I knocked on the door as the wind howled in the valley, though the weather was controlled by magic, it had started to spit snow. I waited about 5 minutes before knocking again, this time I heard moving around inside after a few seconds Thomas opened the door.

"You never knock." he said.

"Just thought I should this time." I said as I walked in.

"I'm sorry about earlier, okay? I can tell it kills you that I don't.."

I interrupted him "It's fine. I'm fine." I said as my jaw set.

"You're lying."

"What do you want me to say Thomas? That it breaks my heart to see the look on your face every time you don't trust me? That it kills me that people think of me as 'the flight risk demigod that is supposed to complete the great prophecy but could leave at any minute'? That my own father thinks I'll runaway when things get hard? All those things are true but I just have to deal with them because things won't change."

I had hot tears streaming down my face and my voice that was normally my greatest weapon shook with fear. I felt my whole body shake as I sat down on the couch and put my face in my hands. I felt Thomas sit down next to me.

"Abby, I'm sorry. Today in the woods I could have handled things differently, instead of listening to you I just accused you of running away again. I can't imagine what you're going through. I don't even think about the prophecy because I don't have a right to it anymore, but it must be all you think about. Abby I'm so sorry, I should have listened to you, not just made it worse."

"I see the way people look at me Thomas, I hear them talk about me. I know what people think about me. I just, I never thought you would feel that way about me or look at me that way but now, now you do." as I said those words out loud for the first time I started to sob harder.

"I don't, I never will Abby, please believe me."

I looked at him through tears, and nodded. He pulled me to him and cupped my face with his hands. Using his thumbs he wiped away my tears. The pulled me to him before picking me up. He carried me to his bedroom as I cuddled up next to him under the covers. My eyes were still teary, but I drifted off to sleep.

The next few days passed uneventfully. I had training in the mornings dinner with Thomas at night. But then the day of Jack's quest came, I woke up at rolled out of my bed and walked down stairs. I got up and fixed breakfast and then Thomas and I went and met the others in the Big House.

"Jack," Grayson said, he stood against the wall with his arms around Allison, "Do you know what exactly we're looking for?"

"The Golden Orchid." I said.

"How, how did you know that?" Jack asked.

I could tell she hadn't slept in a while her deep green eyes were puffy and rimmed with dark circles. Her dark brown hair was thrown up in a very messy bun, she sat on Charlie's knee as rubbed her back trying to keep her calm.

"My dad mentioned it. He told me "to tell Miss. Jack she should start her search near Hawaii."

"Then we better get a move on. We can't fly because we don't want to risk taking Thomas and Abby into Zeus' domain." Charlie said.

"Do we have a boat?" Ben asked.

"Yes, but its docked in San Francisco." Afton said.

"Then Charlie is right, we need to get going." Jack said.

We all headed towards the magic bus, and climbed aboard. Jack talked to Ella, the driver, for a few minutes then cam back and joined the rest of us. She sat next to Charlie who held her tight, he spoke softy to her and she seemed a little more like her old self. Afton and Alex were playing ping pong in the corner as Katie sat and watched, Kayla and Ben sat the kitchen counter pointing at a map, Allison and Grayson sat with us on the couch. Everything was almost too calm.

After about 30 minutes there was a thud on the roof, Ella pulled the bus over to the side and all 12 of us weapons in hand climbed off carefully. I looked up to see a girl with her legs kicked over the side. She was tall, thin, and very muscular. Her cooper hair was tied into a loose braid, her hazel eyes looked across all of us, she wore white skinny jeans that tucked into her brown hunting boots. She had on a silver blouse and glowed with a silver light. Her earrings hung down from her ears and had little moons on them. She had a silver bow and quiver slung over her back. Her plump, plum lips formed a smirk. She spoke with an old southern accent, "I hope y'all aren't forgetten something."

"Guys,' Jack said with almost a snarl, 'Meet Emma Dare, leader of the Hunters of Artemis.