A/N: Look at me! Updating less than a week later. Y'all should be proud of me. This chapter's really long, but I also fully wrote it in disjointed pieces over the course of like twenty days, so I apologize if it's a little repetitive. Maybe someday I'll rewrite this fic with an outline from the very beginning and I'll get a beta to make sure I don't contradict myself or leave aggressive plot holes lol. But anyway, I hope you like this chapter. I'm already working on the next one, but it might take me a couple weeks (although I'm in quarantine right now lol so maybe it'll somehow make me more productive than usual; we'll see). Please let me know what you think in a review!
Disclaimer: I don't own PJO, I do own my OCs.
The Hunters of Artemis.
Nico hadn't seen Thalia and her sisters since they fought alongside him and Reyna in Puerto Rico. He probably hadn't thought about them, seriously, in just as long. And now they'd just shown up out of nowhere to save his sister's life.
Something dark and terrible inside him told Nico they were going to take her away again.
"Thalia," Percy broke the silence, sounding just as surprised as Nico felt. The son of Poseidon had capped his sword, but the pen was still gripped between two of his fingers as he bent forward, hands on his knees, and panted.
Nico really wished this were an appropriate time for him to make fun of Percy for being old, but he didn't think the joke would be appreciated.
"The monsters are gone, but they won't be for long," Thalia said, passing her sharp, electric blue eyes over each of them in turn— Percy, Jeannine, Adrianne, and then finally Nico. "We need to talk."
Nico suppressed a shiver. He slowly pushed himself to his feet, feeling every one of his aches and pains as the adrenaline from the fight drained out of him. "You said yourself it's not safe here. You have a place in mind?"
Thalia turned her head and whistled. Nico heard heavy footsteps behind her and instinctually flinched as he pictured whatever pack of wolves she'd brought with her pounding down the stairs. "My sisters will meet us in Central Park, where they can set up some warding. Can you shadow-travel us there?"
Nico looked around at the four other people in the tight hallway and frowned. Even if Jeannine could help… "Not all of us."
"I should stay here anyway," Percy offered, straightening up and grimacing as his muscles protested. "I need to check on Annabeth."
"I'll stay too," Jeannine said quickly. She shot Nico a terrified glance and squeaked, "Unless you need me?"
Nico shook his head and saw Jeannine immediately relax. He gave her a soft smile. "Thank you for all your help, you did great."
"Come on, J," Percy said, guiding Jeannine toward the back bedroom where Annabeth was still waiting. He shot Nico a final look over his shoulder, his green eyes bright with a clear message: I'm here if you need me.
Nico nodded, trying to convey all the immense gratitude he felt for his cousin in a single look. But he knew that, with the Hunters presumably offering backup, he wouldn't be calling on Percy anytime soon if he could help it.
It was just Nico, Thalia, and Adrianne left alone in the hallway. Adrianne glanced between Nico and the direction Percy and Jeannine had gone, looking nervous. "Should I…?" she started to ask.
"You have to come with us," Thalia said before Nico could answer. "You're who we need to talk about."
To her credit, Adrianne straightened her shoulders and confidently met Thalia's gaze. "Let's go, then."
Nico retrieved his sword that was still lying abandoned on the floor and stuck it through his belt. He collected some of the arrows that had fallen when the monsters vanished and handed them off to Thalia, who took them with a grateful nod and returned them to the quiver at her back. Adrianne was holding her dad's sword again, Nico realized, capped back into pen form. Jeannine must have returned it to her, and taken Annabeth's knife, when Nico wasn't looking.
"I'm going to pull you through the shadows again," he warned his sister, holding a hand out for her to take. "It might feel weird, but just hold on tight to me, okay?"
Adrianne nodded and confidently gripped his hand. Nico reached over to grab Thalia's sleeve with his other hand and sent out a silent prayer— to whom, he wasn't sure, but maybe to his father— that Jeannine and the Jacksons would be safe here without him. Then he closed his eyes and let the shadows swallow them.
The Hunters of Artemis had set up their camp on the northern end of Central Park, at the base of a rocky hill. Nico felt the wards they'd set up pushing against him as he emerged from the shadows, and he got the sense that the spells were meant not just to keep monsters away, but mortals too.
Thalia passed Nico some nectar, which he swallowed in one gulp until he felt his injuries heal and his energy recharge. He watched protectively out of the corner of his eye as a girl he didn't recognize checked Adrianne over, offering her bandages and bottled water (Adrianne refused the first and accepted the second, but only after a cautious glance in Nico's direction, as if asking for his permission).
Nico was aware that he probably looked as uncomfortable and frustrated as he felt, and he tried to actively school his features into a calmer expression, trying to silently reassure his sister that they were in a safe place. But he couldn't help feeling years-old anger and resentment bubbling up inside him at the sight of the parka-clad girls of varying ages, all armed with bows and quivers and leading wolves at their sides. It was too reminiscent of the world his sister had left him for, and the fact that Bianca was here with him now— sort of, in some form, anyway— didn't make it hurt any less.
"Come with me," Thalia said, beckoning Nico and Adrianne forward once they'd been there a few minutes. "We can talk in here."
She led them to one of the bigger tents the Hunters had set up. Nico appreciated the privacy. But it wasn't until he actually stepped foot inside the tent that he was violently reminded of one of the many reasons he'd been avoiding the Hunters even more than usual since arriving in the future.
There was a wooden table set up on the far end of the tent, its legs sunk deep into the ground like it had grown straight out of the earth (and knowing the Hunters, Nico wouldn't be surprised if it had). There were five chairs circling the table, three of them waiting empty for Nico, Thalia, and Adrianne to fill. The other two were occupied by two girls dressed in the silver uniforms of the Hunters. Nico stiffened, his attention immediately caught by the younger of the girls— she didn't look older than twelve, but she radiated power and authority the way no moral or demigod could.
In fact, he was so distracted by the girl who without a doubt had to be Artemis that he didn't even notice the other Hunter seated next to the goddess until she stood, crossed the length of the tent, and slapped Nico across the face.
Nico's head snapped to the side with a crack, and he tasted the salty tang of blood in his mouth. He heard someone— probably Adrianne— give a shocked little scream, and then the deadly whoosh of a sword emerging from its sheath. Without giving himself time to think about it, Nico darted forward, ignoring the pain in his cheek. He grabbed the sword out of Adrianne's hand almost before it had even fully stopped being a pen and swung around to block her, sword raised, from the three bows and arrows pointed at them.
Nico tried to still his pounding heartbeat and appear as unthreatened as possible as he shot a lazy smirk at the girl who'd slapped him. "Nice to see you too, Reyna."
It took a while, but eventually Nico was able to get everyone to calm down and put their weapons away. He convinced Adrianne and the Hunters that they weren't a threat to each other, then claimed one of the empty chairs across from the moon goddess and explained where he'd been for the last fifteen years.
It was strange, admitting the secret he and his father had fought to keep in front of a goddess, but at least Artemis was one of the more reasonable Olympians and didn't react until he'd finished explaining himself. Thalia and Reyna were understandably mad at him, in a way that Percy and Annabeth and the rest of them had been too nice to be, but at least Reyna didn't slap him again (although she didn't offer him any nectar or ambrosia either, and Nico's jaw ached the longer he spoke).
Finally, he felt he'd gotten everything out on the table— his stint in the Lotus, his father's search for the reincarnated Bianca, and everything that had happened with Adrianne and Jeannine, leading up to the monster fight Thalia had saved them from.
Furthermore, they were now all seated comfortably around the literal table, he and Adrianne on one side and Thalia and Reyna flanking the goddess on the other. "How did you know we were in trouble?" Nico asked once he'd finished his story, directing the question at Thalia. "Did Percy call you?"
"I sent my lieutenant to assist you," Artemis said before Thalia could answer. It was the first she'd spoken since they'd entered the tent, and her high, too-young voice made Nico jump. "Although, I will admit I didn't know you'd be involved at all, son of Hades." She turned her thousand-year-old stare on Adrianne. "I came for the girl."
Nico stiffened, his hand instinctively reaching for his sword. His vision flashed white for a second. Angry words bubbled up inside him, carrying with them years' worth of resentment and misplaced guilt he'd been keeping shoved down without even realizing it.
You can't have her, he wanted to scream. I am not going to let you Hunters take my sister from me again!
But before he could even get a word out, someone said, "Okay, wait. Back up."
It was Adrianne, sitting ramrod straight in the chair next to him, her hands clutching her dad's pen like it was a lifeline. Nico looked over at her, and Artemis and the Hunters across from them had the same surprised look on their faces as Nico was sure he did. As much as the conversation so far had been about Adrianne, she'd been fairly quiet since brandishing a sword at Reyna for slapping Nico. He'd honestly kind of forgotten she was there until now, that it wasn't just him against the universe anymore.
Adrianne blushed at all the attention now directed at her, but to her credit, she didn't back down. "I kinda knew going into this that there was going to be a lot I didn't understand," she said, flitting her gaze over each of them in turn but mostly addressing Artemis. "I figured it'd be best if I just stayed out of it until I was needed; didn't want to waste too much time asking a whole lot of questions." She twisted the cap of her sword-pen between her fingers, her eyes steely and so familiar they made Nico's heart hurt. "But what the hell do you mean you came for me? Who even are you?"
The goddess gave her an amused smile that Nico recognized as an immortal trying to decide whether or not someone was worth the effort of killing. It was a look he'd seen a lot of gods give Percy.
"I am Artemis, young mortal," she said. "Goddess of the hunt."
"Sure," Adrianne said, unfazed. "Cause the Greek gods are real, sure, I got that. And you guys…" She gestured listlessly at Thalia and Reyna. "You're part of some… neo-feminist monster-hunting sorority cult, right? Like Talia and RaRa from the books?"
"RaRa?" Thalia repeated with a grin.
"Gods, I hate those books," Reyna muttered.
"The Hunters are an elite group of women sworn to my service," Artemis explained. "They receive sisterhood, a life of purpose, and immortality until they are killed in battle, as long as they swear their life to me and forever deny the company of men."
Adrianne turned to Nico, her expression hard to read. "And your sister was one of them, wasn't she? That's why you asked me…?"
Nico thought back to the day his father had told him about the Great Prophecy, when he'd sat Adrianne down and point-blank asked her, If you knew you could be the one to save the world, but to do it, you'd have to leave your only family behind, would you?
That was back when he'd considered tracking down the Hunters himself, if only to convince them to leave Adrianne alone. Now it turned out they'd been looking for her this whole time; Artemis had sent her lieutenant to fight a boy's battles just to save Adrianne's life.
Nothing's more important than family, she'd said all those days ago. I'd let someone else save the world.
If only that were an option anymore.
"My sister died fighting for the Hunters," Nico said, answering Adrianne's question but keeping his eyes locked on the goddess. "What do you want with her now?"
Artemis sat back in her chair, confidently meeting his gaze. "Thalia, Reyna," she ordered her Hunters without looking away from Nico, "Go tend to your sisters. I need to speak to the children of Hades. Alone."
"Yes, my lady," Thalia said immediately, standing to go.
Reyna hesitated a moment. Nico could see her staring at him out of the corner of his eye, looking like she wanted to tell him something. Nico refused to let himself meet her gaze, and finally Reyna stood and followed Thalia out of the tent, shoving Nico's shoulder as she passed. He tried not to wince; now was not the time to feel guilty.
"I feel I should try to explain some things," Artemis said once the tent flap had fallen closed behind her Hunters. She offered Adrianne a smile that Nico thought was probably supposed to be reassuring but looked a little ominous on a goddess's face. "I knew your father, girl."
Adrianne gave a little gasp, her eyes widening slightly. "My… my dad?"
"You mean Hades?" Nico clarified, frowning suspiciously at the goddess.
Artemis shook her head and confirmed to Adrianne, "Your mortal father, Giuseppe. His sister was one of my Hunters until the last Giant War."
Adrianne looked confused, but not like she didn't believe Artemis. "I never knew my dad's sisters, just his brother," she admitted. "I assumed they all died before I was born."
"Two of them did," Artemis confirmed. "But the youngest, Anna Maria, swore herself to me when she was no older than you. Of all the siblings, she and your father alone possessed the ability to see through the Mist."
"But they were mortal, right?" Nico asked, wanting to make sure the information his father had collected on Adrianne's family hadn't been too entirely off the mark.
"Mortal enough," Artmeis said. "There may have been a demigod somewhere far back in their family tree— a Roman who left the legion and married a mortal, perhaps, hence only two of the children inheriting the Sight— but mortal in every way that mattered. They learned of the truth about the gods and chose to do different things with this knowledge. Namely, Anna Maria joined my Hunters, and Giuseppe sought out friendship from as many demigods as he could. He wasn't targeted by monsters, but when they came for his friends, he knew how to fight them off." She nodded pointedly at the pen in Adrianne's hand. "That, I believe, was a gift from Camp Half-Blood, though I'm sure Giuseppe was one of very few to hold relations with Camp Jupiter too."
"When was all this?" Nico asked, trying to do the math in his head.
"Before your time, son of Hades." Meaning, he assumed, during his first stint in the lotus. Before Percy's time.
"Nico said monsters usually leave mortals alone," Adrianne spoke up. "I get them showing up when I was with a bunch of half-bloods, but why did they come after me when I was alone? Why did they—?" Her voice broke, and she sounded choked (but her eyes were dry) when she continued, "Why did they kill my family?"
Artemis had taken the form of a girl no older than twelve, and yet the look she gave Adrianne now held all the sorrow and empathy that only millenia of experience could give her. "Under most circumstances, monsters know to leave mortals alone," she explained simply. "But your family has been targeted by the world of the gods since before you were born, trying to get to you."
"But why?" Adrianne demanded again.
It clicked in Nico's brain just a second before Artemis said, "Because you were the first."
"The first reincarnated child of Hades," Nico filled in before Adrianne even had the chance to ask. "Maybe even the first child of Hades to make it to Elysium… That's why the monsters have been after her?"
"Not just the monsters," Artemis said, turning away from Adrianne for the first time in a while to meet Nico's gaze. "The Fates."
There was silence for a few moments as Nico's brain seemed to short-circuit at this mind-blowing new piece of information. The Fates sat at the very top of the Greek Mythology food chain. They held more power than the gods, Titans, and Gaea herself put together. They determined the course of the world and everyone's lives, and apparently that meant they had it out for Nico's sister just because she'd had the nerve to die a hero.
Nico had never met the Fates personally— even he wasn't that unlucky— but Percy had. And Nico knew well enough not to mess with Fate (any more than he already had, anyway). It would only end in further destruction.
"The Fates decreed over a decade ago," Artemis continued once she'd given Nico and Adrianne enough time to process, "almost as soon as Bianca di Angelo entered Elysium, in fact, that it would simply be too dangerous for a reincarnated child of Hades to be let loose on the world, whether she be born demigod or mortal."
"Hence the monsters," Nico surmised. "But what took so long? I mean, she must have escaped monster attacks for years— what, without even knowing they were there? And then even just in the last month— no monsters came after her at all before today. They didn't even come after me."
Artemis leaned forward in her seat, bracing her elbows on the table and lacing her fingers together thoughtfully. It was a very adult gesture that looked strange in her childish form. She answered Nico's question, but addressed Adrianne. "Your father made a deal, with the Fates, after you were born. As long as he lived, you and all your associates would be protected. But after he died…" She shrugged meaningfully.
Nico clenched his fists in his lap, wincing as he heard Adrianne choke back a sob next to him. This was all too much.
He shook his head, then steeled himself, reached over to grasp his sister's hand reassuringly, and resolutely made eye contact with the goddess. "What do we do? How do I protect her, make this damn prophecy about anyone else?"
Artemis looked infuriatingly amused. "By all rights, son of Hades, the Great Prophecy shouldn't have referred to her at all. But then someone had to cheat Fate in the Lotus Hotel for fifteen years."
Nico's chest constricted with dread and guilt, his jaw dropping open and his fingers slipping listlessly out of Adrianne's. "You mean…" His voice was distant even to his own ears. "This is all my fault."
"What are you talking about?" Adrianne asked. Nico felt her hands on his arm, trying to calm him down or shake him into answering her, he wasn't sure; he barely registered the touch. "Nico, I don't care what the stupid Fates say; nothing that's happened to me is your fault."
"There is one way to protect the girl, take her off the Fates' radar altogether," Artemis said.
Nico snapped back into himself, sitting forward and slamming his hands down on the table. "What is it?" he demanded of the goddess. "Tell me! I'll do anything."
Artemis's smirk was cold, shameless, and just a little bit evil as she said the worst words Nico could've heard. "The only way to keep Adrianne safe is if she joins my Hunters."
A/N: Hope you liked it. Please review!