I am back! Ta-da!

Coming with your new chapter. Yes, I've missed you too.

I've been trying to make longer chapters, but I didn't want the differences to be too abrupt, so it's been slowly inching upwards. I think this chapter was three and a half pages on a Google Doc. Chapter one of this story was maybe one page. So yeah.

In this chapter, we get to hear from Zoe. You guys missed her, right?

Please review. I love feedback about my work (or just, you know, a general "This is awesome"/"This sucks"). As I've mentioned before, five reviews get you a bonus chapter. And it's at a fixed up, so like, ten reviews equals two chapters and stuff. So if you want to see character-author interactions and missing scenes, leave a review. Or private message. I'm not particular.

Enjoy!

Worry.

Zoe had been gone for a fortnight, and Artemis hadn't heard from her in half that time. She would just have to assume that no news was good news.

After the first attack on her Hunt, it had quickly devolved into a game of cat and mouse. She might have had a leftover soft spot from when he was a friend, but attacking her other Hunters (companions, friends)? It was crossing a line. They were her Hunters, dammit: hers to cherish, hers to befriend, so it was to her utmost displeasure that they were being used as collateral damage in something that was supposed to be personal. Besides, even without sentiment being evolved, it was one follower versus several dozen. It was simple mathematics.

The issue was, Orion was an extremely difficult giant to hunt down. It wasn't like Otis and Ephialtes, where all she had to do was run between them and get them to kill each other. Orion, being the bane of her and Apollo, was also extremely good with hunting. Whenever Artemis was with the Hunters, he would simply stay away. Whenever she wasn't, he would strike without warning and slip away before she could confront him. It was incredibly annoying.

And he didn't even have the decency to limit his attacks to the Hunters. She has been getting reports that some mysterious entity with absurdly accurate archery skills had been attacking the Amazons as well. Either that infernal son of Poseidon, Sciron [1], had somehow returned from the dead, or it was Orion. That seemed a bit overkill, considering that the Amazons weren't even involved, but judging from the testimony from one of the few survivors, Orion had gone quite far off the deep end and developed a hatred for all independent women, Hunter or not.

It was probably at that point that Orion went from being unforgivable to being prey.

Regrettably, while Artemis would have been happy to spend years hunting him down, those under her protection were more at risk the longer Orion stayed alive. They were on a time crunch.

She had already told the Hunters and Amazons exactly whom they were dealing with, of course. It would have been incredibly foolish and irresponsible to leave them in the dark because she wanted to look good in front of her followers for a mistake she had made. Apollo, on the other hand…

Yes, she still held a grudge about the Incident, and Orion's defection had been technically Apollo's fault, anyway, what with his meddling causing him to get killed in the first place. Unfortunately, she was fairly sure that if she ever told him about that, Apollo would have taken the time to gloat before he did anything helpful.

Little brothers were annoying that way.

And yes, perhaps that was her pride speaking, but she did feel responsible for Orion, in a way. Telling the Hunters and Amazons was a necessity, but then again, she did prefer their company more than most of the other gods. This particular squabble felt a bit...personal? At any rate, she'd much rather that the other gods didn't get involved.

Though she might be forced to, if it didn't resolve itself quickly.

Zoe was distinctly not having a good time.

Perhaps it was the fact that she had run into a hydra within ten minutes after she had set out to track down Orion, an encounter rate that had yet to go down. Perhaps it was the fact that her knee was acting up again-it had been deemed properly healed by Phoebe, but Zoe supposed that constantly maneuvering didn't strictly fit the definition of "rest". Perhaps it was because she had taken to sleeping on top of trees to avoid being caught off guard by whatever was on the ground. Whatever the case, trudging through the forest, which normally relaxed her, made her feel cranky and on edge.

She felt uneasy, a constant churning sensation in her abdomen. It must have been because she was so far into the forest now that the leaves were blocking out a good portion of the sunlight, making it difficult to make Iris messages. Yes, that must be it. Nothing to do with how she was hunting down someone she once considered a friend. Certainly not.

She stopped at a stream, gathering some of the water to her lips before refilling her water canteen. Splashing some water on her face and arms, Zoe got up again.

It was difficult to tell what direction she was heading under that kind of lighting. She was under enough shade that shadows were everywhere. The mold technique was also unreliable under the same conditions. The stars had yet to come out.

Zoe wasn't lost, per se. She knew she needed to head southwest, and now that she found the stream, she could guess that it was flowing westward, since she had climbed the small mountain range, reached the peak, and was climbing down, so she had a general direction. Still, the forest was shockingly large, even by her standards. Treacherous, too. Zoe assumed that the locals didn't cross it often, judging from the lack of human tracks [2].

One week later, and the trees were starting to clear up. She must have been approaching the edge, then. She sped up her pace.

There. She stopped. The city of Latium [3] appeared before her.

Zoe frowned. Why would Orion be there? It had been a rather backwater spot, all things considered. It was fairly far away from mainland Greece, and even further from where the Amazons were [4]. Perhaps she made a mistake? Or had been led on a false trail? What could possibly be there?

Still, there was a temple of Artemis there, wasn't there? She could pay her respects, perhaps pray for more guidance. The trip might not be a total-

Zoe moved just in time to dodge an arrow. Glancing around wildly, she met the mechanical gaze of the giant she was looking for.

Zoe wasn't sure whether to bless or curse her luck.

"Impressive forest, isn't it?" Orion said, by way of greeting. "The locals called it the Silva Ciminia. It was considered virtually impossible to cross, but I suppose it wouldn't have been a challenge for you and me."

Zoe just stared. The former Hunter didn't seem that much different, though he seemed to radiate a...darker aura. Calmer. Less innocent.

Orion seemed to find her silence amusing, because he smirked. "How have you been, Zoe? Had Artemis sent you?"

That jolted her brain into action. "Amongst other people," she replied, summoning her bow. "Thou hast been killing Hunters. And Amazons."

"Ah yes," Orion acknowledged with a nod. "And I suppose Artemis sent you to hunt me down."

"Naturally," Zoe said. She readied her bow. "Why do you slaughter my sisters?"

"Your sisters," Orion said. "Exactly. You never considered me one of you. Why should I hold any love for you?"

"And the Amazons?"

He shrugged, "You're not that much different, really. They too needed to be knocked down a peg."

Zoe growled and fired her arrow. The giant intercepted it just as quickly, returning fire. Zoe cut it out of the air.

Artemis, she prayed. Hear me.

"Did it all mean nothing to thee?" She demanded. "Thou had friends in the Hunt. I considered thee one of us, before thou turned on us. Hast thou forgotten?"

Orion faltered a bit. Zoe took the opportunity to fire another arrow, which grazed his arm.

"Or hast thy time in Tartarus muddled thy mind?" She continued, pressing her advantage.

Orion's face twisted. "Do not mention Tartarus!" he snarled, his attacks becoming wilder. He slashed at the place Zoe's neck had been a split second before.

Keep him unbalanced, Zoe thought.

"I think," she began, "that thou art selfish and-" she dodged a knife strike.

"Ungrateful. We offered friendship-" parry.

"We offered family-" strike under his guard.

"Yet thou rejected it all for the one thing thou art forbidden to have," she slashed across his chest, leaving an ichory gash. "And now you blame all of us."

Zoe leapt back as Orion swept his bow like a club. "What does that make thee? Doth thou think thyself blameless? Or doth thou blame us to relieve thyself of guilt?"

"Don't talk about things you don't know, Zoe!" Zoe suddenly had the breath knocked out of her bow by the swing of his bow: she had forgotten to dodge. She had the sense to duck the next swing through the pain, though it put strain on her knee. She was fairly sure a few of her ribs were cracked.

Artemis, my lady, I cannot hold him much longer.

Zoe was tiring. Orion could heal. She could only last so long.

She dodged another blow, before counterattacking. Orion parried the strike. The knife fell out of her hands.

Cursing, she managed to block the next stab with her hastily summoned bow. Her elbows buckled. Orion kicked her in the chest, sending her into an oak tree.

Zoe could taste blood in her mouth. She slid down, her legs no longer supporting her.

Artemis, please hurry.

"I have missed you, Zoe," Orion sounded almost sad. "If it's any consolation, you fight well."

Then the forest rippled. A silver arrow sprouted from his neck.

Orion staggered back from the would-be fatal wound.

"Unacceptable, Orion," said the goddess, emerging from the trees. "I will not have you cut down anymore innocents in your vendetta against me."

Orion pulled the arrow out of his neck, gasping. "So you will have me go back to Tartarus? Again?"

Artemis's eyes narrowed with resolve. "If I must. Zoe, if you would…"

Zoe got ready to grab an arrow.

Orion's eyes glowed. "This isn't the end." Then, before either of them could react, he bolted, sprinting into the thick woods and disappearing.

They both stared at the spot where he had disappeared. Zoe's stomach felt heavy. Another failure.

Artemis spoke up. "Are you alright, Zoe?"

"Fine, my lady," she said. She tried to get up, but her legs didn't seem to be responding.

"Do not despair about Orion," Artemis said. "He had time to prepare. You did not. You were at a disadvantage. We will take him down, eventually."

The goddess sounded melancholy. Zoe abruptly realized that she wasn't the only one uncomfortable with killing an old friend.

Zoe changed the subject. "Why would he be here? There is nothing of value here."

Artemis tilted her head, considering. "You would be correct. Perhaps-" her eyes widened as if in realization. "How far are we from Latium?"

"Very close," Zoe said. She looked at Artemis, confused.

"Hippolytos," Artemis said. She broke into a run, before realizing that Zoe wasn't following. She came back and slid her arm under Zoe's shoulders. "Apologies, Zoe. Can you walk with me?"

Zoe nodded. Together they trekked towards the city.

[1] Sciron: The dude with the smelly feet and the giant turtle. Hazel and Jason encountered him in The House of Hades.

[2] The Silva Ciminia: The Cimini Forest. An extremely treacherous forest that separated Latium from Etruria. The Roman historian Livy mentioned it. It formed part of the forerange of the Apennines, a mountain range that went through the Italian Peninsula. I think the mountain gods appeared at the beginning of the House of Hades.

[3] Latium was a city in Italy, close to where Rome would be founded. It's located in modern day Lazio. Apparently, that was the place Artemis spirited Hippolytos off to after his resurrection. This particular city would be at the center of much political strife in the coming years with the arrival of Aeneas. You know, The Aeneas. Nothing like a civil war to found a city. Apparently, the language Latin was named after these people. It gets explained better in the Aeneid, but apparently, Juno was finally convinced to let go of her vendetta against Aeneas (yeah, uh, she had one of these) if Rome kept the language and customs alive.

[4] Ah, the Amazons. Where the heck was their kingdom? Well, after much research (mostly surfing around on Google)...we don't know. Historians think they might have been in Ukraine after a bunch of Archaeologists uncovered a tomb full of female warriors. But seriously? Not sure. From the location of Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, you know, one of the seven wonders of the world, presumably built by Amazons, I think we can say that their kingdom was further east from Mainland Greece.

So there you have it! Remember, reviews are appreciated, and I'd love suggestions to where I should take the story next. Thank you and until next time.