Back at Camp, everyone was frantic.
"Percy! I told you to keep a look out for her!" Annabeth scolded Percy angrily, her face red and her brow furrowed with anxiety.
"I couldn't, stay…awake, I-urghhhh," Percy murmured sleepily and yawned.
"Percy!"
Thalia walked up to him and stared at him as he scratched his back sleepily.
" . . .Artemis." She said in slowly and evenly, her blue eyes fixed on Percy.
Percy took a step back.
"Look, I was tired okay? I was out the whole da-"
"THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT! LADY ARTEMIS WARNED ME TO LOOK OUT FOR HER. NOW SHE IS GONE!"Thalia shouted angrily with frustration, her eyes practically crackling with electricity.
Percy was getting irritated. Why did Veronica have to leave her bed this night? He opened his mouth angrily to argue.
"Stop it!" Piper shouted in charmspeak.
Percy and Thalia quietened down.
Suddenly, Thalia cocked her head to the woods.
She dashed into it and came back in exactly 10 seconds, her eyes alight and her cheeks flushed.
"She is meeting Artemis!" Thalia whispered to Annabeth.
Annabeth smiled shakily in relief but shot an anxious look to the forest.
Then she turned her back to Percy and strode off, deep in conversation with Thalia.
"Girls! Honestly!" Percy threw his hands up. He bet Annabeth would be angry at him for a few days. When Veronica came back he was going to cut off all her hair.
"Mum? Er, I mean Lady Artemis? "Veronica asked.
"Hello, Veronica."
"Er, hey." Veronica said feebly, looking at her mother with wide eyes.
"There is a lot we need to discuss. I don't usually take this form but as I am your mother, I suppose it would be, ahem, awkward if I appeared to you as a 12 year old girl."
"Yea…" Veronica whispered, "About that. What is all this about? Why does everyone look at me and treat me like some kind of, I don't know, fine china? Annabeth, she told me something about you being a maiden goddess, and you can't have children. Not to mention, I can talk to animals, and I glow silver, and apparently wild plants start growing when I talk very fast." Veronica finished with a huff and swatted away a wild rose which was creeping slowly up her leg.
"Ow."
Artemis sighed and beckoned Veronica forward.
Veronica took a step forward and stared expectantly at Artemis, waiting for answers. She couldn't help being a little frustrated with her goddess mother, who has not answered any of her questions and only made an appearance now. Piper did tell her that demigods rarely see their children but hey, being the only daughter of Artemis, shouldn't she come and see her? A little earlier?
Veronica finally relaxed as she let all these thoughts go. It wasn't that bad actually. Some kids at camp have never gotten to see their parents, and here she was standing right in front of her mother.
"Veronica, my daughter, I may not have my brother Apollo's gift of prophecy but I do know that your journey from here will be long and dangerous. I have incurred Zeus's wrath, and I have tried to mollify him, as, after all I am his favourite daughter," Artemis said matter of factly.
"But he is furious I have broken my vows." Artemis looked at the sky and winced as it rumbled angrily.
"Why did you break your, er, vows?"
Artemis stared into a distance, a faraway look in her eyes.
"Your father, was an environmentalist. He cared about the environment so much, loved the wild and the nature with passion that he attracted my attention. I got to know him better, and, I fell in love with him. Enough love that I could break my vows to be a maiden forever and, I had you."
Veronica stared at her mother in disbelief.
"Wait, so you fell in love with my father and you had me, and that's it? You throw me to an orphanage? For me to fend for myself? Do you know how much I hated that place? Only until weird things started happening when a satyr came over and dragged me here! The kids there picked on me, called me freak for being able to grow plants so fast, for keeping to myself, basically they treated me like dirt! HOW COME, HOW COME," Veronica panted in her furious words, "how come you have never come for me earlier?"
Artemis looked at her daughter sadly.
"Your father died." She said in a low voice.
"So? You are my mother and yet you have never shown your face to me until today!" Veronica cried out angrily.
"Veronica that is enough."
Veronica closed her mouth, blushing a little with shame, knowing that she had crossed the line.
"You will not talk to me like that."
Veronica bowed her head, angry and shameful tears streaming down her face.
A cool hand lifted her chin up.
"Veronica, if you must know, gods and goddess are not allowed to see their children. Most of the time."
"Why?" Veronica furiously wiped her tears as she spoke.
"It's, just how it is. We can't play favourites to our children."
"I'm your only child!" Veronica laughed shakily, this time wiping her nose.
Artemis smiled for a moment, before her face became a cold mask.
"That's what makes it worse."
Veronica could not believe her ears. It was as if Artemis wished she had never had her. Wished she never existed…
Veronica gave a low moan and sank to her knees, a huge wave of sobs racking through her petite body.
Artemis looked at her daughter, her face twisted with pain too, as her hands reached out towards Veronica. But she never touched her daughter, and instead waited for her to recover on her own. She had to.
After a while, the sobs quietened.
Veronica felt something brushing her knee and opened her swollen eyes to see a small grey field mouse stroking her knee softly with its paws.
"Don't cry miss!" the mouse squeaked softly.
Veronica took a shaky breath and smiled at the mouse tearfully.
"Th-thank you."
"Miss, be strong! Lady Artemis is in pain too, to see you like this! Though she won't admit it." The mouse squeaked in a whisper.
The mouse's words gave Veronica a little hope, and she sat up and rubbed her eyes.
"Wh-why is it so bad?" she asked Artemis, who was looking down at her lap.
Veronica was shocked to see her a tear roll down her mother's beautiful face when she raised her head.
"I am so sorry..." Artemis whispered.
Veronica looked at her mother, waiting for her to continue.
To her surprise, Artemis's cold mask gave way to a protective look.
Veronica jumped a little in shock, when Artemis reached out and gingerly patted her hair.
"Veronica, please don't detest me, just remember that I will try to protect you against anything." Artemis said quietly.
"Even Zeus."
When Veronica returned to her cabin, she was mildly shocked to see Annabeth ignoring Percy, Piper waiting nervously on her bed, Thalia smiling at her.
"Hey guys." Veronica said nervously, looking at Annabeth's narrowed gray eyes.
"Veronica Yee, you gave me the hugest shock of my life when u disappeared.
"I know, I'm sorry!" Veronica said and smiled widely at Annabeth to appease her.
Annabeth grunted grudgingly and let Thalia come up.
"Hey Ronnie, we need to talk." Thalia said, her nickname for Veronica coming up.
"Okay but I really need to tak-"
"Now, please."
Veronica followed Thalia out.
"Veronica, has it ever occurred to you to become a hunter?" Thalia asked.
"Huh?"
"I feel it would be a lot safer for you to become a Hunter."
"Right."
"As a hunter, you will stop aging. You are practically immortal, so you won't die unless you fall in battle. You will travel around with girls your age, and you will see your mother more."
"Will I get to come back to camp?" Veronica questioned.
"Sometimes but we usually don't. I need to go tomorrow to re-join and lead my hunters."
"What else is there when you become a Hunter?"
"Eh, you have to say a vow to be a maiden forever. Which means, erm, no boys."
Veronica bit her lip as she considered Thalia's offer.
The idea of being able to spend more time with her mother greatly attracted Veronica but she would miss camp a lot. Annabeth, Piper, she probably won't see them if she joined the Hunters. She had no interest in any boys at the moment but what if she broke her vow?
Veronica took a deep breath.
" Sorry Thalia but no."