Yes, yes, I know. It's been about a million years since I've updated. But to be fair, I have been buried up to my nose in school work and am honestly not much better off right now. I finally found time to at least upload a chapter I already had written.
And to my amazing beta Maiden of the Heavens, thank you so much for all of your constructive criticism. Unfortunately I did not have the time to go back into the chapter and fix/improve the things you told me I should. Though i will absolutely apply your advice in later chapters :)
Thank you so much for all the support! Please leave a review and let me know what you think!
Tatianna and Tessa's POV:
Tatianna leaned against a tree, tired and out of breath. She was only a few minutes from where Tess was setting up camp, but she needed to try and catch her breath before she got there, in case things ended badly and she was forced to fight.
The Hunters of Artemis had been on their trail for a while now. And though Tat had heard very few bad things about them, (their previous lieutenant dying horribly, their current lieutenant almost dying horribly, many of the hunters dying horribly, then there was that whole situation with one of the previous hunters falling in love with a bear, but that story's old news,) Tat and Tess had no interest in joining them and wanted desperately to get out from under their radar. Mostly so they could avoid dying horribly.
Thought Tatianna still felt out of breath, the sound of footfall behind her propelled her forward, through the trees and finally up the hill where she found Tess asleep in the grass, surrounded by their still packed bags.
Thank the gods for her laziness, Tatianna thought, shaking her friend awake.
Tess groaned, opening her lids halfway. "Unless you're going to tell me you shot us some Burger King, I'm not interested." As though to finalize her words, she shut her eyes again and tried to fall back asleep, which only lead to Tatianna shaking her more violently.
Once Tess was awake and sitting up, Tatianna began gathering their things, tossing one backpack to Tess and throwing the other one over her shoulder. She grabbed Tess by the arm and began pulling her down the hill in the opposite direction of the rapidly approaching hunters (Tat was sure they would emerge from the woods any minute now.)
Though before they could even begin their descent down the hill, Tess ripped her arm from her friend's. "Tat, what the hell is going on? We've barely been here an hour. Where's the fire?"
"There." Tatianna pointed behind Tess, to the woods where the small group of hunters were finally exiting the trees. She squinted at the group, which was much smaller than she initially thought. There were only five of them; though she was sure she heard more footfall behind her when she was running.
"Oh shit!" Tess turned and ran past Tatianna, scooping her swords off the ground and bolting down the hill, her friend close behind her.
But the Hunters were smart. Too smart for a couple of girls. Honestly, it was amazing they made it this far, avoided them for this long. But by the time they reached the bottom of the hill, they were surrounded.
The two stood back to back, their weapons drawn, ready for a fight. Though they were hopelessly outnumbered by at least ten to one, Tatianna wouldn't go down without a fight. And she knew Tess wouldn't either.
A girl with dark choppy hair and startling blue eyes stepped forward, looking at Tat in a way that almost made her uncomfortable.
This must be the lieutenant, thought Tat. Thalia Grace. She remembered the name from when Rob had mentioned it, after she had asked, of course.
Not taking her eyes off of Tatianna, Thalia spoke to the Hunters in a loud, commanding voice. "Lower your weapons. We aren't here to fight."
The other Hunters followed her order immediately, all lowering their bows and taking a step back.
Tess lowered her swords as well, but Tatianna kept her bow raised high, not trusting the Hunters enough to lower her guard. However, the lieutenant seemed unfazed by the weapon pointing directly at the center of her Green Day t-shirt. She even took a step forward.
"Hello," she said, her voice significantly lower and less intimidating than it was before. "I'm-"
"Thalia Grace," Tess interrupted, coming to stand at Tat's shoulder. "We know who you are."
"Then you know I mean you know harm." She took another step forward, placing her hand on Tatianna's bow and pushing it down gently. Tat let her lower her weapon, though she kept it ready to fire.
Thalia noticed.
The Hunter turned on her heels, taking a few steps in the opposite direction. "You tried to kill one of Lady Artemis's sacred deer. Are you aware of this?" There was no warmth in her voice. She was speaking as though this were strictly business. As though she hadn't been tracking the two girls for almost a month.
"Why does it matter? I missed."
"Perhaps." Thalia turned to them again, a mischievous glint in her eye. "But according to godly law, any who hunt the sacred animals of the gods without their permission must appear before said god for sentencing."
Tess snorted. "Are you sure you didn't just make that up so you can take up to Artemis and she can use her weird God magic to charm us into joining the Hunters?"
Thalia raised her chin, as though she was preparing for a fight. "Lady Artemis does not charm anyone. You must be thinking of Aphrodite." She smiled, though she said the last sentence with significant harshness. "Joining the Hunters has always been a choice; though Lady Artemis has shown significant interest in you two after we saw you slay that Drakon back in Indiana. But that's irrelevant, because you still broke the law, Tatianna. The least you could do is speak with the woman in charge." Thalia stepped aside, her arm swept out like she was guiding them in the right direction.
Tat looked at her friend, trying to decide whether they should try to escape or not. But Tess didn't look afraid, or angry. She just looked tired. Tired of running. Tired of fighting.
Tatianna sighed, replacing her arrow in her quiver and slinging her bow over her shoulder. She walked towards the gap in between the Hunters, like a doorway, and stopped next to Thalia. "If anything happens to her, I'll kill you," she mumbled.
At first she wasn't sure if she heard, she was speaking so quietly. But the lieutenant leaned forward and whispered in her ear "I know," before turning and leading the two in the opposite direction of Camp Half-Blood, towards the Hunter's encampment instead.
Perfect, Tatianna thought. We're making backwards progress.