Chapter 2: Part 1, Traveling With The Hunters

(Author's Note):

Hey everyone! How's it going? This Chapter 2 part 1 of 2. This chapter was already getting long so I figured I'd cut it into two parts so I could get something out sooner. Thanks to everyone who gave feedback! I have several things to say before I get to the story, they're story related so don't skip them or you'll be confused. I'll try to be as brief as possible.

One, as I said before Percy is getting a new weapon based off of his dad's Trident. It isn't a godly weapon, so don't worry about that. It also won't make him OP. I tried to make it seem as if Uncle Rick came up with it. He received it after the Titans attempted to destroy the original Mount Olympus again eight months before this story. It is the same war I referenced last chapter that Percy almost died at that Annabeth was talking about. I will be explaining it more with flashbacks/memories/dialogue.

Two, part 1 and 2 will have several time skips, so pay attention to them. They aren't anything huge, like months or years, but they matter to this story.

Three, this chapter contains MATURE CONTENT. This story is in general a heavy T. The only reason why it isn't M is because I reserve M for lemons and smut, which I will NOT be writing. As you saw in the prequel stories, death, violence and war is a major part of this story(as is Percy Jackson in general). This chapter doesn't have much violence, but it does contain some brief discussion of Mature topics. The Hunters of Artemis are known for taking in girls who have been abused and used by men, so you can imagine what some of them have been through. It is very brief and isn't directly stated, but I do mention rape. It is NOT shown or described, only hinted at. If you are sensitive to that kind of stuff I am sorry, but I don't even call it by name in the story. I don't talk about it often, as I have a best friend who was raped and she told me about it, but I felt that it was acceptable to hint at but not state directly. If you have any concerns over it let me know. I don't shy away from violence, blood, war and mental issues, by rape is different for me. I treat it differently. Hope you understand.

I post updates, info, polls and ask questions on Twitter so if you have one please consider following me.

I'm all done now so go ahead and read the chapter. Remember to leave a Review and all that jazz once you're done. I'll see you at the bottom.


Chapter 2: Traveling With The Hunters

(February 13, 2011 - Somewhere in the woods of Kentucky)

It was finally on their third day of travel that Thalia declared that they would be able to set up camp for the entire night, as for the days prior they would only be given a few hours rest at night before continuing on their journey to Colorado. It was also on the third day that Percy finally had some time to try to get to know the hunters, as the constant travel and hunting made it difficult. His plan to try to befriend the hunters was more than likely to fail, but he still tried his best. He didn't believe in letting their prejudices against men sway him from trying to be friendly and respectful.

It went about how you would expect at first. Percy really wasn't trying to be rude or sexist or anything, but trying to befriend eleven eternally hormonal, abrasive, opinionated, man-hating pre-teen and teenage girls wasn't exactly easy or fun. One or two of the hunters who had been hurt and used by men still treated him like the plague, sneering at him and muttering to each other under their breaths about a male being in the hunt. While some hunters, like the younger of the two Tiffany's, who was the youngest hunter at only a few months over seven, as well as the younger hunters- which there were alot of, more than he expected- had accepted him as a friend, or as a hero figure to the more impressionable young girls. But a few of the older hunters just gave him a wide berth, ignoring him while being neither kind nor rude. But none were openly hostile, as Thalia told him that Artemis ordered the hunters to respect Percy and treat them as one of their own. All of the hunters followed this order except one.

That being Medeia, the eldest girl in the hunt as well as the one who put a knife to his throat back at camp for not prefacing Artemis' name with 'Lady'. So yeah, Percy wasn't exactly expecting her to welcome him with open arms and sing kumbaya with him, but it was like Medeia had a personal grudge against him in particular. And it was something besides him being a male, he could tell. But what it was, Percy honestly had no idea. Maybe she had had a rough experience with a son of Poseidon in her long life as a hunter, he didn't know.

It was about an hour before sunset when they started to set up camp. Percy planned to set up his tent as far away from the hunters to avoid being filleted alive in his sleep, but it seems that Thalia planned to go ahead with her idea to try to have the hunters accept Percy. So she had him set up his tent right next to hers, in other words right at the center of the camp. Percy hadn't been this uncomfortable since he foolishly agreed to sign up for that 'boyfriend for a day charity auction' that they held at camp the previous summer that the Aphrodite cabin ran. Drew had almost won a date with him, but thankfully Piper was able to use her dad's fame to get a large sum of money together and outbid her and won the right to take him out on a date that day. They made popcorn and watched bad movies in his apartment, Annabeth approved and joined them, by the way, he didn't actually go on a real date with Piper.

"Alright, everyone. Gather 'round." Thalia called out as the girls finished putting up their tents. Once everyone was more or less in a circle around the fire, she continued. "Before we start evening chores, I want everyone to introduce themselves to Percy. He will be staying with us for the immediate future so we should all try to get along."

Several groans were heard from the older hunters, but mostly from Medeia and her friend and flunkie, Alexandra, who seemed to agree with everything Medeia had to say. "But why must we do that, Thalia?" The older of the two Tiffany's asked, sending a look of distaste to Percy. "He is a male, I have no intention to befriend him."

Thalia only gave the girl a glare. "Because, Lady Artemis ordered us to." She reminded them all, giving a glare to all of them except the younger girls that didn't seem to have much problem with Percy. But that was to be expected, as the newest hunters wouldn't have been conditioned to hate males yet. Thalia ignored the returned glare from Medeia and continued. "You all know as well as I do that Lady Artemis told us to trust Percy. I can vouch for him."

"You say that as if thine word held any substance." Medeia remarked, crossing her arms over her chest and standing with a posture that indicated she was not interested in the conversation. "I do not trust any male. Regardless of thine familiarity with them."

Percy tried his best to not react to what he heard. He only eyed the other girls in the hunt to see their reaction. Thalia looked irritated, as would be expected. Cleo, Thalia's best friend in the hunt, just rolled her eyes lazily like Medeia irritating Thalia was an everyday occurance. While the youngest hunters- which had all joined in the last two months, which surprised Percy- wore looks of confusion and surprise. Percy heard Thalia mumble something under her breath that he assumed wasn't flattering towards Medeia before facing the veteran hunter. "Since you seem to be so determined to talk, why don't you start, Medeia? Introduce yourself to Percy, tell him who you are and how long you have been in our hunt."

Medeia, to her credit, resisted returning with a snide remark. Instead she moved her eyes to Percy, letting them stop and fall to the ground before fully reaching him. "I am Medeia." She had an unrecognizable accent, though Percy could tell from it and her speech pattern that it was a form of old english. Like Zoë, but not as charming. "I hath been in Lady Artemis' hunt since the gods were still in Greece. I joined the hunt a few years after Zoë did." Her eyes finally met Percy's, they were cold and vile. "She and I were best friends, until she fell in battle saving you and that daughter of Athena."

Percy didn't miss the not so subtle implication, Medeia blamed him for Zoë's death. His heart sank a little at hearing his old friend's name. Her death had always been a point of change in Percy's life. It was the first time he had seen a friend die in front of him like that. In a way Zoë's death helped him grow up. It took some time, and some words from Artemis, but Percy learned to not blame himself for what happened. Percy was going to say something but Thalia beat him to it.

"That's enough, Medeia," Thalia spoke up, giving the older girl a stink eye. "Lady Artemis told you that he was not to blame for Zoë's death."

Medeia only gave Percy a hard look, mumbling under her breath just loud enough for them to hear. "But he is responsible for our dozen fallen sisters." As soon as those final words left her mouth Medeia turned on the spot and headed away from the group and into the trees, making Percy even more confused about why she hated him and what she meant by that.

"Wait," Percy started, looking at the retreating back of Medeia. Alexandra took a second but quickly went to follow her friend. "What do you mean by that?" She didn't reply so he looked towards Thalia. "What does she-?"

"Nothing." Thalia quickly interrupted him. She sent a final glare in warning to the remaining older hunters, which there were only two besides herself, Medeia and Alexandra. Something that greatly surprised Percy. He was told by Thalia when they left camp three days ago that the hunters currently only had eleven hunters in total. And that five of their eleven were all new and recently recruited in the past two months. When Percy tried asking Thalia why their numbers were so low from the last time he saw them she got suddenly quiet and her face dropped for a quick second before returning to her usual self. She then brushed off his question and immediately started a conversation about something else. Percy didn't miss her avoiding the question at all, but he let it go. Assuming that something happened that she didn't want to talk about and he figured that she'd tell him once she was ready.

He could also sense that Thalia was tense about something. She eyed the shadows in the forest around them as if she expected something to burst from them and attack the group. Tension was also very high at camp ever since the gods went silent, so Percy assumed that Thalia was nervous about Artemis being gone. But something in his gut told him that something else was bothering her. Maybe it was whatever she was trying to hide from him. He took a half step closer to his cousin.

"No, not nothing." He started, his eyes drifting from where Medeia were and Thalia. "What does she mean I am responsible for fallen hunters? Thals, what's going on?"

Thalia's eyes dropped to the ground. "I'll explain later, in private." She then glanced at Cleo, her best friend. Cleo seemed to understand the message, she put on a smile that was previously absent and took a few steps towards Percy, holding out her hand to him.

"Why don't we continue our introductions, eh? I'm Cleo." She introduced herself. "I've been in the hunt for thirty two years now. In fact I'm the second youngest of the quote unquote 'older hunters'. Thalia has spoken highly of you, as well has Lady Artemis. I'm looking forward to getting to know "the only decent man in history" that our Lady spoke of."

Percy hesitated, thinking about what Thalia said before letting it go and taking Cleo's outstretched hand. She had a strong grip, for a girl in a twelve year old body, but not like she was trying to intimidate him or anything, but just because she was naturally strong. He gave her a smile.

"I don't know about being the only one, but I appreciate the compliment." He smiled. They dropped their hands and she took a half step back to stand next to Thalia. "Who's the youngest 'older' hunter then?" He asked.

Cleo pointed her thumb towards Thalia. "Our fearless Lieutenant here is. She's still a wittle baby to us hunters." She answered, giving the daughter of Zeus a grin. She then gestured to the hunter besides her. She had dark hair, was fairly short, even for being in an eleven or twelve year old body, and had sharp facial features. "Why don't you introduce yourself, Tiffany?"

The girl in question straightened up and faced Percy, her eyes hard but not openly aggressive like Medeia's. She dropped her scowl from earlier but made no move to shake his hand. "I mean no disrespect, male, more or less, but I require more than Lady Artemis' and Thalia's word to trust you. I will decide for myself if you are worthy of my respect." She gave Thalia a quick look like 'I will remain civil until he slips up and I can drive my dagger into his heart' before returning her eyes to Percy. "I have been in the hunt for forty five years, in case you care."

Percy just gave a shrug and let her words not get to him. It took more than that to bug him these days. "That's fine," Percy said, giving her a kind smile. "I understand. You girls have been through some bad stuff and a lot of it involved guys, so I won't take offense. We have a few kids at camp who've gone through some messed up stuff too. Just treat me like I treat you and we'll get along swimmingly." The younger Tiffany that had already introduced herself to him giggled into her hand.

Thalia groaned. "Was that a pun, Percy?"

Percy blinked, realizing what he said. "Nope, but I wish it was. It was good."

Thalia only rolled her eyes. "How Annabeth puts up with you, I'll never know-"

"Hey." He interjected.

"-So, who's next?" Thalia looked to the remaining hunters. The next hunter stepped up to him, her hand out like Cleo's was. She was slightly taller than the older Tiffany, with long brown hair and a round face.

"I guess that would be me. Hello, I am Edith, the hunt's cook. I cook all the meat we hunt and prepare all of the wild vegetables we gather. It's nice to finally meet you, Percy. I have also heard tale of you from our Lady and Thalia." She held her hand out to him and he shook it, returning the warm smile she gave him. It was a relief to learn that not all of the hunters hated him on principle. "As long as you help prepare our meals I have no problem with you, champion of the gods."

"Nice to meet you too, Edith." He said as he released her hand. "I might not be a master chef or anything, but my mom taught me a thing or two about cooking so I wouldn't quote, 'remain a lonely bachelor forever'. I usually cook for my girlfriend, Annabeth, since she can't cook to save her life, whenever I have time when I'm not teaching a class or something at camp."

Edith smiled. "Good to hear, Percy. You won't believe how much these girls eat everyday, I could really use the help." She looked to the setting sun and let out a sigh. "Speaking of that, I'd better get started on dinner. I swear, I've been in charge of meals since I joined during WWI and it still hasn't gotten any easier after all these decades." With that she ventured off to one of the larger tents at the center of the camp and went inside, which was most likely where all the food was.

The remaining five hunters, who were all new, introduced themselves to him next. They were all as friendly as Cleo and Edith were. The first was the younger Tiffany, who Percy had already met and had started to call 'lil T' because she was so small, who had only been with the hunters for a few weeks and was just over seven years old. The next was Megan, a twelve year old girl from Miami that had joined the hunters one month ago. After her was Donna who was eight and a half, the half was very important, she said, who was the second youngest hunter after lil T and had joined the hunters two months ago. After her were Riza and Mika, who were ten and eleven respectively, they had both only been in the hunt for a month.

oooOooo

After introductions, Thalia issued out chores around camp while dinner was being prepared. The older Tiffany took Megan and Mika out to hunt whatever dinner they could find in the short amount of daylight they had left. With Medeia and Alexandra who knows where, "pouting" as Thalia muttered, the rest of the chores were left to the six of them. Thalia stayed back at camp with Donna and Riza teaching the two new hunters how to sharpen arrows and daggers while Percy, Cleo and lil T were tasked with gathering firewood and wild vegetables as they patrolled around the camp for monsters. Percy didn't fail to notice that he had been sent out to scout for monsters with a veteran hunter, confirming to him that Thalia was paranoid about being attacked by monsters. He did figure that his scent had to be attracting every monster in the state towards them, but at the same time he knew that most smart monsters avoided his scent now. So he didn't know if his being there was a hindrance or help for the hunters.

Lil T stuck next to Percy as they patrolled, with the young girl asking Cleo if the various berries could be eaten in between asking Percy about himself. As soon as she learned that Percy was a bit of a hero, the little girl couldn't keep her excitement under control.

"Did you really fight a Hydro like big sis Thalia said, Percy?" The little girl practically bounced as she spoke. Percy had no idea how she had so much energy left after traveling on foot for the entire day. Even he with his improved demigod abilities and training was exhausted by the long day of running.

"Its Hydra, lil T. Not Hydro, that means water," Percy corrected as he continued to survey the trees and brush around him for signs of monsters. He hadn't spotted any so far, only spotted some rabbits and mice along with some chirping birds. "And yeah, I fought one before. Several, actually."

The little girl made a gasping sound. "Really? Can you teach me to fight one too?"

"Yeah, really." He gave the girl a look as he checked a tree for broken branches. "What, you think I'm lying to you?" His voice was light, the smile on his face telling everyone but the unknowing little girl that he was just messing with her.

The young girl shook her head vigorously, her medium length hair shaking. "Lady Artemis showed me a picture of a Hydra when she told us to hunt it." The shine left her eyes momentarily. "It was really scary looking! And so big! Weren't you scared?"

Percy hesitated for a second, he always tried to be as honest as possible with the youngest campers about the dangers the Greek world had to offer, but lil T was just so young, only seven years old, innocent and unaware of the dangers of the real and Greek world. So he settled for the watered down version. "I was a little scared, yeah." He told the little girl. He noticed Cleo, Thalia's friend watch him with a small smile on her face as he interacted with the young, energetic girl. "But I had my friends with me the first few times I had to fight them. So it wasn't too bad. Thalia and I will be there with you when we have to fight it, so don't worry."

He gave the small girl a more serious look. "I'm sure that Thalia, Artemis and the older hunters have told you how fun it is to be a hunter, right?"

The little girl nodded her head so much her body shook. "Yeah!" She exclaimed, her words coming out faster and faster as she went. "Lady Artemis gets angry sometimes but she's so nice! And big sis Thalia taught me how to hold my bow and Cleo showed me how to walk so the deer wouldn't hear me and Edith makes these yummy little bread thingies for breakfast sometimes and she even puts chocolate in them sometimes whenever I'm good and Lady Artemis isn't looking and-."

"That all sounds so cool." Percy interrupted the girl, having the feeling that if he didn't that she would talk his ear off all night and he wouldn't be able to finish what he was saying. "I remember feeling the same way when I went to camp for the first time." That wasn't entirely the truth, since his first few days at camp weren't really the best with being bullied, treated like the plague and sent on a life or death quest to retrieve something he was being accused of having stolen. But she didn't need to know that. "But I'm sure that they also told you about how important it was to follow the rules and orders, right?"

If lil T was surprised by his sudden change of topic she didn't show it. Though Percy noticed Cleo watch him carefully as she gathered a bundle of firewood. Lil T nodded. "Yeah, Lady Artemis told me that if I don't listen to my sisters then I could get hurt."

This time Percy nodded. "That's right," He paused to listen to a rustle in a bush a ways off, dismissing it after a few seconds. The constantly chirping birds made it hard to focus on subtle sounds but he was able to drown them out after a little bit. "You can get hurt if you play with a knife or a bow, right?" The little girl nodded. "And you know that hunts can be really dangerous if you don't listen to your sisters, right?" Lil T nodded again. "So will you listen to whatever I, Thalia and your sisters tell you when we're hunting the Hydra since we've fought one before? If I agree to teach you how to fight will you promise that you'll listen to everything I say no matter if you don't like or understand it?"

The little girl wore a contemplating face for a few seconds before looking up to him and nodding like a maniac. "Yes! I promise!" She declared.

Percy stopped walking briefly, stopped beside the girl and dropped to a knee to look her in the eye. He held out his pinky finger. "Do you pinky promise?"

Lil T nodded, holding out her own tiny pinky finger to him. He held it with his own and shook it. He stood back up, ruffling her hair as he did. She let out a giggling "don't". He smiled at her reaction. "Then we'll start after we eat dinner and after you finish any chores Thalia has for you."

"Ahhh!" The little girl puffed her cheeks, letting out a little 'hmph' as she did for a quick second before running off to the next bush a few paces away to inspect the berries on them.

"Wait, Tiffany," Cleo called out. "Don't touch those until I get a good look at them." The older hunter stopped next to Percy and lowered her voice so that the younger girl couldn't hear. "I'll admit, I'm impressed. You handled that conversation with Tiffany very well. It's always hard to talk to young kids about dangerous things but you handled it like a champ."

Percy gave an 'It's no problem' shrug. "We get young kids at camp all the time. And I've taught more kids how to hold a sword than I can remember. I've had to have the 'this isn't a game, people can die' talk with some of them before. This one kid, Nico-." He stopped suddenly, his eyes surveying the forest around them, his eyes constantly moving.

Cleo gave him a questioning look. "You seem as if you are recalling a memory. Did something-."

"No." Percy spoke suddenly, cutting the hunter off and placing a hand on her shoulder and pivoting her to his side. To her credit the hunter didn't seem to get upset that he touched her(which he figured only Thalia, herself and lil T wouldn't care), sensing that he had noticed something she hadn't. "Somethings… wrong."

"What?" The older hunter asked, her own eyes scanning the trees around them.

Percy's eyes glanced upwards. "The birds, they've stopped chirping." His eyes then widened suddenly and he shot out to where lil T was examining the berry bush. "Lil T, get back here-!"

"Rrraaawwwrrr!" A mass of abyss black fur suddenly burst over the bush lil T was kneeled in front of only to find it's snout punched in by the son of Poseidon mid leap. Only once it was one the ground and shaking its head did Percy recognize it as a Hellhound. A massive Hellhound.

"Lil T, get behind Cleo and draw your dagger but don't try to fight it!" Percy ordered, standing in front of the two girls with his left arm held out in front of them as his right reached for his pocket. "Cleo, try to get lil T back to the camp if you can and warn Thalia, Hellhounds always travel in a pack."

"It's a doggie!" Lil T cried, looking at the small horse sized dog that had just tried to attack her. "What're you-."

"No, Tiffany." Cleo interrupted. "It's a Monster, a Hellhound. It's really dangerous so stay behind me."

"But-."

"You pinky promised that you'd listen to orders," Percy spoke out as he continued his stare down with the Hellhound. "So follow them and listen to what you're told." He drew Riptide and took an aggressive step forwards to scare the Monster, waving the sword around more than he would in a straight up fight.

"Ok." The little girl nodded, hiding behind Cleo just as another two Hellhounds tore through the bushes on either side of them and snarled. They were larger than the average Hellhounds he fought, about the size of a large horse and had red glowing eyes like rubies from the pits of Hades, their teeth were like piercing daggers and their claws like black steel.

"Dammit," Percy muttered to himself. "This would be a piece of cake if lil T wasn't here. I'll have to trust Cleo to watch her so I can focus on the fight." Without wasting a second he rushed at the nearest Hellhound and introduced it's head to Riptide. The mass of fur and teeth let out a brief howl of pain before dropping to the ground and turning into a falling mass of dust.

Percy sidestepped the next Hellhound, pivoting on the spot and driving his sword deep into its stomach. It didn't fall, however, but continued to snap its vice like jaws at his face.

"Grrr!" A low rumble of a growl alerted Percy to another Hellhound stalking low to the ground behind him, waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike. Percy didn't give it the opportunity however and charged it with his Curse of Achilles increased speed, slashing at it with perfect form.

"That's two," He muttered to himself, continuously looking around the trees for signs of more monsters. From the corner of his eye he could see Cleo raise her bow and fire a barrage of arrows and send another Hellhound to Tartarus. "But as long as it's Hellhounds I have nothing to worry about."

And of course the Fates just had to spite him. As seemed to be his entire life.

Without warning a tree next to the group exploded into a million splinters by an enormous wooden club. Attached to said club was an even more enormous arm. A blue skinned arm.

"Awe Hades… Why do the Fates hate me?" Percy mumbled under his breath as he saw his new opponent. A thirty foot(9.1m) blue skinned and grey haired giant with frost forming around his open mouth.

"W-what is that?" Lil T cried from behind Cleo. Percy and the older hunter spoke up at the same time.

"It's a Canadian." "It's a Hyperborean."

Cleo looked at the son of Poseidon with an odd look. "Did you just say Canadian?"

Percy gave a shrug. "They're from Canada, so, Canadian." He took a few steps forward to the Hyperborean Giant. He knew that they were usually peaceful, emphasis on usually, but could be easily swayed by other Monsters and Titans. Hopefully this one wasn't feeling too motivated to squash him like a bug. He risked a quick glance at Cleo. "Do you have anything else besides that bow? Your arrows will only piss this guy off."

The hunter nodded her head. "Yes, but only a dagger, it won't do much to him either-." Cleo was cut off when Percy gently tossed Riptide over to her. She caught it without a problem but looked at him with a surprised look on her face. "You'd give me your sword? Why?"

Percy maintained his glare with the Hyperborean, so far it didn't seem too interested to fight them without an order to. Hopefully it's order never arrives. The son of the Sea reached up to his necklace, feeling the clay beads on it before finding the coin sized, circular Celestial Bronze charm with a trident at the center. "You need it more than I do right now. Just focus on getting lil T to camp while I keep them busy." He closed his eyes momentarily, concentrating, sensing the push and pull of the waves, the rumble of the earth below his feet and storms in the skies above him. His charm began to glow slightly. "Besides, I have more than one weapon. And it's been awhile since I've been able to let loose with it."

It was at this very moment that the Hyperborean decided to get motivated and charged him, it's stomping feet causing mini tremors in the ground. Either that or it was the weapon Poseidon gave his son, it was hard to tell.

"Demigod!" The behemoth roared as it neared Percy, it's massive tree of a club high over its head. The giant reached Percy just as the ethereal glowing around the son of Poseidon died down.

"Gaaahhh!" The giant let out a cry of pain, flying back a few dozen feet into a wall of trees.

Cleo looked to where Percy stood, his feet set apart in a wide stance and a seven foot(2.1m) glowing Celestial Bronze trident held out in front of him from a strike. The prongs of the trident were lightly smoking.

"What in Hades was that?" Cleo cried, looking back and forth from the fallen Hyperborean and Percy. Said son of Poseidon dropped his stance and placed the pommel of his trident on the ground.

"It's a gift from my dad after I used his trident when the Titans tried a second time to attack the original Mount Olympus eight months ago." Percy answered, still giving the unconscious Hyperborean on the ground as well as the surrounding Hellhounds his full attention. "I'm able to transfer the energy from my body into it and release it as a blast of energy. But only upon contact, I can't shoot energy beams or anything. Which really was a let down, but eh, what're you gonna do?"

"That's awesome!" Lil T cried from behind Cleo despite the situation. Percy gave her a smile to reassure her that everything was going to be alright.

Percy pointed his trident at the nearest Hellhound, a low hum surrounding the weapon. "It's nothing like my dad's, since Zeus wouldn't let me have a godly weapon like he wanted to give me," He paused to impale a Hellhound that tried to leap at him in the stomach, it turned to dust like the others. "But it does grant me better control over my non water powers." He slammed the pommel of the trident to the ground causing a tremor to spiderweb out around him with more power the further it got. By the time it reached the Hellhounds the earth opened up and some of the Monsters fell in while some were struck by protruding earth.

Cleo used Riptide to dispatch the remaining Hellhounds that managed to get close to them. Percy could tell that she hadn't been trained on sword fighting professionally, but she was more than adept in using them. Maybe Artemis really had gone ahead with her plan to teach her hunters the art of swordsmanship like she told him last time they spoke.

"That makes all of them that I can see." Percy once again stood his trident up on the ground, leaning against it as if it were holding him up. He scanned the eerie darkness of the trees around them, looking for any more monsters. "Let's get to camp. We would stand a better chance as a larger group. We don't want to risk staying in these trees any later, the night belongs to Monsters."

"But you'll beat them all!" Lil T smiled as she ran up to him, wrapping her arms around his waist in a hug, he tried his best not to wince. "You're so strong!"

"Thanks, lil T." He smiled. "But being strong isn't the same thing as being invincible, I still have to be careful." As if he meant to demonstrate, he picked up his trident with a groan of pain as he clutched his side. "My trident takes a lot out of me, the recoil deals some of the damage back on me. So I don't usually use it unless I have to."

The little girl gave him look like he was crazy. "Well that was a dumb idea!" She said with a 'what were you thinking' tone. "Why would you want to hurt yourself?"

The trident disappeared in his hand and took its spot at the center of his pendant. "It wasn't my idea, lil T." He told the little girl as he took Riptide back from Cleo, carrying it as they made their way away from the passed out Hyperborean. "It's not like I want it to hurt me, but powerful magic takes a toll on whatever is casting it. In this case it's my body. That's why my girlfriend doesn't like me using it, so tell her, 'kay?"

Lil T looked like she was going to speak up but Cleo beat her to it. "How about we get back to the others, eh Tiffany? Percy can show you some moves after we talk to Thalia about what we saw."

oooOooo

(February 20, 2011 - A forest in Colorado)

Percy's nerves were starting to get to him. He felt like either punching something or slamming his head into a wall.

It had been seven days since their first run in with Monsters, and it certainly wasn't their last. Random hordes of Monsters plagued them nearly every day now. They weren't usually that bad, and they hadn't had to fight anything as powerful as a Hyperborean Giant again, with the hordes usually consisting of Hellhounds, a few Empousa, the occasional Cyclops and maybe the random few Karpoi. So nothing too dangerous. No, it wasn't the Monsters that were getting to Percy, but one specific hunter that had seemingly made it her life's goal to harass and irritate him. Right about now she was most likely filling the new hunter's ears with lies about him being a coward.

He usually wouldn't mind, since it was all just talk and his reputation wasn't really that important to him, but Medeia was going a little too far. She was telling the new(and young) hunters that he was going to grow up like every other man and disrespect and take advantage of girls like them. Now that, wasn't just something Percy could ignore. And it seems neither could Thalia. So when Thalia heard that Medeia was lying to the girls about Percy she went to her tent, bringing Percy with her as she did so.

"Stop filling their heads with lies, Medeia." Thalia ordered, barging into the tent and interrupting the veteran hunter as she told the younger girls stories about the cruelty of men that would no doubt give them nightmares for the coming weeks. Thalia looked to the younger girls with a reassuring smile and rested her arm on Percy's shoulder as he stood next to her. "Don't listen to Medeia, girls. She doesn't know what shes talking about. Percy's the nicest guy in the world." She sent a quick glare towards Medeia that the older girl returned. "Lady Artemis trusts him, so that should tell you all you need to know about him."

Donna, the second youngest hunter at eight, gave Thalia a look of relief, as if she was told something horrible. "That's good, I don't want to be sold to some old guy as his wife."

Silence filled the tent for a good half minute before Thalia bent down in front of the young girl with a look of shock and confusion on her face. "W-what?" She looked to the five young girls sitting around Medeia in a small circle, their tensed shoulders and arms wrapped around their knees gave away their fright. "What was she teaching you?" She gave the older girl an incredulous look. "Medeia, you were supposed to be telling them the history of the hunters, not telling them that they'd have to marry old men."

"But it is the history of the hunters, Lieutenant." Medeia spoke with a snarky tone, saying 'lieutenant' like an insult. "The hunters of Artemis have always had to suffer because of the world of men. I was merely informing them about the real world. If they were to ever stray from the hunt they would be forced to endure the hardships of the world without us." She said all of this with a straight look on her face, like she was completely serious, which she very well might have been. "It is common place for young girls to be stolen or sold as wives. I was merely warning our newest hunters of befriending males," She sent a glare to Percy. "They are all the same. They will all eventually take advantage of us given the chance. I felt that it was necessary to teach them about the dangers of living with a male. If he were to sneak into one of their tents at night-."

"That is enough!" Thalia yelled, her voice filling the small space. She reached for lil T who looked terrified, picking the little girl up and wrapping her arms around her in a hug. After the girl no longer looked like she was about to cry, Thalia stuck her head outside the tent and called for Cleo to collect the girls and have them start afternoon chores. Once the younger hunters left only Thalia, Percy and Medeia remained in the tent.

Thalia's jaw was set tight and her fists were clenched, she was visibly seething, shaking like she was about to explode. Percy wasn't any better, Medeia insulting him around the young hunters was one thing, so was disrespecting him, but that, suggesting that he would… no, unacceptable. Percy had decided to stick with the hunters until they found the elder Hydra but he couldn't take Medeia's words anymore. This was the first time since they left New York that he was seriously considering leaving the hunt and going back to camp. Going back to Annabeth.

Thalia spoke up, her voice deathly calm, disguising her rage. She stormed right up to Medeia and stopped so close to her that their noses were almost touching. "How dare you!" Before Percy could stop her and faster than Medeia could react, Thalia pulled back her hand and struck the other girl open-palmed right on the face.

'SLAP!' The strike sounded through the small enclosed space and the ringing afterwards was the only thing that could be heard for what felt like an eternity. After some time Medeia faced Thalia again, holding her red cheek, giving the daughter of Zeus a glare that could have frightened a Monster.

"What was-." Medeia started to only be cut off by the daughter of Zeus when she stepped up to her again.

"How dare you!" Thalia repeated, interrupting the older girl. "How could you seriously almost say that in front of those girls!?" She demanded. "Tiffany is only seven and Donna is eight, they don't need to learn about that! They especially don't need to be told that Percy of all people would do that to them! You're lucky that none of them seemed to understand what you were about to say! Do you know what kind of damage you could have caused? Those girls looked frightened out of their minds!"

Medeia's face grew hard. "I was merely teaching the girls the dangers of befriending males!" She yelled back. "They will always take advantage of us!"

"I would never do that!" Percy yelled this time, fed up with Medeia. He usually ignored her and let her do as she pleased but no more. He was done with her. He was so pissed that he wasn't sure if his body was shaking or if it was the earth below him. As a child of Poseidon it could realistically be either at this point. "I care for lil T and the rest of those girls like sisters! I would never sneak into their tents and… and-" He shook his head vigorously as if he was trying to shake those thoughts out of his head before waking up next to Medeia quickly. The smaller girl took a subconscious step backwards towards the wall of the tent as he did.

"What is wrong with you?" He demanded. "I know a girl at camp who had to go through that, how dare you suggest I'd do something like that! I was raised by my single mom to be a gentleman and to always respect woman. I would never-, Do you really hate me so much that you'd try to tell those girls that they need to be afraid of me? That I'd take advantage of them like that? Why?"

"Yes!" She cried. "Yes, I do hate you, male! Was it not obvious?"

He gave her an astonished look. "What did I ever do to you?" Percy asked. "I've been nothing but kind, respectful and helpful. I help with cooking, I collect firewood, I sharpen arrows, I'm teaching the younger girls how to fight, I even help do laundry! So what did I do to you? If I insulted you or was disrespectful, I'm sorry, I didn't even mean to-."

"I do not want your apology, male." She spit out. "I wish for you to leave our hunt. You will bring nothing but death, misery and will only end up getting the rest of us killed!"

Percy's eyes narrowed, his voice was lower, no longer a yell but still filled with tension. "What do you mean getting the rest of you killed?"

Medeia didn't reply but Thalia's breath hitched and Percy knew that they knew something that they weren't telling him. Maybe it was whatever Thalia said she'd tell him a week ago.

Percy took a step closer to his cousin and placed a hand on her shorter shoulder. "Thals, what is she talking about?"

"I-." Thalia started to talk but Medeia cut her off.

"I am talking about how you got Zoë and twelve other of our sisters killed!" Medeia cried, pointing an accusing finger at him, tears could be seen forming around her eyes and her body was shaking. "You are to blame for their deaths! If it were not for you then they would all still be here!"

The entire tent was void of silence for so long Percy felt as if he had gone deaf to the world. After some time he spoke up, his voice soft and confused. "What?" He asked, facing Medeia and giving her a genuine worried look. "What do you mean I'm to blame? Id never kill let alone hurt any hunter."

The veteran hunter collapsed to the floor of the tent and leaned against a post, holding her face in her hands. After a few seconds of silence it was obvious that she wasn't going to say anything, so Percy looked to his cousin instead for answers. "Thalia," His voice was low, like he was speaking to a frightened animal. "What is she talking about?"

Thalia let out a long breath and sat down herself, a good ways away from Medeia and patted the spot next to her, Percy got the hint and sat as well. Thalia was biting her lip nervously and was combing her fingers through her hair absentmindedly. After a few more seconds of silence she spoke up.

"Two and a half months ago… we lost twelve hunters on a hunt." The daughter of Zeus looked to Medeia and placed a comforting hand on her arm, the older girl looked surprised by her action but didn't make to remove her hand. She only kept forcing her tears from falling and held back her sobs. After Thalia let out another breath she continued. "You asked why we only had eleven hunters and wondered why almost half of them were new, well, that's because twelve of them were killed."

Thalia bite her lip to keep her composure. Percy was astonished. He assumed that something had to had happened but he never expected something like this. The Hunters of Artemis were known throughout the Greek world as being some of the fiercest fighters, who in their right mind would kill twelve of them? And what could do such a thing?

Percy cleared his throat. "What in the god's names could do that?" He asked. "What kind of Monster could take down twelve hunters? Was it the Hydra we're hunting?"

Thalia shook her head once. "No, it wasn't the Hydra-."

"We don't know what it was." Medeia cut in, surprising the two. Percy turned to her.

"Well you have to have an idea," He prompted. "You are the hunters of Artemis. You've had to fight every Monster by now. Perhaps Artemis recognized it-."

"Lady Artemis wasn't there." Medeia spoke up deathly calm, looking at Percy, but her eyes no longer held the same fire in them, only deep sadness. "She left us to go on a solo hunt for a few weeks, instructing us to continue our duties without her."

"...What happened?" Percy asked.

"We split up into two groups." Thalia started. "Several of our hunters had gotten hurt on a previous hunt so I had Ashley take a few of our sisters out on a hunting trip. Just to collect berries, wild vegetables and to snare a few rabbits, it was normal, y'know, we had done it a hundred times." Thalia raised her hand to her mouth, holding back a sob. Percy placed an arm around her shoulders to help comfort his cousin. "We didn't think anything was wrong until one of our sisters didn't come back. So I sent Ashley back out with ten of our sisters to find her, they didn't come back that night either…" Her breath hitched as she held back a sob. "We found all twelve of them dead in the woods the next morning. They had been murdered."

"Slaughtered." Medeia corrected, eyeing the smoldering fire in the tent. "They were slaughtered by a beast. Their bodies broken, limbs torn off, impaled by their own arrows, ripped apart as if they were dolls." She moved her eyes to Percy's. "We have no idea what beast killed them, but whatever it was, it wasn't a Monster."

"Then what was it?" Percy asked her. "A minor Titan or something?"

Medeia only shrugged. "We do not know. We could find no tracks, no hairs, no other blood, no signs of any kind as to what killed them." She pulled her knees up to her chest and hugged them. "But whatever it was toyed with them before killing them. That we are sure of."

Thalia let out a cry beside him. He increased his hold on her shoulders, trying his best to comfort one of his oldest friends. He faced Medeia again. "But where was Artemis? Why didn't she help them?" He asked.

Medeia bit her lip and turned her face away from him. Thalia spoke up next to him. "Because she was with you, Percy. Lady Artemis was off hunting that earth deity with you when, whatever it was, killed our sisters."

Percy was silent as he let that sink in. No wonder why Medeia hated him, he was helping Artemis fight the earth deity. The earth deity was blocking Artemis' contact with the other gods, it must have also been blocking her vision of her hunters. He had no idea, Artemis hadn't told him anything about this. He hadn't even seen her after they went to get some lunch two weeks after they beat the earth deity. Percy looked to Medeia, all hostility towards this girl washed away.

"I'm sorry," He spoke softly. "I swear that I had no idea. This is the first I've heard of this. I- I." He didn't know what to say, he didn't have any words. Nothing he could say would bring their sisters back and there was nothing he could do to make her feel better. But he could always do one thing.

"Medeia," He spoke her name a little louder, a serious tone in his voice. "I swear to you that I will do everything in my power to keep the hunters safe as we hunt the Hydra" He formed a fist and put it over his heart. "Not to make up for their deaths or anything, but to make sure that no other hunter dies." Medeia looked up to his eyes, an astonished look on her face.

"...Percy…" Thalia mumbled.

Percy straightened his back and sat up fully. "I've lost people too, Beckendorf, Zoë, Bianca, Silena, Ethan, Lee, Michael, Connor Stoll, Butch and twenty four other campers in the second war of Mount Olympus eight months ago, and their deaths are on me. I wasn't able to save them," He looked right at Medeia, a sense of determination in his eyes. "So let me protect your hunters."

Medeia stared at him for several seconds before letting out a breath and shaking her head. "No wonder Lady Artemis respects you," She muttered under her breath but loud enough for them to hear. "You are unbelievable… I… apologize for my actions, young man, but I will stand by my beliefs. I will accept you into our hunt, but nothing more. I have experienced too much to let go of my prejudices in one day."

Percy gave a shrug before holding out his hand to her. "I understand. Don't worry about it, I don't hold grudges. We don't have to be friends, but how about acquaintances? How about we just start over? I'm Percy."

The girl eyed his hands for a few seconds before taking it and giving it a brief shake. "Medeia." She said before dropping his hand. "If you really wish to gain my favor, then assist us in tracking down the beast that killed our sisters and kill it."

Percy nodded. "That, I can do. Anything else you can tell me about it? Size, intelligence, how many there were, stuff like that?"

Medeia shook her head. "I do not believe so. We told you everything we found. Since we couldn't find any footprints we do not know how many there were or the size."

"There was one thing," Thalia faced Percy. "Each of the hunters had been laid down beside the other in a row and had drachma placed over their eyes."

Percy's brow peaked. "A drachma?" He repeated. "Golden?" Thalia nodded her head. "I've never heard of a Monster or anything doing something like that."

"I have." Medeia spoke up. "Back in Greece it was customary for bodies to be buried with a drachma placed over each eye so that they would be able to pay the ferryman so they could enter the Underworld."

"But why would a Monster do that?" Percy asked. "They don't show any kind of respect to the people they kill. That doesn't make any sense."

Medeia shrugged her shoulders. "I agree, that is why I had not said anything sooner. I truly have no idea why that beast would kill our hunters and then grant them access into the Underworld. It was a kind of burial tradition that hasn't been practiced in centuried, whatever killed them is very old."

Percy let out a breath through his nose. "Well we'll keep an eye out for any strange beasts as we hunt the Hydra." He looked to Medeia. "You have my word, I'll keep your hunters safe."


(Author's Note):

Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it. It was a little of a slower chapter but part 2 will have more action along with the introduction of my OC. I really hope you guys like him and give him a chance. Do you guys think Percy will be able to keep his promise?

So twenty four campers died protecting Olympus against the Titans when the gods refused to help. I talked about it last chapter but never gave a solid number. Now you can see why Percy is determined not to let something like that to happen again. He wants to stay around at camp and with the hunters to protect them. Connor Stoll and Butch were among the fallen, you read that right. PJ has never shied away from character deaths and neither will I. Did you know that 1,000, yes, 1,000 unnamed demigods died on the side of the Titans during the Battle of Manhattan according to the Demigod Files? So you've been warned, people die in this story. I wouldn't get too attached to anyone if I were you, mwahaha!

Anyway, sorry again about the delay but I put a lot of time into trying to make sure that the OC was as good as I could get him. You'll see him next time. Don't know when it'll be out but show a lot of support and it'll make me work faster.

Let me know what you thought of it in a Review and be sure to Follow/Favorite as well. And follow me on Twitter if you can, I use it to post polls, questions, updates and general info.

Have a great day and I'll see you guys next time,

Hephaestus