Chapter 5: Only Girls Can Have Sacred Deer Stakes
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They nearly lost her several times. Pitch black all around, and a maze a roots tripping them up every other step, Percy, Annabeth and Austin stumbled after the swift hunter. As they journeyed deeper into the forest and wondered if they had accidently decided followed a monster. Wolves panted at their heels. Shafts of moonlight which had illuminated the road an hour ago could not been seen in the dense forest and now overcast sky. Lightning flashed and illuminated giant mossy teeth snarling at them from the clouds. The huntress picked up speed. The demigods, exhausted and drenched, glanced at each other occasionally. Austin's feet dragged over the ground and Percy was worried that the next time he tripped, he wouldn't get up.
Training at Camp Half-blood boosted a person's stamina, but it was impossible to prepare anyone for the constant emotional drain, which took a much greater tool than the physical exertion. Through the rain, Percy saw a ring of silver tents and outposts, the campsite for the Hunters of Artemis.
The demigods stumbled the rest of the way to the camp, and collapsed in heaps around a crackling fire. A magic, similar to the one around Camp Half-blood kept the storm from passing overhead. Percy was about to fall asleep right where he lay, when his nose told him not to. Meat was coming toward him. It was juicy and well-seasoned. His stomach rumbled. A hunter with dark sleep deprived circles under her eyes was striding across the camp, holding two plates of glorious steaks. The hunter promptly strode over to Annabeth and the hunter who had led them there. She didn't once glance over at the boys.
"Where's ours?" Austin asked, his stomach rumbling like Zeus' thunder.
Percy was trying really hard not drool and beg for some.
The hunter sniffed finally acknowledging their presence. "Allowing you into our camp is generosity enough. We were told to shelter you, not feed you." She had a thick Italian accent and looked no more than nine years old. "Even if we wanted to feed you, we could not give you this meat. These are sacred steaks."
"Uh, sacred?" Percy asked. He was trying really hard not give puppy eyes at Annabeth, and ask for a bite of hers. She had lost a lot of weight on the during the Giant War. She needed this food, but his growling stomach didn't care.
"Don't you know where we are?" The girl said patronizingly, a smirk on her face.
"Lorenza, they are our guests for now. And friends of Thalia," the older hunter said curtly.
"Amenze," the one named Lorenza complained. "Fine. This park is sacred to Artemis. This is where Artemis and some of her hunters come to heal after a battle. These stakes are from her sacred deer. Only women deemed worthy by Artemis may eat this."
"You look fine. What are you healing from?" Austin said examine her like she was one of his patients.
Lorenza turned on her heel and rushed off.
"She's grieving," Annabeth said. Her face was expressionless, but her own voice caught. The quick side look at Percy told him that she was speaking from recent experience.
Amenze narrowed her eyes. "As are most of us. We have all lost someone precious to us. Be careful demigods. You maybe the heroes of Olympus, but I will throw you out if you upset anymore hunters."
Austin shrugged, then dug through his backpack to look for food. As the girls dined on steak, and the boys dined on beef jerky and strawberry pop tarts, they discussed the prophecy.
"The serpent. The most famous serpent is Python. But he has not been seen for over a thousand years. Who leads this quest?" Amenze asked.
"Me," Austin said. His mouth was mull of jerky so it sounded more like, "Muh."
Amenze wrinkled her nose at his manners. "A son of Apollo leads a quest with a serpent hiding in the shadows. This must be Python. Even Artemis admits this was an impressive enemy. Her brother defeated it only with god-like skill and power." She eyed Austin's body. A skeptical look crossed her face.
Amenze continued, "However, this unborn child of his is the most unsettling. If this child is connected to Hera, it can only mean trouble. Hera and Zeus have not been getting along very well since the war."
"But, Hera is the goddess of marriage. Her nature forbids infidelity." Annabeth said frowning, looking down at her empty plate.
"I do not know. I am not as well versed in Greek myths as I should be."
Percy frowned. He was pretty sure this girl was not as young as the eleven-year-old he saw in front of him. She spoke with too many years in her voice. But if she was older than a hundred years, she should know Greek myths pretty well. "Where are you from?"
Sadness shadowed her face. She looked into the flames. "I am not like most of the hunters. I am neither Greek, Roman, American, demigod, or spirit. I was a runaway slave, born in Nigeria. I joined the hunt in the early 18th century, knowing only of my people's gods, almighty Olodumare, Shango, who makes thunder and lightning, and Ogun of the hunt. But I was open minded and Lady Artemis embraced me as her sister."
"Wow," Percy hadn't really thought too much about other cultures gods as much as he should. He knew the Greek, Roman and Egyptian gods existed. He hoped no more existed. But it seemed every civilization had its own gods, and they all were roaming the modern world. If Ogun and Shango and all the rest of the Nigerian gods were strolling around the markets of Nigeria, he wouldn't be all that surprised.
"I will ask the other hunters if they know anything else. Artemis has given us very little information. Our only task is to heal and give you a safe place to sleep. The hunters are staying out of this one."
"Thank you, still, for everything you've done so far," Annabeth said. She looked better after the filling meal.
"I will leave you now. Get some sleep. The storm cannot touch this place. You will need to leave at sunrise." Amenze stood, took Annabeth's plate and walked off.
Percy still felt a gaping hole in his stomaching. But his tiredness outweighed his hunger. He and Annabeth pulled out blankets, still damp from the swim in the Pacific Ocean. Austin took out his saxophone and hugged it to his chest like a teddy bear. He pulled his own blanket over his head. Percy heard snoring coming from him a minute later. This kid was so fast at falling asleep. Percy turned to Annabeth who held out her arms. Percy lay down beside her and wrapped an arm around her waist. His last thought was that she smelled like pinecones and rain.
In his dream Percy saw juicy, sacred deer stakes with human legs dance around him. He tried to grab one but it just laughed and trotted back out of reach. He kept trying to grab another, chasing them around and around in dizzying circles. He only wanted a small taste, but no matter how fast he was, they were always faster.
"Come and get us," they laughed. Suddenly green mist filled the air. The stakes' playful laughter turned into a chilling hiss that made all the hairs on his dream body stand up on end. One by one the stakes disappeared and were replaced by enormous black scales. Each scale was larger than Percy. They slithered past Percy's line of vision giving him the impression of a black ocean wave that never ended. This thing was one of the biggest monsters he had ever seen. Only Typhon could compare in size. Snake laughter surrounded him, but the malice, for once, was not directed at him. This monster, probably Python, was circling something or someone else.
Austin's voice sounded from a long way off. His voice sounded hoarse but defiant. Percy tried to walk toward Austin, but every step he took brought him further away. The green mist thickened around him. He was unable to make out what Austin was saying. He walked along the wall of scales only hearing hissing. If they fought against this monster, he feared one, or all of them wouldn't make it out alive.
As the green mist swirled round him he heard a different sort of hissing sound. Percy remembered hearing this sound, and it didn't bring back good memories. He looked down, and nearly threw up. Far below him was bright orange fire. Lava bubbled and splashed up the sides of a volcano entrance. The green mist turned into noxious grey fumes.
Percy choked, and although he knew he was in a dream, he felt his lungs collapsing. He fell to his knees, but was unable to take his eyes off the lava below him. He remembered the labyrinth. How the telekinesis had laughed as they threw lava at him. He remembered how he had called the sea to help him. The sea had responded and blew up the Mount St. Helens, causing the evacuation of an entire city. He hoped that wouldn't happen on this quest. Percy squinted around to see if he located where this volcano was. It wasn't Mount St. Helens. A presence behind him made him twist around. He still couldn't stand, but he could shuffle.
"Who's there?" His only response was the bubbling of the lava below. "Did you bring me here?"
He took the silence as a confirmation. Being a demigod gave him a better sense of if someone was watching him. So he knew he wasn't talking to thin air. Well, he was talking to thin air, but he knew something was around. "Why?"
"Learn what you need to do." A woman's voice said so close to him he lurched backwards towards the opening of the volcano. That was a big mistake. Hands, shoving him back even more. Invisible bonds wrapped around him so that he was curled in a fetal position. His arms were bound to his knees which were bound to his chest.
"What? Wait! Stop how am I supposed to be learning anything from this?" He struggled and round around. His invisible attackers grabbed him and held on.
"Learn." The woman said simply.
Percy tried to roll away, but still the attackers pushed and shoved him toward the lip of the volcano. Green mist started to fill his vision again. The snakes voice filled his head. "Helping the little demigodsss on their quessst, huh. Then let'sss give our hero a little desssspair as well." The snake said gleefully. "A tasssste of what'ssss to come."
The figures pushing him solidified and there was Annabeth, Austin and another girl he didn't know, with coal black hair and brown-red eyes. Annabeth's hands shoved his shoulders. Her eyes were cold and grey, like a winter sky. She gave him one hard shove. "Bye."
"Annabeth?" Percy asked in disbelief. Then he fell. He couldn't move any of his limbs. He was frozen, falling toward the lava below him. Rage, that was not quite his own filled him. It was a wild, bloodthirsty rage rose up in him. He wanted to destroy everything, if only he could move. He wanted to flood deserts, burn rivers, blow away forests, and destroy everything gods had created.
When he hit the lava and ice cold show of water met him. Percy lurched awake. Immediately he dried off, but he was still miffed. Amenze stood over him with a bucket.
"You need to leave now. The storm has passed but I suspect it will come back soon."
"What?" Percy said the nightmare still clinging to him. He felt the rage ebb but its lingering traces disturbed him.
Amenze pursed her lips. "The hunters are ready to move and you need to be on your way. The storm has stopped, but it will be back."
Percy stumbled to a standing position. He looked around and saw that all of the hunters were packing away their silver tents. The sun was just beginning to rise. He looked at Austin who looked pale. Percy wondered what else had happened in his dream. A familiar hand touched his shoulder. Percy whirled around, reaching for Riptide.
Annabeth backed up as the pen sprang into sword form. "It's just me."
Percy stared at her in shock, then at his sword. "Sorry. Dreams, I'm still jumpy." He couldn't help feeling dream Annabeth's hand on his shoulder shoving him into a volcano.
Annabeth nodded, understanding. "Austin too. He nearly brained a hunter with his saxophone when she tried to wake him. We'll talk as walk to Camp Half Blood. It's only a few more miles."
Turns out Austin didn't want to talk about his dream very much. The only thing he said as they hiked uphill, was that the killer snake's friend was going to blow everything up. He emphasized his words with a wah wah wahhhhhh from his saxophone.
Still that was something to discuss. The snake was not alone. Percy discussed his own dream leaving out the part where Annabeth, Austin and a mysterious girl had pushed him into volcano. Annabeth frowned at the mention of a volcano. "That narrows a lot of places out. I mean we may have to go to Yellowstone, but something tells me we need to stay on the coast. I wonder who showed you the volcano? You really didn't see anything else?"
Percy shook his head.
"So what we need to find is the egg, the invisible person, and the girl with the red-brown eyes. The snake will probably come to us knowing demigod luck." Austin said.
"Sounds like a pretty standard quest to me," Percy said reaching around his backpack to grab another cliff bar.
"All the quests you've been on have had this many problems?" Austin asked in dismay.
"Yep, I blew up a bus 24 hours into the quest for the lightning bolt." Percy said. His hand moved to the trident bead on his necklace.
"Terrific," Austin said as they all trudged through a grassy clearing. Their tennis shoes were getting wet from the dew. Streams of sunlight were making their way through the trees. So far there was no sign of monsters.
No sign of monsters was usually a good thing, but Percy got the feeling that the monsters weren't around them for a reason, not because luck was on their side. Fortuna, the goddess of luck, rarely seemed to favor demigods.
As they came to the top of the hill Percy looked down. The clearing went on for some time then descended back into oak and eucalyptus trees. He closed his eyes and thought back to his time with Lupa. Although Camp Jupiter wasn't home for very long he could still feel its pull. The wolf had taught him to hone his senses for months, and Percy could feel where there was a strong mythical aura. He pointed off to the left and down. "The Caldecott Tunnel is that way."
"The Caldecott Tunnel?" Annabeth asked.
Percy remembered that when Annabeth had come to get him, she had traveled on a magic flying dragon ship named Festus. She had never seen the actual entrance into the Roman Camp.
"It's the main entrance to Camp Jupiter. We go through the maintenance entrance which is usually guarded by two of the legionaries. When I first arrived, Hazel and Frank were the ones on guard duty. I doubt they'll be there this time though. They sounded pretty busy."
Frank was busy learning how to be a praetor. Reyna had praised how quick he learned things whenever she iris messaged Chiron on their weekly updates. The only thing that seemed to annoy her was the fact that Frank was terrible at giving orders. He made every direction sound either like a question or a suggestion. It was up to Hazel and Jason to stand up for him.
As they approached the tunnel, Percy could still hear the leaves and dirt crunching underneath his sneakers. That was not good. He should have been hearing cars speeding down the road. "Take out your weapons, something's wrong."
Without questioning him, they all drew their weapons. Percy went down the hill. The hill was similar to the one he had sled down on, on a snack platter that had held poisonous Bargain Mart Cheese and Wieners. He carefully approached the tunnel. It was empty. The wind blew through the tunnel making a few leaves swirl around like ballet dancers. He held up his sword so the bronze glow would illuminate the maintenance door. Annabeth and Austin stood quietly by his side clutching their weapons.
Now Percy knew something was wrong. The maintenance door was gone. There was only the door frame left, and a grey puddle of metal. Far town the tunnel leading to camp, he could hear the sound of yells and fires crackling. They all exchanged nervous glances. "It seems Camp Half-Blood wasn't the only one that was attacked," Austin said.
"Come on," Percy said. "Whatever melted that door is now terrorizing Camp Jupiter."
Percy stepped gingerly around the puddle. He capped Riptide and sprinted down the tunnel, the others close at his heels. In a few moments, they burst out of the tunnel and saw a scene of chaos.
Note: My next post won't be until December 18th. Thanks for reading. Click the button if you have something to say.