Nothing is mine.

Here we go, another update for this one!

Defeated, Half-Blind Justice Takes Wing

Iphigenia pressed a finger to her lips and pointed down at the leaf-strewn roots and mud, dancing over the roots and leaning her back against the trunk of a broad pine. 'Now you,' she mouthed, tapping the roots with her foot.

Percy put one foot on the nearest root and picked his way across, wobbling on the last.

A faint smile flitted across Iphigenia's lips and she grabbed a fistful of his t-shirt, dragging him forward against her side. 'Dracaenae have sharp eyesight, Percy.' Her breath tickled collarbone. 'You are not a very good hunter.'

'The only thing I have to hunt for are my missing socks at camp,' he muttered. 'The harpies are definitely stealing them, it's part of a concerted effort by Kronos to make sure I have literally no clothes left.'

'You still have the fish pyjamas,' Iphigenia whispered, stifling her laughter into her hand. 'A most fitting battle-garb for a son of Poseidon.'

'You won't think it's funny when Alexandra is complaining about the uneven fish spacing,' Percy murmured. 'I'll tell her it was your idea, Iphigenia.'

'Iphi.' She put a finger to her lips and grabbed his shoulder, leaning across him to peer around the edge of the tree. 'Thalia and your friends are ready. Are you?'

'Yes.'

Ready to choose well.

Iphigenia twisted the slim silver ring on her finger and her bow sprang into her hand, jabbing Percy in the chin.

'Ouch,' he muttered, pulling Anaklusmos from his pocket and extending it into a xiphos. 'On three, Iphi?'

Iphigenia nodded. 'You go for the son of Nemesis, we'll pick off the dracaenae and come to aid you if you need.'

One choice at a time. Percy took a deep breath and pressed Zoë's cool bronze blade to his forehead, letting the slow wash of the tide sweep his fear away. Be brave.

'One,' Iphi whispered, nocking a silver-feathered arrow. 'Two. Three.'

Percy leapt around the tree and bounded over the roots. The huddle of dracaenae whirled, snatching up daggers and arrows and bows, and Ethan leapt up from a fallen tree, his bronze xiphos appearing in his fist.

An arrow hissed over Percy's shoulder, plucking one of the dracaena from his way in a puff of golden dust. Thalia charged in from the far side, driving her spear through the rearmost monster, and Clarisse leapt over the fallen tree, hammering her hoplon into the side of a lone hellhound and spitting with a single thrust.

Percy lunged at Ethan, drawing the sea back into a tight, foaming ball in his gut.

Ethan caught the thrust on his xiphos and shoved. 'Finally learnt I can't be unbalanced, have you?'

Percy let the sea surge, twisting his wrists and trapping the xiphos beneath Anaklusmos and sweeping it aside; he slashed back as Ethan leapt back.

Ethan let out a sharp hiss and staggered back, clapping his hand to the red gash across his calf. Red trickled along Anaklusmos's edge and dripped from the tip into the pine needles.

There's always so much blood.

Ethan growled and swung his xiphos at Percy's head, but Percy shimmied aside and thrust at Ethan's shoulder.

He dived under Anaklusmos's blade and rolled to his feet, spinning around. 'You...' Ethan glanced around and down at the deep cut in his leg. 'You're just determined to ruin everything, aren't you?'

Annabeth appeared in the middle of the knot of dracaenae and drove her dagger into the side of one's neck, letting the golden dust pour down her front. A silver-feathered arrow sprouted between the eyes of another as they scattered and it exploded into a puff of gold.

'Well you can't stop us,' Ethan snapped. 'Balance is important and inevitable.' He pulled the black-crested helm from his head and hurled it across the clearing.

Percy flinched behind his arm and winced as it smacked into his elbow, sending a flash of pins and needles rippling up his arm.

Ethan sprinted into the trees, hurtling over the roots and through the dappled shade of the trees

No you don't. Percy sprinted after him, squinting at the shadows before his feet as the roots flashed past beneath him.

Something snagged his foot and he sprawled into the dirt, rolling to his knees and staggering back up into a patch of ferns

Ethan's distant figure vanished into the trees.

His stupid can't be unbalanced thing is actually really useful. Bitter cold waves broke against one another in the pit of Percy's stomach and he turned on his heel, jogging back into the clearing. I guess this wasn't it.

'He got away?' Clarisse stood over a swathe of golden dust with a broad grin on her face. 'You're too slow, Sea-boy.'

'Ethan's a son of Nemesis, he can't be tripped up on roots like I can.' Percy brushed dirt and pine needles off his t-shirt. 'But he's all by himself now and I got his leg.'

I cut him. A cold sickness churned and heaved in his stomach.

'Good.' Clarisse cracked her knuckles. 'When we catch him you can cut his damn head off and finish the job.'

Percy's gaze drifted to the crimson smeared along Zoë's blade. I don't want to cut his head off. He wiped the red off the bright bronze onto his palm and stared at it. I don't want to kill anyone.

'It will be dark soon,' Iphi said, drifting down to join them through the ferns. 'He will not be able to get far with an injured leg before it's night.'

'He fled.' Annabeth's forehead creased. 'Took wing. But we haven't heard a faithful roar, or reached Death's spring, or seen Lydia's scourge.'

'Do they have to happen in order?' Percy asked, closing his fist over the patch of red. 'They have before, but…'

'It's how it works,' Annabeth replied, her frown deepening and a glimmer of worry in her grey eyes. 'Did I miss something? I can't have missed that many things.'

He mustered a grin. 'It doesn't matter, Wise-girl. One choice at a time. Choose well. Whatever we choose—'

'We were always going to choose,' Iphi murmured, a strange soft gleam in her brown eyes as she stared at Percy.

Thalia snapped her spear back into a can of mace and she stuffed it in her pocket. 'We should return to our camp.' She pointed back through the trees. 'Tomorrow we'll track him down.'

'Our sisters will have swept the rest of this forest clear of monsters after today's hunt,' Iphi said, tugging her gaze away into the trees. 'We can pursue the son of Nemesis together and ensure he doesn't escape a second time.'

They trudged back through the ferns, crunching through dead brown bracken and a thick carpet of pine needles.

There's always so much blood. Percy stared at the drying red smear on his palm. Are we going to have to kill Ethan?

A cold sick storm churned in the pit of his stomach as faint singing and distant laughter drifted through the trees from the flashes of silver between the tall slim pines.

I don't want to kill him. He slipped away from Annabeth's side, picking his way over the roots down to the small spring at the side of the hill. I just want to stop him.

Percy dipped his crimson-stained hand into the cold clear water and watched it sweep the blood away in little wisps of red.

The sea knows no mercy. His dad's whisper rose from the gushing spring, bubbling up through its waters. The storm feels no pity.

'But I do,' Percy murmured. 'And it's me who chooses.'

They made their own choices, Percy. His dad's voice came bleak and cold as winter waves breaking on stone. Choice. And Fate.

'I know.' Percy dipped his other hand into the water and rubbed the red off. 'I suppose it changes nothing. I'll keep on trying to choose well.'

You have done well. His dad's whisper came soft as the white foaming wash of a gentle tide. I am proud of you. You and Tyson.

'Will I see him again?'

Perhaps. But you might find a foe in place of a brother.

'Why?' Percy shook his head. 'Tyson would never hurt anyone.'

Suffering changes the nature of all things. Even Gods.

'That's just how it works, isn't it. I don't even have to ask to know.' Percy pulled his hands out of the spring and patted them dry, listening to the singing and laughter at the Hunters' camp. 'I don't like it. He doesn't deserve to be there.'

Fate can be cruel. A quiet sorrow hung on his dad's words, as heavy and still as thick sea fog. And suffering can change even those as kind as your brother if they choose to let it affect them. You have met other brothers who later earned the cruelty they faced at the hands of misfortune.

'Keep choosing well.' Percy patted his hands dry. 'I'll do my best. I promised.'

Sworn to stars. His dad's voice faded, sinking back into the distant deep blue. Be brave, Percy. Your birthright is to change the nature of the world.

Percy's heart sank beneath the weight of the words, drifting down into the crushing cold dark depths like a single speck of sand. 'I don't know how I'm meant to do that,' he whispered, rising from the spring and wandering up the slope toward the sound of laughter. 'You all give me choices, but nobody tells me how to know which would disappoint.'

A high, bright clear voice soared through the trees, drifting through the boughs and leaves like a soft breeze; it soothed the worry, smoothed the anxious ripples into clear still waters, scooping up the small grain of sand from the pit of his stomach and lifting it up to breathless grace, as high as the heavens, soaring into the sky beside the stars.

Zoë. Percy touched his fingertips to his breast, leaning against a pine at the edge of the camp. Your sisters sing as well as Calypso.

The circle of girls laughed and danced around a swirl of white chiton and a whirl of auburn hair.

'Artemis…' He bent and sat on the roots, a small smile creeping across his lips as Artemis's song tugged at his heart. 'Iphi wasn't just messing with me about her singing.' His smile broadened into a grin. 'I hope Thalia has to sing too, she'll hate that.'

Artemis paused in her dance, her molten silver eyes flicking up through the tents to his. The corner of her mouth twitched and a soft ripple of light flashed through the trees.

Neatly folded fish pyjamas fell into Percy's lap.

Laughter burst through his lips. 'Thank you, Artemis.' He patted them. 'Iphi was very keen to see these infamous pyjamas. And I'm sure Annabeth has missed them.'

The song faded away and the circle of girls dispersed into chattering pairs as they retreated into their tents, leaving Artemis alone with one dark-haired girl.

Percy tucked his pyjamas under his arm and meandered through the tents to his.

'There's boys with us, my lady,' the girl said. 'I don't like it. They're bad.'

He winced and glanced over his shoulder.

Artemis's slim figure rose higher, shifting through the years as she bent and took the young girl's hands in hers. 'Penelope…'

Penelope squirmed, staring at her feet. 'How long do they have to be here, my lady? I don't want them here.'

Artemis tapped Penelope under the chin with one finger. 'Look at me, Penelope. We don't hate many for the deeds of a few, do we? That isn't fair. Would you selfishly deny Perseus and his companions aid in the fight against Kronos because boys make you feel anxious?'

'No,' Penelope said, dragging her eyes up. 'But how do I know they're not…?'

'You do not know for certain,' Artemis replied. 'But we continue to be kind even if we have suffered, because every small act of kindness we choose to give is one that makes the world kinder.' She held Penelope's gaze. 'And we do it even when we are angry and lost and wish harm on those who do not deserve it.'

'I'm sorry,' Penelope blurted. 'You're not going to throw me out, are you?'

'You have not broken the promise you made me so you need not fear that.' Artemis smiled and straightened up, mussing Penelope's dark hair. 'You only just joined us, Penelope. All your sisters started out where you are. Be patient. You will get there just as they all have.'

'But what if they are bad?' Penelope asked. 'Are we still meant to be kind then?'

'Those that do not choose well, do not deserve kindness and Fate will not deliver them to it.' Artemis's hair darkened and amaranth-red bled into her silver eyes. 'For those that disappoint and break their promises, there are consequences. And I have neither kindness nor mercy for them.'

'You don't have to be kind to bad people?'

'You do not have to be kind at all, but remember, Penelope, the man that hurt you was cruel, and his choice to be cruel earned him his fate.'

Penelope paled. 'The bear…'

'Yes. The bear.' Artemis's crimson eyes gleamed with fierce light. 'Choice. And consequences.'

'Choose well,' Penelope mumbled. 'And live or die without regret. That's what Iphi said.'

'That is what Zoë told your sister when she first joined us many many years ago. And it is what I told Zoë many years before that.' Artemis's figure shrank down to Percy's height, the red of her eyes faded back to silver and her hair shivering back to auburn. 'Back to your tent, Penelope. I must return to the fight against Typhon.'

Penelope darted off, stumbling through the flap of a tent.

A curved bow strung with pale moonlight appeared in Artemis's hand and her chiton shifted into shining silver-scaled armour. 'Look away, Perseus,' she ordered. 'I would not see you turned to dust.' The corner of her mouth curved up and bright humour shone in her silver eyes. 'Not before we all get to see you in your new pyjamas.'

He laughed and closed his eyes as she vanished with a searing flash of light, reopening them to a quiet still camp.

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