Chapter 23

Percy POV

I was so happy to hear those words I ran over to Artemis picked her up bridal style and spun her around laughing. Once we settled down I set her back on the bed, gave her a kiss and headed down to the kitchen. As I stepped off the stairs the smell of bacon permeated the air 'Who the heck is that.' I thought Melissa and Artemis were upstairs. It could be Nico he had stopped by to grab lunch once on his way to a meeting but he usually gave me a heads up first.

Looking in the kitchen I found Sam (normal looks) and Luna making blue pancakes and eggs, how they made the egg yolks blue as well I don't know. I knocked on the door frame getting their attention "Um two questions one why are you in here and two how did you get in I thought I locked the door."

"First off we're your kids remember we know every single way to get in and out of here." Luna laughed.

"And second it's Zoe's 6th birthday today so we put her to bed upstairs and we're making breakfast. Don't worry about not having any birthday presents we got you, mom, and Melissa covered." Sam said.

I didn't really know what to say so I just made Artemis her food and headed back to our room. Closing the door behind me I turned to my beautiful wife. "Um just so you know we're going to need to go down the hall in a minute." I said handing her her food.

"Why is that?" she asked.

I sat down next to her and said "Well apparently it's Zoe's 6th birthday today and her siblings snuck her and themselves in. She's asleep in the room at the end of the hall and Luna and Sam are making her a birthday breakfast downstairs".

"It's her birthday! What's the date! Crap we don't even have any birthday presents for her!" Artemis exclaimed becoming more panicked by the second.

"Arty calm down." I said. She scowled at me for calling her Arty but calmed down. "It's April 2nd and Sam said that he and Luna have us covered as far as presents go." I said.

Someone knocked at the door "Who is it?" Artemis called before slapping a hand over her mouth.

"It's Luna can I come in?"

"Sure." I said.

Luna poked her head in "The food and everything is ready so come on." Luna said before looking unquestioningly at Artemis "And just saying it might be best if you didn't answer for dad while you two are alone in his bedroom." she added with a cheeky grin.

"We'll be right there." I said.

Sam was already waiting in front of Zoe's room with Melissa, quietly we open the door and walked in "On three" Luna whispered "one, two, three, Happy Birthday Zoe!" we all shouted waking her up. Artemis picked Zoe up and carried her down to the kitchen while I did the same with Melissa who was still a little sleepy.

Breakfast was perfect, the food tasted great but more importantly everyone was happy. Zoe sat in her mother's lap while Melissa sat in mine. Luna and Sam teased Zoe a bit about her getting older and she teased Luna back about a little hair cut she got during a sparring match with one of the kids from Athena's cabin. Luna did a completely over dramatic pout which got everyone laughing. I looked at Artemis and we shared a look that said 'If life is like this in the future we'll be just fine'.

After breakfast Zoe opened her presents 'Luna covertly passed me Artemis and Melissa the ones from us.' she got a small knife from Artemis, a silver seashell bracelet from Melissa, a brand new teddy bear from me, and Sam gave her a necklace with a silver horse on it which earned a hug from Zoe "She really likes horses." Luna whispered.

Luna gave Zoe a sea green bow "This is the same bow I got for my sixth birthday." Luna said. "Also we going to be leaving camp with the hunters, if that's okay with you." she added looking at Artemis.

"Yes of course it's fine." Artemis said, Luna got up to leave with Zoe but Artemis asked her to stay because she wanted to talk about something so we let Melissa and Zoe go outside to play while we talked.

Artemis POV

"Not that I'm complaining but why are you choosing now to join the hunt instead of when you first arrived." I asked Luna.

"That's because Zoe can't keep a secret that well, we would have been busted in like a day." She replied "Besides Sam and the others are leaving at the same time so I thought it would be best to leave."

"Why don't you have Sam come with us?" I asked.

She shook his her "Sam has been adamant that we need to have two or three groups at least on the move. If the hunters make one then he and the others will be the second and third.".

"But what if his energy spikes again?" I countered.

"That's a risk we're going to have to take." Luna said "And on that note why don't you have more control over it I mean you've had three months." she said to Sam who was apparently standing by the door.

"What do you mean you've only had it for three months!" Percy Demanded.

Luna sighed "Well you remember the battle in the future we told you about, the one where we lost half the demigod army?" I nodded "Well while me and pretty much everyone else was dead, Sam single handedly decimated the enemy army." Luna said

"We know, Grey already told us that." Percy said "Leveled a whole mountain right?"

"True but what she didn't tell you is we don't know how he did it." Luna said "Before this battle Sam only had his hard earned skills with his bow, swords,and knives and a little bit of a hunters blessing, but after everyone died he well.."

"I blacked out." Sam said "I felt wave of power shoot threw me and next thing I know I'm laying on what used to be a mountain being healed by Apollo while Poseidon aka grandpa, and dad held me down." Sam said cringing.

"I had no control over my power." he said "It wasn't until Hestia came that I even learned to lock it away by giving up my eyesight in exchange. Since then I have been training to control it but I still can't handle more than 40% at a time without losing control." I was shocked to say the least but Apollo was on his way here and it would be kinda tough to explain what was going on without telling him more about the future so we said goodbye to Sam and Luna for the meantime.

Thalia POV

I looked out the window of Artemis' cabin and watched the campers go about their business. I wasn't aloud to even leave the cabin any more because even though I had only been pregnant for about three weeks. Sadly because I'm immortal anyone with a brain would think I was several months pregnant. So until the hunters left I was stuck here watching the campers in complete boredom. I saw Zoe and Melissa run out of Percy's palace seemingly playing a game of tag, and I couldn't help but notice how much she looked like her mother.

A few minutes later I heard the door open and saw Zoe and Melissa dragging a bag that was too big for them to lift inside. "What in the bag?" I asked.

"Candy." Melissa said.

"We won it off of that some dumb Apollo kid." Zoe added. They offered me a few candy bars which I accepted and stashed under my bed before going to sleep.

I was awakened by the sound of someone saying "Holy!" I opened my eyes to see Artemis and Luna standing in the doorway looking at floor. I couldn't help but laugh at what they were looking at, Melissa and Zoe were laying on the floor. Melissa was groaning in discomfort which I guessed was largely due to the 30 or so now empty candy wrappers on the floor next to her.

Zoe didn't appear to have eaten as much but had past out any way from the amount of sugar she had eaten. Apollo walked in and saw the two of them on the floor "Should I come back later?" he asked which woke up Zoe.

"No, no you're fine." Artemis said and I pulled up my blankets in an attempt to hide the fact I was pregnant.

"Um Milady why is Apollo here?" I asked giving her a look that said 'what the heck are you doing'.

Artemis got the message and said "Don't worry my brother has agreed not to tell anyone about our pregnancies. He actually is here to make sure the babies are okay." I nodded.

"Could you sit up please?" Apollo asked and I did, he simply put a hand on my stomach. "Your baby is fine." he said after a moment "And if you don't mind me asking who is the father?" I looked at Artemis who confirmed I was okay to proceed.

"Nico Di Angelo." I said.

Apollo smiled and shook his head "Father is going to have a heart attack when he finds out."

"Well he'll just have to suck it up." I said.

Apollo laughed and head for the door. As he past Zoe who had climbed on top of one of the bunk bed she jumped onto his shoulders. Zoe sat on Apollo's shoulders wrapped one arm around his forehead and screamed "NUGIE" before grinding her little fist into the top of his skull. It took Apollo a grand total of 3 seconds to pull Zoe off his head but by then it already looked like a rats nest.

Artemis and Luna fell to the ground laughing, Apollo on the other hand looked pissed as he held Zoe up in front of him. Zoe gave Apollo the most innocent smile I had ever seen and I watched as his look of rage melted. He gently set her down "You're so lucky you're cute." he mumbled before walking out.

"That is hands down the cutest nugie I have ever seen.". I laughed