Chapter 10: Calamari and a Cyborg

Roof of Redcroft manor; relieved to be alive

Well that was a total shit show. Leo stood beside his friends on the roof gazing out at the devastated front lawn. What in Hades had happened to Percy? One minute they were about to hand them their asses and the next Percy gets skewered? Wasn't he supposed to be invincible or something? Leo glanced over to Annabeth. She was pale and sweaty and breathing rapidly, eyes wide. It could have been due to their near death experience, the reason he and Piper were completely wrecked, but Leo suspected that it more likely had something to do with watching her evil ex take another header. How many times was that guy going to play chicken with death before Thanatos just lost his shit and came for him anyway?
"Do you think he's ok?" Piper asked tentatively, her eyes also on Annabeth but moving rapidly back to gazing over the lawn when Annabeth's gazed snapped to her face.
"Probably" Leo said, "this is Percy we're talking about after all. He's always been a bitch to kill." Leo nearly went sailing over the edge of the roof after Percy and Thalia when Piper whacked him hard on the back of the head sending him stumbling forward. "Ow" he muttered weakly.
"Well what did you say something stupid like that for then?" demanded Piper angrily, casting another sidelong glance at Annabeth. Annabeth clearly caught the look, but if it bothered her she didn't let it show.
"No" she said, the slight shake in her voice vanishing as she rapidly composed herself. "No, he's right. An injury like that won't slow Percy down for long . . . maybe a few days, a week at most." She gave herself a little shake. "What worries me the most is how easily Thalia went after him." Leo only realised then that Annabeth was right. Thalia shouldn't have been able to jump off after him much less save him as she had.

"Why is that a concern?" Leo stiffened for a moment as Annabeth's scary big sister came up behind them, apparently unruffled by any of what had just occurred. "She's a child of Zeus isn't she? Flight would seem like an obvious ability for someone like her."
"Yeah" Leo admitted, "except being up high normally sends her on an express ride to white and shakiesville."
"Excuse me?"
Annabeth rolled her eyes, "ugh. He means that Thalia suffers from crippling acrophobia. Or at least, she's supposed to" she finished slowly turning her gaze on the spot where the two of them had disappeared into the trees.
"I see" Lady Redcroft said, "most interesting, and odd." Leo wasn't sure he like the way she said "interesting" in the same way someone might say useful, as though the woman was already plotting ways to use this information against someone.
"Yes" Annabeth agreed, "which is why it's weird that she didn't even hesitate to leap after him, much less go soaring up into the air like she did."
"Maybe not wanting to see Percy go splat on the garden path overrode her fear?" Leo suggested.
"Maybe" Annabeth said, though the suggestion seemed to trouble her even more than Thalia flying. She was quiet for several moments, clearly deep in thought. Leo wasn't sure he liked having two daughters of Athena so near him. All the thinking that was going on was making his brain hurt.

"Oh my" remarked Alfred stepping up beside his mistress and surveying the carnage with her, "I do hope this is covered by our insurance. This will take time to repair."
"Yeah," Leo agreed, "and they catnapped your Tiger."
"I beg your pardon?" Alfred said, looking confused.
Piper gave Leo another smack on the head "now isn't the time for stupid jokes Leo!" she scolded. "He means Thalia stole your motorbike" she explained turning to the old gentleman.
"Oh dear, Lady Redcroft won't be happy about that. That bike was her favourite."
Leo turned around to look at the brigadier, confused "I thought you were Lady Redcroft." Redcroft shot a look at Alfred that he was sure was irritation, maybe even anger. Leo was shocked, it was the first time she had displayed any negative emotion toward her butler. Alfred's expression didn't change beyond a widening of his eyes as he realised his mistake. It was clear that he had let slip something that he absolutely shouldn't.
Lady Redcroft sighed deeply, "I am Lady Redcroft. Alfred is referring to my sister."
"YOUR SISTER?" all three of them yelled at once, incredulous, causing the brigadier to actually flinch at the sudden assault of noise.
"Half-sister" she elaborated, irritated "we share only the same father. I never said I was the ONLY living Redcroft."
"You didn't tell us" Annabeth said, indignantly.
"I didn't think it relevant" the Brigadier said coolly.
"How could you not think it was relevant?" Annabeth demanded turning around fully to face her older sibling. "Especially when we told you why we were here!" She took an angry step forward, invading the Brigadiers personal space, which Leo was sure couldn't be the smartest thing for her to do. Indeed, Alfred took a quick sidestep closer to his mistress and Leo was sure he bent his knees just a fraction.
"Annabeth, maybe you should cool off a bit?" he suggested weakly.
Both Annabeth and Lady Redcroft ignored him.

"When you arrived here I was not inclined to provide you with information about my family" Redcroft explained patiently, but the hard look in her eyes made Leo more nervous still. "After you revealed your intention and that the godly blood came from my mother I did not think the existence of my sister relevant as she and I do not share the same mother." Leo was sure Annabeth would go on ranting as she looked wholly unsatisfied with the explanation but she let the matter be.
"I see" she said, a little unconvincingly Leo thought, "I apologise." This shocked Leo almost as much as the whole half-sister thing.
She apologised? The apology seemed to satisfy the brigadier because she turned her eyes back to her devastated front lawn.
"I had a feeling you would understand my logic" she said, to Leo, sounding a bit smug.
"So where is she?" Piper asked.
"Oxford" Redcroft stated, "she was taking one of her latest finds to a friend there I believe."
"Finds?"
"Do you remember the display cabinets you asked me about Ms Mclean?" Redcroft asked sighing as though the daughter of Aphrodite's questions were frustrating her.
"Yes" Piper said shortly, obviously picking up on her tone "the ones with the ancient artefacts in them. You mean that your sister is the one who collected them?"
Lady Redcroft inclined her head slightly in the barest hint of an acknowledging nod at Piper's understanding. "Correct. Mostly. You see, I inherited my father's military prowess as well as, it seems now, more than a little ability from my mother. My sister on the other hand inherited is archaeological obsession, and it seems his enjoyment of poking around ancient ruins and long forgotten places. She would have believed your story far more readily than I. She frequently regales me with tales of supernatural encounters but she mostly dismisses them as ancient technology gone awry, or superstitious locals attempting to keep her away from places they fear or hold sacred."
Her eyes darkened for a moment and Leo heard the worry in her voice "I fear she may one day encounter something that knowledge of ancient civilisations and a quick trigger finger will not allow her to overcome."
"Would she help us?" Annabeth asked.
"Most likely" Redcroft admitted, composing herself, "But I will not allow her to become involved in this if I can help it. I have kept her free of the shackles of the family burden for many years. I see no reason to involve her now it has only become heavier."
Annabeth was silent for several moments, her eyes drifting from Redcroft's face, to the sword at her waist, to the spot where Percy had toppled off the roof. Her whisper was so quiet Leo almost missed it.
"So heavy."

Silence stretched out between the members of the group for several seconds. The only sound was the crackling of fire that continued to burn in the almost unrecognisable husk of a destroyed 4x4. A few seconds more passed, by then Leo couldn't stand it any longer.
"Hey Annabeth we need to get back" he pointed out. She turned her eyes to him and for a moment they didn't seem to comprehend what he was saying. "You know? Dark forces to stop, world to save?" he pressed. The tortured soul blinked several times and his friend was back.
"You're right" she agreed, turning from the scene below, "let's get moving."
"Surely you cannot intend to leave this very instant?" Alfred asked, looking and sounding like a concerned grandparent again now that there was no danger to his Countess.
"Of course" Annabeth said.
"But Miss Chase you and your friends can barely stand," the butler insisted, "neither can I if it comes to that. No. Surely it would be better to rest and begin your return journey tomorrow?"
Leo had to admit the old geezer had a point. After their fight with the monsters and then Percy almost right after he was about ready to pass out where he stood.
"You'd let us stay here after all the trouble we've brought?" Piper asked hesitantly. Leo wanted to tell her to shut up.
Don't turn down an offer of hospitality! He thought.
"If what Jackson said was true then he was coming here whether or not you were here," Redcroft stated, "it isn't your fault. Rest for tonight and we shall make the return journey with you tomorrow."
"Didn't you say you had things to take care of?" Annabeth asked.
"We should be ready to depart by midday tomorrow" Redcroft assured her.
Annabeth sighed deeply from relief and exhaustion "Ok, we'll stay." Alfred took Annabeth's arm to steady her as she turned took a step forward and nearly fell flat on her face.
"Please allow me to take you to the guest rooms" he said.

The group crossed to the roof door. Alfred attempted, several times, to open the door before they remembered that Thalia had fried the lock.
"Ah" he said, "That's problematic."
"Leo" Piper said automatically.
"Don't look at me" he said immediately, "she blew it to bits. I can't fix it if there's nothing left to fix."
"So how do we get down now?" Piper asked. A chuckle sounded from the limp blonde figure supported by Alfred's arm. She looked up at Leo.
"I don't suppose you have a really long ladder in that tool belt?" she joked.

Next Morning; 11:30am

Leo didn't get out of bed until nearly midday. But, he reasoned, he had a valid excuse this time; they hadn't actually managed to get off of the roof until one in the morning. It had been very quiet, very cold, and very awkward as the five of them had waited on the roof for some of the soldiers to pull themselves together, ascend to the top floor of the manor and then break through the door from the other side. A door designed to resist explosions and gunfire, so suffice it to say it had taken more than a good kick to get it open. Leo had been about ready to forget the soldiers and just sleep inside the helicopter. He was glad he hadn't. The fancy four poster in his guest room was super comfortable.
I definitely want to be reborn into a rich family in my second life. He rolled out of bed and slipped quickly into his jeans, and the fresh shirt that someone had draped over the footboard. It was brand new and probably designer even though it was just a plain white t-shirt. It felt weird to wear.
Everything's so expensive here. It's like wearing money. He was just pulling his shoes on when there was a knock at the door.
"Come in" he called.
"Good morning Leo" said Alfred amiably as he stepped into the room, "I do hope you slept well."
"Like a baby Alfie" Leo answered straightening up to face the old guy. The corner of Alfred's eye twitched, perhaps involuntarily.
Note to self: do not call him Alfie Leo thought.
The butler's voice, however, gave no hint of irritation as he continued. "Excellent, I'm glad to hear it," he stepped aside and gestured Leo into the corridor, "Your friends have already joined her ladyship for a late breakfast before we depart. I came to see if you would be joining them."
"Oh yeah" Leo agreed, slipping into the corridor, "I could eat!"

"About time!" Annabeth snapped, by way of a morning greeting, when Leo entered the dining room. The place was the size of a small house, with a table easily long enough to seat at least 40 people. At the far end Piper, Annabeth and Lady Redcroft were already seated, apparently talking quietly together until Leo entered. Luckily, or unluckily, the door Alfred had led him in through had been midway down the room or Leo probably would never have heard her.
"You're not gonna sit there and tell me you weren't about ready to sleep until winter solstice after yesterday?" Leo retorted making his way over to them. He nearly had to shout.
"No but at least I could be bothered to get up!" Leo didn't bother to reply. He sank into the chair next to Piper as Alfred, who had disappeared after opening the door for Leo, returned now wheeling a trolley before him.
"Here we are my lady," he said pulling the trolley to a stop beside the Countess, "I didn't prepare anything too fancy this morning as we are in a hurry." He took the lids from each of the platters on his trolley, introducing each item as he placed it on the table. "This morning we have smoked salmon toasts, mushroom sourdough bruschetta, Quail egg and goats cheese omelette or buckwheat crepes with poached apple and pear. I wasn't sure what our guests would like," he glanced to Leo, Annabeth and Piper so I prepared a selection. As I said though, nothing fancy."
Leo had to supress a mocking laugh. Nothing Fancy? I don't understand most of what he just said! Piper looked equally befuddled. Annabeth less so but Leo suspected she had been to enough feasts on Mount Olympus to be familiar with extravagant dishes.
"Tea or Coffee?"
"Uh what?" Leo had been so busy not understanding his breakfast options that he hadn't notice Alfred roll the trolley up beside him.
"Would you care for tea or coffee?" Alfred repeated, "or I can get you something else if you'd prefer?"
"Uh, coffee please" Leo decided.
"Blue mountain, Java or Bergendal?"
"Uhhhh"
On second thought, if being rich makes just having breakfast this complicated I'll stick to leftover pizza and flat Coke back at the machine shop.

An hour later they were back on the roof and boarding Lady Redcroft's Helicopter. A fancy one too, Leo noted as he climbed aboard.
"Augusta Westland AW101 medium lift transport and utility helicopter," he told his friends, repeating the aircraft's specs as they popped into his head. "Armour, an active vibration control system, a de-icing system rated for use in -50°, chaff, flares and directed infrared countermeasures. You could fly this baby headlong into a gale force blizzard with heat seekers after you and she'd come out smiling!" Unfortunately all Annabeth and Piper seemed to care about was that it flew. "Some people have no appreciation for quality engineering!" Leo huffed as he sank into his seat and stared out the window at the manor as it shrank into the distance. Their flight lasted several hours. At first Leo assumed they would land at an airport in or near London but the helicopter journeyed onwards, straight over London and continuing south. Eventually the coastline came into view and beyond it the greenish waters of the English Channel.
"Uh where are we going?" Leo asked finally. It was the first time he had bothered trying to talk to anyone since they had dismissed his interesting aircraft facts that morning. Redcroft looked at him as though he were stupid but didn't say anything. "You do realise this thing only has a range of 570 miles right?" Leo asked the pilot over the intercom.
"Your point?" he responded, briefly.
Leo was nettled. "Last time I checked the Atlantic was a lot wider than that. And I don't really feel like swimming."
"Lucky for you we ain't flyin all the way then isn't it?" the pilot said turning to look at the irritated demigod.
"Eyes forward lieutenant" Lady Redcroft cut in.
"Yes ma'am." The pilot turned back to his instruments.

After a few more minutes Leo spotted the reason they were out here. A grey speck had appeared on his window. He tried to wipe it away but it wouldn't shift. The helicopter banked sharply and the speck moved, beginning to grow larger. After a few more moments the speck resolved itself into the recognisable silhouette of a ship moving down the English Channel toward the Atlantic.
You CANNOT be serious! He thought, Is there anything these guys DON'T have? The helicopter descended smoothly, touching down on the helipad at the stern of the ship. A Deck officer greeted the Brigadier as the group disembarked.
"Afternoon ma'am" He said, saluting smartly, "Welcome aboard the H.M.S Ayleswood." They were led quickly off of the helipad and along the port side of the ship toward the bridge. Along the way they passed several uniformed sailors, who all stopped to salute the Brigadier before scurrying off to continue their various tasks. Not one of them cast a second glance at Leo, Piper or Annabeth.
Annabeth must have been as surprised by the revelation that Redblade had its own ship as Leo because she began to remark, "You must be very well funded if-"
"You have your own battleship?" Piper cut her off mid comment.
"Frigate" Leo corrected automatically, "Type 23, Duke class. 133 meters long with a displacement of 4900 tons and armed with . . ." He trailed off as Annabeth turned the glare she had been directing at Piper on him. "Just sayin'. Geez, calma tus tetas Annabeth!"

Annabeth glared some more but Redcroft was studying him with a newfound interest.
"You know a remarkable amount about military hardware for a civilian Valdez" she observed, "I noticed when we boarded the helicopter that you identified all of its technical specifications and equipment, even the non-standard elements."
"It's a Hephaestus thing" he told her. "And it's not just military stuff. If it's been engineered all I have to do is touch it, concentrate a little and all the info just sorta pops into my head. Comes in handy when I need to fix, fly or drive something I've never seen before. Also I kinda built my own ship so I know a little about 'em anyway." He paused placing his hand on the hull again. Something was a little off; like a heart palpitation but from the ship. "Yeah," he decided after a second longer, "you might manna send someone down to the engine room. Your number 2 engine is developing a fault and starting to lose power. In about ten minutes this ship is going to start pulling to starboard." The brigadier gazed at him with a more intense version of Annabeth's searching look until he began to feel extremely uncomfortable.
It was a great relief when she merely said, "extraordinary" and turned away to resume walking. Leo let out a breath.
Scary.

When they reached the bridge it was all Leo could do not to bust out a screw driver and start disassembling every panel and control console. As it was he had to shove his hands deep into his pockets so he couldn't touch anything, and tried to look only at the back of the Brigadier's head as he stood awkwardly behind her with Piper, Annabeth and Alfred. Redcroft took charge the moment she entered.
"Captain," she barked, before anyone could announce her arrival causing the poor man to jump, turn around and attempt to salute all at the same time. He nearly fell over. "Please contact engineering and have someone sent down to the engine room." She glanced Sidelong at Leo, "I've had a report of a developing fault with engine number two." The captain looked confused but dutifully did as he was ordered. "Thank you captain, as to everything else I trust there were no problems?"
"None at all ma'am" the captain responded, "the co-ordinates you forwarded to us have already been sent to navigation and a course laid in. It's just a matter of a quick hop across the pond now."
"Excellent, Carry on Captain." The captain saluted once more before returning to his duties.
Annabeth spoke up from Leo's left. "Hold on, if this is a military vessel won't you have problem's entering U.S territorial waters?" Lady Redcroft actually chuckled at Annabeth's ignorance.
"You are sharp aren't you? Ms Chase the RedBlade initiative has had extraterritorial jurisdiction in North America since before the American Revolution. An arrangement that your government never felt the need to address after its inception. As far they are concerned this is a ghost ship. It can go anywhere except enter civilian ports and a very select number of the US Navy's highest security bases."
"I see"
I don't.
Redcroft seemed suddenly bored of their company. "Alfred, would you please see our companions down to the galley, make sure they know where the cabin is and then come back here, we have business to attend to.
"Of course ma'am" he answered, already herding them along like wayward toddlers.

Crew cabins, lower deck; two hours later

"This sucks" Leo stated as he finished counting the rivets in the bulkhead for the thirteenth time.
"What do you think we can do about it?" Annabeth asked from the bunk across from his, not bothering to look up from the book she had produced from somewhere.
"I'm with Leo" Piper's voice said from the bunk under his own, "there must be something we could be doing other than sitting here. Was it like this when Clarisse had you aboard the Birmingham?"
"Worse," Annabeth recalled. "At least on this ship the crew is alive. The C.S.S Birmingham's crew were all zombies under orders to execute us if we made a nuisance of ourselves."
"Clarisse wouldn't really have done that would she?" Piper asked, sceptical.
"This is Clarisse La Rue we're talking about" Annabeth pointed out, "plus this was back when she would have liked nothing better than to do Percy in herself, so probably. Maybe I should have let her."
"Don't start that again" Piper chastised, gently "remember what we talked about."
"Okay, okay," Annabeth whined, "you're right. No giving up."

A claxon erupted to life, shrieking its high pitched warning and causing footsteps of sailors passing outside to immediately break into a run.
"That can't be good" Leo muttered. He leaned over the side of his bunk to look at Piper, "feel like giving up now?" he asked sarcastically. Annabeth was already at the bulkhead door, heaving the heavy metal aside. She stepped into the narrow passage and grabbed the shoulder of a sailor sprinting toward the stairs.
"What is happening?" She demanded in a tone almost identical to that of Brigadier Redcroft. The sailor looked annoyed for a second but then clearly recognised the authority in her voice and steel in her eyes. She was an authority all her own, even if she was a civilian.
"General quarter's alarm miss" he informed her, "We're about to be attacked. Please stay in your quarters." He didn't even wait to see if they followed the instruction before he shot off again.
"Not likely" Annabeth muttered, "Come on" she ordered heading for the stairs herself. Leo and Piper followed.

Back on the bridge the Brigadier was still in command, issuing orders and receiving reports from the various stations as the ship went into a combat alert. She glanced at them with undisguised irritation as they entered but did not comment. From various stations reports came in:
"All stations report weapons armed"
"Spotters report target is Leviathan Squid, Class C- 50ft body, twelve tentacles 80-100ft each"
"Sonar confirms target. Depth 150ft and rising contact in less than thirty seconds"
"EMC coils at 10%"
The last one threw Leo but he didn't dwell on it for long. As the creature's monolithic tentacles breached the surface of the water Leo began to have flashbacks. The Argo II, a gigantic catfish monster, explosions of Greek Fire, mermen. His reminiscing was cut short as the first of the large tentacles began to wrap itself around the hull of the H.M.S Ayleswood.
"Why aren't we fighting back?" he asked nervously. Alfred stepped back from his place at Redcroft's side. He placed a hand gently on Leo's shoulder.
"Just wait" he told them, his eyes on the Brigadier, "oh and be ready to close your eyes" he warned. Leo turned his eyes to the Brigadier, astonishingly both she and the bridge crew were completely calm, as though nothing were happening. His jaw dropped with astonishment. She was checking her watch! Was she bored? Then one of the bridge officer's shouted from his station.
"Hull coils at 100% capacity. Crew clear, insulating seals secure."
"Activate" Redcroft ordered calmly.

A millisecond later Leo was nearly blinded as the hull beyond the bridge windows was illuminated by a colossal electric current. He saw, just for a second, it sparking off the deck guns and spreading to the surrounding water before he had to close his eyes. Almost as soon as he had done that both he and the girls had to clap their hands over their ears as a deep, ear-shredding roar of agony assaulted them. The squid was howling in agony as its tentacles rapidly unwound from around the ship. Redcroft was completely unfazed.
"Get the men back out on deck," she ordered. "Load the 4.5 inch gun and target that Leviathan. This isn't even close to over yet!" Sure enough Squiddy resurfaced some distance from the Ayleswood. This time they could see almost all of it, big and angry but thankfully not fast. A pair of massive tentacles rose into the air. The Leviathan clearly intended to smash the ship to scrap.
"It's too close for Sea wolf or Harpoon missiles ma'am"
"Use the miniguns"
The tentacles descended rapidly. Twin streams of bullets tore into them and they stopped their descent, veering away and disappearing under the water again. The Leviathan didn't seem to get the message as he tried it twice more. By the third time the deck gun was roaring. 4.5 inch shells smashed against the parts of the Leviathan visible above the waterline. The Leviathan bellowed in pain and sank out of sight again, leaving several bits or tentacle and carapace behind. Redcroft was still calm.
"Arm tubes one and two, I need a firing solution in the next 30 seconds!"

When Sqiddy popped up again, some distance from the ship's portside, Leo could only see its armoured head. It swam right toward them, gathering speed with intent to Ram the Ayleswood.
"Solution ready ma'am"
"Fire number one!"
There was a dull thud and a whoosh and Leo watched the steel tube drop into the water and shoot away toward the incoming monster.
"That won't kill it." He was muttering to himself but he could see Annabeth nodding in agreement.
"Update the solution for number two" Redcroft ordered, "Switch deck gun to incendiary shells!" Torpedo one hit home. The Leviathan slowed but it hadn't stopped. The moment the first hit its target the second fired. When it hit home the monster stopped its onward charge. It rose out of the water once again, wailing in agony, a gaping hole in its exoskeleton leaking squid juice into the water. "Let's end it, target that wound and fire!" Redcroft ordered. Three incendiary shells found their mark. The creature let out a final dying shriek and collapsed back into the water and fell still. The only sounds to be heard were the low rumble of the ships engines at flank speed, the beeping of machinery and the breathing of those on the bridge. Lady Redcroft straightened and tucked a single loose hair behind her ear, the only thing the entire ordeal had left out of place. "Well done gentlemen. Captain, send the all clear and have Ackers and his team ready. We need to harvest those ink sacs before the creature begins to dissolves and pollute the water for miles around."

"Harvest it?" Piper demanded, disgusted. She seemed to have found her wits again.
"Certainly" Alfred confirmed, "bottled squid ink is a culinary delicacy. We sell it to our French and Japanese contacts. That creature is worth half a million pounds."
" Around $623,000" Annabeth translated. Leo whistled appreciatively.
"Indeed" Alfred agreed. As they left the bridge the ship drew alongside the mammoth corpse of the dead sea creature. The smell of overcooked Calamari reached them. Leo leaned over the railing for a better look.
"Anyone got any lemon-garlic sauce?" he joked, "it's still a long way back to camp and I'm hungry." Piper snorted with laughter but covered her mouth. Leo caught Annabeth trying not to smile.
"Afraid not" she told him, "but I can't wait to get back. A hard core training session will be nice and relaxing after all of this."
"Agreed" Leo and Piper said together.

Circe's Isle: Six weeks later

"Come on you miserable excuses for marksmen!" To say Thalia was frustrated with the way training had been going would have been an understatement. "Keep your strings taught! Eyes and arrows on the centre of mass! It's not a sniper rifle, this isn't a movie, your focal point is not the head!" She yelled as she paced up and down the line of fifteen, six men and nine women, as they sighted their targets on the range. "I'm not looking for trick shots, and I'm certainly not looking for idiots who can't shoot straight. I want people who can shoot straight and hit their targets" she informed them, for the millionth time. "the next person I have to tell to gets to mop Hyperion's flight deck. Alone!" she barked for emphasis, causing the three who had groaned aloud and sagged under the weight of a potential reprimand to straighten rapidly and focus on their targets. The one nearest Thalia, a girl of just 12 herself, squeaked in alarm as she drew near and accidentally released her arrow. Part of Thalia wanted to comfort her and tell her not to worry. Mostly she wanted to plant a boot up her skinny little backside as her arrow went sailing over the target.

Beginning to feel like a lost cause yet?
Ha ha Percy,
she didn't bother to turn around as the son of Poseidon came up behind her. She also didn't respond when he wrapped an arm casually around her waist and slumped against her in mock exhaustion.
Your frustration was wearing me out he thought, but they are improving.
After a month and a half they'd better be!
Thalia whined.
All I can say is that I'm glad these recruits at least had some idea of what they were or why they'd been called here. Explaining that shit repeatedly is a-
-Pain in the ass!
They thought together.
Thalia stepped away from Percy to give instruction. Percy watched with curiosity about the nuances of teaching archery and a subtle (but not so subtle that Thalia didn't detect it) sense of pride for her and what they were building. As her class got underway with the next exercise she had given them and she returned to where Percy was watching a thought occurred to him.
Speaking of Pains in the ass, where are the Raleigh brothers? Weren't they supposed to be helping us?
Where do you expect?
Responded Thalia, huffing out loud. One's asleep and the other is either tuning his guitar or getting beaten up outside the girls' bathhouse for ogling them naked again.
Remind me why we didn't kill that asshole the first time he grabbed your ass?
They both knew the answer.
Because besides me he's the best shot we've got, they both are. Better than that Dunnbarr girl in the Daughters of Darkness and she can shoot a crossbow bolt out of the air head on!
They
are both children of Apollo Percy pointed out.
I'm not and I'm still better than them.
And they know it. That's part of why they're avoiding us.
I still don't trust-
The thought was interrupted by a voice calling from across the way.
"Yo! Siouxsie Sioux, did I miss the training session?"

Both Percy and Thalia turned toward the sound scowling at their new arrival. He was typically Apollo; Blonde, tanned and muscular. At the moment he was wearing Bermuda shorts and a t-shirt; mirrored sunglasses covered his eyes even though the weather in the Sea of Monsters had been overcast for the past week. The only thing unusual about him was his height. He was freakishly tall, at least 6'7"-6'8". Well that and his flawed personality. Percy and Thalia strongly suspected by the fact that he was rubbing the side of his face as he approached that he was concealing a black eye behind those oversized lenses.
"What did you call me Raleigh?" Thalia asked, with a deceptive calmness in her tone. She was already supressing the urge to shoot him in at least one of his vital areas. It wasn't the first time he'd mocked her.
"Sorry Boss Lady" he remarked sarcastically, bowing low from the waist. Percy thought about stepping forward and kicking him in the backside so he fell over and they both tried not to laugh at their mental image of him breaking his shades on the marble wall.
"I'm just not used to hearing orders from Evanescence in stereo"
This time they both thought about cutting off something vital.
Instead Thalia said "if you have a problem with that Walter you and your brother are free to vacate your positions and we will find others to fill your roles. There are plenty of other disgruntled children of Apollo in our ranks. I'm sure they would be more than happy to take your place. Do we need to remind you what happened to the last person who consistently got on our bad side? You could both visit what's left of him in the infirmary. "

For all his snarkyness it seemed Raleigh was able to at least recognise a thinly veiled threat when he heard it. His cocky smile vanished and he straightened quickly.
"Good choice" Thalia remarked.
"Now, why isn't your brother here?" demanded Percy, "he is supposed to be involved in this."
"During the day?" Raleigh asked.
"YES!" the two of them growled in unison.
"Fat chance"
I'm going to shoot him in the face! Thalia thought with exasperation.
Not if I don't run him through first! Percy countered.
We could do both at the same time? Thalia suggested.
Great idea but . . . no we still need him.
I know. I'd much rather his brother was here right now though.
He was the diligent, quiet and rational to his younger sibling's raucous, wild and irritating. How the two could be twins they had no idea, they were more like polar opposites. Rather like the sun and moon in fact, which was one of only two reasons they hadn't offed them both yet. The two of them checked their watches.
"It doesn't matter now anyway," Thalia said, "you missed it."
"Circe needs the run of the training ground for the advanced combat magic session" Percy stated dubiously.
Something we really shouldn't be letting her do without some closer form of monitoring they agreed.

Raleigh stuffed his hands in the pockets of his shorts, turned and began to saunter away.
"In that case, if you need me I'll be down by the pool!" He called over his shoulder at Thalia. He turned back to find Percy standing in his path smirking.
"Actually Raleigh" Thalia said, smirking too. "Since you have so much energy you can head over to the stables. They need a good cleaning."
"Yeah, and just a heads up" Percy warned, "Blackjack has the trots. His pen in particular will need a lot of attention."
"You've got to be kidding!"
"Actually no, we're not" Thalia said seriously, dropping the smirk and fixing Raleigh with a steely glare. "Perhaps a few hours shovelling worthless turds-"
"Will remind you not to be one." Percy finished. "We are sure the other girls will agree."
"And you can tell your brother to help. We don't care if he's asleep, reading or fucking dying. You both get down there and it better be clean when we come around or so help us we will shoot the both of you and feed you to Mrs O'Leary!"
"Yeah, fine. I get the message. I'll get right on that."
"Yeah you will," agreed Percy, "in fact . . ."
"Suzie!" called Thalia. The young girl from earlier, the one who had kept missing her targets put up her bow and scurried over.
"Yes Mistress?"
"You remember Walter don't you?"
She looked over at Raleigh, her eyes catching on the emerging purplish bruise with some disgust. "Yes Mistress I think we all do."
"Good. Do you have any other training today?"
"No Mistress, this was my last class today."
"Perfect. Then grab a couple of friends and make sure he and his brother complete their assigned tasks."
"Yes Mistress." Thalia turned back around just in time to catch Raleigh making rude gestures at her and Percy. They both caught him in a furious glare and he froze.
"Oh Suzie, one more thing" Thalia added, without taking her eyes off Raleigh, "if they mouth off, or fail to do the job properly you have our express permission to test those newly issued Chimera Poison arrows on them, ok kid?
A gleeful, impish grin spread across the girl's face "with pleasure Mistress!" She scuttled back over to her class mates and returned with two of them, all still armed with bows. They were clearly hoping Raleigh would mouth off.

As he was herded away by his new warden Thalia turned her eyes to the remaining members of her class.
"Well done everyone else. You are all improving (not by much). Remember as archers you will fill a vital role in the upcoming battles. A single arrow will mean the difference between life and death for many of your comrades." She paused, taking in their looks of pride. "Which is why I want to see some serious Gods damned improvement next time!" she shouted. "Practice in private, practice in your dreams, practice on your bunk mates whatever. I just want to see better next time! Dismissed!" As they left both Thalia and Percy sighed their relief.
So what are we thinking? Are we finally ready to do this? wondered Percy.
We are. We always have been, but the rest of them? No chance. Of course the way things had turned out for AJ and Vixen back in Seattle had set them back by quite a while. And the results of their excursion to England didn't help either. That one would hold them back for a while.
At least until late in the game, they amended. Plus there still weren't enough of them. Along with themselves they had AJ, Vixen, Circe, Hades, now the twins, Bellona-
"If she sides with us" Percy pointed out aloud, breaking their contemplation. "And I still don't want her. We started this to bring an end to war: she may turn out to be worse than Ares!"
"Would you rather have her against us?" Thalia asked.
"Point taken," agreed Percy. He stepped around the corner of the range. Thalia followed. They stood silently for a moment, watching a tug boat loaded with supplies from AJ's forge making its way to the Hyperion. "But even counting her we still don't have the twelve pillars necessary" Percy said as they watched the tug churn its white wake toward the loading crane at the Hyperion's stern.
"Do we even need-?" Thalia began.
Percy cut her off angrily, "We know we do! Cronus said that if we want to preserve the world and ignite change rather than destroy it entirely, then we must have the twelve Pillars in place to support it. That is what he said!" He shouted bashing his fist in to his palm in frustration. Thalia turned her eyes to him, surprised, it was the first time in months that he had properly yelled at her. They had been totally in sync for ages. She felt his anger spark her own.
"Why are we even listening to him?" She demanded loudly. "Why do you trust him? He did more harm to us than the Gods did!"
"Because without him I never would have found you again" he yelled, stamping viciously at the dry dirt path and causing a cloud of brown to swirl up and mar the bottom of his black jeans. "And I definitely would have never gotten you back!"

They both fell silent at that. Percy thinking that he hadn't meant to say that, not wanting to think about the agony of the time spent waiting and expecting something terrible to happen. Thalia thinking that she wished she hadn't pressed the issue, not just because it upset Percy but because she still wasn't keen on being reminded of her time as a homeless amnesiac. Eventually Thalia calmed down, but she could hear Percy's thoughts seething with anger so hot it hurt her to try and calm him mentally. He did hate Cronus and he didn't trust him, but he hated that they needed him more. She did the only thing she could think of that wasn't giving him an electric shock. She stepped close and wrapped her arms around him in a gentle hug. Then, hesitantly, lightly, she kissed him briefly; on the lips. Percy instantly snapped back to reality. Well more shocked back into reality.
"Thalia . . .I . . . What . . .?"
"I'm sorry," She stepped away slightly but their eyes remained fixed on each other. "I know you're right, but hey" she said with a little half-smile, "this Dark Angel just got her wings back thanks to you. And I can't shake the feeling that after this is all over that Grand Golden Bastard is going to be looking for any opportunity to cut them off again, if you know what I mean?"
"As if I wouldn't," Percy smirked. "We've known from the beginning that we can't trust him. We still don't and we will be watching for his deceptions and manipulations but we needed his help." He turned to look across the water again. "None of what we've done would have been possible without him but that's now just a constant reminder that I can never trust anyone or anything!"

Thalia took another step back, stung. "Except me though right?" she asked, hoping her voice and thoughts sounded casual. When Percy didn't respond Thalia began to feel anxious, his thoughts were an incomprehensible maelstrom that she couldn't make sense of. Her anxiety deepened when he began to walk away only to turn and sink onto a marble bench in front of one of the ornate water fountains, which immediately started to roil and bubble. As she sat down next to him Thalia considered hugging him again, but concluded that this was definitely not the right time for more 'extreme measures'. After a moment his thoughts cleared, to be replaced with a single word as he looked up at her: YES.
"Thals, I trust you with all of my being: mind, body and soul." He reached out then and placed a hand over hers where it rested on her knee. "After what happened with Annabeth I never thought it would be possible. Like EVER." "But you- we share minds, we share souls. How could I not trust you? I trust you more than I have anyone else, more than I ever have or ever will. More than I ever trusted Annabeth." Thalia's heart jumped in her chest and she had to throw up a mental shield to keep him from hearing a whole bunch of stuff that suddenly came into her head. She looked down when he leaned over to take her other hand and turn her to face him. When she looked back up she could see a tear. She could swear she could see a tear, even though his voice was perfectly controlled. "Thank you."

His words, and the way he had looked at her. They combined with the emotional feedback flooding her mind and caused her own thoughts and emotions to whirl so fast and strong that she had to fight hard to keep from ruining her eyeliner. She gripped his hands tight and pulled him in so that they embraced once again. There were no more words then, just sharing in thoughts, emotions, each other's presence. This was the closer than anyone else could possibly be, and the closest they could ever get.
Well almost.
Eventually they broke apart, having consoled each other.
"Shall we head in?" Percy asked. "Dinner with the other Pillars is in an hour."
Thalia groaned loudly, letting her head fall back, "I guess we have to." She pushed herself up and spun to face him. "We're starving anyway so that's enough excuse to go. Come on." He leapt up and followed after her as she began to jog back toward their quarters.
"By the way," Percy said as he caught up, "I don't really think you can thank me for not being afraid of heights."
"Yeah well, I'd never heard you listen to anything other than ultimate skate park mix before either. Or seen you wear black for that matter" She laughed.

The spa's restaurant and bar had long since become the mess hall for their operation. It had nearly tripled in size since they had first arrived and the far wall had even been knocked out so the restaurant could expand out toward the beach. Now they had a view of the sun setting across the Sea of Monsters as they ate. They took their seats at the 'lead table', which was really just the largest table in the restaurant, designed to seat twelve, but they and the other pillars had commandeered it for their personal use and moved it to the centre of the room. Vixen, Circe and the twins were already there awaiting their orders, as were a few dozen recruits and most of Circe's attendants seated at various tables throughout the restaurant.
I don't like that. If they turned on us we'd be outnumbered fifteen to one noted Percy.
Thalia laughed, well then, they wouldn't last long would they? Come on let's have some dinner." Circe and Vixen stopped their quite talking as Percy and Thalia sat down to acknowledge their arrival. The twins also greeted them, though they did so grudgingly.
At least they thought to shower. Percy observed. As they waited for their food to arrive they began to discuss they day's events. The younger Raleigh mostly just complained about all the shit shovelling he'd been forced to do.

After about forty minutes, and the first course, the talk turned to AJ who still hadn't arrived.
"Where is she?" Thalia asked, setting down her spoon.
"We thought she would be here tonight," Percy continued. "Vixen, you said she'd finally recovered and would be able to come." Vixen had been spending any free second visiting her friend and had reported on her status during her time in critical and her recovery after discharge.
"Well, as I said before," Vixen began, wiping a spec of soup from the corner of her mouth with the tip of one tail. "She's fireproof so she didn't suffer any burns. But the injuries she suffered from the shrapnel and debris caused by the explosion were nearly lethal, worse than even the attendants who tried to heal her let on." She was distracted momentarily by a sea bird that had soared into the room only to be shooed out by one of the restaurant staff.
We should do something about that Thalia thought absently.
"Sorry" Vixen muttered, turning her orange eyes back to the table, her pupils returning to normal. "Anyway, a lot of that crap lodged inside her doing huge damage, plus the blast shattered bones and further damaged internal organs. She only made it back from Seattle alive because those mercs we picked up had a combat medic. The process is taking a lot longer than they thought."
"If you could call surviving in that state living" Circe remarked, eliciting a furious hiss from Vixen.
Thalia glared at her, waiting for her fur to lie flat before asking "How is she now? How much longer till she is fit to return to duty?"

"Why don't ya ask 'er yerself?"
They all swivelled in their seats to see the woman in question drawing near. At first there didn't appear to be anything different to Percy and Thalia's eye except some scarring. Her face had long scars stretching across one side, marking her left cheek and temple and disappearing under her hairline. That and her hat was now black, the old one shredded in the explosion. Percy and Thalia were left wondering what Circe had been talking about. True, AJ wouldn't be winning the Miss United States contest but the way Circe had talked about it. . . They glanced over at her and realised she was shocked to see that Texan swaggering around as though nothing had happened. As they turned back though they began to see why; her eye. Oh Gods her eye. Her left eye, that had once been a bright and vibrant green was now surrounded by the deepest and most brutal looking scarring. Other marks extended back from the socket around the side of her head, some kind of plating, had her skull been cracked open? But the strangest, most disturbing thing was the eye itself. It was no longer green but a metallic orange. Worse, as she came to a stop behind her chair next to Thalia they saw the pupil of her eye was not round but octagonal, spiralling narrower to focus on them like the lens of a camera. It wasn't her eye. It was the eye of a machine.

This didn't seem to bother Vixen who leaped from her seat and hugged AJ tightly.
"Ow girl! Back upabit" she ordered wincing in pain from the embrace. She grabbed vixen by the shoulders and pried them appart. "Ah ain't done healin' yet, got a few new scars that need to heal" she pulled aside the collar of her shirt to reveal the edge of more scarring but it was her hand that caught their attention and even the twins goggled.
"Amynta" Thalia asked sadly, "you lost a hand?"
"An' more" she answered flexing her fingers, which were now the burnished orange of new bronze, with a series of tiny mechanical clicks.
"More?" inquired Percy, dubiously. AJ rolled up her sleeve to reveal the more than just her hand had been replaced.
"Hand, arm, shoulder, three ribs anna lung" she explained rolling the sleeve all the way up to the shoulder.
"A lung?" came the quiet but disbelieving voice of the second Raleigh twin, James.
"Yep. Ah was lucky t' still be alive by the time we got back. Circe's doctors did what they could with their fancy magic an' whatnot but the best they could do was keepin' me alive. By the time ah got here they couldn't save much." She sat down and picked up a steel peppercorn grinder from the centre of the table with her metal hand. "Everythin' else was mah own work," she told them and crushed the Peppercorn grinder, corns and all with one hand as though the thing were made of tin foil.

"So it's like an automaton" Circe conjectured, "like one of the Cholchis Bulls?"
"Or like Quintus" Percy and Thalia realised together.
"Who?" AJ asked.
"We mean Daedalus" Percy explained, "I met him back during the early days of the Second Titan War. He had figured out a way to capture his animus and cram it into a mechanical body, keeping himself alive for thousands of years. He made himself immortal with machinery." AJ had gone very still the only thing that moved was her mechanical eye which focused sharply on them, even though her other eye stared straight ahead.
Hades, but that's creepy they thought.
"AJ?" Vixen asked, cautiously. She didn't respond. Her eye still fixed on Percy and Thalia. The whole table was silent.
Finally she said "ah never told ya'll about why ah didn't stay at Camp Half-Blooddid ah? Or why them Cyclopes were powerful keen to kill me? Or why ah ain't too friendly with the powers that be?"
"Something about not being allowed to make guns wasn't it?" Thalia asked, remembering their conversation back in the gun store.
"NO!" AJ slammed her metal arm down on the table and the wood splintered.

"In mah second year at camp ah happened across a book musin' on the combination o' man and metal. It was theory but it got me thinkin: what if it were true? Lives saved by replacing parts o the body damaged beyond repair, livin' longer, bein' stronger, a generation o heroes with bio-mechanical enhancements. Imagine bein' able to outrun a hellhound, or fly with mechanical wings!" Now that she didn't freeze up every time she looked over a ledge Thalia didn't need to imagine and she could definitely see the appeal to someone who couldn't do it naturally.
"In the end mah research was banned by the camp when Athena intervened after more than a dozen of em." She sat back and folded her arms, her rage and disgust affecting everyone at the table as she went on, "called my work unethical, said that my ideas an' my creations were abominations!" She went on to tell them in detail her flight from Camp Half-Blood, her three attempts at setting up a new workshop elsewhere only to have them be destroyed by monsters Athena sent after her and how she had finally set up Spartech, not only to fund her research but to give her easy access to 'research materials'.
"Fortunately by the time you two came along ah was pretty much done. Ah was able to do the final tweaks here thanks to the swanky new place yer buddy in the suit set me up with."
Prometheus. The Titan of foresight saves the day again.

"Wait" said Raleigh W suddenly as though something had just occurred to him, "a dozen what exactly?"
"Campers o'course. How else was ah gonna develop the blueprints and methods for attaching these things if ah didn't have people to test it on? Most of 'em were Ares kids. The ones who wanted t' punch harder, train harder, fight harder. O'course Athena only got involved AFTER three o her kids helped me developed the neural grafting and soul linkage! She's fine with progress until it involves on o her own. She put me through all o that and the tech existed this whole time? And she had the gall to call my work an abomination!" she spat furiously.

Percy and Thalia were speechless. They had wondered for the longest time about the true reason for AJ's banishment and yet this had been the last thing they could have imagined. She'd been trying to replicate Daedalus' work. And she had succeeded, after a fashion. It was no wonder they had never heard of it at Camp. Of course the Gods wouldn't want the power to improve oneself artificially left in the hands of mortal heroes. They might become an even bigger threat.
"So these augment's you've developed," Percy asked eagerly, "could they be given to anyone? They could give us a huge edge."
"Woah, Slow yer roll there, boss" AJ insisted raising her hands. "Ah wouldn't consider it. Ya see the process isn't exactly easy t' undertake. Did ah mention ah'm the only person to survive it so far, ever? An' ah reckon that was only 'cus ah new what to expect, an even then considerin' the state ah'm in it was a close thing. Havin' yer insides scooped out and replaced ain't exactly the kinda pain that tickles ya know? An' don't even get me started on this," she said pointing to her new eye. "Never mind the soul segmenting, without it my body would have rejected the whole thing"
"THE WHAT?!"
"Placin' part of the soul inside the workins so that the body an mind accept em. Don't ask cause ah ain't gonna tell."
That is beyond disturbing Percy and Thalia thought. They were going to say as much but AJ's expression suddenly cleared as the main courses arrived. "Ah'm just glad they didn't get me in the throat" she said, as her dish was set down before her. "Life just ain't life without stake."

11:00pm Bed chamber

Percy and Thalia continued talking well into the night. Eventually the topic came back around to their preparation. They wanted to move soon, to finally get things underway. In fact they would have to move soon, they had had too many Gods mandated monster attacks in the last couple of months and a great stirring of monster activity in the States recently. Since they had decided that they did not want monsters in their new order that had had to begin defending themselves from both sides against both Olympian and infernal threats. If not for the Hyperion they wouldn't even be able to get in and out of the Sea of Monsters unhindered. Thanks to the modifications it had become an impervious floating fortress that all but the largest sea monsters steered clear of. The Princess Andromeda would have looked like a row boat by comparison. In a pinch they could even move their entire operation aboard the ship, along with their entire human fighting force.
"It's been almost eight months" Thalia said, "the Gods and campers will have to move against us before long."
"Six more" Percy decided, "six more months of intensive training and planning. We need to put all of our energy into this, not just us but all the Pillars and everyone involved."
Then they could finally do what they had set out too. There was a feeling in the air a mixture of excitement and nervousness with just a hint of bloodlust. The only weak link now was Hades and his flimsy promise to provide distraction and help against the Gods.

Their jewelled eyes of their rings flared brightly.
Crap
They rapidly joined hands and the next second they were falling through blackness, dropping onto the black marble floor of Hades' palace.
"My what?" demanded the God immediately.
"Nothing Lord Hades, we meant nothing by it" assured Percy, although behind his mental barrier he was now thinking of several insults he would like to have voiced.
Hades eyed them for a few moments and they were sure he was going to demand an apology or maybe set them on fire. To their surprise, and relief he didn't.
"I take it then that you believe everything to be in place?" he asked.
"Very nearly Lord, we just have training and planning to go. Something I'm sure you'll wish to be a part of" Thalia told him.
"Hmmm" grunted the Lord of the Underworld ambiguously.
The swing will be his forces keeping the Gods occupied during our move against Olympus itself. The Gods are so arrogant that they won't be willing to face us personally until it is unavoidable. Thus we can deal with both camps long before we need to worry about them Percy thought.
"And what of the Western world? They won't simply let you up end their entire world order."
"Now that we have the Daughters of Darkness we have a few ideas. They are powerful agents, well acquainted with working in the mortal world" Percy informed him. Hades looked unconvinced.
"If it's all the same to you Lord Hades we'd rather discuss it at another time" Thalia insisted.
"Very well, I shall begin to muster my forces, but this will take time."
"That shouldn't be a problem" Percy assured.

"Very well, that being the case I have one final quest for you."
Uh-Oh they thought, here comes the stick.
"Which is?" they asked, dubiously.
"One final individual I wish for you to acquire on my behalf."
"Why?"
"Powerful though I may be," Hades began, and the narcissistic tone made them roll their eyes in disgust, "if I am to do battle against our enemies effectively my essence must be focused in one location as much as possible. As such I will need a lieutenant capable of commanding a vast quantity of undead forces."
"What about Nico?" Percy suggested but Hades immediately shut him down.
"No. He is grounded. He must be kept out of sight and out of mind until this conflict is near resolved.
"But he is powerful and could be a valuable asset to-"
"NO!" roared Hades, cutting Thalia off mid-sentence, "I have indulged you in a great many things thus far. However I will not risk my only child on your revolution until I am sure of its fate."
"Then who?"
"Go to Munich Opera house, Germany this coming Friday. There you will find someone powerful who has experience with command, the dead, and me."
"That's something else that needs to go" Percy muttered. "Cryptic. Fucking. Instructions."
"Be gone" Hades ordered, "I expect results soon."

An eye blink later and they were back in their room at the spa.
Well that was fun. Thalia thought sarcastically as she disappeared into the en-suite and the clicked the shower on.
"Yeah, we should get some sleep. Quest for Hades tomorrow. Our second one isn't it?" Percy asked.
Thalia stuck her head back around the door, "yeah I guess it is. Hopefully we won't be dealing with the Goddess of ghosts this time around though."
"No," Percy agreed, "So why do I get the feeling that whoever we pick up will be worse?


Hello everyone. You may not remember me but I'm the guy who writes this stuff. It has been a long year at uni, along with other issues. Anyway please enjoy. (If there is still anyone around to do so).

Also just a heads up to certain review writers: pointing out spelling and grammar mistakes is not considered constructive feedback. Please be aware that i write these with little time, no beta readers and they are published very soon after being completed. If they weren't I'd never find the time and you'd never get to read them. So if you could please keep comments like "Someone needs to teach you proper English" out of the reviews that would be wonderful. Rant over, I apologise.

To all the rest of you lovely readers I say enjoy, and i look forward to hearing from you.

Athena's wisdom to you.
-Athena'sPride95