Thalia POV
Thalia stiffened when Artemis said that last part she opened up her mouth to speak but Luke beat her to it. "I thought that you had no children, Lady Artemis. I thought that you chose not to." The girl with the silver tiara in her hair stepped forward quickly. "Thou, will not talk to Lady Artemis. Thee is a boy only women are allowed to be Hunters of Artemis, never males." She paused "In fact Lady Artemis enjoys turning males into jackalopes." Thalia stiffened in rage. "Well obviously she doesn't do a good job of it because there is a boy standing right next you." The hunters gasped and glanced quickly at the boy….Alec?
Alec stared at her for a long time before he spoke, "I like her, mother. Can I keep her?" Thalia stiffened, "No you are not going to keep me you sardonic bastard. What in Hades do you think I am…..a toy?" Alec looked amused as he turned and began to speak to Artemis in a hushed voice. Artemis frowned and nodded. Then she turned to the girl with the tiara and beckoned her over. They started conversing in hushed voices.
"What do you think they're talking about Thalia?" Annabeth asked. "Most likely the quickest way to get rid of us." growled Luke angrily. Thalia spun to him and demanded, "Are you pissed because Alec seems to like me or because there is a chance you could get turned into a jackalope?" Luke just glared at her angrily, "You have a crush on pretty boy over there Thalia. I can see it." Thalia was about to whip her head away from Luke when a voice went "Ahem". They all turned around to find Alec standing serenely behind them with a strange half smile on his face. "Come along," he said cheerfully. "We need to get you three back to our camp." "Why?" Luke demanded. "Because Luke Castellion, my mother will only let you stay and rest with us for a night and this night is almost up."
Alec POV
She is so pretty, Alex whispered in Alec's mind. Shut up, Alec growled in response. Then he shook his head and continued leading them through the forest toward the camp. Alec felt a strange dread rise up in him, the same dread he always felt whenever Jace got close to finding him. He stiffened and then hissed at the three behind him, "Climb a tree. Now!" Quickly they all scuttled up a tree and watched as a light lit up the clearing they had been in. Alec watched them stiffly as Jace shifted the light. Isabelle winced and then spoke to Jace. "Can we leave Jace? This forest is giving me the creeps."Jace shook his head and said, "The vampire said that she saw him go into these woods, Izzy. He's here I can feel it."
Alec watched Clary touch Jace's arm. "Jace lets come back when it's lighter out. We'll be able to search better then anyway." Jace frowned, "I suppose." He muttered as Isabelle and Clary lead him back to the pub on the corner of the woods. As soon as the light was gone and they were out of sight Alec let out a sigh of relief. That was close, he thought to himself. Closer than you know, Alec, whispered Alex. Before he could stop himself he growled, "Shut up Alex" as he jumped out of his tree. Then he noticed the three demigod's looks and immediately he flushed. "Sorry," he said quickly. "I was talking to an internal little demon that I call Alex." Thalia frowned and nodded obviously not understanding at all.
Alec sighed as he began leading them deeper into the forest, "Think of him as my conscience, like in Pinocchio or something." "Ohhhh" Thalia said suddenly understanding. Then they arrived at the Hunters camp. Grace and Phoebe came up and nodded to Alec before taking Thalia and Annabeth's hands and leading them away. Luke stared after them and demanded, "Where are they taking Annabeth and Thalia?" "To change clothes." Alec explained softly before beckoning Luke to follow him, "And that is where we are going too. Because unfortunately for you I'm the only boy in this camp. He glanced back and immediately saw Luke's horrified face. Then he couldn't help himself he laughed.
Jace POV
Jace stalked back into the bar like an angry dragon. He was completely angry at the girls for dragging him back to the bar when he needed to be searching for Alec. He huffed and flopped down in his seat. Jace began to quietly seethe as the girls tried to convince him that he had done the right thing to wait until dawn, but jace somehow knew that Alec would be gone by tomorrow morning and that they had probably walked right past him. That was when the lights inside the bar began to flicker. The werewolf looked up in surprise.
And then everyone in the bar but them was frozen and staring sightlessly at whatever they had been looking at before. Then Isabelle spoke one word, a very familiar name, "Magnus" and with that Jace spun around to find a very smug looking Warlock staring at them. "Hello everyone," Magnus Bane said his cat-like eyes glimmering. "Miss me?"