AN: Just a head up I changed Tomas to Thomas and I did so for the sole purpose of shutting up my spell check. And also I won't be doing the 'olden speak' for Zoe anymore.

Chapter 34

Percy POV

I glanced over at Emily who was still avoiding my gaze. Just how was I supposed to appease her, I talked to Annabeth about apologizing for kissing her but she felt that would probably make it worse. Man why couldn't girls be easier to understand. I guess dad was right for once, no matter how smart or wise a man may be a woman can still confound him.

Wait a woman maybe mom could help me out. At that moment the bell rang signifying the end of the school day. I tried to talk to Emily in the hopes that today my efforts might prove better than than the previous three since school resumed and I wouldn't need to consult my mother. Sadly much like the other day Emily seem to disappear the second she entered the hall way.

I met up with Annabeth at the front of the school. "Any luck with Emily today?" She asked.

"Nope." I replied.

"Are you sure you don't want me to talk to her?"

"Yes. Whatever this is I feel I need to be the one to work it out."

Annabeth look like she wanted to say something but decided against it.

That night after dinner I asked mom if she had some time to talk.

Athena/Sally POV

"What is it honey?" I asked after locking the door to my study.

Immediately Percy blushed slightly "I was hoping you could help with something. Emily is really mad right now and I don't know how to fix it." He rushed

"Just to clarify this is the same Emily that is both your best friend and your first kiss." I said failing somewhat to hold back my grin. Sue me I'm his mother and it's my right to tease him.

"Mom!" He shouted in embarrassment.

"I'll take that as a yes." I laughed and Percy's face turned as red as humanly possible.

"Fine yes so how do I fix it?" he demanded obviously trying to speed up the process so he could get out of here.

I got into an exaggerated thinking pose I knew Percy would take to mean 'this is a tough one' just to tease him but I was indeed seriously thinking over the situation. Annabeth had mentioned to me privately Emily's behavior after the first day back from winter break. It was plain to see the girl liked Percy as more than a friend and was jealous of Annabeth, a girl she's never met, suddenly appearing with an obviously close relationship with Percy.

A simple explanation should clear up the main problem, but more will just keep popping up till the underlying issue is settled.

"Percy how do you feel about Emily?" I inquired

"What do you mean?" He asked nervously.

"Well why did you kiss her?" I asked.

"I don't know we were trying to blend in at the dance after setting up some...stuff in the principal's office. I remember thinking she looked to beautiful in that green dress then it just happened. For a second it was perfect then my brain kicked in and I panicked." He said.

"And how did you feel after?" I asked fairly sure on where he stood now I just needed to help him realize it.

"I don't know it didn't make sense, nothing did. One second she's my best friend the next I don't know." He replied.

I closed my eyes thinking over his response. It's clear he's beginning to care for her as more than a friend and he knows it in his heart. Yet his adolescent mind and body are holding him back from making a full realization of it. Not for the first time I wished we had never needed to make Percy mortal, emotionally he was at the same state as an adult god and he felt the full force of those emotions.

The emotions of god's ran deeper and stronger than mortals to prevent our immense power from drowning them out. Physically and mentally a god normally grows to the size of an eighteen year old by age thirteen.

With what we'd done Percy was trying to deal with things he wasn't ready for. I also had the problem of how to advise Percy, If I nudged him in a direction that would lead him and Emily to become more than friends I ran the risk of breaking his heart when he became a god and learned they couldn't marry. Not to mention with how much Artemis seemed to value his advice he might have a jealous goddess on his hands. No one else seemed to notice but she spoke fondly of him, though not often of their conversations and she seemed to be aging with him rather than stay the average age of her hunters.

On the other hand statistically high school romances, particularly ones that began this early didn't usually last. Percy could get valuable experience for later in life. I just hope this is the right choice...and that Percy wasn't going to be a father in the next 2 or 3 years. Godly emotional depth and teenage hormones are never a good mix.

"She probably feels like you abandoned and or replaced her when you showed up with annabeth after two weeks of not talking to her, not to mention what happened the last time you were together. My advice is to do something that makes her feel like she's special to you, that she's still your best friend." I said "How you do that however is up to you."


Third Person POV

The following day Emily opened her locker to put her books away before lunch, a note fell to the floor. Curious she bent down to pick it up silently thinking what she was going to do to the poor jock that tried to ask her out this time. You'd think they'd have gotten the message after she took out the quarterback for the rest of the season.

Emily, however was slightly surprised to see it was from Malcolm 'meet me on the roof'. She considered just doing her own thing but felt she might have been a bit too harsh on Malcolm. Grabbing the sack lunch she made that morning, for she couldn't bring herself to eat the brown mush they called mystery meat, and went up to the roof.

Normally Emily wouldn't even think about going to the roof during the winter but they hadn't had snow since the last fall melted. "Malcolm?" She called not seeing anyone. Behind her the door closed, spinning in place Emily found Percy standing in front of the door.

"Percy? Where's Malcolm." She asked.

"Cafetera I think?" He replied. "I slipped a note he used for me a month ago into your locker, he doesn't even know."

"So this was just a trick!" Emily shoughted.

"What was I supposed to do you wouldn't talk to me, so I got a little creative." He said. Emily wanted to shout but she couldn't say she'd never to do the same thing.

"I bought you a box of those cake bites you love so much, vanilla with chocolate on the outside." He said holding up the little box. Emily dove for the box only to have Percy hold it out of her reach "They can be yours if you'll just hear me out."

Emily wanted to stay angry but Percy always seemed to worm his way through her defenses. "Fine just gimme." She whined.

Percy shook his head trying to ignore how adorable Emily looked and lowered the box so she could reach it. "Look I know you're mad at me and I think I know why, you need to know Annabeth…"

"What about your new best friend." Emily spat.

"She's not my best friend!" Percy shouted. "Annabeth is my half sister."

"H-half sister." she stuttered. "Since when?"

"Kinda just found out but we're getting along really well." He said "Her other family turned out to be jerks so now she's living with me and my mom even adopted her."

Emily immediately dropped the piece she was eating smacked her forehead. "Stupid, stupid I should have known he said I shouldn't be so closed off."

"He who?" Percy asked, with a twinge of jealousy.

"My older brother." She replied "He says I need to open up more, that I shouldn't keep things to myself so much."

"Well you've got me if you need someone to talk to." Percy said with a nervous smile.


Thomas POV

"You ready punk?" Ares asked.

I shrugged, in the three weeks I'd been training with Ares, if you can call me being smashed into the floor relentlessly training. I felt stronger now and very very sore but that was the least of my concerns. I was about to go through the 'trial' which was essentially a one on one fight, me versus a current member of the gym or fight club as some might view it.

"Do you remember the rules?"

"No weapons and no nut shots?" I replied.

Ares chuckled at that "Close enough now get in the ring."

I did as he said, part of me was excited that this ring was built just like a boxing ring, the rest was just worried about who my opponent was. In my three weeks here I'd gotten a very good look on what kind people trained here. Ares was right to refer to the gym as spartan like, anyone of these people looked like they could take on 20 men by themselves.

Around the ring seven or eight of the regulars were staring at me muttering things like "This is the new recruit." and "Shrimp really needs a sandwich." That one made my eye twitch.

"Alright so who wants to be his opponent." Ares called out.

"I do!" Shio said climbing into the ring. I gulped, this guy looked even bigger than I remembered. "If the runt wants to stay he'll have to beat me." yep I'm screwed.

Dimly I heard Ares signal the start of the match, I however was more focused on the giant fist flying toward me. Ducking the blow I attempted to slip inside his guard only to get kneed in the gut. Landing on my back I heard Shio snort "What was that punk? This is supposed to be a fight not a nap."

Grunting I hoped to my feet and charged back at him only to be met with a roundhouse kick to the face. "Ugh your feet smell like garlic." I wheezed as I somewhat staggered to my feet. Outside the ring I heard Ares laugh.

As for me I got a fist to the face "Punk." Shio spat. I slowly picked myself up off the floor and stared at the man currently mopping to floor with me. My body seemed to be vibrating, all week I'd felt like something inside me was breaking and now it seemed to be falling apart, my blood felt like fire but in a good way.

Shio sent another fist my way however this time felt different, I dodged it and the next blow and the next! In a second I saw the opening and I sized it landing a solid punch on his right cheek. Shio staggered back more in surprise I think than anything else. When he looked at me his cheek wasn't even red then he smiled.

In a blur he went from six feet away to in my face, my head snapped back from his blow, honestly I couldn't tell you what he hit me with. Next my feet left the ground as his kick practically folded me in half. I was sent flying...I think into the ropes around the ring. Bouncing off said ropes I felt something hit my head, really I couldn't tell the what or how as I blacked out immediately from the pain.

The next thing I remember was waking up on the floor "Ugh my head" I groaned.

"I wouldn't move too fast if I were you." Ares said looking up from his book the 'art of war' "You took quite a beating. Why don't you take a few days off before you come back for training."

"Traing? I thought I lost." I said.

"You did but that wasn't the point of the match. It was to see if you had improved with my teaching you and how you would respond to an opponent you had no hope of beating. The results were satisfactory, in all honesty I didn't think you'd even manage to land a punch." he said with pride? No his tone was more like he'd been mildly impressed.

"Hey can I ask you something?" I asked, Ares nodded going back to his book, "Right before I hit Shio I felt something snap and suddenly I felt stronger and Shio seemed to be moving slower."

Ares slowly looked up from his book "Did you feel warm?"

"Ya almost like I had heat pouring through my veins." I said.

Ares grinned and snapped his book shut "Get some rest and we'll talk more when you get back."


Zoe POV (February 1st)

"Settle down kids or we can't go to recess." I called to the kindergarteners. After I left the hunt I decided to be a teacher which should be fairly obvious. I went for kindergarten for two reasons, first because I didn't want to go to some pretentious all girls prep school and second because if I had to deal with boys I'd prefer it to be when they're cute and not driven by hormones.

Seeing all the kids had finally calmed down, at least as much as five year olds could, and lead them outside. One may ask why I a former lieutenant of Artemis would give up my place of prestige to teach a bunch of kids and the answer is simple...to me atleast. I lead the hunt on miladie's behalf for close to a thousand years and at first I felt content.

However at some point I began to feel like something was missing. I'll never regret my time with the hunters, for they will always be sister to me, but I felt it was time to find whatever it was I felt was missing. Not entirely sure what that may be so here I am at an elementary school trying to find out. Mainly I was simply trying different things out, I'll admit I do sound a bit like a teenage girl trying to find herself, last week I learned to things. First I apparently have a great singing voice and second I hate singing.

The instant the kids made it through the door they scattered, running off to various places on the playground. "Hey Zoe!" Catherine called as she walked out with her class. Catherine was a slightly short brunet with a very open and passionate personality that would be perfect in the hunt if only she wasn't obsessed with boys, really she reminded me of a few daughters of Aphrodite when they first joined. Overall we got along fairly well despite being opposites .

"Hello Miss Johnson." I greeted.

"There's that prim and proper attitude again come on girl loosen up you're not in England anymore this is america land of the free!" She cheered, did I mention she was passionate.

I managed a soft laugh, maybe I shouldn't have left the mist to fill in so much of my resume on its own. Most of the school thinks I used to be a big shot prep school teacher in England before moving back to my birth town of Miami Florida. "And maybe you should be a bit more strict, I heard your science experiment was a blast literally." I replied.

"Say what what!" She yelled in mock horror. This time we both laughed. "So what are your plans for the weekend?" She asked.

"I'm not going on blind date." I said flatly, seriously the second she heard I'd never had a boyfriend she decided to play match maker not that she had succeeded in forcing me to date.

"I wasn't trying to set up...this time, however I do have a cousin that I think would be perfect for you. Sarah Nelson and I were going down to the food bank to do some community service on saturday and I was hoping you'd come with us." She said.

I stared her down for a moment attempting to see if this was a trick before shrugging "Sure why not."

"Great! Meet us by the Megaplex on 45th at noon."

-Time skip-

"Move it Sarah!" Catherine said getting behind the young fifth grade teacher and giving her a push. "What are we walking to your execution? Pick it up."

"Sorry I'm not really a morning person."

"Morning? It's noon." I exclaimed.

Sarah simply waved me off and pick up her pace slightly, not that it really mattered, our destination was but a few feet away. Signing the the note pad for their records we were directed to the back of the building to sort items onto the appropriate shelves from these giant boxes that were big enough to fit hottubs in.

After a little while we started playing games like seeing who could find the oldest date on the canned goods or the strangest items, winner for both horse tongue canned in 1986. Near the bottom of the box I found four liter bottle of ketchup. I groan slightly since I didn't want to climb the ladder to set it on the top shelf.

Nevertheless I'd did so silently thanking myself for doing all that hard work in the hunt making this a bit easier. With a grunt I heaved the bottle onto the top shelf with both hands my foot slipped and I found myself falling backwards. Closing my eyes I braced for impact only to feel my self land relatively softly in someone's arms.

Opening my eyes I saw that my 'savior' of sorts was a well muscled, but not overly so, somewhat handsome man with sea green eyes and black hair pulled back in a ponytail. "You okay?" He asked softly setting me on my feet.

I nodded and open my mouth to say thanks when the ketchup bottle fell from the shelf and splattered all over the ground. "I'll go get the mop." He said walking away.

I picked up the pieces of the former container and threw them away, seconds later Catherine came barreling down the aisle just as he returned with the mop "What happened I heard something fall?" She wheezed.

"It's nothing, I just fell trying to put the ketchup up but thankfully mr. umm…"

"Trey." the man said.

"Yes Trey caught me so I'm fine." I explained.

Catherine gave me a once over then glanced at Trey as he finished cleaning up "What about him, he's pretty cute?" She asked, I sighed in exasperation. "Hey I'm just saying you should treat your hero to dinner or something. It's only fair."