I had never quite been the same since Jordan, and after Luke's death. According to Annabeth and Thalia I was more closed off, quiet. I knew I trained harder than ever, and my feline qualities had only grown more pronounced. The campers had accepted me, (especially in Capture the Flag) and I loved Camp Half-Blood, but I still felt responsible. If I had just been a little faster, worked a little harder, Luke would still be alive. The thought ran through my head every day. I was knocked out of his thoughts by Annabeth, who tackled me from behind with a hug, and we both tumbled into the snow.

"Annabeth!" I complained, trying to push her off of me. I succeeded, and she fell next to me, in a laughing heap.

"Lighten up, Seaweed Brain." She said, smile on her face. I tried to be mad, but couldn't, and a grin spread across my face.

"You're a pain." I told her, sitting up. She only laughed. I grabbed a handful of snow and threw it at her, hitting her in the face. Her steel grey eyes took on a mischievous glint, and suddenly it was a war. Snow flew, until we were both out of breath. She smiled.

"See. It's more fun when you're not so serious." I gave a mock scowl.

"I miss the lions." I told her. She swatted my arm.

"It'd mess up the monsters radar and you know it." I crossed my arms.

"I hate when you're right." I grumbled. She scooted over to me.

"We go through this daily, Lion Boy. No lions, no Rhea, no Hestia." I frowned.

"I still miss them. Melinoe is cranky too, you know." She shook her finger at me.

"I thought Hades promised not to let you talk. You know visiting the Underworld makes your scent to monsters stronger." I shrugged.

"It was just for a bit?" I tried. Annabeth cuffed the side of my head.

"We only have a few days left here. Thalia is coming tomorrow to help us bring them back." I sighed.

"I know. Hades will be happy to know his children are safe. Of course, we can't really tell anybody, but I suppose it's still good." I smiled.

"Melinoe's excited to meet her half siblings."

"You weren't supposed to talk with her until our quest was over, Percy." She said, giving me a disapproving stare. I scratched the back of my neck sheepishly.

"It was just for an hour or so, I swear!" I said. It was the truth. I hadn't stayed very long. Just enough to get out of English. Annabeth shook her head, but turned, staring up at the grey building Dr. Thorne called a school.

"We'd better get back in the building." She glanced at her watch for a moment. "It's almost curfew." I nodded.

"Good plan. I don't want another detention." Another cuff to the other side of my head.

"Percy!" I grinned mischievously at her.

"Oops?" Annabeth shook her head, and we went back inside, blissfully unaware of what was about to happen.

---

The next day was the dance. The whole school had been buzzing about it for weeks. We hardly ever got to do anything fun, so this was new. I glanced at the pack tucked under my bed, itching to grab it, get the di Angelos, and run now. Still, I knew we needed to wait for Thalia. She was fifteen now, and was on everybody's radar. The prophecy child. She was only a few days from turning sixteen. We all did our best to ignore that. I was happy to see her, anyways. Annabeth, Grover, and I had all come to the school three months ago, to look for demigods. The obvious candidates were the di Angelos, and we set to work on befriending them. Annabeth and Bianca were friends, as were Nico and I. We all hung out, trying to do homework that none of us could read or focus on. Nico managed the best grades out of the four of us, mostly because we could help him with the things at his grade level- four below ours. We didn't mind. It took our minds off of our own work. Walking down the hallway, we talked about the matter.

"How do we tell them?" I asked. "It's not exactly easy to grasp." Annabeth twiddled her fingers.

"I don't know." She admitted. I was about to continue before we were interrupted. At the front door, combat boots soaked with grey snow, Thalia stood. Her spiky black hair was a mess as usual, and she wore a Green Day shirt underneath a leather jacket. Ripped black jeans were secured by a black leather belt with spikes. Her vibrant blue eyes had sharp wings of eyeliner outlining them, and she snapped a piece of gum. All in all, she looked the same as always. Annabeth jumped up, hugging her.

"Thalia!" She shouted happily, and I came up behind her.

"Nice to see you." I said, giving her a brief squeeze. She smiled at us.

"Nice to see you too, small fry." I frowned, poking her arm.

"I'm going to be taller than you someday." I told her, and she rolled her eyes.

"Whatever you say, Lion Boy." I grinned.

"You know it. How are they?" She rolled her eyes.

"They won't stop talking about you. They're your mother's honestly. They're worried beyond belief. It's annoying." She complained, but I beamed when I heard. I peeked behind her.

"I don't suppose they came with?" Annabeth sighed, and Thalia shook her head.

"No. I tried to get Chiron to cave, but he said no." I folded my arms, cross again.

"The dance is starting soon. Come on." I grabbed her hand, pulling her along. She zapped me a bit, and I cringed, but ignored it. "Calm down." I told her. She might have grumbled a profanity, but I ignored that too. Halfway there, the headmaster found us. He stared down from his towering height, peering over the edges of his glasses.

"Who is this young lady?" He asked stiffly, drawing each word out slowly. I smiled innocently, though I probably wasn't convincing. Rhea had told me my eyes took on a 'mischievous gleam' when I was up to something.

"Dr. Thorne, this is Grace. We hang out all the time. Have you not noticed?" Thalia rolled her eyes at my choice of name, but snapped her fingers. Thorne looked confused, and nodded, eyes glassy.

"Nice to meet you, Grace." He awkwardly held out a hand. Thalia shook as briefly as she could, before stepping back. The headmaster took a step back, still nodding his head like he was trying to affirm Thalia's words.

"Yes, Grace. I've seen her." I heard him mutter as he wandered back down the hallway, an aimless way about him. I grinned, tugging Thalia's arm.

"Come on! I want to leave a soon as we can." She rolled her eyes but dutifully followed, Annabeth at her side. As we entered the gymnasium, her electric blue eyes scanned the crowd of dancing kids.

"Where are the di Angelo's?" She asked. We had mentioned their name over IM.

"Not a clue." I said cheerfully. "We didn't make plans to meet them anywhere. They don't hang out with a lot of people, though. They shouldn't be hard to find." As soon as the words were out of my mouth my eyes caught on them. Standing in the corner, they seemed almost shrouded in shadow. Bianca was telling Nico about something, and he was seemingly tuning her out completely. His eyes were glazed over, and Bianca stopped talking for a moment. Her dark eyes were on us and she waved, smiling, and looking a bit confused at Thalia's presence. Nonetheless, we picked our way through the crowd, just making Bianca out by her floppy green hat. Reaching them, Thalia shifted on her feet, looking uncomfortable.

"I'm Grace." She said, not offering a hand. Bianca looked uneasy too, while Nico was just staring at me. He tended to do that, though I couldn't fathom why. I could practically feel their parenting going to war with each other. You could've sliced the tension with a knife. I acted as the blade, walking in the middle of the two girls.

"This isn't nearly as fun as I expected." I said, glancing at the doors. "Want to go outside? Annabeth and I were wandering around a few days ago, and we found a cliff with a great view." Nico looked up at his sister.

"Can we Bianca? The punch isn't even good." His sister smiled down at him.

"Sure." She glanced at Thalia, like she was being sure she didn't plan to jump them, before starting towards the doors. Her arm was a bit tighter around Nico.

Out on the cliff, I turned, my grin morphing to a tentative expression.

"I have something to tell you guys, and it's kind of a lot to take in." He was gentle. He had done this a few times before, and none had received it especially well. To be fair, it was a bit of a shocker. Bianca looked over her shoulder at the school.

"O-okay." She ventured warily.

"There's no way to put this simply, but you guys aren't human." There was no immediate reaction. Bianca's expression stayed guarded, and Nico seemed to be in shock.

"What do you mean, not human?" Before I could respond, laughter could be heard from the trees. My hand went to my pocket, where Riptide rested.

"I hoped we had a bit longer before we attracted some monster." He muttered to himself. Annabeth moved toward our friends.

"Get away from the trees!" She shouted, ushering the siblings away, and drawing her dagger. Thalia tapped her bracelet, making it expand in Aegis, and a can of mace was revealed to be hanging off her belt. I supposed she had used the mist to cover it up. A monster walked out of the foliage. A manticore, swishing its tail methodically.

"I knew you four weren't normal." He hissed. I didn't say anything, only dropped into a crouch, like a lion preparing to spring. His tail lashed, and my mind was whirring, trying to figure out where I had heard that voice before.

"It's five, actually." Thalia called, baiting the creature. The manticore gnashed his teeth.

"Ah, yes. Grace." With a stunning clarity I realized who the sound belonged to.

"Doctor Thorne." The lion-like creature laughed again.

"You figured it out. Good job." I could feel the sea to my back, and summoned fire in my free hand.

"Walk away, and we promise not to hurt you." The manticore gave no warning as it sprung. I rolled out of the way, tucking my arms beneath me and hearing snow crunch under my weight. Thalia darted in, stabbing with her spear. The manticore's claws raked her shoulder, however, and she cried out, grip loosening on the spear. I managed to clamber to my feet, and made my way into the fervor. I swung Riptide into his side, but only managed to nick him before he maneuvered himself away. His tail arced through the air, coming towards me. I caught the side of it in my palm, burning it with the flames it held. He let out a roar of pain. He lept, and I ducked away from his claws. With a sinking horror, I saw it wasn't me who he was going for.

He landed on top of Annabeth, scattering the di Angelos. His teeth grabbed onto the scruff of her neck. The daughter of Athena writhed under him, getting in every cut and scrape she could with her dagger, but she wasn't able to cause much damage from where she was. He started for the cliff, and I ran after him. Before I could even get within a few feet, a silver arrow lodged itself in its shoulder blade. The manticore roared in pain, forgetting Annabeth and dropping her as he clawed at the weapon. From all around us, girls adorned with silver parkas and jeans came into the clearing. They all carried bow and arrows, and they were all aimed at the monster.

"Direct interference, Artemis! You can't break the Ancient Laws!" The lead girl, looking to be around twelve stepped forward. Her auburn hair blew in the wind.

"Ah, but I am allowed to hunt monsters." She tilted her head, a frosty smile on her lips. "Are you not a monster?" He roared again, and gnashed his teeth.

"No matter, Kronos will dispose of all you Olympians soon enough." He backed up closer to the edge of the cliff. Fortunately, he was part lion. I could tell what he was going to do. I had had years of practice. I launched myself at him. Both of us tumbled over the cliff, leaving my friends and the hunters behind.

-

A/N: Hey guys! Long time no update! Thank you so much for continuing to read The Lion Boy, as promised here is the sequel. I'm so sorry it took so long to put it up! I hope you all enjoy it. 

Your Favorite Demigod,

                             Isa Rivers