Apollo landed his sun chariot outside the big house and jumped the stairs.
"Where's Miss Dare? I need to speck to her" Apollo told Chiron
"She is not here, she went into the mortal world a few days ago" Chiron told the god
"Is they any quests on right now?" Apollo asked
"No, all quests have been stopped for now until we locate Mr Jackson, as he was on a quest when he vanished, something is happing to demigods on quest these days so we have stopped them"
Apollo cursed in Ancient Greek
"What did those three demigods look like? Did one have black curly hair? Like a younger version of Hermes?" Apollo shot at Chiron, walking up and down
"Yes, I believe that description matches Leo Valdez, Son of Hermes" Chiron said
"I saw him, not half a day ago and I let him go, I'm going to be in so much trouble when I tell father" Apollo moaned
Apollo jumped in his chariot and left Chiron watching him disappear.
He landed his chariot on Mount Olympus.
"Hey Hermes" he called
He walked up to the nearest garden; here was the God of Thieves. He was sat like he was in the throne room with his head in his knees; he gave no sign that he heard Apollo calling his name
Apollo came up to him and sat down next to him, trying to keep his voice level
"Have you heard from your son? Erm…Leo I think he's called? Do you know where he is?" Apollo asked him
Hermes lifted his head
"And why should I tell you if I have or not? You're just like the rest of them, you gods and your laws" Hermes said bitterly "You don't care about demigods, you just use them as tools"
Apollo didn't find anything wrong with these words but to Hermes, those words had a deep chill, the words were once thrown at him by his son Luke.
"So have you seen your son?" Apollo asked him
Hermes put his head back down and ignored Apollo.
He had no choice; he wasn't going to get the demigods wearabout from Hermes so he had to tell Zeus what he knew
He walked into the throne room and bowed his head
"I have an update on the demigods father, I tracked them and they stopped in the woods near a place where they can get food, I waited for them, they went inside and ate and when they came out I was confused as I sensed three different movements, I followed the weakest and I'm sorry father but I let him go, he said he was on a quest and gave me a false name, I went back to find them but they've moved on. I don't know where they've gone"
The whole time he spoke he kept his eyes down, waiting for his father to say something
"Get out of my site, I should of give this job to your sister" Zeus roared "Take this serious, the boys is a danger to us, find him"
Apollo bowed and walked out.
He felt himself fall, he screamed more than he'd ever screamed before, all the wind rushed out of him and he gasped for air
'Can't breath' he though
he stopped falling at once as he landed on a soft floor, he looked around but couldn't see anything.
They was someone whispering to him through the dark, he could hear a low voice murmuring to him, none of the words could he make out
"Where are you, I can't see you" he shouted
"I am here" The cold voice said, he jumped as the voice seemed to come from right over his head.
He looked up but saw no one
"Are you a ghost?" He guessed
"Something more than that, I will tell you once I have gained your trust"
"I think I trust you already, thanks for today"
"Do you trust the gods?" The cold voice asked "Tell me Leo Valdez, do you trust them?"
"Not really, I mean I have done nothing to harm them and they want to kill me, why do they want to kill us for?"
The cold voice sounded amused
"You will learn soon enough"
"Who are you?" Leo asked now
"I was once a ruler, a mighty powerful king, but I was betrayed by my wife"
The cold voice paused; he knew about demigods, they were naturally inquisitive.
"How did she betray you?" the boy asked
"I had children you know, but these children were fated to be wicked and powerful, I had to keep them away from me and the world I had made, this may sound crazy to your ears, but I ate them, my children are the gods you see, well my wife, I think she wanted more power, she hid one of our children with our mother, so this danger was allowed to grow until he returned and freed his brothers and sisters and they attacked me and I had done nothing wrong, I was just protecting my family"
The cold voice continued after a short silence
"Who is your father?"
"Hermes, but I don't know much about him" Leo told the voice
"I pity you boy, I knew one of your half brothers, his name was Luke, he worked for me as your father didn't care for him. I looked after Luke though, for about seven year, he was a good hero but in the end he killed himself"
"Why?" Leo asked
"The gods I guess, they got to him so much he had to end it"
'Poor guy' Leo thought
"You don't have a family who care about you do you, I have seen it in your mind, you crave someone to love you…I can take care of you if you wish, would you like that?" The voice crooned
"I would" Leo told the voice, he felt a connection to this voice, it was like a father was talking to him
"Very well, I shall look after you, just like I looked after Luke" The voice changed, it was now more faster
"You shall wake soon so I will say what I must….Do you trust Jason?" the cold voice asked
"Yes, he is my friend" Leo said
"Don't trust him, I could tell you Jason once killed someone, he is hiding things from you Leo"
"What? Are you sure?" Leo asked
"Oh yes, when you wake watch him carefully, he may be bringing the gods closer to you and the girl….hasn't he told you why he is on the run? How come he knows how to use a sword or why the gods are offering more money for him and not you…..you see, if you were not his friend the gods would have never been after you, just keep that in mind my young Hero"…
Leo opened his eyes, it was just after day brake, judging on the sun which still was pretty low in the sky
"Wh..What's the plan for today?" he said, raising his hand to rub his eyes
"The same plan as the last six days, get away from here, if the gods are on our trail we should keep moving" Jason said
"Guys last night when I was keeping watch I heard something, could have been a deer or something but I could hear trigs snapping" Piper told them, she sounded worried and even now in the day light she looked over her shoulder
"I'll go take a look for signs of footprints" Jason said, he got his coin out and flipped it and walked off into the deep tress
Leo moved near to Piper
"Piper" He said "Last night when you were keeping watch did Jason do anything, did the act different in any way?"
Piper's eyes were wide but she shook her head
"No he was sleeping like you, why?"
"Nothing, just a feeling I have" Leo said uneasily
"What, tell me" Piper told him
"I think he may be hiding something, this thing with the whole memory lose and then that sword just came out from nowhere and the gods are after us"
By us he meant Jason alone, they were being hunted just because they were with him
"You should be ashamed of yourself Leo, he's your best friend and right now he's gone off on his own back there just to make sure we will be safe moving on" Piper said quietly, but anger flared up in her voice
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that" Leo said, he turned away from her and looked around him, all around was trees and trees.
They had been moving from wood to wood and if they had to move out in the open they were jumpy and move quickly.
It had been nine days since they left camp, for food the three demigods had been taking it in time to sneak into shops and steal food or (Which Piper hated) walking up closely to people with shopping bags and stealing bread or a bottle of milk, they got Leo to do this has he was faster.
During the night they took cover under the trees and took it in turns to keep watch.
A few times the person on watch had woken the other two and they had moved on, having heard footsteps or whispers in the night.
Jason returned, panting out of breath
"Guys, they is someone over there, I didn't see them but they's a sort of made up camp, I saw ash on the floor, someones had a fire, we need to move, if they come this way they will see us"
Leo and Piper got to their feet at once and they hurried on. Jason looked at this two friends, they were filthy, having lay out in the open on the floor, it had been raining and they were muddy, Leo's hair was tangled with leaves, Pipers dark hair was untidy. He guessed he didn't look much better
As Leo walked the cold voice spoke to him again
"The gods are after him, not you, if you gave yourself up they may spare your life if you reason with them"
'Reason, how do you reason with immortal beings that will probably kill me as soon as their look at me' Leo thought
"Ah…I believe you are being set up, you can't see it as you haven't got time to know the gods, but I am sure you are being set up"
'Set up by whom, from Jason?' Leo asked, his eyebrows lowed
"You okay Leo?" Jason asked him, looking at his friend in concern
"He's on to you Leo, he must know you're near the truth, put him off the trail or he'll kill you" the cold voice urged
"Of course I'm not ok, you've gone and sent gods after me, I was enjoying my life since last week but now ever since you lost your mind you've got me and Piper in trouble" Leo shouted, his voiced echoed around the trees
"Leo, you're eyes!" Piper gasped, pointing
"What?" Leo asked
"They glowed gold" Jason looked pretty creeped out
"Don't be ridiculous" Leo snapped,
They would have stood there and shouted more if they had been alone.
Jason saw it coming through the trees, he squinted his eyes to try and see better, something was coming near and near very fast with a faint whistling nose
"Piper, move" Jason dived on to her and knocked her down, at the same time a silver arrow hit the tree behind where Piper's head had been
Jason and Piper got up and looked into the tress, a group of girls were walking towards them, the one who fired her bow had black spiky hair
"The hunters of Artemis" Jason told the others, he didn't know why, but he knew who they were and what they did… but also a loathing so strong for a moment he was afraid.
"Run"
The three turned around and ran flat out, they could hear the girls running after them, the girls were either fast or had more numbers. They had Leo, Piper and Jason surrounded within minutes
"What do you want with us, were just the same as you, let us go" Piper called out to the girls but mostly to the girl standing closer to her, she was the leader.
The girl looked at Leo and Piper with a look like pity but when her eyes looked into Jason's face …
"You" she spat with hatred
"Me?" Jason asked
"If the gods didn't want to kill you I would happily kill you, I'll have you hit with arrows and begging for death at my feet"
"That's very nice, but who are you, I've never seen you before" Jason said truefully
"Don't you dare lie" The girl growled
Jason looked around; they were trapped between about seven girls and one very large tree trunk
"Who are you and why did you try to kill us?" Leo asked the girl
"I am Thalia, Daughter of Zeus and Lieutenant to Lady Artemis, goddess of the hunt" the girl said
"Oh well hello, I am Leo Valdez, Son of Hermes, though I've never meet him and also I am a demigod of Plant Earth" Leo said
It was a bad time to let his ADHD go, he guessed it wasn't a good idea to mock their leader because an arrow landed right in front of his foot, he felt silent
"My father Zeus has sent us to track you down, we have been following you for a few days now, our Lady Artemis didn't want any harm to come to you, but we nor could she ignore an order from Lord Zeus. Our orders are to bring you three to Olympus where you shall be executed"
The girl named Thalia raised her bow and aimed at a tree, the arrow hit the tree and something silver trailed back to the girl. Jason looked at it and saw a fine wire. At the same time all the girls aimed at the tree near the demigods.
Loads of wires hit the trees, closing them in.
"You can break the wires with your sword" The cold voice said to Leo
"You can come quietly or we'll use our weapons" Thalia warned "If you have weapons drop them, you shall be disarmed then we can go"
"Yeah, we have swords" Leo said, he pulled his sword out from its scabbard
"Drop it" Thalia shouted, aiming her bow at Leo
Leo made a movement like he was bending down to drop the sword, Jason watched him, he had hold of his coin in his hand.
Leo laid the blade on the floor and than moved up very fast and cut through the wires on his side
The girls ran at him, they were fast, they had him pined down on the floor, they took the sword off him and searched him from the floor
"I shall tell the gods you put up a fight" Thalia said to Leo
"He has no other weapon Thalia" the girl who was searching Leo said, she had a look of disgust on her face from touching a male
"Search the other two" Thalia ordered, her bow still aimed at Leo
"Get off me" Piper shouted as she was searched, but none of the girls wanted to touch Jason
"I'll search him" Thalia said, she gave Jason a look of pure hate
"So why do you hate me so much for?" Jason asked her in confusion
"You know" Thalia told him, she seemed to be looking for something, she felt in all his pockets, got a girl to hold him as she looked in his jacket, felt down his jeans and even took his shoes off
"Where is it?" Thalia shouted
"Where's what?" Jason said, he didn't have a clue what the girl was looking for
Thalia then reached up and grabbed Jason's hand and curled it up his back, he winched in pain, she was very strong for a girl
"So, was I like your boyfriend or something?" Jason asked her, that must have been it, before he went to school him and this girl must have gone out.
Thalia snarled with anger and let go of Jason, she reached into the sky and Jason felt his hair stand up on end, he felt pain and fell the floor, dropping his coin on the grass underneath him
"You could have gave me no greater insult, I will watch fondly as my father kills you" Thalia shrieked
Jason lay stunned on the floor, that was the second time he'd survived a bolt of lightening
"Phoebe, tie their hands up, I'll drag him"
Jason felt a foot nudge his ribs, he opened his eyes and looked around for the coin, it wasn't there in his hand
Thalia reached down and pulled Jason up by his arms, the coin sparkled off the sun
"Found it" Thalia shouted "Someone get that coin, it's near his foot"
A girl came near him but he had noticed the way they recoiled from him, he moved closer to the girl, who moved back at once, he kicked out at Thalia and picked up his coin, before Thalia could stop him he had his sword at her throat and holding her from behind
"Drop your bows or I swear I will kill her" Jason told the hunters.
"Don't drop your bows, I will die a hero and go to Elysium" Thalia shouted in response to Jason's threat
But the hunters lowed their bows, it was clear they all cared about Thalia.
"On the floor" Jason ordered the girls
Once all bows where on the floor Jason dragged Thalia over to Leo and Piper, he cut through the ropes around their arms.
As soon as his sword as pointing somewhere else Thalia kicked high up into Jason's chest, he fell back on the ground, the hunters picked up their bows
Jason pulled Piper and Leo down as arrows flew over their shoulders; the hunters were aiming to hurt but not to kill. He raised his hand and wind blew down on the girls, arrows flew out of their holders and bows got blown away
"Run" Jason shouted to his friends
Thalia pulled out her hunting knife and ran at Jason. Leo saw her and his sword meet her knife.
She stabbed at him over and over with Leo just managing to stay alive. He pushed the flat part of his sword against her and kicked her; she fell back only to run at Leo again.
This time Leo wasn't so lucky, he swung the sword and dropped it, the knife meet his arm and cut him, it would of done more damage if Jason hadn't blocked most of the blow with his golden sword.
Jason pushed Leo behind him and he stabbed at Thalia, he felt the sickening feeling of a sword piercing flesh, he could feel his sword passing through her ribs. He heard her whimper with pain. He pulled it out and ran in fear.
He sent a strong gale behind him as he heard the whoosh of an arrow in the air or the sound of footsteps
Soon he, Leo and Piper had coved a long distance; they didn't stop even though every part of their bodies hurt, they legs soon felt like jelly.
"Stop, we'll stay here tonight" Piper said, she fell to the floor gasping for breath. Leo looked like he was about to faint, his right forearm was dripping with blood, he curled up on the grass gripping his side
"Jason…you killed that girl" Leo said shakily "Your sword went into her, it went right in and her eyes…went wide"
Jason looked at him, tears trickled down his face, Piper looked terrified too, she put her hand on Leo's side trying to calm him down while she also cried.
He had no words to comfort them, nothing they were feeling could match up to what Jason felt now, something had come back to him, when that sword had hit the girl he remembered something...
The feeling of swords piercing skin was very familiar to him and that scared him more than anything else so far.
Please review and tell me what you think, remember this story is a fanfic x