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*THERE'S AN IMPORTANT REQUEST AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS CHAPTER. PLEASE READ IT.*
Mystery Person's POV
The man studied the big house, a sneer finding its way across his face. This was their base? The new union, the children of the gods- and they hid out in an old summer house?
And the master thought they would be a threat. Please. But now was not the time to question the master's decisions. He was here on a mission that would cripple the new Union, perhaps permanently. The Great Lady would be pleased.
The black-clad man ran silently over the hill, passing into the Camp effortlessly. Sliding up next to the Big House he'd been studying, he easily picked the simple lock, entering the building without looking back.
The room he entered, at first glance, appeared empty. The man stood very still as his training kicked in. He held his breath, listening for another's breathing, straining to hear any noise that might betray another person's presence. He heard nothing at first. Then, suddenly, the sound of a bowstring being pulled taunt rang through the heavy silence.
Turing, the man put both hands up, the picture of surrender. The shadows his smirk that danced across his face. From one of the dark corners Chiron emerged, face grim and bow ready. The silver arrow glinted in the slivers of moonlight that fell across the floor through the room's solitary window.
"You knew I would come," the intruder said. It wasn't a question.
"I know nothing," Chiron said icily, not responding to the man's statement. "The stone is not hidden with me."
"Oh," the man said, his smirk growing wider so it was clear even in the dim light. "You assume much, old man. I didn't come for the stone."
For the first time, a shadow of doubt and confusion flickered over Chiron's face. "Then why-"
"So even the great Chiron doesn't know everything," the man sneered, resentment dripping off his voice like poison. "Too bad I never knew that. But it's too late for me, isn't it?" His voice rose in fury and he broke off abruptly to school his anger, continuing in a deadly soft voice. "You always thought you knew best for me. But you never knew all the facts, did you?"
Chiron's silence was all the answer the man needed.
"It's your fault." The man hissed, taking a step toward the handicapped man. "You would have had me hidden! Dead!"
"I never tried to kill you," Chiron snapped.
"You might as well have," The man retorted, daring Chiron to argue. He didn't. "You may not have known everything, but you knew what I planned to do! You knew where I was going!"
"No," Chiron sighed, suddenly sounding sad and tired. "If I knew, I would have stopped you. You want to blame me, I understand. But this was not my fault."
"Then who's was it?"
"Your actions are your own," Chiron said evenly, although his eyes were still sad. "I could not make your choices for you." That was the last straw for the man. He lunged at his old mentor, and the battle began.
If anyone had passed by the window in the Big House, they would have seen two shadows; one tall and slim, muscled by years of combat and a hard life. The other, a stooped man exhausted by years of training and grief, yet still standing firm against the new threat.
If such a bystander had continued to watch, they would have seen the tall silhouette lunge for the other man, and an arrow fly through the air. They would have seen the arrow fly through the window as the man dodged, and seen the tall man pull something unidentifiable from his bag as the older man reached for another arrow.
If they'd stayed long enough, they also would have seen the older man collapse as the tall man held something over his mouth. They would have seen the tall man grab the other and leave the big house, taking him to the road by the Camp. They would have seen the two men vanish inside a black car as it pulled away, silently disappearing down the road and into the night, taking Chiron far away.
As it was, there was no one to witness the scene. The only signs that anything had ever happened was the broken window and forgotten arrow; there was no trace of the captor.
The gifted teens in the cabins slept on, unaware their mentor had been taken. Unaware that there was now no one to teach them how to fight.
Unaware they were as good as defenseless as the black car got further and further away.
Percy's POV
I yawned as I stepped out of my cabin, my dream repeating in my mind like a song on loop. Talking to my dad… wow. The dream made him seem more real, and, as a result, suddenly made what we faced seem more real.
That's ok, though. Superhuman teens trying to save the world? Naturally we'd get mysterious dreams from long-lost parents. It was practically a requirement to be a hero.
"Morning," Annabeth grinned, walking up to me. "Did you hear?"
"Hear what?" I asked, yawning again.
"Thalia and Nico are together," she informed me, raising an eyebrow.
"Really?" I said, faintly surprised. "I didn't know they knew each other that well." Annabeth just shrugged.
"Apparently they do," she said simply. "Chiron's training us again today, right? Normally he's out here waking us up by now."
"He said we were training today," I replied, looking around. "Is everyone up?"
"I saw Rachel earlier," Annabeth said. "I think everyone else is still asleep, though. Honestly, I'm surprised you're up!"
"I fell out of bed," I admitted sheepishly, my face flushing as Annabeth laughed.
"Naturally," she teased. "I should've known." I opened my mouth to retort when Rachel ran up, looking panicked.
"Guys," she panted, her face pale. "I went to the Big House to ask Chiron if we were training today, and-" she broke off with a gulp, catching her breath and fingering the hem of her shirt nervously. "-and Chiron's gone. There's no note or anything. And there's some people here- I don't know who they are- who want to see him."
"We have… visitors?" Annabeth echoed, confused, at the same time as I cried, "What do you mean Chiron's gone?!"
"What do I tell the people who want to see him?" Rachel asked frantically, ignoring both our questions. Annabeth glanced at me, worried, and I'm sure I mirrored her expression.
"Wake up the others," Annabeth ordered, turning back to Rachel. "Look everywhere for Chiron- maybe he just slipped away for some quiet time. Percy and I will handle the newcomers."
"We will?"
"Yes, Percy," Annabeth said, shooting me a glare. "We will."
"Right, 'course we will," I said quickly. "Let's go meet the newbies!"
-Line Break-
"Hello," Annabeth said awkwardly as we stared at the "newbies". They… well, they weren't what I was expecting, let's put it that way.
"Hello," replied a tall girl just as stiffly. She wore a silver tiara in her dark hair, so I assumed she was their 'leader'. The first thing that hit me about the newcomers: they were all girls. Teenage girls, about fifteen of them, all ranging in age from ten to seventeen. The second thing I noticed: they were all dressed similarly. Silver parkas, white jeans or jean shorts, hair braided down their backs; it was a little creepy. The last thing I noticed was that they all had silver bows slung over their shoulders and quivers of silver arrows clipped to their belts. The casual way they handled the weapons made it obvious they were good.
"My name is Zoe," the girl continued.
"Um, I'm Annabeth," my girlfriend stammered, seeming at a loss for words.
"Percy," I said uncomfortably.
"We request to see Chiron," Zoe ordered, her steely eyes on me.
"Don't we all," I muttered.
"What he means to say," Annabeth interrupted quickly, "Is who are you, exactly?"
"We are the Huntresses," Zoe said proudly. Her face fell when we didn't react. "Chiron has not taught you about us," she said flatly.
"Sorry?" I shrugged, not sure what I was apologizing for exactly. "We're kind of new."
"We know," Zoe said airily. "Artemis told us."
"Artemis… like, the goddess Artemis?" Annabeth asked, raising both eyebrows.
"Is there any other Artemis?" Zoe asked, still with that same superior attitude. The girls behind her snickered like some sort of exclusive girl gang. The thought made me freeze- a gang… hadn't that cop mentioned them having trouble controlling a gang?
"Hey…" I said slowly. "You guys wouldn't happen to have been living in Manhattan recently, would you?"
"Why do you wish to know?" She asked warily, sizing me up.
"We ran into a cop fighting some earth-bounds the other day," I explained, shooting Annabeth a look. Her face lit up as she saw where I was going. "He mentioned having trouble with a gang."
"Large, balding?" Asked one of the huntresses behind Zoe, a pretty girl with olive skin and dark hair.
"Sounds about right," Annabeth confirmed with a nod.
"Could be Officer Winston," The girl suggested, looking to Zoe.
"Bianca, Officer Winston was killed by earth-bounds days ago, remember?"
"Oh… right," Bianca sighed. "I forgot he was in that squad."
"Wait, what?" I asked, dumbstruck. Earth-bounds didn't mess with normal people… right?
"I thought earth-bounds didn't bother mortals," Annabeth said in concern, echoing my thoughts.
"They're not supposed to," Zoe admitted, taking a seat on the grassy hillside. "Their job was always to guard the Titan's base- that island right off the coast. Mortals could be attacked, but it was very, very rare. Besides, we were always there to stop them."
"You're a Union?" Annabeth asked, looking surprised.
"No," Zoe scoffed. "A union is made up of many different 'positions'- defenders, searchers, oracles, and what not. We are huntresses."
"But you defend mortals…" I trailed off, confused. "And so do Unions. So what the difference between a Union and a Huntress?"
"There's a big difference," Zoe sneered, as if to say of course you wouldn't know. "A Union has a base and doesn't just defend mortals. A Union also finds gifted kids and goes on quest to keep other Unions in check. Huntresses recruit the best of the best from any Union and we just fight monsters, like the earth-bound."
"So… you're like a giant group of travelling defenders?" I asked, still a bit confused.
"Boys," Zoe muttered, rolling her eyes.
"Why do you need to see Chiron?" Annabeth said quickly, stopping me from asking indignantly what was so wrong with being a guy.
"The earth-bound…" Bianca said hesitantly. "They're not supposed to attack mortals often, right? And even when they do, we're there to stop them."
"Right," I said impatiently. "We got that." Bianca continued as if I hadn't spoken at all.
"But, lately, more and more of them are attacking. Their numbers are growing, and they're venturing further into the city. They're getting harder to kill, too."
"So they've gotten stronger," I said, glancing at Annabeth. I was surprised to see she was pale and her eyes were wide.
"No," she said softly. "They haven't. The Titans have."
"Exactly," Zoe appraised, giving Annabeth a pleased look.
"They don't have the stone, do they?" I asked. I didn't even remember the stone's name or what it did; I just knew Chiron had been desperate to keep it away from the Titans, so it couldn't be anything good.
"No," Zoe shook her head. "If they had the stone, trust me, we'd know. But they are preparing for something big, and Artemis told us to find out if Chiron knew anything."
"You serve Artemis?" Annabeth asked, looking interested.
"Yes," Zoe said, looking proud.
"But she's in a Union," I protested.
"Yeah," Bianca explained. "But she doesn't always follow Zeus's rules. She created our group, uh, under the radar, you could say." My eyes widened as I realized what she was implying.
"Zeus doesn't know you guys exist," I exclaimed. "You're like Artemis's secret thugs."
"Zeus is a fool," Zoe grumbled darkly. "And we are not 'thugs'. We simply trust her judgment… however odd her orders may be," she managed, looking disgruntled.
"You disagree with her latest orders," Annabeth guessed. Zoe glared at the ground, but didn't argue. In her silence, Bianca spoke up.
"She told us to come here and speak with Chiron," she explained. "And she wants us to help your Union," she finished unhappily. "She seems to think we can… assist you… when you fight the Titans."
"Oh," was all I said. I had not been expecting the reluctant help- nor did I want it, but judging by their silver weapons, I wasn't about to say that. I liked my face the way it was, thank you very much. Annabeth, however, seemed delighted.
"Perfect!" She grinned. "We need searchers!"
"Searchers? You want us to look for gifted children?" Zoe hissed, looking furious. "We are warriors, Annabeth Chase, not talent scouts!" I winced at the acid in Zoe's voice. My girlfriend, however, appeared unfazed.
"That's why we need you out there," she said smoothly, not missing a beat. "There are more earth-bounds than ever, right? So we'll need our best fighters out looking for more kids." Zoe seemed to consider this, and then gave a reluctant nod, accepting Annabeth's proposition.
"Zoe," Bianca said suddenly. "Sarah is asleep on her feet- she needs rest." The huntress gestured to a younger girl who, as if on cue, yawned loudly.
"We will rest now," Zoe decided, still speaking in her strange old-fashioned way that reminded me of the way I heard grandparents talk on the subway. The huntresses immediately started moving down the hill, heading toward a silver cabin that glinted in the early morning sun.
Watching them, I let out a long, slow whistle.
"Wow," I said. "They're… different."
"Very different," Annabeth agreed.
"So… what now?" I asked, glancing at my girlfriend.
"Now," she said slowly. "We find out what happened to Chiron."
Andd… there we have it! Semi-cliffy, but not too bad… I don't think… moving on. Time for my important request!
IMPORTANT REQUEST: I have a friend on FictionPress who recently started posting a new story- it's her first one so she's still getting support. PLEASE go check it out :) It's a demigod story, so if you like PJO you'll probably like it! It's got more romance then PJO, though ;) Although it's about a demigod, it has more of a High School twist then PJO and it's good! Here's the info:
Username: FlavieCanada
Story Name: The Warrior's Daughter
Summary: Artemis is the immortalized daughter of famous Greek warrior Achilles, stuck on the brink of freedom forever at 17. Now she has to deal with two new powerful demigods who want her attention. There has been something lurking in the shadows of the gods, and now it's now hiding. Can Artemis save her family and deal with being a teenage immortal?
*By the way, her name is Artemis, but she's not the goddess Artemis. Just read the story- it'll make sense, I promise! :) Small warnings for cursing, but I think that's it.
Thanks, guys! You're the best! :) Until next time!