Chapter 37

Percy POV

I woke up feeling surprisingly refreshed considering my dreams had been hijacked by an evil primordial. I rubbed my eyes and let out a groan before rolling over and wrapping my covers more tightly around myself. Although I was feeling refreshed it didn't mean I wanted to get up any time soon. Just as I felt myself starting to drift off to sleep once again my peacefulness was shattered as somebody knocked on my tent poles.

"Hey, Kelphead it's breakfast time!" I heard Thalia call from outside. I groaned again as I swung my legs over the edge of the bed, food was pretty much the only thing I'd get up for.

"Coming!" I called back as I stood up. I was still dressed from yesterday and after a quick under the armpit smell check I figured I didn't smell too bad so I pulled on my shoes and left my tent. I was met with a face full of drizzle so I ducked back into my tent and grabbed a dark blue windbreaker from my closet before heading back out into the morning air. Thalia had already walked off so I followed the same path in search of food.

The hunters were already seated and had began to help themselves to the buffet in front of them. The girls were mostly wearing silver lightweight rain jackets but a few of them were bundled up in their winter parkas trying to replicate their bed's blankets. Artemis was nowhere in sight to I assumed she was still watching of Zoe. I sat myself down in the empty chair next to Chloe and began stacking pancakes on my plate.

"Nice of you to girls to wait for me," I heard Artemis say as she walked up to the table from behind me. I looked over my shoulder and saw the goddess leading a still bound Zoe towards the table. Zoe seemed to be cooperating, so I guess even if your possessed you still get hungry. Both Zoe and Artemis had bags under their eyes and looked extremely tired, so I guessed neither of them got much, if any sleep.

"Hey Artemis," I joined in the chorus of greetings as she sat herself at the head of the table. With a wave of her had Artemis summoned a chair between herself and Thalia for Zoe. "Um Artemis, how's she supposed to eat?" I asked, referring to the chains around Zoe's arms. Artemis fiddled around with a set of keys that she was wearing on a thin silver chain around her neck, she undid the chains around Zoe's arms and wrapped it around Zoe's right hand and her own left hand, connecting the two of the and leaving each of them with one had free. There was a hint of tension in the air as we ate, I could tell Heather and Chloe were a little uncomfortable eating next to somebody who'd tried to kill them the day before.

"So milady, what's the plan for today?" Phoebe asked as she ate, she seemed completely at ease sitting near Zoe .

"You will have to watch over Zoe," Artemis said as she ate a bagel. "I will head to Olympus to talk to Athena."

"Do you think she'll be able to help?" Maddy asked, it was rare for a child of Athena to ever doubt their mother's knowledge.

"We have to hope so," Artemis replied as she finished her food.

We finished eating and the hunters all filed off to carry out their morning routines. I jogged after Artemis who was leading Zoe back towards her tent.

"Artemis!" I called after her causing her to look back to me. "Can I speak with you before you go?"

"Come to my tent," she told me as I followed behind towards her tent.

"I bet you've never let another male in here as much as me," I joked as we entered.

"Actually no, not even Apollo has been in here this much," she told me as she unchained herself from Zoe and re-attached her to her bed.

"Wow, I must be special," I joked again but inside I was honoured.

"Shut up," was the reply I got.

"Sorry," I apologized, surprised by her outburst.

"Sorry," Artemis turned from Zoe to me. "I was talking to Diana."

"How is she?" I asked, I hadn't seen the Roman goddess in a couple days.

"Being a pain as usual," Artemis smiled at me as she sat herself on her bed. "Sit down," she gestured to a chair in the corner. "Now what did you want to talk about?" there was an undertone message of Is it something Zoe should hear. I assumed Zoe already knew what had happened to her and she wasn't in any position to do anything, so I thought it safe to talk.

"I had a visitor in my dream last night," I started, Artemis gestured for me to keep going. "Tartarus." Artemis didn't seem surprised to hear who it was.

"What did he want?"

"To see if I had considered his offer. Which I told him I hadn't," I hastily added on. "But that's not what I wanted to talk to you about. He let slip that Zoe was 'possessed' and he also said it was reversable, although he made it sound like only he could reverse it." The corners of Artemis's mouth twitched into a small smile.

"We have to hope that he's not the only one. The fact that she's possessed will be a help to Athena I'm sure." Artemis told me. "Is there anything else?"

"No that's it."

"Thanks for letting me know, would you mind asking Thalia to take the first guard shift," Artemis asked.

"Alright, I'll see you later then," I said giving the goddess a smile. I had begun to feel a lot more at ease around the goddess lately, I felt like she and I were becoming friends.

"Bye," she said as I stood up and walked towards the door. "Oh and Percy, put some clean clothes on." I should have known somebody would've noticed I hadn't changed.

Artemis POV

I can't believe you have a crush on somebody who doesn't even change his clothes, Diana told me. Since my conversation with Aphrodite Diana had been obsessed with the fact that I allegedly had a crush on Percy, when she was awake she would keep singing 'Arty likes Percy' in a really annoying sing-song voice, at this point she was nearly as annoying as Apollo. Will you shut up about it already! I snapped at her. Not until you properly admit it. I was about to reply to her when my lieutenant talked into my tent.

"Hello milady, Percy said you wanted me to take the first guard shift," she said as she closed the door to my tent.

"Yes thank you Thalia, swap with one of the girls when you need a break. I don't know how long I'll be on Olympus." When you visit Athena you have to be prepared for her to lecture you on her latest project and sometimes it could be hours before she'd finish.

"Good luck," Thalia wished me as I walked out of my tent so I wouldn't vaporize her when I flashed away.

I flashed myself onto Olympus and appeared a hundred yards down the road from Athena's palace. I walked down the street towards Athena's house and hoped that she would be able to keep Zoe's rebirth a secret, if Zeus found out then he would demand she be killed and I would never let that happen. Eventually I reached Athena's palace, the building was a mix of different architectural styles from every age from ancient Greek to modern American. I walked under a marble arch and knocked on the large palace door. After waiting a while with no response I knocked again louder and hoped that Athena would hear it this time. A couple moments later I was about to knock again when the door swung open.

"Oh, hello Artemis, what can I do for you?" Athena asked. She was wearing a dark green knitted sweater and light blue jeans, she had a pencil tucked behind one ear with her blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail.

"Somethings happened and I need your help," I said vaguely, preferring to have the conversation inside. Athena looked intrigued at the prospect of having a new task to help with.

"Come in and tell me all about it," she said stepping aside so I could enter her home. Athena's palace was one of the few that I somewhat knew my way around so I recognised her leading me towards her extensive library that sat at the heart of the palace. We passed a few doors labelled 'workshop' and 'architecture suite 2' before we reached the door to the library.

Inside the library was open with bookshelves towering two stories high with balconies reaching around so you could get to them. There was a domed glass ceiling that let in light as we walked deeper into the library. We walked towards a corner of the room where a fireplace sat in the wall. Two high backed armchairs sat in front of a coffee table that had papers scattered across it. Overall it seemed like a cozy reading space.

"Please, take a seat," Athena said as she sat in one of the chairs, I sat myself in the other and was pleasantly surprised with how comfortable the chair was. "So, what's this problem you have?"

"First I need you to sear on the Styx that you won't tell father about this," I requested earning a raised eyebrow from the goddess.

"I swear on the Styx not to reveal anything you've said to Zeus," she said after a moment. When I heard the thunder rumble in the background I was happy to start talking.

"Tartarus brought Zoe back," I said before pausing. "The only problem is that she's possessed and wants to kill me."

"And you want to know if I can undo the possession," Athena finished for me, I nodded. "Well," Athena took a breath, "I can't say I have heard of a primordial possessing somebody, although I might have something on it. The trouble is, truthfully we know very little about primordials and what they can do." I wasn't surprised to hear she didn't know I just had to hope she'd be able to find something of use in this vast library. Evidently, I looked a little downhearted as Athena tried to raise my spirits, "I have an idea where to start."

"Thank you," I told my half-sister genuinely.

"You're welcome, it's the least I can do for you as you took Maddy in for me. I'll Iris message you when I've found something." Athena told me, she sounded confident that she'd have something on the subject in her massive collection of books.

"Thank you," I repeated before standing up. "I'll speak to you soon." I walked away, leaving Athena still seated and started to make my way back through the maze of bookshelves. It didn't take me too long before I had reached Athena's front door and let myself out back onto the streets of Olympus.

I walked along, glancing at the various stalls, looking for one that had ambrosia at a decent price. It was surprisingly hard to find a good deal until I eventually arrived at a stall belonging to a dryad. She was very respectful as I bought her stock so I left her a large tip before I walked away, munching on a square of the godly food. When I had finished my snack I decided it was time for me to return to the hunt so I flashed myself back to my tent.

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