Everlasting Promises - My ending

by hector.vorng

Creds go to starblade176, purely a fanfiction of a fanfiction..

14. Chapter 14

Percy

Percy grinned as he walked away from Artemis. Her expression was priceless; it seemed to be a combination of anticipation, shock, annoyance and just plain confusion.

"Wherever you're going, make sure you get back here by midnight!" Artemis yelled after him.

"I'll try, my lady!" Percy yelled back.

Percy quickly walked on, aiming to get somewhere into the forest so he could fly to Olympus without being seen. Unfortunately, he was constantly being watched. Mainly by the Aphrodite cabin. At first he tried to ignore it, but when the girls began walking up to him and batting their eyelashes and trying to flirt with him, it became too much. Quickly running through a list of hiding spots or hidden places that he knew where could have some privacy, he ultimately decided on the beach. Transforming himself into liquid form, he had the extreme pleasure of hearing all the campers scream in fright as he shot towards the beach at high speed.

Unfortunately, even at the beach he was not alone.

Percy reached the beach after snaking around and scaring the Hades out of several campers with a grateful sigh. He slowly reformed himself and stretched, taking in a deep breath of the salty sea-tinted air. He looked into the sky and was about to launch himself into the air when he heard voices. One was incredibly sad and the other stern and hard as steel.

"Mother please, is there anyway-" The sad voice said before she was cut off.

"No. There is absolutely no chance, he has already told you."

Percy walked closer and saw two figures which he recognized as Annabeth and Athena. Annabeth was kneeling on the shore, facing the sea, tears rolling down her face as her hand clenched tightly around Percy's engagement ring box. Athena stood beside her. Deciding that it would be rude to interrupt, he merely stood there and listened in.

"But mother, I can't lose him, he-he means too much to me." Annabeth moaned.

"It was your own fault. Your opportunity was open, but you closed it. I had my doubts about young Perseus, but he proved himself that he loved you. He truly did. But what did you do? You tossed him away like a toy that you got tired of." Athena said harshly.

"But… is-is there any way to reopen the opportunity?" Annabeth whispered.

"No. The only way would be to give him Aphrodite's love potion, and that would be horrible. You and him would be living a lie." Athena replied.

"But mother, maybe you could-" Annabeth said before Athena cut her off.

"Absolutely not. I would never do that to anyone, much less Perseus." Athena said coldly.

"But-" Annabeth started saying but Athena cut her off again.

"Tell me Annabeth, what am I the Goddess of?" Athena asked.

"You're the Goddess of Wisdom, War, Crafts, Strategy, Justice-" Annabeth listed off before Athena cut her off yet again.

"Exactly. I'm the Goddess of Justice. And I expect my children to know and understand that. You've really disappointed me Annabeth, I thought you would know the value of Percy and not be so short-sighted." Athena said harshly. "He has many spectacular characteristics in him, something that Poseidon also has, if you look deep enough."

Annabeth sighed. "I know…it's just that…that-"

"It's over, you cannot moan over something you have lost. It was your fault, so accept it. If you aren't going to move on, at least drop it." Athena said with barely concealed impatience.

Annabeth nodded sadly and stood up. "I'm going now Mom. Thanks for coming." She choked out before rushing off.

"Annabeth loves you a lot you know, young Perseus." Athena said, surprising him as she turned to face him.

Percy shrugged as he walked forward to stand beside Athena. "I know. But it's too late, and besides, I-I love someone else far more than I have ever felt. And I mean really, really love that person. With Annabeth, well, I just want to be on neutral terms with her. I'm not ready to forgive her yet, that'll take a long time, but I don't want to hate her either." Percy said.

"Give it time Perseus. She will get over it and all will be well. About your new found love… it's her, isn't it?" Athena asked, throwing a sly glance at Percy.

Percy felt his face heat up so he turned to face the sea. There was no doubt who the 'her' was.

"Um… no, it's er-"

"Please Perseus, as if it could be anyone else. I've seen the way you look at her, the caring and protectiveness in your eyes when you look at her, and I've seen how comfortable she is with you beside her." Athena said quietly, placing a hand on Percy's shoulder.

Percy sighed. He looked up and stared at the silvery-yellow moon before answering.

"Yes. Yes it is. Something doomed to end in failure or destruction." Percy said, feeling unnaturally glum.

"Do not be so pessimistic Perseus." Athena said sternly. "You never know what'll happen, not even the Fates know."

"How do you know? I thought the Fates prepare almost everything? And also, Artemis is the most committed maiden goddess ever, what other way can it end?" Percy asked.

"I do not know Perseus. And the Fates do not know everything, since there are higher beings than they. Or perhaps I should say deity." Athena said.

Percy turned to face her. "Someone higher than the Fates? Ah. You mean Chaos?" Percy asked.

Athena nodded. "Ever since he visited us to grant the oath you had offered, I've been checking up all we know about him. And I am surprised, since we don't have much information about him, other than the fact that he created the Universe before hiding himself away. Some legends say he had a brother, while others say that he was not the true creator of the Universe, he had a father who created him to help him watch over the Universe. Unfortunately, none of this can be verified seeing as no one has met Chaos. Ever. Until your oath." Athena said, pausing for a little bit.

"It proves you are very special, to have gained the attention of Chaos. There were very few heroes who swore by Chaos, and they were all rejected. You are the very first to have been accepted, Perseus. It means that the Fates do not bind you, nor do they control you. Perhaps they did before, but not anymore. Your fate is truly in your own hands Perseus. I doubt whether even Chaos can do anything about it." Athena said in a serious tone.

"That sounds ominous; knowing that everything I'm doing will affect what's going to happen. But how the Hades does this have to do with Artemis?" Percy asked.

"It involves Artemis because it involves you. Whatever you do, whoever you are with, you change. Haven't you noticed? The Hunt has accepted you. I don't think they've ever had that much fun before. You've changed Artemis too, in a slight way. Even Zeus has accepted you. In truth, Zeus is actually a little afraid of you, because Chaos personally showed up and expressed his approval of you. You've changed the way the gods have lived, Perseus. And if I'm positive about one thing, is that gods don't like to change." Athena said.

"So I'm a reality-distorting guy now? That sounds pretty dangerous. Still doesn't solve the problem with Artemis." Percy said.

"True. Half of your situation depends on what you do, and the other half depends on Artemis herself. But I can definitely tell that Artemis has quite a heavy thing for you. And I'm not sure whether you know this, but you are Artemis's first, ah, how do I put this, hmm, attraction I suppose. I mean attraction as in the whole package." Athena said.

Percy turned to her. "I thought Orion was? And also, why are you telling me this? I thought you would try to push me away from Artemis?" Percy asked.

"That's what you mortals think. Artemis puts Orion in the sky because he was a good hunter, and you stupid mortals think that Artemis fell in love with him. As if." Athena snorted.

"He was only a toy, someone that Artemis found interesting. Something Artemis could entertain herself with. Trust me, Artemis and I are very close, so I know what she thinks. Also, Artemis herself told me that she was drawn to him because of his skill in archery and hunting, not because of who he was and later admitted to me that she was actually glad that he was dead. Especially after she learned what Orion had done before she'd met him and what he'd been doing behind her back. Why do you think she put the scorpion in the sky? Because he had tried to seduce her huntresses, attempted to rape one, and even stalked Artemis when she was bathing. I hated him too."

For some strange reason, Percy felt immensely happy when heard the news.

"Yeah, she told me about the scorpion." Percy muttered. Unable to hold back a smile, he reminded Athena that she hadn't answered his last question.

"You didn't answer the last question. Why do you support it? Why aren't you trying to push me away?" Percy asked, staring into Athena's intimidating grey eyes.

Athena returned the stare with exasperation. "You know, just when I thought you'd changed, you reveal that you are still the same old Seaweed Brain. If you were any other man, I would be the first to kill you. But you aren't. You are different, and in all honesty, I am forced to admit that I think you are the perfect match for my sister. You're worthy. And I've seen how relaxed she is around you. She may deny it all she wants, but she actually likes your company. You've also proven yourself. Follow what you think is correct, and leave the rest for Artemis to decide."

"Oh I will, I will. I just have…a feeling about this. About something. I don't know, but I just have a feeling something will happen in the near future, good or bad, I cannot tell. But my instincts tell me something will happen. Something big. And it might or might not have anything to do with Artemis." Percy said, frowning as he turned back to the sea.

Athena shrugged. "I do not know. And loth as I am to admit it, your instincts so far have been pretty accurate. Keep an eye out for any trouble or anything out of the ordinary." Athena said.

Percy cracked a grin. "Ordinary? When are things ever ordinary for me?" Percy chuckled.

Athena smiled a bit too. "True. Well, I must go now and attend some business, so I wish you luck in whatever you're going to do. And remember, due to Artemis's pride, you will have to make the move first. And do not worry; your secret is safe with me. Oh, and watch out for Apollo. He is very…sensitive when it comes to his sister. You know what happened." Athena said.

"Yeah…well, what do you suggest I do?" Percy asked.

"Just don't piss Apollo off and hope that he'll accept your relationship. There isn't much you can do about him, unfortunately." Athena said.

"I will." Percy said. Then he turned around and narrowed his eyes slightly as his gaze sharpened.

"You know, the things that you told me sounds like the stuff Aphrodite would say. How do you know so much about this type of stuff? About relationships? Are you in one or going after someone yourself?" Percy asked.

Suddenly, Athena found Percy's eyes impossibly sharp and she felt as if the intensity of his gaze was stripping away every defense she had.

"Wh-what? How dare you suggest such a thing?" Athena asked, her voice sounding squeaky and utterly failing at keeping the quaver out of her voice.

Percy snorted. "Look, I told you the truth, so you should tell me the truth too. If not who, at least answer the question." Percy said, continuing to stare at her.

"Um…perhaps I'm trying something new…" Athena mumbled, her face turning crimson.

Percy smirked. "Well, so long as you aren't going after my dad, fine with me." Percy said jokingly.

He completely failed to catch the stricken and panicked look that crossed Athena's face as Percy looked into the sky, noticing it was getting late.

"Well, I must get going Lady Athena, since if I come back too late, Artemis will have my head. So thank you for your advice and help Lady Athena. See you later." Percy said, extending his wings and rocketing into the air.

"Se-see you lat-later…" Athena stuttered out belatedly as she teleported to a certain palace-in-repair.

Oblivious to all, Percy turned towards Olympus. Taking in deep breaths of the cool and fresh air, he immediately began thinking of what he and Athena had just discussed. Was it possible? Could it really happen? Could his secret love on Artemis really work? Athena had said that Artemis was strongly attracted to him. But from what Percy could tell, Artemis seemed just the same to him, as annoying towards him as ever. But that's not true, Percy corrected himself. Artemis had been much kinder towards him than the first couple months. And she had allowed him to touch and hold on to her, which in itself was a big achievement.

He was wrenched away from his thoughts as he neared Olympus and two wind spirits materialized in front of him.

"Halt! Who dares to invade the territory of Lord Zeus?" A wind spirit said harshly, sword in one hand and his other hand glowing with a ball of power.

The other was just slightly behind him, a whistle in his hand, obviously for distress use. The first wind spirit was about to lift his sword and hold it to Percy's neck when he suddenly recognized the bat-like wings sprouting from Percy's back.

"Oh! Lord Perseus! Forgive us, Guardian, but only full immortals are allowed to enter Olympus without going through the gates down at the Empire State building. That, or have a god or goddess accompany you." The wind spirit said in a much more polite tone.

"Ah ok, well, that's alright then. Thanks for not blasting me out of the air." Percy said.

"Anytime, Lord Perseus." The wind spirit responded.

Percy turned to go but paused. "Why do you call me Lord Perseus? I'm just a part immortal demigod." Percy asked.

The wind spirit smiled. "Perhaps, but we've all heard about your victory over the Titan's and the Giant King himself. You're quite a celebrity up here on Olympus, Lord Perseus. Hephaestus TV always has you, filled with the latest rumors or questions or anything really."

Percy groaned. "Just what I need… more attention. Well, thanks for giving me the heads-up. Hopefully we can meet again." Percy said as he turned around and shot towards the Empire State building.

He was about to go all out and smash the sound barrier when he remember that he was in a urban area and a sonic blast could very well cause buildings to collapse. He sighed and slowed his speed down, landing on a rooftop near the Empire State building, pondering on how to get in the building without being seen. Then he grinned as an idea came to him.

Transforming himself into his liquid form, he slid down the building, to outsiders, it would look like a stream of water flowing from the rooftop. He quickly slid across the road, deftly avoiding the cars that went rumbling over him. He slipped underneath the doors and flowed to the front desk, where the same old security guard with the same old book was sitting. As quietly and carefully as possible, and looking around to make sure no one was around, he crept up the desk as far away as he could from the guard so the guard wouldn't catch him in his peripheral vision and silently pooled himself at the base of the desk. Then he crept up again and scanned the desk, noticing a large red button that he assumed was pressed for emergencies, and right next to it was the card to access the 600th floor of the Empire State Building.

Grinning internally, Percy stretched a bit of himself and grabbed the card before slipping off, under the gate and reforming himself in front of the elevator. He snuck a glance at the security guard as he pressed the 'up' button, who was sitting there as impassive as ever. Smirking, he turned back to the elevator and walked in. He put the card in and a second later, the 600th floor button popped out. He pressed it and leaned back, twirling the card in his hand before slipping it into his pocket.

Hehe. Something worthy of the Stolls. Speaking of the Stolls, I should talk to them. Hades, I should talk with Clarisse and all my old friends. Percy thought.

He still hated all the campers, but he felt that he owed his old friends an explanation. They had, after all, stood by his side when he was at his lowest point. Now all the campers were fawning over him because he was obviously "favored" by the gods.

"Damn campers… they're all like sheep, following what appears to be the leader." Percy growled under his breath. He'd never forgive them, unless he found a few more promising ones. Other than that, he'd maintain a cold silence at best.

The elevator doors dinged open and he stepped onto the walkway, once again in awe at just how beautiful Olympus looked, especially at night, what with all those lights glittering all over the place. Seeing as he wasn't a heartbroken, depressed and suicidal kid now, he decided to take the time to admire the improvements that Annabeth had made on Olympus. Unfortunately, just as he was beginning to examine the unique curves and lines that Annabeth had used on an outdoor food bar, he just had to be interrupted. By a fawning female.

"Excuse me? Um, Lord Perseus, may I have your autograph?" A young female squeaked out, holding out a notebook and a pen.

Percy whirled around in surprise, his hand already reaching in and gripping Riptide before he saw the young girl standing in front of him, looking nervous and slightly afraid. He quickly examined the girl and finally put her into the dryad category, since her face was far greener than any demigod female could've been.

"Um, sure. But why?" Percy asked, taking the notebook and pen from her as he quickly scrawled his full name.

"Because you're the Hero of Olympus and a Guardian of the Hunt! We love Artemis! And thank you!" The dryad squealed before giving Percy a quick bat of her eyelashes and running off.

Percy saw where she was running off to and saw that it was a large group of females, who seemed to be eagerly awaiting her. Oh Hades. If he didn't run off now, he'd literally get mobbed. He ran off at high speed, relishing the speed at which he could now run. Staying with Artemis really had improved his endurance and speed. He ran and quickly scanned the palaces that belonged to each of the Olympians. He saw a shining silver one with a forest around it and instantly knew that it belonged to Artemis. Next to Artemis's was a golden one. Apollo's palace. It looked rather dull in comparison. And while he would like nothing else than to stare at Artemis's palace, he was running out of time if he were to make the midnight deadline and he still had to find the palace that belonged to the goddess he wanted to talk to.

Percy was just about to stop and ask a citizen when he rounded the corner and found his objective. Aphrodite's palace. He cringed at the sight of the pink walls and the heavy perfume that seeped into the air. He gritted his teeth and reminded himself that he was doing this all for Artemis. And her hunters.

And for myself, I suppose. Percy thought wryly.

He walked up and knocked on the door. A scant second later, he heard some movement behind the door and it opened. He barely saw Aphrodite in a thin sea green dress and her bored expression when she suddenly screamed and before he knew what was happening, he was yanked into her palace and teleported to her master bedroom. The next thing he knew, he was lying on her bed and Aphrodite was straddling him, rolling her hips against him. One of her hands was already reaching under his shirt, rubbing against his stomach while the other one was unzipping her dress as she moaned with pleasure. He gave a yelp and managed to push her off before rolling aside.

"What the hell, Aphrodite! What was that for?" Percy asked indignantly.

"Well, why did you come here then?" She asked, her voice filled with lust.

"I came here to ask you for some help! What else did you think?" Percy asked, warily looking at Aphrodite in case she tried to jump him again.

"I-I thought you took up my offer." Aphrodite replied with a crestfallen look.

Percy groaned. "I already told you, I'm not interested. I'm here for different reasons, and trust me, if I had a choice, I wouldn't come here at all." Percy said.

Aphrodite replied by pouting at him and making her eyes as big as possible. While cute, Percy had seen a much cuter and far more beautiful look on the face of a certain moon goddess when he had been "healing" her.

"It's not going to work. And can you please hurry? I don't have much time. Only about…um, two hours." Percy said as he looked at his watch. His watch indicated 10 o'clock, so he had two hours to get his plan into action.

Aphrodite gave a pitiful sounding sigh. "Fine. But my help will cost you something, Perseus." Aphrodite said, giving him a sly and hopeful glance.

Percy grinned. "You still owe me for saving Tracy, remember? Your turn to return the favour, Lady Aphrodite." Percy said. He smirked as her face fell.

Aphrodite sighed. "Alright. You win. What do you want help with?" She asked.

"Erm, well, um, I uh, I need your help with a, well, I suppose you could call it a date." Percy mumbled, his face turning red.

"And may I ask who this lucky lady is?" Aphrodite asked, unable to resist poking fun at Percy.

"Um, it's with Artemis…" Percy muttered out, feeling impossibly embarrassed. "But I'm bringing the Hunters along with the dinner, so it's not completely a date!" Percy said hurriedly in case Aphrodite got some weird ideas.

However, Aphrodite barely registered what he had said at the end. She had gasped when she heard Artemis's name and she stared at Percy in shock. How had she missed it? As she stared at Percy, she probed deeper into his mind and found the love for Artemis in there, so deep that had Aphrodite wanted to, she literally could've drowned in it for eternity.

It was the biggest relationship ever, it was so big, it made her little play with Paris and Helen look insignificant! It was a relationship forbidden to happen. And while Aphrodite was all for helping him, she felt an alien emotion wash over her. Jealousy. It was the first time she had ever experienced this feeling, and it shocked her. It showed her just how special this young immortal-turned demigod was, how she was able to capture her heart, not the other way around. She continued to stare at Percy, feeling, relishing this new emotion, while Percy was getting more and more uncomfortable and nervous.

"Aphrodite? Hello? Um, so will you help me or not?" Percy asked, beginning to feel squeamish as Aphrodite continued to stare at him.

Aphrodite wrenched herself from her feelings and went back to Percy's plea for help. An idea hit her. She could help Percy, move his relationship with Artemis along, and get some personal pleasure from doing it! Wasn't as good as having Percy all to herself, but she supposed this was the best she was going to get.

"Of course I'll help! Come on, dining room so we can nibble on biscuits and talk!" Aphrodite squealed, feeling energized again.

She snapped her fingers and teleported herself and Percy into her dining room, but she teleported them in a way that Percy ended up in a chair with Aphrodite sitting on top of him. She moaned as she rubbed her back against his chest, which quickly turned into a pitiful, wanting moan as Percy slipped out from underneath her.

"Seriously Aphrodite, I don't have much time, and if you keep on doing that stuff, I'll just do everything by myself then." Percy threatened, giving Aphrodite a dangerous glare.

"Ok, ok, I'll try to control myself. So what do you want? Clothes? Tips? Ways of wooing a girl?" Aphrodite asked as she reached towards the table and picked up a biscuit.

"No, none of that. Actually, yeah, I'll need help on the clothing, but I also need some other help." Percy said.

Aphrodite nodded. "Nibbles?" She asked, holding her biscuit out to him. Percy leaned backwards and shook his head. "What a untrusting person." Aphrodite pouted as she ate the biscuit.

"So what do you need help then?" Aphrodite asked.

"Well, first of all, what restaurant do you suggest? And please, I want a dignified restaurant, not something that Apollo would go to." Percy said.

"Hmmm." Aphrodite pondered. "Japanese? I like sushi."

Percy shook his head.

"Seafood? Lobster is great!" Aphrodite said just to annoy him.

Percy shook his head violently before glaring at her.

"Mexican? Spicy food isn't bad, brings a nice blush to your face." Aphrodite suggested.

At this, Percy rolled his eyes and gave an exasperated shake of his head.

"Hmm, I know! French food? I've always loved Frenchies and their delicacies are great." Aphrodite said.

Percy was about to shake his head again when he thought about it.

"Is it dignified? Like no crazy yelling or something?" Percy asked.

Aphrodite laughed. "My dear Percy, of course it's quiet. And besides, you could just order a VIP table and room you know!" Aphrodite said, smiling at Percy's simplicity.

"Oh right, yeah. Well, what is this restaurant called?" Percy asked.

"Very simple. It's called Daniel. You know, it's on the Upper East Side, on the 65th street. Taste great. I've been there once or twice." Aphrodite said.

Percy nodded and glanced at his watch. Eleven o'clock. He couldn't believe that he had spent that much time with Aphrodite. He shuddered. He still had to talk to another god, sneak back past the security guard and get back to Artemis in an hour.

"Alright then. I have to go now, but can I call again tomorrow?" Percy asked.

"Of course you can come back! Any time! But why are you leaving already! I haven't even gotten time to-um, alright, fine." Aphrodite said, barely managing to stop herself from saying out loud that she had wanted to try to steal a kiss from him.

"I'm leaving because Artemis wants me back at Camp by midnight, and also because I have, quite frankly, had enough of your perfume and pink walls to scar my life forever." Percy grumbled.

He walked over to the window, since he had no intention of having Aphrodite "escort" him out of her palace.

"Wait, where are you going? At least allow me to escort you out of my palace!" Aphrodite said, desperately grabbing for a chance to touch him before he had to leave.

Percy raised an eyebrow at her. "I'm not your sex toy, Aphrodite. Thanks for your help, and as much as I hate it, I'll be back tomorrow." Percy said before opening the window and jumping right out.

Aphrodite sighed, but quickly smiled again as a devious thought hit her. She would purposely draw out the amount of time needed to prepare Percy for his "date" and try to have fun with him in the process. Of course, she was all for helping Percy extend his relationship with Artemis, but that didn't mean she couldn't have any fun. She grinned evilly. This was going to be awesome.

Percy rolled as he hit the ground, a neat skill that he had learned from the Amazons and mastered during his torturous time with Artemis and her Hunters. He brushed some dirt from his clothes and walked off, keeping an eye out for a palace that would probably look sneaky and most likely had mazes or road signs in front of it. He kept his distance as he walked past a palace that looked like a live palace. Automatons would occasionally roll out of the palace and the palace itself kept on moving, as if shifting itself to make it more comfortable for its occupant. Knowing Hephaestus, he kept a health amount of space between him and the gates. Jumping backwards from getting poisoned by Demeter's poison ivy-laced gates, he found the palace he was looking for.

A big palace with two wings on either side, flapping idly in the air, there were crazy amounts of crossroads, he could already see a maze in it and hundreds of US Postal Service fans. The palace gate was nothing more than a row upon row of metal drop-off package boxes.

Percy walked up and hesitated. He had absolutely no idea of how to "knock" on his gate. He was just about to try yelling at the boxes when the gates swung open of their own accord. Percy paused for a second before shrugging and walking right up to the palace door. The door too, swung right open. He walked inside and saw Hermes standing right next to a table.

"Hello Perseus. You wanted to talk to me?" Hermes asked in a cheerful tone.

"Um, yeah. I was just wondering whether you could tell me if there are any news reports regarding missing children? I mean, missing all at once, or in a certain city, or a sharp rise in missing children?" Percy asked.

Hermes smiled. "A smart young man you've become now, Percy. Unfortunately, Lamia has escaped too recently, so all the reports of missing children are around average. However, I do suggest that you go to the Amazons. They travel far and wide, searching for rare monsters to capture, so they might notice things even before I do. And from what I've heard, you're on pretty good terms with them. Why don't you ask them tomorrow for help? I'll keep an eye out too, but sometimes I'm, ah, forgetful."

"Yeah, that's why I invented the internet. You completely forgot about it, boss."

"George, shut up! Hermes invented the internet and he did not forget about it! "

"Both of you shut up. Or I won't get any rats for you two to eat." Hermes said sternly as his pocket vibrated.

"Awww, alright, but at least take us out of your pockets will you? I want to see Percy, haven't seen him in a long time."

"Yeah, I agree with Martha. This pocket stinks anyways, probably because you never change your pants."

Hermes groaned as Percy chuckled. He took his cellphone-caduceus and held it in his hand.

"There. Happy now?" Hermes grumbled.

"Hello Martha. Hey George. What's up?" Percy asked as the two snakes slithered around the phone.

"Oooohhh, what a handsome young man you've become Percy! I'd love to come after you, but I'm a snake. How sad." Martha said in a sad little voice.

"Hey, you're a snake! You shouldn't even think that he's handsome!" George exclaimed.

"That's because you're jealous of my beauty since you're a ugly twat. And because I'm Hermes favourite." Martha said smugly.

"Oi! Who're you calling twat? I don't even have a twat! And you're not Hermes favourite, we both are!" George shot back.

"Of course I'm Hermes favourite. That's because I don't try to steal credit from his inventions, and because I'm always polite, while you are the exact opposite. Bloody obnoxious too." Marth replied calmly.

"Oh yeah? How about-"

"Stop it. Did you two want to come out to talk to Percy or did you come out to argue in front of him?" Hermes said sternly.

"Sorry Hermes. We'll stop. By the way, you have about 88 unread text messages, three quarters which are from Demeter." Martha said.

Hermes groaned again. "Demeter? What's up with her?"

"It's because Demeter has a crush on you." George replied. Percy swore that if snacks could smirk, George would've been smirking. "Hey big boy, did you bring us a rat?"

"Eh no, I didn't bring a rat since I hadn't thought of asking Hermes for help until I was on Olympus. I'm sorry." Percy replied.

"Don't be. George is an inconsiderate idiot; I know that you're very busy, what with being Guardian of the Hunt and all." Martha said sweetly.

"Stop flirting with him Martha! He's a human, for Zeus's sake!" George said irritably.

"I am not flirting! I'm just giving him compliments, which he completely deserves! If I were saying he were tasty, then that'd be different!" Martha yelled.

"Rats. I love them. So yumm-"

"WILL YOU TWO SHUT UP? AND NOT ANOTHER WORD OF RATS EITHER!" Hermes roared at the two before flicking the 'silent' switch on and slipping it back into his pocket.

"Sorry about that Perseus. So, any other questions?" Hermes asked after taking several deep breathes.

Percy grinned. "Nope, that's all Lord Hermes. Thank you very much. I'll go now." Percy said, bowing as he turned to leave.

"You're welcome, young Guardian. And I'll take that key back, by the way." Hermes said.

Percy froze. "What?" he asked, even though he was pretty sure he knew what Hermes was talking about.

Hermes grinned, but this grin had a mischievous hint in it.

"You're skill at taking the key from him was pretty good. But what you don't know is that we gods know what enters our elevators. So even if you get past the security guard, the instant someone steps into the elevators without the security guard knowledge, we'll know instantly. If it weren't for the fact that it was you, all of us Olympians would have been waiting to greet you, in full battle regalia." Hermes explained.

Percy flushed with embarrassment.

"Oh. Sorry about that, I just wanted to have some fun, since I really hated that security guard." Percy mumbled as he took the key out of his pocket and handed it to Hermes.

Hermes laughed. "I'm not blaming or even criticizing you Percy. Remember, I've done many similar things, much bigger than this, and I haven't gotten into trouble either. And if we had wanted to punish you, Zeus himself would be talking to you, not me." Hermes said, winking at Percy.

Percy winced. "Thank you Lord Hermes. Then I'll go to the Amazons then." Percy said as he turned around and walked out the palace.

He walked around idly for a couple of minutes as he thought of his dinner plan with Artemis and the Hunters. He had a plan of some sorts, but since he wanted it perfect, he'd have to ask Aphrodite for some finer tips. He groaned at that thought. Something about Aphrodite just creeped him out. He looked down at his watch to see what time it was.

11:15PM

Surprise. Talking to Hermes had taken a much shorter amount of time than talking with Aphrodite. Perhaps he could talk to Rachel? He could fly, and he knew where she lived. Besides, maybe he could also ask her about the uneasy feeling he had. He extended his wings and was just about to fly off when he felt someone grab his shoulder. He instantly whirled around, knocking the arm off, Riptide already out of its pen form. Flames licked the blades as he held the sword to the person's throat. He was hooded and seemed afraid, since his hands were up in the classic 'look, no weapons' motion. It was quite comical actually, since Percy towered over the stranger by about a head.

"Hey, cool down cousin. Damn, but you've got amazing reflexes." He said.

Percy frowned. He knew that voice.

"Apollo? What the heck are you doing out here this late? And you could've just called me. Why are you wearing a hood?" Percy said, lowering his sword and capping it.

"You should put your hood up too, there are a lot of snoopy people around Olympus. As to why I'm here, well, I'm just wondering what you were doing in Aphrodite's palace." Apollo asked. His voice, before cheerful, was suddenly deadly serious.

"As much as I hated to, I was asking her for some help." Percy replied.

"Help for what?" Apollo asked stiffly.

"It's none of your business Lord Apollo." Percy replied.

"Of course it's my business." Apollo growled, taking a step forward.

Percy didn't move and it took all his self-control not to punch Apollo in the face or yell at him. Athena had warned him that he would have to be careful with Apollo, so he did his best to remain as polite as possible.

"If it's your business, then use that famous eye of yours. You said you'd know everything and see everything." Percy said as politely as he could.

Apollo grinned, but it held no amusement in it.

"Good answer kid. Don't you worry, I'll find out." Apollo said in a threateningly manner before disappearing in a burst of golden fire.

Percy turned and put his hood up. He should've done that, then it would be less likely for people to recognize him. He stretched his wings and back before he shot into the air.

And crashed with something big. Several somethings. He felt like he was getting trampled. He lost control and fell right back down to Olympus, causing a cloud of dust to rise around him. He instantly leaped back to his feet, drawing both of his swords and holding them in a 'ready' position. He heard footsteps and whirled around, to face a young women holding a shining silver bow and three arrows. Both gasped and lowered their weapons.

"Percy?" Artemis asked.

"My Lady?" Percy asked at the same time.

"What are you doing on Olympus?" Artemis asked, stepping forward and flipping Percy's hood off.

"I was asking Hermes for information about Lamia and missing children. Stuff like that. And I was just going to go and pay a visit to Rachel, the Oracle." Percy replied, deciding not to tell her about Aphrodite.

Artemis nodded. Then shook her head.

"You really need to open your eyes up. How could you miss my chariot and the deer?" Artemis asked incredulously.

"I was trying to locate Long Island from up here, and I didn't notice you. And what were you doing anyway?" Percy asked.

Artemis gave him an exasperated look.

"What do you think? I have my duties to do." Artemis said.

"Duties?" Percy asked, feeling foolish again.

Artemis groaned. "Just as Apollo has to ride every morning, I need to ride at night, because I'm a Goddess of the Moon. You just haven't seen me do it because we went to sleep quite a bit earlier than now." Artemis said. "And probably because you're an inobservant man…"

"Hey, just because I didn't notice doesn't mean I'm inobservant!" Percy protested.

"Whatever. Now get going and make your visit quick Perseus, I expect you to be back at Camp when I return." Artemis said, hopping into her chariot and blasting off.

Percy sighed. How had he missed Artemis and her chariot? And how had he missed the fact that she did it every night? Percy shook his head and decided to hurry up, since he didn't want an angry Artemis after him. He carefully looked into the sky before leaping into the air, aiming straight for Long Island. Actually, the more he thought about it, the more he wanted an angry Artemis after him. She was just so endearing when she was yelling at him, her face red and her silver eyes flashing. Of course, he'd prefer a happy Artemis, since her smile could light up the world, but seeing as that was exactly likely, he'd take an angry Artemis instead. He loved both.

He slowed down and quickly morphed into a crane as he approached the island. Sure, a crane wasn't supposed to be seen on Long Island, but it was much better than some big, black winged person or UFO. Percy quickly surveyed the entire island, even though he knew where Rachel lived, it was rather hard to know which street was which from so high up, especially since he had almost never set foot on Long Island. After all, the Island was mostly reserved for the snobby and the rich, and he was neither. Knowing Rachel, he was looking for a building that had lights on and possibly music blaring through the windows. He saw two buildings that had lights on; one was too far from what he guessed was Rachel's address and the other seemed just right. He aimed himself at it and dove in.

He landed on the balcony and peeked in. Right on. There she was, Rachel Elizabeth Dare, wearing a weird shirt with tattered jeans, her painting of the dude who cut his own ear off Van Gogh hanging on a wall. He pecked the thick glass that separated her "room" and the balcony. He knew the glass was thick because Rachel's iPhone was plugged into her Bose, and yet he couldn't hear a single thing. However, Rachel obviously heard his peck.

She froze and turned towards the window, caution evident in her eyes. Then she saw the crane and her brow furrowed. She walked over and opened the sliding, stepping aside as Percy strutted right in. She slammed the door shut and stood in front of it, a celestial bronze dagger appearing in her hand.

"What are you? Who are you? And if you tell me you're just a magical crane, I'll rip your head right off. No crane just flies down here in the middle of night and pecks on my door." Rachel said, her eyes narrowed.

Percy resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He'd completely forgotten Rachel's machine gun fast way of talking. He answered her by transforming back into his human form.

"There. That answer your question? And put down that dagger Rachel, because it just makes you look laughable." Percy said.

Rachel gave a small yelp of fear as she involuntarily took a step backward from the towering figure.

"Th-that doesn't answer my question at all. Just that you're a…a transformer and sound oddly familiar." Rachel stuttered out.

Percy frowned. "You don't recognize me anymore?"

"How the Hades am I supposed to know who you are if you keep a hood on?" Rachel yelled, her eyes flashing and her dagger quite forgotten.

"Hood…? Oh crap!" Percy exclaimed as he reached up and remembered that he had put his hood back on after Artemis had flipped it off. He pulled the hood down. "Recognize me now?"

Rachel's eyes widened before she launched herself at Percy.

"Oh my gods Percy, where have you been these past months? You just, like, disappeared! Like when Hera abducted you!" Rachel exclaimed, crushing Percy in a tight she stepped back and smacked Percy across the face.

However, after getting slapped and hit many times over when he and Artemis had been arguing, he was quite immune to Rachel's rather puny slap.

Rachel frowned at his lack of reaction and punched him in the stomach. She instantly regretted it, since Percy's stomach felt harder than steel. She wrung her hands before glaring into Percy's amusement filled eyes.

"Oi! You're supposed to say something when people slap or punch you!" Rachel grumbled, rubbing her knuckles.

Percy chuckled. "Well, I would, but I would hardly count those two, what did you call them? Slaps or punches? Hardly. More like little pokes." Percy grinned.

"Yeah? What about this? I bet I can poke a couple holes into you." Rachel said, holding her dagger out and pointing it at him. Percy rolled his eyes.

"Spare me." He said. His hand shot up and grabbed the blade precisely between his fingers before wrenching it out of her hand. Percy smirked at her. "You were saying?"

Rachel gulped. "Ok, maybe not. Forget what I said. But anyways, how's life going, Percy?"

Percy handed the dagger back to her, who nodded her appreciation and tucked it back into her waistband.

"Why are you wielding a dagger now? Do you even know how to wield one?" Percy asked as he took a seat.

"Excuse me! Annabeth began teaching me how to properly wield one ever since the end of the Titan War! Just because you're a blind boy doesn't mean I don't know how to wield one." Rachel snapped.

"Ok, ok, my apologies. But I don't think you're very good with them, since I could take it out of your hand so quickly." Percy said, giving her a wink.

Rachel rolled her eyes. "Now answer my question. How's life?"

"Oh, not bad, not bad. Killed Matthew by the way, so you can come back to camp now." Percy said.

Rachel nodded. "That's good. Thank you. So how's life with Artemis and being a Guardian of the Hunt?"

Percy stared at her, startled. "How did you know?"

"I'm the Oracle, remember? I see a lot of things, mostly in my dreams, and when Apollo made me immortal, he told me." Rachel said, grinning as she tapped her head.

"Figures. Well, life is going pretty well. But about you seeing things in your dreams, that's the reason I'm here. Do you have a sense that something bad is going to happen? Or maybe not bad, but just something big. Really big. And I have no idea what it is supposed to mean, because Gaia is asleep, the Titans are defeated and the Giants are crushed. Do you have any insight into this?" Percy asked.

Rachel frowned. "Hmmm, to be honest with you, no I don't. Everything that my senses and feelings have been telling me is more less peace for now. Many centuries, that's for certain. Maybe eternity."

"Thanks Rachel. Maybe my senses are just acting up or my feelings are messed up. You'll tell me if you sense something though, right?" Percy asked.

"Of course. But Percy, Apollo told me that Chaos himself visited Olympus for you, and unless my Oracle memories are wrong, Chaos bows and listens to no one. Sure, the Three Fates together can give him a headache, but they certainly can't stop him. And he gave you a small gift, so I wouldn't dismiss your feelings and senses if I were prophecies are what the Fates ordain. They cannot control things that Chaos touches or has Chaos's involvement. And remember, not even the Fates can control everything that happens on this planet. Who to die, certainly, but they can't control when a monster rises or something. That's Gaia's work." Rachel said in an unnaturally serious tone.

Percy stared at Rachel with a bit of alarm. What Rachel had just said sounded scarily similar to what Athena had told him. He looked down, processing what Rachel had just said.

"Thanks Rachel." Percy said.

"No problem."

They continued talking, from Percy's relationship with the Hunters and Annabeth, to how Rachel was so glad to be out of the awful Lady school she had to attend and how Rachel's father was finally beginning to support his daughter's idea of saving nature when he glanced at his watch. Eleven fifty-nine. Oh shit. Artemis was going to be pissed. He cursed under his breath.

"Rachel, thanks for all the informationyou gave me, but can we catch up some time later? I have to go back right now because I'm late." Percy said as he stood up.

"Of course, that's not a problem. I'll just visit Camp whenever I have time then! Or when I have a vision, I'll come or Iris Message you." Rachel said, giving him a last hug as Percy stepped out onto the balcony.

Percy nodded and jumped into the air, a powerful flap of his wings lifting him high into the air. Rachel watched until Percy disappeared from sight, shaking her head at just how much Percy had changed and was about to walk back when she sank to her knees, a familiar sensation washing over her.

However, to her surprise, she did not black out. Her mouth opened of its own accord and a misty green serpent issued forth from her mouth, hovering over her and turning its head to face the direction Percy had gone. It opened its mouth and spoke just three words, instead of a prophecy.

End. Brace yourself.

Well, that was weird. Rachel thought an instant before she blacked out.

When she regained consciousness, she had no memory of it happening.

Percy flew towards Camp as fast as he could, not wasting the time, energy and speed to change into a crane since he hoped he could arrive at midnight exactly. He literally boomed across Manhattan and he winced internally, knowing that many people were probably, at this very moment, quite literally shaken out of their beds. Percy landed at the borders of Camp, since Peleus really hated beings that flew right over the camp border. Thanks to Artemis's teachings, his landing was quiet, stealthy and undetectable. Transforming into liquid for a faster and quieter way of traveling, he sped across the ground, intending to head straight to Artemis's cabin. He stopped however, when he saw Artemis lying on the ground right next to the canoe lake.

She was a sight to behold. Even though the moon was nowhere near full, her skin glowed with a soft silver light and her auburn hair fanned out on the ground as she stared into the sky. She looked absolutely perfect and so peaceful. Percy decided to play a prank on her, since he'd never had the chance to do so. Still in his liquid form, he quietly slipped into the lake and reformed into his human form. The he aligned himself right before her and was just about to surge up and yank her down when she spoke, her voice clear, even underwater.

"Get up Perseus. Do you really think I'd fall for the same trick twice? So get up before I pull you up, by your hair." Artemis threatened.

Percy reluctantly surfaced and stood by her side.

"How did you know? I thought I was quiet!" Percy asked, curious.

"Well, just as you can sense me, I can sense you, Percy. While I cannot locate you, I will know when you are near." Artemis said, still sitting on the ground. She stood up and began walking back to her cabin, motioning to Percy to follow her. She glared at him.

"You're late."

Percy looked at his watch. 12:01.

"C'mon Arty, I'm only a minute late." Percy said, smiling as he used his newfound nickname for her.

"Fine. I suppose that you, being a slow, dumb boy, is still learning. I'll let it slide, but only if you agree not to call me 'Arty'." Artemis said, her nose wrinkling as she said Percy's nickname for her.

"Alrighty Arty." Percy said, chuckling.

Artemis ground her teeth together even as she felt her face heat up against her own will. She actually really loved it when Percy called her 'Arty', but she was finding it hard enough to block him out without any more endearments.

"I told you. Don't. Call. Me. Arty." Artemis said through clenched teeth.

"C'mon Moon Beam, why not?" Percy asked, smirking as he used his other nickname for Artemis.

"Because, um, because… because, well, it's not like it's going to help with things, is it?" Artemis said, desperate for an excuse. Albeit a lame excuse. Percy knew it too and smirked.

"Nicknames aren't supposed to be useful. Besides, if we're going to search for Lamia, calling you 'Artemis' will attract a lot of attention. Calling you 'Arty' won't." Percy said with a hint of triumph in his voice.

"Fine. For now. So what information did Hermes give you?" Artemis asked, deciding to change the subject.

"Oh, he told me to ask the Amazons tomorrow. Since I'm on pretty good terms with them, they should be willing to help me out." Percy replied.

Artemis nodded. "Very well. I can teleport you there-"

"No my lady. Reserve your energy. I will ask Hazel to see whether I can borrow Arion. Besides, I should catch up with them, I have not seen them for many months." Percy said.

"If you insist. In the meantime, I will go and scout for Lamia alone. At all times." Artemis said, staring Percy straight in the eye.

"My Lady, I can't just let you-" Percy began.

"Excuse me, but I have hunted a lot of monsters before you ever became my – our - Guardian. And I also sense that a powerful monster is on the loose or at least in the wild." Artemis said.

But Arty, I swore an oath and I fully intend to-"

"Percy, I know. And I know that you will never break your oath. But I know what I'm doing, and if you trust me, then you'll let me do this by myself. Besides, you swore an oath as Guardian of the Hunt, so I hereby order you to protect your sisters from harm. Ok, Percy?" Artemis said softly as she reached up and laid a hand on Percy's shoulder.

Percy sighed. There was no arguing with Artemis when her mind was set, and since he loved her, he'd do anything for her. He bowed his head.

"As you wish, my lady."

Artemis smiled and couldn't help but pat his cheek. "That wasn't so hard, was it? Now come on, we're at my cabin and it's time to sleep."

"Good night then, my lady." Percy said, blushing furiously as he turned away.

"Where-where are you going?" Artemis asked in a mystified tone. "Aren't-aren't you going to sleep with us? I mean, uh, if you want to sleep in the Poseidon cabin, I understand, I-I just wanted to let you know that you're completely welcome to sleep in my cabin since you're part of the Hunt." Artemis said quickly, feeling slightly hurt that Percy didn't want to sleep in her cabin. Not that she wanted him to sleep in her cabin, she quickly reassured herself.

Percy smiled. "That's a great honour, Moon Beam. But I'm going to guard and keep watch." Percy said, pointing at a tall tree that with large branches he could perch himself in.

"Oh. Why? We're safe in this camp, no monster will or can attack." Artemis asked.

Percy uttered a low growl and surveyed the surrounding areas with narrowed eyes.

"I don't trust the campers here. I trust the old campers, but I do not trust the newcomers at all. Especially the boys." Percy growled.

Artemis chuckled. "Listen to yourself, Perseus. You've become one of us. You've become a Hunter." Artemis said, smiling.

Percy returned the smile. "I've always been a Hunter at heart. I hunted down the monsters, even though technically, I'm a slayer and prey. But tell me, what happened to "slow, dumb boy"?" Percy asked, his eyes glinting.

The smile dropped off of Artemis's face. She whacked him on the arm. "When people give you compliments, you say 'thank you', you don't smart mouth them."

Percy winced as he rubbed his arm. Artemis could really hit.

"Alright, I'm sorry my lady. Can't you take a joke?" Percy asked, trying to lighten up the mood.

Artemis replied by whacking him on the same spot. "No. And sense you're so kind to be on guard duty, wake me up half an hour before breakfast. Or in the morning. Your pick. If any boy gets near my cabin, take care of them." Artemis ordered.

Percy did his special bow. "Your will…Arty." Percy said, smirking.

It took all of Artemis's self-control not to smack Percy again. She gave him a good glare and retreated into her cabin. Percy straightened and grinned. He loved this new nickname for Artemis. It was so fun, and it sounded good. He'd keep on switching between 'Moon Beam' and 'Arty' just for the fun of it. He extended his wings from his back and shot into a nearby tree, easily settling down on a tree branch. His black clothing allowed him to blend completely with the shadows, and unless you shone a light on him, you'd never see or notice him. Percy stared into the sky for a couple of minutes, relaxing himself before shutting down half of his brain while the other half was completely alert and watching.

He had slept for about a couple hours when he sensed something approach Artemis's cabin. He quickly stirred himself and was fully awake and ready in half a second. He looked down and saw a single figure half walking and half loping towards the Artemis cabin. Percy grinned. Time to give him the lesson of his life. He jumped down, landing stealthily right next to Artemis's cabin. Even though her cabin was glowing silver, he had adjusted himself so that his clothes could blend into the darkness created by the forest that was behind her cabin. When the stranger had just passed him, he quietly stepped behind him and drew Riptide, placing the tip at the stranger's neck. The stranger froze.

"Who dares to sneak and snoop around Lady Artemis's cabin." He growled in a low voice.

"P-Please d-don't kil-kill me! I-I was just passing by to-to see my girlfriend Juniper. Oh! And I'm Gr-Grover Underwood, a Lo-Lord of the Wild." Grover stuttered out, scared to death and praying that he wouldn't get kill.

Percy froze. "Grover? Dammit G-Man, why did you have to sneak it around like this? And why are you wearing a hood, where did your rasta cap go?" Percy asked excitedly as he lowered Riptide and capped it.

Grover slowly turned around and pulled down the hood on his hoodie. And his mouth dropped way open.

"Percy?Baaaaah!Holy Zeus, where have you been the past months man! I missed you so much!" Grover practically yelled, giving Percy a huge bear hug.

"Oi Grover, nice to see you too, but can you please not yell? Everyone else is sleeping." Percy whispered.

"Yeah, yeah, no problem. Oh my gods, you've changed so much Perce! You're taller, more muscular, and unless I'm wrong, Aphrodite's been hounding you, hasn't she?" Grover said.

Percy pulled back and stared at Grover. "How do you know?"

Grover grinned. "Remember, us satyrs can read emotions. And I can sense some heavy love around you, so thick that it could only come from Aphrodite. So that's how I got my conclusion."

Percy nodded. "About that… I'm really sorry I had to cut off our empathy link, G-man. It's just that, well, I wasn't feeling good that time, and your feelings might either get affected by mine or we'd conflict."

Grover jumped up and clapped Percy's shoulder. "No problem Percy. I understand, and to be honest, I was at first glad that I couldn't feel your emotions. They almost knocked me out. And since you're with Artemis, I think cutting it off would've been a wiser choice."

"How do you know that I'm with Artemis?" Percy asked, surprised.

Grover grinned again. "I'm a Lord of the Wild remember? After a while, I asked the nature spirits to find you. Except then Lord Dionysus found out and told me not to tell anyone. Also, the way you confronted me just then was extra proof that you work with Artemis."

"Hmmm, Dionysus told you not to tell anyone? I never knew he cared." Percy mused.

"He does. He hides it well, but I think that while on the outside he's rough with you, I think he actually admires you quite a bit. From what I can read in his emotions." Grover explained.

"Ahhh, ok. So what brings you back here?" Percy asked, making a mental note to hide his emotions as well as possible, since he had no intention of letting Grover know that he had fallen in love with Artemis.

"I wanted to talk to you man! The dryads sent me word and I came here fast as I could. I also heard that you killed Matthew and another lousy kid right?" Grover asked.

Percy shrugged. "Yes. I don't regret it."

"Yeah, usually I'd care, but I really hated Matthew and his lackeys, so thanks for killing him. I'm glad I can come back. C'mon Perce, let's sit down and trade stories alright? You tell me life with the Hunters, and I'll tell you how camp has been without you and stuff like that." Grover said.

"Not that I'd want to know what's happening to this blasted camp, but can't say no to catching up with my best friend now, can I?" Percy grinned sitting down on the ground and pulling Grover down beside him.

They talked for a long time, talking about the tasks that Athena had given Percy, learning that Annabeth had left him, meeting his nasty brother, becoming Hestia's champion and gaining some of her powers, learning of Triton's and Amphitrite's deception, becoming Guardian of the Hunt and finally being accepted by the Hunt. They also discussed of his return to camp and scaring the Hades out of everyone. Then Percy turned the subject away from him and they started talking about how Annabeth had literally been heartbroken, (to which Percy replied with a noncommittal shrug) and had worried Chiron, Jason, Leo, Piper, Hazel, Frank, Reyna, the entire Athena cabin and the Stolls, along with Katie and Clarisse very much. (Which made Percy feel guilty). They talked so intensely and so much, that Percy hadn't noticed that it was morning until campers began walking out and heading towards the showers and bathrooms.

"Well Percy, I gotta go back to my nature duties and get back to Juniper. We'll talk again later alright?" Grover said as he stood up.

Percy nodded and stood too. "Alright G-Man, thanks for searching for me and coming back to see me and all that stuff."

Grover grinned. "That's what friends are for, right?" Grover gave him a cheery wave before disappearing into the forest.

True. That's what friends and family are for. Percy smiled as he walked inside Artemis's cabin. The inside was very similar to the insides of their tents: simple, clean, elegant and silvery. He noticed a door at the far side, and assumed that Artemis had her own room. He quickly scanned the bunks to see if any of his sisters were awake, but they were all sleeping soundly. All the bunks were occupied, except for one, which had sea green stripes on its bedding. His bunk. Feeling touched, he walked over to Artemis's door and knocked, careful not to knock too loud so he wouldn't wake the hunters. No response. He knocked again, putting an extra bit of force into it. Still no response. Percy knelt and look at the door, noticing a small space between the door and the floor. Percy smirked as an idea came into his mind.

He transformed himself into liquid form and easily slid underneath the door, re-forming himself as he reached the center of Artemis's room. He looked around and saw that it too was simple, elegant, and clean. There were however, quite a few animal pelts hanging from the walls, along with moon designs etched into the wall. He walked over to Artemis's bed, where she was sleeping peacefully and quietly. Percy's heart got caught in his throat when he saw her, so beautiful. She looked so beautiful that he couldn't help but reach out a hand to gently stroke her cheek, just once. She shivered involuntarily at his touch but didn't flinch away. He decided that as much as he didn't want to, he'd have to wake Artemis up right now or else he'd just stand there, staring at her for eternity. He gently put a hand on her arm and shook her slightly.

She mumbled something incoherent before rolling onto her side, her back facing him. Percy rolled his eyes. She was acting just like him, when his mother had to wake him up for school. He shook her again.

"My Lady, it's morning already, wake up." Percy said, shaking her gently. Her eyes flew open at the sound of his voice.

Artemis's eyes widened as she saw Percy looming above her. "Percy? What are you doing in my room?" She asked.

"Waking you up. You wouldn't answer when I knocked, so I thought I might get you up personally." Percy said simply.

"Ho-How did you get in here?" Artemis asked, still in a slight shock that Percy had bypassed her door so easily.

Percy stepped back and grinned a wolfish grin. Then he turned into a liquid form before sliding out underneath her door, back to where the Hunters were still asleep. Percy looked at his watch and decided to wake them up, since breakfast was in about 15 minutes. Percy walked over to Thalia and grinned. He'd save her for the last. Walking over to Tracy, he gently shook her awake.

"Wakey wakey, Tracy." Percy said, whipping the covers off.

"Heeeyyy…." Tracy whined as she tried to pull the covers back. "Gimme my covers back. I was really warm, and now I'm coooold."

Percy shook his head. "Find some other way to heat yourself up. Breakfast is starting soon, so chop-chop." Percy said.

Tracy peeked at Percy under her eyelids and smiled. "OK." She said. She promptly jumped into Percy's arms, digging her face into Percy's neck. "You're warm." She mumbled.

Percy sighed. He should've seen this coming. He tried to detach Tracy's arms, but she hung tighter than a straitjacket. Eventually he gave up and went to rouse the other Hunters. All but Thalia.

After some yawns and muttered complaints, they all assembled around Percy and Tracy, who was still clinging onto Percy. Several of them chuckled and other smiled at the sight. It was proof on how much the Hunters cared and loved Percy.

"So I take it you're saving something special for our Lieutenant?" Phoebe said, gesturing to the sleeping Thalia.

"Oh yeah." Percy said. "Off you go, Tracy." She whined a little bit but unhooked her arms and slid to the ground.

He walked over and reached into Thalia's bag, taking out her iPod and earbuds. He had long since figured out her password, (GDAY) so the lock proved no obstacle for him. Quickly scrolling through Thalia's ginormous music library, he found Smith's 'Whip My Hair'. Thalia hated the song even more than 'Friday'. Smiling slightly, he set the volume to a reasonable volume and gently stuck the earbuds into Thalia's ears, sealing the edges with a bit of hardened water. He then covered the screen of Thalia's iPod with a layer of nonconductive ice before lifting the covers and slipping it into her pocket. The other hunters, who had been watching by his side, laughed softly.

"Ready?" Percy asked. They nodded. He pressed play.

At first, Thalia didn't move. Then her head started turning and a frown crossed her face. Later, the frown deepened and she covered her ears with her hands, which actually made the music louder since she was pushing the earbuds into her ear. After giving a growl of frustration, she sat bolt upright in her bed and began yelling into midair.

"WILL SOMEBODY TURN OFF THAT NASTY SHIT!" Thalia yelled. Percy and the hunters roared with laughter. Thalia frowned when she saw them. "Who's playing that crap?" That set off another of laughter.

"You are." Percy replied.

"What…?" Thalia reached up and seemingly felt that she had earbuds in her ears for the first time. She tried yanking them out, but yelped and tumbled out of her bunk when she nearly pulled her ears off. Everyone screamed with laughter. Thalia reached into her pocket and took out her iPod, trying to disconnect the earbuds but found them stuck. Then she tried using the screen, but since Percy had put nonconductive ice on it, the screen was useless. Thalia turned to Percy, her eyes smoldering.

"PERSEUS JACKSON!"

After a thorough beat up session, yelling and generally causing mass chaos, a smirking Thalia was free of the "nasty shit" while Percy was looking thoroughly fried and disheveled. Artemis was laughing.

"C'mon girls, it's time to eat. And really Percy, try to tame your hair down." Artemis said, smirking.

"Very funny…" Percy grumbled. All the hunters chuckled before setting out in a big group, Artemis at the very front with Percy right behind her. At first, walking to the dining pavilion was horrible, what with all the people staring and ogling at Artemis, Percy and the Hunters. However, after a couple powerful flaming eyes from the hulking and massive Percy, combined with several hilarious animal transformations from Artemis, they soon cleared off very fast. Most of them.

"These new campers don't have an ounce of respect." Percy snarled under his breath as he caused his eyes to burst into flames at a boy who was staring at them. The boy screamed and ran, but not before Artemis turned him into a gerbil.

"Very true. That's why we hate it here so much." Artemis said, waving her hands and causing a snake to appear and start chasing the said gerbil.

They arrived at the dining pavilion without mishap, but about 40 some male campers were "missing".

"Lady Artemis, with all due respect, must you turn them all into animals?" Chiron asked as they seated themselves at the high table.

Artemis merely shrugged nonchalantly as she stared at her hunters. "I'd prefer to sit at my own table, if that's alright with you, Chiron."

Chiron bowed. "Of course."

Artemis nodded to Percy and the two stood up and sat themselves down at the table like how they would sit back at their own camp. Artemis at the head of the table and Percy usually at the other end, even though he constantly switched. The food came and he took a quick glance. Fruit loops, French toast and fish sticks. Right now, not his cup of tea. He stood up and dumped the entire plate into the brazier, causing Artemis to look at him oddly as she felt a strong wave of food smells wash over her. Perc grinned at her as he sat down and summoned 4 grilled chicken legs. Artemis rolled her eyes. If only she'd thought of that, but now it was too late. You couldn't just ask everyone to toss away camp food and tell Percy to summon his own.

Percy was in the middle of eating his second chicken leg when Phoebe walked over and promptly sat on him, earning a 'ooomph' from him. She plucked the chicken leg out of his hand and began demolishing it, all the while leaning into Percy's chest.

Artemis smiled and couldn't help but once again feel impressed by Percy. Earning Phoebe's trust and respect was, after the Stoll brothers had tricked her, practically impossible. The fact that Percy had been able to do so was just a sign of how special and amazing he was. Percy smiled too as he summoned another chicken leg to fulfill Phoebe's unspoken question for another one.

"My my Phoebe, I never knew you had such a feminine side." Percy said, smoothing Phoebe's tangly hair down.

Phoebe blushed slightly but shrugged it off. "You weren't supposed to know. Only family should know. And that's why you know because you're family now." With that, Phoebe jumped off Percy's lap and went back to her seat. Percy was touched as the other hunters smiled at him. He really had found his family now. And with Artemis…well, he'd just do what he can.

They finished breakfast in relative peace and quiet, with the occasional glare and warning sign directed at the other campers. Artemis stood, Percy and the hunters followed suit. Once they were a healthy distance away from everyone, Artemis turned to address everyone.

"Alright, as I told Percy last night, I will be searching and tracking down Lamia alone. In the meantime, I will also look at a powerful monster that seems to be on the loose. While I am gone, Percy will stay here. I ordered him. He'll continue teaching you in sword and knife fighting, and maybe even help you girls on throwing knives since he seems to be so good at them." Artemis said.

Her hunters nodded. Then Diana raised her hand. Artemis nodded at her.

"Yes?"

"Well my lady, what were you and Percy doing together last night?" Diana asked slyly.

Both of them blushed. "Perseus was late, so I was giving him a lecture. Speaking of which, Perseus, you better hurry up and get to the Amazons and come back, I don't want to leave my hunters alone for too long. One is because they might kill a demigod, and two is they'll get bored without someone to play with." Artemis said, her lips quirking into a smile as she said the last part.

Percy nodded. "Then I shall leave right now, my lady."

"I too will go now." Artemis said. "Good luck."

"Good luck to you too my lady." Percy said. Artemis nodded and disappeared into a fine silvery mist.

"Alright Thals, you can take care of yourself right? I"ll be gone for a few hours, since it'll take a while for even the fastest horse on this planet to get to Seattle." Percy asked.

"Of course. We'll practice archery and play our own little games while you're away. And if something happens, we'll always send an Iris Message." Thalia said.

"Alright then. If you'll excuse me, I must go find Hazel. Or Frank. Probably both." Percy said, walking off in search of Hazel. It wasn't hard. There seemed to be a small crowd near the borders of camp, and as Percy walked closer, he saw that the Immortal Campers were standing there, right next to Arion and a large chariot. Most of the Immortal Campers were already seated, with the exception of Hazel, Nico and Leo, who were thoroughly checking everything. He walked up to them.

"Hey Hazel, where are you guys going?" Percy called out.

"We're going back to Camp Jupiter for some…stuff. Then we're coming back." Hazel called back.

"Would you mind if I hitch a ride with you guys? I need to go to Seattle." Percy said.

"Of course! Um, you're going to have to ask Arion first actually…" Hazel said, glancing uncertainly at Arion, who looked very impatient. Percy walked over to him and gave him a light slap to his flank.

Hey Arion, how's it going? You all healed up and everything from those wounds Leon gave you?Percy asked. During one of their quests to stop Gaea, the fire giant Leon had nearly killed Frank by burning his stick and Hazel, along with Arion had rescued him. Unfortunately, Leon had dealt some serious wounds onto Arion, so they were unable to bring him during their quest in Greece. Now however, he seemed quite healthy.

WARNING: UNCENSORED PROFANITY COMING UP. SKIP ARION'S DIALOUGE IF YOU DON'T WANT TO READ IT.

Pffft. Leon? That stupid, rat-ass sucking, pig-shit eating, motherfucking, shit sucking, chicken raping, gods-damned whore dropping? It's going to take a LOT more than those minor flesh wounds dealt by the turd-dipped asshole to make ME stay down. Arion replied haughtily.

Percy winced. "Arion, watch your language. Seriously. If you don't keep it clean, I'll clean it out for you. Literally." Percy said, a ball of water forming in his hand.

Arion glared at him. Fine. I'll try to control my language, but only because you're here, and because you're a Son of Poseidon.

"Thank you. Does that I can hitch a ride in your chariot?"

Yes, human brother. Gods, you humans are so dense. I'd much rather kick that chubby, Asian baby out, but he's my mistresses boyfriend, so I can't do nothin'. Arion grumbled.

Percy grinned at Hazel. "He says yes."

Hazel smiled right back. "That's great! What else did he say?" Hazel asked as she high-fived him.

"Ehhh, well, if I were to censor it, almost everything he said would be asterisks." Percy replied.

Hazel shuddered. "Forget that I asked." Percy chuckled as he climbed into the chariot, and since Reyna insisted that he sit there, he sat between Reyna and Leo. The downside to it was that it was right across from where Annabeth was sitting, who was currently shrinking herself into a small ball and looking everywhere but Percy. The other campers saw it, gave quiet sighs.

"Alright everyone, hold on tight!" Hazel yelled.

Everyone gripped the edges of the chariot tightly and an instant later, they shot forward like a rocket while Leo screamed. After a while, things calmed down a bit and they could sit up straight, even though Leo's eyes were bugging out.

"Where do we go first? Seattle or Camp Jupiter?" Hazel called out to them.

"Um, Camp Jupiter!" Jason called back, but then he turned to Percy. "Um, if that's alright with you Percy." Percy nodded. "Ok, Camp Jupiter, definitely!" Jason confirmed.

Hazel nodded and bent down to talk to Arion. Suddenly a dull boom was heard around them as Arion increased his speed.

"Holy mother, holy mother, how fast are we going?" Leo shrieked.

"No idea. Definitely faster than sound though, even though I don't think Arion can keep this speed up." Percy said.

"Oh good, oh good. Cause I really don't want to throw up…" Leo said, clutching his stomach.

"Well Repair Boy, if you ever feel like throwing up, please puke outside the chariot." Piper said.

"No problem at all Beauty Queen!" Leo said, throwing her a wink before his eyes suddenly widened. "Uh oh." He promptly hung half of his body out of the chariot as he threw up noisily. He came back up sweaty faced and very green looking.

"Next time, do it quietly." Annabeth grumbled, still not looking anywhere near Percy.

"Tell me, what stuff do you guys need to do at Camp Jupiter?" Percy asked. While he cared about Camp Jupiter about as much as he cared about Camp Half-Blood right now, he still hated Octavian and wouldn't like him taking control.

Reyna tensed up. "It's Octavian. As usual. He stayed low after you beat him up, but he's becoming bolder again, spouting worthless prophecies like "The Hero of Olympus is dead" or things like that. What makes it even worse is that people are listening to him again."

"Yeah. That nasty piece of work does nothing but walk around and read "prophecies" from scrolls this time. Not teddy bears. Scrolls." Jason growled.

"Hmm, perhaps he should be taught a lesson. Would you like me to kill him?" Percy asked. They flinched and stared at him, even Annabeth stared at him. He looked around in confusion. "What?"

"You really have changed, haven't you. Before, I don't think you would have been able to kill a non-monster being, and now you're just offering to kill him?" Reyna asked. Her question mirrored the other camper's thoughts.

Percy shrugged. "As long as the death is for a just and good cause, it is completely justifiable. If the person extreme bad in his life, death would be a blessing."

"That's true, but still…" Jason said.

"Alright, if you don't want me to kill him, I have another way of keeping him alive and making sure he suffers. Just leave it to me." Percy said, a plan already sprouting in his head. Damn, Athena's blessing was very powerful. Before, he would never have thought of plans, but now, he was thinking up plans left and right with ease.

Jason looked at him warily. "As long as it doesn't include mass beating and lots of blood, go ahead."

"Oh no, it won't. At least, I'm not sure. I won't be controlling it. But anyways, since we have quite a bit of time, why don't you tell me how Camp Jupiter is? How's life been and all that?" Percy asked, deciding to deflect the subject away from himself. Each of them instantly launched into a long and detailed timeline of what they had done at Camp Jupiter, what was changing and what was staying the same.

Over the next several hours, Percy learned that Camp Jupiter still had only one Pegasus, Scipio, which belonged to Reyna, but they had changed the rules to their war games, where they had a border and you had to cross into friendly territory with the enemy's flag to count. Just like Camp Half Blood's Capture the Flag game. He also learned that the Romans were going to add showers to complement their fantastic baths, so if you just wanted a quick rinse, you'd take a shower, while if you wanted to soak in a tub full of hot, soapy water, then you'd take a bath.

However, noticeably absent from the conversation was Annabeth. She just sat there, facing outward, watching the land roll past while occasionally nodding to something they had said. While Annabeth hid it well, Percy could clearly see fresh tear streaks down her cheeks and her face was depressed, while her normally intense grey eyes were dull. Percy sighed internally. If Annabeth didn't get any better after a couple weeks like what Athena said, he'd have to talk to her. Which he really didn't want to. Soon, Percy recognized the landscape that went zooming past, and he knew that they would be at Camp Jupiter any second. Percy saw Caldecott Tunnel and fully expected Arion to stop, but Arion just continued, blasting past the Camp Jupiter's borders and only stopping when they were in the middle of the Field of Mars.

"Why did he stop here?" Percy asked Hazel.

Hazel shrugged. "Beats me. Probably because the Field of Mars is big so he has some room to run around?" She answered as she bent down and summoned a large bar of solid gold, giving it to a panting Arion who eagerly started tearing the metal apart. "You alright, Arion?"

Of course I'm alright! Don't you dare think that my wounds from that douchebag would hold me back! Arion whinnied angrily, even though he was panting hard.

"Ok, while I can't understand you, I know you're angry. I apologize." Hazel said. Arion instantly cheered up and nuzzled Hazel. Percy laughed.

"Look, the welcoming party has already arrived." Jason said, pointing towards an entire crowd of campers. "Seems like the entire camp is here. That's not good. We leave for what, a week at most, and Octavian has them all under his thumb? I hope not."

"No. Most are only curious. The ones surrounding him in a circle, now those are his supporters. Like fanatical supporters." Reyna pointed out.

"Old friends, welcome back to Camp Jupiter, and so nice to see that you're all still in one piece. I cannot tell you how glad and happy I am, since if anything were to happen to our precious praetors would be disastrous, seeing as we cannot trust all the Greeks." Octavian said in a flattering voice.

"Cut the crap, Octavian, before I actually do kill you." Percy growled as he stepped forward.

"Ha! You wouldn't dare kill me, I am too important to this Camp! I am the Augur of Camp Jupiter, reader of prophecies, and-"

"And a fat liar, yeah. We already know that, Octavian."

"Who are you? How dare you trespass on Roman territory? Who are you? Answer me, or I'll force you." Octavian yelled.

"I answer only to Lady Artemis. I don't even answer to all the Olympians. And I certainly won't answer to you, you weakling scumbag." Percy snapped.

"A male who answers to Diana? You lie! No male ever answers to Diana and lives! So tell me the truth. Remove that hood and sunglasses of yours, or are you too weak and cowardly to do so?" Octavian yelled triumphantly.

Percy slowly walked over to Octavian, his boots making distinct crunches on the gravel. He towered over Octavian.

"You never learn from your previous lessons, do you? Must I call Percy to beat you up again?"

"You cannot scare me. Percy Jackson is dead, I saw it in my auguries." Octavian said, smirking.

Percy smirked too. "Would you bet your life on it? In front of witnesses?" Percy asked.

Octavian hesitated. If he declined, that meant he was not sure about his own auguries, which would greatly reduce his power. If he agreed, there was always the chance that he could lose.

"As long as you swear in front of everyone that you can prove otherwise." Octavian said as confidently as he could.

"Very well. I agree." Percy said, sneering as he did so to cover up a huge grin that threatened to come over his face.

"I agree too. I can say for certain that in my auguries, Percy Jackson was exiled from Camp Half Blood and disappeared, which obviously meant that he died." Octavian said triumphantly. "So what proof can you give?"

"This." Percy growled before pulling his hood back and taking off his sunglasses. Everyone, except for the Immortal Campers, gasped loudly. Octavian was stunned speechless. He hastily took several steps backwards as Percy slowly advanced forward.

"I guess we all know what this comes down to, eh?" Percy said in a low voice.

"No…you can't! I'm an augur, I'm very important!" Octavian screeched.

"You just proved that your "auguries" were incorrect. You bet on it with your life. I am completely entitled to kill you, right here and right now. That is the Roman way, is it not?" Percy said in the same, low voice.

"I-I-I didn't swear on the Styx. Isn't that what you Greeks call a true binding oath?" Octavian stuttered out, desperate for an excuse.

Percy laughed, but the laugh was a cold, bone-chilling laugh. "Perhaps, but remember when I swore on my life that the Greeks arriving in the Argo II were trustworthy, you kept on trying to set the Greeks up so you could kill me. And I never backed down from my promise. Why should you?"

"P-Please, you're a Greek, have mercy on me. Please." Octavian begged, falling to his knees.

"A Roman begging for his life? That is not very Roman of you, Octavian." Percy sneered.

"I know. I'm a lame excuse for a Roman. But please, Greeks are merciful, please spare my life. I promise not to cause any more trouble for Jason or Reyna. I'll listen to them like an obedient servant. And besides, Greek campers are very cheerful and nice. Please." Octavian begged again.

Percy shook his head. "That's where you are wrong, Octavian. I am not a Greek, nor am I a Roman. I am both. And you should know, I am not a camper. I am a Hunter."

Percy reached down and grabbed Octavian by his throat, easily lifting him into the air as he began choking him.

"You..you kill me, Apollo will-hhurrckk" Octavian choked.

"I don't give a shit about Apollo. And besides, there are worse things than death." Percy growled before he tightened his grip. He kept it up for five more seconds before dropping Octavian onto the ground. He crumpled like a ragdoll, unconscious. He bent down and felt his chest, detecting a faint heartbeat. Good. He stood and turned to face his friends.

"Do whatever you need to finish here. I'm going to Seattle." Percy said.

Jason nodded. "Do you want us to wait for you with Arion?"

"No. I can fly home. Good luck." Percy said. He bent down again and slung Octavian's body over his shoulder and extended his wings from within his body. Again, the Roman campers jumped and flinched when they saw his wings. Percy smirked. They hadn't even seen his fire powers yet.

"Wait! We haven't seen how skilled or how powerful you are. You could've just set Octavian up! You're probably the weakling that Octavian said you are!" A boy yelled at him. Percy recognized him as one of Octavian's "fanatic" supporters, as Reyna called it. He decided to teach the fanatic a lesson.

Dumping Octavian unceremoniously on the ground, he walked over to the boy and with a lightning fast strike, folded him in half with a solid punch to the solar plexus. Percy then picked the boy up in one hand and twirled him around several times before flipping him over so he was holding him by his feet. He tossed the boy straight up and aimed a powerful kick right at the boy's chest. Several loud cracks were heard when his foot connected with the boy's chest, causing him to fly a hundred feet while performing super-fast backflips thanks to Percy's kick and the placement of his kick. The boy landed in an undignified heap, groaning.

"Now who's the weak one?" Percy snarled. He turned away and bent to pick up Octavian when he heard Nico's shout of warning.

"Percy! Another! Behind you!" Nico yelled.

Percy whirled and grabbed the swinging kick that was supposed to send him tumbling. "Only dishonourable and disgusting people attack from behind." Percy growled. He brought his left hand down in a karate chop, right at the boy's knee. A loud snap was heard and the boy screamed with pain. Percy mercilessly kicked the boy's groin before sweeping his other leg out from underneath him, causing the boy to crash face first into the dirt. He turned to Nico.

"Thank you Nico." Percy said.

"You're welcome. See you later then?"

Percy nodded and picked up the unconscious Octavian, but was stopped by another kid. He looked up in exasperation. Another fanatic.

"What do you want, kid?" Percy asked angrily.

"You're not taking Octavian anywhere, unless it's over my dead body." He said, drawing his sword out.

Percy's anger blew. He decided then that he was going to teach everyone a lesson that would really stick in their heads.

"So be it." Percy said, uncapping Riptide. However, he didn't draw the second one out. He beckoned for the boy to come forward. The boy leaped forward with a yell and brought his sword down in a powerful swing. Percy counted it with an upswing that met the boy's blade perfectly and knocked the sword right out of his hand. Then he brought the sword back down and put the place where the blade and the hilt met right at the boy's throat.

The boy froze and Percy smiled cruelly. Using his left hand, he grabbed the boy's head and with his right hand, he slowly and deliberately cut his throat, using the entire length of his blade to do so. It was, for the boy, a very painful process as he could feel his own blood being pumped out of his neck and flowing down his chest. When Percy was done, the boy was half decapitated. He let the boy fall with a casual push. Wiping his sword on the dead boy's clothes, he picked up Octavian, jumped into the air and with a flap of his wings, was airborne.

"Well… that was…nasty." Nico said. Everyone agreed in hushed whispers. For a Son of Hades to think something was awful took a lot.

"Well… on the bad side, I have a feeling we won't be seeing our old friend Octavian anymore, Jason." Reyna said cheerily, even though her facial expression was one of absolute sadness.

"Yeah… what a sad day, we lose our "augur"." Jason said, following suit, but ruining it by laughing. "Now come on, let's do what we came here to do."

Percy flew at high speed towards the Amazon headquarters. While he was flying, he was thinking on just how fickle human nature was. When he had come back with the Twelfth Legion standard from Alaska and defeated Polybotes, they had hailed him the greatest thing to grace their camp, greater even than Jason Grace. After beating up their "precious" augur, he was cast out as a brutal and cruel Greek. Now they wanted him back. The only thing he could wish for now was that Jason and Piper will have a happy forever time with each other, and Jason and Reyna will be successful praetors.

He had almost reached the Amazon's headquarters when Octavian began twitching and struggling. Seizing upon the chance to hit him, Percy bashed the top of Octavian's head with his fist, taking especial pleasure at the loud sound his fast made when it hit Octavian's head. He instantly went limp. He circled above the Amazon HQ, trying to figure out how to get in without any of the mortals seeing him. He couldn't change into a crane and carry Octavian, he was too heavy. Then it hit him. He summoned a pool of water and pushed it to the ground behind the Amazon headquarters. Thickening the water so that it was jelly like, he dropped Octavian. As he dropped him, Percy turned into a crane and gracefully glided down before reforming back into his human form.

Picking Octavian up again, he walked over to a door and pounded on it. An instant later, the door opened to reveal a women dressed in a business suit.

"Excuse me, but this isn't the front door." The women said with an innocent smile.

Percy snorted. "Cut the crap. I need to see Hylla for a couple favors."

The women gasped. "Oh my god, you're Percy Jackson!" She squealed. Without warning, she yanked him in and began dragging him through many corridors, yelling Percy's name. Percy groaned as tons of Amazons surrounded him. There was almost no need for darkening the secret passage, there were so many Amazons that he could barely see anything. When the guards to the throne room saw the mob and Percy, they cheered too and practically threw the door open. They stampeded right into Hylla's throne room.

"WHAT IS THIS RACKET!" Hylla's voice screeched through the air.

Everyone parted so Hylla could clearly see the dark form of Percy, with Octavian slung over his shoulder like a sack of rice.

"Percy!" Hylla said happily, getting off her throne and giving Percy a quick but firm hug. She pulled back and slapped him on the shoulder. "So why did you come here?"

"Yay, you're back!" Kinzie squealed, jumping on top of Percy and knocking Octavian to the ground.

"Ugh, please Kinzie, can you get off me." Percy grumbled as he picked himself up from the ground. "Anyways Hylla, well, I came here asking for a favour or two."

Hylla nodded. "Long as it's reasonable. And what the Hades is Octavian doing here?"

"Oh, that's part of the favour." Percy said, walking over to the half-conscious Octavian and delivering him a swift kick to the temple, which instantly knocked him out again. "Octavian here has decided to, ah, retire from being augur of Camp Jupiter, and has decided to spend the rest of his life having… "fun." Savvy?

Hylla raised an eyebrow as she smiled. "Yes. Amazons, take this boy and give him the most relaxing jobs. But remember, don't give him any delicate tasks because he's so strong." Hylla said, smirking.

The Amazons struggled to hold back their smiles as they bowed and several of them picked Octavian up by his feet, purposely letting his head bounce on the ground.

"So Percy, that's one favour done. What's the second?" Hylla asked cheerfully.

"Well, it's a bit bigger. Do you know or can you track down where Lamia is? And also, what information can you tell me about her?" Percy said.

"Come. It's lunch time. We'll talk while we eat." Hylla said, clapping Percy's arm and walking off towards their dining department. While he followed, he spotted a peculiar vambrace on her arm.

"If I may ask… what's that vambrace on your arm?" Percy asked.

"This? Remember that computer game I told you to play while you were here? Well, we made a perfect, working replica of the hidden blade. What do you think?" Hylla said, taking the hidden blade off her forearm and tossing it to Percy.

Percy caught it and examined it. It was certainly high quality craftsmanship, and when he activated the blade, it slid in and out silently. Thanks to his Athena-blessed brain, Percy automatically began analyzing it and began running virtual battles in his head, observing the pros and cons of this specific piece of weaponry. And while he deemed that it was a good stealth weapon, it made an awful all-out attacking weapon. When you're in the middle of monster fighting, surrounded, monsters didn't wait one at a time to attack, and nor did they have a very specific fighting style. They also didn't attack with just one strike. The blade was under the hand, which meant you had to keep your wrists locked to use the blade, which was just horrible. However, if you were to put the blade on the top, above your forearm…

Percy was shaken from his thoughts as he heard clapping and cheering. He looked up in shock and found that he was sitting at a table, with Hylla and Kinzie flanking him while he faced dozens of Amazons. Hylla had just finished her speech, which was why people were clapping. They were cheering too, probably because of him.

"Very interesting blade you have here. Impressive quality too." Percy told Hylla, handing it back to her.

"Thanks." Hylla said as they began eating. "So, about tracking Lamia, that's no problem. We have a lot of people in the UPS, and a couple in the USPS, so I'll tell all of them to keep an eye out for that disgusting bitch. No people in Fedex though, but I suppose that doesn't matter. If we get a positive and a confirmation, we'll Iris-Message you."

"Thank you very much. Now, what can you tell me about Lamia?" Percy asked.

"You're welcome. Well, she's your half-sister, eats children, loves males, loves eating handsome males." At this, Hylla wiggled her eyebrows at him and mouthed 'Reyna' before continuing. Percy rolled his eyes. "She is quite powerful, a single slash won't kill her, you'll have to wound her big time to kill her, extremely tricky, and has an effect more powerful than empousai. Quite a formidable foe." Hylla finished.

Percy nodded. "What type of weapon does she use?"

"She uses a dagger… but with your plethora of weapons, I don't think you need to worry." Hylla replied, eyeing Percy's numerous chains, his dagger sheathe and his throwing knife sheathes.

Percy grinned. "Got this from Aphrodite, it's actually pretty useful."

"Does Artemis approve?"

"How did you know?" Percy asked.

"Thalia told me. We've become fast friends." Hylla said, grinning at Percy's bemusement.

Percy groaned. How many people knew that he was a Guardian of the Hunt? They finished the meal in relative silence, broken only by Hylla asking a couple question of how life was with the Hunters, and by Kinzie and several dozen Amazons who just wanted his attention.

"Thank you for your hospitality, but I really must get going." Percy said to the disappointment of the Amazons. Hylla however, understood.

"Of course. We're glad you came, because even with the updates that Thalia gave us, we would still worry that you were dead." Hylla said, winking.

Percy rolled his eyes. "Thanks for the reassurance, Hylla." Percy said sarcastically.

"See you later Percy. Good luck and be careful when you fight Lamia." Hylla said, pulling Percy into another hug.

"Thanks for your and all your Amazons help, Hylla. And don't worry, I'll be careful." Percy said.

"Take the exit right there and take the elevator. The first one you see. Ground level is the button to press." Hylla said, pulling out of the hug.

Percy nodded and went straight through the exit…and walked right into the elevator doors. There was a clang as he smashed right into the door, a split-second later, they opened.

"Percy! You weren't supposed to walk in so fast!" Hylla's voice drifted to him as the Amazons laughed. "And be careful, the elevator is-"

Percy grumbled and thumbed the 'Close doors' button before Hylla could finished. Bad idea. He hit the 'ground' button. For a second, nothing worked. Then with a bang, he crashed to the floor as the elevator shot up so fast he felt as if he were being sucked into a black hole. Then, with the same abruptness, the elevator stopped, throwing Percy into the ceiling with a crash. He barely had time to register the fact that he was on the ceiling before he fell back down onto the floor hard, shaking the entire elevator. He stumbled to his feet, swearing and groaning. He stumbled out of the Amazon doors, went to the backyard and shot into the air.

He pumped his wings hard, pushing himself past the sound barrier, hoping that he was small enough not to shake the houses on the ground. He considered whether to go to camp, or to go straight to Aphrodite and get the dinner business over. He looked at the sun. It was still high up, but it would take roughly 4 hours or more to reach camp. He decided to go to camp, since he wanted to check up on his little sisters. He would go to Aphrodite after Artemis had come back.

He had been flying for about three hours when he heard a sonic boom that definitely wasn't his own. He looked down with his eagle-like vision and found a huge plume of dust. He looked ahead of the dust and found a chariot with a horse. Arion and the Immortal Campers. Deciding to have fun with them, he pumped his wings even harder and pushed himself to his limit. Unfortunately, all he seemed to be able to do was catch up with Arion. Damn, that horse was fast.

Hahahaha, you're slower than I am, human brother. You fail. A voice penetrated into Percy's mind.

Arion! Yeah, you think so? Percy shot back.

You bet. Came Arion's smug reply. Not even waiting for Percy to answer, Arion suddenly increased his speed almost two times.

Ah hell… Percy thought as he struggled to catch up.

Both Percy and Arion arrived at Camp at the same time, and the same way. The instant Arion crossed the camp borders, he collapsed. The instant Percy got near the camp borders, he let his wings loose and glided down, plowing a trench in the ground before stopping next to Arion.

"Uhhhh… arrckck… So Arion, was that…fast enoughffff…?" Percy gasped out, unable to stop himself from slurring the last word.

Noo… that was too…sssslow. Arion replied. I need…need goold..

Percy took out his flask of ambrosia and took a swig, feeling slightly refreshed. He called to Hazel.

"Hazel… Arion needs gold right now." Percy said.

Hazel nodded and summoned several bars of it, putting in front of Arion's mouth. Arion was so tired, he could only nibble on the gold. Percy chuckled slightly. Thanks to his Hunter training, his regeneration time was far better than it was before. Already he was feeling better. He stumbled to his feet and looked at his watch. 6 o'clock. Dang, they managed to complete the trip in 3 hours and 50 minutes.

"Yo Kelp Head, you alright?" Leo asked, bouncing over and slapping Percy on the shoulder.

"Yes, I'm fine, thank you very much. I'll see you guys later, I have to check on the hunters." Percy said, walking off towards the archery arena, where he expected them to be. Surprisingly ,they were in the dueling arena, and literally whipping the asses of the campers. Percy stopped when he saw the sight. About twenty boys were lying face down on the ground, groaning. Many of them had stick up hair and fried clothes, while others looked like they had been crushed by a large person. Percy heard a yell and saw Phoebe kick a boy right in the butts before twirling him around and delivering similar treatment to the boy's groin.

"Phoebe! Thalia! Tracy! What have you girls been doing since my absence?" Percy asked incredulously.

"Oh, we've been having fun, Coral Boy." Thalia said cheerfully. All the hunters came over and gave him a giant group hug before pulling away. "We've also been practicing our chain and knife skills. You're late, by the way. And you seem tired, what's wrong?"

"Oh nothing. Just had a small race against Arion." Percy said.

"Small my ass. You had a cross-country race with him, didn't you. That's dangerous Percy, you could've overstressed yourself." Thalia said, caring in her eyes.

Percy laughed. "Don't worry Thals, I haven't met anything that stresses me more than you girls. And I certainly don't intend to die, so you have nothing to worry about."

"You better. Because you still haven't caught your lady yet." Christy said, smirking as she hopped onto Percy's back. Percy blushed as the hunters smirked and chuckled. "I-I uh, don't have a lady that I want to go after?"

"Whatever. But I got on your back for another reason." Christy said.

"What." Percy asked.

"TACKLE!" Tracy yelled, launching herself at Percy's legs, causing him to fall down. Percy gave a muffled yell while the hunters screamed with laughter and piled him. After an hour's worth of stalemate tackling, the hunters finally managed to pin him down, with Tracy sitting on his back as usual, Phoebe sitting on his butt, a couple hunters sitting on both of his legs, and Thalia taking her usual position. Which was his head. The rest of the hunters had each planted a foot on him. And while Thalia had the decency to move Percy's head to the side so he could breathe, Percy found it very discomforting.

"Alright sisters, you win. Again." Percy mumbled. "Now Thalia, please move your ass off my head."

"We're not moving. We're a bit too comfortable. Besides, we're tired. We've been training all day. Getting ready for Capture the Flag." Thalia said cheerily. "Oi, stop moving your head, rocks aren't supposed to move."

"Then get off my head! This isn't very appropriate, Thalia. And how the Hades does tackling me and sitting on my head supposed to help in Capture the Flag?" Percy asked.

"Your head is too comfortable. Nice and flat. Thick too. Well, you see, we were thinking that if we can take you down, then we can take them down." Thalia explained.

"I wasn't even fighting back. And I was unarmed. The campers during Capture the Flag will be bloody and they'll use weapons."

Phoebe snorted derisively. "Yeah, we've seen how they "fight". I call it dancing. Poor dancing."

"Well then, if you want to really win at Capture the Flag, then I still have a lot to teach you girls." Percy said. "So get off my head, Thalia!"

"He's right. Percy has a lot to teach you, and while I'm glad that you girls are enjoying yourselves, it's about time to get serious. Lamia is a dangerous monster, and if I'm correct, there is another monster we might have to take care of. Now let's go, dinner is starting soon and after I've talked to Perseus, I want to tell you girls what I've discovered." Artemis's voice cut clean through the air.

"Your will, my lady." Thalia said, getting off Percy's head. The other hunters slowly got off, even though Tracy gave him a big hug before getting off. Percy slowly got to his feet. While he'd never say it in front of Arion, his back hurt.

"Hello Arty. Good hunting?" Percy asked as cheerfully as he could, straightening his back and wincing at the cracks he heard.

"I told you, don't call me Arty." Artemis grumbled.

"Ok Moon Beam, how about I get to call you Arty and you can call me Perseus."

Artemis rolled her eyes. "I've been calling you 'Perseus' since forever, and you never cared. But whatever, back to the subject. From the five states that I swept through, I found traces of Lamia in three of them. However, all five of them has a powerful monster scent in them."

Percy frowned. "What's this monster? Is it very dangerous?"

"It's pretty dangerous. It has always been active, but we have never seen any need to eliminate it or its owner because they keep their presence low. But as to who the monster is, it's Echidna and the Chimera." Artemis said.

"Oh. Echidna and the Chihuahua. Met them at the top of the St. Louis Arch. Not nice. Fire breathing and poisonous. Nasty pieces of work." Percy said. "Do we have to fight them?"

Artemis thought about it before she answered. "No. Unless they specifically hunt us, or cause us trouble, no. Like I said, they haven't attacked anyone or anything, just that they seem a lot more active lately."

They arrived at the dining pavilion and quickly took their seats. When Percy came back from his ritual sacrifice, he continued the conversation.

"Why is it that the monsters seem so active? I thought after Gaia's defeat, the monsters would quiet down." Percy asked.

"I do not know. But it's like what Zeus said, even after her defeat, the monster will be quite active for the next century or so. You should actually thank Gaia. If it wasn't for her, you wouldn't even be here with us." Artemis said, involuntarily smiling at him.

Percy couldn't help but smile right back. "You're right. I suppose every cloud has a silver lining. I really love it here." Percy said, smiling fondly at his sisters-by-bonding.

"So how was your trip to the Amazons? Was it fruitful? And why is it that Ares seems to be so angry about something that happened at Camp Jupiter?" Artemis asked.

"Camp Jupiter? Oh, that's nothing. Small business. With the Amazons, they said that they'll try to track Lamia down, since they have a lot of people in UPS and quite a few in the USPS. Hermes also said that he'd help if he had time and could remember." Percy replied.

"Good. The faster we kill Lamia, the better. I may be able to sweep through states quickly, but there are a lot of states. And lots of land. And before you say that you want to help me out, the answer is no. Train your sisters, and make me proud." Artemis said as Percy opened his mouth.

"Your wish, my lady. And don't worry, I'll make you proud, Arty." Percy said.

You already make me proud Perseus. But I'm not saying it, because I don't want to admit…it. Artemis thought.

Artemis finished her food at the same time Percy finished his own. "May I leave for a bit? I have some stuff to do." Percy asked her.

She actually wanted him to stay at her side when she talked to her hunters about Lamia, but she knew that Percy would obediently stay quiet and then ask her again. And again. And again.

"Very well, you have my permission. But make sure you're back by midnight sharp." Artemis said, emphasizing the last word. Percy did his special bow and walked off.

Percy walked around aimlessly for a few minutes as he thought about the his dinner plans with Artemis and the Hunters. He'd have to find a way to conceal the Apples, get them to eat it, and make them unaware that they were eating the apples. Which would be pretty hard, since from what he'd learned from Annabeth, the Apples were so exquisite that even a god would find it impossibly pleasurable. Percy stopped at that thought. Did he want to eat the Apples? Did his sisters want to become truly immortal?

And Artemis… it would be rude and unforgiveable to leave her out. Percy went back and forth for a while before ultimately deciding that he would give Artemis the Apple. He would not. It was worth letting her have the pleasure of eating the Apple, since he loved her too much to take the Apple for himself. Besides, he didn't have direct permission to eat one anyways. And his sisters… they were his family and he had bonded closely with them, especially with Thalia and Tracy, and Percy couldn't bear if any of the hunters were to die. Percy decided he would drop the question as casually as he could, and pray that they wanted to stay truly immortal. As for the disguise… he'd have to ask Aphrodite. Ugh.

"Percy! There you are! C'mon, mum wants to talk to you." Someone called to him. He turned. It was Piper.

"She wants to talk to me? Wow, she must be more excited about the idea than I originally thought…" Percy commented.

Piper's multi-coloured eye seemed to sharpen. "What idea is it?" she asked as she walked to her cabin with Percy in tow.

"Oh it's nothing. Don't worry, I'm not into relationships, I just needed your mums help, as much as I don't want it…" Percy grumbled.

Piper laughed. "Is it because she's hitting on you?"

"How did you know?"

"I could kind of tell when Aphrodite told me to fetch you. Also, I will warn you that she is wearing beach attire." Piper said. Percy's expression turned to one of absolute horror.

"If it wasn't for Ar- meh, I wouldn't be doing this…" Percy groaned.

"R? So you are doing this for someone then." Piper said, looking Percy straight in the eye.

"Maybe. But I'm not telling." Percy said.

"I could just ask my mom you know. Or I could charmspeak you." Piper said, her eyes glinting mischievously.

Percy snorted. "Yeah right. Only worked twice on me. Remember the last time you tried to charmspeak me?"

Piper winced. She had charmspoken Percy three times and no more. The first was a demonstration, the second was used to force Percy from ripping Octavian's head off, and the third time, well, just for a prank she had charmspoken Percy into giving Thalia a wedgie, but it had backfired. Percy had obediently followed her orders and walked past her when Percy suddenly gave her a hard wedgie. It seemed like Percy had built resistance to it, which rendered her charmspeak useless. It was an impressive feat, seeing as she had even managed to slow Gaea down and influenced several gods with her charmspeaking powers.

"Perhaps. But mom's charmspeaking powers can control anyone. Well, except for the three virgin goddesses, since they're immune to Aphrodite's love magic." Piper said. "Anyways, we're here. In you go."

Percy stopped as he realized that Piper had brought him to the Aphrodite cabin. "Why here?"

"Stop asking questions." Piper said, opening the door and pushing Percy inside. The instant Percy stepped inside, he crushed a rose underneath his foot and before he knew it, was instantly teleported to Aphrodite's palace.

He reappeared in Aphrodite's living room, where she was sprawled on a couch, wearing a skimpy bikini. She looked at him seductively.

"Want to join me?" She asked.

Percy snorted and sat down on the sofa furthest away from her. "Really? Why couldn't you just come down and teleport me? Why go and ask Piper to get me to your cabin? Do you know how ridiculous that looks, me walking into your cabin?"

"Yes, well, since Artemis is one of the three goddess my powers are absolutely useless over, I need to mess with her feelings by indirect means. You'll see what I'm doing in the future. Now, are you sure you don't want to join me? I can tell you're tired, I could give you a nice massage." Aphrodite crooned.

Percy responded with a glare that spoke volumes.

"Fine." Aphrodite pouted. She disappeared from her couch and reappeared on top of Percy. "Now, I won't do anything, but if you move or struggle, then I won't help. Understand?"

Percy gritted his teeth. Aphrodite was seriously becoming really annoying. However, the look in Aphrodite's eyes made it clear that she was serious about what she just said. Stiffly, he nodded his head.

"Good. Now, about the restaurant, I've already made reservations, everything is already paid for, courtesy of Hermes, so all that's left to decide is what food to order. We can pre-order that too. So, what do you think?" Aphrodite said, pressing herself against Percy and grinding her hips against his.

"Aphrodite… you said you wouldn't do anything." Percy growled out.

Aphrodite looked into his eyes and was surprised to find real anger smoldering in his eyes, as they seemed to be on the verge of bursting into flames. Damn, but he was a hard catch. Aphrodite sniffled and stopped her hips, even though she continued to press herself against him.

"Good enough I suppose… about the food, I have absolutely no idea what to order. That is the reason why I asked you for help." Percy said.

"Hmmmm, what about the Grand Plateau de Fruits de Mer? It's delicious." Aphrodite said, slowly moving her hands toward the hem of Percy's shirt. He caught it however, and slapped it away. She sniffled again.

"What the hell is that? Please, can you speak plain English or Greek? Or maybe a bit of Latin?" Percy asked.

"It's a big tower of oysters, clams, shrimp, mussels, crab, tuna tartare, ceviche and lobster on ice. Its accompanied by cocktail sauce, pesto mayonnaise, and a horseradish blend." Aphrodite replied, turning herself over so that her breasts were grinding into Percy's chest.

"Aphrodite, you keep doing this and I really will just take care of things myself." Percy said in a warning tone. Aphrodite looked up at him with pleading eyes.

"Why are you so hard to get?" Aphrodite pouted.

"Because I'm not shallow like all the other boys in this world."

"Huh. I see you've become a true Hunter then." Aphrodite said. "Except for the falling in love part."

Percy blushed while Aphrodite gave an internal squeal of frustration. At the mere mention of Artemis, he blushed, while when he had a nearly naked love goddess on him, he got angry. He was a true mystery.

"Yes, I have become a Hunter, and Hunters shouldn't have someone like you on top. So can you get off?" Percy asked.

"In your dreams. Now come on, answer my question, what do you think of that dish?" Aphrodite purred.

"What was in that dish again?"

"Like I said before, it's a big tower of oysters, clams, shrimp, mussels, crab, tuna-

"WHAT?" Percy shot straight up, completely knocking Aphrodite off him. "SEAFOOD! Are you crazy?" Percy yelped.

"Ok, ok, bad idea. How about a Duck Confit?" Aphrodite asked, attempting to get back on top of Percy even though he just slipped away.

"And what is that?" Percy asked, exasperated.

"I don't know how to explain it. But it's really good. Trust me." Aphrodite said, snuggling up to Percy again, only to be pushed away.

"Alright, what else?" Percy asked wearily.

"There's the Indian Style Langoustina, there's another Duck Terrine With Marcona Almond, Major Bacon Wrapped Swordfish, Sea cucumber, Suckling Pig…"

Dear god, what have I gotten myself into? Percy thought despairingly.

Quite a while later, after many questions, a lot of dodging, several attempted kisses, and a few attempted undressings, Percy finally had a list that Aphrodite could tell the restaurant to prepare fresh.

"Ok, so let's see, for 17 people, heh, I'll let you decide on how many servings are needed, we have the Duck Confit thingy, Raviolini with Spinach and other flavoring, Pan seared Millbrook Venision loin, hope Artemis doesn't yell at me for that, Wild Mushroom Triangles that you said came from the menu 'Inspired by Europe', Indian Style Langoustina and finally, their standard desserts. I think that's quite a bit more than we can eat, don't you think?" Percy asked tiredly.

Aphrodite shrugged. "Even if you can't finish it, they'll just take the leftovers and eat it themselves. Also, you underestimate the Hunters appetite. Don't forget, your dinner is right after Dionysus's party, so they'll be a bit tired. So is this final? You want me to finalize it?"

"Yes please. And I have one last problem that I need your help with." Percy said wearily.

"And what is that?" Aphrodite asked sultrily.

Percy reached into his pocket and took out the small bag that contained the Golden Apples.

"I need you to find a way to colour them red, but not influence it's immortal properties." Percy said.

"Hmmm, I can cover them in lipstick if you want me to? Pure red lipstick, completely tasteless, guaranteed not to fall of anything and completely waterproof and all that." Aphrodite suggested

"Bleargh, no. That's disgusting. Who wants to eat lipstick?" Percy said in a slightly disgusted tone.

"Well then, I really can't think of anything else. So it's either a thin layer of lipstick, or a golden apple." Aphrodite said. "Unless you want to practice eating lipstick now?" She said hopefully, puckering her lips.

"Hell no. Fine, if it's lipstick, then so be it. I have to go, so tell me when you're done with the Apples please." Percy said, standing up and heading towards the door.

"I can teleport you, you know. And don't you dare think that you're over with me, we still have clothing to get through." Aphrodite said evilly.

"Oh right I forgot…" Percy said, his mind reeling as he remember that Aphrodite still had to prepare his clothing.

"Bye-bye Percy, and I can't wait to see you at the beach!" Aphrodite squealed before waving her hand and teleporting Percy right back… into the Aphrodite cabin. Percy groaned as he reappeared inside a pink-walled room.

"I swear…I swear that this will be the last time I ask Aphrodite for help." Percy groaned as he headed towards the door.

"PERCY! What are you doing in my room?" Piper screamed.

Percy whirled around and saw Piper and Jason staring at him wild-eyed. Then he realized that both of them were extremely sweaty and breathing heavily. Their faces were also bright red. Percy face palmed himself.

"Don't blame me. Blame your mother. And Jason, hope I didn't interrupt your streak eh?" Percy said evilly before opening the door and walking out. Ignoring the stares of the other children of Aphrodite, he walked out of her cabin and headed straight to Artemis's. He looked at his watch just in case. 11:58. Perfect.

"Good evening, Arty." He drawled as he saw Artemis standing in front of her cabin, anxiously scanning the sky.

She jumped slightly and he saw relief flash through her eyes before it was replaced by anger.

"Where the Hades have you been Perseus? You left well before 9 o'clock, what could possibly take you more than three hours to do?" Artemis asked harshly.

"I told you my lady, I had some business to do. Very tiring too…" Percy muttered.

"And why can't you tell me?" Artemis asked.

"I just can't, ok Moon Beam? You'll find out soon though." Percy said wearily.

Artemis softened involuntarily at Percy's old nickname for her. She looked Percy over, jealousy gnawing at her as thoughts of Percy having found another lover rushed through her mind. She consoled herself with the fact that Percy wouldn't be unfaithful, but then a nasty thought hit her as she realized that while she had fallen for him, she never knew whether Percy loved her back. Which meant that Percy was not honour bound to be with her. All he had to do was just protect her, as stated in his oath. Artemis closely examined Percy and found that his eyes were sincere and she could easily tell that he was tired. She decided to trust him, even though she had never once trusted a man other than being idiots.

"Fine. Do your duty, and wake me up at the same time as today. But don't go into my bedroom." Artemis said, emphasizing the last sentence.

Percy did his special bow. "Your will, my lady. Good night." Percy said. He flew up into a nearby tree and settled down quickly.

"Good night, my Guardian." Artemis whispered before retiring to her room.

Percy surveyed the beautiful night sky, hoping and praying to anyone that nothing would destroy their dinner. And he also hoped that the Amazons or Artemis would quickly find Lamia, since he wanted to just have a day where he could relax and forget about monsters. With that thought, he quickly fell asleep.

It took the Amazons almost a week to locate Lamia, with the help and aid of Artemis. They called Percy on the evening before Dionysus's party.

In those days, Percy had been reunited with Travis and Connor Stoll, Pollux, Katie Gardener, Clarisse LaRue, Chris Rodriguez, Nyssa, Jake Mason, most of the Hephaestus cabin, half of the Hermes cabin, a couple others from the Ares cabin, most of the older minor gods campers and the entire Demeter and Athena cabin. Except for Annabeth. Even after those days, Annabeth still looked depressed and shocked, and she rarely ever smiled anymore. Annabeth had tried to talk to Percy several times, but each time the moment she got near him, she faltered and ran off, crying. When Percy decided to talk to her, Athena had come personally to tell him not to.

His meetings with Aphrodite had gotten shorter, courtesy of a jealous Artemis, but at least most of the things were completely planned and done. Together, Aphrodite and Percy had come up with the plan to infiltrate the Daniel restaurant with one of Aphrodite's sons so he could put the Apples onto their table. The boy wasn't let in on the secret however, just told that the Apples were very important because they came from an immortal garden. The downside to working with Aphrodite was that he tired greatly, due to the fact that he had to keep dodging and avoiding her moves and mentally fighting her charmspeak-woven voice.

Hylla called when Percy was in the middle of battling Thalia, Phoebe and the trio, Elizabeth, Diana and Christy right before dinner. These five were the Hunt's best fighters but not even they could take Percy down. Instead, it was more like the opposite way around, with Percy dancing around and wearing them down with his super-fast and strong moves. Of course, since Percy wore his sisters down, Artemis wore Percy down. She also wore herself down in the process, but Artemis relished the together time that she had with Percy, since Percy seemed to preoccupied by his "stuff."

Percy had just swept Diana's feet from underneath her and thrown a blunt knife at Thalia in one move when Hylla's face appeared right before him. Surprised, he stumbled backwards and was instantly crushed by Phoebe.

"Sorry Percy, was I interrupting something?" Hylla asked cheerfully.

Percy groaned as he lifted Phoebe off himself. "You could say that again. But anyways, what news do you have?"

"We've found and confirmed Lamia's location. She's in Chicago, attending the fair that they mortals are hosting right now." Hylla said.

Percy nodded. "That makes sense. The fair attracts a lot of children and men, since the men bring their dates along with them. How long does this fair last?"

"Day after tomorrow. After that, she'll probably move on." Was Hylla's reply.

"Alright, then we only have one shot at this. Thank you so much for this Hylla. I owe you one." Percy said.

"Not a problem. See you later then Percy." Hylla said, waving her hand through the mist.

"Excellent. Let's go to dinner, I'll tell Artemis personally so the Immortal Campers won't pick it up. C'mon little sisters." Percy said cheerfully as the conch horn rang, signaling dinner.

The hunters cheered and followed Percy to the dining pavilion. They met Artemis at the table.

"What news Percy?" Artemis asked as they seated themselves.

"Wait please." Percy said as they waited several moments for Chiron to finish his usual speech. Then Artemis waited a little bit more as the dryads fought over who would serve Percy. After Percy came back from the sacrifices, she repeated her question.

"Chicago. Fair is leaving the day after tomorrow, so only a single shot." Percy said quickly and quietly.

"Good. Talk about plans later." Artemis said, looking around to make sure no one was listening.

"What about the Chimera?" Percy asked.

"Unfortunately, same area. But I've noticed, from what Hermes report, is that every state I've sensed Lamia and the Chimera in, there is always this explosion near or at a children's place. Or places were boys model for clothing." Artemis derisively.

"Ahhhh, and after the explosion…-"

"Children go missing. Boys too. And after those explosions, they're usually followed by UFO sightings. So I think that if we eliminate Lamia, then the Chimera will stop attacking. And Echidna." Artemis finished.

"Okay, but what does Echidna gain from helping Lamia?" Percy wondered.

"Well, as you know, Echidna likes to eat raw meat. Preferably human meat. Lamia likes to eat children, and occasionally men. However, she likes to toy around with men, and eats them slowly. Echidna just eats practically anything, and it's much harder and more suspicious to just pluck a person off the street, than it is if there were witness who saw a man go out with a female. And by the time they realize he's missing, too late. They'll most likely search for a beautiful woman, while just disappearing right off the street would lead a deeper investigation." Artemis explained.

After they finished their meal, the two walked together towards the lake as they talked about their plans.

"We're going to leave early tomorrow morning and we'll take my chariot. When we get there, we'll land on a top of a building about a mile away from the fair so that she won't notice it, and then we'll go in as casual as we can. We'll split up, but not far enough so we can come to each other's aid if need be." Artemis said. "So Percy, you're going to sleep early tonight, because fighting Lamia will take energy, especially since she'll probably be traveling with company."

Percy nodded. "That's no problem to me Arty. But this is the first mission I'm going on with the Hunt, you really think I'm ready for it?" Percy replied cheekily. He was happy now because business with Aphrodite was basically done, and he highly doubted that Artemis would notice if his pants were a millimeter too long.

"I don't know. You're a newbie, fresh and raw, but you should just about ready to join us. We'll let you take out the weak monsters while I take out Lamia." Artemis said, laughing softly.

"Oh really? Could a newbie trick the Great Goddess Artemis into walking into a lake?" Percy asked, smirking.

"Huh?" Artemis looked down and saw her blurry reflection. " Wait, what do- AHHH!" Artemis barely had time to scream as Percy released his grip on the lake's water. Artemis plunged into the lake in a fountain of water as she desperately thrashed and kicked to get to the surface. Percy roared with laughter while Artemis poked her through the whole, water running from her nose, mouth and ears.

"PERCY! YOU-YOU, GAH!" Artemis gave a frustrated yell as she yanked at Percy ankles, bring him down straight into the lake. Before Percy could recover, she took a deep breath and tackled Percy, pinning him to the wall and began beating him up. And while Percy would've been wincing above water, he was laughing uncontrollably underwater. Artemis surfaced again to get some air and returned back down to beat him up again, but this time, Percy pinned Artemis to the wall while she lashed back at him with a bunch of punches. He let her go as he realized she needed more air, but yanked her down the instant she had taken a breath. Laughing hard again, he let Artemis have her way with him. As Artemis beat him up, Percy realized that he had never had so much fun with someone, or had so much pleasure being around someone. He truly, deeply loved her.

"Percy, come on, you're completely dressed and yet you're still sleeping?" Artemis called back into the cabin.

Percy slowly stumbled out of the cabin, stressed in his usual black leather jeans and a deep blue polo shirt. He looked completely unarmed, even though Artemis knew that Percy had the chains on his pants, several throwing knives hidden in his belt, a dagger sheathed in his waistband, and of course, his trusty old pen, Riptide in his pocket.

"It's not my fault, Moon Beam. You beat me up last night." Percy mumbled, running a hand through his rat's nest of a hair. Artemis winced when she saw it. Not because it looked bad, quite the contrary. He looked cute and adorable with the messy hair.

"Smooth your hair down, will you Perseus?" Artemis said.

"Why?" Percy asked.

"Because I want you to." Artemis answered.

Percy shrugged and summoned a layer of water to help smooth his hair down, but stopped when his hand almost reached his head. He looked at her and smirked.

"What are you supposed to say, Arty." Percy crooned.

Artemis gritted her teeth. "I'll kill you for this. Please smooth your damn hair down." Artemis growled. Gods never pleaded.

Percy's smirk deepened. "Now that wasn't so hard, was it Arty?"

Artemis was about to reply when the hunters she had chosen to go along with them, Tracy, Christy, Elizabeth, Diana, Phoebe and Thalia, interrupted her.

"Look! Percy and Artemis are bickering like perfectly-matched husband and wife!" Christy squealed as the rest of the hunters barely held back their laughter.

Both Percy and Artemis instantly turned away from each other, each of their faces burning. Artemis turned to glare at Christy, who responded with an innocent smile. She realized that all of the hunters were watching her, or more specifically, her blushing red face, something that she had never done before. Damn you Jackson, you make life so difficult.

"Let's get going alright?" Artemis called out in an attempt to quell the hunter's snickering as she sat down in her chariot, reins in her hand.

"Sure thing, my lady!" Tracy said cheerfully before hopping into her chariot. The other filed in, and Artemis started blushing again as she realized that they had all taken up the seats at the back, leaving only one seat for Percy. Which was right next to her. Artemis was shocked too. Her hunters hated boys with a passion, and yet they were trying to match her up with Percy? Did her hunters really love Percy that much to put him with her? Well, I'm not falling for him. I swear that I am not. Artemis thought stubbornly. She was shaken out of her thoughts as Percy sat down next to her, avoiding her gaze, still blushing from Christy's comment.

"Hold tight everyone." She said as she snapped her reins, signaling to her deer to lift off.

They flew in silence for a while before Percy decided to drop a "casual" question.

"My Lady, I was just wondering, why can't you make the Hunters completely immortal?" Percy asked. "I mean, look, my dad made Matthew immortal, and Apollo made Rachel immortal. Why can't you?"

"I was not granted the power. Lord Poseidon is Father's brother, so he has the power to turn anyone immortal. Same with Lord Hades. Apollo has the power because there were some hosts that Apollo liked a lot, and since Apollo is the god of Prophecy, Father granted him the ability. The reason why I can't is also more practical. If I could make everyone a full immortal, then people would just join my Hunt to become immortal, and then skip off again. Absolutely ridiculous." Artemis said.

"But what about the Hunters that prove themselves? They prove themselves that they're loyal to the Hunt?" Percy asked.

Artemis shrugged. "Like I said, I was not given the power. And unless you're Poseidon or Hades, turning a mortal into an immortal without Zeus's express permission is dangerous. Fates knows that I wish my Hunters could be full immortals, but I just can't." Artemis replied.

Percy nodded and then turned to Thalia and the others. "Do you girls ever wish that you could be complete immortals?"

Thalia laughed. "Of course! But I'd only want to become immortal if the entire Hunt becomes immortal. Then I'd know that I wouldn't be lonely. That's the whole point about the Hunt. It's a family. A family you, Seaweed Brain, have become part of." Thalia said. The others nodded their agreement.

Percy nodded and smiled. That, he felt, would justify his use of trickery into them eating the Apples. And with Artemis, well, he'd just take the punishment for tricking her into eating it. He continued thinking about the dinner plan, which was tonight and eventually just fell asleep again.

Artemis was about to ask Percy why he was interested when she found him asleep. He looked so cute with hair blown backwards and a slight smile on his face. She wrenched her eyes away, since she was pretty sure she could feel several pairs of eyes watching her. In a short amount of time, they had arrived at Chicago without mishaps, which was good. The hunters clambered out while Artemis bent of to wake Percy up.

"Perseus. We're there. Get up." Artemis said, shaking him awake. A lock of his hair had fallen to his eyes and without thinking, Artemis reached out and gently smoothed the hair back into place before snapping her hand backwards as Percy's eyes shot open. She also realized that her face was quite close to his and quickly straightened up. "About time you woke up Percy. Now come, we don't have too much time, it's a couple hours away from noon already."

Percy nodded and quickly followed the Artemis and the hunters. Artemis and the hunters slid down the building while Percy jumped, using his wings once to slow his descent. He slid them back into his back with a schnk!, since he'd need to be inconspicuous for this mission.

"Alright, follow me. We're walking for about a mile, so take it easy." Artemis said.

"Um, my lady, why are you in your 13 year old form?" Percy asked as he followed her.

"This is the form I usually take. It's only because at camp I'm in my 18 year old form, since those boys become arrogant when I'm only 13." Artemis said derisively. Percy nodded and they continued walking.

"Ugh, I almost forgot that it was summer. Why is it so hot here, and not hot at all in California or New York?" Percy asked.

"I think it's because Demeter is in a good mood, something to do with Hades treating Persephone so nicely. So Demeter decided to be nicer, and kept the temperatures down for the two camps. Rest of the mortals, well, not so lucky." Artemis explained.

Percy nodded. They were pretty fortunate to have had a comfortable summer.

Unfortunately, they completely failed at being inconspicuous. Percy took the blame, since the instant he had stepped into the open streets, hordes of women came up to him, asking him for his number or address. A couple even bumped his shoulders or lightly touched him as they walked past, looking over their shoulders to gauge his reaction. And while he kept his reaction apathetic and his feelings nearing annoyance, Artemis was boiling with jealousy and anger.

Telling Percy and her Hunters to wait, she walked into a store, and a little while later, a beautiful 18 year old auburn haired young lady came out, wearing average teenager clothing. She walked right next to Percy, and found special pleasure as girls shot her jealous looks. Percy sniggered.

"I never knew you had the capacity to feel jealousy, Arty." Percy smirked. The hunters snickered as Artemis blushed furiously, struggling to find an excuse.

"That's not called being jealous Perseus, I can assure you I do not experience that feeling. It's just that it would look weird with an old guy and seven teenage girls." Artemis said with a straight face.

"The problem is that this looks even weirder because you two look like teenage parents." Tracy said loudly, drawing a string of laughter from her comrades. Artemis was so shocked that she was rendered speechless, while Percy took the chance to stay silent. However, he was anything but silent when a big, bulky, muscle-bound police officer walked right up to Artemis and slung an arm around her.

"Hey beauty, what do you say-"

CRACK!

That was the sound as Percy, burning rage and jealousy boiling through his blood, snapped the officers arm off of Artemis with enough force to bend it in ways a human arm was never meant to be bent. Then Percy threw the officer high into the air before he extended his wings and shot into the air, bringing his fists and feet down in an aerial strike. The officer smashed into nearby parking lot, completely trashing three cars as the alarms went blaring. Then Percy, still incensed, raised his hand and summoned a ball of green fire.

"No one can touch her." Percy snarled. He fired a powerful blast of green fire right at where the officer was.

BOOM!

The entire parking lot's worth of cars blew, one after another in quick succession, shaking the earth as strongly as Poseidon himself could. Percy stalked forward, ready to reach into the fiery ruins and rip the officer apart when Artemis grabbed Percy's hand and yanked him back, teleporting them all to the fair before anyone could properly take a picture of them or see them. They reappeared right at the borders of the fair, and luckily for them , they were undetected because everyone was staring at a massive, thick cloud of black smoke that was boiling into the sky.

"C'mon, let get into the fairground." Artemis urged, still holding onto Percy's hand as she dragged him and pushed the Hunters past the entrance. When they were well within the fairgrounds, they slowed down.

"Hey Percy, I knew you could be jealous, I knew that much, but I didn't know you could get that jealous." Thalia said, smirking. The hunters sniggered again, while Artemis chuckled softly.

Percy sighed as he looked back at the cloud of black smoke in the air. He had no idea what had come over him, but all he knew was that no one, no one, should treat her like that. And he just felt that he had to protect her, even though of all gods or goddesses, Artemis was the one that needed protection the least. Her knife had already slid out, ready to stab the man's arm out and her hunters had already had their bows out. But Percy felt as if it was a personal insult and he had to take care of it.

Percy growled. "That bastard… I still have half a mind to go after that place and rip him apart. And if I can't rip him apart, then I'm going to the Underworld and make sure he gets tossed into the Fields of Punishments." Percy snarled.

"Please Percy, that's very nice of you, but calm down, OK?" Artemis said softly.

Percy sighed, then cracked a smile. "Did I just hear you say 'please' Arty?" Percy cooed.

Artemis glared at him. "Come on. Let's get searching and use those senses of yours." She said, dragging him through crowds of people. Percy almost froze as he realized that Artemis was still holding onto his hand, clenching it tightly. Percy felt impossibly light and cheerful seeing as Artemis hadn't tried to pull away and was now walking hand in hand with him as the Hunters scouted ahead.

"We'll never find Lamia this way. Too many people, it's interfering with my senses." Percy grumbled.

"Then we go up." Artemis said.

"Up?"

Artemis pointed towards the Ferris wheel. "We can see everything from up there, I'm sure."

"Thalia. You alright with going up?" Percy asked.

Thalia licked her lips. "I'll try to treat this like the last time I went skydiving. I'll get over it eventually. But don't be surprised if the entire cart starts to shake."

Percy nodded and turned to Tracy. "How about you? Do heights scare you Tracy?" Percy asked.

Tracy shook her head. Percy turned to the others, who replied with headshakes. "Good. Let's go then, shall we?" Percy asked, heading towards the Ferris wheel.

Artemis smiled as she felt a wave of warmth wash over her. She couldn't help but feel grateful that she had gotten such a kind and caring Guardian. The way he looked at Thalia, and asked everyone else, Percy really cared for the people he liked, even if he was as cold and cruel as a machine towards people he hated.

She also realized belatedly that she had been holding onto Percy's hand ever since she'd teleported them all. She felt her face begin to heat up again, to which she gave a slight groan of frustration. She blushed way too much nowadays. However, she actually liked the feel of his hand in hers, it was a perfect, comfortable fit and she found the feel of his callouses comforting. It proved that he constantly worked, not some type of shallow pretty boy like those Sons of Aphrodite. Unfortunately, since Percy needed to pay for their tickets, he had to let go of her hand, no matter how reluctant he was. After they had gotten the tickets and hopped into the seats, Artemis fully expected Percy to take her hand again, but instead, he didn't and she felt slightly hurt even though she knew it was probably better for her.

Percy had really been reluctant to let go of Artemis's hands when he had to pay, but he didn't dare reach for her hand again. Ah well, it was good while it lasted. Thanks to the hunters, Percy and Artemi sat together, even though they both tried hard to keep some distance between each other.

"Where did you get the money to pay for the tickets?" Artemis asked, curious.

"Aphrodite… she seems to prepare everything for me." Percy groaned with genuine weariness.

Artemis laughed softly. "Now come Percy, use that super good vision and Athena-enhanced brain of yours to help locate Lamia."

Percy nodded and stretched his senses out. The largest and loudest was right next to him, blaring at him that Artemis was right beside him. As if he needed the reminder. He blocked Artemis and the Hunters aura and searched all over the fair. Over his first sweep, he found nothing. On his second, more detailed sweep, he caught a blip near the water slide. He concentrated solely on the water slide and found a group of monsters and, most importantly, a pretty powerful monster scent. Percy turned towards the direction and realized that it was on Artemis's side.

"Excuse me, my lady." Percy said, leaning over her, careful not to touch her. He concentrated his gaze and spotted a beautiful woman wearing a revealing blouse, leaning against a pillar. "I think I've found her. Near the water slides, so let's get off this damn wheel."

"Makes sense. She's a daughter of Poseidon, and with this hot weather, lots of children." Artemis muttered.

They quickly got off, and walked towards the water slides as quickly as possible. As they got close, Artemis motioned to them to take cover in a corner so that wouldn't catch her attention.

"That certainly is Lamia, so good job Percy. Not bad for a newbie." Artemis said, causing a small flurry of laughter.

"Now, the biggest challenge is how to kill her. I did not expect her to be in a fair, which complicates matters. We cannot simply go up there and shoot her, because she has guards and the mortals will think we're slaughtering. Had this been in a city, we could've easily hunted her from the rooftops…" Artemis trailed off, thinking.

"You know, I have an idea. She's a seducer, right? Well, sometimes, seducers can be easily seduced without them knowing." Percy said, watching Lamia. The Hunters however, were carefully watching Artemis. As expected, Artemis's eyes flared with anger.

"You are not going out there by yourself. I forbid you to do it." Artemis said, jealousy gnawing at her again.

"Arty, look, I can promise you I won't fall under her spell. And it's the only way, unless you want me to do something with the water, in which she'll definitely know that she's being hunted." Percy tried to reason with her.

Artemis bit her lip as she absorbed what Percy had said. It was true, there really was no other way unless she sniped Lamia off from here, but then the other monsters would wreck chaos. Besides, she shouldn't let her personal feelings get involved, it would only distract and slow her down. Reluctantly, she gave a stiff nod.

"Alright. I'll pull her away, you girls follow." Percy said before he walked straight to Lamia with a slight smile on his face.

He casually walked up to and past Lamia, and pretended to be absorbed in the children's screams of delights as they flew down the water slide. He was about to turn around and pop a casual question when he felt someone step up to him.

"Quite fun looking, isn't it?" A velvety voice said next to his ear. Percy instantly knew it was Lamia, since the voice was just perfect and comforting.

"Yes it is quite fun I believe. If only the lines weren't so long." Percy said, continuing to stare at the water slide.

"Would you care to join me going down the slide?" Lamia whispered next to her ear. Percy shuddered, not because of her intimacy, but because he could sense power in her voice.

"That's a very nice and kind offer, but really, the lines are so long and I don't think I can stand being in the sun anymore." Percy said as calmly as he could as he turned around and slowly walked off, purposely not looking at her.

He felt an arm gently grasp his shoulder. "Yes, the weather is hot, isn't it?" Lamia said softly, resting her hip against his. Percy decided that it was about time to take a look at her and make some eye contact to show that he was remotely interested. It was a mistake to look into her eyes. While he slowly examined her the way modern teenage boys did, he was not affected by the ample cleavage, probably due to the fact that Aphrodite had tried to tear his clothes off while she was half naked. But when he stared into her eyes, green like his, except darker, more dangerous, he was instantly drawn in by the amount of power in it.

The power in her eyes alone was more than enough to draw any lesser man in instantly. But Percy was not a lesser man. He had been able to break Piper's charmspeak and resisted Aphrodite's charm, so he would break this one. However, Percy still found it incredibly hard to break. It was only after he called upon the image of Artemis's silver eyes that the spell's grip shattered. He almost staggered from the effort but managed to collect himself, giving Lamia a curt nod as he continued walking away from the fair.

"Indeed it is… in more ways than one." Percy said, giving Lamia a sly glance, taking the opportunity to see Lamia's reaction and to make himself look like he was interested. He noticed that while Lamia smiled, her dark green eyes was a mixture of shock and suspicion. Percy walked as quickly as he could, since he wanted to draw her away from everyone.

"You know, you said you'd like to stay out of the sun… I'm sure we could manage that, hmm? For a couple hours? At least?" Lamia said, walking slightly ahead of Percy so he could easily see the swing in her hips.

Percy grinned. "Perhaps. About how far is the place?" Percy said, giving her a sexy grin that he almost cringed at. They walked past the fair borders and Percy walked off into a secluded looking area.

"Well, if you don't want to walk, maybe we could do a quickie in the alley and do it long and hard at my hotel?" Lamia said throatily, giving Percy a seductive smile that looked as nasty as Kim Kardashian's smile.

"Lead the way." Percy said as enthusiastically as he could.

Lamia turned but not before Percy spotted her smirk. As Lamia took a long, winding route, Percy reached out with his senses and discovered that Artemis and the hunters were following them on the rooftops while a large group of monsters was tailing him. He'd have to take care of them, after she finished off Lamia. Percy was just beginning to think where she was leading him when she stopped. She stepped right up to him.

"I think this is pretty secluded, don't you think?" She said in a voice barely above a whisper. Her voice and eyes held extreme power though, and while it had an effect on Percy, all he had to do was think about Artemis and the spell was broken. He played along however.

"It sure is. A kiss?" Percy asked invitingly.

"Of course." Lamia whispered. Their heads leaned closer and closer. They were about an inch away from kissing when several things happened at once. Both Percy and Lamia's hand shot behind their back. Both drew their daggers in a icepick grip and both brought them down, intending to punch a large hole through each other's heads. Both shot their spare hands out to block the blow, Lamia by wrapping her hand over Percy's forearm and digging her nails into his skin while Percy blocked it by crushing her fingers to her dagger hilt. They struggled briefly before Percy kicked her in the gut, knocking her backwards. Lamia leapt right back to her feet.

"Very impressive. You're resilience to my charms are unsurpassed." Lamia said, her green eyes glinting. Percy didn't answer. "But you're no match for my weapons."

Lamia jumped forward, bringing her dagger in a downward arc, intending to rip Percy's skin right off. Percy deflected the blow before countering, spinning in a circle and trying to plant his dagger in Lamia's side. She dodged it and suddenly kicked. Percy dodged her foot, but completely missed the blade that shot out of her foot. It drew a shallow gash across his chest. While Percy stumbled, Lamia raised her left hand and clenched her fist, pointing it at Percy. There was a click, and four poisoned darts shot out, right at Percy's chest. He desperately threw himself sideways. The darts burned deep holes in the wall behind him.

"See? Hidden weapons, and I have many. So while I admire your bravery, you must know this is a doomed battle with only one outcome. Water cannot help you, since it helps me too, little brother." Lamia smirked.

Percy grinned. "Maybe. But I can use fire too." Percy summoned a tornado of flames as he uncapped Riptide. "Now let's see what the outcome is."

The two fought for only 10 minutes, but it was an intense fight. Lamia had many, many hidden weapons, with bladed fingernails, throwing knife hair clips, poisoned darts on her wrists, more poisoned darts kept in a cavity in her teeth, secondary blades and a seemingly unlimited amount of tiny little throwing knives. Percy meanwhile used the intense heat of his tornado to melt many of Lamia's small weapons, and either ducked or dodged most of the other ones. Percy also had the great advantage of endurance. Fear crossed Lamia's face as she realized that Percy seemed unstoppable.

"Guards!" She screamed. Almost instantly, a large group of monsters appeared, surrounding Percy. "Let's see how you get out of this, Jackson." Lamia said, taking a brief respite as Percy stopped his attack, slowly examining his extra enemies.

Percy smirked at her. "My Lady! Hunters!" Percy called out. A split second later, each monster had disintegrated into dust as arrows pierced the monsters throat. Percy gave her a look. "Well?"

Lamia looked around desperately and decided that escape was the best idea. "You'll never get me!" She yelled defiantly before pulling out a smoke bomb and tossing it at Percy. She ran off, hoping that the smoke would give her some time to run. Instead, she heard a bang and felt herself blown off her feet as thick black smoke enveloped her. She coughed and coughed at the surprise attack. How the Hades? She thought as she waved at the black smoke.

"Really Lamia? Tossing a ball at me like that? It's natural instinct to catch it. Especially since it was a low powered toss." Percy said. He flipped her over and planted a foot on her chest before putting the tip of his sword at her throat. Lamia responded by extending her nail blades and slamming them deep into Percy's thigh. Percy screamed as the blades bit into his bone and swung Riptide, severing her right arm and crushing her left arm with his foot. Soon Artemis and the other hunters formed a circle around her.

"What-what do you want?" She asked weakly. The battle had truly drained her, while Percy hadn't even broken a sweat.

"Are you working with Echidna? With the Chimera? And why are you alive? Why now? Why didn't come back to life when the Giants were still alive and Gaea was still awake? Why?" Percy asked coldly.

"Echidna? Chimera? No, I haven't been working with them. They follow me because it is easier for them to capture their food after I've been there. As far as I know, they just roam the country now, since they do not want attention." Lamia replied.

"Alright. The other questions?" Percy asked relentlessly.

"Ah, the most important question. How much you gods do not know. Gaea-" Lamia stopped suddenly as thick ropes of earth suddenly sprang from the ground and tightened around Lamia's throat, choking her.

"No!" Percy yelled. He swung Riptide at the earth, but his sword just bounced off. Thalia sent a blast of lightning into the ground while Artemis attacked it with her own knives, but to no avail. Slowly, Lamia crumbled into dust and when the last of Lamia turned to dust, the earth-ropes just disappeared.

"Damn. That's not good. Does that mean Gaea is still awake?" Percy asked.

"No. Probably one of Gaea's last backup plans. Besides, it'll take a while for Gaea to completely fall back asleep. If she were awake, well, trust me, it'd be far worse." Artemis responded.

Percy nodded. "What about Echidna and her Chihuahua?" Percy asked.

"We do nothing. So long as they do not trouble us, since Echidna and the Chimera are very powerful. I do not want to take any unnecessary risks." Artemis said. "Now come, our mission is done here and we must get back in time for Dionysus's party." Artemis said as she pulled out her horn and blew a single note.

A moment later, Artemis's silver chariot landed, waiting for them to get on. Artemis, the Hunters clambered in while Percy limped and hopped in. After a few adjustments, Artemis shot into the air.

"Are you alright Percy? I saw you get hit by her foot blade, a couple small knives and those nasty nail blades of hers." Artemis asked, concern seeping into her voice.

"Those? Those were nothing more than a flesh wound, my lady." Percy said dismissively as he took a flask of nectar from his pocket and took a sip. Then he stuffed a ambrosia slice into his mouth and stretched his foot out.

"Percy, are you sure you're alright?" Artemis asked.

"Yes Arty, it's healing already, it's the same thigh that got bitten by the damn basilisk." Percy replied.

Artemis raised an eyebrow and reached over and put her hand on it. Percy flinched.

"Just what I thought." Artemis muttered. She sent a pulse of silvery light, and Percy instantly felt revitalized and his thigh no longer hurt.

"Wow. Um, thank you my lady. I can say for sure that I'm alright now." Percy said.

"Alright then, that's good." Artemis said. "Because…" She leaned over and slapped his face.

"Arty! What was that for?"

"Did you really have to play along with Lamia so much? When you were out of the fairgrounds, you could've killed her already! Don't tell me that you fell for her charms either!" Artemis snapped, feeling angry for no reason.

"Of course I didn't! If I did, well, you know what would've happened. Instead of trying to kill her, she would've killed me first!" Percy said indignantly.

"Well, she very nearly did kill you!" Artemis grumbled. "Now just be quiet!"

Percy obediently stayed quiet but he turned around and shot Thalia and the others a 'What did I do wrong?' look. They rolled their eyes in exasperation. Sometimes, Percy could be really dense.

Artemis had been worried for him. Jealous of him too, though she would forever deny that she would get jealous of someone touching Percy. But just the sight of Lamia leaning her hips against his or holding his arms had sent her anger soaring. And when Percy and Lamia had almost "kissed", she had gripped her bow so hard that if it wasn't unbreakable, it would've shattered. She continued to fume as they reached camp and occasionally shot Percy a few glares, to which he returned with genuine innocent looks. After glaring at him a bit more, she ultimately decided to let the subject drop, since Percy had been obeying orders, as he always did, and obviously hadn't fallen for Lamia's charms. He'd just been playing along.

"C'mon girls, we have little time before Dionysus beach part starts." Artemis said as they landed.

"Wait, what do you mean? Can't we just go like this?" Percy asked.

Thalia rolled her eyes. "It's the 21st century, old man. Get on with it." Thalia said, clapping Percy on the shoulder.

Percy looked at her and raised an eyebrow. A look of understanding crossed his face and eyes. He nodded.

"I'll go tell Chiron that the mission is over then. And stuff our success into the Immortal Campers faces." Percy said, grinning as he did so.

"You got do that. Stay outside of our cabin when you're done!" Artemis called out to him. Percy nodded and walked off. "Let's go girls."

Artemis walked into her own room inside her cabin, wondering what to wear when she felt another presence. A presence she recognized and hated.

"Aphrodite. Get out of hiding and tell me what you're doing in my cabin." Artemis snarled.

Aphrodite appeared and turned to her excitedly. "So, what are you going to wear?"

"Something modest. A one piece or something." Artemis said as she shuffled through her clothing.

"No way! You can't wear something that nasty! You're not going to a swimming competition, so wear this!" Aphrodite exclaimed.

Artemis turned around and literally froze at the silver two-piece bikini that Aphrodite was holding out.

"Excuse me! Are you crazy? I'm not wearing something like that!" Artemis yelled.

"Hey, this is pretty modest compared to mine. Either that, or I'll force you into something smaller." Aphrodite said.

"I'll wear that if it was an all-girls party. Not with boys there." Artemis growled. In reality, she was actually afraid of going out in that in front of Percy, even though a small part of her wanted to.

"That's exactly why I'm there! I can draw the attention to myself, and you can draw Per- um, perfectly nothing." Aphrodite said, hastily covering up her slip.

Artemis narrowed her eyes. "And what's not to stop me from going out in my own choice?"

"Weeellll, I could certainly make all the waitresses swoon and hang over Percy during your dinner tonight." Aphrodite said, smirking.

Anger instantly boiled through Artemis's blood. "Don't. You. Dare." Artemis snarled, walking up to Aphrodite and glaring into her multi-coloured eyes.

"Then just wear it, and I swear nothing will be wrong." Aphrodite said with finality. She winked and faded away into a mist, leaving Artemis staring at the two-piece bikini. There is no way I'm wearing that. There must be a way out of this. Artemis thought desperately.

And yet here she was, standing with her fellow Olympians who were also in swimsuit attire, except she was wearing a large shirt. They had all teleported to the beach Dionysus had decided on and were waiting for Zeus to finish his speech. The beach was quite odd, since it seemed to be on a hill. There was a slope that you could slide down to get into the water, and a hill with a flat top, all covered in sand, which they were standing on right now. While waiting for her father to finish his speech, she surveyed her Hunters and was unsurprised to find they were all in various types of swimsuit attire but were all snickering at her. Percy seemed completely relaxed, which was easy for him since he hadn't changed his clothes at all.

"So, to all the demigods that have decided to join this party, let us have fun and celebrate Dionysus's party!" Zeus thundered out.

All the demigods cheered and went rushing towards the beach and sea, which was pretty wild seeing as Poseidon had let his control go.

"You know Lord Zeus, instead of thinking this as Dionysus's own party, why don't you think of this as a Olympian Family Reunion?" Percy asked, walking up to Zeus. He avoided looking at Artemis, since the fact that she was in swimsuit attire made him maddenly embarrassed.

"An Olympian Family Reunion?" Zeus asked.

"Well, yes, where all us immortals just get together and have fun. When was the last time you had fun anyways, Lord Zeus?" Percy asked.

"That's an excellent idea. I think we should all just have fun and forget about everything, Father." Hermes said.

"Yes, I agree too! Percy, would you like to share a blanket with me? I'm sure we'd be cozy." Aphrodite said, walking up to Percy and slinging an arm around him. Percy turned to Aphrodite, who was wearing a small bikini that made her voluptuous curves easily visible and basically not covering her ass up at all.

"No thanks. I prefer the sea, and besides, aren't you supposed to be with Ares? And speaking of Ares, where is he?" Percy asked as he surveyed the group of Olympians.

Artemis looked too and realized with a shock that Ares wasn't attending. Apollo didn't seem surprised though and Aphrodite was smiling.

"Ares can't come because he suffered some very bad injuries. Really severe." Aphrodite said.

Percy frowned. "From who?"

"Who? Um, he was fighting with Athena." Aphrodite said, hoping that Percy-and especially Artemis- would buy the lie. Athena helped her along by nodding.

"Ok. Then please let me talk to my friends first, I'll come back in a couple moments." Percy said, dashing off.

"What are we supposed to do now then? For this Olympian Reunion Party?" Zeus asked.

Dionysus of course, had the answer. "Bring on the wine! The food! The tables! The music! Everything!" He yelled. He was extremely jubilant and happy, even smiling at the campers. Soon, small tables with snacks on them were out, a miniature bar was summoned by Dionysus, and grills were out with Hephaestus designs on them and Poseidon was testing out a couple new surfboards. While the demigods were completely invited to join them, they were all afraid and the only ones that joined the Olympians were, of course, the Hunters and the Immortal Campers. Percy was talking animatedly with Jason and Frank when they crested the hill to where the Olympians were. They all froze.

There was big grill, which Hephaestus had finished tinkering and was making hamburgers, Dionysus was skipping around with a bottle of wine, Demeter was munching on grapes, Hermes was having fun surfing against Apollo, but what shocked them the most was the Big Three. Zeus and Artemis were playing volleyball, albeit high speed volleyball against Poseidon and Hades, with Hera, Aphrodite, Athena, Persephone, and Hestia watching at the side. Hades was actually smiling for once as he smacked the ball back towards Zeus and Zeus shot it towards Poseidon, who threw it at Artemis. Artemis gave a wicked grin and smashed the ball back towards Poseidon so fast that it completely blitzed him. Poseidon's mouth dropped in shock while Zeus and Hades roared with laughter.

It was only then did Percy realize that Artemis was in a bikini.

While the other campers moved off, Percy couldn't help but stare. He knew it was rude but he couldn't help it. The bikini seemed to accentuate each of Artemis's assets. Her curves were absolutely perfect sized, not over large like Aphrodite's but just perfect, her bottom piece clearly showed just how long and athletic her legs were and her stomach was taut and smooth. With the sunlight glistening off her silky smooth skin, she literally shone. She looked perfect, like a goddess. Percy would've continued to staring but a smirking Thalia interrupted him.

"Hey! Earth to Percy! Hello! You there! Respond!" Thalia yelled at his ear.

"Huh…wa…wha…uh?" was Percy's intelligent reply.

"Seaweed Brain, were you just getting googly-eyed over our commander?" Thalia said, smirking.

"Wh-wh-what? N-n-n-no, I-uh, I was, um, I was just-just shocked that Zeus, Poseidon and Hades are actually having fun." Percy stuttered, blushing furiously as he wrenched his gaze away from Artemis, who had just performed an incredibly sexy flip that shot the ball past Hades.

"Really? Come on, I just saw you staring at Artemis only, you didn't even see Hades throw the ball that Dad missed to hit back." Thalia said, her electric blue eyes sharpening as she gazed into Percy's eyes.

"Look, she's awesome, amazing, smart, beautiful, nice, extremely skilled…" Thalia interrupted him by clearing her throat.

"I don't think I'll ever be ready for a relationship, and neither will Artemis…" Percy finished with a sad tone.

Thalia snorted. "You never know. Now get going, they're starting to wonder where you've gone off to. And remember, the Hunters are behind you on this." Thalia said, before giving Percy a hug and dashing off.

Percy stared after Thalia's retreating form. The Hunters were behind him on this? Did that mean they supported him? Percy shook the thought out of his head and walked over to where his dad was getting pummeled by Artemis.

"Hey dad, you don't seem to be having much fun. Need some assistance?" Percy asked cheekily.

"Yeah, I do. What's the current score right now Athena?" Poseidon gasped.

"Fifteen to three!" Athena called back.

Percy's eyebrow shot up. "That's pretty bad. I never knew you were that good at volleyball, my lady." Percy said, deciding not to use 'Arty' in front of the gods, especially Apollo.

Artemis shrugged. "It's all about reflexes and speed. If you can surprise your opponent, then you win. Besides, I knew that men had slow reflexes. Even you Perseus."

Percy raised an eyebrow and stared into Artemis's silver eyes, smiling slightly as Artemis blushed. "Is that a challenge?" Percy asked quietly.

Artemis met his eyes square on, even though she felt her face heat up.

"Yes."

"Alright then. Athena, kindly reset the scoreboard." He said, turning to Athena. She nodded while Zeus, Hades and Poseidon backed off. To Percy's surprise, Poseidon stood next to Athena, who gave him a smile. Percy frowned slightly but couldn't dwell on the matter as Apollo tossed him the volleyball. Percy nodded his thanks but couldn't serve as Aphrodite interrupted him.

"Percy! You can't serve in clothing like that! It's not beach attire!" Aphrodite called out.

"Ahhh. So that's how Artemis got into that swimsuit?" Percy asked, arching an eyebrow towards Artemis. She blushed but nodded. "I like it. You look great." He said nonchalantly.

"So Aphrodite, what will it be?" Percy asked.

"You're agreeing with me? Are you really agreeing with me?" Aphrodite squealed. Percy nodded resignedly. "Ok, here! How about this!"

Aphrodite snapped her fingers and a brilliant pair of green swimming trunks appeared on Percy, replacing his pants. Percy looked down and nodded his approval. He raised the volleyball, ready to serve again when Aphrodite interrupted him again.

"No Perseus, your shirt. Take it off." Aphrodite said, her eyes shining.

Percy looked at her exasperatedly before putting the ball down and reaching for the hem of his shirt.

"You know what Aphrodite? You have pedophilia." Percy said as he took off his shirt.

"No, I have Percy Jackson mani-" Aphrodite stopped and stared and started drooling as Percy pulled his shirt off completely. Artemis couldn't help but stare either. With his shirt off, Percy's powerful build was displayed in all its glory. His eight pack muscles were perfectly proportionate; perfect sized and, as Artemis knew from personal experience, packed a powerful punch. His wide shoulders and his biceps shone and flexed as he bent to pick up the volleyball.

Artemis barely, just barely managed to stop herself from staring googly-eyed at Percy. It was an effort, since now Artemis really wanted to know how Percy felt. Meanwhile, Aphrodite was still staring, drool running down her chin. Percy winked at Artemis, which caused her to blush furiously and then he raised an eyebrow at Aphrodite.

"Can I serve now?" Percy asked. Aphrodite continued drinking in the sight of a shirtless Percy. Shaking his head, Percy tossed the ball into the air before bashing it down so fast and in such a perfect line that Artemis didn't even move until the ball hit the sand. Artemis stared in shock.

"Looks like I'm not the only one with "slow reflexes"" Percy taunted.

"1-0, currently in Percy's favor!" Athena called out.

Artemis growled as she tossed the ball back to Percy. He grinned and served it over in a slow, lazy motion, which Artemis took the chance to hit back fast and hard. Percy easily hit the ball back with a dig. It went back and forth for a little while before Artemis bumped the ball into the air and did an air strike. The ball flew through the air at blurring speeds and smashed into Percy, bowling him backwards. Percy groaned as he stumbled to his feet and tossed the ball back to Artemis. Artemis smirked. This was going to be fun.

They did each other in, using increasingly unorthodox moves to score a point. Artemis seemed to prefer gymnastic moves, such as flipping through the air to hit the ball back at Percy, while Percy swiped at the ball as if it were a projectile shot from a bow, which made sense since he was a battle-hardened warrior. Their speed also increased. The volleyball moved back and forth so fast that it looked like a game of table tennis. The two adversaries practically attacked each other with the ball, although Percy was more careful. Artemis just hit the ball back at super high speeds, and while Percy had the advantage of being tall, Artemis had the advantage of being light and fast. And in this case, light and fast won over big, fast and heavy. Artemis also had the advantage of changing into many animals to get her across, which pissed Percy off. Or she could teleport, such as the time when she scored the 25th point against him.

Percy had hit the ball back at astounding speed with an aerial punch and the only way she could've gotten was teleporting. She vanished and reappeared, smacking the ball back and catching Percy completely by surprise as it bounced off his head.

"Artemis! That's cheating! Changing into animals is bad enough, but no teleporting." Percy groaned as he get up and rubbed his head.

Artemis smiled as she leaned against the net. "You never said no teleporting. It's just because you're too dense not to use your own powers." She smirked and turned to Athena, who was trying hard not to laugh. "What's the score?"

"24-25. You just need to score one more point and you'll win."

"Good. Now Percy, hand that ball over to me." Artemis said as she reached for the ball that Percy tucked under his arm.

"Nope. You teleport, that means I at least get to serve." Percy said.

"Percy, either hand the ball over to me or I'll make you." Artemis said.

"Yeah? How?" Percy asked challengingly.

Artemis answered by dropping down and swinging her foot at Percy's legs. She swept his legs out and he crashed to the ground, the ball flying out of his grip. She walked over and picked it up, only to fall face first into the sand as Percy grabbed her foot and yanked.

"Perseus!" Artemis screamed as Percy yanked the ball out of her grasp. Percy smirked and raised the ball to score a point but Artemis leapt up from the ground and tackled him, sending them both tumbling down the hill. Artemis punched him in the chest in an attempt to push him off, but she might as well have been punching a mountain. They rolled down the hill, their bodies intertwining around each other as they fought for the ball. After a couple of exchanges, they landed at the bottom with a thump, with Artemis lying on top of Percy. Percy instantly became uncomfortable as he felt Artemis's breasts squashed against his chest and her legs twined around his.

For an instant, they just stared at each other before Artemis quickly rolled off him, blushing and snatched the ball away. While Percy was still embarrassed, he definitely wouldn't let Artemis take the ball away. He tackled her, landing on top of her as Artemis curled into a tight ball to stop Percy from taking the volleyball. Percy thought for just an instant before he reached down and tickled her sides. Artemis gave a laughing scream as she giggled.

"Percyyy… d-don't, I'm ticklish!" Artemis squealed as Percy began attacking her sides. She did her best to hold onto the ball, but Percy's tickling, combined with the fuzzy feeling she was getting as Percy's hands ran over her sides, caused her to let it go. Percy saw the ball go but he really didn't want to stop tickling Artemis. It was just such a pleasure to see her face light up with that smile of hers, the sparkle in her silver eyes and the crystal clear laugh of hers. He loved her. Her entire self.

As much as he regretted it, he stopped. He stared at Artemis for just a little longer before bending over and picking the ball up. He bent down so his voice was right next to her ear.

"I win." Percy whispered, his voice sending shivers down Artemis's back. Percy slowly and calmly walked up the hill to the surprise of the Olympians, who had fully expected Artemis to be triumphant. He walked over to his side and was about to "serve" the ball when Artemis appeared out of nowhere and dropped down on top of him.

"Agh! Arty! Not fair!" Percy yelped as Artemis bound his hands and feet with silver cords. She smiled and patted his cheek as she took the ball from him. She walked over to her side and "served" it over, and since Percy was bound, she scored a point.

"Well, it looks like Artemis wins!" Athena called out before bursting into laughter. The Olympians laughed and to their surprise, the Hunters and the Immortal Campers joined in. They had been secretly watching the match, with the Hunters betting on Artemis and the Campers betting on Percy. Percy slowly got up as the Olympians and everyone else went back to their business.

"Arty, that wasn't fair." Percy said as he walked up to her.

Artemis smiled. "When was life ever fair Percy?"

"True. So, you ready for tonight's dinner?" Percy asked.

Artemis nodded. "Of course. It's just a dinner with the Hunters. A big family dinner. Now come on, let's get something to drink." Artemis said, taking hold of Percy's arm and dragging him to the miniature bar.

They walked in and found it in a typical bar setting. The bartender was a dryad. She smiled and bowed at Artemis, and stood shell-shocked as she saw Percy.

"An-any-anything I could get you two, Lord and Lady?" She stuttered out.

Artemis gave Percy a sly look. A devious plan sprung into her mind. "Two Vesper Martini's please. Oh, and not mortal strength, I think Dionysus strength should do quite well."

The dryad's eyes bugged out before she nodded. They took their seats as Percy nibbled on a cracker.

"What the hell is a Vesper Martini?" Percy asked.

"It's a drink that one you mortals invented. Ian Fleming. Son of Athena. Very smart boy, but with a weird mind. Apollo loves the drink, and I thought you'd like to try it out." Artemis said, just able to conceal her smirk. She couldn't wait for his reaction.

Percy nodded and tried to find something worth looking at, instead of Artemis's bikini-clad body. He was about to ask her a question when the door to the bar opened and all the Olympians walked in. They instantly walked over to where they were sitting and seated themselves, while Demeter snapped her fingers, causing the table to stretch until it could seat 20 people.

Poseidon sat down next to Percy right, and Aphrodite instantly took the seat to his left. She put her hand on his biceps and began rubbing it, only to have her hand pushed off by Percy.

"So how's it going, my boy? Having fun?" Poseidon asked as he clapped Percy on the back.

"Yeah, it's been pretty good Dad. How's it going under the sea? Has everyone accepted Triton's death?" Percy asked.

Poseidon nodded. "It took them a while, but yes, they have accepted it. They await you, since I've crowned you as the Prince of the Seas."

Percy blushed. "Thanks Dad, but really, I don't need the title. I'm fine just like how I am."

Poseidon smiled. "That's my boy. Humble and modest."

The dryad walked over and handed Artemis and Percy their drinks. Then she turned to the other Olympians.

"What would you Lord and Ladies like?" She asked respectfully.

"Red wine for all of us. My special brew." Dionysus said. The dryad bowed and walked off. "Perseus, are you want to drink that? Especially since it's your first time?"

"Well, Artemis ordered it, so it can't be that bad, can it? What's in here?" Percy asked.

"Three measures of Gordon's Gin, one of Vodka, and half a measure of Kina Lillet. Then it's added with my power in it." Dionysus replied.

"Ok… what's wrong with that?" Percy asked, completely ignorant when it came to wine.

Dionysus groaned. "Forget it. Just…forget it. On your head, so be it, drink it. I dare you."

"Trust me Percy, it's alright. If I can drink it, then you can too." Artemis said, her eyes glinting as she swallowed the whole cup in one gulp without flinching. "Do it like I do."

And since Percy trusted Artemis so much, he did not take into account the small smiles that all the gods had on their faces as they watched the young half-immortal down the whole cup just like Artemis.

For a split-second, nothing happened, then Percy choked and coughed, gasping. "You call that 'alright'?" Percy asked incredulously as tears streamed down his face and his throat burned.

"Ahhh, the youngsters of today, truly do not know how to drink." Dionysus commented as he took the bottle of red wine offered to him by the dryad. The other gods nodded as they accepted their cups.

"Well, it was my first time. What do you expect?" Percy asked in a hoarse voice. His stomach bubbled.

"I'm sorry Percy. I promise I won't do something like that anymore." Artemis said, apologizing.

"Apology accepted." Percy rasped.

"So Perseus, tell me of your time with Artemis and the Hunters. All the stuff that has happened, to your successful killing of Lamia. Congratulations to that, I should add." Zeus said.

"Thank you Lord Zeus."

So Percy recounted everything he could remember, from the first moment he had met the hunters, what happened, what he had to do, his extra chores, his acceptance into the hunt, the battles, and the hunters pranks while Artemis blushed with a mixture of shame and embarrassment. She couldn't believe what she'd done to Percy during his first couple months. He story took several hours to tell, partly because the story was so long, but mainly because Aphrodite kept on trying to snuggle up to Percy. When Percy finally finished with the death of Lamia, Aphrodite had somehow managed to sit on Percy's lap and was arching herself against him.

"Aphrodite! You've had a relationship with practically every man in this room, including Hermes! Just leave one man alone, will you!" Athena growled as Percy pushed her off again.

"Yeah, why are all the females looking at him anyways? I'm the hottest." Apollo sniffed.

"You may be hot, but Percy's my favourite! He's got the best body, the most amazing hair, the deepest and dreamiest eyes you could ever want, amazing skills, perfectly sized muscles and don't even get me started on the length and thickness of his-" Percy cut her off by giving her a quick kiss on the cheek that made Artemis see red.

Aphrodite gasped as she held her hand to where Percy had kissed her. Then she grabbed Percy by the front of his shirt and the back of his and began making out with him furiously. Percy gave a strangled scream as Hestia teleported over to Aphrodite and yanked her off. Artemis herself would've wanted to go and beat Aphrodite up, but she forced herself to stay where she was.

Percy gasped as he called to the dryad. "Get me another Vesper Martini please! I have to wash Aphrodite's spit out of my mouth!"

The dryad hurriedly began making one while Aphrodite gave a muffled scream.

"Hestia! Let me go! I was just getting to the best part! Come on Percy, you know you want to!" Aphrodite pleaded as she fought Hestia's iron grasp.

Percy grabbed the Vesper proffered by the dryad and drained the whole thing in one go, ignoring the deep burn he felt in his throat.

"Sorry Aphrodite, but I don't like heartbreakers and faithless woman." Percy rasped out.

"Peercy, I love you, you know it! And I'd stay faithful to you! I swear!" Aphrodite yelped.

Everyone fell silent as they all absorbed what Aphrodite had just said. That was serious, since Aphrodite never committed herself to anyone. The silence and stillness was enough for Aphrodite to knock Hestia aside and leap onto Percy's lap, straddling him.

"Well Aphrodite, I'm honoured that I mean that much to you, but I really must decline." Percy said, his voice still hoarse from the Vesper. "Now please get off me."

Aphrodite looked at him with big puppy eyes as she began sniffling. "Well, I can't say that my hopes were high…" She mumbled. Artemis couldn't help but feel relieved. Percy had turned down the Love Goddess. But what she didn't know was who Percy had turned it down for.

Percy looked at his watch and realized with a shock that it was almost eight. "Well Lord Zeus, it's been very fun, but I'm getting a bit tipsy from those two Vespers. So do I have your permission to return to Camp?" Percy asked.

Zeus nodded. "Permission granted. So long as Artemis goes with you."

Artemis nodded. She had seen Percy's look when he saw his watch and understood. Aphrodite saw too, and quickly walked out of the door, sniffling loudly but whispered to Percy very quickly, "My cabin."

"I'm sorry to see you go, my boy. Maybe some other day when you have time, we can surf against each other?" Poseidon asked.

"You got it Dad" Percy said. He turned to Hestia. "Thanks for your help with Aphrodite, my patron."

"No problem. See you later, champion." Hestia said, giving Percy a warm hug.

Percy nodded and walked out. The instant he and Artemis were out, they immediately went in search of the Hunters. They found them making life sized sand figures of the campers and shooting arrows into their heads.

"C'mon sisters, dinner! Let's go!" Percy called. They nodded and grouped together. Artemis snapped her fingers and teleported them all back to camp. Once at camp, Artemis and the hunters went to their cabin and Percy walked to Aphrodite's cabin. The instant he got in, he saw Aphrodite.

"So, what am I wearing tonight?" Percy asked, praying that it wasn't something pink.

"Here, into that room, put it on and I'll look." Aphrodite said.

Percy walked into the room and saw an exquisite looking suit and a bottle of gel. He quickly put it on and walked out of the room.

"So how do I look?" Percy asked Aphrodite.

Aphrodite was stunned. She knew he'd look good, but this was off the charts. He was wearing a shirt of deep sea green with a tuxedo jacket so black that Nyx herself would envy it. Buttons sparkled on his shirt and forearm. His black pants had silver stripes running down the sides. His normally messy hair was slicked back, and he was wearing sunglasses that had deep sea green and black mixed together. The two colours clashed magnificently and added on to Percy's flaming eyes, it had a heart stopping effect.

"You look good. Really good." Aphrodite said out loud. Damn you Artemis, for getting his attention. If he has another life, I'm claiming him as mine forever. Aphrodite thought quietly.

Percy smiled, which stunned Aphrodite again. "Thanks a lot Aphrodite. I suppose I owe you one now. I'll see you later."

Aphrodite nodded dumbly as Percy walked out the door. She sniffled again. For the first time in her immortal life, she'd truly fallen in love with a man, not a lust for the man, but true love. And since she loved Percy, she would help him further his relationship with Artemis.

Percy arrived at Artemis's cabin just as Artemis walked out. Both of them froze as they stared each other. Artemis was wearing a dress of sparkling green that had a relatively low circular neckline, her earrings shone and flashed, even in the relative darkness, and her lips glittered pink from the slight lip gloss that Artemis had put on. Her hair had been combed and fell to her shoulders in dark auburn curls, framing her breathtaking beautiful face while her silver eyes glowed. They continued staring at each other for a long time, and they probably would've stared longer had it not been for the fact the Hunters couldn't hide their snickers anymore. They both jumped and blushed while Percy walked up next to Artemis.

"Shall we?" He said, holding out his arm.

"Of course." Artemis, hooking her arms through his. The hunters followed in formation from behind,unable to stop their giggles. They walked past the borders and down the hill, to where a black limousine was waiting for them. The driver bowed as he held the door open and Percy stepped in, helping Artemis in. The hunters hopped in seconds later, bouncing on the soft seats. The driver sat in and looked in the review mirror.

"The Daniel, 65th Street, Upper East Side, Sir?" He asked.

"Yes please." Percy replied.

The car started with a quiet hum, and in seconds they were off. Artemis turned to Percy.

"You ordered a limousine? Why?" She asked.

"It's a dinner, my lady. And I invited you, so what do you expect?" Percy replied. "Now just enjoy the ride. You seem tired."

"I am not tired! Do you think that small match made me tired?" Artemis shot back, but Percy was right, she was tired. Mostly from his tickling, which had sent shivers running through her entire body.

"Whatever you say, Arty." Percy whispered. For the whole ride, they sat mostly in silence, except for Phoebe, who had raided the fridge, and Tracy, who constantly bounced around and jumped up and down on everyone's lap.

"We've arrived at Daniel, Sir. I'll wait for you right here, no matter how long it takes." The attendant said as he held the door open for him.

"Thank you very much." Percy said. The entered Daniel and was instantly enveloped in a quiet environment and extremely thick carpeting. The receptionist at the front flashed them a brilliant smile.

"Your reservation, Sir and Ma'am?" She asked, eyeing Percy.

Percy reached into his pocket and took out his ID and slowly folded his sunglasses "Jackson."

The receptionist took it and nodded, blushing and giving him a shy smile as she handed it back to him. "Allow me to show you to your VIP area." She said as she walked out from behind the desk, purposely walking right in front of him as she swung her hips from side to side.

VIP? Only he would order the VIP table… Artemis thought.

In the VIP room, it was even quieter and the windows were perfectly clear, giving them a wonderful view of the New York skyline at night. They quickly seated themselves and Percy handed the receptionist a slip.

"Ah, already have the menu items decided on? I'll get it to the chef immediately." The receptionist said before walking off.

"Really Percy? The VIP?" Artemis asked as they put the napkins under their chin.

"Well, they didn't have MIP for you, so VIP was second best." Percy said.

"MIP? I don't think I've heard of that." Artemis said.

"Most Important Person." Percy replied with a straight face.

Artemis blushed. "So what are we eating tonight then, Percy?"

"First, the drinks." Percy said, indicating to a waiter who had come with the drinks menu.

"What would you all like to drink?" The waiter asked politely.

"Well, if you have several bottles of Remy Martin Napoleon Cognac, that'd be great." Thalia said.

The waiter's eyes bugged at her request. "She's older than she looks. All of them. As for me, well, I'll go light. Margarita on the rocks." Percy said

"I'll take a Vespa Martini." Artemis said, smirking at Percy.

The waiter quickly jotted everything down. "Your drinks and food should come soon, Sirs and Ma'ams."

The drinks came and the bread, as was their custom. Then the courses came down, one after another, which, to Percy's surprise, disappeared quickly. Apparently he had underestimated his sisters appetite. Artemis was impressed by them all, but was particularly impressed by the Duck Confit and the pan seared Millbrook Venison loin. She had eaten those two with the most enthusiasm.

"Whoo hoo. That was surprisingly good, Perseus. So what's next?" Artemis asked, indicating all the near empty plates on the table.

"Surprisingly good? You wound me with your harsh words, Arty. Dessert is next. Special request, since I love these apples." Percy said. He kept his face smiling while underneath his stomach was churning with anxiety.

A cart was soon rolled to their table. On it was 17 plates with the most perfectly red apples on them. The waiter quickly put them in front of each hunter and winked at Percy as he put an apple in front of him. Percy nodded his thanks. The apple in front of his was merely a Honeycrisp apple from Demeter's garden with red lipstick to make it look like the others.

"Impressively red apples. Wherever did mortals have apples like these?" Artemis said as she picked the apple up and examined it.

"It's not mortal. It belongs to an immortals garden." Percy said.

"Ahh, Demeter? Well, you must've been really nice to get the apples from her." Artemis said.

Percy gave an internal sigh of relief. "Yes, I was. So let's eat the apples first then, shall we?" Percy asked.

Artemis and the hunters nodded. Percy raised it to his mouth and bit into it as the same time as the others. He heard a loud, crispy crunch as 16 pairs of teeth bit into 16 Golden Apples. His crunch was lost, since a honey crisp was no match.

"Wow. This is so good!" Thalia exclaimed, juice running down her fingers.

"Yeah, this has got to be the best thing I've ever eaten." Tracy said happily, devouring the apple.

"It certainly is exquisite. The best thing I've tasted in my life so far, and that's saying a lot." Artemis said. The other hunters nodded their agreement as they happily munched on the apples.

Percy felt guilty for tricking them, but the feeling disappeared the instant he saw the pleasure and joy visible on each of the hunters faces, and most importantly, on Artemis's face. Percy forced himself to eat his apple without pause, but it was getting harder as each hunter began to glow a soft golden light. Artemis herself seemed to glow even more. Fortunately, they all seemed too preoccupied eating the apples to notice. Percy carefully timed his eating of his apple so he didn't finish too early.

Moments later, all the hunters sat back with contented sighs of pleasure. Percy pretended too, even though he was still very anxious.

"Well, that certainly was good." Percy commented.

"Yeah… that was amazing. I wish I could live forever and just eat those apples every day." Thalia said. Percy held back a smile at the irony of it.

"That, was the most impressive thing I've eaten. Very impressive." Artemis said. "And it tasted delicious. Heck, the whole dinner tasted delicious. So thank you Percy." Artemis said, giving him a warm smile. The hunters quickly added in their own thanks.

"You're welcome my lady." Percy said. "But unfortunately, all good things must end. Shall we get going then?"

Artemis nodded. "Now that Dionysus's part is over, and Lamia is killed, we will have Capture the Flag games soon. So we shall train hard tomorrow."

Percy nodded and led everyone out, right back into the limousine.

"How was your dinner Sir?" The attendant asked.

"It was wonderful. Back to our starting point please." Percy said.

"Yes sir." The attendant said, starting the car and driving off.

"So how do my little sisters feel?" Percy asked cheerily.

"Great. Energized. It's as if the apples gave us a shot of energy, it was so good." Christy said.

"Glad to hear that. What about you, my lady?" Percy asked.

Artemis was frowning slightly. Something seemed to have changed, and yet she couldn't quite put her finger on it. Maybe she just had too many Vesper Martini's? She'd concentrate on it later.

"I'm feeling great also. And Percy, remember, train your sisters hard for the next couple of days. I want to whack the campers ass so bad that they'll never forget." Artemis said.

Percy smiled. "Of course. Look, there's Hyperion's maple tree." Percy pointed out as they drove past it. "Amazing how powerful satyrs are in groups."

"Yes indeed…" Artemis couldn't shake the feeling. Something had definitely changed, her senses were yelling at her. "Percy, do you feel anything? Like a power change?"

Percy knew what Artemis was talking about. She was talking about her hunters. Crap, I forgot about her godly senses.

"Let me check." Percy said, stretching his senses out. However, while he felt the Hunters change from part-immortal to full immortal, he felt something else. Something huge coming from Central Park. "My Lady, something from Central-" He was cut off as the ground rumbled.

Then a bang ripped through the air and golden light engulfed everything.