Nothing is mine.

Update time for this one!

Cleft Guide, Chosen-Sister, Star-Sworn, Queen of War

Clarisse scuffed gold dust across the ferns with her boot, poking at the gash on her cheek. 'You were meant to hit the cyclops, Goat-boy. You're lucky we had to leave the bikes back at the edge of the forest or I'd tie you to it and drive in circles until you start throwing up again.'

Grover bleated. 'Sorry, Clarisse.' He shot her a sheepish look. 'I was aiming for the cyclops.'

She scoffed and shoved him aside. 'If you do that again, I'll feed you my unwashed sports bra after I run the assault course in full armour.'

'He might like that,' Annabeth said, laughing behind her hand. 'Juniper will still beat him up though.'

'Percy?' Grover shot him a hopeful look. 'You're on my side, right?'

'You threw a rock into Clarisse's face.' Percy poked the fist-sized stone with his toe. 'A big rock. And the cyclops wasn't exactly a small target.'

He flushed. 'It was an accident!'

'Your aim is trash,' Clarisse said. 'If you'd had a bow, you'd have ended up shooting Percy in the head or something instead.'

'He probably deserves it.' Thalia stepped through the ferns; a familiar silver tiara gleamed on her brows, sending bittersweet little waves chopping back and forth in Percy's heart. 'If only for ruining our hunt. We ran for over two hours following these tracks north and when we get here and set up camp, you come and kill them.'

'Thalia.' Annabeth's smile melted away and she crossed her arms. 'I wasn't expecting to see you.'

Thalia winced.

'Hey, Sparky.' Percy waved Anaklusmos at Thalia's tiara as she drew close. 'Are you trying to steal Zoë's look?'

She snorted and swept him into a tight warm hug. 'Hey Perce. Nobody else wanted to be lieutenant, actually.' Thalia stepped back. 'Not even Iphigenia or Phoebe or the other older girls.'

'Why did you?' he asked. 'Or was it just nepotism because you're Artemis's half-sister?'

'It's because I can zap annoying boys,' Thalia retorted with a wide grin. 'No. Artemis offered it to all of us and they all said no. But I knew you would've said yes if someone asked you to take it on, so I couldn't say no.'

'She has done well.' Iphigenia leant against the pine behind Clarisse, the silver hind on her dark purple t-shirt dappled in gentle sunlight. 'For a baby huntress. Zoë wouldn't be too upset.'

Artemis will look out for Thals. She gave me her word. Percy's eyes strayed to the shining silver circlet perched on Thalia's short dark hair. She won't let anyone disappoint Zoë's legacy.

Thalia scowled. 'I'm surprised you can keep up with me now I'm blessed, princess.'

Iphigenia laughed and pushed herself off the tree. 'Come, Thalia, our quarry is gone. Let us see if our sisters had better fortune.'

'Can they come with us?' Thalia asked.

'You are lieutenant.' Iphigenia tossed her dark hair over her shoulder, her eyes straying to Percy. 'It is your choice.'

'So choose well,' Percy murmured, catching Iphigenia's sharp glance.

Thalia's bright blue eyes flicked to Grover. 'Don't do anything annoying, Grover. Or you, Clarisse.'

Clarisse snorted. 'Whatever you say, Tree-girl.'

Thalia pointed through the ferns. 'Our camp's this way. We were tracking monsters across the forests here. There're loads.'

'They fled from the battle at our camp.' Annabeth fixed Thalia with granite-hard glare.

Oh dear... Percy stepped forward.

'Perhaps you should lead them to our camp where it's safe to talk, Thalia,' Iphigenia said. 'It's not far.'

'Yeah…' Thalia balled her fists and stalked through the ferns into the gloom. 'C'mon guys.'

Percy stepped into a slim, silver-clad arm.

'I would speak with you.' Iphigenia watched the others vanish into the forest with sharp brown eyes. 'Alone.'

'But what if you get cooties?' he asked, brushing her arm away with a smile. 'What is it, Iphigenia?'

She fixed him with a piercing look. 'You were close with Zoë. Why?'

'I guess… She was kind to me. She showed me how things are. How to be brave...' Percy offered her a nervous smile, little anxious waves churned in his stomach. 'I feel a little lost without Zoë to tell me what I should do sometimes.'

Iphigenia's slim brows curved into a sharp vee. 'Be careful when you speak of her. I do not want anyone to think there was reason to believe her devotion to Artemis wavered.'

Percy stared; soft rage rippled through him; a low black swell rising up into sharp cold words. 'Wavered?! She gave everything—'

The shadow of a smile passed across Iphigenia's face. 'I am sure that Zoë did not stray from her promise, but I have seen stories grow and change in my time. One day they will tell yours, and I will not have my sister be just another lovesick dead girl mentioned in passing.'

Cold sick waves slapped against the insides of his stomach. 'I won't let that happen. She taught me everything. Nobody will tarnish her legacy.'

Iphigenia glanced at Anaklusmos. 'Not even you, son of Poseidon? Your story is part of hers. And hers part of yours.'

'Never,' he whispered. 'Artemis gave me her word. If I fall, she will stop me from disappointing Zoë. From disappointing her.'

'Stop you from disappointing her?' Iphigenia's forehead creased. 'If you break your word and fail the test of the wilderness, she will kill you.'

Percy nodded; Artemis's eyes bled red as amaranth amongst his thoughts. 'No false mercy. Zoë told me about my brother.'

'Ah, foolish arrogant Orion… That was before my time with our lady began, but I know the true tale too.' Iphigenia reached out and touched the tip of her forefinger to Anaklusmos's point. 'Zoë was right to be kind to you, Percy. You may call me Iphi, if you wish.' A small smile flitted across her face. 'I have heard what Artemis has told Thalia of your deeds, I think Zoë would be as proud of you as any sister we've had.'

The breath slipped from Percy's lips as he bit back a molten hot flood of feeling, wrestling with a bittersweet storm of sparkling sunlit waves.

Iphigenia studied him with a soft expression but a sharp glint hovered in her brown eyes. 'You told me if Aphrodite promised you the greatest romance in history with Zoë, you'd never even tell her. What did Aphrodite say to you that day she gave us the Ferrari?' Her gaze pinned Percy in place, piercing through him. 'Did you love my sister?'

'No.' He shook his head. 'No.'

I didn't. I couldn't have. I can't. I'd know if I was in love. The fading morning moon hovered in his mind's eye over Calypso's shoulder. But I came back from Ogygia... And Aphrodite said…

Iphigenia pursed her lips. 'If you would not tell her, perhaps it is foolish of me to ask at all,' she murmured. 'Come, Percy, our camp is this way.'

I'd know. I'd have to. He stumbled after her through the ferns and bushes, fending off their slim sharp branches with one hand as they followed a burbling brook up the hill. Is it really Zoë? His heart lifted, buoyed like a flower floating over gentle sunlit waves. If it's Zoë, I can't disappoint. I can't fall. Not for love. She's gone.

Percy tripped over sprawling roots, grabbing Iphigenia's shoulder as he lurched toward a patch of brambles. 'Sorry, Iphigenia.' He snatched his hand back.

'Iphi, none of my sisters call me Iphigenia,' she replied. 'Be careful, Percy. If you twist an ankle, you'll be going much slower tomorrow and you will have to run fast.'

'Sorry,' he said, picking his way over the roots and after her across the brook.

A cluster of silver tents nestled in a neat hollow at the top of the slope, faint singing drifting down the hill.

Percy grinned. 'Is Thalia allowed to sing emo punk screamo music?'

A peal of laughter escaped Iphigenia as she strode through the damp grass. 'Thalia sings with us under her breath, but even our sulky sister cannot help but join in when she hears Artemis sing or sees her dance.'

'She sings?'

'Where does Artemis not sing?' Iphigenia flashed him a smile. 'Perhaps we should have let you campers win capture the flag once or twice, all you seem to think we do is hunt things, practice archery and sharpen arrows.'

'You sharpen arrows?'

'No.' Iphigenia snorted. 'If you sharpen them the edges are too thin and weak. They shatter on impact. It would be very foolish and very cruel.'

'Yeah. Ouch.'

'Artemis would be furious with any of us who did so,' Iphigenia said. 'And her fury is… as unkind as her kindness is kind.'

Gabe told me those stories. Percy glanced through the silver tents as Iphigenia led him to a neat square space at the centre, small nervous bubbles burst into little flutters in his belly. These are Zoë's sisters. Artemis's companions. I don't want to disappoint them either.

'Iphi!' A short, blonde-haired huntress stalked over, pointing at the tents with a wooden flute. 'Look!'

Iphigenia rolled her eyes. 'Alexandra you can't have your way every time. In two centuries the camp has been symmetrical nearly every day. You will survive the occasional lapse.'

Percy snorted with laughter. 'Where is Annabeth? I really need to say something to her about OCD.'

Alexandra shot him a brief glower. 'But we could make it symmetrical now.'

Iphigenia pointed at Thalia, Annabeth, Clarisse and Grover sitting around the empty firepit. 'Thalia is the lieutenant, it's her decision not mine.'

'Fine. I'll ask Thalia.' Alexandra strode toward them.

Percy chuckled. 'I've just realised why you didn't want to be lieutenant.'

Iphigenia laughed. 'Alexandra used to cause Zoë a lot of exasperation, but no, that isn't why. I don't want to take Zoë's place. I am content as I am.'

'Zoë mentioned Alexandra once,' Percy murmured. 'Annabeth is the same. She hates my fish pyjamas because the fish are unevenly spaced.'

Iphigenia cocked her head, a curious gleam in her brown eyes. 'And does she often see you in your pyjamas, Percy?'

'I don't think she ever has, actually. Just seen them lying around.' He watched Annabeth drag Thalia aside into a conversation of heated whispers with a roll of his eyes. 'Zoë did once, when she literally bumped into me wandering around in the dark at camp and we went to see the oracle. She was very critical of the fish too. My dad definitely isn't the god of fashion design.'

'You are a foolish boy,' Iphigenia murmured, a small smile on her lips. 'I can see why Zoë was kind to you.' She extended an arm. 'I am sorry for being too harsh, I was afraid for Artemis.'

Percy studied her hand. 'And for Zoë being close to me…'

'I was Zoë's sister for millennia, Percy,' she said. 'I knew something was wrong with her. She was sad. I could feel it. I thought it was perhaps because of a fondness for you when the two of you grew close, but I was wrong.'

'She would never have left Artemis. And certainly not for me.' Percy grinned and clasped her hand. 'Maybe if the fish pyjamas had been better designed I could have tempted her away into cooties, but I think it would still have been tough.'

Iphigenia threw her head back and laughed. 'Be careful, Percy, if Artemis were here, she might decide you ought to wear those for us as penance for such hubristic words.'

'She isn't?' A faint pang of disappointment twisted in his breast, sharp as a knife beneath the breathtaking memory of the flash of pride in her silver eyes. 'Busy fighting Typhon. I suppose I can only blame myself for that after I helped blow up the mountain.'

'You hoped to see her?' Iphigenia smiled. 'She may return to rest. Perhaps you will.'

'She is—' Percy hunted for words '—after I came back from Ogygia, Aphrodite sent me a dream of Calypso. I…' The guilt bubbled up, swelling into a heaving churning cauldron of cold waves. 'Artemis was kind. She helped.'

'Of course.' Iphigenia patted him on the shoulder. 'She is patron to all children. You are not the only one of us whose troubles she has soothed. She cares for us all.'

'No, but… you're hers.' Percy gestured at the silver tents. 'She didn't have to help me. I left Calypso. I hurt her. I chose. Artemis could've let me face the consequences alone.' His voice dropped to a whisper. 'It wouldn't have been unfair.'

'If you deserved it, she would've. But she didn't.' Iphigenia folded her arms. 'If you wish to thank her, pray. Or wait until she returns to us, stand before her and tell her yourself.'

'We can't wait. We have to catch Ethan before he rejoins Luke.'

'We crossed his tracks this afternoon on the far side of camp to here', Iphigenia said. 'He and a score of dracaena are not even half a day ahead of you. You will catch him soon. Perhaps tomorrow.

Tomorrow. Cold dread trickled to the pit of his stomach, pooling into bottomless black; all its endless weight bearing down upon him, grinding his heart down into the dark like a single grain of sand at the bottom of the sea. Be brave. Percy took a deep breath and clutched Anaklusmos tight in his pocket. Be brave.

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