Annabeth was lost in thoughts, driven by one thought and a gods-know-how-old huntress. She had really let her emotions get the best of her, but after two nights in a row post-prophecy filled with 'demigod dreams' about Percy, she had a right to. Ever since the day he came with Grover out to New York, where she had been living on the streets for nearly a month, she had admired him for his bravery, although openly admitting this was something... something she viewed as impossible.

Nevertheless, she was still here, in the back of one of the Camp Half-Blood strawberry vans, with two of her best friends, and a huntress she hoped was a friend.

Not forgetting, of course, the little Italian demigoddess that she had decided to hate with a passion. She didn't understand why, but whenever she saw Bianca she was reminded of Percy, and how he was... she told herself he would be fine.

She noticed Thalia absently humming to herself, and fingering her Camp Half-Blood necklace gingerly. The daughter of Athena decided to just sit and watch her for a while, while Bianca and Zoe conversed about the Hunters – more specifically, about the benefits. Grover just sat there and occasionally interjected with his own points, trying to gain Zoë's favour - only to receive a glare from the eldest in the van.

The blonde gazed at her friend's subconscious movements, and thought. Her mind carried her away on a river of ideas, architectural and emotional, of all kinds and natures...

The next thing she knew, they were approaching D.C., and the wheels skidded in a crazy attempt at stopping. Annabeth sat up abruptly, also rousing Thalia from her doze, who looked panicked – understandably, as Zoë had stopped as if they were in danger...

They clambered out of the strawberry van, none faster than the driver, to see...
"...a wolf. Is that-" Zoë cut a sceptical Annabeth off in her tracks with a simple hand gesture, and knelt down in front of the injured beast. She tentatively touched the canine's crimson-coated snout, and it instinctively snapped its attention toward the huntress.

Annabeth lightly poked Zoë to gain her attention, but received nothing but a light shake of the head and a slight humming sound which she couldn't identify the source of. Even Grover seemed confused, and Bianca appeared bewildered, but as if she knew exactly what this was but couldn't recall its meaning or relevance.

Thalia was slowly coming back to reality, and gingerly touched her necklace again. Watching Zoë carefully, she plodded back towards the van and leant against the side, shivered, and waited for the commotion to end and their journey to continue.

Annabeth and Grover were still trying to find the source of the humming, and were caught off guard by the Lieutenant of the Hunters opening her mouth at last and a strange singing emanating, as a silvery glow shone from the wolf. It appeared that Zoë and the wolf were conversing mentally, and the blood on the wolf's side shaped itself into a moon that waned as time passed. Zoë, at one point, tugged Bianca and allowed her to touch the snout of the animal.

As the sacred symbol on the beast lost size, so did Annabeth's understanding of the occurrences here grow. She gradually pieced together the puzzle and it seemed so incredibly obvious to her. All of the virgin goddess' symbols in a single place – a huntress, a wolf, and a moon... Artemis was communing with them from her prison; only one thing could be possible. Perseus Jackson was still under the sky.

The goddess in question, of course, had still not taken the hero's place under Ouranos' throne, as he crumbled slowly. Instead, she had focused what power she could to make contact to make sure that there was a way out of this situation she had put herself into.

Naturally, she had neglected Percy – no, Perseus – due to her pride, and she had finally accepted that within herself. Unfortunately for the man-hating goddess, this was not a fact that she could entirely ignore or act upon at all, leaving her to speculate exactly what turmoil the boy was going through...

Ignoring her own faults and fears, she used what she knew to her advantage – that her symbols of power were all she had now, and luckily for her she wasn't a fool like Zeus or Poseidon who carried around their symbols in a single object. She had many, and although they weren't as powerful as the aforementioned gods they would be enough for what she had in mind.

As she gathered together her plan of action, she took a blind shot in the dark, assuming that at least one huntress would be tailing her despite strict instructions on the contrary, and that they would follow their own leads to where her captor, Atlas, was. She recognized his scent even while acting within her sphere of power (the area that her existence as a goddess affected), and as a result she lead a single hunting wolf away from the Wild towards Washington D.C.

It required all of Artemis' willpower to not call off the entire mission, as she knew that it was both endangering one of her sacred animals but in doing so strangely reminded her of the situation with her and Percy – no, Perseus – in which she sacrificed someone else for what she convinced herself was the greater good...

She took a brief moment to collect herself, and involuntarily took a glance at the boy. What she saw almost broke her resolve... He was straining, with the last iota of his power, holding up the colossal force of the sky. She pulled her eyes away from this desperate sight, towards Luke who had been waiting there ever since he had been freed from the sky – sometimes with monsters, sometimes alone – and noticed that he seemed almost... Almost scared. As if Percy's – no, Perseus's – suffering was his as well.

Suddenly, she winced as a shock passed through the wolf's fragile body, and it was knocked over onto the ground. Artemis could feel the beast's frail life passing, and poured in hers to ensure her message was taken...

She smiled weakly at the feeling of not one but two huntresses nearby, Zoë as one of them as well! She focused her power now into forming a symbol on its side to attract their attention, and as her lieutenant struggled to comprehend exactly what had to be done her power waned like the moon-shape on the beast's side.

And so her message was sent, she gained information - but the issue still remained.
Perseus Jackson was still entombed under the hero's burden.

A/N: Thanks for reading, and sorry sorry SORRY that it took this long to get this chapter out. I promised weekly chapters over two months ago now and look where we are... I'm not going to talk my way out of this one, and I'm really sorry and ashamed that I couldn't deliver for you guys; I don't even have a genuine excuse aside from sheer laziness/lack of ideas.

If you're still furious about the Orion comparison in Chapter Five and haven't seen my explanation, please go check the update from two months ago that I put up.

I (unfortunately) will probably not be able to keep up with weekly updates like I thought (in case you couldn't tell) but I will definitely try as hard as I can to let you guys know about how long it should be before the next chapter - in this case I'm hoping for one week again.

Also, if you want to know exactly the content of the message Artemis sent, I could either make an entire chapter detailing the conversation OR I could drop hints while progressing the story next chapter. Either way is fine by me! Just review or PM me or contact me any way you want and I can provide if that's what most people want.

Thanks for reading (and putting up with my lack of updates), and I'll see you next update!

(Updated once on 26th April 2016 for a minor grammar detail; thanks to TheMasterTrident13!)