(Previously)

If you slam the pearl on the ground, you will be teleported far away from New York, to Oregon. Use the ambrosia and nectar to tend to your wounds. When you are prepared, start a fire, and make a sacrifice to me. Good luck, young hero. -Hestia.

I quickly took out the pearl and slammed it on the ground without a moments hesitation. Flames appeared around me, and I felt myself melt into the ground. There was a brief feeling of being crushed, and I suddenly appeared in a very lush and healthy pine forest, with birds chirping and signs of wildlife was everywhere.

A slow grin spread across my face.

I was free, and I was a fugitive again.

I was ready to survive.

(Percy's POV)

As I examined my surroundings, I felt the pain of my leg and thumb return to me as the adrenaline that was previously coursing through my veins wear off completely. I grimaced and looked down at my hand. My thumb was angled at a unnatural angle towards the palm of my hand, with streams of blood pouring out of the large tear in the middle of it. I could clearly see my bone through the wound, and I knew this was a injury that would be slow to heal, even with ambrosia and nectar.

Before I could use the ambrosia though, I needed to pop my thumb back in place. I grimaced, and put my other hand around the spot where I could feel the bone was in the wrong spot. Just this simple motion made me vision blur, and I swayed on my feet. I ignored the pain as best as I could, and jerked my bone back into place with a swift, violent motion.

Pain. That is the only word I could use to describe the feeling that overwhelmed all other senses, feelings, and emotions as a feral cry of agony made it's way through my lips. Black spots appeared in my vision as if I stared at sun too long, and if I had to say what it felt like to be on fire, this is probably how it would feel. My wobbly legs collapsed from under me and my face hit the hard-packed dirt.

After what felt like an eternity, my vision slowly cleared and the feeling of burning passed. However, the horrible throbbing and aching of my thumb still remained. I reached a shaky hand towards the strap of the sack on my shoulder, and managed to take it off. With my good hand, I reached into it and got out the canteen of nectar and squares of ambrosia.

I carefully unscrewed the cap, not wanting to lose any of the valuable juices inside. I poured the nectar onto the cap of the canteen, and let the cap trickle nectar into my thumb. A blissful feeling of relief passed through my thumb, and the throbbing stopped, although a dull ache remained. Feeling a sharp jab of pain, I poured out a bit more nectar and saturated the closing wound that scarred my leg.

After closing the cap of the canteen, I quickly pulled out a square of ambrosia and popped it into my mouth. The mouth-watering taste of caramel-covered chocolate flooded onto my tongue. As I did this, there was an itchy feeling that formed on my thumb and my leg as I felt the flesh and muscle start to mend itself.

Once my body had recovered enough to be able to stand and walk around, I got up from the dirt I was laying in and thought back to Hestia's letter. I re-read it, making sure I didn't miss anything, and pondered her second-to-last sentence.

I needed to make a fire, and give her a sacrifice? I didn't really have much TO sacrifice, with no food or water. Nor did I have any valuable items to offer. The only thing I had was the ambrosia and nectar she gave me, and I figured that probably wasn't what she was looking for when she said sacrifice.

I didn't have a weapon, the one they gave me at Camp-Half Blood hadn't come with me when the gods flashed me away. I doubt that the Goddess of the Hearth had any shortage of food, so she wouldn't want me to sacrifice that...

Then it hit me. I vaguely remembered Annabeth saying something about monsters you slay leaving behind a spoil of war when you defeat them. If Hestia wanted something from me, it would probably be a trophy from a monster I kill.

I sighed, thinking about the prospect of having to defeat another monster with nothing but my hands. But if she were going to help me, she probably wanted to know if I was strong enough to have what it takes to do whatever favor I was sure she was going to ask of me.

That's one thing I did know about the gods. In all the myths and legends, the gods never helped someone without asking something in return. While I am sure Hestia is kind-hearted and doesn't mean any harm, I don't see why she would be an exception. Hopefully she doesn't want me to do anything too crazy.

Now, how was I going to kill a monster with nothing but my body, and, even before that, where would I find a monster? I figured that monsters would be concentrated in human settlements, because of course that's where their favorite meal, demigods, lived. I looked around the forest I was currently situated in and sighed.

I had to find my way out of the forest, but I had no idea where to go. Time to start walking.

(4 hours later)

I cursed as I stepped in another patch of mud and slipped and fell on my tailbone. I groaned from my position on the ground. The past 4 hours have been horrible. You would think that a simple Pine forest wouldn't be a problem, but that wasn't the case. While the branches of the Pine trees were thankfully too high in the air to be a problem, there was all kinds of nasty surprises on the floor.

I've stepped onto and fallen into more random spots of mud than I can count, gotten sticked by every spur and thorn in the area I walk in, tripped on the uneven vines and terrain enough to have bruises all over my tailbone and face, and worst yet, haven't found any human or monster to get help from or fight.

However, I have gotten acquainted with the local wildlife. I might've accidentally stepped on a snake, causing it to hiss and bite the front of my leg, making me panic until I got a good look at the snake and realized it was just a Garter snake, which thankfully wasn't venomous. That didn't do anything to stop the 2 painful, small but deep holes in the front of my leg, though.

I didn't want to use my precious supply of ambrosia or nectar on them, so I ignored them to the best of my ability. Not only that, various bee stings and wasp stings covered my arms and legs, and even the back of my neck. I mean really, who knew there was so many wild hives in the forests?

As I slowly rose from the thick mud, I heard a low growl behind me. I froze. Please dont be a bear, please dont be a bear, please dont be a bear, I repeated to myself, as if repetition would make the thought true. I turned my head and relaxed, before immediately tensing up again as I realized what I saw was much worse than a bear.

There was something huge and vaguely humanoid looking lurking in the shadows of a pine tree. I could, however, clearly see small, red, beady eyes and ivory white horns curl around the front of the beast's head. I saw the glint of a brass ring hanging around the middle of the beast's face.

The thing was around 8 or 9 feet tall and looked like it just stepped out of the ring of a heavyweight WWE match, muscles bulky and bulging. As it stepped out of the shadows and roared, I recognized the beast. It was the Minotaur, the beast that haunted the Labyrinth in Crete. It had dark gray short, stiff hair all over it's body. A thick neck supported its massive skull. A short, pig like snout had the same brass ring I saw in the shadows hanging in the two nostrils.

I gulped and rose to my feet. If whatever trophy this thing gives me isn't enough to satisfy Hestia, I don't know what will.

The Minotaur stamped it's hoof against the ground, kicking up dust, then lowered its head and charged, its wicked sharp horns pointing straight at me.

My mind started racing. If I could get the beast to slip in the mud I was standing in, I would be able to grab its head and hopefully avoid being gored. I stood my ground as it charged at me at breakneck speed, and at the last second, I jumped to the side.

The beast, being carried forward by its momentum even as it tried to stop, ran into the mud, and, just as planned, slipped and fell. It whined in what seemed liked indignation and I quickly jumped onto the beast, wrapping my hands tightly around its horns and twisting as hard as I could to the side.

However, that's where my perfect plan started going wrong, like it always does. Instead of its neck snapping and me standing over its dust in victory, the Minotaur pushed his head opposite of the way I was pushing, and rose to its feet with me hanging off his neck, my body against its back. It then promptly slammed itself back onto the ground, back first, crushing me.

I felt the wind get knocked out of me and I let out a strangled yelp as I felt the thing's weight crushing me to the ground. I could still breath though, and raked my nails across its back, making it roar in anger and pain. It rose to it's feet- or hooves I suppose- and turned to face me. I quickly scrambled to my feet, and prepared for it to charge at me. I looked around, looking for anything to use to my advantage.

Before I could formulate a plan, however, the beast charged. I ran backwards and slightly to the left. Right when it was about to hit me, I quickly jumped to the right before it could stop. It ran past me, and I took the opportunity to look around.

As I looked around, I saw nothing but trees. Trees...

As a plan took root in my head, I saw the beast's eyes flashed with anger as it prepared to charge again. This thing really isn't that smart. You would think that it would realize what it was doing wasn't working. I backed myself up until I was pressed against one of the many tall pines and waited.

Like I predicted, the beast charged at me for the third time. As I jumped to the left, the Minotaur seemed to predict what I was doing and turned to the left right as I did. I felt one of its ivory horns sink into my shoulder, and the familiar feeling of pain coursed through my system. As I quickly jumped back, the horn coming out of my shoulder with a wet squelch, I saw my plan worked partially.

The horn that had entered my right shoulder was coated with my blood, the liquid dripping off of it ominously. Its other horn, however, was firmly lodged in the tree all the way to the base.

The Minotaur tried to pull its horn out, but found out that it was stuck. It growled and pulled again, not even paying attention to me. I knew I couldn't kill the beast with anything but my own hands and Celestial Bronze, but that didn't mean I couldn't weaken it up with whatever I could find. I quickly looked around to find a stick, which wasn't that difficult, seeing as I was in a forest.

Once I found a stick thick enough to impale something without breaking, I re approached the Minotaur. It was still ignoring me, trying to get off the tree. I tapped the beast on the shoulder with a smirk and it turned towards me, or tried to. Once I could see its eye, I stabbed the stick into the Minotaur's eye as hard as I could. It once again roared as the stick managed to push one of its eyes back into its own skull. Quickly backing up before it could grab me or kick at me, I tried to think of a way to kill the thing off.

After thinking, I realized that the way the Minotaur was angled I could push its neck far enough to the left, it would break. I slowly went behind the beast, careful not to make a noise so it wouldn't realize I was behind it and start kicking. Once i was close enough, I quickly jumped onto its back shoved its heard hard to the left. I heard it whine in pain and outrage and try to grab at me, but I kept pushing

After about 10 seconds of pushing, I felt a burst of adrenaline give me strength and I pushed its head past the point of no return. There was a loud snap! as the Minotaur's neck broke.

It's body stiffened and slowly began to dissolve. I got off of the beast and watched as it turned into a pile of dust. All that was left was its two horns, one so far lodged into the tree I didn't even try to get it and the other, still coated in my blood, laying in the pile of dust.

I picked up the horn with my right arm and as I did so, I felt a burning sensation in my shoulder. I quickly stopped moving my arm, dropped the horn, and clutched my shoulder, tears of pain filling my eyes. I glanced around, checking my surroundings in case there was anything else I had to deal with. All I saw was the long shadows of the pine trees as golden- colored light from the late afternoon sun streamed through the branches of the pine trees high above.

I drank in the beautiful view of the forest around me, then looked back at the bloody horn. This time, I leaned over and picked up the horn with my left arm, careful not to brush my thumb against anything, which was hurting again, probably from all the strain I just put it through.

As I examined the twisted horn, I smiled. I had my sacrifice, now I just needed a fire, which would be my next problem. I decided to worry about it later and took off the sack, which was now ripped and covered in mud, and took out the canteen of nectar which I poured over my shoulder, thumb, and a couple drops on my leg, which was now almost completely healed. I then took out my last two squares of ambrosia after putting the canteen away and ate them one at a time.

I sighed in relief as I felt the godly food do its magic. It was time to start a fire.

30 Minutes Later

After spending half an hour collecting firewood, making sure to grab twigs, sticks, and short logs, I headed back to the tree with the horn in it, using the area as a temporary camp. I didn't know much about fires, but I knew you had to use the smallest sticks you could first, then build up to bigger sticks then logs. I broke up the twigs I had until I had a pile of tinder.

Thinking of the survival shows where people would rub two sticks together, I lay one piece of wood on the ground and rested another stick on it, the top of the wood being held between my palms. I then started rubbing my palms back and forth as fast as I could against the wood. Creating smoke. I smiled. This would be easy!

As I rubbed, the smile faded from my face. While copious amounts of smoke was coming off, there wasn't a hint of a fire. I frowned and stared intently at the sticks, concentrating. I rubbed faster and faster, my arms shaking in exhaustion and my wound on my shoulder burning. I would have to stop soon if I couldn't get this going.

Just as I had decided to give up, a small flame appeared on the stick laying against the ground. I started at it in shock, then shook my head and jumped into action.

I quickly grabbed my pile of tinder, and gently put it on the stick. The fire was starting to die out, so i blew on it gently. The fire jumped up and soon enough, the entire pile of tinder was burning. I grabbed the sticks I had collected and put them over the tinder in a circular pattern, giving the fire plenty of air and wood to grow.

After about 20 minutes of putting sticks on that increased in size, I finally had a full fire going with short logs surrounding it. I stared into the fire, its flames mesmerizing me.

I took a deep breath and looked at horn that was resting in my lap. Here goes noting. I picked up the horn, hovering it over the fire, and dropping it in. To my shock, the fire turned a very light, beautiful purple as I did so.

"For Hestia, Goddess of the Hearth." I murmured, as a delightful scent filled the air. Once the last syllable fell from my mouth, there was a flash of flames as the fire grew substantially, and someone appeared next me.

I looked over and saw Hestia, still appearing to be around 8 years old, smiling warmly at me, a soft glow in her brown eyes.

I bowed my head and said as respectfully as I could "Lady Hestia." I didn't want to get on the bad side of the only god helping me. After all, I would of certainly gotten caught if she hadn't taken the risk of giving me a pearl to get me out of New York.

I heard her chuckle lightly and say "There is no need for such formalities, young one. I have someting to ask you, before I explain a way for you to get on the Olympian's good side." I looked back up at her, my ears perking up once she said she knew of a way to get the Olympians to stop mistrusting me, although I was a bit nervous about what she would ask of me.

She quietly laughed again and gazed at me. She said to me: "I still do not know your name, young one. Please do tell me." I looked at her, shocked as I realized I never actually did tell any of the Olympians my name. I laughed a bit and said "My name's Percy. Percy Jackson. And thank you for everything you've done for me. I'd be dead for sure without your help."

She beamed at me, and a feeling of being at home filled my body. "You're quite welcome Percy. Now, allow me to explain to you how you can help out. Camp Half-Blood sent a quest out when you were imprisoned in the Underworld. The quest is heading to San Francisco to Mount Othrys, which you may or may not know, is the home base for Kronos, and where Atlas was imprisoned under the sky. They will be there in a few days. Artemis was captured and forced to hold up the sky in place of Atlas, who is now free and building an army. The quest needs to defeat Atlas and save Artemis. However, I have a suspicion that the quest will fail without you helping. So, you will travel South to San Francisco and go to Mount Othrys and end up there when the quest gets there. I will help you with the timing and transport. Then, you will go in and team up with the quest to defeat Atlas and save Artemis. Once you do so, the Olympians will hopefully give you the chance to swear your allegiance to them and allow you to be free."

She looked at me intently, trying to see what I was thinking. I felt a grin spread across my face, the plan was perfect. It would prove my loyalty to Olympus while also helping out and defeating the Titans, who I assumed was rising again. But, I also realized something. I didn't have a weapon. How was I supposed to fight?

I looked back at her and said carefully "I think the plan will work, and I am more than willing to try it. However, I don't have a weapon."

She looked back at me, seeming to be surprised, then regained composure and spoke. "I see. I do have a weapon that is very powerful under my possession. I would not mind giving it to you, although I am aware that you don't have much experience with swords?"

I quickly nodded my head. She snapped her fingers and a Celestial Bronze ballpoint pen appeared in her small hand. She passed it over to me. I experimentally took the cap off and gasped as there was a loud shink! as a beautifully crafted sword appeared in my hand. The sword was all one piece, the blade, cross guard, and hilt. There was black leather wrapped around the hilt.

She said to me quietly "The sword's name is Anaklusmos, meaning Riptide in English. Wield the sword well, for it is very powerful. Practice your swordsmanship for the next few days while we wait on the quest. Good luck." She vanished before I had a chance to speak.

I looked at the spot in which she vanished, then looked back at the wicked sharp gleaming sword. I noticed the cap of the ballpoint was still on the ground where I put it. I put it up to the tip of the sword, and it turned into a ballpoint pen again. Gazing at it in wonder, I took off the cap and gave an experimental swing. The sword was perfectly balanced, as if it was made for my hand.

I grinned at the sword in my hand and looked around the rapidly darkening forest as sunlight faded.

I had a weapon, a purpose, and a point to prove. I wasn't my father, who would be and was a cruel ruler of the sea. I would prove everyone wrong about me.

I slowly laid my head down against the ground. I needed to get some rest, and prepare myself for the fight coming up soon. With thoughts of redemption drifting through my brain, I fell into a dreamless slumber.

A/N: Hey guys. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I'm sorry about this one not having as much going on in it, but it was necessary to move the story forward. Next chapter will be a big one, with plenty of things happening in it. I know you guys will like that one. Please do review, I want to hear everything from criticism to things I did poorly and well. If you have any questions, pm me or leave a review and I will answer them, but no spoilers! Have a good day.