to be my lieutenant?" Artemis asked.

Maria was stunned; she had never been recognized this way. Yet, she knew what she wanted now. It was simple! "I'm sorry Lady Artemis…but I could never fill my mother's place. Besides, I'm needed somewhere else." She replied slowly. The words would not come out, as much as she wanted them to.

"You understand that this is your only chance?" said Artemis.

"Yes. I do."

"Then I will take you wherever you wish to go, Maria Grace."

So Artemis sent Maria to island Ogygia in a shooting star. When she reached the beach, Maria was greeted by a flurry of wood nymphs, all ecstatic to see her again. She was taken to Calypso's garden where she found the girl tending to her exotic plants. Calypso rose and smiled happily.

"You found your way back!" She cried, running through the flowers to hug her friend. "How did you do it? Tell me everything while we get you something to eat and a clean dress!" With that, Maria was whisked away from the pretty clearing and to the familiar cave.