Song Recommendation: "In Loving Memory" by First and Forever. This is another one of my personal favorites. It's a bit higher energy than the most recent recommendations, but it's a blast to listen to. It's this sort of high energy, reminiscent love song about something that's fallen apart. At the same time, I also like looking at it as an energetic ballad about one's devotion to another for the rest of their life, through thick and thin. Maybe that says more about my mentality than anything, but who knows. Regardless of that though, I can totally imagine Percy and Artemis both singing this as they race down the road or something, just having the times of their lives. Let me know what you think and all that.

"Do we have to?" Percy complained as he covered his face with a pillow, "They can wait a little bit."

Artemis rolled her eyes, not that he could see it, "You said you would be there."

"And I will," Percy said easily, moving the pillow so that it wasn't covering his eyes, "but my bedding is very warm and I don't want to get up just yet."

"You're going to fall asleep again."

"Maybe."
"Definitely."

Percy pushed himself up before agreeing, "Definitely."

It didn't take them much longer after that to get up and going. The working plan was to meet up with Thalia and Nico in Indianapolis where the Prince of the Underworld had tracked their quarry. Then, they'd do a bit of scouting before taking them all out. Between Thalia and Artemis, the scouting would be a piece of cake, and taking them out would be little to no issue. Still though, getting around the mortals would be a bit more annoying. The mist could only do so much after all.

Still though, Percy was looking forward to it. It'd been a minute since the three of them had all met up and done something like this. Percy pulled on a shirt, ran a hand through his hair, and declared himself ready to go. They, or more accurately, Percy, had just slept in the truck bed with his makeshift bedrolls. Artemis had sat with him while reading and had gone off for a quick walk shortly before he woke up. The moon goddess had been quite amused to see the son of the sea trying to block out the little bits of sun by hiding under his blanket. At that point though, she'd gotten the call from Thalia saying that they were ready.

As it usually did with godly travel, it didn't take them much longer to get to the city. And, while Percy felt quite comfortable in the chaos, he could tell that Artemis far preferred the quiet sounds of nature to the bustling cityscape.

"Where did they say we should meet them?" Percy asked.

Artemis gestured behind them, "I just brought us there."

"Not enjoying the city?"

Artemis's mouth twitched as she led him in, "Something like that."

Percy chuckled as he looked around them, taking in the rather grandiose architecture of the building they'd just stepped into, "Seems like a bit much huh?"

Artemis shrugged, "I suppose."

Percy laughed, "Oh yeah. I forget you're ancient sometimes. You must have seen some crazy things."

"I have," Artemis confirmed, "Though it seems mortals these days have less appreciation for architecture."

"Can't disagree. Everything has to be functional unless you're filthy rich."

"Which you are," Artemis pointed out.

"My old man is rich," Percy countered, "I'm just another guy."

"Who happens to be sponsored by the entirety of Olympus."

"Fair point," Percy laughed, "I'd bet twenty drachma that Nico let it slip that you'd be here to his dad and he got us rooms here."

"Hades and I have never been particularly close."

"But," Percy grinned, "He is dramatic."

Artemis chuckled, "As are most of the gods. But I'll take you up on that bet. It's more likely that he found out that you'll be here."

Percy seemed to consider this very seriously, "I didn't think about that. Maybe it's both though."

"Better hope it's only me or you'll be out some drachma."

"Who's going to be out drachma?" Thalia cut in, having just walked through the door with Nico shortly following shortly after. From the looks of it, he'd been talking to the doorman about something.

"Probably Percy," Nico said, strolling up to meet them, "Given his track record, I wouldn't exactly be surprised."

Artemis agreed, "Likely."

Thalia took a moment to look around for the first time, "What's with the place?"

Percy and Artemis both concealed their interest as Nico explained, "We'll be staying here while we do everything we need to."

Thalia stared at him, "Serious?"

Nico shrugged, "Shouldn't you be used to this?"

Thalia jabbed him on the shoulder, "I live in a tent, remember."

"A very nice tent," Percy laughed, "Plus you did choose that lifestyle."

"Are you telling me you don't like it?" Artemis asked with a smile.

Thalia blinked for a moment before shaking her head, "No no, just saying. Cities aren't really our thing."

"Won't disagree with that," Percy chuckled.

Nico laughed as he led them over towards the front desk, speaking casually with the clerk while the other three watched. Within five or so minutes, they were heading up the elevator to their rooms.

"We have two rooms since I imagined you would like your own," Nico spoke to Artemis who nodded appreciatively.

The rest of the relatively short ride up was spent discussing plans, at least until the door opened. Percy was sure he could hear Thalia's jaw actually drop.

"Nico, what the hell is this?" Thalia whirled around towards the young man.

He just shrugged, "You know how my dad is."

"Yeah but this is a bit crazy isn't it?" Thalia said, turning back to look around.

"Not really," Percy chimed in. By this point, he was more than used to the rather opulent habits of the God of the dead, "What'd he say this time?"

Nico grinned, "He said don't argue."

Artemis looked around approvingly as Percy spoke, "Yeah but still. At least tell me it wasn't for the usual reason."

"It was probably my fault for telling him you were coming," Nico said to Percy, "But still. It's not money he's going to miss."

"Yeah but I'm just some guy, he doesn't need to do all that."

"What about me?" Thalia cut into their conversation.

"I told him you could sleep outside," Nico said easily.

Percy cackled while Artemis smiled in amusement. Thalia, meanwhile, grumbled, "You're a dick."

Nico just laughed as Artemis turned to Percy, "Somebody owes me twenty drachma."

Percy groaned as he fished out a few coins from his bag, "It was going to be between me or you."

Artemis chuckled as he dropped them into her hand before turning to face all of them, "What of our plan?"

Percy and Thalia both shrugged while Nico explained, "I've got them locked down to a few buildings a few miles away. It shouldn't take us long to deal with all of them, but I'd rather survey them all for a little bit before we launch a full-on assault or something."

"And what of their numbers?" Artemis asked curiously.

"Roughly fifty or so monsters," Nico replied, "Not too sure if there are others that they met up with though."

Artemis hummed as she thought, giving Percy time to speak, "What time would you want to do this then? Tonight isn't bad, depending on where they are. Might be hard to do it in broad daylight."

"I agree," Artemis added.

Thalia continued that thought, "Any big events going on that we could use to cover us?"

Nico grinned, "There's supposed to be a big party celebrating some guy's birthday. It'd make for a perfect cover."

"And when is that?" Percy asked.

Nico glanced at his watch, "Around eight or so."

Percy nodded, "Then we can walk there a bit later, get set up, and then do some scouting."

"Actually," Nico cut in, "We have invitations. My father managed to set us up rather nicely since you're all doing this as a favor."

"Really?" Thalia asked.

"It'll be easier to survey them while our scent is partially obscured by mortals," Artemis said approvingly.

"Sounds good to me," Thalia said. Percy nodded in agreement.

"Do we just chill until then or what?"

Nico shrugged, "Up to you. We should probably get ready a little earlier since we might need to dress up."

"Dress up?" Thalia asked curiously.

Nico nodded, "Fancy rich people things. Dress nice and all that."

Percy nodded, "That should be fine. How nice is it?"

"Black tie," Nico said easily, "I didn't find out until we got here so I'm not sure if we need to buy clothes or what. They did say you could be creative with it though."

Thalia looked mildly concerned, "I don't have to wear a dress, do I?"

Percy shook his head, "Wear a suit. Who cares?"

Artemis and Nico both agreed with the goddess taking a second to make an offer, "If you do not have anything, we could quickly have Apollo find you something."

Nico spoke next, "Not a bad idea. I can get what I need but Percy and Thalia might need something."

The two looked at each other for a moment before Thalia spoke, "Guess that works."

Percy, however, declined, tugging at his collar awkwardly as he did so, "I'm good. I'd rather not stand out much more than I need to. You know how he is."

Artemis looked amused, "I am well aware of his habits."

Thalia grinned, poking Percy in the side teasingly, "You do call enough attention to yourself as it is."

"Fuck off," Percy laughed, "If he promises not to do too much, I'm okay with it but I'd prefer to just buy some clothes if we need them."
Nico chimed in, "You probably won't find anything that fits you well enough in just a few hours."

Percy clicked his tongue, knowing damn well that the son of Hades was right, "Fine. Apollo it is."

Artemis chuckled as Percy sighed, "You will be fine."

He was not, instead finding himself faced with a color almost guaranteed to make him stand out. And unfortunately, everyone, including Artemis and Nico, were trying their damnedest to make him wear it. Sure, so what if the soft pink hue of the jacket and pants went perfectly with his olive skin. And so what if he sort of loved the small flowers on the dress shirt they'd handed him. Or that the brown leather boots and belt matched so perfectly. It didn't matter. He wasn't going to stand out. Or that's what he told himself.

Unsurprisingly, he found himself dressed exactly as they'd wanted him to be. They'd even managed to convince him to style his hair a little, tying it up high while keeping a little bit in the front down so that it framed his face nicely. And to Apollo's credit, Percy did think he looked rather nice. Still though, he did feel like he was going to stand out a bit too much. Or he did until he saw the moon goddess. Emphasis on "goddess". If he looked good, she looked a million times better.

Now, he'd seen her dressed up a few times. It wasn't like she was always wearing hunting gear or casual clothing, but this blew everything else out of the water by a mile. He couldn't help but notice how well the sage green color suited her. It was, in no way, an immodest dress. In fact, he doubted that many people could pull it off without looking like a tree stripped of its branches and leaves but the goddess filled it perfectly. Maybe it was the addition of a black corset over top that seemed to meld into the lower portion of the outfit that slimmed it down, but whatever it was, it worked.

And, on top of that, it looked like she wouldn't have to worry about summoning weapons from seemingly thin air. He had no doubt that the goddess would be able to fit a blade into the flowy sleeves, or stash one in the quarter of the black boots she was wearing. Regardless of that, her outfit fit her perfectly. It was a rather dark color, but a handful of silver rings and two (very) small hooped earrings brought a nice flash to everything. She'd even taken a little bit of time to add a bit of eye-shadow, further accentuating her already rather striking eyes.

Needless to say, Percy's brain short circuited for a moment as she flashed him her usual smile, leaving him standing there like an idiot as he gaped almost open mouthed at the goddess. The look of surprise was certainly noticeable.

Artemis would have been lying if she'd said it didn't please her immensely to see the son of the sea react that way. She'd felt like dressing up tonight, and while the Huntress hadn't been too sure of her outfit at first, Percy's reaction had sealed it. She would call this one a success. It hadn't been her intention to get a reaction, but it was greatly, greatly appreciated. And, she rather liked the look as well. It wasn't exactly what she normally wore, but she was more willing to make an exception for it now.

"You look very nice," Percy managed to keep himself from stuttering.

The moon goddess sent him an appreciative smile, "You think so?"

Percy nodded, "I like that color a lot."

"Just the color?" Artemis teased him a little as his gaze roamed around.

"More like all of it," Percy admitted, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly, "but it is a very nice color on you."

"Thank you," The goddess smiled again, this time giving Percy a quick once-over, "Apollo chose well."

Percy rubbed his neck, "I thought it was a bit much."

"It suits you."

"Guess so," he chuckled, "Here I was worried about standing out."
"What changed?"
"You did," Percy chuckled, "Have you looked in a mirror?"

Artemis smiled, "I do think it looks rather flattering."
"Bit more than just flattering but whatever," Percy said easily, "What are we going to tell everyone when we get there?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, we're sort of a weird group. None of us really look the same, and we're a bit too far from Thalia. Nico as well for that matter."

Artemis considered this, "We can use a bit of the mist to obscure it. Mortals shouldn't pay too much attention."

"Yeah, my only worry is that the monsters will notice it if we do."

Artemis nodded, "A fair point. It may be worth seeing what the invitations say though."

Percy glanced over towards the table where the small slips sat unceremoniously. He quickly grabbed them and the two read them.

"We're all under your name," Artemis pointed out.

"Yeah," Percy nodded, staring at them, "We don't exactly all look like siblings."

"Thalia and I are technically siblings."

Percy stopped her there, "Yeah I'd rather not think about that right now. Or ever."

The goddess laughed before returning to the topic at hand, "You are right though. I think it would be rather hard to believe that we are all siblings."

"But," Nico reappeared, tugging at his tie so that it sat nicely, "we could pull off being parents and children."

Percy blinked, "I'm not so sure about that."

Artemis made a small face, "It is not the worst idea."

"I don't look that much older than Nico," Percy pointed out.

"Normally, I'd agree, but you could certainly pass as being older tonight."

"Because I'm dressed up?"

"Exactly," Nico explained, "Both of you are dressed rather uniquely. People will be more focused on you than us. Kids tend not to dress that way."

"I'm only twenty-one," Percy complained.

Nico shrugged, "You could pass for late twenties."

"That may be a bit of a stretch," Artemis said, "But both you and Thalia certainly look a fair bit younger than either of us."

Thalia rejoined them at this point, and the three quickly filled her in on the issue. Luckily though, the demigoddess had a rather good idea. She dragged Percy into the background and made him lean so that she could apply just a tiny bit of eye-liner under his eyes. She only put a few dots of it before telling him to wet his hands and rub it in a bit. He did so hesitantly. Now, it looked like he had rather deep bags under his eyes. And to Thalia's credit, it did make him look a fair bit older. Strangely, he thought he looked a bit like his dad. The others agreed as well. All in all though, it was a good, quick fix.

"Plus," Thalia pointed out, "All of our hair looks the same. We've all got black hair."

Nico agreed, "It looks like we got our hair from you, though our features are a bit over the place."

Percy was actually the person to disagree, "Well actually, I think we could play it like you took more after me and Thalia took after her mom. They have enough similar features that they could pass, and you and I aren't that far apart in skin tone and structure."

"And you having black hair cancels out the red," Thalia agreed, "Though the eyes might be a bit of trouble too."

"I doubt it," Artemis explained, "Perseus and I already have rather unique colored eyes."

"Green's pretty rare," Nico said thoughtfully, "And silver's pretty much unheard of so maybe we could play off that?"

"That could work. If they ask, we could always say it's some sort of weird mutation," Artemis jabbed Percy in the ribs as he spoke, causing him to laugh, "You know I think your eyes are beautiful."

Nico muttered something to Thalia while Percy and Artemis continued to bicker. Eventually though, they did simmer down a bit with Percy taking a moment to compliment all of their outfits. He did joke that they were a rather well dressed family, but said nothing more about the situation other than that. As it would happen, they didn't have much else to do other than wait. They discussed their plan a little more before eventually just settling down on the couch to relax. So far, the idea was that Percy and Artemis would mingle with the others since they'd draw more attention. And, while they were gathering information that way, Nico and Thalia would sneak off and search around under the distraction of their "parents".

Percy thought it was pretty good, even if he wasn't quite sure they'd pass as mother and father. Regardless of that though, it was the best plan they could think of, and so it was the one they were going with. The idea was to arrive a bit earlier than Nico and Thalia, express that they were around somewhere, and then have them show up at some point randomly after they'd done what they needed to. That way, there'd be little to no time for others to scrutinize them any more than absolutely necessary. At the same time, it involved attracting a bit more attention than Percy necessarily wanted.

Of course, that was assuming that they were noticed at all. He tried to remain optimistic that they wouldn't, but he knew better. Artemis could hardly walk down the street without attracting a little attention on a good day. Still, Percy held out a bit of hope.

"Oh, by the way," Nico added, "We've got two cars to take us separately. I didn't think you'd want a driver so it's all you."

Percy stared at him for a moment, "I thought the whole deal was that we were supposed to be inconspicuous."
"You will be," Nico grinned, "It'd look a bit weirder if you didn't have a nice car."

"But we can walk."

"Maybe, but cars are fun," Thalia chimed in.

Percy grumbled, "At least it isn't one of Apollo's."

Nico winced, "Actually…"
Percy stared at him for a second, "I'm going to kill someone."

"Well that is the point of you being here," Thalia made little finger guns and Percy wanted to scream.

Artemis laughed as she watched Percy barely stop himself from strangling her huntress before deciding to help out, "It is nothing you won't like. I chose it."

Percy turned to face the goddess, looking a little relieved, "That's good."

It was quite good, actually. They'd known for months at this point that the two had very similar tastes, and so when Percy found himself faced with an old Fairlady Z that had been supped up with fresh paint, a fully built engine, grille, and wide fenders, he found nothing to complain about. If anything, he was a bit enamored with the thing. It was beautiful. And, while he did prefer his cars to be navy blue, he had to admit the sleek black color was a match made in Olympus.

He'd seen Apollo's garage as the Sun god had a penchant for the machines, but he'd never seen one like this. Then again, he was adding new ones all the time. Still, even as he climbed into the passenger seat, he couldn't help but enjoy the feeling. Artemis laughed at him, but he didn't mind. She liked it just as much as he did, if not more. As she put it, it was one of the things Apollo got right.

The moon goddess pulled them out of the garage and onto the street after waiting for a bit of traffic to pass by them. It was a bit hectic, but she didn't mind. Unfortunately, the drive over was much too short, even despite the relatively heavy congestion on the roads. Just another reason she didn't like cities, she supposed. Even as they pulled into the closed off courtyard of the venue, she found it was no less crowded. Thankfully though, they wouldn't have to deal with it as a valet came along quickly to park for them.

Unfortunately, it also meant that they were no longer in the relative comfort of their vehicle, instead surrounded by crowds of unknown people. Even despite that, she could smell the scent of monsters lingering throughout the building. Hopefully, they'd be able to get in and out relatively easily. This was wishful thinking.

The two were engulfed as soon as they walked through the doors, instantly swept into the swathes of mingling socialites. It was only due to a firm grip on Perseus's upper arm that they weren't separated purely by accident. It was busy. People wandered to and fro, seemingly at random.

"Suddenly glad we stand out a bit more," Percy said to her, having to lean in so that she could hear, "Wouldn't know how to find you if you didn't."
"I suppose that is a rather good point," Artemis agreed, pulling them towards the less crowded edges of the room. As they got farther back, things seemed to calm down a little. Small groups dominated this area, often gathered around with a few drinks between them. Artemis quite preferred this to the chaos behind them. Still though, she would have much rather been seated comfortably in their truck, cruising along a highway or something.

She was broken out of these thoughts as Percy started to say something.

Hello! Sorry for the shorter chapter, things are hectic at the moment. I won't have time to really respond to all of the reviews in depth, but I did want to say thank you for all the support! Almost passed a thousand followers which is pretty crazy so thank you so much! I'll try to get to all the reviews next week, but I did want to say that I've read all of them and am super thankful! Means a lot to me! Anyway, next week should be a bit more normal and I'll try to write a bit of a longer chapter to make up for how short this one has been. On to talking about the chapter though! I really enjoyed writing this one. I'm happy to be able to pick up the pace a little, and I've got some fun stuff planned for it and the next few chapters. Sorry if it sort of just drops into it, but I wanted it to pick up from the previous day. Anyway, enjoy. Let me know what you think, and again, I'll respond to all of the reviews next week. Thank you again!