I'm quite pleased with the frustration over last chapter's ending.
Although the amount of 'cliffhanger' jokes I've had to hear were a little much.
ashblaze03: Yeah, Percy's powerful, but the stronger he is, the stronger his opponents need to be so it's interesting.
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I do NOT own Percy Jackson or its universe. Those rights belong to Rick Riordan and his publisher.
ENJOY!
Chapter 13
The Hunters of Artemis
"PERCY!" Annabeth and Grover yelled.
They started to run after him, but they had forgotten about the helicopter during the chaos. Its spotlight blinded them, and the turret on the side began to fire.
Most of the Hunters scattered as tiny holes appeared in the snow at their feet, but Artemis just looked up calmly at the helicopter. "Mortals are not allowed to witness my hunt."
She thrust out her hand, and the helicopter dissolved into a flock of ravens, which scattered into the night.
The Hunters advanced on the remaining demigods and satyr. The one named Zoë stopped short when she saw Thalia, a grimace twisting her face, but she said nothing.
"Zoë Nightshade." Thalia's voice trembled with anger. "Perfect timing, as usual."
Zoë ignored her and scanned the rest of them. "Five half-bloods and a satyr, my lady."
"Some of Chiron's campers, I see," Artemis said, focused on Thalia, Annabeth, and Grover. She glanced at Reyna curiously, as if unsure what to make of her.
"What about Percy?" Annabeth yelled. "We have to help him!"
"Peace, Annabeth Chase," Artemis placated. "I am sorry, but the boy is beyond help. He never reached the ocean."
Reyna heard a slight note of disgust when Artemis said 'the boy' and her opinion of the goddess dropped. Percy was a hero, better than any before him, but Artemis judged him for being born male.
It made Reyna curious how Artemis would react to a transgender or genderfluid person who was born to the wrong sex and wished to be female in a physical aspect too. She could recall Percy telling her about one myth – Sipriotes, if she remembered correctly – where the boy stumbled across Artemis bathing and, instead of killing him, Artemis turned the boy into a girl and had her join the Hunt.
But that wasn't exactly willing – making Sipriotes choose between life as a female or death.
Annabeth looked furiously at Reyna. "Why are you so calm about this? Percy was just captured or killed by that manticore!"
Reyna glared back at her. "Just because you're incapable of controlling yourself doesn't mean we all are."
It wasn't the full truth, but Reyna couldn't exactly say that she had faith Percy would escape through the shadows whenever he found the information he was looking for. The only reason Percy, who she had come to respect as an incredibly calculating person when it benefitted him, would allow himself to be captured like this was if he was seeking something — information about his enemy.
"In the meantime," Artemis cut in. She looked to the Hunters. "Raise the tents – we will rest here for a few hours. Treat the wounded and retrieve our guests' belongings from the school."
The Hunters broke apart to follow their orders.
Reyna was about to follow so she could heal her back when she saw something in the snow that caused panic to fill every fiber of her being.
Anaklusmos hadn't returned to Percy's pocket.
The next few minutes seemed to blur together. She held Riptide limply while the Hunters and representatives from Camp Half-Blood explained how the old gods from Ancient Greece were still alive and powerful, even if most of them didn't use that power for any good reasons anymore.
Reyna knew that Percy had two other weapons on him – weapons that not even the most careful strip searchers would be able to take from him due to the nature in which they had been hidden – but both weapons were Stygian Iron, not Celestial Bronze, which meant Percy would have to reveal his biggest secret, if it became necessary for him to fight his way out of wherever he was.
She was brought back to the happenings around her by Bianca's voice.
"Nico, shut up!" The daughter of Hades had her hands on her face with fear in her eyes. "This is not your stupid Mythomagic game, okay? There are no gods!"
Reyna felt something inside her scream at that – the simple wish for that to be true. The only good thing that had happened in her life because of godly interference was Percy. She had lost her father, her sister, a chance at a normal life, and so much more because of Bellona.
"Bianca," Reyna said softly. "I know it's hard to believe, but the gods are still around, trust me, and it's not the easiest thing to accept once you do start believing."
She moved over to kneel in front of the younger girl – the one Percy had sworn to protect, except now he wasn't here to do that, so Reyna would do it in his place. She would carry out his promise until he returned. It was the least she could do for the hero who had done so much for her over the last six months without asking anything in return.
"Our lives are dangerous," Reyna told her. "Demigods, belonging to both worlds, yet neither one at the same time. It's twice as dangerous for us as it is for normal people – mortals."
"Dangerous," Bianca repeated, "like the boy who fell?"
"Yeah," Reyna nodded, her throat dry. "Like Percy."
"That was so cool, the way he fought Dr. Thorn!" Nico interjected excitedly. "How did he make all those weapons out of the snow like that? Is that his sword? Why is it glowing? Why is it made of bronze? Is Dr. Thorn dead? Did your arrows kill him?"
He would have kept asking questions, but Reyna raised a hand to stop him.
"No, Dr. Thorn isn't dead," she said grimly. "Monsters don't truly die, anyway. They just get sent to Tartarus, where they reform before coming after us again."
"Which is why we must hunt them," Zoë added, her eyes on Reyna.
Bianca shivered. "That explains… Nico, you remember last summer, those guys who tried to attack us in the alley in D.C.?"
Reyna stiffened, briefly imagining how Percy would react to that little piece of information when he learned about it. He already had an attachment to the di Angelos, despite never having spoken to them before, and considering how closely Percy worked with the Furies… Reyna wasn't sure she wanted to think on that too hard.
"And that bus driver," Nico reminded his sister. "I told you he only had one eye!"
"Which is why you need training," Reyna cut in. "To protect yourselves."
"So if we're children of gods," Bianca said slowly, "who's our godly parent?"
"We don't know," Annabeth informed her before Reyna could even attempt to lie to the children of Hades – so, for once, Reyna was grateful for Annabeth's presence. "We won't know until you're claimed at camp."
"Camp?"
"Camp Half-Blood. It's the only place where demigods like us learn to survive. Some of us stay there year-round, others only spend the summers there."
Not the only, Reyna corrected in her thoughts. There were several ways for a demigod to learn how to survive outside of Camp Half-Blood, and it slightly annoyed Reyna that Annabeth wasn't making it seem like there were any other options. She spoke of Camp Half-Blood like it was either that or death, even though dozens of half-bloods survived just fine on their own.
And that was without considering Camp Jupiter, Circe's Isle, the Amazons, the Hunt, or going the route that Percy had and learning on his own.
"Sweet, let's go!" Nico was bouncing on his heels.
"Wait," Bianca shook her head, "I don't —"
"There is another option," Artemis pointed out.
Thalia glared at her half-sister but said nothing.
Reyna wondered why Thalia seemed to hate the Hunters so much. The only reason she could think of was a possible attempt at recruiting her with an unpleasant end from before the pine-tree incident, but she wasn't nearly so foolish as to ask.
"Bianca, come with me," Artemis requested, though it sounded more like a command. "I would like to speak with you. And you as well, Reyna."
"What about me?" Nico asked.
Artemis's eyes flashed. When she spoke, her voice was void of emotion. "Perhaps you can show Grover how to play that card game you enjoy. I'm sure Grover would be happy to entertain you for a while… as a favor to me?"
Grover stumbled in his haste to rise and nearly fell back down. "You bet! Come on, Nico!"
Thalia gave the satyr a disgusted look as he and Nico walked off towards the woods, talking about geeky stuff. Artemis gestured for Reyna and Bianca to follow her to the Hunters.
"Phoebe, come with us," Artemis instructed.
A big, beefy girl with ginger hair broke off from the others to join them.
"Phoebe is our best healer," Artemis explained as she led them to the last of seven large silver tents made of silk. They curved like a crescent moon around a central campfire with several timber wolves circling the perimeter like guard dogs. "She can take care of your back."
Artemis's tent was warm and comfortable inside. Silk rugs and pillows covered the floor, and in the center, a golden brazier of fire burned without fuel or smoke. Artemis placed her huge silver bow, carved to resemble gazelle horns, on a polished oak display stand that sat opposite the entrance. The walls were hung with animal pelts from varying creatures, both normal and mythological.
"Take a seat," Artemis gestured, taking her own on the fire side of the fire, leaving no question where she wanted Reyna and Bianca.
Phoebe started healing Reyna's back the moment they were all sitting, and it wasn't long before they were joined by Zoë, whose focus was on Reyna as she walked around the fire to sit by Artemis.
"Please," the goddess started, "tell me of the manticore."
Bianca told her point of view of what had happened, starting from when she and Nico had been taken from the gymnasium and ending when Dr. Thorn and Percy had gone over the cliff. Bianca seemed oddly troubled by Percy's fate for having never met him before.
Artemis and Zoë seemed to pick up on that, too.
"And you, Reyna?" Artemis requested. "What did you hear?"
Reyna had only heard from the 'Great Stirring' onward, so it took much less time for her to share her perspective of the night's events. When she finished, Artemis looked deeply disturbed.
"This news is troubling," she said.
Zoë sat forward. "My lady?"
Artemis shook her head, a silent warning not to continue. Instead she looked between Bianca and Reyna. "Do you know why I have summoned you to tell me of tonight's events?"
Bianca shook her head but Reyna remained stoic. She had a guess, and she knew for a fact she wouldn't accept, if her suspicion was correct.
"Will you join my Hunt?" Artemis asked with surprising bluntness.
Bianca still looked confused. "What?"
Zoë explained the perks of joining the Hunters of Artemis with Phoebe occasionally putting in her own encouragement from where she was cleaning up Reyna's wounded back – which she was, thankfully, almost finished with.
Reyna noted that Zoë used old-fashioned words – such as 'thy' – rather than modern terms like 'your.'
"What about Nico?" Bianca frowned. "He can't join, can he?"
"Certainly not," Artemis agreed. "He will go to camp. Unfortunately, that's the best boys can do."
Not true, Reyna thought, her mind turning to Percy. Although now she was even more confused about Artemis's stance on transgender and genderfluidity. There was a very simple solution to keep Nico and Bianca together, assuming Nico would be okay with it in the first place, but Artemis didn't even seem to consider the idea of turning him into a girl.
Why must immortals be so confusing?
"You can see him from time to time," Artemis continued. "But you will be free of responsibility. He will have the camp counselors to take care of him." (Until they realize who his father is, Reyna thought scathingly.) "And you will have a new family. Us."
"A new family," Bianca repeated dreamily. "Free of responsibility."
She fell into silent thought, and so attention turned to the second unaffiliated girl.
"No thanks," Reyna declined without hesitation. "I can't abandon Percy like that."
She saw Bianca wince almost imperceptibly out of the corner of her eye and almost sighed in relief. Reyna knew Hades would lose it if his precious daughter went and joined an Olympian, leaving behind her brother in the process. And that was disregarding what Percy would do – she knew how seriously he took loyalty, after being abandoned by his father, betrayed by Luke, and now Annabeth choosing Thalia over him.
Losing Bianca before he could meet her would destroy him.
"Very well," Artemis said tightly, disapprovingly. She turned back to Bianca.
"Can I have some time to think about it?" Bianca asked.
"Certainly," Artemis agreed. "The Hunters will be journeying to Camp Half-Blood, anyway, which gives you the time necessary to learn more about the Hunt."
"What?" Zoë and Phoebe blurted out. "But, Artemis —"
"We hate that place!" Phoebe said angrily. "Those foolish campers —"
"The last time we stayed there —"
"Yes, I know," Artemis said. "But I'm sure Dionysus will not hold a grudge just because of a little, ah, misunderstanding. It's your right to use cabin eight whenever you are in need. Besides, I hear they rebuilt the cabins you burned down."
Zoë muttered something in Greek that made Phoebe snicker.
Artemis ignored them and closed her eyes. "Dawn is approaching. Zoë, break camp. You must get to Long Island quickly and safely. I shall summon a ride from my brother."
Zoë still didn't look happy, but she nodded and led Phoebe from the tent.
"Please go with them, Bianca," Artemis said. "I wish to speak with Reyna."
Giving them a curious look, Bianca rose and followed the Hunters out.
Artemis stared at Reyna for a long moment.
"Do you know who your godly parent is, Reyna?" she asked eventually.
"No," Reyna lied easily. "My father never told me before he died."
Artemis nodded, accepting the answer. "Very well. Rejoin your friends."
Reyna rose and left the tent, grateful her back was healed, even if her clothes were still torn. She had a spare jacket in her backpack she could switch for, though, so it didn't matter too much.
She found her backpack and Percy's by the campfire, where Grover was patiently answering Nico's questions about the mythological world. Bianca sat beside them, biting her lip and deep in thought. Reyna swapped her torn jacket for the new one, relishing in the return of warmth and protection from the frigid air. Percy may not have been bothered because of his resistance to extreme temperatures – some strange perk about being Poseidon's son – but Reyna was not so fortunate.
As she joined the others by the fire, she thought back to Artemis's question. Reyna had a feeling the goddess knew that she was a Roman demigod, but so long as she remained unaware of her true heritage – at least in the gods' eyes – there was nothing to worry about.
The Hunters took the camp apart just as fast as they had set it up while the rest of them stood shivering in the snow. Artemis was as still as a statue, staring into the east expectantly – Reyna assumed for the Sun Chariot, and with it Apollo. Bianca and Nico sat together, talking quietly; it didn't look like a pleasant discussion.
Reyna was approached by the Camp Half-Blood residents.
"What happened in there?" Annabeth asked, gesturing to the spot where the tents had stood only minutes before.
Reyna gave them the short story: Artemis wanted to know what Dr. Thorn had said, the Hunters were coming to camp with them while their goddess hunted some unknown monster, and now they were waiting for Apollo.
Grover's face paled. "The last time the Hunters visited camp, it didn't go well."
"I gathered as much," Reyna drawled.
Grover blushed.
"She didn't request you join her?" Thalia asked suspiciously.
"I said no." Reyna's voice held a warning to drop it, but of course these stupid Greeks were too obtuse to understand such a simple message.
"What about Bianca?"
"She's thinking about it," Reyna said stiffly.
"'She's thinking about it'?" Thalia repeated incredulously, looking disgusted. "It's all Zoë's fault. That stuck-up, no good —"
Annabeth cut her off sharply, "Thalia."
Reyna walked away when the two girls started a hissing argument. Grover looked like he was trying to keep the peace, unknowing how futile that task was.
After what seemed like hours, the sky began to lighten. Artemis muttered, "About time. He's so lazy during the winter."
About a minute later, there was a burst of light on the horizon and a blast of warmth.
"Don't look," Artemis advised them. "Not until he parks."
Reyna made sure Bianca and Nico had both looked away. The light and warmth intensified until it felt like her clothes were melting, then it suddenly died out like a switch had been flipped.
Reyna looked behind her and saw a fancy red convertible that literally glowed from the heat of the metal. The snow had melted around the car in a perfect circle. They were all standing on green grass with wet shoes.
The driver was an eighteen-year-old guy with sandy blond hair and sky-blue eyes. He wore jeans, loafers, and a sleeveless t-shirt as if he were a college student out for a drive by the beach in summer rather than through Maine in winter.
"Wow," Thalia muttered. "Apollo is hot."
"He's your brother."
Thalia's cheeks burned crimson as she glared at Reyna. Annabeth looked amused, but also a little angry. Grover was biting his lip to avoid laughing, but neither Nico nor Bianca had such restraint.
"Little sister!" Apollo called, flashing his blindingly white teeth. "What's up? You never call, you never write – I was getting worried!"
Artemis sighed. "I'm fine, Apollo. And I am not your little sister."
Technically she was, Reyna thought. Even if Artemis was seven days older, she appeared half a decade younger than her brother, physically, and therefore, she was littler.
Of course, however, Apollo decided not to point that out. "Hey, I was born first."
"We're twins! How many millennia do we have to argue —"
"So what's up?" he interrupted. "Got the girls with you, I see. You all need some tips on archery?"
Artemis gritted her teeth. "I need a favor. I have some hunting to do – alone. I need you to take my companions to Camp Half-Blood."
"No problem sis!" He opened his mouth to continue, but then his gaze fell on Reyna. His expression was confused, though his eyes were glazed over. Then he shook his head and plastered a fake smile on his face. "All aboard, then!"
Artemis gave Apollo a strange look, but said nothing.
"How will we all fit?" Nico asked, pointing out the obvious.
"Oh." Apollo seemed to notice that his car only sat two. "Well, yeah. I hate to change out of sports-car mode, but I suppose…"
He took out his keys and beeped the security alarm button.
The car glowed brightly again. When the glare died, the car had been replaced by a small, yellow school bus.
"Right," he said. "Everybody in."
Zoë ordered the Hunters to start loading.
Apollo stood off to the side, his eyes focused on Reyna. Whatever the god of prophecy had seen unnerved him, there was no doubt about that, but the question was what it was and how it involved her.
Reyna wasn't sure she wanted to know that answer.
Apollo turned to his sister. "Hey, so where are you off to, anyway?"
"Hunting," Artemis said. "It's none of your business."
"I'll find out – I see all, know all."
Artemis snorted. "Just drop them off, Apollo. And no messing around!"
"I never mess around," he said indignantly.
The moon goddess rolled her eyes. "I will see you by winter solstice. Zoë, you are in charge of the Hunters — do well, do as I would do."
Zoë straightened. "Yes, my lady."
Artemis knelt and touched the ground as if looking for tracks. When she rose, she looked troubled. "What are you?" she asked quietly. "So powerful, yet unknown… This beast must be found."
She sprinted off into the woods, vanishing amongst the snow and shadows.
Apollo turned and grinned, jangling his car keys. "So… who wants to drive?"
What followed was the worst bus ride of Reyna's entire life. She was actually relieved, somehow, when it ended with Thalia crashing the bus into the lake at camp and sent steam billowing, the giant wave causing several naiads to scramble frightfully from the lake with half-woven wicker baskets.
The bus bobbed to the surface along with a couple capsized, half-melted canoes.
"Well," Apollo said with a brave smile, pulling himself off the floor. "You were correct, my dear – you had everything under control! Let's go see if we boiled anyone important, shall we?"
Reyna had only ever seen Camp Half-Blood during the previous summer. Now, in winter, it looked completely different. Snow had been allowed past the magic borders, lightly blanketing the ground. Frost covered the chariot track and strawberry fields. The cabins were decorated with tiny flickering lights that seemed to be balls of fire. More lights twinkled from the woods, and even one in the attic window of the Big House, where Percy had told her the Oracle mummy resided.
Nico started asking questions about everything that Annabeth, as a daughter of Athena, was more than delighted to answer.
"Tell Chiron we will be in cabin eight," Zoë said stiffly. "Hunters, follow me."
"I'll show you the way," Grover offered.
"We know the way."
"Oh, really, it's no trouble. It's easy to get lost here, if you don't —" he tripped over a canoe and came up still talking — "like my old daddy goat used to say! Come on!"
Zoë and Reyna rolled their eyes in unison then gave each other surprised looks. The Hunters shouldered their packs and their bows and headed towards the cabins.
"Take care, sweethearts!" Apollo called after the Hunters. He gave Reyna an indecipherable look. "Watch out for those prophecies, Reyna. I'll see you soon."
"What are you talking about?" she asked.
Instead of answering, he hopped back in the bus. The doors closed and the engine revved. Reyna looked away as the sun chariot took off in a blast of heat. When she looked back, the lake was steaming and a red sports-car soared over the woods, glowing brighter and climbing higher until it disappeared in a ray of sunlight.
"Who's Chiron?" Nico asked. "I don't have his figurine."
Bianca sighed tiredly.
"Our activities director," Annabeth said. "He's a centaur."
"Cool!"
As their procession started towards the Big House, Reyna fell back in line to walk beside Bianca. The younger girl gave her a small smile before turning an eye on her brother, who was excitedly asking Annabeth everything about whatever location they passed.
Reyna saw very few campers as they walked – only the Stoll brothers from the Hermes cabin, Charles Beckendorf from Hephaestus, Silena Beauregard from Aphrodite, and roughly four Ares demigods. It was strange, compared to summer when there had been over a hundred of them present.
The Big House was decorated with strings of red and yellow fireballs that warmed the porch. Inside, flames crackled in the hearth. The air smelled like hot chocolate, and Mr. D and Chiron were playing a quiet game of cards in the parlor.
Chiron smiled when he saw them. "Annabeth! Thalia!" His expression changed to surprise. "And Reyna, as well. But where is…?"
Their faces must have given it away, because Chiron suddenly looked weary and old.
"Oh, dear," Mr. D said in a bored voice. "Not another one lost."
"Another?" Annabeth asked at the same time Thalia said, "Who else is lost?"
Grover trotted into the room before Chiron could answer, grinning like crazy despite possessing a fresh black eye and a bright red mark on his face, as if he had been slapped. "The Hunters are all moved in!"
Chiron frowned. "The Hunters, eh? I see we have much to talk about." He glanced at Nico and Bianca. "Grover, perhaps you should take our new friends to the den and show them our orientation film."
"But… Oh, right. Yes, sir."
"Orientation film?" Nico asked.
"Is it G or PG?" Bianca asked. "Nico can't watch anything higher."
"It's PG-13," Grover said.
"Cool!" Nico took off before Bianca could stop him.
Bianca sighed again and followed Grover out of the room.
"Now," Chiron said to Thalia, Annabeth, and Reyna, "perhaps you three should sit down and tell us the whole story."
When they were done, Chiron looked every bit his true age. "This is unfortunate. The Titan Lord's forces will want to keep him alive – of that, there is no doubt. The Titan Lord will use any method possible to convince Percy to change sides and fight for his cause."
"Percy wouldn't do that," Annabeth said angrily.
"You do not know what Kronos is capable of, my dear," Chiron responded with a darkness Reyna would never have expected from him. "He has tools at his disposal that come straight from our worst nightmares – monsters so old that even the gods have forgotten they exist. It will take immense strength of will from Percy to endure an immortal Titan's patience."
Annabeth slumped in her seat.
Nico burst into the room, followed by his sister and Grover.
"SO COOL!" he yelled. His eyes landed on Mr. D. "Whoa! You're the wine dude! No way!"
"Nico!" Bianca scolded.
Mr. D gave Nico a look of loathing. "The wine dude?"
"Dionysus, right? Oh, wow! I've got your figurine."
"Nico!"
"My figurine," Mr. D repeated, as if the words were foreign.
"In my game, Mythomagic. And a holofoil card, too!"
As Nico continued to ramble on, Bianca looked more and more nervous that Mr. D was about to smite her brother. Reyna gave her a reassuring smile – Percy had told her that Mr. D liked to threaten them, but he couldn't actually do anything without creating more work than was worth it because the other gods would get mad at him.
"Annabeth," Chiron said, "perhaps you and Thalia could go down to the cabins and inform the campers we'll be playing capture the flag tomorrow evening."
"But we don't have enough players," Thalia stated, trying to find a way out.
"It is tradition. A friendly match, whenever the Hunters visit."
"Yeah," she muttered. "I bet it's real friendly."
Annabeth and Thalia left the Big House.
"Come on, Nico," Reyna called to the excitable boy. "Why don't I give you and Bianca a tour of camp before lunch?"
"Okay!" Nico said happily.
Bianca's eyes shined with gratitude.
Reyna showed them the cabins, the training arena, the climbing wall, the strawberry fields, the chariot track, and the dining pavilion, where they stopped for lunch before moving to the archery range. They ended the tour after a visit to the forges, where Beckendorf patiently answered a lot of Nico's questions, and returned to the Hermes cabin to spend the remaining time until dinner.
During dinner, however, it seemed only Nico and the Hunters were able to enjoy themselves – especially after word spread that Percy had been captured.
The Hunters drank and ate and laughed like one big happy family. Zoë sat at the head of the table stoically, her silver circlet glittering in the dark braids of her hair. A couple of the other girls were arm wrestling.
Reyna was relieved when they were dismissed for bed. If only she knew her sleep would be plagued with nightmares.
AN: Kind of a filler chapter, but hey, Percy's actually captured (as far as they know). And to make things worse, he's too far away for Riptide to return to him, disregarding whatever magic could be blocking it.
On a lighter note: Bianca's not a Hunter, so Nico's still happy even if Bianca's tired.
I hope you all enjoyed this chapter.
THANKS FOR READING!