No POV
"Why couldn't Thalia just send the new hunters to scout ahead. They're the ones that need the practice, not us." The irritated brunette kicked a tree to release her frustration caused by her superior's decision. The dead tree collapsed and created a large thud sound that scared away the birds nearby.
"Watch it Daphne," the taller girl whispered. "Don't you realize that this place is like extremely dangerous and you just called attention to ourselves? Besides it is obvious why Thalia sent us instead of the newbies." The daughter of Aphrodite snorted and looked at her partner.
"Oh really? Well then misses genius, if it is so obvious then tell me why." The daughter of Athena groaned and turned to look at her sister.
"She sent us because the place is dangerous, we are very experienced and we compliment each other. I love to study things from afar and well... you because you love getting your hands dirty."
"You know that's right. The dirtier the work the merrier." The brunette chuckled and kicked a small branch away.
"Sometimes I find it hard to believe you are a daughter of Aphrodite. "
"Sometimes I find it hard to believe you are a daughter of Aphrodite" Daphne parroted back with derision.
"You know Daphne, sometimes you are incredibly annoy-" Serena stopped herself mid sentence and raised her left index finger at her peer.
"Thirty five meters at 3 o'clock, probably a cougar," whispered the daughter of Athena.
"A cougar in Virginia sure is odd. Want to go hunt it down?" Daphne asked with a hopeful demeanor, yet slightly ashamed at her request.
"Of course not, Artemis said to let them be unless they attack one of us." The other girl whispered back.
"OK, so if we aren't going to kill it we keep going, where's the problem?" The daughter of Athena frowned and looked at her sister.
"I think it's about to kill a little kid." Both girls turned around to their right waiting until Daphne broke the silence.
"Is it a girl or a boy?" she asked.
"I… I think it's a boy but… does it really matter? That little kid is about to be devoured by an apex predator, a horrible way to die, we could easily save him." The daughter of Aphrodite closed her eyes and gathered her thoughts.
"So we decide to save him, if we save him, what are we supposed to do with him afterwards?"
"I don't know… but I do know that I rather deal with that than with the guilt of knowing I could have saved his life and his mother from mourning his death but didn't only because of his gender." Daphne sighed and pulled out her twin hunting knives.
"Fine but you deal with the boy, I'll deal with the cougar." The grinning girl immediately rushed to her towards the cougar and her sister trailed behind her.
Percy POV (Been a while)
Water droplets condensed and my body appeared in a random forest near Thalia. I started to walk towards her but turned to look around when I had the feeling I was being watched.
I summoned myself an escrima and started to sense for nearby life forces. A small distance away were two demigods but what caught my attention was the mountain lion on the tree next to me. He eyed me curiously before deciding that I would be an excellent meal.
He was a full grown beauty, two hundred pounds of predator yet he somehow still managed to be one of the stealthiest creatures in existence. He adopted a poised position and licked his lips in anticipation.
In terms power he was probably no stronger than a small hellhound but it was different. This creature was a natural hunter, he did not know right or wrong just eat or die. As fearsome as it was, it was still an innocent creature that only killed to survive and actually helped keep the rising population of deer under control. Killing such creature should be a crime, they are essential in the ecosystem unlike the infestation of deer.
"Go away." I told the cougar in my most threatening tone possible. I readied myself and stood on guard to signal my willingness to battle it. Unfortunately the mountain lion did not understand me and launched in my direction.
A swift set of arms grabbed me from my small waist and threw me to the ground. The person sported a silver jacket and a gray camo set of pants, typical for a huntress. I was so focused on the beast that I had totally forgotten about the hunters nearby. Why they would even bother to "save me" was what really confused me the most here.
I turned to look at the other one and she made quick work of the mountain lion. She grabbed it by its neck and sliced through it as easily as butter. After its dead body fell to the ground she quickly prayed and the dead body disappeared.
"Can I ask what you're doing so far from your home little boy?" The tall blondish girl asked with all the authority in the world.
"Can I ask why you had to slam me down on the ground like that?" I wasn't trying to be rude but she could have just pushed me out of the way. She didn't have to slam me down like some wrestler. I stood up and as I picked up my weapon the brunette grew furious.
"She just saved your life you ungratefull little shi-"
"Daphne!"
"You're not the typical daughter of Aphrodite are you?" This caught the brunette hunter by surprise. I bet she was going to ask how I knew or something else but I didn't have any time for that.
"I'm going to talk to Thalia now, Artemis said to make it quick." Ignoring the girls I headed towards their camp. I walked like a badass without fear right by them, not a care in the world. I am immortal and have an indestructible piece of armor protecting me, I bet nothing short of a primordial could even tickle me.
Surprisingly they did not say anything about me visiting their leader. I expected them to go all man hating on me but I guess they are a bit more tolerant now or were curious about what I wanted with Thalia.
We walked till we reached their small camp and that's when the dark haired girl decided to make her move. I thought that she was letting me be but apparently she did not have good intentions.
"Hunters! Come outside! This boy was trying to spy on us and we caught him red handed!" The brunette shouted the the camp. I wanted to punch her pretty face but that would have angered the hunters beyond Thalia's control so I tried to play it cool. Not gonna lie, it was kind of hard with the increasing number of hunters popping out of their tents giving me all the dirty looks and grimaces they could muster.
"That is not true," I told them. "I was in the forest minding my own business when they popped out of nowhere and slammed me on the ground."
"Liar, you are a perverted child!" Shouted some random hunter I never seen before. A daughter of Ares although she looked nothing like Clarisse. This girl had blondish hair and a very scrawny body, like if she barely ate, not to mention she looked like she was thirteen.
"It is true I swear." I answered back.
"Liar!" I heard someone else call. "I can tell that you're lying you dumb kid. You must be pretty stupid if you think you can lie to a daughter of Apollo." Oh darn, why does Apollo have so many children? I swear they pop out everywhere and make lying so difficult.
"Fine I was lying about the minding my own business part, I'm here to see Thalia and that is the whole truth I swear. Artemis said it was fine as long as I made it quick."
At once all heads turned to the girl who claimed to be a daughter of Apollo. I could not help but to grin as she had no other choice but to admit I was saying the truth. The girl reluctantly opened her mouth before deciding to not talk at all.
"Umm, I don't know anything about what's going but Thalia is very busy so you're going to have to leave." I turned to look at the girl that said that to find she was about my age or at least the age my body is supposed to be. She had godly essence that covered her which was probably the blessing of Artemis so I could tell she was just a mortal.
"It's fine. I can wait till she finishes whatever she is doing."
"Well you see, the thing is we don't want you here so go away." Wow, this daughter of Aphrodite turned out to be a real pest. Next time I see the love goddess I'm going to have to ask her what made her daughter this way. Her dad must have been one hell of a jerk.
"You know, I know where Thalia is and I bet she would love to see me so move aside hunters." That's when they came closer and pulled out their knives. The girl called Daphne continued to take command much to my surprise since she seemed very uncollected compared to the daughter of Athena who took me down like a wrestler.
"Yeah, you see that ain't happening boy. Now unless Artemis herself escorts you inside our camp, which I don't see happening, you're going to have to learn some respect and stay put like a good dog." I knew that I couldn't actually hurt the hunters so I had to do the most reasonable thing that I could think of.
"Thalia, come out! I know you're in there! It's me Percy!"
"You're no Percy, that boy is supposed to be at least sixteen and you look more like my age." Said the little mortal hunter.
"Look little girl," I said as the girl pouted. "I am actually seventeen but when I woke up today I was in the form of a child. I can turn myself back at any given moment but I choose not to because it could anger your mistress. You can ask that blonde daughter of Apollo, she can confirm that I am indeed Percy Jackson." Again all eyes turned to that girl.
"I am not 'that blonde daughter of Apollo', my name is Chloe Wesche and I do not service you. If you want my help you are going to have ask politely and even then I will probably say no, no matter how good of a friend you are with our lieutenant."
"Hmph, fair enough. Seeing as she didn't point me out as a liar then you can assume it was because I was saying the truth. Wouldn't you agree hunters?" I heard some groans and couldn't hide my triumphant smile.
"You are really Percy Jackson? The demigod that can control water, kills people and is Thalia's secret lover. I heard many stori-" I couldn't stop myself from choking at what the little girl was saying. Thalia's secret lover? What has Thalia been telling this girls?
"If this really is the great Percy Jackson, I am seriously underwhelmed. We wasted our time looking for this pipsqueak, he almost choked himself to death there like a total idiot? No offense," said the blonde girl that tackled me down.
"None taken," I managed to croak out. "If you really doubt me I can always just prove how strong I am. I bet that I can even beat you with only this." I told her while raising my escrima stick.
"You have a lot of confidence in yourself, it's hard to tell if it's because you're that good or that stupid. That's not even a Greek weapon, let me see it." Although it sounded like a question it really was not. The girl just yanked my weapon away and eyed it carefully.
"It's very simple in design and looks very well made and strong. It is probably made of that magical metal Hephaestus gifted you." Wait, how does this hunter know about that?
"It is not the best weapon ever but it does seem special. Hand it over Serena, I think I want to keep it." A sly grin formed on the face of the skinny daughter of Ares as she grabbed my escrima from the tall blonde and she turned to look at me. "Thank you for such generous gift Percy Jackson."
"You're funny." I told the daughter of Ares. "What's your name?"
"My name is Ellen Murphy but you call me Lady or Mistress Murphy." Okay this girl was not as bad as she seemed. Maybe she just needed to meet good guys out there and she wouldn't be such a little…
"Well Ellen," I paused for dramatic effect. "That was given to me by Hephaestus himself and he asked me to be responsible with it so I am going to take that back." The escrima melted into a flying mass of dark water and made its way to me. Once it reached my hand it reformed into an escrima stick.
"Only I am able to use it to its true full potential." To show them my point I penetrated the rod deep in the trunk of a tree. I commanded the dark water to reap all of the life force the tree had and it responded. The tree started to deteriorate and in the course of two seconds nothing was left but little pieces of decayed firewood and dirt.
"Now, if you really want it, you can just come and get it from that pile of dirt. Although I wouldn't really recommended it unless you want to end like that tree." The girl called Ellen visibly became alarmed and looked uncomfortable. The rest of the hunters were no better, all their eyes widened and I could see fear deep inside them with the possible exception of the really young ones. The hunters were always perceived as fearless and powerful by the campers but I could finally see what they were.
They were girls that were scared of the world. They grouped to get a sense of home and family and to feel safe with their goddess Artemis. Yet here I was showing them that they weren't safe at all with my demonstration of power and a solid threat. I had to find a way to fix this.
"I will remind you that I have a relatively good relation with most of your parents and you getting killed is not really in my plans." Fortunately the older girls realized what I was trying to say and they calmed down. The younger ones must have noticed their change in demeanor and relaxed as well. I had no intention of killing them, I am a good person. At least I think I am.
"And you little girl. What's your name again? Chloe?" I asked the little mortal.
"No, Chloe is her." She said pointing her finger towards the girl that was... well Chloe. "I never told you my name."
"Well then what is it?"
"It's Naomi."
"Well Naomi, for starters I am not Thalia's secret lover. Although, I do like her and care for her she is my cousin, also she is a hunter so there's that, she can't have a lover. I can control water and I have killed people before but they were like really bad people that totally deserved it." I turned to look at the rest of the hunters but they showed no ill will just … curiosity.
"If you want I can tell you the real truth about a lot of other stuff. I can show you the immense power of the great Percy Jackson." I wiggled my eyebrows at her and the little girl giggled.
"Ha, Ha, and Ha." I heard a familiar voice say in the distance. "Immense power? More like immense ego." A giggling Thalia looked at me from her tent and signaled me over.