It's been a while since my last update, but I decide to go and try to survive in the wilderness for a week.

I received a review that said my paragraphs were a little on the long side. I'm not sure if everyone feels this way, but I decided I'd give a try to writing shorter paragraphs. I'm not really sure I made them all that much shorter. It's not exactly my writing style. So please forgive me if this chapter isn't as good.

As always, sincerely thanks for all your reviews and support of this story. I hope you all continue to enjoy it. Let me know if there's anything I can do better.

Chapter 10

There was no delay between arriving back at the camp and Annabeth dragging Percy away to meet Artemis to be punished. Percy still thought the whole thing was a bit overdramatic- he didn't do anything that terrible- but he was curious to meet Artemis. He had heard numerous mentions of her and from he gathered she held some position of power. Percy never heard of a woman being in charge before and he was curious to see what kind of leader was in charge of such a patchwork operation. He wondered how she would compare to all the commanding officers in the Arena.

Artemis did not stay in one of the wooden buildings that made up the settlement. Instead she stayed in a tent just on he edge close to the forest's trees. The tent looked like it could be taken down and put up quickly if the need ever arose. The inside of the tent was decorated with the skins of various animals and different bows each specialized for a different use. A hunting dog was curled up and asleep in one corner of the tent. It picked its head up when Percy entered and trained his eyes on him like he was prey. In the center of the tent Thalia stood next to another girl who looked to be a little bit younger than Thalia. Percy concluded that the girl must be Artemis. She was nothing like what he expected.

Artemis was small and slight, good for running through the woods without being seen. She held a silver bow in her hands and had a matching silver quiver that hung at her hip. Despite her young age, she looked very mature. Her eyes were very focused and serious. She addressed Thalia and Annabeth kindly like they were the best of friends. This was very different from Percy's superiors in the Arena. They were all fully-grown men, usually large with muscle and armor. They would have never preferred a bow in combat. Their eyes were harsh and cruel and they treated their subordinates with the same description. Percy wondered what Artemis did to fall into her position of leadership.

Artemis turned towards Annabeth after she announced their arrival and spoke in a sweet voice. "Oh, good. You're back. How was the mission?"

"We got the all the supplies we needed." Annabeth answered in a respectful tone. Then her eyes flashed to Percy and he could tell she was still upset with him. "But I'm afraid he is as we feared." Percy suddenly got the feeling something wasn't adding up. Artemis turned to him and her friendliness melted away.

"You must be the soldier I've heard so much about. I am Artemis."

"Yeah, I've heard that name a lot, but who are you?" Percy didn't mean to sound so impertinent, but he was still slightly angry because of Annabeth.

"You should show some respect," Thalia warned giving Percy another one of her cold stares.

"Thalia, he is new. It is a fair question." Thalia immediately dropped her gaze when Artemis corrected her. "To answer your question, soldier, I am one of the founders of this small army and I have helped trained many of the female refugees into the fighters they are now. The other founder is my brother, Apollo. He is in charge of the men. This forest is our home. Once we learned of atrocities of Orthys, we decided to help. Our great contributions to this cause have given us our great positions of power." Percy understood, without Artemis and Apollo the refugees would have nowhere to go. The whole operation of undermining the Arena would never exist. It was something to give respect to.

"If Apollo is in charge of the men, why am I talking to you?"

"At the moment you are in the charge of Annabeth, for it is because of her you are here. Until you can prove yourself to be on our side you will answer to me." An idea suddenly occurred to Percy. He thought about everything that had happened since he had met Annabeth, the way she seemed to always be deep in thought about something and was always studying him like he was some kind of tool.

"The mission was a test," Percy blurted out when his mouth caught up to his thoughts.

"That may be the first intelligent thing you've said," Annabeth muttered, shaking her head. Percy got the feeling Annabeth regretted ever bringing him. Of course, Clarisse was really to blame. Annabeth made it clear in the stables that she no longer thought he would be useful, but since Clarisse had dragged him there Annabeth was forced to do something. At least Percy now knew what Annabeth wanted from him. She wanted to him to be controllable, so she could use him to do exactly what she wanted. He was trained to be obedient, but not her. Not yet anyways, if she had her way.

"Yes," Artemis confirmed Percy's hypothesis. "And Annabeth has made it clear that you have not proven yourself quite yet."

"What? I did your mission without hesitation. I did what I was told to do. I didn't try anything sneaky. I helped a lot navigating through the outpost so we wouldn't get caught."

"But we did get caught," Annabeth interrupted. "Not until the very end, but we did get caught and it was because of you. You killed that guard when you didn't have to. It put us all at risk and led to more unnecessary deaths."

"The guard would have found us if I didn't kill him and then I really would've had to kill him," Percy protested, his voice rising in volume.

"You don't know that." Artemis raised her hand for silence as Annabeth and Percy were getting dangerously close to elevating their argument to a physical fight.

"Do you not see the problem with what you did? Do you not see what Annabeth is trying to tell you?" Artemis questioned Percy with harshness. It was the most like a commanding Arena officer that Percy had heard from her. Still, there was a clear difference between the two.

"No," Percy answered simply and honestly. Artemis let out a disappointed breath. This was clearly not the answer she was looking for. The mission was a test, but maybe Percy was wrong about what they were testing him on. Percy couldn't think of what he was missing. He was trained as an Arena soldier and they knew that. They knew what that all meant. What was really so wrong with hat he did?

The tent was filled with silence as the three girls let Percy think. They were all watching him carefully, almost expectantly, reading the signs in his facial expressions. They wanted him to figure it out on his own, but he just couldn't do it and they gave nothing away. Artemis was composed and serious. Thalia tried to mimic her superior, but Percy could see in her face that she didn't think Percy could do it either. Percy didn't look at Annabeth. They had been angry at each other since last night and it hadn't gotten any better. It reminded him of how much he used to want to kill her. He didn't want to kill her anymore, but avoiding her anger would be nice.

Thinking about the girls was helping Percy even less at trying to figure out what the problem was. He racked his brain over and over again, replaying the mission in his head. Everything was fine until he killed that guard. That was when Annabeth began to loose her patience with him. It was after they had escaped into the woods that her anger was full blown. She said that he would have to be punished for the fighting. Or was it the killing? the killing didn't make any sense to Percy- he saw nothing wrong with it even now- but, then again, very little had made sense to him since he met Annabeth and her friends.

"I killed that guard," Percy spoke slowly; unsure of what he was saying. "Not the best plan of action, but it was still practical. Yet you all are upset by it. It has to do with more than just the mission."

"Very good, but can you figure out why?" Before Percy could speak Thalia spoke for him.

"Artemis, he's clearly not understanding this. We should just tell him plainly. I think it's the only way he's going to get it." Artemis looked disappointed again, but she agreed.

"The Arena, as you very well know, trains you to kill and that's what all soldiers do. Here we do not kill unless it is unavoidable. We are not soldiers and we do not want soldiers. We want people who value life. The Arena and Orthys does not do this. They kill and enslave. We must prove ourselves better than that by not falling to their standards. Do you understand?" Percy wasn't sure he did.

"I'm not supposed to kill because you believe it means I don't value life? Even if I'm fighting for the freedom of all those slaves locked up in the city?" The word slaves tasted bitter on Percy's tongue. He hated all reminders of the lie Luke had raised him on.

"What is the point of freedom if one must live in fear of being killed as easily as you are willing to take a life?"

"I would never kill the slaves, they're not my enemy," Percy tried to argue.

"It wasn't until a few days ago that we were your enemy. Tell me why did you choose to leave the Arena. Was it for the slaves or yourself?" Percy had think about that. What was it that really made him leave? He wasn't moved by seeing the slaves or the cruelty of them being burned alive. He could remember the hollow apathy he felt watching the entire scene. No, it was that fact that he felt hurt, betrayed. Luke had lied to him. That's why he left. He threw away his life at the Arena because it had been a lie.

"I left because I was lied to. I didn't know about the slaves. I was supposed to be one of them."

"But do you truly care about their fate?" Percy blinked in confusion. He thought it was a strange question. He was fighting for them. Wasn't that an answer? Artemis did not need him to speak for her to understand what he was thinking. His silence was enough. "No, you don't care. Just another Arena dog." Percy was surprised by how much those words stung him.

"If that's so, why do keep me around?" Percy waved his hands angrily through the air as he spoke. He covered his hurt with anger.

"You're the one that chose to fight with us," Annabeth answered him. "But our war is more than just fighting. Conviction in a belief can be the strongest weapon in a war."

"If you don't share our belief, then you are the chink in our armor," Thalia added. Percy was never taught this in the Arena. He was taught to fight to win. There was nothing else to fighting but winning. Yet he had seen the army be bested by this group of different that were as different as they were alike. There was something that held them together that neither the army nor Percy understood and they couldn't fight that. Percy had felt this on his mission with Grover and Annabeth. For a few moments he was a part of that something. It somehow felt better than the few moment he had spent with his regiment, but the feeling was fleeting. He didn't understand it and he couldn't hold on to it.

"I can't go back to the Arena, but I was trained to be nothing but a soldier," Percy offered this like it would explain everything. He couldn't voice how he truly felt. It was all a mess inside of him.

"Then maybe you just need a new kind of training," Artemis said helpfully.

"What?" Percy looked at Thalia and Annabeth and was glad to see he wasn't the only one who was a little confused.

"I doubt you've seen much our camp. I know Beckendorf has shown you what we have on the surface, but there is so much more. Perhaps you will learn better if you see this for yourself."

"I see what you are trying to say, Artemis, but how are we going to do this, "Thalia asked politely.

"It's simple really. Annabeth will take him to a lodge and show him the lighter side of our community. The side away from the fight. He needs to be shown there is more to the world than fighting." Percy thought this was an interesting concept. He had only known fighting his entire life. He knew there were other things in the world, but they were always so far from him. The Arena walls kept them from his reach. He never dreamed of being a part of them. He never longed for their taste. Percy never thought he was missing anything. There was so much to fighting that his life felt full, complete.

Annabeth had heard something else in Artemis' words. "Wait. What do mean I will take him? You make it sound like I have to chaperone him."

"In a sense, I guess that is what you're doing," Artemis spoke like it was nothing, but Annabeth looked slightly horrified by the thought. Percy understood how she felt. Annabeth was still a little angry with him and the feeling was reciprocated.

"I really don't think that is such a good idea."

"Annabeth, don't argue this. As I said before he is in your charge. You are responsible for him." Artemis gave Annabeth a stare that was impossible to challenge. Annabeth gave Percy a sideways glance. It was obvious she did want to be responsible for him.

"Very well, Artemis, as you wish." Annabeth gave Artemis a respectful nod. Then Artemis dismissed them from her tent. Outside the tent Annabeth stopped to study Percy. He stared back at her, trying his best to judge her mood. "You better not cause me any trouble."

"I would never," Percy responded facetiously. Annabeth's glare was as cold as ice. Percy almost wanted to retract his statement, but he didn't want to give Annabeth the satisfaction. Then again, having her angry with him made things very difficult. Percy missed his chance to repent when Annabeth grabbed his shoulder and shoved him forward.

"Let's just get this over with."