Chapter 2
It was obvious that they wanted all of our things to find out everything we planned on doing, but there was no way I could let anyone take them.
Then, out of nowhere, Kendra appeared. She walked right past us all toward Luke.
"Kendra, dear, did you have fun on your little secret mission? Nice distraction with the broken finger nail. You must have been very annoying for these clever Hunters not to have suspected anything. I pity you for having to spend two whole months with these annoying doorknobs. Expect for you Thalia," he looked me straight in the face as Kendra grabbed his arm and looked jealous, "You were always a smart one, likable, not so bad looking either. It's a shame you joined Artemis instead of Kronos. You have so much more potential…"
I couldn't believe what I was hearing. This wasn't my friend anymore, this was a monster. Yet, I wanted to go hug him, tell him how much he meant to me. Tell him Kronos was going to hurt him in the long run. I wanted to save him.
I knew I couldn't though. There was no turning back for him now.
"I will not have anyone talking in such ways about me. Especially not in front of my sisters. You have no reason to be here, and I would appreciate it if you leave, without harm, now. If you chose not to, there will be violence."
He stared at me like I had just told a joke. I felt humiliated in front of my sisters. Maybe I know why Artemis didn't want marriage or relationships, because men could be so cruel. I guess everyone could be.
He finally began to reply, "Violence is what I feed on Thalia. I am prepared. Attack if you must, but you will not succeed. I heard this little army of yours was getting good, but I'm prepared."
He motioned toward the tent and out came a monster I have never seen before. At first it looked like just a lion, but once I looked close, I saw what was wrong with it. Right in the middle of its back was a goat's head, and its tail was a snake.
"It's taken me quite a while to find this beauty, but it was worth it. Do any of you smart ladies know what she is?"
I hated his smirk, like we were nothing but a bunch of three-year-olds.
No one answered. Maybe no one knew, but I was guessing the real reason was that no one wanted to talk.
Finally Luke began, "This, my dears," the smirk crept up again, "is a wonderful chimaera. It is the offspring of Typhon and Echidne. Oh, and here's something else about her. Go ahead my little chimaera," he backed away and suddenly fire blazed out of its mouth, almost reaching all of us in the front of the crowd. "Isn't she wonderful?"
Maybe for them, but not for us. We could handle it though. I mean, we had battled much worse. But where to begin? We couldn't just break out right now. I had no way of giving orders. I was clueless.
"Very nice. Now as I said, please leave before you regret it."
"Oooohhhh, pushy, pushy! I thought we could catch up. What's the rush?"
"The rush is that we are enemies and I will not allow you to plunder our land or things. I know you are looking for trouble, and if you don't leave immediately that is what you are going to get!"
He looked offended, but replied, "I don't remember you being rude, Thalia. I don't remember any of Artemis' Hunters being rude either, especially a lieutenant. Now, I do have a purpose for being here and you will cooperate, or else. Are you prepared to hear my orders?"
"As a matter of fact, no! I don't want –"
"Great! I need only a few things from you. First off, we have already began searching your things for whatever seems to be important. We'll take what we need and save you the trouble of going through things for us. Second, I would like to ask questions about any other information you might have not on paper. And, when I've finished all that, we will be taking everything else in case we need it for something else on our way back to our headquarters. Sound good?"
I didn't know what to do. How could they do this? I thought fast and chose to take a chance.
"Never! Hunters form and ATTACK!!!"