Kelly set down her bottle of root beer, "So what you're telling me is, Artemis not only had child, but did it without breaking her vow. Somehow left the child in Rio with a surrogate family without any of the gods knowing. And that child, you, spent four years running all over central and south America. Learning to live off the land and being chased by monsters all along the way."

Artie looked down at the remains of a Vegemite sandwich that Kelly was fond of and sipped his root beer. "That's pretty much it. I barely spent a month at camp before I went tramping around again."

"With no weapons and a much higher chance of running into monsters." said Kelly.

"Well, not exactly." said Artie. "The oracle said I would be armed along the way."

"How so? You mean, you would have to make your own or something?"

Artie shook his head and recited. "All will be revealed in the forest of golden stone / Travel as you have, with humility and alone / Finding the master's forge, you will prevail / Beware the moon's ally or you shall fail."

"That was your prophecy?"

Artie nodded and sipped his root beer. "Yeah. The part about finding the forge, that was why I suppose to travel without any weapons. I found an abandoned gas station while I was in Kansas and figured it was decent enough place to get out of the rain and spend the night."

"What were you doing in Kansas?"

"The forest of golden stone." said Artie. "The oracle meant I would find what I was looking for in Yellowstone National Park. And that just happened to be in northern Wyoming."

"And the master's forge?"

Artie hesitated for a moment then said, "It turns out that gas station was one of Hephaestus's smaller forges. That was when he gave me my quiver, said it was a prototype for Artemis when she asked him for one."

"And he just gave it to you?" Kelly asked, sounding confused. "Just like that?"

"Well, I did do him a favor." he admitted.

"What?"

"I put out a small fire." he explained, not telling the whole truth, but nowhere near a lie. "Saved him the trouble of rebuilding some his more complex inventions."

Kelly knew Artie well enough to know he was leaving a crucial detail out, but refrained from bringing it up. "So Hephaestus gave you a quiver, but no bow?"

Artie shook his head, "No. He said had made a couple thousand over the centuries that would have been perfect for me, but most of them had been destroyed. And the few that weren't, all had owners. "

"The Hunters."

Artie nodded."Turns out that Artemis asked him to make a lot of copies of her bow. And she had them hidden away so no but the Hunters would or could use them."

Kelly raised an eyebrow,"So your bow is . . ."

Artie's silver bow sprang from his ring, "The only one outside of the Hunters's ranks."

"Let me recap." said Kelly, finishing the rest of her root beer. "Roughly a month after we escorted you to Camp Half Blood, you were issued a quest to discover your Olympian parent. A quest you were to undertake alone and unarmed. All the way to Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming."

"Right."

"You found one of Hephaestus's forges, put out a fire, and he rewarded you with a magic quiver."

"Correct."

"You made your way to Yellowstone National Park where you found Artemis and her Hunters."

"More or less."

"And that was when Artemis explained everything and how she came about having a child without breaking a vow."

"Yep, though I wished she hadn't done in front of the Hunters. It was bad enough a boy had been allowed stay with them, but that boy was the child of Artemis? Meus deuses, was I glad to get out there."

"Then what was that part about beware the moon's ally?"

Artie began to answer, "Oh, that happened before I found the Hunters's camp. I was wondering around in the forrest when I was ambushed by — "

"Artie?" asked a voice that was undoubtedly Percy's. "It's time to go."

Artie sighed, "I guess I'll tell you the rest on the way."

"You'd better. I hate not knowing the end to a story."

Artie chuckled. "Me too."

Percy and his friends reached Long Island just after Clarisse, all of it due to the travel speed of the centaurs. Along the way, Artie continued the story of his quest as he rode on Kelly's back. He then what about telling Kelly everything that happened afterward. Becoming the camp's tanner, helping Percy retrieve the master bolt, and everything that had happened on the Sea Of Monsters. He was careful to leave out his episode with Leonidas and his family when he was transformed into a panther or a black jaguar as Annabeth had pointed out.

"Hey, Artie." said Grover. "I thought you could keep up with the centaurs."

Kelly answered for him, "He can, but he can't keep the speed for more than a few minutes."

"That's what she said," laughed Duncan.

Artie lifted an eyebrow,"You want to rethink that one Duncan?"

He did, "Oh . . . never mind."

"I thought so."Artie turned to Grover. "Truth is, Grover. I can only match their speed for a few minutes. Three minutes at most, maybe three and quarter if I push it."

As they rode to the Big House, saw that the camp had gone through a two weeks. Not only had two bull automatons ran amuck before Tyson stopped them, but the arts and craft cabin had been burned by Draco Aionius, whatever that was. He saw the Apollo campers, the camp best healers, running past windows left and right as they rushed from patient to patient to provide medical attention. Given the choice between fighting Polyphemus again or facing Appolonia, he considered how long it would take to build a raft and head for the Bermuda Triangle. Between trying to stay under the radar aboard the Princess Andromeda, nearly getting eaten by Charybdis and Scylla, becoming a jaguar, and fighting Polyphemus, he never had the chance to send her an Iris message and explain himself. In all honesty, he had completely forgotten about her during all the commotion. He always assumed she was as safe as she could be, surrounded by other demigods and an Olympian. It wasn't as if he could find and use a cellphone. For one thing, he was sure if Appolonia didn't kill him, her mother would when she got the bill. Still, he knew he owed her an explanation. Once Chiron hung the Golden Fleece on Thalia's pine, he went looking for spoke with a Demeter camper who said she went to the Demeter cabin, where the camper were growing plants for salves and such, to restock the Big House's supply of medicinal herbs. He set off towards the cabins. He didn't run, he walked to give himself time to think how to go about telling her. He felt so nervous, he was somewhat relived when he reached the Demeter cabin and the head counselor, Katie Gardner, she sent Appolonia with the herbs hours ago.

"She's probably at the archery range." said Katie. "When the Apollo campers aren't healing at the Big House, they're busy making and fixing arrows in case something attacks. If she's not there, you could always wait till she goes back to her cabin."

"Thanks." he said and began walking down the steps.

"Word of advice?" offered Katie

Artie stopped and looked back, "Whether its your fault or not, let her decide."

"I'll keep that in mind." And he did as he reached the archery range.

Just like Katie had said, the few remaining Apollo camper not at the Big House were still hard at work. Two campers carved spare bows from yew trees while two more went about stringing the ones that had been completed. Others polished and shaved down uneven pieces of wood into arrow shafts and the rest sharpened an obscene amount of celestial bronze arrow heads on whetstones. At the very end, were three assembling the arrows from the various parts and fletched them with arrows before filling several empty quivers that Artie saw were in desperate need of repair. No doubt he would have to fix them soon, but he was focused on finding Appolonia. He looked around and saw she was nowhere to be seen. Not making bows or arrow parts, not even playing with the three piece band that played quietly in the backround.

"So you are alive." said annoyed voice.

Artie turned and saw it was Gene O'Connor, his least favorite child of Apollo. Gene had never liked Artie for some reason and his distaste for for him only grew when he nearly killed Clarisse and her friends. In Gene's mind, Artie was a wild animal that shouldn't have even existed and he made it clear as often as he could. Artie had always did his best to ignore the insults and jeer Gene threw his way, but it nearly came to a head when Artie began dating Appolonia last year. Artie suspected even the nicest Apollo camper would be angry with him, leaving their sister alone with no explanation and making her worry sick, but the last thing he needed was to give Gene a reason. Especially a legitimate reason that anyone could support.

"Hi, Gene." He said, doing his best to hide the sound of contempt in his voice. "Yeah, I'm alive. Look, do you know where Appolonia is? I need to talk to her."

"I'm not sure she wants to talk to you." Gene answered. "I'm sure you know why."

Artie held back a retort, "Still, I need to know where she is."

"Action speak louder than words, and it looks like you've made yourself clear."

"Yeah, I think I made it clear that I need to talk to her." Artie was becoming annoyed. "So if you know where she is, just tell me."

"Why do you want to see her anyway?" asked Gene. "Wanna see heartbreak up close? I wouldn't be surprised if she started seeing someone else."

Don't let him push your buttons, be the bigger man, he told himself. "Whether she has or not, I owe her an explanation."

"That she does." said Gene. "I'm curious, who is it?"

"What?"

"Who did you leave her for? I mean, I hear Miami is full of beautiful girls."

Be the bigger man, Artie repeated to himself. "I'm not explaining myself to you. Now either tell me where she is or go back to polishing arrowheads."

"You might want to try asking nicely." Gene suggested, trying sound innocent. "You've of all people should know you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar."

"Can you tell me where Appolonia is . . . please?" Artie asked slowly, doing his best calm himself.

"I could."

"But you're not going to tell me."

"Nope."

"Can I ask why?"

"Because its fun messing with you."

At this point, an ant would be bigger than him. Artie thought.

Artie sprang faster than lightning. He picked up Gene by the front of his shirt and slammed him on top of a nearby table, scattering piles of arrow shafts. Gene's siblings had the sense to step back away from the table. Most of them had been present when Artie had his first outburst and they had no desire to become potential targets. Some did not feel similar, including the head counselor Lee Fletcher, and scrambling for their bows and countless arrows scattered about. Gene tried to defend himself by punching Artie in the face, but it only succeeded in knocking the sunglasses off Artie's face. Gene's eyes grew wide as he saw Artie's.

"L-l-l-l-look S-s-s-s-sonny," he began to say, " I — "

"I suggest you stop calling me that." Artie held up a hand and extended a claw, "Unless you want be the world's first human scratching post."

"Okay, Artie. Look I'm — "

"We both know you're apologizing because you're scared, so don't insult us both." said Artie. "And quite frankly, I'm sure I don't care enough for it to mean anything.

"O-o-o-okay . . ."

"Now either you can tell me where Appolonia is or I can do it the old fashion way and read your entrails."

"She went to the forge!" Gene blurted out. "Something about checking on armor that was taking a long time to make."

"Thanks." Artie faked a sincere smile. "Was that so hard?"

Artie donned his sunglasses and turned to find himself facing half the Apollo cabin, all of them armed and aiming arrows. Surprisingly, Artie was calm. He saw the frightened look in the eyes in some of the younger campers and the slight shaking of the elder ones. He figured a slight twitch and he would resemble a human pin cushion, but he had a better idea.

"You all better drop those bows, or you won't believe what's gonna happen next." he said, paraphrasing Coogan's Bluff. "Not even while it's happening."

They all hesitantly lowered their bows and parted. They still kept the string tight and watched him, waiting for the slightest hint of danger. Artie strode between them and headed for the forges, not evening thinking to look back at the scared pack of demigods, each of them glad the crazy child of Artemis was leaving without a fight.

Artie found Appolonia halfway to the forges, walking with Louise Kwolek, a daughter of Hephaestus. Appolonia appeared to be carrying what looked like pieces of a metal wicker basket as she talked with Louise. Artie wondered what it could be, then he remembered. He had gone to Beckendorf for armor light enough to hunt hours on end and able to take ample of amounts of punishment. Louise had been the one to supply the solution, inventing a new kind of armor by watching naiads weave baskets underwater. By melting down several dozen metal bars into wire and then weaving the wire into a shirt, she created armor that bent and moved with the user's body. And by using moonsilver, weight would not be an issue even with two layers for every piece. The problem was the vast amount of time it would take to craft them. It also didn't help that her part was only the halfway point. Artie would have to more or less put the armor together himself since he was the most skilled when it came to working with leather, skills he learned from his time with the Party Ponies. Artie guess that Apollonia had Louise continue forging the armor, despite his sudden disappearance and the very likely possibility he had died.

Artie ran up to them, nearly giving Louise a heart attack, "Eu não conseguia encontrá-lo, I thought something — "

SMACK!

Artie's word were cut off as Appolonia slapped him,"I'm not sure I deserved that, But — "

SMACK!

This time she hit his left cheek rather than his right, "Okay, I may have deserved that. Just let me — "

SMACK!

"Let me guess," Appolonia growled. "You didn't deserved that either?"

"No," he said, rubbing his face, "That one I actually deserved."

"I'll leave you two alone."said Louise. And with that she left.

Appolonia huffed angrily and pushed her hair out of her face, causing Artie to flinch. "Well?"

"Well what?"

Appolonia clenched her fist as she yelled in rapid spainish, "Usted tiene algún nervio que un hijo de puta. ¿Tiene usted alguna idea de lo que me hiciste pasar? Se buscaron los días! Días! Pensé que estabas muerto. Luego le dice a Quirón envíeme un mensaje, diciendo que está en el maldito triángulo de Berumada, haciendo lo que los dioses saben qué. Y ahora usted se presenta y actúa como si nada hubiera pasado?"

Despite the foreign language and how many words Appolonia managed to cram in seconds, Artie understood every word. "I'll explain everything, just calm down."

Appolonia was still too angry to speak English,"No te atrevas a decirme que me calme!"

Artie was actually backing up as he spoke, "You're right. I'm sorry. I would have sent you an Iris message, but I was busy."

She seemed to have run out of steam because she asked in English, "Busy? Doing what?"

"Helping Clarisse find the Golden Fleece to heal Thalia's Pine." said a voice.

Appolonia and Artie both turned to see Annabeth and Clarisse, walking up to them.

"What?" Appolonia asked.

"Artie was kidnapped by Luke's forces when he was out hunting." Annabeth told her. "He said they mistook him for one thier own. Rather then trying to get away, he stayed with them to see if he can find any valuable information."

"Really?'

Annabeth elbowed Clarisse,"Yeah, he also helped that Percy runt delay Luke long enough for me to get to the airport. About time he did something useful for once, if you ask me."

Appolonia turned to face Artie, "Is it true?"

"Yeah. I knew must have been worried." he admitted. "But until I met up with them and I found out about Thalia's tree, I thought you were safe. I didn't mean to make you worry, but — "

Appolonia cut him off as she flung herself toward him and kissed him. Artie, not one to throw away a life line, returned the kiss. A second later they parted, but she hugged him tight. She began to sniffle a little as she laughed and cried.

"Nunca haría eso a mí otra vez, idiota." she whispered to him.

Artie held her tight and stroked her head, "Te lo prometo, nunca más."

Artie looked to Clarisse and Annabeth and mouthed his thanks. Annabeth nodded approvingly while Clarisse just shrugged and walked off towards her cabin. Artie watched her walk, wondering what sparked the sudden act of kindness, when Appolonia let go and held up a strand of his hair.

"So when did you dye your hair?" she asked.

Artie picked up the unfinished moonsilver bracers and gauntlets Appolonia had dropped. "I need to finish these before we head back, I'll tell you everything on the way."

A/N - Well, the next chapter should pretty wrap up SOM, thus allowing me to take a small break and get started on Titan's curse. There, you'll find out Artie's origin as well what exactly happened on his quest.

A/N - If you find you cant read Spanish or Portuguese, like me, just try using Google translate. And if you're wondering why I add different languages to the story, Personally I find it adds, for the lack of a better word, flavor to it and I'm going to continue doing it. At least for my PJO fics anyway.