Let's a go my lovely readers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Chapter Four: Someone explain!!!

Point of view: Third Person

"Can you talk to them now?" Lycaon gestures to the stunned gods.

"I'll try." Percy answers timidly.

"Try talking to him now." Lycaon tells Apollo and Artemis.

"Percy, are you okay?" Apollo asks.

Percy looks back at the cave entrance longingly. "Are you happy with Lycaon, Perseus?" Artemis asks softly.

Percy looks at her with fear. "Yes, are you going to shoot them?" He asks barely audible.

Artemis comes forward and lays a hand on Percy's shoulder. Lycaon has to keep Percy from moving away. "Do you like being here?" She asks.

"Yes. It's nice." Percy answers, straining away from Artemis.

"Do they treat you well?" Artemis asks.

"All the time. No one is ever mean and everybody loves each other." Percy smiles.

"And if Lycaon offers you to turn into a werewolf like him?" Artemis asks in a whisper.

"Lycaon and the others are better than those I left! I hate them all! I'd rather be hunted down by you and your sisters than go back to the evil people that left me to rot! I'd be honored to be like Lycaon! I hate you all!" Percy says and runs back into the cave with tears streaming down his face.

Lycaon looks after him sadly and sighs. "I fear he might never turn out the same. Whenever he sees something sharp, he backs away into the corner. I don't know how he even picked up a sword to run off with. Pure instinct runs through that boy. Though he was frightened, he knew it was needed for his survival."

"What are we going to do to help him?" Apollo leans against the nearest tree and puts a hand to his head.

Lycaon studies the twins for a minute and throws his hands up in the air. "Wait here, I'll go get him. I have an idea. Just...don't let them shoot me." Lycaon points at Artemis, who raises an eyebrow. Lycaon sprints into the tunnel after Percy.

"Sister, you're going to hate me for suggesting this, but..." Apollo trails off.

"What?" Artemis asks, stretching out the word with a careful tone.

"If Percy joins and he has this peaceful effect on them, I think you should have a truce. What if you don't have to kill them?" Apollo tells her.

"I was actually considering that possibility. The way Lycaon doesn't even glare at me, it's more like he sees me as some mother figure who can help him with Percy." Artemis looks at the tunnel.

"Mother?" Apollo asks confused.

"I'm the Goddess of Children, Apollo. If Percy is in a condition like that, then maybe I can help him. First things first, I have to get him to trust me." Artemis sighs tiredly in anticipation to the task.

Lycaon finds Percy sitting with his knees to his chest and arms wrapped around them, staring across the chasm at the city. Not afraid of the deep Pit below. He knows what's down there, Lycaon told him about it. Just water and Percy can sense it anyways.

Lycaon sits down next to him. "Sorry." Percy whispers.

"What for?" Lycaon asks.

"I didn't really mean to run off like that. I just felt I had to get away. I stopped once I saw the city." Percy answers quietly.

"The mark the city gave you is growing, isn't it?" Lycaon looks at Percy's shoulder.

"Mhmm." Percy nods and pulls down the collar of his shirt after straightening. The mark extending halfway across his chest and creeping down onto his side. "It's the same on my back. The scenes are different throughout it, just crawling at the same rate. Is it a bad thing?" Percy asks and looks at the city with a tranquil glint in his eyes.

Lycaon shakes his head. "No, it just determines how much the city loves you and what kind of person you are. The bigger it gets, the better." Lycaon says.

"That's a relief. Because there is one wrapping up my left leg." Percy looks at his feet, dangling over the side of the cliff.

"There is?" Lycaon asks curiously.

Percy pulls the leg of his dark gray sweats up and the mark he mentioned is there, but in white. The scenes depicting the human forms of the werewolves wrestling around and enjoying each other's company in the woods. "I didn't know if it was normal because you didn't show me, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't there yesterday."

"You've been here for three days, Percy. Everybody loves you." Lycaon says.

"I love them, too." Percy smiles.

"Are you able to go back?" Lycaon whispers.

It takes a little while for Percy to answer, he just stares at the city. "I guess. I just don't like being near them."

"Well, I'll be there. And Artemis is dangerous to me with her silver, but I'm still going to be there." Lycaon puts an arm around his shoulders and Percy looks at the man he likes to think of as his father.

"Okay, I'll try." Percy tells him.

~Outside~

"What do you think he meant?" Artemis asks and Apollo shrugs, deep in thought.

"C'mon, we can go to the clearing before we go on the field trip with them." The twins hear the old werewolf's voice.

"Okay, it's nice in the clearing. Are we doing what we did yesterday?" Percy asks curiously as the pair step out of the darkness of the entrance.

"We can." Lycaon chuckles.

"That was fun." Percy is smiling.

They walk right past, but Lycaon motions them to follow. They look at each other and nod, they walk after Percy and Lycaon. "Percy, are you mad at me?" Artemis asks after a little bit of walking.

Percy stiffens, having forgotten about the twin gods being behind him. He shakes his head, not making a noise.

"Will you speak to me?" Artemis asks gently.

Again Percy shakes his head and Artemis frowns. Lycaon puts a hand on Percy's shoulder as they walk and Percy relaxes.

"What do you do in this clearing?" Apollo asks.

Percy remains silent. "Some game we showed Percy how to play. He's a natural at it." Lycaon answers. Then Lycaon looks at Percy. "You can talk with them young one, they won't hit you."

"They always do. I don't trust them not to." Percy whispers back.

"I would never let them. Do you trust me?" Lycaon says.

"Yes." Percy smiles.

"Then try talking to them." Lycaon encourages him.

"Okay." Percy says and watches ahead of them.

"Are you upset with me Percy?" Artemis tries again.

"No." Percy answers shyly.

"What about me?" Apollo presses.

"Yes." Percy admits in fear and his hands play with the hem of his shirt while he walks, a nervous habit.

"Why?" Apollo inquires uncertain.

"You pointed your weapon at Lycaon. He is nice. I don't like weapons pointed at nice people." Percy replies in a small voice.

Apollo looks disbelievingly at Percy. He fought in two wars with people he cared about. They have weapons pointed at them everyday. Artemis elbows Apollo in the side and gestures towards Lycaon. Apollo just gives her a look which she returns with a smirk. Apollo sighs and speaks up after clearing his throat, "Well, I'm sorry for pointing my bow at the...nice werewolf." Apollo says grudgingly.

"Man. Lycaon is a man too. Not an animal." Percy looks over at the trees.

"Okay yes, fine. He's a half-man too." Apollo says.

"That's not nice. It's degrading. Don't be mean." Percy scolds and Artemis giggles at Apollo's red face. "And he's not a half-breed. Half-breeds are nice, but not as nice as Lycaon and Charvank. I'm always with one of them and they always show me the most beautiful places." Percy says in wonder. Lycaon just listens and smiles at Percy whenever Percy says something.

"Why don't you like weapons Percy?" Artemis asks him.

"I don't like that question." Percy answers and she frowns. "Rather, I don't like answering it." Percy mutters. He touches a hand to his rib cage and Artemis stares at the action. She walks up next to him, in between him and Lycaon. She reaches slowly for his shirt, trying not to frighten him. She lifts it to where his hand has moved back to swinging at his side.

She lets the shirt fall and looks away. "Did my father do that?" Artemis asks, referring to the incisions and slash marks on Percy's body.

Percy purses his lips in a tight line and looks away at the forest. Apollo grasps Percy's arm gently, but Percy flinches at the contact with his skin, pain on his face. Apollo's eyes widen and he yanks Percy to a stop, staring at the inside of his arms in shock.

"Apollo." Lycaon says gently and touches the arm that holds Percy's. Percy is shaking in fear and staring at Apollo, like he is going to kill him for having done whatever to his arms. That's when it hits Artemis, Percy must have resorted to hurting himself to forget. Apollo looks at Lycaon with a crazed look and Lycaon pries Apollo's hand off of Percy's arm slowly, to show he is just concerned for Percy and not attacking him. Percy holds his arms closer to his body and turns away from Apollo, Artemis walks up to the teen and slowly takes his arms.

"I'm not going to hurt you, I promise. I just want to have a little peek at your injuries so I can help you, okay?" Artemis tells him.

He looks at her then at the ground, thinking he shouldn't look at her. The result of doing such a thing not being good for him. "You aren't going to make it worse?" He asks her quietly.

"No, I wouldn't do that. You can look at me you know. I don't bite. Lycaon's the one who does that." Artemis chuckles lightly, but Percy just frowns.

"That's stereotypical. Lycaon does not bite everything he sees. Neither do the others. Stop being rude to them just because you don't like them." Percy whispers protectively, then leans away from Artemis as she looks over his arms. Some lines are still red, but she knows they have been taken care of. The others a pale pink or white scars. She lets go of his arms and grabs his face in both hands.

"I'm sorry I made a bad joke. I've just been used to fighting with him and his kind for years." Artemis tells him and he is not meeting her eyes. She rubs his cheeks with her thumbs in a calming gesture. "Look at me." She commands kindly.

He looks into her eyes and she smiles at him. "See, that wasn't so hard. I'm not ugly am I?" She asks.

"No, I was just taught...to..." Percy gets a far away look in his eyes and then he flinches. He sits down on the ground, hard. Lycaon crouches in front of him. Percy flinches again and holds his head in his hands. "I knew I shouldn't have looked. You lied to me." Percy starts shaking violently.

Lycaon takes Percy's hands in his own. "She didn't do anything, it's just a memory. Remember what I said? I won't let anyone hurt you." He tells him softly but fiercely.

"You promise?" Percy asks afraid.

Lycaon hugs him as Percy slowly stops shaking. "I promise. See, nothing really hurts, does it? Artemis never touched you." Lycaon tells him and Percy calms down immediately.

"No. I'm sorry, Lady Artemis." Percy buries his head in Lycaon's shoulder to hide.

"It's alright, Percy. You don't have to apologize." Artemis tells him nicely. She's on the verge of tears at his reaction.

Percy nods into Lycaon and Lycaon helps him up. He leads him along and starts to chatter about the game. "The rules are, you can't touch anyone. But you have to get the sphere from the Keeper and it's always around their wrist. It's nearly impossible to get it from Percy."

"But it's more fun chasing than guarding." Percy argues.

"You take what you get." Lycaon shrugs.

"Doesn't mean I have to like it." Percy says.

"Exactly." Lycaon chuckles.

"So is Percy the Keeper for this game?" Artemis asks, intrigued.

"He might be. I don't know if that's wise." Lycaon says carefully.

"Percy?" Apollo asks, something occurring to him.

"Hmm?" Percy asks, distracted by a song birds are singing.

"When you played the word game with Lycaon, you said you were confused about your loyalty. May I ask why?" Apollo almost bumps into Percy when he stops at the end of the first sentence.

Percy just stands there, everyone looking at him. "Because I am." He whispers. "I don't understand. I lost almost all my friends in one place, but not the other. And someone I thought loved me, broke my already torn heart. Then the guy who was supposed to be my father gave me to someone who hates me. And a lot of the other Olympians joined in. But Lycaon treats me like family even after I fought against him a little while ago. I don't know if it's a good thing to help Olympus anymore, but I've been loyal to it for so long, it's hard to think of not helping it. The nice people out here, they make me think that I should give them another chance even after what they did. But I'm too afraid they'll do it again. The way they looked at me, the way they kept going even after I couldn't feel it. It just made it worse." Percy shudders.

"I hate Aphrodite." Percy says bitterly.

"C'mon. I'll be the Keeper." Lycaon says and dangles the sphere for the group to see.

Percy grins in expectation of the challenge. Lycaon takes off and Percy runs right after him, laughing and whooping. Artemis and Apollo follow behind them, unable to match their speed.

Artemis worries that Percy has either been turned or the tattoo on his skin gives him the ability to run with Lycaon. Or maybe the boy was training or used to running. But that doesn't ease her mind. What if the child has been turned? She pours on the speed and is able to stride along with Percy.

"Are you a...?" She tries asking.

"No. Lycaon says I'm just built for the long running the pack does when hunting. It's more of a tradition to hunt rather than for survival. They do it in case they have to go on the run. It's a neat system they have. Nothing like them." Percy answers.

"Is it easy for you to run at this speed?" Artemis asks unsure. A normal human has to train to reach this state. Percy is a demigod sure, but even her Hunters have trouble going this fast and that's with her blessing.

Percy just keeps sprinting and decides that talking to Artemis isn't that bad, but it's still scary. He sees Lycaon pick up the pace and veer off to the right. Percy lets his instinct take over like his new friends taught him to and his speed increases ten fold.

Artemis watches as Percy's face contorts into the look of a predator and stops in her tracks when he takes off after the werewolf. A man that has deteriorated into the mind of a child, but is hunting down an immortal and dangerous werewolf without a second thought. Never in all her years would she have believed she would be in this situation.

Percy laughs in pure joy as he lunges for the sphere and he gets it with ease. Artemis watches as Lycaon tackles Percy and they wrestle over the sphere now that Percy has it. Lycaon ends up pinning Percy but they are both laughing like they are having the time of their lives. Percy is holding onto the sphere, but is to preoccupied with pushing off Lycaon to pay attention.

A silver arrow sprouts from Lycaon's leg as he rolls off of Percy.

"Get away from my cousin, wolf!" I hear my lieutenant's voice.

Wonderful right? You know who owns PJO/HOO? Certainly not me, that right belongs to Rick Riordan. Who's ready for another chapter? *raises hand* Wait a minute...do I even count? Hahaha, till next time my lovely readers.