Chapter 1

Annabeth and Artemis

(A/N: I know I should be working on my other fics, but I had to get this out of my head before it drove me crazy. As I said, this will be a rewrite of Percy Jackson and the Olympians with the Doctor and Rose, beginning in Titan's Curse. It will most likely end in The Last Olympian. And there may be skips- i.e. end this book, and then start in the middle of Battle of the Labyrinth or something. We begin in the scene where our heroes are fighting the manticore and the Hunters show up. Have fun!)

Percy, Thalia, and Annabeth were trapped. A manticore on one side, an armed helicopter on the other. Percy knew they had almost no chance of escaping alive.

That was when he heard it: A clear, piercing call. The call of a hunter's horn.

The manticore froze at the sound, and for a moment, no one moved. There was only the swirl of snow and wind and the chopping sounds of the helicopter blades. In the background, Percy heard a strange noise, almost like a car engine that refused to start, but ignored it.

"No," Dr. Thorn gasped. "It cannot be-"

His sentence was cut short when something shot past Percy like a streak of moonlight. A glowing silver arrow sprouted from Dr. Thorn's shoulder.

He staggered backward, wailing in agony.

"Curse you!" Thorn cried. He unleashed his spikes, dozens of them at once, into the woods where the arrow had come from, but just as fast, silvery arrows shot back in reply. It almost looked as if the arrows had intercepted the thorns in midair and sliced them in two, but Percy reasoned that his eyes must've been playing tricks on him. No one, not even Apollo's children, could shoot with that much accuracy.

The manticore pulled the arrow out of his shoulder with a howl of pain, breathing heavily. Percy swiped with his sword, but apparently the monster was not as injured as he looked, for he dodged the attack and swatted him aside almost effortlessly, slamming his scorpion tail into Percy's shield.

Then the archers emerged from the shadows of the wood. About a dozen or so, at least. Percy's eyes widened when he noticed that they were all young girls. The youngest looked to be around ten, while the oldest was probably his age. They were all dressed in the same outfit- silvery parkas and dark jeans. All of them carried bows, and were advancing on the manticore with hard, determined expressions.

"The Hunters!" Annabeth breathed in awe, while Thalia, who was standing next to Percy, muttered, "Oh, wonderful." Percy wanted to ask what they meant, but didn't get the chance to.

One of the older girls stepped forward, and he got a good look at her as she drew her bow. She was tall and graceful with coppery colored skin. Unlike the other girls, she had a silver circlet braided into the top of her long dark hair, reminding Percy of a sort of princess. "Permission to kill, my lady?"

He had no idea who she was speaking to, for she kept both her eyes and bow trained on the manticore.

The monster wailed. "This is not fair! Direct interference! It is against the Ancient Laws."

"Not so," another girl said. This one was a bit younger than Percy, around twelve or thirteen. She had auburn hair gathered back in a ponytail and strange eyes- silvery yellow like the moon. Her face was so beautiful it made him catch his breath, but her expression was stern and dangerous. "The hunting of all wild beasts is within my sphere. And you, foul creature, are a wild beast." She looked at the older girl with the circlet. "Zoe, permission granted."

The manticore growled. "If I cannot have these alive, I shall have them dead!"

He lunged at Percy and Thalia, knowing they were dazed, weakened. But before it could reach them, Annabeth cried out, "No!" and charged.

"Get back, half-blood!" the girl with the circlet ordered. "Get out of the line of fire!"

But Annabeth ignored her and kept moving. She leaped onto the monster's back and drove her knife into his mane. The manticore howled, turning in circles with his tail flailing as Annabeth hung on for dear life.

"Fire!" Zoe yelled, and Percy screamed.

"No!"

But the Hunters let their arrows fly. The first caught the manticore in the neck. Another hit his chest. The manticore staggered backward, wailing, "This is not the end, Huntress! You shall pay!"

And before anyone could react, the monster, with Annabeth still on his back, leaped over the cliff and tumbled into the darkness.

"ANNABETH!"

The Doctor was somewhat puzzled as to why the TARDIS had landed him in the woods in the middle of nowhere. Even so, he stepped outside, freezing when he heard the snarling voice a moment later.

"Now do you see how hopeless it is? Yield, little heroes."

Someone was in trouble. And he knew that sort of talk. Most likely it was a monster. Going after a demigod.

Without thinking, he ran towards where the voice had emanated. Silence fell as he heard the piercing call of a hunter's horn. Of course, he thought to himself. The Hunt.

By the time he reached the scene of the battle, the monster- a manticore- had let out an agonized wail from an arrow in his shoulder. Hunters' arrows were flying, splitting the animal's spikes that it shot before it ever reached them.

One of the demigods, a young boy with wild black hair, lunged at the manticore with a bronze sword. However, the creature dodged his attack and swatted him away with its tail.

He stood still, frozen, as the Hunters emerged. Near the front, he recognized the Lieutenant, Zoe Nightshade, by the silver circlet on her head. She drew her bow and, without looking away from the manticore, asked, "Permission to kill, my lady?"

The monster wailed in protest. "This is not fair! Direct interference! It is against the Ancient Laws."

"Not so," came a different voice in reply. Her voice. "The hunting of all wild beasts is within my sphere. And you, foul creature, are a wild beast." She turned to her lieutenant. "Zoe, permission granted."

"If I cannot have these alive, I shall have them dead!" The manticore lunged at the boy and the girl next to him, both of whom looked weary and dazed.

Then a different, but shockingly familiar voice, rang out. "No!"

The Doctor was stunned for a brief moment. Her? Fighting a manticore, here and now? But as he caught sight of her mane of blonde hair, he realized it had been quite some time since he'd seen her.

Zoe tried to stop her. "Get back, half-blood! Get out of the line of fire!"

But the girl ignored her, leaping onto the monster's back and stabbing its mane with her knife. A bronze knife, that he was trying to convince himself he hadn't seen before.

"Fire!" Zoe yelled. In turn, the young boy let out an agonized cry.

Before long, the monster was tumbling over the edge, taking her with it. And when the young demigod screamed the girl's name, he knew, with a painful jolt, that he had been right.

The girl that had just been lost...was Annabeth Chase.

Percy started to run after her, but froze when he realized that their enemies were not yet done with them. Loud snaps sounded from the helicopter- gunfire.

Most of the Hunters scattered as tiny holes appeared in the snow at their feet, but the girl with auburn hair simply looked up calmly at the helicopter.

"Mortals," she announced, "are not allowed to witness my hunt." Then she stretched out her hand, and the helicopter exploded into dust.

No, Percy realized. Not dust. The black metal dissolved into a flock of birds- ravens. They scattered into the night, and then the Hunters advanced on them.

The one called Zoe stopped short when she saw Thalia. "You," she spat with distaste.

"Zoe Nightshade," Thalia replied, her voice trembling with anger. "Perfect timing, as usual."

Zoe ignored her comment, scanning the rest of them. "Four half-bloods and a satyr, my lady."

"Yes," the younger girl said. "Some of Chiron's campers, I see."

"Annabeth!" Percy yelled. "You have to let us save her!"

The auburn-haired girl turned toward him. "I'm sorry, Percy Jackson, but your friend is beyond help."

He tried to struggle to his feet, but a couple of the girls held him down. "You are in no condition to be hurling yourself off cliffs," the auburn-haired girl murmured, almost somewhat patronizingly.

"Let me go!" Percy demanded. "Who do you think you are?"

Zoe stepped forward, her hand raised as if she intended to strike him. But she was stopped by the other girl.

"No," she ordered, placing a hand on the girl's arm. "I sense no disrespect, Zoe. He is simply distraught. He does not understand."

The girl focused on him, and for the first time, Percy was able to look into her eyes properly. They were colder and brighter than the way the moon was now, in winter.

She murmured, in an even, clear voice, "I am Artemis. Goddess of the Hunt."

Finally, finally, the Doctor was shaken from his awed, terrified stupor and stepped forward into view. He saw the boy look up at Artemis and stammer, "Um...okay." The satyr, in turn, bowed and started yammering incoherently, bringing a slight smile of amusement to the Doctor's face. Satyrs were all captivated by Artemis. The other girl was annoyed by this, however, snapping, "Get up, goat boy!"

And then one of the Hunters caught sight of him. "Intruder!" she yelled, drawing her bow. The Doctor raised his hands in surrender.

He saw Artemis- and several other Hunters- jerk their heads upwards. For a moment, his eyes met those of the goddess. "Lower your bow, Joanna," she ordered calmly. The girl did so, a confused look on her face, as Artemis murmured, "He is no intruder, sister."

"But he is a man!" the girl called Joanna protested. "Men are not permitted-"

Artemis sighed. "He is an old ally, Joanna; although he has nerve showing his face here," she said dryly, raising an eyebrow at him. The Doctor smirked at that. "Come forward," she ordered.

Percy watched, dumbstruck, as the man bounded forward. Judging by his long limbs and uneven gait, he was probably very clumsy. He was dressed in a suit with a tweed jacket and a red bow tie, reminding Percy of a college professor- a very young one, anyway. His dark hair fell over his eyes, which were a very similar color to his own sea-green ones. When he reached Artemis, he knelt down and bowed his head briefly. Then he looked back up and grinned.

"It's a pleasure to see you again, my lady." Artemis glared coldly, and Percy's mouth fell open. So did Grover's. Then Bianca spoke up. "Whoa," she said. "Hold up. Time out." She pointed a finger to Percy, Grover, Thalia, Artemis, and the strange man in turn, as if she was trying to connect dots. "Who...who are you people?"

Artemis turned to look at Bianca, and her expression softened."It might be a better question, my dear girl, to ask who are you!Who are your parents?"

She glanced nervously at Nico, who was still staring in awe at Artemis.

Our parents are dead," Bianca murmured. "We're orphans. There's a bank trust that pays for our school, but…"

She faltered. Percy supposed that she could see the disbelief on the Hunters' faces, for she snapped, "What? I'm telling the truth!"

"You are a half-blood," Zoe Nightshade murmured. "One of thy parents was mortal. The other was an Olympian."

"An Olympian...athlete?" Bianca said, her head tilted in confusion.

"No," Zoe said firmly. "One of the gods."

"Cool!" the boy exclaimed, and the strange man glanced over and smiled at him.

"No!" Bianca snapped, her voice quavering. "This is not cool!"

Then Nico focused on the newcomer. "Are you a god?"

He smiled and shook his head. "No, no. I'm not a god. Just a traveler."

Nico tilted his head, confused. "Well, then how come you can talk to her? She's a goddess, right?"

"Nico, shut up," Bianca snapped. "This is not like in your stupid Mythomagic game! There are no gods!"

Thalia murmured, "Bianca, I know it's hard to believe. But the gods are still around. Trust me. They're immortal. And whenever they have kids with regular humans, kids like us, well… Our lives are dangerous."

"Dangerous," Bianca repeated. "Like the girl who fell."

Thalia turned away, and Percy didn't miss the pained look on Artemis' face. "Do not despair for Annabeth," the goddess said, glancing at Bianca. "She was a brave maiden. If she can be found, I shall find her."

Then Artemis fixed her intense eyes on the other man. "Doctor," she said plainly. "I hope there is a good reason that you are in the presence of my Hunters without my permission."

The man she called "Doctor" grinned again. "I simply wandered off, my lady. Permission to speak freely?"

Artemis huffed and rolled her eyes. Then, much to Percy's surprise, she said- albeit somewhat begrudgingly, "Permission granted."

"Right then!" the Doctor said, springing to his feet. Then his voice lowered, became solemn. "Do you know where Annabeth Chase went?"

Percy wanted to start yelling and asking him questions. How did he know Annabeth's last name? If she knew him personally, how come she'd never mentioned anyone like him before?

"She is gone. Can't you sense it, Doctor? Some magic is at work. I do not know exactly how or why, but your old friend has vanished."

The Doctor sighed. "I'm not like you, Lady Artemis. I'm no god. But I know that you're right- something strange is going on." Then he paused, turned to smile faintly at Thalia. "Do you remember me, Thalia?"

Thalia rolled her eyes. "Of course I remember you, pretty boy," she spat. "But there are more important things right now. Annabeth's gone!"

The Doctor nodded, his voice grave when he spoke. "Yes. She is. But whatever happens, I'm sure she'll be fine. She's a smart girl."

Something about that comment filled Percy with blind anger. He knew nothing about what he and Annabeth had been through the last few years. What sort of dangers there were. "How can you be so sure?" he snapped, jumping to his feet.

"You don't know anything!" he yelled, and before he could stop himself, he had drawn out Riptide. His vision was tinted red, but even so he could see that, oddly enough, the Hunters hadn't drawn their bows. Perhaps they didn't care.

Fueled by senseless anger, he flung his sword at the Doctor. Had his aim been better, it would've been a fatal wound, Percy knew. As it was, the sword would probably catch him in the leg or foot.

Then, something happened that brought Percy out of his enraged state and back to reality- standing on a snow-covered cliff with his friends, two terrified half-bloods, and the Goddess of the Hunt.

The blade passed harmlessly through the Doctor's leg. There was no reaction from him, other than raising his eyebrows. He pursed his lips and turned around, while Percy nearly collapsed.

I would've killed him, Percy realized. I was ready to kill him...all because of a comment about Annabeth.

And then he remembered- there was only one thing celestial bronze weapons didn't work on.

As the Doctor picked up the sword, Percy blurted out, "You're mortal!"

The Doctor grabbed the sword hilt and turned around, smirking. "Well, yeah. Why do you think the Hunters didn't try to defend me? They knew it wouldn't hurt me." He held up the sword, studying it in the light, and read the inscription on the hilt.

"Anaklusmos," he murmured. "Riptide. Impressive sword you have here, you know."

"You can read Ancient Greek?" Percy asked, stunned. The Doctor nodded, a smug expression on his face. "I know hundreds of languages. Ancient Greek just happens to be one of them." Then he paused. "What's your name, anyway?"

"Percy," he replied. "Percy Jackson." Then he sighed. "Sorry I threw Riptide at you."

He smiled easily and waved a hand in a dismissive gesture. "Ah, don't worry about it. I've had worse things happen to me than a bronze sword flying through my ankle. All's forgiven. Nice to meet you, Percy."

Shame burned in his chest-not only had he tried to kill the Doctor, he'd tried to kill someone that seemed like a decent person. Before he could say anything else, Nico's hand shot up in the air and he turned towards Artemis.

"Ooh! What about Dr. Thorn? That was awesome how you all shot him with arrows! Is he dead?"

"He was a manticore," Artemis replied solemnly. "Hopefully he is destroyed for now, but monsters never truly die. They re-form over and over again, and they must be hunted whenever they reappear."

"Or they'll hunt us," Thalia added.

Bianca di Angelo shivered. "That explains… Nico, you remember last summer, those guys who tried to attack us in the alley in DC?"

"And that bus driver," Nico said, nodding. "The one with the ram's horns. I told you that was real."

Percy nodded in agreement with him. "That's why Grover has been watching you. To keep you safe, if you turned out to be half-bloods."

"Grover?" Bianca stared at him. "You're a demigod?"

Grover looked a little embarrassed. "A satyr, actually." He kicked off his shoes, displaying his goat hooves. Bianca looked as if she might faint.

"Grover, put your shoes back on," Thalia snapped. "You're freaking her out!"

"Hey, my hooves are clean!"

Meanwhile, the Doctor kept turning Riptide over in his fingers, analyzing the bronze. Percy put him out of his mind for the moment and focused on Bianca, while a small part of him was wondering if and when the Doctor would give him his sword back.

"Bianca," he said softly, "we came here to help you. You and Nico need training to survive. Dr. Thorn won't be the last monster you meet. You need to come to camp."

"Camp?" she asked.

"Camp Half-Blood," he replied. "It's where half-bloods learn to survive and stuff. You can join us, stay there year-round if you like."

"Sweet, let's go!" Nico exclaimed.

"Wait," Bianca said insistently, shaking her head. "I don't-"

"There is another option," Zoe put in calmly, and Thalia snapped, "No, there isn't!"

Thalia and Zoe glared at each other. Percy had no idea what they were talking about, but could tell that there was obviously bad history between them. For some reason, they seemed to hate each other.

"We've burdened these children enough," Artemis announced, giving both Zoe and Thalia a meaningful look. "Zoe, we will rest here for a few hours. Raise the tents. Treat the wounded. Retrieve our guests' belongings from the school."

"Yes, my lady," she replied, bowing.

Artemis then turned her attention to Bianca. "And, Bianca, come with me. I would like to speak with you."

Nico gave her an inquiring look. "What about me?"

Her expression softened, and she gave him an almost motherly smile. "Perhaps you can show Grover how to play that card game you enjoy. I'm sure Grover would be happy to entertain you for a while… as a favor to me?" she asked, giving Grover an expectant look.

He nearly tripped as he jumped to his feet. "You bet! Come on, Nico!"

Nico and Grover walked off toward the woods, talking about hit points and armor ratings and other geeky stuff Percy paid no mind to. Artemis led a confused-looking Bianca along the cliff while the Hunters began unpacking their knapsacks and making camp.

Zoe gave Thalia one more harsh leer, then left to oversee things.

As soon as she was gone, Thalia stamped her foot in frustration. "The nerve of those Hunters! They think they're so… Argh!"

"I'm with you," Percy agreed. "I don't trust-"

"Oh, you're with me?" Thalia snapped, turning on him furiously. "What were you thinking back there in the gym, Percy? You'd take on Dr. Thorn all by yourself? You knew he was a monster! If we'd stuck together, we could've taken him without the Hunters getting involved. Annabeth might still be here. Did you think of that?"

Percy's jaw clenched. Many harsh words crossed his mind, and he would have said them, too, but then he looked down and saw something navy blue lying in the snow at his feet. Annabeth's New York Yankees baseball cap.

Thalia didn't say another word. She wiped a tear from her cheek, turned, and marched off, leaving him alone with a trampled cap in the snow.

(A/N: To clear up any confusion, Rose does not show up for a while. And since I plan on squeezing most of the plot of 3 books into one fic, prepare for a VERY long tale. Lots of twists ahead as well, folks!)