When everything is said and done, he can't feel anything. He can't even feel himself. His possible love had just thrown herself off a cliff to save them. He feels horrible without her by his side. When the kid he'd just rescued asks if she was his girlfriend, he almost breaks down on the spot. Instead, he ignores the boy and runs a hand through his unruly hair.
All the girls in the camp are ignoring the huddle of the three young boys. Five minutes later, Percy is surprised when a girl around the age of a twelve-year-old demands for his presence. His friends bid him a well good-bye. He climbs into the small looking tent with the young goddess.
The girl with auburn hair sits down, and starts stroking a very well alive jack lope. Percy feels uncertain about who exactly this person is, and sits down on the carpet made out of bear fur. He looks around the tent, not making eye contact with the girl. He blames his ADHD as he starts playing with his hands.
"It's very rude not to look someone directly in the eyes." The girl speaks. Percy almost raises his eyebrows. This girl sounded way older than she looked.
"Sorry?" Percy apologizes, but it comes out as a question.
The girl mutters something under her breath that sounded a lot like the word "Pig," but it could have been Percy's ears tricking him. The girl continues to stroke the jack lope. A few seconds later, she speaks again, cutting Percy off from asking a question.
"I am Artemis." Percy racks his brain, trying to figure out if this Artemis person was important or not. He couldn't tell if she was major, or minor. But he was sure enough she was a got- she had that aura.
"I am-" Percy stops, realizing that he was about to mock her grammar, "Percy, my name's Percy." Artemis nods a slow creepy nod.
"I know who you are, Perseus." She says. Her jack lope perks its head up, as if asking something to her. Artemis shoots it a stern look, and Percy just wants to get out of the tent.
"How do you-" Percy tries to lead a different conversation, but he unfortunately fails.
"I'm sorry about your friend," Artemis says suddenly, and stops stroking her jack lope. Percy freezes, and his face sets like stone.
"She was very strong, beautiful too, she would have been wonderful in my Hunt." Artemis states dreamily. Percy wants to tell her he wouldn't know if she was beautiful. In the time frame of the one-year, a summer, and part of the winter that he'd known her, he didn't even know her name, or what she looked like. It was driving him crazy.
"What do you mean, wonderful in your Hunt?" Percy asks, oblivious as ever. Artemis smiles a small smile.
"You will find out soon enough, young one." She gives out a small laugh and Percy clenches his fists.
"Do you know where she is?" He asks her. Artemis tucks a strand of hair behind her ear with the hand that she wasn't petting her jack lope with.
"Perseus, I only know so much." She says quietly.
"If I find out you do know her whereabouts, I'll…I'll come after you!" Artemis rolls her eyes.
"That sure is threatening." She giggles out. In the time that Percy's met her, she seems terribly out of character with the giggle. He doesn't tell her to shut up, because he knows that she has the power to disintegrate him on the spot.
When he doesn't retort to her mocking, Artemis's nose wrinkles as she forces the words out of her mouth.
"Do you l-l-love her?" Percy's stomach churns, and his cheeks burn, but he sure enough isn't blushing.
"Uh- um, I, uh, do I? I mean, uh, does it look that way? No, no, we're just friends. I mean, if she'd want to be more than that. I think that maybe…well she kissed my cheek once but…uh; we have a strong friend ship. Well at least I hope we do. It would kinda suck if she was just playing me all this time." Percy rambles on until Artemis holds up her small hand.
"Oh enough, enough. Geez, if I knew I'd have this effect if I ever tried to pry information out of people in the way of Aphrodite, I never would have done it!" Artemis says. This time Percy does blush out of embarrassment. He looks down and fidgets with his hands once more.
"…I believe I need to show you this." Artemis says, as if still contemplating whether or not she should do so. Before Percy could ask what she meant, Artemis had already waved her hands in a mystical way, and then, she was gone. In her place was fog.
Percy leaned forward, having his curiosity. Slowly, an image burned into the fog. It was blurry, and fuzzy, but in got easier to see things eventually. What Percy saw made his nose flare. He was pretty sure somewhere, water just went crazy. It was the girl. Her hands were in handcuffs attached to the wall along with her feet. She looked frail from the shoulders down. Her cap was still on. There was a yell from outside, and you could hear the girl whimper.
A man stepped next to her.
Luke, Percy thought.
His blonde hair had gotten shaggier, and his scar looked like it had been re-opened. He had a knife strapped to his belt. He held the girls' chin.
"Hey, baby." He said smiling. Percy almost lunged at the fog. There was a click, and then Luke jumped away clutching his left hand.
"Gah, you bit me!" He said, inspecting his hands.
"I don't have rabies. Get over it." The girl said. She was still sarcastic in the weakest.
"Shut up." Luke says in a threatening tone.
"Make me." The girl bites back. Luke slaps her clear across the face and the sounds hang in the air. Percy bites his lip to keep from screaming.
The girl sucks in a breath. Her hat is a little bit off of her head now. Luke smirks at her.
"Not so smart-mouth now, are you? Now that I've given you physical harm," The girl doesn't respond. "Maybe I should do it more often." As Luke starts to leave, he turns towards her.
"We shouldn't have even let you keep that stupid hat of yours." He mumbles. Then, he's gone.
Percy doesn't know what to do, or what to say. Could the girl even hear him? It seemed impossible through the fog, but he could always give it a shot.
"Hey," He says to the fog. The girl looks around.
"I must be delusional…" She says, "I could've sworn I just heard Percy's voice." Percy can't help but smile.
"You did hear my voice." The girls' head snaps up.
"Percy? Where are you?" She asks.
"I'm at some camp. I think I'm far away from you. Where are you?" He asks. The girl shrugs defeated.
"I don't know. They blind-folded me." She answers.
"Who're they?" Percy asks, but he's afraid he already knows the answer.
"Part of Kronos's army." She whispers.
"I'll come save you. No matter where you are. I promise I'll come after you, if it's the last thing I do. I swear upon the river Styx." He says.
"Thanks, Percy, but I don't think you'll be able to." She says.
"Stop being so pessimistic! I'll find you!" Percy says encouragingly.
"Good luck. Hey, I think I hear some guards coming…" She says. It's a message that she thinks he should end the conversation.
"Wait," Percy says quickly.
"Yeah?"
"Take off your hat." Percy says.
"Excuse me?"
"Take off your hat. You heard me." Percy says.
"Uh, why?" The girl asks. You can hear the awkwardness seeping into her tone.
"Because, like you said, if I can't find you, I want to be able to remember your face." Percy explains.
"That has to be the most-" The girl tries to say, but can't find the right words. "Fine." She agrees. She shakes the cap off, and it hits the floor with a plop. Percy looks at her face. He sucks in a great breath when he saw her. She was beautiful with her stormy grey eyes; slightly tan complexion, and full lips. He didn't even take notice in the slap mark slowly fading away.
"Wow," he breathed, "Stunning." He looked at her again. He loved her eyes. He loved her nose.
"What's your name?" He asks quickly.
"Perce, I really think there are some guards coming. Yep, here they come." The girl says,
"Please, tell me your name." He really needed to know her name. He'd ask her cabin mates, but each time they opened their mouths, a strange look would cross their face, and they'd ignore him for the day.
"I can't Percy, not now." Percy made a strong sound of frustration.
"Why not?" He whined.
"Names have power, Percy. Names have power." She repeated.
"Just, please!"
"The guards are here. Save me, Percy. Save me before it's too late."
"Hey, who are you talking to?" A gruff voice yelled. Percy saw a flash, and suddenly, the girls' right arm was bleeding. The flash was a whip.
"Goodbye…" The girl whispered, and the fog disappeared.
"No!" Percy yelled, reaching out his hand. His hand landed on something hard. Artemis's face.
"You do know that I do not appreciate your hand being placed there." His hands muffled her words. Percy pulled away slowly. The girl…
"Sorry. What just happened?" Percy asks.
"You, my dear, just saw a vision. From the future." Artemis says simply.
"Can't seeing something from the future, like, mess up the space time continuum or something?" Percy asks scratching his hair trying to process what he'd just seen.
"Oh, you, and your mortal beliefs. That's truly hilarious," Artemis says. Suddenly, her face becomes serious.
"But you really do have to save her." She says.
"Oh, I know. I don't have much time, though, do I?" Artemis gets a far off look in her eyes.
"No, time has never been on our side." She says. Percy stands up awkwardly in the tent. He goes towards the entrance/exit. He turns towards her.
"I will save her before the war starts." He says confidently. Artemis cocks her head to one side.
"But, dear, the war has already started."
"Favorite color?" Anna asks Percy.
"Blue, I guess." They've been at this for at least fifteen minutes and Percy's already bored. They're just now sitting in her car in the parking garage. Percy hasn't had to face any sun because there was an elevator that led them down to this level (the elevator wasn't that fun for Percy) easily.
"…Describe your mother." Anna says.
"Nice, fun, loving. Mother-ish." Percy shrugs.
"Father?"
"Fun-ish, nice-ish, he smoked, did drugs, and drank some beer. Had poker parties. Non-fatherish."
"I think I found your problem!" Anna says excitedly. Percy rolled his eyes, flipping his hood up.
"Listen, honey, that sure enough ain't it."
"Ugh, your irritating." She mumbles.
"You're annoying."
"Heard that."
"You were meant to."
She grumbled something low under her breath. It was one thirty- eight, and they were supposed to meet the principal at two o-clock.
"We should probably go." Anna says. Percy shakes his head.
"I don't think I can do this, Anna."
"C'mon, it's for your friend."
"He's not my friend, anymore." Anna grips his hand again, staring him directly in the eye.
"Do it for me?" Percy smiles a small smile at her pleading eyes. She reminded him of the time when Rachel asked if he could run away with her. Oh, God, he missed Rachel so much.
Percy took in Anna's big eyes, her full lips, her dirty blonde hair, and her totally tanned Californian face. For some odd reason, she looked familiar. Almost like he knew who she was, but didn't know whom she was at the same time if that makes sense.
"I guess. Just give me those sunglasses." He says.
"You know these are for girls, right?" She asks, giving him her pair. He puts them on making a face.
"Well, I just hope I look fantabulous." He says. Anna laughs.
"Well you do." She says. She pulls out of her spot in the garage.
"Here we go." She says smiling.
As the first rays of light sting Percy's eyes, he makes a gasp of recognition.
Anna and the girl both have the same face.