Chapter 3

Bianca di Angelo Makes a Choice

After seeing Dr. Thorn turn into a monster and plummet off the edge of a cliff with Anthony, you'd think nothing else could shock me. But when this twelve-year-old girl told me she was the goddess Artemis, I said something real intelligent like, "Um...okay."

I sounded almost as uncomfortable as Gretel. She stuttered, "Uh, hello, Lady Artemis...you look very...healthy and fit today."

"We have other things to worry about." Thalia snapped. "Anthony is gone!"

"Whoa," Bianca di Angelo said. "Hold up. Time out."

Everybody looked at her. She pointed her finger at all of us in turn, like she was trying to connect the dots. "Who...who are you people?"

Artemis's expression softened. "It might be a better question, my dear girl, to ask who are you? Who are your parents?"

Bianca glanced nervously at her brother, who was still staring in awe at Artemis.

"Our parents are dead," Bianca said. "We're orphans. There's a bank trust that pays for our school, but…"

She faltered. I guess she could tell from our faces that we didn't believe her.

"What?" she demanded. "I'm telling the truth."

"You are a half-blood," Zoë Nightshade said. Her accent was hard to place. It sounded old-fashioned, like she was reading from a really old book. "One of thy parents was mortal. The other was an Olympian."

"An Olympian...athlete?"

"No," Zoe said. "One of the gods."

"Cool!" said Nico.

"No!" Bianca's voice quavered. "This is not cool!"

Nico danced around like he needed to use the restroom. "Does Zeus really have lightning bolts that do six hundred damage? Does he get extra movement points for-"

"Nice, shut up!" Bianca put her hands to her face. "This is not your stupid Mythomagic game, okay? There are no gods!"

As anxious as I felt about Anthony-all I wanted to do was search for him-I couldn't help feeling sorry for the di Angelos. I remembered what it was like for me when I first learned I was a demigoddess.

Thalia must've been feeling something similar, because the anger in her eyes subsided a little bit. "Bianca, I know it's hard to believe. But the gods are still around. Trust me. They're immortal. And whenever they have kids with regular humans, kids like us, well...Our lives are dangerous."

"Dangerous," Bianca said, "like the boy who fell."

Thalia turned away, and even I looked pained.

"Do not despair for Anthony, young maiden," the goddess told me. "He was brave to save you, for a boy. If you value him only as a friend, if he can be found, I shall find him."

"Then why won't you let us go look for him?" I asked.

"He is gone. Can't you sense it, Daughter of Poseidon? Some magic is at work. I do not know exactly how or why, but your friend has vanished."

I still wanted to jump off the cliff and search for him, but I had a feeling that Artemis was right. Anthony was gone. If he'd been down there in the sea, I thought, I'd be able to feel his presence.

"Oo!" Nice raised his hand. "What about Dr. Thorn? That was awesome how you shot him with arrows! Is he dead?"

"He was a manticore," Artemis said. "Hopefully he is destroyed for now, but monsters never truly die. They re-form over and over again, and they must be hunted whenever they appear."

"Or they'll hunt us," Thalia said.

Bianca di Angelo shivered. "That explains...Nico, you remember last summer, those guys who tried to attack us in the alley in D.C.?"

"And that bus driver," Nico said. "The one with the ram's horns. I told you that was real."

"That's why Gretel has been watching you," I said. "To keep you safe, if you turned out to be half-bloods."

"Gretel?" Bianca stared at her. "You're a demigod?"

"Well, a dryad, actually. Trained in woodland and satyr's magic." She rolled up her jacket sleeve and showed her green roots sprouting flowers on her arm. I thought Bianca was going to faint right there.

"Gretel, you're freaking her out." Thalia said.

"Hey, my roots are healthy!"

"Bianca," I said, "we came here to help you. You and Nico need training to survive. Dr. Thorn won't be the last monster you meet. You need to come to camp."

"Camp?" she asked.

"Camp Half-Blood," I said. "It's where half-bloods learn to survive and stuff. You can join us, stay there year-round if you like."

"Sweet, let's go!" said Nico.

"Wait." Bianca shook her head. "I don't-"

"There is another option," Zoë said.

"No, there isn't!" Thalia said.

Thalia and Zoë glared at each other. I didn't know what they were talking about, but I could tell there was a bad history between them. For some reason, they seriously hated each other.

"We've burdened these children enough," Artemis announced. "Zoë, we will rest here for a few hours. Raise the tents. Treat the wounded. Retrieve our guests' belongings from the school."

"Yes, my lady."

"And, Bianca, come with me. I would like to speak with you."

"What about me?" Nico asked.

Artemis considered the boy. "Perhaps you can show Gretel how to play that card game you enjoy. I'm sure Gretel would be happy to entertain you for a while...as a favor to me?"

Gretel made a look of relief, unlike before when she looked nervous when Artemis first showed up here. "Sure, come on, Nico."

Nico and Gretel walked off toward the woods, talking about hit points and armor ratings and a bunch of other geeky stuff. Artemis led a confused-looking Bianca along the cliff. The Hunters began unpacking their knapsacks and making camp.

Zoë gave Thalia one more evil look, then left to oversee things.

As soon as she was gone, Thalia stamped her foot in frustration. "The nerve of those Hunters! They think they're so...Argh!"

"I don't know how to point this out, but I'm kinda with you," I said. "I don't exactly trust-"

"Oh, you're with me?" Thalia turned to me furiously. "What were you thinking back there in the gym, Perci? You'd take on Dr. Thorn all by yourself? You knew he was a monster!"

"Now, wait, I-"

"If we stuck together, we could've taken him without the Hunters getting involved. Anthony might still be here. Did you think of that?"

My jaw clenched. "Yes, I have! But like I knew if the Hunters would show up, and I don't get why you're blaming that on me? You know I'm still new at this whole...half-blood thing, even after two years, and you think I'd know everything that could happen?"

She looked like she was trying to find something harsh to say back, but she looked like I nailed her there. I looked down and saw something navy blue lying in the snow at my feet. Anthony's New York Yankees baseball cap.

Thalia didn't say another word. She wiped a tear from her cheek, turned, and marched off, leaving me alone with a trampled cap in the snow.


The Hunters set up their camping site in a matter of minutes. Seven large tents, all of silver silk, curved in a crescent around on side of a bonfire. One of the girls blew a silver dog whistle, and a dozen white wolves appeared out of the woods. They begun circling the camp like guard dogs. The Hunters walked among them and fed them treats, completely unafraid, but I decided I would stick close to the tents. Falcons watched us from the trees, their eyes flashing in the firelight, and I got the feeling they were on guard duty, too. Even the weather seemed to bend to the goddess's will. The air was still cold, but the wind died down and the snow stopped falling, so it was almost pleasant sitting by the fire.

Almost...except for the pain in my shoulder and the guilt weighing me down. I couldn't believe Anthony was gone. And as angry as I was at Thalia, I had a sinking feeling that she was right. It was my fault.

What had Anthony wanted to tell me in the gym? Something serious, he'd said. Now I might never find out. I thought about how we'd danced together for half a song, and my heart felt even heavier.

I watched Thalia pacing around in the snow at the edge of camp, walking among the wolves without fear. She stopped and looked back at Westover Hall, which was now completely dark, looming on the hillside beyond the woods. I wondered what she was thinking.

Seven years ago, Thalia had been turned into a pine tree by her father, to prevent her from dying. She'd stood her ground against an army of monsters on top of Half-Blood Hill in order to give her friends Luke and Anthony time to escape. She'd only been back as a human for a few months now, and once in awhile she would stand so motionless you'd think she was still a tree.

Finally, one of the Hunters brought me my backpack. Gretel and Nico came back from their walk, and Gretel helped me fix up my wounded arm.

"It's green!" Nico said with delight.

"Hold still," Gretel told me. "Here, eat some ambrosia while I clean that out."

I winced as she dressed the wound, but the ambrosia square helped. It tasted like homemade brownie, dissolving in my mouth and sending a warm feeling through my whole body. Between that and the magic salve Gretel used, my shoulder felt better within a couple of minutes.

Nico rummaged through his own bag, which the Hunters had apparently packed for him, though how they'd snuck into Westover Hall unseen, I didn't know. Nico laid out a bunch of figurines in the snow-little battle replicas of Greek gods and heroes. I recognized Zeus with a lightning bolt, Ares with a spear, Apollo with his sun chariot.

"Big collection," I said.

Nico grinned. "I've got almost all of them, plus their holographic cards! Well, except for a few really rare ones."

"You've been playing this game a long time?"

"Just this year. Before that…" He knit his eyebrows.

"What?" I asked.

"I forget. That's weird."

He looked unsettled, but it didn't last long. "Hey, can I see that sword you were using?"

I showed him Riptide, and explained how it turned from a pen into a sword just by uncapping it.

"Cool! Does it ever run out of ink?"

"Um, well, I don't actually write with it."

"Are you really the daughter of Poseidon?"

"Well, yeah."

"Can you surf really well, then? Are you a mermaid, because of your blue hair?"

I looked at Gretel, who was trying hard not to laugh.

"Jeez, Nico," I said. "I've never really tried, and no. I'm half-goddess, not half-fish." I stroked at my blue hair streak. "And this is my birthmark."

He went on asking questions. Did I fight a lot with Thalia, since she was the daughter of Zeus? (I didn't answer that one.) If Anthony's mother was Athena, the goddess of wisdom, then why didn't Anthony know better than to fall off a cliff? (I tried not to strangle Nico for asking that one.) Was Anthony my boyfriend? (At that point, I was ready to stick the kid in a meat-flavored sack and throw him to the wolves.)

I figured any second he was going to ask me how many hit points I had, and I'd lose my cool completely, but then Zoë Nightshade came up to us.

"Perci Jackson."

She had dark brown eyes and a slightly upturned nose. With her silver circlet and her proud expression, she looked so much like royalty. She studied me with a calm expression while giving a mutual look towards Gretel, who was trying to be more occupied by Nico's cards.

"Come with me," she said to me. "Lady Artemis wishes to speak with thee."


Zoë lead me to the last tent, which looked no different from the others, and waved me inside. Bianca di Angelo was seated next to the auburn-haired girl, who I still had trouble thinking of as Artemis.

The inside of the tent was warm and comfortable. Silk rugs and pillows covered the floor. In the center, a golden brazier of fire seemed to burn without fuel or smoke. Behind the goddess, on a polished oak display stand, was her huge silver bow, carved to resemble gazelle horns. The walls were hung with animal pelts: black bear, tiger, and several others I didn't recognize. I figured an animal rights activist would've had a heart attack looking at all those rare skins, but maybe since Artemis was the goddess of the hunt, she could replenish whatever she shot. I thought she had another animal pelt lying next to her, and then I realized it was a live deer-a deer with glittering fur and silver horns, its head resting contentedly in Artemis's lap.

"Join us, Perci Jackson," the goddess said.

I sat across from her on the tent floor. The goddess studied me, which made me uncomfortable. She had such old eyes for a young girl.

"Are you surprised by my age, young maiden?" she asked.

"Uh...a little."

"I could appear as a grown woman, or a blazing fire, or anything else I want, but this is what I prefer. This is the average age of my Hunters, and all young maidens for whom I am patron, before they go astray."

"Go astray?"

"Grow up. Become smitten with boys. Become silly, preoccupied, insecure. Forget themselves."

"Oh."

Zoë sat down at Artemis's right. She still gave me her calm, yet troubled look like she thought I wouldn't be one of them.

"You must forgive my Hunters if they don't exactly welcome you," Artemis said. "They're just thinking if you should join the hunt along with us, if you seek a boy to smitten with. Boys are usually forbidden to have any contact with the Hunters. That last one to see this camp…" She looked at Zoë. "Which one was it?"

"That boy in Colorado," Zoë said. "You turned him into a jackalope."

"Ah, yes." Artemis nodded, satisfied. "I enjoy making jackalopes. At any rate, Persephone, I've asked you here so that you might tell me more of the manticore. Bianca has reported some of the...mmm, disturbing things the monster said. But she may not have understood them. I'd like to hear them from you."

And so I told her.

When I was done, Artemis put her hand thoughtfully on her bow. "I feared this was the answer."

Zoë sat forward. "The scent, my lady?"

"Yes."

"What scent?" I asked.

"Things are stirring that I have not hunted in millennia," Artemis murmured. "Prey so old I have nearly forgotten."

She stared at me intently. "We came here tonight sensing the manticore, but he was not the one I seek. Tell us again, exactly what Dr. Thorn said."

"Um, 'I hate middle school dances.'"

"No, no. After that."

"He said somebody called the General was going to explain things to me."

Zoë's face paled. She turned to Artemis and started to say something, but Artemis raised her hand.

"Go on, Perci," the goddess said.

"Well, then Thorn was talking about the Great Stir Pot-"

"Stirring," Bianca corrected.

"Thanks. And he said, 'Soon we shall have the most important monster of all-the one that shall bring about the downfall of Olympus.'"

The goddess was so still she could've been a statue.

"Maybe he was lying," I said.

Artemis shook her head. "No. Ne was not. I've been too slow to see the signs. I must hunt this monster."

Zoë looked like she was trying very hard not to be afraid, but she nodded. "We will leave right away, my lady."

"No, Zoë. I must do this alone."

"But, Artemis-"

"This task is too dangerous even for the Hunters. You know where I must start my search. You cannot go there with me."

"As...as you wish, my lady."

"I will find this creature," Artemis vowed. "And I shall bring it back to Olympus by winter solstice. It will be all the proof I need to convince the Council of the Gods of how much danger we are in."

"You know what the monster is?" I asked.

Artemis gripped her bow. "Let us pray I am wrong, young maiden."

"Can goddess pray?" I asked, because I'd never really thought about that.

A flicker of a smile played across Artemis's lips. "Before I go, Perci Jackson, I have a small task for you."

"I hope this doesn't involve me getting turned into a jackalope."

Artemis let out a small laugh. "No, I would never do that to a young maiden. I want you to escort the Hunters back to Camp Half-Blood. They can stay there in safety until I return."

"What?" Zoë blurted out. "But, Artemis, we hate that place. The last time we stayed there-"

"Yes, I know," Artemis said. "But I'm sure Dionysus will not hold a grudge just because of a little, ah, misunderstanding. It's your right to use Cabin Eight whenever you are in need. Besides, I hear they rebuilt the cabins you burned down."

Zoë muttered something about foolish campers.

"And now there is one last decision to make." Artemis turned to Bianca. "Have you made up your mind, my girl?"

Bianca hesitated. "I'm still thinking about it."

"Wait," I said. "Thinking about what?"

"They...they've invited me to join the Hunt."

"What? But you can't! You have to come to Camp Half-Blood so Chiron can train you. It's the only way you can learn to survive."

"It is not the only way for a girl," Zoë said.

I couldn't believe I was hearing this. "Bianca, camp is cool! It's got a pegasus stable and a sword-fighting arena and...I mean, what do you get by joining the Hunters?"

"To begin with," Zoë said, "immortality."

I stared at her, then at Artemis. "She's kidding, right?"

"Zoë rarely kids about anything," Artemis said. "My Hunters follow me on my adventures. They are my maidservants, my companions, my sisters-in-arms. Once they swear loyalty to me, they indeed immortal...unless they fall in battle, which is unlikely. Or break their oath."

"What oath?" I said.

"To foreswear romantic love forever," Artemis said. "To never grow up, never get married. To be a maiden eternally."

"Like you?"

The goddess nodded.

I tried to imagine what she was saying. Being immortal. Hanging out with only middle-school girls forever. I couldn't get my mind around it, even if I admitted I wanted to join the Hunt, but I just...didn't want to. "So you just go around the country recruiting half-bloods-"

"Not just half-bloods," Zoë interrupted. "Lady Artemis does not discriminate by birth. All who honor the goddess may join. Half-bloods, nymphs, mortals-"

"Which are you, then?"

Anger flashed in Zoë eyes. "That is not thy concern, maiden. The point is Bianca may join if she wishes. It is her choice."

"Bianca, this is crazy," I said. "What about your brother? Nico can't be a Hunter."

"Certainly not," Artemis agreed. "He will go to camp. Unfortunately, that's the best boys can do."

I glanced around the tent in confusion, not knowing about that statement.

"You can see him from time to time," Artemis assured Bianca. "But you will be free of responsibility. He will have the camp counselors to take care of him. And you will have a new family. Us."

"A new family," Bianca repeated dreamily. "Free of responsibility."

"Bianca, you can't do this," I said. "It's nuts."

She looked at Zoë. "Is it worth it?"

Zoë nodded. "It is."

"What do I have to do?"

"Say this," Zoë told her, "'I pledge myself to the goddess Artemis.'"

"I...I pledge myself to the goddess Artemis."

"'I turn my back on the company of men, accept eternal maidenhood, and join the Hunt.'"

Bianca repeated the lines. "That's it?"

Zoë nodded. "If Lady Artemis accepts thy pledge, then it is binding."

"I accept it," Artemis said.

The flames in the brazier brightened, casting a silver glow over the room. Bianca looked no different, but she took a deep breath and opened her eyes wide. "I feel...stronger."

"Welcome, sister," Zoë said.

"Remember your pledge," Artemis said. "It is now your life."

I couldn't speak. I felt like a trespasser. And a complete failure. I couldn't believe I'd come all this way and suffered so much only to lose Bianca to some eternal girls' club. I never really liked hanging out with mostly girls, except for Gretel, of course.

"Do not despair, Perci Jackson," Artemis said. "You will still get to show the di Angelos your camp. And if Nico so chooses, he can stay there."

"Great," I said, trying not to sound surly. "How are we supposed to get there?"

Artemis closed her eyes. "Dawn is approaching. Zoë, break camp. You must get to Long Island quickly and safely. I shall summon a ride from my brother."

Zoë didn't look real happy about this idea, but she nodded and told Bianca to follow her. As she was leaving, Bianca paused in front of me. "I'm sorry, Perci. But I want this. I really, really do."

Then she was gone, and I was left alone with the twelve-year-old goddess.

"So," I said glumly. "We're going to get a ride from your brother, huh?"

Artemis's silver eyes gleamed. "Yes, maiden. You see, Bianca di Angelo is not the only one with an annoying brother. It's time for you to meet my irresponsible twin, Apollo."