Hey guys, I know this is short but I didn't update at all yesterday or today so I thought I'd at least upload this. :( I know, I'm mean.

Hey, I would like to address 2 things that have come up repeatedly in reviews.

1) Don't get your hopes up guys. Percy and Annabeth are dead, and shall remain so. What Thalia was referencing to was that Lena has become the new 'best' therefore the 'best' is not dead. Get it guys? Sorry if I raised your hopes. That seemed to throw a lot of you off. :/

2) Yes, I have read Twilight. Yes, I enjoyed the books. Yes, I have seen all the movies. No, I am not a 'Twi-Hard' or whatever. Do you see me writing Twilight Fanfiction? No. Exactly. I enjoyed the books, and look forward to the movies, but I do not count the days or whatever like I do with Mark Of Athena or Percy Jackson anything. Capiche? There seems to be a rivalry and while I TOTALLY AND UNDOUBTEDLY KNOW PERCY JACKSON IS 98754386538X BETTER THAN TWILIGHT I still appreciate the novels. The movies are okay, but they're a lot more serious than the books. Book-Edward is funny. But am I a fan girl of his? No. I'm a Percy Fan girl. I read an interview for my show Supernatural and on it they said there were 'viewers' and then there were 'fans'. Same with books. I am a 'reader' of Twilight, but a 'CRAZY ASS FAN GIRL' of Percy Jackson. Get me guys?

Dude, I have a cut on my wrist from a chick nailing me with her Breast Stroke kick in practice today. Like...OW! Ever get those moments when you get a big cut and its bleeding and you're like 'Oh...huh...look at that...' and then you get a paper cut or something and your like 'OW! MOTHER *#%# # &* (%^# *^!' Cuz, the CUT itself didn't hurt, it was one of those 'Huh...' things. It hurt like two hours later.

Okay, it's late and I'm tired soooo...minimal blabbing hopefully.

(Got $50 though from babysitting! WHOO!)

And I will either post again tomorrow morning or night. I'll try to at least update this once more and Here We Are, I Guess. I may or may not update Living Through Painful Things tomorrow. Sorry guys!

Virtual Hugs to: Meepmeep123, The Avian-Olympian, storm35-50, crazy-for-movies, pokemonchen, Pandastyle

Replies:

Meepmeep123: Ha. Sorry, I watch Bones, not CSI. (Bones COMES BACK ON MONDAY!) Right? Sequels never live up to expectations set by the first book.

The Avian-Olympian: Haha. While the 5th HP was one of my least fave movies, for some reason it was like my fave books. But I was crazy stubborn and only read the books last summer. I have this thing for commonality. Reading HP is common. Saying 'Yeah, I read Harry Potter," doesn't really matter to people, they're like 'well, f*** yeah you've read them? What reader hasn't!" So...yeah...but I read the entire series in about a week, and I read them completely out of order. If I remember I read them 1, 5, 4, 6, 7, 3, 2. Yeah...Okay. Percy and Annabeth were 26 when Lena was born and Lena is about Sixteen and a Half. That help? As for that other question, read above, you weren't the only person I confused. And thank you! JV kicked ass (we're undefeated) but V lost. And nobody seemed to care about JV leaving us all like 'DAFUQ! DUDE! WE ARE UNDEFEATED! AND NOBODY GIVES A SHIT!' Our coach barely mentioned our victory. *rolls eyes* whatever.

storm35-50: Thanks! And I getchu! I also write non-fanfiction stories. My most recent one I've been working on actually involves Greek mythology (and Roman and Egyptian,) but has a WHOLE new take on the ancient myths and 'demigods' and such. Awesome! Haha! Yeah, I ramble A LOT and have ADHD. True Story, Bro (or chick). And in reply to your second review, Thank you! It really means a lot when people compliment my writing! And thanks for the support!

crazy-for-movies: THANKS! And you really think Thalia would just completely abandon Percy and Anabeths child? No. When Thalia died Annabeth would...erm...kill her, ah, again...whatever. And yeah, it does, but we mainly did breaststroke drills which isn't physically exhausting.

Pokemonchen: Love the name. I grew up with Pokemon and still sometimes play the games on my DS. I saw a picture on Facebook that was like 'Yeah, I did victory road and forgot to save, and I only cried for twenty minutes' and I'm like YES! Anyhoo, in reply to your comment...read above for the 'best' confusion. And yes, she is 1/4 Poseidon, 1/4 Athena, 1/2 mortal.

Pandastyle: Read above. Percy and Annabeth shall remain dead. Sorry. And here you go! Another chapter!

Song: I'm sure my parents would LOVE it if I was blasting music at 11:20 pm. COurse I could use headphones but thats SO MUCH WORK!

Disclaimer: ...

READ ON!

Thalia guided us through the woods with an ease that could only accompany a huntress of Artemis. While my footsteps were silent, I did stumble. While Zack probably couldn't have been louder if he had ten pound weights on each foot. Thalia seemed to be attempting to keep a scowl from her face, but she was failing as bad as I.

"How much farther, Thals?"

Thalia tipped her head in thought. "No long," she glanced back at Zack, who was standing after having fallen again, and muttered, "thankfully," to herself, though I heard her as well. Sadly, I couldn't help but agree.

Nine minutes and approximately forty-eight seconds we arrived at a clearing. Silver tents dotted the small field as girls, varying from ages eleven to about seventeen. When we entered, all heads swiveled to face us. I immediately heard the expected scoffs of disgust at the arrival of a male. I realize, or perhaps remember, that there was a time I could have fit in well with these girls. In the time I had stayed with them, I had liked them, but I was at a point where I favored solitude and isolation, rather the constant presence of the other females.

An auburn haired girl, of the approximate age of thirteen, stepped up. I had met her before. I bowed my head respectably. "Lady Artemis."

Zack looked at me like I was crazy, but the girl, Artemis, smiled politely. "Silena, a pleasure, as always."

"I go by Lena now if you recall."

"I do, but I quite like the name Silena. It means 'moon'."

"You're Artemis?" Zack steps in.

I close my eyes and suppress a groan. When I opened them, I see Artemis is staring at Zack.

"You brought a male."

"Yes, I…" I realize I don't know how to finish that sentence.

"From what I understand," Thalia steps in for me, "he's been of great assistance to her."

"I do not like it when men come onto my hunting grounds."

"I know, but you permitted Percy to stay."

"For a VERY short amount of time."

"Lena needs our help, and Lena needs his help."

I shifted my feet to keep from arguing that no, I did not need his help. Although, I knew it would not be beneficial to the situation, and despite Zack's incompetence about life on the run, I suddenly found it hard to imagine him leaving. Or perhaps I was choosing not to think about it.

"What do you suggest, Thalia?"

"One night. Permit him one night's rest. He shall leave with the morning. You know we need to talk to Lena and I doubt she'll stay if the male won't."

I frowned at how Thalia called Zack 'the male'.

Artemis contemplated this. "I suppose one night shan't do too much damage." She turns to Zack, "I suggest you keep a noticeable distance form the other girls. They don't take kindly to men."

With that Artemis walks away.

"That was a friendly welcome," Zack mutters.

"Get used to it," Thalia told him. "She was far kinder than a lot of girls here will be."

"You don't seem to detest me that much."

Thalia shrugged. "I've always been less anti-men as most the girls."

"Why is that?"

"Most people here are devoted to Artemis, and swear off men, due to a poor experience with men in their past. Fathers, brothers, boyfriends, bullies, whatever. My reason has nothing to do with the male population. Well, not technically."

"What was your reason?"

Thalia shrugged again. "Didn't wanna turn sixteen."

Zack frowned, but didn't question it as he considered what she said. Eventually the frown of confusion dissipated. He seemed to be able to remember her story. For the first Great prophecy, she was the original candidate. Then she got turned into a tree, blahblahblah…then my dad revived her after venturing into the Sea of Monsters, blahblahblah…long story short, the day before Thalia's sixteenth birthday (technically, another long story) she accepted Artemis's offer of becoming her lieutenant after her other one died (you guessed it, another long story).

"I'm going to go talk to the girls, make sure everything's okay and get some…updates…" Thalia shifted awkwardly.

"Thalia? What's wrong?"

She sighed. "I'm afraid we have much to discuss."

I recalled her words 'A new threat is attacking'. I also recalled my own experiences, my experiences with my past and the voice. I knew they were inexplicably connected somehow.

"Yes, I think we do."

Thalia nodded and jogged off to her fellow girls. Zack and I stood there awkwardly. He stared at his shoes while I crossed my arms, studying Thalia as she discussed with her huntress's. Once again I wondered what my life would have been like if I had remained with the huntress's. Forever nine and forever accompanied.

"What's up?" Zack asked, sensing a change in my attitude.

I shrugged, but didn't move my eyes from Thalia. "Nothing, I…" I took a deep breath. "I almost became one of them."

He frowned. "When?"

"When I was nine. Right after my parents, um," I swallowed. "died," I choked out.

"Oh," was all he could think of.

Silence consumed second after second, minute after minute.

"I'm glad you didn't," he said, finally.

"Excuse me?"

"Join them I mean. The Hunters. If you had, you'd be nine right now and I'd probably never had met you."

That seemed to be an odd statement. Nine. I could be nine right now. Would I still be broken like I was when I was nine? Am I still broken? Or just loosely taped together?

How would I be if I had joined them? What would I be like? What would my life had been like? Would my fears be different? My strengths? My weaknesses?

I thought that over. And over. And over again. I had done this before numerous times, but my results were always inconclusive. But this time…

"Yeah," I said quietly, so I'm not even sure he heard me, "I think I am too."