"We do have a lot to talk about, Quicksilver queen," I said, raising an eyebrow. It was what I had nicknamed her for a while after we met, after she beat me to catching the ruby 'little chimp', a long time ago.

Calypso smiled as if reminiscing the memory, "It was the first name I could think of at the time."

"So I see you've been busy, Cal."

She crossed her arms, "You're the ones who have been in a fight with empusas." She moved closer, "You looked awful, are you okay?"

"I'll live." He said. She was standing directly in front of him, as he jumped back on the bed. "You look like you've fought a few battles yourself." I lifted my arm to stroke her cheek.

Calypso chuckled, "What can I say? I don't even understand what I got myself into, Percy." She hopped onto the bed and sat beside me. "The most unexpected thing happened to me a few months ago. Prepare to be awed," she waved her arms outwards, her eyes widening.

I grinned, already having a hunch, "It doesn't involve a god or goddess, does it?"

"How did you know? You met Athena too, didn't you? What did you do?" she asked, because she knew that I wasn't particularly fond of the gods. We used to think that they abandoned us and left us all alone.

"Well, she doesn't like me, that's for sure." I said. Calypso laughed mirthlessly. After that died down, there was an unsettling silence. Then I reached for Calypso's hand and squeezed it tightly, "I've really missed you."

She mumbled, "Me too." And also squeezed mine.

"Where…have you been?" I looked into her eyes.

Calypso turned away, as if my stare would have killed her. "Uum, Percy, now's not the time to explain about that…the gods are expecting us to help in this unexplainable situation." She slid off the bed, my hand still in hers, "And by the way—"

I pulled her closer to me and kissed her on the lips. She didn't resist, she just melted into our kiss. Her lips felt fresh. She gripped my shirt as if I would evaporate in front of her if she let go. As few seconds later, she backed away slowly, gasping for air.

"By the gods Percy," she breathed, trying not to smile, "I have to go." she bit her lower lip, something she did when she was nervous. And with that, she cantered out of the tent, leaving a confused and slightly confused Percy.

Nico strolled in a few minutes later, and grinned at my expression, "Which one? Calypso or Annabeth?"

I got up, went to him and punched him on the shoulder. He groaned, "Hello? Just from fighting some mythical creatures here. Have a little sympathy."

"That's for lying to me that Luke and Annabeth are engaged. And how did you know that I was talking with them before?"

"Dude's intuition," he said and paced around the room, "So did Calypso explain to you what all this is about, or were you just spending the whole time sucking each other's faces?"

I gritted my teeth, "No, we never got to that part. Yet."

Nico said, "Well, apparently Calypso was visited by Athena a few months back. Athena gave her directions and clues as to how to form and head an army, which she slowly picked up along the coast. Mercenaries, thieves, you know, the 'lost' lot. She led her here. I don't suppose you showed her the map." He raised a brow.

I almost forgot about the map. "Actually, I think Annabeth has it." I said doubtfully.

"Right." He said, raising his eyebrows. "We need to be ready for anything Percy."

"I know. But it's proving to be hard putting the pieces together. There are too many to make sense of it all."

He came to me and patted me on the back, "Don't worry, we'll talk about everything in a few hours. There's going to be a meeting." He left before I could reply.

The first thing I did when I got out of the tent was visit Leo, Eddie and Aaron. I realised that I had practically forgotten about them. (LOL. I kinda forgot about Grover a few chapters ago so let's just forget he ever existed, hehe ;-D)

I sat on the ground against a beam, waiting for someone to talk. We were all just staring at each other. Leo, Eddie and Aaron were all lying on their beds.

Leo cleared his throat, "Now that the fun's over, what do we do now?"

"We continue with our plan." Aaron said quietly.

"We can't." I said grumpily, "We can't trade in Annabeth."

"I still don't understand why." Eddie said, unconvinced.

"Because…Athena won't let me. She said that we had to find that cornucopia thing. Annabeth and I, as in together. She also said that we have to defeat an enemy, blah blah blah."

"So, in other words she told you to forget about your little sister?" Leo asked, confused.

I remembered something, "Actually she told me that Calypso would help us out." I beamed.

"Well, did you ask her yet?" Aaron asked impatiently.

"Uh, I haven't met her yet." I lied.

Leo looked at me grinning. Maybe he knew that I already met Calypso. I turned away, my cheeks feeling red.

"I'm sorry guys, but I don't think my body can handle this anymore." Eddie mumbled.

Leo chuckled, "Me too. I've never had so many broken ribs at the same time."

"What are you guys trying to say?" I asked, afraid of what they would say.

"Percy, I think I'd rather get to Mr. P directly. Right now, we're wasting time. I—" Aaron started.

"Wait, are you guys leaving me?" I said, standing up.

Everyone looked down; "I think we should go with Aaron, Percy" Leo and Eddie got out of their beds and dressed, slowly.

"I'm coming with you."

Aaron beckoned me. "You know you can't. Somehow you got yourself into a mess without even doing anything. Good 'ole Percy." He smiled and removed a stash of coins from his jacket pocket. "Do you know how to IM?"

"Iris message? Sure, I've done it once or twice. Where did you get these golden drachmas?"

"That's for me to know and you to not find out." He got up, dressed, and turned to me, putting his hands on my shoulders. "You know I love you brother."

I nodded, speechless. Now I had no one to lean on.

"Relax, Percy. I promise we'll keep in touch." Leo said and hugged me. Eddie hugged me too.

"Tell me everything about what happens with this situation of yours. Hopefully the next time we meet, I'll have Anastasia beside me." Aaron looked like he still had something to say. "Just curious; do you have a thing for Annabeth?"

I groaned, "Why does everyone keep saying that?"

"Because you haven't denied it, bro." Leo laughed and left the tent with Eddie.

Aaron looked at me sympathetically, "I think I still prefer Calypso." Before he left, he shouted, "Oh, and we all know you met up with Calypso, Percy!"

Dinner was unusually uneventful. Everyone was celebrating their victory over the empusas we encountered the day before and boy, did they know how to celebrate. I preferred sitting alone. Apparently Luke, Annabeth and Nico had not attended dinner. Calypso was at a table that seemed to be only for the superiors. She had already noticed that I was sitting alone. For a moment I thought she'd come to sit with me but the person sitting beside her, glared at me and told her something. After that, she did not even look at me. I gritted my teeth.

Thankfully Thalia came to keep me company. Unfortunately she still held a grudge from the time I had thrown her off a carriage.

"But hey, I did save your life, didn't I?"

"But in a really crappy way."

"Anyway, how are you finding this?" I spread my arms gesturing 'everything.'

"Which part? The empusas? Your kidnap? Quicksilver queen's camp?"

"Everything."

"Frankly I don't know how I'm still alive right now. And I thought working as the princess' maiden was going to be boring," she chuckled, "I should ask for a raise."

I decided that Thalia was not as bad as I thought.

"What's hard to believe is that those creatures still exist. I just wish the gods would give us more information about this."

I asked, "So you still want to be by your princess' side after all this?"

"I made a solemn oath. Actionable by law if broken, you know."

"I don't think that really matters now, Thalia."

"Either way, Annabeth is like a sister to me. We grew closer these past few years." After a moment of silence, "Percy can I tell you a secret?"

"Shoot."

"Athena came to me yesterday in a dream."

I sat up, my attention caught. "What did she say?"

"She just told me to protect Annabeth."

"Thalia, tell me everything she told you."

"That's all she told me, I swear."

"That's pretty odd. Maybe it just meant what it meant." I shrugged.

"Percy, I think we're five minutes late from that meeting."

"It's good to be fashionably late." We got up and walked into the largest tent around; HQ. It was purple in color, Calypso's favorite color.

"You two are late." Annabeth stated, glaring daggers.

Around a small rectangular table were Luke, Nico, Annabeth, Calypso and the same person who was speaking to Calypso at dinner.

"Anyway, let's start." Calypso said.

"Who's he?" I asked, nodding towards his direction.

"This is Dakota, my second-in-command. I've already told him everything. We're the only ones here who know about Annabeth too. You don't need to worry. I trust him."

On the table I noticed the empty map Athena had given us before.

She recapped, "So Athena seems to be the only goddess who is helping us out on this. So far, she appeared to most of us. Hera however, did appear to Percy and Annabeth, as well as Luke and the elites, giving different messages. To Luke she said that Percy was a murderer, but afterwards I think she rectified that she didn't say that. That doesn't really matter right now. What we know is that the kingdoms are at war because of this, and Annabeth is wanted. She looks well-disguised for now.

"Athena told Percy and Annabeth to get the Cornucopia of Amalthea, which is probably in the literal meaning the horn of the animal Amalthea. She also gave them the map, which I can somehow read. I've already mapped it out, and I know where to find it. This will hopefully answer all the questions about the risen mythical creatures, and why Athena instructed me to form an army. But there's only one problem; we need a prophecy."

"What do you mean?" Annabeth asked.

"I mean, we can't 'unlock the doors' until we get a prophecy, the prophecy to be specific. That's what the map's saying."

"Well, where can we get it?"

"From an oracle."

I beamed, "I know just the oracle."