Hey guys, so no replies to reviews- I'm still not great at the mo and my mom's still unwell so I don't have the energy but they still really do matter and make me smile so keep em coming. And I hope you enjoy this chapter, in which Percy gets her new sword. Also, Chiron get's suspicious, and then get's distracted almost instantly. And even Artemis gets a lil distracted from her suspicions.

"If you insist." Percy gave a bemused look, rocking back on her heels as her gaze flicked to Chiron, who hesitated for a moment before pulling something out of his pocket. Percy walked up to him as he held out- Percy blinked. It looked like a fairly normal disposable ballpoint pen. She held out her hand, letting Chiron place the pen into it- and she could feel magic deep inside of it. "It's enchanted." her voice was surprised as she examined it, eyes focusing on the word etched onto the side of the pen. "Anaklusmos." her voice was soft, "Riptide-"

"You speak Greek?" Chiron looked surprised at that "And read Greek?"

"I speak every language. And read it- sometimes with difficulty." Percy said the words almost absentmindedly. "It's a gift. Long story but it can be useful at times. I'm like google translate in human form. Makes travel real easy." As she spoke Percy turned the pen over in her hands, "So it's enchanted to take the form of a pen." it had probably been something else originally- connected to Zoe based on the look that the girl was giving the pen. "If I want to see the sword-" she flicked the cap off and gasped as the sword transformed, becoming a shimmering bronze sword with a double edged blade, a leather wrapped grip and a flat hilt that was riveted with gold studs. It was around 3 foot long and it felt- Percy felt her breath caught as she stared at it, carefully running her fingers over the flat of the blade- tracing the letters on it- Anaklusmos, just as had been etched onto the pen. It felt perfectly balanced in a way no other straight blade ever had- she took a few steps back before slicing it through the air- the motion clean and smooth as she spun, twisting and slicing and stabbing- running through some of the most basic forms and movements.

Then she turned her head, focusing on Chiron and Artemis- the latter of whom was watching her with wide eyes- and a knowing gleam in them, the former with mostly confusion and a hint of suspicion.

"Are you sure? I don't want to step on any toes. This sword probably wasn't meant for me."

"The one it was meant for is likely dead." Chiron said after a moment, "Given… certain factors-" and that was… curious. She wondered just what had happened to whoever the sword was meant for. And who had given it to Chiron.

"That would be a reasonable assumption." Artemis' tone didn't give anything away, though there was that strange look in her eyes again. Percy wondered just how much the woman had figured out about her situation. "Given his behaviour over the last few years."

"If you're sure." Percy eyed the sword. It felt right in her grip somehow. The same way that her Khopesh had always felt right, and she found herself wondering just how capable she'd be of fighting with this sword. She hadn't trained with straight blades in far too long. She'd been remiss in that respect. She'd have to correct that as quickly as she could if she was using this sword from now on. "I'll have to train a little before we head off again- we won't have long. We probably don't even have time to wait for me to heal fully."

"Percy-" Bianca looked concerned, "You almost died- you were close to the edge, I could feel it-"

"You could feel it?" Chiron cut in quickly, "In what sense could you feel it?"

"I-" Bianca flushed, shuffling from foot to foot nervously. "I can sense that sort of thing." She admitted looking almost sheepish. "It's part of being the daughter of Hades-"

"What?" Thalia almost choked, Luke was gaping and Chiron and Artemis looked like they were only just managing to keep their reactions tame.

"You're saying Hades broke the oath?" Luke looked stunned.

"No." Percy spoke up quickly. "That's not what happened. Bianca was born before the Oath. She and her brother were hidden for their own safety, in a place where they wouldn't age."

"But that-" Thalia looked stunned, "He- she- the-" she hesitated, "How old are you? And- brother?"

"I'm twelve-" Bianca said after a moment, a confused look on her face, "And yeah I have a little brother-"

"When do you turn thirteen?" Thalia asked the question quickly- and was it just Percy or did she look kind of desperate.

"In April- why-"

"I'm older then." Thalia's shoulders slumped and Percy frowned. Okay, okay there was something going on there.

"Does that matter?" Percy raised an eyebrow-"

"It does." Luke spoke up, "I guess being Egyptian you don't know."

"Don't know what?"

"There's a prophecy-"

"Luke-" Chiron's voice was sharp.

"What prophecy-" Percy paused, because Annabeth had her head turned away slightly, her eyes closed. "Wise girl? Is there something you haven't been telling me?"

"There-" Annabeth opened her eyes slowly. "The Big three made the oath I told you about because of the Great Prophecy. It talks about a child of the eldest gods reaching sixteen and either saving or destroying the world." There was fear in her eyes- and Percy was going to have to get more information on that as soon as they had some privacy.

"Okay. And why does age matter-"

"Because whichever of us reaches sixteen first is probably the child of the prophecy." Thalia crossed her arms, shoulders slumping slightly.

"Uh…" Percy blinked, "I mean you can't know that. Annabeth said a child not 'the next'. What makes you so sure that it's just the first child of the big three to reach sixteen that gets the prize?"

"That-" Artemis paused, "Is not the worst point to make."

"If it's destined to happen then trying to avoid it with oaths is pretty stupid." So. There was some big prophecy- and she couldn't help but think about how neither Bianca or Thalia had been drawn into this at the very start. No Percy was the one who had had the dreams, the warnings. Who was drawn into the situation. She was the one who had come across the Scythe years ago. Fucking prophecies. Though she could understand why Annabeth and Hades would keep it a secret from her. She doubted it was a nice one, and neither of them would like upsetting or worrying her.

"This complicates matters. A child of Hades… and this whole situation with the House of life.." Chiron looked like he was fending off a migraine. "I tried to convince Mr. D. to wait but he insisted he needed to leave and tell Zeus what happened with the Egyptians."

"Oh that is not good." Percy blinked.

"Does that mean they'll assume it'll be a war between Greece and Egypt?" Piper asked, "We can't let that happen-"

"They won't make any decisions until the Solstice day." Chiron shook his head, "Perhaps if we go straight to Olympus-"

"We can't." Artemis interrupted, "We must go to Mount Tamalpis and free my brother. The prophecy Percy received- we have to see it through."

"My lady-" Zoe looked startled, "Thy should stay here are mortal now such a mission is dangerous thy cannot risk-"

"I have no choice Zoe." Artemis said the words firmly. "My brother is a fool and I often wish to strangle him but I love him. And he is in the position he is now because of me."

"What position?" Chiron frowned, "We need to know what happened."

"I was captured by this... this Alina." Artemis scowled, "As was Apollo. We were lured in while I was searching for a monster. I'm ashamed to admit it. She took us to Mount Tamalpis where Mount Orthys is reforming. She stole my godhood and threatened to kill me. She told Apollo that the only way to save me was to take the sky." there was guilt in her expression and Percy shot her a soft reassuring smile.

"We're going to save him Artemis."

"After that I was tossed into a cell with Percy who was recovering from her own ordeal-"

"That psycho bitch drugged me." Percy scowled, "Knew she couldn't fight me on even footing so she drugged me. It happened so fast, I didn't stand a chance. I couldn't even see her because she was using an invisibility spell-"

"Oooh." Piper whistled lowly, "Yeah I can see why that would be a problem."

"I see. And you two escaped?"

"With Luke's help." Percy gave a wry smile, "I couldn't use my magic at first because of the drugs. Thankfully it didn't take too long to get it back. A day or so. Once we were safely away we stopped and planned."

"The prophecy." Luke shrugged, "We figured out what we needed to do and we did it-"

"What was the prophecy?"

"Twins taken by the traitors heir, a choice one will make, a burden to bear, the other to flee with the thief and the princess, to retrieve the weapon of the one who was timeless, and return to face the foes and vengeance bring, the revival delayed by the prophecised's swing."

Chiron listened to Percy's recitation, nodding slowly. "I see. The first half at least. And I fear I may have some idea of what weapon the prophecy refers to but it's hard to imagine anyone being able-"

"Done." Percy chirped the word- earning a stunned look from Chiron.

"What did you just say-"

"Done. We have it. It's safe-"

"The timeless one is Kronos so-" Annabeth's eyes widened, "Are you saying-"

"It's currently safely tucked away in the Duat." Percy gave a smug little smile.

"How?" Chiron breathed the word, "How did you find it-"

"Find what? What's the big deal I don't understand?" Thalia looked frustrated "What weapon-"

"Kronos' weapon." Zoe looked understandably frightened, "But- how? The Scythe has been lost to time surely-"

"Not completely. We realised it would be where the final battle happened." Percy pointed out, "And I just so happen to know where that was-"

"Mykonos." Piper and Annabeth chorused the word in unison.

"Gods how did we never think of that?" Piper asked.

"It seems so obvious now. But then we never thought about the Scythe much."

"You have Kronos' Scythe." Chiron looked stunned. "But- if he somehow retrieves it from you then he will grow in power-"

"But we need it for the prophecy." Luke grimaced. "Yeah we know how dangerous it is. I've had those thoughts. I just betrayed the guy I'm scared shitless of what he'd do if he got his hands on it. But Percy pointed out that some risks are worth taking."

"I should know. I've taken enough of them."

"I suppose you have a point." Chiron pinched the bridge of his nose. "And you must return it seems. The revival doesn't sound good-"

"Yeah, well we're gonna deal with that." Percy said smoothly, "So no stressing. It says so in the prophecy after all."

"It also mentions vengeance." Zoe spoke up, "What vengeance though-"

"Mine." Percy didn't give Luke or Artemis the time to speak- and there was a sudden dangerous tone to her voice.

"Percy?" Bianca frowned, "What-"

"Percy… that- that's not like you." Annabeth laid a hand on her shoulder, "What happened?"

"Did she hurt you-"

"Desjardins was there." Percy spoke quietly. "Desjardins came to warn me about Alina."

"The body." Bianca looked horrified. "There was a body before- when you got taken-"

"No." Piper's voice was stunned "No-"

"Desjardins." Percy nodded. "It- he-" she swallowed hard, suddenly struggling to force the words out. "He was trying to protect me." she blinked rapidly- her eyes were stinging something terrible- and Annabeth and Piper were on her in an instant, two sets of arms wrapping around her tightly.

"Who is this Desjardins?" Chiron's voice was gentle. But then he must have dealt with many grieving children over the years.

"He-" Percy swallowed hard, "He- uh... he was a friend. Kind of like an uncle to me. We- we went through- he was our enemy at first but even then he saved my life. And when- when I was… some bad stuff happened, during the war with Apophis he'd made me a promise and he tried to keep it. Which might not sound like much but it's important. It was important, the thing I asked of him was huge and he was willing to do it. And after that- when I came around after… after I went through the bad stuff he helped me recover from it. We were close. Really close."

"Desjardins was a good man." Piper's voice was shaky, "He was kind to us. Even when we did stuff we really shouldn't have- that time we visited Paris and you-" Piper swallowed hard, "And you

"And he took us on tours because you told him I liked architecture and museums." Annabeth spoke up softly. "He was one of the really good guys Chiron."

"I see." the Centaur nodded "I am sorry for your loss your highness- but, if I may, vengeance will not ease the pain. Vengeance and justice are not one and the same. And neither offer solace in grief."

"I know." Percy gave a strained smile, "I know Chiron. But like hell will I let his murderer get away with what she's done. Her life is mine now. I have to get justice for Desjardins. I owe him that much."