Chapter 10- Not Who I Thought She Was

I am blown away by the response to my last chapter. Most reviews I have ever gotten. All I had to do was ask you guys to vote on who Percy bangs. Pretty simple. I can't respond to all the reviews, so here are a few. Thanks SSG1102, but I am not going to copy Titan of the Hunt by vPxForerunner x. Thank you for the suggestion about his eyes, Mark Andrew, I will look into it. Thank you YesThatIsMyUsername, you are a constant reviewer, and I will try my best to be original. Here we are, chapter 10. For reaching double digits I will give you guys a longer one today. Have fun weirdos.

Artemis set me up with a tent close to the river. I can tell the place is going to be beautiful once fall hits and all the leaves change colors. The waterfall in the main area where all the tourists are was very cool. You could walk underneath it and look at the waterfall from behind. A lot of hippies, but what else would you expect from Oregon? On my quest with Hazel and Frank, before I regained my memory we drove through this area. We didn't stop though to check out the park though because we had a bit more pressing matters.

I didn't have much in my magical tent. It was pretty big on the inside, but also bland. There was a bed and a suitcase with clothes and medical supplies on the floor. I'll have to figure out how to get some decorations to spice this place up. Maybe I could get Mom to send me some photos? That's an idea.

"Kelp Head?" Thalia called from outside.

"Yeah I'm in here! You can come in!" I shouted at her, and looked at the door.

She pulled the flap back and stepped inside, not bothering to zip it up. She looked around the room and snickered. "They say you can impress a girl by keeping a clean room Percy, but is it really considered clean if you have nothing to clean?"

"Shut up b*tch I just got here." I joked, smiling.

She gave me the middle finger and jumped on my bed. "Where did you go this morning? I tried looking for you."

"The waterfall." I stood next to the bed, looking down at her.

"As the son of Poseidon, do you just have a need to explore every body of water that is nearby?"

"I like water, what can I say. Plus the waterfall was cool."

"It's OK." She shrugged, and slid off the bed, slowly rising. "I have a few camp duties to attend to. You should go ask Artemis what you can do to help before she finds you. Just a suggestion."

"I copy." Then we each walked out of my tent and went our separate ways. I went to find Artemis. The camp was bustling. Different hunters socializing, doing chores, or training were all around. A hunter coming out of her tent near mine walked out at the same time as me. It was Mary.

Mary was a short, blonde girl with braided hair. I am 90 percent sure she joined the hunt during the 20's. The 1920's. Sh*t. Do people still call the 1920's the 20's? Or do they call the 2020's the 20's now? "Hello Mary. How are you?" I asked politely.

"I'm fine and dandy Percy. The sun is out after all. How are you, dear?" She responded with a beaming smile. It was just her personality.

"You know where Artemis is?"

"If she is in camp, she might be watching over today's cooks get lunch ready." She glanced over to the campfire, and tried to pick out one auburn haired 12 year old. She could not. "By golly, she isn't there! She is either out, or in her tent. Why don't you check there, dear?"

"Thanks for the help, Mary."

"You betcha!" Then she walked off in the direction of the archery range. She sure was an oddity in the hunters. Most radiate some level of superiority, but Mary only has one mode, and that is being kind to everyone.

I dodged and weaved around different hunters as I made my way to Artemis' tent. I didn't see Reyna, so I will have to catch up with her later today. Artemis' tent was the most fancifully decorated tent, and the largest, so it stood out pretty easily in the circle of tents. I'd been in her tent before, and the inside was huge. A bit too much fur for my liking though.

"Artemis?" I shouted.

"Come in, Perseus!" She yelled from inside.

I unzipped the flap and walked in. As I remember, way too many pelts. But I would expect nothing less from our resident goddess of the hunt. She was lounging on her bed, reading a book of all things. "Umm… what are you doing?" I gave an awkward smile as I do so often.

"The hunters cooking are newer ones and I am testing them. Hopefully they don't burn the food while I am not supervising." She smirked. "Thalia does that with or without me there."

I laughed. "She isn't the greatest cook… but I actually meant why are you reading a book? Since you are a goddess, aren't you… you know… naturally smart?"

"You would think that Percy Jackson. That isn't true. I have natural knowledge related to my domain, but other things I do not. Smarts just come from living as long as gods do. Ares excluded." I snorted. "Although, this isn't even non-fiction. I am reading for entertainment not learning."

"Reading for fun? The only person I know who does that is-" I trailed off. "Did that…"

"The daughter of Athena."

"Yes. Annabeth."

She put her bookmark down and stood up. "I am sorry for your loss, Percy."

"Err- yeah." Awkward silence. "Anyway I came here to see what my camp duties would be during my stay with the hunt."

"Okay. Thanks for coming to me. I have already thought about this." She took a breath. "Your daily duties will be chopping wood for fires sometime in the morning, but that is when most of your free time will be. After lunch you will train. We have straw dummies identical to the ones you have at your camp. The girls do cardio all throughout the day, so you can see what group of girls will be running at that time, or you are capable enough to find a trail to run yourself and defend yourself if needed. In the armory tent there are some dumbbells, but that is it if you would like to lift."

"Geez."

"Quiet. I'm not done." She barked.

"My bad."

"You can also spar with the girls if you'd like, but please, keep serious injuries to a minimum. After training you will walk to the river and use the time until dinner to collect and purify water for us. Should be easy enough for you. Normally I have several hunters assigned to that task but you can probably do double all of their work combined if I were to take a guess, especially with your new abilities from Hestia. A hunter will fetch you for dinner, and you will have more free time at that point. Most of us gather around the fire at night, you are welcome to join us."

"I can do all that."

"I would hope so. Oh, and in a few weeks you will be assigned a rotation in the night watch."

"Sounds good to me."

"Lunch should be ready in a moment, which means after you will train."

I gave her a bow. I feel she deserved one. "Will do, Artemis." Then I unzipped the exit/entrance to her tent and left. Someone was waiting for me.

"Hey, Percy Jackson." A voice said to my left as soon as I walked out. I jumped, then saw who it was, and got even more scared.

"Umm… hello Hannah. Do you need something?" I said, sweating. This girl creeped me out.

"What are your camp duties Artemis gave you?"

Without missing a beat, I answered her. "In the morning I will chop some wood and have free time. After lunch I will train, then collect and purify water by the river until dinner."

She gave a devilish grin. "Thank you, handsome." She flung her hair behind her as she walked off.

I was slightly dazed from the conversation for some reason. I didn't realize she scared me that bad. Unless it was something else? Weird…

I walked over to the fire where lunch was being finished. Many hunters had begun to gather there. I went over there and stood around awkwardly. I didn't see Thalia or Reyna, and the people I knew were already in conversations. I don't want to insert myself into one, I could get kicked in the sack. The Hunt and I appear to have a different viewpoint on getting kicked in the sack.

Should I ask the cooks if they need help? Or would they get offended that I offered to do something they could do themselves? Maybe that's an experiment for tomorrow because now the food had just finished.

"Meat's done!" One of the cooks shouted.

"Hurrah!" The rest of the hunt cheered in celebration.

Sharp pain in my head. Excruciating pain. Accompanied by nausea. I slowly made my way to my knees, holding my forehead. A vision comes into my mind. I am in the gray room again. The god with the pink dress is facing away from me. I hear voices, but they are distant. "WHY do you have him here?" I can't tell who is speaking.

"Why should I tell you?" Vision version of me tried to look up, but couldn't, and the vision went black but I could still hear the voices.

"Because I can tell Zeus you have him. In fact, I could tell Poseidon."

"Zeus will do nothing. You will not tell Poseidon. AND PERCY JACKSON STAYS HERE!"

The nausea and pain went away as fast as it came. Breathing heavily, I looked around to see if anyone had noticed. Most people were getting food and finding somewhere to sit, but not my favorite former praetor. I had the honor of being on my knees in front of her.

"Is there something wrong, Percy?" She questioned. "Why are you on your knees?" I stared up at her. Remove the attention drawing purple cloak and intimidating armor and Reyna still can't look like a normal teenage girl. Her stature and self confidence betrays her as someone to be afraid of.

"Did Circe teach you how to braid your hair like that?" The question caught her off guard.

"Err… yes actually. Why?" I got up off my knees to bring myself face to face with the tall girl.

"Just trying to remind you of a time before you had a stick up your a*s." I grinned.

"26 years and you are exactly the same." I almost saw a smile there!

"Like I keep on telling people, I haven't aged 26 years! See, I'm still 18! I am the same!"

"26 years and I always missed you. Still miss Jason. Still miss Piper. Still miss Annabeth. Still miss Frank. Still miss Hazel. But now you're back." She gave a small smile this time, along with a cross of the arms.

"You know me, Reyna, I do the impossible." I threw my arms back. "I know you're not one for physical affection, so I'll hold off on giving you a hug."

"I do enjoy the occasional hug from a friend, but not in public. It is a private matter. Besides, the hunters wouldn't like it."

"OK. Let me get this on paper," I faked pulling out a piece of paper. "Reyna Avila Ramirez Arellano… owes Percy Jackson… one hug." Looking up at Reyna, she was not amused.

"I'm going to go get lunch."

"Yup."

Lunch went by without much else happening. I sat on a log by myself thinking about the vision I had had. The second vision of the same sort. Why? For what purpose? It almost reminds me of the visions I had when I had my memory taken away. Is that what these are? Memories slowly returning?

Reyna is just like I remembered her, just a year or two older. Almost imperceptible in her appearance. The hunter's glow of immortality suits her well. Reyna is too strong to succumb to standard aging processes.

The lunch wasn't bad. It seemed Artemis' test of the cooks went well. Or maybe I was too preoccupied to taste it? Either way it was calories and protein. Training is after lunch, so I'm going to let my food digest, and then it is time to channel my inner gym rat!

20 minutes later I was in some gym clothes. Artemis had told me the dumbbells were in the armory tent so I went and checked there. A quick look around and no dumbbells in sight. Enough dull arrows to supply an army, but no dumbbells. I peeked outside the tent and noticed a bunch of weights lying around in the training field, So I walked over there. Sorted by weight in 5 lb increments were pairs of dumbbells from 5 lbs to 100 lbs. Could be worse. Hopefully I don't have to share…

"Come to taint our weights with your male stench now have you?" It was Theodoriae. The one that hates me for some reason.

"You mean to tell me I can't use these weights?" I questioned, turning around to face off with her and her group mates. In her group were Jordan, Kiara, and around 6 other newer hunters. I only knew the names of a few of them. A bold one walked past me and picked up a pair of weights.

"No. Err… Prim, what are you doing?" Theodoriae questioned angrily.

"The way I see it, we are empowering the male more if we let him stop us from lifting weights." The hunter known as Prim responded. She was a slender, brown haired girl with pointy ears and eyes that were far apart.

"I don't know if that is better or worse." I said.

Prim's comment was good enough even for Theodoriae and Kiara, who shoved past me and started lifting. One odd thing was that they weren't wearing hunters outfits. All of them had a similar style of sports bras and tight shorts. The type of outfit you might see at a gym in California.

"You guys don't work out in your hunters outfits?" I asked.

Prim spit on the ground and she walked past me doing lunges. "The hunter's garb is appropriately suited to do a wide variety of tasks. But we know we are going to be working out, so we wear clothes best suited to work out in."

"Makes sense."

From my right, "You f*ckin' perv. Just standing there and watching us? I bet you're foaming at the mouth to see a few girls show some skin." I turned to see who said it, and it was the especially vulgar hunter, Jordan. A short black girl with dreads.

"You guys tell me I can't lift weights, and then I get called a pervert for standing here." I rolled my eyes and walked off. I would go on a run first, and then when I got back hopefully they would be done.

Since I would be by myself, I ditched my shirt by the trail I would be choosing. There was a note attached to a tree that said this trail was 8 miles, circular, and led back to the same spot. Seems good enough to me. I did a few leg stretches, before slowly accelerating into a half sprint half jog. At one of my high schools in central New York, a football coach tried to recruit me one time. He said that I could be the first white cornerback at the school in over 20 years, so I think I'm a pretty good runner. I denied the coach because all the other kids picked on me, and also my grades weren't high enough.

The green trees passed by. The tall Douglas Fir trees towered above the trail. The sound of pine needles crunching underfoot were soon drowned out as I started to breathe heavier. The landscape and the foliage weren't the same as it was at camp, but it would do fine. Trees are trees everywhere you go. People are people… everywhere you go.

Thoughts went away as I started to focus only on my breathing. Slowly in, and slowly out. Keeping my breaths even so as to not be huffing and puffing. I reached the first incline in the trail; the note had also mentioned the back half was very up and down. The muscles in my body felt good. The same energy you felt waking up on the last day of school for the year.

I could tell I was getting close to the end of the trail. Up another hill and… "STOP!" A penetrating voice shouted at me as I got up the hill. I tripped over myself, immediately stopping all of my momentum as fast as I could, and fell onto my knees. A tree root skimmed the palms of my hands. Luckily I didn't face-plant. That would have been embarrassing. I prayed to the gods to take me away from this place before the person got to me. They were scary the way beautiful women were sometimes; this woman also was a d*mn psycho.

"Did you use charm-speak on me?" I panted, looking up from the ground.

"Of course, handsome." Hannah responded. She walked right up to me, grabbed my bicep, and pulled me up off the ground. Was she always this tall or is she standing on a stump? "I'm told I have a way with men."

"Do you burn their bodies?" I joked, nervously.

"I'm not a hunter, sweetie." She laughed. "I don't kill men. I use men."

"You're acting even weirder than normal Hannah." I backed away. She advanced.

"WHO do you take me for!" She shouted.

"What-"

She started crying. Heated sobs of tears flowed from her face. "She hasn't been kind to you Percy Jackson, but she's been worse to me. What I've been subjected to… I wish…" She trailed off and stared off into space for a second. I stood there shocked for a second, not knowing what to do. Then I knew I had to act. Hannah was worse than I thought she was. I had to subdue her. I took a step forward.

"Be still!" She hissed. I found that I could not move, or more like I didn't want to move. That held me for a few seconds, and then I started to move again. She was already on me though. Into my ear she whispered "be still." I could barely think, there was so much charm-speak laced into her words. I saw with my eyes what she was doing, but my brain could not do anything about it.

She pulled down my shorts and my underwear in one one yank and I was exposed before her. At this moment I knew who she was. Only one person could have that powerful charm-speak and use sex like this as a weapon. Aphrodite. Not one of her daughters. This was Aphrodite herself. Right as she grabbed me, like that… I heard shouting on the path in front of me.

Aphrodite looked behind her, and ran out of my field of view. There were 2 hunters in front of me in an instant. One of them, Prim, stopped, while the other kept on running at me. I'm dead, I thought, as Kiara hurled herself at me.

This one is a bit above 3000 words, rather than around 2500 words. Hopefully you enjoyed it. Sorry for the long wait. I don't have much time or motivation right now. TBH thinking about colleges is stressing me out. I'm a Junior in HS and I have no clue what to do. Anyways, please favorite, follow, and especially review to give me some motivation. LOL. -GoldenSlayer218