I took a moment to look around the room we were in, if it could even be called a room. It was empty, the entire room made of wispy grey smoke, the floor, the ceiling, the walls, all of it.

My father was donning an all black business suit, a skull shaped tie clip glinted from his tie.

"Is it because of the di Angelo siblings?" I said accusingly, his timing was immaculate.

"I do not know how you came to that conclusion-"

"Nico is immune to hellfire, either he has the curse of Achilles or he's your son." I cut him off, "And unless their mother attracted two gods in the span of two years, Bianca is too."

Hades seemed to age a few decades as he sighed, "While the di Angelos are a reason why I'm here, it's not the main reason."

"What is then?"

"I wasn't lying when I said I wanted to visit my son."

I crossed my arms defensively, "Why now? Why did you not visit me before, you know, when I needed you?"

"I had to keep you hidden from the other gods, lest I run the risk of the others learning of your existence. If I were to initiate any contact with you, which in itself would require you to come close to death, or to the underworld, it would undo my magic and allow the others to know of your existence." Hades looked truly guilty.

I furrowed my brows in thought, "But I'm not close to death right now?"

"The realm of dreams and the realm of the dead aren't so dissimilar."

I narrowed my eyes, my lips pressed to a thin line. His words make sense to a certain extent, and Apollo had mentioned something like that.

"And you can contact me now because multiple gods are already aware of my presence, right?"

"Yes, it is only due to Apollo that they haven't summoned you to Olympus yet."

I sighed, "I suppose that makes sense. I assume you're not going to claim Nico and Bianca?"

Hades shrugged, "I could, they're both younger than the seaspawn, the Olympians wouldn't consider them as much of a threat as him."

"Not like it would make any difference," I grumbled, "Whose grand idea was it to only have cabins for the twelve olympians."

Hades sighed once more, "My children rarely find themselves in place among the Olympians."

I thought back to my introduction to the Hermes cabin, how the cabin reacted to me being a son of Hades. But I also remembered the Stolls being relatively unaffected, instantly cracking a joke to lighten the atmosphere.

"It isn't all bad."

Hades nodded, as if he'd read my thoughts, "I shall wait until Nico is a bit older before claiming them, at his age it would be detrimental if the camp started mistreating him."

I scowled, "If anyone dares mistreat them, I'll make sure to teach them a lesson."

Hades chuckled, "Do not go too far in disciplining them. As my children, you of all people should understand the balance of life and death."

I rolled my eyes, "I'm no arbiter, besides I don't think the camp authorities would like it if I went around killing campers left and right. In hindsight, Dionysus probably wouldn't care."

Hades furrowed his brows, "Don't use names so flippantly, they hold power best left untrifled."

"I'll try to remember that." I said slowly, I could do that.

The area around us flickered, the smoky grey room beginning to fade.

"We do not have much time, you are waking." Hades noted, "You shall find a few…gifts for your half siblings when you wake up. As for yours, you'll see soon enough."

His form began melting, his previous black suit now a mess of shadows, and were those faces?

"Wait, Father-!"

I could swear I saw him smile right before he disappeared.

.

.

.

True to his words, I found an obsidian pendant abd an armband in my pockets after I woke up. After some experimenting, I figured out that the pendant would enlarge into a bow when pulled apart, while the armband turned to a sword.

"Bianca, Nico." I called as I walked up to the di Angelo siblings.

"Valen, have you seen the pegasi stables!" Nico had stars in his eyes, his form jumping up and down in excitement.

I smiled good naturedly at the kid, "Not yet, but I am free to see it now, but before that," I cut him off before he could bolt.

"I have something for you," I glanced at Bianca, "Both of you."

Fishing out the armband and the pendant I gave them to the siblings. "Tap the armband, and pull at the pendant." I instructed, and although they looked doubtful, they followed nonetheless.

Instantly a sword, pitch black in colour, with a human bone shaped crossguard materialised in his hand. In Bianca's hands a stygian iron longbow was held comfortably, as if they were always meant to be there.

"Woah! Cool!" Nico stared at the sword in awe, swinging it around like a stick.

Bianca pulled back the string, probably testing to see how strong it was, but as she reached the apex of her pull, a pure black arrow simply appeared in her hand. In her panic, she let go, and the arrow shot forward faster than I could see, embedding itself in a tree trunk. It vanished soon afterwards.

Bianca blinked, staring at the bow in newfound respect.

"Thank you." She said, her bow shrinking back down to the pendant.

"Thank your father."

Bianca's neck snapped towards me, "You know who our father is?"

I smiled, "I had my suspicions, but his visit yesterday confirmed it."

"He visited you?"

I nodded, "In my dreams, yes."

"Why did he visit you but not us?" Nico asked, suddenly not interested in his sword anymore. The weapon seemed to have sensed it and had reverted back to an armband.

I shrugged, "I don't claim to know a god's intentions, but I'd reckon it's partly because he hasn't claimed you two yet and you're unaware. Or perhaps he's just nervous to meet you."

"Can gods get nervous?" Bianca asked, sounding nervous herself.

"Bianca, if I've learned anything about the gods, it's that they can be very human." I said, remembering how Artemis and Apollo acted amongst each other, or even how Hades acted in our conversation. God that was awkward.

"Who is he?" Nico asked as Bianca pondered over my words.

"Well, Nico," I kneeled down to his level, "Turns out you and I are brothers."

"Cool!"

"What?!"

I winced at how loud Bianca was, "Yes, you're related to me, don't worry it's not as bad as it sounds."

Bianca flinched, "I didn't mean it like that."

"I know, I'm just messing with you." I said snidely, "Anyways, I want you two to keep it a secret, at least until he claims you."

"Why?" Nico complained, "I want to do cool things like you."

I chuckled, ruffling his head, "I'm not telling you to hide your powers, just try to use them discreetly."

"Discreetly?"

"It means secretly, think of it like a secret identity that no one can know."

"Whoa, like power rangers, cool!" His excitement skyrocketed once again.

"Yes, Nico, like power rangers."

"Cool!"

"If anyone asks where you got the weapons tell them I had spares, just in case." I said, I couldn't have people figuring out their identity yet.

He nodded vigorously.

"Why do you want us to keep this a secret?" Bianca asked, her brows furrowed in thought.

I shrugged, "The children of the big three are considered to be dangerous, too dangerous. So, around seventy years ago they agreed not to sire any more children. Basically, we're not supposed to exist."

Bianca sighed dejectedly, "Great, does that mean we'll be executed, because if so-"

"Nah, don't worry about that. They let Percy live after all." I reassured her with a wave.

Nico perked up at that, "Percy? Is he a son of Hades too?"

"Posiedon," I corrected, "and Thalia's a daughter of Zeus."

"How did you know that? You've been with us the entire time."

I shrugged, "I noticed them sitting at two of the three empty tables, Zeus, Posiedon and Heras. It had to be either of the brothers, and last night Dad mentioned a seaspawn and referred to him as 'he'. I figured out their parents after that."

The di Angelos stared at me like I'd grown a second head.

"Ahem," I coughed into my fist, "You don't need to worry about suddenly being summoned to Olympus and sentenced to death."

"Ah…"

"If you're our brother does that mean we'll have cool powers like the black fire and teleportation?" Nico suddenly asked.

I chuckled, "Of course Nico, of course."

.

.

.

Later that day I found Percy walk out of the big house, seemingly pissed about something.

"Sup Percy." I greeted, walking alongside him.

He flinched heavily, "Wha- Oh, it's you."

"You seem distraught, whats the matter?"

"It's nothing." He brushed the question off.

"Please, a blind oaf could see somethings bothering you."

He sighed, admitting defeat, "It's just, I found out Annabeth was considering joining the Hunters."

I blinked in suprise, partly because I didn't expect him to tell me something so personal and partly because of how he reacted to the news.

"You like her." I realized. Percy's face reddened, and he turned away from me.

"I do not!"

Yep, he definitely does.

I sighed, it was not my place to meddle in that, "Aaaaanyways, could you tell me more about this, 'Capture the flag'?

He turned back towards me, "You've never played Capture the flag?"

I deadpanned at him, "Kinda hard to do that when youre running across the country fleeing from monsters."

"Oh," He said sheepishly, "Right so, it's a game between two teams whose main goal is to capture the opponent's flag."

"Figured that part out, what about the rules and other important bits."

A plan began forming in my mind as Percy explained the game.

That night after dinner, the games were about to begin. Before the game I pulled Percy aside, explaining my plan.

"Are you sure you can manipulate something that big?"

"I'm confident, just don't put me on defense duty and we'll be golden."

As Percy and Thalia gave out orders, positioning the campers in what I assumed was a strategic format, they left me and Thalia on offense and Percy for defence, although he didn't look very happy about it.

"This is awesome!" Nico ran up to us, his blue-feathered bronze helmet was falling in his eyes, and his breastplate was about six sizes too big.

I had chosen not to equip the armor, it slowed me down and made it harder to shadow travel. Not to mention the possibility of it melting over me if I messed up while using hellfire.

"Where did you get that?" Percy stared at his stygian iron sword in confusion.

"I gave him that," I said, "I had a few spares which I never used, better someone else use it than leave it to rust."

Of course, Stygian Iron didn't rust, but that was beside the point.

Nico lifted his sword with effort. "Do we get to kill the other team?"

"Well…no."

"But the Hunters are immortal, right?"

"That's only if they don't fall in battle. Besides—"

"It would be awesome if we just, like, resurrected as soon as we were killed, so we could keep fighting, and—"

"It doesn't work like that Nico, at least not in greek mythology. You can't just respawn if killed." I cut him off.

Nico stared at us, a bit disappointed but he'll get through it.

Percy patted Nico on the shoulder. "Hey, it's cool. Just follow the team. Stay out of Zoe's way. We'll have a blast."

Chiron's hoof thundered on the pavilion floor.

"Heroes!" he called. "You know the rules! The creek is the boundary line. Blue team— Camp Half-Blood—shall take the west woods. Hunters of Artemis—red team—shall take the east woods. I will serve as referee and battlefield medic. No intentional maiming, please! All magic items are allowed. To your positions!"

"Blue team! Follow me!" Thalia thundered, and the team cheered, following behind.

Our flag was kept on top of a cluster of boulders, which was apparently called Zeus' fist. Strange name.

But I could see why our team chose that spot. Zeus' fist was about twenty feet tall, and difficult to climb if the number of failed attempts said anything. But I wondered if the Hunters had arrows designed for this particular situation.

Nico was given guard duty, along with the Stoll brothers and someone named Beckendorf. He had more muscles than any teenager I'd seen, and I had no doubt Nico would be safe.

"We'll send out a decoy to the left," Thalia told the team. "Silena, you lead that."

"Got it!"

"Take Laurel and Jason. They're good runners. Make a wide arc around the Hunters, attract as many as you can. I'll take the main raiding party around to the right and catch them by surprise."

Everyone nodded, Thalia's confidence making it hard to argue.

"Anything to add, Percy?"

"Um, yeah. Keep sharp on defense. We've got four guards, two scouts. That's not much for a big forest. I'll be roving. Yell if you need help."

"And don't leave your post!" Thalia said.

"Uh, what am I supposed to do?" I hadn't been given a post yet.

Percy and Thalia shared a glance, before Thalia spoke, "You can shadow travel right?"

I nodded, "Yeah."

"Do whatever you can to help, if someone needs help, shadow travel to them as soon as you can."

"Understood."

She cleared her throat, Now, is everybody clear?"

Everybody nodded. We broke into our smaller groups. The horn sounded, and the game began.

Silena Beauregard's team moved first, disappearing into the woods in the left. After a few seconds, Thalia's team moved and I followed.

The night was my ally, my powers stronger than usual. As a son of Hades, I had near perfect vision in the dark.

I caught a glimpse of movement towards our left, and stopped in my tracks. In the darkness I connected to the shadows. Every shadow was like a gateway, each connected to one another like a spiderweb. I had recently learned this trick, but I could sense anyone standing over a shadow. And what was night, if not one big shadow?

"!"

I had failed to account for the sheer number of beings in the forest, the input making me dizzy. I held my arm out to a nearby tree to stabilize myself, carefully filtering the data I was receiving.

There was something different about immortal souls than mortal ones, they were much brighter to begin with. Some of them were older than any I had seen, one even being thousands of years old.

I blinked, reorienting myself, sensing a group of hunters coming our way. Cursing underneath my breath, I shadow travelled to my team, which had unknowingly left me behind.

"Hunters to the left!" I yelled, and shields were drawn.

A volley of arrows descended upon us as if to deliver divine judgement. They were wild shots, more than half of them missed by inches, the rest bounced off the shields.

I didn't know how it happened, maybe it was just my bad luck, but an arrow came shooting down right at my face. Now I was sure they weren't using lethal arrows, but this was the Hunt we were talking about, they could have used sharp arrows just to injure or kill the males.

Acting on instinct alone, my hand moved and I felt the tingle of power at my fingertips. The arrow stopped, frozen in place mere inches away from my palm.

Slowly, I brought my palm down, staring at the arrow for a good second, before snapping out of my thoughts. They were made of a type of silver, probably of the celestial kind.

An idea blossomed in my mind.

I shadow travelled to Thalia, "Take the team and run when I give the signal."

"What kind of signal?"

"You'll know." I said cryptically, melting into my shadow once more.

I had my arms out even before I exited the shadow realms, power running through my veins.

"Hello girls."

The Hunters snapped their bows towards me, fully alarmed of my presence amongst them. My smirk only grew larger as I felt their quivers shake.

"Hey, what are you-"

And all chaos broke loose. Their quivers exploded, the arrows whizzing around like a deadly storm of silver.

Flicking my fingers, I raised a twenty foot tall circular wall around them, and then I was oit of there.

"You're crazy." Thalia laughed as we sprinted across the creek.

I grinned, "You haven't seen half of it. See ya in a bit!"

Before she could say anything, I disappeared. Their centre was wide open, the Hunters split in two groups, the one we had bested and the ither following Silena's team.

A single guard stood guard, looking as aware as any Hunter. Imagine her surprise when I appeared right beside their flag, grinning like a madman.

"Hey-!"

"Thanks for the flag!" I greeted, before warping once again, flag in hand.

I appeared right by the creek, startling Thalia's team who were about to cross the river.

"Wha-Valen?!"

Grinning, I raised the flag pole to the skies, "VICTORY FOR CAMP HALF-BLOOD!"

The ground trembled with my yell, and somewhere in the distance a horn sounded.

"Camp Half-Blood wins!" Chiron announced, a grin threatening to split his face.

"You did it!" Thalia yelled, laughing as she slammed into me.

I chuckled as the rest joined us. Soon I was hoisted up in typical celebratory fashion, my name chanted like a mantra.

From the corner of my eyes I caught Zoe glaring at me. I smirked smugly, take that Huntress.

I perked up, the atmosphere suddenly a lot more sullen. The stench of death filled the air.

"W-what is that?" I heard Bianca yell, pointing at the woods.

Someone… something was approaching. It was shrouded in a murky green mist, but as it got closer, the campers and Hunters gasped.

"This is impossible," Chiron said, an undertone of nervousness in his voice. "It… she has never left the attic. Never."

I was set down quickly as everyone moved to see what was approaching us.

Just looking at the thing made me recoil in disgust, that thing should have been dead ages ago.

And yet, the withered mummy shuffled forward until she stood in the center of the group. Mist curled around our feet, turning the snow a sickly shade of green.

None of us dared move. Then her voice hissed inside my head. Apparently everyone could hear it, because several clutched their hands over the ears.

I am the sprit of Delphi, the voice said. Speaker of the prophecies of Phoebus Apollo, slayer of the mighty Python.

The Oracle…just what had reduced her to such a pitiful state?

The Oracle regarded Percy with its cold, dead eyes. Then she turned unmistakably toward Zoe Nightshade. Approach, Seeker, and ask.

Zoe swallowed. "What must I do to help my goddess?"

The Oracle's mouth opened, and green mist poured out. I saw the vague image of a mountain, and a girl standing at the barren peak. It was unmistakably Artemis, but she was wrapped in chains, fettered to the rocks. She was kneeling, her hands raised as if to fend off an attacker, and it looked like she was in pain. The Oracle spoke:

Five shall go west to the goddess in chains,

One shall be lost in the land without rain,

The bane of Olympus shows the trail,

Campers and Hunters combined prevail,

The Titan's curse must one withstand,

And one shall perish by a parent's hand.

Then, as we were watching, the mist swirled and retreated like a great green serpent into the mummy's mouth. The Oracle sat down on a rock and became as still as if she was carved from stone, as if she might sit by this creek for a hundred years.

As if that wasn't enough for one night, the earth cracked open. A spire rising just beside me, pitch black as the night itself. Stygian Iron, there was no mistaking it.

"What's happening now?" Percy complained.

Misty black energy began swirling over my head, and I looked up to see a helm, greek style, floating over my head.

The spire grew to six feet, before detaching from the ground and levitating beside me. It's head split into a dual pronged spear. At the same time my orange Camp Half-Blood shirt and jeans began melting into something completely different.

I now donned an abyssal toga, fading into a sinister red near the bottom. A golden skull I couldn't recognize held up the toga at my shoulder. A similar skull acted as a belt, chains of gold nuggets and rubies hanging from it. My calves were covered in golden armour, the same skull acting as a knee guard. Crimson leather straps wrapped around my arms asymmetrically and a laurel wreath of golden leaves wrapped around the behind of my head.

(A/N: The fic cover if anyone's wondering.)

It was surprisingly comfortable to be in.

"Hades," Chiron said, "Deathbringer, Earthshatterer, Lord of the Underworld. Hail, Valen Steensen, son of the death god."

I sighed, couldn't have picked a better time could you, dad?

.

.

.

Mr. D and Chiron (in wheelchair form) sat at one end of the table. Zoe and Bianca di Angelo (who had kind of become Zoe's personal assistant) took the other end. Thalia and Grover and I sat along the right, and the other head councilors—Beckendorf, Silena Beauregard, and the Stoll brothers—sat on the left. The Ares kids were supposed to send a representative, too, but all of them had gotten broken limbs (accidentally) during capture the flag, courtesy of the Hunters. They were resting up in the infirmary.

Zoe glanced at me, standing beside Chiron, "Why is he here?"

"As far as I'm aware, I'm the only son of Hades in Camp, as such I'm automatically considered counselor."

"The Silent one is not an Olympian, he has no cabin here."

"Cabin or not, he's still the eldest of the Big Three."

"He has no right to be here."

Chiron sighed, "I'm sorry child, but-" he froze, the room suddenly a lot colder. The lights dimmed in warning.

"You may stay here." He said, not very pleased with the situation. Mr. D snorted.

Thanks pops!

Even though she was lieutenant, she could not defy a god. Glaring at me one last time, she turned, "This is pointless. There is no time for talk. Our goddess needs us. The Hunters must leave immediately."

"And go where?" Chiron asked.

"West!" She said impatiently, "The prophecy clearly states that 'Five shall go west to the goddess in chains,'. We take five Hunters and go."

"You're missing something, as usual," Thalia said. "Campers and Hunters combined prevail. We're supposed to do this together."

"No!" Zoe said. "The Hunters do not need thy help."

"Your" Thalia grumbled. "Nobody has said thy in, like, three hundred years, Zoe. Get with the times."

Zoe hesitated, like she was trying to form the word correctly. " Yerrr. We do not need yerrr help."

Thalia rolled her eyes. "Forget it."

"I fear the prophecy says you do need our help," Chiron said. "Campers and Hunters must cooperate."

"Or do they?" Mr. D mused, swirling his Diet Coke under his nose like it had a fine bouquet. "One shall be lost. One shall perish. That sounds rather nasty, doesn't it? What if you fail because you try to cooperate?"

"Well, it does confirm they'll prevail if they work together, thats better than nothing." I pointed out, it's basically trading two lives for one goddess, regrettable but necessary.

"We're supposed to work together," Thalia agreed. "I don't like it either, Zoe, but you know prophecies. You want to fight against one?"

Zoe grimaced, but I could tell Thalia had scored a point.

"We must not delay," Chiron warned. "Today is Sunday. This very Friday, December twenty-first, is the winter solstice."

"Oh, joy," Dionysus muttered. "Another dull annual meeting."

"Artemis must be present at the solstice," Zoe said. "She has been one of the most vocal on the council arguing for action against Kronos's minions. If she is absent, the gods will decide nothing. We will lose another year of war preparations."

"Are you suggesting that the gods have trouble acting together, young lady?" Dionysus asked.

"Yes, Lord Dionysus."

Mr. D nodded. "Just checking. You're right, of course. Carry on."

"I must agree with Zoe," said Chiron. "Artemis's presence at the winter council is critical. We have only a week to find her. And possibly even more important: to locate the monster she was hunting. Now, we must decide who goes on this quest."

Zoe grunted. "I would prefer to take all the Hunters. We will need strength of numbers."

"You'll be retracing the goddess's path," Chiron reminded her. "Moving quickly. No doubt Artemis tracked the scent of this rare monster, whatever it is, as she moved west. You will have to do the same. The prophecy was clear: The bane of Olympus shows the trail. What would your mistress say? 'Too many Hunters spoil the scent.' A small group is best."

Zoe picked up a Ping-Pong paddle and studied it like she was deciding who she wanted to whack first. "This monster—the bane of Olympus. I have hunted at Lady Artemis's side for many years, yet I have no idea what this beast might be."

Everybody looked at Dionysus, our resident god, probably because gods were supposed to know things like that. He was flipping through a wine magazine, but when everyone got silent he glanced up, "Well, don't look at me. I'm a young god, remember? I don't keep track of all those ancient monsters and dusty titans. They make for terrible party conversation."

"Chiron," Percy said, "you don't have any ideas about the monster?"

Chiron pursed his lips. "I have several ideas, none of them good. And none of them quite make sense. Typhon, for instance, could fit this description. He was truly a bane of Olympus. Or the sea monster Keto. But if either of these were stirring, we would know it. They are ocean monsters the size of skyscrapers. Your father, Poseidon, would already have sounded the alarm. I fear this monster may be more elusive. Perhaps even more powerful."

Thats what I thought too!

"That's some serious danger you're facing," Connor Stoll said. "It sounds like at least two of the five are going to die."

"One shall be lost in the land without rain" Beckendorf said. "If I were you, I'd stay out of the desert."

There was a muttering of agreement.

"And the Titan's curse must one withstand," Silena said. "What could that mean?"

I saw Chiron and Zoe exchange a nervous look, but whatever they were thinking, they didn't share it.

"One shall perish by a parent's hand," Grover said in between bites of Cheez Whiz and Ping-Pong balls. "How is that possible? Whose parent would kill them?"

"Well, Olympian families are pretty messed up if you think about it, Kronos tried to kill his children, Zeus tried to kill Athena, I wouldn't be surprised if a demigod has been killed by their Olympian parent in the past."

There was heavy silence around the table.

"There will be deaths," Chiron decided. "That much we know."

"Oh, goody!" Dionysus said. Everyone looked at him. He glanced up innocently from the pages of Wine Connoisseur magazine. "Ah, pinot noir is making a comeback. Don't mind me."

Zoe stood. "I shall go, of course, and I will take Phoebe. She is our best tracker."

"The big girl who likes to hit people on the head?" Travis Stoll asked cautiously.

Zoe nodded.

"The one who put the arrows in my helmet?" Connor added.

"Yes," Zoe snapped. "Why?"

"Oh, nothing," Travis said. "Just that we have a T-shirt for her from the camp store." He held up a big silver T-shirt that said ARTEMIS THE MOON GODDESS, FALL HUNTING TOUR 2002, with a huge list of national parks and stuff underneath. "It's a collector's item. She was admiring it. You want to give it to her?"

Oh they were most definitely upto something, it was clear as day they were looking for revenge. Which is why it surprised me when Zoe took the shirt with nothing but a sigh.

I narrowed my eyes, considering warning her. Nah, if shes stupid enough to fall for it, she deserves it.

"We have two hunters, why don't we announce the two campers before moving on to the final member?"

"Me!" Grover stood up so fast he bumped the Ping-Pong table. He brushed cracker crumbs and Ping-Pong ball scraps off his lap. "Anything to help Artemis!"

Zoe wrinkled her nose. "I think not, satyr. You are not even a half-blood."

"But he is a camper," Thalia said. "And he's got a satyr's senses and woodland magic. Can you play a tracker's song yet, Grover?"

"Absolutely!"

Zoe wavered. I didn't know what a tracker's song was, but apparently Zoe thought it was a good thing. "Very well," Zoe said. "And the second camper?"

"I'll go." Thalia stood and looked around, daring anyone to question her.

"Alright," Chiron nodded, "For the final member-"

"I'll go." Percy said before anyone else could volunteer.

"Absolutely not!" Zoe denied, "I won't have the Hunters travel with a boy."

"You traveled here with me," He pointed out.

"That was a short-term emergency, and it was ordered by the goddess. I will not go across country and fight many dangers in the company of a boy."

"What about Grover?" He demanded. Zoe shook her head. "He does not count. He's a satyr. He is not technically a boy."

"Hey!" Grover protested.

"Uh, last I checked satyrs were notorious for a certain body part, any guesses as to what?"

Zoe scoffed, "What's your point?"

"Well, for starters Grover is a boy. And secondly, why shouldn't Percy go? If the stories I've heard are true, he's more than qualified to be on this quest."

"But he is a boy!" She protested.

"Are you so fucking blinded by your misandry that you'd rather let people die over choosing a more than qualified male to go with you?" I'll admit, I might have snapped a bit there.

"Any member of the Hunt is stro-"

"Does anyone volunteer?" I interrupted, looking across the table. No one said a word. "Chiron?" I prodded.

He sighed, "It is decided. Thalia, Percy and Grover will accompany Zoe, and Phoebe. You shall leave at first light. And may the gods"—he glanced at Dionysus—"present company included, we hope—be with you."