Chapter 13

Artemis POV

I was a little unsure of how to feel when Percy adopted Melissa. I mean I was happy for them, to be honest it took longer than I thought it would for him to make the decision. But there were a few things that I couldn't stop thinking about after the two of them left. The first was how Percy had consulted me before making the decision, I don't mean he asked from the standpoint of possible adopting her from her legal guardian a.k.a. me.

Instead he asked as if it was a decision we needed to make as a couple, which made me feel strange in a way that I couldn't figure out. The second is the fact that since I had given her my blessing she was technically my daughter, and now that he adopted her he was her father. I was her mother and he was her father, that very thought made me smile.

When he returned that night and put Melissa down to bed I couldn't help but note how good he was with kids 'he's so good with kids it's no wonder he's such a good father' I thought. Percy sat down next to me and we began talking about his day. When he made his comment about his mother thinking I was pregnant I felt myself blush "Not right now but maybe someday." I thought to myself only to realize a moment later that had I said it a loud.

"What was that?" Percy asked

"Nothing." I said quickly an hour later I went to bed.

At around 6 I heard Percy raised the alarm so I threw on some clothes and ran outside. Standing in front of him was what looked like the female version of that Silver guy we had met. She explained who she was or at least that she was friends with Silver and needed our help. I was a little weary of her but Silver had save Thalia so I guess I owed him "Leave your weapons here and we can talk about it over breakfast." I said she nodded and started placing her weapons on the ground. 'How can she be so trusting' I thought as she walked into camp completely unarmed.

"So what is your name?" I asked.

The girl put her hand on her chin as if she was thinking then said "You can call me Grey." 'Grey is kind of an odd name for a girl' I thought.

"Your name is Grey?" Thalia asked probably thinking the same thing as me.

"No it's not." Grey said flatly "But I can't tell you my real name and you need to call me something."

"Why can't you tell us your real name?" Atlanta asked. Grey didn't answer her but I understood.

"You're an illegal born like Silver aren't you." I said.

Grey faced me "That is correct." she said.

"Are you his sister?" I asked.

"Nope aunt actually." she said.

"But you're about the same age?" I questioned.

"I was born later in my parents/his grandparents life, our birthdays are actually a month apart." she said with a shrug as a few of my hunters came back with breakfast.

It had been a while since we stocked up on supplies so breakfast consisted mostly of jerky but Grey didn't complain. In fact she practically inhaled her portion. "Thank you" she said. "Its been weeks since I've had anything decent to eat."

"What have you been eating then?" Phoebe asked

"Mostly nuts and berries that I've gathered while on the move." she said. Feeling sorry for her I offered her more jerky which she gratefully accepted.

Once Grey was done eating Thalia asked the question we all wanted to know "What exactly happened to Silver, I mean I've seen him in action how could some one that strong get captured by a few measly monsters".

Grey shook her head "Well first off it wasn't as you said 'a few measly monsters' it was around 300 hundred." Grey said.

Thalia looked shocked and was about to ask another question but Grey held up a hand "Let me explain first before you ask any more questions." she said. "I'm sure you know about the factions that have started forming, Me and Silver have been trying to take down the larger ones before they get too dangerous.".

"When we learned about this one Silver wanted to just go in solo like he usually does and clear it out but I was worried about him taking on so many by himself, sure he's a good fighter but that was a lot even for him. So I decided to go with him just to be safe, we scouted the area like usual to get an idea of the terrain and the kinds of monsters we'd be up against. I had a bad feeling but couldn't find a reason not to attack. Based on what we'd learned the two of us should have been able to take them down without to much trouble. Before I continue there's something you need to know, most of the factions tend to reach about a hundred strong and stop growing for some reason. For the longest time I couldn't figure out why at least until this faction. The answer is leaders, the size of the faction depends on the strength of the leader both mentally and physically".

At hearing this I couldn't help but ask "If that's true then what kind of a leader could make a faction so large?".

"Enceladus." Grey replied.

"What do you mean Enceladus he died on mount diablo." Thalia said.

"Apparently he has reformed because he's the reason Silver got captured, shortly after we began our attack Enceladus showed up and as you know a giant of his kind can only be killed by a god and demigod working together. We were getting overwhelmed because we couldn't fight him and the other monsters at the same time. Silver seeing we were going to lose told me to run while he held them of. I didn't want to but he said there was no point in both of us dying and shoved me towards the forest near their camp."

Grey said starting to cry at the last part. "You know I hate to say this but there's a good chance he'd dead."Phoebe said

"NO!" Grey cried completely losing her calm and collected attitude "They wouldn't kill him he has information that Enceladus wants. They'll only kill him if they can't break him!".

"I would go in after him and try to break him out myself but Enceladus is a master strategist. He know's that me and Silver tend to work alone." Grey said "Thats why I came to you Enceladus wouldn't be expecting me to come back with with any kind of help let alone Artemis and her hunters."

I had to admit she made a fair point plus we owed him a debt for saving Thalia. "Ok we'll help." I said "But we need you to tell us everything you know about the land and the monsters we'll be facing.". Over the next hour Grey told us everything she could then we packed up and headed out, but not until I had Nico pick up his sister Hazel, whose pregnancy was just starting to show, because this could get pretty bad and it was just too dangerous for a pregnant woman to be there.

Percy POV

Two days after Grey arrived I found myself with the hunters surrounding Enceladus' camp which looked like a war zone. Monsters were getting healed, tents had been knocked over and shredded, and there were craters in the ground from I don't know what.

If you asked me it looked like the place had just been raided, there may have been 300 of them at one time but now there was maybe 160 and out of them only 110 were fighting capability. Artemis had elected to keep some of the newer Hunters back at Camp Half Blood because this was just and extraction op and we only needed the more experienced hunters. I was grateful because Melissa was one of the ones sent to camp.

We still had around 24 hunters with us which should be enough to get Silver out of there. I watched as Artemis gave the signal and monsters started dropping like flies. The hunters were like assassins the way the took out the sentries using the moonless night to their advantage. I saw a small light flash in my direction 'that's my cue' I thought as I charged into the camp. Grey came up with our plan and it really was quite good.

Enceladus had set up camp next to a cliff and river to provide him some cover and limit the areas he had to defend. First we have the hunters take out the sentries on the northern side along with any witnesses. While me, Thalia, and Grey attack from the south where the river was so I would have added strength and more soldiers would be called over to fight us.

Meanwhile Artemis would go with the hunters to the cave where Enceladus was torturing Silver for information. I could hear his screams and it only made me fight harder, in my eyes he was a true hero in giving up his life to save his aunt. I heard a small explosion and saw Artemis had engaged Enceladus she looked ok thank goodness, but several of her hunters were lying on the ground moaning in pain.

I waded through the monsters letting my mind go on autopilot as I made my way to the hunters. Enceladus looked at us and saw that his remaining force were falling like rain during a storm "Retreat!" he yelled breathing fire at Artemis before he turned tail ran along with the remaining monsters.

I ran over to the hunters and checked them to make sure the were alright. Thankfully it turns out that the explosion didn't do any lasting damage. The hunters were mostly just stunned, Atlanta and another hunter named Kate came out of the cave with a severely injured and unconscious Silver between them.

While Phoebe followed carrying all of Silver weapons which included his two hand and a half swords, six throwing knives if you count the one we had, his bow, a nine inch dagger, and two hunting knives. Boy did this kid have a lot of weapons or what? She also had his sunglasses on her head and his cloak over her shoulder which surprisingly look perfectly clean.

"How does he look?" Artemis asked Atlanta who was cleaning and bandaging his wounds. "He has 3 broken ribs along with a broken left leg and right arm, and these black spots I think are from having a heated metal rod pressed against his skin. He also has several deep cuts that I believe are from a whip on his back and a bad stab wound in his side although it doesn't look fatal. There's also a number of minor cuts and bruises that shouldn't be a problem.

The only thing I don't get is this." she said pointing to the separate wounds in turn before going to his left arm which had a purple blotch on it just below the shoulder. "It's not a bruise or anything in fact it seems perfectly fine." Atlanta said.

"Don't worry about it." Grey said kneeling next to Silver.

"What is it?" I asked not willing to let it go.

"Since me and Silver are illegal born when we attack a group of monsters or interact with demigods or gods we put on this purple dye to cover up any distinguishing marks such as birth marks or tattoos." She said which made sense.

"There's also one more thing." Atlanta said looking at Grey warily "When we went into the cave to get Silver we heard Enceladus say word for word 'give me the name's and this will all end, its not like you're saving anyone. They're all going to die in the end hero and you coming back from the future isn't going to save them.' Now I don't know about you guys but I'm officially confused." Atlanta said. All our eyes turned to Grey who looked like she wanted to smack Atlanta.