*A/N-Sorry no update guys been kinda busy but here it is please feel free to review.
The next day I was rudely awoken by Thalia who told me I had 10 minutes to get dressed before they packed up. When I left my tent I saw the others sitting together around a small fire. All the couples were sat together; Annabeth had her head laid on Percy's shoulder, Jason had his arm over Pipers waist and Hazel and Frank were sat hand in hand, fingers interlocked. Even Will and Nico were sat close together.
"You look troubled, dear nephew." I jumped at the sound of the moon goddesses voice.
"No, milady. I was just..."
"Looking for Sarafina, no doubt. She is recovering quickly." She pointed to a cliff I had not noticed the night before and sat with her legs over the edge was Sarafina. I bowed to Lady Artemis and made my way over to her.
"You know sitting this close to the edge is dangerous." Sarafina turned her head and once again I was taken back by her beauty. Her hair was now flowing down her back with two plaits circling her had like a tiara. She had changed into black leggings, a silver top and a black hooded jacket.
"Hello son of Apollo."
"Please call me Dan." She smiled at me and she looked eve more beautiful with her pearl white teeth complimenting her milky skin.
"As you wish." She looked distracted, she was staring out at the ocean.
"Sarafina, if you don't mind me asking, what did lord Hades mean when he mentioned you using other gifts?" She frowned and at first I thought she had begun to cry.
"Very well Daniel... Much like you many years ago I was cursed... my father calls it a gift but I do not see it that way." I was shocked nobody except Will and Chiron knew about my curse.
"How...how...?"
"As I said yesterday, it is my duty to know all."
"Ok makes sense. So...why were you cursed then?" her reaction to the question startled me and at that moment I knew I had hit a nerve.
"That is not something I wish to discuss with someone like you..." She got to her feet and walked over to me an angry expression clear on her usually serene face.
"It is your father and his stupid prophecies who are to blame." The expression on her face had gone from anger to one of pure pain, her eyes were watery and I could tell it was a subject best left alone.
"I'm sorry Sarafina I never meant to upset you."
"Of course not." I could tell she was being sarcastic.
"Sarafina, I am not the enemy here please do not hold me accountable for the actions of my father, I want to help you can trust me..."
"Can I?" She interrupted. "What about those villagers Daniel could they trust you, and the other four demigods who died that night because of you? What about your friends, can they trust you when you cant trust them. I have seen many things in my life but with the exception of one I have never seen one person put hundreds of innocent people at risk just to prove himself."
I looked on in shock, it was obvious Sarafina was not bothered by what she had said. I felt my eyes well up as the painful memories from my past came flooding back. I stood up, wiped my eyes and said in a calm voice...
"I am sorry if I upset you... but I'm really not the enemy." She put her hood up and continued staring out at the sea.
Walking back to the others Sarafinas words played on my mind
"What about your friends, can they trust you when you cant trust them?"
Maybe she was right, how could they trust me. I was pulled from my thoughts when Will put a hand on my shoulder.
"Hey dude, you ok?" He asked concerned, Then Percy appeared.
"Yeah, Dan it looks like you were crying?" He was standing just to my left looking me in the eye.
"Yeah..." I lied " I'm fine." I turned to look at Sarafina but she was gone and strangely so had the cliff she was sat on.
"Well come on then lets get back to the others." Percy said. Will just patted my back and lead me over to the others who were all laughing at one of Leo's jokes.
Annabeth looked at me and patted the empty space beside her. I strolled over and sat down.
"Hey." she said "You ok?" I looked at Annabeth and smiled I was the only person besides Luke, who Annabeth spoke to when she first came to camp. That seemed so long ago.
"Yeah, I'm fine." I lied again. She looked exhausted, she leaned her head into my arm and I wrapped it protectively around her, Annabeth was like my little sister and I loved her. I looked over at Percy hoping he wouldn't take this badly, he just looked at me, grinned and then went back to laughing at Leo. I was lucky, no other boy (apart from her brothers) ever got this close to Annabeth. I remember once, when the two had just started dating openly watching four of the biggest Ares boys try to pull Percy off an Aphrodite boy because he had kissed her on the cheek, but this was different and Percy knew that. I had been the one who treated Annabeth in the infirmary when she first came to camp, I had been her shoulder to cry on whenever she needed me. I couldn't bare the thought of losing her, the only other person I was this close to was Siere the Hunter, she was the only one of Artemis' hunters who excepted and trained with me when I first met the followers. I hadn't seen her the night before I seriously hoped she as ok.
"Hey Dan?!" Jason yelled. "Where were you man?"
"What?"
"You zoned out."
"Oh, sorry just thinking."
"Hmm about Sarafina no doubt." He half laughed.
"What! No I..."
"Oh, those two are perfect for each other!" Piper squealed.
I was going to protest when Annabeth piped up. "Hey Piper. Your Aphrodite is showing. Looks like that lot are finally rubbing off on you huh?" Piper went bright pink and we all had to laugh at the remark. We all knew Piper was no typical child of Aphrodite. We were so busy laughing that not one of us noticed Artemis approaching. Until she spoke that is.
"If you all don't mind, we have matters to discuss." She looked at everyone of us. "Where is Sarafina?" she asked.
"I am here Milady." Sarafina appeared out of the shadows behind Leo who jumped and fell face first into the ground. The sound of Calypso's melodic laugh filled the air as he pulled himself to his feet.
"I...Uh meant to do that."
Artemis frowned at Leo. Thalia ran out of the tree's and whispered something in the goddesses ear she simply nodded. Thalia then sat down next to Jason. Two hunters flanked Artemis and I realised one was Siere, she smiled at me and I couldn't help but smile back.
"So as you know I have been asked to guide you through Lycaons Terrritory. However I have recently been made aware of a an even bigger threat. Unfortunately I am not allowed to reveal the threat or help you defeat it. These are both things you must do yourselves. I can however tell you that this is nothing like anything you have ever faced before this is a threat bigger than Kronos and even possibly Gaea.." We were all to shocked to speak, I had felt Annabeth tense up in my arms and Sarafina looked very aware as Nico had back in the cave.
Leo was the first to break the silence. "Wait, so what your saying is 'Hi i'm going to stop a crazy wolf man from killing you but then this other thing other thing will probably kill you anyway'."
"Not quite son of Hesphestus, I am just not allowed to personally interfere too much. However I am willing to to leave two of my best hunters to your service." The two girls stepped out of the goddesses shadow.
"Siere and Leah have both volunteered to stay with you." I looked at Siere and couldnt help but smile, she smiled back. Then in that sweet yet intimidating voice she addressed me.
"Hey little brother."
I rolled my eyes at her, we werent actually related but when I had trained with the hunters for those few years she took me under her wing (literally I'll explain later) and it was just a nickname that had stuck.
"Where have you been little bro, havent seen you in a while." Her language was more modern than the others because even though she was amongst the eldest (1,000 years or so) she was in the modern world more.
"Well where do I begin?"
