It was already late when Percy finally made it back to Yancy Academy. Dark clouds hid the moon and the stars from sight. A storm was brewing, but oddly there was no sight of lightning yet. It was curious, but he did not ponder it for long, as he sneaked into his dorm room. All he wanted now was to sleep. To finally rest and hopefully get Apollo's awful music out of his head.
Much to his disliking he was woken up early the next day, though this time not by his patron, but by someone else banging on his door. "Percy Jackson, you will open this door now or you will only get yourself in more trouble than you are already in." A stern female voice admonished him through the door.
Percy groaned as he lifted his head off the pillow. "I'm up. I'm up." He yelled. "Just one moment, Mrs Dodds." Oh how he cursed his luck right now. His least favorite teacher was here, most likely to chew him out for skipping the field trip yesterday.
He dressed quickly, before he opened the door, still only half-awake, to face the wrath of his teacher. Mrs. Dodds looked at him with great displeasure, as he stepped out of his room. As he looked around he saw that many other students were awake, watching the scene from their rooms. Some wore smirks as they all knew what would await Percy now.
"Follow me, Mr Jackson. We will have to talk about your recent... misconduct." Mrs. Dodds said curtly, before she grabbed Percy's arm and lead him down the hallway, past the rooms of his peers. None of them felt pity for him, that much was obvious.
But instead of the principal's office, where be thought she would lead him, she brought him to an abandoned backyard. It was odd, but he quickly realized that maybe the teacher he had learned to dislike was more than she seemed.
"Now, Percy Jackson, you will tell me everything." Mrs Dodds said, her voice suddenly raspy and deeper than before. "And don't you dare lie to me."
"Mrs Dodds, I know that I shouldn't have skipped that field trip, but..."
"Where are they? Where have you hidden the bolt and the helmet, you little thief?" She started circling around him, like a predator around its prey.
"Bolt? Helmet? What are you talking about?" He turned towards his teacher, only to see that she was gone. "Mrs Dodds?"
"Tell me, boy!"
The voice came from higher up, so Percy looked in that direction, only to see a bat-like creature hanging from one of the ledges. "Wow... you are really an old bat!" Percy stated, though he was less surprised than Mrs Dodds had expected him to be.
"I shall force the answers out of you then."
"Or you can take the scenic route back to the Hades." Percy said, as he tapped the amulet her wore underneath his clothes. Moments later he had his sword in hand, his bow on his back, as a quiver full of arrows dangled on his hip.
"You! The symbol of Apollo!"
"I what? Care to tell me why this upsets you so? You should be used to explaining things twice to me." Percy mocked lightly, as he tried to remember what he had heard about Furies. "Or would you care to explain to me why a there is a Fury at my school?"
"Hand over what you have stolen, half-blood!" With a furious screech, the Fury attacked Percy, diving down from her perch, claws ready to pierce him.
Only narrowly he avoided the Fury's attack, jumping to the side as he did so. "Stupid monsters with their stupid delusions." Percy muttered, as he pushed himself up from the ground, only to be knocked down again by another attack.
The Fury turned around again, to finish him off with her third attack, but unlike before, Percy was now back on his feet, his swords tightly grasped in both of his hands. "Come on, show me what you've got, you overgrown bat." He challenged.
He ignored the Fury's piercing shriek, though it hurt his ears greatly. Instead he remained steadfast, his sword raised, awaiting the incoming attack of the monster. As the Fury descended upon him, he swung his sword in a wide arc, pressing it down with all his strength as it met resistance. The monster let out another piercing shriek, as it hit the ground hard and ceased all movement.
"What a nice workout for a Saturday morning..." Percy huffed, breathing hard as he tried to calm himself down. His ears were still ringing, and his body ached slightly from when he had to evade the Fury on the hard stone floor of the backyard. He looked around, only to see that the monster was still there, though its only movement was the rise and fall of its chest now. His grip on his sword tightened, as he walked over to his fallen foe.
The fury looked up at him with utmost contempt when she saw him standing above her, ready to end her visit to the mortal world. "You may have bested me, but you will pay for stealing from Hades. Your father won't save you, son of Poseidon."
Percy could not understand her, his hearing still hampered from the shrieking before. He looked at the Fury for some more moments, before he stabbed his sword into her chest, turning the monster to dust.
"Damn monsters... guess this means good by Yancy. Hope Apollo knows how to continue from here on." Percy muttered as he made his weapons disappear. He started to brush some off his clothes, as he wandered back to his dorm-room. He had to pack, to get away before more monsters would come. As much as he disliked most of his fellow students here, he did not want them to suffer because of him.
The other students muttered as he walked past them, some still smirking, thinking that he had gotten himself in trouble. But Percy ignored them, not that he would have heard any of the things they said. Though his hearing got slightly better, his ears were still ringing.
The moment he had entered his room, he grabbed a bag and started stuffing it with things. Spare clothes, a pouch full of Drachmas that Apollo had given him not long ago. Most of the things he would take with him were gifts from Apollo. Even a bag filled with Ambrosia cubes and a flask full of Nectar.
He took one of the Ambrosia cubes and started chewing on it, hoping that it would allow him to regain his hearing. Meanwhile he thought about his next step, playing around with his amulet. Hades had found him, a Fury was the obvious sign for that. And they knew whose son he was. He still remembered the story Apollo had told him about what happened the last time one of the big three had broken the oath.
Thalia Grace, though he had only met her briefly, he still remembered her. It was mere weeks after Apollo had taken him in, when his patron sent him out with an easy task. To give three demigods some weapons and money, so they could safely make it to Camp Half-blood. It was an easy enough task, a favor for Hermes, since one of the three was a son of him. Percy met Thalia, handed over the bag and disappeared as quickly as he had come, just like Apollo had asked of him. Only later Percy found out that Thalia never made it safely to the camp. She nearly died trying to protect her friends, only to be turned into a tree by her own father. It was one of the rare moments Percy had seen a somberly Apollo. The usually happy god of the sun lamented Thalia's fate that day, citing that he 'hated it when pretty girls turn into trees'.
All that happened because of Hades' anger. Anger at his younger brother for breaking their oath. The children always had to suffer for their parents misdeeds. And now that Hades knew that Poseidon has broken the oath as well... Percy knew that his only chance was to get away. He had to find Apollo, quickly...
He was suddenly jerked out of his thoughts when someone placed a hand on his shoulder. Percy had neither seen nor heard anyone enter, so in his sudden surprise he believed it to be an attacker. He knocked the hand off of his shoulder as he quickly turned around, his sword once more in his hand. Only in the last moment he managed to stop himself, else he would taken off the head of one of his best friends, Grover Underwood.
"Wow, wow, Percy, stop! It's me, Grover! Don't kill me buddy, please..." Grover looked pale as he stared wide-eyed at Percy, whose sword was still touching the skin of his throat.
Percy relaxed, when he saw Grover. Letting out a deep breath, he allowed his sword to return to the amulet, before he sat down on his bed. "Man, Grover, don't surprise me like that. Not on days like this..."
"Percy... why do you have a sword?" Grover asked carefully, still somewhat worried that Percy might still try to take his head off.
"Make an educated guess." Percy replied, as he returned to packing his bag.
"Your leaving?"
"I just turned the old bat into dust, I doubt I can stay for long."
"What are you talking about, Percy?" Grover asked nervously. He couldn't stop fidgeting around, as if he suffered from ADHD, just like the demigod before him.
"Don't play dumb, Grover. Or else I will have to take you to that new restaurant, that has opened two blocks away. I heard that they serve excellent mutton." Percy grinned coldly at Grover, pleased that his words had the intended effect on the not so human boy. Grover looked visibly shaken, unsure whether Percy was just kidding or not. Grover thought that he knew Percy Jackson, but finding out that your best friend carries a sword and has better reflexes than an untrained demigod should have... he wasn't so sure anymore.
"Percy, really, you are behaving oddly... are you alright?"
"Last chance, Grover. I have just been attacked by a Fury and you ask me if I'm alright. Are you kidding me?" Percy shook his head in disbelieve, before he closed his bag and picked it up. "Grover, I do know what you are and I know why you are here."
"You know? How?"
"My patron told me. Once you know what to look for, Satyrs can be identified quite easily. The signs are obvious."
"Your patron?" Instead of answering, Percy simply pulled out his amulet and showed it to him. The golden amulet shone in the light, the symbols easily visible. Bow, arrow, sword and lyre. "Apollo..." Grover whispered in disbelieve.
"Now that this is settled, I should leave. If Hades knows I'm here, I should better leave and never look back." Percy said, as he moved towards the door.
"Percy, wait. I'll go with you." Grover quickly followed his friend, hard pressed to keep up with Percy, who did not stop, even when other students mocked him about being kicked out of school. No one stopped Percy, until he had nearly reached the walls around the school.
"Percy, wait." Grover yelled after him, finally getting Percy to stop. "I have to come with you. I need to bring you to the camp and..."
"Don't even think about it, Grover. There is no chance that I will go to that camp. The last child of the big three didn't make it there alive, so I will not even try to go there. And Hades will expect me to act like this. To run to the supposed safety of your beloved camp. Even in the unlikely case that I make it there, I would endanger all other demigods by staying there. Hades wants revenge and will stop at nothing to get back at his brothers."
"But where else will you go?" Grover asked, almost frantic. Getting half-bloods to camp was the only way of action he knew. But he also remembered vividly what Percy meant when he alluded to the incident with Thalia... he couldn't fault Percy for thinking like this. But that also... "Wait... you know who your father is?"
"It was kind of obvious once I started to train in using my powers. And it isn't such a big surprise that in the end Poseidon acted just like Zeus. Both broke the oath just because they couldn't keep it in their pants." Percy couldn't help but snarl slightly when he spoke his father's name. He never knew how to feel about the man who had sired him. Sure he had Apollo, who had taken care of him for years. But the god was more like a big brother and never tried to replace Percy's real father. He never even spoke badly about him. He even defended Poseidon's actions on occasion. But Percy never knew how to feel about Poseidon. Would he call him father, should they ever meet? He really did not know.
"You really shouldn't talk about the gods like that..." Grover said in a frightened whisper. He looked upwards, as if he expected thunder to strike Percy down any second now.
"Don't worry. I doubt that they waste their time to get back at one single demigod. But I have wasted enough time. I need to go. Good bye, Grover. You've been a good friend, although you are a terrible liar."
"Wait. You have to go and see Chiron. He will know what to do. We have to..."
"I told you that I won't go to your camp. I have other plans."
"But Chiron can help. And he needs to know, especially now that..." Grover stopped mid sentence, remembering that there were things that should not be told openly.
"Now what?" Grover did not dare to speak. "Is this about this whole Bolt thing that the Fury has talked about."
"You know about the theft... so Chiron's assumption was right..."
"What? Did your great Chiron believe that I am the thief? Are you kidding me?" Percy asked incredulously. "Grover you know me. I never had the time to steal anything."
"Well you did disappear all of a sudden when this all happened and..."
Percy groaned when he heard this. This was just what he needed. More people hunting him, but this time for another reason. "Just great. Listen, you go to your Chiron and tell him that I am not the thief and that I have to escape Hades for some time."
"But..." Grover tried to protest, but too late. Percy had already climbed over the wall that surrounded the school and was gone. The lone Satyr did not know what to do. Either follow Percy or return to Camp Half-blood. Actually he was already on his way to the camp, since Chiron did not think that Percy would return to the school after his... deed. Grover was merely there to collect some things from his room. But now... he wasn't so sure.
A few hours later Percy arrived his intended location, a large house in the outskirts of Queens, the place where he spent all holidays, when he couldn't stay at his boarding schools. The house was big and much to Percy's relief, had plenty of places to rest and disappear. It was good for all people involved that the house was that big, since both Apollo and Hermes sometimes brought their dates here. Percy had no wish to meet any of those women...
But now it would give him shelter until Apollo would show up. He would know what to do. Apollo would find a way to stop Hades. But as Percy arrived at the house, he saw something that caused him to groan in annoyance. Hunters. They were crawling all over the place. He had to hide in the bushes of the garden to avoid getting caught.
"Just my luck. I knew that one day Lady Artemis would send them to hunt me down for interfering." Percy muttered, before he turned to leave.
"Jo, Perce." Someone suddenly whispered behind him. But this time Percy heard the voice and knew who it was. Grover would have had a seizure, had he come into contact with Percy's sword twice in one day.
"What are you doing here?" Percy whispered furiously.
Grover looked slightly unsure, before he answered, "I'm here to come with you. Can't abandon you just like that. I'm your protector after all."
"Protector? Are you high?" He looked at Grover, clearly not believing what he had heard. "I mean look at you. You look like a small wind will blow you over."
Grover wanted to reply, but loud yells from the house suddenly caught their attention. Though they couldn't understand what they were yelling about, Percy suddenly started chuckling.
"I believe they have found Apollo's secret stash of porn mags."
"Why would a god have porn mags?"
"What hot-blooded male doesn't? I mean Apollo has them, Hermes has them, Ares... well I guess he does not need them, he's dating the goddess of lover after all..." Percy replied, as he watched the building, especially a furious looking Zoe running out of the house. He already pitied his patron, the Hunters will definitely castrate him the next time they see him.
"Perce..." Grover said, his voice suddenly quivering. When Percy turned around he saw Grover, with a hunting knife at his throat, a lone Huntress behind him.
"Great..." Percy muttered in annoyance.
"You two are not very good at hiding. Be glad that Zoe is currently busy throwing a fit about perverted gods and men." The Huntress said, before she pushed Grover towards Percy and sheeted her knife.
"Well it would have been easier without goat-boy." Percy replied with a smirk. "But wait, I know you."
"I would hope so. You saved my life just yesterday. Both by killing that Hellhound and by tending to my wound." The girl said with a slight smile. "My name is Ariadne."
"I'm Percy, the quivering mess over there is Grover."
"I will let you leave without telling the others, but just this time." Ariadne said. "But be careful. Lady Artemis has orders from Lord Zeus to hunt you down. But I have no doubt that she would do it even without his orders." Her smirk grew even more as she said the last part.
Grover meanwhile looked oddly at Percy, when he heard Ariadne's words. "Just how many gods have you pissed off, Percy?" He asked incredulously.
"Dunno, one or two. Most dislike me on principle because of who my father is. But some are cool." Percy shrugged.
"Go, they are busy right now and Lady Artemis is not here. But that will change soon."
"Why are you helping me?" Percy was curious about her reasons. So far most Hunters would simply shoot him and not ask questions, let alone talk to him in such a friendly manner.
"Two reasons. I owe you for saving my life."
"And the other reason?"
"My father." She seemed coy all of a sudden. Though it didn't last for long.
Percy looked at her oddly, before it dawned upon him. "Your father is Apollo. You have his eyes and hair color." And truly, she had the same blond hair and clear blue eyes that Apollo had. Even her smirk was oddly reminiscent of him.
"Yes. Since you are my father's champion I feel obliged to help you. But don't expect more from now on. I cannot and will not betray my mistress if I can help it. Lady Artemis has been good to me, she has taken care of me after my mother was gone."
"We are alike in many ways, you and I. I hope we will get another chance to talk, sometime in the future. You are pretty cool for a Hunter."
"I'm sure we will. You are different from most men I've met so far. And we are hunting you after all, so I guess we will inevitably meet again." She replied with a smirk. "Now shoo."
Percy and Grover had no need to be told twice. They quickly left the garden, to escape Artemis' Hunters. Their problems had just grown, but at least they knew that not all people who were hunting Percy at the moment were his enemies. Maybe things would work out somehow.
A\N: Okay, another chapter done. I hope you all enjoyed it.
There is not much to say about all of this. I mentioned how Percy views Apollo, since this has been a topic in the past. I just never saw Apollo as a father figure for Percy. But he is a much better Person for a big brother type of character. And Poseidon wouldn't like to see someone take his son away from him in that way and Apollo, even though he is the strongest of the gods outside of the six oldest, is weary of making an enemy out of Poseidon.
In fact there is only one more thing I want to say before I am done for today. The OC Hunter, Ariadne, is not meant for a pairing. Though she will become closer to Percy she will not be romantically involved with him. Just think about what Apollo would think about Percy dating one of his daughters... And there are enough girls from the orginal books to choose from.