Alexis' POV
Me and Nico had made it out of the house in time, but I knew my parents didn't. I also wasn't sure about Eric. Even if he was supposedly a primordial, I knew that Zeus was incredibly powerful. Last I saw of Eric was him flying up to fight Zeus. As cruel as it sounded, I hope he killed Zeus. I've always hated people like him, or in other words, paranoid hypocrites who never learn from their mistakes. Me and Nico had ran from the scene for about ten minutes until we reached a densely wooded forest. Even from there, I could see the explosions caused by the fight, followed by a bright, white light plummeting towards the ground, followed by another explosion before I saw a figure shoot up and head our way. It landed about a mile to in the west. Whether it was Zeus or Eric, I had to follow.
"If it makes you feel any better, they both made Elysium," Nico said.
"I don't want to talk about it," I replied quietly. He silently nodded and we continued in the general direction for a few minutes before reaching a clearing with some tents pitched and some teenage girls sharpening arrows and cooking meat.
"Artemis' hunters," Nico muttered.
"Should we confront them?" I asked.
Nico shook his head as said, "we can't, because well…" and he pointed to himself.
She mentally slapped her self for being so stupid. We were about to leave when I saw a group of girls pull a familiar looking boy through the tree line. I immediately recognized him as Eric. I went to show myself until Nico grabbed my arm and pulled me back down.
"He'll be fine, he's a goddamn primordial," Nico said.
"We found this boy lurking outside camp," one of the girls accompanying him shouted, putting emphasis on the word "boy". The other girls whipped their heads in that direction and grabbed their weapons. I knew the boy was Eric, but I barely recognized him. There were cuts and bruises covering his entire body, his usual smirk was gone, and most of all, his eyes looked like he had just been crying. Eric was the strongest person I knew in terms of emotion. He never cried. Never. Not even when their dog, Henry died when Eric was 11. Not even when he learned of their grandparents death after he came home from camp for the first time. Not even, whatever you get the picture. To see him like this, a little part of me broke. His mood also must've been the reason he hadn't escaped by now. One of the hunters with choppy black hair and electrifying blue eyes ran over to a silver tent. About a minute later, another teenage girl with auburn hair and silver eyes exited the tent. If I hadn't been hiding, I would have gasped. There, no more than fifty feet away, stood Artemis, goddess of the hunt, the moon, and some other stuff I can't remember.
"I need to see him now," Artemis said in a deadly calm voice, although her facial expression showed that she was nervous, or scared, or both.
"Is something wrong milady?" one of the hunters asked with genuine concern in her tone.
"I hope not," she replied, dragging him into her tent.
Eric's POV
Apparently I couldn't even cry in peace. Stupid hunters. The only reason I didn't bother to break from their grip was because 1, I was greatly weakened by my fight with Zeus, and 2, I wasn't in the mood for violence. My anger was replaced with grief, my least favorite emotion. It made me feel helpless, like life was screwing me over, not that it wasn't. I barely even registered Artemis pulling me into her tent. She looked genuinely terrified once we were inside.
"So, are you going to kill me or not?" I asked, shocked at the lack of emotion in my voice.
"I have no idea," she replied while pacing the room.
"If that's the case, can you uhh," I said showing the goddess the rope tying my hands together.
"No, I can't trust you," she replied,
"Have it your way," I said as I broke the rope with my newly found strength. She immediately had one of her hunting knives at my neck.
"How did you do that?" she asked.
"You were at that council where Zeus told Hades not to let me bathe in the Styx?" She nodded. "Well, I went anyway and turns out, I'm a primordial."
"Wait how- wha-how?"
"Yeah, you're holding the son of Gaea and Ouranos in your camp."
If it was possible for her to get more nervous, she did. "Do you have any idea how much trouble I'll be in if Zeus finds out you were here?"
"Don't worry about Zeus, he shouldn't bother me anymore."
"What do you mean?"
"I just left a battle with him, and I nearly killed him, until I got distracted and he flashed out."
"Why would you fight Zeus?" she asked with a look of disbelief.
"He k- he k-." I couldn't say it for some reason. It was like I couldn't believe I had lost my parents so quickly and unexpectedly. "My parents." At this point, I was on the verge of tears, but I could never cry in front of anyone. I understand that crying is part of being human, but in case you've forgotten, I'm not exactly human.
Artemis nodded, signifying she understood. "What distracted you?" she asked.
"Percy Jackson," I replied.
"Sounds like him, too loyal to the gods for his own good," she said.
"What do you mean by too loyal?" I asked. "I mean, you are one of the gods."
"Why do you think I keep away from Olympus?" she asked. "They're all too stupid to have the title of a god."
"Good to know at least on of them is humble," I muttered. "So, can I go now?" I asked.
"I guess so, there's no need to keep you here," she replied. Just as I went to exit the tent, I heard of the hunters start calling for Artemis. I rushed out of the tent to see what the commotion was about. I looked toward the trees and saw two familiar faces. Alexis and Nico. Both of them were disarmed and looked unharmed.
"What are you doing here, Neeks?" Thalia questioned. I chuckled at the nickname. The quiet laughter was enough to draw the hunter's attention towards me.
I froze, but I managed to speak. "We were just on a quest, nothing more," I explained to the hunters, who were probably too busy glaring at me to comprehend what I was saying.
"Why were you separated then, boy?" one of the hunters asked.
Instead of saying something like, 'Yeah, I'm boy, didn't need to remind me', I looked behind me towards Artemis. As a god, I could now speak mentally. "Do I tell them the truth?" I mentally asked.
Artemis visibly jumped at the sudden voice in her head, but she responded. "Take Nico and the girl in my tent, I'll explain it to them." I nodded and motioned for Alexis and Nico to follow me into Artemis' tent and they complied. We sat on the bed and waited for Artemis to finish the story.
"You know, Nico says that they made Elysium," Alexis whispered towards me.
I gave her a weak smile and replied, "Great, if anyone deserved it, they did" She immediately pulled me into a tight hug and started crying quietly. I hugged back, but I wouldn't cry in front of her, I had to be strong for her sake. I saw Nico staring at the wall with a sad look on his face. I knew he was thinking about Bianca. It really got me thinking about how Alexis was the only family I had left. Sure, we had our godly parents, but mine were either dead or asleep for eternity, and we hadn't really been a big fan of Aphrodite after hearing that she charmspeaked our dad into… well, you know. We sat like that for a few minutes before Artemis opened the tent and motioned for us to leave. Alexis and Nico walked out ahead of me, and before I left the tent, Artemis grabbed my shoulder.
"I've seen the way you act towards your sister," she whispered. "I just wanted to say that you're one of the very few males I respect."
I placed my hand on her hand and whispered," Thanks." Instead of turning me into a jackalope, she simply took her hand off my shoulder and allowed me to follow my fellow partners in crime.
"I think I should be able to shadow travel to somewhere in Illinois," Nico said to me as we approached the tree line."
"Good, no way I'm letting your zombie chauffer drive us around," I replied. It was getting dark out, and we still hadn't eaten since lunch.
Nico, practically reading my thoughts, approached the closest shadow and said," and yes, we will eat dinner soon." Alexis and I grabbed onto each of his shoulders and we disappeared into the darkness