Edited as of 8/9/18
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Percy Jackson or any of the Percy Jackson characters
Chapter 7: Daydreams
After heading into the principia, Percy was almost immediately interrogated by Reyna.
"So, this person that you're meeting…" she began, suspiciously.
"Right. I'm traveling with Lady Artemis right now. I was ordered to join them as they hunt down monsters and search for intel on our unknown enemy. I'm supposed to be protecting them too, but they probably don't need me for that."
"Really? Artemis as in Diana? The man-hater?" Frank questioned, "How are you still alive?"
"I ask myself that question every day…"
"So, what are you in California for?" Reyna continued, not satisfied with the information Percy had given.
"Ah… well, that's… um… that's classified," Percy answered while rubbing the back of his neck nervously. He didn't really want to bring up Annabeth and he doubted Artemis would want anyone to know that her former lieutenant was helping the enemy.
Reyna looked at him unimpressed, "Percy, I don't care if you used to be praetor. If you have information that pertains to a danger that this camp will face, I need to know it."
"I know, Reyna. I'm sorry though. It's… it's not for me to discuss. But I swear that if it begins to look like it might become a serious danger, I will tell you," Percy said with a serious and concerned look on his face.
"Do you think you will need any help? Maybe supplies, or a map of the area, or something?" Frank asked, wanting to help his friend out as much as possible.
"Thanks for the offer, but I think with Artemis we'll be fine. So… are we done here?"
Reyna sighed, a frustrated look marring her face, "Whatever. I guess I shouldn't have expected you to cooperate."
Percy gave a weak smile, "You know me so well. So Frank, do you want to go catch up over a cup of coffee?"
"Sorry Perce, but I've got a date with Hazel already planned for today," Frank said apologetically, "Maybe next time."
"Okay, that's fine. See you later then, bro," Percy said, giving Frank a textbook bro-hug.
Percy knew that teleporting to Camp Jupiter would save him some time, but he didn't expect having this much free time. Normally, free time to explore Camp Jupiter would be awesome, but all he could think of at the moment was Annabeth. He could be starting his final year in high school and getting ready to go to college here with Annabeth. Instead, he was a part of the Hunters of Artemis. He could be exploring the streets of New Rome with Annabeth. Instead, Annabeth was the hostage of the same person he was supposed to be hunting. He could be listening as Annabeth rambled on and on about the architecture of the buildings in New Rome, pretending to be bored an uninterested when in reality, he was intently listening to every word she said. Instead, he didn't know if he would ever hear from Annabeth again.
'No!' he thought to himself, 'Don't think like that. You will find her. No matter what.'
He was so consumed in his own thoughts that he didn't notice when two people called his name.
"Percy! Hey! Earth to Percy!" a voice said from in front of him. He remembered Annabeth's voice. It was beautiful just like her. He always loved the few times he talked on the phone to her when they weren't at camp. They would just talk to each other for hours upon hours about random things, from things they did at school, a conversation that was almost entirely led by Annabeth, to whether or not it was cheating for Percy to be on his high school's swim team (hey, if he had the ability to swim so fast, he might as well take advantage of it).
"-not answering. Do you think something's wrong with him? Did Reyna do something to him?" Percy didn't really remember when he first met Reyna on Circe's island, but he definitely did remember how Annabeth looked after Circe's makeover. She didn't wear makeup often, but she looked amazing in it. Her already flawless features were enhanced to the point where she looked like a model on the cover of some gossip magazine his mom would read. And the dress she wore made her look more beautiful than any Greek goddess on their best day.
"Maybe we should trip him. Falling face first on the pavement should wake him up from whatever he's daydreaming about." Percy did daydream a lot. Usually about Annabeth. It was one of the main reasons he still did bad in school despite being tutored by Annabeth so that he actually understood the material. If Annabeth just taught him everything then he wouldn't have to daydream because she would actually be there. Not to mention the fact that she was far better at explaining boring subjects than any teacher he had ever had. Well, except maybe Chiron or Paul.
Suddenly, Percy was broken out of his musings by the sharp pain of his face hitting the pavement of the streets of New Rome.
"Oops, maybe that wasn't such a good idea," the voice from before said from above him.
"No shit Lyra. I wonder if he broke his nose."
Percy groggily opened his eyes and rolled over onto his back. He saw that the two voices belonged to Lyra and Brian.
"No, I don't think it's broken. He'll be fine. He's the Champion of Olympus, after all," commented Lyra. The two of them seemed to be staring at his face. He tried to remember what happened. Something about his nose? He remembered being in Athens at the end of the Giant War. He and Annabeth had been captured by the Giants and they had planned on spilling their blood (a.k.a. killing them) to wake Gaea. But their friends had had saved them, and it looked like the world had been saved and that Gaea wouldn't be awoken. But then Annabeth had gotten cut and he had gotten that stupid nosebleed and the primordial goddess of the earth had risen. He had truly believed that he and Annabeth would die in the moments before this, while the Giants held them captive. But he was okay with that, as long as he was with Annabeth at the end. Annabeth was his life. Nearly every decision he made was influenced by Annabeth. Without her in his life, who knows where he would be right now. 'Probably dead,' he thought with a smirk.
"So, Percy, what're you thinking about?" Brian asked him.
What was he thinking about? What was he always thinking about? Who did his every thought at every moment of every day revolve around? It was Annabeth. It was always Annabeth.
"He's back in his daydream again," Lyra said exasperatedly. He could understand her frustration. Annabeth always got mad at him when she thought he wasn't paying attention to what she was saying. He obviously always was hanging on to her every word, regardless of the topic, but she looked so beautiful even when she was angry.
"Well, if he doesn't want to pay attention, then we might as well leave him here," began Brian as he turned, as if to walk away.
"Are you sure? He seems really out of it. At this rate, he'll probably end up walking into the girls' bathroom."
"Not like they would mind. In fact they'd probably love it," said Brian with a sly grin.
"Oh shut up you pervert!" groaned Lyra, before turning to leave with Brian.
Percy still sat there in the middle of the street. How could he find Annabeth if he couldn't even focus answering simple questions? He needed to get his head in the game. He jumped up to his feet with a confident smirk on his face. He could do this. He's fought monsters before. Hell, he's fought Gods, Titans, and Giants. If this Dark Dude wanted to make the fight personal, then Percy would let him, but it will be Percy that has the last laugh in the end. With a brand new resolve Percy walked to the Colosseum to get some training in while he waited for Artemis.
Artemis arrived at Camp Jupiter just after five o'clock in the afternoon. She shifted into her Roman form and led her hunters to the headquarters of the camp. The Hunters of Artemis didn't visit Camp Jupiter often as they would much rather be out in nature than in an organized city. Camp Half-Blood was more tolerable because it was very informal and similar to an actual camp, with its connection to the forest, lake, and other natural features around it. Camp Jupiter was less of a camp and more of a small municipality with its own self-functioning government and organized militia.
Artemis walked up to the principia, expecting the two praetors to be surprised by her arrival. She was extremely shocked, however, when she was greeted at the front of the building by the female praetor and a white-tailed deer. The female was one of a few that intrigued her. She had gone through heartbreak multiple times before, but still remained strong and continued to lead the Roman camp to great successes. She had considered recruiting Reyna Avila Ramirez-Arellano to join her hunters, but the girl was too dedicated to her duty as the praetor of Camp Jupiter to ever abandon it.
The white-tailed deer seemed odd and out of place. While they were one of the most common species of deer in America, living in nearly all of the 48 continental states, one of the few that it didn't live in (for the most part) was California. She decided to ignore it, as the deer looked healthy, which told her that the deer was not being treated poorly.
"Welcome Lady Diana," greeted Reyna, while bowing her head.
"It is a pleasure daughter of Bellona. It would be much appreciated if you allowed myself and my hunters to rest here in your camp while we wait for another person to join us."
"Actually, I believe the person you are waiting for is already here. Percy Jackson, right?"
"Wait, what? He's here already? How? There's no way he can fly across the entire country that fast."
"Um… I'm not sure what you mean by flying. I was under the impression that Percy couldn't fly due to being a son of Neptune," said a male's voice from beside Reyna. In the same place that the white-tailed deer had just stood was the other praetor, Frank Zhang.
'Of course. The son of Mars is the descendent of Periclymenus. He must have transformed into a deer… for some reason,' Artemis reasoned in her head.
"Percy was granted wings as well as the permission to travel in Lord Jupiter's domain in order to combat our future enemy. But even with this ability, there is no way he could have traveled faster than us," commented Thalia while Artemis was lost in her own thoughts.
"Well, whatever way he got here, he was last reported as being in the Colosseum. We could send someone to fetch him for you, if you'd like," Reyna offered the goddess.
"There is no need. We can go get him and then we will depart. Thank you for your hospitality, young maiden and boy."
Percy sat on the bleachers of the Colosseum as he took his sweat-drenched shirt off. He had been training for nearly three hours and was understandably exhausted. He figured that Artemis must be near arriving at the camp. 'Hopefully she gets here soon,' he thought to himself, 'Sunset will be in a few hours and if they're too late, we'll have to wait a whole day to begin our investigation.'
As he was thinking to himself, Artemis entered the Colosseum, along with the hunters.
"Jackson!" she barked, startling him out of his reverie. He sat up and searched the area for the voice until he found the goddess of the hunt near the entrance to the Colosseum.
"Hey Arty!" he yelled back amusedly while waving his hand. He noticed, even at his great distance, that Artemis's face appeared to be redder than normal. He shrugged it off as being because of the hot temperature, grabbed his shirt, and walked over to the group of girls.
"How did you get here before us?" Thalia asked when he reached them.
"That's a secret," he replied with a cocky smirk. Thalia just gave him a 'you're-dead-to-me-stare' and huffed in annoyance before turning around and crossing her arms in anger.
"You traveled nearly three thousand miles in less than half a day. That's impossible without some sort of blessing from Hermes or myself," reasoned Artemis in a tone that clearly implied that she wanted to know how he made the journey as well.
"That's assuming a traveled the whole way. I might've taken a shortcut."
"A shortcut? Really. You expect us to believe that."
"Believe what you want Arty, it's the truth."
"Do. Not. Call. Me. Arty."
"Aw, you're just mad because I got here before you," Percy teased with a superior smile.
At this comment, Artemis decided that she'd had enough. She tackled Percy to the ground and began to put him into a camel clutch wrestling hold. This maneuver involved Artemis sitting on Percy's back, holding his arms to his thighs, and pulling his face, which was facing the ground, up to her chest.
"Ouch! Gods, Arty. I'm sorry. I was just teasing. If you really want to know how I got here I'll tell you."
"Alright, tell me."
"Can you let go of me first?"
"No. Tell me, and then I'll let you go."
"Fine. It's a power that I got from having Hestia's blessing. I can teleport by using fire."
"Teleport by using fire? Do you think I'm stupid?"
"No, I swear. I swear on the River Styx that I got here by teleporting with fire." Thunder rumbled despite the clear skies, signifying that Percy was, indeed, being honest.
Artemis reluctantly let go of Percy. It had felt good holding Percy like that. 'Wait, what? That doesn't feel good. What am I thinking? It must be because I was hurting him. Yeah, that's it. I liked it because I was hurting him,' Artemis argued with herself.
"Gods, Arty. Are you trying to kill me?" Percy asked while regaining his breath.
"Do you really want to know that?" Artemis asked with a doubtful expression, "We do not keep secrets like that in the Hunt. If you are to work with us effectively, we must know your full capabilities. That allows us to work as a cohesive unit, not as a bunch of solitary glory-hounds. Are there any other secret abilities you'd like to divulge?"
"There's nothing else, I promise. I didn't think it would be a big deal. After all, that was the first time I had even attempted teleporting."
"Just don't do it again. There's a reason my hunters always beat you campers in capture the flag. We work to each other's strengths and weaknesses. You demigods, on the other hand, fight without reason, and had you not been guided by the wisdom of Athena's children, you'd be decimated," Artemis coldly explained.
As much as he hated to admit it, the goddess was right. Percy was sure that had the Romans not been led by someone as inexperienced in battle as Octavian, they would've overwhelmed Camp Half-Blood with their superior cohesiveness and strategic organization at the end of the Second Giant War. He nodded, and stood up, awaiting an explanation of where they'd journey next.
"Come, we do not have long to reach the Garden of Hesperides."
The group exited the Colosseum and began to prepare for the rest of their journey to the top of Mount Tam at the Garden of Hesperides. As they walked, the hunters of Artemis looked from Percy to Artemis suspiciously. Artemis was definitely acting odd.
Thalia, meanwhile, gained a devious smile. 'Getting the attention of a sworn maiden. I knew you were good, Kelp-Head, but I didn't think you were that good.'
(A/N)
Edited as of 8/9/18 – Most of this chapter is unchanged. Just added a bit more reason for Artemis to be mad at Percy keeping a secret.
Thanks for reading!
