Sorry I'm late... again...

Another disclaimer thing, I don't own the PJO, HoO, or ToA series, or whatever other series these characters are a part of; they belong to Uncle Rick.

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Will woke up with the sun, as he always did. He expected to be greeted by a Cecil probably snacking on junk food, but was instead by a tired Son of Hades.

Will glared at him, "What are you doing? You were supposed to wake up Lou Ellen after a few hours. Then it would've been Cecil's shift, then mine."

Nico shrugged. "Guess I lost track of time."

"Yeah, because of how tired your brain is."

"I'm fine, Will."

"No. You're not. You're gonna go to sleep and then we'll discuss this further afterwards."

"No, we really should be leaving."

"We have time. I'll prepare breakfast in the meantime."

"What is there to prepare? All we have are apples, snack cakes, and chips."

"Uhhh, presentation?"

Nico rolled his eyes. "We're leaving. End of story. Wake them up."

"Not until you get some sleep."

"Shut up. Wake up, guys," He nudged Cecil.

Lou groggily woke up, but Cecil and Mino continued to snore.

"We're leaving," Nico told her.

Will sighed. Why is he so stubborn?!

She yawned and put Mino in her bag, trying to not wake him up. She then gently put it on.

"Cecil," Nico tried again.

"Cecil, Travis took your potatoes!" Lou said before kicking him.

He shot up. "No!"

"Let's go, Mail Boy."

He blushed, embarrassed. "Uh, sure thing, Sabrina."

"How do we get to Delphi from here?" Will asked.

Nico pulled a folded map out of his pocket.

"Where did you get that?" Will asked.

Nico curtly responded, "Found it."

He looked over Nico's shoulder to see it was a map of Greece with two red dots on it. One marked Delphi and the other marked Aiani—where they currently were.

"The quickest way to Delphi is by going down this river–which would take over two days," Cecil said.

"Well, schist," Nico said.

"Is that the only way?" Will asked.

"Shut up," Nico suddenly spat at him.

"W- what?" Will spluttered, surprised and offended.

"Shhh," he hissed.

He grabbed the hilt of his sword and stared at the shrubs. Lou reached for another pig ball in her bag, which Mino fearfully shuffled away from.

"We know you're there. You might as well come out," Nico said.

There was no response.

Will tried to listen as best as he could, but he heard nothing. Nico, however, had his eyes trained on one area. Moments passed and the tension in the air was thicker than it was the time when Cecil tried to shave off Clarisse's eyebrows while she slept.

Suddenly, Nico pulled a throwing knife off of Lou's belt and threw it in the direction he was staring in. Whatever was in the bushes rolled out into a kneeling position and grabbed the blade between her two fingers. Her curly dark hair flew out and then fell to frame a pair of intense gray eyes. They weren't like Annabeth's, however. These were more silver. They darted between the four demigods, analyzing.

"Gotcha," Nico smirked.

"Not yet," she smirked back, her Greek accent thick. She threw it back and Nico barely rolled out of the way. The girl pulled out a pair of her own knives from behind her back and charged at them. Lou threw a pig ball but she easily sidestepped and swung with her knife. Lou had to fall back to dodge. Cecil swung with his bat at her head only to hit nothing as she dropped to her knees and kicked his legs out from under him. She pounced like a puma at Nico and he used his sword to block the knife from narrowly missing his eye. Their attacks and counter attacks were so swift that all Will could see or hear was the shine of their blades and the clinking of metal upon metal.

Damn it, I should do something, shouldn't I? Will realized he had just been standing there and watching. He helped up Cecil who hit his head on his own bat. He wanted to help more but didn't have a clue how. At least Lou would occasionally attack her and catch her off guard, but the puma girl would just jump right back up and pounce again.

"What should we do?" Will asked Cecil.

"The two most useless members of the team?" Cecil clarified.

Will glared.

"It's true."

"Shut up and think."

"Not exactly my specialty."

Will groaned and looked back at the two. The girl seemed about their age and was just as vicious of a fighter as Nico, although her movements were very different. Her form was technically wrong, but they seemed to work well enough for her. They matched each other's moves perfectly, and they both were sweating and panting as much as the other.

Next to Will was the throwing knife Nico took from Lou.

As the most useless member of this team, it would be crazy but...

Will grabbed the knife and waited for the perfect moment.

"Will..." Cecil said hesitantly.

Finally. Her back was facing him and both Lou and Nico were in front of her. Will tried his best to channel his own inner fighter and ran towards her, letting out a war cry that sounded like something between a mighty Spartan and a scared kitten. He caught her off guard, probably because she didn't process the fact that it was him who had made that ungodly scream, and managed to get his arm around her neck to hold the knife right in front of a major artery. Cecil scrambled to his side and grabbed her arms, looking at Will as if he were crazy. Maybe he was. Nico stumbled back a moment before noticing this blond idiot on the girl he had been fighting, and kicked her in the knees. She stumbled down. Lou knelt in front of her said a Latin incantation, "inmotus." Still.

Will let go of her, and Cecil followed his lead.

She grunted, but found herself immobile.

Nico have Will a look before asking her, "Who are you?"

"I should be asking you that, since you trespassed onto our property," she growled.

"'Our property'?" Lou asked, "who is 'our'?"

She said nothing.

"Speak. You're outnumbered four to one. You have no other go," Nico said.

"Whoever it is you're trying to protect, we won't hurt them," Will said, softer than the other three.

"What gave you that idea? That I'm protecting someone?"

"Are you?"

"We're not going to hurt them, I swear it on Lou's pig," Cecil promised.

Lou made an indignant noise, but said nothing.

"What do you have to gain from that answer?" She asked.

"We get nothing," Nico said, "but you get your freedom."

After a few moments of defiant silence, Will sighed. "Fine, we'll tell you who we are. We're just a couple of kids who crossed through here. We're looking for someone, and our trail lead here."

She tensed.

"Not to you, I'm sure. And I'm sure not to anyone you're with either." What would a mortal see them as? "Just a group of people who were causing trouble. I'm sure the people you're with are good people."

This didn't seem to reassure her any.

"Has anyone passed through here? A group of people? Possibly made a trip down stream?" Lou asked.

The girl glared. "So you're with them?"

"No, no no no. It's the opposite, actually. We're trying to stop them," Cecil said.

"Why should I trust you?"

Will sighed. "Lou... release her."

Lou's eyes bugged out, "What?!"

"Trust me on this."

Lou glanced at Nico. He tightened his grip on his sword but nodded.

Lou nodded at Will. "Agite."

She stumbled a bit but regained her balance and got to her feet. She glanced at the knives in her hands, but seemed to decide against it.

"Yes, I did see a group of people go downstream. And yes, I have others with me. Am I free to go?"

Nico began to say, "ye-" but Will interrupted, "Could you help us?"

They all looked at Will incredulously.

"You saw where they went, you're a good fighter, you've met them, and you have others with you. Meaning you have supplies."

"I'm not taking you with me," she said bluntly.

"We won't hurt anyone, we swear. You don't like the guys who came through here? Well we have a common enemy."

"And if Will's serious about this, you don't have much of a choice," Nico said.

"Stop threatening her."

"I'm not threatening her, I'm stating facts."

She glared at them before sighing. "Fine. Only because I like the short one's fighting skills and the blond's persistence. If I take you with me, I'm in charge. I don't take orders from anyone, understood?"

They nodded.

"And if you're lying, my friends won't be as merciful."

Cecil shot Will a look that asked, She showed us mercy?

"Deal," Will stuck out his hand for her to shake.

"Follow me," she said before sheathing her knives, ignoring Will's outstretched hand.

"Wait," Will stopped her. "I'm Will, and these are Nico, Lou Ellen, and Cecil. What's your name?"

Her eyes glittered. "Xanthi. I'm Xanthi."

O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O

Thanks for all of your support! I'm talking to you, ItWasn'tMyFault ! And also IonaG and NaoSa, and all of my anonymous readers too! Without you guys, I would never have found the motivation to keep up with this story despite the craziness of life. Thank you!