Disclaimer- I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians or the Heroes of Olympus Series. (One can dream though) All rights go to the proper parties.

Note***- This story is boy x boy. Don't like? You don't have to read.

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May 26th

Apollo's POV

I was all for spending the night at Rin's house, but Percy seemed on edge. Plus, Rin didn't seem to want to either. Apparently almost being murdered by your caretaker took away the safety one usually finds in their home. As much as I didn't want to sleep on the ground when there were perfectly good beds available, I was outvoted.

When Rin asked us if she could have a few minutes to pack before we started somehow, I had assumed that she would pack like a normal nine-year-old. You know, a couple stuffed animals, maybe her favorite blanket, stuff like that. Instead, she proceeded to dig out a sleeping bag, grab a few sleeves of crackers, a bottle of water, a compass, and a flashlight. I was rather impressed by her practicality. I wasn't that mature when I was nine and I grew to my adult form in less than a day.

When I raised an eyebrow at her backpack, she just rolled her eyes at me. "My dad and I used to go hiking in the Rockies every summer. I'm hardly about to go sleep outside without taking any precautions."

Percy laughed, "Oh, I like her. I bet you are going to get along great with my friend Annabeth. She also likes to, you know, prepare and stuff."

She just blinked at his wording. "I'm guessing she is the more intelligent of the two of you?"

It was my turn to laugh at that. I wrapped an arm around my boyfriends' shoulders and smiled. "You got that right, kid. She's a daughter of Athena."

For once she looked suitable impressed. I was almost offended that she was impressed just by the mention of a daughter of Athena yet seemed completely unimpressed by either myself or Percy. I mean, sure breaking and entering isn't exactly the best first impression, but we did still save her. Besides, I was way cooler then Athena. I drove the Sun! Athena was just intelligent. I consoled myself with the fact that she probably just wasn't impressed because she didn't know who I really was. If she did, obviously she would have been in awe.

I smiled as I imagined her reaction when she learned more about Percy too. Once we got back to camp, it wouldn't be too long until she heard about the hero of Olympus. Then she would no doubt be bragging about how Percy and I saved her.

I was nudged out of my thoughts of hero worship by the son of the sea god. Judging by the knowing smile he gave me, he could tell what I had been thinking about. I tried not to blush. Sometimes it was a little embarrassing at how well the young god seemed to know me.

Percy clapped his hands. "So, are we ready to go?"

Rin hiked up the straps of her backpack and nodded. "Lead the way."

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Percy POV

I was glad to leave the town behind us. I couldn't shake the feeling that we were being watched. I couldn't see any signs of monsters but after Apollo's explanation about Gods watching through the mist, the lack of monsters that could be watching only made it worse. If a god was watching us, that could be bad. Sure, Aphrodite could just be checking on how we were making out on our so-called quest, but I had a feeling it wasn't her. There were far too many Gods who would love to kill me for that to be a comforting thought. I frowned as I remembered that with my current state, it would be rather difficult to kill me. I looked at the companions beside me.

When I glanced to my left, I couldn't help but smile to myself. Rin was marching alongside us with a serious expression on her young face. I had a feeling that she was going to make a great demigod. I hoped that she got a chance to go on a quest, even though I'd never heard of Aphrodite assigning her kids one. She reminded me far more of Annabeth then of any of Aphrodite's children that I had ever met. I was pretty sure that, like wisdom's daughter, she wouldn't be content until she had a chance to prove herself. I smiled fondly as I remembered how Annabeth first treated me. Rin was going to get along with her great.

We hadn't even made it all the way back to our chosen campsite, when everything I was worried about came to pass.

I was so absorbed in my thoughts about Rin and Annabeth, the I didn't even notice it at first.

"Get down!"

Before I could even react, I had been tackled to the ground by the Sun God. I heard a whooshing sound as something flew over my head. Apollo and I both jumped to our feet almost immediately. It didn't take me long to spot the source of the attack.

I felt exasperated, "Really? Why can't you guys just stay dead?"

The creature hissed at me and drew up his scorpion like tail to attack again. The manticore smiled, his razor-sharp teeth glinting in even the low light of the moon. "Percy Jackson, we meet again."

Apollo gave me a side-glance. "Exactly how many monsters have you fought? I didn't even hear about him."

If anything, the Sun Gods comment simply riled him up further. The fur along his lion-like body raised, exactly like an over-grown cat. For a second, I was tempted to laugh at the mental image of a house cat, but then we all had to leap to get out of the way as spikes came flying at us once more. Apollo dove one way, taking Rin with him, as I dove the other.

The manticore drew himself up to his full height. "That's only because that sea-spawn cheated me out of my victory and begged for help from the gods like the spineless creature he is! Had Dionysus not interfered, I would have been praised above all others! I would have been remembered for all eternity!"

I couldn't help but roll my eyes. I had honestly forgotten just how badly he longed for attention. I decided that we had to end this fight before it could escalate further. I drew Riptide and flicked off the cap, the sword appearing to life in my hands. Out the corner of my eye I saw Apollo draw out his bow.

"Don't worry, I still remember you. But I have to say, you're not nearly as impressive now as you seemed to a thirteen-year-old me."

Before he could do more then hiss in offence, I had launched myself towards him. I may have been much faster than I was last time we met, but he was just as fast. I was less than halfway towards him when he fired again. I had to roll to the side to avoid the hit. I wasn't sure what kind of damage his needles would do to me now, but I didn't really want to find out.

He was raising his tail already to fire at me again, when he was forced to whip it in front of him to deflect one of Apollo's arrows instead. He had barely finished deflecting the first one, when another followed. I took my chance for what it was and closed the distance between myself and the monster.

The manticore didn't want to go down that easily. It saw me getting nearer and chose to leap away. I had to duck under another shower of spikes that it sent off as it moved. When he landed, I could see Apollo's arrow imbedded in his front leg. It hissed in pain, but the dash he made towards Apollo and Rin said it didn't slow him down very much.

The god of music sent off another few arrows, managing to keep the manticore out of immediate striking distance of its tail, but was still forced to dive to the side to avoid another barrage of projectiles. Fortunately, Rin seemed to be a quick learner and followed Apollo's lead.

I closed the distance between myself and the manticore once more. It tried to swing at me with his tail, but I was able to roll beneath it, and get within striking distance at last. I swung Riptide at his neck, but he reared back just enough that my sword sliced through his injured leg instead. He howled in agony.

He dropped down onto his remaining three legs and I was forced to dive backwards to avoid his claws.

He seemed to realize that his only hope was to keep all of us at a distance now. He drew his tail back to try to impale us once more. Apollo let loose an arrow aimed at his face as I dove in and thrust my sword into his heart. His cry of pain was cut off in a puff of fine gold powder.

I turned towards my two companions, intending to make sure they were okay. Before I could speak though, I heard a chilling voice from behind me.

"I told that idiot to wait, but oh no. He had to go on ahead."

I spun around to face whatever new threat had appeared. A tall black-haired man walked out of the trees, shaking his head. I was certain I had never seen him before, but it didn't take a child of Athena to realize that if he was working with the manticore, he was not here for a friendly chat.

He prowled towards me and I was forced to take a few steps back. He reeked of rotting flesh. The clothing he was wearing was made of old furs, and I could see some pieces of rancid meat still attached to them. He walked up to the pile of dust and kicked it, sending the golden powder floating away in the light breeze.

"Still, I suppose it's no great loss. He wasn't nearly as powerful as his bragging would have led me to believe." He ran a hand through his greasy hair, turned his glowing red eyes onto the three of us, and gave us a smile. If there had ever been a doubt over if he was human or not, his sharpened teeth would have easily answered it. "It's been a long time since we crossed paths."

I frowned. "I'm pretty sure I would remember if I'd met you before."

The stranger raised an eyebrow at me and tutted. "You seem to be under the impression I was talking to you, little mortal god. Believe it or not, there are others present." His gaze shifted to my boyfriend. "Why don't you tell your little friends who I am."

I heard Apollo gulp. I glanced at him quickly. His nervous expression did nothing to calm my nerves. If Apollo was scared, then whoever he was must have been powerful. "Percy, Rin, allow me to introduce you to Lycaon… the first werewolf, and an old acquaintance of my sister."

My eyes darted back to the pale man and I felt my heart beat quicker. Jason, Piper, and Leo hadn't forgotten to mention him, or his immunity to celestial bronze. "Di immortals."

The werewolf king smiled cruelly. "I see my reputation precedes me. Even the great Hero of Olympus knows who I am, how touching."

He started prowling around us, Apollo and I instantly formed a barrier around Rin. I liked her enthusiasm, but she was untrained and unarmed, not that our weapons would be much use either. I glanced at the god of Music, "I don't suppose you happen to have any silver handy, would you?"

He raised an eyebrow and deadpanned, "I'll admit, I didn't think to pack it."

Rin spoke up, "My necklace is silver."

I felt like smacking my head off the nearest flat surface. Nice that we had something silver, but I had a feeling trying to kill an immortal being with a necklace wouldn't exactly go down well for any of us.

"You know, you have a very large price on your head." He looked at Apollo and licked his lips, "There are hundreds of creatures that you have angered over the years. I could ask whatever I wanted for your corpse, and I would get it."

Apollo smirked, full of what was clearly bravado. "I never knew the great Lycaon had been reduced to little more than an attack dog."

The pale king growled, and I felt a chill go down my spine. His eyes were positively murderous. "I'm no one's attack dog!" He seemed to force himself to calm down before he continued, "Oh, I could ask for any price… but I won't. Would you like to know why?" I was very tempted to say no, but he continued before I got the chance. "Because I already have plans for you. Your sister and her little wenches have caused a lot of grief for my pack over the years. But this last time, she nearly wiped them out. The few that remain are in hiding, too cowardly to come back and face me for their failure. So, I think I'll send her your head as payment."

He turned his attention to the trees and smiled. I looked where he was, and I paled. There were dozens of hellhounds coming out of the trees towards us. Celestial bronze may have worked against hellhounds, but their sheer numbers would work against us. I saw Rin produce a steak knife out of her bag and point it towards the approaching monsters. I briefly wondered when exactly she had packed that. I hadn't seen her grab it.

Apollo shook his head at the weapon. "That won't hurt them, here take these." He passed her two of his arrows. He looked at me and we shared a grim look. The fact that we were arming an untrained nine-year-old spoke mountains of our odds in this fight.

The king shook us out of our moment by speaking, "They may not be as powerful as my wolves, but I find these hounds are very good at obeying orders." He gave us one last bloody thirsty smile. "Attack.

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See? Told you it wouldn't be long. I had a good time writing this one. I'm pleased with how it came out. I'm glad I didn't go back and erase the entire quest like I was going to. Also, I'm sure everyone was completely unsurprised by the quest taking a turn for the worse. We should all know I like to mess with my characters. LOL.

Also, sorry for the cliff-hanger, but it was such a perfect moment to stop. So, sorry but only kind of. I won't leave you hanging here too long. I'll try to have the next chapter up by next weekend at the latest.