Chapter 4: When She Falls

"The hunt?" Jason said. "Like your hunt?"

"Technically it's my sisters," said Apollo with a finger raised.

"Technically I am your sister," Thalia reminded him. "And Jason's your brother."

"Man that's weird to think about," Apollo said as everyone pulled disgusted and confused faces.

In the projection Thorn cried it was impossible only to be pierced by a silver arrow. He yelled curses and threw more spikes but more arrows arrived sometimes cutting the thorns in half.

"I'd like to do that," Frank said in awe.

"I'd be willing to give you some lessons," Apollo said. "I remember your prayers."

"No humans could do that," Thalia said. "Only a part of the hunt."

Thorn pulled the arrow from his shoulder. But then he managed to dodge Percy's attack and slam him aside. Then the archers emerged from the woods. Annabeth cheered the hunters had arrived as Thalia sarcastically said that was awesome.

"And you're a part of this group now?" asked Samira in disbelief thinking of the group as similar to the Valkyries. "You seem to hate them."

"I did," Thalia said.

"So what changed?" asked Sam continuing.

"Watch," she replied cryptically.

An archer with coppery skin and a circlet in her hair stepped forward. She looked around at the Manticore.

"Zoe," Calypso breathed.

"You know her?" asked Leo.

"You'll find out soon," explained Calypso. "But yes. I do."

She asked for permission to kill. The monster complained it was against ancient laws. Another girl said it wasn't. She had auburn hair and glowing eyes. She was shining. She continued to say she was in charge of all hunting of beasts and he was a beast. Then she granted permission.

:"She seems to be younger," asked Magnus. "So why's she in charge?"

"Haven't you learnt anything kid?" Blitz asked. "Age isn't always at it looks."

The monster said they would come dead if not alive. He lunged at Percy and Thalia who were both injured. Then Annabeth yelled in protest and charged.

Percy looked at her with a sad look and a wry grin. "I rubbed off on you too much. That self sacrificing is my thing."

"Unless I'm doing it for you," Annabeth reminded him.

"True," Percy said kissing her cheek.

"Like the bridge during the war," Will reminded them both.

"Right," both said then laughed.

"You're so sweet it's sickening," Thalia complained. She was ignored.

The girl with the crown yelled for Annabeth to get out of the line of fire. Annabeth didn't listen getting on his back and drove her knife into the monster's mane.

"No!" Magnus yelled realizing what might happen. "Percy was right. Leave that to him."

"Like you wouldn't do that too?" Alex challenged.

Magnus shook his head. "They would've been fine."

"I needed to help. To take action. It's not all about logic and emotion," Annabeth reminded him.

The monster howled and shook as Annabeth held on hard. Zoe yelled for fire as Percy yelled no. The monster fell back hit by the arrows swearing they would pay. Then he jumped off the cliff with Annabeth still off his back. Percy was already yelling her name and staggering forward.

There was silence and shock as everyone looked at the couple. Percy had a death grip on Annabeth who was looking stonier and colder than usual.

Gun shots rang as the helicopter took fire. The hunters scattered except the leader with the reddish hair who declared mortals couldn't see the hunt. The helicopter became dust and then ravens which flew away.

"Who is she?" asked an amazed Sadie.

"She'll tell," Percy said as Apollo opened his mouth to answer proudly.

The hunters came back in. Zoe looked at Thalia with distaste saying 'you.' Thalia responded that Zoe Nightshade always had perfect timing. Zoe ignored her and said there were four half-bloods and a satyr.

"That actually didn't need saying," Piper said. "She knew."

"Yeah," implored Sadie. "But who is she?"

The girl nodded saying they were Chiron's campers. Percy now out of shock and his silence was still stumbling back toward the cliff yelling they had to save Annabeth.

Everyone looked at Percy. He was calm now with his arms tight around Annabeth but in the hologram the expression on his face was crazed and pained. Everyone looked at him surprised then back at Annabeth.

Percy leaned to whisper in her ear. His breath tickled and blew her hair. "Promise to never actually leave me. I'd go insane and tear everything to shred."

"Together. Always," Annabeth promised him kissing his cheek quickly.

The young leader apologized saying that she was beyond help. Percy tried to stand but some of the girls held him down. He looked at the leader with fury as she told him he was too hurt to throw himself off a cliff.

"Listen to her," Annabeth said. "For me."

"I need to save you to listen to you," Percy said. "You're actually kind of all my impulse control."

Percy howled demanding she let him go and asking who she thought she was. Zoe stepped forward with a hand out reached.

"Mistake," Magnus said. "She's a goddess right? Can't talk to them like that. I might like too."

"Yeah," Piper sighed. "Percy doesn't really follow the rules when it comes to that."

"When does Percy follow the rules?" Grover challenged. "I mean not that he needs too."

Percy just shrugged.

The other girl stopped her saying it wasn't said with disrespect. Percy was only upset and didn't understand. She paused.

"Understand what?" Sadie demanded. "I still want answers. If she's a goddess which is she"

"Listen," Thalia told her. "And then you'll know."

The girl looked at him with her shimmering eyes. She told him she was Artemis and she was the goddess of the hunt.

"Sure," Sadie rolled her eyes. "She couldn't be older than me! She's probably younger. Most likely she's a magical being that just looks human."

"Haven't you learnt anything?" Zia asked. "Anubis barely looked older than you before he took Walt as his host. The other gods are older than ages past and they look the age of those living in this time and generation."

"Artemis prefers the young form. So do I," Apollo nodded. "We're the protectors of those who are young. Most the time I look barely older than eighteen. Hestia looks younger than Artemis most the time too."

"So that's your twin sister?" Leo asked. "I mean I'm kind of surprised too. You guys looked different when we met you."

"That was during our exile," Apollo said.

Percy stared at her for a minute before muttering okay in a skeptical manner. Grover however was kneeling in the snow thanking her and praising her in a stuttering manner.

Juniper immediately glared at him. Grover turned red. "Sorry. It's just she's a goddess! And I hadn't met you yet either. I won't even look at Artemis anymore, Juniper."

"I wouldn't say that," Thalia warned. "But goat boy is over her. And Artemis is a maiden goddess."

"Fine," Juniper sighed.

Thalia yelled at him saying they had more to worry about because Annabeth was gone.

"Thank you!" Percy yelled.

"It kind of astounds me how much Thalia has changed now though," Annabeth muttered. "Though I can thank you for thinking for me."

"No problem," Thalia told her. "We're family. That's what we do isn't it?"

Bianca suddenly spoke up telling them to hold up and time out. She pointed a finger at everyone and asked who they were.

"That might have been a good thing to explain," Nico agreed.

"You didn't seem so troubled by it," Percy pointed out. "But yeah. I agree. We should have thought of that. "

"I agree. No one likes just being put into these situations having no clue what's going on," Magnus said.

"Yes," Carter, Sadie and Percy said at once.

Artemis looked at her and the thin line of her mouth turned softer. She asked Bianca if it was a better question to ask who she was and who her parents were. Bianca looked at Nico and told them they had no parents and that a bank trust paid for their education. Then she stopped seeing they didn't believe her. She asked demanded to know why they didn't believe her because she is telling the truth.

"No," Grover said. "We believed her. We also just believed she didn't know the truth about one of her parents."

"And you were right," Nico said.

Zoe said they were half bloods. That one of their parents was a mortal and the other was an Olympian.

"What's with the old fashioned accent?" asked Carter.

"Not even the einjehar at Hotel Valhalla talk like that," agreed Samira. "Or the immortal valkyrie."

"Probably because Zoe's a lot older than everyone. Even some of the Roman gods," Apollo said.

There was silence. Then Sadie looked at him surprised. "No way. Did she do a Nico or a Hazel?"

"A neither," Thalia said. "It'll explain everything."

Bianca asked if she meant an Olympian athlete. Zoe told her one of the gods. Nico cheered about how cool it was while Bianca became nervous and scolded him that it wasn't cool. Nico was jumping around. He asked if Zeus really had lightning bolts that did six hundred damage. Or if he got extra points for other things.

There was silence. Then everyone broke into laughter. Nico blushed and tried to hide but his cousins and sister weren't having it. Hazel looked at him with wide eyes. "You were so cute and hyper."

"I was not."

"You were adorable Nico," Jason patted him on the back. "Face it."

"Were?" Will asked. "He still is."

"No!" Nico yelled at his boyfriend.

"If Will won't I will," Percy said before pausing and cracking up again at the sentence. "What should I talk about?"

"Don't you dare Percy," Nico threatened. "I have some of your secrets too."

"My secrets are all being exposed anyway," Percy shrugged. "And so are yours. They're going to find out about the Happy meal addictions. I'm guessing that came from the old mythomagic packs that used to be in there?"

"Shut up," Nico growled.

"Or that you…."

"That's enough for now Percy," Thalia told him. "You have to leave some of the Nico torturing for later and to me."

"Fine."

Bianca yelled at him to shut up yelling this was not his stupid game and that gods didn't exist. Percy looked at them and sighed. He and Thalia wore the same expression. It was the latter who spoke up. She told Bianca that it was true and they had kids like them with dangerous lives.

"Especially if you have parents like ours," agreed Thalia. "I couldn't even have guessed that she was part of the Big Three kids."

"You couldn't have," agreed Percy.

"You did somehow," Thalia pointed out.

"Yeah. But it took me to long. I put them in more danger," Percy said.

"You never put us in danger," Nico told him. "So stop saying that."

Bianca repeated the word dangerous then looked at the cliff saying she meant like the girl who fell. Thalia looked down and Percy's face contorted into something foul. Everyone quieted.

Everyone winced. Percy tightened his grip to her a lot more. Every could see his strange expression and her whispering to him until he let go.

Artemis told them not to be upset. She said Annabeth was brave and she promised to find her.

"That's a big compliment," Annabeth widened. "I mean I don't think a goddess would take the time to look for me."

"I'd make all the gods look for you if you disappeared again," Percy promised.

Annabeth's face grew wary and she whispered to him.

He frowned. "Right."

Percy asked why she wouldn't let them look for Annabeth. Artemis raised an eyebrow and asked if he couldn't sense the magic at work there but Annabeth had vanished. Percy slumped and sighed. He looked down to the sea again.

"That's what scared me most," Percy admitted. "I couldn't feel you in the ocean. I thought it meant you had died."

"No," Annabeth told him. "I'm still here."

Nico raised his hand and started to pester Artemis with questions about Dr. Thorn asking if he was dead and saying how awesome it was that they shot him with arrows.

"At least the death obsession hasn't changed," Leo pointed out.

"I don't have a death obsession. My dad just happens to be the god of the underworld," Nico said defensively.

People gave him looks but no one argued.

Artemis explained he was a manticore and that even if he was destroyed now but monsters reform and always need to be hunted whenever they reappear. Thalia nodded saying otherwise they'd hunt her.

"You sound like a hunter already there," Clarisse told her. "Hunting them down would be fun sure. But I don't mind the fight coming to me."

"I do," Chris told her. "Let's just let the hunters track down the monsters before they track down us."

"I'd kill them before they do," Clarisse told him.

"Clarisse.."

"Fine."

Bianca shivered then looked at her brother saying that explained the people last year in the alley in DC. Nico nodded pointing out the bus driver with ram horns saying he knew that was real.

"Ram horns?" Piper asked. "What monster is that?"

"Honestly no clue," Apollo said.

Everyone else made shrugging and questioning sounds.

Percy told them Grover was watching them to keep them safe if they were demigods. Bianca asked if he was a half-blood. Grover kicked off his shoes and said he was a satyr. Bianca choked on her next words.

"Don't scare the poor girl like that," Juniper scolded him.

"This already happened."

"You still need to have more tact than that," Juniper told him. "Break it to those kids gently next time. Or at least as gently as you can. You did the same thing with Percy. I hope at least Thalia and Annabeth weren't given the same treatment."

Both girls laughed and shook their heads. "Yeah, good luck teaching your boyfriend that Juniper."

Thalia scolded him saying he was freaking Bianca out and to put his shoes back on. Grover told her his hooves were clean.

"That's not really the issue," Annabeth told him with a glare.

Percy interrupted them telling Bianca he came to help and that she and Nico needed training to survive monsters. They could get help at camp. She repeated the last word as a question. He told her Camp Half-Blood was a place where Half-Bloods learned to survive and they could come and stay year round. Nico cheered happy with the idea agreeing to go.

"Well that's a change of pace from what we know," Reyna told him. "You took a long time to agree to come to any camp."

"A lot changed in between," Nico said. "Like I told you guys I needed to figure some things out."

Bianca told them to wait starting to say she wasn't sure when Zoe interrupted saying she could have another option. Thalia shouted there wasn't and they glared at each other.

"It was a good option," Thalia agreed. "But I didn't want to separate Nico and Bianca like I'd been separated from my family before."

Artemis looked at them both saying they' burdened the children enough. She ordered Zoe to start preparing to rest there for the bit. They'd get their things, raise the tents, and bandage any wounds. Zoe agreed and Artemis asked to speak to Bianca. Nico demanded to know what would happen to him. Artemis told him that Grover would be happy to do her a favor and learn Nico's card game. Grover got up faster than should be possible and agreed dragging Nico along.

"I'm sorry I let her go with Artemis before finding out more," Percy said. "I shouldn't have immediately trusted a goddess. Even if Artemis is one of the ones I like most."

Nico looked at him. "Bianca was dying for a way out. She had been for a long time."

Thalia nodded. "We couldn't have stopped her Percy. It was her choice. Like it was mine."

Grover and Nico disappeared into the woods. Bianca and Artemis walked along the cliff. Zoe and Thalia glared at each other as Thalia started to complain about the hunters.

"I agree," Percy grinned. "Such nerve."

"They're so bossy. So uptight," Nico agreed.

Thalia glared at them both. "Shut up. Both of you."

"We were just agreeing with you," Nico said.

"Actually," Percy said remembering what came next. "We probably shouldn't say we agree with her."

Percy said he agreed and didn't trust them when Thalia spun on him asking how he was with here if he wasn't thinking in the gym before going after Dr. Thorn by himself. Percy tried to answer but she continued saying that if they stuck together they could have taken Thorn without the hunters and without losing Annabeth.

Everyone turned to Thalia. She looked at Percy. "Oh zeus."

She was cursing in several languages. Percy was giving her one of his harshest glares. She could see the storm in his eyes but then it started to turn slowly into calm green and blue like the ocean on it's calmest day. Not before she thought she saw lightning flash through his eyes one more time. Annabeth was clutching him whispering to him calming him down. He didn't seem to need it much because once the projection started to play again he calmed down.

Percy clenched his fists and gritted his teeth. But then the Yankees cap in the snow caught his eye. Thalia followed his gaze then wiped the tears off her face before stomping off. Percy was left alone.

"I'm here," Annabeth reminded him. "You got me back Percy."

And Percy just held her close as his face stayed emotionless all except his eyes which were green, blue and gray all at once. It was scary and unconsciously everyone except Annabeth leaned away from him as Percy struggled to gain his own control.

AN: I wrote this chapter a while ago but quick note. Anyone read the first three chapters of Ship of the Dead? The Magnus, Percy, Alex, Annabeth Dynamic made me so happy! I think I'm going to do something so I can include what happens. And Percy's new little sister. On that note I'm also posting this now for a friends birthday. I'm already half-way through writing the Titan's Curse.