A/N i forgot to mention in the last chapter that percy also has a bowie knife in his right boot. Anyways back to the story.
Percy pov 1st person
The cold winter wind blew around me, nearly knocking my hat off my head.
"What are we doing here?" I asked the Fury to my right.
"Patience," she replied, "the children will be here soon."
I sighed, wanting to get this job quickly so I could get my memory back. We had set up camp a few hundred yards away from the school where the children were staying. I checked Blackjack's saddle straps for what must have been the third time in ten minutes, if I needed to make a quick getaway I wanted to make sure the saddle wouldn't just slide off, and deposit into the snow.
Satisfied, I sat down and started to stoke the small fire I had built. The week of travel it had taken us to get here had taught me many things about this new world. For one people no longer used horses to travel, instead they used this new invention called cars. The Fury told me that these metal beast ran on something called gasoline, apparently you could extract from the ground with giant metal drills.
The second thing I noticed was that people always looked at me strangely from the corners of their eyes, when I asked the Fury about it she just laughed.
flashback
"It's the way your dressed," she explained,
"What's wrong with my clothes." I asked, looking down at my clothes with confusion.
"You're dressed like a cowboy, nobody dresses like that anymore. Plus incase you didn't notice no one else is riding a horse."
I looked around, she was right no one else was dearing anything similar to me. And no one was riding a horse either. Speaking of Blackjack, it seems his time in the afterlife had changed him in some ways. He never seemed to get tired, and now he could travel great distance much quicker than he could before.
Flashback over
I sighed at the memory. I wish I could remember my past. Since leaving the underworld I had been having dreams. They were completely undecipherable flashes of colour, that went by too quickly for me glean any information from them. I didn't know what these dreams meant, but I was certain that they were from my past. I was jolted out of my thoughts by the Fury,
"Get up, the children have arrived, and they have company."
I got up from the fire and walked over to her. She was right, I could make out the two siblings standing side by side less than a hundred feet away. They were accompanied by by a large figure that appeared to have some sort of tail with spikes on it, flanking him on either side were six armed snake ladies.
"A manticore and some dracaena guards, piece of cake," I thought, wait where'd that thought come from. I desperately tried to get a hold of the small piece of my past, but it was gone as quickly as it had appeared. "Who the hell was I before I died," my thoughts were once again interrupted. This time four new figures burst from the school, a group of teenagers, two boys and two girls rushed the manticore. After a couple volleys of spikes from the manticore, the kids, one which had gotten a spike in the shoulder, could no longer move forward without risking getting hit by a spike.
Before I could move forward a hunting horn sounded, and a troop of girls dressed in all silver appeared from the woods. They were led by a small, auburn haired girl who looked around twelve years old.
"Who's that?"
"That would be the goddess Artemis." replied the Fury.
So this was Artemis. Next to children of Poseidon and Hades, there were a large number of males that entered the Underworld. Grumbling about a group of girls in silver.
I knew that I would have to be careful around her. So I checked my revolvers one last time, making sure that they both were loaded. Satisfied that there wouldn't be any misfires, I started walking over to join in the mini skirmish that was brewing in front of me.
Biancas pov 3rd person
Bianca was having one hell of a week. She had just turned fourteen yesterday, it was the first birthday that she could vividly remember happening in her life. Then today while her and her brother were sitting on the bleachers, waiting for the school dance to over. Dr. Thorn, pain in the ass biology teacher came out of nowhere, and dragged them outside into the cold.
Now she stood, freezing from the cold winter air. In front of her stood Thorn, who had now grown a tail with spikes on the end of it. On either side of him were six snake woman, all armed with shields and spears.
When Grover and three kids she had never seen before tried to help them, Thorn had launched the spikes from his tail at them. He managed to stick one of them into the shoulder of a boy around her age. Then things got even crazier. A group of girls, ranging from age twelve to late teens, marched out of the woods, dressed in all silver clothes, and led by a little girl who looked no older the thirteen.
Biancas pov 1st person
"Ah, Artemis so nice of you to join us," purred Thorn, his french accent making it harder to understand him.
To my surprise, the little girl stepped forward.
"Let go of those demi gods monster, and I shall make your end and painless."
"Demi gods?" I thought, "what the hell are they talking about."
Thorn just laughed, gesturing behind him, " sorry goddess, but unfortunately my master wants these two, they are to be useful in your eventual demise,"
Behind Thorn, beyond the cliff that fell into the sea, three helicopters rose up and began hovering above us. They all carried three heavily armed soldiers, dressed in all black.
Artemis waved her right hand in the air. Suddenly instead of helicopters, now in their place was a flock of geese. All the geese honked in confusion before they all started to fly away, if my sense of direction was correct, they were flying south for the winter.
"Now that that's taken care of," said Artemis, a silver bow and arrow materializing in her hands, "hand over the half bloods."
Thorn growled in frustration, looking at the snake monster on either side of him. "ATTACK." he yelled, and the snake monsters began to move towards the goddess of the hunt.
Suddenly shots range out, all the snake women erupted into golden dust. Everyone, including Thorn looked at the piles of dust in confusion.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" said a voice, everyone turned to face the direction of the new voice. There in between the silver dressed girls and Grover and his friends, with his guns still smoking in the cold air, stood a Latino man in full cowboy attire. He looked to be in his early to mid twenties, he had the beginning of a full beard on his face. The most interesting part were his eyes, they kept switching from green to gold in colour.
"Looks like we have ourselves a Mexican standoff," he continued, his voice had an odd sounding country twang to it. Like something you would hear in an old style western movie.
"But we don't appear to have any Mexicans. Well except for me of course," finished the cowboy, his voice had a hint of amusement in it.
"Who are you?" asked Thorn.
The cowboy laughed. He had placed one of his revolvers back in it holster. The other one he was spinning on his trigger finger, his eyes never left the spinning gun.
"Who am I?" he asked, his eyes still didn't leave the gun in his hand, "well partner, i'm the guy that's come for those two children you got behind you, now hand em over." with those last words leaving his mouth, the gun stopped spinning and was pointed directly at Thorn. His eyes locked with monsters, never blinking as he stared him down.
They stood there for what seemed like hours, neither one of them moving, each daring the other to make the first move. They were so still that I started to wonder if they were even alive anymore. The lack of movement was unnerving, eventually Thorn made the first move.
He lunged at me a my brother with a snarl. Another shot rang out and I was dragged over the edge of the cliff, falling towards the cold, dark sea below.
Percy pov 1st person
"GOD DAMMIT," I yelled, rushing forwards toward the cliff the monster had fallen over. I had managed to shoot him in the shoulder. But that only stopped him from taking the boy over the edge with him as well.
A plan flashed into my head. It was completely insane, the chances of me succeeding and not falling to my death were slim to none. But it was my only chance to get my memory back, so with that in mind I let out a piercing whistle and jumped over the edge.
Artemis pov 3rd person
"That male had to be crazy." Artemis thought to herself. Not only did he interrupt her hunt, but he had just thrown himself to his death, in an attempt to save the female demigod she had come for. But now that she was dead, Artemis would have to make do with the brother, her father Zeus expected them to be children of Hades and wanted them to be brought before the Olympian council. Artemis looked over at the two children of Zeus, the male one, she believed his name was Chad had gotten a spike in the shoulder, and was receiving treatment from the satyer known as Grover. He was the spitting image of his father, he handsome face, but his eyes held an insane lust for power, and often he would let that lust get him into trouble he couldn't get out of, it was a look she knew all too well from personal experience with Zeus.
His sister however, Thalia, was different in the way, that if she found herself in a hard spot she would find away out. Usually with help from shield aegis or her electric spear. Thalia stood with Annabeth, a daughter of Athena, at the edge of the cliff, looking down at the sea.
Artemis pov 1st person
I was just about to order my hunter to set up camp, when a horse as black as midnight rushed towards the cliff. Nearly knocking the two girls off the edge, it stood there as if waiting for something. Suddenly the horse started backing up, in it's mouth was a rope. I stood there in utter shock as the mysterious man appeared at the end of the rope. And in his arms, unconscious was the daughter of hades.
Bianca pov 1st person
I woke up with a start, the last thing I remembered was falling off the edge of the cliff. Once my eyes adjusted I discovered that I was in a silver tent. Looking down I saw that I was on a cot, covered with different types of animal furs.
"It's good to see you awake and well." said a voice behind me. Spinning around I saw that, standing in corner was the auburn haired girl. Only this time she looked older, now she was in her twenties, and her hair was drawn back into a ponytail.
"Oh yes, thank you Lady Artemis for, umm," I said, unable to find the words.
Artemis smiled, " don't worry child," she said, "you've been through quite a lot today, you're bother was worried about you."
"Oh my god Nico," I said jumping from my cocoon, "Where is he?"
"He's with the others by the fire," replied the goddess, pointing towards the flaps of the tent.
In a flash I was out the door and running towards my brother. He was sitting between Grover and two of the new kids that looked like brother and sister. Judging by their facial expressions I guessed that he was talking about his stupid mythomagic card game. He always seemed to carry around those cards wherever he went.
I called his name. He turned around and started running towards me as well, his face breaking into a huge smile. We collided in the middle, each wrapping the other in bear hug.
"I thought you were a goner for sure sis," he said with a sniffle.
" don't worry Nic, i'm not going anywhere anytime soon." I said using my pet name for him. It usually got a response from him, and this time was no different.
He looked up at me. His eyes were still teary, but his mouth was curved into a smile.
"Come on," he said excitedly, grabbing my hand and starting to drag me towards the fire, "you've got to meet the others, their sooooooo cool,"
The two kids I saw Nico talking too before were indeed brother and sister, their names were Thalia and Chad. thalia was nice enough, but one look at Chad and I knew he was trouble. He had the look of your typical school bully, he was tall and good looking but as soon as you put him in real life situations, his brain would fizzle out and cease to function.
They had another friend, a blond girl named Annabeth the way she looked at me as she shook my hand, made me think she was trying to solve some sort of puzzle. Like she was trying to find out all my weaknesses and how to exploit them.
"You're lucky to be alive. If it wasn't for him jumping over the cliff after you, you would have died," said Thalia, pointing towards a tree outside of camp, at the base of the tree was the mysterious man, tied to tree with a thick looking silver rope.
" oh yeah he was amazing," said Nico, turning towards me, "he just jumped over the cliff and I was sure he was gone too. But then this horse came out of nowhere and dragged you both back up,"
I looked at the man that has saved my life, " come on Nico," I said, getting up from my seat, " I want to thank him for saving my life."
Percy pov 1st person
The two sibling made their way over to me. I was still sore all over, after I had saved the girl from certain death and had just put her down safely, I was attacked by that group of silver clad she devils. They had beaten me unconscious, so I woke up tied this tree and without my weapons.
" hey." said Bianca " I just wanted to say thank you, you know for saving me.'
"It was no trouble at all miss," I said reaching up to tip my hat. The problem was that the way I was tied up didn't allow my arms to move above my chest. Plus I had lost my hat while falling down the cliff, lost in the churning sea below.
"Sorry about your hat," she said sheepishly. I smiled reassuringly at her, "don't worry about it I always keep a spare on Blackjack over there," I said nodding in the direction of my horse, " my name is Percy by the way,"
" nice to meet you Percy, my name is Bianca and this is my brother Nico." she said, gesturing to the twelve year old behind her.
I nodded, I already knew their names but it probably wouldn't be the best idea to let them know that. Looking over at the rest of the group, I saw that had been shot, skinned and was now being roasted over the fire. The delicious smell wafted over, making my stomach growl, I realized that I hadn't eaten since early this morning.
Bianca noticed my gaze, "oh you must be hungry, I'll go get you some food," with that she started walking over to the fire, leaving her brother behind.
Nico was gawking at Blackjack, "you ever see a horse before Nico?" i asked.
"Yes, just never in person before," he explained "is he really your's?"
"Yes sir, he's been with me since I was a little boy,"
"Cool!" he exclaimed, "hey do you think you could teach me how you did that cool stuff with your gun?"
I chuckled, to be honest. I had no idea, it just kind of happened. But the boy's enthusiasm was apparent on his face, I couldn't let him down.
"Sure," I said, "as soon as I get out of these bonds I'll teach you. I'll even let you ride Blackjack."
That seemed to make him happy. Bianca returned at that moment, carrying a plate of cooked meat. I thanked her, and with one last thank you she turned around and dragged her brother back to fire.
It was difficult to reach my mouth with my arms tied, but soon there was no more meat left. Feeling satisfied, I layed back against the tree. I must have fallen asleep. Because the next thing I knew, I was standing in the living room of a burning house. In front of me were three figures, they were kneeling in front of an alter.
I squinted my eyes, on top of the altar was the box I found in Blackjacks saddle bag. I tried to get a better look, but found that I was unable to move. Suddenly more flames erupted around the house, "the fire was coming from the box," I realized, as if it read my mind the box spew more flames. This time the fire was consuming the three kneeling figures, who arched their backs in pain, their skin began to melt, exposing the bones beneath. Again I tried to move, but again I was unable to. One of the figures turned around to face me, it's face was an unrecognizable mismatch of burnt flesh and bone. It seemed to be trying to tell me something, but without any lips, tongue or vocal cords it couldn't produce the words.
I was jolted awake by a hand roughly shaking my shoulder, I awoke in a cold sweat, when my eyes had adjusted I saw that a silver clad girl with a tiara on her head was standing in front of me.
"Get up boy, it's time to go,"
She untied the ropes keeping to the tree. I got up and started stretching, trying to get some feeling back in my arms and legs.
The girl grabbed my wrists and bound them tightly together in front of me.
"Hey!" I complained, " come on miss, I'm not going to do anything to hurt you,"
I tried giving her a winning smile, in response she tightened the rope even more, this time drawing blood. She dragged me over to where the others were standing, waiting for something to appear over the horizon.
'Late," muttered Artemis, "he always so lazy in the winter time."
I didn't know who she was talking about. Then suddenly a blinding light erupted in front of us, when the light died down it revealed a bright red car.
"Wow," exclaimed Nico, "Is that a lamborghini?"
The man in the driver's seat laughed. He was very tan, with blinding white teeth. His eyes were covered by a pair of dark sunglasses, but even with those on I could see the light coming from his eyes around the edges. As if he had two miniature suns for eyes.
"Hey lil sis," said the man.
"Apollo," replied Artemis curtly, "Apollo I need you to escort these demigods and my Hunters to camp Half Blood." "sure thing sis," Apollo replied, he scanned the faces in front of him, nodding until he saw me.
Immediately his eyebrows scrunched together in a frown. "Who ar," he started but Artemis interrupted him. "Apollo he is my prisoner. My hunters will keep an eye on him until the Winter Solstice. Then he will be brought before the council." she turned to the girl with the tiara on her head.
"Zoe, make sure that he never leaves your site," Zoe didn't look to happy to be put on babysitting duty, but she nodded her understanding.
The car began to glow again, it transformed into a larger car. A bus I believe the Fury called it.
The hunter were the first aboard. Squishing themselves to the very back of the bus, trying to get as far away from Apollo as possible. The demigods all sat in the middle of the bus. Bianca and Nico sat alone, nearer to the front of the bus. I could tell by the looks on their faces they were still trying to digest all the information they had been force fed today.
Somehow I could tell that the four other kids in the bus were a satyre, a daughter of Athena and a son and daughter of Zeus.
As I was about to board the bus I realized that I had forgotten something. So turning around I let out a piercing whistle, Blackjack looked up from his grazing to stare at me. I whistled again and nodded towards the bus, in response the horse neighed and bobbed his head before returning to his grazing.
Satisfied I turned and boarded the bus. Sitting near the front, now I could still keep an eye on the siblings without having to fraternize with the other kids, or the man hating hunters.
Artemis pov 3rd person
Mid conversation
'You know what the prophecy says,"
Artemis nodded. Everyone on olympus knew some parts of the great prophecy, just some more than others.
"I know, but we can't be sure until after the Winter Solstice,"
Apollo didn't look happy, " so what are you going to do?"
Artemis knelt in the snow, as if studying animal tracks. Getting back up she looked at her brother with determination, "before the manticore fell of the cliff, he said something about a great stirring of monster. That a monster with the power to topple Olympus had returned, I'm going to hunt this beast and destroy it."
"What if something goes wrong?" asked Apollo with a worried expression on his face.
"Do not worry brother, I can more than handle myself," then her face softened, "but if I do not return by the Solstice then you may send out a search party if you so wish."
Apollo's face lit up at that last part. He wished her luck and watched as his sister disappeared into the woods. He turned around and joined the other on the bus. He didn't know why but he felt like something was about to go terribly wrong.