He paced restlessly in the dimly lit room, his face contorted with a worried frown. He had tried anything to keep himself occupied, to divert his attention, at least for a short while. But it was no use. Nothing could stop him from wondering.
Had he made the right decision? Was it really worth it, to place the children in this kind of danger? Especially at this time, when Zeus was searching far and wide for the thief of his Master Bolt. It was a gamble, he knew it would be.
He gazed through a window, out into the darkness. A place where the sun would not reach. He would see whether the boy would be truly worthy of helping him. Everything was set in motion. At first he had considered sending one of his servants to get the children. But that would have given away the identity of the their father. Too risky.
The better choice was to hide them in plain sight. Let them think they were normal demigods, like all those other little orphans. They wouldn't know about them before it would be too late to interfere.
When Percy woke up he was still sitting in the same train cart, Grover snoring loudly next to him. He had a strange dream. The lingering feeling he got from it was still disconcerting, though the dream's content had already eluded his mind. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't remember it.
He looked over to Grover, who had started drooling. Percy decided that he would rather not find out what the Satyr was dreaming about, so he looked out of the window, only to see that the sun had set and that there was only pitch black darkness left.
"Just what have I done wrong to be in this mess..." Percy mumbled. "What is up with you, Apollo? Why won't you just show yourself to me and tell me what this all is about?" He wasn't angry with Apollo. No, all he felt was slight disappointment and worry. "Stupid tests."
Grover stirred slightly, but he did not wake up. Instead he blated and started muttering. "No... stay here. Here enchilada, come back to Grover..."
Percy grinned when he heard that, but the sight of Grover drooling on himself while dreaming about food... it wasn't his exact idea of fun. "Jo, G-man, stand up." But it was no use, Grover continued dreaming... and drooling. "Grover, they have free enchiladas in the dining cart!" He said a little louder than before.
"Enchiladas? What? Were?" Grover suddenly shot up, looking wide awake. Percy nearly fell off his seat as he started laughing at his Satyr companion. "It was a trick?" Grover asked with a disappointed look on his face.
"Sorry, but you had started drooling and all." Percy said between laughs.
"Now I'm hungry."
"Yeah, yeah." Percy looked away, to something outside of the window. "Look. We will arrive soon." Not far from them they could already see the lights of the big city. They were approaching their destination quickly and, hopefully, they would get some peace there.
"So, what will we do now? What is our plan?" Grover asked.
"I don't know. Survive would be a good start." Percy replied with a carefully guarded expression on his face. He knew how easily Grover got scared, so he tried to hide his own worry. "I have to survive for as long as it takes for Apollo to come and get me out of this mess. You though... once we leave this train we should part ways. They are after me, not you." Percy said, as he looked at his friend. "Return to your camp. Be safe there."
"I can't." Grover replied indignantly. "I'm..."
"My protector. Yes, you already said that before. But G-Man, really, you can't help me. I've been fighting monsters for years now. I know how to survive, but you..."
"Percy, I can fight. I know I've failed before when Thalia died, but I can do this."
"Wait a sec. You were with Zeus' daughter when she was turned into a tree?" Percy looked incredulously at the Satyr.
Grover looked away, ashamed of his last failure. "Yes... I was the Satyr who found her and two other demigods. I tried to bring them to the camp, but... Hades' anger knew no bounds."
"And even though you knew that it did not work the last time, you still tried to get me to go to that camp of yours?"
"It's the safest place for a demigod to be..." Grover defended his actions weakly. "It's the thing all Satyrs are told to do when they find a demigod..."
"What has really happened?" Percy asked after some long moments of silence. "With Thalia, I mean." He clarified, when Grover did not answer immediately. It was a question that had bugged him for years. Ever since he found out who his father really is. He always knew that he would one day be on Hades hit list, Apollo's champion or not. He wanted to know what went wrong, so he would not repeat those mistakes. But Apollo had never been very forthcoming with information of the night that Zeus' daughter was turned into a tree.
"There were three demigods, Thalia Grace, daughter of Zeus, Luke Castellan, son of Hermes and Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena. When I found them they had already been on the run from monsters for some time. I... convinced them to go to Camp Half-blood, for their own safety. But... I failed. I should have guided them safely to the camp, but we ran into monsters nearly all the time." Grover looked really down, his voice quiet, somber. "We had nearly reached the camp, when a large number of monsters appeared and..."
"And Thalia nearly died, so the rest of you could live." Percy finished for his friend. Grover nodded silently. He didn't even dare to look at Percy at that moment. "Don't beat yourself up, Grover. There is nothing you could have done. You are one Satyr, you had no chance against all the monsters under Hades' command." He patted Grover on the arm.
Suddenly the train jerked and the lights went out. "What in the name of..." Percy cursed, he fell out of his seat. Again the train shook as if it was hit by something big. He tried to stand up, but Grover fell on him, when the train cart they were in was finally knocked over. Loud sounds of creaking and breaking metal, mixed with the screams of frightened people left no doubt that the entire train had been attacked and knocked from its tracks.
"Grover?" Percy asked in between coughs.
"Yeah?"
"Are we dead yet?" He didn't know why that was the first question that had entered his mind, but it isn't a daily occurrence to sit in a train that had jumped the rails.
"No man, I don't think so."
"Then get your furry ass off of me. You are heavy, do you know that. I think we have to cut down your enchilada consume."
Almost instantly the satyr jumped up and away from Percy, who took some deep breaths, now that the weight had been lifted off his chest. "What has happened?" Grover merely shrugged his shoulders, as he searched the now destroyed cart for their bags. "We need to move, we are not far from the city. There we will be safer from monsters and the Hunters. Out here we are just begging to be hit by an arrow."
As Percy started to look for a way to get out of the cart, Grover suddenly started to fiddle around with his trousers, much to the obvious annoyance of his demigod companion. "Grover, this is so not the time to undress. And..."
"No, I can move better without." The Satyr defended his actions, as he pulled down his pants and revealed the goat half of his body.
Percy did not reply anything, but instead he crawled over to one of the broken windows. "I think I've found a way out. Come on, Grover. Time to leave." He kicked a view glass shard that were still blocking their path, breaking the sharp obstacles, so they could pass without problem.
But outside of the train they were still in danger. The darkness around them seemed to swallow everything that was more the a few feet away. The entire train was a wreck now, even a small fire was burning in a cart not far away from them.
"What now?" Grover asked with a worried look, as he saw the destruction around them.
"We have to run. The longer we stay, the more danger we will be in." Percy was about to run, when suddenly a hulking figure appeared behind him, on the other side of the train. At first he could only see the outline of a humanoid creature, but as it got closer Percy saw that it must be a small giant. That was until he saw the creatures face. And its eye. Its one, single eye, in the middle of the face.
"Perseus Jackson! Your path will end here!" The creature, a Cyclops announced loudly.
"Great, of course it had to be something missing from your damn list!" Percy muttered. Grover looked confused, not knowing whom Percy was talking to, but the look on his friend's face made it clear that this was not the time for stupid questions.
Two more Cyclopes appeared behind the one that had spoken to them, all three looking down at Percy with grim determination. "Oh come on. Three Cyclopes? Why not send your whole army like you did last time, uncle dearest? Get it over with." Percy yelled loudly. He had no idea whether Hades had heard him or not, but the next thing that could be heard was howling. The howling of many monsters.
"Aw, me and my big mouth." Percy cursed, before he grabbed Grover's arm and started running. "Come on, Grover, or do you want to end up as a chew toy for Hades' Hellhounds?" They quickly disappeared into the dark night, three Cyclopes and a horde of Hellhounds hot on their heels.
After the unsuccessful raid on Apollo's house, Artemis Hunters had returned to their camp on Long Island. Their disappointment was great, that they had not even found a clue to the whereabouts of their target. The disappointment was only rivaled by the disgust and anger directed at the sun-god, caused by all the things they had found in his house. Artemis had told them before to be weary of what they could find, simply because of the general use of the house, but it did nothing to help them when they actually found more than just hints at Apollo's favorite pastime.
Most Hunters sat around a fire, talking animatedly, as they waited for their Lady's return. Artemis had not returned since they she had gone to visit Camp Half-blood the day before. But it did not worry the Hunters that she was gone for longer periods of time, she had done that before and still always managed to be there, when her Hunters needed her.
But for the Hunters this meant waiting. And in the middle of a hunt no less. They were eager for a good hunt, for a fight. And the fact that for once they were ordered to capture someone, instead of just killing monsters, fueled this eagerness.
The only Hunters who had not yet joined their sisters around the fire were Zoe and Ariadne. The former was oddly silent since they had returned from Apollo's house and the latter was in deep thought about her actions the day before.
Ariadne did not regret letting Percy go. She was simply repaying a favor. But at the same time she had betrayed her mistress, her aunt. She often wondered why her aunt seemed to dislike Percy. He had never acted out of the line, has always been helpful and respectful. He had saved the lives of half of the Hunters in this camp. Yet they disliked him, some even seemed to hate him, simply for being a boy.
She finally saw Zoe. The senior huntress was busy sharpening her sword. Ariadne merely leaned against a nearby tree and watched, never saying a word. She knew it would be presumptuous to call Zoe a friend, but Ariadne remembered vividly how Zoe had found her and brought her to Artemis, when she was merely seven years old. Zoe was also the one who had taught her archery and the basic hunting skills. But despite all that, there had always been a distance between them that could not be bridged.
Maybe it was caused by the fact that Ariadne had not yet completely sworn herself to Artemis. Becoming a full hunter would have made her immortal, never aging. No one would have wanted her to be a seven year old forever. But even now, that she had reached the age that some of the girls had joined the Hunters, she had yet to actually accept the vows. But no one had pressed her. At times she wondered whether Artemis was even willing to let her become a full Hunter. She was awfully disappointed about her last failure and that she needed Percy to save her.
"Are you going to stare at me all day, or is there something you wish to ask me, Ariadne?" Zoe asked, without looking away from her sword.
"Not really." Ariadne replied, before she became silent for a few more moments. "Actually there is a question I have had for some time."
"Oh surprise. Suddenly you want me to answer your questions. The last time I gave you advice you blew me off and nearly got yourself killed." Zoe said evenly. It was hard to say whether or not she was willing to answer any questions.
"It is about Percy Jackson."
"Of course it is. I should have known that you would wonder about him. After what has happened recently." Zoe said, finally looking at Ariadne. Black eyes, filled with determination meeting the uncertainty in the blue eyes of Apollo's daughter. "Your encounter had to leave some impression on you. I had hoped it wouldn't come to this."
For a moment Ariadne felt nervous. Had Zoe just hinted that she knew about her actions the day before? Did Zoe know that she had let Percy escape? But why had she not acted yet? Or was she just waiting for Lady Artemis to return...
"Why do you hate him so?" Ariadne asked carefully.
"He is very much like..." Zoe hesitated for a moment, apparently she tried to find the right words to convey what she wanted Ariadne to understand. "He is very much like Hercules. A hero. A charmer. On first glance he might look like a good person, but like all heroes he will eventually abandon the poor girl that allows herself to fall for him." Bitterness could be heard in Zoe's voice as she spoke about the man who many demigods worshiped as their idol. "And he is a son of Poseidon. Nothing good has come from them."
"Your judging him because of the actions of others, but so far he has only aided us."
"Never allow him to fool you. He will be just like his brothers and cousins. You carry the name of a woman who has once made the mistake to love a son of Poseidon. And don't forget Orion, the man who has tried to fool our mistress and tried to force himself on one of our sisters."
"I doubt that my father would have made him his champion if he had seen any possible darkness in Percy's future."
"Your father..." Zoe spoke with barely restrained anger now, "... is one of the worst men. He runs around, abusing and seducing innocent women. All just for his own amusement. He will corrupt Jackson, if he has not already done that."
"Hey, my dad isn't all that bad... I think." Truth be told, Ariadne has never met her father. She had only seen him a few times, when had come to get Percy out of trouble. But she was sure that he was one of the better gods. He at least claimed all of his children. She had known who her father was, long before she met her aunt and the Hunters. She knew why he could never come to see his children and she understood it.
Zoe looked exasperated at her younger companion. To hear her defend her father just made no sense. The man had just used her mother, before he moved on to the next woman he could find. It was no secret, the Apollo Cabin at the Camp was one of the biggest, only rivaled by Hermes' and Aphrodite's. How anyone could love such a father...
"Just don't do anything you will regret later. Men will one day betray you and break your heart if you give them the chance to." Zoe said insistently.
"Are you hinting at something?" Ariadne asked indignantly.
"You feel drawn to him, don't you deny it."
"Are you mad? I am too young to even think about such things. And even if I had entertained such thoughts, it would be none of your business." Ariadne looked angrily at Zoe. She couldn't believe that she would suggest any such thing.
"You have not sworn the oath yet. We don't know where you stand. I know that my Lady cares about you, maybe more than about most of the other Hunters. Maybe it is because of you are the first child of Apollo to join us in over a thousand years. Maybe because you are closer related to her than any of us. The reason doesn't matter, though. By not swearing the oath you are about to become a liability to us." Ariadne tried to protest, but Zoe silenced her quickly and continued. "Before this hunt is over you will have to make your decision. Either you stay with us, where you belong, or you leave us forever." With these words Zoe stood up and returned to her tent.
Ariadne had no idea what to think now. Would she really be forced to make such a decision? No matter what she decided, her life would be changed for ever.
It cost her quite an effort, but in the end Artemis had finally returned to Olympus, intent on making her brother talk. She was absolutely sure that Apollo would know where Percy would run to. He had taught the boy, he had shown him all the places where he can hide. Forcing Apollo to tell her would at least be quicker and easier, than searching all of North America, when all she knew was that he has left New York in a train.
But when she arrived at his palace on Olympus, he was already waiting for her, smirking widely. He seemed immensely pleased that Artemis had not allowed herself to be blinded by her own pride. No, she had accepted that without him, she would never find Percy. Even though she did not like it, it had to be done.
"Well look who has finally come to pay me a visit." Apollo said, as he opened his arm in an attempt to hug his sister. But she merely side stepped his attempt and gave him a halfhearted glare. Her brother seemed undisturbed by that and continued grinning at her. "So little sis, what can Apollo do for you today."
"You know why I am here."
"Ah, of course. Percy has escaped your Hunters and now you need my help." He seemed to be glowing with excitement now. Her words were the closest thing to a declaration of defeat he could expect from her.
"Where is he?" Artemis asked again, her eyes slightly narrowed.
Apollo tapped his chin, trying to look like he was in deep thought. "Now you know that I won't betray my champion like that. He is awesome enough to escape you this long."
"Apollo, I will..."
"You will do what, Artemis? Your Hunters failed to apprehend him when he was so close, that he would have been able to steal their arrows right out of their quivers, yet they had not managed to capture him, let alone see him." He looked smugly as Artemis remained silent. Apparently she felt slightly shocked by the revelation that her Hunters had failed in their duty like this. "But since I am a good big brother, I will give you a hint." 'Not to mention that I don't wanna lose my bet to Enyo.' He added in his mind. "There has been a report about a large army of monsters in the wilderness, not far from St. Louis. An unnatural number of Hellhounds to be exact. And if you remember the last time this has happened..."
He needn't say more. Artemis understood what he was alluding to. And judging by the underlying worry in voice, her guess was very close to home. Hades must have found out about Poseidon's son and sent his monsters to hunt him down.
"That is all I need. Thank you, Apollo." She turned around, ready to leave, but Apollo stopped her.
"Artemis. Be careful. Hades is rather violent and heartless when he wants something. He will stop at nothing to get Percy. I would rather see him captured and humiliated by your Hunters, than killed by Hades."
"Don't worry. He'll be here on Olympus in no time." Artemis replied confidently. Without another word she disappeared.
Apollo stood in front of his palace for a few more moments, a worried frown on his face. "It's not just him I'm worried about, sis." He shook his head and turned around to go back inside.
As soon as he had passed the threshold he could already hear loud yelling from inside. "Ouch, that gotta hurt." Someone had exclaimed loudly, amidst raucous laughter of some other people.
As he reentered the main room of his palace, he could already see his guests, all of them seated around a screen, as they watched the newest show on Hephaestus TV. Hermes looked slightly disturbed by what he saw, while Ares, Enyo and Eris only laughed at what they saw. Ever the fans of unneeded violence.
"Hey, sun-boy. Who has been on the door?" Ares asked as he looked over his shoulder to see the approaching god.
"Wouldn't you want to know." Apollo replied with a grin. He wouldn't tell them that he had just met Artemis. Some might see it as cheating, that he had told her where to find Percy. To him it was both a way to win his bet and improve his champion's chances to survive the next few days.
"Hey, that little rascal, he stole that move from me!" Enyo exclaimed angrily, as they watched Percy kill two Hellhounds with on attack.
"Now, now, Enyo, how can he steal your attacks, when you have never met him?" Eris asked. "It's not like someone else in this room has shown them to him." She looked at Ares with an impish smile. Enyo of course saw that and immediately turned on her brother.
"Ares!" She hissed furiously. "You taught him!"
"And what if I have?" Ares asked bored. He glared at his sister in a threatening way to shut her up.
But Enyo was neither impressed nor mollified by her brothers glare. Instead she jumped up and punched him in the face. "I will show you to teach that brat my fighting style!"
Ares jumped up from his seat and caught Enyo's fist, as she tried to hit him again. His sunglasses, which he wore nearly all the time, had been blown away by the first punch, revealing his fiery eyes. A blazing fire that showed only one emotion. Fury. "You damn virago dare to hit me? I will show you whose boss here!"
The other gods were unsure about what to do. Some wanted to watch the show without being troubled, while some watched the quarreling siblings. Eris was one of the latter group. With childish glee she watched her fighting friends.
"Noisy children. Can they never sit still and just keep their mouths shut?" Hephaestus said, as he shook his head sadly. "I should better leave."
"Wow, wow, wait Heph. The show isn't over yet." Apollo tried to convince his brother to stay, but Hephaestus left the room as fast as his crippled leg allowed him to. "Ah great. The one time I try to have a nice evening with my siblings and friends and this is how it ends." He then looked at Ares and Enyo, both still quarreling. "Okay boys and girls, this is enough." He tried to convince them to stop, but neither twin listened to him. In the end they had to forcefully separate Ares and Enyo. Not much later and they would have pulled out their weapons. But it took both Apollo and Hermes to keep their burly brother away from Enyo, while the latter was simply pulled away by Eris, who looked disappointed that her fun had been ruined.
As the two war loving siblings finally cooled down, Apollo finally had time to watch the screen again. It worried him slightly to see the sheer number of beasts that hunted Percy. He really hoped that the boy would survive the night. But then he saw something that caused him to grin like the cat that swallowed the canary. One of the hulking Cyclopes, that was about to hit Percy with its fist, was killed by an arrow through the eye. One lone silver arrow. And he knew that the arrow was not one of Percy's.
It was almost too easy for Artemis to find the large horde of monsters in the wilderness. Those beasts had never even heard about subtlety. It had been a long time since she had seen this many Hellhounds in one place. It was disturbing to see how far Hades was willing to go, just to get his petty revenge on his brothers. She was glad that she had dismissed the thought of bringing her Hunters with her. Many of them would have died, had they tried to fight here.
But Artemis came alone. Using all the tricks she knew about hunting and remaining unseen by her prey, she traveled on, hidden from the enemies' eyes, though she was close enough that the hounds should have been able to smell her. But they wouldn't attack a goddess. Dumb as they were, they were all drilled to never attack a deity unless they were attacked first.
In a way that made the Hellhounds more intelligent than some mortals she had met in her life. She couldn't help herself but smile as the thought crossed her mind.
Soon she could see what the monsters were hunting. An all to familiar boy and a Satyr. But now she could also see the hulking outlines of the cyclopes. She wondered how Hades had managed to secure the services of three of his brother's children, but one thing was sure. Poseidon would be raving mad, should his son die by the hands of a cyclops.
With great worry she saw the giant creatures catching up with Percy and his Satyr friend. They tried to hit them with their brutish weapons, large clubs that looked more like broken tree, than a weapon. But both Percy and the Satyr managed to evade the attacks with ease. Percy even managed to fight back, wounding one of the Cyclopes enough to make him drop his weapon.
Though she wouldn't admit it in front of anyone, she was slightly impressed by Percy's skills. Her brother had done a thorough job in regards to his training. His skill already rivaled that of some of her older Hunters, though he wouldn't stand a chance against someone like Zoe. He fought back, while still trying to increase the distance between him and the approaching Hellhounds.
But then the Satyr hesitated in the wrong moment. A cyclops' fist was about to hit him. The boy seemed to be rooted by fear, unable to move out of the way and would have most likely been crushed. But in the last moment Percy bumped into him, knocking them both down. The attack missed them only by a hair's breadth.
But both were on the ground now and the Cyclops was attacking again. Before she even knew what she was doing, Artemis had already notched an arrow and shot it at the Cyclops, impaling it through its eye, killing it. 'A swift and clean kill, like any true hunter should kill. Artemis thought smugly, before the realization hit her that she was not supposed to interfere. It was against her father's laws. Though she knew that it was one of the less enforced laws the Olympians had.
She wondered why she had reacted so instinctively. Had it been one of her Hunters, she would have acted like this without second guessing. They were her companions, close to her like daughters. But Percy was not one of them. 'For Apollo. You did it for your brother' She told herself, before she forced herself to watch the fight again.
Percy and the Satyr were running again. Their distance to the Cyclopes increased, as the other two were unsettled by their brother's sudden death. The Hellhounds passed by them and continued their hunt. And so did Artemis. She would follow Percy until she knew where he was going, so she could capture him. Or at least to find out his destination, so she could get her Hunters and set up a trap. She wouldn't deprive her girls of the fun to capture Percy personally. That is, if Percy survived this night.
The hunt came to its unexpected end, when Percy's way was finally cut off by three more creatures. The Hellhounds surrounded the boy and the Satyr, but none of them attacked. All of them were waiting for something. This was not normal, that much was sure.
When Artemis finally managed to get a glimpse of the three creatures she knew that Percy's escape would end here for sure. The next thing she heard was a raspy voice, exclaiming loudly, "Perseus Jackson. We have been waiting for you..."