Sorry for the late update, but I am just really busy. I've been having Writer's Block with this story, which I why I've been updating the other stories instead. Thank you for the wonderful reviews and awesome support. I am going through some hard stuff in my life right now, but you guys usually make me forget about it and make my life all better, and for that, I thank you. So... enjoy!

Sorry for typos/OOCness.

Happy Reading!

Chapter 36

Jason

Taygete was an awful like Tulip, and Jason didn't like that.

Tulip had tried to help them, even though they hadn't known much about her, and looked where it had gotten them: attacked by Triton, jumping into a volcano, and roaming the forest for hours. Who was to say that Taygete wasn't like her too?

As they walked through the forests of Yellowstone, Thalia seemed completely confident that Taygete wouldn't betray them, but Jason wasn't sure who to trust. He trusted Thalia, but that didn't mean he trusted her judgment.

"So, Taygete," Jason started off. "Why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself?"

Taygete gave him this look of pure loathing. She clearly didn't like guys at all and resembled the Hunters. Before they had started walking, she had seemed fairly confused, but now, venom was in her expression. Jason felt like backing up and hiding behind a tree trunk. Her eyes flashed a dangerous bright shade.

"Son of Jupiter, I think it best you do not ask questions," she said carefully, still eyeballing him. It was hard to break eye contact, as it was a sign of weakness, but Jason finally had to.

Thalia was looking at him. He shrugged his shoulders and she rolled her eyes. As Taygete moved ahead to lead the group, Thalia and Jason fell back. They hadn't had time to talk to each other without the rest of the group breathing down their necks.

"Don't you have any respect for people like this?" Thalia asked finally, once they had distanced themselves from the group. Thalia was acting like a big sister should, scolding her younger brother, which Jason even found sort of funny, since he looked older than she was.

"What do you mean by that?" he asked, lost.

"Taygete is like a Huntress. She does not take well to men at all unless they are slaves or getting ready to be killed. Now, usually she is peaceful. All the times I've met her she's been fine, but we never travel with men. Don't think for a second that just because I know you doesn't mean that she won't hurt you. She may be a nature goddess, but she really hates boys."

"Okay, what did I even do?"

"You questioned her!"

"I'm beginning to question this entire quest!" He ran a hand through his hair. "Look, I just want to keep my friends safe. I don't know who she is, so a little background would be nice."

Thalia's electric blue eyes roamed over his face. Finally, she sighed, slapped him on the shoulder, and walked off to join Taygete at the front of the pack. Somehow, that just seemed cruel and cold to Jason, like his sister was choosing some nymph over him. And it hurt.

Jason started walking faster so that he wasn't separated from everyone else. Frank and Hazel were holding hands and Piper was chatting with the two of them. Taygete and Thalia looked like they were catching up on the good old days, and only Leo seemed like the loaner. He was fiddling with bolts while staring at Thalia. Like, staring. Everywhere.

He walked up to Leo and slapped him lightly on the shoulder. He nearly jumped out of his skin. "Oh, hey man," he mumbled, rubbing his shoulder. "As much as I love surprises, please give me a warning next time."

"Please quit staring at my sister." Leo started to protest, but Jason held up a hand to stop him. "Dude, your eyes were everywhere. No offense, but she will slap you until your head is barely hanging onto your body."

Leo's eyes widened and he coughed into his shoulder. "I know, but hey, and man's gotta do what a man's gotta do. Just wait and see… you'll sister will be falling for me." Leo snapped his fingers. "Hey, that rhymed!"

Jason laughed a little bit at that. "How're you holding up?" he asked seriously after a few seconds. Leo was one of his really good friends, and they hadn't really talked to each other in a while. Jason felt like a crappy best friend.

The son of Hephaestus shrugged and started twiddling with the bolts again. "I'm okay, I guess." He looked around at the others like he didn't want to be overheard. He opened his mouth to say something, but then closed it very quickly as if he thought it best not to.

"What is it?" Jason asked quietly.

"Nothing," Leo murmured, not convincingly at all.

"It's never nothing."

Leo stopped with the bolts and stared at them. He slid them back into his tool belt and made a small flame appear in his hands. It ran over his palm and to the tips of all of his fingers. Then, it engulfed his hand and Jason sucked in a sharp breath. He'd known Leo was immune to fire for months now, but it always seemed to him like it would hurt like crazy. Leo made a fist, and the flame was extinguished.

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Well, I'm not gonna stop asking you until I get a good answer."

"Fine." Leo looked around again before speaking. "I can't help but think about Percy and Annabeth, you know? What're they going through, down in Tartarus? It must be terrible, and hardly anyone—demigod or god—has made it out of there."

Realization dawned upon Jason. "You still blame yourself for what happened to them."

Leo looked him directly in the eye. Jason noticed how tired Leo seemed, with dark bags under his eyes. When was the last time that he had slept? "If I hadn't opened up that fortune cookie, everything would be fine now. They'd be with us."

Leo had already told the group about meeting Nemesis and the fortune cookie deal. "If you hadn't opened that fortune cookie, you, Frank, and Hazel would all be dead. We wouldn't have the Archimedes sphere. At least Percy and Annabeth are still alive. There isn't much we can do for them, but we know how powerful they are. They'll be able to hold their own against whatever comes after them." But a part of Jason still said what if? about that, and he knew all of his friends were asking the same question. "But really, Leo, it isn't your fault. So quit thinking that!"

"Whatever. I wish Nico could remember more about Tartarus. It'd be nice to know what they're having to go through."

Jason nodded, agreeing. But then something hit him. "Wait!" Jason said loudly. Everyone stopped and looked at him. He did a quick head count. "Where is Nico?"

Where had he run off to now?

Taygete rolled her eyes and said something that sounded a lot like, "Men…"

They all started looking around and calling out his name. Only a few minutes ago had Nico been walking with them, being his normal, antisocial self. How could Jason have missed the son of Hades?

"What!" a voice yelled at them. It was Nico, and he sounded perfectly fine but far away. Footsteps sounded and leaves crackled, and soon enough, Nico was back with their group, and scowl on his face. "What happened?"

"Where the heck were you?" asked Piper.

"Using the facilities," he answered with a smug grin.

"Oh…" The others trailed off, not sure how to respond. Taygete had a look of pure disgust on her face and Thalia's nose crinkled. Jason crossed his arms. "We didn't know where you were. A little warning next time would be nice."

"Sure." He started walking, as did Taygete and Thalia, and so the rest started to walk too. Nico had dismissed the situation like it had been nothing, but honestly, Jason had been sort of worried. Nico could've been kidnapped too.

After walking for some time in silence, Thalia said, "Taygete, why don't you tell them a little bit about who you are."

Taygete stayed silent for about another minute, her sun dress billowing around her small body. Even though she looked like a child, she talked and presented herself like she had thousands of years of wisdom. Taking a deep breath, she said, "I am much older than I seem. I am thousands of years old and have been roaming forests for a… long time."

A gust of wind blew, bending the trees to the side. "I am a nymph and a very old friend of Artemis. I have known her since the Hunt first started. Every so often I drop in to see how she is doing, which is how I know Thalia." The two girls smiled at each other. "I'd trust Thalia with anything, so if she believes that you all need help, I will help you."

"Thank you," Hazel replied sweetly. Taygete nodded at her.

"It is a long journey to the geyser known as Old Faithful. I too have heard of these Gates that you seek out, and I do believe that there may be on within that geyser. It is dangerous, but what is life without risks?"

"Peaceful," Jason heard Leo say.

Out of nowhere, something landed on Leo's head. Leo let out a screech and started to buck his head back and forth, so fast that Jason couldn't tell what was on him. Whatever it was did not want to let go. Jason was so shocked that he couldn't do anything but watch.

Finally, the thing sailed off of Leo's head and landed on the ground. Jason almost laughed when he saw that it was a furry squirrel. It scampered off. Leo's face was covered in little scratch marks, but nothing too serious.

Thalia laughed and tossed Leo a bag of ambrosia.

Taygete looked at him. "In addition to being a nymph, I am the Mistress of Animals." Which explained the crazy animal. Leo glared at the nymph, but she ignored him.

"Back to what I was saying. Yes, the giants made these Gates a long time ago. They're indeed spread out across the world. I do believe that one if here in Yellowstone, and Old Faithful seems like the most likely of spots. I'm sure we'll meet some other nymphs and monsters along the way that will be able to give us more insight."

"There are other people in the forest?" asked Frank.

"Tons. Yellowstone National Park is huge."

"So, you're Mistress of Animals," Piper said. "Can you just control animals and make them do what you want?"

Taygete stopped and looked at them all. And then she changed.

Her arms and legs became smaller and longer. Her nose became longer and her skin darker. She started to grow fur, everywhere. Her clothes disappeared and she went down onto all fours. Except for Thalia, they all backed up as she kept changing. Her ears perked up.

Taygete had become a doe.

"I guess I have to explain this part," Thalia said as Taygete trotted up to her and nudged her in the side. "Artemis and Taygete had a little… hm, spat, I guess, a while ago, and Artemis turned her into a doe. She stayed like that for a long time, but now she can change in between those two forms freely."

Taygete nodded her head and changed back into a human, brown dress included and hair already up. She smoothed her clothes and looked at them all, amusement in her expression. "Let's keep walking," she said slowly, and they continued on.

Maybe an hour passed, but the sun climbed high into the sky. Jason's shirt was soaked through with sweat. Clouds started to gather, as if it was going to rain. Jason knew that he should have power over storms, but no matter how hard he concentrated, the clouds refused to disperse.

Something weird was going on.

The nymph turned to Thalia. "Can you not make these clouds go away? The last thing we need is to journey during a thunderstorm."

Thalia's jaw was locked stiffly. "I've been trying to, but something weird is going on. Nothing is working for me…. Jason? What about you?"

"Same."

The clouds got thicker and darker. It was going to rain soon. The wind went in two directions like it was torn between two paths. Half the trees blew one way and half went the opposite way. That wasn't natural and they all knew that. Taygete stopped in her tracks like she had been in this situation before. "No… It can't be."

"What?" they asked her, and someone appeared just as the first rumble of thunder sounded.

The trees bent in opposite directions, and a tall lady stepped out from the braches. Even though she was probably a football field length away, Jason could make out everything about her. She was super tall and wore pristine white robes that flowed down her body. She had dark brown hair that went down to her hips, even though half of it was braided around the top. He could see her calculating cold eyes mapping them out as she approached.

She was beautiful. And Jason knew her.

"No, what's she doing here?" Taygete gasped softly, covering her mouth with her hands in shock. "I haven't seen her in years… this is not good." She looked like she wanted to turn into a doe and prance away from all of this. "Gods, what have I gotten myself into?"

"What!?" Leo asked, backing up a few feet. "Who is she?"

"Enyo," Taygete whispered, shaking her head, looking thoroughly confused and scared.

"No," Jason corrected, gulping. That was her Greek name, but her Roman name was... "Bellona."

Oh snap.

Reviews and Ideas are loved!

-BBH