Two years later things were much of the same.

Ryker and Ally traveled with the hunt, occasionally taking down monsters or saving demigods, offering girls the chance to be a Hunter and sending boys away to Camp Halfblood.

Now, Ryker had never actually been to Camp, but apparently all of the Hunters hated it. Something about 'too many boys who don't know their place.'

He hadn't realized how nicely he'd been treated upon entering until he encountered men on their journey.

He'd been welcomed into the Hunters nicely enough, considering they were a group of man hating, arrow shooting, women warriors. He only had to pluck three arrows out of the loose parts of his clothes, which was much better than some of the other people who had the misfortune of stumbling upon them, who had to get the arrows out of their limbs.

Ally had changed more than their entire situation.

Ryker remembered the first time she was injured in combat, when she snuck away to track a monster by herself.

It's not like he could forget.

The memory was seared into his mind.

A trio of empousa had captured a boy.

They shouldn't have cared.

Ally couldn't help but care.

Sure, the boy was a demigod, and sure, he was kind of a jerk, but he was a kid.

He had a life.

So, obviously, she had to save it.

It was an ambush.

She wasn't completely on her own. She had Styx, who tailed her vigilantly, as well as the newly mastered ability to shoot lightning in place of arrows from her bow.

Styx was growling the entire time she was following the donkey/robot footprints, but Ally just wrote it off as the scent of monster.

That was as her first mistake.

Her second was letting the boy know she was there before attempting to free him from where the empousa had tied him to a tree.

"Ally!" He had yelled as loudly as humanly possible, "Help!"

She had quickly scaled a tree and hidden within its branches, wary of the empousa that would return.

"Ally!" The boy had kept screaming. "Get down from that tree and free me!"

And just like that, she had been struck down.

She fell out of the tree with a scream.

That's when Ryker heard her.

He'd been talking a Huntress out of yelling at Ally for risking her life to save a boy. They saved boys all of the time, don't get her wrong. But this particular boy was annoying and constantly one step away from getting turned into an animal by Artemis.

"That boy's nothing but trouble!" She had ranted, "What is Ally thinking?"

"Are you mad at her?"

"Of course not!" She'd responded immediately, "I'm mad at him!

"For what? Getting captured? I'm not sure that's something you can get mad at him about."

"Of course it is," Naomi sighed, "Like, why was he so stupid? And seriously? Only three empousa were necessary to take him?"

"He's untrained."

"Only because he's too bigheaded to accept a teacher."

"Calm down. Anger is just a fog that caused irreparable damage."

"If you were any other boy on the face of the planet I'd shoot you chock full of arrows."

"Believe me, Naomi. I know."

Not even five seconds later, a scream was heard.

Ally's scream.

Ryker's eyes narrowed. "Of course, sometimes you must submit to the infinite power of nature."

And just like that, he took off running.

It didn't take him long to find Ally, crumpled at the base of a tree, with three empousa and a boy surrounding her like a prize.

It didn't take him long to pick out Styx's black fur amidst the shadows, standing over her protectively with his teeth bared and his red eyes glowing against a threat he would not be able to defeat on his own.

It didn't take him long to completely blow up.

Before he even had time to try to think rationally he had sliced through two of the empousa. He was spinning on the third one when he heard Styx's warning growl.

He turned to see the boy holding an unconscious Ally up, his arm around her throat, warding off the angered Hellhound.

His vision flashed red, not just from fury, but from the striking pain of the empousa burying her teeth into the side of his neck like a vampire.

In an instant Styx was at his side, tackling the monster to the ground and scattering golden dust into the ground.

Ryker was breathing heavily, shaking off the pain and looking down at the Hellhound gratefully. When his senses came back to him, he glanced around frantically.

"Where's Ally?" He muttered to himself, straining his ears.

He had to dive to the ground as lightning flashed, the crashing of falling branches and blackened trees to his right giving him only a split second to act before he was fried.

Anyone else would have fled.

The wildlife was way ahead of him, among them Nymphs and other spirits that tried to escape the destruction.

Ryker took off in that direction, Styx at his heels.

_______________

Ally was still half asleep when her kidnapper stopped carrying her and started dragging her.

As he dragged her in the dirt, he paid no mind to the sticks that clung to her clothes or the rocks that scraped along her skin. She continued to breathe deeply and evenly, even as she snapped back into consciousness.

"I know you're awake," he'd sneered down at her, his knife now dangling at her throat, "And if you even open your pretty little mouth to scream I'll skewer you."

Ally narrowed her eyes at him, warily swallowing. She didn't nod in affirmation. She didn't shiver in fear. She just lay limp, not even wincing as a particularly nasty tree root sliced at her.

"There's something about you, Ally," he said, "The General will be quite pleased. So will the boss. So will that Castellan kid everyone's listening to for some reason. Daughter of Zeus is quite the find these days."

Ally narrowed her eyes as if to hide the striking blueness of them, the only indication of her heritage at all. Still, she stayed silent. She was ten. She was among the few of them who knew when to shut their mouths.

"Naive, innocent, so eager to help anyone, that you end up hurting everyone," the boy continued, "The perfect target. All it took was a little sob story and a couple of monsters and you came running. Idiot."

Ally's jaw clenched on instinct. Something was bubbling up inside, something akin to anger. Less blazing hot rage and more primal, setting her hair on edge and her nerves crackling.

"Ally, come save me!" The boy cried in a falsetto, "Ally, be my friend! Ally-"

Her name was the last word to ever leave his mouth.

She burst into sparks, blinding white and blistering, searing anything and everything in its path. Lightning bent to her will, pure energy running through her and giving her a strength she had never known.

Energy was temporary.

The damage it caused was near permanent.

And this time as she fell, Ryker was there to catch her.

"Ryko," she mumbled drearily as he swept her into his arms, "Phoebe says I'm gonna grow to five thirty o'clock wide."

"I know, Ally."

"Ryko," she murmured again, "I'm tired. Did you see me go boom?"

"You were great today, Ally."

"Ryko?" She yawned.

"Yeah, Ally?"

"Tell the girls not to call me that anymore. Just you, Zo-Zo, and Phobo."

"Get some sleep, Ally."

_______________

He thought it would change. He thought a good night's sleep would put her back to normal. He thought, in time, she would grow to trust her sisters again.

He was wrong.

Whatever that boy had said to her, deep in the middle of the forest, had clearly gotten to her. She was as happy as she'd ever been, but more reserved in her smiles.

"How long do you think this will last?" Zoë whispered to him, "The girls are being patient, but some of them are hurt. They have known her for two years and she's shutting them out."

"This is her way of dealing," Ryker whispered back, "And if her nickname is her trust and this is how she needs to get over what happens, tell your Hunters they're just going to have to wait it out."

"A statue wouldn't have that kind of patience and you know it."

"Ally needs this."

"They know that."

"I don't think they do. If they did, they would let it happen."

"But-"

"Ally is a kid!" Ryker said, furious now, "She might be an almost Hunter, and she might be a warrior, but she's still just ten."

"Ugh!" Zoë grunted at him, "Stop being such a boy about this. Ally is our little sister, too."

"No!" Ryker yelled, not even bothering to hide their conversation anymore, "She's my little sister. I'm the one who found her in the woods and saved her life. I'm the one who brought her here so I could protect her. I'm the one who left everything I had behind me so I could fulfill some stupid prophecy I don't even know yet and protect a world filled with boys like the one in the forest who I'm not so sure deserve it."

"Ryker-"

He stormed out.

_______________

Ryker has always been good at running.

He ran when his mother screamed.

He ran when his mother died.

He ran when he met Poseidon.

He ran when his father was dying.

He ran when Ally needed him.

He was so sick of running. It seemed it was all he ever did.

But he couldn't help it.

His feet pounded into the dirt, carrying far away from the Hunters of Artemis and into a city he didn't know. He couldn't recall where they had stopped last, but it didn't matter.

He ran until he was stopped. Forcefully. Knocked into the ground.

"Hey!" Barked a voice, very obviously male and very obviously a kid, "Watch it!"

Ryker looked up warily, his time spent with the Hunters making his first instinct disdain. Until he saw him, that is.

His brown hair was swept to one side, short and spiky, sky blue eyes narrowed in outrage. He looked younger than Ryker, but not by much. He was tall and lean for someone so young.

That's not what caught Ryker's attention.

His clothes were in tatters, shredded remains of an open blue jacket clinging to his figure. There was a fear he couldn't place, hidden behind his bravado.

"Oh!" The boy exhaled in relief, "Percy, thank the gods. There's a pack of monsters. I think I lost them but they could be here any second."

Ryker raised an eyebrow at him, unimpressed. The boy wasn't even carrying a sword, just a guitar pick on a golden chain- oh.

The green one ran over his fingers, a sword that looked suspiciously like it could double as an arrow appearing in its place.

"You're not Percy," the boy growled, "But you're obviously a demigod. A fighter. Help me live and I might not take a swing at you afterward."

As a duo, they made good time on the monsters that did find them, hidden in the alleyway.

"I'm David," the boy gasped as he was covered in a burst of golden powder, "Son of Apollo. David Striker."

"Ryker," he said back, "Poseidon."

"What?" David smirked, "Last nameless?"

"I don't trust you."

His blue eyes took on a look of newfound respect. "Good for you. You don't meet a whole lot of people with survival instincts these days."

The boy had an almost nauseating lack of technique, but he made up for it in raw speed and power. Ryker watched him duck and slice, never staying in one place longer than necessary.

Still, even with their combined efforts, David was struck down, Ryker working as hard as he could to defend the fallen boy.

He was bleeding out.

He should have been dead.

Ryker was being taken by five monsters on all sides at all times.

He should have been dead.

He wasn't.

A flash of blonde hair and the steely determination of gray eyes, and suddenly all of the monsters were just dust in the wind.

He knew her.

"Hey, Shark Bait."

Then it clicked.

Milli.

________________

His arms were around her before he even had time to process the return of his best friend.

"Milli!" He cried, tears of joy pricking at the corners of his eyes, "You're here! How? When? How?"

"You asked that already."

Ryker couldn't even bring himself to care, not with the blinding smile that filled his vision and the voice he missed so much ringing in his ears.

Milli grinned, taking him in. "You've really grown, Shark Bait. I'm proud of you. Where's Ally?"

Ryker's face darkened. "Ally's going through a thing right now. She's back in the forest with the rest of the Hunt. Maybe don't call her by her name until you see how she reacts to you."

He suddenly remembered that she'd completely ignored him. "Hey! My turn to ask now. Where's your dad?"

Milli turned away. "After you left we moved to the mainland. A couple weeks ago, he sent me here with some money, food, and ambrosia. Told me he wanted to go back to our island. And he did. It wasn't there, and suddenly he wasn't either."

Ryker said nothing, just drew her into his arms like she always did with him and hugged her.

"Hey," croaked David behind them, "Thank you for saving my life and letting me bleed out on the floor. You both are very lucky your reunion happened when I was in easy reach of ambrosia and nectar."

Ryker turned, keeping his arm around Milli's shoulders as if she might disappear if he let go. He didn't even have the decency to be sheepish. He was too excited to do anything but smile.

David pulled himself to his feet, brushing himself off. "I need to go now. I've been waiting to get to Camp all summer."

"Wait," Ryker told him, "It's dangerous. I trust you. Let me bring you to the Hunt, and if I can convince them not to shoot you chock full of arrows, we'll escort you."

David clapped him on the shoulder, grinning broadly. "Thanks, man. But I've got this. You and your long lost girlfriend go enjoy some time together before the Titan War finally hits. Gods above know we never get enough time with the ones we love."

He smiled a little ruefully at them. "If you're ever in New York and you need a friend, I'm right across the street from Goode High."

Then he was gone.

_______________

Ryker's life has never gone right.

Now it was.

Ally still treated Milli like they were back on the island, which was a relief to him but another sting to the Hunters.

He had his best friend back.

He hardly ever left her out of his sight.

He was hardly ever seen without a smile on his face.

He patched things up with Zoë and they beat each other up like old times.

Everything was great.

And then nothing was.

And then, right at the end of December, Zoë went on a mission from Maine to California while Ryker was doing recon on a potential demigod girl.

And she didn't come back.