Epistrèfo
Chapter XIV: Istoría
He is wandering in the middle of a frozen Tree-Ocean‒–forest, he remembers Leary saying‒–at night when he feels it.
Hunt.
It isn't him that's hunting, though. He's the one being hunted.
He springs to the side just as a large canine lunges, jaws snapping at the place he was just at. It snarls at him, and he takes a shaky step back, weak from hunger.
Move! his instincts roar at him, and he dives to the side again as a sharp stick impales itself in the ground in front of him.
He can see his predators now.
They are are Prey. He can't fight back.
They are all female, dressed in moon-colored second-skins, with strange curved Danger-Sticks and packs of Sharp-Sticks on their backs.
He is cornered, and for some reason, he doesn't want to die.
Some of the Prey aim their Danger-Curves at him, loaded with deadly Sharp-Sticks, when one abruptly straightens and holds up her hand.
The others freeze.
"What is it?" one asks, confused.
She ignores the other Prey and steps forward cautiously.
"Hello," she greets softly, "It's alright. We won't hurt you. I know you're not like the other hellhounds."
He stares at the Prey, eyes wide. What?
The other Prey reflect his confusion.
She ignores them, too.
"You're the one Jason told me about, right?" she continues, slowly getting closer, "The hellhound with no tail and only one ear. You ran off after showing them that you were‒–after showing them who you were."
The other Prey start to lower their weapons.
"You went by Stygian, right? Come with us. You'll be safe."
He follows.
The female Prey tells him lots of things. Her name is Thalia, and she smells like Spítha.
Sometimes it makes him sad, but only a little. Thalia is almost nothing like his Packleader. Where he is quiet and gentle, she is loud and tough.
She treats him no different than she does the other Prey.
He likes this.
He learns that their Preypack includes the canines, and they are called Hunters.
He also learns the other Preys' names, but promptly forgets them.
Thalia loves telling stories.
First, she tells him a story about three young Prey who desperately try to survive against all the bad monsters, and how they make their own small Preypack while trying to get to the Safe Place. She calls the Safe Place "Camp Half-Blood".
When she first starts the story, she introduces the three Prey as Luke, Annabeth, and Thalia. At the last name, he turns to her in shock.
"Don't look so surprised," she says, slightly amused, "These are all true stories."
He listens more carefully after that.
The story finishes with the three Prey arriving at Camp Half-Blood. He listens, wide-eyed, as she explains how she sacrificed herself for her Preypack and got transformed into a tree.
He never looks at trees the same way again.
The next story picks up with a male Prey called Percy. She describes how he meets Annabeth, the female from the last story, and the Goat-Prey Grover, who was also in the last story. She tells him about Lord Zeus's lightning bolt, and Percy's "mother"‒–this is what she calls his Female Spawner, he figures out‒–and even Lord Hades!
He is beyond stunned when she tells him of Luke's betrayal. How could he do something like that to Annabeth, whom he swore to protect?! And to think he admired him in the first story!
While she tells the stories, they continue traveling with the Hunter-Pack, and he find himself becoming used to their company. The only Prey that really converses with him is Thalia, but none of the others are particularly impolite, either. He wonders why they are all female, though.
When Thalia tells him about how she turned back into a Prey from a tree, and the valiant quest Percy, Annabeth, Grover, Clarisse (a female Prey), and Tyson (a male Cyclops) went on to bring it about, he can't help but find himself warming up to Percy. The male Prey really helped a lot of people, didn't he?
After that, Thalia talks about how she, Percy, and Annabeth went on a trip to bring some more young Prey back to Camp Half-Blood so they would be safe.
"Their names were Bianca and Nico di Angelo," she says, eyeing him carefully.
He freezes.
Nico di Angelo. That's what the other Prey called him. Nico di Angelo was‒– He was‒–
"Everyone thinks you're the lamest card, but I think you're the best!"
"You promised you would protect her!"
"You can't abandon your family because they did something horrible. You've done horrible things to them too."
"Yeah, well, not giving people a second thought . . . that can be dangerous."
"I had a crush on Percy. That's the truth. That's the big secret."
"I'm the son of Hades, Jason. I might as well be covered in blood and sewage, the way people treat me. I don't belong anywhere. I'm not even from this century. But that's not enough to set me apart."
"I am Nico di Angelo, son of Hades. I control the shadows. They do not control me."
"I . . . what? Why would you want a son of Hades in the same room with people you're trying to heal? Why would anyone want that?"
The hellhound crumples to the snowy ground under the onslaught of memories.