A whistling sound, and then

THUMP

"You better be faster than that Perseus" Artemis taunted as she readied another arrow to fire.

I groaned and got up again, trying and failing to completely dodge the tiny missiles the goddess was sending my way.

Let me tell you, that this is by far the worst training exercise I have ever gone through. Not as much because it doesn't help me or that it gives me more hardship, but just that smug look that comes on to Artemis' face every time she fired. Something about agility training, and that I was a 'bumbling oaf' and that I couldn't keep up with her even if she was going 'as slow as Hercules' brain'.

I grumbled as I quickly jumped out of the way of another arrow.

But, being me, I didn't see that she had fired two arrows at once and had the second one hit me in the gut. The arrows were blunted, but it still hurt like a bitch.

I grunted in pain as I tumbled ass down onto the ground from the momentum of the arrow. I mumbled curses at the goddess and looked up to see her eyebrows raised as she evidently heard my curses.

Apollo stood in the sidelines, since apparently being a god for millennia on end gave him the skills he needed, though I bet he'd get hit by the arrows more than I did.

"I think that's enough for today lil' sis. Looks like Perce is beaten up good" Apollo said and flinched as soon as Artemis turned her glare towards him for calling her the little sister.

"Hmph" she grunted, "I suppose that's enough. Though if our future relies on you Perseus, I would hope you would be more willing and able to undergo training"

With that her bow disappeared and she walked away.

"Sheesh" I said, "She really has a thing against guys, doesn't she?"

Apollo just shrugged and walked back towards their temporary camp.

Back at the camp, Artemis and Apollo sat in silence around the fire that we (read Apollo) had started. As I sat down, Artemis spoke

"We are getting closer, maybe a day or two more at this snail's pace we are keeping with, so get some rest. We will all have to be in top firm for what's coming"

Groaning, I got up and made my way over to my tent, and before stepping in, asked Apollo if he could send a message over to Hermes and ask him to hotwire a car somewhere. Cause seriously. I do not like running.

Two days later, and guess what? We were still running!

I mean, I guess we were getting closer, at least that's what Artemis keeps saying, and as the goddess of the hunt I'm pretty sure her tracking skills were about a thousand times better than mine or Apollo's.

After a point, we started to slow down, until Artemis held up a fist and we slowed to a halt.

"Be quiet and follow me" she hissed as she started creeping through a dense foliage to our right.

Apollo and I followed her, sneaking through the mini forest until we reached a small clearing, which was…...empty.

"Ummm what are we supposed to be seeing?" I asked, confused.

"This is the location that Hermes mentioned" Artemis mentioned

"Ask Athena" Apollo replied, "Hermes must have given her more details about the base"

Artemis nodded and then went silent. She cocked her head, as if listening to something and then nodded and spoke, "Athena says that the base is cloaked by magic. Hermes was able to gather the intel about the base, but I think it best we consult Hecate about this"

"Wait a second" I cut in, "Hecate is still there? I thought only the Olympians remained"

"Nope" Apollo said, "She was with us in that final battle against Gaea, and though she doesn't have a throne and the same protection we Olympians do, she was still whisked away to the base with us"

"How come I never saw her then?" I asked

"She exhausted herself binding our life forces to our thrones" Artemis said, "She's been resting ever since. But she's been in and out of consciousness as she pleases. I've just asked Aphrodite to go wake her up"

"Ok good. Keep us updated. Also, why are you the only one who contacts the rest? Why doesn't Apollo do it?" I asked

Artemis snorted, "That's because my idiotic brother is vain and stupid"

I turned to Apollo and raised an eyebrow, and he 'humphed' and responded, "My voice gets garbled when I speak mentally. I'm a musician. My voice can't be anything but perfect"

I facepalmed. Have I ever mentioned that Apollo can be a huge child?

Suddenly Artemis looked alert, "It's Hecate" she said as Apollo and I waited intensely for her to continue, "She says that any form of cloaking can't be too advanced because they don't have any expert magic users, so I need to draw a rune on all of us that will allow us to see through the woven mist"

She then walked around for a bit and picked up a stick. She knelt down and slowly started carving something into the ground.

I leaned towards Apollo and whispered, "Dude, what's she doing?"

He cocked his head for a second ad whispered back, "Hecate's teaching her how to draw the rune"

I nodded and we stood silently watching Artemis have a go at the rune. It took a while.

We had to move to a completely different patch of sand because there were so many failed attempts where we were before.

Finally, Artemis rose up and called us over from our intense match of rock-paper-scissors.

Apollo claimed he could've won, but that was just wishful thinking.

We went over to where Artemis was standing and then looked at her final sketch. Looked really simply, but it must've been really hard to draw. Either that or Artemis really sucked at drawing.

I think I'll keep that thought to myself.

I value my genitals.

It was an eye, but instead of an eyeball, it had some weird swirly design to it.

Artemis conjured a pen in her hands and turned towards us and proceeded to draw said rune on our cheeks, and I think Apollo and I agreed on the fact that she stressed the pen considerably harder than was necessary on our cheeks.

She then handed me the pen and stood there waiting. I looked down at the pen and then looked back up at her and then turned towards Apollo with a questioning look.

Apollo shrugged.

Artemis groaned, "You idiot. I need someone to draw the rune on me. I can't very well draw it on my own face"

Right. Yeah, that's my bad. I rushed on over to Artemis who stood there glaring at me, as I carefully copied the rune from the ground onto her cheek. Though she did punch me in the gut for pressing too hard at one point.

Once we all had the runes drawn, we turned towards Artemis again and waited while she finished talking with Hecate.

"Ichor" Artemis said, "Just a drop of ichor on the rune to activate it"

While Artemis and Apollo dabbed their ichor onto their cheeks from incisions made in their finger, I still looked down on my hands.

I took out riptide and made a small cut on my forefinger. And I stared at the new liquid pooling out of my body. It was the first time I had really seen it, and it really struck me.

I was immortal. I would live forever until I faded.

The golden ichor of the gods trickled slowly out of the small cut I had made on my finger, and I just stood there watching the new component of my body.

I small cough bumped me out of my stupor as I looked up at the two gods waiting for me expectedly, the runes on their cheeks slightly glowing a golden hue.

I dabbed the ichor onto the rune on my cheek, and I felt it heat up slightly, until the area in the clearing started flickering.

And suddenly in the place of the clearing, stood a small fort.

Looking at it, I was still pretty underwhelmed.

"This can't be the whole thing" Apollo said, "knowing Gaea, she would've had this as the entrance. The demigod will probably be somewhere underground"

"For once brother, I agree with you" Artemis said.

"We need to scope it out first" I said, "Find out a week point in this fort, and infiltrate it"

Artemis nodded, "This place is bound to be swarming with monsters. We need to find the right way to infiltrate the building, but still kill the monsters. Escaping past them wouldn't be smart. We could be attacked from the back too"

She went silent for a moment, and then I heard a voice in my head.

Perseus can you hear me?

I yelped and jumped in surprise. I just heard Athena speak in my head.

I had us all connected so that we could speak properly. Infiltrating the base will be different. Trying to fight indoors, might allow the monsters to trigger some sort of alarm.

"Ummm what exactly do we do then" Apollo replied.

You need to bring the fight outside. If you can lure the monsters outside and take them out slowly and without the rest knowing, then you can decrease their numbers enough to slip inside the base unnoticed.

"Yes of course" Artemis cut in, "We can set up traps outside here, snare and kill the monsters quickly and then sneak in"

Exactly. Artemis, that is your field of expertise, so I'll leave you all to it. I'll leave this mental communication link open and gather the remaining gods here. Saving the demigods are our top priority now.

With a steely glint in our eyes, we turned towards Artemis as she guided us into collecting different materials to set up the traps. With snares, nets and pits set up in different parts of the forest, we sat down, tired from the work.

I looked around, and luckily our traps were hidden well. I just hoped it would be successful.

"Rest" Artemis said, "Half an hour. We'll take the base then"

I nodded and sat down, uncapping and recapping riptide continuously. This was unlike any other quest I had ever taken part in. Well that was not completely untrue, sneaking into the Acropolis had been like this, but we had the hope on our side.

I looked to the side, and saw that Apollo looked nervous, plucking the string of his bow once in a while. The god probably never had to do things like this. He was loud and flashy. Not a spy.

Half an hour passed, and we were regenerated (Thank you immortal body).

Just in case, Apollo handed us each a piece of ambrosia and we gobbled it up.

"You guys ready?" I asked.

Artemis simply stared at the base, knives in hand, and Apollo had an arrow knocked.

Save my son

The gruff voice of Hephaestus came in our minds, as Apollo released his arrow, flying straight towards the main door of the base.

Hey peeps! How was it? This was kind of a build up chapter, but you'll see some action in the next one. Hope you guys liked the chapter. Feel free to leave any comments you have in a review and PM for any questions you may have.

Another small note, I have my finals coming up, so I probably won't be able to post the next chapter until June. But the story will continue! See you all next time!