Act Two

Waning Crescent

Chapter 1

After Percy and Thalia caught up, Percy left the camp with a sleeping bag. He climbed into a sizable tree next to his cliff and set up for the night. It was a cool fall night, on the edge of freezing.

The Hunters started to eat dinner. The Hunters assigned to food that night served stew. Thalia took her stew and began to look for Percy. After looking through all the tables she decided to tell Artemis.

She entered the silver tent of her leader. "Lady Artemis?"

Artemis looked up from her seat at her desk. "What is the matter?"

"Do you know where Percy is? I couldn't find him at dinner," Thalia replied worried.

"He should have been at dinner. Where could he have gone?"

"I don't know, but I'm worried," Thalia said frowning.

...

Artemis had left her tent to look for Percy. The night air was cool, and the Hunters were in their tents. She walked on the outskirts of the camp to look for Percy.

A fog started to form on the floor of the forest. Had Artemis would have broken her foot in a rabbit hole had she not been a goddess. But she was the Goddess of the Forest so she could sense the hole in the ground and side-stepped it.

She could hear a heavy breathing noise and notched an arrow. She accidently tripped and made a loud noise.

"Who's there?" Percy reacted.

"Hey Percy. I need to talk to you about something," Artemis said.

She climbed up the tree and sat on the branch next to Percy.

"Why were you not at dinner?"

"I just don't feel right with the hunters. It just doesn't feel right."

"You don't have to sleep out here you know," Artemis said.

"Yeah it's just I've been thinking," Percy said seemingly lost in a sea of thought.

"You can think in a tent."

He looked out into the lake and said, "Well the sea clears my mind and since I'm leaving tomorrow I should spend my last night here. It has been my home for two years."

"So this isn't going to happen once we leave?"

"Not unless you don't want me around," Percy responded.

"Of course I want you around. It's not like I hate you or something," she said.

"But I thought you hated men?"

"I hate boys. You are not a boy, you are a man," said Artemis.

A light wind swept through the cold night. It was silent for a while before Percy spoke up, "Want to see something cool?"

"Why not?"

Percy jumped from the tree and into the lake. He came up and asked, "Are you coming?"

"But the water is freezing!" Artemis exclaimed.

"Don't worry. Just jump."

That's exactly what Artemis did. She had to admit, the thrill of diving was great. When she hit the water her worries melted away. It wasn't cold. In fact it was warm and relaxing.

"That was fun. So what did you want to show me?" asked Artemis.

"It's underwater. Follow me," Percy said as he took the hand of the goddess. Artemis noticed that she wasn't losing breath underwater.

They came to an underwater cave. Percy brought her into the cove and dried them off. It was extremely dark.

"So this is you wanted to show me?"

Percy grabbed something and then said, "No. This is."

He lit a torch and the cove became illuminated. Thousands of crystal stalagmites lined the ceiling.

Artemis thought it was beautiful. It was an awesome sight.

...

Artemis returned to the camp and Percy to his tree after spending some time exploring the cove. The next morning they packed up the camp and started to travel. Percy walked with Thalia away from the rest of the hunters.

These days, after the war, it was hard to find monsters to hunt, so Artemis gave the hunter's the day off to celebrate the end of a year-long hunt. Thalia had to leave so Percy had nothing to do. Artemis decided to ask him if he would like to go get coffee with her. He agreed and they went off to get coffee.

While they were drinking coffee, Percy told her how he became good at archery over the past two years.

"... so when I fire an arrow I will the humidity to condense and I can manipulate the arrow with my mind," Percy explained. "I'll have to show you later."

...

When they came back from their day the hunters traveled to another city. They set up camp outside the city. Artemis came up to Percy and spoke up. "So how about that arrow trick you talked about?"

"Oh right." Percy grabbed a bow and a handful of arrows, all silver. He notched the arrow and fired, barely taking time to aim. At first Artemis could tell it was not going to even hit the target, but it changed course mid air. It landed in the dead center of the target.

"Want to see something even cooler?" Without waiting for a response he fired an arrow opposite of the target. It started circling through the air. It grazed her head and she shouted, "Woah!" The arrow circled the air until it hit the other arrow and split it. The arrow rested itss spot on the target.

Percy concentrated and willed the arrows to return to his hand. He snatched them mid-air.

"Impressive. Very clever."

The sun set and the hunters went to their tents. This time Percy was at dinner telling stories as the hunters listened with great attentiveness. After that he went in a spare tent and fell asleep. Finally, he was starting to forget about Annabeth. For once in a long time he was happy, and that made Artemis happy. She was glad she was able to help him recover from his loss. That night she fell asleep easily knowing that Percy was starting to become near normal again.

That night, Artemis had a frightening dream. It was vivid like most dreams of people with god in their blood.

Two things were talking to each other an alley. They were titans from what I could tell. I was behind a dumpster, hidden. I could hear sounds of the diner to the left.

"Are you sure he's dead?"

"Of course he is. She told me how she killed him and that girl."

"Well we still need time to regroup. Two years should be enough..."

"Where would we attack first?"

"The Hunters of Artemis. This time we can't have any of their forces unaccounted for. As long as that Percy Jackson kid is dead, and we know what their forces are we can take Olympus."

Artemis looked around for a calendar or something with the date. She ran into the diner and saw the calendar.

It was almost two years ago.

A/N And that is the beginning of the new act. A new friendship. I am having fun writing the story. Please review and tell me what I'm doing wrong. I take flaming, critique, and praise. Be blunt and tell me straight. Please.