Chapter Three

Had Katniss Everdeen known about her sister being reaped, she would have been very, very, very angry. However, the immortal huntresses were among the only ones not forced to wath the reaping and the Hunger Games.

Katniss was informed that she was their only addition in at least 75 years. It sounded like a long time to her, but some of the huntresses were over 500 years old. The oldest, Katia, was in charge when the Lady Artemis was gone.

"She's only ever left us once," she said. For five years, during the time of the rebirth of the human race."

"Did she have children?" asked Katniss.

"She had two. One of them was a girl. Would have been great huntress material, but the whole point was to breed."

"But, don't you swear off men?"

"We do. Artemis says if she ever finds a worthy man, then maybe they can be together. So far, Artemis has had two children."

"None of you have ever had children, right?"

Most of the huntresses would feel a bit nauseous at the mere thought of a child. Katia only said:

"None to speak of. Come meet the Huntresses."

There were 11 Huntresses in all, counting Katniss. Katia was the oldest, and Tara was the youngest (besides Katniss), at 82.

None of the Huntresses were soft-spoken, but the shyest of them was Tricia. The only words she had said so far were:

"It's pronounced, Trik kee ah, not like the end of Patricia."

And none of the Huntresses were really that friendly.

"What do you guys do all the time?" asked Katniss.

"Hunt. When we aren't doing that, we're helping Artemis with whatever she might be doing."

"Oh."

"Katniss, you've heard of the Greeks, right?"

"Um… They were some kind of Ancient civilization, I think."

"What about the Greeks' religion?"

"No."

"Well, they believed in many gods. Gods for the sky, gods for the sea, even gods for wine. They also had some weird, paranormal animals, like satyrs and hydras. When a god has children with a mortal, the result used to be called a demigod."

"But, it's all true, right?"

"The Greeks were not idiots."

"Right."

"Someday, we'll give you a brief history lesson on gods and heroes."

"I will not look forward to it."

"Me neither."

Katniss was given a bow and arrow. It wasn't anything fancy, but it was a little different from what she was used to. She was also given some clothes, because she was still wearing what she had slept in.

The huntresses moved around a lot. It was hard to be in one place too long, because of the Hunger Games. There was always the danger of one of them getting reaped.

Many of the Huntresses had sad stories. There was one girl, Angeles, whose parents both died in a fire when she was ten. She was sent to live with her aunt and uncle, and she ran away at the age of fourteen. That's when she met Artemis and became a huntress. That was before the reign of the Capitol, of course. Everybody agreed that things were better back then.

One Week Earlier

Peeta Mellark woke up to a knock at the door.

He slipped out of bed and opened it up. A blonde girl in an orange tee shirt came in. The shirt had type on it, but for some reason Peeta couldn't read it. The letters just seemed to float away. The girl was carrying a small dagger in one hand, and a Yankees baseball cap in the other. The baseball cap was soaking wet.

The girl was breathing hard. She looked like she hadn't slept in days.

"They're coming, Percy," she said franticly. "They've found me."

"Who are you?" demanded Peeta. "My name isn't Percy."

"Percy Jackson," she said. "You look different. Did you cut your hair?"

A tall man burst into the room. He was thin and light-skinned. He had piercing green eyes.

The man pulled out a small, sticklike object. Peeta realized it was a ballpoint pen. He uncapped it, and it turned into a long sword made of a bronze-colored metal.

He took the sword and jammed it into the girl's side. Her orange tee shirt was stained red.

"Annabeth!" screamed Peeta, not quite knowing how he knew her name. He ran towards her, but a split second before he got there, she put on the Yankees baseball cap. And then she disappeared.

Peeta heard a clap of thunder and ran outside.

He was standing in a grassy meadow. It started to rain, and the meadow was struck by lightning. It started to burn…

But the water drowned the flames out, the water drowned everything and he tried to swim towards the surface. Peeta started to drown, but then he reaized he could breathe. In fact, he was perfectly dry. He turned around and walked back home, got back in bed, and went to sleep.

When he woke up, his first thought was, Annabeth! His second thought was the realization that he had had a nightmare. He had been having nightmares like these a lot recently, always featuring the same girl and a lot of water. In his dreams, his name was Percy. They scared him a lot. He wondered what could be causing them.

His final thought on the subject before he dragged himself out of bed was, who the heck are the Yankees?

Well, there you have it! Chapter Three!

Is the Annabeth gets stabbed bit too violent? Cuz', I can take it out.

PLEEEEEEEEEASE review.