The soldiers went to the aid of their wound brothers the second that they saw them lying broken on the ground. Three of them immediately began to tend to them while others formed a defensive perimeter around them, their spears and swords leveled at Ryker and Silver. At their front were a Chinese man with a military regulation haircut and a girl with blond hair and gray eyes. "Who are you?" The man challenged.

"What do you think you are trying to accomplish by attacking our sentries?" The girl demanded. "If you seek to join the legion, this is not how-."

"I don't want to join your legion." Ryker said abruptly cutting off their chain of questions. "Mr. D at Camp Half-Blood sent me here on some sort of stupid prophecy."

"Did that prophecy include beating my soldiers to a bloody pulp?" The man asked. He was clearly not impressed by Ryker's declaration of being on a quest. In fact he seemed even more agitated than he had before. "And why didn't the others tell us you were coming?"

"Probably because they couldn't remember where this Camp was." Ryker said airily. His claws were still on his hands and he began to flutter his fingers slightly. He wasn't sure if these newcomers were going to attack him as well. If they were he wasn't certain that he would be able to prevail again. The other three had been painfully easy, once their cohesion had been broken they fell quickly.

The girl seemed to sense his assumption and smiled coldly. She drew a sword made of the same metal his gloves were. "You said Mr. D sent you, right?" She asked.

"I did." Ryker nodded.

"Well then, you must have been claimed by a divine parent." She continued. "Who is it?"

"Cybele." Ryker answered truthfully. "The goddess of-."

"I know who Cybele is." She snapped. "I've never heard of her having any children though."

"Her Roman aspect is Magna Mater if it helps." Ryker offered. The three sentries he had injured were being moved back to camp on stretchers carried by two of their friends apiece. "As far as those three, they were about to hurt her." He inclined his head slightly towards Silver.

"Why would they do that?" The man asked confusedly. "Did she attack them?"

"No, an eagle attacked her." Ryker corrected. "I killed the eagle and it dropped her in front of them. One of them raised his spear like he was going to stab her. I… I might have overdone it a bit." He admitted.

"I saw at least six broken bones without even looking at them." The girl said bluntly. She pulled out a spray bottle from her belt and began to spray the air. "Hang on, I'm going to sort this out. If you really were from Camp Half-Blood you have some serious apologizing to do."

A small line of colors formed in the mist left by the spray bottle and she threw a small golden coin into the rainbow. "I don't remember it being that easy." The man admitted, raising an eye when the coin vanished.

"Iris might have agreed to be a bit more lenient with her messages." The girl admitted. "Fleecy talked to her for us and we kind of renegotiated the terms for her messages so that Greeks and Romans can use them. She gets as much business as Hermes these days, something she is very happy about."

"Who are you calling?" The man asked, glancing warily at Ryker before returning his gaze back to the girl at his side. "Percy?"

"Yeah, I want to see what his deal is." She glared venomously at Ryker. The mist in front of her shimmered and Ryker blinked when Percy's face appeared. "Hey Seaweed Brain." She said affectionately.

"Annabeth!" He smiled back at her. "What's up? Coming back soon? How are things going over there?"

"I should be back within a week. Things are going… well I'll tell you later. As for what's up…" She pointed at Ryker. The picture of Percy followed her direction and Ryker waved.

"Oh, Ryker. I didn't think you would get there that fast. How are things?" Percy asked cheerfully, clearly not reading the tension that was evident on everyone's face.

"Not bad. I think they are mad at me." Ryker shrugged. "I might have hurt some of their guys."

Percy winced and shook his head. "Yeah… He's good Annabeth. Artemis and her hunters brought him to camp a couple days ago. He's not- he's… well you will see for yourself."

I think I might need to change back. Silver told him. I'm not feeling too well. The nectar is helping but that eagle got me pretty good.

Go ahead. Ryker told her. I'm right here if they try something.

While he was speaking with Silver Percy, Annabeth, and the man who had led the Romans to the entrance were speaking in hushed urgent tones. They seemed to reach some sort of agreement just as Ryker was setting Silver on the ground. Percy waved goodbye to Ryker and disappeared from the mist. "Alright, we're taking you to camp." Annabeth declared.

"Are you joking?" One of the girl in the ranks demanded. "Who put you in charge, Greek?"

"No one put her in charge." The man answered quietly. "That's my order as well."

"He's a Greek!" One of the others in the formation whined. "We've already seen they can't be trusted!"

"Listen I-." Frank's words melted away just like Silver's feathers as she transformed back into her human form.

She stood on uncertain legs just as the Romans began to advance on the two intruders, certain that they were planning an attack. Ryker stepped in front of Silver and hunched over in preparation to attack. Tensions had almost boiled over when Annabeth and the man intervened. "Enough!" He roared.

"Cut it out!" Annabeth snapped at Ryker.

"Why are you letting more-." One of the Romans began to ask.

"Because I am Praetor Frank Zhang." He said simply. "You will obey me or be tried for treason. Any questions?"

The Romans said nothing, but Ryker was certain that he saw several unhappy glances directed at the Praetor. "Would you mind taking off your weapons?" Annabeth asked Ryker. "Otherwise this is going to be so much harder on both of us."

Ryker glanced questioningly at Silver who nodded in response. He stood up from his hunched over position and pulled off his gloves, stowing them in his backpack. "Are you alright?" He asked her concernedly.

"Fine." She answered, but Ryker was certain he had a note of strain in her voice. "I'll be better once I get some rest and some food."

"Did you want some clothes too?" Annabeth asked hesitantly. She swept her gaze over Silver's form and pursed her lips. "If you want to wear that feather dress thing, that's fine. But if I was you…"

"I would love some jeans and a T-shirt." Silver confessed. "And a shower."

"That won't be a problem." Annabeth nodded.

"Come on then." Frank told them. "I'm sure that Reyna will want to hear about this. I bet she's already been to the guys you beat down and spoken to them. Be careful… She isn't as nice as us."

"I'm not worried." Ryker shrugged. "They shouldn't have tried to hurt Silver."

"See?" She muttered. "I knew you would warm up to me."

The group of soldier took up positions around Ryker, Silver, Annabeth, and Frank. "Move out!" The praetor commanded. Instantly, the soldiers began to march forward in unison. Once they were moving along he shuffled over to Silver and leaned down. "How did you do that earlier? When you transformed from being an owl."

"I helped a goddess out a while ago." Silver told him. "She rewarded me with a much longer life and the ability to transform into an owl."

"Wait, what?" Ryker asked, thrown by this. "I thought you were an owl and my mother gave you the ability to turn into a human."

"Don't be stupid." Silver laughed. The sound was remarkably similar to the hoot of an owl. "No, she gave me the ability to turn into an owl."

"Can you change into anything else?" Frank asked.

"No, just an owl." She peered at him and tilted her head to one side. "You are a shifter too, aren't you?"

"How can you tell?" He asked, astonished.

"Just by the way you walk and act." Silver shrugged. "Like you aren't entirely comfortable in your own skin. I feel the same way right now."

As the soldiers marched into camp a crowd of Romans seemed to gather to see the newcomers that had caused so much commotion. Several ghostly figures drifted in and out of the humans' ranks and often in and out of their bodies themselves. One bold ghost in particular stepped forward and moved to float directly in front of Ryker. "So you are the one who caused so much trouble!" He roared, drawing his ghostly sword. He swung savagely at Ryker who stepped back out of instinct. "Face me coward!"

"Get away from me." Ryker growled. He tried to push through the ghost but he was surprised when his hand came into solid contact with the spectre. The Lare seemed just as surprised, fleeing from the Greek. After that the other Lares gave them a wide berth. Ryker glanced down at the hand that had touched the ghost and realized that it was the one that Artemis had imbued her bow in. Ten shots left. He reminded himself.

"That's a first." Frank remarked, referring undoubtedly to the Lare being touched. "I've seen Nico do that a few times, but never anyone else. Even Hazel can't do that and she's a daughter of Pluto."

"Who?" Ryker asked, lost. He knew who Pluto was thanks to Silver's teachings but he had no idea who this Hazel person was.

"My girlfriend." Frank told him. "Actually, here she is."

A girl with dark skin and hair the color of cinnamon sprinted up to them and stepped through a gap in the Romans' ranks. "So is this them?" She asked breathlessly. She looked over Silver and Ryker with keen interest. "Huh. Shane, Victor, and Manny said that this guy was some kind of beast. I thought he must be one of Lycaon's."

"Not hardly." Ryker scowled, remembering the werewolf king. "He and his kind are unnatural."

"Because they can turn into wolves?" Silver asked pointedly.

"Because they kill for sport." Ryker corrected.

"They're from Camp Half-Blood." Annabeth answered. "And-."

"They're here on a quest." A tan-skinned girl finished. The Romans broke ranks as she strode forward, a familiar girl at her side.

"Thalia." Ryker scowled at the Hunter. Her companion strode forward and slapped Ryker across the face. Hard. "You-!"

He lunged at her but the Romans intervened before he could do anything. Ryker felt hands grab him from both sides and something sharp was placed under his throat. He didn't have to look down to know that it was some sort of dagger. He stared into the eyes of the woman who had slapped him. "My name is Praetor Reyna." She told him with a voice as soft and deadly as time itself. "Those men you hurt were my shoulders."

"Good to know." Ryker snarled. The pressure from the knife increased and he smiled goadingly at her. "Tell your little friends to let me go and let's see if you are still so calm."

"Alright, alright." Thalia said, shouldering between them and waving off the soldiers who had grabbed Ryker. "Let's all play nice for a little while, okay? We have plenty of time to kill each other later."

"Very well." Reyna said stiffly. "Bring the prisoners along to my tent." She ordered.

"I know she did not just call us prisoners." Silver said, outraged.

Thalia winced in apparent sympathy. "Probably shouldn't have taken out their guards. Romans are all about unity. By doing that you pretty much slapped her and the rest of legion across the face."

"Pity." Ryker sneered. "What are you doing here anyways?"

"Oh, you know." Thalia waved a hand airily. "Keeping the peace. Following Artemis's wishes. Hunting down monsters. Keeping tabs on you."