Chapter 12: First Week at Camp Half-Blood
June 10, 2006, Camp Half-Blood
As she had expected, Artemis discovered that Camp Half-blood had really bad defenses and security systems as she roamed freely, wearing a casual camp t-shirt that read 'Camp Half-Blood' and light blue denim shorts that fell just below her knee. Nobody suspected her or asked any questions.
"You know who his godly parent might be?" a kid nearby muttered to another camper.
Maybe that's why no one questioned her since Percy, who had entered by slaying the minotaur, hadn't been claimed yet. Fortunately for her, Athena allowed her to stay in her cabin so all Artemis had to do was pretend to belong and hope that they don't become curious towards her.
The camper replied back, "I don't know. I am thinking that he might be some minor god's kid. He is so lame and everyone follows him around because he managed to kill a minotaur."
She wanted to reply back but she never got the chance to as a crowd began gathering around cabin 5, that is, Ares cabin. The commotion increased and Artemis struggled as she shoved the demigods lightly without using her enhanced strength till she saw a beam of water shooting out of a toilet stall and pushing a figure that seemed masculine with his build.
It was later that Artemis realized that the 'he' was a 'she' as the water slowly retracted back to the toilet and a familiar mop of black haired demigod peeked out. She could tell that everyone was surprised that a new demigod had beaten the Ares campers single handedly without any training. Even she would have been surprised, had she not seen his capabilities first-hand.
Taking their silence as his advantage, the demigod quickly ducked out of the cabin and rushed towards the Big House. No one followed, afraid of his abilities and wary of his attitude since he had brought a minotaur to the entrance of Camp and had now fought with the Ares campers, albeit in self defense.
"I wonder," a familiar voice whispered and Artemis spun her head in shock as she noticed the distantly familiar curly golden hair amongst the group of Athena campers.
Annabeth.
Before she could approach her though, the crowd began dispersing as the four legged centaur approached the scene, his hooves trotting behind him loudly and inspected the scene before sighing, "Everyone back to your cabins. Get some rest and prepare for the Capture the Flag later this week."
"Aye Chiron!" a few campers exclaimed and, within a few seconds, everyone disappeared from the view.
Over the course of the week, Artemis maintained her cover as she spied on Percy and the traitorous son of Hermes. She hated to admit but Percy's skills were better than a beginner with an unbalanced sword, even if it was due to Poseidon's domain.
It was friday when she heard her name being mentioned by the satyr, Grover, "She vowed to be a maiden forever. So of course, no kids. The cabin is, you know, honorary. If she didn't have one, she'd be mad."
'Hell yeah, I'd be mad!' she internally supported his statement and listened carefully. No one would have found it weird if a demigod stopped and froze midway.
Percy spoke up, "Yeah, okay. But the other three, the ones at the end. Are those the Big Three?"
She shook her head, trying to remember whether Zeus was mad at his insolence but luckily she heard no lightning.
"No. One of them, number two, is Hera's. That's another honorary thing. She's the goddess of marriage, so of course she wouldn't go around having affairs with mortals. That's her husband's job. When we say the Big Three, we mean the three powerful brothers, the sons of Kronos."
The mention of Hera reminded Artemis of how she had shamelessly whined to Zeus about not having a cabin and how she would reveal his dirty secrets to every Olympian till he relented and ordered Dionysus to get it arranged. The latter had tried to argue but one lightning shock from Zeus was enough to convince him.
"Zeus, Poseidon, Hades," Percy interrupted, confusion clearly visible on his innocent face.
"Right. You know. After the great battle with the Titans, they took over the world from their dad and drew lots to decide who got what."
"Zeus got the sky, Poseidon the sea, Hades the Underworld."
Grover nodded in reply and Artemis was slightly impressed that he knew his Greek mythology considering he never paid attention during Yancy Academy.
"But Hades doesn't have a cabin here," Percy replied, stating the obvious.
"No. He doesn't have a throne on Olympus, either. He sort of does his own thing down in the Underworld. If he did have a cabin here ..." Grover shuddered. "Well, it wouldn't be pleasant. Let's leave it at that."
'Classic excuse,' Artemis smirked, aware of the truth. Zeus feared that Hades' influence would spread from his children to the others and, if Hades got more worshippers then, being the oldest son of Kronos, he would become even more powerful and would attempt a coup.
Also, it was to make himself seem all-mighty while he was being petty.
Percy asked, "But Zeus and Poseidon—they both had, like, a bazillion kids in the myths. Why are their cabins empty?"
"About sixty years ago, after World War II, the Big Three agreed they wouldn't sire any more heroes. Their children were just too powerful. They were affecting the course of human events too much, causing too much carnage. World War II, you know, that was basically a fight between the sons of Zeus and Poseidon on one side, and the sons of Hades on the other. The winning side, Zeus and Poseidon, made Hades swear an oath with them: no more affairs with mortal women. They all swore on the River Styx."
Thunder boomed, causing Artemis to turn towards the sky. Well, they had Styx's attention now.
The thunder drowned their voice for a few seconds till she managed to hear, "Seventeen years ago, Zeus fell off the wagon. There was this TV starlet with a big fluffy eighties hairdo—he just couldn't help himself. When their child was born, a little girl named Thalia .. . well, the River Styx is serious about promises. Zeus himself got off easy because he's immortal, but he brought a terrible fate on his daughter."
Artemis tried to hide her smirk as she was reminded of her former, or was it future, lieutenant. Sure she played favorites when she asked Thalia to take Zoë's spot but it was also because she had seen Zoë's passion and loyalty within her half-sister. The fact that Thalia maintained connection with Perseus in her former life even after joining the Hunt proved her loyalty, even if it made the other hunters uncomfortable.
She wasn't able to listen further as she watched all campers from Athena's cabin gathering together within Cabin 6 and she had to listen so that she could figure out her personal strategy. Hearing their tiresome strategies followed by 10 other backups and backups of backups, she left.
Artemis knew that she would not be able to blend in with other Athena campers so she took off in the direction of the creak, taking shelter in a branch of a tree. She knew that Annabeth and the Head of Cabin 6, Malcolm Pace, would include Percy and, by extension, Hermes' cabin. It didn't matter who the other cabin was, Percy would need to be protected from campers from Cabin 7 since they would try to get revenge for their humiliation. She had to defend him from serious harm, although-
'I won't stop him from getting a bit injured for what his future self did,' she concluded, trying to find satisfaction from the thought.
It took about 2 hours till she heard conversations echoing near the creek and the former goddess shifted to get a better view as a raven haired demigod trudged towards the river, muttering under his breath. She notched the arrow in her bow, pointing it at Percy as she contemplated ending his life and avenging her family. Visions of their dead faces floated in her mind: Riptide protruding from Hermes' bloodied face, Hephaestus' barely recognizable face as Perseus stabbed him through the skull.
She almost released the arrow but then the vision of his mature face and golden eyes shifted to his younger face with sea-green eyes that made her melt on the inside. She loosened her grip and lowered the bow but kept a close eye on Percy.
It was silent for a few minutes before the sound of the horn erupted, making Artemis wary as she spread her senses. It wasn't long till she spotted 5 campers with red horsehair plume helmets heading in their direction but what really surprised her was the dark presence of a hellhound.
She was tempted to kill it but it retreated, probably sensing her, so she saw no motive to hunt it down and risk exposure.
"Cream the punk!" Clarisse screamed.
It was that momentary indecision that led to chaos breaking loose.
M/N: That's another chapter done. I apologize that it is proceeding slowly but it will increase in speed slowly along with word length. Anyways, hope you enjoyed this and please follow, favorite and drop a review.