I hope you guys enjoyed the surprise addition of Carter Kane in the last chapter. I will be weaving elements mentioned in the Son of Sobek in for this story, if you haven't read it go read it. Also I will try mot to include too many spoilers for the Kane Chronicles.
Warning!: this chapter is slightly darker and contains some suggestive themes and violence, you have been warned.
Percy's POV
Having Carter here was great, we were alike in many ways. Each of us told our stories and by the end, both of us were surprised. For me it was the fact that the Egyptian gods and goddesses existed too. I wondered what other gods and goddesses existed, perhaps the ones in Norse mythology. That would probably be like being an Avenger.
"So anyway, we're heading to the camp soon. I think Chiron will be interested to meet you." The reaction on his face was priceless.
"The Chiron, like trainer of Hercules?" I nodded.
"I had the same reaction."
"Isn't he dead?"
"He's had a few brush ins, but he's escaped." Thalia and Artemis looked between us, a look of confusion on their faces.
"So, exactly how did you two meet?" Thalia asked. We told them the entire story about our meeting, Artemis deep in thought throughout the whole story.
Artemis POV
This new boy, he was... perplexing, like Percy. I concentrated hard and really hoped I wouldn't have to ally myself with those annoying Aigýptios(or for those of you who don't speak Greek, Egyptian.) gods. I was intterupted from my thoughts by said boy who asked,
"So your Artemis, I kind of pictured you with birds singing around you and little bunnies at your feet."
"That's Snow White." Thalia replied, and I chuckled. After her joke, Thalia introduced herself.
"Hey, I just realized something!" Percy exclaimed, "Both of you are daughters of Zeus, so doesn't that make you half-sisters?" I smiled, I knew that Percy wasn't exactly Athena smart, but he did have his moments.
"I've never thought about it like that." I admitted, Percy gave his trademark goofy grin and I felt happy that the son of Poseidon was assigned as our guardian.
"Aww... Is little Arty falling in love." A voice cooed in my head, curse you Aphrodite. I quickly banished the goddess of love from my mind. The sun had started to set, bathing us in golden light and turned the sky a beautiful reddish pink. My twin wasn't so bad. Seconds later something happened that I am 99% sure that was Aphrodite's doing. I closed my eyes and fell asleep.
Percy's POV
Oh Crud! Oh crud! Oh crud! The hunters are going to kill me, Zeus is going to kill me, Artemis is going to kill me. I bet your confused, well let me elaborate. I was just sitting, minding my own business. When Artemis, who was sitting to my left, decided to fall asleep with her head cuddled into my chest. I gave Thalia a pleasing glance for help, but she was too busy holding in laughter. Never before had I hated, but was also thankful, at Hypnos, the god of sleep.
"See you later, Cuz. I'm going to go get Carter settled in." Thalia smirked evilly.
"Have her home before curfew!" Carter added. I realized that the Fates really hate me, that or they use me as a punchline for a joke. Either way, not good. I gently nudged her shoulder, trying to get her to wake up, but it had the opposite effect. She snuggled into my chest more and I cursed Hypnos, Morpheus, and Aphrodite. Stars started to appear in the sky when I gingerly carried Artemis to her tent. Apparently, Thalia had informed the Hunters and they were all waiting outside. They saw me and nearly doubled over laughing, I wished that the Fates would hurry up and cut that stupid string.
I placed her into her tent, nearly throwing her and ran to my tent. I bet Apollo and Hermes were laughing their butts off, collecting blackmail material to use on me. I had a feeling that this was not going to be forgotten for a long time. I groaned in despair and weariness and fell asleep.
~Time skip, about an hour before the sun had risen.~
I was woken up by Carter and saw the dark sky that had just barely started to turn blue. I figured that we were heading to camp and so Carter and I helped to pack everything up. After a quick meal, we waited as the sun rose and we all looked away. I had to close Carter's eyes manually and seconds later the red bus of Apollo was sitting on the grass. The god of the sun, medicine, and bad haikus stepped out of the bus.
"Percy!" He exclaimed, " You're still alive. I believe this requires a haiku." All of us except Carter groaned.
"Percy has survived
Artemis hasn't killed him
I am so awesome."
After a few forced claps and cheers, we all loaded onto the bus and Apollo stood at the front.
"Welcome ladies and gentlemen to Apollo's Bus of Awesome." He looked around, "Who will be flying today?" He pointed at Thalia and all of the Hunters that had experienced her driving shouted the same thing as me, "NO!" The god of truth laughed and took the wheel. Making all of us sigh in relief. We flew over the ladscape until we reached the outskirts of the camp.
"Thank you for riding, come back again and visit the gift shop." Apollo joked as we got off, We watched as he turned the bus into a sports car and drove off. I pulled my hood over my head, now silver thanks to Artemis, and placed a mask over my face. I hated doing this, but I had a few questions that could only be answered this way. I turned to Carter,
"Now, be careful, we have a rather... Unique group here."
"My sister once had a crush on a death god and a dying boy at the same time." Carter replied, I smiled under my mask.
"Touché." I turned to Artemis next.
"We gonna flash in or walk." I hoped the former, I've always wanted to bring something to eat and try flash food. I chuckled inwardly and watched as Artemis walked past the barriers.
"Walking it is." Artemis had apparently contacted Dionysus beforehand so most of the kids were waiting outside the cabins. To be honest, I couldn't wait to play capture the flag. Chiron walked out of the big house and trotted toward us.
"Ahh, Lady Artemis, it is nice to see you visit Camp Half-Blood. What is the occasion." He looked at me and Carter, I hoped he couldn't recognize me, "And you are traveling with boys." Artemis gestured to me,
"This is our guardian, appointed by my father." she then gestured to Carter, "And he has a connection to the gods." Chiron nodded and took Carter aside, most likely to give him a tour. The Hunters went to get settled in the cabin. I followed them until a familiar face caught my attention. He was glumly sitting in the dining pavilion. I walked over to him and stepped over the crack where Nico had opened a giant chasm.
"Boo." I said making him jump out of his seat.
"Holy Hera!" He exclaimed, "You scared the cud out of me." I laughed and helped him up.
"My name's Grover, nice to meet you." I felt a twinge of pain, I wanted to take of my mask. Suddenly I realized I needed a name. I racked my brain until I thought oft he perfect one.
"Hawk-eye." Grover smiled slightly before going back to his glum mood.
"What's wrong?" I asked, sitting next to him.
"Not long ago, I lost my friend. We're pretty sure he's dead." I had a feeling he was talking about me, it warmed my heart to hear him call me a friend.
"What was his name?"
"Percy. Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon." I nodded, encouraging him on, "One day, after he came back after being missing for three months, he started to act strange. He did things that were unlike him, until one day I did something that probably made him run off. I broke our empathy link, you know what those are, right?" I nodded, "Anyway, after he disappeared I started to get thinking and then met with his other friends. We all agreed that his behavior had been strange, too strange. After remembering some details, we guessed that he was being controlled." I stared at my friend in shock. They knew that it wasn't me, I was bubbling with joy.
"He's not dead." I said, trying to cheer him up,
"What?"
"I saw him not too long ago, right after I started my guardian job." He chuckled.
"You're lucky, getting to spend all your time with Artemis. Think you can trade places with me?" The two of us laughed. I summoned his favorite food and gave it to him.
"Have an enchilada." I said, walking towards the cabin.
Artemis POV
I told Chiron about Percy and Carter, after making him swear on the river Styx not to tell anybody without my permission. We discussed the subject some more before I left the Big House. When I started to walk towards my Cabin something appeared in my peripheral vision. It was Colin, Percy's brother. He almost seemed like Percy when I looked at him, with the way he smiled. He saw me and I felt a cold feeling creep up my spine, I was currently in my 18 year old form, it's really annoying to talk to a centaur when your an adolescent girl.
Colin walked over to me, an evil smile plastered on his face. I thought I saw a flash of gold cross his eyes, I was probably imagining it. He was getting too close. I tried to move away but he placed an arm around me. I growled at him, apparently without notice.
"Hey there, beautiful. Name's Colin, wanna go hang out in the woods, maybe find a nice dark cave." His voice sent shivers up my spine and he continued, "We could get to know each other," He placed his mouth right next to my ear and whispered, "really well." I tried to attack him but I couldn't. I stepped on his toes but he didn't even flinch. He sneered at me,
"So that's the way it's going to be. I had hoped you wouldn't resist." My eyes grew wide as I realized his implications. I tried to scream but he gagged me and bound my wrists. He threw me over his shoulder and carried me into the forest. He threw me on the ground roughly as I started to cry. Father, please, help me.
Once again I saw that flash of gold as he approached me. I tried to wriggle away but he grabbed my hands and tied them to stakes on the ground, almost like he had been planning this. A muffled scream left my mouth as his hands started to molest me. I tried to kick him but he pinned my legs down with his own. He started to undo my clothes when a flash of silver landed beside me. It was an arrow, but not any arrow, it was a fart arrow. A blur of silver rushed from the trees and tossed Colin off of me. It was Percy. He grabbed his brother's collar and lifted him up.
"Go to Tartarus." He hissed and kicked his family jewels. The boy passed out and Percy freed me. He took my gag off and I started to cry into his chest. He rubbed his hands soothingly along my back and placed his head on top of mine.
"I'm here now, everything is going to be okay. No one will ever hurt you again." It was hard to believe, but I did as I buried my face into his chest. I then heard a gasp and looked up. Colin was running away and through Percy's chest, a sword was sticking out. He fell to the ground as his eyes started to close. I quickly reacted and shouted for help, second time in one day I had to call on Apollo for help. Normally I would have been embarrassed. I placed my hands on his face, removing the mask. Blood was seeping through his shirt, mingling with my tears.
"You are not, dying on me." I cried, tears falling down my face and landing on his.
CLIFFHANGER! This chapter's a bit darker, but it does play into the main storyline. I honestly feel kind of bad now that I've written this. But anyway tune in later to see if Percy survives.