Chapter 12

Artemis POV

After flashing Percy back to camp I went back to my palace to change but immediately came face to face with Aphrodite as soon as I flashed in "Ahhhhhhhhhhh!" I screamed nearly slapping the goddess. "Aphrodite what are you doing here?"

"I was just wondering how your date went." Aphrodite said

"How do you even know I had a date and more importantly how did you even get in?" Artemis replied.

Aphrodite held up a key "I got it from Apollo in exchange for having my husband giving his chariot a tune up."

Aphrodite said "Ugh I'm gonna kill him."

"Ya but worry about that later now c'mon the date?"

I sighed "Ok the quick version we got pizza me and him officially became boyfriend girlfriend, met his parents, went to the museum and ran into Athena."

"Athena what was she doing there?" Aphrodite asked

"I'm getting to that." I said "She was there for the new exhibits but was doing a bit more than that."

"What do you mean?" Aphrodite asked

"You'll have to ask her about it, anyway we went to the hospital after that because his mom went into labor, I saved her and his new sister's life, he wanted to know how I did it…" I said explaining in depth what happened at the hospital right up until he went back to camp.

"So let me get this straight, he found out you lied to him and you two still proceeded to have a ten minute make out session." Aphrodite said grinning ear to ear.

"Not how I would put it but yes." I said.

Aphrodite had a look that was a mix between dumbstruck and pure excitement"What is it?" I asked trying to understand the look on her face.

"You don't understand what that means do you?" she said flatly.

"I guess not," I said questioningly Aphrodite looked at me incredulously.

"His fatal flaw is loyalty lying to him should have at least put a little stress on the relationship but instead he has a ten minute make out session. For that to be his reaction after only two dates he either fell for you as Diana hard or he was already in love with you as Artemis, but wasn't doing anything about it because he thought that nothing could ever happen between you. My guess is the later because I doubt two dates was enough to heal his heart to that extent." I stared at her for a moment.

"You know people are wrong about you, you do have a brain inside that head of yours."

Aphrodite huffed and said. "Of course." as she walked out.

I sat on the edge of my bed, my mind reeling from what she just said I may not have understood all of it but I did get one thing clear as day 'Percy LOVES ME, HE LOVES ME A LOT' I thought to myself over and over again practically screaming for joy in my head while I changed into my usual hunters clothing.

I flashed to my private room in my cabin, sat down at my desk and started going through the usual reports from the other Olympians about what's going on in their domains and throwing away the married proposals from the minor gods that actually had the the nerve to ask and over paper no less. 'grow a pair why don't you I would still say no but you should at least have the decency to ask me in person.' I thought throwing away another one.

I looked at the clock and saw it was 10:30 am 'looks like I pulled another all nighter' I thought. Right then Thalia opened the door " Lady Artemis can I talk to you?"

"Sure." I said

"Have a seat." I said gesturing to one on the other side of my desk. She closed and locked the door which gave off a small blue glow. I had Heceta enchant the room to be sound proof so my hunters could come to me with their problems and know that it would be just between us.

Thalia took a deep breath and said "I'm resigning my post as your lieutenant I'm leaving the hunt." I was shock to say the least

"Why?" I asked.

"I fell in love with a boy and I want to at least have chance with him." She said setting her tiara on the table the signified her as my lieutenant 'a boy' I thought with a hint of anger 'how dare she leave the hunt for a boy.'

I wanted to get mad I wanted to scream at her telling about all the evils of men, but how could after all I fell in love with a man. 'Percy's not like other men.' I thought 'he's one of the few truly good one's that aren't cheating jerks.' then I had an idea.

Looking up from my desk I noticed Thalia was there waiting to be dismissed still showing her respect for me "Who is it?" I asked.

Thalia seem a little confused "What do you mean?" she asked.

"Who is the boy you're willing to leave the hunt for?" I said, noticing the nervous look she got I quickly added.

"I swear I'm not going to hurt him I just want to know."

She relaxed a bit "Nico, Milady."

"The one that joined us on our most recent hunt?" she nodded. I thought to myself on what I knew about him I really didn't know much so I decide to ask someone who did 'Percy' I said speaking into his mind.

'WHAT ARTEMIS' Percy thought somewhat frantically.

'Are you ok?' I asked.

'ya I'm fine um quick question can you see me?' he asked

'no' I said

'ok good so what can I help you with?'

'I need to know a little bit about your friend Nico's personality and how he acts towards girls I'll explain the why later' I said.

'oookay he can be a little moody but all in all he's very kind and has the utmost respect for girls I guess that's what happens when your from the 1940's'.

'Thanks' I said breaking the link.

"Thalia what would say if I allowed you to date Nico and still be my lieutenant I'll change your oath so you can date him without breaking it."

Thalia's expression went from dumbstruck to shear joy. "Really" she said "You would let me stay?"

"yes" Thalia ran around my desk and hugged me like her life depended on it the whole time saying "thank you" over and over again before heading to the door with a slight spring in her step.

Thalia POV

As I was heading to the door I couldn't help but smile not only was I allowed to date Nico but I didn't have to leave the hunt. 'why would she let me do that' I thought stopping myself as I reached for the lock. I turned around"Why?"I asked.

"hm" she said looking up from her forms "Sorry what was that?"

"Why would would let me date Nico and stay in the hunt not that I'm complaining but I just don't understand."

I could see nervousness and maybe a little fear streak across her face "No reason." she said a little too quickly.

"No there's something more to it now spill." I said taking a seat across from her and folding my arms, Artemis tried futilely to convince me there was nothing to 'spill' but I didn't buy it.

She seemed to figure out that I wasn't going to let this go and said "Fine but you have to swear on styx not to tell anyone."

I agreed, taking a deep breath she said "Imayhaveaboyfriendofmyown." she said quickly.

"Could say that again so that I can understand you?" I asked "

I may have a boyfriend of my own." she said I was glad I was sitting because I'm pretty sure I would have fallen over if I was standing.

"YOU'RE DATING SINCE WHEN? WITH WHO?" I yelled.

"About two weeks now and as for who I'll tell you when I'm ready."she said"And one more thing I want you to keep your's and Nico's relationship a secret although you may tell Percy about yours and yours alone. My reasoning for this is because I'm using our two relationships as a sort of test run if they workout I plan on allowing the whole hunt to do the same as long as I approve of the boy. If they don't then at least we save the rest of the hunt from the same pain." I nodded and left to find Nico.

time skip 1 hour

Right after I left Artemis's cabin I had found Nico at the infirmary still a little stiff but up and moving. He asked me if I join him for a walk I agreed because I was going to ask him the same thing. We walked and talked I was a little nervous and he seemed to be to though I couldn't figure out why. Eventually we ended up where we are now which was the grove where the cloven elders met although there was no one here now. "Um Thalia there's something that I wanted to tell you."

I felt butterflies in my stomach but forced myself to keep calm "What's that?" I asked

"When I was still in the hunters infirmary this rather strange thing happened."

'Does he know that I kissed him ? Is he mad. No he couldn't know he was unconscious.' I thought

"Well I thought I felt someone kiss me on the lips and I was wondering if you had any idea who it was." he said staring at me

'He felt me kiss him but doesn't seem to know its was me but I'm pretty sure I heard sarcasm there AHHH!!! I'm freaking out too much to think straight'

"I'm not mad or anything I would just like to know who it was." he said and I thought I could see a faint smirk but I was try not to look at him because I was blushing

'He knows its me! He's just messing with me.' I simply nodded then said "Nico the reason I'm here is because of a conversation I had with Artemis." Nico paled a bit 'Ha ha so how does it feel to be the one getting messed with.' I thought.

I decided to change the story up a bit so I could have a little more fun. "You see there's this hunter who was planning on leaving the hunt for a boy and well Artemis wasn't exactly happy about it." I said pulling out a hunting knife. "She change my oath so that I would be able to do what I needed to do without any hindrance." with that I pinned him to a tree and pressed the knife to his neck I knew he couldn't shadow travel while I had a knife to his neck so he wasn't going anywhere.

"T-Thalia" Nico said putting up his hands "just calm down we can talk about this."

"Oh I don't intend to do much talking." I said doing my best to give him a cold smile "She gave me the capability to do this and I intend to." he closed his eyes probably trying to figure out what was happening as soon as he did I tossed the knife to the side grabbed both sides of his unzipped aviators jacket and pulled him towards me crashing my lips onto his.

Nico POV

I stood there trying to figure out what Artemis had done to Thalia. I couldn't believe I was about to die I would have shadow traveled but with the knife to my neck I couldn't risk it without hurting myself or worse Thalia.

I closed my eyes trying to think of a way out when I felt the knife leave my neck and heard a soft thud 'Please tell me she's coming back to her senses.' I thought before she grabbed the front of my jacket and pull me into a passionate kiss. I'll admit out of all my thoughts about what was going to happen on our little 'walk' this was not one of them.

At first I was too stunned to react or even move for that matter. Thalia pulled back after I didn't move for a while "Nico I love you" she said while I just stood there dumbstruck. When I didn't say it back right away she got a hurt look in her eyes and ran

"Thalia wait." I screamed running after her 'man I can't believe I screwed up my best chance to be with her this much.' I thought.

Thalia POV

Tears streamed down my face as I ran "Thalia wait." I heard Nico yell "Come back." I ignored him and kept running as his the sound of his voice faded behind me. After what felt like hours I collapsed next to a rock and hugged myself as I cried.

"Thalia is that you?" Someone said I looked up to see Percy sitting next to the same rock looking stressed.

"Percy...snif...snif...what are you doing here."I asked.

"Just trying to clear my head."he said "You?"

"I'd rather not talk about it but what happened you look stressed?" I asked.

He looked at me for a moment and said"How about we make a deal I'll tell you about it if you spill why you're here crying."

Percy POV

"Deal." Thalia said looking around"Are we at Zeus's fist?"she asked.

"Yep." I said we sat for a while and she just looked at me expectantly "Oh guess you want me to go first." she nodded.

Flash back

Italic is Percy's and Thalia's comments

I woke up in cabin 3 later than usual which is to say about 10. So I brushed my teeth and was in the middle of a shower when Artemis contacted me. Although I left that part out of my story. I went to the sword arena to to practice a little bit. Then I had my lessons with the first years which I spent most of teaching them the correct stances.

After that I went to the big house where Chiron was talking to two new demigods "...it's amazing you lasted so long on your own." Chiron said to the older one who was maybe 16 or 17 with auburn hair and green eyes, she also had a two hand sword at her side. The younger one who was 4 or 5 clung to her leg. She had black hair and green eyes I chuckled watching her, she was clearly shy but her curiosity got the better of her as she peered around the older girl's leg.

"Our parents did their best to keep me and my sister safe." she said gesturing to the black haired girl "When things started getting bad they sent us here."

Chiron nodded "And you said that your parents were demigods?" Chiron asked skeptically.

"Yes and no, our dad was a descendant of Poseidon he even gave us this letter as proof." She said taking out a brownish yellow letter that looked about 80 years old and handed it to Chiron.

Needless to say I was shocked as Chiron read the letter before narrowing his eyes before looking up and seeing me "Ah Percy just the man I needed could you verify that this is Poseidon's royal seal." he said handing me the letter. The seal glowed as soon as I grabbed the letter"Yep that's it alright." I said handing it back.

"My dad has been teaching all kinds of stuff like that since his divorce with Amphitrite." I told Thalia.

Chiron stared at the letter for a little while longer then said "Well Percy I guess you should introduce yourself to your new cabin mates."

"Hi I'm Percy." I said holding out my hand.

"Luna" said the auburn haired girl as she shook it.

"And what's your name?" I asked the younger girl crouching down so we were the same height.

She looked around her sister leg and stared straight at me "Zoe" she said.

"How did you do that?" Chiron asked "I've been trying to talk to her for 2 hours and she wouldn't say a word to me."

"Really?" I said looking back Chiron.

"Sorry about that my sister is a little shy." Luna said

"No no its fine." I said standing up "Have you had the tour yet?" Luna shook her head.

"Well than I'll give you the tour, follow me." I said walking away with Luna and Zoe in tow. I showed them the basketball court, volley ball pit, archery range, and the sword arena before we went to the cabins where most of the campers were on free time before lunch.

Zoe would hide behind her sister leg when anyone walked by or tried talking to her and it really didn't help when Claress's sister Kelli showed up."Looks like we got some newbies." she said walking up to us

"Great observation Einstein now you can go." I said

"Why Percy I'm hurt I'm just trying to be friendly." she said sarcastically turning her attention to Luna "So what's your name?" she asked as a few of her siblings surrounded Luna.

"Luna" she said.

I felt a pull on my pants and looked down to see Zoe had moved away from Luna and was now clinging to my leg."Well Luna we a little initiation for newbies and guess what it's time for yours." Kelli said as her two brothers each grabbed one of Luna's arms.

One of them said"Time to go babe."and started pulling her towards the bathroom I was about to move in and help but when they past one of the water fountains the water in it shot out and blasted the two children of Ares. "Oh did I forget to mention that they're going to be staying in my cabin." I said

Luna put on a sweet smile "There's two things you need to know first my name is not babe it's Luna and second touch me or my sister and you'll be taking an extended stay in the infirmary." she said walking back to me.

"Well Luna." Kelli said pulling out her sword "You should know that know one gets away with messing with a child of Ares."and charged Luna.

Luna on the other hand didn't even look phased, when Kelly got within 3 feet of her she side stepped her sword as Kelli swung at her and gave a hard punch to the gut sending her sprawling. I gave out a low whistle.

"Nice job." I said she just nodded. "respect" Thalia said.

I showed her our cabin and was helping them get settled when the horn blew"Time for lunch I announced."

"I missed lunch ? ah man" Thalia whined.

We lined up outside and walked into the mess hall where the Poseidon table was now fixed so we had a place to sit. I got up to give my offerings to Poseidon and Artemis, followed by Luna and Zoe who just offered to Poseidon. When me and Luna sat down Luna looked around and said. "Where did Zoe go." with a hint of panic in her voice.

I looked around"There." I said pointing to the hunters table.

Zoe had followed the hunters back to their table and was chatting with the hunters I kinda wondered why she wasn't shy around them but shook it off. Luna visible calmed down and went to get her sister.

"Zoe you scared me half to death." Luna said picking up her sister.

"I'm sowwy." Zoe said pouting.

"It's ok just don't do it again." Luna said turning her attention to the hunters

"I'm sorry if my sister bothered you."

"No its fine."Phoebe said Luna nodded and walked back to dad's table and we talked for a bit.

When we finished eating the three of us headed back to our cabin where we ran into Annabeth.

"Oh this is gonna be good." Thalia said though I wasn't sure if it was meant sarcastically or not.

"Hey Percy"she said

"What are you doing here"I replied coldly.

"I just wanted to talk."

"Fine." I said then turned to Luna and Zoe and told the to go inside which they did but Luna chose to remain in the doorway and I got the feeling she was staying there so I could have some kind of moral support which I was thankful for. "So what did you want to talk about." I said.

She looked at me and said "Me and Max broke up he cheated on me with some daughter of Venus from the roman camp."

I couldn't help but laughed"So the cheater got cheated on talk about Irony."

Annabeth on the other hand looked hurt "Percy I'm sorry about what I did. Could you forgive me." several responses went through my mind but I decided to be honest.

"I honestly don't know, I loved you and you broke my heart for some guy you had known for just a few weeks." I said "Worse you had an affair with him for a month before you decided to break up with me."

Annabeth was crying and I started to feel guilty but those feeling quickly died out as I remembered what she did. "Percy I-I want to get back together." she said.

"No" I said flatly and without hesitation. "I moved on I even have a girlfriend now and I'm not giving that up just because you realized your mistake.".

"But Percy, you said you loved me." Annabeth countered.

"Yes loved past tense." I said "We're done."

"Percy please I love you." she said and with that she kissed me I pushed her off as quickly as I could.

"Percy." I heard someone say I turned to see Artemis looking at me and she was mad.

"Lady Artemis I can explain" I said but she stomped of somewhere I turned to Annabeth and said"We are done, we're over understand." I went to talk to Artemis when Luna walked up to me and asked why Artemis was mad I told her how I had become guardian of the hunt.

Artemis saying that I was different from other boys who cheated all the time, and that she knew I had a girlfriend named Diana. "So she probably thinks I just cheated on Diana so now I just lost her trust."

Luna thought for a sec then said "I'll go talk to her and explain what happened."She turned to Zoe and told her to stay in the cabin then ran off after Artemis.

End Flashback

"I was stressing out so much I decided to take a walk and ended up here." Percy said.

Thalia POV

I felt sorry for Percy after hearing his story"So what about you?" he asked I sighed knowing that I had to own up to our deal.

"Well the quick version is I fell in love with a boy."

"Really who?" Percy said slightly shocked.

"I'm getting to that so if you want to hear the story be quiet and let me talk."I snapped Percy just nodded "As I was saying I fell in love with a boy and went to Artemis to tell her I was leaving the hunt. She asked me why and I told her. At first I thought she was going to get mad but instead she just asked who, I really didn't want to answer in case she was going to punish him for me leaving. But she promised that she was just curious so I told her the truth, that I was leaving for Nico" I said

Percy opened his mouth to say something but one glare from me and he decided to drop it."Artemis thought for a little bit then said she would let me stay in the hunt and date Nico because he was a good guy."

"Then why are you so upset?"Percy asked"I would think you'd be happy."

"I'm upset because when I told Nico how I felt he just stood there staring at me like I dropped from outer space."I said.

Percy got a confused look then asked"Just curious how long did you give him to process this information?"

I thought for a moment"3 seconds I think?" even to me that sounded like a really short amount of time

"Well there you go." Percy said "You didn't give him enough time to process what you just said, he might not have even been rejecting you."

Just then I heard Nico calling my name"Well that's my cue to leave."Percy said getting and walking away.

I just sat there and waited for Nico to reach me, when he did I stood up "Nico look I'm sor…" I started to say but was cut off by a kiss from Nico

"I love you too Thalia." he said pulling away "I'm sorry I didn't say it back right away but I was caught off guard by the sudden switch from pretending to kill me to saying you love me."

"Its ok." I laughed starting to cry again but this time they were of joy and relief. I kissed him again then he sat down with his back to the boulders panting from chasing after me. I sat down next to him and laid my head against his chest, we didn't talk for a while we just sat there enjoying each others company.

Artemis POV

I was sitting in my private room cry my eyes out I had locked the door so no one could hear me cry because it would raise too many questions.'How could Percy do this to me?!' I thought holding my knees against my chest'I thought he was one of the few exceptions to my beliefs about men, I thought he loved me but apparently I was wrong.' I heard a knock at the door and Phoebe say that there was a girl there to see me. I dried my tears and my clothes trying to calm myself down before opening the door, there was a young girl there with auburn hair and green eyes "Hello." I said as kindly as I could muster "Can I help you?"

"Yes" she said "my name is Luna and I was wondering if I could talk to you."

I invited her in"Please take a seat."I offered.

Once we were both seated she said "Ok I'll cut right to the chase I know you're mad about Percy kissing that girl but you don't know the whole story."

I was a little upset but manage to keep my cool "Enlighten me then." I said stiffly

"Ok so what happen was me, my sister, and Percy were heading back to our cabin."

"Wait you're a child of Poseidon as well?" I asked.

"No" she said "we're descendants of Poseidon, well anyway back to the point we got to our cabin and that blond girl was there. He told us to go inside but I decided to wait by the door so I could see what was going on."

"The girl said that she had had a bad break up with her new boyfriend and wanted Percy back he told her no and that he had loved her but he didn't anymore. He had moved on and now had a girlfriend that he loved."

'When she said that my heart raced slightly.'

"She said that she was sorry and she loved him that's when she kissed him he pushed her away and you called his name and got mad and he told her that they were over for good and that's what happen." Luna finished

"I think I have a better understanding now but why did you come instead of Percy?" I asked.

"I know about your general hatred towards men and I thought it might go over better if you heard it from a girl first."I nodded and said thank you before getting up and allowing her to leave.

As soon Luna left I told my hunters that I was going for a walk and that I'd be back in a bit. I found Percy walking back to camp along the stream "Percy." I called.

He looked up and made a beeline for me I looked around to make sure no one was around "Look Artemis I'm sorry about the kiss with Annabeth but she kissed me and I broke it off as fast as I could I swear on styx that is the truth."thunder boomed in the sky.

I hugged him and said"I know Luna explained everything, I should be the one apologizing I assumed the worst without knowing all the facts but it's nice that you apologized anyway."

He looked me in the eye"I thought it would be best if I apologized because I didn't want to lose you, I love you and that's not going to change."

"That's what I like to hear."I said pulling him into a kiss.

"Holy!"someone said both me and Percy went rigid. We slowly broke away and turned to see Hazel standing there with her mouth hanging open.

"Um hey Hazel." he said still holding me in his arms"Fancy meeting you here.".

Hazel's face gradually changed from one of shock to a more of a happy surprise "I knew it!" she shouted running towards us "I knew it, I knew it, I knew it!" she kept saying.

"How did you know?" I asked.

"Well I didn't know exactly." Hazel said to me "I did know you had a crush or something on Percy but I didn't know you two were together. How long has this been going on?".

"Hazel promise me you won't tell anyone about this and about 2 weeks or so." I said.

she got a mischievous smile "Ok" she said walking away "just make sure you two love birds don't stay out all night I mean you've only been together for 2 weeks."

My face reddened when I got her meaning, I looked up and Percy was blushing too "well that was awkward."he said.

"That would be an understatement." I said giving him a quick peck on the cheek "We should probably be heading back to camp." she said.

"Whatever you say Arty." I turned around to look at him with my eyebrow raised.

"Arty?" I said, he gave me a biggest cheesiest grin he could which succeeded in making me laugh "your lucky I love you." I said giving him a quick kiss.

Percy POV

Me and Artemis separated before getting back to camp because we...ok she thought it might look suspicious if we showed up together. An hour or so later Thalia and Nico showed up also at separate times and places but both were grinning like it was going out of style. "So I'm guessing it went well."I asked Thalia.

She blushed and said "Yes it did how about you."

"Got the whole thing worked out and I'm back on her good side." I said.

Third person POV

Over the rest of the month Percy joined the hunters on several hunts and they all had kinda the same pattern they'd track down our target and kill it. Then Thalia would usually disappear for a few hours to go out on a date with Nico. If the hunters asked any questions Percy or Artemis would say that Thalia was just delivering some reports which she actually did about every other time.

But there's now way it took 4 hours especially if Nico was shadow traveling. Percy and Artemis would do the same thing from time to time and would steal a kiss here and there. The hunters seemed to noticed the slight change in how they acted around each other but didn't really think anything of it.

However there came a slight shock one night, Percy had just finished his dinner and was now sitting around the campfire with the rest of the hunters, Phoebe was telling him about one of their past hunts. "Seriously?" Percy asked incredulously. "Apollo was just sleeping in the middle of camp wearing nothing but a pair of shorts holding a bottle of gin in his hand."

"Seriously Artemis was ticked, she even gave us permission to use him as target practice using our blunt arrows." Phoebe said and Percy started cracking up. "It was really fun when he got up and tried to run away. Turns out he was still drunk so he would flop all over the place.". Little Melissa was sitting in Percy's lap which wasn't unusual since the two were close.

Melissa yawned and started falling asleep, snuggling against his chest like a daughter would with her father Percy smiled "Good night Melissa."He said

"Good night daddy." she said falling completely asleep. The camp was completely silent at her words some were shocked but most were smiling. Percy was shocked but he couldn't stop himself from smiling down at the little girl. He put her to bed in her tent and took a while to think before calling up Apollo who was Melissa's father and formally asked if he could adopt her.

"Are you sure?" the sun god asked "There's a lot of work that goes into raising a kid."

"I'm sure." Percy replied. Apollo wasn't entirely happy about it but he agreed. Percy didn't tell anyone but Artemis about his plans. The next morning after breakfast he pulled Melissa aside "Melissa you're like a daughter to me, if you want I can adopt you." he said.

Melissa's eyes widened along with several of the hunters. Everyone was silent until Melissa hugged me screaming "Daddy!"

"So I take it that's a yes." Percy laughed Melissa nodded furiously.

"Then I guess I'll make it official." Hestia said appearing out of no where.

She started reciting what Percy thought was a spell. He didn't understand why it would be needed for a simple adoption but at the end her left hand started to glow and she touched Melissa's forehead saying "I Hestia goddess of the hearth and family proclaim you Melissa daughter of Percy Jackson, the hero of Olympus, son of Poseidon."Hestia took away her hand and Percy noticed that Melissa's sky blue eye;s were now more sea green with a blue tint, her brown hair was darker with streaks of black in it, and her skin was tanned like his naturally was. After a moment Percy realized what the spell was for, now she actually looked like his daughter.

Percy POV

Artemis and the hunters kept staring at Melissa, she being her blunt self said"What?" I laughed and made a mirror out of water so she could see her new looks "Cool!" she said looking at her reflection.

"Now Percy." Hestia said "I would recommend that you take your daughter to see her new grandparents and don't worry she can also breath under water now too." I smiled when she said your daughter 'that's right' I thought 'Melissa is my little girl now'

I looked at Artemis for permission she smiled and said "It's ok you can go in fact take the whole day off spend it with your daughter."

"Thank you." I said. Hestia snapped her fingers and I found myself and Melissa standing in front of my moms apartment "You ready to meet your grandma?" I asked Melissa put on a huge grin and nodded grabbing my hand.

I knocked on the door and waited. I figured that it was a Saturday so they would still be home and probably asleep, after a while my step dad Paul answered"Oh hey Percy."he said rubbing the sleep out of his eyes"What bring you here so early?"

"I kinda have big news, is mom up?" I asked

"Yes she's in the kitchen you're lucky you happened to catch her awake. Lizzy has been keeping us up a lot." he said letting me in. I walked into the living room and told Melissa to have a seat while Paul went to get my mom.

"Percy." my mom said giving me a hug"What are you doing here, Paul said you had big news?"

"I do." I said as Paul walked back in with Lizzy in his arms, I smiled at the thought of how they would react "I thought you and Paul should know that your grandparents now.". Mom and Paul's mouths dropped open.

"G-Grandparents." mom said "But you're 17 heck you and..." mom pause noticing for the first time that Melissa was there "..you and your girlfriend aren't even married yet.".

"Mom calm down me and her aren't having a baby...at least not right now. I meant that I decided to adopt." Mom calmed down and looked at Melissa

"Is this her?" she asked pointing to Melissa

"Yes." I said "Mom, Paul I would like you to meet my daughter Melissa" Mom despite her earlier reaction squealed like a little girl and ran over to Melissa.

"She looks like you." she said hugging her.

"Hestia did that when I officially adopted her." My mom nodded and started going on about how cute she looked and asking her a ton questions like what her favorite color was, her favorite food, etc.

Paul walked over to me and said "You gotta slow down with these surprises you're gonna give me a heart attack."

"Sorry Paul." I laughed. Me and and Melissa visited with them for a while then said our goodbyes and headed to the beach"You ready to see your Grandpa's palace?" I asked Melissa who was riding on my shoulders.

I cannon balled into the ocean and true to Hestia's word Melissa could breath in fact she didn't even get wet. I willed the currents to push us towards Dad's palace. The guards stopped us at the gate but let us through once I said who I was. "Percy, good I was about to send for you." Poseidon said when I entered the throne room. I hid Melissa behind me wanting her to be a surprise.

"What is it?" I asked curious why he would send for me since he rarely did, normally he'd just message me.

"You see after my divorce with Amphitrite Triton renounced his position as prince of the sea and my son for that matter and left with his mother. I hoped he would return to talk things out but he hasn't so I would like to offer the title to you. You would be the new prince of the and heir to my throne should anything happen to me." He said smiling warmly.

"Yes of course." I said getting over my initial shock

"Great."he said putting a hand on my shoulder"Now that that's settled what brings you here?"

"Oh sorry." I said remembering why I had come"Dad, I would like you to meet your new granddaughter Melissa." I said pulling her out from behind me.

"Hello lord Poseidon." she said bowing Poseidon crouched down so they were about the same height

"Hey I don't think that's the proper way to say hello to your grandpa." he said holding his arms open she slammed into him almost making him fall over.

"Hi Grandpa." she said hugging him.

"Whoa your a strong girl aren't you." he said "Did you tell your mother about this yet."

I laughed and said"Yes we actually just came from there, which reminds me how are thing going with you and your girlfriend. I heard from Artemis that you two were getting unusually hostile with each other, which is weird because she's been really nice to me." I asked worried about my dad.

Poseidon's smile faded into a stern expression "I'm working on it." he informed me, despite the anger in his voice I felt like it was fake, almost forced but I let it go. After that I took Melissa to the movies and we spent the rest of the day together having fun. When it got late I took her back to camp where the hunters were already asleep.

I tucked her in and gave her a kiss on the forehead before leaving her tent. Artemis was waiting for me by the fire, I sat down next to her with my back against a tree "So did you two have a fun day?" she asked giving me a quick peck on the lips. She rested her head against my chest and I held her.

"Ya we did, you should've seen how my mom reacted when I first told her she's was a grandmother." I laughed "She thought you were pregnant I straightened everything out though." Artemis laughed to

"Not right now but maybe someday." I was shock and she went rigid.

"What was that?" I asked "Nothing." she said quickly I decided to let it go. An hour later she went to bed and I started my patrol of camp, the night was uneventful but in the morning I spotted someone in a silver cloak coming towards camp. I raised the alarm and waited, at first I thought it was that Silver guy we had run into a few times but as they got closer I realized that it was a girl, like him she looked to be around 17, had her hood up, a mask over her face and a pair of sunglasses on. The only difference was her gender and weapon of choice which was a spear attached to her back made of celestial bronze.

"Who are you" Artemis said when she reach my side her bow drawn.

The girl held up her hands"I'm not here to fight." she said "I need your help."

I lowered riptide just a little bit "What is it that you need?" I asked

"I believe you've met my counterpart the one you call Silver." I nodded "He's been captured and I can't get him back by myself.".