Aiden woke up suddenly to the sound of his heart thumping loudly. He thrashed around with his blankets for no apparent reason before tuning his senses into his surroundings. He stiffened his body as he heard a noise from outside his door. He gently placed his bare feet on the floor and tip-toed towards the door. He carefully glanced through the keyhole. He caught himself about to gasp for he had seen someone, no something, walk past his door and sniff the dark wooden floor. He suddenly thought of his mother, and then breathed a sigh of relief as she was on the night shifts for a while. Aiden crept backwards and pulled on a hoodie before returning to the door. He glanced through the keyhole again. This time he saw a flash of silver as the creature lifted its head. He swallowed a whimper as he recognised it as a wolf. It sniffed the air before turning towards the door. Aiden silently walked backwards on his hands and feet towards his wardrobe. He searched in his drawers until he found his pocket knife. Now he felt a little braver. He swallowed, noisily in the silence, as the door opened. A slender figure stepped in with the wolf at its heels. The wolf did not come that close to Aiden so he stood up and gazed at his 'intruder'. "Who the hell are you?!" demanded Aiden, now worked up from his nervousness. "I am Palen and this is Cidaris, one of Diana's faithful wolves," replied Palen. "Well gee, this all makes sense now. Who's Diana anyway?" said Aiden with sarcasm dripping off his every syllable. Palen stepped forward and continued, "Diana and I are Roman Immortals. Diana is the queen of the hunt and goddess of the moon. I am a mere immortal citizen and warrior, nothing else." Aiden raised his eyebrows. "Well, what in tarnation are you doing in my home?" asked Aiden. "I came here tracking a pack of Laceros. They attacked my good friend Emily's, well, acquaintance. Her name is Kallisto, have you heard of her?" "Nope, never heard that name before," answered Aiden tensely. "Never mind. We best be off." "Wait!" yelled Aiden. "I want to help you find Kallisto. I feel like I have heard that name somewhere before." "Great. Let's go." said Palen motioning at the door.
Palen halted Cidaris at the edge of the road with Aiden right behind them. Palen glanced around the area, making sure there were no mortals (exceptions made for Aiden of course) nearby. Palen then continued towards a fountain next to a large rock. He fumbled in his pocket while watching the street light carefully. Aiden noticed the light creating a rainbow as it passed through the fountain. Palen tossed something into the rainbow and muttered something containing the word accept. Then somebody appeared in the fountain's rainbow. It was just an image but it looked real. "Palen, what is the reason for you calling?" The person had the body of a white horse and, where its head should be, a well-muscled torso. He had a bow strung over his back and curly brown hair with streaks of dark grey. "The boy has been found. I felt a strange presence when I travelled near New York City however," replied Palen. "I have sent Percy to contact Emily once more. I do not know where they have gone and neither of them or Grover has Iris Messaged me." The man stroked his smooth chin pensively. "If you can, contact Artimes and request her hunters' help. I shall consult the councillors and reach a consensus as of what to do." Palen nodded, and with that the horse- man disappeared. He really needs to work on his Grecian and Roman personas. I guess even though he's like, three thousand years old the god mumbo jumbo is still confusing, thought Palen.