Ink- I didn't feel like writing thee, thy, thou, shalt, and those type of language for the hunters. Call me lazy I know but eh.
-lovescenario: ehhhh im lazier lol
"No," Artemis said.
I sighed. I had pushed my luck with her. What was I thinking? I am a boy. A MALE trying to join a MAIDEN hunt with a MAN HATING goddess. Of course, she's gonna say no.
"Okay, Lady Artemis. I'm sorry for asking," I say sadly. I began turning to go try my best in the world when a hand appeared on my shoulder and stopped me.
It is Artemis.
"Perseus, I want to adopt you," she says almost nervously as if I'm going to say no. Before I can say anything, she explains herself.
"I owe so much to Sally. I abandoned her. The least I could do is adopt her child for her."
YESSSS!
After two years of not having a true parent, I could finally have one! Though, I still hadn't responded to Artemis yet so that must have spooked her.
"I'm so sorry Percy. I shouldn't ha-"
"I'll be your son."
"What?"
"Lady Artemis, I, Perseus Jackson, son of Sally Jackson, full-heartedly accept to be your first son," I declare. Her silver eyes radiated happiness and were slightly glassy as tears started to leak from her eyes.
Happy tears.
Artemis ran up to me and enveloped me in a big, warm, and safe hug.
"I finally have a mom!" I earnestly said. She smiled.
"I just hope I made my mom proud," I mumble quietly. She stopped smiling and looked me in the eye.
"I may have not seen her for years but I know for a fact that she would be proud of you and as your new mother, I will always be proud of you. Speaking of which…"
She started muttering something like a Greek incantation and raised her hands over my forehead.
"I, Artemis, the seventh olympian goddess of hunting, childbirth, and the moon will adopt Perseus Jackson as my full-blooded son." She says in a foreign language. I say foreign with slight asterisks around it because for some weird reason I can understand it.
A warm, silver glow flooded around me and I felt the same queasiness as when we were flashing.
Then the pain rushed in.
"AHH!" I scream as I fall to the ground on my knees, gritting my teeth in pain. It was the most pain I've ever felt, and that's including what Gabe has done.
"Percy!" Mom exclaimed, "Are you ok?" I've read somewhere that when someone is turning immortal, their body goes through immense pain because their blood is changing from red (mortal blood) to gold (God blood, or ichor).
"I'm fine, mom. Ichor in my blood?" I say shakily while standing up. Artemis smiled when I said 'mom'.
"Kind of. You are a demigod, the product of a mortal and a god." So that's what demigod means. I had always thought it was like one of those zodiac signs that some teenage girls obsess about like "Oh mY God, jEsSicA yOu aRe a MeGa rAyqUazA, I cAn'T bE fRiEnDs wItH yOu." It was so stupid how people jump to conclusions without knowing a person and blaming something for it.
Just so we are on the same page, I am talking about people blaming their zodiac signs, not LSD.
"So what you're saying is that I was a demigod before you adopted me?" I slowly say while trying to grasp the information being thrown at me.
Artemis nodded, a bit confused. Probably because I had a stupid face on when I was on my self righteous rant.
"Precisely," Artemis said. I had too many questions which I wanted to bombard her with as we walked out, what she called the medical tent, to do night patrol. I don't know why Artemis calls it 'night patrol' because it is before dinner and it is around 7:30 so it is more of an 'evening patrol'. That has such a better ring to it, so much better than night patrol.
Anyway, there are probably around 100 questions I wanted to ask mom but the majority of the questions boiled down to "If my mother was the mortal, then who is my dad. Which god was he?" I ask. Artemis stops walking and ponders for a second.
"I don't know Percy, let's just focus on the problems ahead of us." Artemis sighs almost sadly. That throws me off. There are more problems? C'mon, I just faced my abuser, admittedly with help, but shut up, and there gotta be more problems!
"What are the problems?" I question.
Artemis turns away, the direction I'm looking at, probably so I can't see her facial expressions.
"So Percy the problem is my hunt." She realizes what she says and quickly adds, "Not like there is anything wrong with them, it's just that they have a tendency to hate the male gender regardless of knowing prior knowledge of them. I'm just scared of what their reactions are when I reveal you as my child."
She begins to walk while I am rooted in place, in shock. Holy gods, I have totally forgotten that there is a group of century-old man-hating maidens judging and hating my every move, great.
"C'mon Percy, we are done patrolling, no monster in the nearest 20 miles," Artemis says ahead of me.
"The perfect time for dinner."
We walk back to camp and Artemis tells me the plan as she gives me a plate of penné with marinara sauce and a side of three mandarin oranges. Artemis told me that she wants me to be as healthy as I can be, so apparently, this is healthy.
This is the most amount of food I ever had. And guess what she gave me dessert! Mom told me it's this kind of Japanese sweet called mochi. I ran past three tents to the medical tent. I set my food down in some nearby bushes. I ate alone but I wasn't too worried as I could hear everyone having dinner. It gave me a weird comforting vibe. One conversation piqued my interest.
"I wonder why milady Artemis was out today. I hope it was to drop off the idiot little boy," a hunter says. It was the voice of the other girl I heard that night when I fell from the tree. So far I'm 0-1 in huntresses on my side. What can I say, my presence alone can convince a person to join my side.
Phoebe, the only huntress that I know, adds, "Artemis was out for the majority of the day though. I'm pretty sure dropping off a kid doesn't take that long."
The conversation abruptly halts as Artemis clears her throat. She drags the attention to where she is standing, which is at the head tent. I personally have never seen the head tent and the angle that I could see Artemis didn't allow me to see it.
Mom sneakily signals me to go from the bushes and to the back of the head tent. I ditch my paper plate in the bushes, don't worry it's biodegradable, and hang to the right. I make sure I am as silent as possible while I'm passing by. I pass by the three silver tents. One with red accents and two with blue.
I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that the silver tent with the red accents is the medical tent. The blue should be a lodging tent or something where people sleep or chill in. Then I arrive at the 'head tent', this is by far the biggest tent compared to the three tents. It is silver with lots of gold accents and looks fit for an Olympian Goddess.
Mom is giving what I think is her 'end of the day' speech
"Alright hunters, I hope you had fun with your free day while I had to go do a couple of tasks." She's sugarcoating them. Well, let us see if that's gonna work.
I walk through the head tent and saw a giant, not to mention luxurious, queen size bed. The room was like the outside, silver, and gold. They're a bunch of what seemed to be pictures. I peer at the assortment of pictures and saw one with mom and a girl with black volcano eyes and dark jet black hair.
Another one was Artemis of when she was younger and she is hugging what looked like a carbon copy of her, but male. This leads me to believe that's her twin brother Apollo. From what I've read and heard, Artemis doesn't like him anymore since he turned to quote 'womanizer'. At least she has a memory with him. Meaning she loves him.
Woah, chillax Percy this is a godly issue. Let's focus on the main problem. Hunters.
I crouch and spy at the event happening outside.
Artemis steps back slightly and cringes at the reaction, already bracing for the hate that is going to come for. I don't know why she wants to reveal me. I mean it's a bunch of misandric women, what should I expect. (I don't mean it like that)
I guess Mom doesn't want any secrecy between her and her hunters, I respect that. I can't get mad at that. She is my mom. So I really can't get mad at her. Plus, she has a group of hunters who could break me down in a second.
"So you see hunters," Artemis slowly starts, "I went to go drop off the little boy and I saw something horrible."
Wait for what. Since when I was I getting dropped off. Excuse me I don't remember getting dropped off like I'm going to a stupid daycare. Anyway, the hunters look pretty invested in the story so far.
"His home is a mess. The whole apartment is now in ruins." Artemis Explains. The hunters look at each other in confusion. They did not expect this at all. I noticed that she didn't mention Gabe. Interesting. Artemis takes a deep breath as she is about to break the news.
"Now the boy has nowhere to live, so girls that mean the boy will be staying with us." Everyone panics.
"What!" Phoebe thunders.
"Don't worry he is a demigod, not a mortal," Artemis adds quickly as if that will control the chaos.
"That's not the problem milady, the problem is it is a male. You're the goddess of the man-hating hunt for Zeus's sake!" A hunter with blond hair and gray eyes say. A bunch of huntresses agreed with her and began to mutter random complaints directed at me like, "Oh come on, this male is going to be the next Apollo, flirting with all of us." Whatever that means.
Artemis shuffles around, "So this wouldn't be a good time to say that the boy, or Percy, is also now my adopted son?" The whole place is dead silent. They are all frozen as Artemis is using the tone when she isn't kidding around.
A girl with dark hair finally got the nerve to speak, "M-milady y-you have a child?"
Artemis puts on a brave face, "Yes," I figured it is a good time to reveal myself. I pop my head back into the tent and take a deep breath, this is my new family and they will either kill me in the next few seconds or grudgingly accept me. Here we go. I stride out of the tent and immediately at least 18/20 of the hunters drew and notched their bows, aiming directly at me. Uh oh, not so good.
"Don't shoot!" Two hunters yelled. The two are mom and the dark-haired girl. The girl looks oddly familiar, I couldn't put my finger on it.
The blond-haired led the charge against me, "Zoe, this boy will be a bastard to you. Mankind has proven time and time again that they are full of evil and deceit." I gulp, I remember Artemis yelling at Gabe "...leaving the boy to be a bastard."
Mom notices my discomfort, "Atalanta! Do not use that language around Perseus!"
'Atalanta' fires back, "I will not stop because of this male."
Artemis looks at the other hunters in disappointment, then back at Atlanta, "he is more similar to you than you think. I have to go do something in Olympus, I won't be back till tomorrow. Don't be rude to Percy."
She flashes away, and most of the hunters withdraw their bows except for a few. One of which is the girl that was yelling at me. What was it? Apple? Hmm, Applebees sounds good right now… Abercrombie? Atalanta. I didn't know what to do so I just did an awkward wave. Most are glaring at me, but the dark-haired girl waved back and motioned to come towards her. I jog to her so I can finally get a better look at her face. The hunters see me looking at the girl's face and think I am checking her out or something but I hear a whistle that I have only heard one time before when I got bowed.
An arrow impales my newly healed back. I grunt loudly. I fall to my knees and grit my teeth. The arrow does as much damage to me as Gabe's beer bottles. The girl rushes me up and glares at the hunters that shot me. I mean I didn't know who shot me, but apparently, the hunter did.
"Atalanta! Why?" Dark hair scolds. It was Atalanta. The girl gives one last death glare at Atalanta, then ushers me to the medical tent.
Once we get in the medical tent she says, "Take off your shirt." I flinched. The last time I lifted my shirt was when I got whipped with a belt.
The girl sighs, reading into it the wrong way, "Yes, this is as uncomfortable for me like you." I concede and lift up my shirt to expose my bruised back.
The hunter gasps, "Oh my, Percy, I'm sorry. Also, I'm sorry, but this is going to hurt." Uh, what. OUCH! She yanks the silver-tipped arrow out of my spine. She quickly treated the open wound.
"Jeez, a better warning next time miss," I say, rolling my eyes finally recovering from all the pain.
The hunter puts a stubborn face, "I did warn you, plus, do you know my name?"
I shake my head, "I barely know anyone here other than Pheobe, Atalanta, and mom."
She quickly shakes her head, "It's just weird someone calling milady, mom. Also, my name is Zoe." Something clicks in my mind when Zoe states her name.
"You are the girl in the photo," I blurt out.
Zoe is surprised and smiles, "Lady Artemis has a picture of me?" It looks weird seeing Zoe smile, it seems as though Zoe doesn't smile often.
"Yeah of both of you. You are wearing a blue and brown dress."
"Was I wearing a sundress or a romper?" Zoe asks. I don't really know fashion, kids kinda just bullied me for just wearing long-sleeved shirts and hoodies.
"Uhh, I dunno," I truthfully say. Zoe smirks as she pressed this balm on my injury. I go ridged.
"You have no sense of style Percy," She laughs.
"I never had friends because of it, everyone kinda just insulted me for it," I say. Zoe stops laughing.
She thinks for a second then says quietly, "I'll be your friend Percy." That floored me.
"Why? You are a huntress, you are supposed to be like the others and hate me."
"I only act like that to those males," She corrects as if that answers everything. "I've learned that you are the exception. Plus you need a big sister to protect you from the hunt."
I'm just shell shocked by what she said, "S-sister?"
She looks at me and brightens, "Yes, sister. Big sister. I'm several centuries older than you."
I just realized what she said. "Hey! I don't need your protection," I complain, then soften, "Thank you for treating me and being my new big sister." I jump down and hug her. She freezes but then melts into the hug.
"I will always be your sister and protect you, Percy, as long as I'm your favorite."
Ink- Longest chapter yet wOoOo. Hope you had fun reading this. Feel free to leave a comment. I'm bored so do it.
-lovescenario: what he said :)
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