The Goddess of the Hunt slept soundly on her bed covered in the furs of her defeated prey, though one still lived. Wrapped in her grip lay Percy Jackson, the demigod too slept, though not comfortably. For many an hour he lay there scared and fearful of what Artemis's intentions were. In the end the Goddess simply fell asleep, her iron grasp sealing the son of Poseidon in an unbreakable hold. Sleep too would find Percy, he hadn't slept since the Goddess had first appeared in his cabin, even fear could only keep the demigod awake for so long.
The demigod's dreams weren't pleasant. Tumbling through cloudy images Percy was subjected to nightmarish scenes, his friends and family dying as he stayed on the earth ageless, his Mother growing old, wishing only to see her child one last time. Annabeth, her golden hair now withered though still determined to save her friend, instead she would succumb at the hands of a nameless monster whilst on a quest for her Mother. Grover, Percy's friend and Satyr died as the planet did, choking on the growing pollution of the world.
All the while Percy's dreams ended on one haunting note, him in a tent holding a child wrapped in the softest of furs, the child's head was covered in auburn hair though its eyes were a deep shade of green. As time passed the younger demigod could see the chain that clung to his leg, and the bruises that dotted his older self's complexion, his eyes that were once filled with life were now empty, hope having long abandoned the older son of Poseidon. Percy did not want this future, he did not want to have a child that wasn't born out of love and he didn't want to become the plaything of a Goddess.
He would do anything to avoid such a fate.
The young demigod was roused from his slumber by the tightening grip that was based on his stomach, the grogginess that filled his mind evaporated instantly as his body tensed up, waiting for pain to strike at him. Only it didn't. Minutes passed and yet nothing happened to the demigod. Confused, Percy looked about, though he could do little to move his body, entrapped as it was.
In the end it wasn't the demigod who found the source of his squeezing confinement, but rather the Goddess who helped push him in the right direction.
Percy was further roused when the arms that bound him pulled even tighter, pushing his back against Artemis's chest. The demigod's patience began to fray as he felt the soft blows of the Goddess's exhalations, each faint breath adding to the angered waves growing within him. Soon his anger grew like a raging storm and he began to pull away from Artemis's grasp, bashing his elbows into the sleeping Goddess's chest. This seemed to work as soon he slid out from her grasp, the auburn haired immortal muttering to herself as her arms looked to be searching for its trapped victim before closing in on themselves and wrapping around her sides.
Rolling his eyes, the demigod sneaked away from his slumbering captor and out of her tent. Outside the morning sun shone down onto Percy's skin, though this was to be the only warm reception he received as the eyes of the various hunters and their wolf companions looked at him with a critical glance, further unnerving the downcast demigod. Though one hunter did not look to Percy with contempt in her eyes, instead they shone with sympathy. The demigod wasted no time in rushing over to this familiar face.
"Hey Thalia" Percy said tiredly to the lieutenant of the Hunt.
"Jeez Kelp Brain, you like Tartarus warmed over" the daughter of Zeus proclaimed as she looked over Percy with frowning eyes, noting that the younger demigod looked pale, she would even go so far as to say fragile.
"You try being the Goddess of the Hunt's teddy bear" Percy shot back irritably.
The demigod didn't quite expect his retort to stun Thalia, whose face was a mix between confusion and astonishment.
"Teddy… bear?" she questioned before she shook her head, "Percy she's the man hating Goddess, the only reason she would touch you, is to hurt you".
"I mean… it wasn't a good hug" Percy muttered, "besides I didn't really get a say".
"Not surprised, Lady Artemis takes after Dad when it comes to power. She wants it all to herself" Thalia explained knowingly. Percy couldn't help but hear the understanding in the Huntress's voice, the lust for power seemed to run deeply in Zeus's bloodline.
"So err… what's the Hunt doing at the moment, I thought you guys would be… hunting" Percy asked, if only to push the subject away from his least favourite Olympian and current holder of his free will.
Thalia's face soured considerably at the demigod's question, "'yeah so did I, but my Lady has been distracted. Wonder why?"
Although the son of Poseidon was known for being as thick as rock, even granite would be able to understand what Thalia truly meant.
"Hey! I didn't ask to be Artemis's trophy, if I had my way I'd be at Camp half-blood!" Percy snapped angrily.
"Well maybe if you didn't suck as a demigod you wouldn't have been caught by Artemis!" Thalia shouted back, the faint smell of ozone wafting through the camp.
"I suck?!" Percy shot back, "I'm sorry, which one of us has first-hand experience at being a tree?!"
As the two demigods argued, their respective domains of power began to react. Small brilliant sparks danced above the camp and soon began to become more numerous as Thalia's hand hovered over the canister that contained her spear. Percy's domain was more subtle, the water in the camp spilled from the flasks, their jars and their bottles, before snaking their way to the angered son of Poseidon.
"I don't even know why Annabeth wasted her time with you!" Thalia yelled, a static shock sporadically exploding within Percy's messy hair, forcing the ends to stand at point. The few hunters that were about turned to looked at the silly sight and chuckled and jeered at the boy that had divided the attention of Artemis. The tension that had been palpable in the camp was coming to a breaking point.
The audible sound of laughter aimed squarely at his appearance did little to soothe Percy's icy rage, something that had only been building under the companionship of the Hunt and its Goddess.
The son of Poseidon didn't respond to Thalia's latest insult with words, instead his body took her and with blind anger bending his action the demigod swung a fist at the Lieutenant's face, the audible slap of violence quickly turning the hunters' laughter into a deafening cloud of silence.
Staggering back Thalia looked to Percy, her eyes filled with lightening charged fury. The daughter of Zeus abandoned her normal means of attack and threw her hand forward, a jagged streak of lightning from above zapping the ground on which Percy stood, sending him falling to his feet.
"See, you suck" Thalia spat cheekily.
Percy looked at his opponent and shot back up, his hand instinctively reaching for his pen that wasn't in his pocket.
Yet what he found in his pocket was a familiar ballpoint pen.
A happy grin emerged on Percy's face as he felt his Riptide within his grasp once more and without pause he yanked it from his trouser pocket and ripped off its lid, the Greek blade springing forth from its disguise.
A brief look of shock flashed across Thalia's face at the sight of Percy's sword, but it only disappeared when she pulled her spear from her belt, the metal of the weapon cackling with eager energy.
Before when the two elder children of the big three had fought it was broken apart instantly by Apollo's oracle. Even with its appearance Percy knew that he would have simmered down from Chiron's pleas.
But this time was different.
Percy's fuse had well and truly been blown, there was nothing that would calm the raging storm that swirled within his mind. This was why he was the first to strike at Thalia, whose anger was temporary and only caused by childish irritation.
"What's the matter Kelp brains, don't know how to hit a girl?" Thalia taunted as she smashed her spear straight at Percy's blade.
This snide comment only strengthened the force at which the tendrils of water were speeding at to reach their master.
The two demigod's continued to trade nerve racking blows, each strike knocking each other further backwards before they charged back to reengage. All the while Percy struggled to deal with Thalia's electrically charged attacks, they were something he couldn't get used to.
"Seriously, you call yourself a son of Poseidon but you don't use his powers" Thalia shouted at Percy as the pair were once again thrown apart. Repeating what she had done just moments ago, Thalia raised her hand to call down a further bolt of lightning. Only Percy knew what such an action meant.
At the last possible second the son of the Sea God leapt to the side, narrowly avoiding another date with electricity. As he dived, Percy threw his own hand out towards Thalia and the water that had crept along the ground sprung forth, a swarm of speeding water chasing after the daughter of Zeus.
Thalia managed to duck and weave her way out of Percy's watery barrage which only added more fuel to the demigod's fury. With an instinctive growl he shot his hand out again, sending the last of his concealed water at Thalia. Again the Lieutenant of the Hunt, saw what was coming and went to dive out the way, though before she could Percy's hand clenched tightly.
The effect was instantaneous as the water doubled in speed. Yet Hermes seemed to be looking over the daughter of Zeus as the water zipped passed her.
For a moment Percy had believed he had failed with his second volley. He was surprised when Thalia looked to him, her eyes filling with pain as she dropped her spear and her knees buckled.
"Thalia?" Percy questioned, his anger dissipating at the sight of the wounded hunter.
The source of her anguish became obvious to the demigod as he ran to her side, the red stain building on her shirt around a frozen bolt of water.
"But… I can't freeze water" Percy thought, alarmed by the development, but could he? Was this what happened when he was enraged, so filled with cold fury?
"Percy" Thalia whimpered as she continued to fall to the ground, only being stopped by Percy grabbing hold of her.
"Thalia I'm sorry!" Percy cried out, he was an idiot, why did he get so angry at his only friend in the camp?
"Don't worry about it Kelp brains, just fix me up" the Lieutenant coughed, any hint of anger or fury towards the son of Poseidon had vanished. Percy nodded and the ice that had dug deeply into Thalia's stomach melted, allowing the son of Poseidon to heal her wound with the now free water. Just as Percy withdrew his hand from Thalia's chest a bulkier, aggressive hand grabbed hold of his shoulder and yanked him backwards, sending him flat on his back.
Looming over the floored demigod was Percy's least favourite hunter, Phoebe.
"Why the hell did you hurt Thalia?" she grumbled, her lumbering boot falling painfully onto Percy's chest.
"I didn't do it on purpose" Percy retorted as he struggled under the heavy hunter's foot.
Percy's answer didn't seem good enough for Phoebe as the pressure her foot exuded onto the demigod's chest increased. Gasps of pain escaped from Percy's mouth as the cruel hunter pressed further and further whilst the other hunters circled. Meanwhile Thalia remained strewn on the ground, exhausted and powerless to stop the hunters.
"Enough!"
The sound of Artemis's voice sent all of the hunter's heads swivelling in the direction of their immortal leader, Percy even caught a glimpse of fear within Phoebe's eyes as her attention became divided. To be able to catch the Goddess, Percy was forced to look upside down to see the Auburn woman. She wasn't happy as she stormed forward, and even though she carried no weapons within in her hands the demigod knew that she did not need them to strike fear and authority into the girls she led.
"Phoebe get off Perseus, now!" Artemis yelled at the insubordinate hunter.
The bulky girl frowned like a child, "my Lady you didn't see what this boy did to Thalia, he should be punished".
"Are you questioning my orders Phoebe?" the Goddess asked in a strangely calm manner, which only it made things creepier and set fear seeping through the hunters present.
"No…no my lady, but-"
'Then take your boot off of Perseus's chest' Artemis pushed.
Even at the behest of her patron, Phoebe's foot remained firmly, and painfully on the demigod's chest.
"Phoebe, if you do not remove yourself from Perseus this moment then you will be cleaning the wolves for a year!" Artemis yelled, her ultimatum seemingly unimpressive but effective as the hunter's boot was swiftly removed.
"Good" the Goddess nodded though the anger and irritation still lingered in her voice, "you're all dismissed, it's time for breakfast".
Begrudgingly the surrounding hunters all drifted away from the grounded demigod. Thalia was aided by two of the younger hunters, the most Percy could do was offer an apologetic smile as he sat up.
"The second day here and you display yet another power, I hope this does not become a daily occurrence Perseus" Artemis commented as she closed in on the demigod, offering him a hand to aid him.
Percy struggled to rise from his place on the ground, though he managed to get on his feet, though he ignored the Goddess's hand, rebuking her help.
"I didn't want to hurt Thalia" Percy mumbled to himself as he turned away from the Goddess.
Artemis however didn't wish to see the back of the demigod and pulled him by his arm and twisted Percy about so that she was looking directly into his eyes.
"I know you didn't" she muttered, though her voice rang deeply into Percy's ears, "are you OK, she didn't hurt you?"
The demigod shrugged off the Goddess's hands, angered by her comment. "Oh so now you care?" he spat, vile coating his words.
Artemis blinked before her eyes drew thinner and became colder, "I don't care boy, I simply want to know if you were injured fighting my lieutenant".
"No, I'm fine, full of happiness and life" Percy replied sarcastically.
The Goddess's nose flared as she drew a sharp breath and pulled her hand back. For a moment the demigod believed that Artemis intended to strike him and so he flinched away, though the Goddess's hand instead held tightly to his chin, pulling him closer.
"I will admit that I was impressed with you victory against Thalia" Artemis whispered dangerously, "but that does not give you the right to speak to me in such a manner, do I make myself clear?"
Percy looked into the Goddess's moon coloured eyes with contempt, "crystal" he told her caustically.
For a second Artemis's hold on Percy's chin tightened before she let go and ran her finger under his chin, a chill spreading through the demigod as she did so.
"Good, I would hate to punish such a strong demigod for being disobedient" she said, her tone returning to the darker, lust filled one that Percy despised, "unless you seek such punishment, is that's what you wish Perseus?"
The demigod slumped, "no" he croaked bitterly.
Artemis tilted her head in curiosity before it resumed its normal posture, "a shame, maybe you will grow to like it. Anyway enough of this prattle, we must get something to eat".
Percy sat with Artemis at the head of the lunching hunters in the middle of their camp. All around the young girls feasted on their morning meal, their ravenous torrent of consumption making Percy's appetite disappear as he watched with concern. The last of Percy's hunger vanished as he saw a few of the hunters push and shove each other in search of more food.
"Why are you not eating Perseus?" Artemis questioned as she wiped her mouth with a white embroiled table napkin.
"I'm not hungry" he replied, his bowl of soup and bread sitting abandoned in front of his lap.
The Goddess frowned and shifted her right hand behind the demigod's head. Percy went to move away from Artemis's drifting hand though he proved to be too slow as he felt her fingers dart forward and latch onto the back of his neck, making him flinch in response.
"Perseus, I do not wish to see you fade away" the Goddess said in a tone so quiet that only he was privy to her spoken word, "so it would be best for you to eat, you do not want to see the consequences".
The son of the sea God slouched, his posture showing how defeated he felt. Sighing he reached over and tore a piece of bread off and placed it in his mouth, yet Percy found it hard to eat it considering how dry his mouth was. As he ate, Percy felt the Goddess's hand move upwards until her fingers were gently exploring the back of his head, her fingers rustling through his hair.
"Good" Artemis muttered softly, her hand remaining on his head. The temptation to pull away was something that Percy gave quite a bit of thought to, but he resisted such an idea if only to avoid further torment from the auburn Goddess.
The pair stayed in such an uneasy situation for the rest of the morning as the hunters sat and mingled, the sounds of their laughter and joy running opposed to Percy's feeling of dismay and misery that were conjured up by simply being next to the Goddess of the Hunt. The demigod only found relief when a young hunter, one he had not seen before looked to the Goddess and asked her question.
"Lady Artemis what should we do with our day? Are we to remain encamped again?" she said.
Artemis seemed to ponder the hunter's words for a moment, her only movement being the slow rhythmic scratching of her fingers against Percy's scalp. If it had been anyone else the demigod may have even enjoyed such a sensation.
"No, you have rested too long" Artemis declared, "today we shall hunt. Hunters go and prepare!"
An explosion of fervour was suddenly released from the hunters as they all dashed away, eager to finally be hunting once again. The only thing Percy felt was intrepidation at what he role would be, he possessed no skill in archery and he had never tracked a creature in his life. What would Artemis do with him?
"Come Perseus" Artemis told the demigod as she rubbed his shoulder and stood, her figure as imposing as ever.
With tired reluctance Percy followed the Goddess as she entered her tent again. Within the concealing confines the demigod watched as Artemis pulled her bow and quiver from one large ornate chest and her hunting knife from another. Oddly enough the demigod didn't recall her ever putting them away.
"So what am I supposed to do?" Percy asked as the Goddess set her bow down across her shoulder.
"You will aid me in my hunt Perseus, what else did you think I would have you do?" The Goddess responded rhetorically.
"Jumping through hoops would be my guess" the demigod muttered to himself as he rolled his eyes. Artemis's eyes hardened at Percy's failed attempt at hiding his comments and again approached him.
"Will I have to beat this disobedience out of you boy?" she asked him threateningly.
"So you don't care about hurting me now? Will you make your mind up because I'm already sick and tired of being near you!" Percy thundered, his pent up anger that he had kept suppressed was finally bursting through.
"You do not get to talk to me like this Perseus" Artemis declared coldly, her index finger jabbing into Percy's chest, which was still bruised by Phoebe's rock hard foot.
"Just make up your mind!" the demigod retorted, loudly, "I'm not some toy that you can throw about whenever you please! Do you like me? I don't even know! Do you care? Like hell you do, so why do you keep acting like you do?!"
"I care about what you are" Artemis said abruptly before Percy could continue, "you are a son of the sea God, the first for over half a century, do you know what that means? How much power that you hold within and that you don't have to restrain? Gods must follow strict rules or risk punishment. But you Perseus are below such… expectation".
The young demigod frowned, "I'm just a weapon then?"
"No, you are more than that, you are unique" Artemis replied flippantly, "you may not think so but the Gods know what a child of the big three can do, they fear you Perseus. You can tip the scales of any argument, any feud. And I am the one that holds your leash. I don't care whether you are happy Perseus because that doesn't aid me, I don't care whether you like me, because you don't have a choice. The only thing I care about is whether you are fit and able to serve".
"Then tell me one thing" Percy muttered faintly, even though he wasn't surprised with Artemis's, she had said it all before, but now she was being honest. She didn't need to hide her true feelings.
"Why do you keep touching me? The hugs, the petting… it doesn't make any sense".
Artemis looked at the demigod with a look that one would give to a playful child, one of condescending amusement.
"Oh Perseus, I may have lied a great deal to the other Gods last night, but I did not lie about my intentions to rid myself of my virgin title" the Goddess told him, her voice sickeningly sweet, "you are one of the few males that I can stand to be near, and I will not lie that I take great pleasure in seeing you squirm".
Bile filled Percy's mouth, so much so that he wanted to spit it at Artemis's face.
"You know, before this whole thing I respected you, I thought you were one of the kinder Gods" Percy spat at the Goddess, "I knew that you would hate me for just being born male, but I thought that was OK considering what you did for your hunters, but now I see you're just the same as the rest of the Olympians".
"You tell me that as if I should be offended Perseus, but perhaps I can educate you. Morals mean little when you are immortal" Artemis sneered wickedly.
Percy shook his head and turned to leave, wanting nothing more than to be as far away from the Goddess as he could be. As his hand touched the fabric of the tent flap the demigod's mind was suddenly covered in a fog that clouded his thoughts leaving him paralysed and stuck.
"Come back Perseus" Artemis called, her words tantalising to Percy's ears and undeniable.
With shaking steps the young demigod turned around and walked slowly to the Goddess of the hunt, her expression unreadable. When he was close enough Artemis reached out, her hand gliding across his face and teasing the faint hairs that rested upon it. Even under the influence of the Goddess's will, Percy still managed to shake from her touch, something that Artemis noticed and smiled at. The Goddess then did something that terrified the demigod and confused him beyond all doubt.
Bending her knees so that she could be eye level with the near frozen demigod, Artemis further closed the gap, her head inching closer and closer to the extent that Percy could feel her breath tickling his skin. Finally he intent became abundantly clear when her lips pressed deeply onto his own, they were soft yet forceful. Percy didn't even fill the inclination to respond to it, and after a few seconds Artemis pulled away, her face radiant with delight.
"You may go" she told him, her control over his body snapping instantly. Without pause, Percy spun around intending to leave before Artemis could change her mind. When the flap of the tent had be pushed away and the demigod could feel the sunlight beaming onto him he heard the Goddess call out to him again.
"Oh Perseus, I nearly forgot, never sneak out of my grip again, I need not tell you what will happen if you do so again?"
All Percy could do to prevent his fury from surging forth was to rush out of the tent, throwing the tent flap angrily to the side and ripping the material from the rest of the tent.
As it turned out Percy did indeed help Artemis with the hunt, he was her 'partner' as she phrased it. At first when the assorted members of the hunt had gathered, Percy had been under the assumption that everyone would join. He was wrong.
The hunt that would occur was an initiation of sorts. In the past month three new girls had joined the hunt and it was decided that today they would prove themselves worthy of the Hunt. Of course many of the older hunters grumbled under their breath, they may have remembered their first hunt, but they weren't privy to when new hunters would undertake their own and this announcement meant many of them would just be sitting about in the camp for another day.
Percy too thought this would be the case for him, he even wondered if he could go and apologise to Thalia for his earlier offence, but Artemis had a different plan in mind.
"We will watch them"' she told him as they left the camp, the trio of new hunter following behind, though far enough that they couldn't hear their patron's words. 'If I believe they are in danger you and I shall intervene' the Goddess explained.
"What will they be hunting?" Percy asked in a similarly hushed voice.
A faint smile appeared on the Goddess's face, "you will find out when they do" she muttered vaguely.
Percy sighed annoyingly, it was bad enough he had to protect three girls that were currently glaring daggers into the back of his head, but at the very least he could know what monster would be trying to kill him today.
The trek that Artemis took her hunters and Percy on wasn't a quick stroll. Minutes stretched into hours as the demigod tried his best to avoid tripping over fallen logs, hidden roots and sometimes just his own feet. The only saving grace was that the weather wasn't hostile, true he had built up a sweat, but that from exertion. If the demigod was to guess he was most likely in one of the northern states, the lack of any swamps or deserts was the main giveaway.
Finally, after traipsing through the forest that seemed to hold no end, Artemis held up her hand firmly, stopping everyone in their tracks. Offering Percy only a sideways glance and pull of her head, the demigod was force to think harder than he liked on what the Goddess wanted. Eventually he figured out her intention and he crept up to her side.
"We're close, the monster is just a few feet away" she told him softly, the three hunters behind them straining their ears in a vain attempt to snoop on their conversation.
"What are we going to do?" Percy questioned, he may not have liked that the girls behind had to face an unknown creature, but he couldn't do anything about. He was resigned to fate.
"I will send my hunters down that path" Artemis told him, her hand indicating to a path through the trees until a bush of large shrubbery blocked their path. 'We will climb up there'. The Goddess then said, her hand moving the completely opposite way. This route led to a steep incline and the amount of trees along the path thinned out the further Percy looked.
The demigod nodded, "I'll get going I suppose".
"I will join you shortly" Artemis replied as Percy began trotting up the hilly path. The demigod's breathing became staggered as he went as the path became steeper and steeper. After a short while the small number of trees on either side of him disappeared, revealing to him that he was standing on a ridge overlooking a small valley. Believing that he had reached the area the Goddess wished, Percy sat down on the edge of the harden earth, his feet dangling freely off the side.
Looking inside the small, yet wide valley, Percy could see grass lands with a thin rich blue river running down the middle. The walls of the valley couldn't be seen as they coated in a thick layer of trees and bushes. A flight of birds diving caught the demigod's attention and distracted him. When the small number of birds had flown away, Percy again returned his attention to his original target, his green eyes focussing on a sight he hadn't noticed before.
Feeding from the flowing river stood a four legged creature. Three horns protruded from its blackened head. Though Percy was far away from the creature, he could tell it wasn't some sort of mutant rhino, though this wasn't exactly a good thing when the demigod spotted the armoury of sharp things that the creature possessed. Claws? Check. Mouthful of teeth? Check. Horns? Triple check.
"What are you?" the demigod muttered to himself as he leaned closer as though it would provide him the answer he sought.
"It's the Odontotyrannos".
The sudden voice startled the concentrating demigod, shifting his body and the perch he was sitting upon. Percy only realised he was falling when he was unable to see the owner of the voice that had taken him by surprise. Though the sensation of falling to his doom was fleeting for the demigod as a firm hand latched onto his arm and hoisted him back up.
"You truly are a fool if you thought sitting there was a smart idea" Artemis scolded Percy as she released him a safe distance from the edge he had just fallen from.
"It's your fault that I fell, maybe you should wear a bell or I don't know, not sneak up on people?" Percy bit back caustically.
The Goddess merely raised an eyebrow at the demigod's outburst, "you are awfully ill tempered today boy, you had best leash such emotions and quickly, or else".
Percy held his tongue, he was already at his wit's end with the Goddess, but he knew better than to aggravate needlessly.
"That thing is the monster the hunters have to kill, right?" Percy asked his head nodding to the beast in question.
"Yes, the Odontotyrannos" Artemis replied, 'it is a worthy foe for my new hunters'.
"That thing is going to kill them" Percy retorted bluntly, "it's huge, how do you expect three hunters with bows and knives to take something like that down?"
"That is for them to decide, if they cannot conquer such a monster then they are unworthy of being in my hunt" Artemis answered coldly.
Percy couldn't help but shake his head at the Goddess's belief but he said nothing, instead focussing on the valley below.
With his attention returned to the bottom of the valley, Percy could see that the Odontotyrannos had moved away from the river and was lumbering aimlessly about. To the far right Percy could make out rustling in the bushes, he guessed it was three novice hunters, though if he was honest they weren't the stealthiest. Soon though the movement began to die down and the demigod wasn't able to tell where the hunters had gone.
"Do you know what their plan is?" Percy asked as he fell back to the ground, though he avoided the edge this time around.
Artemis joined the demigod on the ground, closer than Percy would have liked it. "I am not privy to their tactics, though if I know them well I can guess what they may attempt". What followed was silence when Percy expected the Goddess to explain what she had meant. Instead the Goddess continued her streak of odd behaviour and shuffled closer to the demigod, her head lying on his shoulder.
"Err… what are you doing?" Percy said, feeling as awkward as the interaction was.
"We are being intimate" she replied, the conviction in her voice was so… naïve.
Percy pulled away from the Goddess, not even caring as she fell slightly, her eyes wide with surprise at his action.
"You haven't earned the right to be intimate with me" Percy told her angrily, "especially with what you've done".
A deep frown formed on Artemis's face as she listened to the demigod's words, "while you may think being stubborn is a worthy aspiration Perseus, you will learn to accept your fate. Staying this course will only mean you suffer. Why not accept what has happened to you and try to adjust, you may find that we are more alike than you think".
"Alike? We are nothing alike" Percy swore, "I would never take someone's will away from them. I wouldn't force someone to live with me for the rest of existence!"
"How dare you!" Artemis thundered as she shot up, her body looming over the demigod in a way that could only been seen as threatening.
"Artemis wai-".
"Do not speak to me!" the Goddess threatened as she stepped closer to the demigod, though his gaze was now fixed on the valley below them, "I have had enough of this attitude Perseus and it is time you learn your place!"
"No Artemis look!" Percy shouted, his hand pointing towards the monster, the demigod seemingly unworried about his own fate.
The demigod's luck however was for one on his side as the Goddess reluctantly looked down and saw what had distressed the son of the sea God.
Where once there had been a peaceful field there now lay upturned patches of grass and earth. The Odontotyrannos was charging about chaotically, the three hunters who Percy hadn't been able to spot previously were now fleeing from the rampaging monster. Whatever plan the novice hunters had tried was obviously in ruins, their weapons lay discarded on the ground and only a few arrows were present in the monster's body, the only sign that the hunters had tried to attack the Odontotyrannos.
"Perseus get up now!" Artemis demanded as she started to head back down the steep cliff, her previous anger at the demigod forgotten.
"We won't make it in time!" Percy argued as he stood up and jogged the other way. Even as he spoke one of the hunters tripped and fell to the ground. The Odontotyrannos's eyes quickly fixed on the fallen hunter and slowly advanced on its weakened prey.
"Perseus what are-" Artemis began to say before she saw the demigod run further, his attention locked onto the rapid stream of water that coursed through the middle of the sunken field.
"Wait Percy no!" the Goddess yelled as the young son of Poseidon leapt off the cliff and hurtled downward.
A/N:
Ay I'm alive!
Here's another chapter, hopefully you all enjoyed it. Though before I say anything else I would like to provide some clarity to some common feedback from the reviews I've been getting.
First, I'm glad people are enjoying the different twist, it is after all why I wrote it.
Second, why isn't Percy stronger/he should've beaten Artemis. To provide the most obvious answer, the story would be a bit pointless if Percy could just throw off any opponent he faced. This story is about Percy being someone's prey, this concept in it of itself means that Percy will be weaker.
In context to the wider story and lore it makes sense for an Olympian to be stronger than a demigod and I say this knowing that Percy managed to strike a blow against Ares in the first book. Should Percy be a bit stronger? Normally yes, but keep in mind that for chapter 1 & 2 he hasn't slept since holding up the weight of the sky, the boy is tired and it weakened him.
The third thing was finishing the story. I will, I'm not the kind of person to leave a story unfinished, though to stop leaving it ambiguous I will de-list it as a finished story.
The final point of contention was with how I write dialogue, I use single brackets 'like this' instead of "this". I do this because A, it's proper and a correct way of writing, and B its just how I write. Sorry, but I'm not changing this format. (HA that didn't last long).
I still won't provide a firm schedule of updates as this is more of a side project story. I'm aiming for two weeks, but life at the moment is very hectic so I make no promises in this regard.
Ciao.