There was light coming through the front windows; silvery moonlike light from Artemis' Cabin and the flickering orange light of the central bonfire. That was normal. But the sound of voices in the common was not. They weren't loud enough to wake anybody else but I got up quietly and snuck out on the porch to see what was going on.

Artemis was hugging tearful Hunters in front of Cabin 8. She looked just like she had in my dream except now she was wearing silver jeans and a parka instead of a chiton. Her sister Thalia was standing off to one side watching. She was in the Hunter uniform now too and wearing a sort of silver tiara on her spikey hair.

Chiron was watching too and some disappointed looking harpies (think bag-ladies with wings) were eyeing one or two kids from the other cabins who'd come out to see what was going on.

Mark was one of them so naturally I decided to get a little closer to the action. But before I could kind of accidently-on-purpose notice he was there Thalia Daughter of Zeus beat me to it. I did not follow them. They decided to have their talk near the statue I was standing in the shadow of all by themselves.

"You, a Hunter?" Mark said in disbelief. "You lost your mind or something, Thal?"

She looked embarrassed but determined. "I know it's like a One-Eighty for me, Mark, but there are reasons. I turn sixteen tomorrow if I stay mortal and you know what that means!" I just wished I did. "Besides, I kind of owe this to Zoe."

"And you and me?" He asked.

"We can still be friends," she said. Mark gave her this quizzical eyebrow look and she slapped her forehead. "Gods! I can't believe I just said that." The moment passed fast. "I suppose you think I'm a coward for sticking Percy with the Prophecy." What prophecy?

Mark shook his head. "You're a lot of things, Thal, but never a coward.

"I was tempted," she looked haunted, scared. "I don't trust me. I do trust Percy."

This time Mark nodded. "The kid is solid. All the signs say he's the one. You did the right thing, Thal, but – the Hunters?"

She grimaced. "It's not just to escape the Prophecy, Mark, believe me. It's not even just for Zoe. Wandering the countryside hunting monsters with Luke and Annabeth was the best time in my life. Now I can go back to those days forever."

Some people have a really strange idea of the perfect life.

"What's Zeus think?" Mark asked like he really wanted to know.

Thal smiled sort of affectionately. "He was worried at first – I mean he was afraid I'd take after him in the romance department and get myself turned into an animal and hunted. But we had a long talk, the longest we've ever had, and he's okay with it now." She looked up at Mark and there were tears swimming in her eyes. "He really does care about me. He wants me to be safe and happy."

I remembered the concern on Zeus's face when he looked at her. Yeah, he cared about his own kid at least.

"Told you, didn't I?" Mark said.

"Yeah," Thalia's smile was getting kind of damp. "You know what he said? He said his two favorite daughters could take care of each other for him. Everybody knows Artemis is his godly favorite but I thought I was just an embarrassment to him…that he'd rather I was a tree…"

Mark took a hanky from his pocket and handed it to her. "Blow your nose. Friends," he continued after she did, "that mean the Hunters are going to be nicer to us Campers from now on?"

"Weelllll…" She wadded up the hanky and put in her own pocket, grinning. "I guess we can be nice - if you guys are nice to us."

"We'll work on it," said Mark. He heaved this big, theatrical sigh. "Gods, I have the worst luck with girls; first Callie, now you."

Thalia punched him in the arm. "Come on, you never even kissed me!"

He made a face. "What – trying to kill you every chance I got wasn't romantic enough for you?"

"You're an idiot, Mark," Thalia said sounding happy. Artemis waved an arm. "Oops, gotta go. I'll be seeing you – promise."

She trotted over to her goddess and the whole lot of them streamed away towards the Forest in a shimmer of moonlight bright enough for Mark to finally see me.

I moved out of the statue's shadow. "Sorry."

"Don't worry about it. If you talk in the common you gotta expect to be overheard. It wasn't all that private really." He looked a little ruefully after the Hunters, now just a silver light in the distance. "It's not like we were dating or anything."

"But moving in that direction?" I suggested.

"Maybe, maybe not, obviously not," he shrugged. "Like I said, I got lousy luck with girls, never gotten off home plate in my life."

"Would you like too?" I asked.

His eyebrows did things. "That's a come-on, right?"

I rolled my eyes. "I think I've found your problem." Let's just say I went back to bed feeling pretty darn good