Here's what you've been waiting for, folks—the last chapter! Enjoy!

DISCLAIMER: IF I WERE RICK RIORDAN, I'D BE WORKING ON THE HOUSE OF HADES, NOT WRITING FANFICS HERE!

"No way," Diana said, crossing her arms.

Felicity, the youngest recruited Hunter, stepped forward. "Way," she confirmed.

"Do you expect me to believe that...that you're all magical immortal girls?" Diana said incredoulously. "You're freaking kidding me. You might as well have said that you were Smurfs."

"It is true," Anna said. "I mean, it is true that we are immortal, not that we are Smurfs. I'm eighty-five years in age. Yet I remain in a body of a fourteen-year-old."

"And I," Artemis spoke, "am the Greek goddess of the Hunt. I am Lady Artemis."

"Yeah, right." Diana was beginning to look snarky. "You're crazy, Luna."

Phoebe stared her down. "Guard your tongue, mortal," she said coolly. "You are talking to an Olympian. Our precious goddess, at that."

"Do you not believe me?" Artemis questioned.

Diana scoffed. "Thought I made that clear."

Artemis turned to her Hunters. "How come none of you gave me a hard time when I recruited you?"

"Um, maybe it will help if you're not dressed in that...say, provocative garment," Irving volunteered. "You're not exactly a good example of maidenhood, m'lady."

Artemis groaned. "Aphrodite..." she cursed. Then she noticed Demeter clutching Hermes and Hades roughly and heading toward the gardens. "Demeter!" she called. "Hermes! Hades! Am I not the maiden goddess of the Hunt?"

"Stop bragging," Hermes yelled back at her. "It's not like I wanted that occupation!"

The huntresses looked at Hermes and at each other strangely. Demeter shouted at them, "You girls may be immortal, but that doesn't mean you're healthy!" and tossed a few cereal bars at them before dragging her hostages off to the garden.

"See?" Artemis said to Diana, after brushing aside some crushed granola from her own skirt.

Diana frowned. "That's so lame. So you paid a couple of losers to say that you're some goddess. Big deal."

Artemis sighed heavily and turned to Phoebe. "Get Lieutenant Thalia," she said. "Perhaps she'll know how to deal with this."

"Why?" Demeter said, menacingly making the vines behind the two gods grow and wrap themselves on some godly necks.

Hermes winced and thought grimly of the rash he will get if Demeter puts enchanted poison ivy in his underpants.

"Look, Demeter," Hades said. "It's not like we forced our sons on your daughters. Your child Lily was the one who invited Nico to the dance. And Katie Gardner..." Hades frowned and turned to his nephew. "What exactly happened?"

"He...well, um, he played a prank on her," Hermes mumbled sheepishly.

Demeter frowned. "And how is that a decent courtship? She probably felt so sorry for his patheticalness—"

"Is that a word?" Hades muttered.

"Obviously," Demeter said, clipping her voice. Then she continued where she left off. "—that, out of the goodness of her heart, she settled with him, knowing no one else will!"

"Now wait a minute!" Hermes cried angrily. "My son does not have patheticality!"

"Now that is not a word," Hades said.

"And you," Demeter said, turning to Hades, "is it not enough that you kidnapped my beloved daughter Persephone? Do you want poor Lilian to share her older sister's fate?"

Hades looked back at her. "Can you honestly say that it is a bad fate? I am the King. I made your daughter Queen of several things. Do you find that in any way shameful?"

Demeter sighed loudly. "No. But you took her from me, her mother when she was just a child—"

"Aunt Demeter, she was almost a hundred years old when Hades kidnapped her," Hermes said.

"Exactly!" Demeter cried. "A mere child, not old enough to go along without her mother."

They stood in a stony silence for a minute before Hermes brightened up. "I got it!" he exclaimed. He grabbed a garden hose from behind one of the rose bushes. "This!" he cried, his curly hair flying maniacally. "This will solve our problems!"

They stared at him blankly. Hermes sighed and twisted around the faucet. Then he pressed a finger on the tip of the hose and he took a small flashlight from his pocket. He shined a dim yellow light on it.

"O Iris," Hermes said, "Er, I don't have a drachma with me, but I am Lord Hermes, so permit me to speak to Lady Persephone, in the Underworld."

The water shimmered, and Persephone's lovely face appeared. She looked irritated, though.

"Hermes," she said, bowing her head slightly. Then she saw her mother and her husband and brightened. "Hades! Please come home," she begged. "These ghosts are starting to get in my nerves. The ghost of Albert Einstein actually dared to request a swimming pool in his house in Elysium!"

Hermes quickly turned the prism from Demeter's disapproving face. "Persephone," he said. "Do you love Hades?"

Persephone looked surprised. "Of course. Though he did not really court me, which I would have wanted but—" a ghostly hand suddenly appeared on Persephone's shoulder and she screamed.

"No!" she hollered. "You still need to complete one more life before you go to Isles of the Blest. You hear me? ONE MORE LIFE!"

Hades winced and put his face on view. "Persephone, dear, don't worry. I will come home soon," he said firmly, ignoring Hermes's raised eyebrows.

"Really?" Persephone said. "Thank you, Lord Hades. And if you do not mind, there are some souls I would like to send to eternal damnation over here..."

Hermes smiled and waved his hand over the connection. "You see?" he told Demeter. "Your daughter loves Hades."

Demeter looked unconvinced. "Let me talk to your demigod son Travis," she commanded.

Hermes looked uncertain, but he shined his flashlight on the hose again. "O Iris, it's me again, Lord Hermes. I need to talk to my son Travis, in Half-Blood Hill, Camp Half-Blood."

The water shimmered, and a very messy Hermes cabin came into view. Loud, pulsating music nearly made the gods duck. Nearby, a loud, familiar voice was screaming/singing, "Can't live! If living is without yoooouu! CAN'T LIVE, CAN'T LIVE ANYMORE!"

Hermes grinned sheepishly and called, "Travis?"

"Dad?" Travis said, jumping into view. He had some yellow stain on his face—mustard, Hermes hoped—and was wearing a ratty old t-shirt with a pony on it.

Hermes blinked. "Is that a My Little Pony shirt...son?"

Travis just grinned. "Hey, Dad! Great news! Chiron allowed us to get a kareoke machine." Then he noticed two other gods gawking at him, and he bowed respectfully. "Lord Demeter. Lady Hades." He smiled dumbly, not realizing his mistake.

Hermes facepalmed. Trying to salvage the situation, he said, "So, uh, how's your girlfriend Katie?"

Travis smirked, and for the first time, they saw Katie Gardner singing, "I'm walking on SUNSHINE! WHOA-OH!" Katie noticed them there and yelled, "Hey, Mom! Hey, other gods!"

Hermes hurriedly slashed his hand across the water. He faced two gods staring at him in disbelief.

"That's been great," he said brightly. "Now let's talk to Nico di Angelo!"

Zeus couldn't take it anymore. After cramming the rest of his pepperoni pizza in his mouth (he loved pizza ever since it was invented in Rome a long time ago), he stood up.

His date looked up at him. "Where are you going, Victor?" she asked.

"I will just talk to my...best friend...Lucille," he said vaguely. Then he felt shame wash over him. Honestly, why couldn't he just tell his date that Hera was his wife, or in this case, his girlfriend?

Because his date will get mad, that's why. Zeus cursed himself, something that he barely does. He felt bad now, leading some mortal on like this. He took a deep breath. "Actually," he said, "Lucille is my girlfriend. I'm sorry."

Then he hurried away to the dance floor. Hera was still dancing with that guy. Zeus took a deep breath and stood in front of them. "Mind if I cut in?" he asked, staring at the guy his wife was dancing with.

The guy looked somewhat relieved. "Sure," he said. He shuffled away.

Like some cheesy romantic comedy movie, the song suddenly changed from a fast rock song to a slow, melodious one.

For a moment, they just stood there awkwardly. Then Hera shrugged and wrapped her arms around her husband. "What's wrong, Zeus?" she asked in his ear.

Zeus paused. He actually felt good like this. His wife had a scent that smelled good and familiar, like home. When was the last time I danced with her like this? he wondered. Tried as he might, he couldn't remember. In the Olympus balls, they usually danced formally, as was expected of the King and Queen of the Gods.

"Nothing," he said, hugging her tightly. "I just wanted to dance with you, honey."

Hera looked surprised and began to open her mouth. Then she closed it and hugged him, too. "I suppose I feel the same."

Apollo was about to call it quits on this entire thing. High school girls were just plain ridiculous. Maybe they were too immature for him. Then again, he was over a thousand years old. What mortal woman wasn't?

Just then, he heard someone sniffling. He stopped walking abruptly and saw a girl sitting in the bleachers alone. She was crying pretty loudly in a pink handkerchief. Soon enough the hanky was too moist that she blew her nose on her puffy sleeve. Loudly.

Apollo froze. Normally, that was a major turn-off for him. But he guessed that he was desperate enough to approach the girl. "Are you okay?" he asked quietly.

The girl looked up in suprise. A trail of snot was dragging down her left nostril. Her eyes were bloodshot and teary, with mascara running down her cheeks.

She smiled at him weakly. Apollo smiled back at her, equally weakly. He was mildly disturbed with all the snot. He reached into his tux pocket for a tissue. "Here," he said, handing it to her.

"Thanks," the girl replied, accepting the tissue with a trembling hand.

Apollo sighed and leaned back on the bleachers. "So, what's up?" he asked at last.

The girl looked up at him. "Hell," she answered. "That's what's up."

"Actually, I heard it's what's down," Apollo said wryly.

The girl stared at him in confusion, then she laughed. "Oh, I get it."

"Did some guy make you cry?" Apollo asked. "Want me to mess him up for you?"

The girl shook her head. "No, it's my own fault. He has a girlfriend," she said sadly. "I guess...I guess I liked him too much to care."

"Ah," the god said wisely. "Well...are you a broom?"

"Why? Because I'm too skinny and lame?" the girl asked bitterly.

"No," Apollo replied. "Because you sweep me off my feet."

The girl stared at him and slowly smiled. "You want to dance?"

"Sure. I'm, uh..." Apollo tried once again to remember his human name. Dang, he still couldn't remember. Oh, Hades with it. "Apollo," he said instead.

He expected her too look weirded out, but she smiled. "Cool name," she remarked. "I'm Mimi."

Annabeth smiled when she saw Mimi dancing with some dude. "Hey, Percy, look," she said.

Percy turned and saw Mimi. He stopped dancing and grinned hugely. Very hugely. "I'm happy for her," he defended himself when he saw Annabeth's arched eyebrow.

"Happy for her, or happy for you, Seaweed Brain?"

Percy gave her a make-you-melt, sarcastic grin. "Both," he said, and kissed his girlfriend full on the lips.

"Hey!" Thalia said, as she and Neil danced alongside them. "You guys have got to stop all the lovey-dovey stuff. You might get in trouble on account of causing your classmates to puke."

"Very funny, Thalia..." Percy trailed off when she saw who their friend was dancing with. Annabeth covered her mouth with her hands. Then they looked at each other in shock.

"Guys," Thalia hissed. They didn't stop staring. Neil looked at Thalia in concern. "What's with them?" he whispered.

"Forget them," Thalia said, dancing Neil away. She informed him, "They probably kissed too much."

Neil slowly grinned. "Nah, I think they were just shocked at how someone can be as good-looking as this," he said, pointing at his face.

"No way, loser," Thalia said. "My friends may be nuts, but not that nuts."

"Hey, Thalia!" Nico called. He was dancing with Lily Flowers. Actually, Lily was the one dancing, and he was just walking to the music.

Just then, Thalia felt a tug on her sleeve. She turned around and saw the cold eyes of a Hunter.

"Hi, Phoebe," she said in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"Lady Artemis needs you, Thalia," she whispered flatly. Without waiting for an answer, she grabbed Thalia's arm and dragged her away.

"Thalia? What's wrong?" Neil called.

"Stay out of this, male!" Phoebe yelled furiously behind her shoulder.

"Don't you dare turn him into a deer, Phoebe," Thalia snapped under her breath. Phoebe did not reply, though she muttered about spiders and cockroaches.

Neil just stood there. Then he shook his head and walked to the food table. He could use some punch anyway.

Across the hall, Annabeth saw them. "Hey, isn't that Phoebe?"

"Who?" Percy asked.

"Phoebe. You know, the Hunter girl?" Annabeth looked at them. "I think Thalia's in trouble."

Percy frowned in concern. "Maybe she needs some moral support."

"Just what I was thinking." Grasping her boyfriend's hand, Annabeth ran to her best friend's aid.

Nearby, Nico was having fun with Lily when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

There stood Hades, with Hermes and Demeter behind him.

"Hey—Adam?" Nico asked. "What's wrong?"

"You better come with us," Hades said, looking jittery.

Demeter gave her daughter a tender look. "Is Gunther a good father to you?" she asked.

Lily's face puckered in confusion. "Yeah, Dad's great...who the heck are you?"

"I," Demeter said solemnly, "am your mother."

Needless to say, it was a chaotic dance floor.

"What is going on, Phoebe?" Thalia grumbled. "What does Lady Artemis want?"

"What were you doing there, dancing with a male?" Phoebe demanded. Her grip on Thalia's arm was beginning to hurt. "You better not be breaking the oath."

Thalia rolled her eyes. "He is not my boyfriend, Phoebs."

"Stop calling me that!" Phoebe shrieked. "I hate nicknames."

"Thals?" Percy called. He and Annabeth stepped into view. "You okay?"

"Is it not enough that this Jackson boy is your friend?" Phoebe snapped. "Why do you have that other boy, too?"

Thalia pressed her free hand on her temple. "You're giving me a headache, Phoebe. Let's just go to Artemis."

Annabeth and Percy followed the two girls into the garden, where Artemis, the Hunters, and Diana were.

"Hello, Thalia," Artemis said in greeting.

Thalia was getting more and more confused. "Luna Silver, right? Why are you here?"

Diana shook her head. "I knew it! You are just messing with me, Silver."

"No!" Artemis cried. She forgot about this stupid charade of her father's. "Thalia, it's me, Artemis."

"Artemis..." Thalia stopped to think. Then she gasped. The weird thing that has been tugging her mind suddenly became clear. "So that means that those were the Olympians that you were with!"

Artemis sighed. "Yes, that is true. It was our father's plan."

"Oh, my gods," Percy said, turning to Annabeth. He looked pale. "Your mother's been seeing us act like a couple!" He was still a bit scared of his girlfriend's mom.

"Wait a minute," Annabeth said. The events of the past week began replaying in her mind, then clicked into one conclusion. "Our parents were trying to break us up!"

"WHAT?" Percy exclaimed.

"WHAT?" Poseidon and Athena yelled behind them. They had followed their kids outside.

"It is true, isn't it, Mother?" Annabeth growled, ignoring how weird it felt to be calling someone her age mom. "My instincts are never wrong. That's one thing I got from you!"

Athena bowed her head. "We stopped, my daughter," she said. "We decided that it was wrong."

Poseidon dared a glance at Percy, who was looking at him in disbelief. "Hey, son," he said in his most casual voice.

"Hey, Dad," Percy squeaked.

Annabeth looked at her mother with a bit of hope. "So you approve of him now, then," she said. "I mean, I would think that it was enough accomplishment to have saved Olympus, Mom, but now, I hope you are convinced."

Athena smiled slightly and turned to Percy. "I approve of you, dear boy," she said. "You are very clever, and the important thing is that my daughter is happy with you. I suppose your lack of intelligence is not your fault...it's your father's."

"Mother!" Annabeth cried.

Poseidon shook his head, grinning. "Don't worry about it, Annabeth," he said. "One gets used to your mother's relentless complaints."

Athena smirked at him. "And one gets used to your father's endearing idiocy, Percy."

Annabeth and Percy looked at each other in horror. Now this was weird.

"Percy...let's get back inside," Annabeth said in an embarrassed voice.

"Not just yet," a deep voice said.

Zeus and Hera were there, with some of the gods in tow.

Thalia looked at the teenaged boy's dark hair and electric blue eyes. "Hey, Daddy," she said to Zeus. "Heard you were spying on us."

Zeus smiled at his daughter. "Somewhat," he admitted. "Though I mostly wanted to teach my fellow gods a lesson."

"Which you did," Hermes put in, appearing with Hades, Demeter, and the two pale demigods.

"I cannot believe this," Nico muttered. "The entire godly family has been here."

"You think you have a problem?" Lily cried. She was in shock. "Apparently, Greek gods exist and are roaming free in New York City, along with some monsters. And apparently, I am a daughter of a sixteen-year-old farming goddess." She sank on the pavement and placed her face in her hands. "This is so messed up."

"I am not really sixteen years old, darling," Demeter offered. "This is not my true form."

Nico sat down next to Lily and slipped his hand in hers, a very bold move for him. "Don't worry, I've been through this," he said. "Mine was even worse, because my sister turned into a Hunter and...and died."

The huntresses and Hades looked down. The memory of Bianca was still very fresh, like a new and painful wound.

"I'm sorry, Nico," Lily said softly. She had no idea what in the world a Hunter was, but Nico's experience sounded horrible.

"Yeah, so I've been through this," Nico repeated. "And I wouldn't let the same thing happen to you. I care about you, Lily." His face was flaming, and a bunch of people and gods were around, but he didn't care anymore. All he cared about was Lily.

"Thank you," Lily said, squeezing his hand.

Demeter caught the eyes of Hades and smiled. She liked this spawn of Hades. That son of Hermes, though...Demeter wasn't very sure, but she's willing to give it a try. Hades smiled back, relieved.

"And to celebrate this," Zeus said, "I am allowing all the gods to transform into their old selves, also without Aphrodite's clothes."

"Aw, come on," Aphrodite whined. "I worked hard for that!"

Zeus took out a silver cell phone, which immediately transformed into his trusty lightning bolt. He raised it.

A loud rumble of thunder was heard by everyone, then the Olympians switched back to their old forms.

"Finally," Artemis cried, looking at her non-curvy, pre-teen body.

Diana stared at her in astonishment. "So you weren't kidding," she managed.

"Definitely not," the goddess said. "So, do you want to be a Hunter?"

Diana thought for a moment, then smiled. "I'll hear about the details first, but I'm pretty sure I'll join."

A few feet away, Phoebe had cornered Thalia by the rosebushes.

"You were with that male," Phoebe said flatly.

Thalia winced. "I was hoping you forgot about that."

Phoebe sighed loudly and crossed her arms. "Look," she said. "I know you have this authority over me, considering you are the lieutenant, but I cannot help feeling that you should be setting a better example to the new Hunters."

"Lady Artemis allowed me to be friends with Death Breath and Seaweed Br—er, Nico and Percy," Thalia pointed out.

"They are your cousins," Phoebe retorted. "And yes, you are not really related completely because of the no-DNA whatsoever, but that counts. For you, at least."

"Exactly," Thalia said. "I think of Neil, that male, the same way. As a cousin, or maybe a little brother. I am in my twenties, in case you have forgotten," Thalia reminded her.

Phoebe scrutinized Thalia with unnerving blue eyes. Then she smiled. "I understand you," Phoebe said. "I was also very close to my brother Hugo, until he died in the 30s."

Thalia smiled back, sadly. Then they returned to the group of gods, demigods, and huntresses.

"Let us return to Mount Olympus for a party," Zeus suggested. He was met with blank stares.

"What?" he said defensively. "This high school thing brought back the two-thousand-six-hundred-year-old teen in me."

Everyone cheered.

"Wait, where's Apollo?" Hermes asked.

"Here I am," Apollo said, appearing from behind some bushes. He looked grim-faced.

"What's wrong?" Hestia asked.

"I was dancing with this really cute girl named Mimi"—Cue terrified look from Percy—"then I stopped dancing to get some punch. Suddenly, I turned into my godly form again, and girls started swarming over me."

"Swarming me," Athena corrected. "No 'over'."

"Whatever," Apollo said. "Anyway, Mimi thought I abandoned her, so she started crying again and ran out. So I pushed past a bunch of girls—a bunch of really cute girls, mind you—and chased after her."

"What happened?" everyone, even Percy, asked in unison.

"She was kissing some other guy," Apollo said disgustedly.

At that, Percy raised his eyebrows. "Really?"

Apollo nodded, still looking disgusted. "Girls are such two-timers."

The Hunters began coughing loudly, while Artemis smirked. "Says the guy who dated a movie star and a model at the same time," Artemis said, rolling her eyes.

Apollo sighed. "Oh, well. I'm a god. I couldn't get into a serious relationship anyway."

"Party at Olympus," Ares interrupted, changing the subject. He couldn't wait to get out of this high school drama junk.

Apollo smiled hugely, his bad mood forgotten. "Yay. I love parties. What's the theme?"

Zeus looked at his son straight in the eye. "The theme is 'High School Dance.'"

Before anyone can protest, the god of the skies teleported everyone to Olympus.

~The End~

Wheww. :D That was really exhausting to write. But fun, too. Did you like the ending? REVIEW, please. Thanks for your continuous support, guys. Love you all! :DDDD