A/N: I want to thank everyone who reviewed, followed, or favorited my story! You have been a great help in motivating me to write more! Any feedback is much appreciated and suggestions are always helpful! This is my first fanfic I'm learning a lot from you guys! Keep up the great work of being amazing readers!

Chapter 3: My Last Day of Winter Break

After the meeting, Artemis dropped Thalia, Zoe and I off at camp Half-blood. We spent the last few hours preparing Annabeth's funereal rites and her shroud. It was the color of a grey storm cloud being illuminated by the light from a lightning strike. We had made an intricate golden owl design on it. The Demeter cabin and the Dionysus cabin had gathered up a magnificent assortment of plants and flower wreaths. The Hephaestus and Areas cabin constructed a pyre for Annabeth's burial rites. Nico was nowhere to be seen after I told him about his sister. We prepared a burial shroud for Bianca too, but we had no body to burn. The Athena cabin was grieving, but Malcom was trying to hold himself together for their sake. Thalia said a few words, Chiron said a few more, I didn't want to talk. Malcom gave the final speech before setting Annabeth's pyre on fire.

The rest of the evening went by without much conversation. The little talk that was said was about how helpful Annabeth had been to everyone, either helping with homework or battle strategy. It seemed like she had taught everyone at camp something or another. The campfire was a very small, almost black, flame. It reflected how everyone felt about the loss of Annabeth. Even the Hunters of Artemis were grieving over the loss of their youngest member and the loss of a very strong female warrior. Artemis had already told them about Thalia and me. They were happy that Thalia joined their ranks but I did not receive the same reaction when Artemis told them I would be accompanying them for the next six months. Artemis was coming back in the morning to pick us up. She told us to be ready to move out with the rise of the sun.

I woke up in my empty cabin with a start; I didn't sleep well that night. I kept waking up to the image of Annabeth's lifeless eyes. I got up and stretched, looking out of the window. The sun wasn't up yet, so I didn't over sleep. That was good. I put on my orange Camp Half-Blood t-shirt and slipped on a pair of dark blue jeans. I put Riptide in my pocket and strapped on the wristwatch that Tyson made me before I realized that it was still heavily damaged by Dr. Thorn's attack while retrieving Nico and Bianca. I looked at it for a minute before putting it back down. I walked over to the salt water fountain my dad had given me. I looked down in and two gold drachmas had manifested at the bottom. I reached down and plucked out one of them. "Oh Iris, goddess of the rainbow, accept my offer and show me Tyson, underwater forges, Atlantis." I muttered and threw the gold coin into the mist. An image of Tyson shimmered into existence; he was sitting on a bench underwater, eating a peanut butter sandwich. How he kept it from getting soggy was beyond me. "Tyson!" I yelled. At the sound of his name he looked up, his eyes darting around the place trying to find the source of my voice. His eyes finally met mine and his face morphed into the biggest, goofiest smile I had ever seen.

"Brother!" Tyson hollered back. He got up and ran towards me, looking like he was going to try and hug the Iris Message again, but this time he stopped himself before he made contact with it. "How are you brother?" Tyson asked, his voice sounding fruity with love.

"To be honest, Tyson, not very well." I said. I could feel a lump forming in the back of my throat. The blood rushed to my face, making my body temperature rise. I was sweating now; I was on the verge of panic. Tyson's face shifted from one of joy to one of worry. He could tell there was something wrong. I opened my mouth, but the words wouldn't come out. I didn't know what to say, but it didn't matter because I couldn't say anything. I tried to take a breath to calm myself but no air could get in. The lump in my throat started to choke me. I could feel my throat constricting as I tried to fight back my tears. I could feel the pain of losing Annabeth, I was no longer numb, and I was now in anguish.

"Brother..." Tyson started to say, but I raised my hand to stop him.

"I-it's Annabeth, Tyson, Annabeth is d-dead." I managed to stutter out. I was no longer able to hold back my tears; they slowly started to leak out; the hot liquid trickling down the side of my face. Tyson's face instantly turned to one of pain, he really liked Annabeth. I dropped my gaze towards the floor, "She, she, she died saving one of our new friends."

"Brother," Tyson said, turning serious. "Do not cry over Annabeth's death. She died a hero and she should be remembered for that. There is another soul still in this world because of her, remember her for the deeds that she has done. Remember all the good that she has done for us, brother, because if you focus on her absence, then all you will remember is the pain of losing her. You will not remember the joy she brought into this world."

I looked up; his eyes showed me how much he really meant what he said. I wiped the water from my eyes and steeled my nerves once more. Tyson was right. Breaking down, not being able to move forward, would only dishonor Annabeth's memory. Don't get me wrong, it still hurt, I still missed Annabeth, but I won't let that control me. I knew that I would never forget Annabeth. I would remember her for what she meant to me as a person, as a friend. I wouldn't remember her for the grief and pain her depature caused me.

"There is one more thing, Tyson." I said feeling better about myself.

"What is it brother?"

"I ruined the shield you made me last summer." I said. "I'm sorry Tyson; I know how hard you worked on it. We were battling the Manticore and his spikes dented the shield and I feel so bad Tyson."

"Did it save your life?" Tyson asked seriously once more.

"Yes, without it, I would have been killed." I said a little puzzled at the question.

"Then don't worry about it." Tyson said with a grin. "That is why I made it, to protect you. I will fix it for you the next time I come to camp. Just leave it on my night stand."

"Thanks Tyson, you're that best." I said with a grin. "Good bye brother."

"See you later, big brother." Tyson said with a cheeky grin before waving his hand through the Iris Message, severing the connection.

I walked over and placed the watch on Tyson's bed stand and walked over to the fountain to grab the other coin. I needed to talk to my mom, she would not be happy with me skipping out on the rest of the school year. Iris accepted my offer and the image of the rainbow that was in front of me morphed into an image of my mother's apartment. My mom was sitting at the kitchen table laughing and holding hands with her friend Mr. Blowfish. I felt blood rushing back to my face, embarrassed at what I just witnessed. I raised my hand to swipe through the Iris message but my mom noticed me before I could. Her eyes went wide and she let go of Mr. Blofis' hands real quick.

"Oh, Paul! You know what? I left my writing journal in the living room, could you get it for me?"

"Sure, sally. I'll be right back." He left the room and my mother rushed towards the Iris Message.

"Percy! Are you alright?"

"Yeah, uh, I'm okay mom. How's the writing seminar going?"

She pursed her lips. "It's fine. But that's not important. What happened?"

I quickly filled her in, I could see her visibly tense when I told her about Annabeth. But she had a mindset similar to Tyson's. She was worried about me but she knew that Annabeth had done the right thing.

"Is it the red binder or the blue folder?" Paul hollered from the living room.

"It's the orange one!" She yelled back. I knew that she didn't have an orange binder. "Percy, about Paul.." My mom started.

I interrupted her. "Mom, are you happy?" I asked.

She looked at me surprised. "Yes. I really am, Percy. Being around him makes me happy."

"Then it's cool. Seriously, don't worry about me." The weird thing was, I meant it. My mom being happy meant a lot to me. I decided to let her get back to her early morning breakfast with Paul. "Alright mom, I got to go. I'll talk to you later today."

"Alright Percy, when are you going to come back?"

I winced at that. I hated making my mom worry about me, making her miss me, and making her sad. "I'm not sure yet, I'll talk to you when I know more. I love you mom, goodbye."

"I love you too, son. And do be careful." She said, giving me a weak smile. I waved a hand through the Iris Message and finished up backing. I only had a few t-shirts to pack and even fewer pairs of jeans. The rest of my bag consisted of my tooth brush, tooth paste, socks, underwear, and deodorant. I stopped by the armory to grab a light weight, bronze and leather scaled breastplate, leather rerebraces, and leather greaves. It was armor suited for a long range scout, ment to be light weight, flexible, and comfortable to wear. However, it only protected against glancing strikes. If someone were to land a direct hit, it would go through the armor like paper. After dawning the armor, I made my way to the dining pavilion to meet up with the hunters. Zoe and Thalia were already there, but the rest of the Hunt was still getting ready.

"You look ready for a fight, Jackson." Zoe told me.

"Knowing the Hunt's attitude towards me last night, I need to be." This made both Zoe and Thalia laugh.

"Do not fear, the Hunt is under strict orders not to kill you." Just then, another hunter appeared, she was large and bulky with ginger colored hair. "Ah, Pheobe, is the rest of the hunt almost ready?" Zoe asked.

"Yes they are." She said before sending a quick glare at me. "But they do not understand why we have to travel with this boy."

I walked forward to say something but Thalia stopped me. Instead Zoe stepped forward.

"This boy, as you put it, helped save our Lady, he slayed the Nemian Lion and then later gave up its pelt so that that Ophiotaurus would have a safe passage to Olympus, and he also held up the sky for our Lady Artemis." Zoe shot back instantly. "I think that alone has earned him the respect deserved to call him by his name."

Phoebe was shocked to say the least. Zoe had been her best friend for thousands of years. I guess Phoebe never thought she would hear Zoe defend a male. Phoebe looked miffed but turned around without saying another word. We stood in silence until the rest of the Hunt arrived.

"Everyone here?" Zoe asked. "Yes? Alright, let's eat breakfast quickly." We all sat down, the Hunters and Thalia at Artemis' table and I sat alone at the Poseidon table. Our plates filled with food magically. Then we all stood up to sacrifice a portion of our food to the gods. I sacrificed some eggs to Poseidon and several juicy strips of bacon to Artemis. Once everyone was done eating, we hiked to the top of Half-Blood hill and stopped around Thalia's tree. We only waited for several seconds before the sun rose fully past the horizon, in the same instant, Artemis emerged from the wooded area at the base of Half-Blood Hill. We walked down to meet her.

"It is so good to see you all again." Artemis said warmly. "And it is good to see that Perseus is still alive. Let's get a move on here; we have many monsters to hunt and not a lot of time to hunt them." And with that, the hunt began.

A/N: This chapter was used for the transition from Camp halfblood to the hunt; it also tied up a few loose ends from TTC. Sally still doesn't know that Percy won't be coming home for the rest of the winter; we're going to find out her reaction next chapter. And Rerebraces (Reer-Brases) is a piece of armor that covers the upper arm, like the bicep region. And greaves cover and protect the tibia region of the leg. I will try to make the chapters longer but frankly it's just easier for me to write them at this length. And you can thank everyone who supported this story through reviews, follows and favorites for motivating me to write this. And a special thanks to user amnunne who basically told me to get off my ass and write last night. Let me know what you think and the next chapter will be up as soon as possible!