A/N: Hello everyone again, here's another chapter I hope you enjoy. One thing though is you might see the chapter is around 5k words but i'm deciding to try to release a chapter every week again and keep it roughly around the 5k word mark. It would help me push out more work and constant updates while preventing myself from getting burned out with the Academy and this. UNLESS some rich person wants to pay me aha haaa… Anyways, Yea that's how this is going to be let's see if it works out. The minimum will always be 5k, but if I'm really in the zone it might be a few thousand more.

CHAPTER 11: The Di angelo's

Percy walked out his cabin now dressed in his normal clothes and boots and began to search for the two people he had in mind for the recovery of the two demi-gods.

"Shouldn't be too hard to find them… Wherever one is, the other is following right behind." Percy said to himself, as he broke into a grin seeing Luke and Annabeth walking with one another.

"Oh what's up Perce?" Luke asked, stopping in his tracks as Percy ran up to the two.

"Are you guys ready for another quest?" Percy asked with a grin.

"Another quest?!" Annabeth asked incredulously. "When in the hades did you go visit the Oracle?"

Percy raised up his hands in surrender, "Woah woah, okay not an actual quest but Chiron ordered me to get two more demigods to go north and retrieve some younglings."

Luke nodded his head and began to rub the back of his neck awkwardly… "Well Perce… I would accept… but, I need to look over the cabins to make sure they're in order for when summer hits."

Percy sighed but nodded, "It's fine Luke… And I'm guessing you're going to say no to Annabeth?"

Annabeth bit her lip and shook her head, "I also have to say no. I'm still designing the city with my siblings and it's a lot more work than I anticipated."

Percy nodded his head, "that's true… Alright then, I'll go ask some others if they want to tag along… I mean how hard can it be finding two more campers?"

Percy was now cursing at himself for the jinx as he walked away from the forge of the Hephaestus cabin being denied by them all, even Charles who said he was in the process of creating a new set of armor he had a dream of and wanted to make it into a reality. He had told Percy it was going to consume the next couple of weeks and if it ended up working like how he hoped then it would be considered a work even his father would be envious of.

Percy was now walking around and mentally crossing off the names who denied him and was cursing himself again on how half the camp already denied him due to either working on a project of their own or wanting to train for something else. "Guess I'll ask Clarisse…" Percy said to his golden eagle that had landed on his shoulder after he left Luke and Annabeth to go find others. Percy decided to name his eagle Ikaros after the son of Daedalus.

Ikaros replied with a trill and flapping his wings causing Percy to grimace. "Yea, i'm going to ask her next. Hopefully she isn't still stuck up on what I did to her at the Arena." Percy said, replying to Ikaros who nodded his head sagely. Percy was very surprised when he discovered he could understand his birds' chirps and caws. Not as words but being able to know exactly what the bird meant to say without really saying it.

Percy made his way to the Arena and found himself staring into the fighting ring as Clarisse was on one knee leaning against a random spear surrounded by her siblings either knocked out or barely standing. "Come on you shit heads! Don't hold back!" Clarisse shouted, causing three of her siblings to charge her at once, jabbing their swords or spears given by their father at her.

Clarisse quickly dodged the incoming attacks and rolled to her feet slamming the staff of her spear into one of the attackers backs causing him to drop in pain. Clarisse, taking too long on the attack, was caught with a slash to her arm forcing her to jump back before another slash could take her. She bit her tongue making sure not to groan in pain and threw her spear at the sword user who blocked it with his shield but was caught by surprise when he lowered said shield and was met with a fist to his jaw sending him flying. Clarisse dodged by reflex as a spear jabbed from her left side and dove to the sword that was dropped by her last victim rolling back to her feet and preparing to defend herself.

Her last sibling still in the fight picked up one of the shields littering the floor and raised it covering his upper body and part of his head placing his spear over the indent of the shield. Clarisse spat out a wad of blood and spit and charged him. The son of Ares anticipating it jabbed with his spear as fast as possible trying to get one good hit on his sister. Unfortunately he was either too slow or Clarisse was too fast as she parried or dodged the jabs sent her way and closed the gap on her brother causing him to punch out with the shield to create distance with Clarisse.

Clarisse grabbed onto the shield and began to grin which quickly turned into confusion as her brother let go of the shield and spear and jumped back and picked up a sword from the ground. Clarisse growled in anger and dropped the shield and charged the boy. Both began to clash with their swords, paring, dodging, or blocking with their swords until finally Clarisse tripped up the boy and caused him to fall back giving her a chance to disarm him and hold her sword to his neck, "Yield."

The boy raised up his hands and replied, "I yield."

Clarisse accepted it, dropped the sword and stuck out her hand to her brother who accepted it and was pulled back up to his feet. "Still a little rough around the edges, but you're getting better Clarisse."

Clarisse spun around and came face to face with Percy who was only a foot away from her. Clarisse already being used to Ajax and Percy appearing behind her all the time only slightly flinched before replying, "What do you want dolphin fucker?"

Percy smiled and raised his hands in surrender, "Well I was going to ask you if you wanted to join me on a retrieval mission up north for some demi-gods… But I guess not." He finished, beginning to walk out the arena.

Clarisse's eyes lit up and followed Percy, "I accept, when do we leave?"

Percy's smile grew larger and turned back to The daughter of Ares, "I'm surprised you want to go, I didn't take you as the one to want to save kids."

Clarisse snorted, "Yea, no. I'm going to just get the experience, Ajax told me before he left how you two are deciding which demi-gods would receive Enyo's blessing and I want it. I no longer want to associate myself with my father."

Percy looked at Clarisse and nodded his head in surprise, "That's a first, I didn't think I would ever see the day a daughter of Ares would ever turn her back on him." Ikaros Chirped on Percy's shoulder causing him to chuckle, "Right who would have thought."

Clarisse only flipped off Percy and his bird before asking, "So when do we leave?"

"I just need to find one more person and I'll go tell Chiron and we'll be ready to go." Replied Percy, turning to Ikaros and nodding his head which caused the bird to nod his head also and fly into the air.

"So who do you have in mind? Luke? Annabeth? Beckendorf? One of the Apollo kids?" Asked Clarisse going down the camper list.

"They're all busy… so that leaves only one person left." Percy said grimacing.

Clarisse looked at Percy confused before her eyes grew and she broke into a large grin, "Oh gods! You're going to ask Thalia? HA!" Clarisse laughed.

"By the way you're acting I'm guessing Ajax told you everything?" Percy replied.

"Of course, but not just that; The whole camp could literally smell the tension off you two. I'm surprised the Satyrs aren't going buck wild when they're near you two."

"Calm down Clarisse. You're just smelling yourself and Ajax." Percy replied with a chuckle as Clarisse jabbed him in the arm.

"Hey… I wanted to ask… Where did Ajax go? He came to me last night but refused to answer, telling me you would have all the answers." Clarisse said, losing her smile and beginning to frown at the memory.

Percy sighed and looked at Clarisse, "I'll tell you when we're on our way to our destination… It isn't something for the public to know just yet."

Clarisse only nodded before speaking up, "Fine… I'll go get cleaned up and pack… How long are we going to be gone so I can know how light or heavy to go."

"Probably two days." Percy replied looking up and seeing Ikaros cawing to get his attention. "Looks like he found her… Just pack some food for the road and we should be fine."

Clarisse grinned again, "Don't do anything Ajax or I wouldn't do Percy." Before walking back to her cabin to get her things to shower and patch herself up.

"If only," Percy muttered to himself before following where Ikaros flew overhead.

As Percy walked he realized he was going into the forest where the famous capture the flag games took place. Of course him nor Ajax had yet participated in one since it was winter and most campers were away from camp. Percy looked around wondering where the daughter of Zeus could be when he heard a shout of curses in ancient greek. "Haven't heard those words in a while." Percy said to himself as he followed the shouting.

Percy walked into a clearing that had a pile of rocks in the middle loosely resembling a fist if you just tilted your head and squinted your eyes in a certain way. On Top of the rock was the girl he was looking for, Percy looked around and saw a tree with scorch marks on it that resembled what could only be small attacks of electricity hitting it. The son of Poseidon realized Thalia was trying something and decided to stand back and watch in silence.

Thalia took a deep breath and closed her eyes, raising her hand and pointing it towards the tree sticking two fingers out like a gun. After a second lightning shot from her fingers and hit the tree spreading across it like a spider web before dissipating into nothing, only leaving behind burned marks. Thalia dropped her fingers and screamed in rage, obviously not being successful in what she was doing.

"You're focusing too much on forcing the lightning out. It's a part of you, not a weapon of yours." Percy spoke up causing the Daughter of Zeus to jump a foot in the air and spin around and jump again at him standing only a foot away from her on the rock now.

Thalia reflexively took a step back and scoffed, "And how would you know that? Son of POSEIDON?" Thalia, making sure to add emphasis on Poseidon.

"I did live with a son of Zeus who was considered the best child of Zeus at the time." Percy replied indifferently. "Like I was saying Lightning is a part of you like Water is a part of me." Percy nodded, raising his hand and summoning all the humidity around him to form into water. Before absorbing the water into his hand and taking off the gauze from his cheek; Now showing the gash Thalia had given him the day prior was no longer there and in its place was a scar.

"You could heal yourself?" Thalia asked wide eyed looking at his cheek raising her hand to touch the spot but stopping herself.

Percy either not caring what almost happened continued, "Sort of… If the wound is minor I can heal it, If it's a broken bone for instance then nothing will happen… But, Like I was saying, your godly abilities are more than a weapon."

Thalia looked at Percy unsure and opened her mouth to reply but was again cut off by Percy, "Can you fly? That's usually a given ability to the children of Zeus. Only one who didn't get it was Heracles, and that's only because Hera's breast milk ruined his abilities."

Thalia went pale at that and rubbed the back of her neck. " No…"

Percy's eyes narrowed, "You're lying."

Thalia instantly went on the defensive and shot back, "Why would I be lying?"

Percy took a small step forward getting closer to Thalia, his voice lowering into an almost whisper, "I knew a child of Zeus who didn't fly, we ended up finding out he was afraid of heights… Are you afraid of heights Thals?"

Thalia shivered at hearing Percy say her nickname and pushed him back, "Fuck off already, I don't have time for your shit Percy!" Thalia said, trying to mask her voice in anger but failing.

Percy's lips upturned just a bit before he took a step back and turned, dropping off the rock, "I was actually here to offer you a chance to join me and Clarisse on retrieving some Demigods up north. But, when I saw you struggling I decided to give you some advice which I hope you take."

Thalia was already turning back around to face the tree but stopped hearing what Percy was offering and spun back around, "when do we leave?"

Percy grinned at that not facing her and kept a slow pace walking away. "Who said the invitation was still open?"

"I did, now when do we leave." Thalia asked again, jumping off the rock to follow Percy.

Percy's smile grew larger, "We leave in thirty minutes, meet us in front of the big house. Don't be late, Thals… Oh and pack light, we're only going to be gone for a couple days." Percy said as he walked back into the wood Ikaros landed on his shoulder and cawing something, causing Percy to chuckle.

Thalia nodded and turned around jumping on top of the pile of rocks and raising her hand once again, "Lightning is a part of me… not a weapon of me." Thalia whispered to herself pointing her fingers at the tree. Several seconds passed before Thalia felt a charge in herself that she didn't feel before and let it flow to her fingers sliding back a few inches from the bolt of lightning that shot from her fingers flying and piercing the tree before hitting the tree behind it and causing that one to explode into splinters.

~~~SCENE~~~

Thirty minutes had passed and Thalia showed up right on time dressed in her new clothing of nearly black jeans with a thick cotton shirt and flannel and beanie. Internally glad she cut her hair having it now go just at her shoulder blades instead of below her butt.

Percy was talking to Chiron and Clarisse turned hearing footsteps behind her and grinned seeing Thalia, "So he actually convinced you to come along eh?"

Thalia rolled her eyes and ignored Clarisse causing the daughter of Ares to only grin wider. Thalia stepped up next to Clarisse to hear what Percy was saying to Chiron, "Yes sir, We'll be back in two days time, possibly three."

"Good, I take it, you're going to take a taxi there?" Chiron asked, rubbing his chin.

"We're just going to have Argus drop us off at the first town and then we'll get a taxi."

"Understandable," Chiron replied. "Well on you go you three, keep one another safe. We are now in a time where every demigod will be needed so don't do anything that would put one of your lives in danger."

Thalia Snorted at that, seeing how Ironic it was to not do anything dangerous but then go on a quest to save two demigods and risk the lives of three in doing so. No one paid any mind to Thalia and Percy wished Chiron goodbye before turning and heading towards the exit of camp followed by Thalia and Clarisse.

The three met with Argus who sat waiting in the van and welcomed the three in with a nod of his head and waited for them to safely strap in before driving north.

It had been less than an hour before Argus made it to the first town and dropped the campers off, turning around and heading back towards camp. And, fortunately for them they found a taxi within the first five minutes before hailing it and telling the driver their destination.

As the driver began to drive Clarisse sat back and looked at Percy, who was sitting on the right side while Thalia took up the middle seat. "So mind telling me what happened to Ajax now?"

Percy looked over at Clarisse before nodding his head and looking towards the cab driver and waving his hand around, "You will keep driving and ignore our conversation the whole time."

The taxi driver's eyes went marble white before turning back to normal and nodding his head. "What did you just do?" Asked Thalia seeing the eyes from the rearview mirror.

"I used the mist to keep the driver from hearing our conversations." Percy replied not thinking much of it.

"You could do that?" Clarisse asked, surprised and interested.

"Yea, It was a requirement for Ajax and I, And once We get back and I start training the ones I have in mind then they'll learn it too, along with a few other tricks." Percy replied. "Now back to the topic… Clarisse, you want to know where Ajax is right?" Clarisse nodded her head, "Alright it's going to take some time so get comfortable."

Several hours had passed with Percy explaining most of the basic things to Clarisse. Leaving out the more personal and uneasy parts, starting from their time back in Sparta to the mission Ajax voluntarily took; Finally finishing off about why he left last night. After that began the questioning about everything Clarisse can think of. Now Thalia wasn't one to judge but she was caught by surprise that a daughter of Ares was so engrossed in ancient times that she was actually impressed by the questions she was asking.

Finally after nearly eight hours the driver stopped in front of a large school that looked like a Castle from the medieval times. "We're here." Said the Taxi driver looking into the Rearview mirror.

"Thanks for that… here, keep the change." Percy said, tossing the driver a rolled up amount of money.

The Taxi driver unrolled the money from its rubber band and nearly choked as he saw the amount of money in his hands. He only nodded to Percy before wishing them a good one and driving off.

"How much cash did you give him? I swear it looked like he was going to kiss you." Thalia asked, walking alongside Percy and Clarisse towards the front doors of the building.

"Like a thousand or something, I don't really know." Percy replied, before pushing open the doors to the school and instantly hearing muffled sounds of music coming from somewhere in the school.

"Alright, if I know Grover he's either getting ganged up on or digging through the trash." Clarisse said, following Percy and Thalia.

The three turned the corner and nearly ran into two staff members of the school. "Who are you three?" Asked the man in a french accent.

"Students," Percy replied nonchalantly, waving his hand and seeing the female's eyes go marble white while the mans didn't.

"Of course you are," The female replied with a smile on her face, "Dr. Thorn, leave them be."

Percy's eyes snapped towards the male teacher and stuck his hand in his pocket gripping his sword, while slowly forming the mist into water behind the two teachers aiming it at the male. "Yes, Dr. Thorn, we're just heading back to the dance."

Dr. Thorn grimaced and waved a hand, "Go on then, but don't let me catch you three roaming the halls again."

The three students only nodded before Percy walked past the two and discreetly dissipated the water before Thorn could see it. "That was close…" Thalia whispered to Percy and Clarisse when they got farther away.

"The male is a creature… What? I'm not sure but he's something strong.. He was able to withstand the mist manipulation." Percy whispered, taking small glimpses behind him to make sure they weren't being followed.

"So he's probably who Chiron was talking about." Clarisse said, grabbing onto her Swiss army knife that was in reality her spear. She really didn't want to use it but had no choice as she couldn't just bring a spear on her back without people asking questions.

"I have Ikaros scouting the premises, if he sees anything he'll tell me." Percy replied, turning the corner and walking into the Satyr he was looking for.

"Finally you guys got here! Come on, hurry before Dr. Thorn sees you." Grover said turning and beginning to walk as fast as his crutches could take him.

"We ran into him already." Clarisse shot back.

"You did?!" Grover asked, spinning on his crutches and staring at the three worried.

"Yea, we know he's the monster already and he probably knows who we are." Thalia added.

Grover groaned and turned around moving as fast as he could towards the dance. "Well that means we don't have much time. We need to get to the demigods before he does."

"Let me give you the rundown on everything that's been happening these past couple of weeks. The two kids are brother and sister, not twins. They've been here for about a few months. One just turned fourteen the other is twelve, The sister is the oldest. I can't get to know them because that damned Dr. will appear near them every time I talk to them for longer than five minutes…. Their mom is dead so their dad is the god. I don't know which god but it has to be an Olympian, their scent is too strong for a minor god." Grover said in record time, he was telling everything to all three but it was obvious he was mostly telling Percy.

Thalia had been a bit annoyed at that bit, She was used to being the leader during her time on the run, even when she was with Luke and Annabeth she was basically the one in charge as Luke acted as their bodyguard. Now she was being demoted to second in command and probably would have been third if Ajax was there. Compared to the rest of the campers she probably had the most real world experience to life threatening scenarios and real life experience. But that was easily shadowed by Percy as he was literally one step below a hero when she was at least ten.

Thalia snapped out of her thinking when Grover practically threw the doors open to a large gymnasium turned into a dance hall. In it had to be over a hundred students dancing, talking, or sitting at the tables and bleachers. "How the hell are we going to find them now?!" Thalia groaned out, shouting over the loud music. "And who in the hades had the DJ put on Jesse Mcartney?"

"I did…" Grover whispered, looking hurt.

"Well I'm sorry Grover…" Thalia said, which caused Grover to lift his head and smile, "But you have terrible taste." she finished making Grover drop his head again.

Grover raised his head again and pointed towards two kids sitting together in the bleachers alone from most of the other students and looking like they were severely misplaced here compared to the other students' attire.

"Alright, I'm going to introduce myself to them. You three keep an eye out for that creature. If he shows up, then keep an eye on him. If he gets close to me, close the gap and get to me too. We need to protect those kids at all costs, got it?" Percy ordered, and all three nodded. Clarisse and Thalia made their way to the DJ to get the music changed as Grover followed.

Percy maneuvered his way through the students and noticed the kids ranged from eleven years old all the way to seven-teen, "Makes sense why there's so many of them here." After a few quick seconds Percy made it to the bleachers and sat next to the girl with the boy sitting right under them. "You two look out of place." Percy said, causing the girl to snap out of the book she was reading while the boy kept playing with some cards.

"Ha, If I had a penny for everytime someone said that." The girl replied, going back to her book.

"Trust me, I always heard the same thing too when I was younger." Percy said, leaning back onto the bleachers, making himself look comfortable but on high alert.

"Yea, and what happened, that changed that?" Asked the girl facing Percy, taking her eyes off her book.

"I found my true home… Names Percy." Percy said quickly changing the topic and introducing himself by sticking out his hand.

The girl looked at the offered appendage and slowly took it and shook it, "Names Bianca and this little one under me is Nico… So, mind telling me what you meant by finding your true home?"

Percy gave a light hearted chuckle, "Let me answer your question with a question of my own. Have you two ever done anything that you couldn't explain and were too afraid to say, because you thought adults or your friends would think you were a freak?"

Percy never really experienced it himself but the other campers always talked about their first time using their abilities and felt like he had a good grasp on it. Bianca looked at Percy with a lost and worried look, while Nico dropped his cards and spun, finally deciding to pay attention to Percy. "Yes, you don't know how many times. For instance I feel like I can control my own-"

Nico was cut off by his sister who covered his mouth, "Don't listen to him, he just has an overactive imagination. But, no, we never had that happen to us."

Percy raised an eyebrow and presented his hand to the two siblings and watched as their eyes widened until he was sure their eyeballs would fall out their head as he formed a small ball of water into his hand and began to shape it into shapes and such. "I'm like you two also, but I am a bit different on what I can do."

Bianca and Nico looked at Percy and were about to begin to speak when Percy felt a sharp jab in his neck. Percy winced and reached behind and pulled out whatever pricked him and cursed as he saw what it was. "A fucking manticore thooorr-" Percy began to slur his words before slumping down. He had been caught off guard because he was paying too much damn attention to the kids. He prayed to his father and Enyo that Ajax would never find out about this or else he would be humiliated.

Percy watched as Nico and Bianca quickly stood and were grabbed by their arms by that Dr. Thorn and get dragged off through a side exit leading outside. Percy felt his heartbeat slowing and knew he was going to pass out. He knew he wasn't going to die, but was going to be out for at least a few good hours. Weighing his options he knew he had no choice and channeled Spartan's rage and shot up from his slouched form, "I have 15 minutes… I'm going to skin that piece of shit." Percy growled before bolting towards the door.

Percy Flew out the door and heard Ikaros Trill not too far from where he was and sprinted as fast as he could into the woods in front of him trying to hold in his rage for the Manticore. Percy nearly flew out the woods and into an opening that had a cliff on the other side with the French Dr. and the siblings while Thalia, Clarisse and Grover stood right in front of him, their backs towards him. "Manticore!" Percy shouted causing everyone to wince and flinch at the power and anger coming from Percy's shout, "I'm going to fucking Skin you alive and use your fur to wipe my feet on."

"Son of Poseidon… I'm surprised you aren't drooling inside the school right now, "Well no worries… I'm already going to-"

The Dr. was stopped as Ikaros dive bombed him from behind slamming in the back of his neck sending him crashing down and letting his grip go of the kids. "Clarisse, Thalia keep them safe!" Percy shouted as he rushed past the retreating kids, equipping his sword and beginning to absorb any and all humidity around him. Before Thalia or Clarisse could argue, Percy had moved in speeds that left them speechless and would make children of Hermes envious. The lone spartan jumped and swung his sword in a downward motion aiming for the Dr's head.

Unfortunately a large scorpion tail appeared as fast if not faster than Percy's swing blocking the shot as the Dr slowly rose from the ground and began to transform into his true form. "Looks like the ilk of the sea god has some surprises." Chided the Manticore. Percy went to swing again but was forced to block with his sword as the tail swung at him leaving the two in a struggle standoff.

Percy smiled and raised his free hand before crushing his fist. The manticore, not knowing what Percy was up to, couldn't predict the attack and howled in pain as the snow under his feet wrapped around him and crushed his feet. Percy knew what was coming next as he trapped the beast making it immobile and summoned the accumulated water to him and placed it in front of the monster's mouth within the same millisecond it shot a stream of fire out of its mouth.

Percy's smile grew as he knew once the stream of intense fire ended he would have his chance to attack the monster. That was until he heard a yell come from his left and his eyes widened having to dive away from the beast. What Percy dove from was a charged up lightning bolt coming from thalia. Percy unfortunately wasn't faster than lightning and was caught in the blast that hit the manticore leaving him to be hit on the side with a stray bolt of lightning burning across his flesh leaving a deep long gash going from his thigh up his back.

The Manticore being made of tougher stuff than a demi-god roared in pain as the lightning spider-webbed across his body leaving burn marks across him. But being able to stay on his feet. The Manticore spun to face Thalia forgetting about the wounded form of Percy slowly standing up, his feet being released from the snow trap finally and whipping his tail at Thalia sending several spikes towards her.

Thalia raised her shield to block them but felt them never come. Instead hearing whistles pass her from behind and clinks sound in front of her. Thalia lowered her shield ever so slightly and looked over to see the thorns on the ground along with silver arrows. "Hunters?" Thalia said to herself as the manticore roared in anger.

"Artemis and her hunters?!" Roared the Manticore beginning to flap his wings taking air as his feet were still useless to do anything more than stand on.

"A monster that would look good on a trophy." Replied a girl that looked no older than thirteen, walking out of the woods followed by several other girls either older or younger than her.

The Manticore frowned before turning it into a menacing grin as he heard the chopping of air come from behind him. "Sounds like it's my time to leave… I'll take a parting gift in the meantime."

Thalia froze as she saw the Manticore turn her way once again and dove for her in flight moving at speeds faster than she thought possible. 'Oh no' Thalia thought as she raised her shield and prepared to block any attack that may come her way.

"ENOUGH!" A voice roared with enough power in it, it caused the ground to shake and the air to grow heavy and still at the same time. Thalia heard the flapping wings cease and looked from her shield to see The Manticore was stuck in the air as what looked like a large snow shaped fist held onto his body.

"What is this?!" Yelled the Manticore, fear lacing his voice.

"I told you I was going to fucking kill you…" Said a tired voice inbetween deep and heavy breaths.

Before the Manticore could react in any way; The beast felt the large fist wrapped around it begin to squeeze harder and harder by the nanosecond. The monster could only howl in pain before it felt its ribs crush and puncture its organs. To everyone's horror the monster didn't poof in a golden dust but instead began to bleed from every hole in its body forcing Clarisse and Grover to grab the young demi-gods and pull them into themselves covering their ears to block out the pained screams.

Finally after what could have been described as the longest ten seconds of the lives of everyone there besides a select few, Percy walked up to the beast clutching his side and looked the beast in the eye who could only wheeze as it coughed blood with each breath. "You better hope I get your fur as a spoil of war. Or else I'm going to hunt you again until I do."

The Manticore could only glare in pure unfiltered rage and hatred with its bloodshot eyes as Percy's sword stabbed down into its head finally ending the monster's suffering. Percy was showered in the golden dust and looked down and frowned as he saw the large tail of the monster left as the spoil. "Piece of shit." Percy grimaced before feeling his body finally drain and drop to his knees slamming his sword into the snow and ground using it as his crutch to prevent falling on all fours.

Percy heard a chopping and motor sound coming from the cliff and groaned as he saw an attack helicopter show itself. Percy tried to move but failed as he knew he drained himself fully and stared at the chopper wondering if he was going to survive the encounter.

"Mortals are such annoying things." Said the thirteen year old girl as she raised her bow and nocked an arrow and loosed it. Percy watched the arrow soar already knowing what was going to happen. Seeing the arrow make contact with the helicopter the plane and its inhabitants turned into Crows flying off into random directions.

Percy looked at the group of girls who came out the woods and sighed, he was honored to be in the presence of one of the goddesses Sparta praised more than most but was really hoping the Lieutenant of the hunters wasn't with them any longer. Percy looked around and mentally cursed his terrible luck as he saw the one girl he really didn't want to see make eye contact with him and instantly frown. That wasn't good, either she frowned because of the stunt he just pulled, or she remembered him, possibly both.

The son of Posiedon stood slowly on shaky legs and began to walk over to Artemis dropping on his knee and lowering his head, "Lady Artemis I am honored to be in your presence." Sure Percy had technically met Artemis just a few weeks ago when he and the others went to Olympus but they didn't speak and he wasn't able to formally introduce himself.

"Spartan Percy…" Artemis said in an amused tone, "It has been some time since a true Spartan introduced themselves." Artemis finished. One thing many always got wrong about Artemis is she hated all men. That was only a half truth, she did hate all men but that was only because the ones she did have genuine respect for no longer existed until very recently.

"Hopefully it will become common soon my lady." Percy said, keeping his head lowered.

Artemis hummed in agreement, "I will be waiting for that day Spartan… You may stand."

Percy stood trying his best to keep his legs from wobbling and thanked Artemis before a voice behind Percy spoke up with a hint of anger, "A thank you would be appreciated Percy."

Percy's smile dropped and he spun on his heels facing a fuming Thalia stomping her way towards him. "Thank you for what? Nearly getting me killed and turning an easy kill into something that risked both our lives? Not just that but you went against a direct order!" Percy raised his voice with each word nearly yelling at the daughter of Thalia.

"A direct order? Who the hades made you in charge?" Thalia shot back, stopping her way up to Percy getting in his face nearly a few inches from one another now.

"Chiron did when he gave me this mission." Percy replied through gritted teeth forcing himself to stand straight up keeping his groans of pain in his throat from stretching the gash on his side.

Thalia stared into Percy's eyes who met her with the same stare. The two locked into a staring contest which caused Thalia to break away first. And shove Percy out of the way, "Whatever." Thalia muttered, stomping past everyone.

Percy stayed staring at the spot Thalia recently inhabited. After he heard her loud footsteps grow farther until he was sure she was in the woods Percy groaned and called out to Ikaros who landed on his shoulder, "Go with Thalia and make sure she doesn't do anything stupid." Percy asked Ikaros who only nodded his head before taking off towards the direction of the girl.

Percy turned around to face Artemis and felt his legs go out under him, "Shit… I think I reached my limit." Percy said to no one in particular as he dropped to his knees before falling sideways and slowly losing his vision before everything went black.

A/N: Alright, there's the chapter! I hope you all enjoyed it, but I do have to apologize as I did kind of rush the ending as I'm getting this chapter out nearly two days late… Like I said, the academy is kicking my ass… But anyways, I want to clear up some things just in case someone tries to complain. Sparta Praised Apollo and Artemis the most out of most of the Olympians, so Artemis having a soft spot for her biggest supporters isn't that much of a stretch. Also you will all find out within the next chapter why exactly Percy really didn't want to see Zoe. And no it isn't what most of you are probably thinking, it's actually something I don't think many if not none have done before with her.

Well that's All I think… I'll see you all next week for another chapter! Like always please favorite the story and follow if you do enjoy it and if you really would like to leave a review as those are always appreciated.