Hello, sorry about lack of updates. My interest tends to ebb and flow. Been writing an assortment of other things, you see. Oh I changed my pen name, just thought I'd mention it, I didn't much like the old name and that's the only reason for the change.

When it came to flying, I considered myself something of an expert. Actually, technically speaking I was an expert if I defined it by 1000 hours of experience. I was an expert at many things if I used that definition simply due to the eternal youth that I had been granted for so long. Of course in many ways I was still just a teenager too because I hadn't really been allowed to grow as one of Artemis's eternal maidens. Skills gained purely from experience aside, I wasn't as different from the people around me as I perhaps liked to think.

Percy had been at the camp for such a short time and yet seemed to see through me with a strange clarity. He recognised that I was skilled but didn't tolerate my aloof persona. It was strange as he seemed unaware of a great many things around him; his attitude towards Mars had been completely foolish for instance. So why was he perceptive enough to see through me?

"Have you never fit in at camp?" He murmured, his voice somehow succeeding in reaching my ears despite being blown through the wind as we rode on the backs of winged horses.

"They distrusted me when Jason disappeared and I do not care for them," I snapped, not wishing to discuss the last several months I'd spent just waiting.

He grinned at me cheekily. "You seem like you care, didn't you say you risked your life on a quest and came back with gold and these Pegasus for the camp?"

I frowned at him, considering manoeuvring away from him so I didn't have to deal with such a conversation. But that would practically be conceding the point. "The camp itself is very important and a battle with the giants has been foreseen. It would be unwise to allow them to fall to such a threat," I explained; I was proud of the world, nature, if nothing else and wanted to defend it. It was my duty as a huntress.

"But you can't like being alone and distant with everyone? Surely they appreciate what you've done?"

"People are not always fair and I am content with their grudging respect; without it I may not have been able to go on this quest," I replied, glancing down at Frank who was flying far below us, not quite comfortable in the air but improving.

I did notice Percy shoot me a puzzled expression. "Frank invited you on this quest and I reckon he did because he believes you're a good person and is trusting you. If you were meaner then of course he'd have wanted someone else along!" He argued.

I really couldn't just deny that irritatingly valid point. So I ignored him to drop slightly lower in the sky, Frank was really nice and I had been rather gratified by his trust. "Hey, are you doing all right?" I called down to him.

He looked up and returned my smile. "Are you kidding? This is crazy! I wish I'd known about Pegasi sooner, they're too much fun!"

"They'd be more fun if we flew faster, you know?" I suggested with a smirk. I was aware of Percy dropping down so that he was flying next to me again.

"No way, this is more than exciting enough, I don't suppose you realise the there's this force called gravity…" Frank called back, but his voice became lost in a sudden gust of wind.

"I think you'll find that flying horses defy gravity," Percy chipped in with a chuckle, stroking his chestnut mount affectionately

"So Percy are you so confident because you're natural and can speak horse, or have you actually been flying before?" Frank asked, flying higher so that he was level with us, looking almost resigned.

I glanced at Percy, wondering how much he did remember for he still hadn't shown any recognition for me despite the exciting adventure we'd had together a couple years ago. I supposed that he'd had to have had many adventures if that one didn't stick out much. It was not surprising but it was rather frustrating to not be remembered at all when the whole thing had such an impact on me. I had even died; even now there should still be a constellation in memory of the adventure.

He shrugged. "I think I've done this before, I just don't remember it. It feels right though, so long as I don't get too high."

Frank seemed interested. "Why? You've been trying all these dangerous manoeuvres, don't tell me you really are afraid of falling after all!"

"Not exactly, but I'm a son of Poseidon and the air is Zeus' domain so if I fly too high he might just smite me out of the sky," Percy explained in an altogether too relaxed voice considering he was speaking about his own death.

Frank looked suddenly uncomfortable and looked around for some other topic of conversation, something that wasn't related to falling or being struck by lightning. "Oh look!" He said, pointing at the ground. "It's an evil monster army that might want to kill us when they see us," his voice rang with false cheer.

I looked down too, cursing myself for such negligence but no one seemed to have spotted us yet. There was indeed a massive army led by a monstrous figure. A giant, Polybotes, the bane of Poseidon. And the army was heading towards Camp Jupiter, slowly but surely. I wasn't sure that the camp was string enough either and I desperately hoped that we could find reinforcements before it was too late.

"Let's get down. Now!" I shouted with the utmost seriousness. Sherbet needed no encouragement from me to swoop into a sharp descent, and I directed the Pegasus towards a cluster of trees that would hopefully conceal our presence if we could get down there without the army noticing. In the open air, there was nothing to stop them from seeing us but there was nothing I could do about it but get to cover as quickly as I could.

I was aware that Percy and Frank were following me down, thankfully, and we shot downwards rapidly. For a second I thought we might make it.

Then a massive rock was thrown at my head and I had to swerve wildly to avoid it. A Cyclops had thrown that with incredible accuracy and there was now no hope of being undetected. In the distance I could hear the cries of an army spotting a potential enemy. Us. We couldn't possibly stop our descent now though and landed in the trees unscathed.

Next to me, Frank and Percy landed heavily and we all looked at each other, knowing exactly how dangerous the situation was currently. We didn't have a minute before the monsters approached the thin barrier of trees that gave us momentary cover. There was no chance that they hadn't seen where we landed. How had I let us get into this situation?

There was no time for regrets right now though. We had to react and get out before we got ourselves killed; we had to escape as there was absolutely no chance for us to fight our way out. The only consolation was that they didn't appear to have anything as fast a Pegasus from the brief scan I'd done. I really hoped I hadn't missed out anything.

That's it, what did you think? Zoe was feeling relaxed and confident, and enjoying herself so naturally an army would appear out of nowhere.

Please do review, apologies for the long wait between chapters, I've been getting distracted writing other things though I'm still writing this one too. Your reviews tend to encourage me though. Thanks for reading!