A/N: I'm typing this up waaay later than I should have, but better late than ever. I suppose my schedule for updating this story has become on the anniversary of this story, the 22nd of every month. Not bad doe, eh? Whatever the case, hopefully my beta, Lord Nitro, had enough time to check it over and stuff, so I could post it up on time. Go, and check him out, btw. Great guy, he is. Onto the story, then!

Disclaimer: I don't think I'll ever own. *turns to Lord Nitro* Do I even have the papers, Nitro? *in a distant voice* No, you don't, Alpha. *turns back to you* See? I can't own. Don't got the papers.

Chapter 9

Percy POV

"Thalia! Great to see you here!" I hugged her tight. I saw the rest of the Hunt glaring at me, Lady Artemis included, but I didn't care. Thalia was the closest person I had as family now, and I wasn't going to pass up the opportunity to get close to them.

"Yeah, yeah, Seaweed Brain, whatever. Where's Owl Head?" Thalia grinned, looking around for her best friend, but the smile slid off my face, and I instantly became sober. She noticed, and spoke back up. "What's wr –" She face palmed, realizing exactly what was wrong. "I'm sorry Percy, I just forgot that she was… y'know, dead."

I nodded weakly, then turned to face Lady Artemis. Bowing low, I said, "Lady Artemis. A pleasure to have you here."

"You cannot simply address our lady like that, boy!" A hunter stepped forward, ready to aim an arrow at me, but Lady Artemis extended her arm, stopping any action from occurring.

"Let him be, Phoebe. You know what he's done. Leave him be to call me Lady Artemis. Now," She looked at me, and nodded once. "Jackson."

I acknowledged that as a greeting and an invitation to lead her to Chiron, so I left towards the Big House.

Artemis POV

I saw Jackson hugging my Lieutenant, but I didn't do anything about it. They had a sibling relationship – not something that could easily be broken.

I saw his eyes sweep across the deadly group of semi-immortal girls, and he didn't waver a bit. When he reached my eyes, however, his eyes changed slightly, but went back to what is was beforehand. It was quick, but not something impossible for a Huntress such as myself to miss. I noted it for later, and watched the two detach.

They had a bit of an exchange, and his face fell. Thalia apparently realized what she'd done wrong, and promptly apologized. He nodded and looked at me.

Bowing low, he said, "Lady Artemis. A pleasure to have you here."

Phoebe, who was all of a sudden fuming, addressed him in an angry manner. "You cannot simply address our lady like that, boy!" She pulled out her bow, ready to shoot him, but I extended my arm, blocking the arrow's trajectory.

Staring straight into her eyes, I sent a message: Don't fire the arrow, or else. I saw fear in those eyes, and satisfied, spoke up, "Let him be, Phoebe. You know what he's done. Leave him be to call me Lady Artemis. Now," I looked at him, and nodded once. "Jackson."

He took that as a signal to lead me to the Big House, when I made no such signal, but followed him nonetheless. It had been a long while since I've Chiron, and thought it was time to greet him.

Fixing my eyes on Chiron, I smiled. I suddenly remembered that we had a few contests back in Greece, to see who was the better archer, and they had been fun, even though I always won. "Chiron, I haven't seen you in a while. How's your archery?"

"Lady Artemis, it is nice having you here. My archery is as great as can be said for a mortal such as myself."

"Remind me later, Chiron, to have a contest with yourself. It is high time we had one."

"Yes, Lady Artemis, it has been long overdue." He looked to Percy. "May I speak with you, Percy?" The boy nodded, and I walked out of my room. Seeing as how tomorrow was Friday, we would need to come up with another strategy yet again on how to defeat the Camp, so I headed towards my Cabin.

On the way there, however, I passed Cabin 6. It didn't have any noise coming from it, which was confusing, but I decided to inquire about it later. Stampeding over the camp during Capture the Flag was more important now.

Percy POV

"Yeah Chiron?" After Lady Artemis left, Chiron took me to a part of the Big House I hadn't seen before.

"My boy, listen. I know that you're currently dealing with Annabeth's death, but please, do try your best tomorrow during the games. I think this is the only chance we have to beat their streak."

"But Chiron, how can I be at my best when…" I struggled to speak. My throat started closing up, but I finished anyway. "When all of that just happened?"

"Practice, Percy. Use your powers to their fullest. Wipe the floor with the Hunters, quite literally if needed, but don't kill them."

I smiled. Chiron could always be counted on to cheer someone up, albeit rarely. "Yeah Chiron, I'll do my best. Should we go through different strategies?"

"I think that's my job, Jackson." I whirled around to find Malcolm leaning against the doorframe.

"Hey Malcolm. I'm gonna go call the rest of the counselors for the cabins, so…"

"No need to do that. I've already called them here."

Nodding, I sat down at the Ping-Pong table, watching everyone file in.

"So, shall we begin?" Malcolm addressed the whole group, and some form of confirmation came up from everyone, except for Clovis, who was snoring away as usual. "Ok, who has a strategy?"

A couple of hands went up, and Malcolm gestured to one of the hands. "Go ahead, Clarisse."

"I say we have spies near the river, keeping an eye on whoever passes by or not. Then, we have a large attack on one side of the river, about a third of our forces. Meanwhile, about 11 or so people infiltrate the Hunters. They scout around for the flag, and try not to get caught. We use the information that we gained in order to go in for the flag. If nothing goes to plan, we improvise. In other words, storm in there and go all out."

"Not a bad idea Clarisse, but keep in mind that we tried that strategy 3 games ago. That didn't go well, if you remember."

"Dammit."

I raised my hand.

"Yeah?"

"Well, I think I have a way to detect Hunters, and hopefully where the flag is. But first, I have a question for Chiron."

He trotted forward. "Yes?"

"Is it ok if I ask my father to make it rain a bit during the game? Like, for a little bit during the beginning?"

"Percy… it was going to rain anyway."

"Oh. Right, I knew that."

"What does rain have to do with this strategy of yours?"

"Well, my dad told me about this thing that children of Poseidon can do. We can sense individual water drops, and with that, I could find out where the Hunters are."

"And that can help us how?"

"When water falls on the flag, I can almost instantly find out where it is. I can find the people guarding it, and where they are. Send a group of archers and sword fighters with me. About 10 people should do the trick."

"Why should we send a bunch of troops with you? I think we'd be better off with just trying to go in there with multiple fronts." A new counselor spoke up, a person whose name I didn't know.

"Why with me, isn't important right now." I paused, waiting for the last of my plan to come together. "What is, however, is that I have a strategy."

"So, we know it's gonna rain. I can manipulate the water to my advantage when I can. Now, what we should do, is storm in on multiple fronts. About a 5th of our forces stay behind to guard the flag, and we have a few people to stall the hunters before that."

"Not bad so far."

"Finally, we use our archers to disable the Hunters near the flag, making it somewhat easier to get the flag. Once we have it, have people surround the person with the flag, to escort them to the river."

"It can be refined in a few area, but a solid plan nonetheless." Malcolm nodded at me. "Good job, Percy. Now, everyone, tell your cabins to practice - we have a game to win tomorrow!"

A new voice spoke up, surprising everyone. "And I hope that this game will include her."

I knew that voice anywhere. It was Poseidon… and he gestured to… a girl, one I assumed to be related to him.

Pretty much, the only thing I could think after I saw her was: Oh sh*t.

A/N: Well, is it a bad chapter or not? Whatever the case may be, I introduced a new character into the fray. Care to give me a name for her? Thank you. On to the question for this chapter then – who do you think the new girl is, and what might she do to Percy? Also, any ideas on what to do with her are appreciated, even though I already have her role planned out for the next few chapters.

On a separate note, check out Vengeous. Great write of TUC stories, if any of you know what that is.

Review, please, and see you all next chapter!