Sorry, guys. This chapter isn't very interesting, but I needed a scene that was more realistic, not just vital information and action. So, enjoy as much as you can, and if you have ideas for what could happen next, don't hesitate to tell me!

One more thing. Guys, I was so unbelievably happy when Chapter 2 got eight reviews, and then Chapter 3 only got two, and I was like, what? So please, review!

A special thanks to angelslaugh, whose name I don't pretend to understand, who is a consistent reviewer who also followed me! Yay! A big cheer for angelslaugh!

"What is the meaning of this?" Artemis asked of the assembled teenagers.

"Exactly what I said," said Piper, taking a deep breath,"We're under attack. Nico can tell you about it."

She nodded at Nico. Artemis' eyes narrowed.

"Under attack?" he asked, "What from?"

Nico opened his mouth to reply, but the blonde cut him off.

"We... don't know.

Artemis frowned at the hesitation, but didn't mention it. Instead, he said:

"How did you come to be in my cellar?"

Again, the pause.

"There was some... falling-in ground! The floor was collapsing and we managed to get through!"

She's lying, thought Artemis.

"Butler?" he said aloud, "Could you come down here? I'm- well, I'm not sure what's going on, to be honest."

He smiled at the small gasp of surprise Piper emitted when Butler's huge frame became visible over the top of the mahogany staircase. Certainly these teenagers would never have met anyone like Butler.

I take that back, he thought as he heard Percy whisper to Annabeth 'He's like Tyson but with more eyes...'. Tyson, mused Artemis. Someone they know who's Butler's size, but has either one or no eyes? Interesting.

"Well?" Butler broke Artemis out of his reverie, "What under the earth are you doing here? And what's this yarn about you falling through the ground into the cellar?"

"It's not a yarn!" exclaimed Piper, and when Artemis looked skeptically at her she tried again, "It's perfectly true, and we're very sorry about it."

The force of her voice took Artemis by surprise. For a moment he thought he was being mesmerized, but then he realized that her voice was no more beautiful than before, just very, very powerful. That's all right then, he thought, she's right, of course. They didn't mean to fall through the floor. The voice in the back of his mind, however, said differently. He, or something he thought was himself, told it to shut up. With a sigh, it did.

Artemis shook his head, clearing it of the fog that seemed to have momentarily filled it. He watched for a moment as Butler swayed and then came to his normal stance again, a guilty expression on his face.

"Yes," he said, "She's right, Artemis. It's not their fault that the ground gave way."

A doubt niggled in the back of Artemis' mind. He focused on it, knowing that it could very well be important. There! He had it! But Butler was already walking away with the group asking them what it was they had been saying about an attack. And the thought was fading away, like dew in the morning sun. Ah, well, he thought, I'm sure it will come back in an hour or two.

But, the voice in the back of his head persisted in saying, we might not have that much time.

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Piper had only tried charmspeak because she was feeling desperate. Normally she would never have entranced innocent mortals into providing momentary hospitality, or at least, absence of hostility, but she felt that this was an occasion that merited a special dispensation.

They were trapped in a manor, miles away from anyone they knew, with a couple of normally hostile Irishmen, defending said Irishmen from monsters, and trying to do all this without letting the Irishmen figure out about the existence of Greek and Roman gods. And they had to figure out why Hazel had gotten such strange readings.

Oh, dear.

And then there was what had happened in the cellar. Think hard about me, Nico had instructed Hazel. And apparently she had, for here he was. Nico, with his black sword and slightly insane expression, scared Piper, and the fact that he could yank himself from place to place just by having his half-sister think about him scared her even more. In all probability, she rationalized, there was some totally separate method that had enabled Nico to be with them in the cellar. She wasn't sure if she wanted to find out what it was.
She glanced back over her shoulder as the huge man led them away. There was the extremely irritating boy, staring at a spot in the wall and frowning. Odd, she thought. Almost as thought he was battling the effects of her charmspeak. But then he shrugged and followed them, and Piper breathed a silent sigh of relief. The last thing they needed was a strong-minded mortal intent on interrogating them.

"You all right, Piper?" whispered Jason, "You look a bit pale."

'Yeah," she replied, "I guess I'm just chilly. This place doesn't have good insulation."

In fact, Fowl Manor had top-notch insulation straight out of the best manufacturing companies in the world, but Piper didn't want to worry Jason with her doubts any more than she had to. He had enough to worry about at the moment, what with being penned in by man-eating horses.

He frowned and, wordlessly, rapped his red sweater around her. She smiled.

"Thanks..." she whispered. He nodded.

They had come to a hard oak door, which the huge man who, she supposed, was Artemis' butler, since that was what the boy had called him, pushed gently. It swung open softly, revealing a dining room with a long wooden table. Perfect for dinner or, Piper thought wryly, a war council.

Even Annabeth, who Piper knew from experience rarely showed her feelings, looked impressed. Piper realized that this manor was probably a fountain of architectural designs for the daughter of Athena. They filed in, looking around as they did so. Piper was by no means an architect, but even she could see that the entire room was a piece of art, with its high, vaulting ceiling, wide bay windows, and curving walls. Unfortunately, the fog ruined quite a bit of the lighting.

Jason pulled her a seat on the 'door' side of the table and she sat down abruptly, still admiring the room.

"So," said the butler, who Piper thought looked more like a bodyguard, "Fill me in on the details of this attack."

And Piper realized that unless one of them thought of something, they were in trouble. They couldn't tell these mortals that the gods and magic existed, that would create so many problems it would take years to sort it all out. And if she used charmspeak again, her original persuasion would wear off more quickly; the more charmspeak you piled on a person, the sooner they'd return to their senses.

Fortunately, Annabeth was quick to think up explanations, or rather lack thereof.
"Well, sir, we're not exactly sure what it is," she said politely, with the air of one who is very carefully omitting facts and hoping no one realizes, "We were fired at. Um. With arrows."

Which is the truth, thought Piper, or at least a part of it.

"Arrows?" asked Artemis skeptically, "Do you expect us to believe that someone shot at you with arrows?"

Piper was really starting to hate him.

"Yes," said Annabeth simply, "Because that's what happened. You can believe it or not believe it, but your opinion doesn't change the facts of the matter."

Artemis glared at her for a moment, then turned to the butler and asked him sarcastically:

"Do we know anyone who's an expert shot with the bow?"

Piper noticed that for a moment the butler shook his head slightly, and only then returned the sarcastic question in the same manner.

"Here's the question that bothers me," said Artemis to Annabeth, "Why do you assume that this is an attack on the manor? It sounds to me like it's only you that our unknown opponent is attempting to kill."

From her expression, Piper thought that in any other circumstances Annabeth would have hit herself in the face for not realizing that Artemis would think of this. But, to Piper's admiration, she stayed calm and answered quietly.

"We don't assume that you're under attack. But please, sirs, we need somewhere to stay just for a few hours until we can figure out how to sneak out without being shot at." She sent a wordless glance to Piper as if to say that a few hours was all they needed at the moment, "Please."

Artemis turned to his butler and they seemed to have a private conversation, which consisted mainly of a lot of strained expressions and eye-rolls. Finally, Artemis turned back to the group and said:

"Fine. You can stay. But one thing: there's a guest coming and I'm not going to cancel our dinner just because some adolescents are sheltering from arrows in our manor."