Chapter IV

"It might be a better question, my dear girl, to ask who are you." Artemis said with caring tone. "Who are your parents?"

Bianca looked to her brother. "We are orphans, our parents are dead. There's a bank trust that pays for our school, but..."

She trailed off as she saw our disbelief.

"What? I'm telling the truth." She protested, though I doubted she believed herself.

"You are a half-blood, a demigod," I stated matter of factly. "Your parents aren't dead, at least not both. One of them is an immortal, a god or a goddess."

"Cool!" Nico cried with awe.

"No!" Bianca's said with shaking voice. "This is not cool!"

Her brother didn't seem to listen as he jumped around excited.

"Does Zeus really have lightning bolts that do six hundred damage? Does-"

"Nico, your sister is right," I cut him off with a stern look. "Being a demigod isn't all bad, but it's a serious matter."

"But there are no gods..." She argued, still in denial.

We shifted uncomfortably as we looked at each other, I decided not to mention the goddess in our midst. After a few silent moments, Thalia stepped up, a little calmer than before, clearly pitying the newly revealed demigoddess.

"Bianca, I know it's hard to believe. But the gods are still around. Trust me." She said compassionately. "They're immortal. And whenever they have kids with regular humans, kids like us, well... Our lives are dangerous."

"Dangerous... like the girl who fell." Bianca said, Thalia and Percy looked pained. I looked down to the sea, the grey waves slapping against the cliffs. barely visible in the dark.

"Do not despair for Annabeth," Artemis assured. "She was a brave maiden. If she can be found, I shall find her."

"Then why won't you let us go look for her?" Percy asked desperately and I shook my head as Artemis answered.

"She is gone. Can't you sense it, Son of Poseidon? Some magic is at work. I do not know exactly how or why, but your friend has vanished."

Percy didn't seem any more satisfied, but protested no more. Meanwhile I wondered how Thorn had just disappeared, as Artemis had already stated some magic was at work, still it was strange, he clearly had some backup plan, he had been gone in the blink of an eye. Perhaps if I had been faster I could have prevented it I thought, but I had my doubts about that, the manticore had been well-prepared.

"Oo!" Nico raised his hand, as if he was still in school. "What about Dr. Thorn? That was awesome how you shot him with arrows! Is he dead?"

"He was a manticore, hopefully he is destroyed for now." Artemis said, though I felt neither of us truly believed that. "Monsters never truly die though, they reform again and again. Sometimes it takes centuries, for them to reappear, but they must still be hunted whenever they do."

"Or they'll hunt us..." Thalia added grimly.

Finally Bianca seemed to come to terms with the truth as she recounted encounters with monsters. Though Grover revealing his hooves unsurprisingly seemed do more harm than good, getting him scolded by Thalia, I smiled amused.

"Bianca, we came here to help you. You and Nico need training to survive." Percy stated. " won't be the last monster you meet. You need to come to camp with us."

"Camp?" Bianca asked curiously.

"Camp Half-blood," I explained. "Demigods like us learn to survive and how to fight monsters there, you could stay year-round, though most don't."

"Wait, I am not su-"

"There is another option." Zoë stopped her, instantly catching Thalia's ire as she glared at her again.

"No, there isn't!" Thalia said angrily and she looked just about ready to let her anger loose on Zoë, thankfully Artemis intervened before either could go any further.

"We've burdened these children enough," She declared. "Zoë, we will rest here till morning, raise the tents, treat the wounded. Retrieve the belongings of our guests from the school."

Zoë didn't seem to be finished with Thalia either, but nodded obediently. "Yes my lady."

Artemis turned to Bianca. "Bianca come with me please, I would like to speak with you."

"What about me?" Nico asked and Artemis considered it for a moment.

"Perhaps you can show Grover how to play that card game you enjoy. I'm sure Grover would be happy to entertain you for a while. . . as a favor to me?" She said turning to the satyr with a sly smile.

I stifled a laugh, as the satyr got up, almost falling over again due to his overeagerness, almost dragging the boy with him towards the woods. Artemis certainly was incredibly beautiful, but it was just as hopeless to try and court her, not to mention lethal for oneself.

Quickly the group dissolved, the hunters getting to work with practiced routine, beginning to set up camp near where we were standing. Soon only Thalia, Percy and me were left.

"The nerve of those Hunters! They think they're so. . . Argh!" Thalia said, stomping angrily in the snow.

I'm with you, I don't trust-" Percy began but was cut off by an even angrier Thalia.

"Oh, you're with me? Didn't seem like it back in the gym, what were you thinking? You'd take on Thorn on all by yourself? We knew he was a monster."

Percy was about to retort but held his tongue as he crouched down, picking up Annabeth's blue cap, that was laying in the snow, crumpled up. Thalia turned, trudging away through the snow.

"You know, Percy, she isn't entirely wrong," I said and he glared at me betrayed. "You shouldn't have gone alone, but who knows, if you hadn't perhaps the di Angelos would be gone now instead."

I knew this wasn't what Percy wanted to hear right now, but it was what needed to be said. I walked away from him, leaving him standing in the snow as I moved to the edge of the cliff. I needed to know how Thorn had escaped. Taking a deep breath and a few steps back, I sprinted forward, leaping down the cliff.

I smashed onto the surface of the sea, the waves breaking around me as I sent ripples through the water. I had luckily inherited the highly practical ability to walk or in this case rather stand on water. Still the contact with the water rejuvenated me, my mind focusing, my vision becoming clear, my senses heightening, the night seeming far brighter. I spotted Zoë standing on the edge of the cliffs, looking down on me, literally and figuratively.

I look at the spot where Thorn had disappeared, there was no physical trace of him.

Still as Artemis had said it there was magic at work, powerful magic. I could still feel the marks it had left, where the mist had torn, bend and knitted itself together to cover up the manipulation of reality. I had honestly hoped to learn something concrete, though what I was looking for, of that I wasn't sure myself.

I remained down there a few more minutes, searching for any sort of clue, but finally accepted that it was pointless. With a sigh I prepared to make my way up again and looked for a suitable spot. I stopped in front of a lower part of the cliff face, that wasn't as steep.

I ran forward and using the water to launch me higher, made a massive jump upwards, clambering up the rock wall, grabbing the edge of a plateau a good hundred feet up. I pulled myself up and with a few more leaps and a bit of climbing soon was standing on the edge again.

Thalia was standing nearby, incredibly still, she looked upon Westover Hall broodingly, clearly deep in though, she barely even noticed me. I considered going to talk with her, she certainly could use some calming. But she didn't look to be any mood for talking and I was smart enough not to bother Thalia when her temper got the better of her.

I turned to look at the blazing bonfire in the middle of the camp of the Hunters and spotted Percy already sitting there, looking glum.

I made my way over to him, steering clear of the patrolling Hunters and their wolves, the latter seeming less dangerous. I sat down a few feet from Percy, just like Thalia he didn't seem to be want to be bothered either, so I gave him his space. For a few minutes I enjoyed the crackling of the fire, as I had said before I never felt bothered by the cold that much, but it was simply quite human to enjoy fire. At this moment I felt truly thankful towards Prometheus for going against Zeus' wishes.

After a few moments I grew bored and decided to inspect my armor, hopefully the fight hadn't left any serious damage on it. Though of course that would still be better than said serious damage to my body.

I started with my helmet, pulling it out from under my arm. There was a thin, long scratch on it's top, the true color of the bronze slightly gleaming beneath it's blackened surface. Unaesthetic but merely surface damage, nothing that couldn't be fixed easily.

I pulled off my damaged coat and hoodie and frowned, I really shouldn't have worn my favorite clothes today. I doubted there was any hope of ever wearing these again, judging by the three massive tears in their front, oh well.

I pulled the right straps of my cuirass loose and took a look at it. The metal was scratched as well, but not dented either, satisfied I put it down, the Telekhines, despite their questionable ethics, were truly masterful craftsman. A small redo of the blackened surface and it would be as good as new, though that would annoyingly cost me a few drachmas, even if the Hephaestus kids were always interested in working with the enchanted metal.

I took off my greaves and vambraces as well, though that was more out of comfort, then to check them. When I had taken the last pieces of my armor off, my adrenaline started to fade as well and I slumped down a bit. The fight, especially that last stunt with the water had been quite tiring. I also felt the pain in my chest and checked, I was just bruised a bit, with a quick dip in water I should be good within a day.

"You find anything down there?" I heard Percy ask after a while.

"No," I shook my head. "Though I don't know what I expected really."

"How's your shoulder, you are wounded?" I asked concerned.

"Yeah, Thorn hit me with one of his spikes." He stated. "It hurts, but I've had worse."

"Want me to have a look?" I said, already walking over to him.

I pulled off his coat and looked at the injury. It was quite nasty, the poison of the spike had started turning the edge of it green.

"Hold still." I said as I willed some of the snow near us to melt, the water collecting near my hand.

I let the water move through the wound repeatedly cleaning it to the best of my ability. Percy winced, as I separated poison and grime from it. After I finished cleaning I pushed the rest of the water onto the wound, letting it seep into his body, the wound closing largely, leaving only a deep scratch, sea water would have been far better, but melt-water still did the job sufficiently.

"That should do it for now, I wish." I stated as I finished and let myself sit back down, even more tired now.

"Thanks," He muttered. "How come you can heal with freshwater that fast by the way?"

"Well, it's hard to put in words honestly, I more or less just channel power through it." I tried to explain out of breath. "it's not exactly efficient but rather useful, I just wish on worked on someone besides the two of us..."

Percy didn't seem satisfied with the answer, but accepted it as we went back into silence. Shortly there after Nico and Grover came back from the woods and joined us. Grover handed Percy a bit of Ambrosia, who chewed it, seeming a tad happier now. He had told me it tasted like mom's homemade brownies or her chocolate chip cookies for him and while they tasted good, it simply didn't carry the same kind of fond memories for me.

Strangely enough, ambrosia and nectar did carry a vastly different memory for me, one I would rationally speaking never describe as fond. It tasted like some of the well... near-divine food I had eaten while I still lived in Oceanus palace.

Unlike Percy, Oceanus never had a problem with eating seafood and as I had said before I was treated well, as if I truly was a member of his household. Despite Percy's concerns I greatly enjoyed many of the delicacies that were available, giant ancient lobsters, near more monster than animal, shrimps that looked like solid gold and many other animals far beyond human knowledge.

As delightful as their taste was, when I was still down there it was a time of comfort and safety for me, there was nothing to worry about, my life had clear order, no nasty surprises, a luxury long-lost by now. When I tasted ambrosia I probably tasted these memories, memories of a simpler time.

While I reminisced about the taste of mythical lobsters, Nico was pulling out figurines, little brass colored statuettes that gleamed in the firelight, and putting them down in the snow. I recognized a lot of them, Athena with Aegis in hand, Hermes with his winged boots and fittingly enough Artemis with a bow in hand.

I also felt like the game he played with them was familiar, what was it's name might and magic? No, that was some video game, mythomagic, I recalled, the game had been popular among Kronos' demigod forces, though I never had taken great interest in it.

"That's mythomagic, is it not?" I said, Nico nodded happily.

"You played?" Percy asked surprised and I shook my head.

"Nah, was quite popular on the Princess Andromeda, never played myself though." I replied.

"Big collection." Percy acknowledged as Nico finished laying them out.

Nico grinned. "I've got almost all of them, plus their holographic cards! Well, except for a few really rare ones."

"You've been playing this game a long time?" My brother asked further.

"Just this year. Before that..." Nico furrowed his eyebrows.

"What?" Percy prodded again.

"I forget. That's weird." The boy answered and I exchanged a look with Percy, that was quite strange indeed.

Nico didn't let himself be bothered by it for too long though. Quickly returning to his joyful mood and turning to Percy.

"Hey, can I see that sword you were using?" He asked and Percy pulled out Riptide and the gleaming xiphos sprung forward from pen form.

I had held and wielded Riptide before, it was incredibly well-balanced and carried a certain power inside of itself. But I had to say I still wasn't a big fan of it compared to my own sword, it was far too short for my taste, three feet was decent for a backup weapon, which swords were most of the time for the ancient Greeks, but for your main piece of weaponry.

"Cool! Does it ever run out of ink?" Nico inquired as Percy capped it again.

"Um, well, I don't actually write with it." He admitted and I chuckled as Nico asked on.

"Are you really the son of Poseidon?"

"Well, yeah." Percy confirmed.

"You two are twins right?" Nico asked and I nodded.

"Yeah,"

"Do you fight a lot with Thalia?" Nico asked us and Percy's mood instantly worsened again.

"Well not really that often, though sometimes yeah, though that's mostly Percy." I answered, trying to draw the boy's attention.

"Cool armor." Nico said as his eyes landed on my helmet and cuirass, sitting next to me.

"Thanks kid, wanna have a look?" I said with a grin as I picked up the helmet and held it out to him, which he gingerly took.

"That's a Capricorn isn't it?" He asked as he took a closer look.

"Good eye, most don't recognize them." I said praisingly, much to his delight

I was surprised he actually recognized the strange sea goat, depicted on the sides of the helmets. Most did believe the constellation to be a normal Ibix, though it was much weirder.

They were among the more obscure beings depicted among the imagery of sea monsters on the armor, between leviathans and Charybdis herself, the half fish half goat beings were but a footnote in mythology.

"Can I see the rest as well?" He asked as he handed the helmet back.

"Sure, why not..." I trailed off as I saw Zoë, she was walking straight towards us.

"Perseus Jackson." She said in commanding tone." Come with me, lady Artemis wants to speak with you."

Percy threw me a confused look as he rose up. I just shrugged and he turned to follow Zoë who marched off wordlessly, leading him to the centre most tent. I narrowed my eyes as he slipped into it, I wondered what she wanted from him.

Hopefully he would come back quite human and physically intact, from Artemis' reputation and Percy's impudence from time to time, I wasn't so sure of that. Though she had been rather understanding when he despaired for Annabeth, so I was decently hopeful.

I now saw Thalia approaching, at least she and Zoë missed each other this time, I didn't have the nerve for another one of their spats.

"What is Percy doing in that tent?" She asked me as she joined us near the fire.

"Don't know for sure, Zoë just said that Artemis wanted to speak with him." I replied and continued.

"What happened between the two of you anyway?"

"The same that she probably is trying to do to Bianca right now." Thalia said, shaking her head disapprovingly.

"She tried to recruit you into the Hunt and you refused?" I asked and she nodded, clearly not wanting to go deeper into it.

Thalia didn't like to talk about her past usually, not that I could blame her, she hadn't exactly a happy life. I had managed to get her to share some things. She really had the epitome of a horrible demigod life. Shitty mortal parent, being on the run since she was ten, Hera and Hades trying to get rid of her and near most succeeding, ending with her being turned into a tree.

Honestly she perhaps was the demigod with the most tragic life I've met. Thalia wouldn't like to hear it and I'd never say it out loud to her, but I pitied her somewhat.

I glanced over to Nico, who luckily was rather distracted, currently awing at the detailed engraving of Charybdis on the centre part of my cuirass. If his sister wanted to leave him, she would have to explain that to him herself. I wondered if what Thalia said was true, would Bianca really join the Hunters. I couldn't imagine binding myself like that for what for most was till death. Just as much as I doubted I could abandon my brother like that.

I had been willing to kill and die for Percy despite having met him only days prior, I couldn't imagine just leaving him behind like that, even if we had plenty of spats, he still was family. There was no way she would just join them here and now, right?

I looked back to Thalia she had stood nearby and stared into the crackling fire. She looked unhappy, clearly she wasn't just blaming Percy but also herself for the loss of Annabeth.

"Don't blame yourself," She scowled at me. "Come on, I can see that you do."

"Annabeth made her own choice when she rushed to save you. She knew what she was doing and what risks she was taking. Perhaps if we had noticed earlier we could have stopped him. Maybe if I hadn't been so slow I could have stopped him when he jumped. Whatever could have been done, doesn't matter now, because she is gone, there's no fixing our mistakes." I paused for a moment. "But we'll get her back Thals, I'm sure of it."

Thalia really needed the encouragement, what happened hit her probably even harder than it had hit Percy. Thalia never really seemed to feel at home at camp, I won't claim that I understood how she felt but I could relate quite well. There was a lot of pressure on her, she carried enormous responsibility after all.

Most just saw the daughter of Zeus, the child of the prophecy, the girl that had sacrificed herself all those years ago. Annabeth was perhaps the only one with whom she was that level of close, these two were near-most siblings. With Luke having betrayed the gods, Annabeth being gone must hurt even more.

She opened her mouth to say something but stopped.

"Oh great, she went ahead and did it." Thalia grumbled and I turned to look where she was looking.

Bianca had stepped out of the tent, following Zoë. I couldn't really tell what, but something had changed about her. She was moving after the Lieutenant who had started explaining things to her, from the way she talked. I frowned myself now. It seems like I was wrong about her, she left her brother just like that, with pain I looked at Nico for a moment, he surely won't be happy to hear that.

"I can't believe she would just leave him like that..." I whispered to Thalia, who nodded in agreement.

Just after the two girls left, Percy and Artemis followed. I was anxious to know what they had talked about. When Percy got to us I was the first to speak.

"What did she want from you?"

"Uh, she wanted to know what Thorn said." He answered.

"So? What did he say." I asked and Percy sighed, but began recounting,

As he spoke I grew shaky and worried. The General? The most important monster of all? The great stirring? This couldn't be happening. It shouldn't be happening. Not yet, not for another few months at least. This summer there hadn't even been plans to free Atlas, how would they even get him out from beneath the sky, someone would have to take his place. They hadn't expected the appearance of the Ophiotaurus till the child of the prophecy was certain... I glanced over to Thalia.

Was she really the one who would make that choice? The great stirring meant just as much trouble, we would be facing a great deal more monsters, a lot of them more ancient and deadly than anything that we fought before.

I must have looked truly disturbed, as Thalia interrupted Percy putting her hand on my shoulder, steadying me.

"Theseus? You don't look good, is everything alright?" She asked worried and I shook my head.

"No. No, it isn't. Though I'm alright, thanks for asking, these news just aren't." I replied. "What Percy just said sounds worrying even if you don't know what's going on, sure. But the implications are far worse than just worrying."

"Artemis seemed just as worried. So you know what Thorn was talking about. Who is the General? What is that monster?" He asked curiously.

"I'll tell you in Camp, this is not exactly the best moment to talk about it. Besides, I should probably talk with Chiron about it beforehand. For now just go on, Perce." I said and gestured for him to continue.

The two of them frowned but Percy nodded and went on with telling what happened. With pained expression he spoke about how Bianca joined the hunt, making her choice in what seemed like seconds. So she really did join the hunters. That seemed incredibly selfish to say the least, to just hand off your responsibility like that. I was surprised to be honest, she had seemed to care about her brother quite a bit before.

"And then she said her brother would take us and the hunters to camp, something Zoë didn't seem happy about at all." Percy finished, causing Grover to pale.

"The last time the Hunters visited camp, it didn't go well." He stated. "Some cabins even got burned down, Mr. D won't be happy about this."

I had to admit that put a small smile on my lips, I really and wholeheartedly hated the god of wine, though the feelings mutual. If he was as petty as to dislike me because of a thing like my name he really shouldn't be surprised. I made a point of treating him with the utmost respect as a sort of civil disobedience, making sure that he never had any basis for how he acted. He even went as far as using my proper name, his hate for the original Theseus must be truly intense for him to drop his non-caring facade.

"How'd they even show up here?" Percy questioned. "I mean, they just appeared out of nowhere."

"And Bianca joined them," Thalia said with distaste. "It's all Zoe's fault. That stuck-up, no-good — "

She didn't finish but it was clear that she intended on using a fitting insult ranging somewhere from bitch to whore, one way or another it wouldn't have been very proper language and not a good way to address someone while in their camp.

"I can't believe she went ahead just like that. Who makes a choice like that in a matter of minutes," I said and sent an angry glare in Bianca's direction. "Hades, she didn't even see what Camp was like beforehand."

"But who can blame her," Grover said with dreamy voice. "eternity with Artemis."

Thalia rolled her eyes. "You satyrs. You're all in love with Artemis. Don't you get that she'll never love you back?"

"But she is soooo into nature..." Grover swooned.

"She's also into trophy hunting, something you aren't a big fan of if I remember correctly." I pointed out but Grover ignored me.

"He's nuts." Thalia stated and I had to agree.

"Nuts and berries," Grover said, still in trance. "Yeah."

"If he goes on like this, he'll be flayed alive before we get back to camp." I muttered.

Soon the first morning light began appearing, since Percy said Apollo would take us to camp, I assumed our ride was coming. I packed up my stuff, putting my armor back on since that seemed far easier than fitting into my bag. And so we stood there in the snow impatiently waiting for the sun and thus our means of transport to arrive. The Hunters and Artemis herself had by now joined us and the goddess spoke.

"About time. He's so-o-o lazy during the winter." She said.

I had to bite my tongue not to ask if that didn't in turn mean she was lazy in the summer. Though the goddess seemingly was reading my mind, as she continued.

"I know what you are thinking Theseus," She stated with a flicker of a smile. "But I spend these extra hours much more productively than my brother, so no, I am not in fact lazy."

I heard Percy exchange a few more words with her, wondering about the shape the sun would take. But then suddenly a bright flash across the sky, I wasn't sure what I expected myself, probably a chariot pulled by the horses of Helios. Artemis told us to look away from it and I did, not that there was much choice with the blinding light coming down from the sky. Waves of heat rolled over us, like we were standing in a gargantuan microwave.

When the light subsided and I looked I was surprised to say the least. There was no chariot and Aethon was nowhere in sight, neither were Eous, Phlegon, and Pyrois, as a matter of fact there weren't any horses.

Instead a painfully red, glowing sports car stood where I had expected a chariot, really not my kind of color. It seemed a bit undignified for something as important as the sun honestly. But I had gotten used to the weird modern mannerisms of the gods by now. Oceanus was so much more traditional, I guess these changes came with being tied to western civilization.

I'm sure Percy would have known what car it was, he weirdly enough actually cared about cars somewhat. It wasn't hard to recognize it as a Maserati with the brand well visible upfront. Ironic considering the trident displayed upfront, you wouldn't expect it to be the car a son of Zeus and a god himself would choose. As I had learned and said before, gods were petty like that.

Much less surprising was the driver that stepped out. Tanned, athletic, tall, wavy blond hair, overall godly levels of handsomeness. He looked pretty much exactly the way I imagined a sun god driving a sports car to look like.

Though the god seemed much more relaxed and playful than I expected. Though I didn't fool myself, this was the Apollo who killed Achilles and Tityos, who rained plague on the Achaeans. I was very aware that this god, no matter how friendly he appeared was still just that, a god and one dangerous beyond many measures at that.

"Wow, Apollo is hot." Thalia said, getting a remark from Percy.

"He's the sun god."

"That's not what I meant." She retorted.

"Little sister!" Apollo called, smiling brightly, no, blindingly. "What's up? You never call. You never write. I was getting worried!"

"I'm fine, Apollo." Said little sister sighed. "And I am not your little sister."

"Hey, I was born first."

"We're twins! How many millennia do we have to argue—"

I was pretty sure Artemis helped deliver him, definitely making her the older of the two. Though the arguing of the two made me consider another important topic as I glanced at Percy. We still needed to figure out who was older. It was an important question, though with Thalia's reappearance it had been put off for now. Thalia dying was sadly enough a reality we had to consider. And if she did one of us would be next in line for the Great Prophecy, though who would be the one?

AN: A lot of dialogue, nothing too different to be honest, finally I can set course for some proper canon divergence next chapter as well as some action after that. This one took me longer than I expected but I'm finally done.

As always thanks for reading, we've crossed 500 views, Yay! With that, please review