Hey, guys, it's been a super long time for this story (along with the others) and I haven't been very motivated with writing lately, but that doesn't mean that I'll give up on them. Anyway, I decided to do this chapter while also working on chapters for the other stories.

I don't own any of the characters from the Percy Jackson series nor do I own the plot from the books.

"(text)" – People talking

'(text)' – People thinking

Enjoy.

Chapter Seven

"I wish they could have at least held back a little," Percy mumbled as he was limping back to Zaen's current hideout.

Percy finished paying a visit to all of his sisters back at his mother's hunt and he had to endure everything that they wanted to do to him, which were quite a few things. To make it a long story short, Percy had to have a sparring match with every hunter that taught him everything he knew. The scary part was when Phoebe and Zoe teamed up against him and beat him down within two minutes. All in all, he had some bruises and possibly a few small scars, but at least they had some fun out of it.

And he also stayed with the hunt until Kayla decided to stay and said goodbye to the young hunter. Kayla looked happier in the hunt's attire than Percy ever saw her throughout the week they spent together in Zaen's current hideout. Soon after Kayla officially joining the hunt and Percy resting enough from his sisters' beat downs, Percy had to leave the hunt once again and return to his uncle. He said goodbye to all of his sisters for the last time before shadow traveling with Angel.

When he appeared to the hideout, he saw Zaen packing up everything that Percy owned, including his nectar and mysterious pendant that he still couldn't open. Zaen had a serious face when he turned to Percy and handed him his stuff.

"Is something wrong uncle?" Percy couldn't help but feel a little nervous from the way Zaen's eyes weren't showing their usual shine.

"Yes, there is," The purple winged god looked like he was going to empty out his stomach as he stared at Percy, "I have to go somewhere and can't come back for about a year."

Percy's mouth dropped as he stared at his uncle in disbelief, "A year?!"

"If I'm lucky, but you must continue saving demigods while I'm gone and you can't contact your mother until you're at least fourteen."

Percy couldn't believe what he was hearing, "You're basically telling me that I can't see my mom for at least ten months then?" He wished he could be angry with the god in front of him, but right now he's just too shocked and confused about the sudden situation.

"I really hate doing this, but yes. You don't have to worry though; Hades said that he'll be keeping a close eye on you, so you don't have to feel alone."

The young hunter hated to admit it but having an older man watching him from who-knows-where was a little more comforting than nothing.

"Where do you have to go? Why do you have to go, what kind of situation would make a god nervous?"

Zaen bit his lip, "Let's just say there are people higher than the gods and you wouldn't want to keep them waiting."

Percy looked even more confused by that, but Zaen disappeared in a small cloud of smoke and purple feathers. Percy growled in frustration and threw his bag to the ground. Luckily, Angel came up from behind and began licking her master/best friend's face. The son of Artemis had no idea where the pup was but he was glad she could cheer him up, even if it meant covering him in wolf slobber.

"I guess we don't have a choice, do we girl?" Percy mumbled while after Angel finished with his face and lay down near the hunter's feet. He sighed as he watched his wolf fall asleep.

"Well, at least I can have some peace and quiet from my crazy uncle." Percy thought aloud as he lied down next to Angel and closed his eyes, "This is going to be a long and lonely year…"

For the first time in months, he had a dreamless sleep.

~Time Skip~

Percy was slightly shivering as he was running through the snow with Angel far ahead of him. He was breathing heavily as he was trying to catch up with the large canine, which seemed to be leading him to a large castle-like building.

It had been eleven months since Percy last saw Artemis, the hunt, or even his crazy uncle, which he didn't miss all that much. Anyway, throughout the eleven months, Percy had changed quite a bit.

Percy lost his short hairstyle and let it grew out since Zaen left him, which gave a wild look whenever the wind blew at his face. His parka gear has been left behind since he grew out of it and since he couldn't find any parkas in the mall that he visited or stores that he could've have bought some, well more like stealing since he ran out of mortal cash a few weeks back. Anyway, he lost his parka and went with a snow-grey army jacket and he strapped deer antlers to the back. His pants were a light gray with a quiver strapped to the leather belt and he had on a pair of heavy snow boots.

All in all, Percy looked quite different from how his sisters would have preferred, but he knew that they would be proud that he's been surviving well in the wild for nearly a year months and all on his own with Angel.

Percy continued running until he finally caught up with the wolf, he was panting and had his hand on his knees. He could have caught up better with Angel if it wasn't for the fact that he still had to carry a heavy bag of the two's supplies and his weapons.

Percy finally caught his breath and looked up at the building; it was a lot bigger up close. Not knowing where an entrance was, he decided to just shadow travel inside the building. He didn't know any spots in particular, but he didn't care as long as he got inside.

Percy looked at his best friend, "Wait for me out here Angel, okay?"

The large wolf nodded before lying down and closing her eyes. Percy rolled his eyes and shadow traveled. The next thing he knew he was in what looked was behind some bleachers in a gym.

'Wait a second, why didn't I shadow travel sooner instead of traveling for three miles!?' Percy thought with a growl as he was taking off the bag and jacket, but keeping his weapons close to him.

He looked through the bleachers of the gym realized that the people inside were having some sort of celebration, what could they be celebrating for? Or was it possibly some sort of dance or homecoming?

The young hunter shook his head and looked around and saw that the gym was nearly packed. At least a hundred people, most of them being students. He looked around, looking for his targets.

'Targets…' Poor choice of words, but he knew how Hades would call people and he knew that he couldn't change that.

Ever since Zaen left Percy, Hades was helping him out with finding demigods and sending them to the same camp that he took other demigods to, including some of the girls that rejected Artemis' offer to join the hunt. Even though Hades helped out finding demigods, his manners and ways to call the children of the gods were left to be desired.

Percy found the demigods he was looking for, well at least he hoped so from the way they matched Hades' description of them. The two demigods were boy and girl, both with silky black hair and olive skin, most likely siblings; he figured they were Italian or at least of descent from Italy. The girl had a green cap and the boy was playing with some cards. Percy couldn't help but look closer at the girl, she seemed close to his age; she had beautiful black eyes and her hair looked so soft. He couldn't help but feel his cheeks heat up. He focused again and looked at the two demigods.

The two demigods were at the corner of the gym all to themselves; a perfect chance to get to them. Percy used whatever trick he learned about the mist and used it to his advantage, which was mainly to morph his clothes to ones of semi-formal clothing and hiding his weapons from plain sight.

He walked out of the bleachers and headed towards the two demigods, all the while ignoring some of the stares from the students. He was about to approach the two before a man came out of nowhere and got in the way. The man was tall and for some reason had two different eye colors; one blue and one brown.

Percy stepped back and got away before the man could spot him. He was sure he could take on the man, but he didn't want to cause any trouble yet. Percy kept the distance between the two and wondered why the man stayed near the two demigods. Is it possible that he's …?

Percy turned his head to see three unusual teenagers; one was a weak looking man with a beanie hat with a small goatee, the second one was a teenage girl in some rock and punk outfit that really brought out her bright blue eyes and the third teen was…

"…Annabeth?" Percy was surprised. He remembered seeing her last summer, around May or June. He remembered seeing her after infiltrating a cruise ship full of monsters. He was sent there to eliminate several demigods that betrayed the gods.

Percy shook his head out of the bad memories from that day and looked at the trio; they were keeping their eyes on the two demigods while trying to act natural and dancing.

'Since when do demigods act natural?' Percy thought before realizing that the man took the two demigods out of the gym. Percy went back to the back of the bleachers to get his stuff and shadow traveled out of the gym, which led him right in front of the weird man.

The tall multi-color eyed man, as well as the siblings, jumped back in surprise when they saw Percy appear out of nowhere.

"Who are you?" The man glared at the hunter. Percy looked at the man closer, realizing that the air around was weird and off. That was when Percy saw through the man's disguise and saw who he really was.

"You son of a bitch."

That was all that the weird man heard before feeling something hit the left side of his jaw and feeling a certain crack! that came after it.

The next thing he was him being sent flying several meters away from the three teens.

After kicking the monster in the jaw, Percy turned and saw the boy and girl looking at him with pure shock and no doubt wondering what was happening. He was about to talk to the two before he was blinded and felt a tremendous amount of pain and then darkness.

…

…

…

Percy didn't know how long he was out but felt so much pain when he was gaining consciousness. It felt like his body was burning and there was a tingly feeling in half of his body. He opened his eyes and was did his best for his vision to go back to normal. After a few minutes, he saw that the boy and girl were behind the guy with the goatee while Annabeth and the punk girl were fighting…a manticore?

The monster wasn't much to look at and wasn't worth a good description, the only thing worth mentioning was him having the body of a lion and the tail; the tail was scorpion-like and it was shooting spikes at the two females.

It didn't matter now since he had to make sure the demigods were safe. Percy grabbed his bow and quickly grabbed two arrows from his quiver and shot at the monster, conveniently being distracted by the two girls.

"GAAAHHH!" The manticore howled in pain as it felt something piercing his upper back and neck. He turned around just in time to see an arrow piercing its left shoulder, and then another piercing the other shoulder.

"How dare you?!" the manticore sneered at Percy while forgetting the girls he was fighting.

Before Percy could respond, lightning struck the monster and effectively killing him. The only thing that was left of him was a pile of sand and a bit of sulfur.

"Didn't expect lightning, but oh well." Percy groaned out as he limped towards the group. Much to his surprise, the punk girl had a spear and was aiming it at Percy. The hunter didn't know what to do but he needed to look after the two olive-skinned teens.

"What the hell is going on?" The young Italian girl asked. Percy felt his cheek heating up as he saw her looking straight at him in the eyes.

'What the hell is going on with me?'

"That was so cool!" The young boy exclaimed, to which the girl smacked his arm, "Not now Nico!"

"But Bianca, I-"

"Who are you?" The punk girl asked, ignoring Bianca and Nico, as she stared at the hunter, who was still hurting from whatever hit him. Percy looked closer at the spear and saw bits of sparks on the weapon. That's when it dawned on him…

"…You shot me with lightning?" Percy asked though it sounded more as a fact rather than a question, as he put away his bow and drew out his hunting knives, feeling pretty pissed at the moment. The punk girl narrowed her eyes and her spear was charging with more electricity.

He didn't know why, but there was something familiar about the teenager, but the familiarity didn't sit well with him. The two warriors were about to go off on each other if it wasn't for a certain voice.

"Percy?"

Said hunter turned to see the familiar blonde and couldn't help but smile, "Hey Wise Girl, it been a while."

Annabeth's eyes widened before cracking an enormous smile and ran towards the taller teenager. Percy barely had time to drop his knives before the blonde tackled him and hugged him tightly.

"I missed you so much, Percy! Where were you?!"

Percy chuckled when he saw the girl with the spear and the guy looking at the two hugging as if it were the craziest thing they saw today, which might have been instead of fighting a lion with a man-face and a tail that shoots out spikes.

Percy patted Annabeth on the back and said, "Hey, I love to catch up and everything Annabeth, but I need to help out those two and protect them."

Annabeth and the punk-looking girl looked at the hunter with raised eyebrows. The punk girl shook her head, "There's no way you're taking them with you, and we don't even know you are or if we can trust you."

"We can trust him, Thalia. He helped me out-" Annabeth began to explain but a horn cut her off; a hunting horn to be exact.

Percy's expression lit up like a Christmas tree when he heard the familiar sound, but he was confused when he saw Thalia's face turn to one of annoyance. He didn't have time to think about it when wolves began surrounding them and about a dozen and a half girls surrounded the group of teenagers, including the two Italian demigods.

"Great," Thalia said with heavy sarcasm, "they're here."

"Who are they?" Nico asked.

"The Hunt of Artemis," Percy said with the biggest smile he had in a long time. Thalia and Annabeth noticed his smile and were even more confused than before.

Two of the hunters, Zoe and Kayla, lowered their bows and walked towards the group, "I'm sorry for any trouble, but we sensed a monster along with some demigods and…Percy?" Zoe said, quietly whispering the last part.

Zoe's eyes widened at seeing her little brother and dropped her bow; Kayla dropped her bow as well and had an enormous smile plastered n her face. All the other hunters were shocked at hearing their brother's name and now recognized Percy, despite his different clothes and longer hair.

Percy had a huge smile as he ran towards Zoe and Kayla, much to Thalia and Annabeth shock and horror.

Thalia began chasing the hunter, "Stop you, idiot! That bitch will kill yo- Huh?"

Thalia stopped on her track when she saw Percy hugging Zoe and even more shocked when the hunter returning the hug. It soon became a small dog pile when the blonde hunter tackled the two and brought them to the ground.

"Where have you been young one?! We missed you terribly." Zoe said as she tightened her arms around Percy, same with Kayla. It was a very touching moment and one that was very comforting to Percy, but it didn't last long when the three realized their position and quickly let it go each other and put some distance between the each other.

The rest of the group were either shocked of the open display, like the rest of the hunt and Thalia, or terribly confused, like the DiAngelo siblings.

"What the hell was that?!" Thalia shrieked out.

Percy and Zoe didn't know what to say, considering they were caught doing something that a hunter shouldn't be doing; okay… that sounded a lot worse than it actually was. Kayla decided to stay quiet and let her senior hunters take the lead.

Anyway, Zoe was blushing a little from the embarrassment while Percy's face was losing color as he was trying to find an excuse good enough for Thalia and Annabeth, he didn't really care about the guy who smelled like a goat.

"We…uh… I-I…"

"Never mind what those three have done, they will be punished later. As for the rest of the hunt, we shall camp here for tonight."

Despite hearing about punishment, Percy had a bigger smile than before when he heard the very familiar voice. All the hunters, minus Percy, bowed their heads when a twelve-year-old girl with silver eyes showed up.

"Yes, Lady Artemis." They said in sync, weird…

Artemis turned to face Thalia and Annabeth and the two siblings, "You five can stay here for tonight."

"Hey, what about me?" The guy with the small goatee asked. Artemis simply rolled her eyes at his question and looked rather annoyed.

"You can stay with them satyr, but stay away from the hunters or else," Artemis ordered and the man, who apparently was a satyr, nodded eagerly with a large annoying smile.

'I hate satyrs.' Percy thought with a scowl. He hated how all the satyrs have an attraction towards his mother, just because she's one with nature. He wondered how they would react if they saw all the fur and pelts in her tents.

Thalia looked like she was going to refuse the goddess' request, but Annabeth grasped her shoulder and shook her head at the punk-looking girl. Thalia's face showed bits of annoyance and reluctance, but she bowed her head at the young-looking goddess, "Thank you Artemis for your hospitality."

The goddess of the hunt nodded her head and gestured Thalia and the others to a tent that was just put up for them; it always amazed Percy how fast the hunt can set up their tents and start a fire at such speed and doing it so well. Percy was about to talk to his mother before remembering something important.

He whistled loudly before shouting out, "Angel, the hunt is here!"

It only took a minute for the large wolf to appear. She was running at top speed, making her a blur to a normal mortal, and some of the younger hunters to shriek and roll out of the canine's way. She didn't waste any time and began playing with the other wolves. Percy smiled at seeing his best friend playing with the other wolves, but his attention was brought by hearing his mother's voice.

"Young one, I need to see you and the other two in my tent immediately. What you two did was beyond inappropriate and ludicrous." While Artemis' voice sounded calm, her eyes showed anger and fury. Percy gulped and slightly shivered from the sight. He hadn't seen his mother that mad since he accidentally let the wolf pups in his mother's tent. He really didn't want to see Uncle Hades the hard way… or become a jackalope.

~Time Skip~

Percy, Kayla, and Zoe were inside the tent of their goddess and waited for their punishment. Artemis was walking back and forth in her tent and occasionally look at me with a blank expression. To be honest, Percy didn't know what to think considering that he never had to go through something like this; usually, his mother would either punish him on the spot or hand him to another hunter as punishment.

This went on for about three minutes before she stopped in front of Percy. Percy gulped at seeing his mother staring at him, despite her being in her twelve-year-old form. Artemis bore her eyes into her son's for several seconds before smiling.

"I truly missed you little one." That was all that Artemis said before hugging the unprepared hunter. Percy was shocked that his mother was hugging him and not hitting him or shooting arrows at the place where the sun didn't shine.

Percy returned the hug and felt his eyes beginning to water, "I missed you as well mother, you and all my sisters." Zoe smiled at her little brother, proud of how he's becoming the first good male that she's known for a very long time. Sadly though, the warming view didn't last long.

Artemis pulled away from her adoptive son before slapping him across his face, leaving a bright red handprint, and throwing him out of her tent. While Zoe and Kayla flinched from her goddess' actions, They weren't really surprised about it. What they and Percy did wasn't supposed to happen, at least not in front of anybody outside the hunt since it would ruin the secret of him being part of the hunt.

Zoe smirked from seeing her little brother's pain and had to stop herself from laughing.

"I do not see why you are amused lieutenant since I haven't given your punishment yet." Zoe pale from hearing Artemis' words before hanging her head in defeat.

"Yes, Lady Artemis…"

Artemis nodded before looking at the younger hunter, "You will be punished as well, Kayla."

The blonde hunter was slightly trembling before nodding vigorously. Artemis gave a small smile to the two females before turning to her son outside the tent, who was rubbing the cheek that she slapped.

"Young one, could you please send the sister of the DiAngelos to see me?"

Percy nodded before standing up and walking towards the tent where the demigods, and satyr, were staying at. He didn't expect his mother to ask for this kind of request, but he really should have. His mother would always try to get a new recruit whenever there would be a young maiden around. Now that he thought about it, why didn't his mother asked for Thalia or Annabeth? He was curious and wondered if they had some past experience with the hunt or his mother. Percy sighed and just continued walking towards the tent, hoping that e wouldn't get electrocuted again.

~Somewhere Far, Far Away from North America~

In a deep large hallway, Zaen was walking and silently cursing out the Fates for his luck after the meeting with….her. After the meeting…she told Zaen that he could return to America, but he had to bring him.

Zaen was breathing deeply and began to feel his palms sweating as he walked, "Why is this happening to me? What did I do wrong to deserve this?"

"You do know I can hear you right?" The young man said behind the purple winged god. Zaen turned to give the young man a glare, but it didn't really work since he had something else on his mind.

Anyway, after eleven months of being away from his home and his nephew, he was excited to finally leave this place and go back home. Zaen sighed and gestured for the young one to continue following him. This is truly going to be a long, long, long trip back home.

A/N: And that's it for now, I am back from college and I am free for the summer, so hopefully I'll get the chance to write more often and relax.

DA Exodus: Hopefully you'll get to focus on this story more often and less on your drawings and Crunchyroll.

FlareDragon: I enjoy to draw so no.

DA Exodus: It was worth a shot, by the way, did you finish my drawing yet

FlareDragon: I'M WORKING ON IT!