We stood in silence, no one saying a word. What could we say? What could I say? I felt horrible. Because of my own ego I had stolen her future and sealed her fate in stone. She was now cursed, cursed to forever stay by my side whether she wanted to or not. This wasn't the life she wanted; this wasn't the path she chose. It was a path I carved out for her against her will when I did not have the right to do so. I had taken her entire world and life away from her and left her with an unpredictable future, and there was no way to undo the damage.
"Wisteria I-"
"It's fine." She said, cutting me off quickly. On the outside she seemed to return back to her normal bossy, rude self. But on the inside she was hurting deeply, I could feel it. "There's nothing I can do about it so I'll just have to deal. But get this! Don't you dare think that you can make me do whatever you want just because you have my core! I'd rather die than listen to you!"
She talked a big game but I could feel her panic. She didn't want to die and was terrified she might have just said something that might cause just that. I didn't want her to feel this way, so I tried my best to reassure her. "Wisteria…" Her feelings formed a knot in my gut. She was paralyzed by fear. "I'm sorry. This wasn't what you wanted out of your life. But since I made this mistake I'll take the responsibility that comes with it. I'll try to atone for this by making you as happy as I can. Tell me anywhere you want to go or anything you want to do. If I can I'll make it happen. I'm sorry."
That surprised her a bit but she just shrugged it off. "Well of course you will, loser!" she said. Of course she couldn't fool me. I knew how she felt on the inside, and it was nice. Her feelings were all jumbled up, but they weren't bad. It almost made me want to break down and cry tears of joy.
"Well that's good and all but… can I have what you took back?" said Brian. I had almost forgotten he was the reason we were even here to begin with.
"Right." said Wisteria. "Fine, I'll give him his card back." Wisteria walked over to Brian and handed him a small playing card. It was blue on the back with a big Fleur de Lis in the middle. The front of the card though was completely blank.
"What's that?"
"It's called a luckless card. It's an enchanted card that gives the holder bad luck. It's the reason I'm so unlucky all the time."
"Wait, this card gives you BAD luck?"
"Yeah." We all just kind of stared at Brian. Lucky trinkets make perfect sense, but UNlucky trinkets? That was a new one.
"But why?" I said. "Why would you carry something like that around?"
"All the children of Tyche carry a luckless card. If we didn't we'd cause a lot of trouble at camp. With our luck constantly switching from good to bad miracles and disasters would happen all the time, but we can't be given good luck cards or else the entire camp would get mad every time we found a drachma lying around. So mom gives us these Luckless cards to keep our luck in check. If she had found out I had mine stolen, I'd be on trial in the underworld right now!"
"I know that the other children of Tyche can have some bad luck now and then," said one of the nymphs. "But how come your luck is so much worse?"
"That's because the others ignore mom and leave their cards at the cabin pretty often. I don't though, mainly because I want to reap the benefits in case I really need it."
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"Well mom wouldn't force us to put up with this without there being some kind of reward. So the whole time we use this card, all of our good luck gets stored up. Then if we need to fight, or gamble, or anything else, we can channel that luck into different things. If you're gambling you put it into the deck that's being dealt and your hands. If you're fighting you put it into your weapon. See what I'm saying?"
"But how do you know how much luck you've stored?"
Brian pulled at his belt and removed the hard metal case holding his cards. He held it out for us to see. It was a light purple color and reminded me of a box of crayons. On the front were four horizontal bars like gauges. Three of them were a deep, neon purple and the last one was pink.
"These bars here fill up with different colors depending on how much you've stored. The lowest is red, then yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet, and finally pink. Each bar fills up with one color before the next bar starts. Then if all the bars get the same color, the one at the bottom starts to fill up with the next color after that, until it's completely filled."
"Oh! I get it!" said Wisteria. "You've just been powering, saving your luck for when you actually need it! I'm sorry Brian, I guess I was wrong about you. You're not a hopeless idiot after all."
Brian gave out a soft chuckle. I have to say I was surprised. To think that Brian was actually just building up his power all this time, who would've thought?
"Lucky Bad Luck Brian! I can't wait to see him in action one day." I said and we all laughed. The name and thought just seemed so silly.
What happened next though, was anything but silly. In fact, I'll remember it forever.
I looked up at the hill out of habit while the others were laughing, and there, standing tall over the sickly tree, was the biggest poodle I had ever seen in my entire life. Three huge, slobbering jaws dripped drool all over the ground. It was twice as tall as the cabins with fur black as night with gray fluffy ears.
"C-Cerberus…" I whispered mostly out of shock than fear. "is a poodle?"
They looked towards the hill and gasped. The nymphs, including Wisteria, tried to take off running. The others made it but Wisteria only made it to the edge of the forest before she fell to the ground. I felt her sadness as she realized her mistake and guilt started to fill me.
We watched as Cerberus violently rammed the barrier, slashing at it with its claws, crunching at it with its teeth. I knew I was thinking the same thing as everyone else: The tree that maintained the barrier was still sick. We were still waiting for Clarisse to get back with the Golden Fleece. And she was still several hours away. If Cerberus kept slashing at the barrier like that, he'd bring it down and destroy the tree in the process.
Without thinking I took off running up the hill. It was late into the afternoon now and the sky was quickly going dark, by the time I reached him the sun had completely set. Although there was a full moon out tonight, there was still a waning gibbous, which was more than enough power to beat the hell out of it.
As I ran I could feel a slight tug on my back. Looking over my shoulder I saw Wisteria half-heartedly trying to keep up with me. She didn't want to go and I couldn't blame her. I was glad she was at least kind enough not to try and hinder my progress.
Taking out my bow, I fired a volley of arrows at its right head. But the middle head saw me and stopped the arrows with its teeth. Raising its right paw, it swatted at me, barely giving me the chance to jump out of the way. As I knocked another arrow I felt hot air pressing against my back. Instinctually I ducked down, and just in time as the third head came and bit the quiver right off of my back, swallowing it whole as I fell to the ground.
My situation was grim. I was now directly in front of all three of Cerberus's heads, and without a weapon. I was really starting to wish I hadn't left the trident back in the armory. Cerberus roared in my face, long strands of slobber suddenly soaring all around me. His nasty hot dog breath like a hurricane in my face.
He began to lean closer and closer I tried to get up and move but was pinned by one of his paws. Looking up I knew what was coming. I cursed myself for rushing in so suddenly. I got carried away with all the fights I had been winning that I forgot about how weak my chasing Wisteria had made me. It probably didn't help they had made me cocky too; I don't think it even occurred to me that I could lose.
Cerberus reared back his heads, jaws wide open. This was it. It was all over for Arc Hunter. I gave my mother a small prayer, apologizing for failing her, and not being able to last long enough to be properly claimed. Closing my eyes I smiled, ready to meet death as a friend, as Cerberus's jaws clamped around me.
I opened my eyes but everything was dark. It was hot and humid and smelled like dead fish. That's when I realized this painful pressure on my chest. I looked down, and laughed. Cerberus's teeth couldn't hurt me. I had completely forgotten about the Nemian Lion's coat! Sorry about that mom, I guess I screwed up there!
Just then I saw an object fly out of the corner of my eye and slam into Cerberus's head in a flash of yellow light. The blast was strong enough to stagger him, forcing him to lift his leg off of me. I looked up at the moon and raised my hand to draw power from it. It wasn't nearly as quick or easy as the last time, but I didn't need much, just enough to get me out of its way.
"Are you okay?" I looked behind me to see my savior.
It was Bad Luck Brian.
He had opened his deck of cards and thrown one at Cerberus to save me. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes I never would have believed it.
"I don't think they did, but I saw it. You were out of breath after chasing Wisteria, weren't you? I take it you're still not in good shape?" I nodded my head. I wasn't about to lie to my best friend, especially not after saving me like that. "Here take this." He handed me a bronze hunting knife. "I picked it up from the armory, it's not much but it's the best I could do. Sorry."
"It's fine." I flipped the knife around in my hand. It felt so casual, so natural. "To be honest I think you grabbed one of the best weapons you could possibly give me." He let out a little chuckle. Guess that was exactly what he needed to hear.
"Hey Arc," Said Wisteria. I had almost forgotten about her amidst the chaos. "Can you be a little more careful? If you die, I die too, you know…" Her sadness was overwhelming.
"Wisteria… I'm… I'm sorry. Really I am." Her heart lightened a little. "This is all because of me. Because of me you can't get your tree back, can't have the life you used to know. I took away any chance you had at choosing your own path."
Then I got a feeling I wasn't expecting. Sure, she was still sad, but there was also this sense of peace. Not quite happy but, more content. She looked at me with solemn eyes. "Don't be so upset with yourself. You didn't know. In a way it's us nymphs fault for keeping it a secret. We've been so afraid that one day we'd get caught by someone who would treat us like a slave, that we kept it quiet so those kinds of guys wouldn't come after us. But that just led the way for people like you to end up doing it by accident."
"People like me?" She looked away for a few seconds before responding to my question. "Yeah like you." She turned and my mouth dropped. A single tear drop rolled down her face, but her mouth was upright in one of the brightest smiles I'd ever seen in my life. She held right her hand to her face to keep her red hair from flying into her eyes while her left hand was gently held back the bottom of her sleeveless gray dress as it flowed in the sudden nightly breeze. The tear that slipped down her cheek reflected the light of the moon so that a diamond seemed to fall from her eye.
In that one moment, all I could think was how beautiful she looked.
"Sorry to interrupt your moment guys, but we should head back. That attack made him dizzy but it won't last much longer!"
I snapped out of it. I had forgotten the giant three headed dog that was attacking our camp. I turned and shook my head. "We can't do that. Cerberus has already dealt a lot of damage to the barrier. If we don't stop him now, the entire camp will get flooded with monsters and everything Percy, Clarisse and the others have done will be for nothing. He have to stop him now, or at least stall for time. Can you use another one of those things?"
"Yeah."
"What about you Wisteria? Can you fight?" For the first time I felt something other than sorrow. Anger flared up inside of her like a flame.
"Can I fight? Can. I. Fight? Why of course I can fight! What do you take me for, some pathetic damsel in distress that can't do anything by herself?! I'll show you what I can do!" Wisteria snapped her fingers and a large bronze shield appeared in her left hand. It wasn't quite as huge as the ones he'd been taught to use, but it was plenty big enough to protect her and maybe one other as well.
I didn't complain because just then we learned that Cerberus had more tricks than just big teeth and claws. Grabbing my coat collar and pulling me behind her, Wisteria raised her shield as she blocked a fireball that had been launched from one of Cerberus's three heads.
"W-what the hell?! What kind of dog breathes fire?!" screamed Brian. Luckily he was far enough away from us that he hadn't been in danger of the attack.
"The kind that's spent its whole life amongst the fires of hell." I replied. "But that doesn't change things. Brian you said you could shoot more of those things right?"
"I'm not lying I really can."
"I don't doubt you I was just making sure. Try throwing some at his tail. Wisteria you protect him with your shield. I have an idea!"
Just like I asked he threw another card at his tail causing Cerberus to stand on his hind legs. Just like I wanted! I dashed over to the pained Cerberus and grabbed onto his tail. As he slammed back down the tail went up into the air bringing me with it. I watched the angle I was at and jumped at just the right time to land on his back. Cerberus had three heads, but dogs can't reach certain areas of their backs very well. So long as I stayed crouched in his fur in just the right spot, he couldn't get me. Thanks animal loving dad number five. As I lay hunched in Cerberus's fur I drew the knife.
Climbing my way up his back I struggled to hang on as Cerberus took blast after blast to the face of Brian's magic cards. Eventually one of Brian's cards hit the middle head under the chin, knocking it up in the air. This was my chance! I jumped as hard as I could and managed to grab the fur at the base of his right ear. Leaning over so that I could see into it I put the knife in my mouth and blew as hard as I could.
Cerberus reared back, howling in pain. The knife Brian had brought me wasn't just any old knife. It had a built in dog whistle that was supposed to let you call the hunting dogs back after a long day of well… hunting. One little dog with two small ears world be driven mad by this thing. A super dog like Cerberus didn't stand a chance.
I continued to blow the whistle as hard as I could until eventually Cerberus calmed down and passed out. Either the whistle was too much for him or he was too exhausted to continue, nevertheless though I had the feeling Hades was going to get… well… hell for this. I slid off of the unconscious super mutt as I watched it change into a sleeping Chihuahua. If it hadn't just tried to kill me I would have thought he was kind of cute.
I fell to my knees exhausted as Brian and Wisteria came running up to me. "Whoa! Arc you did it again! You beat Cerberus!" he said.
I shook my head and put my hand on his and Wisteria's shoulders.
"No Brian, WE beat Cerberus!" It took a bit for it to click in his head before he realized I was right. Even with the Lions coat Cerberus could have easily eaten me and the coat wouldn't have saved me in its stomach. Plus the only reason I even won was because of the knife he brought me and the distraction he caused. There was NO way I could've done it without him.
Out of one of his pockets he pulled a few bits of ambrosia he had been saving and handed me some. He offered a bit to Wisteria as well, but she said that her source of power now was me. So long as I was in good health, she would be too. As we sat down and nibbled at our heavenly chocolate, we were greeted by not only the entire camp, but the hunters of mom as well. But of course, the first to reach us was Miss Crazy herself. Zoe Nightshade. "Wh-what the hell do you think you're doing?!"
I looked at Brian confused. Earlier he had said that the huntresses had left, but they were clearly right here in camp. He looked just as confused as I did as he just shrugged his shoulders. I turned my head back to her and said "Uh… saving the camp?"
Evidently that was not the right choice of words because she suddenly got red in the face, and I don't mean the lovey dovey blushing kind. "If Cerberus breaks free of the underworld it is the job of the hunters to take him down! Not yours and not this camp's!"
"Well I hate to break it to you Zoe, but somebody punched in at your timeslot!" Brian, the camp, and I all laughed. However that only made Zoe and the other Hunters even angrier. Finally she snapped and pulled out a dagger from her belt. I quickly got to my feet to block her, but stopped.
"Zoe Nightshade, how dare you pull a knife on your brother?"
There she was once again. My mother. "L-Lady Artemis?" said Zoe. "Lady Artemis, w-what do you mean our brother?!"
"There is something I must tell you." Mom said. She gestured to the entire crowd of people. "All of you." She looked back to me, a gentle smile on her face. "Arc, stand up." Of course I did as she said and got up to stand at her side.
"This boy's name is Arc Hunter. He has been at camp for less than two weeks, and has already defeated Mormo, the Nemian Lion, and the guardian of the underworld Cerberus. These are feats thought to only be accomplishable by a child of the so called 'Big Three'. But he is no such child! He belongs to not a single one of those nearly empty cabins! No, he belongs to another cabin entirely. Today, in honor of his feats, I announce his true identity! A title he has earned the right to sing to the heavens and reverberate in Olympus itself! He's Achilles Drakonian Hunter, Son of Artemis!"
Mother snapped her fingers and the moon suddenly shown full. A beam of white light appeared around me and my clothes began to change. White spectral wolves soared about me latching on to the different parts of my body as they formed a long white trench coat, cuirass, and greaves. Two of the wolves bashed their heads together forming the bow I had held that night in my hands, only it was more solid and slightly smaller than before. Another of the wolves formed a quiver on my back and a hundred more flew into it to form the arrows. Every part of me was covered in the white and silver of the moon. As the last two wolves came to rest at my sides as daggers, the light surrounding me became concentrated above my head where it formed a silver crescent moon.
The crowd in front of us stood in stunned silence. I guess no one had expected me to be the son of Artemis, the maiden Goddess. Chiron was the first, and only, to break the silence. "All hail the first son of the moon and prince of the hunt, Arc Hunter."