Y'all I hate this chapter whoops. It's also really short... Sorry!

When the group made their way out of the subway there was nothing there. It was a neighborhood of warehouses and freight trains, and looked like none of them had moved in years. Blankets of snow covered the ground leaving them all freezing.

They wandered until they spotted a homeless man surrounding a fire that sprouted from a trash can. "Y'all need to warm up?" He asked, and the quest members huddled around the fire.

"Thank you." Percy said with a smile, least affected by the heat. Fire ran in his veins, and although he could conjure up a flame to keep everyone else warm, it would only deplete his energy for when he needed it.

The man's teeth glinted in the sun as he smiled back. "Glad to see you made it, kid."

They all looked confused. The man waved it off. "My fingers are frozen solid." Thalia remarked, and Zoë gave her a confused look as the metaphor but figured it was just the insanity of the English language. She had just mastered 'you' instead of 'thee,' and of course there were countless more complicated things to learn.

Phoebe both looked miserable. She despised the idea of being this close to a random male, especially since she was already forced to travel with one. She was honestly taken aback as to how Zoë had adapted to this male so quickly. She pushed the ideas of Zoë being in love out of her head, but she couldn't help but feel that it might be true.

Annabeth and Thalia couldn't seem to care who this man was, they felt like they were about to freeze. Thalia was a little miffed that Percy wouldn't light a flame to keep them warm, but understood. Using powers for self-needs never worked, and there always seemed to be some sort of repercussion.

"You kids need a train going west?"

Percy nodded. "Do you know of one?"

The man pointed a hand towards a train. Percy turned to see a glimmering train with all kinds of luxury and the words 'Sun West Line' printed on the side that he hadn't seen before. When he turned to thank the man, he was already gone.

Thalia shrugged and sprinted towards the train. "I call dibs!" Annabeth rolled her eyes and followed, and then eventually Phoebe did too.

"I'll save you a car, Zoë." She called over her shoulder.

Percy turned to the hunter next to him. "Who was that?"

Zoë smiled lightly. "It was Apollo. I do not like him, like most hunters, but I respect him for helping us save Artemis."

He nodded. "Makes sense then." She looked at him in confusion, and he reiterated. "Why he said he was glad to see me. He told me I needed to be on this quest."

She nodded and walked towards the train, Percy following. She sat with Phoebe in a silver Lexus. Percy saw Annabeth and Thalia sitting in a Ford F-150, something Thalia seemed far too excited about. He spotted a Mercedes, and immediately sat in the driver's seat.

He took a minute just to think. He hadn't known any of these people for very long, but he already felt as if he'd known them forever. Annabeth and Thalia were his sisters, while Zoë was… Zoë.

Percy had no idea why he always felt so drawn to her. She understood him without even trying and it was something Percy could have never expected.

The door opened next to him and Phoebe sat down next to him. Percy looked at her as if she'd grown a second eye.

She glared at him. "What is going on with you and Zoë?"

He looked affronted. "What do you mean? She's just my friend."

Phoebe's glare didn't falter. "I have known Zoë for millennia, she does not have male friends."

He shrugged. "I mean I think of her as a friend. Maybe she doesn't think of me that way." He seemed oddly indifferent, but it was truly because he understood that she was a hunter. Having a male friend was out of character for them, and he would understand if she didn't see him as one.

The hunter's eyes narrowed at the boy. He thought of Zoë as a friend but also understood why she would not see him as one. She had never met a male like him before. "Are you a male?"

"Yeah." Percy chuckled. "Can't you tell?"

Phoebe crossed her arms. "Don't insult me!"

"I'm not insulting you!" He protested. "It was a joke!"

The hunter rolled her eyes.

His tone turned sincere. "I'm sorry if I did offend you."

She scoffed. "My feelings are not merely hurt by a male so easily."

Percy threw his hands up in defense. "Okay, okay! Sorry."

"I don't need your apology."

He shrugged. "I expected as much."

Phoebe turned towards the male next to her. "You won't hurt her?" Her tone was meek and Percy's eyes flashed with concern.

"Never." He vowed, looking into the hunter's eyes. "I would never hurt anyone, who didn't deserve it, willingly."

She nodded and opened the car door, then changed her mind and turned towards Percy. "Don't think this means I like you, boy."

With that, Percy was left alone in the car. "That was odd." He remarked, and looked out the window and watched the scenery go by.

"He is alright." Phoebe claimed as she sat back down next to Zoë. "I guess I can see why you and Lady Artemis approve of him."

Zoë looked taken aback. "I never said I approved of him."

Phoebe laughed. "You didn't need to." She paused for a moment and glanced at Zoë's red face. "You are allowed to see him as a friend, you know."

"I will not betray Artemis."

The hunter smiled. "I know that, Zoë." She grabbed her sister's hand. "I think sometimes you forget how long I've known you."

It was true; they had been friends for over two millennia. They first met when Phoebe joined the Hunt.

"Milady, there is someone here." The lieutenant at the time, Thelia, had called to her leader.

"Yes, I sense the same presence." The goddess nodded, her hunters at her side. At the time, there were nearly fifty hunters in the ranks. Zoë was at Thelia's side, being the right hand of the lieutenant, even if she had only been in the hunter's ranks for a century.

Artemis put a hand up to keep the hunters in silence. They walked in silence with their bows drawn as they advanced on the presence.

A scream rung through the forest. The hunters quickly advanced with the swift grace they were known for.

"Please!" A girl with ginger hair cried. A man had her backed against a tree and a knife was at her throat. She had obviously done a great deal of damage to the man, who had red mark across his face and a gash on his stomach.

"Scream again and I'll kill thee." He said in a deep voice, and the girl had scowled defiantly.

A silver arrow pierced the sky and sailed towards the male's arm. Many followed suit and Zoë raced to the maiden in danger.

"Zoë!" Thelia yelled as the hunter ran to the shaken girl. "Stand down!" But she did not. She quickly wrapped the girl in a tight embrace.

Zoë whispered words of comfort to the shaking girl.

Behind them, Artemis stopped a fuming Thelia from reprimanding the hunter.

"What is thy name?" Zoë asked.

The girl looked up and brushed stray tears from her brown eyes. "Phoebe."

Even then they had known they would be sisters, the closest of friends. "I do forget, sometimes." Zoë paused and squeezed her hand. "I don't want to ever betray milady, but in a way, he understands me." She looked into her sister in all but blood's eyes. "Just like you."

Phoebe smiled. "You are allowed to have a single male friend of whom Artemis approves."

Zoë hugged her. "Do you approve?"

She sighed. "I have hated males my entire life. I have never questioned this. But, Zo, he will not let you down."

"How do you know?"

Phoebe chuckled lightly. "I don't. But he has spent his entire life being raised by Hestia. And even if I do not believe in the rest of his gender, I believe in him." She looked straight out in front of her, where she could see Percy's car. "But if he ever hurts you, I will rip him to shreds."

"I expect nothing less." Zoë replied with a smile.

Phoebe opened the car door. "I'm going to take a walk." Zoë nodded in understanding. "I am no daughter of that love goddess, but I approve. I do not trust him, but I trust you."

Before she could say anything, Phoebe had slammed the car door shut and was walking between the cars.

Zoë didn't even know what Phoebe had meant. She was not in love with anyone, especially not Percy. She had just met him, and things didn't happen that quickly, ever. She pushed the thoughts of her friendship with Phoebe out of her head.

She was a hunter, sworn to the maiden goddess Artemis. She would never trade that for love with a boy. Having a male friend may be passable, but loving one was not. Artemis would never forgive her.

Percy was her friend, and that was all. Because she knew that he would never try anything. Even if he felt that way.

Did he feel that way? Gods, Zoë sounded like a lovesick child of Aphrodite. She wasn't in love. It was all so wrong. Who was making this happen to her? She must have a talk with the love goddess.

Artemis and Aphrodite had been feuding since the goddess of love made one of her hunters fall in love with a male.

Plus, she would never love a male anyway.

Right?