"What do you mean they have a 'pet hellhound'?" Percy Jackson asked, completely flabbergasted at what his friend satyr, Grover told him over the wavy image of the Iris message.

"I mean, they have a pet hellhound, I already told Chiron and Mr. D. Hopefully no one attacks us on sight when he reach camp later today." Grover has that jittery look, where he's trying not to panic, while also being a bit relieved that he should be home soon. "Although, you and Thalia might get a surprise when you come to camp this year."

"What do you mean? And why me and Thalia?" Percy asked, instantly worried and suspicious on that specific connection.

"I'm... not exactly sure yet. I asked them if they know their godly parent, but they said they'd tell me later at camp." Grover said, as he looked around. "There are some signs, on how I think it might be, and if that's the case," Grover winced, imaging some horrible fate to come. "It would be bad, Percy."

"Who do you think it is?" Percy asked.

They hurried sounds of battle. Grover looked at something in horror at something off screen.

"SHIT! CYCLoo... Oh." Grover stared blankly in disbelief at what he was seeing.

"Grover! Are you okay? Tell me where you are, and I'll head on—" Percy began to panic.

"No! No, it's already. It's... already taken care of." Grover said, much to Percy's relief. "Damn, they are really scary. They really must be his kids."

"Who's kids?" Percy asked, exasperated.

Before Grover could answer a girl with a long braid, and the biggest sword Percy's ever seen in his life came into the Iris message frame.

Spoiler: Bianca di Angelo

"Hey, Grover, other guy, sorry to cut your chat short. Shadow is rested, and we can head off now. The monsters are seriously starting to get annoying at this point." The girl didn't have that newbie "I just discovered one of my parents is a god" look. That is, if the whole giant badass sword didn't clue Percy in. "Bianca di Angelo, nice to meet you. I'll probably see you at camp."

"Percy Jackson, I'm not really a year rounded, if you're there at summer, I'll see you then. Sorry, do I know you from somewhere?" Percy could have sworn he had seen her somewhere before.

"Yeah, I get that a lot, don't worry about it—Sorry, did you say you're name was Percy Jackson?" She asked, wide-eyed and surprised.

Percy's instinctive response was to worry that she heard something about him from other demigods, like Clarisse when she had once dunked his head in the toilet, before he discovered his powers, and dunked her and her friends with toilet water. But then, Bianca wouldn't have met Clarisse, and Grover wouldn't try to make him look bad like that.

"Yeah, that son of Poseidon." Percy nodded with a sigh. "Hopefully Grover didn't tell you anything bad yet." He grinned.

"Dude!" Grover pouted.

"No, no, it's..." She smiled at some inside joke only she knew, before shaking her head. "Your name is similar to one of the character in Fate/Téras Konístra."

"Fate-what now? You mean the book video game thing?" It was game that had so much advertisement even he heard about it. Although he lost interest once he heard it was all just reading. Demigod dyslexia wasn't really helpful in enjoying that.

"Y-Yeah, it's... don't worry about it." She shook her head.

"Bianca! Grover!" A younger voice call out to them from off the call's frame.

"It was really nice to meet you, honestly I should have also been in school too, if it wasn't for a group of forest stalkers that wouldn't take no for an answer. Come on, Grover." Bianca left and there was a loud familiar bark that reminded Percy of explosion. A hellhound's bark.

"The Hunters aren't that bad, they just..." Grover sigh, as Bianca had already left.

What was weird was hearing Bianca calling out to it, saying "good boy" and things like that, with barking and panting following that.

"Hunters?" Percy asked.

"Hunters of Artemis. Lady Artemis wanted to recruit Bianca to her Hunters and she's just..." Grover sighed happily at the mention of the goddess.

"Isn't Artemis the whole 'no-boys club' goddess?" Percy wondered.

"Yeah, but, you wouldn't get it. She's just sooo full of nature." Grover said dreamily.

"Please don't do anything to get yourself shot like a turkey with arrows." Percy said.

"That's not a thing!" Grover complained, and Percy found himself chuckling. If Grover is whining without fear, then he was fine.

"Is it safe?" Percy asked his friend in concern. "Being around the hellhound, I mean?"

"So far, yeah. It's friendly, but doesn't change how scary being near it is. At least we're clearing massive distances with this." Grover replied.

"Alright," Percy nodded, glad his friend was safe. "Take care then, and tell Annabeth I said 'hi'."

"Will do!" Grover smiled and the image dispersed into regular mist.

"Hopefully this year will be normal that I'll only be there for summer." Percy sighed and hoped.

He ended up having to go Camp Half-Blood a week later, since his school had a snake outbreak. They were actually basilisks. Creepy snakes with red eyes, that shoot fire or poison from their mouths. Talk about having a spicy bad breath.

Percy came to Camp Half-Blood to find it in a pandemonium.

Okay, not really, but the vibe was definitely a bit too hyper.

"It's the new kids." Annabeth had told him, looking a little grumpy. A look she usually had when she didn't figure out the answer to a puzzle right away. She hadn't changed much from when he last saw her, although the silver circlet on her head was a new fashion choice. "We're finding out that one of them, the girl was part of the writing staff for that game that might be prophetic."

"What game, that might be prophetic?" Percy blinked in confusion.

The only person he knew that gave prophecies was an old skeleton mummy lady that lived in the attic of the Big House. It was the camp's main building where Chiron lived, the camp's activities director, since he's the infamous trainer of heroes and all. And there's Mr. D, or the God of Wine, (because he whines a lot), Dionysus. Well, god of wine that can't drink wine, which is why he's always in a bad mood.

"Fate/Téras Konístra." Annabeth said with a frown.

"The book video game? People here actually play it?" Percy asked, skeptical and surprised.

"It has a language option for Greek, Percy. Ancient Greek." Annabeth stressed. "There are characters based on me, you and even Luke. He's called 'Lance' in the game, but Bianca said it was originally Luke before their computer science teacher told them to change it, as it was 'too much of a good guy's name'."

Percy snorted. He didn't know who that mortal teacher is, but he already liked him.

"Luke is a bad guy in the game?" He asked with a bit of an amused cheer. "Do we get to beat him up?"

"Yes in one of the route, the game has multiple." Annabeth said.

"Huh, maybe I will play it after—"

"No! No, you don't wanna play it. Y-You'll get bored, I'll give you the cliff notes." Annabeth said with an odd intense flush.

"But you just said—"

"Don't worry about it. If you didn't start it, then you don't need to start, or at least play it with the 18+ option turned off." Annabeth said with the most intense look, Percy had seen in a while. She was also blushing for some reason.

"Huh?" Percy blinked in confusion.

Before the discussion could continue Percy and Annabeth heard a commotion, and saw their fellow campers heading to the sword battle arena.

They saw Thalia and... Bianca? Percy remembered the girl from the Iris message with Grover. She looked more annoyed now, but with sympathy in her eyes. Thalia however looked furious.

The daughter of Zeus was usually someone Percy saw as pretty chill, but like her father, when she gets angry, she doesn't seem to stop.

"Wonder what that's about?" Percy wondered.

"I think it might be because—" Annabeth she was about to say before she was interrupted.

"I'm surprised to see you talking with a boy, Huntress." Drew Tanaka, daughter of Aphrodite spoke at the two. She wasn't heading in the same direction, just that they passed by her, and she couldn't help but speak at them with attitude for some reason.

Drew like all Cabin Ten, where gorgeous and beautiful, benefits of being demigods to the Goddess of Beauty. Also like most of them, she was kinda vain and cared more about her looks, than training to fight.

"I'm talking to a friend, Drew." Annabeth said, her mouth held in a straight line, as she was trying not to frown. "You know, friends, not people you try to use or charm." She said back.

Percy suddenly had this odd feeling in his stomach. Like something bad will happen... No has happened. He wasn't sure why, but the look in Drew's face seem too intense to be her usual prickly self. Like Annabeth personally offended her now.

"You know, I used to respect you, despite being a nerd and all." Drew said.

"Me joining the Hunters doesn't make me any less dangerous, Drew. It makes me more so." Annabeth said back harshly. Drew flinched back from meeting Annabeth's eyes, before scoff and turning away.

"Whatever," Drew turned to Percy with a look of... pity? "You know Percy, despite being an annoying dork that keep trying to get himself killed, us at Cabin Ten really were rooting for you." Huh? "I'm sorry about Annabeth, really."

"I'm standing right here." Annabeth almost growled.

"Oh you were, I thought you'd have left by now." Drew said dismissively. "Percy if you ever want to talk—"

"Hey, Tanaka?" Percy said with a pointed smile. "You know make-up and mascara technically counts as water, right?"

"What?"

Drew's make up literally fell off her face.

"Hey!"

"Oops, let me wash that for you."

A puddle of water from snow beginning to fall in winter, rose up and splashed Drew in the face.

The daughter of Aphrodite squeaked and ran away.

"All of that for someone who will just hate you later on. You made a big mistake, Jackson!" Was Drew parting shot.

Finally it was Percy and Annabeth was alone again.

"Okay, what was that about?" Percy couldn't help but ask.

"Percy..." Annabeth sighed, looking a bit sorry. "I joined the Hunters of Artemis when they and the goddess came here a week ago."

The cold feeling in Percy's stomach spread as his best demigod friend started explaining what they were.

"I asked Lady Artemis for a favor. That I stay in camp till the end of the year, then I'm leaving with them to join the Hunt for good."

Percy felt numb. There was a ringing in his ears as the world seemed to fall out from under him.

There were cheers as the fight between Thalia and Bianca happened in the background. Yet his thoughts were on what Annabeth told him.

That come New Years she was leaving camp, leaving everyone behind for good. That she was immortal now. That likely if he didn't die of a monster and was old and gray, she would still look the same as she was now.

"You will tell me where he is!" Thalia's roaring shout snapped him out of his daze.

He looked up, only to now notice that Thalia and Bianca were using real steel. Or Celestial Bronze on Thalia's side, and Bianca was using her Cloud Buster Sword with iron that looked as black as a nightmare.

Somehow Bianca was wield her giant sword like it was as light as paper mache. Every strike by Thalia was answered and returned immediately. Every attack parried or blocked.

Even worse for Thalia, somehow her Aegis shield seemed to have no effect on Bianca. That thing gave off a terrible aura that made even monsters like hellhounds run away from it. In fact the pet hellhound of the Di Angelo siblings was hiding behind the smaller Di Angelo right now, whining in fear. Bianca's younger brother, Nico, was petting it and telling it not to be scared.

...Actually Nico also didn't have trouble looking at Thalia's shield. Huh? Seriously what's up with these two.

Electric spark went off around Thalia. A warning for everyone nearby to get ready to take cover, as the daughter of Zeus was about to use her signature heritage of her father's.

Bianca's eyes widened, then narrowed.

Thalia dismissed her shield as it had no effect. She thrust her free arm out, electric arcs shot from her fingers toward Bianca.

Bianca's sword suddenly got covered in flames.

Percy wasn't sure as it happened very fast. Suddenly Bianca moved, swinging her Buster Sword much, much faster, with the blade covered in something that looked like flame but black-ish.

Bianca's sword slammed into the electricity and smashed through it. Thalia tried to jump back from Bianca who was chasing after her.

Something caught onto Thalia's leg from below. Bianca closed in and swung her sword faster than something that huge should ever be. Thalia brought her blade up, only for it to be knocked aside, almost ripped from her hands, flying away, spinning from the momemtum and stabbed into the ground.

Before Thalia could react, Bianca drew a knife, wrapped around her waist and held it to Thalia's neck.

"Yield?" Bianca said, with a tired tone. Guess all those move took a bit out of her.

"...Why wouldn't you tell me where he is?" Thalia almost looked like she was tearing up. Which was seriously freaky for anyone who spent anytime with her.

Percy looked at Annabeth wondering if Thalia is asking where Luke was, but Annabeth shook her head, muttering a quiet "I don't know." That was more shocking than the match.

Bianca sighed, as she sheathed her knife, and held her neck, only for it to shrink and transform into a sword-shaped medal part of a pendant. Percy also noticed something like pointing white stones where Thalia was standing, sink into the ground. Guess that's what her leg got stuck on.

"Thalia, I swear I don't know where your brother is." Bianca said with a sigh, as she shook her head.

Suddenly Percy felt like the world was way bigger and way more mysterious than it was before. There are two children of Zeus? Sure, maybe it's not right to automatically go to that assumption, but given their lives as demigods, it seemed very likely.

"When we made the characters for the games, we just made stuff up. I made my character more or less with my name, just because my friends at Westover thought it would be funny." Bianca chuckled. "Seriously, do you know how weird it is that I met two people named Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase?"

"Wait, what's that about us?" Percy asked, and he and Annabeth went to Thalia and Bianca's side, now that the match was over.

The other campers left as well, since the show's over. Even Bianca's younger brother waved at us, Bianca waved back, then he left with the hellhound. The Stoll brothers went to talk to Nico about something. Hopefully it's not them planning a heist.

...Actually the hellhound's power to travel through shadows, the potential for pranks, just got scary.

"The characters in that game I told you about, Fate/Téras Konístra." Annabeth gave a basic summary of the story, about the Holy Grail War, Master and Servant. Percy nodded, thinking it does sound cool, but the dying part for the Servants sucked. Or maybe it didn't since they were all originally dead, and just came to the living world temporarily? Would Hades allow souls to just leave the Underworld to join a magic fighting tournament. "Some of the Master characters are, Byanka Angelus, Annabelle Chaser, Percy Jameson, and Lance Castle, who's first name was originally suppose to be Luke."

"...Did Mr. D help in making this game?" Percy genuinely ask, making Thalia snort, as Bianca chuckled, while Annabeth smiled a bit. "So what's the problem?"

"One of the characters is Jason Gambit." Thalia said. "Given how everyone had characters named after them, I thought this meant the character would be based off my brother, Jason Grace."

"You have a brother?" Annabeth looked shocked. "You never mentioned him."

"Had." Thalia said bitterly. "I don't know what happened to him. I used to pray to dad, to ask him if he was okay, if he would let Hera bring him back after she took him, but I got nothing. I thought he was dead, but given how oddly prophetic the game is, I thought maybe he's alive."

"Look, Thalia," Bianca spoke. "I don't know how accurate the characters we made are to real life. Like for example, Annabeth is nothing like her character or has Annabelle's backstory."

"The mannerisms are disturbingly similar though." Annabeth pointed out.

I should really check out his game to see how well they got me. Percy thought amusingly.

"Yeah, that is freaky." Bianca nodded. "Look, I'll give you the notes I still have of the game, maybe they can help you. I remember off the top of my head that the Jason character has amnesia, so maybe that can help."

"...Yeah, thanks." Thalia sighed. "I'm not sure if it will help in the end though. It's been years, does he even remember me?" She snorted in contempt. "Or will Hera take him away once I find him, and dad does nothing."

There was a heavy static in the air at the mention of the gods.

"Thalia, I... don't know how Hera would react. But I suggest getting her a gift or something to appease her once you find you brother." Bianca said, and Percy winced at the look of fury on Thalia's face.

Bianca stepped on a mine there.

"Give a gift? To her? To appease her? After what's she done? To hell with that!" Thalia shouted, yet Bianca took her anger with calmness.

"Thalia, I'm going to tell you something that was told to me when I discovered I was a demigod, and who my father was." Bianca said.

"Wait, you know who your god parent is?" Percy asked in surprise.

"Yeah," Bianca looked away. "He didn't claim me and Nico yet, but given that he doesn't have a cabin, I don't blame him. He likely has a reason, so I'll ask him once I meet him again."

"You're placing a lot of trust on him when he didn't even bother to claim you, or explain why he didn't?" Thalia asked, scowling.

"That goes back to that piece of advice." Bianca said, smiling fondly at the memory. "Gods are not human."

Percy blinked at that. Huh?

"Well, obviously. Zeus controls the sky, my mother makes kids from mind melding, what of it?" Annabeth said back.

Thunder sounded dimly in the air, as if big thunder britches was listening in to the conversation.

"No, you don't get it." Bianca shook her head. "You're thinking of gods as superhumans with magic powers, that's not how you should see them at all."

"What do you mean?" Percy pressed, suddenly feeling this talk was a lot more important than he thought.

"I mean, gods literally embody parts of nature. Zeus is the sky and the storms and thunder that can take a human form. Poseidon is the sea in all of its phases, when its calm and when its windy and rough." Bianca said towards Thalia, Annabeth and Percy. "They may look human, they may act human, they have emotions like humans, but they are not humans." Bianca insisted. "Asking a storm to love you and care about you isn't gonna work. The storm can try, but its limited to what it can do."

"So just excuse everything and not even bother getting them to talk to us?" Thalia said back with an ugly frown. Like she was seconds away from exploding.

"I'm saying you shouldn't expect them to act like a human parent. They aren't gonna play catch with you like a normal parent, but if they love you, they will show it in their own way. There are divine law preventing them from acting all the time, but if they care, then they will show their love in their own way."

"And how do you know if they love you?" Percy asked. The image of his dad playing catch with him did seem ridiculous, and while He's sure now that Poseidon did care, Percy didn't always know how much of that is Poseidon really caring, and how much is it him just needing Percy as his demigod to do things for him.

"Did he claim you? Did he ever help you before? Even a little bit or talk to you?" Bianca asked.

"...Yeah." Percy said with a small smile.

"Yes." Annabeth nodded.

"..." Thalia was quiet, frowning lightly like she didn't want to admit that any divine help she got was from Zeus.

"Thalia, if he didn't care then he wouldn't have turned you into a tree to preserve you." Annabeth added.

Thalia frowned at her, although her expression softened.

"You want to connect with your dad? Find out what he really thinks of you? Then you need to be the one to reach out. Go and spend time with him." Bianca said.

"He lives on Olympus, he's never gonna come down here." Thalia said, looking incredulous.

"Then just march right up to Olympus, and go spend time with him." Bianca chuckled. "Seriously, just go all out on refuge in audacity. Sit with him while he's doing paperwork. Watch as he's passing judgement on a dispute or something. Just forcefully put yourself there for a month or two."

"I don't think the Queen of the Gods would appreciate that." Annabeth advised.

"You're Zeus' daughter. As long as you don't show disrespect, then you should be fine. Don't spend time around her if you don't want to. She may try to get a raise out of you, but at the end of the day as long as you're just there as a guest, then she will abide by guest rites and won't harm you." Bianca crossed her arms.

"That!" Annabeth's eyes widened, as her super divine mind dissected Bianca's words. "That might actually work. Xenia is very important for the gods. Hospitality must be enforced once given. If Zeus accepts you visiting, then the gods and the Queen have to abide by it."

Thalia's eyes widened in surprise and thought, as her mind ran through her options on what to do.

"Just think about it, and remember to temper your expectations. It might not be enough, but it shows that he's trying. Also, if you give him an excuse to help you, he will." Bianca said.

"What do you mean?" Thalia asked.

"Prayer, sacrifice. When gods care, they'll use any excuse to go around the ancient laws to help out their kids." Bianca offered her last piece of wisdom.

Thalia started to smile a bit. Annabeth looked deep in thought about all this. Percy wondered if he should go visit his dad under the sea sometimes.

The next few weeks got insane very quickly, very fast.

Thalia left camp to head to the Empire State Building, saying she'll go bother her dad at work, whether he wanted her to or not.

Then immediately a few days later, the Hunters of Artemis arrived at camp, injured and with devastating news.

Thalia had been ambushed on her way to Manhattan. Artemis and her Hunters had met her on the way, yet were also taken by surprise. A stampede of monsters lead by a General of Krono's army attacked them, and before anyone knew it Thalia was taken.

Artemis ordered her Huntresses to head to camp and recuperate, while she rescued Thalia.

Percy and Annabeth wanted to head out right away, but Mr. D blocked them like the jerk he was, saying that without a quest, they can't go anywhere.

Chiron suggested that the campers and hunters would have a "friendly" match of capture the flag, so they could take their mind off all this, and await the good news of Artemis returning with Thalia.

Percy wasn't so sure, as he had seen a dream where Luke was under a massive cavern ceiling that he tricked Thalia into carrying.

The Capture the Flag match went off badly, at least at the start. Percy had forgotten that Annabeth had joined the Hunters, and so he wasn't prepared to face her.

It was solely because of Bianca protecting their flag, and stubbornly holding out, that her brother managed to use shadow travel to sneak past the hunters, get the flag and come back, while the Hunters were busy with Percy and Clarisse.

Then two extremely unbelievable things happened at once.

A shining dark helm appeared over Bianca and Nico's head. The Helm of Darkness, the symbol of Hades.

"Hades," Chiron solemnly announced. "Aidoneus, Lord of the Underworld, the Rich One. Hail Bianca and Nico di Angelo, children of the God of the Dead."

And before anyone could process that, the mummified Oracle walked out of the Big House and stopped right in front of Bianca.

"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 you must withstand,
And one shall perish by a parent's hand."

Thunder rumbled loudly in the skies.