Disclaimer: I don't own PJO. I hope everybody had a great Christmas! I certainly did. Best wishes for New Years, too.

Chapter Seventeen

A Huntress Becomes One with the Sky

We landed at Crissy Field after nightfall.

I helped Ana limp out of the chariot while Thalia and Artemis lifted Zoe out. Then we all knelt at Zoe's side, Artemis using her powers to bind Zoe's wounds. Ana was injured badly as well, but nothing that couldn't wait, at least as far as I could tell without being a medic. Zoe, on the other hand, was breathing more shallowly with every minute that passed.

I wanted desperately to help, but there wasn't much we could do. We had no ambrosia or nectar left. No regular medicine would help (not that we had any) and none of us were medics. It was dark, but I could see that Zoe didn't look good. She was shivering, and the faint glow that usually hung around her was fading.

"Can't you heal her with your powers?" Ana asked Artemis, leaning heavily on me. Her voice was hoarse and raw like she'd been screaming and I didn't want to think about why. "I mean… you're a goddess."

Artemis looked troubled. "Life is a fragile thing, Ana. If the Fates cut the string, there is little I can do. But I can try."

She tried to set her hand on Zoe's side, but Zoe gripped her wrist. She looked into the goddess' eyes, and some kind of understanding passed between them.

"Have I… served thee well?" Zoe whispered.

"With great honour," Artemis said softly. "The finest of my attendants."

Zoe's face relaxed. "Rest. At last."

"I can try to heal the poison, my brave one."

But in that moment, I knew it wasn't just the poison that was killing her. It was her father's final blow. Zoe had known all along that the Oracle's prophecy was about her: she would die by a parent's hand. And yet she'd taken the quest anyway. She had chosen to save me, and paid the price for it. I felt my heart ache in grief and regret for the loss of such a good person.

She saw Thalia, and took her hand.

"I am sorry that we argued," Zoe murmured. "We could have been sisters."

"It's my fault," Thalia answered, blinking hard. "You hurt my pride, and I couldn't let it go. I'm sorry."

"I was wrong," Zoe murmured. "Not all men are bad, I believe." She smiled weakly at me. "You are a good man, Lukas Castellan," she told me. "Nothing like Heracles. I am proud to have known thee, and to consider you a friend."

"You too," I croaked out. "You're a good person, Zoe. I'm sorry that I didn't see that earlier. I'm glad to have met you."

She smiled weakly at me, before turning to Ana. "Do you still have the sword, Ana?"

Despite never having spoken to Zoe before, tears streamed freely down Ana's dirty face as she pulled the pin from her hair and placed it in Zoe's hand. She grasped it contentedly.

"You are a brave maiden, and warrior, Anaea Jackson," she said, her voice growing softer with each word. "I am honoured that you carry this sword. Use it well."

"I am honoured to carry the weapon that you created," Ana replied unsteadily. "In my dreams, I saw what happened on the quest, and what Heracles did to you. I swear, I'll honour your memory and wield Anaklusmos in your name."

Zoe smiled at her weakly. "Thank you," she whispered. A shudder ran through her body. Ana let out a sob.

"Zoe—" I began, not even knowing what I wanted to say. I wished that I could stop time and heal her, that I could go up to the Fates and damn them all to Tartarus for being so cruel to someone as loyal and good as Zoe Nightshade. She deserved better than this.

"Stars," she whispered. "I can see the stars again, my lady."

A tear trickled down Artemis' cheek. I felt my respect for her grow, at the obvious care she showed for her handmaidens.

"Yes, my brave one," she crooned, running a hand through Zoe's dark hair maternally. "They are very beautiful tonight."

"I see the stars," Zoe repeated. Her eyes fixed on the night sky. And she did not move again.

Thalia lowered her head. Ana sobbed and turned her head to weep into my shoulder as I numbly wrapped my arms around her and rocked. I watched as Artemis cupped her hand above Zoe's mouth and spoke a few words in Ancient Greek. A silvery wisp of smoke exhaled from Zoe's lips and was caught in the hand of the goddess. Zoe's body shimmered and disappeared.

Artemis stood, said a kind of blessing, breathed into her cupped hand and released the silver dust to the sky. It flew up, sparkling, and vanished.

For a moment I didn't see anything different. Then Thalia gasped. Looking up in the sky, I saw that the stars were brighter now. They made a pattern I had never noticed before—a gleaming constellation that looked a lot like a girl's figure—a girl with a bow, running across the sky.

"Let the world honour you, my Huntress," Artemis said. "Live forever in the stars."

The thunder and lightning were still boiling over Mount Tamalpais in the north. Artemis was so upset she flickered with silver light. That made me nervous, because if she suddenly lost control and appeared in her fully divine form, we would all be disintegrated just by looking at her. I could see that Ana was worried too, from the way she eyed the goddess tensely.

"I must go to Olympus immediately," Artemis declared. "I will not be able to take you, but I will send transport to collect you and bring you there."

The goddess set her hand on Ana's shoulder. "You are brave beyond measure, my girl. You will do what is right."

Then she looked quizzically at Thalia, as if she weren't sure what to make of this younger daughter of Zeus. Thalia seemed reluctant to look up, but something made her, and she held the goddess' eyes. I wasn't sure what passed between them, but Artemis' gaze softened with sympathy. Then she turned to me.

"You did well," she told me. "For a man."

I thought that might have been a compliment, so I said bowed and mumbled a soft thanks, sure that my voice and expression were showing the strain that I was feeling over everything that had happened during the past week.

She mounted her chariot, which began to glow. We averted our eyes. There was a flash of silver, and the goddess was gone.

"What now, then?" Ana asked, using her not-broken hand to tuck a stray lock of hair behind her ear.

I studied her, grimacing at the wounds that littered her small body. Her clothes were ripped and covered in blood and monster dust.

"I could go and find a pharmacy," I suggested. "Get some supplies to patch you up until we can get back to Camp and the healers can fix you up properly."

She opened her mouth to reply, but stopped and turned, looking up. For a second, I thought we were about to be attacked again. From Thalia's automatic movement to grab her spear, she thought the same way.

Then I heard the whoosh of large wings. Three pegasi descended through the fog: two white winged horses and one pure black one.

"Blackjack!" Ana called, her expression lighting up in delight.

They landed and Blackjack nickered at her.

"It was rough, but I'm alright," she admitted, petting him lovingly.

It was always a bit strange to see Ana chatting to equine or aquatic animals, but then, I was a demigod. Strange was the perfect description of my life, along with crazy and violent.

"Nah," Ana said, in response to something else Blackjack had said. "These are my friends, Thalia and Luke. We need to get to Olympus pretty fast." She glanced over her shoulder at us. "Let's go."

We nodded in agreement, and went over to her and the pegasi to mount them. They took off straight away. Together we soared over the bay and flew toward the eastern hills. Soon San Francisco was only a glittering crescent behind us, with an occasional flicker of lightning in the north.

Thalia was so exhausted she fell asleep on Porkpie's back. I knew she had to be really tired to sleep in the air, despite her fear of heights, but she didn't have much to worry about. Her pegasus flew with ease, adjusting himself every once in a while so that Thalia stayed safely on his back.

Ana and I flew along side by side.

"How're you doing?" I asked, after a while of silent flying.

Ana glanced at me, wearing the guarded expression usually reserved for matters related to taboo topics such as her step-father, time in foster care/on the streets, the Great Prophecy and her father. I guess her time in captivity (and gods, I needed a new way to phrase it. That made her sound like a zoo exhibit.) was going to be added to the list of Things Not to be Discussed.

Call me crazy, but that didn't seem too healthy for her mental state. Weren't you supposed to talk about that sort of thing, to help deal with the trauma of it all? What had they even done to her while she was at Mount Othrys?

"I'm fine," she muttered, looking forward again. "Tired."

I bit my lip, then decided to leave it be for the moment. At least until I could ask Chiron for advice. Chiron would know how to help her.

"Are you going to join the Hunters?" I blurted out, cursing my ADHD after finishing the sentence. I hadn't meant to say that.

She grimaced as she looked at me again. "Why would you think that?"

"I found the brochure."

"No. I'm not joining them."

And that was the end of that conversation. It was clear that Ana didn't want to talk, so I stayed silent and instead focused on watching our surroundings fly by.

The towns were zipping by faster now, islands of light thicker together, until the whole landscape below was a glittering carpet. Dawn was close. The eastern sky was turning grey. And up ahead, a huge white-and-yellow glow spread out before us—the lights of New York.

"You're the best horse that a girl could ask for, Blackjack," Ana said suddenly, smiling fondly as she patted his neck. "What would I do without you?"

He nickered happily.

"There it is." Thalia's voice; she'd woken up. She was pointing toward Manhattan, which was quickly zooming into view. "It's started."

"What's started?" Ana asked, frowning at her in bemusement.

Then I looked where she was pointing. High above the Empire State Building, Olympus was its' own island of light, a floating mountain ablaze with torches and braziers, white marble palaces gleaming in the early morning air.

"The Winter Solstice," Thalia said. "The Council of the Gods."