Keep going, I heard Gaea say in my mind. There's food up ahead.

Okay, I thought back. I reached a field with berry bushes all over. Thanks!

It's the least I could do to make it up to you.

I said it's okay! I thought to her. It isn't your fault she's scared of me. She's immortal now. Someone else who's more worthy can make her happy.

You say it's okay, Gaea replied, you say it's not my fault. But it is. If I hadn't tried to rise, you guys wouldn't have fell into that pit that used to be my husband. Then she would never have left you. And for someone who is more worthy ---- you are worthy. Anyone who let's you go is the one who's not.

I smiled under my cloak (that Gaea had made for me.) Thanks. Ever since I had learned that my mother, Sally Jackson, had died, Gaea had practically adopted me. No one could replace Sally, but right now Gaea was the closest I could get to a motherly figure.

She tells me not to blame myself. She guides me. She teaches me stuff. She's the one who always helped me out of my nightmares of that place when I get them. (Tartarus sometimes visits in my sleep and tortures me some more. Gaea is no longer his wife because she turned good.)

* * *

I woke up. No nightmares last night.

That could only mean one thing: something bad was going to happen.

I could feel it in my bones. I automatically tensed and looked around. The birds were oddly quiet. Any animals in the area were too.

The word of the wind was the hunters.

The huntresses are coming. . . . The huntresses are coming!

Let them find you, Gaea said.

I nodded and leaned back, my hands behind me, holding me up.

Suddenly the clearing erupted. I was suddenly facing a huge group of girls.

There were two in the front. One had a bow and a silver circulate on her head.

Thalia.

The other was an auburn haired girl with a bow.

Artemis.

I nodded to Artemis.

"Artemis."

Artemis stiffened.

I nodded to Thalia.

"Thalia."

"It's a boy," said one of the huntresses in disgust.

I rolled my eyes, not that any of them could see.

"How do you know Thalia and me?" Artemis asked.

"The wild can tell you anything you want to know," I replied. I smirked at their confused faces, even though they couldn't see it. "I also knew you a few million years ago, cousin," I said to Artemis.

Artemis still looked confused.

"Eh, whatever," I said. I grabbed some berries from a nearby bush and started picking at them.

"How long have you just been picking random berries off bushes?" Thalia said. "They could be poisonous, you know."

"I do know," I replied, still picking at the berries. "But like I said, the wild can tell you anything. Plus, you can just smell them and tell."

Then I looked back at Artemis. "And I'm loyal to Olympus if you're wondering."

Artemis looked at me. I stood up, and immediately had a few dozen arrows aiming at my chest.

I shrugged. "Go ahead," I said, "shoot me. I wish I could die." I started stretching as the girls glanced at each other, confused.

"Lower your bows," Artemis ordered. "We'll bring him to our camp."

The girls all groaned. I did too.

Do I have to? I asked Gaea.

Yes. She replied.

"Okay," I mumbled, "whatever."

* * *

"Are you sure I should be in your camp?" I asked Artemis on the way there.

"I need to ask you some questions," Artemis replied. "I don't want you in the camp any more than you do."

"I somehow doubt that," I mumbled.

Artemis walked me to the campfire. "Sit," she said. I sat and leaned back, my arms behind me, holding me up.

The girls aso sat down.

"You didn't seem surprised when we came to where you were. Did you know we were coming?" Artemis asked.

"Yes," I answered.

"How did you know?" Artemis asked.

"Like I said, the wild can tell you anything," I replied.

I smirked under the hood. I used to be the one solving the riddles. Now I was the one giving them out.

Of course, it's not a riddle. The wild told me. I heard it on the wind, I heard it from the trees. I heard I from the birds and the deer and the rabbits. I heard it from the wild.

And, of course, Gaea confirmed what the wild told me.

And she kind of sort of is the wild. . . .

Anyway. . . .

"Oooookay . . ." Artemis and her huntresses still looked confused. "When did you know me? You recognized me."

"Like I said, a few million years ago, give or take," I answered. Them I thought about it. "Or was it a few thousand years ago? Time goes differently in different places, especially with a Primordial against you." I stretched calmly. "I wasn't on Earth for all of it. . . ." I trailed off, thinking, listening.

Artemis's eyes widened. Yay. She figured out who I was! (That was sarcasm. . . I'd rather nobody but Gaea knows, and not Annabeth.)

Then a look of horror crossed her face as she realized what I meant by "I wasn't on Earth for all of it."

And she fainted.

"What did you do to her?" Thalia demanded.

"She just realized who I was and where I've been." I stretched some more.

If you're wondering about why I was stretching so much, it's showing them that I'm relaxed and that my past doesn't bother me anymore, even though it fight bother them.

Also, I was still kind of tired. . . .

Anyway, I'm getting off topic.

"Well then, who are you?" Thalia demanded.

"I'd rather not tell you that," I said calmly.

"Okay," Thalia grumbled, obviously annoyed she didn't get her way. "Then. . . what do you mean by 'the wild can tell you anything'?"

"That's exactly what I mean," I said. "But I'll tell you anywa---"

I was cut off by Artemis suddenly shooting up and looking at me.

"Anyway, as I was saying, I will explain what I meant by the wild can tell you anything.

"The wild can tell you stories. They remember everything that ever happened, everything they ever heard, anything they had ever seen. They know of magic, ancient and new. They knew of the people who cast them. They're telling their story, the stories of others. The wind carries the messages from the far away and the dead. The wild is filled with stories, more than a library, because every animal, every grain of sand, even a---" I plucked some grass off the ground and held it up "---blade of grass can tell you hundreds, thousands of stories. The plants remember very second of their lives. Like a god. They remember everything that ever happened to them. When the gods forced me to accept the gift I never wanted, immortality, I remembered everything. Things of my past, long forgotten. I remembered things I'd rather forget, made memories that would make a mortal person go crazy. But in the end, it just made me grow stronger. It makes the trees grow taller, thicker, stronger." I stuck the blade of grass back into the ground and I breathed at it. It grew slightly taller than any other blade of grass in the clearing. "They would never forget their mistakes, never forget the painful memories. They never forget any of it.

"I was forced to accept immortality. In fact, I wouldn't have become a god if Artemis hadn't voted for it." I gave Artemis my best death glare, only my sea green eyes visible under my hood. All of the huntresses cowered. "The gods offered it to me twice. I said no both times. But the second time, they voted on it anyway. It was going to be a tie. Half the council.

"Then Artemis joined the side that wanted me to become a god. Apparently she respected me or something like that."

"I still do," Artemis whispered.

I continued anyway. "Whatever. I never asked for your respect. So a while later, I went missing. What people didn't know is that I had been taken to the place of my worst nightmares."

Most of the girls gasped. Thalia had a look of realisation on her face.

"P-P-Percy?" She asked in a small voice.

I swept my hood back and stared back at her. "Yes." Then I stretched and yawned. "So I'm tired. Let's finish this up. So you can hear anything from the wild. All you need to do is know how to listen to it."

"What happened to you, Percy?" Thalia asked. "You were missing for the longest time. Now you're different. What happened to you?"

I turned back to them.

"I'm an open book," I said. "You just don't understand the language of the broken."

And with that, I jogged away and out of the camp.