Disclaimer: I do not own anything you recognize for either the Percy Jackson series, or Greek mythology. Plot and OCs are, however, mine.

Spelling and Grammar: I am grateful for any and all help.

"There is nothing more important than a good, safe, secure home."

Rosalynn Carter

Staring out the closest window, Chiron's face hardened. There were decisions in life that were difficult to make. This wasn't one of them. "And you shall deliver her, unharmed?" He cared nothing for the girl, but it was important that she remained alive.

"Of course," Prometheus nodded, and glanced slowly, approvingly, around the room in the Big House. "You were able to rid yourself of Dionysius. I am impressed."

Chiron shrugged. "He's always ready for a day off."

"If only Artemis were as easily distracted."

Chiron whirled on the titan. "What happened?" he demanded, color heating his face. "You said everything was going according to plan!"

"Yes..." the titan trailed off, glancing lingeringly out the window. Shadows played across his scarred skin, and a tight-lipped smile stationed itself firmly across his mouth. "I overestimated Castellan's heartlessness, and underestimated his need to brag."

"What did he tell her?" Chiron managed, grinding his teeth. The plan. The perfectly laid plan. He couldn't bare to see it unravel at the first snag. "What does she know?"

Prometheus breathed steadily out, through his nose. "The moon goddess is... wiser than she looks. At first, she will assume Castellan was trying to distract her. But I fear that, eventually, she will realize he was telling the truth. The daughter of Zeus is strong; it would be remarkably unfortunate for her to have been defeated by a handful of cyclopses."

Chiron drew the curtain across the window, suddenly overcome by the fear that someone would see the titan and question the security of Camp. "What do we do?"

The titan smiled, cracked lips curling back, forming an ugly, sadistic grin. "You will fetch me the girl, as planned. I will bring her to her sister, as planned. Once that is done, I will have the moon goddess captured. She will prove useful."

Licking his lips, Chiron offered a doubtful smile. "Capture Artemis? Kronos tried that once already, and-"

"I am not Kronos," Prometheus said, grin disappearing. "And I know just the people to preform such a task."

Chiron sighed. "Who could you possibly have in mind? Artemis is a goddess; she can't be detained by mortal minions, and she would recognize an enemy god on sight."

The grin did not return, but a small, mocking smile formed. "Not a mortal, centaur, a demigod. You remember, I presume, a certain daughter of Antheia?"

Chiron's face paled rapidly, and he quivered, right hoof pawing the floor. "I don't know what you're talking about," he said finally, speaking barely above a whisper.

"No?" Prometheus smiled. He loomed larger than life. "You don't remember dear Jade Foster?" Chiron shook his head much too fiercely. "Good," the titan continued to smile, teeth barred. "Perhaps she doesn't remember you."

"Perhaps," the centaur whispered, complexion still pallor.

"I will be back in two days," Prometheus continued, ignoring his companion's unease. "I will pick the girl up then. In the meantime, I will prepare an extraction team to bring the moon goddess to me. The daughter of Antheia is the leader of the best team we have, and she will lead the excursion."

Chiron nodded, feeling slightly out of breath. "Of course," he answered quietly.

"Very well, then." Prometheus smiled, and left the room. He had enjoyed the centaur's reaction. It had been perfect.

Chiron waited until the titan had disappeared from view, and then sunk into his wheelchair. Jade Foster, a daughter of Antheia. He hadn't forgotten her; never would be able to forget her. Her screams still echoed in his darkest dreams.

They were standing by the lake when he found them. The dark son of Hades, and the dark daughter of Nyx. They weren't talking, weren't touching. Chiron wondered what on earth they were doing.

"Is there something you want?" Nico asked, not turning around.

Chiron took a step back. "I need Elenna to come with me. There's something we should talk about."

The black-haired, black-eyed girl turned around, and the centaur was surprised at how loosely her green hoodie hung around her torso. "Talk about what?" she asked. Her eyes were large, staring up at him curiously. Her skin was so pale. She looked like a gaunt little ghost. A ghost with a very straight nose, and no difference between its irises and pupils.

"Your siblings."

That got her attention. The daughter of Nyx slouched her shoulders forward, and looked away, across the lake. "I don't have any siblings," she said simply, her eyes staying glued on the faraway horizon.

"Elenna," Chiron shuffled toward the girl, cutting a wide circle around Nico. There was no excuse: there was something about the Italian boy that freaked him out. "It's alright." He placed a hand gently on her shoulder, and sighed faintly when she shrugged it off. He liked Percy: the son of Poseidon had a very limited range of emotions. He was relatively easy to deal with. "Their bad choices aren't your fault."

The girl met his eyes unblinkingly. "I don't know what you're talking about," she said, her eyes expressionless. "I don't have any siblings."

Nico, as if picking-up on Chiron's impatience, moved to stand closer to the girl, just a few inches away. "Don't you have a Prophecy Child to be talking to?" he asked.

Chiron allowed himself a moment of gloating. "No. Not anymore," he sent the son of Hades a long, triumphant look. "Weren't you here? Your cousin, Thalia, is the new Prophecy Child."

An unnamed emotion darted across the boy's dark face, and then disappeared. "Right," he rolled his eyes. "The Huntress magically agreed to marry the traitor."

"Exactly."

The girl's fingers curled and uncurled, forming a fist, and then releasing it. "I'm leaving," she said, taking a few steps. "Are you coming?"

Chiron stepped forward. "Well-"

"Not you!" she snapped, her voice almost panicked. Chiron frowned. The girl drew her jacket closer around her stick-like frame, and her inky eyes locked with his, fear reflecting in the dark pools. "Nico," she breathed, looking away.

"Yeah," the son of Hades cast the centaur a suspicious look, and then started on his way, leading the girl away. "I'm coming."

Chiron watched them go, silently pondering. It was only when the girl looked back, fear still alive in her eyes, that he realized something. "Oh," he paused for a moment, and checked to make sure none of the campers were within hearing rage. There were no half-bloods around, but plenty of Naiads. "...Dart..." he said finally, waving awkwardly to the lake residents. And then he was galloping away, back to the Big House.

"Remind me again, why is it Castellan's favorite spy was a child of Nyx?"

Prometheus shrugged, swirling a glass of wine lazily in a long-steamed glass. "I believe he said that she said that "the night has ears." Why? Is there an issue?"

"The girl," Chiron paused, trying not to rush his words. Why had he been so careless? "She knows."

"Knows what?" the titan asked, interest spreading to cover his facial features. "Not about our plan, I hope."

"No," the centaur shook his head. "Not about the plan. About... Jade Foster. And the... others."

"There were others?" Prometheus' words were sarcastic, and conjured unwelcome images in the old centaur's mind. "Not any of my children, I hope."

Chiron shifted from one hoof to another, and looked at the rug. "No," he answered shortly.

"Chiron," the titan raised the glass to his mouth, and took a long sip. "I know when I'm being lied to."

Sighing, Chiron lifted his head, and looked shamefully up at the titan's face. His eyes met with the black, unforgiving sunglasses. "I apologize. It's just that... well, Camp isn't always kind to those of..." he trailed off, approaching a delicate matter.

"The children of titans and minor gods are not seen as equals." Prometheus twirled the glass' steam easily in his fingers. "I know. But why is it, I wonder, that I haven't seen any of them running around your camp? What's happened to them all, Chiron, Trainer of Heros?"

The centaur bowed his head, allowing the doubt of his past actions to overwhelm him for a few seconds. But he was practical. Everything he had done could be justified. Had been justified, before he'd done it. He had no reason to feel either sorrow or shame. "They have been disposed of," he said simply, regaining his composer. His head came back up, and he smiled thinly. "They aren't important, you know. They are like outcasts in our world. The Campers treat them nicely, but no one ever misses them when they disappear."

"Good." Prometheus matched the centaur's narrow smile. "Then it should be easy for you to make the daughter of Nyx vanish."

"Of course," Chiron's eyes bored into the centers of the glass lenses, and held the gaze he imagined staring him down. "Tomorrow, I'll get her for you."

"Yes." The titan set his glass down, and smoothed his jacket. "Tomorrow."

It was dusk when Chiron left the Big House. It was a chilly night, and he shivered in the swirling mist. It was the perfect night for a dark escapade. It was also quite helpful that the girl never went to the after-dinner campfire. Passing the said campfire and its hoard of singing demigods, Chiron trotted purposefully toward the Hermes cabin. He was in luck: she was the only half-blood there.

"What do you want?" Elenna stood-up slowly, keeping her eyes on his, her skinny body trembling.

"It's aright," the centaur stepped forward, his right hand clutching a loaded syringe in such a way that it was hidden from the girl's view. "I just wanted to return something to you."

The dark girl tried to step around him, to make for the door. He blocked her escape easily. "I didn't lose anything," she protested. Chiron stared at her for a long moment, assessing the situation. She wasn't going to cooperate at all, but he was prepared for that. His problem was time. Soon, other residents of the traveler god's cabin would be returning, and then it would be too late.

"Look here," he said finally, sending her reassuring smile as he talked. "I've got a necklace for you."

"I have one," the girl said, again trying to force her way past the centaur.

"Oh," Chiron chuckled dryly, and tossed his arm out, keeping the girl from leaving. "That's hardly a necklace, it's only got one bead!"

Elenna backed away from him, her oversized eyes darting back and forth, sweeping the room desperately. "I've only been here one summer," she responded, her voice low.

"Hmm," the centaur offered his most charming smile. "And what do you think of Camp, so far, little one?"

"I hate it," the daughter of Nyx was whispering now, and wrapping the fabric of her hoodie so tightly around her that the seams were straining.

"Is that so?" Chiron took a confident step forward, his charming smile taking on a more ominous appearance.

The girl nodded. "It's not a sanctuary for us," she said, once again meeting the centaurs eyes. "It's a welcoming home for real demigods; the ones with real gods as their parents. It's a deathtrap for the fake half-bloods; with minor gods as parents."

Chiron took another step forward, his teeth barred in his ugly smile. "Very good," he whispered. "This is no sanctuary for the worthless spawn of useless minors."

The girl took a step forward, and then dropped to the floor, attempting to roll between Chiron's legs and reach the door. The syringe's needle was in her arm before she hit the floor. And the drug had knocked her unconscious less than a minute afterwards.

Sighing in mock regret, Chiron yanked the girl upright. "Always the smart ones," he said, cradling the girl in his arms. "They're always the first to go."

AN: Sorry, again, for such a long wait. I was on vacation, and the internet access wasn't the best. This chapter's quote and title are, indeed, suppose to be ironic. Churches are suppose to be safe places, and so's Camp. I'm not going to lecture you about the former; but apparently, the latter isn't.

Also, thank you so much, camillexelisabeth, for your lengthy and positive review. I appreciate it very much.