Chapter 11: The Golden Princess

"How long are we supposed to wait…" I whined.

The four of us are now sitting on a bench across a café named 'Tartarus', which is an odd choice for a name of an internet café. We are waiting for anyone that has a non-human aura to come out of the building, I know sounds crazy right? But that's what the Hunters say, and I'm not actually an expert at handling a task from the Gods, so I don't have anything much to say. My ass is starting to get sore from sitting for hours.

"I'm sure he'll come out soon" Thalia said.

"That's what you said an hour ago…" I whined again. And as you all might've expected, that earned me a slap on the back of my head. I swear to Gods, next time I'll dodge 'em…

"Hey look!" Sasha's voice broke my train of thought. I followed where her eyes are looking, and I see a thin, Caucasian male with a shoulder length messy hair, wearing an oversized jacket. Pretty normal looking guy if you ask me.

"Let's roll" Thalia stood up from the bench and proceed to follow the man. The other two hunters follow her lead.

"Wait guys! What's the plan again?" I asked while trying to catch up to them in a hurry.

My question is soon answered by the sound of a grown man collapsed to the ground. Apparently the plan is to knock the guy out by hitting the back of his neck.

I sure am glad that today is a work day so there aren't any people around to see 4 teenagers dragging a motionless body of an adult man to a dark alley.

"Now what?" I asked, staring at the body of an unconscious man in front of me.

"Check this out" Thalia smirked as she rubbed her hands together, I can see sparks of electricity around them.

"Clear!" she pressed her hands on the man's chest.

"Sweet mother of Zeus!" The man's eyes suddenly opened wide after receiving the electric shock.

"W-who are you kids?!" He said, you can see clearly the fear in his face. I don't judge him, I'll probably piss my pants if I suddenly woke up in the middle of a dark alley and seeing some armed teenagers in front of me.

"Wait, I thought he supposed to have three heads…" I recalled what Hades said about Cerberus.

Suddenly, two other heads that look identical to the first one popped out from underneath his jacket.

"Back off, kid! I know Kung-Fu!" The right head said.

"Dude, don't you see those arrows? They're the hunters of Artemis!" The left head said.

"No way! That one is a dude!" he pointed at Rey.

The auburn haired girl poked the right head's right ear with one of her arrows.

"Ouch-ouch-ouch-ouch! Please don't, that's my most beautiful head…" the middle head yelled in pain.

"So… you're Cerberus?" I asked him after I finally able to gather myself after seeing the nonsense that's happening in front of me.

"Don't call me that!" the left head suddenly snapped.

"Fine then, Rowe is it? We got some question for you." I said.

"And why should we answer to you- ouch-ouch-ouch!" I pressed the tip of my arrow on his middle head's forehead before he can finish his sentence.

"Tell us everything you know about Orion!" Sasha practically screamed on his face. Well, one of his faces.

You can see clearly that cold sweats are starting to forms on all three of Rowe's heads.

"Wh-which Orion are we talking about again?" one of the head answered with a stutter.

I glanced at the three hunters and they are currently sharpening their knives, making an eerie sound each time the two metals rubs against each other. Rowe must have noticed that Rey's murderous eyes are glancing at his crotch because he started to blurt.

"They made me do it!" "I'm just an errand boy!" "Pl-please don't kill me, I'm innocent!" All three of Rowe's heads are rambling at the same time.

"So you did bring back Orion to life?" asked Thalia.

"I-in a manner of speaking…" the left head trails off.

"'They' made you do it? Who are 'they'?" I asked him.

"I-I don't know, some guys wearing black hoods…" said the middle head.

Rey started to press her knife on his right head's throat.

"No-no-no-no! Wait! I remember something, one of them said something about a Golden Princess!" he said.

The three hunters suddenly froze.

"'Golden Princess'? What kind of vague shit is that?" I asked him.

I glanced at the three girls next to me, only to find that they're giving each other knowing looks. And once again, I'm being left out with the information.

"Okay… what is it this time?" I asked them.

"This time, we need to return to Lady Artemis" Thalia said.

You say what now? We just got here…

"Wait, what? We went all this way to get to this man and now we're just going to go back?" I said. Also, I'm not in the mood to meet Artemis again for at least the next few days, maybe months.

"We've got the information we need, if there is someone going after the golden princess for a malicious purpose, Lady Artemis needs to be informed immediately." Thalia said.

I sighed, "Alright, alright… So we're just going to leave this man?" I asked.

"Not quite…" Thalia smirked as sparks of electricity began to forms on her hand again. Rowe's face suddenly becomes pale.

"Clear!" the word is followed by a sharp shriek of a man.

"Can we at least stop at the souvenir shop first?"


We arrived back at the Hunter's Camp near midnight, alerting almost everyone. Me wearing a Golden State Warriors cap, it's the only thing I can get in the gift shop before they pull me to the Gryphon. The three hunters I was with are having a meeting with Artemis as soon as we make it to the ground, and of course after Thalia managed to gather herself after all the flying. I was trying to make myself look busy with the Gryphon, trying to make my presence there become less significant. I couldn't hear exactly what they're talking about, but judging by Artemis's face, it's not something good. After they're having their little meeting, Artemis rushed back to her tent and I grabbed Thalia's arm.

"Okay, you need to fill me up with what's going on." I said to her.

Thalia sighed, "Look, you know the story of King Midas right?" she asked me. I nod in affirmation.

"Tell me how the story goes." she said.

I cleared my throat, "Once upon a time, there was a King who-" I began the story.

"Just cut to the end…" Thalia sighed.

"Well, if I remember it correctly, King Midas regretted his wish to have a golden touch, after he accidently turned her beloved daughter into a golden statue, and seek help from Dionysus. He then went to a river that can reverse everything he has turned to gold back to normal…" I said.

"Except… that's not how it actually happened" She said.

"The story was not far off from the truth except of how it ends. Midas never regretted his wish. In fact, he uses it with pride! Just imagine, a power that can turn ANYTHING into gold just by a single touch, and not just regular gold, they were imperial gold! Not only you can stop anyone that's against you with a single touch, and get infinite richness out of it, with his power, he could create all sorts of powerful weaponry. So why a greedy man like Midas would regretted the wish?" She said.

"He eventually did find a way to change everything he touches back to normal, but he never did it with his daughter… Unlike what the legend says, he never loved his daughter! Fortunately, his reign of power ended with a silver arrow to his head" She continues.

"But… there was something that they didn't count and it has been one of the Hunter's biggest regret throughout the time. It's a story that has been passed on generation to generation in the Hunt. The thing is, only Midas can reverse the curse, and with his death… His daughter remained as a golden statue forever" she finished.

I stare at her for a second, deep in thought. "So, I assume that she is the Golden Princess? And what would these guys plans to do with her?" I asked.

I'm not sure, but Midas has been one of the biggest symbols of ancient Greek monstrosity. Any plans related to him can't be good…" answered Thalia.

Thalia just stares at me, as if she's expecting some sort of reaction from me.

"Well then what are we doing here?! Let's roll!" I exclaimed.


Again, sorry for the late update, it seems like I need to apologize at the end of every chapter. I'm kinda stuck when I made this one, add that with a bunch of thing that has been going on in my life.

Please tell me what you think about this chapter.

Bye for now.