Luke looked undecided for a few minutes before he walked forward. Percy's grip on Riptide tightened but it was a needles gesture as Luke dropped Backbiter before walking forward a few more steps, before going down on one knee and offering up his right hand. Percy looked at him critically for a moment before he returned Riptide to its pen form, smoothly slid it into his right pant pocket, and gripped Luke's outstretched hand before looking down at the Son of Hermes. Luke hesitated for a few minutes before speaking "I, Luke Castellan, Son of Hermes swear on River Stryx, my loyalty and allegiance to Perseus Jackson, Son of Poseidon, Defeater of Ares and retriever of the Lighting Bolt and the Helm of Darkness, until the day he releases me from my vow."

"And I Perseus Jackson, accept your loyalty and allegiance, from this day until the day I release you from your wow, So mote be it." Said Percy and their hands began to glow as thunder boomed in the sky to symbolize their oath. "Arise Luke Castellan"

Had things gone Percy's way, then the two of them would have walked back to the cabins discussing ways to resist Kronos and free Thalia, but then again, when does thing ever go Percy's way? For at that very moment Pandemonium erupted. Backbiter, true to is name, briefly levitated before flying straight at Luke's unprotected back. The water around Percy's feet immediately shot forward knocked the flying sword of course and straight into the forest. Percy really didn't pay attention to it as about a quarter dozen arrows were heading straight towards his own unprotected back. Without even turning to acknowledge the oncoming threat the water around Percy's feat immediately rose up and formed, well a liquid wall which prevented the arrows from hitting their target.

Just then there was a loud roar pierced the natural silence of the forest, a hellhounds roar to be precise. Percy got distracted by the sound of something so familiar, something that sounded so much like Mrs. O'Leary, that Percy lost his concentration for a moment and the wall of water immediately fell back into the creak. Mentally cursing himself for getting distracted and reminding himself that this was not Mrs. O'Leary, while simultaneously feeling glad that the orb in which he had been concentrating his energy in hadn't destabilized Percy turned towards the direction where he felt this new threat would emerge from.

The entire mental debate (I think that would be the best word for it) took a little over half a dozen seconds so the only thing that Luke noticed was the protective wall of water splash back into the creak and a flash of… something, pas over his new lords eyes before the Son of Poseidon barked out orders "Luke , I want you to picture the perfect weapon for you in your mind, inform me when you are done and keep concentrating on it."

Luke nodded before he closed his eyes and concentrated. A moment later he opened them and said "I'm done."

Immediately the floating orb of water shot into Luke's sword hand and quickly formed into a long and elegant looking sword.

'A Katana,' Percy thought with no small measure of amusement as he watched the Hell Hound emerge from behind a rather large tree and step into the clearing 'I never would have guessed that Luke would have an interest in Japanese weaponry.'

The Hellhound walked forward slowly and Percy crouched down, ready to pounce the moment the creature of the Night was close enough. The Hellhound prepared to leap before it suddenly leaped back into the forest.

"Too suddenly" Percy said to himself as he realized almost immediately what was about to happen. The son of Poseidon spun around, but not soon enough it seemed as he heard a yell from a really familiar voice. Percy didn't waist a single second. The moment he saw exactly where Luke was he channeled all the energy he could gather in that moment and unleashed a pulse of sheer power, which blew away everything not rooted down in a five foot radius. About four feet away, he saw Malcom, a son of Athena and Annabeth older half brother, appear on the ground, trying quickly to get to his feat. He had been blown to the ground and Percy could see a Yankee cap, which was definitely the same one Athena had gifted Annabeth, it had the power to turn the person wearing it invisible.

Percy grinned maliciously as he generated another orb of water in his hand, one which though appearing the same as he had generated before, was fundamentally different. He threw it at the retreating form of the son of Athena with all his might but just before it could hit him the Hellhound jumped in front of it and the ball of water splashed harmlessly against its though hide.

Percy snarled, he had forgotten all about that stupid mutt. That orb was designed specifically to capture demigods and was useless against monsters. At that very moment Malcom, using a tree trunk as a platform, jumped backwards onto the Hellhounds back, which quickly leaped into the shadow of a tree and disappeared, probably to reappear miles away.

Muttering a few choice words that would probably make Chiron wash out his moth with soap, he knelt down beside Luke willing the water to go into his wounds as he tried to aid the son of Hermes. 'Had it been anyone else I would have sensed them but children of Athena were very difficult to sense unless you were looking for them and that Hat of hers multiplied that particular trait exponentially.'

Unlike what a majority of the stronger demigods believed, with that particular ability and the amount of minor crafts that the Wisdom Goddess's children could utilize, if properly trained they would be masters at spying and assassination, in addition to their innate ability to be master tacticians. That cabin was potentially the most dangerous cabins in the entire camp, Cabins one, two and eight included, if its occupants had been trained properly. In fact it was likely because of just how dangerous and unpredictable that cabin could be that they weren't.

Percy was now panting heavily, healing Luke was easy feet but at least now they would be alive long enough for someone to find them and come to their aid. He looked into the shadows of a near by tree and though nothing could be seen, he knew that his old friend was there watching his back. He beaconed at the Katana which he had created for Luke and the last thing he saw before he lost consciousness was it being absorbed into the shadows.

It had been ten months since that day, and in those ten months a lot had changed. Sally Jackson had, just like in the last time line, used Medusa's head to turn Gabe into a stone statue and had put the money into a collage fund. Unlike the last time where she had carefully disposed of Medusa's head, this time it was safely hidden inside a hidden compartment in the War God's chariot.

Another thing that had changed was the financial position of the Jackson family. After well over an hour of Percy arguing with his mom, she had finally relented and had gotten into his chariot, which had transformed into what could be described as a mean looking truck. Shandris who was acting as their chauffeur drove them to Aunty Em's Garden Gnome Emporium where they chose about eleven more statues including Grover's Uncle Ferdinand (after Iris calling the satyr, asking his permission and making him take a vow of silence of course). Every month Sally would sell a statue, starting with Gabe, AKA 'The Poker Player' and ending with Uncle Ferdinand, which had been nicknamed as 'The Searcher'

An unexpected result came because of this situation. Unexpected but not unwelcome. You see at the unveiling of the second statue Tristan McLean, who was there to improve his PR, met Sally Jackson and the two of them quickly became fast friends. Of course that particular arrangement allowed Percy to meet up with Piper quite soon and they both somehow ended up at the same school, which through some seriously strange co-incidences also contained Rachel Dare, Leo Valdes and Tyson.

Well to be precise Tristan and Sally had arranged for Piper and Percy to go to the same school and Percy after some serious manipulation of the mist managed to get Leo into that school. Considering that Poseidon himself ensured that Tyson would join up with Percy, so the only co-incidence was Rachel's presence

Nevertheless, the five of them soon became fast friends and when Leo had decided to run away again the four of them were able to talk him out of it before Percy, along with Pipe whom he brought along for insurance, so to speak, convinced Sally to adopt him.

When their little group had first begun, Leo thought he would have been out of place; after all he was in a group that consisted of the daughter of a huge business tycoon, a daughter of a world famous actor, and the son of a famous sculptor. Then Tyson came along and Leo thought that here was someone who had come from a background similar to his and would be able to understand him better.

Of course the day soon came when they believed that they could share their secrets with each other. Rachel and Piper confessed about who their parents actually were, though Leo had already figured it out (really, it was hard NOT to), then they told him about how their respective lives were till now and Leo would be the first to admit that the life as a child of a celebrity was not all the sunshine and daisies he thought it would be. Then it was Tyson's turn and Leo had to say that the bug guy's life was worse that the one he lead. After all at least he got to live with his mother for however short of a time, Tyson had been alone from the very get go, at least until he had met the four of them.

And then it was Percy's turn and Leo had to say that his heart really went out to the guy. He and his mom spent years being mistreated by a sicko named Gabe, only for Percy to realize that he had doomed his mom to that hellish treatment as he found out that the only reason she stayed with the guy was in order to provide some semblance of protection for her son. Leo noticed (and he was not the only one) that Percy carefully omitted what kind of protection Gabe provided them or what exactly they needed protection from, but he was not going to be one to pry. Some things were just too personal after all, (the truth behind how his mother died was a great example of that).

Now a days, Leo was the happiest he had ever been since he had been living with his mother. For years he had run from foster home to foster home hoping to find somewhere he could belong. Here amongst Mrs. Jackson, Percy and his friends, he felt that he had finally found a place he could call home.

He was happy, well and truly Happy, but unfortunately for him all good tings have to come to an end, and for him it came when he overheard a conversation between his adoptive mom and his brother in all but blood, then night before the first day of their holidays, a conversation he was not suppose to here, but heard anyway.

"Chiron messaged me" she said "He said that it would be for the best not to return to camp this summer."

"I see" came Percy's response "And the only reason that he would send that kind of a message is if the camp is in trouble"

"I gathered that much as well"

"That means mom that I will have to return there as soon as I can."

"Percy Please"

"I think that it would be for the best to take Tyson with me" he said "And don't worry mom, I will return alive I promise, besides, you of all people know that my place is there, amongst them."

"And what will I tell the others?"

"Rachel and Piper have already left with their families as soon as school was out and are probably someway half way across the Atlantic by now, I'll be taking Tyson with me and as for Leo…"

But Leo didn't stick around to here the end of the conversation, no headed back to his own room as he had plans to make. His best friend, his brother in all but blood was heading into danger, which Mrs. Jackson believed he wouldn't return form alive. Well at that point he considering breaking a vow he had made o himself a long time ago

Leo had never been one of the biggest or strongest kids, he had survived tough neighborhoods, tough schools, tough foster homes by using his wits. He was the class clown, the court Jester because he learn t early that if you cracked jokes and pretended that everything was alright you usually didn't get beat up. Plus humor was a good way to hide the pain. And if that didn't work there was always plan B, run away, over an over again. Or rather that was how it was before he joined this school and met Percy, Piper Rachel and Tyson.

He had no need of Plan A as they were his friends, his true friends and not just guys who stick around and abandoned you when the going got though. They would stick with him through thick and thin and even throw themselves in harms way to protect him. Leo knew that and he would certainly do the same for them. As for plan B, he had no need of it any longer. He was in a place where he belonged, he was in a place that he could call home, and there was no way on earth that he would give it up.

But Percy was heading into danger and Leo knew that there was nothing he could do to stop him, as that guy was seriously stubborn. So he looked at something that he had dubbed as Plan C, something he had promised himself never to use again. A promise he knew he would break if it kept Percy safe.

He felt an urge to try it now – something he hadn't done since the accident, since his mom's death. He extended his fingers and felt them tingle, like they were waking up. Then flames flickered to life, curls of red – hot fire dancing across his palm.

Leo had suck out early next morning, just stopping to write a note to Mrs. Jackson that he was off to check out a car showroom which had imported several new cars and had put them up for display. It was a reasonable excuse and he doubted that anyone would spot the lie before it was too late to stop him. It was a while before Percy came down and for a ADHD kid like Leo every minute was torture, but finally a sleek black Gurkha RVP pulled up in front of the house and Leo quickly snuck on. He had doubted at first that this was the vehicle that Percy would be taking, considering that this was a military vehicle, but he knew it was the second that Arthus, dressed in black and grey military fatigue stepped out of it and entered the building.

It wasn't long before he came down with Percy and Tyson. He stepped in front of them and opened the door to the back seats and they both entered the Gurkha RVP before she closed it and entered the car through the driver's side door. By this time Leo had already hidden himself under a black blanket in the back of the car, which he was surprised to find a large amount of what seemed to be large scraps of bronze.

Meanwhile Percy who was sitting in the back seat leaned forward and held out his hand. Arthus who seemed to understand what he was asking for opened the glove compartment and handed him a small pearl. Percy then looked up at his half brother, looked him straight in his large eye and said "Tyson, please don't hate me!"

Tyson didn't have time to ask what he meant before Percy slammed the Pearl onto his forehead. The Cyclops let out a loud groan before he put his head in his hands and both his head and hands between his thighs. Percy, though worried for his half brother, looked at Arthus and asked "Where's Shandris?"

"Closing a deal with the Amazons" he replied. Percy had figured that it would be better to open up diplomatic relation with the Amazons and Romans as soon as possible and considering the former had a long history of aggravations with both the latter and Camp Half-Blood he had the Nightmares deal with them, smoothing out transactions between the Amazons and Greeks, the Amazons and the Romans, and though unknown to both parties, making transactions between the Greeks and Romans, all the while making a good profit, either in Golden Drachma's, Dines, valuable items and weaponry (in rare cases), or good old fashioned US dollars. There was even a transaction with the Hunter's of Artemis, (which Percy had overseen personally). The Goddess had been surprisingly understanding that even though she was an Olympian, it was a business, and it was simply not done to give things away for free.

"I see" Percy said "Punch it"

The Nightmare did just that as he pressed down on the accelerator and the car zoomed on. When Tyson had finally pulled his head out of his feat he had been surprisingly understanding. It wasn't long before they made it to camp half blood and came across a site that should have happened a day ago.

"Border Patrol to me!" a girl shouted, a daughter of Aries to be precise, named Clarisse La Rue. Quickly getting out of the car Percy barked "Tyson with me!"

The minute he finished those words he uncapped his pen and it turned into his Bronze Sword Riptide and charged the bulls, with Tyson by his side. Leo too, who had gotten out from the back of the car made to follow them and assist in any he could, though he was suddenly stopped by someone holding the back of his shirt. Looking behind him he saw that it was Arthus who was holding him and before Leo could say anything, he said "You will only get in the way if you charge in now and in the worse case probably get someone killed. Just watch for now"

Leo, though he wanted to aid Percy obeyed his instincts which were screaming at him to obey the order he had been given. Meanwhile Percy charged one of the bronze bulls which managed to break away from the patrol and was currently on a rampage… but not for long as it saw Percy charging it and decided to greet it in kind and just as there were but a few inches between them Percy put all his strength into his legs and jumped over the bull as he shouted "Tyson Strike!"

"BAD COW!" Tyson yelled as he slammed his fist into the bulls face making crater where the bull's snout use to be. Tyson hit it again and the bronze crumpled in his hands like thin foil, the bulls face now looked like a sock puppet inside out. At the same time Percy stabbed his sword straight through the bull's rear and then concentrated his powers into the sword, when Tyson second strike hit causing the bull to explode a moment later.

Percy took a moment to look for a second bull and soon found it. Bad cow number 2 was being fought by Annabeth and Clarisse, a ring of fire surrounded them preventing the remaining members of the border patrol from aiding them.

"Tyson!" he said "Throw me over there?"

Tyson blinked, then obeyed his closest friend by picking him up, sword and all, and launching him past the ring of fire, past the two female demigods who were fighting for their lives and straight at the Bulls snout which was pierced by the sword with a loud screech.

Percy used the momentum of the throw to flip himself behind the bull where he slammed his fists onto the ground. There was a tug in his gut and a huge geyser of water shot up right under the bull and launching it sky high. The surrounding rain courtesy of the water from the geyser put out the ring of fire, a moment later the Bronze Bull crashed onto the ground right next to Tyson who promptly smashed it to a pulp with his fists.

"Percy… how… how…" spluttered Annebeth causing him to grin and reply "Practice Annabeth, practice…!"

Leaving a stunned Annabeth and Clarisse behind and walking past the equally stunned Border Patrol Percy walked towards Thalia's Tree, laid a kiss on it and then pressed his forehead and paused for a moment before spinning around and glaring at the assembled Demigods and said "Who did this?"

He did not raise his voice, or even put anger in his words, but every single person could feel the cold fury and the edge of steel that was present in his voice, and frankly it freaked them all out. But they did not dare move as they stared at the Son of Poseidon took a deep breath before he walked straight to Tyson and then spoke in a low voice, the Cyclops immediately nodded, picked up the peaces of the bulls before they walked back to the Gurkha RVP where they were both surprised to see Leo standing along side Arthus, both of whom were apparently waiting for them.

"He had snuck in the back, and the celestial bronze had hidden his sent" Arthus said when Percy looked at him questioningly.

"I see… Leo, as punishment for lying to both our mum and me in that note and sneaking into the car, you are going to help us take those pieces of metal you had hidden besides into the camp, no buts Leo, get to it." Percy said and Leo grudgingly obeyed. When he went to the back of the car Percy looked straight at Arthus and said "Get back to Shandris and close whatever remaining deals we have to, and then back here as soon as you can, I'll be needing the both of you and the Chariot… and our new ship as well."

"Understood" Arthus said and got back into the car, and waited for Leo to join up wit Percy and Tyson before driving off.

"Alright Leo, follow me." Percy said before walking of towards the camp with both Tyson and Leo on either side of him, the former of whom already had sweat running down the side of his face.

Soon enough they were inside camp, Tyson who was strong enough to break through the borders by this time, though Percy did, give him his permission. Just not as loudly as Annabeth did the first time around, and just when they had reached the cabins, Conner and Travis Stroll, and Grover came jogging up to them, the latter of who was thankfully wearing pants so that his feet were covered thereby saving Percy having to explain why the he had goat legs. When they were close enough Percy quickly said "Conner, Travis, can you please take Leo here to watch the Orientation Film and make sure he actually pays attention to it. Leo please give Tyson the bronze you are carrying and go with them, and pay attention please. Tyson, please head to the bunker and fix those bulls."

Leo quickly handed Tyson the Celestial Bronze he was holding, glad to be out from under its weight before Travis and Conner took him by the arms and dragged him of to see the film. Tyson took the metal and the remnants of the bulls and ran off towards the woods while Percy looked at Grover who answered the unasked question. "Chiron has been banished, Lord Dionysus has brought some sprit named Tantulus to be the camps director, Luke's in the infirmary, poisoned with the same thing that has been used to poison Thalia's tree. Thanks to the great work of the Camp Healers his life not in danger but he is in a coma, and the only possible thing that can revive him…"

"Is the Fleece…" Percy said finishing his first, non mortal friend's sentence for him. He put an arm around Grover shoulder and dragged him into his cabin. He then closed his eyes and resonated the power within himself with the power that flowed through the very walls of the cabin before he opened his eyes and said "Is there anything else I should know about?"

"Yeah, you know how I wanted to start my search for Pan but you convinced me against it saying that I would have a better chance at finding him if I worked at my nature magic, combat skills and music, though I am not too sure about that last one. Anyway the council decided that it would be wise to send me up to the Sought Hamptons to rescue a demigod that was attending a finishing school there" said Grover and Percy felt like groaning, though he knew that his friend would not bring this up unless it was important, he also knew that Demigod's rescued from finishing schools and that area in general happened to be borderline arrogant, and unfortunately this kid happened to be both. "We ran into a Chimera on the way back, and man Percy I felt that we were both about to die. But then this Demigod came to our aid, and I swear he came right out of the shadows and was wielding a sword that seemed to be made of pure darkness and he slew that monster and took his trophy of war before disappearing back into the shadow."

"Why are you telling me this?" Percy asked

Percy he is a Son of Zeus, and he is younger than you" Grover said and Percy understood exactly what is friend was trying to say. Zeus may be even more inclined to get rid of him now that his own son has come into the spotlight.

"I see" Percy replied "Has he been claimed?"

A nod

"Where is he now?"

"On a ship heading into the sea of monsters."

Percy clenched his fingers and asked "Whose he with, and was it a sanctioned mission?"

"Clarisse and Annabeth and it was not exactly sanctioned, well at least for him" Grover quickly replied, and on seeing Percy glare at him he added "Chiron last act as acting director was to sanction a quest to help heal Thalia's tree, and Clarisse was chosen to lead it. But when she got back down from the attic she was pale white and refused to take anyone with her. Hercules managed to convince Annabeth to help him sneak onboard, but she also snuck in with him."

"So basically we have got two stowaways on the daughter of the God of War's boat, our beloved camp is being run by a tyrant, Thalia's tree is dying, Luke is in a coma and the protective barriers are fading" Percy said "I was only gone for ten months! How on earth did you people manage to mess the camp so much in such a short amount of time."

"Percy"

"Not another word Grover!" He replied harshly before his voice got softer as he said "Just… do me a favor, inform our new camp director that I have brought a Cyclops into the camp and have claimed it under my protection, also tell him that I have come to camp seeking shelter as is my right under the Ancient Laws and will be tomorrow before twenty-four hours have past." (nifty little law that, if a demigod had stayed in camp for less than 24 hours than the camp had no right to stop him leaving) Then find the kid I came in here with, stick with him until he has been claimed, or for the rest of the day… whichever comes first, though if it is the former please get him and come to see me as soon as possible. You think you can do that for me G-man?"

"Sure can Perce."

"Good, now get to it."

And without another word the satyr ran out of the cabin and towards the other cabins while Percy walked to a fountain in his cabin that had been made especially for Iris messages. He was going to have to inform his mother about Leo's current location and then he was taking the kid out into the woods, a good scare or two would do him some good… and perhaps speak to an old friend to help get rid of their current camp director.

"Perce, I've fixed all I can but I don't think I can fix this part completely." Leo said as he held a circuit board that had various carvings on it "I have polish it up, but some of these circuits are beyond repair, I could make it better, but not perfect for that I'd need a completely new circuit board and I doubt that I could build one… But that's not the main problem, see this, there are a lot of ruins around the main circuit board, which are probably chalked with magic, but most of them have almost faded."

"Pass it here Leo, I'm pretty good with runes if I do say so myself, and if you find any more pieces like that be sure to pass them along" said Percy as he took the freshly cleaned control disk from Leo and began to re-carve the runes onto the disk, infusing his power onto them. He wasn't sure exactly how his sea infused power would react with the runes carved onto an automation of fire and air, he wasn't even sure how exactly he had gotten into this situation in the first place.

He had taken Leo out into the woods under the guise of a 'scenic walk', just to give the kid a little scare and show him what the life of a demigod was all about without actually putting his life in danger. Unfortunately their supposedly 'scenic walk' just happened to take them straight towards a crater in the earth in the middle of the wood. And Leo being his usually carefree self ran right down into the center of the crater. After extending his senses and confirming that there was no discernable threat in the immediate vicinity, he ran down into the center of the crater only to find the newly clamed son of Hephaestus examining a bronze dragon head, a very familiar bronze dragon head…

So, after he had Leo disconnect the head from the body and move it to the side where he could work on it, Percy was using his well-honed Hydrokinesis powers, along with a few Geokinesis powers he had inherited, courtesy of being the sun of the Earthshaker, trying to unearth the Bronze's Dragon's body, At least he was until Leo called him to help with the circuit board, by which time he had almost finished unearthing the Dragons torso, now all that was left was with the exception of a bit of the torso under the earth, was its legs and tail.

Leo gave him the circuit board… several other parts before bouncing of to work on the rest of the Dragon and Percy couldn't help but sigh thinking that this was going to be a long day, and a long night. The only grace of which was that they already had their Lunch.

Breakfast next morning was a pretty interesting affair.

Behind the table where the staff of the camp sat, Nico literally appeared out of the shadows of Tantulus is chair before stabbing the current tyrant of Camp Half-Blood straight through his back saying "My father demands your presence back in the underworld."

Tantulus is semi corporal form was absorbed into the blade before he disappeared back into the shadows leaving just a simple a note as gasps go through the various lips of the campers who were reeling in shock that at how effortlessly their current camp leader was eliminated.

Dionysus was the first to act as he picked up the note and slowly started to read it. His smile grew wide before he snapped his fingers and a crystal glass of some kind of yellowish substance appeared in his hand. He took one sip as the campers continued watch these completely unexpected events in absolute silence as the God of Wine's smile grew even larger before he announced "Ladies and Gentlemen… due to some unfortunate violations of his contract Tantulus has been suspended as camp leader, and now let me introduce you to his replacement…"

At that point he shoved his hand down to the shadows of the chair before literally pulling out the son of Hades and saying "Nico Di Angelo!"

The campers stared in shock before Percy put down his goblet and stated clapping, he was soon joined by Leo over at the Hephaestus table. Slowly one by one the rest of the campers began to get over their shock and started joining in and before long the entire dining pavilion descended into loud cheers.

Nico, looking shocked at first slowly began to smile and gave a nod at the rest of the camp before he took Tantulus is place at the table and breakfast continued as usual. Well almost as usual. There was still excited chatter running through each table as well as how anyone of them could trust a director that didn't seemed quite younger than most of them… well almost each table as table's one, two and eight were currently empty of course… and as for table three, well Percy could hardly believed that his plan had worked.

Getting Nico into came was almost too easy… his demigod signature registered him as a camper despite never having been recognized as such in this time line. Getting the plan ready to get rid of Tantulus had been much harder. He need something to appeal to the Wine God, something to help secure Nico's life in case of such an eventually. As it turns out the God of Wine had simply abducted Tantulus from the realm of the dead and so when Hades found out (or rather when Nico told him) he himself had literally sent someone to get the sprit so Dionysus couldn't kill him without expecting some serious repercussions. Even then getting the son of Hades in place was a serious problem. Each and every single building had some form of protection against all kinds of travel, the dining hall in particular was very well warded in order to safeguard the… well lets say VIP's who may be there. And to further ensure its protection only the current Camp Director and Olympians could raise or lower the wards.

After literally spending over an hour trying unsuccessfully to convince Nico against this plan of his, they sat together discussing plan after plan, contingency after contingency, and even then he had sent up prayers to Hermes, Apollo, Hephaestus and his Father to help his plan go well, he had even sacrificed several items of value to each of the Olympians he had prayed to so that they may help him in this regard. He knew that even if the wards around the Pavilion were lowered to zero Nico would just have enough power to make it out of the camp on instead Percy keyed him into the wards of Poseidon's cabin, hoping that after the deed was done, he could help his friend recover in relative peace.

Of course all their plans went out the window the moment Dionysus entered the pavilion. Percy had tied an alert ward, very well hidden, into the wards of the pavilion, so he could literally sense when the God of Wine felt them and Percy knew that the god now knew that the wards were completely lowered. Still he did nothing and seemed perfectly content to watch the events unfold. The minute Nico appeared Dionysus snapped the wards back in place and, so fast that the son of Poseidon could hardly feel the change, but his alert rune did feel the wards charging with power and alerted him to it, and he realized that now Nico was trapped in the shadow of that chair with no way out but to emerge form it.

Percy was readying Riptide under in his hand, if worse came to worse he would engage the God of Wine allowing Nico to escape, as the son of Hades would be more useful in the grand scheme of things that Percy felt he himself would be. But then the unthinkable happened as Dionysus introduced Nico as their new camp director. He had originally planned to take Leo and Nico with him as companions, but the camp director simply just does not leave camp… well perhaps he might as well take on a child of Hecate, a mist wielder would be effective in the sea of monsters, and considering he only knows one of their numbers perhaps a short detour to Circe's isle may be advisable.

Percy was cut out of his musings when he heard a horn, a barge horn to be precise. He gave a nod to Leo signaling that it was time to act, the son of Hephaestus quietly slipped out of the pavilion as Percy stood up and said "My Lord Dionysus, Director Di Angelo, as I informed you earlier, my companion Leo and I were simply seeking shelter in camp and will be leaving now, with your approval of course…"

Nico looked at the God of Wine who wordlessly gave him the go ahead and the son of Hades said "You may, though if I may ask, where exactly are you going?"

"To the isle of one of my brothers in the middle of the Sea of Monsters" Percy replied "And if I may be so bold as to ask you to allow Lou Ellen to join us."

"If she is willing" said Nico, and almost immediately a shout of 'I am' came from the Hermes table "Then you may take her on the condition that if you run into Clarrise La Rue, you bring back the stowaways on her ship so that Lord Dionysus and I may deal with them."

"I understand and I accept" Percy replied almost immediately.

"Ms Ellen, you have ten minutes to gather all that you think you will need and meet us out at the beach." Nico said before disappearing into the shadows, (apparently the wards already recognized him as director) and reappeared from the shadows of Percy's chair. "I shall accompany you out Mr. Jackson"

And with that the two of them exited the building and after walking a good bit of the distance and being well out of hearing range Nico exhaled and said "Well that was embarrassing."

"Embarrassing but necessary Nico" Percy replied. He knew that the pavilion was simply silent after they had started speaking due to the fact that many of them were still absorbing what had just happened and none of them wanted to get on the wrong side of their new director after seeing what the old one was like. Smiling a bit he took out a flare gun and shot it into the clear blue sky, the reason for this was two fold, firstly to inform his Shadowmares that he was coming and also to inform Tyson that it was time to leave. He knew that both parties would reach there ten minutes from now so there was no need to rush.

"Percy I intend to put these people through boot camp" sad Nico "Last time we only started seriously preparing our forces after the winter solace when you had rescued Artemis while HE had who knows how long to build up his armies. Every minute of training might just help keep them alive for longer in the coming war and I intend to give them all the training I can for the little while that I am in charge of this camp. Plus their continued suffering will appease Dionysus and that will help keep me alive…"

"I understand Percy" Nico replied and the spent the rest of the time talking about training plans and other things to note and before long they arrived at the beach, to see Percy's chariot, Tyson standing beside the newly repaired and newly programmed C bulls. Leo too was also there sitting on the newly winged Festus, whose eyes now glowed sea green as opposed to their usual red, an after affect of using his own power to recharge the runes throughout the metal dragon Percy assumed, looking better that ever. A bit off shore was a significantly smaller barge, when compared to its usual size and barely a second after Percy and Nico had arrived Lou came running in and could only gasp in astonishment of those who were already on the beach.

"Leo, I'm leaving Tyson with you as he would no doubt be willing to help train the Hephaestus campers and whoever else is willing to learn from him" said Percy and the son of Hades nodded as the son of Poseidon walked and mounted his chariot, as Lou ran forward and hesitantly mounted the Dragon with after Leo had repeatedly gestured at her to join him.

Nico smiled at the scene and muttered just a single line under his breath "Good Luck my friend."

My first chapter after a while it seems... I hope you all like it

Also feel free to inform me if there are any error's in my story since I don't use a beta-reader.

Lastly I wish you all a Merry Merry Christmas to all of you
And a Happy New Year !

Rafaelout...