A/N: Hey all, welcome to the next chapter!

Not sure how many have gotten it, but I've put some little easter-eggs in the last chapter to my friends, Thetruerhero's, story!

Anyways hope you guys enjoy, it's a little shorter but hopefully you enjoy the imagery.


We've been standing, face to face, for a short time now. Artemis is clearly upset by her former hunters' betrayal, I doubt she expected one of her Hunters to be capable of lying to her.

Dear gods my chest is killing me! Kara cut fairly deep which isn't the worst, there's not many vital blood vessels on a human chest. The issue is she made a long cut down my chest. Blood is seeping fairly quickly through my shirt and I'm starting to worry about blood loss. I hope Artemis has the heart to at least not let me bleed to death.

I must look like a crazy murderer by now, gods I hope we have extra clothes packed. I don't know if the mist will cover up a bloody shirt or not, it's a hit or a miss it seems.

She must've noticed my near delirious state, what with all the blood pooling off me, and snapped her fingers.

A block of ambrosia appears in my hands which I happily devoured. It tastes just like the chicken father used to cook in his wok back home.

I don't get to mull over my morose thoughts for long as Artemis clears her throat, bringing attention back to the matter at hand. I stand straighter and smooth my clothes as best as I can. I don't want to look that awful in front of a goddess. Unfortunately, I smother blood on my hands, now I really look like an axe murderer.

Artemis chooses to ignore my state of dress and raises a placating hand. "Be at peace, nephew, I will not harm you now. I merely wish to talk."

I breathe a sigh of release and my shoulders sag a little, dear gods that is a huge relief. I'd rather not be turned into an animal and hunted down like a beast.

I wonder why she refers to me as her nephew now? Maybe she's less harsh on Athena's children, from what mother has told me she and Artemis are close friends.

"What shall we be talking about, My Lady?" She tilts her head, looking at me with curiosity and familiarity. Perhaps I remind her of someone?

"Your brothers, you'll find them a mile west in that direction." She points off into the distance. "The giants have yet to find them, but they'll be upon them within a few hours. They'll be hunting after you now for destroying their hounds"

Phew, they're safe! I'm very worried now though, we're being hunted? How could they know? Perhaps they had a scout.

I am curious about something, though. "My Lady, not to be rude but why is this clan still around? I believe Hunters kill groups of monsters like this one."

She snorts and looks to the sky, "Ordinarily you would be right, but with the rioting in Olympus and fathers wavering control, my Hunters and myself have been ordered by my father to pacify the minor Gods that have been causing issues in the mortal world."

Huh, so Zeus is losing control. Normally I'd ask more questions, but my brothers will be worried about me. It was sundown when we were split and looking at the moons positions in the sky it's nearly midnight now.

Before I can ask Artemis for permission to leave, she looks back to me and asks, "Nephew, tell me about Kara. She was unnaturally distressed, and her promises of your suffering disturbed even me."

"Kara," I begin, "She is a… disturbed girl. You can learn much about someone if you can feel their emotions, which I can."

I think back to when she was dragged away, she didn't seem human anymore. More like a rabid dog.

"My Lady, she needs help. Very serious help. She should be placed into an asylum, there others would be safe and she might work past her issues."

Artemis crinkles her nose in distaste. "Asylums, they're too close to Dionysus for my comfort." She crouches down and picks something through the grass and hands it to me. It's the dagger Kara used to cut my chest.

"I can't help you much on whatever quest you have found yourself in, but I will give you this. You have done me a service and I won't let that go unrewarded, even if you are male."

I spin the small kopis dagger in my hands; it is a startling silver color with intricate designs grafted along the handle and the spine, it's at least eleven inches long and I can tell that it's razor sharp just looking at it.

It's truly a beautiful piece of work, the Hephaestus cabin will be jealous of this for sure.

"Thank you, My Lady. It is an honor to wield this." She snorts again. "No need to be a kiss up, I'd rather you have that blade than me. It is tainted with the evil actions of its previous master."

I snigger a little. She's pawning off bad memories on to me. Oh well, it's a fine weapon and I'll make good use of it.

"I hope this dagger will find good use in your care." I look back to her, her face is stoic but I can see the grimness in her eyes.

"The leader of the giants is a dangerous foe, use the gifts given to you by your mother and you might yet succeed."

I'm not sure what to say, her warning is foreboding and grim. One of her Hunters hands me back my supplies and a belt sheath for the dagger. I say my thanks to her and Artemis and pull the bag over my shoulders and place my sword into the sheath on my hip.

"I'll be on my way then." As I turn away and begin to leave the camp Artemis calls out to me again.

"Be warned, nephew, Kara is dangerous, even if she's only human." Her face darkens. "You have truly broken her, and she has never forgiven easily. She will come for you." I nod and continue into the forest.

I try and focus my mind back onto my quest, but it keeps coming back to Artemis's warning.
'She will come for you.' I swear I'm too young to have a nemesis, and of course it has to be a demented loony!


After racing through the forest for a while I hear a sharp whistle and a loud crack! I look up in the sky and see bright technicolor particles vanishing in the air.

My brother's fireworks!

They must be desperate then, if I can see it than so can anything else!

I begin sprinting towards the area I saw it at. I can barely see through the forest; the overcast is covering the moons light keeping me racing blindly in the dark.

I stopped in a small clearing and listened to the sounds around me. I can only hear the leaves rustling, Steven and William are likely lying low somewhere nearby. Thankfully as children of Athena we can mimic owls very well, and I taught a code in owl hoots to my brothers in case we needed to communicate discretely.

I sing a small song in owl hoots and wait, if my brothers heard me they should be heading in my direction. After some time, I hear soft hooting coming from behind. Good, I recognize the pattern.

Soon enough I see my brothers emerge from the shadows. They look beaten up, their orange camp t-shirts are torn and their shorts have seen better days. They have some scratches on them and they're covered in dirt, but overall they don't look quite so bad for fending off a horde of demon dogs.

Steven and William rush over to me and pull us all into a massive group hug. My spine might break under Stevens amazing bear hug, thankfully he doesn't go that far. I do wonder if he can break bones, I've never seen the full extent of his strength.

We pull away but William does give me a good sucker punch in the arm.

"Where have you been man!" William sounds a little angry, thankfully his demeanor is full of relief and happiness. "You've been missing for hours!"

"Oh man, I've got a story to tell you guys." I quickly fill them in on my encounter with the hunters. They wince when I tell them about Kara and they get nervous when I tell them about the migrating giant clan that the hunters are ignoring on Zeus's orders, and how that they're after us as we speak.

I try and lighten up the mood when I show them the dagger Artemis pawned off onto me. They're clearly enamored with it. The beauty of weapon just can't be ignored by people, even if they aren't weapon smiths.

We can't faff around for long though, I tell them more about what Artemis told me about the giants, about how they were heading I towards us and to be extremely careful around their leader. I guess that we have an hour before the giants arrive at where we are now.

"What's the plan, Samson?" Steven is direct, his eyes are very serious. He knows we have danger heading our way.

I pull up our map, based on the moons position and the way Artemis pointed me towards we are likely in Green Mountain National Forest by now.

William points Manchester out on the map, "Here, this town has a safe-house for demigods. Our mother mentioned to me that a child of hers lives in the town and is known the help out demigods in the area."

I nod, perhaps they can set us up with transportation. What worries me the most is our distance to Manchester. There nearest town is still miles away and the roads are a double-edged sword. If we follow the road we might be picked up by passing car, but we'll be sitting ducks if the giants have a scout that can fly or they have something patrolling the roads.

We decide to stick with traveling through the forest. At the time that it is now there's most likely no one on the roads and if we stick to the forest our scents will be covered up by the nature. They don't bring it up, but the chances of a driver willing to pick up a blood soaked Asian are very low. I appreciate that it isn't mentioned.


We've been running through the forest for a short while now, thankfully as demigods we have significantly better endurance than normal mortals. I have no idea the distance we've traveled, but William keeps telling us that a town isn't too far from where we are now.

I'm very grateful that William has spent significant time in the great outdoors, his father used to take him hunting when he was younger and he's kept his skills sharp since then.

Eventually we have to stop. Even as demigods our stamina isn't unlimited and trying to push ourselves further without catching our breathes would start to become hazardous.

We're all bent over panting, our cabin isn't known for being among the healthiest and the fittest and we all certainly are examples of that.

"So, Samson." That's Steven, "What's the purpose of this quest? You said you needed special material, but as far as I know the east coast isn't very special besides New York."

He's very curious and just a bit angry. I'm not blaming him, Stevens always been the mama bear of our cabin and this quest is putting us in some serious danger.

William tries waving him off. "Lay off him, man. Mom gave us this quest for Samson. Besides, he'd do this for us too if we asked for help. The least we can do is be there for our brother!"

I smile to myself, I really appreciate Williams support. He's always been the brother you can confide to in our family.

Steven lets out a long sigh, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to come off so snappy. I guess, I guess I just want to know some more, you know? Mom's having you working on all these things and leaving so much in the dark."

I understand what he's saying. Mother's been having me keep secrets, even from my brothers. I know she'll be upset, but I can't leave them blind like this.

"We're stealing the liver of Prometheus from Aquila."

They're clearly surprised to learn this. It's no secret that Prometheus's punishment is never to be interrupted and the rumors of what happens to those that do are legends by themselves.

"How would we do this then? Zeus enforces his punishment severely and if Aquila see's us he'll tell on us!" William is nearly hysterical, we're getting into some serious Olympian business doing this.

I try and diffuse his mild panic with our greatest assets, logic and planning."We won't have to worry about Zeus watching, mother has told me that he's keeping his attention elsewhere with the rioting in Olympus, he's much more worried about rebellion than a lone imprisoned titan. As for Aquila, he'll never know. We reach the lighthouse at night, take his liver and be gone before morning."

"What about the man himself? I'm sure Prometheus would be against us harvesting his organs against his will." Steven has a good point, but I don't think much of it.

I just shrug my shoulders in response, "The birds been taking his liver for millennia now, I'm sure he won't be too upset if someone else does. Besides, I'll be using surgical tools. Hopefully he'll be happier if someone takes his liver in a less brutal way."

Steven just shakes his head, he's amused in a disturbed way.


We rest and catch our breath for a little longer until we heard a loud crack! It's coming from somewhere behind us but we can tell that it's a tree being felled by something.

We're back to sprinting not long after.

Shit, the giants caught up to us! How could they have? They don't have any hell hounds, maybe something else sniffed us out?

I can feel the ground rumbling under our feet, the giants are within shouting range now. Fuck, they're right behind us!

Steven and William are running on my flanks, Steven is tossing some of his Greek fire grenades behind him and William is dropping flash grenades too.

It's an effective combo, the giants are blinded by the flash and run straight into the consuming flames. Unfortunately, we're not the fastest things in the forest as a giant comes barreling at us from the side.

We dodge his attack and keep running.

"COME ON!" William is screaming at us, "BENNINGTON ISN'T FAR!".

That encourages us to push on harder. My heart is beating so hard in my chest it almost feels like it will break my ribs open. Sweats pouring down our faces as we pump our legs faster than we've ever before.

The charging giant is back, he's running parallel to us now as his longer legs lets him keep up with us.

He takes a few swings at us with a huge wicked looking club. William ducks under the swings and runs to his legs and slashes his sword right into the monster's tendon.

The beast cries in pain and collapses harshly, likely being trampled by the horde chasing us. Steven pops a few more grenades from his bag and the horde seems to lose distance on us.

As we keep running we see a strange glow appearing from the trees far ahead of us. As we get closer I feel a wave of heat rush over us.

The forest ahead was on fire! It's burning far and fierce in both directions, they must've cut us off somehow!

We start running parallel to the fire, we can't run through, so we're forced to the side. I'm worried by this, this level of planning is beyond the level of a regular Laistrygonian. Whomever is commanding them must be smarter than anticipated, this is almost certainly a trap!

We hear a loud, wretched neighing come from the fire beside us and seven forms rush through the flames. They're the biggest and most beautiful stallions I've ever seen! Fire shoots from their mouths like napalm and my admiration ends there.

We roll away from the pack as they try and barrel through us. One of the horse turned around, no doubt hoping to burn us to ashes, and quickly found my sword and new knife burrowing into its' neck.

It screeched awfully before turning to powder. The rest of the pack decided to surround us, their hoof steps causing fires to sprout as they create a circle around us.

It's already getting hard to breathe as the fire they created grows massive and sucks the oxygen away from us! The horses rush through the fires fine, it's clear that they're completely resistant.

This gives me an idea. "STEVEN!" I scream, my voices sounding strained as it fights to be heard over the inferno surrounding us. "USE YOUR ROPE! THEY CAN GET THROUGH THE FIRE!"

Steven's eyes widen, the rope I made him is almost indestructible and was enchanted to block the supernatural powers of anything it touches.

He yanks the rope from his pack and quickly ties it into a lasso, he's been obsessed with cowboys since he was young so obviously his younger self learned to lasso things; cats, dogs, his grown neighbor. Steven's had his practice.

He twirls the lasso above his head and chooses his mark. He throws the rope and catches the biggest horse through the inferno and starts pulling back with all his strength.

The mare whines and yowls as Steven pulls it towards himself. His strength is unbelievable! The horse tugs with all its' strength, it's even making grooves in the earth.

This means nothing to my brother as he grits his teeth harshly and rips the creature from the fire, causing it to fall forward onto its side.

Now's our chance! We rush forward and hop onto the stallions back as it rises to its feet again. Steven ties the rope around its face and in its mouth, creating a makeshift bridle.

I hear stomping and shouting outside the fire, the giants have finally caught up with us. Thankfully they aren't fire proof either as they keep their distance outside the circle of fire we're trapped in.

Steven looks back at us and winks, his grey eyes sparkling with joy only the happiest of children can possess.

"YEEEEHAAAWWWW!" He snaps his rope and we take off through the fire, knocking a few giants to their feet as they scatter from the flames that we pull through with us.

We take off through the forest and straight into the inferno that's encompassed most of the forest. Breathing is difficult but we manage, the adrenaline pumping through our bodies keeps alert and focused.

I hear screeching and warped neighing behind us and look back. The remaining six horses are charging us through the inferno, fire wrapping around them like steeds from hell.

Something is pushed roughly into my hands and I look down and see a mechanized looking crossbow in my grip.

"USE IT!" William screams at me and points at the charging mares. He hands me a bundle of bolts and swings his sword at one that tries to ram us from the side, catching it in the neck and slicing straight through.

I focus back to the horse racing at us from my side. I quickly load a bolt and fire it off, the projectile pierces straight into its eye!

It screams something awful and crashes into a toppled over tree. Four more to go. I load another bolt and aim for the next closest one. The beast is so close that its snorts causing searing hot air to race over my arms. I cry in pain but pull the trigger and hit my mark, piercing its chest and striking its heart. Three more to go.

William slashes his sword right into the face of another one that got close too close, it cries in pain and rams into the one next it. Both tumble to the ground as a massive tree collapses on them.

He grins in victory, and points towards the last horse following us. I load and aim the crossbow again. I swear I see its' eyes widen as my bolt finds a new home directly between its eyes.


Eventually we clear the fire and the forest around us is replaced by farm land and fields. We all breathe a collective sigh in relief as the adrenaline starts to fade from our systems. We're all so tired but we continue in search of a motel or something.

We find a lone road and follow it until we find a ratty looking motel. At this point we could care less. Steven ties the horse to a lamppost and we quickly shuffle inside.

The attendant gives us a strange look, no doubt confused by our burned clothes. She looks at me like I'm a murderer or something before it occurs to me that I probably do. I never changed from my bloody clothes, so I almost certainly look like some kind of highway slasher maniac.

What a sight we must be, three bloody, burned teens arriving at a near abandoned motel on a crazy screeching demon horse. Thankfully she takes our money and gives us the key to our room and leaves us be.

Our room is as far from luxury as Aphrodite is to humility. It's a small room with a single queen-sized bed and a nasty looking bathroom. We drop our bags to the floor, close and lock the door behind us and pile onto the bed.

We could care less about sharing or being proper at this point and sleep quickly overtakes us as we find comfort and safety in one another's presence.