A/N: The view count on this fic more than doubled when I posted the last chapter. Thank you all so much for your reviews and follows and favorites. You don't know how much it means to little old me.

I'm back after getting my video game fix.

Just so you know, this chapter picks up right where the last one left off. I hope it's good enough for you all because I was sleepy while writing it.

I don't own Percy Jackson.

Percy slowly leaned back in his chair, and let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. He felt his hands clam up suddenly, and he forced himself to calm down. He wiped his hands on his muddy pants and tried to focus.

"Are we sure it's Kronos?" Percy spoke up after a while, breaking the silence that was present in the tent. None of the three gods in the room were talking, all seemingly deep in thought.

Artemis sat on her bed nearby with her eyes closed tightly as she seemed to be deep in thought. Percy could see her eyes shift underneath her eyelids. Apollo had walked to be close to Hermes and rubbed the god's shoulder to comfort him, as the latter looked extremely drained.

"The daughter of Poseidon, Elaine Chi, said it was Luke," Apollo said after he noticed Hermes made no move to speak. "She said that they trained together once she got back from her quest. They took a break and he told her he stole the bolt and the helm, that he had some stuff to do for Kronos, then left. She said she would've gone after him but a pit scorpion came into the camp and poisoned her. Chiron reported her entire account to us over an iris message. I've never seen Zeus so pale."

Percy heard Artemis mutter to herself about never being absent for a meeting again.

"I thought monsters can't get into the camp?" Percy asked, feeling a slight bit of pity for his half-sister.

Hermes had talked about Luke before, and Percy couldn't deny that he felt a slight bit of jealousy gnaw at him when the god had told him that Castellan was his favorite son. The guy apparently embodied everything a son of Hermes was meant to be, while Percy did not. He was apparently too unpredictable and brash to be as methodical and careful as Hermes' kids but was told that it was not a negative criticism. To hear that the guy had abandoned the camp that gave him a home caused Percy's dislike for the boy to rise.

"They can't, normally, unless someone lets them in," Apollo said again, moving away from his friend to sit on a chair. He rubbed his forehead. "If what she says is true, and it wasn't just the poison messing with her brain, then you're in a load of trouble, Percy."

"Is it the truth?" Artemis asked from her position on her bed, her face showing that she already knew the answer.

"She wasn't lying, that's for sure. I would've known." The sun god said, his brows furrowing.

Percy had to exhale deeply again. His chest was tightening uncomfortably now, and he worked to wipe his hands on his pants again.

"Is that Elaine chick next in line or am I still on the top of the list?" Percy asked, trying to look for other topics to talk about. The more he talked about Luke, the more Hermes seemed to slump in his chair, and the more Percy wanted to gut the guy for making his own father, who obviously loved him, feel so defeated.

"You are, as far as I know. I heard she was born sometime in October," Apollo responded.

"How old is she exactly?" Artemis spoke up again as she slowly stood from her bed to stand closer to the circle of chairs the three males occupied in the center of her tent. She crossed her arms to try to play off her shifting in place.

"She's 12 too, I think."

"She was born in the same year I was?" Percy almost growled. A frown had worked its way onto his features. Artemis, too, had a slightly angry look on her face. "I know I told you guys I wouldn't hate him, Apollo, but he didn't even wait a year to find another woman after mom."

Artemis was surprisingly the first to comfort Percy. She walked closer and placed a hand on his shoulder, giving him a stern but sympathetic look. She did not speak, but the demigod found that her way of calming him down was effective. He assumed she was also making sure he wouldn't go and wreck her tent in a fit of rage.

"I'll tell you more about her when the time comes, Percy, but I'm telling you that you won't like what you'll hear about her. We have more important stuff to talk about right now." Apollo said as he tried to give his student a reassuring smile. He was glad to see that it worked somewhat.

"Fine." Percy paused, then asked his next question. "How can we stop Luke from bringing back Kronos?"

Hermes raised his head and his eyes met with Apollo's. Nodding slightly, the messenger of the gods slowly ducked his head again, and Apollo turned back to his sister and student.

"The truth is, we don't think we can. Hermes and I saw this coming for years. It was only a matter of time." Apollo said, wincing. The god greatly disliked how powerless he felt in the grand scheme of things.

"What do you mean we can't stop him?" Percy asked. His brows furrowed and his hands gripped the sides of his seat tightly. "Can't we just kill Luke or something?"

"We could," Apollo said as he shook his head. "But we don't know where he is. That, and Hermes and I know that to an extent, this was meant to happen. It's fate. Even if Luke doesn't succeed, there will be another prophecy or another demigod who'll take Luke's place. This is going to happen no matter what."

"If you saw it coming, why didn't you do anything about it?"

"Because we can't, Percy," Apollo sighed. He knew he had to do his best to explain to the irate demigod just how hopeless their situation was, lest he rush into something he wasn't prepared for. "If I told anyone what I saw in any of my visions, then a new version of things would play out with the exact same result. Whatever I saw would be useless. Hermes can't see the future as well as I can but he knew Luke would betray us eventually. Even if we didn't see the future anyway, I wasn't really that surprised he betrayed us. He just hates the Olympians."

"What's his beef with the gods anyway?"

Apollo simply shook his head and gestured for Percy to ask Hermes himself. Percy didn't look too happy that he had to wait but one glance at Hermes made him pause. He nodded to the sun god, who gave him a small nod back.

Percy slumped back into his chair again, and the gods saw that he was pale. "So we're just giving up? We're just letting Kronos come back without a fight?"

"That isn't what we're saying, Percy," Hermes spoke up finally. His voice sounded rougher than what Percy was used to hearing from the man. "The best we can do is to prepare you to the best of our abilities. You're still next in line to be the kid of the prophecy, and you need to be ready for Kronos."

Apollo snorted despite the situation, "And even if that Thalia kid was still around, we probably wouldn't stop training you anyway."

Seeing Percy's raised eyebrow, Artemis decided to chime in, "Zeus' demigods have a difficult time declining offers of power. If she was around, Castellan might just be able to win her over to his side. It does not help the situation that they were friends at one point in time. You do not have that connection to him, Perseus, and that makes you the better choice at this point in time."

Her twin brother nodded and Hermes winced at the mention of his son again. Percy sighed, slowly leaning back in his chair again.

"So what are we going to do now?"

Artemis gave him a small smirk, Apollo gave him his patent grin, and Hermes' eyes shone in determination. Despite the situation, Percy found that seeing his mentors looking so confident, he was smiling too.

"Not much has changed. You will continue to prepare for the prophecy and we will be here to teach you." Artemis said, a ghost of a smile on her face. Percy had been seeing it more and more lately, and he found that was as far as he'd ever get with her. He didn't mind one bit.

"Yes," Hermes said, a small smile on his face as well. Percy doubted the man would ever fully recover from his favorite son's betrayal, but only time would tell. "We need you to be ready for anything, brat."

"We'll make you the strongest demigod the world's ever seen, kid!" Apollo almost yelled as he grinned, his fist in the air and his eyes looking to the skies.

Artemis sighed and Hermes shook his head, while Percy laughed. He knew he'd have a harder time training because they needed to up the ante, but he wouldn't let Kronos rise. He refused to let anyone take away Olympus, home to the people who had given him a second chance at life.

He would fight Kronos and whoever stood beside the titan, and he swore he would kill him or die trying.

Around a year and a half later, Percy pulled his hood further over his face as he glanced around. Phoebe was next to him, spinning a hunting knife in her hands, muttering about how bored she was. He briefly pondered taking the knife from her because he worried she would accidentally lose her grip and manage to stab him in his eye or something, but he fought the desire to do so long and hard. He came to the realization that she could just stab him in the eye for even trying. He focused on being glad he was around his friend again after so long.

The hunt was on their way to a school in Maine. Percy hadn't been paying attention when Artemis had told him the school name and where they were heading exactly, but the twin archers had told him they had a bad feeling about the place and wanted him to come along for insurance. It was just supposed to be an extraction mission of two demigods that Percy had assumed were strong enough to warrant his presence alongside the hunters.

Seeing that the snowy hike through the forest and up to the school was going to take a while, Percy decided to tune the muttering Phoebe out and retreat to his thoughts, taking a moment to glance around first to check his surroundings. Seeing nothing, and making sure Artemis and Zoe were still ahead of him, he began to think about the months that had passed by too quickly for his liking.

The first two months of his modified training saw his sword training take up a lot more time than it had previously. Hermes reasoned that Luke was an exceptional swordfighter and was the best in camp before he had left, so Percy needed to work twice as hard to match him. The god of thieves made sure to teach him every parry, strike, and dirty move he knew that would possibly give his student an edge over his wayward son. Apollo and Artemis had given the two some time off of their own training with Percy as they understood his need to strengthen his swordsmanship.

After his two months were up, the extra time he had allotted for it was moved back to his time with Apollo and Artemis, who began to work him harder than they ever had before. Percy estimated that they were grilling him twice as hard as they did, and found that he didn't mind one bit. He and Apollo sparred more often with the priority being Percy's skills at dodging and weaving around the god's strikes in order to attempt a counterattack. He also needed to continue working on his speed and strength, which meant that his physical training with Artemis was made harder. She lessened the time between his weight training and cardio and upped the distance he would have to run on a daily basis.

He had less and less time to spend with the hunters because of his training, so the few times he actually tagged along on their little quests, he did his best to be as friendly and kind as possible. Phoebe continued to be a good friend to him, or at least as good of a friend a hunter could be to a male, and his friendship with Zoe was slowly progressing. He didn't push either to divulge any information about themselves and refused to try to get them to hang out outside of quest time, and he felt that they appreciated his sort of detached form of friendship.

He became much closer to his three guardians during that span of time too. Hermes had spent more time with Percy and the latter had convinced him to visit his children at camp every month. The god of thieves had greatly enjoyed his first visit there and thanked his student for the suggestion. Percy was glad to see the god looking more like himself as a result.

He had also spent more time with Apollo, who he also convinced to visit his children once in a while. The god had listened, mainly because he had seen just how much the visits meant to Hermes, who would often blow off his duties for the day for them, and was curious himself. He found that he, too, enjoyed visiting, and the two gods would go together often, surprising the campers greatly. The god had blessed him partially as he could now be hidden easily within the ranks of the hunters, giving him the ability to heal others to an extent and augment his abysmal archery skills.

Percy had jokingly told his "Aunt Artemis" to visit her demigods at camp too, which earned him a smack upside his head and a well-hidden smile. She told him never to call her that in public, and he had noticed the distinction that he could call her that in private as much as he wanted. He was still working on getting her to call him Percy instead of Perseus, but she was as stubborn as her father was and did not give in to his requests.

The three gods had also talked to him about finally revealing himself to the Olympians. Artemis brought up the fact that Poseidon would most likely be incredibly upset at them, but Apollo snorted and waved off the threat and Hermes frowned.

"If he couldn't watch over his own son and we could, he should be thankful," Apollo had said.

Percy brought up the problem of Zeus' reaction to his existence. The god would no doubt dislike the fact that Poseidon had not only sired one but two demigods in the span of a year in defiance of their pact. Apollo swore to be alert the entire meeting, and Hermes promised to take a lightning bolt to the chest should the king of the gods try anything. Artemis had looked positively livid at the thought of anyone hurting Percy, which warmed his heart. He didn't tell her this for fear of getting slapped upside his head again.

They talked about Percy having to stay at camp, and who would consequently claim him once he arrived. The demigod refused to have to share a cabin with his sister, who he heard Poseidon had visited at least thrice before camp and wanted to stay as far away as he could from her to avoid any incidents. All the gods present had nodded, knowing full well just how bad Percy was at reigning in his temper.

The now 14-year-old demigod had joked that Artemis should claim him, as he had yet to get a joke in the conversation yet, which had indeed earned him a smack. He took it wholeheartedly.

"I'll claim him," Apollo grinned, giving Percy a thumbs up. "He'll fit in well with my kids. All incredibly good-looking, athletic, and heroic!"

"I don't think so," Hermes butted in, looking slightly offended. "He'll fit in better with my children. He has my blessing, after all. He'd relate to them better."

"But he's not like your kids, Hermes. He's too...Percy-like to fit in there."

"Hey!" Percy had said indignantly, and he glared at the goddess of the hunt who smirked at his expense.

"He was my student before he was yours, Apollo."

"He's too handsome to be one of your kids!"

"That was uncalled for, and he's too smart to be one of yours!"

The argument continued on for half an hour, and when it looked like it wouldn't be resolved anytime soon, Artemis and Percy had left to sleep for the night.

The next morning, the goddess and the demigod found Hermes and Apollo eating a silent breakfast together. Hermes had a black eye and Apollo was missing a tooth. Apollo had told him he would claim Percy, and Hermes did not verbally protest. The god resorted to glaring at his friend.

The group was rocked by Thalia Grace's return to the land of the living sometime during his training, but as Apollo had said, they continued to train Percy as if she wasn't around. There was a lull for a few days, however, as the council had received news of Luke's poisoning of Thalia's tree and framing of the camp's activities director, who was rehired, and Hermes had fallen into a slight depression. Apparently, the god of thieves had tried to help the demigods who were sent on a quest to try to heal Thalia's tree by giving them a few items. Percy assumed that his teacher still held out hope for his son, but his hopes were dashed upon hearing about his son's actions. Percy also heard it was once again his sister who saved the day, even if she was soundly beaten by Luke in a duel.

Percy was snapped out of his thoughts when Phoebe gave him a light shove. "Have you been listening to anything I've been saying for the past 10 minutes?"

Percy simply grinned back at her and scratched the back of his neck sheepishly. "Uh...yeah?"

Phoebe simply stared at him for a moment or two, then shook her head, shoving him again as they continued to walk. Percy chuckled and jogged to catch up to her.

After a few moments of silence between them, where the low whistling of the wind and the murmurs of conversation around the two were the only sounds they could hear, Percy spoke up.

"So, I know we were all physically there during the briefing, but some of us weren't all that present mentally. What are we here for again? Asking for a friend." Percy asked.

Phoebe snorted, "of course you weren't listening. We're after two demigods with big scents. Lady Artemis said she could feel them all the way back from where we set up camp. They must be powerful."

"Their smell is strange too," a hunter behind them piped up. Percy noticed she was a nymph. "The trees in the area have been averse to their presence. It smells like death."

Percy and Phoebe raised their eyebrows at this and shared a look. Could they be extracting children of Hades?

Artemis hadn't told them any specifics, and while Phoebe didn't know the things her friend did, Percy knew about the kids Zeus tried to kill all those years ago. He didn't know how they were here and if ever, how they were still children; they were born decades ago. He briefly wondered if Hades had broken the pact too.

Percy blinked as he felt the earth rumble slightly, his thoughts coming to a halt with the shaking of the ground. The hunt immediately stopped walking when they felt the rather large amount of power burst from somewhere across the school. The same hunter that had told them about the demigods' smells spoke up, "I sense a clearing by a cliff nearby. The source of the burst could be coming from there."

Artemis turned and nodded to her, and gave Zoe a nod, telling her to go ahead. The lieutenant nodded and gestured for the hunt to follow her. The goddess lagged behind her hunters to be on pace with Percy, who took up the rear of the group with Phoebe.

"Phoebe, follow Zoe and the rest of the girls. I need to talk to Percy," Artemis commanded the girl, and the daughter of Ares nodded dutifully and jogged to catch up to her sisters-in-arms.

The two walked in relative silence for a while, and just as Percy was about to ask what she wanted to talk to him about, Artemis turned her face to him with a serious look on her face.

"Be ready, Perseus," Artemis told him, her eyes narrowed. Percy raised an eyebrow at her tone.

"Is there something I'm missing or...?" The demigod looked confused as he began to feel slightly nervous. Artemis shook her head in response to his question, and Percy let out a breath that he didn't know he was holding.

"Do you remember how to deal with a manticore?" The goddess asked, her eyes ahead of them once more as they walked up the snowy hill.

Percy's face adopted a childish thinking pose, his tongue peeping out of the side of his mouth, and Artemis had to sigh. Apollo was too much of an influence on him.

"Yeah," Percy said, nodding after a few moments. "I think I do. Don't get hit by the spiky tail and try to blind it. Celestial bronze won't kill it immediately because it's got tough skin, so we need to go for the eyes. Why do you ask?"

"I sense a presence from the school. It is a familiar presence, and it may be something I have encountered in the past. I want you to be ready should it be a manticore. You and Zoe have shown me that you can lead the hunters well in my absence, so I leave the battle to you. I will attempt to secure the demigods while you attack. Do you understand?" Artemis said, prompting Percy to nod. She had a point; if the manticore was here, he was probably out to eat demigods and the children of Hades that he assumed were in the school were easy pickings.

"Why do you look so worried? I thought I was here just to make sure we got it done, not because I was actually needed." Percy said, looking confused.

"I fear we are not the first to try to find these demigods," Artemis confessed, sighing as the two of them easily vaulted over a large rock as they talked. "It would not surprise me if Camp Half-Blood has sent a satyr to retrieve them."

Percy simply hummed in response, and the two picked up the pace to catch up to the hunters ahead of them. They had to be quick; the burst of power they felt earlier could mean that there was a fight going on and thus another party involved in the situation, so they needed to hurry.

The two weaved through the ranks of the hunters who waited on their mistress at Zoe's command as they stood at the edge of a clearing. They watched as a beast with the face of a human, the body of a lion, and the tail of a scorpion continued to rant about how his banishing to Persia had made him thirsty for demigod blood. The man held two demigods who looked similar to each in his large hands; their dark eyes with glints of madness, despite the completely shocked look on their faces, told Percy that they were the demigods of Hades. A few other people were in the clearing as well, and he took the pause that Artemis had given the hunt to analyze them.

There was a girl with lightning blue eyes and short, black hair in dark clothing, holding a can of mace. He assumed that the girl was a child of Zeus, as her eyes told him that much, and came to the conclusion that she was Thalia Grace. Her stance told him that she was an experienced fighter, and the way her eyes narrowed at the manticore in front of her showed him that she was sizing up her opponent.

There was a blonde with gray eyes and a knife in her hand, and Percy assumed that she was a daughter of Athena. She was doing the same thing Thalia was doing, except on a much broader scale. She was looking around the entire clearing and planning for ways to attack the monster in her head.

There was a tall boy with curly brown hair and a goatee with goat legs. Percy assumed this was the satyr that Artemis had predicted Camp Half-Blood would send in search of the demigods.

Percy's eyes landed on the last girl in the clearing, who was gripping her shoulder tightly with a glare on his face. She had green eyes and short dark brown hair that barely reached the nape of her neck, a bronze sword held loosely in her hand. His eyes widened when he realized that the girl was his half-sister, Elaine Chi.

Thalia looked about ready to charge the manticore when a small army of monsters of all types made their way through the trees on the opposite end of the clearing. Percy saw cyclopes, empousai, giants, and hellhounds in their ranks. A glance towards the campers showed that they were scared of the manticore's entourage.

He saw the monsters gearing up to charge, and he turned his head to Zoe. "C'mon Zoe! I think it's time we show the kids how it's done around here." He gave her a grin that the hunters had dubbed his crazy grin, which meant that he would go in ahead and they'd pick off whoever he didn't kill. They knew better than to argue with him when he did this; either way, he'd charge in ahead and they would have to do exactly as he wanted them to anyway.

He reached into his pocket and took out a small phone, and rubbed his thumb across its screen, causing it to begin to glow.

Zoe nodded seriously at the demigod, "we will cover you. Do not let the manticore strike you. We will not be as close as we would need to be should you get injured."

He snorted as he turned his back on the impending battle, walking backward as he gave her another grin. "Oh please, Zoe."

He flicked his wrist and an adamantine sword appeared in his hands. It was a blade that curved slightly at the end, and he spun it in his hand twice as he spread his arms wide. "You know they can't touch me."

With a final two-finger salute, he turned and jumped into the clearing with a flourish. The moment his feet touched the ground, he dashed forward quicker than most hunters' eyes could follow, his form a blur due to his extreme speed. With a roar, he slammed into a cyclops that had charged ahead of the rest of the army as they stalked towards the campers. It exploded into dust the moment he made contact, and the hunters took this as their cue to announce their presence.

Silver arrows immediately filled the sky as Percy slid under a hellhound's pounce and he jumped up and used another hellhound charging towards him as a trampoline. He was in the air a moment later and stabbed his sword into a giant's chest, planting his feet on the giant's body to avoid falling to the ground. He dragged his blade down, cleaving it almost cleanly in half and pushed off the monster that was quickly turning into dust. Due to the giant's height, he was still high off the ground when he jumped off of it. He swung his blade in a wide arc as he spun mid-air, decapitating the empousai that had begun to surround him. He landed and only had a moment to react to an angry cyclops. He jumped back to avoid the swing of its club and grinned when he saw silver arrows pelt its side. He dashed forward again and jumped to slash at its eye, causing it to roar in pain and fall back and onto the monsters that had gathered behind it.

Percy continued to dash around the battlefield as a blur, his sword glinting in the moonlight as he carved a path through the substantial forces of monsters. He chanced a glance at the campers, who looked positively shocked at his skills, and couldn't help the gleeful laughter that erupted from his throat as he knocked aside a hellhound and cut off an empousai's weird leg.

The manticore had tried to escape the moment he heard the chilling laughter that came from the mysterious demigod that was currently destroying the forces that were meant to escort him back to the General. He was cut off immediately by a volley of silver arrows that effectively cut off his path. Artemis herself appeared in front of him and she gave him a growl as she jumped up and planted both of her feet into his gut. The monster was sent back far, the strike from the goddess causing him to slam into a large boulder nearby. He was pinned to the rock a moment later with silver arrows courtesy of the hunt.

The now airborne children of Hades, who were in the grip of the manticore, were immediately caught by Zoe and Phoebe, who had charged with their mistress. The latter immediately let go of the boy in her arms with a sound of disgust and made to follow Percy into battle. The hunters advanced into the clearing to continue to support the son of Poseidon, who obviously didn't really need their assistance to deal with all the monsters.

Percy gave a final roar as he hurled his sword into a charging cyclops' eye, watching as it hit its mark and caused the cyclops to stumble. He began to charge and slid to a halt a short distance in front of the cyclops. He turned his back to the monster and knelt down, his hands cupped in front of him.

"Phoebe! Do it!"

The hunter already running towards him gave a grin and picked up her pace, sprinting straight at Percy. She planted her foot on his hands and jumped as he pushed up. She was launched high into the air and stuck her dual hunting knives right into the cyclops' chest. Her assault caused the monster to fall onto its back, where it faded into dust.

Zoe had followed her sister a short moment later after making sure that the girl in her arms was not harmed, and had rolled her eyes at the two's theatrics. She watched as Percy laughed and gave the girl a high-five.

"I told you it would look cool!" The boy grinned with his hands proudly planted on his waist, and Phoebe had simply shrugged, unwilling to tell him straight-up that he had thought of something good for once.

Suddenly, a roar of anger knocked the two out of their moment, and the three looked to see the manticore making a wild dash for the two children of Hades. Before anyone else could react, the daughter of Athena that Percy had seen earlier jumped up and stabbed it in the back with her knife, causing the manticore to veer off course. Its momentum was unchanged, however, and it continued to charge and stumble straight off the cliff, bringing the girl with him.

Gasps of shock came from the campers, and Artemis visibly winced. Zoe sighed, and Phoebe shook her head. Percy noticed he did not feel her hit the water and sighed in relief. He would've felt it if she had fallen in, and would make sure to ask the goddess of the hunt to find the girl. She was most likely still alive.

The daughter of Zeus, however, did not have the power to sense what was in the water, and immediately turned on Elaine Chi with a glare on her face.

"What the hell were you thinking? Why did you go off alone like that? We could've pulled this off if you didn't try to play hero and take him on your own! Now Annabeth is gone!" Thalia growled, stalking towards the injured girl with her can of mace.

Elaine looked guilty but frowned nonetheless. "I was trying to save the kids, Thalia. I didn't mean for this to happen. It wasn't all my fault!"

Thalia's eyes widened in rage. "It wasn't your fault? Are you kidding me right now?" She looked like she was about to murder the daughter of Poseidon when a boy with dark hair and tan skin appeared in front of her. She bumped into his chest and she stumbled back.

"Hey there. Look, I know you probably wanna kill her, but we can discuss things in a civil manner later. Lady Artemis wants to talk to you guys." Percy said, pointing behind her at the goddess who was waiting in front of her hunters with her arms crossed over her chest. The hunters were setting up tents, while Artemis herself had already created her own. Thalia blinked at him and looked him over once, before turning and walking towards Artemis without sparing him a word.

Percy turned and pointed at the satyr who looked like he was about to follow Thalia, "but not you though. Stay there." The demigod had seen the way he stared at the hunters and it made even him uncomfortable. Satyrs were strange. Said satyr pouted and looked heartbroken, and Percy knew he had made the right decision.

He walked forward and knelt down to the level of his sister, who was on the ground holding her shoulder in pain. Upon closer inspection, Percy found that she had been hit by the manticore's spiky tail, and was slightly bummed that he wasn't given the chance to fight the monster.

"You need some help with that, miss?" Percy grinned at her disarmingly, a look Apollo had forced him to learn for "future reference".

Elaine blinked and Percy noticed her cheeks warm slightly. His being dense prevented him from understanding why she did that, but he decided to ask Apollo about it when he saw him. The girl nodded and reluctantly let her hand drift away from her bleeding shoulder.

Percy inspected the wound for a few moments and found that she had been hit by the manticore's tail.

"You're poisoned. I'll be able to close the wound, but you'll need to get the poison out of your system yourself. Do you have any way of doing that?" Percy faked not knowing that she could easily manipulate water into her wound and deal with the poison herself. He found that now that he was face-to-face with the girl, his dislike for her greatly diminished to a small averseness to her. She seemed to genuinely want to help the quest earlier and had simply messed up and made a bad call, which Percy understood. He still didn't like that she was his father's daughter, but he would do his best to be kind to her.

Elaine nodded again, "I just need some water and I'll be okay." The satyr that had looked extremely sad that he couldn't meet with the hunters procured a flask of water for her, and she used it to heal herself of the poison in her wound. Percy found himself envying her apparent ease in controlling water and reasoned that she must've practiced with it often.

He waited for her to finish before he hovered his hands over the wound. Percy forced some of his focus into his hands where a warm glow appeared. Elaine felt her wound closing and smiled despite the situation.

"You know, I can tell you were just trying to help," Percy told her, and Elaine found herself looking at him in surprise yet again. "But you need to think before you act, especially when you've got a team behind you. I like to do things on my own, too, but we can't just get the people on our side killed, right?"

Elaine slowly nodded at the strange demigod in front of her.

"My name's Percy, Percy Jackson. It's nice to meet you."

"Elaine Chi," she smiled. "Did you come here with those girls in silver parkas?"

Percy hummed as he dropped his hands from her shoulder. "Yes, I did."

He pointed at her shoulder, "that should be tender until you find yourself some nectar and ambrosia. You get some of that in your body and you'll be fine in a few hours."

Elaine gave him a thankful smile, one that he returned with a small smile, and he stood and offered her his hand. "C'mon. I think your friend should be just about done talking with Lady Artemis, and she'll want to talk to you and that girl you were trying to save," Percy said, pulling her up from her position on the ground.

He and his sister made their way over to Artemis' tent, where a sedated Thalia exited through its flaps. She took one glance at Elaine and looked like she wanted to say something, but shook her head and walked off in the direction of the satyr.

Elaine dropped her head in shame, and Percy decided not to speak. He ushered her in where Artemis was waiting with the female daughter of Hades.

Artemis had raised an eyebrow at him when he entered with his sister, but his eyes promised her he'd tell her at a later time, and she nodded. She began to pitch the hunt to the two girls, and Percy tuned her out as he settled himself in a chair, knowing what the goddess would say now. She'd mention that not many men were respected and that he was a rare case because hunters in the past that hadn't seen him with them prior to their recruitment would often attack him.

The demigod of Hades, Bianca, agreed to join up, but Elaine declined, citing that she still had things to do back at her camp. Artemis nodded in understanding and told her that the offer would always be on the table, and Elaine nodded. The goddess nodded to Percy, who stood from his chair to escort the girls out.

Artemis exited her tent a short while after and gestured for everyone in the clearing to gather in front of her. Percy moved to stand at her left, and Zoe stood to her right. The former was picking his teeth and cleaning his ears out of gold dust, and the latter was alternating between glaring at Thalia and staring in confusion at Percy, who looked like he had an entire desert of gold dust in his ears.

The hunters stood as a group in front of Artemis to her general right side and the campers stood beside them at a distance. There was also a distance between Thalia and Elaine, who were intentionally avoiding eye contact.

"I applaud you for doing your duty for Olympus today. Though we were not without losses, a great number of monsters were defeated and the demigods that the manticore was after are safe," Artemis began, nodding at the campers specifically. They didn't seem too comforted by her words but bowed in response. Their eyes focused on Percy when she mentioned that monsters were defeated, as they hadn't done anything but watch him decimate the army.

"I had a short conversation with my father in my tent through iris message, and I have been ordered to hunt a monster that I fear will take me days to find. It has not been seen for millennia now." Artemis continued, frowning softly.

"We will prepare our things now-" Zoe said, but was cut off by Artemis, who held up her hand and shook her head.

"Unfortunately, Zoe, you cannot accompany me. I have been ordered to hunt it alone, and I believe my father has made the correct decision. If this monster that I am hunting is what I believe it to be, then it is much too dangerous for you to come with," Artemis said with a slightly apologetic frown on her face as she addressed her hunters as a whole.

Zoe looked like she wanted to argue against it but the stern look on her mistress' face made her sigh and nod in a resigned manner.

"I have contacted someone to bring you all to Camp Half-Blood to await my return."

Immediately, the hunters paled and Zoe facepalmed. Percy grinned and turned to Artemis, looking extremely hopeful. "Is it who I think it is?"

The campers were confused at the mixed reactions that the goddess's statement caused.

His response came in the form of loud honking from the skies, and the gathered demigods and hunters all looked up to see a golden sports car flying down at them from the skies. It slowed to a halt on the ground nearby, a grinning Apollo in the driver's seat.

"Hello ladies and gents! Apollo has arrived!"

Groans erupted from the hunters, Artemis sighed, and Percy laughed and loudly complimented his entrance while clapping, earning the demigod a proud thumbs-up from the sun god.

The campers were completely confused and Apollo took joy in their looks of bewilderment.