DISCLAIMER: All the characters except the OC's belong to Rick Riordan.
Chapter 8: I run into the Hunters of Artemis.
Percy remained passive, for most of the part, while Piper did not.
"Interesting design you got here, kid!" a grin escaped the middle-aged man. He gave a thumbs-up to Percy, who merely smiled.
He sat in the blacksmith workshop in New York, observing a brawny middle-aged man, who was busy appreciating the design on the table. The man was dressed in a greasy coverall and gloves like he just stepped out of the workshop. He adjusted his rimmed glasses and picked up a notepad to draft the work at hand.
It has been two months into the new term at his new middle school and Percy had decided it was time to commission his new weapons. The monster attacks had increased since last year and Percy had trouble keeping up with bigger and bulkier monsters. Unlike Piper, he doesn't have any long-ranged weapons.
Though he managed to get around Apollo's curse regarding archery, it was quite difficult to master the art in such a short time. He wasn't that gifted with archery either. Therefore, Piper had suggested he try another approach for a long-ranged weapon and Percy found the flying daggers to his liking. They were short, accurate, and deadly. Even though mastering throwing knives is a lot harder than archery for accuracy, Percy insisted on it.
But getting his hands on such weapons was easier said than done. He doesn't have an ounce of influence in Poseidon's empire to commission a batch of flying daggers from their forges and Bill hadn't visited him in the summer either.
So they resorted to training via mortal means. Piper had managed to convince her dad to allow the blacksmith firm that works for the film industry to help them in this endeavor. She chose the workshop which was on friendlier terms with her dad and half-lied to him about the school club activity requiring a blacksmith's help.
To avoid suspicion and hide his true intent, Percy purposefully requested the blacksmith, George Baeden, to make the daggers with blunt edges and decided to sharpen them himself later.
"Yeah, the new school has this drama club which I've joined. We're planning to do some performance in the next month. If you can make them, I'll show you how they work." he offered.
"With that confidence, I'll damned to say no, kid." Mr. George agreed with enthusiasm. "It'll take two weeks to complete this assignment. Sound good?" Percy readily agreed. It was not like he was on a time limit or anything. He conversed with Mr. George about the weapon designs and exchanged ideas about sharpening them efficiently before parting ways.
Percy and Piper had enrolled in M117 Yorkville middle school for their sixth grade and immediately attracted the attention of their fellow students and teachers. They had intended to remain inconspicuous but his accidental out-performance in a swim meet and Piper's entry to the music and dance club landed them in the popular clique.
During the term, the duo trained regularly and fought monsters that stumbled into the abandoned warehouse. Percy practiced his water manipulation skills to hone them to perfection while Piper's charm speak and mist manipulation improved rapidly. She even overtook Percy in manipulating the mist to create illusions and camouflages.
Percy accidentally discovered he could manipulate the moisture content in the air in his surroundings up to a certain extent. It looked like a lame ability to manipulate the water content in the air, but on closer observation, it turned out to be a passive skill to shift the battle momentum. The air pressure, which was an external key feature in the human breathing system, highly depends on humidity, and in turn atmospheric moisture.
It allows Percy to conserve his energy while draining his opponent rather quickly. But it was useless against supernatural beings since they're archetypes—immortals—and don't require breathing. On closer observation, most of the abilities Percy inherited from Poseidon tend to deal with mortals rather than monsters.
On the other hand, Piper had discovered an ability that she had always possessed but failed to identify and name it: emotional perception. This high-level accurate skill allowed her to perceive emotions directed at her from others, prickling her skin with a certain sensation. According to her, the more negative the emotion, the more unpleasant the prickling on her body feels.
Thankfully, it was a passive skill where she has control over how much she was allowed to perceive. Else she would've felt emotions directed at her all the time and it would've driven her crazy in no time. Only when she focuses hard enough on her target and only when she was the target of the directed emotion could she accurately perceive them.
This was an extremely useful ability in both worlds where she can easily identify the individual with malicious intentions toward her. They had managed to filter out their friend circle but remained on friendly terms with everyone in their new school. Though it was dangerous to their peers, they still chose to mingle with mortals to mask their divine scent.
However, this ability backfired on Piper rather soon when she tried to perceive a monster's emotions during a fight. Later, when she told him it was because of her curiosity to find out the emotions in monsters directed towards demigods, Percy facepalmed and berated her mercilessly.
She had thrown up violently and collapsed immediately, leaving him to deal with all the bipedal-lizard monsters surrounding them. The intense malice and hatred fermented for eons in the dark creatures was not something a girl her age could handle. Neither mortal nor immortal could handle such dreading darkness lurking around them and stay sane after such a crazy stunt.
Since then, she firmly closed off her ability during battles despite the overwhelming advantage it gave her. She relied on her other senses to either approach the enemies with her agility and finish them or support Percy with her bow from a distance.
oOo
Just before the winter break rolled in, the duo faced a situation that placed them near the jaws of death.
They were training like usual when four figures stumbled into the warehouse. The duo paused to observe them. At first, all Percy could think about them was the word: Beautiful. They were four girls—probably in high school—with model-like looks and well-defined proportions. Two of them were in Greek chitons, which failed to cover their curves while the other two were in school uniforms—cheer girl outfits, to be precise—which were torn and in tatters, which left nothing much to his imagination.
One look at their faces and he was completely spellbound. They had long, dark hair, moist and passionate eyes, and a delicate and defenseless look that aroused protective feelings in anyone once they landed their eyes on them.
"Oh, what do we have here! Two cute little godlings. Fascinating!" One of the older girls turned towards them—especially at Percy—and her eyes turned fervent.
Any boy his age—any age, for the record—would get entangled in her gaze and tremble with ardor and passion. Any boy except Percy. He had already achieved a partial resistance to Piper's charm speak so he was not sucked in by their charming looks and speech.
"I told you coming to this mist-filled place would be a good idea. We can snack up before those harlots find us here." Another girl in Greek chiton chimed in, her bell-like laughter filled the air. "What do you have to say, big boy?" she winked at him.
"Umm...Urgh..." Percy stuttered.
"Oh, aren't you a cutie." another one—the cheerleader—entered the fray.
"Aren't you the Empousei, the servants of Hecate? What are you doing here?" Percy was thankful for the timely help from Piper. He knew she asked the question intentionally to snap him out of their charm. She had even laced the question with her charm to influence him.
Now that he was completely sobered up, the four girls freaked him out. The mist altering their appearance cleared out revealing their actual monstrous looks. They had pale skin and flaming red hair framed their gaunt faces. The enchanting eyes turned blood-red filled with hunger and greed. Their delicate features turned roguish with a mouth full of sharp fangs like the vampires in the movies. They had one prosthetic bronze leg and other covered in coarse brown fur and hoof—donkey leg—under the tattered skirts and chitons.
Every one of them was holding different golden weapons, concealed under their clothes.
"My, my! A little doll actually knows about us. This is going to be super fun. Who wants them, girls?" The one in Greek chiton asked.
"Oh, oh. Can I take the boy? Please, please, master. He looks super cute!" The one in a cheerleader outfit jumped in excitement and declared.
"Urgh, fine. Don't yammer before me, Tammy." One of them waved her off and turned to the other one. "Allie, keep off the doll from the boy before Tammy finish him." she finished like she was distributing candies among her kids. They assigned the training to their apprentices and talked among themselves.
"Why's there such dense mist, Kelli?" she asked the other older one while glancing around the warehouse. Percy was having a hard time keeping his cool amidst all the charm speaking.
"I was thinking the same. It's like it was converged around here using an array or something." the one named Kelli responded.
Meanwhile, the one named Tammy sauntered towards him, twisting her hips. "Big boy, wanna hang out with me..." she drawled while winking at him. She took her steps cautiously and steadily, while Percy muttered and stuttered his responses.
His answer—or lack thereof—made her giggle and approach faster. She raised his chin with her finger and gazed deeply into his eyes. He unwittingly locked eyes with her and fell into a daze. Perhaps no one knows this, the charming abilities of most Empousei lie in their voice along with their mesmerizing eyes.
"Come on now, handsome. Kiss me, please... Just one..." she looked at him passionately and pulled his face gently towards her. Percy bit his lip hard and snapped out of her charm once he heard the weapon clashing behind him. He pulled a small dagger from his pocket and stabbed it into his thigh.
The pain and the smell of blood cleared his mind. His other hand unlocked his sword and stabbed right through her chest. He yanked it out above, tearing the empousei in half. The enchanting girl turned into Tartarus dust, leaving her torn outfit and a pair of golden daggers.
Percy left the dagger in his thigh to avoid excessive blood loss and keep his pain receptors working. Piper joined him with her daggers, covered in monster remains and the shrill cry of agony behind them.
The others turned to them when they saw the situation going out of control and bared their fangs. "You meddlesome demigods, I'll have your head for killing my apprentice!" Kelli snarled and lunged at him. She was fast, too fast for him to respond.
It was like he was stuck in quicksand. His movements turned slow and sluggish. His vision and senses turned heavy and hazy. He imagined hearing Piper's cries of pain, but it sounded far away. He subconsciously moved in that direction only to get his arm grazed by a long spear.
That attack snapped him out of her influence. But their situation remained troublesome. The female monsters were good with their weapons. Kelli attacked him with her spear and forced him into defense while the other one pounced on Piper with a golden broadsword.
"Kara, leave the girl behind. She looks like she's Aphrodite's, so she's no trouble. Help me restrain the boy. We'll torture this one first." Kelli hissed and called for her companion.
The other one—Kara—had already pushed Piper into a corner and was forcing her into a dead end. She heard the call for help and resolutely left Piper and rushed to him, followed by an anxious and injured Piper.
If the apprentice empousei were powerful, then their masters were on a different level. He had to constantly guard his mind against being controlled and desperately tried to snap out of their compulsion. Their voices were calm and soothing, even though they viciously and mercilessly attacked him. Their scent clogged up his nose and made his knees weak and buckle. His eyes turned hazy and clouded, while his actions turned dim and sluggish.
He'd be a goner if not for the surprise arrow that whizzed past him towards Kelli. The empousei raised their guards and backed down. More arrows whizzed past his head towards the monsters. A horn rang in the distance with hurried footsteps approaching the warehouse.
The empousei decisively turned around and ran out of the warehouse but Piper knocked the weapons out of their hands with her bow. They were forced to drop them behind and ran away. It appeared Piper had planned to make them pick their weapons and attack their unguarded sides.
"Thanks, Pipe—" he paused when he noticed the silver tips on the arrowheads. He turned to Piper for an answer, only for her gesture towards the entrance. He turned to the entrance to find himself once again spellbound and tongue-tied.
Under the sunset at the entrance stood three girls—high school girls, once again—in hooded silver parkas and matching camo pants. Each one had a bow in their hands and a pair of hunting knives strapped to their slim waists. Percy thought he was imagining, but each of the three girls has a silver glow to them, which has nothing to do with the sunset or the silver parkas.
They looked like flowers on a snow-capped mountain—holy, noble, and aloof—with cold air surrounding them. They looked normal but their disposition gave the idea that they've transcended the mortal limits and had stepped into a new plane. They're in a whole different class.
It seemed that remaining in a daze and being tongue-tied was all Percy was capable of these days. Trouble seemed to follow him relentlessly. And that too in the form of beautiful girls. One glance, and he was sure they were here for trouble.
One of the three girls noticed him looking at her and glared at him sharply. Percy averted his eyes, lest they find some reasons to trouble him. The last thing he wanted was to turn into a pincushion by those three girls, just after his tussle with the seductive-looking she-demons, Empousei.
Piper stood beside him. "Thank you for your timely help. We owe you one. I'm Piper and this is Percy." she thanked them while he stood in a daze. She nudged him to speak something. He shook his head to clear his mind.
"Thank you for the help. We owe you one. Please don't hesitate to ask when you need us." he said, gratefully.
"We don't need help from a male," one of the girls said the word male like it was a huge insult.
"We acknowledge the debt." the other one added. The one in the center remained quiet and observed Piper with an interesting look.
"Are you by any chance, the Hunters of Artemis, the female companions of the goddess?" Piper questioned.
"Thy assumption is correct, young maiden. I am Zoe Nightshade. These are Victoria and Diana. We are the hunters of Artemis." Percy exchanged a look with Piper, baffled at the elegant demeanor the leader of the group, Zoe possessed.
She was tall, graceful, and seriously beautiful like an exotic princess. She had dark brown eyes, a slightly upturned nose, copper-colored skin, and the silver tiara woven into her long, black braid.
"We were hunting that group of empousei for a while. They've been killing a lot of demigods and mortals for the past few months. We observed thy fight. Thou did well even though thy friend got overwhelmed by them." she quipped.
Percy felt annoyed and his impression of the leader dropped down a few levels. She talked like he had disgraced her father and she has come to demand justice in his stead. It was not his fault he was mismatched against monsters capable of charming men.
"You're one to talk. Aren't you the ones who failed to kill them before? Why am I not seeing you criticize your fellow hunters then?" he muttered to himself. Piper nudged him to remain quiet. The hunters glared at him.
"Thank you very much, though. You saved our lives there." Piper tried to appease them.
"It's fine. We didn't do anything much either. Thou had the situation under control." Zoe praised Piper, who blushed beet red.
"We'd love to have a capable maiden like thee in our ranks. Would thou like to discuss the available options and benefits with us privately?" Zoe offered.
Percy exchanged a gobsmacked look with Piper. He didn't expect the ferocious hunters to turn into salesgirls, pitching their products, all of a sudden. And they've offered Piper to join them. Before he could reject them, Piper nudged to him let her deal with them and stepped into a distance to speak with Zoe privately.
Even if he hadn't heard about the myths about Artemis' band of eternal maidens before, it's obvious from Zoe's smug demeanor and triumphant glance she threw him as she ushered Piper to a distance—like she owns Piper already—that she's confident she can steal her away from him.
The more he looked at them, the more annoyed he felt. So he staunchly turned away from them to pick up the spoils from the battle. He winced in pain and limped to pick them up. There's a pair of short Imperial golden daggers, a worn-out curved dagger with a leather grip, a broad sword, and a heavy javelin—a gladius and a pilum—from the ancient roman empire.
"Hey," the hunter named Diana interrupted him. "Hand them over. We'll leave them at the camp," she said haughtily.
Which Camp?
"No," he refused decisively. "They're our spoils."
"How can you be so shameless! We were the ones who saved you." she sniffed in disdain. He rolled his eyes and turned to face her.
"Look," his tone dripping with sarcasm, "In case your puny brain has forgotten, I've thanked you earlier, remember. You're the one who failed to appreciate it. I was happy to give them to you before but forget it now. Since you've said you didn't help out or anything, they belong to us." since he drew some animosity from them, he might as well offend them to the fullest.
"You!" Diana gnashed her teeth. "Men are worms!"
"Yes, we're worms. So you wouldn't want anything touched by worms either. Have a safe trip." he quipped.
What he implied was 'Buzz off, don't poke your nose where it doesn't belong.'
His pants were soaked in blood, which was starting to leak out, despite the dagger being stuck in it. He had to clean and treat it immediately, but he simply couldn't, with the hunters staring like he was their prey.
As a result, an unannounced staring contest started between him and Diana.
Before they could duke it out, Piper appeared in his line of sight with a poster of the hunters. She recited everything Zoe offered—immortality, a band of sisters, exciting life in the wild, and a lot more he couldn't recite—and looked at him in question.
"What do you think, Perce? Should I join them?" she asked. The hunters behind her exchanged glances. One of them tried to step forward but Zoe stopped her.
"Pipes, did you think this through? What about your dad? Your mom?" he emphasized on her immortal side. What he didn't add was him.
Piper paled thinking about her mom, Aphrodite. How would her mom react when she finds out her dear daughter has joined a band of immortal maidens without even consulting her? Percy dreaded to imagine the consequence of the decision.
"You're just holding her back, boy!" Diana reproached him. He ignored her and continued watching Piper as she thought it over.
Though he felt a little despondent to lose the chance to learn something the hunters have to offer, the consequences are unbearable for either of them. Piper took a breath—a sign that she has decided on something—and turned to face the hunters.
"I'm sorry—" he interrupted her and faced the hunters, their expressions screaming scorn and derision. Their attitude nearly made Percy rethink his decision, but he forged ahead.
"Would it be alright if she decides once she has tried out the hunters and their lifestyle?" he suggested his idea of Piper spending the winter break with hunters and learning their ways with them in hunting and archery before her decision.
The hunters excused themselves to discuss the options, which left Percy with Piper.
"What are you playing at?" Piper asked, directly stating the point.
"Pipes. I can't teach you much with daggers and archery. The hunters are experts at that and a perfect training opportunity for you. Why don't we use the winter break to learn from them? We both know you won't join them." he added the last line hesitantly.
"Yeah, sure. But I have to ask dad about it. I completely forgot about him." Piper hung her head down.
"It's fine to get a little carried away. Just let your dad know that it's an only-girls scouts camp running in the winter break for nature protection and self-defense. I don't think he would have any objections to it." he supplied.
They both gathered at the spoils and picked daggers from the bunch. Piper picked a pair of golden daggers and Percy choose the curved dagger. Though they've less usage for the other weapons, they still kept them for emergencies.
"How did they get their hands on such weapons, I wonder?" he particularly asked no one.
"While you were fighting one of them, I managed to talk the other one into getting a little information," Piper added, twirling her new daggers.
"Oh, let's hear it." that piqued his interest.
"The one named Allie said that they got these golden weapons from a secret hideout dug during the Civil war. Besides, she said someone had directed them to pick these from the west coast. That was a few months ago, probably around the time the hunters had started chasing them."
"And who's this secret associate?" he wondered.
"Unfortunately, she didn't know anything about it. She only overheard this much." Percy couldn't help but frown in contemplation.
"What I don't understand is," Piper sounded annoyed. "Why are the weapons intended to kill monsters stored in a civil war weapon bunker."
Percy remained silent, still lost in thought.
oOo
On thinking it to a deeper level, Percy understood the crux of the matter regarding the imperial gold weapons and immediately informed Gwen about it. They had exchanged contact details and remained in touch to exchange information. While he had given her his mom's number, Gwen only gave him a postal address in San Francisco.
He wrote a letter—despite being hard to—detailing his run-in with the Empousei and the inferences he came up with. He believed that there was a secret weapon depot created by the Roman confederates during the Civil war and it still has remained unknown. He gave the idea to Gwen to let her search through their records and recover them before some secret-shady organization could.
It could bring honor and glory to her cohort.
Her response came soon. She had asked around the council and came up with a few possible locations. There were minor skirmishes, but the legion has successfully secured the location and seized the shipment. She added that there'd be more likely locations with different secret hideouts and they're keeping an eye open for them since there was a huge lack of weapons at the camp. She kept her promise to keep his identity hidden and took the brunt from the entire council on her own.
She also added that the council had approved his technique and decided to guard it as a national secret. She reminded him that he was always welcome to join the camp and the council wished to meet him in person.
While Piper was spending her time with the hunters who-knows-where, Percy busied his winter break with Bill, who came to visit Elaine. While he was happy that she got the opportunity to advance her skills, a tiny nagging voice reminded him of the consequences he has to suffer because of Aphrodite if Piper ever decided to join the hunt.
He pushed the thought to the back of his mind and focused more on Bill. They threw everything into the session. He ducked under attacks, parried, dodged, and moved around the warehouse while using every trick in the book to let his opponents fall behind. Percy has higher mobility and power at his disposal whereas Bill has control and experience he has gained from his time as a warrior. Neither of them gave an inch to let the other step on them.
Even though he knew he was dishing attack after attack and dealing damage to Bill, Percy knew his opponent was no mere blockhead. Soon, he realized that Bill was leading him by the nose and therefore has been controlling the battle flow from the beginning.
Since conventional techniques were useless, Percy incorporated Gwen's fighting style into his own. It was rash, but it gave him an edge against Bill. His attacks leaned more towards stabbing and piercing which caught Bill off guard.
Percy took this fleeting chance with a classic disarming move and Bill's sword clattered on the ground. Deafening silence filled the room.
"It's your win." Bill declared after a pause. "You've defeated me."
"Nah, I took a risk and it paid off. There's nothing worth being proud of." Percy clarified.
"That is so." Bill agreed shamelessly. Black lines formed on Percy's face. "You risked a fatal injury trying to get past my guard. Keep it in mind."
"Hey, I need your opinion on something," Percy asked during their water break. Bill took a seat on the ground.
"Go on,"
Percy related everything that has happened in India and Thailand. He had asked Elaine about it but she didn't have much to share with him. Percy hoped Bill to have more information for him to work on.
When he mentioned the invisible pressure in the foreign lands, Bill jumped like a cat that had its tail stepped on.
"WHAT!" he turned hysterical. "You went to the ancient lands in Asia!" His body trembled and break out in cold sweat. "Poseidon's pearls! You're reckless, aren't you?" he yelled once he was done freaking out.
"Do you have a death wish or something." he fretted over. "Thank gods, you've been cautious enough! Associating with you is going to give me gray hairs." he moaned in defeat.
Percy laughed nervously. "Don't freak out, man. I didn't know it'd turn out like that. Promise."
Percy really didn't know. Else, he wouldn't have agreed to trip, no matter what. If Poseidon knew about it, he might jump out of Atlantis and shout, "Oh my bloody gods! Somebody went to the other Pantheon and lived to tell the tale? A demigod? Who? My son? Kill me now!"
Bill shook his head. "It was my fault. I should've taught you some common sense before training." Percy stared at him.
Come on! How unreasonable can you be?
"So.." he prompted the mer-hero to speak. "Are you going to tell me anything about it?"
"It was perhaps the Indian Pantheon that you've sensed in their domain. Thailand has its Pantheon. They follow Buddhism. It's predominant in the eastern countries as of now."
"What you're implying is there are other gods out there?" he felt stupid asking the question, but he needed to be certain.
"Most of the mythological Pantheon around the world exists or had existed in time. Many of them have faded due to the lack of worship and sacrifices for them. People had forgotten about them except in some museums."
Percy waited for Bill to finish. "You should never visit Asian countries. You belong to the western Pantheon. When the flames of the West were bright in Britain, the gods—helped the mortals,—waged wars and conquered the Eastern lands. They still hold a massive grudge."
"Never step into their domains again. The influence will tear you to shreds once your heritage was revealed, even by accident." Bill warned gravely.
"That's a pretty messed up way to die. How can they differentiate between us?" he asked curiously.
"Your beliefs are different. You'll stick out like a sore thumb with your divine blood. Even if you mask everything, it'll be as easy as finding an apple in a bowl of strawberries. Understood?" he nodded meekly.
"If so, why don't the gods prohibit their followers from stepping into the other domains. I don't see a problem here," he asked.
Bill sighed. "Of course, you don't. The gods... they're not the ideal beings we make them be. They sometimes don't care about their kids or followers." he glanced around nervously. "If the existence of other pantheons was revealed, those who were dissatisfied with the gods might abandon them and follow another Pantheon," he said.
"And herein lies the problem?" Percy prompted Bill to finish. Though the topic was getting out of hand, he was nevertheless grateful for the information.
"The gods survive and depend on the faith of their offspring and the devoted followers. Even if a few changed their paths, that's still considered treason, right? Something like that drastically affects their influence on this domain and the golds wouldn't let something that threatens their existence happen. So the secrecy. Got it?" he nodded.
"The latest event was the WW-II. The big three kids split into factions and fought for supremacy. Zeus and Poseidon vs Hades. Their demigods, at least."
"Wow. It seems the most ancient history has another facet unknown to the world. Are there any rivalries in the Pantheons?" Percy waited for Bill to open up the Greco-Roman war.
"Well, we don't have any issues with the Egyptians since they've withdrawn from this dimension a long time ago. The Norse used to be on civil terms with us before they went incognito. Zeus doesn't want anyone in his sphere of influence and wouldn't tolerate their presence too."
"Are all the mythologies true? Don't tell me mutants, superheroes, and Harry Potter are real too?" Percy joked.
"Of course, they're real too," Bill said seriously which made Percy choke. "Witches like Medea tested a few forbidden potions on mortals to turn them into mutants and superheroes. Hecate blessed a bunch of mortals in medieval times, who eventually became modern-day wizards. J.K. Rowling is a mage too."
"You're kidding."
"Of course, I'm kidding, you bonehead. Did you think the mighty-paranoid god-king would allow such powerful mortals to exist in his domain? He would think along the lines of 'What if they plan a mutiny?'" he went on.
"He wouldn't even allow his brothers to overpower him, much less a few mortals. J. K. R was a demigod daughter of Athena with very creative and imagination skills. She depicted our world in a magical-school setting to avoid suspicion." Bill said in a Severus Snape impression.
Percy stopped himself from applauding for the mer-hero.
"Wow. I never knew you can joke." he grinned, which pushed him into a boiling pot.
"I'll show you jokes in the next session. Get ready." Bill snapped.
"Hey, I—I was just kidding around. No need to take it so hard, bro." he spluttered.
"I wasn't. We don't have time for nonsense. Prepare to face your death...ahem...training." he dragged Percy for a gruesome training session.
xXx
A/N: And it's done! Kid or not, Percy was a male and the hunters are averse to him. How's it? Good? Can do better?
