Hello All! Here comes the latest installment of Hydromancer! We left off last chapter with the beginning of a surprise encounter for our young hero. What's going to happen to Percy now that he has met other demigods? How will the other demigods react to Percy? Read on to find out!
An awkward silence filled the clearing as Percy and his mom sat across from the three demigod children that had stumbled into the clearing. Well…it was awkward for the kids, Percy and the one with the electric blue eyes especially seeing as the two were both blushing like mad. Percy's mom just thought the entire encounter was hilarious; especially the part where Percy and that girl just stared at each other until the girls friends snapped her out of it. After making sure that her son was ok, Serena promptly laughed at him, doubling over in laughter. That was about five minutes ago, and now that the laughter at his expense was over he began to inspect the three new comers.
Sitting directly in front of Percy, a boy with sandy blond hair and blue eyes sat staring at him in with a gaze filled with apprehension. He was dressed in a pair of worn blue jean pants, black sneakers, and a red t-shirt. His right hand subconsciously played with the hilt of the…golf club…..yeah golf club he had strapped to his side. He seemed to be the leader of the trio by the way the other two would occasionally glance in his direction as if trying to see how he wanted to play the situation. Percy decided he would break the ice so he leaned forward and stuck his hand out towards the boy and spoke in a happy tone,
"Hey! My names Percy Jackson. Who are you guys? And what are you guys doing out here?"
The boy looked at his hand for a few moments as if trying to gauge if the offering was a trap of some sort, and then relented and stuck his own hand out and shook Percy's before replying,
"I'm Luke Castellan; fourteen year old son of Hermes, the blond to my right is…"
The girl in question interrupted before Luke could continue his introduction.
"I'm Annabeth Chase; daughter of Athena, seven years old. What are you and your mom, who is a nature spirit, doing in the middle of the forest? Why don't you have a shirt on? You guys live here right? If your mom is a nature spirit is your dad human? Or is he a god? What's with the scars? Do you know who…"
Percy could only stare in shock at the little seven year old girl as she rattled off question after question. Her storm grey eyes were boring into his toxic green searching for answers. One of her hands fiddled with a small bronze knife tied to her jean shorts while the other tugged at the hem of her white shirt.
The final member of their group slapped a hand over Annabeth's mouth before more questions could waterfall out of her mouth. She, at least according to Percy, was the most interesting of the three. She was wearing a black leather jacket with a white t-shirt underneath it, ripped black jeans and matching converse. On her left wrist was a strange looking silver wristband, and the right was a small container of sorts. All in all, she interested Percy. She looked up at Percy with her striking eyes through the bangs of her short, spiky, black hair and a light blush splashed across her freckled cheeks before she grinned sheepishly and spoke.
"Sorry about that. Daughter of the wisdom goddess and all so she tends to get a bit…inquisitive. Anyways, I'm Thalia, no sure name, ten year old daughter of Zeus. Though Annabeth does raise a fair point, how old are you, and are you a demigod or a nature spirit? Your skin isn't exactly blue like miss…"
"Serena," Percy's mom interjected with a light chuckle, "And no he is no nature spirit. I adopted little Percy two years ago when he was eight. As for whom his father is..."
The hair on the back of Percy's neck stood on end and he held his right hand up causing everyone to fall silent. His left slowly slid into his pocket and pulled out a large wrist band that had some sort of contraption strapped to the top of it. He slid it on his right hand then reached back into his pocket, retrieving a smooth, black rock. His mom having sensed the presence Percy had, but unsure what exactly it was, ushered the trio a few feet away to the water's edge. Percy waited silently as he slowly loaded the contraption, which the others figured out was a wrist mounted slingshot, and aimed it into the forest in front of him. Rustling could be heard getting louder and louder as the bushes began to sway sporadically.
Everyone tensed and Annabeth and Luke gripped their weapons while Thalia gripped her container. The bushes suddenly stopped rustling and a tense silence filled the clearing. Everyone was on edge, when suddenly…a small white rabbit burst forth from the clearing edge.
The rigidness left everyone's bodies as the saw what had gotten them all so worked up, and Luke chuckled out,
"What's wrong Percy? Afraid the big bad rabbit is gonna…"
A bloodcurdling roar echoed throughout the clearing and a massive black creature burst forth from behind the rabbit, streaking towards the group. Percy's vision tunneled and his body froze in shock. The stench of rotten flesh assaulted his nostrils, but he still didn't move. The massive beast's dull, unkempt, midnight fur rippled with power as its jagged claws tore at the earth. Its roaring maw was lined with razor sharp, needle like teeth and flames could be seen dancing in the beast's throat. Percy's gaze had locked onto the beasts, Percy's green met the beast's red, and he was petrified. He had trained for two whole years for this moment, but no amount of training could've prepared him for the real thing, no amount of preparation could prepare him for a Hellhound attack.
Percy would've died had it not been for the quick thinking of Thalia and Luke. Just as the beast was in striking distance, Thalia appeared and slammed a silver shield into the Hellhound's side as Luke tackled Percy out of harm's way. Luke pulled him up, and shoved him towards where Annabeth and his mother were standing,
"Get back Percy! Me and Thalia will handle this!" he shouted before he joined Thalia, who was holding off the massive beast with a spear and shield.
Luke charged forward and smacked the Hellhound in its right flank with a powerful overhead strike while it was lunging at Thalia. Had he had an actual celestial bronze weapon then the attack would've wounded the beast, but armed with a golf club he barely even hurt it. The hound whirled around and lunged at Luke, its maw widened so it could tear into him. Luke barely managed to dodge the attack, diving under the attack and where Thalia stood before she lunged forward to capitalize on the distraction Luke made. The two fell into a rhythm while they fought the beast. Thalia would defend from the brunt of the monsters attacks while Luke would skirt around the edges drawing the beast attention with quick hits. Then while the monster was distracted Thalia would go in for an attack.
Percy could only watch on in amazement, hatred, and disappointment. Amazement at how well Thalia and Luke fought together, Thalia obviously knew what she was doing with her shield and spear and Luke was quick on his feet and agile. The hatred and disappointment was aimed at himself. He was supposed to be the one who protected his mom. He'd trained all those days, worked hard from sunrise to sunset teaching himself to fight, how to use his water powers, how to be a hero. Then the day comes where he sees his first monster and what does he do? He froze in terror. His hands curled into fists so hard his knuckles turned white and his fingernails broke the skin on his palm causing blood to slowly drip to the ground beside him. He could feel the tears of shame and anger welling in his eyes. He was no hero, no warrior. He was just a scarred little demigod who couldn't even fight one monster. Percy's attention shifted back to the fight at hand as things quickly turned from bad to worse. Luke had distracted the beast once again and Thalia using that moment jabbed her spear point towards the hound's neck hoping for a one hit kill. The beast sensing the imminent danger whirled its head around and bit into the spear's shaft.
Thalia tried to hold onto her spear, but the beast shook its head and ripped the weapon from her grip. It bit down and snapped the spear in half then turned to growl at the group. Thalia and Luke backed up towards each other, fear evident in their eyes as they tried to find some way to defeat the beast. Thalia still held up her shield defiantly which served to keep the beast from outright slaughtering them at the moment, but that would only hold it off for so long.
"This isn't looking so good Luke," panted Thalia as she eyed the beast as it began to pad closer and closer, one massive paw at a time. It had them cornered and it knew it so it was taking its time.
"I know Thalia…you might have to do the thing," he replied.
"I can't I don't have enough energy left to pull it off, and even if I did last time I was out for a few days. If that were to happen with me slowing us down we'd get killed."
"We don't really have another choice do we."
The hound chose that moment to attack, charging forward at the two as Thalia raised her shield, bracing for impact. Percy reached deep within him and prepared to launch several spears of water, tired of sitting on the sidelines and feeling weak.
Five well placed arrows made sure that moment never came.
The Hellhound crashed to the floor and began to dissolve as everyone in the clearing visibly deflated; Percy sighed and let the tugging in his gut go as the danger passed. That was twice in the span of five minutes that he'd been saved. Twice in five minutes that he'd been made to feel weak. A frown etched itself on his face, while everyone else sported relieved smiles as their saviors made themselves known. Two dozen silver clad girls entered into the clearing, each with a bow in hand searching for more danger.
"Lower your bows girls, there are no threats in the immediate area," Spoke a young girl silver eyed, auburn haired girl clad in a similar outfit as the rest as she entered from the clearings edge behind the rest, an aura of authority surrounding her.
Confusion marred the face of the kids as the girl approached the group, but Serena knew very well who this seemingly young girl was. She walked to the front of the group and bowed causing the kids to look at her with question in their eyes.
"Hello Lady Artemis," spoke Serena, causing the others to gasp in shock.
They couldn't quite believe what they were hearing. This girl, who was their age, was Artemis the goddess of the hunt? No way that was true.
"You're Artemis?" asked Annabeth, unsure of how a girl only a few years her senior could be a goddess.
"Rise water nymph," Artemis spoke, "and yes young maiden I am indeed Artemis. I choose this appearance to be closer to the girls in my hunt."
Annabeth nodded her head in acceptance while Artemis turned and spoke to a huntress with a tiara on her head,
"Zoe have the girls set up camp. I have a feeling we will have a few monsters to hunt in the area within the hour."
She turned back towards the group with a stern expression on her face, " Now one of you explain to me what you four demigods be doing in the woods so far away from camp half-blood, and why a Hellhound was tracking you."
Aaannd done. Things are heating up for the young demigods with the arrival of the hunters. It seems whatever's chasing the trio is catching up, and their survival just might depend on help from the man hating goddess. There is more in store for our young heroes, and a battle will be fought. More shall be revealed in the next chapter of Hydromancer!
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