Chapter 10: Google it

"Why Aiden, why did you run away?"

There… there is nothing I could've done…

"You could've saved us Aiden"

I…

"This is all your fault Aiden"

No…. it's not!

"All you need to do is act!"

I'm Sorry!

"You had a choice Aiden"

No…

"Aiden…."

No!

"Aiden…"

"NO!" I woke up from the nightmare, drenched in sweat and gasping for air. It has been a long time since I have this nightmare… wonder why I got it now of all time. I decided to go out and get some air. It is still night time, and the moon shines really bright.

The Moon. I instantly reminded of Artemis, or should I say… my mother. No, I don't think I even allowed calling her my mother. First time we met, she doesn't acknowledge me, second time she still doesn't acknowledge me. The day she told me about the truth, I don't know what to think or what to feel. I really want to be angry at her, I want to cry. But I've learned for a long time to push those two emotions to the back of my head, I can't afford for them to show up again…. The last time I met her, still nothing was different. I mean, I understand where she's coming from, that's why I won't confront her. But still, looking at these Hunters and see how easy it is for her to accept them… it's just makes me feels-

"Can't sleep?" A voice startled me. I turned around to see that Thalia is standing behind me.

"Nah, think I drank too much coffee. How about you, why are you still up?" I asked her, not wanting to tell her about my nightmare.

"Can't close my eyes, I kinda worried about this whole... big quest" She said.

"Excuse me, last time I checked it is MY big quest, they gave it to me" I said.

"We're dealing with a force that might end all existence, I think it is everyone's big quest. After all, you're just a rookie in dealing with apocalypse" She smirked after saying the last part.

"Yeah… yeah… I've heard the story. You guys defeating Kronos and all, those are some really impressive story, one that you would only read in novels." I stated. Juliet told me the story about Percy and his adventure saving the Olympians, defeating the king of Titan himself. Crazy to know that all that happened without me knowing anything.

"Hahaha… It really is something, huh?" She chuckled.

"What do you think we're facing this time around?" She asked me.

"Who knows? But the bottom line is we must do our best to fight it" I said reassuringly.

"What if our best is not enough?" She said.

"Come on… why so gloomy? Don't worry, I won't let anything happen to you Hunters" I teased, which make her raised an eyebrow.

"Those are some big promise coming out of a guy with one eye" She said.

"Hey, make no mistake, this one eyed guy can still shoot arrow better than you" I said.

"Oh really?" She rolled her eyes.

"Haha… Guess we'll just see. Now you need to go to bed, we need to be in good condition tomorrow" She said.

"Yeah, you try to get some sleep too. Night" I said before going back to my tent.

"Night" She replied.

The next day, we flew for another 2 hours until we finally arrived in California. As soon as we're there, we went looking for the address Gary gave to me. This is actually the first time I went to California.

And after looking for the address for about 1 hour, we finally found the place we're looking for. And I can't express how surprised I am to see our destination. The thing is, I didn't expect the building to look so… modern and colorful. Especially reading the big sign on it which says:

"GOOGLEPLEX"

"Hold on! We're in the Google HQ? That's our destination?!" I can't contain my disbelief. Of course our informant would be working at google. Larry Page, I knew I've heard the name before, he is the co-founder and CEO of Google.

"It seems so… why don't we just step in and finds out?" Thalia said.

The inside the building is just as colorful and modern as the outside. I can just imagine how awesome it would be to work here.

"I think I've heard of this informant before… He's actually just a mortal who could see through the Mist, and then decided to use the information he got for business" Sasha said. Of course it comes to business at the end of the day….

We finally reached the front office. "Let me do all the talking okay?" I said to the Hunters as I approached the lady who was typing on a computer.

"Excuse me, ma'am, how's your morning?" I greeted her. She didn't even averted her gaze from the screen.

After a few second of not getting any response, I finally said "Can you please show me the way to Mr. Page's office?" I asked the Receptionist.

"Have you made a schedule with Mr. Page?" She asked, eye still on the computer screen.

"Um… No….?" I said.

"Then I'm sorry, but you can't see Mr. Page without making a schedule at least 1 month prior to the meeting" She said.

"Real smooth Aiden" Thalia said from behind me.

"Hey, you know what this is?" Thalia showed the receptionist a Golden Drachma. The front office lady stared at her hand.

"Ah…. You're here for information. This way, then." said the receptionist as she points us at a direction.

"See?" Thalia said with a smirk.

The receptionist then led us to a room with the sign that says "CEO" on the door.

"Mr. Page there are some people here would get some information" She said after we entered the room.

The room actually resembled more of a child's room than a CEO office. It got posters on the wall and action figures on the shelf. At the farthest side of the room is a middle aged guy playing an XBOX. He noticed us and quickly paused the game.

"Ah! Splendid Lily, bring them here!" The Man said with excitement. The receptionist then leaves the room.

"Go on, sit down, don't be shy" He said, pointing at the bean bag chairs.

"Ookay… We're here for some information… From what I've heard you have information about… well, everything." I said, sitting on the bean bag chairs and immediately sunk in it.

"Pfftt… Of course not 'everything', I only knows the stuff that I know, and just happened to know a lot of stuff" He said.

"Then… do you have any information about a three headed man with the alias Cerberus? He used to work with Hades" I asked him.

"Hold on, hold on. Before I gave you information, I need to know what information YOU can give me" He said.

"Wait, what?" I said confused.

"Don't you know how this work? I'm an information trader, I give people information in exchange of a new information. So tell me, is there any good information that I don't know about that you can tell me? But remember, I know a lot of stuff" He said with a smirk.

"Well shit, what information can I give him? More than that, what information does he not know?" I thought to myself. Until I realized something, I got it. I got the information that he doesn't know, a fact that even the Gods themselves are not allowed to talk about. My identity.

I glanced at the three Hunters. "Do they know about it?" I thought to myself. I doubt Artemis has told anyone other than me.

"Am I allowed to share this information though?" I thought to myself again.

"Hey, I got one!" Rey suddenly spoke up.

"How about this: So far there are 73 Hunters that had left the Hunt for a man" She said while sounding disgusted by the fact.

Hearing this I am both relieved and surprised. Relieved because I don't need to tell him my secret, and surprised hearing the number of Hunters that left the hunt because of love. Then again, it's not much at all considering the Hunt has been going for thousands of years.

"Wow, that's new! Very interesting… Right then! I'll give you the information you want!" He said still in excitement.

"Three Headed guy, keyword: Cerberus… used to work with Hades…" He mumbled while closing his eyes, as if he's trying to remember something.

"Got it! His real name is Rowe, has been around for about…. 463 years, his hobby is…" He kept talking.

"Actually, we just need to know where to find him" I quickly stopped him, not wanting to listen to him blabbering any longer.

"Right, you can find him at Tartarus" He said.

"The Tartarus?!" exclaimed Sasha.

"Not THE Tartarus, just 'Tartarus' it's a café near Golden Gate Bridge. He works part time as a cashier there" The Man said. We all sighed in relief after hearing this.

"Alright then, we'll be going, thanks for the info" I said as the four of us get up from the bean bag chair.

"Hey, before you guys leave, do you want to make a google plus account?" Larry said just before I closed his office door.

We finally out of the building and walking down the street. I can't help but thinking about the thing Rey said earlier. That's one other thing that I never really thought about the Hunters of Artemis. They are not allowed to fall in love. I wonder what kind of life that would be like. Are they just automatically unable to feel love, or are they just need to hold it if they fell in love with a man? Either way, that's a pretty sad life….

"Is that true, that there are 73 hunters that quit being one because they fall in love with a man?" I asked the three of them.

"At least that's what the other told me" Rey said.

"Well, have you ever felt it before?" I asked her. Rey actually not that young, she's older than most of the hunters, probably around 16 or 17.

"Felt what?" She said, raising an eyebrow.

"In love" I answered bluntly. Her eyes widen after hearing this.

"HOW DARE YOU!" She yelled and grabbed my collar and rammed me into a nearby wall.

"Hey, I'm just asking… So, have you?" I tried to stay calm while the other two hunters are trying to calm her down. The question was meant to be innocent, I didn't expect to get this reaction.

"No. I have not. And I swore my life to Lady Artemis that I will forever forbid myself from ever feeling it!" She said. She finally let go of my collar.

Well, I guess I was wrong asking a Hunter that kind of question. But still, I know where they're coming from, but being that angry from such question is just one of the many things I don't understand about the Hunters. Guess someday I could get to know them more, I'm stuck with them in this quest anyway….

But right now, I just need to concentrate on the matter at hand.

And that was Chapter 10 folks! This was pretty much my attempt to give/reveal more about Aiden's character. Since I felt like lately he has been a pretty hollow character that just nods his head to everything. And I actually meant him to be like that.

Well, just tell me what you think about this. And please leave a review, it motivates me a lot!

Bye for now.