*First Person Point of View ~ Percy Jackson*
"Percy!"
I winced at the loud voice, but complied. Dropping down from the tree I had perched in, I made my way over to Artemis. She stood by the archery range, her hands on her hips, glaring at me.
"What seems to be the problem, milady?" I asked. It had been nearly a year since the war against Télionix, and Artemis seemed to have completely forgotten that she didn't hate me.
"You useless male! You've forgotten to sharpen the arrows!"
She continued her rant, pointing out different things that I'd forgotten to do. In my defence, she'd only just assigned me with the meaningless, time-consuming chores a few days ago, and I wasn't used to having to do them. I didn't see why her hunters couldn't do their own chores, but－quoting Artemis－doing the chores for them "helped protect them from the stress of doing so much work" so of course I felt compelled to do them.
I bowed deeply, knowing that I wouldn't be able to argue. "I'm terribly sorry milady. I will remember next time. For now, I will begin. Hopefully I can finish at a time of your liking." I gave another deep bow, and left to complete my tasks. It was safer to be the most polite I could possibly be while Artemis was going through this 'phase' of hers.
Once I was out of earshot, I sighed. What was wrong with her? I mean, I know that she swore to be an eternal maiden and everything, and she hates all men because of it, but we were at least friends after the war! Why was she all of a sudden hating me? She'd begun treating me like I killed her puppy ever since a few months ago, when she'd suddenly snapped at me, surprising myself and even some of her hunters. Since then, she been giving me the cold shoulder unless she was yelling at me or commanding me to do something.
Once I'd finished sharpening all five hundred arrows, I continued on to doing the laundry. Thankfully, the hunters hadn't refined back to their hateful ways towards me, and avoided getting dirty as much as they could. I mean, we lived in the forest twenty-four-seven, so it wasn't perfect, but at least they weren't just rolling in the mud for the fun of it.
After the laundry, I went out into the forest to collect firewood for that night's campfire. The hunters were going out to kill us some dinner, so I guess collecting firewood wasn't the worst job I could have.
I sent up silent prayers of thanks every so often because I spotted the hunters all doing their part of help me with my newly assigned chores, even though they weren't supposed to. Because of this, I sent them grateful smiles every time I got the chance.
As soon as I'd gotten to a point that I couldn't possibly carry another twig, I returned to our campsite, and dumped the large pile of wood rather ungracefully next to the circle of rocks where our previous campfire had been last night. Continuing on to neatly stack the twigs in a tipi position around a ball of dried grass, I left the campfire.
Scaling the tree, I resumed my position in the tree. It had been exactly two hours since Artemis had called me down. My eyes scanned over the camp, watching for anything that had changed. A few of the hunters had disappeared, but I knew that they'd gone off to hunt for dinner. The others remained in sight, which allowed me relief.
"Percy! Dinner!" Thalia called up to me about half an hour later.
"On my way!" I called down.
She gave me a thumbs up and walked over to the campfire. The rest of the hunters were already there, and the fire was growing, just bright enough to light up the semi-darkness. The sun was setting, and only a small sliver was peaking over the horizon as I slid down the tree to join them.
Settling down next to Thalia, I thanked Darcy as she handed out small platters of steaming meat and berries.
"What are you doing here?" a cold voice asked suddenly.
I looked up from my meal, and to no one's surprise, Artemis was standing in front of me. She glared coldly, her eyes sparking red. The sudden change of colour made me look closer, but it disappeared so quickly that I brushed it off as a reflection of the fire.
"I am terribly sorry, milady. I shall leave you and your hunters to your meals." I already knew what she was going to say, so I'd prepared, quickly saying my piece and standing to leave.
As I turned, a small hand hooked my arm. "Don't go."
It was Trisha, the newest hunter. She was only seven years old, and had been in the hunt for a tender time of two weeks. We'd picked her up just outside of Salt Lake City in Utah, where her stepfather was abusing her after her mother recently passed away. She was a daughter of Apollo, and she'd inherited his bright smile and gleaming golden-blonde hair.
I gave her a soft smile, but looking up at Artemis' glowering face, I said: "Sorry, I can't. I'll see you later, though?"
Trisha nodded slowly, her eyes betraying her disappointment.
"Just stay with Thalia. She'll keep you company," I said.
I felt bad about leaving her. We'd really connected since I saved her from her stepfather's grasp, slaying the man where he stood. At first, she'd been shy around everyone, even Artemis, but after the first day or so of travelling with us, she warmed up to me and I convinced her to join the hunters so that I'd be able to protect her from men like her stepfather.
I dropped down at the base of my tree, my butt perched very uncomfortably on a large knot where the roots rose up above the ground. I ate the rest of my meal there, in the cold darkness on the outskirts of camp. The hunters all sat around the fire, which was roaring and bright now, laughing and talking. Occasionally, one or two would turn to look at me mournfully, their eyes full of pity, but they wouldn't say anything.
We all knew that there was something wrong with Artemis. Not only had she suddenly gone icy towards me, but she'd begun to close herself off from the other hunters as well. Even Thalia, her half-sister and closest friend, would get the cold shoulder on an odd day.
I'd made a mental note to go talk to Zeus privately after the next council meeting to see if he knew what was going on with his daughter. Hopefully, he would take up the matter with the other Olympians, besides Artemis of course, and they'd be able to come up with a proper plan.
*Third Person Point of View*
As Artemis sat, chewing her meat slowly, she thought deeply about Perseus. Yes, she admitted that she'd been giving him the cold shoulder lately, and giving him more chores to keep him busy, but she had a very valid reason. That reason being that she feared she was falling in love with him.
Whenever he was around, she felt her heart leap in her chest, beating faster and faster with every second they stood near each other. She felt her hands grow clammy whenever she thought of him, and her words caught in her throat painfully as she tried to think of what to say to him.
She hated the feeling. She wanted it to stop. She was a maiden goddess; she had been for over three thousand years and it should stay that way.
Her only solution was to make him make her fall out of love. She resorted back to behind cruel and and unforgiving to him. Hopefully, he'd snap back at her and she'd see that he was no different from all of the other males out there. It hadn't worked yet. If anything, he was just being more selfless and polite to her.
And to top it all off, her hunters had come up to her on many occasions, wondering why she was being so mean to Percy. She had to start closing herself off from them as well. She was so close to her hunters that she feared they'd be able to read her feelings for Percy. If they new she was falling in love with a male, they'd think of her as a hypocrite. She couldn't lose her hunters that way. She wouldn't allow herself to.
When this whole thing blew over, she'd be able to reconnect with her hunters, but not yet.
She stood from her seat, leaving the hunters all singing merrily around the campfire. Thalia looked up at she moved, and Artemis sent her lieutenant a look. She was met with a nod of understanding. Good. Thalia would watch over the hunters and send them to bed when it was late.
With that in mind, Artemis retired to her tent. She sent one last mournful look in Percy's direction, seeing that he was sitting where she'd sent him. Over at the base of his tree, his dark form hunched in the shadows of the fire.
She turned away. It wasn't time to be feeling pity for Percy. She was sure that he was about to crack. Soon, he'd snap back at her, and possibly even leave her hunt, and she wouldn't have to worry about her feelings for him ever again.
Word Count: 1600
Average Words per Chapter: 1600
Word Total: 1600
~CSP2708~
*Dylan Walts*