A/N: I'm back, hope you enjoy.

Percy jolted awake. He sat upright, knocking off the little ball of silver that had been sleeping there, who yipped. The boy rubbed his eyes for a second, then jumped out of bed and helped his fallen friend up, "sorry Anchor." He said, petting the fox behind his ears as the fox darted his eyes across the room in search of a threat, "just a bad dream." He muttered to the fox who slowly calmed down.

The fox made a sound like he was purring, and Percy smiled. Now that Gabe was gone, his furry friend was allowed to live with them. A few days after he had returned home, he and his mom had gone back to Montauk (over a weekend, he didn't want to mess with his chances at a new school so early by skipping classes, that was usually saved for the end of the year). The fox had shown up once more and they enjoyed a short weekend with him, and at the end, brought him back to their apartment.

They went to a vet to make sure he wasn't carrying any disease and to give him a standard checkout of course, but it was strange. Apparently, the woman only saw a white Labrador instead of the silver fox. Percy didn't feel like arguing since he didn't really want to draw attention to his buddy or anything.

After that the fox had moved in with the two of them, mostly sleeping on Percy, like he had the night before. His mother, didn't like this, but no matter what, the fox somehow found himself on top of Percy in the morning. A month of trying (and failing) to stop the fox later, Sally gave in and them keep to the sleeping arrangements.

Percy smiled as the fox liked his hand. Looking at the fox, he couldn't help but think of his 'twin' or was it triplets? Quadruplets?

Back in camp half-blood, the safe haven for demi-gods from gods, monsters and school lived another two foxes, three if you count the tree. This might be a little unusual, but maybe the camp has a mascot? Well, these foxes were a little different, you see, all of them are identical.

No, they don't just look the same, they are all identical, their fur colour, their eye colour, their voices… well that last one only applies to the two at camp. Oh, yeah, they can talk too, because that's a thing.

We've lost the point in all this, the foxes were all the same, like too the same. They all hate each other because they're… wrong. See, there's this feeling they get, like the other one is just an abomination that they need to attack.

Percy don't know much about the other foxes, but he did know a good bit about Anchor. He showed up on Montauk beach a few years ago, and started playing. Him and Percy became friends, and every year the demi-god would return to him, earning him the name 'Anchor' since he kept Percy and his mom there.

Oh, you didn't read wrong there either. Demi-god. Percy is the son of Poseidon, Greek god of the ocean and resident deadbeat dad. He, and all the other Olympians were currently living it up a few hundred floors above the empire state building.

Anchor suddenly turned around to stare at Percy's window. He tilted his head in confusion, and Percy followed his gaze, there was nothing there, wait! For a moment it looked like something was moving, a shadow and a glint of silver?

Anchor growled.

Percy reached to his pillow, where Riptide (his magic pen sword, just go with it) was kept.

"Percy, you're going to be late!"

Both eyes momentarily turned from the window at the call, so they missed the flash of silver that moved across the glass for half a second before disappearing. When they looked back there was nothing out of the ordinary. Their gazes lingered for a while longer before Percy sighed.

"Must have been nothing, if it was a monster we'd already be fighting." He took on more glance before turning to the fox. "Come on boy, let me up." Percy said, shifting the fox off him gently, the fox's gaze never wavered.

"Come on, dear," Sally called again, "last day of school. You should be excited! You've almost made it!"

"Coming." Percy said weakly.

"Oh, remember to feed Anchor, his bowls empty."

He sighed, before removing the pen from under his pillow and holding it tightly. Anchor looked uneasy at the sight of it, the first time he had seen it the fox nearly lost his nose uncapping it.

The demi-god sighed before making a three-fingered claw over his heart, an ancient Greek gesture for warding off danger. The fox eyed the sign in confusion.

"I had a bad dream." Percy said to the fox, "you wouldn't believe it."

The fox looked at him strangely, as if to say, 'you're a demi-god, I don't think things can get stranger' and Percy grinned at him.

"Yeah, I guess you're right, so, you remember what I said about Grover? Well, he was running from something, in Florida I think…" And so, Percy got dressed as he told his friend about the strange dream, about how Grover seemed so terrified, and he needed to warn somebody about something. "So, what do you think? Just a dream?"

The fox stared up at him blankly before nodding his head. Percy grinned.

"Yeah, thought so." He smiled and rubbed the fox behind the ears. He then turned to the door, "just one more day to go." He looked to the fox, "think I can make it through this year?"

The fox shook his head immediately.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence."

The fox just flashed the boy a grin.

"Right, well come on, we need to eat, I'm late enough as it is." He opened the door and both of them moved to the kitchen. Percy sat at the table, while Anchor sat in his lap, munching on any of the debris that fell his way or was smuggled there by the demi-god, Sally, his mother, smirked at the two of them, giving Percy extra waffles and eggs, knowing full well between the two of them they could finish her supply of blue food dye.

As she began to wash the dishes she turned and looked sadly at her son, "Percy are you okay?"

"Yeah… fine." He said, in a poor attempt to lie.

"School, or…" She trailed off, turning to face Percy properly.

"I think Grover's in trouble," Percy said, repeating his dream again.

She pursed her lips, and looked a little uncomfortable, "I wouldn't be too worried, dear," she said. "Grover is a big satyr now. If there were a problem, I'm sure we would've heard from... from camp..." Her shoulders tensed as she said the word camp.

"What is it?" Percy asked.

"Nothing," she said. "I'll tell you what. This afternoon we'll celebrate the end of school. I'll take you two… and Tyson to Rockefeller Centre, to that skateboard shop you like."

The fox yipped and jumped to Sally, getting crumbs all over her apron, she smiled at the fox and picked him up. The little ball of silver curled around her arm and licked her hand, probably searching for more food.

"Wait a minute," Percy said. "I thought we were packing me up for camp tonight."

She put Anchor down. "Ah, dear, about that... I got a message from Chiron last night."

Percy looked downtrodden. "What did he say?"

"He thinks... it might not be safe for you to come to camp just yet. We might have to postpone."

"Postpone? Mom, how could it not be safe? I'm a half-blood! It's like the only safe place on earth for me!"

The fox barked at Percy for shouting, he never liked raised voices, it was almost as bad as fireworks. The fox went under the table and stuck his head in Percy's bag and put his paws over his ears, so he didn't hear the loud noises. Then, for a second, there was a silver aura around him and the fox shrunk until he slipped into the bag easily. All of this went unnoticed to the mother and son as they continued.

"Usually, dear. But with the problems they're having-"

"What problems?"

"Percy... I'm very, very sorry. I was hoping to talk to you about it this afternoon. I can't explain it all now. I'm not even sure Chiron can. Everything happened so suddenly."

Percy looked like he had a million questions, but he didn't get the chance to answer them, because just then, the kitchen clock chimed the half-hour.

Sally looked almost relieved. "Seven-thirty, dear. You should go. Tyson will be waiting."

"But-"

"Percy, we'll talk this afternoon. Go on to school."

Percy gathered up his bag, not hearing the fox yip as he was shifted into the bottom of the bag by the movement. Just before he was going to leave, he stopped in the doorway. "Mom, this problem at camp. Does it... could it have anything to do with my dream about Grover?"

She wouldn't look him in the eyes. "We'll talk this afternoon, dear. I'll explain... as much as I can."

Percy sighed before pulling her into a hug, "bye mom." He said, squeezing her lightly.

"Goodbye sweetie." She said before letting go.

"Where'd Anchor go?" Percy asked looking around for the silver fox.

His mother frowned, "I think he left while we were talking, he's probably in your room." She glanced at the clock, "you need to hurry."

Percy sighed, normally the fox would be here to say goodbye, the only days he hadn't been here, were when his sister came to visit. The fox always seemed to disappear when his sister showed up, hell, he wasn't even sure Yagura knew about his friend.

Over the break, she had come around every once in a while, maybe once a month. His mom loved her, even if the daughter of the sea was a bit skittish at first, Percy wasn't exactly sure why, but his sister had been nervous the first few times she had been here. Eventually, she warmed up to Sally Jackson, frankly, Percy couldn't see how anyone couldn't, she was just the nicest person in the world.

With a dejected sigh, he jogged downstairs to catch the Number Two train.

As he stepped outside, a stray glance at the brownstone building across the street revealed, just for a second, a dark shape in the morning sunlight. A human silhouette against the brick wall, a shadow that belonged to no one.

Then it rippled and vanished.

Percy blinked and glanced around for anyone else thoroughly freaked out, there were very few people, all of them walking around without a care in the world. As his eyes passed over everything, he saw a glimpse of silver shinning in an ally not far away, a second later it was gone.

Very nervous now, Percy ignored the strange noises coming from his bag and quickly made his way to the train.

In the ally, Annabeth Chase appeared next to the glowing silver ball of fluff that was Whiskers, "what the hell is wrong with him?" She muttered to the fox as it leaped to her shoulder.

"I don't know." Whiskers said.

"But we need all of you to keep you safe, was that not made clear to him?"

"I don't know, but we'd better keep an eye on him, things have just got more complicated."

"Yeah."

The daughter of Athena turned to look at the fox wearily, "do you think you'll be able to control yourself?"

The fox sighed, "it's not me I'd be worried about, the other fox has had no contact with any of us, I don't even think he can speak yet."

Annabeth bit her lip, "do you want to stay out of this?"

"No, but I'll keep my distance."

"I don't think that's an option, we'll be taking the cab."

The fox looked uncomfortable, "just to clarify, when you say, the cab, do you mean you're going to call a cab, or you're going to call the cab?"

She gave him a look.

"You know, thinking back on it…" He sniffed deeply, "hellhound, three o'clock." She turned and sure enough a hellhound was sniffing about on the other side of the road.

"Gods damnit." Annabeth cursed, pulling her knife out, the monster turned right at that moment and growled at them.

It wasn't the biggest hound either had faced, in fact this one could be considered rather runty, only reaching the size of a bike. But, as they had learned, size didn't matter in a fight, sure it helped, but it could work against you.

They waited in the ally, it was probably the most isolated area they could be in, going out into the streets was out, so this was really their only option.

The hound bolted at them, thundering over the road and entering the ally in a few seconds. It just kept running as it came closer, not slowing down, anyone inexperienced would have panicked, but neither of them could be described as inexperienced.

Annabeth lunged forward, surprising it, and lodged her dagger into its head, it was over that quickly, this monster was obviously very inexperienced.

"Come on," Whiskers said, "we're going to lose Percy at this rate."

Speaking of, the demi-god had made it to his school, Meriweather College Prep. A progressive school, where kids with ADHD could happily 'study'.

Unfortunately, that day was in no way normal, much like the tale of little Bo Peep, Percy had somehow managed to have a little follower. He only realised in his first class, English.

As he went to take his copy of 'Lord of the Fly's' from his bag, he came face to face with a rather surprising addition to his usual school supplies. A wet tongue came out of the bag and viciously licked his nose. Percy blinked. Then he blinked again.

"Anchor?" He asked in a whisper.

The fox yipped, and a few heads turned, but they quickly returned to their teacher who somehow managed to ignore the strange noise.

"What are you doing here?" He whispered, glancing around and making sure no one could see him, the only one looking at him was Tyson. The big guy was smiling happily at the sight of the fox that would sometimes visit with Percy.

The fox licked him again on the nose, bringing him back to the actual problem.

"Okay, I need you to be quiet buddy, alright?" He asked the fox.

The fox yipped quietly, and Percy smiled.

"Good, okay, now stay here, for now." He whispered, grabbing the book that was sitting in beside the fox and freeing a lot of room for him, he then realised something, "you look smaller than normal."

The fox shrugged and licked his hand again.

"Alright… maybe you are related to Whiskers." He muttered to himself.

The fox tilted his head to the side in confusion.

"Percy," the teacher said, bringing him back to the class, "you ready to start?" Percy nodded, "Alright, gang, now today for your final exam, we'll be re-enacting the book, so come on out into the yard and I'll be leaving you alone until the end of class."

This idea went exactly as you would expect it to, Matt Sloan, the resident school bully led a wedgie contest, two pebble fights and a full tackle basketball game. Percy and Tyson stayed away from the kids, not getting involved and trying to make sure no one noticed the fact that a fox was with them.

This was going well, until Sloan decided to try and wedgie Tyson, which resolved with him ending up with the much smaller boy getting tangled in the tire swing. When he escaped he started yelling at Tyson, causing him to sob.

Percy stuck up for him, making sure to hide Anchor in his jacket so none of the kids saw him, he yelled at the bully, but didn't fight him. He'd promised Chiron not to fight with mortals.

In the end, they all passed their English exam, their teacher claiming that they were all of them understood the book completely and that they would never grow up to be violent. Percy had to comfort Tyson, and tell him he wasn't a freak, offering him an extra peanut butter sandwich. Anchor let him pet him in an effort to stop the tears.

After that, they had science, where they were asked to make everything explode. Mrs Tesla passed them after Tyson knocked everything into the bin and a hazardous waste removal squad was called in.

Social studies came next and Percy found doing latitude and longitude to be easy, so he spent most of the time staring at the photo in his book. Specifically, the photo of Annabeth and Whiskers on vacation in Washington, D.C. In the photo, she was standing in front of the Lincoln Memorial with her arms crossed, looking extremely pleased with herself, like she'd personally designed the place.

Anchor popped his head out and looked at the photo oddly, he always did that, maybe it was because of the other fox that looked like him. Maybe he was just trying to remember when that happened, but just couldn't remember being there. The fox ducked back in the bag as Matt Sloan turned around, bringing Percy back to reality. He moved to take the photo out of the rings, but Percy grabbed his hand.

"Let go Jackson." Sloan said like he was in control. Percy closed his book slowly and let go of Sloan who shook his wrist to get the feeling back.

A few kids turned and glared at him, looking like they were backing up Sloan, they looked new if their tags had anything to say. They all had weird names like Marrow Sucker, Skull Eater and Joe Bob.

"These guys are moving here next year," Sloan bragged, like Percy cared.

"I bet they can pay the tuition, too, unlike your retard friend."

"He's not retarded." Percy's knuckles whitened.

"You're such a loser, Jackson. Good thing I'm gonna put you out of your misery next period."

The bell rang.

As Tyson and Percy were leaving class, a girl's voice whispered, "Percy!"

Percy was still spooked from earlier and glanced nervously around, there was no one about, from his bag there was a soft growl, the fox was uneasy. He might have caught sight of a silver sparkle, but just then they were swarmed by a crowd of kids. It was time for PE. Free for all dodge-ball. Yay.

The gym uniform at Meriwether is sky blue shorts and tie-dyed T-shirts. He then guarded as Tyson got changed, though it was kind of awkward, he asked for Percy to do this most days. It's mostly because he's hairy and he's got weird scars on his back that no one ever had the courage to ask him about.

When they reached the gym, Coach Nunley was sitting at his little desk reading Sports Illustrated. Nunley was ancient and had bifocals, no teeth and a greasy wave of grey hair. He didn't move much and there was a high chance that he was glued to his chair.

Matt Sloan said, "Coach, can I be captain?"

"Eh?" Coach Nunley looked up from his magazine. "Yeah," he mumbled. "Mm-hmm."

Sloan grinned and took charge of the picking. Percy was soon the other team's captain, but it didn't matter who was picked for his side, because all the jocks and the popular kids moved over to Sloan's side. As well as the big group of visitors.

On team Percy, was Tyson, Corey Bailer the computer geek, Raj Mandali the calculus whiz, and a half-dozen other kids who always got harassed by Sloan and his gang.

Matt Sloan spilled a cage full of balls in the middle of the gym.

"Scared," Tyson mumbled. "Smell funny."

Percy looked at him funnily. "What smells funny?"

"Them." Tyson pointed at Sloan's new friends. "Smell funny."

The visitors were cracking their knuckles, grins on their faces that looked so much more sinister than any kid had any right being

Sloan blew the coach's whistle and the game began. Sloan's team ran for the centre line. Raj Mandali yelled something in Urdu and ran for the exit. Corey Bailer tried to crawl behind the wall mat and hide. The rest of the team did their best to cower in fear and not look like targets.

"Tyson," Percy said. "Let's g-"

A ball slammed into him gut. He sat down hard in the middle of the gym floor. The other team exploded in laughter.

Tyson yelled, "Percy, duck!"

He rolled as another dodgeball whistled past my ear at the speed of sound. It hit the wall mat, and Corey Bailer yelped.

"Hey!" Percy yelled at Sloan's team. "You could kill somebody!"

The visitor named Joe Bob grinned even wider. Somehow, he looked a lot bigger now... even taller than Tyson. His biceps bulged beneath his T-shirt. "I hope so, Perseus Jackson! I hope so!"

Oh dear, it seemed they were monsters.

All around Sloan, the visitors were growing in size. They were no longer kids. They were eight-foot-tall giants with wild eyes, pointy teeth, and hairy arms tattooed with snakes and hula women and Valentine hearts.

Percy heard a growl, right behind him, fearing another monster he turned and was surprised. Anchor was standing at Percy's chest height growling at the monsters. It was official, him and Whiskers were related.

The giants stared at the fox wearily and a few kids screamed yelling about an escaped lion, at least the Mist was being kind today. The kids on Sloan's team who hadn't gone through extreme puberty started screaming and backing toward the exit. The majority managed to make it out, but the giant named Marrow Sucker managed to break out of whatever stupor Anchor had put them in.

He threw a ball and it hit the door, slamming it shut like magic. A small handful of kids were left, they rushed the door and banged on it desperately, but it wouldn't budge.

"Let them go!" Percy yelled at the giants. Anchor growled and rushed one before anyone could talk, his teeth sank into Skull Eater and the monster burst into dust. The others looked weary and muttered something between themselves.

"Montauk fox." Percy heard one say.

Anchor backed away though when one waved his hand and a new batch of dodgeballs appeared on the centre line. These balls weren't made of red rubber, though, no, they were bronze, the size of cannon balls, perforated like whiffle balls with fire bubbling out the holes. They must've been searing hot, but the giants picked them up with their bare hands.

"Stupid fox." One said, "you'd better taste really good."

A few kids yelled for the coach to interfere, Nunley looked up sleepily, but if he saw anything abnormal about the dodgeball game, he didn't let on. "Yeah. Mm-hmm," Coach muttered. "Play nice." And went back to his magazine.

All five of them aimed their balls at Anchor, and Percy was about to rush and help him, but the fox jumped up and clung to the ceiling. Balls went flying and parts of the roof collapsed and fell, one hit a giant and he roared, lifting it of him and throwing it at the fox, who dodged it easily.

Percy rushed for the doors, maybe if he could get them over he could get Riptide, he looked to the cowering school kids, "Run!" He told them. "The other exit!"

They ran for the locker room, and managed to escape while the giants were distracted, but Corey fell on the way and Percy turned to help. One of the giants noticed and waved his hand, that door also slammed shut. Before it did, Percy managed to chuck the kid through it and into the gym, now all that were left were the giants, Percy, Tyson, Coach and Anchor. Just then Sloan snuck from his hiding place, revealing he also hadn't escaped.

"Lunch has escaped." Joe Bob roared, turning his gaze to Percy. "Come here Perseus!" He roared and launched a ball at the demi-god. A few of the others also directed their attention to the demi-god, allowing the fox to tear the throat of one of them lowering their numbers to four.

Another fireball came streaking toward the demigod and Tyson pushed him out of the way, but the explosion still blew him back. He was sprawled out on the floor in a daze, sizzling holes all over his shirt. Just across the centre line, a hungry giant was glaring down at him.

"Flesh!" he bellowed. "Hero flesh for lunch!" They both took aim.

"Percy needs help!" Tyson yelled, and he jumped in front of him just as they threw their balls.

"Tyson!" He screamed, but it was too late.

Both balls slammed into him and he'd caught them. Somehow, he sent them hurtling back toward their surprised owners, who screamed, "BAAAAAD!" as the bronze spheres exploded against his chest. The giant disintegrated in a column of flame.

"My brothers!" Joe Bob the Cannibal wailed. He flexed his muscles and his Baby cakes tattoo rippled. "You will pay for their destruction!"

"Tyson!" Percy said. "Look out!"

Another comet hurtled toward the two. Tyson just had time to swat it aside. It flew straight over Coach Nunley's head and landed in the bleachers, or what was now the flaming wreckage that resembled the bleachers.

Coach Nunley still wasn't seeing anything. He tapped his hearing aid like the explosions were giving him interference, but he kept his eyes on his magazine. Surely the whole school could hear the noise. The headmaster, the police, somebody would come to help. Maybe some of the kids would get help, or the Mist would mess things up even more.

"Victory will be ours!" roared Joe Bob the Cannibal. "We will feast on your bones!"

He hefted another ball, the other three giants – two giants, Anchor tore the throat of another - followed his lead.

They would be hard pressed to survive now, Percy glanced at the locker room door and then seemed to make his mind up, running towards it.

Explosions hit where he had been standing and Tyson deflected the two that had been aimed at him they flew back toward their owners and blasted them to ashes.

That left Joe Bob still standing.

A third ball hurtled straight at Percy. And he waited for as long as he dared, then dove aside as the fiery sphere demolished the locker room door.

The wall blew apart. Locker doors, socks, athletic supporters, and other various nasty personal belongings rained all over the gym.

Tyson rushed towards the last giant, but he had already grabbed another ball and taken aim, he launched it straight towards Tyson.

"No!" Percy yelled.

The ball caught Tyson square in the chest and he slid the length of the court and slammed into the back wall, which cracked and partially crumbled on top of him, making a hole right onto Church Street. No normal person could have survived that, but Tyson only looked dazed. The bronze ball was smoking at his feet. Tyson tried to pick it up, but he fell back, stunned, into a pile of cinder blocks.

He picked up another ball and aimed it at Tyson.

Before he could do anything though, Anchor landed on his shoulder and tore into it, barely missing the throat. The giant roared and swatted him off, the fox rolled in mid-air and landed on his feet sliding away a little, he was panting hard and glaring at the giant.

Percy glanced around, searching for Riptide, before he finally found his jeans lying in a heap at the giant's feet. Percy rushed him, Anchor joining and charged him, the giant looked nervous and raised his ball, switching between targets like he couldn't decide who to throw the ball at.

He never got the chance as his body went rigid, surprise masking his features. The tip of a blade glinted out of his stomach like that movie 'alien' and he dropped the ball. He muttered, "Ow," and burst into a cloud of green flame.

Standing in the smoke was Annabeth with a familiar fox beside her, Percy was surprised and was about to question her, but there was a problem: Anchor didn't stop running.

Annabeth seemed to realise this and looked at Percy. "Tell him to stop." She said eyeing the fox running towards her, no, not her, Whiskers.

The fox jumped back and ran to the only wall still standing, climbing it and leading the other fox on a chase around the wall.

Percy was shocked for a minute before Annabeth spoke again, "Percy!" Her voice was angry, "call him off!"

"Anchor!" Percy yelled, gaining the fox's attention, "come here."

The fox glanced at the other fox who had stopped moving too, and then back to Percy.

"Anchor." Percy said, "come on."

The fox gave in and jumped down, shrinking as he did, becoming just shorter than Percy's forearm. He jumped up and Percy caught him, he smiled down at the fox.

"You did great boy, but how did you do all that? And why did they call you the Montauk fox?"

The fox tilted his head as if thinking an answer before finally deciding to just bark.

"Right." Percy said.

Annabeth walked over to him, passing Matt Sloan along the way and decking him in the nose, breaking it and causing him to fall unconscious.

Percy finally took a look at all the damages done to the gym most of it was on fire and the walls were all busted. One of the intercoms was hanging by a few wires and a garbled voice came in. Through the glass windows of the exit doors, the headmaster, Mr. Bonsai, was wrestling with the lock, a crowd of teachers piling up behind him, as well as all of the students who managed to escape.

Annabeth was in front of him, staring at him with an unreadable expression, her hair was in disarray and her clothes had tears in them. Whiskers was on her shoulder suddenly and Anchor growled at him from his position in Percy's arms, Whiskers didn't look to happy, though he was the one who was chased across a wall, so it was to be expected.

"Annabeth..." Percy managed to stammer out. "How did you... how long have you..."

"Pretty much all morning." She sheathed her bronze knife but kept her eyes locked on Percy. "I've been trying to find a good time to talk to you, but you were never alone."

"The shadow I saw this morning… that was…" Percy's face burned. "Oh, my gods, you were looking in my bedroom window?"

"There's no time to explain!" she snapped, though she looked a little red-faced herself, Whiskers sniggered to himself. "I just didn't want to-"

"There!" a woman screamed. The doors burst open and the adults came pouring in.

"Meet me outside," Annabeth said. "And him." She pointed to Tyson, who was still sitting dazed against the wall. Annabeth gave him a look of distaste and Whiskers looked like he'd eaten something sour.

"You'd better bring him."

"What?"

"No time!" she said. "Hurry!"

She put on her Yankees baseball cap, and instantly vanished.

That left Anchor and Percy standing in a burning gym with Tyson sitting at the side still dazed.

"Percy Jackson?" Mr. Bonsai said. "What... how..."

Over by the broken wall, Tyson groaned and stood up from the pile of cinder blocks. "Head hurts."

Matt Sloan was coming around, too. He focused on the fox in Percy's arms with a look of terror. "Percy did it, Mr. Bonsai! He brought a tiger to school and set the whole building on fire. Coach Nunley will tell you! He saw it all!"

Coach Nunley had been dutifully reading his magazine, but he chose that moment to look up when Sloan said his name. "Eh? Yeah. Mm-hmm."

The adults turned to look at him and Percy did the smart thing he grabbed Riptide out of his ruined jeans, told Tyson, "Come on!" and jumped through the gaping hole in the side of the building.

(Los Angles)

Bianca di Angelo opened her eyes and blinked, she had had a really weird dream. She checked the alarm clock on her bedside table and glared at the alarm that had woken her. She wished that the stupid thing would just disappear, there was a brief tingling feeling in her stomach that she chalked up to hunger. She sighed, and sat up going to hit the button but her hand meat nothing but air.

She turned back to the alarm and found it missing.

"What the hell?" She said to herself.

A quick glance behind the table found nothing but her secret supply of dark chocolate (Nico kept stealing hers). She glanced under her bed, nope, nothing. Where had it gone?

"Bianca!" Her brother called from the kitchen, "hurry up, your eggs are getting cold!"

She smiled lightly to herself, the past year had been amazing. Living with a big brother like Utakata life was just so much easier. Both she and Nico were going to a private school named High Hall, it wasn't that far away, and their tuition was being payed by their trust fund. It wasn't the best school, specifically for them, since they had both been diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia.

The school was very old fashioned and didn't accept their 'excuses' when it came to their work, or at least they didn't… on about the third day, Nico was forced to stay behind for detention for misreading a passage in English. Once Utakata got word of this he marched right up to the school (Bianca in tow) and proceeded to (metaphorically) destroy the principal.

The fifty-year-old man was righteously terrified and gave in almost immediately, Bianca wasn't exactly sure what he said, she had been waiting in the foyer but apparently, the teacher, Mr Bilberry got his pay docked.

After that, the school tiptoed around the di Angelo children, making sure to treat them fairly for their conditions. And so, the past year had been pretty good for the two of them, the school offered to bring in a tutor to help, but Utakata wasn't comfortable with it. He eventually gave in, and now every Tuesday and Thursday, the two of them had lessons, Bianca had inquired as to why he didn't want them to have a tutor, but he asked her to leave it.

Bianca put on her dressing gown and slippers and quickly moved downstairs to the kitchen. It looked the same as it had when they first arrived, same dark tiles, same table, same Nico munching on eggs and bacon.

"Sis!" He greeted, or at least tried to, his mouth was full, so it came out more like 'hihs' and also came out with half a mouthful of bacon.

""Don't talk with your mouth full."" Both Bianca and Utakata said.

The middle child turned to look at her big brother, he was facing away from them, but you could see he was wearing his black dressing gown with a black apron over the top that said, 'If you're reading this, you're burnt' in tiny font. His hair was a mess, he hadn't had it cut ever as far as his siblings knew.

"Yours is on the table." Utakata said, pointing with a spatula.

"Thanks," she said, zeroing in on the bacon and eggs, she glanced around, "where's Volpe?"

Nico opened his mouth to speak but Bianca glared at him, he chewed quickly before swallowing and looking back to her, "he's out the back, he had his already." She nodded to her brother.

She then turned to her other brother, Utakata was focused on the eggs he was currently scrambling while the younger two tore their food apart. A few seconds later his eggs were done, and he sat down with his siblings.

"It's your last day today isn't it?" He asked.

"No, tomorrow's half day." Bianca answered.

Utakata frowned, before taking a deep breath, "right, sorry."

"Is there something wrong?" Bianca asked.

"No, just something at work." He replied. The eldest wouldn't tell his siblings just where he worked, always changing the subject when it came up, in fact, this was the most they had heard about it. All they knew was that he worked most nights and that he was usually exhausted, yet he still did the little things for them, like make breakfast and their lunches.

"What is it?" Nico asked.

He looked up and showed the dark bags under his eyes, he hadn't slept at all last night by the looks of it, he looked paler too, like he hadn't been outside in weeks.

He blinked, as if just realising who he was talking to. "Nothing you need worry yourselves with."

Bianca bit her lip, she didn't like how tired he was all the time, she had tried to talk him into letting them sort themselves out, but he wouldn't hear it. He insisted on doing things like that himself, of course, they still did chores, but there were some random things he just insisted on doing himself, mostly things to do with food.

"You need to rest." Bianca said, grabbing his hand, "you look exhausted." She muttered.

"I'm fine." He smiled but it looked forced, "don't worry, you'll be late if you don't hurry up and eat."

"But-"

He grabbed her fork and stabbed some bacon, "come on eat up." He said with a grin.

She sighed and took the fork from him and chewing on the bacon slowly as he watched her.

"What are you doing in school today?" Utakata asked

"Oh, we're doing a project in history!" Nico exclaimed happily, "we've to learn all about how the Greeks lived!"

"Great, what are you doing about in it?" Utakata asked.

"Well, my group have to do about their religions and cults and stuff. So, we split it up, Dave's doing Zeus, John's doing Poseidon and I'm doing Hades!" Nico said happily. "Hades is so cool, he rules the dead and has a big three headed dog and has-" The two elder siblings both ended up listening to their brother rant on and on about how the god of the dead was so cool.

"That sounds good Nico." Utakata said when he was finished, "but it's your second last day, should you not have it finished by now?"

"Yeah, we're handing it all in today, and it's gonna be used next year as an example!" He said excitedly.

"Sounds great." The eldest said with a smile, "what about you," he said turning to his sister, "anything interesting?"

Bianca shook her head, "no, just the same."

"Right," he looked up at the clock, "we should probably get changed, the bus will be here soon." He said, going to the counter he grabbed Mythomagic lunchbox for Nico and a plastic bag for Bianca.

"Thanks." Bianca said.

"Thanks!" Nico cheered, "what's in the sandwich? Is it chicken? Tuna? Ham?"

"Ham." Utakata said, "buttered, on pan bread, you've also got an apple and orange juice in yours, and a mars bar. Bianca, you have ham, an orange and plain water, and a mars bar too."

""Thanks."" They both said.

He smiled at the two, "now go on, hurry up, I'll be there to pick you up today." He said.

Both eyes widened, "did you get off work?" Bianca asked.

"Yeah, I thought it was your last day, so I got the next while off." He smiled, "I just need to go in while you're at school and then I'm off."

"That's great!" Nico said, "we can go to the park and play Mythomagic and-" He went on another rant which his older siblings tuned out.

"So yeah, I'll be picking you up at half three, I hopefully won't be late, but if I am, just go to the library for a bit, I'll come pick you up. Now hurry up and get changed, you'll be late otherwise."

The two quickly ran to their rooms and got changed, both excited to spend more time with there brother, something they hadn't had much of since he started his job. They went in to say goodbye to their brother, he smirked at them.

"I'll see you soon," He said with a grin.

With that, the two of them went to pick up their bags and went for the door. As they were about to leave though Bianca realised she left her copy of 'the Giver' on her desk. Since it was the second last day, they were expected to bring the school books back in, she didn't want to bring it late.

"Head on, I need to grab something." She told Nico.

She rushed to her room but stopped when she reached her brother's room, it's door ajar, she could hear him talking. Maybe he was on the phone, but the house didn't have any, not even a landline, there wasn't one when they got here, and Utakata simply didn't buy one. Maybe he had a mobile?

She didn't want to eavesdrop, but when she heard what he was talking about she just could resist:

"Bianca is going to realise soon." She heard her brother say, he sounded worried.

There was muffled noise from the room, the voice must have been really deep. For some reason, the voice just sounded familiar.

"They will start to find us, me being here is enough of a target, with Nico turning eleven…"

More muffled talk.

"I understand, but why not go to camp-"

The muffled voice sounded annoyed.

"But they'd have me, you don't need to claim them, they can wait in the-"

Angrier words.

"Fine… but we can't stay here, they'll find us, and the humans will just get in the way."

The voice was back to calm.

"Move? But they're only just getting used to living here now."

Bianca bit her lip, who was her brother talking to, and why was he suggesting they move?

"I know, but… fine." Utakata agreed, "I'll see what I can do over the summer, see if there are any schools more… isolated. I'm also going to start training them."

The voice sounded slightly more annoyed.

"Not in that, just the basics, they'll need it."

There were footsteps and Bianca moved quickly, but not quick enough.

"Bianca?" Utakata questioned.

She turned and saw him with something in his hands, she didn't get a good look at it before he shifted it behind his back, but it was black. From what she saw it was a big black stick.

"Sorry, I just needed to grab a book." She said, taking off before he could ask anything else.

Her mind was racing by the time she reached her room, she almost forgot what she came to do, but managed to grab the book before leaving. Before she left her brother stopped her.

"Hey, what's the rush?" He asked.

"N-nothing." She stuttered.

"Right," he said, "listen, did you hear anything?"

"N-no." She squeaked.

He sighed, "alright, how much did you hear?"

"Not much, I should probably go." She said in a rush, she pushed past her brother and strolled out the door, her brother not stopping her. When she looked back he looked even more tired than usual.

She just about made it to the bus, Nico having stalled the bus driver for a few minutes so that she could catch up.

"Why'd you take so long sis?" He asked.

"Just had to… find my book" She said, sounding off.

What was he talking about? who would find them? What camp? Why was Nico turning eleven a big thing? What training was he talking about? And what the hell was going on?

"Sis?" Nico said, sounding worried, she realised he must have been talking to her.

"Sorry, what?" She asked quietly.

"I asked if you were okay?"

"I'm fine," she smiled hollowly, "I'm just… excited to be getting out of school now."

Nico grinned, "yeah, me too, I wonder if we'll go anywhere, maybe I can finish my figurine collection."

"Yeah, how many do you need?" She asked, trying to distract herself from what she overheard.

"Four, I need the wine dude, sparky-sparky boom man, our friend downstairs and sunshine." They both smirked at the names their older brother had randomly given the gods.

"Good to hear." She smiled at her little brother, her thoughts eventually went back to what she had overheard, something that stood out to her:

'Bianca is going to realise soon.'

What would she realise, and why was it so bad?

Her thoughts came to a halt as the bus stopped in front of the school, disembarking, they slowly meandered into the building, the other kids buzzed about happily, saying what they were doing over the summer. None too quietly either. She heard kids boasting about trips to Spain and France, a few people going on cruises, one kid was boasting the loudest, talking about how he had won tickets to the 'Princess Andromeda luxury cruise ship' to the others.

The two siblings stayed away from everyone, one thing that they didn't like about their new school was the lack of friends. No one seemed to like them. People avoided them like the plague, but that was okay, since they kept each other company. Neither told their new big brother about their shared lack of friends, he would worry.

Besides, if what she heard earlier was right, they wouldn't be here long.

As she passed on of her classmates - Jenny? Sarah? Claire! Yeah, Claire - she saw her passing out invitations to her fourteenth birthday. The girl didn't even look her way, passing an invite out to nearly every other member of their class. She ignored the bitter feeling she felt at the sight of it.

Thinking about that made her realise it was only a few months until her next birthday. They wouldn't have an extravagant party like Claire, it would just be her, her brothers and Volpe, so much better than any flashy party. She smirked when she remembered her last birthday:

She had made an offhanded comment to Utakata about it and he bought a cake, made her favourite dinner (peperoni pizza with anchovies, olives and extra cheese (and it wasn't because she was Italian, it was her mom's favourite)) and taught Volpe to sing (bark) happy birthday. He did this all in one hour!

She smiled at Nico as they split up, going to their classes, they were right on time. She entered her class to find a new face in her teacher's place. Instead of the elderly old Mrs Josephine, a middle-aged man wearing black shades rimmed with gold. He had a jacket that looked like it was made of bird feathers, like huge bird feathers. Under that was a gold coloured shirt, a gold chain hung from his neck while on each finger were gold rings. There was a bit of a pattern here with the gold.

When she entered the room, the guy took one look at her from behind his glasses, then he took a deep breath and a menacing grin appeared on his face.

"Ah," he said, "Miss… di Angelo, you're late, stay behind after school for detention." He said, she blinked and looked at the clock, it was only eight fifty-six, there were even kids coming in behind her, but the man paid no attention to them, his dark glasses focused only on her.

"Umm… sorry, but who are you?" She asked.

"And disrespectful too? Well, that won't do, you are to come to detention sharply at the end of the day and we will talk about your punishment then."

"But-"

"Now sit down and stay quiet." The man said, Bianca stood her ground however.

"I've done nothing wrong." She said angrily.

"Miss di Angelo." The man said dangerously, "you will do as your told, or I will report you to the principal." He threatened, "now if you're done interrupting the class will you please sit down."

She then noticed that the class was sitting in their seats, all staring at her as she argued with the teacher, she blushed lightly and took a seat away from everyone else. She could see them whispering between each other.

"Now class," the man said, "now that our troublesome student has decided to stay quiet." He said, making Bianca blush more as the class turned to her again, she hid in her hat, her face going completely red to the point that the green hat looked like the stalk of a tomato. "I am Mr Glephonada." He said, writing it on the board, but to Bianca it looked more like 'Grape-shooter' but that was probably the dyslexia kicking in.

"What happened to Mrs Josephine?" One kid asked.

"She's fallen ill." The man answered quickly, "now, since this is your second last day, we will be doing-" the man began and immediately Bianca lost him, the window being much more interesting.

The day passed quickly, most classes were doing 'fun' activities since it was near the end of the school year. Bianca didn't care, she was worrying a bit about the detention, her brother had taken the next few days off for them, the least she could do was be there for it.

At lunch she met up with Nico in the canteen and she told him about what happened that morning, he looked annoyed but said he'd tell Utakata. After that the day was gone in the blink of an eye, and she found herself outside Mr Glephonada's room.

She knocked and waited, a minute passed before the door opened and the grinning man let her in, "now Miss di Angelo," he began with a creepy grin, "we need to talk about your tardiness, several teachers have been complaining about how you have been late to their classes-"

"I've been early to all my classes today sir." Bianca interrupted.

"Don't interrupt!" The man yelled, slamming a hand down on his desk. She jumped back, knocking over a seat, "they were also complaining about your attitude and clumsiness."

He moved to the door and slid the lock across the door with a click before turning back to her.

"Now," he said, reaching for his glasses, "I think it's quite rude, not to look someone in the eye." He tore off the shades and placed them on the table.

Turning to her he revealed his face to her, only there was something wrong, instead of a pair of eyes, he had a single eye in his forehead. He grinned menacingly, showing his large molars.

Bianca's eyes widened, and she backed away from the man, "w-what are you?" She asked terror in her voice.

"That does not matter little godling." He said with a grin.

Suddenly and idea came to her, a vague memory from playing with Nico and his Mythomagic, "you're a cyclops." She said, her voice trembling.

The man… no monster howled angrily, a guttural sound coming from… well his gut.

"A cyclops?" He asked, "a cyclops?!" He slammed his hand down on the desk making a spider wed crack appear on it, "I am not one of those mindless oaf's!" He yelled, "so many of you stupid demi-gods mistake my kind for those foolish clunky buffoons!"

"S-so you're not a cyclops?" She asked, terror creeping into her voice again.

"No!" He roared, "as if those incompetent fools could compare to I." He muttered, "no foolish girl, I am not a cyclops, I am an Arimaspi." He said, he raised his arms as if he expected a shocked gasp, or a look of horrified realisation. Instead, Bianca just gave him a blank look.

"Umm, what's an Arimaspi?" She asked.

He grunted, "foolish girl, how have you not heard of the Arimaspi? We are the mighty warriors of legend who slay gryphons and steal their gold." He glanced at her as if expecting her to recognise a title. "Of course, you demi-gods know nothing of our greatness, you always tried to avoid us." He growled.

"Umm, I'm sorry sir, but I think you have the wrong person, I'm not a demi-god, I'm just a normal human." She said, nervously backing away from the man.

"Ha, you think you can fool me? That trick might fool a cyclops, but it won't work on I, our intelligence is much higher, you think a cyclops could steal from gryphons, or kill them, no, they are too dull. I can smell your scent, I know what you are."

"But-" Bianca backed away again, her back hit the wall as she was trying to figure out what to say to the mad monster.

"Enough, I will feast on you, then I will find your brother, he will serve as a nice desert." The monster slowly walked over to her a menacing grin on his face.

Something in Bianca snapped, sure he could attack her, but bring Nico into this…

Her eyes hardened, and she felt a tug in her stomach and suddenly the room was much darker, her 'teacher' seemed to realise it too.

"What are you doing little half-blood." There was a tone of unease in his voice.

The tug got stronger until she felt like a lead pole was sticking out of her, the shadows danced around her, they looked alive, like a creature straight out of someone's hellish nightmares. The girl winced at the pain in her stomach but stared the monster down.

"Don't touch my brother." She said angrily, her voice not much more than a whisper, but the room was so silent it seemed like the only sound.

The monster looked confused, before the terror that was in her eyes had invaded his, "no, you can't be… he hasn't had a child since…" His eyes widened, and he rushed for the door, seeming to forget that he locked it.

A shadow moved towards him like a cloud of smoke, it engulfed him, and he screamed in terror as he was cocooned in the darkness.

Bianca fell to her knees, briefly aware of a voice calling her name. She looked up when the door was smashed open and stared at the fuzzy image of a man in black. She fell forward, but the man was with her, he caught her and lifted her up. Looking up she could make out the unmistakable eyes of her brother looking down at her worried, then her world went black.

(Pennsylvania)

Zoe sighed as she looked at the campsite, after finding 'Whiskers' and gave him back to Annabeth Chase, an excellent candidate for the hunters, they had found no more traces of Naruto. So many years dedicated to this one hunt and only now were they beginning to find him.

The other three were out getting food while she guarded the camp site. Not that there was much that would attack them, none of them were demi-gods, so they had no scent, the only thing to worry about would be the wild animals that tried to steal their food. The four of them could handle anything that would attack here easily, so there was no need to worry.

Being here did give them a chance to reflect, and for Zoe all she could think about was the shame she had brought to herself. It all started when she began having dreams of the fox, which led to her getting banished from the hunt, finding a fox (who happened to be her lady's son in disguise and the source of her banishment) and then being freed from her curse.

This led to her leading three of her newest sisters, Kurenai, Yugao and Anko, on a quest to find her lady's son. As it turned out, these three had been close to Naruto, almost like sisters. This was kind of awkward at the start seeing as she had accidently shot Naruto through the head which led to this whole mess.

At first, they had been wary of her, but over the course of a few months, they began to warm to her more, like all of the other hunters. Then they found out that she had been with Naruto, the fox, for some time during her banishment, she had even named him Naruto.

She sighed again, shaking her head, she should have realised there was something strange about a glowing silver fox that came to her and learned to speak. To be fair, in the Greek and Roman world, things like that were pretty par for the course.

Ah, the Greek and Roman world. Zoe smiled nostalgically, she had been there for the rise and fall of Rome, it was so long ago now but she could still remember the hunts she had partaken back then. She even remembered the first time she had met Diana, her lady's Roman form. With the Greek and Roman divide, she hadn't seen Diana for a while.

When the gods decided to split up the Greeks from the Romans the hunters were affected too. Diana and Artemis had fought for a long time over custody of the hunters, in the end the hunt was split. It had been some time since her and her Roman sisters had seen each other, she sadly wondered how many had perished or left the hunt since she had seen them. For all she knew they were all dead and Diana no longer had a hunt.

The rustling of bushes distracted her from the thoughts, she fingered her bow, ready to draw it at a moments notice. It wasn't needed though, it was Anko, returning with a doe slung over her back.

"Hey." Anko said, with a grin.

Zoe smiled back, "thou hath made a good catch, we shalt feast for many days."

"Yeah." Anko said as she mentally translated the words into new English, then into Japanese.

"Where art thine sisters?" The elder hunter asked.

"Kurenai went to get some water, and Yugao went to get more wood." Anko replied, "they'll be back soon though."

"Good."

"Well, let's start cooking." Anko said, laying the deer down and getting a knife out to skin the deer.

"Indeed," Zoe said.

They skinned the animal and removed the inedible bits, they made a sacrifice to their patron for a good hunt and began to cook the meat. By the time the other two came back, they already had most of the meat slowly cooking over the fire.

"Hey, good catch." Kurenai said eying the deer in appreciation, "we'll be happy for the next while at least."

"Yeah, keep some out for breakfast tomorrow, I'm getting kind of sick of plain bread." Yugao said, one of the downsides of a long hunt, is the lack of food at the ready for you.

"Yeah, I'll be sure to do that, now come on, it'll get cold." Anko said.

They sat down and began their meal, quietly munching on the meat. They were very quiet, after being with three people mostly without contact from others, you began to run out of things to talk about.

Fortunately, Anko had a question:

"Hey, Zoe," she began, "you know the mask and cloak?"

"Why doth thou care about the remnant of my curse?" She asked.

Anko sighed, "they were Naruto's, he wore them for a long time, I was just wondering if you kept them or…"

"I hath kept them in my tent, they art a reminder of my curse." She said.

"Could I see them?" She asked, Zoe and the others looked confused, "I don't have the best of memories while he wore them, but… I just…" She didn't really know what to say.

"Of course, thou may see them, use them if it tis thy will." Zoe said, a sad smile on her face.

They finished eating in silence, and at the end, Anko went into her tent and came out with a cloak and a mask. All three of them stared at them, no one spoke. Anko took the mask with shaking hands from Zoe, a soft smile on her face.

She ran her hand over the mask, the grooves running over it felt strange to her almost familiar, even as she held it, it felt strange it almost seemed to hum, almost like…

"No way." Anko said to herself, but the others heard.

"What is it?" Yugao asked.

"These, these are storage seals." Anko said, "he made storage seals all over the mask."

"What?" Yugao asked, she took the mask from Anko and stared at it, "they're weird, incomplete, but fully functional, it's like theirs something missing." Being an ANBU forced her to study up on seals, she wasn't in any way a master, but she could do the basics.

"Let me see." Kurenai said, taking the mask from the purple haired girl, she studied it for a minute, looking the intricate patterns in confusion, her forehead creased the longer she stared at it, "you're right, it looks simple enough, a standard storage seal, but… it's missing the release."

"What do you mean?" Anko asked.

"The trigger, the on and off button basically." Yugao replied.

"But it's holding something though." Kurenai said, "that should be impossible, the thing being stored would never be able to be brought out again. But, it's here." She looked even more confused.

"That shouldn't be possible." Yugao commented to catch the other two up to date.

"Can you activate it?" Anko asked.

The two 'experts' stared at her as if she was mad.

"No," Yugao said, "the point of the release is to send chakra into the seal safely, without it you're just putting chakra into a reactive mask. It would explode."

"Oh, so that's a no." Anko said with a nod.

Zoe had been quiet, simply staring at the mask, "thou seal, how doth they work?"

"Well…" Kurenai began, "the seals are basically little patterns, each pattern does something unique and when you put them together, you can make it do amazing things."

"They art thine lines drawn on thy mask?" Zoe asked.

"Yeah, they make up the seal, the only problem is that it is missing parts." Yugao said.

They were silent for a moment before Zoe approached and looked at the mask in confusion, "doth these lines need to be drawn on?"

Kurenai hummed, "not really, but you'd need something to act as a conduit, otherwise the chakra just won't stay."

"So, he doth not have the ability to use thy lines to make the seal?" Zoe questioned.

Yugao shook her head, "no, it would need to be something more than that, the only way would be if he…" She widened her eyes and took the mask, her finger went to one of the grooves of the mask and she ran her finger through it, a grin appeared. "He's a genius, he drew the seal on the side of the groove, you would never be able to tell there was a seal there without checking, it's signature is hidden by the rest of the seal, only a sensor could tell, and even then, they would be hard pressed to find it."

"Well, can you open it?" Anko asked.

"Yeah, I just need to pump some chakra into the release." Kurenai said, placing her hand on one of the grooves going around the eye hole, but Zoe placed a hand on stopping her.

"Thou wouldst sneak through thine friend's belongings?" She asked.

The three of them frowned to themselves, they glanced to the mask and looked at it uncomfortably.

"Should we?" Anko asked, mostly herself.

The four of them looked at each other uncomfortably, before they had all been happy to look at whatever was in the seal but thinking about breeching his privacy was putting them off it now.

"It might have something on his jutsu." Kurenai suggested, "maybe a quicker method to gathering him up."

"Maybe." Yugao said, "but what if it's something more… personal."

"Should we take the risk?" Anko asked.

"There are three seals, none of them look like they can hold anything more than a shoebox. Whatever's in there is small." Kurenai said.

"Does't thou truly believe they mask contains a beneficial item to our quest?" Zoe asked.

"It's possible," Yugao said, "I don't exactly know what he would keep in here, it's obviously important to him if he kept it this close to him at all times."

"Then thou shalt open it, if, even a small chance ist better than our quest failing." Zoe said.

Anko nodded at that, Kurenai and Yugao shared a look before nodding to each other.

"Alright, we'll open it." Yugao said, "but if it's anything personal, we'll leave it, agreed?"

"Agreed." The other three said.

Yugao turned the mask around and pumped a little charka into the mask, the seal coming to life and humming gently, before a puff of smoke enveloped the mask. The smoke blocked their view for a second before they all finally found what was in seal number 1. Zoe's eyes narrowed in confusion as she stared at Yugao's hand. Anko's eyes narrowed like Zoe's before widening in shock while Kurenai and Yugao both skipped confusion and went straight to shock.

"No way…" Yugao said shakily.

"Where did… when did… how did…" Kurenai couldn't finish her sentence.

"Is that what I think it is?" Anko asked.

"What hath thou become so frazzled for, what is it that Naruto saw fit to hide in the confines of thy mask?" Zoe asked, not seeing how something so small could cause worry for the usually fearless hunters.

A/N: I wonder what it is? Well, we'll find out soon, hopefully.

So, I kind of want your opinion on something. See, I've been wondering, should I make shorter chapters but make them more Riordan-esk, by having them done from one persons POV, or should I stick to bigger chapters with multiple locations? I will probably be able to get things out quicker if I do the shorter chapters, but I'm more worried about the quality, so what do you think?

Also, I think I mentioned this in the last chapter of the last part, but could any of you think of any weapons for Bianca to use, because I don't just want to have her use just a sword like Nico or her bow from the hunters, any ideas are welcome, either PM or comment if you have any ideas.

Also, I hope you figured this out from my *cough* subtle *cough* writing, but Bianca is 14, I haven't been able to find a birthday for her so I'm going with my own because if I change it now it will be hard to figure out how much I need to change.

On another note... what's in the seal? Guess in the comments. I won't give anything away though. Good luck.

See you next time.