Chapter 10: Messages

Luke's POV

I feel stupid. Annabeth did defeat the cyclops, and I think she heard me when I said that she wasn't even close to ready yet. That's probably why she wouldn't hug me. I'll apologize when she wakes up. I didn't mean it as an insult, but that's probably how she took it. Grover looked dead tired, but he was still walking towards something. I suddenly spotted a fire in the distance.

"Let's go that way." I pointed at the fire.

"What if it's more monsters?" Grover yawned.

"I think it's people." Thalia stated.

"What makes you so sure?" Grover looked like he was about to fall over.

"It's this weird feeling." Thalia scrunched her eyebrows.

"Feeling?..." Grover fell over.

"Crap." Thalia said.

"Let's drag him to the fire." I suggested mischievously.

"You do it, I'm already carrying Annabeth." Thalia snorted.

"Fine." I agreed.

So I dragged Grover and Thalia carried Annabeth towards the fire. I siddenly heard a bunch of girls giggling.

"But Zoë, why would Artemis let Zeus tell her to be here exactly right now?" A girl giggled.

"I don't know, I'm just relaying what I heard Phoebe." Zoë said.

"Why here? Now we're in range of that stupid camp." A girl groaned.

"Oh come on Fiona, what did they ever do to you?" Phoebe asked.

I could suddenly see a bunch of girls in similar outfits sitting around a fire on the other side of some bushes. They all had bows and some of them were fiddling with arrows.

"They're Huntresses of Artemis." Thalia whispered.

"Then it's not safe, they'll kill me just because I'm a man." I winced.

"Artemis is relatively nice and forgiving, so I don't think they'll kill you." Thalia whispered.

"No, they'll just skewer me to the point of near-death." I grunted.

Thalia rolled her eyes and walked into the light of the fire.

"Gah!" Some of the Huntresses screamed.

"Sorry, we just figured that Huntresses would help us rather than kill us." Thalia stated.

"Of course. Is it just you and the little girl?" Zoë questioned.

"No, there's a passed out satyr and a boy who thinks you'll kill him." Thalia rolled her eyes.

Zoë smirked. "It's safe, just come out."

"Zoë! We don't help boys!" Fiona screeched.

"He's with her, so I'll help just this once." Zoë rolled her eyes.

I dragged Grover into the fire light. Fiona looked at me like I was the most attractive man on Earth. It was creepy. Phoebe smacked Fiona in the back of the head and Fiona fell over. Zoë stifled a giggle.

"So you won't skewer me?" I checked.

"Not unless Artemis tells me to." Zoë seemed half amused, half annoyed.

"What happened, why are you out here?" Phoebe investigated.

"We were heading to Camp, Annabeth passed out after she took out a huge cyclops, and Grover passed out from exhaustion." Thalia summarized.

"Impressive." Zoë glanced at Annabeth.

"And you came here for help?!" Fiona looked disgusted.

"We didn't know you were Huntresses until we reached the bushes." I snapped.

"Excuse Fiona, she hasn't slept with her boyfriend lately." Zoë smirked.

Fiona gaped at her and Phoebe giggled.

"I thought Huntresses weren't allowed to..." I started.

"We're preparing to kick her out." Zoë wiggled her eyebrows.

"So can we stay here tonight?" Thalia asked.

"If Artemis says it's alright." Zoë decided.

So we walked to a tent that was seemingly bigger than the others. A beautiful girl was sitting inside talking to someone in an Iris Message.

"I was lucky to have Zeus agree with placing you here." A woman who looked like Annabeth said.

"I know, and I suppose it can't hurt to help your daughter and her friends." The pretty girl agreed.

"Artemis!" Grover suddenly woke up.

The pretty girl turned and gave us a smile.

"I have to go Athena." Artemis said.

"Okay. Be good to my daughter and her friends." Athena smiled.

Then the IM disappeared.

"Welcome to my camp." Artemis greeted.

Grover stared in adoration. Thalia just smiled.

"Mommy..." Annabeth grumbled.

Artemis smiled. "Set her down, you can all stay here. You'll be safe from Fiona."

Zoë giggled. She looked at Artemis like a girl would look at her mother. Then we heard a loud noise followed by a bunch of girls screaming. We all ran outside to see what it was. We saw a bunch of wolves chasing and being chased by Huntresses.

"Die mutt!" A girl shrieked.

Some of the wolves were howling and growling. Annabeth was awake and alert by this point and Artemis had explained what was going on.

"Fight back! We can't let Lycaon over run is!" Artemis shouted.

She and the other Huntresses ran to help their fellow Huntresses. Thalia, Annabeth, Grover, and I ran to help too.

"Thalia! Do you know how to use a bow?" Zoë yelled.

"Yes, but I kind of prefer my spear!" Thalia shouted back.

Annabeth ran to help Phoebe and Grover trailed after Artemis.

"Help me!" Zoë screamed as a huge looking wolf pounced on her.

"Gah!" A wolf pounced on me from behind and started trying to bite me.

"Help!" Zoë shrieked.

Thalia looked at Zoë, then back at me. She seemed confused. Then she ran to help me. As Thalia stabbed my wolf with her spear, Annabeth threw her knife at Zoë's wolf and both wolves turned to yellow dust. After that, it was easy to round up and get rid of the rest of the wolves.

"Thank you." Zoë smiled at Annabeth.

"You're welcome." Annabeth smiled back.

I kissed Thalia on the cheek as a thank you. Thalia blushed and I swear I saw Artemis smirk.

"You defeated Lycaon with a single throw of your knife, whatever you want is yours." Zoë grinned at Annabeth.

Annabeth grinned and got this adorable thinking face. A couple of minutes later, she said, "Can you arrange a visit with Apollo?"

Zoë looked confused and so did Artemis.

"Of course. Apollo!" Artemis yelled.

Apollo suddenly appeared.

"You actually NEED me?!" Apollo seemed excited.

"No, Annabeth requested your presence." Artemis rolled her eyes.

Apollo turned to Annabeth. "'Sup?"

Annabeth pulled him to a place with less people and started asking him questions.

Annabeth's POV

"Can you explain my prophecy to me? I don't really understand it, and it makes me nervous." I asked.

"Look kid, I don't know why the oracle told you, but you weren't supposed to know in the first place under Zeus' orders. But what I can tell you is, this is a part of your prophecy. Think of Zeus not letting me tell you as being the No help will come from the King of the Skies part, okay?" Apollo vaguely answered.

"So you can't tell me anything?!" I was exasperated.

"Between you and me, Luke is one of the heroes in your prophecy, okay? Just don't tell anyone I said that." Apollo whispered.

"Okay..." I said.

Luke is part of my prophecy?

"And don't tell Chiron. He'll force you to hide it from the other hero." Apollo instructed.

"Okay." I agreed.

Then Apollo left.

Thalia's POV

Annabeth came back and seemed like she was thinking hard about something, but she wouldn't tell us what. It sucks to have a seven year old keep something from you. I watched as Luke sat down by her on a log.

"Look, I'm sorry about what I said about you not being ready. I didn't mean it as an insult, I just didn't know you were ready for a cyclops that huge. You even surprised me by throwing your knife and killing Lycaon." Luke apologized.

"It's okay I guess." Annabeth sighed.

"Can we just forget about it and move on?" Luke asked.

"Sure." Annabeth smiled.

Then Zoë came and sat next to me.

"You were brave today." She complimented.

"Life of a demigod." I smirked.

"I'll be direct, would you be willing to become a Huntress?" Zoë questioned.

Wow, that escalated quickly. Would I be willing to become a Huntress? No, I couldn't.

"Zoë, as much as I appreciate the offer, I can't. I have to take care of Luke and Annabeth and make sure Grover doesn't get them killed with all his wrong turns." I declined the offer.

Zoë frowned. "I think it's more along the lines of you can't leave a man behind."

I didn't like the way she said that.

Luke's POV

After everyone else was asleep, I got a 'message'.

"Remember Luke, I'm going to need you soon enough." The man from my other dream reminded me.

I need to get to Camp soon.

"I know." I said.

"See you soon Luke." He got that creepy grin and disappeared.

I woke up and bolted upright. He was in my dream again. I've got to get to Camp.