"Maggie?"
She was still standing at the edge of the clearing, staring at the grass silently. I walked over, standing a little to her left.
"Maggie? Please talk to me."
"I had a little sister."
She sat down in the grass, and I sat next to her, letting her take her time.
"She was three, so I can hope she's still alive, right?" Maggie picked a large blade of grass and began to shred it between her fingers.
"I'll help you look when we get back." I promised quietly. "If you'd like."
She nodded silently, sniffling.
"Do you need a hug?"
"Yes."
I got up, offering a hand to help Maggie up. She took it and then tucked herself against my chest. I wrapped my arms around her gently.
We stood there for a few minutes in silence, then Maggie pulled away and looked up at me. "Lordy, that makes you a baby compared to me, doesn't it?"
I grinned. "Add thirty-three years."
"Well I would have been twenty-four... so I'm fifty-seven?"
"And I'm twenty-two."
"Baby." She patted my cheek with a small smile. "I could be your mother."
I laughed, shaking my head. "If you say so... we should probably get back to the camp."
"Probably. Where's Anareem?"
"Fishing, most likely." I reached out for my dragon and told her we were ready to go.
"She's on her way."
Maggie nodded. "That's good... you know I've been thinking about those names on the tablet... the marks next to the names."
"Okay?" I raised my eyebrows.
"Obviously these marks mean they're different from the others. What if they're the ones who were like you?"
I paused. "You mean, like... Dragon Riders?"
"Yes. It's interesting that so many of them were Riders, but that might be a connection to your powers."
"That's a very interesting theory, we'll have to look into it on this end. I'll mention it to Thalia the next time they reach us."
We walked back to the larger clearing that Anareem landed in, then sat down to wait again.
I paused suddenly, glancing around. "Maggie, get a little closer to me."
"Why?"
"Just do it, please...."
She must have sensed my nervousness, because she shuffled over and put her back to mine.
"If you see anything strange, let me know immediately."
"I will."
I could hear Anareem's wingbeats now, so I waited to see what would happen first.
Something burst out of the bushes to my left, and I twisted sideways to meet its attack.
The woman was heavily muscled and tanned, wielding a familiar looking blade. She shrieked like an animal as she stabbed at me.
"Maggie, stay clear!"
I followed up her attack with one of my own, trying to push the woman back. She snarled, then spat a phrase that I was surprised to understand.
"Leave me alone!"
"Easy, easy, I don't want to hurt you!" The switch to Ancient Greek probably confused Maggie, but I was more concerned with the clearly-from-Earth speech.
She froze, looking surprised. "You are Greek?"
"Sort of. I'm a demigod." I lowered my sword, seeing her do the same.
"As am I! What is your name?"
"Percy Jackson, I'm a son of Poseidon."
At that, her lip curled. "Poseidon. Pah."
"Daughter of Athena, then?" I raised my eyebrows.
"Proudly so. I am surprised you would have survived here for so long."
"Lord, it's like talking to Annabeth when we first met." I rubbed a hand over my face. "She's a demigod, Maggie."
"What's her name? She must be on the list, right?"
"You haven't told me your name." I turned my attention back to the demigod woman.
"Natasa."
I dug the list out of my pocket quickly, scanning it. "Natasa Meli. She's one of the ones not marked, a daughter of Athena."
Anareem suddenly dove into the clearing, landing next to me. She eyed Natasa with a growl.
Natasa snarled back like a rabid animal. Anareem seemed surprised for a moment, then hissed loudly.
"Enough. Enough." I said it in both languages, holding a hand up to each of them. "Natasa, are you a Dragon Rider?"
"No. The man I came here with was."
I checked the list again. "Giorgos?"
She nodded, shifting her grip on her sword. "He died. Like the rest of them... I am the only one of the Norcana left."
"The Norcana?" I asked, frowning.
"Those of us searching for retribution fro the gods... you have that list, do you not? You knew Giorgos."
I nodded and looked at Maggie again. "We have to help her."
"Percy, we don't know her."
"She's from Earth!"
"And she doesn't speak English!" Maggie shook her head. "She's centuries out of her time, Percy, if you take her back with us we'll have no clue what she's going to do."
"Maggie, I'm not having this argument." I frowned. "She needs our help. There are plenty of people on Earth who speak Ancient Greek, demigods all over the place and everywhere in Camp Half-Blood. We can teach her English, we can help her. She needs to get to some semblance of home."
Maggie started to argue, but I turned back around to face Natasa. "We can help you, if you let us."
She watched us warily for a few moments, then sheathed her sword. "To get back to home?"
"Yes."
[A/N I decided to write the Ancient Greek in bold because I'm using Italics already]