Disclaimer: I don't own PJO. Glad everyone's so pleased with the new POV and the twist. As for getting Ana to take the sky, I have a plan for that. Also, I don't like Bianca, and while I'll try not to bash her, that dislike might come through. Hope no one'll be put off though! It's only one book! Thanks to the people who pointed out the name mix up! Fixed now.

Chapter Three

A Di'Angelo's Decision

When Grover finished with what I thought was the important thing, that is, Ana was alive, he belatedly realized that the twelve-year-old girl was the goddess Artemis. His reaction was. Interesting, shall we say?

By that, I mean that he gasped, then knelt hastily in the snow and started yammering, "Thank you, Lady Artemis! You're so… you're so… Wow!"

I feared that whatever had to Ana had damaged him through the empathy link. Who greeted an Olympian with such pleasure after all?

Thalia evidently disagreed with his actions as well. "Get up, goat boy!" she snapped. "We have other things to worry about. Ana is gone!"

"Yeah," I agreed. "Priorities, Grover. Your best friend, remember her? The one who just got dragged over a cliff and somehow disappeared despite the water!"

He scrambled back to his hooves, looking guilty. But before he could say anything, someone else spoke up first.

"Whoa," Bianca di Angelo said. "Hold up. Time out."

Everybody looked at her. She pointed her finger at all of us in turn, like she was trying to connect the dots. "Who… who are you people?"

Artemis's expression softened. "It might be a better question, my dear girl, to ask who are you! Who are your parents?"

Bianca glanced nervously at her brother, who was still staring in awe at Artemis.

"Our parents are dead," Bianca replied. "We're orphans. There's a bank trust that pays for our school, but…"

She faltered. I guess she could tell from our faces that we didn't believe her.

"What?" she demanded, sounding defensive. "I'm telling the truth."

"You are a half-blood," Zoe told her. Her accent was from Ancient Greece and she spoke Old English. I knew that she was Artemis' oldest living Hunter, but don't bother asking me more than that, cause I don't have a clue. "One of thy parents was mortal. The other was an Olympian."

"An Olympian… athlete?"

"No," Zoe said. "One of the gods."

"Cool!" Nico declared, sounding and looking utterly thrilled. He didn't seem to understand the reality of the circumstances at all. Bianca seemed less delusional.

"No!" her voice quavered. "This is not cool!"

Nico danced around excitedly, hopping from one leg to the other. "Does Zeus really have lightning bolts that do six hundred damage? Does he get extra movement points for—"

"Nico, shut up!" Bianca put her hands to her face. "This is not your stupid Mythomagic game, okay? There are no such things as gods!"

As anxious as I felt about Ana—all I wanted to do was search for her—I couldn't help feeling sorry for the di'Angelos. I had known my heritage all my life. Hard not to when your mother randomly spewed green smoke and predicted various dismal fates for you.

But I had seen dozens of kids go through first learning they were demigods. For example, Travis and Connor had been stunned, their heavily Christian mother having decided they were demons and tossed them to the curb after a monster attack. Ana had been grimly practical, and already harbouring the typical resentment of a half-blood for their godly parent, only less hidden.

Thalia must've been feeling something similar, because the anger in her eyes subsided a little bit. "Bianca, I know it's hard to believe. But the gods are still around. Trust me. They're immortal. And whenever they have kids with regular humans, kids like us, well… Our lives are dangerous."

"Dangerous," Bianca said, "like the girl who fell."

I caught my breath, feeling as if I had just been punched in the stomach. Thalia turned away and Grover looked stricken. Even Artemis looked pained.

"Have a little fucking respect," I growled at the di'Angelos, my sympathy quickly fading. "She fell saving you." They flinched back, Nico's grin slipping briefly.

"Do not despair for Anaea," the goddess said. "She was a brave and strong maiden. If she can be found, I shall find her."

"Then why won't you let us go look for her?" I asked. "She might be in the water, healing or something!"

"She is gone. Can't you sense it, Son of Hermes? Some magic is at work. I do not know exactly how or why, but your friend has vanished."

I still wanted to jump off the cliff and search for her, but I knew that Artemis was right. Ana was gone. If she'd been down there in the sea, she would have come back up by now.

"Oo!" Nico raised his hand, like we were in a mortal classroom or something. He didn't appear affected by the possibility of the greatest girl I'd ever known having died to save him anymore. Bad trade, I thought silently. Anaea Jackson for an over-excited kid and his in-denial older sister. How the Hades did that work?

"What about Dr. Thorn?" Nico asked, looking gleeful. "It was awesome how you shot him with arrows! Is he dead?"

"He was a manticore," Artemis said. "Hopefully he is destroyed for now, but monsters never truly die. They re-form over and over again, and they must be hunted whenever they reappear."

"Or they'll hunt us," Thalia added darkly as she turned back, her composure restored once again. I couldn't help but notice her mascara was slightly smudged, and her eyes shone. Subtly, I brushed against her hand, both for and to support.

Bianca shivered. "That explains… Nico, you remember last summer, those guys who tried to attack us in the alley in DC?"

"And that bus driver," Nico said. "The one with the ram's horns. I told you that really happened."

"That's why Grover has been watching you," I said. "To keep you safe, if you turned out to be half-bloods. He's a protector, a really good one." One that had found both the only children of the Big Three born in decades. That made something niggle at the back of my mind, but I couldn't put my finger on it. I shrugged and dismissed it. It'd come back to me.

"Grover?" Bianca stared at him. "You're a demigod?"

"Well, a satyr, actually." He kicked off his shoes and displayed his goat hooves. I thought Bianca was going to faint right then and there.

"Grover, put your shoes back on," Thalia ordered. "You're freaking her out."

"Hey, my hooves are clean!"

"Bianca," I said, cutting in. "we came here to help you. You and Nico need training to survive. Doctor Thorn won't be the last monster you meet. You need to come to camp."

"Camp?" she repeated questioningly.

"Camp Half-Blood," I explained, the familiar spiel falling off my tongue without thinking about it.

Good thing too. I didn't want to be thinking. I wanted Ana to explain this. She was way better with kids than I was. She just had this air about her, you know? Like she'd rip the world apart to protect the ones she cared about.

"It's where half-bloods learn to survive and stuff. You can join us, stay there year-round if you like."

"Sweet, let's go!" said Nico, jumping in place. Oh yeah, this kid had ADHD alright.

"Wait," Bianca shook her head. "I don't—"

"There is another option," Zoe said.

"No, there isn't!" Thalia said.

I tensed. We had come across a few of the Hunters before, years ago. After Annabeth, and before Grover. Zoe had tried to convince Thalia and Annabeth to join them, insisting that, because I was a male, I would betray them. Of course, in the end it had been Annabeth who was the traitor. No one had ever expected that. Definitely not me. Not even Ana, who'd been at odds with her from the day she first stepped foot in camp.

Still, I didn't approve of Zoe trying to recruit Bianca. She would have to cut off almost all contact with her brother. And it was obvious to anyone who looked, that Nico's world was centred on his elder sister. But she, in turn, seemed to resent him for needing her to look after him. I wondered if it had ever occurred to her that she didn't have to look after him. She could just be his sister.

"We've burdened these children enough," Artemis announced. "Zoe, we will rest here for a few hours. Raise the tents. Treat the wounded. Retrieve our guests' belongings from the school."

"Yes, my lady."

"And, Bianca, come with me. I would like to speak with you."

"What about me?" Nico asked.

Artemis considered the boy. "Perhaps you can show Grover how to play that card game you enjoy. I'm sure Grover would be happy to entertain you for a while… as a favour to me?"

Grover just about tripped over himself getting up. "You bet! Come on, Nico!"

Nico and Grover walked off toward the woods, talking about hit points and armour ratings and a bunch of other geeky stuff. Artemis led a confused-looking Bianca along the cliff while the Hunters began unpacking their knapsacks and making camp.

Zoe gave Thalia and I one more evil look, then left to oversee things.

As soon as she was gone, Thalia stamped her foot in frustration. "The nerve of those Hunters! They think they're so… Argh!"

I didn't answer. Something glinting in the snow had caught my eye. When I bent to pick it up, I heard Thalia's breath catch in her throat, and tears blurred my vision. It was Ana's bracelet, the dolphin that turned into her shield dented slightly.

Thalia didn't say another word. She wiped a tear from her cheek, turned, and marched off, leaving me alone with a damaged bracelet in the snow.

The Hunters set up their camping site in a matter of minutes. Seven large tents, all of silver silk, curved in a crescent around one side of a bonfire. One of the girls blew a silver dog whistle, and a dozen white wolves appeared out of the woods. They began circling the camp like guard dogs. The Hunters walked among them and fed them treats, completely unafraid, same as the last time we had crossed paths, but I decided I would stick close to the tents anyway. Falcons watched us from the trees, their eyes flashing in the firelight, and I suspected that they were on guard duty, too. Even the weather seemed to bend to the goddess' will. The air was still cold, but the wind died down and the snow stopped falling, so it was almost pleasant sitting by the fire.

Almost… except for the pain in my shoulder and the guilt weighing me down. I couldn't believe Ana was gone. And all that I could think was that it was my fault. If I hadn't lost my balance and been knocked over, I could have stopped Thorn from grabbing her. I thought about how tired she had looked, when we'd danced together for half a song, and my heart felt even heavier.

She had been tired for over a year now. Ever since her claiming, she hadn't gotten a proper rest. Only one thing after another, as everything watched and judged her in case she was the prophecy child.

I watched Thalia pacing in the snow at the edge of camp, walking among the wolves without fear. Of course, they were only trained to hate monsters and men. Not maidens. She stopped and looked back at Westover Hall, which was now completely dark, looming on the hillside beyond the woods. I wondered what she was thinking.

Seven years ago, Thalia had been turned into a pine tree by her father, to prevent her from dying. She'd stood her ground against an army of monsters on top of Half-Blood Hill in order to give me time to get to safety with Annabeth and Grover. She had only been back as a human for a few months now, and once in a while she would stand so still that you would think she was still a tree.

Finally, one of the Hunters brought me my backpack. Grover and Nico came back from their walk, and Grover helped me fix up my wounded arm.

"It's green!" Nico announced with delight.

"Hold still," Grover told me. "Here, eat some ambrosia while I clean that out."

I winced as he dressed the wound, but the ambrosia square helped. It tasted like the homemade blueberry brownies Ana made, dissolving in my mouth and sending a bittersweet feeling of warmth through my body. Between that and the magic salve Grover used, my shoulder felt better within a couple of minutes.

Nico rummaged through his own bag, which the Hunters had packed for him. He laid out a bunch of figurines in the snow—little battle replicas of Greek gods and heroes. I recognized Zeus with a lightning bolt, Ares with a spear, Apollo with his sun chariot. They were surprisingly accurate representations of the gods back in the Ancient days.

"Big collection," I said.

Nico grinned. "I've got almost all of them, plus their holographic cards! Well, except for a few really rare ones."

"You've been playing this game a long time?"

"Just this year. Before that…" He knit his eyebrows.

"What?" I asked.

"I can't remember. That's weird." He looked unsettled, but it didn't last long. "Hey, can I see that sword you were using?"

I showed him my sword, Halcyon, (named for Halcyon Green, though only Thalia and Ana knew about that), and explained that I was one of the sword instructors at camp. Thinking about Ana and I sharing classes only made my mood plunge again, though.

"Cool! Why isn't it magic like the girls' weapons though?"

"It just isn't. My shoes can fly, though."

"Awesome! Can I see?"

After I showed him my shoes, he continued with his grilling.

"Are you really the son of Hermes?"

"Yes."

"Wicked! Can you control the post, then?"

"Uh, I dunno," I shifted. "I've never tried, uh, controlling post." When I glanced at Grover, he was trying hard not to laugh.

He went on asking questions. Was Thalia argumentative, since she was a daughter of Zeus? (I didn't answer that one.) If Ana had so much experience, why hadn't she known better than to fall off a cliff? (I tried not to strangle Nico for asking that one.) Was Ana my girlfriend? (At this point, I was ready to stick the kid in a meat-flavoured sack and throw him to the wolves.)

I figured any second he was going to ask me how many hit points I had, and I'd lose my cool completely, but then Zoe Nightshade came up to us.

"Luke Castellan." She studied me distastefully, like I was a bag of dirty laundry she'd been sent to fetch. To a Hunter, who so loathed males, I guessed that she would prefer the laundry.

"Come with me," she ordered me. "Lady Artemis wishes to speak with thee."

Zoe led me to the last tent, which looked no different from the others, and waved me inside. Bianca di Angelo was seated next to Artemis, who was cross-legged on the ground.

The inside of the tent was warm and comfortable. Silk rugs and pillows covered the floor. In the centre, a golden brazier of fire seemed to burn without fuel or smoke. Behind the goddess, on a polished oak display stand, was her huge silver bow, carved to resemble gazelle horns. The walls were hung with animal pelts: black bear, tiger, and several others I didn't recognize. I figured an animal rights activist would've had a heart attack looking at all those rare skins, but maybe since Artemis was the goddess of the hunt, she could replenish whatever she shot. I thought she had another animal pelt lying next to her, and then I realized it was a live animal—a deer with glittering fur and silver horns, its' head resting contentedly in Artemis's lap.

"Join us, Luke Castellan," the goddess said. I wished that she wouldn't use my full name. Only people wanting to kill me used my full name, and I didn't fancy my chances against a goddess. Ana or Thalia's chances? I'd bet on them any day. My chances? I'm not that cocky, no matter what the girls say.

I sat across from her on the tent floor. The goddess studied me, which made me uncomfortable. Gods looking at you like you were a science project had to be a health hazard, right?

Zoe sat down at Artemis's right. She glared at me like I'd invented the horrendous idea of being a guy. Personally, I'm firmly of the opinion that women are badass. I mean, my best friends are the most powerful girls alive! I'd never be stupid or suicidal enough to cross them, thanks very much.

"You must forgive my Hunters if they do not welcome you," Artemis said. "As you know, it is very rare that we would have boys in this camp. Boys are usually forbidden to have any contact with the Hunters. The last one to see this camp…" She looked at Zoe. "Which one was it?"

"That boy in Colorado," Zoe said. "You turned him into a jackalope."

"Ah, yes." Artemis nodded, satisfied. "I enjoy making jackalopes. At any rate, Luke, I've asked you here so that you might tell me more of the manticore. Bianca has reported some of the… mmm, disturbing things the monster said. But she may not have understood them. I'd like to hear them from you."

And so I told her.

When I was done, Artemis put her hand thoughtfully on her silver bow. "I feared this was the answer."

Zoe sat forward. "The scent, my lady?"

"Yes."

"What scent?" I asked.

"Things are stirring that I have not hunted in millennia," Artemis murmured. "Prey so old I had nearly forgotten."

She stared at me intently. "We came here tonight sensing the manticore, but he was not the one I seek. Tell me again, exactly what Doctor Thorn said."

"He said somebody called the General was going to explain things to me."

Zoe's face paled. She turned to Artemis and started to say something, but Artemis raised her hand.

"Go on, Luke," the goddess said.

"Well, then Thorn was talking about something that he called the 'Great Stirring', and he said, 'Soon we shall have the most important monster of all—the one that shall bring about the downfall of Olympus.'"

The goddess was so still she could've been a statue.

"Maybe he was lying," I suggested hopefully.

Artemis shook her head. "No. He was not. I've been too slow to see the signs. I must hunt this monster."

Zoe looked like she was trying very hard not to be afraid, but she nodded. "We will leave right away, my lady."

"No, Zoe. I must do this alone."

"But, Artemis—"

"This task is too dangerous even for the Hunters. You know where I must start my search. You cannot go there with me."

"As… as you wish, my lady."

"I will find this creature," Artemis vowed. "And I shall bring it back to Olympus by winter solstice. It will be all the proof I need to convince the Council of the Gods of how much danger we are in."

"You know what the monster is?" I asked.

Artemis gripped her bow. "Let us pray I am wrong."

"Can goddesses pray?" I asked, because I'd never really thought about that. I bet Ana would be curious too.

A flicker of a smile played across Artemis's lips. "Before I go, Luke Castellan, I have a small task for you."

"Does it involve getting turned into a jackalope?"

"Sadly, no. I want you to escort the Hunters back to Camp Half-Blood. They can stay there in safety until I return."

"What?" Zoe blurted out. And believe you me, I felt just as dismayed as her at the prospect of the Hunters being at Camp Half-Blood. "But, Artemis, we hate that place. The last time we stayed there—"

"Yes, I know," Artemis said. "But I'm sure Dionysus will not hold a grudge just because of a little, ah, misunderstanding. It's your right to use Cabin Eight whenever you are in need. Besides, I hear they rebuilt the cabins you burned down."

Zoe muttered something about foolish campers.

"And now there is one last decision to make." Artemis turned to Bianca. "Have you made up your mind, my girl?"

Bianca hesitated. "I'm still thinking about it."

"Wait," I said, though I knew already. Surely she wasn't actually going to abandon her brother who adored her, though? Who did that? "Thinking about what?"

"They… they've invited me to join the Hunt."

"But you can't! What about your brother? Nico can't be a Hunter."

"Certainly not," Artemis agreed. "He will go to camp. Unfortunately, that's the best boys can do."

I bit back my instinctive defence of my gender, reminding myself that I considered not being turned into a jackelope to be a good thing.

"You can see him from time to time," Artemis assured Bianca. "But you will be free of responsibility. He will have the camp counsellors to take care of him. And you will have a new family. Us."

"A new family," Bianca repeated dreamily. "Free of responsibility."

I was disgusted by her, but I said nothing more, as I could tell she wouldn't be dissuaded. Nico might be annoying, but he was just a kid. He'd need a lot of support from my cabin to help him get over this betrayal. I hoped that he'd be claimed quickly, so we didn't have to add parental abandonment issues on top of sisterly ones. Gods, what kind of person was she?

She looked at Zoe. "Is it worth it?"

Zoe nodded. "It is."

"What do I have to do?"

"Say this," Zoe told her, " 'I pledge myself to the goddess Artemis.'"

"I… I pledge myself to the goddess Artemis."

"I turn my back on the company of men, accept eternal maidenhood, and join the Hunt."

Bianca repeated the lines. "That's it?"

Zoe nodded. "If Lady Artemis accepts thy pledge, then it is binding."

"I accept it," Artemis said.

The flames in the brazier brightened, casting a silver glow over the room. Bianca looked no different, but she took a deep breath and opened her eyes wide. "I feel… stronger."

"Welcome, sister," Zoe smiled. It was a strange sight, definitely.

"Remember your pledge," Artemis said. "It is now your life."

I couldn't speak. I felt like a trespasser. And a complete failure. I couldn't believe we'd come all this way and Ana had sacrificed herself, only to lose Bianca to an eternal girls' club.

"Do not despair, Luke Castellan," Artemis said. "You will still get to show the di'Angelos your camp. And if Nico so chooses, he can stay there."

"Great," I said, trying not to sound surly and annoy the goddess. "How are we supposed to get there?"

Artemis closed her eyes. "Dawn is approaching. Zoe, break camp. You must get to Long Island quickly and safely. I shall summon a ride from my brother."

Zoe didn't look very happy about this idea, but she nodded and told Bianca to follow her. As she was leaving, Bianca paused in front of me.

"I'm sorry, Luke," she murmured. "But I want this. I really, really do."

You want to abandon your brother? I thought. Then she was gone, and I was left alone with the twelve-year-old goddess.

"So," I said glumly. "We're going to get a ride from your brother, huh?"

Artemis's silver eyes gleamed. "Yes, boy. You see, Bianca di'Angelo is not the only one with an annoying brother. It's time for you to meet my irresponsible twin, Apollo."