Percy

I awoke to the sound of muffled sobs, and naturally, my first instinct was to think that I was going to kill whoever was making noise to wake me up.

Then my brain turned on and remembered sobbing and waking me up weren't punishable crimes.

Then my brain decided to actually work, and register for the first time that the sobs meant someone was crying, and I could count on one finger how many people in this tent would be making the undeniable sounds of a little girl balling her eyes out. That would be the little girl.

Maybe on an off day it would be Marc, we may never know, but I was going to go with the little girl theory.

So, I slowly slid out of the bed, releasing my firm hold on Annabeth's sleeping figure. I couldn't wipe the smile off my face over the fact that she was here with us, with me, now.

My mind reminded me why I was out of bed in the first place, and I removed my gaze from my girlfriend and quietly made my way out of the room. I went into the bunks room slowly, noticing that the other three occupants of the room were definitely not awake. Marc just seemed to be a deep sleeper, but it was plausible that Tessa and Jake had gotten used to sleeping through noise while they were on the run together. I knew that if I was really tired enough I'd probably sleep through a bombing raid. I'd only gotten more sensitive to sounds recently, after escaping Tartarus. It was a vital part of comforting Annabeth when she would have nightmares, and vice versa for when I'd have them.

On the bright side, my mind had way too much other stuff to mull over for it to go back to nightmares about that place right now. So in a way, I had Zeus to thank for getting my sleeping schedule back on track.

Anyways, I found Millie on her bed, curled up and crying, trying to silence herself.

I sat down on the bed and leaned over her, pushing all her hair off her face. She sat up, turned, and buried herself against me in a hug.

She sniffled, "Why did my dad get rid of me?"

"Hey," I said, rubbing her back soothingly, "He did it so you'd be safe. He isn't getting rid of you, he's protecting you."

I picked her up slowly out of her bunk, "Come on kiddo, we'll get some snacks and have a little talk"

She'd stopped crying for the moment, so I took it she was up for the idea.

I set her down on one of the couches in the main room of the tent and wrapped a blanket around her before walking over to the small kitchen area. It wasn't really much, but hey, a working fridge and stove in a tent? I was not going to get picky at any point with those perks.

I opened one of the pantries absently and smirked. We hadn't really used the kitchen extensively, but it made foods appear for you, and apparently it had good taste, because I was looking right at a big bag full of Oreo cookies. I grabbed the bag and set it on the counter and then poured two glasses of milk.

I walked back over and set the glasses plus the bag on the coffee table in front of the couch, grinning.

The sight of the Oreos seemed to lift Millie's spirits a little bit. Her eyes widened and she almost smiled, "Can I have some?" she asked, looking up at me pleadingly.

I smirked, "Why do you think I brought them here?" I asked, sliding the bag along the table so she could reach it easier. She shifted to the edge of the couch and opened the bag, pulling out an Oreo triumphantly and taking a bite. I chuckled quietly and grabbed one for myself.

"So, you miss your dad, huh?" I asked quietly, letting Millie lean against me. She was such a nice little kid, it was hard to watch her being so sad because of what her dad had to do.

"Yeah" She mumbled, chewing on her Oreo quietly. "Why did he send me away?" she asked, looking up at me curiously.

I smiled, "He wanted you to be safe, out in the world, monsters will come after you, like that one eyed man." I said, and her eyes widened slightly in fear. "He decided you'd be safer with us, because we can defend you from the monsters and he can't. Trust me Millie, sending you with me is probably the hardest thing your dad has ever done, but he did it for you"

Millie stayed silent, leaning further into my side and grabbing another Oreo, dipping it in her milk.

"Don't worry though, all of us here, we'll take care of you." I stated, grinning down at her.

She smiled hesitantly, "You'll take care of me?" I leaned down and kissed her forehead, "Sure! I always wanted a little sister, anyways."

Millie smiled brightly and wrapped her arms around my waist as best as she could.

I heard someone clear their throat and turned my head, seeing Annabeth standing at the entry to our room, her arms crossed, but a sweet smile on her face. "Adding to your extensive family, I see, Seaweed Brain." She said, walking over and jumping over the back of the couch, landing herself in the spot beside me with ease.

"Everyone deserves to have someone looking out for them" I said in reply, running a hand through Millie's hair.

Millie, in all her cuteness, narrowed her eyes at Annabeth sleepily, "Are you my mommy?" she asked, yawning.

Annabeth's eyes widened in surprise and I snorted, "No Millie," I began, "I told you that your mommy is a Goddess, Annabeth is a Demigod like us."

Millie shook her head in denial, "She looks like how I think a Goddess would look though." She murmured, closing her eyes.

Annabeth stared at me, "Did she just say I look like a Goddess?" she asked.

I smirked and kissed Annabeth's forehead, before whispering to her "She's right." She smiled, cheeks turning red. "Flattery will get you nowhere Percy."

Wrapping my arm around her waist, I grinned, "I consider it to be honesty rather than flattery."

Millie took the opportunity to speak up, "Can I go to bed now, you guys are being weird" she mumbled, looking up at us.

We both cracked up, trying to quiet our laughter so we wouldn't wake the others. The comment was just too funny coming from a six year old. Besides, weird was a pretty accurate description of Annabeth and I, it was relieving to hear it used again.

"Alright Millie, let's get you to bed." I said, lifting her off the couch and to her feet. "Tomorrow you get to meet the others!"

She nodded and looked from the entrance to the bunks to the bag of Oreos, in a debate with herself. Annabeth grinned at the dilemma and grabbed an Oreo from the bag, handing it to her, "One for the road" she said, smiling, "I'm Annabeth, by the way." Millie took the Oreo and grinned, "Millie" she replied.

I smirked at Annabeth as if to say, breaking the rules now, are we? She just rolled her eyes and grabbed an Oreo for herself, picking up the bag and taking it to the kitchen. I started moving towards the bunks with Millie, and she slipped her small hand into mine, looking up at me questioningly. I just smiled and held her hand, giving it a small squeeze as we walked to her bed.

She jumped into her bed and got under the covers silently, I grinned, tucking her in like my mom would do to me when I was her age, and ruffled her hair teasingly, "Night Millie" I whispered, and she whispered back without hesitation, "Night Percy."

I walked back out to the main room of the tent to see Annabeth smiling at me, "She's adorable" she said softly, stepping towards me.

I smiled, "Yea, no thought filter on what she says though" I joked. Annabeth laughed a little and put her arms around my neck, "You make an amazing big brother, by the way, totally had me in awe of how you acted with her." She whispered. I smirked, putting my hands on her hips, "Just comes naturally, I guess."

She leaned in and placed a gentle kiss on my lips, "Now we should probably go back to sleep." She mumbled, looking into my eyes. I kissed back, smiling. "Yea, that bed looks comfy."

Annabeth rolled her eyes, "I meant actual sleep Seaweed Brain, stop thinking like such a teenage boy."

She walked past me into our room, with me following behind, "Hey! I AM a teenage boy!"

-Linebreak-

'Where is the lord?'

Not how I expected to be woken up this morning.

'He's somewhere around here, can't you sense it?'

Voices in my head talking about a lord… great. Pegasi, horses or sea life of some sort.

I got up out of my bed slowly, stretching as I listened to their conversation, until I froze at part of it.

'We must warn him, it is near!'

I quickly made my way out of the tent, past a surprised Annabeth and Nico, "Morning Seaw – wait!" she exclaimed in surprise, following after me. I could see Nico shrug and go back to his breakfast out the corner of my eye.

I shielded my eyes as they adjusted to the sunlight and looked around before my eyes settled in on what I was looking for. Two horses were trotting around the forest nervously, neighing and looking in all directions.

I focussed on them and their conversation, and shouted "Over here!"

Both horses turned their heads in my direction suddenly, before they turned and made their way towards me in a rush.

Annabeth had stopped behind me at the sight of the horses, hopefully figuring that I had a reason to sprint out of the tent to these two other than being stupid.

'Lord, there's a monster near!' one spoke in my mind, before they both frantically tried to explain further.

I put up my hands in agitation, willing them to be quiet.

"One of you alone, tell me what monster it was if you know" I said.

The two horses glanced at each other as if having a silent conversation, an action I had previously thought was a human thing, before the ash grey one spoke on their behalf.

'Large snake like thing, I think it's called a drakon, lord.'

I paled, drakon's were one of the worst monsters to fight, and that was just normally, if this one had a specific weakness like the one we'd faced in the Titan war, well, they were short stock on a lot of different parentages right now.

"Which direction?" I asked, they nodded their heads to the south-east before telling me something else, 'There was a figure fighting it as well, we didn't get a clear view of It, but it looked human.'

I nodded, and thanked them for the warning, before turning to Annabeth. The two horses scurried off, obviously eager to get further away from the drakon.

"Get Nico, there's a drakon nearby and someone is fighting it. They might need help, and we can't leave that thing alive if it's close to camp." She nodded, but hesitated, opening her mouth to ask something. I guessed the question incoming and cut her off, "I need you to stay here to make sure the others are safe and help them escape if the drakon gets too close." I didn't add that I wasn't eager to let her fight a drakon, no matter how capable she was. If I could help it, I'd keep her out of dangers like that.

She sighed, rushing into the tent. I waited a few seconds before a wary son of Hades was tossed outside, cursing at whoever had thrown him. Which was definitely Annabeth.

"Oh shut up Nico, we've got a drakon to kill."

"I can multitask all I want, you just don't like that I'm swearing at your girlfriend." He retorted, glaring at me but following as I broke into a sprint towards where the horses had said the drakon was.

It wasn't hard to find, really. We heard the roaring fairly quickly, and then it just took a few moments to see the trees being ripped around like toothpicks nearby to figure out where exactly it was at the moment.

We made up our plan as we ran forward, Nico had shadow travelled ahead to get a look at it and luckily reported that it was a regular drakon. No specifics or requirements for slaughtering it.

"I'll get onto it and look for a weak spot, you keep it distracted and have an eye out for the figure the horses mentioned." He nodded and jumped out ahead, reaching the clearing the drakon had made for itself.

Now, this one was probably small as far as drakons went, maybe 60 or 70 feet long. Charred red scales all along and a sharp looking tail. It was built for killing demigods and was more than a few tonnes out of any of our weight classes. This one looked particularly angry, ripping up trees as if searching for something.

Piece of cake, I thought sarcastically.

Nico ran out in front of it and slashed at it when he got close, before quickly retreating as its attention turned to him. I took the moment to burst out into the clearing myself and get behind the drakon before it noticed me. The monstrosity took an angered swipe at Nico and I jumped onto its backside nimbly, running up the scales until it shifted and I had to drop, grabbing the scales as handholds to stay on board.

Nico kept dodging the drakon's attacks, slicing at it when he could to annoy it. I pulled out Riptide and began searching for a chink in the armour, because it had to have one, likely near its neck. I noted, while scaling the drakon's backside, that it's eyes had been stabbed already. Probably the work of the mysterious figure, who had yet to make an appearance, but if it had the skill to take out the eyes, I doubted whoever it was would have died.

My thoughts were cut short as I found the very needed chink. Nico was getting tired and backing away, so I raised Riptide and then stabbed it deep into the flesh. To my surprise, something else buried itself into the skin, right next to my sword. I pulled Riptide and the object out and jumped off to the ground and the drakon wailed in pain and began disintegrating. I got to my feet to see Nico doubled over, scratched up, but okay. Then I looked at the small object in my hands and frowned uncertainly. Nico finally made his way over to me, looking at me questioningly. I held up the object for him to see and his eyes widened.

It was a pure silver arrow.

"Artemis…" Nico muttered under his breath, looking around the trees. He kept his sword out, and I felt like that was a good idea, so I kept Riptide in front of me cautiously.

A tree rattled in front of us, and we turned to it, looking at each other and fully prepared to take on a Goddess, even if that was a horrible idea.

Instead, a slim figure dropped out of the tree calmly and regarded us with electric blue eyes, looking very amused.

Our cousin grinned at our faces. "Man, you guys are paranoid."

Nico put his sword away slowly, still unsure, "Thalia? What are you doing here?" I asked for him.

"Coming to warn you two, when this big worm got in my way." She responded, putting away her bow calmly.

Nico and I looked at eat other, and I shrugged. "Our camp is this way." I said, turning and walking, Nico followed and Thalia came up beside me, keeping pace.

"Well, it won't be for long" she muttered, looking at us.

I gave her a sideways glance, as did Nico, and she elaborated, "Artemis has lead the search for you guys all through North America without finding you, and Athena has decided the next most likely place is Europe, despite Lady Artemis's disagreement. You guys need to pack up and leave."

We reached the camp and I sighed, looking over the peaceful forest we were going to have to abandon.

"How long do we have?" Nico asked. Thalia sighed, "They plan to start looking tomorrow at dawn." She said, "Something about planning where to start, they'd probably only reach Switzerland by midday, but I'd suggest being out of here by tonight. They've stopped checking on America."

Nico huffed, "Great, we're going to have to tell the others and get them on board with leaving, I don't know if Tessa and Jake will care, they don't seem to be from around here, but Marc might."

I nodded reluctantly, "I'm going to have to take Millie to see her dad and let him know, I told her she'd be able to visit him, if we're leaving the least I can do is let him know, I'll do it while you and Annabeth pack up with the others."

Thalia froze, "Annabeth is here?" she asked, looking at us with wide eyes.

Nico shrugged, "We had to get some stuff from camp and Poseidon tipped her off, she found me in the forest and made me bring her back."

I had a bemused smile on my face as I looked at Thalia, "Did you honestly think she'd just sit at camp idly?"

"No, of course not, but this has to be some sort of time record, it's barely been a week" Thalia noted dryly.

I opened the flap to the tent and lead Thalia in, I'd probably need her help with the whole informing everyone of what was going on thing, besides, it might be useful to get her up to speed on our situation, so she could tell Artemis. It'd be good for the gods who favoured us to know what's going on for us, and so far I figured only Hermes and Hestia knew.