Chapter Ten: Hunt
When I woke up, I was surprised to find myself in the infirmary, as opposed to DOA Record Studios. My body hurt from so any places that I longed for the oblivion of sleep to return, but I couldn't do that. Even if it was what she wanted, I had to tell Lady Artemis about Arianna.
I tried to sit up, but I was too weak and fell back onto the bed. I looked around for something to help me up, but saw nothing. I tried to call for help, but my throat was dry and only a hoarse whine came out. I was beginning to panic when the doors opened.
"He's stable for now, but he also lost a lot of blood," someone, I think it was Will, said. "He'll be here for at least another few weeks. I still can't imagine what could do this to him. Nico seemed like such a powerful half-blood."
"What about Annabeth?" it was Thalia now. "She wasn't doing very good either. Is she okay?"
"I'll check, but she shouldn't be awake yet," Will responded. He pulled back the curtains around my bed and his eyes widened when he saw that I was, in fact, awake.
"Hey, Thalia, she's up," he said my friend. Thalia almost pushed him over as she ran to my side.
"Annabeth, how are you; what happened?" Thalia asked. "We came when we heard the screams, but we were too late. You and Phoebe were unconscious, Clarisse and Angela were dead, and Nico... Nico had his arm cut off. What the Hades happened?!"
I tried to speak, but my throat was still too dry. "Water," I croaked out.
"Well, get her some water," Thalia said impatiently to Will when she realized what I needed. Will rushed off and returned with a large cup of water and a smaller glass of Nectar. I drank both so quickly that I barely tasted the sweetness of the Nectar.
"It was that girl," I said at last. "Arianna, she showed up and killed Clarisse and Angela. She almost killed me, but Nico showed up to protect me."
"He didn't do a very good job," Thalia commented. "He was almost dead by the time we found him. Will says that he'll live, but his left arm is obviously gone."
I felt guilt well up inside me. Nico had almost died protecting me. Even though he would live, I couldn't imagine how awful it must be to lose your arm.
"As for Phoebe, she tried to fight Clarisse, but that didn't go so well," I continued after a brief hesitation. "It's probably for the best. Her being unconscious saved her life." Thalia nodded.
"Tell me more about this girl, Arianna," she said to Will.
"Well, to begin, everyone just calls her Ari, and she's the only unclaimed camper here," Will explained. "She's been here for ten years and nobody knows who her godly parent is."
"That's impossible," Thalia said. "The gods are done ignoring their children. There's no way this girl can go ten years without being claimed."
"That's how it is," Will said. "She says that her dad was mortal, so that narrows down the possibilities a bit, but she's still hard to figure out. Even Chiron has no idea who her godly parent might be."
"It's Eris," a new voice said. We all turned to see Artemis appear in a flash of silver light. "The girl's mother is Eris, goddess of discord and chaos."
"How do you know this, milady?" Thalia asked.
"That was the purpose of the meeting last night," she explained. "Hades brought us together and told us about her and his many attempts to kill her over the years."
"She mentioned that," I remembered. "She said that Hades couldn't touch her no matter what he did."
"I thought that the gods agreed to stop killing powerful demigods out of fear," Thalia said. "It might be because Hades is trying to kill her that she went psychotic."
"Don't try to defend her, Thalia," Artemis said. "Even if she were merely a powerful demigod, the crimes she has committed must be punished, severely. But, she is also a child born of chaos. Eris has never had a child that was truly good. Most are evil and destructive like their mother. For someone like this girl, Arianna, she must be dealt with quickly, before she can cause more harm." Artemis glanced over her shoulder at what I imagined was Nico. From my position, I couldn't see him and didn't want to; just the memory of last night made me shudder.
"What are we to do, milady?" Thalia asked.
"We're going to hunt her, of course," Artemis said stoically. "She has left quite the trail to follow, the hard part will be to actually kill her."
"When do we depart?" I asked. Although the thought of facing Ari again terrified me, I also wanted to avenge Clarisse, Angela, and Nico. Artemis looked at me sadly. She hesitated for several seconds before sighing.
"Right now," she said. She placed her hand on my shoulder and it glowed with a silvery light. Almost immediately, all pain and weariness left me and I managed to get out of bed without the slightest trouble.
"Come, we must assemble the others," Artemis said. We began to exit the infirmary, but a weak voice stopped us.
"You don't know what you're getting into," it was Nico. My stomach rolled as I looked as what was once my good friend. His left shoulder was a mass of red bandages and his face was all but covered with several red stains bleeding through the white linen.
"What do you know of our prey, boy?" Artemis asked. She wasn't rude, nor impatient. She looked eager to gain as much knowledge as possible about this new threat.
"She's more than just a demigod," Nico said weakly. "I don't truly understand what she is, but I know that much. Don't underestimate her, if you do, then she will not hesitate to destroy you." With that, Nico closed his eyes and returned to his original unconscious state.
I looked at Artemis and saw the discomfort on her face. Though she probably didn't understand either, she was obviously more worried than she had been just a few moments ago.
"You're sure you can't wait for a little while?" Will asked.
"Why should we?" Thalia responded.
"Because we're not just going to stand by and let that bitch get away," he said. "She killed Clarisse and did... that to Nico, we're not just going to do nothing."
"And you shouldn't," Artemis said. "Inform your comrades of what has happened, and make yourselves ready to pursue her. We will not wait for you, so it would be best if you moved as quickly as possible." Will nodded.
"I have to stay here with Nico, but if you could send someone this way, then I can have them relay the message for me," he said.
"We will do that," Artemis said before she left the infirmary with Thalia and I at her heels.
Half an hour later, the hunters were on the move. Artemis had said that Ari's trail would be easy to follow. But, that trail began in the city. All morning, there had been numerous "accidents" all over the place. Though the mortals didn't see it, they were too numerous to be coincidence and went in a clearly defined line across Manhattan Island. It was also noticed that the line of destruction chose to make a wide arc around the Empire State Building, and Olympus.
"Let us try to take her by surprise," Artemis said as we made our way across Central Park. "If you see an opening, fire at will."
This was met by a general ascent from the hunters. They were only to eager to kill the one who had caused so much trouble.
As we followed the path of Ari, we eventually left the city and entered open countryside. It was strange how such a rural area could exist so near to the largest city in the country, but here it was. Despite the lack of dense population, Ari's movements were still easy to follow. There would always be something that gave away her recent passing.
"It's as if she wants us to follow her," Thalia observed. Artemis looked uneasy at the possibility.
"I would imagine that she does," she said. "She managed to escape from the camp and make it to the city without being noticed. I refuse to believe that the ease with which we are tracking her is due to carelessness on her part."
"It's a trap then," I surmised. Artemis took her time answering. When she did, she almost sounded afraid.
"More than likely," she said solemnly. "Under different circumstances, I would abandon this hunt for fear of the results. But, we cannot. There's no telling how much trouble she could cause if left unchecked."
Nobody talked after that. We continued trailing our prey with noticeably less vigor than before.
"Hey, Thalia," I said when the sun was nearing the horizon.
"Yeah?" She responded beside me.
"What do you think will happen?" I asked quietly. "You know, when we find her." Thalia shook her head slowly.
"I don't know, Annabeth," she said. "In all truth, I'm hoping we don't find her at all."
"Agreed," I said. "But, I don't think I'll be able to live with myself if I just let her get away."
"I understand that, but the last time I felt this tense for a battle was just before Mount Tam," she said. I shuddered as I remembered that day. I had never seen Thalia cry before or since, but having to fight Luke like that, it got to her. If she felt at all similar to then, I knew that things were going to get worse before they got better.
We had roughly half an hour of sunlight left when we reached an open field with a single tree standing at its center. It was a massive oak tree with its upper branches spreading out nearly 10 meters above the ground. Artemis halted us before we could get close.
"I don't like this," she said. "Hunters, set up a perimeter. Shoot anything that moves. Thalia, come with me." The hunters spread out and made a wide circle around the tree. I pulled out my bow and notched an arrow. I didn't draw it back, but I was prepared to do so at the slightest movement. Thalia activated Aegis and her spear as she followed behind Artemis. As for herself, Artemis walked up to the tree empty handed. She looked calm, but she was used to working under pressure. The two women didn't stop until they were directly under the tree. Artemis looked up into the branches, but they were shrouded in shadows. She took one step closer, but immediately went rigid. The next moment, the ground at her feet exploded with movement. She tried to jump back, but it was useless. Before anyone knew what had happened, Artemis was suspended in the air by an unknown force. Immediately, every hunter, including myself, rushed down to aid our mistress. When I arrived, I saw, to my dismay, that Artemis was trapped in a large net. The wire that made the net was so thin that it was nearly invisible. Phoebe and Thalia tried to tear the net open, but it proved stronger than it looked.
"Don't waste your time," Artemis said; I could hear equal amounts of outrage and fear in her voice. "This net was built solely to trap gods. Only another god can break it from the outside."
"What do we do, Artemis?" Thalia asked frantically. "We can't leave you here."
"You'll have to," Artemis responded. "Go quickly and get help."
"I'm afraid I can't allow that," my blood froze as I heard that voice. I spun around to see Ari standing a few meters away with a sword in her hand. The hunters quickly positioned themselves between her and Artemis. For her part, Ari disregarded us altogether and smiled sadistically at the twelve year old goddess in the net.
"I'll admit, I'm a bit disappointed, goddess," she said to Artemis. "I had expected you to offer me more of a challenge."
"Release me, and you shall get your challenge," Artemis growled. Ari chuckled softly, but there was no humour in it.
"I am many things, goddess, but a fool is not one of them," she said calmly. "No, I prefer you right where you are."
"Release her, now!" Thalia yelled at Ari. She raised Aegis and pointed the head of her spear at the daughter of Eris. Ari look unimpressed by Thalia's hostility.
"I'm going to give you all one chance to leave," she said. "I have places to go and people to see, so if you don't mind..."
"Like that's going to happen," Phoebe muttered. She pulled back the string of her bow and fired an arrow at Ari. It almost found its mark, but Ari caught the projectile without even looking. She turned to face us and snapped the arrow with a resounding CRACK.
"So, you chose death then," she said with a small smile spreading across her face. Before another arrow could be fired, she sank into the ground and disappeared.
"Back to back!" Thalia ordered. We all made a circle around Artemis so that everything was in our line of sight. We waited I. That position as the sun continued to set.
"Bad decision," Ari's voice said. We all looked around for the source, but didn't see her. Then a terrifying realization came to me. I looked up into the tree and saw a pair of glowing, silver eyes gazing back at me. I might have yelped in fright, but all I remember was firing arrows as fast as I could at those sinister orbs. The eyes darted back and forth as Ari dodged first mine, then the other hunters' arrows. We ceased firing when realized that our arrows were all used up.
"Pitiful, and you call yourselves archers," Ari taunted from above. Without warning, she dropped down and landed in the middle of us. She began slashing in wide arcs, catching many hunters in the arms, legs, or torsos. For those of us that escaped her initial strikes, we backed up and hurriedly unsheathed our other weapons. Many still weren't fast enough; Ari twirled her sword and it became a bow. With astonishing speed and accuracy, she began to pick us off one by one. I fell to the ground as an arrow flew into my shoulder, and another found my thigh. Only Thalia with her shield and Phoebe with her agility were able to get close.
Phoebe rushed Ari with her sword and tried to finish her, but Ari was just getting started. She spun her bow and it transformed into a spear. She deflected Phoebe's first strike and sidestepped another. She spun her spear and it became a sword once more. She locked weapons with Phoebe and twisted her blade. Phoebe's sword clattered to the ground and Ari slammed the pommel of her sword into Phoebe's head, knocking her unconscious.
"Weak, no wonder you lost to that weakling daughter of Ares," Ari said.
Thalia took the opportunity and sprinted towards Ari as her back was turned. Unfortunately, Ari spun around sidestepped Thalia's charge. As Thalia ran past her, Ari spun her sword and it turned into a Beretta 92 pistol. She fired a single shot into Thalia's shoulder and I watched in horror as she fell to the ground in pain. Thalia tried to get up, but Ari fired two more shots into Thalia's legs.
"Don't bother getting up," she said to Thalia. "I'd rather not kill you yet."
"Why not?" Thalia said through clenched teeth. "Just finish it already. " Ari laughed.
"Where's the fun it that?" she asked. "If I waned to just kill you and be done with it, you would all be dead right now."
"Fun, is this all just a game to you?" I asked. Ari glanced at me before walking over. She kneeled down so that we were at eye level.
"In a manner of speaking, yes, this is all a game, Ms. Chase," she said in a deathly serious tone. "You're all nothing but pawns in this game. Everything that has happened has all been means to an inevitable end, and me, I am the harbinger of that end."
"You're insane," I said. Ari smile only grew.
"Of course I am," she said. "But, then again, aren't we all?"
I didn't know how to respond to her words. I glanced at Thalia and saw fear in her eyes. She tried to rise again, but fell back down when her legs failed to support her. I looked at Artemis in her prison. She had been silent as she watched us get torn apart. I saw tears flowing down her face as she watched the events unfold helplessly.
"We'll, I suppose this is truly goodbye, Ms. Chase," Ari said. "It has been a disappointment meeting you." She spun her pistol and it transformed into a sword again. She raised it and it caught the last rays of the sun before it sank below the horizon. I closed my eyes as if began its downward arc. Just as I expected to feel the cold edge of the sword as it took my life from me, I heard the sound of metal striking metal close to my face. I opened my eyes to see a silvery blade barely a few centimeters from my face. It had stopped Ari's sword from killing.
"I think that's enough for one day," a familiar voice said above me. I looked up and saw the last person I expected to see. I found myself gazing into the sea green eyes of Percy Jackson.
A/N the story idea for this fic belongs to Anonemuss14. Please thank her for writing such an excellent story.