A/N: Thanks to everybody who reviewed my story. Especially WindowChild. Thank you for your words of criticism; gods know I need it. Here is the next chapter; I've finally reached it! Yippee!

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Belle awoke from her dreamless sleep abruptly. Her senses told her that something was amiss. She sat up in bed and slowly set her feet on the floor. Suddenly the front door of the Artemis cabin burst open and a small head of curls ran in.

"Couvin, couvin, couvin!" Zoe yelled, running to give Belle a hug.

"Couvin?" Belle asked with her small eyebrows knit together in confusion. "Did you invent a new language or something?"

"Couvin." Zoe repeated. "My Daddy's sister is your Mommy. That means we are couvins."

"You mean cousins, Zoe." Belle reminded gently, standing up, attempting to detach herself from her 'couvin'. "And don't you need to be with the rest of your cabin? I need to get dressed." It suddenly occurred to Belle that she would be sitting by herself at breakfast, instead of with the Hermes cabin. Although she disliked being in a small space with many campers, Belle never got lonely.

Zoe soon found her cousin boring, and much to Belle's delight, left about 30 seconds later.

Belle found herself smiling as she pulled on some jeans and her dreadful camp half-blood shirt. Unfortunately she always wore it, although the bright Cal-Trans color T-shirt did so not help Belle go around discretely. It was like a big flashing sign that said "Look over here at me! I'm Belle, the first daughter that Artemis has ever had! Yippee! Come taunt me!"

Sliding open the silvery curtains that hung on the windows, Belle was shocked to see that it was just barely daybreak. Zoe. She thought. That blasted child had me thinking it was time for breakfast and here it is just barely dawn. Belle didn't see any point of going back to sleep, so she grabbed her new bow and its quiver and marched out the door.

The archery range was deserted, and Belle was happy that it was. She really didn't feel like explaining her plight to some errant unclaimed half-blood. No one could understand. No one. And Belle knew that come breakfast, everyone would be insistent about how exactly she felt. It wasn't the most pleasant of thoughts.

Belle snatched a bow out of her quiver and found a spot that seemed comfortable for her to try and shoot. She slipped the arrow into the notch, and clipped it back so that she was ready to fire. Belle slowed her breathing, and tried to concentrate hard on the bull's-eye. She then let the arrow fly. It missed its mark by about 3 inches. Belle cursed. She felt that she was a fairly good shot; although it was nothing like the Apollo cabin. They hit the mark almost every time.

Again Belle reloaded her bow, and let it fire. This time it hit on the other side of the bull's-eye, still over 3 inches away.

"You're not concentrating enough," came a male voice from behind Belle.

She whipped her head around, staring down the unknown stranger. He was a boy, about 17 years of age. He had sandy blond hair that was curly, but not too long. His eyes were a crisp blue, and they regarded her with seriousness, although Belle detected a faint glimmer of mischievousness in them. He made Belle go a little weak at the knees; he was the dream man of every girl. Even though Belle had absolutely no interest in men, from living with a daughter of Aphrodite she had seen many magazine photos. "Who are you?" She asked.

"It doesn't matter who I am, all that matters is that you can't seem to concentrate well enough to hit the center. You have to pretend that it's just you, the bow, and the target. Nothing else matters." He stepped closer to Belle, until he was standing just a few feet away. "String your bow and let me see your stance."

Reaching into her quiver, Belle put the arrow into the notch, clipped it back, and held the string back in her firing stance.

The young man regarded her stance. "Move your right foot forward a bit. It's too far backwards, making you look like you're attempting the splits. Now breathe slowly, and concentrate. Remember, it's only you, the bow, and the target. Concentrate. And believe in yourself. The arrow isn't going to believe you if you lack confidence. Good."

Belle slowed her breathing, and tried to follow the directions of her mysterious teacher. Steading her aim, she loosened her grip on the string.

The arrow hummed through the air and embedded itself deep in the bull's-eye. Belle turned around. "How did you know what was wrong?"

The young man smiled. "I've had a bow and arrow in my hands as long as I can remember. At least as soon as my mother trusted me. Ever since then, I've made archery my life. And this morning I figured since little Zoe woke you up so early, I might as well take advantage of this opportunity to talk to my niece before you go live with a bunch of preteen girls. My sister will probably make it so that you can't have any contact with your family. I swear she's destroying my lifestyle."

"L-lord Apollo." Belle stammered. "I-I'm honored."

Apollo glanced around nervously. "Don't say my name too loudly. As much as I love my children they can sometimes be a bit too overbearing when they see me."

"If you're trying to keep away from your own children they why did you come to see me?" came Belle's response.

Piercing blue eyes met with silvery blue ones. "I mostly came to talk to you; it just so happened that you were practicing your archery." Apollo tossed his head, moving his blond hair out of his eyes. "Although I must say you are becoming quite an excellent shot." He noted with a hint of arrogance in his voice.

"Talk about what?" Belle asked.

"You."

"That seems to be a logical answer, although there must be more."

"There is."

"What's the rest?"

"I came to explain things to you." Apollo responded.

"Really," Belle drawled. "Like how you almost obliterated me to dust last night on Olympus?"

Apollo avoided Belle's eyes. "That was merely you witnessing my –other side. I'm really just a nice guy that happens to be a god."

Belle raised her eyebrows. "Like that's not unusual in itself." She commented.

"Not necessarily. But I mostly came down here to make sure that there were no hard feelings between us. I'm not the kind of person who holds grudges. Now if I were a son of Hades instead of Zeus, that might be different. But I'm not. I've just always felt that I was supposed to watch over Artemis. Zeus isn't necessarily what you would call an 'involved' father." Apollo held up his hand. "I feel a haiku coming."

Inwardly, Belle groaned. She had heard wild rumors from Annabeth that even though he was the god of poetry, Apollo couldn't compose a good haiku to save his life. All the better that he was an immortal.

"I've got it." He announced.

"With Zeus as a dad,

Artemis would look to me,

In need of my help."

Belle stifled a small giggle. Even though Apollo's poetry skills were awful, it was still kind of funny to see a teenager reciting a haiku. He looked like a "guy friend" of Alexis, the oldest in Belle's demigod family.

"What's so funny?" Lord Apollo asked.

Belle froze. It seemed to her that she hadn't stifled that giggle so well after all. "Uhhh, I was thinking about how much you look like Alexis's boyfriend, and if I saw him reciting a haiku how I would think that Hades had frozen over."

Apollo's bright blue eyes darkened just a hair. "My Alexis? My daughter?"

Belle nodded while thinking that it was a little funny to see a 17 year old asking about his daughter. Then it occurred to Belle that if he wasn't her father, Alexis and Apollo would be able to date each other; at least based off of age. Belle shook that mind out of her head like an etch-a-sketch.

"I'd better go now," Apollo said, his expression now filled with an amount of arrogance. "I'm off to rescue some damsel in distress with my fabulous sun car. See ya, lil' niece." And with that, the Sun God was gone.

Belle looked around, remembering where she was. When Apollo was there it was almost like her other senses were diluted, and she was only focusing on him. Just like he told you to do when you're shooting your bow a small voice in the back of her mind said. The girl tossed that memory out of her mind as she trudged back to her cabin before she went to breakfast. It seemed that even though she would be alone at her table, at least Belle would have someone to finally offer her food to as a sacrifice. That thought brightened up Belle's day a small bit; just a bit.