Rising Moon

Chapter 1

A young girl about twelve ran in the woods. She wore jeans and a white shirt, she could have been anyone. The snow-covered forest in which she ran was vast and cold. The girl had auburn hair and eyes the color of opals.

An owl cooed, and the girl looked up at it in annoyance. Raising a finger to her lips, the girl whispered, "Shh!" The owl nodded, before spreading its wings and soaring off. Smiling, the girl continued on her way.

Snow, which had been falling lightly, began to pick up pace. The girl did not shiver in her thin clothing, only brushed it off her pony-tailed hair and shaded her eyes to see where she was. She looked confused, although she did not appear to be lost. Looking back, she could faintly see a flickering light, the fire from her camp. She wasn't far from it, but being out alone while everyone else slept made her feel unprotected. Of course, she could take care of herself.

A crack to her left echoed in the woods. Her head snapped towards the sound. Slowly, she knelt into the snow, keeping her head up, searching for the source of the noise. Nothing appeared. No shadows danced in the dark. The sound, it appeared, had come from no where. The girl frowned, but did not rise. In the stealth of the darkness, her reached to her boot silently. From inside it, she produced a long and lethal hunting knife. She moved it closer to her head in the snow, hoping its light wouldn't attract unwanted attention.

Her hand stung from the cold, but she kept it and the knife buried in the white snow. Her front was soaked now, having been exposed to the snow for so long, and the wet clothing was freezing against her fair skin. The silver-eyed girl breathed slowly, listening with her pink-tipped ears for the familiar sounds of danger. None came.

After a full minute of laying on the wet and white ground, the girl rose from her position, the knife dangling beside her. She looked around, tense. A figure caught her eye, moving fast in the trees. The girl held her knife out in front of her protectively. It looked as if it would be too big and heavy for her to hold, but she handled it with ease.

The figure moved in and out of her line of vision, and, annoyed, the girl exhaled impatiently. If the figure was going to attack, it would have done so by now. The figure stopped moving. The girl looked right at it. Bright purple eyes stared back. A flash of blond appeared when the figure pounced, jumping on the girl and pushing her down into the snow.

Back at the camp the young girl had left, and brunette sat, warming her hands by the slowly dying fire. Her mistress had gone out to get fire wood, and if she didn't return within the hour, the sparks would slowly fade.

Behind her, one of the tent flaps opened and a ten-year-old girl walked out. She had dark red hair and freckles splattered across her nose, like someone had thrown wet sand at her damp face. Her brown eyes were wide. The girl sitting at the girl turned around. "Josie? What are you doing outside? It's late."

Josie looked into her friend's blue eyes. "I can't sleep, Mattie."

Mattie shifted her butt on the ground so she was more comfortable and patted the dirt beside her. Josie scuttled over and sat. "What's up? Nightmare?"

Josie nodded. "You wanna tell me about it?" asked Mattie.

"She was attacked," said Josie, her brown eyes shifted from the fire to Mattie to the woods and back again. Her voice wavered when she spoke. "And she's hurt."

Mattie's eyes widened. Josie was a demi-god, and demi-god dreams often showed the future. "Who is? Who's hurt, Jo?"

A scream echoed through the woods. All twenty girls in the camp peered out of the tents and poked their heads around. Mutters and whispered filled the small camp. The hunting wolves howled. The ravens cawed and circled the camp. One of the girls whistled and her bird flew down to her arm. She stroked its feathers nervously.

Josie shook. "Lady Artemis."

Andra took a deep breath. She wasn't ready for this. Nothing she had ever done in her very long life had ever prepared her for what was about to happen. She was about to yell at her friends to stop, when Thalia released the arrow.

The Titan watched as it approached her. She knew it couldn't hurt, really. She had been immortal, and now she was a Titan, so really, she had nothing to worry about. But the arrow came closer and closer and Andra closed her eyes and inhaled sharply.

"Yes!" Thalia pumped voice reached her ears.

Andra slowly opened one eye, and then the other. The arrow had stopped mere millimeters from her face. She backed up and went around it. Her friends, a few feet away, were applauding. Even Nico, although he did it half-heartedly.

"Nice," hissed Conner. He ran over to the arrow, like he had to the men in Alaska, and did the limbo under it, then circled it twice. "Cool."

Andra smiled. "Thanks."

Thalia plopped down the ground, and Nico, Conner and Andra followed suite. They were on the fireworks beach at Camp Half-blood, where they had plenty of practice space. Many of the Gods had offered to train Andra in being at higher immortal being, but she preferred being with her friends. The daughter of Kronos laid back onto the sand and wiggled a bit so there was a sand pillow underneath her head.

"What's it like being a Titan?" asked Conner. She'd had her powers for a day now, and she really didn't feel that different. She had been immortal before and she was immortal then. The only thing that had changed was the strength of her powers. That, and the fact that she was more powerful then the Gods.

Andra shrugged, and a few bits of sand sank underneath her shirt. "Like being a God," she replied cheekily, wiggling around to get the sand out.

"And that?"

"Like being you but more powerful," she said, sitting up and brushing some sand from her hair.

Conner nodded. "Cool."

Andra laughed and placed her hand on his shoulder. "Doesn't take much to please you, does it?"

Conner looked at the slender hand on his shoulder and smiled. "Not at all," he replied.

The conch horn blew three times. Dinner. The four stood and brushed sand of their butts before racing each other to the dining pavilion, Andra winning by a few seconds. They went and sat next to Percy and Annabeth, who were seated at Poseidon's table. Because so many people would sit with those at other tables, and also because there were so few demi-god now at Camp, Chiron had abolished the cabin arranged seating. Andra and Nico joined Percy on the left, while Conner and Thalia sat next to Annabeth.

They grabbed food, offered some to the Gods(even Andra did it), and then sat back down again. Annabeth had barely been able to take a bite of her turkey burger when her half-brother, Malcolm, ran up the the table that had formerly been named Poseidon's.

"Annabeth? Chiron needs to talk to you. We think we have a lead on the Primordial," he said in a rush, his gray eyes wide. "It's huge, Annabeth, you gotta come now."

Taking a quick bite and chewing rapidly, Annabeth nodded excitedly. Swallowing, she kissed Percy, and then followed her brother. Thalia fake-gagged into her salad. Andra giggled.

Percy rolled his eyes at his cousins reaction. "Oh, come one. Grow up, Thals. Everyone kisses. Even Nico has..." Percy trailed off, realizing his fatal mistake a second too late.

Nico threw his napkin onto his uneaten food. "I'm not very hungry," he mumbled, before standing, dumping the rest of his food into the fire for the Gods, and walking back to his cabin.

Thalia leaned across the table and hit him on the shoulder. "Think a little, Perce."

Percy rubbed his shoulder and sighed at Thalia. "I'm sorry. It just slipped out. And you're not perfect either, remember that."

"Yeah," Andra piped up. "Remember yesterday, when he was helping you polish your arrows, and you mentioned how Cass's had nice tips?"

"Why do you have to remember everything? And they did!" said Thalia defensively. "And anyway, I think he's dragging this on too long."

"She's only been...gone for three days now," said Conner. "That's not a very long time, even if he only knew her, like, three months."

Thalia sighed. "I guess, yeah."

They finished dinner quickly. Sing-a-long had been canceled for the past days, because now there were only three Apollo campers, and none of them were feeling happy or in a very sing-a-long mood. They walked back down to the beach, and sat on the edge of the pier.

A cool December wind came off the ocean and sea salt tangled in their hair as they sat and wrapped their arms around their bodys to warm themselves. "Who wants a swim?" asked Percy, watching Apollo drive the sun down the mountains, casting shadows on camp.

"Are you kidding, Kelp Brain? It's freezing!" Thalia looked at the water like it would jump out and grab her. The daughter of Zeus scooted back a few inches to a safe place.

"Come on," Percy sang in an off-key voice. "I'll make the water warm. Anythings warmer then the air right now anyway."

"Well, it is December," said Conner, like he had discovered a huge loop-hole in Percy's statement.

Andra rolled her eyes. "Well, thank you Mr. Obvious."

Conner pulled off his shirt. "I'm in."

Andra slipped off her jeans to reveal a pair of red running shorts. She unzipped her hoodie and stood in her white tank top. "Me too."

Percy pulled off his shirt as well. "Thals?"

The daughter of Zeus sighed, before she began to undress. "Fine, but if your dad decides to send a shark or something at me 'cause I went swimming with you-"

Percy rolled his eyes. "If on the extremely rare off-chance that something does happen, I'll take care of it." Then, he cupped his hands, and yelled out into the ocean, "Dad! Thalia's going swimming! Don't kill her!" Turning to Thalia, he asked, "How's that?"

Andra giggled into her palm. She stood shivering on the edge of the pier, her toes pointed towards the ocean. She wiggled them around and flexed them a few times. Thalia just rolled her eyes at her cousin and continued pulling her hoodie off.

A minute later, Thalia stood on the edge of the pier with her friends, in a silver tank top and matching pair of boxer-like underwear. "Jump on three," commanded Percy with a grin.

Andra shook her head. "Nah. Counts to three are when you get needles or, say, remove a son of Poseidon from a Titan. How 'bout... NOW!" she shouted, grabbing Conner's and and Thalia's hand on one side, and Percy's on the other and pulled them in.

The water hit them like a thousand knives. Percy emerged first, then Conner and Thalia. Andra came up sputtering. "Perseus Jackson, I swear, if you don't make this water warmer, I'm gonna go all Titan on your ass!"

Percy smiled, then lifted his hands out of the water with his eyes closed. The water warmed immediately, like someone had turned up the heat. "Better?" asked the son of Poseidon, opening his eyes. His raven hair was dry, in fact, his whole body was.

Thalia grinned. "Yes." She looked down nervously. "Does anyone see any sharks, or anything?" The daughter of Zeus ducked her head under the water and then came back up. Her spiky black hair covered most of her face. "I swear there's something down there," she said, angrily wiping sopping bits of hair out of her eyes.

Percy swam over to her and tread water while his cousin thrashed to stay upright. "Thals... there's nothing there, I promise. Look," he said, diving under. The water was clear enough for them to see him darting around on the ocean floor in the perimeter around them. After a few minutes, he popped up, dry and smiling. "Nothing."

Thalia eyed him, her eyeliner dripping around her eyes making her look a bit like a raccoon. She wiped some of it off with her fingers, leaving only make-up war stripes under her eyes. "Thanks."

Footsteps echoed above their heads as someone walked on the pier. A few blond curls dipped in the water as Annabeth's tanned, heart-shaped face came into view. Her small, gray eyes scanned those in the water and a smile spread on her lips. "Working hard, I see," she smirked.

Percy raised his hand out of the water and smiled, and a wave appeared, crashing over the dock, soaking Annabeth. "And you? Are you working hard?"

Annabeth shivered in her wet clothes. She lowered herself into the warm water slowly, then tread water over to her boyfriend and friends. "I was in the Big House with Malcolm, idiot. I think we have a lead. There's some pretty solid proof, and I think we've got something. It'll be a few days before we get some real results, but I have a feeling about this."

Percy smiled. "Good." He planted his lips on her nose. Annabeth's nose turned a bright shade of pink under her boyfriends touch.

Thalia rolled her eyes, then went back to wiping her make-up off. "Get a room. I beg you."

Annabeth moved her hand in the water, sending droplets over to her best-friend. Thalia smirked. "Is that all you can do? Bring it, Gray-Eyes!"

"Nice trash talk, Thals," shouted Percy. He was standing a few feet above the water on a diving board made from waves. He cannon-balled in. The water splashed tremendously.

"Wow," said Conner and Andra at the same time. The swan-raced each other to the water diving board. Andra won and she climbed and jumped, with Conner a few seconds behind her. They emerged with smiled. "Cooool."

Annabeth reached under water and grabbed her shoes. With the plastic flip-flops in her hand, she chucked them to the beach. The landed a few feet short, and Percy manipulated the waves to make them float to the sand. They sky was almost black now, the sun was completely gone.

More foot-steps. It was Chiron. While Annabeth blushed, Percy spread his arms wide at the centaur. "Hey, Chiron. Come to join the party?"

Through his beard, the centaur smiled. "I'm alread not. We need Annabeth back at the Big House. Actually, this might concern all of you. You five better dress then come with me."

Nico was already there at the Big House. He sat, waiting outside for them. He wouldn't meet their eyes, but he did look suspiciously at their soaking wet clothing and hair. "The Hunters are hear," he mumbled.

Thalia's eyes widened. She raced up the stairs, the rest of them following quickly. The daughter of Zeus speed into the rec room. Twenty or so other girls were already in there. They wore jeans and silver track jackets. Hunting wolves ambled around the room, and a few hunting birds had settled down into the rafters of the high ceilings. A young girl, about ten, ran into Thalia's arms, not caring about the sea water that dripped off her.

"I saw her!" she cried softly into Thalia's wet hair. "I saw, and I couldn't do anything. And we found her, and Mattie called Apollo..."

Thalia set the girl down. "Josie, honey, you have to calm down." She turned to her cousin. "Percy, can you dry me off?"

The son of Poseidon quickly went around and dried off those who had been in the water. "Thanks," she said. She looked another girl in the eye. "What happened, Mattie?" she asked, but Mattie wouldn't look her in the eye.

Another girl stood. She had long blond hair, that almost looked silvery. Conner blushed when he saw her, remembering a prank he and Travis had pulled on her. The girl seemed to remember it as well, as she glared at him before speaking. "Lady Artemis," she said, her voice cracking.

Thalia narrowed her eyes at Phoebe. "What happened?"

"She was attacked," continued Phoebe. "And Josie had a dream about it. We heard her screaming, and Mattie found her."

Mattie blinked back tears. Thalia looked upon her sadly; Mattie had been a part of the hunters for almost two hundred years. Her real name was Mary-Theresa, but no one ever called her that. "She wasn't even looking like herself. She was covered in gold. Ichor," she managed to choke out.

Another girl stood. "We Iris Messaged Lord Apollo," she said. "He brought her to Olympus."

Thalia nodded. Her eyes were closed. "Thanks, Sue," she said slowly. Annabeth knelt next to her.

"Are you okay, Thals?" she asked. Thalia nodded unresponsively.

Annabeth put her arm around her friend and turned a bit to face Chiron. "You said this concerned all of us? I'm sorry, but I don't see how."

Chiron sighed. "Artemis has only been attacked like this once in history."

Annabeth gasped, and Andra put her hands to her mouth in shock. "No," said Andra. "I thought we ruled this out. Chiron, you said it wouldn't happen again."

Nico looked at her. "What?"

Andra looked straight at the son of Hades. There was no emotion in her voice when she spoke. "The primordials. Starting with Nyx. She wants the night back."