Chapter 4: Adventure!
"She's Rachel, the Oracle" Percy said to me.
"And before you asked what an Oracle is, they are the one that delivered prophecies from Apollo" Continued Annabeth. So… apparently it has nothing to do with Batgirl.
"Hold on, prophecy? Wait a minute, we just got A PROPHECY? That's like… a thing?" I asked again. Prophecy? In these days and age?
"Well, as you could see…" Answered Annabeth again.
"Hunters, meet me in the office, the rest of you may return to your cabin" Said Chiron. And with that the Hunters followed suit. I'm still not quite sure of what's going on, but by the look that the Hunters have, I'm pretty sure whatever it is, is not good.
"Will you look at that… Why is it like the Hunters have something to do with the prophecy?" I asked Will.
"You could come up with a master tactic, but couldn't put two and two together to what the prophecy refers to?" he asked me back. "I think it's pretty obvious that whatever the detail is, Lady Artemis is in danger right now. You know, 'the moon shall die' part." He continued.
"How can a God be in danger? I mean, they're GOD!" I asked him again.
"Well, that's the question, isn't it? That's just mean that whatever it is we're dealing with, it's a force that can go against Gods" answered Will again.
"Yeah, they got in trouble like a lot of time, which is one of the reasons we need combat training here, to help them…" said Gary who just appeared out of nowhere.
"You know, this is the second time the Hunters came here without their mistress and ends up getting a prophecy about how she is in danger. Last time they need to fight Atlas. Not to mention we also got the prophecy right after capture the flag too" Said Gary, appearing out of nowhere again.
Okay, the similarity is too uncanny. I mean, what are the odds? Is this place has some kind of 'screw up the Hunters charm' on it?
In the end, curiosity got the best of me, and I decided to eavesdrop from behind the camp office door.
"A quest must be conducted and it's must be conducted now!", "What are we even doing wasting our time here, we need to leave now". Boy, all I'm hearing is shouting and bickering from what I assume are the Hunters.
"You girls are so noisy, we don't even know what to be done according to the prophecy. If you all about to leave now, what are you about to do?" Came the voice that can only belong to Dionysus a.k.a Mr D, which is by the way, the God of Wine. Yeah, I think the Olympians are out of ideas when they were assigning roles.
"Let's see what we do know then." Chiron took over the conversation, "Firstly, I think we all agree that 'the moon shall die' part was referring to Lady Artemis" he continued grimly.
"And I think the second line is also pretty self-explanatory, Lady Artemis can only be saved by someone with… I guess the same eye color as her? Silver isn't it?" said Percy unsure. The last part made me wonder.
"Same eye color…" I thought to myself.
"And not to mention that it has to be a boy" continued Annabeth. This was greeted with loud protest, debate, and again, bickering by the Hunters.
"Enough all of you! If that is what the prophecy said must be done, then that's the way it must be done! Remember the last time we go against a prophecy?" Said Chiron again.
"Uh… Well… maybe it meant a tomboyish girl!" said a girly voice I don't recognize, must be one of the Hunters.
"I'm sorry to say this, but the prophecy did say it's a boy pretty clearly" Said Percy.
"Then the first thing that shall be done is to form a team to go for a quest to find a boy with silver eyes" declared Chiron.
"You don't need to look for him…" I said as I open the office door. "You already found it." I continued as I took off my black colored contact lenses to reveal the real color of my eyes.
Yes, I have been wearing contact lenses since… I left my orphanage. Mainly so it could create... a little disguise so people I used to know won't recognize me, another reason is to avoid questions from the people I met about whether my eye color are real. Because they are silver, which is a very rare I eye color.
Back to reality, everyone was staring at me. It was momentarily quiet until "Yep, I think the 'boy with similar eye' part meant something else" Said Thalia.
"Hold on Thalia. Aiden, have you been listening this whole time?" asked Chiron to me.
"Yeah…" I answered quietly.
"You're not part of this meeting boy, this meeting is for Hunters only!" said one of the Hunters.
"Is that so? Then why does Percy, Annabeth, and Grover are here?" I asked while pointing at the 3.
"You know I was thinking about the same question" Said Mr. D.
"Okay, doesn't matter, you guys need a boy with similar eyes? Well, here I am" I directed the conversation back to me.
"Hmm, if that's the case, then Hunters, you might hate this… but Aiden might be our best chance at saving Lady Artemis" said Chiron to the Hunters.
After the exchange of glances between the hunters, Thalia finally spoke up, "So… is he just going to go on this quest alone? The prophecy didn't mention any amount of people to go on the quest"
"Well the prophecy said 'two arrows shall fly to the west'. I'm guessing that means 2 archers? I am very good with archery, so I guess I counted as an arrow. Now we need one more archer" I said to everyone.
"You must be delusional if you think a hunter would go with you!" said a hunter.
"Hey, no one says about hunters, I can just go with an Apollo camper" I rebutted.
My last sentence created another commotion and debates among everyone in the room until… "Enough! I'll go on the quest with Aiden. I am Lady Artemis's lieutenant, I must not disappoint her by not coming to her rescue!" declared Thalia. Everyone seems to agree with this.
"Alright, if no one objects with that, then a decision has been made. Aiden and Thalia shall go on a quest to look for, and help Lady Artemis starting tomorrow." Announced Chiron.
"But where are they going to go?" Asked Percy.
"To the West" answered Thalia.
And with that, my adventure began.
"Wait a minute, 'to the west'? That's a vague-ass answer! Don't we have any specific place to go?" my remark was answered by a glare from Thalia.
-The Next Morning-
"So why aren't we just fly to wherever place we're going again?" I asked to Thalia as we're walking through the forest. I mean, I love the forest an all, it's refreshing, but it's also well known as the home of big mosquitos. If I'm lucky, I'll get malaria before they drain all of my blood. Not to mention I saw a mighty Pegasus back at the camp.
"It'll draw too much attention..." Answered Thalia who's currently walking in front of me without even bothering to turn her head around.
"Could it be…" I began to catch my pace so I'm now walking side by side with her, "you're afraid of height?" I finished my sentence.
"NO! I'M NOT AFRAID OF HEIGHT!" she shouted at me. Boy that was loud.
"Haha! You ARE afraid of height aren't you?" And that's folks, earned me a stomp on my foot.
"Motherffff…. Why are you girls so aggressive man! It's ok to be afraid of something, I myself afraid of scorpions" I said to her.
"Yeah? I didn't ask about what you're afraid of" Said Thalia with a scoff.
"Just being friendly…" I replied.
And so we continue our walk in silent for a couple of minutes.
"Hey, does your mistress know men landed on the moon, and named the mission 'Apollo'" I said as I try to start a conversation to ignore the mosquitos.
I expected her to just ignore me, but she answered "How can she not? Apollo makes sure she remembered that every time they met for weeks after one of his sons told the fact to him" she laughed a little.
"Hahaha, I think I can imagine that." From the story I heard from the Apollo campers, their father is a very interesting guy. "How about this, does she know that there are characters in comics named 'Artemis' and 'Diana'?"
"Boy does she know, she really hates those two characters. She thinks they're way too sexualized." She answered.
"Haha, can't blame her there. Does she also know about the 'Artemis Fowl' series? The main character is a boy with the same name as her" Should be interesting to know what her reaction is on that one.
"That one… she doesn't know, yet. I can't imagine what she'll do the writer of the novel if she ever finds out" Thalia laughed.
"Hey, there you go… laugh! You've been uncomfortably way too tense since the first time I met you. I mean I know you're supposed to be a feminist, but damn" I said to her.
"Yeah… I guess having been in the group for several years made me grew a dislike towards men" She said.
"You mean you didn't hate on male before?" I asked.
"Well, I wouldn't say I hate male right now, I have a lot of male friends" She said.
"Then why are you joining the hunt of Artemis?" I asked her again.
She went quiet for a second after hearing this. "First of all, it's not like it's the Hunter's agenda to eradicate all male from the earth, it's just most of the members despise them. And to answer your question… I actually used to hate the Hunters. But you know, stuff happens…" I can sense that she's clearly uncomfortable talking about it, so I decided to drop the matter.
"But being a hunter is fun right? You have kickass power, and you're immortal. I would be more than happy to be one" I tried to direct the conversation to a happier tune.
"It does have its ups and downs. But being immortal is not always a good thing. For example, I've been friend with Annabeth, Percy, and the other for a long time, and now I must bear seeing them turning into a young adult, even my little brother became older than me… while I'm stuck as a 15 year old…. But hey! The rest of the hunters also have been great friends and family to me, so I guess it pays off" She answered.
Damn, sad conversation again?
"That reminds me, how old are you actually are?" I forgot about the fact that she'll never age, so I assumed she's the same age as me.
"Technically I am almost 16, but in reality, I guess I'm as old as Annabeth" She answered.
"How about this, so the oath prohibit you to have company of man right. How about women? Are the hunters allowed to date women?" I asked.
"Hmm… I'm not sure, the oath doesn't mention that. Although I think some of the hunters are lesbians… though I'm not sure about the rule regarding that matter" answered her.
"Well, are you one of these hunters?" I asked again.
"First of all, no, I am straight. Second of all, are you always asking a lot of questions? What is this, an interview?" She raised an eyebrow.
"Hey, just being friendly. Not to mention this walk has been going forever. Do you know where are we supposed to go?" I didn't even notice that the sun is already high as we speaking.
"We're looking for somewhere famous and big, because they're usually stood as some sort of landmark for Gods, Titans, or Demigods. Not to mention it must be in the west of Camp Half-Blood. So my guess is the Statue of Liberty" She said.
Statue of Liberty, huh? Well, this should be interesting. I've never been to the place before. But it makes me wonder what kind of enemy the both of us are going to face once we get there.
I guess for now, our journey to search for Artemis continues.
And… that has been it for chapter 4. Please tell me what you think about it.
Bye for now.
