Chapter 16
Percy had never been to New Orleans before, he wasn't afraid to admit that at all. Sure, it was a city just like New York City, but they were two entirely different cities. The people acted differently, the culture of the city was overall different. New York was filled with people who were way more focused on their day to day lives, some of the people in New Orleans acted like they could care less if they earned a dollar.
Judging from the look on Annabeth's face, he figured she too was a bit taken aback by the difference.
"Wow, these buildings are amazing." She said with awe as she looked around with astonishment.
Percy had to admit, New Orleans did look nice. Something about it had that southern style that you just couldn't find in New York. Some parts of New York were just outright hostile, like you were just staring into the dark side of the city, but New Orleans had an old-fashioned feeling in some places.
At the same time, Percy wasn't a huge architecture guy. He just let Annabeth have her fun.
Percy kind of wished they had left earlier in the morning. They had left the slummy hotel at noon, where the sun was out fully which meant they felt safer, but that meant they also had walked right into the sweltering heat that often plagued the southern U.S.
He wiped the sweat off his forehead as he looked around. Judging from the map on his phone, they were getting closer to a huge deposit of celestial bronze, which could only mean one thing: Aphrodite's cache was close by.
Annabeth cursed as she wiped her forehead, "It's so hot!"
"Yeah, this really sucks." Percy agreed, willing the sweat on his body to dry.
By now, Annabeth had resorted to fanning her face just so she didn't burn up.
After walking through a few blocks, an old jewelry store came into view. Percy's vision danced thanks to the heat messing with his head. Annabeth wasn't fairing any better. The heat was starting to remind Percy of Tartarus, which wasn't exactly the most pleasant thought he could have at that moment.
The jewelry store was designed just like the buildings around it, the old French style was almost the exact same compared to the buildings around it. The only difference between this building and the one back in Chicago was that this one was way more discrete. The outside was painted a reptilian green with a watermelon pink for the roof. Percy couldn't say he was a huge fan of the color.
Just like the building in Chicago, this building also had a golden dove hanging above the doorway. Aphrodite's name was written in golden lettering just underneath the fake bird.
"We should get inside before we have another Kelli situation." Annabeth advised.
"Yeah, let's go." Percy said, walking towards the door. He just wanted to get inside so he could be away from the heat.
As soon as he opened the door, he heard the sound of faint jazz music playing softly inside. He walked in, Annabeth stepping in beside him. The inside of this jewelry store was filled with different art pieces and jewelry, some of which gave Percy the creeps.
He walked deeper into the store, passing an alligator skull whose eye sockets were filled with diamonds. He tried his best to ignore the art too, some of these paintings depicted skeleton lovers clawing their way out of hellish landscapes. This whole place gave him the creeps.
Then there was the smell too. Something about the smell turned him off completely. It was a weird funky smell, far from the perfume that he expected.
He found Annabeth browsing the jewelry selection. He knew she wasn't shopping though she definitely looked like she was shopping. He fell in next to her, looking at the rings to see if any of them was the one he was looking for. His eyes passed platinum, gold, and silver rings but none were the signature celestial bronze color that he was looking for.
"Percy, I don't see the ring in here." She said, "Something isn't right. It has to be here."
A slight feeling of dread curled up in Percy's stomach, he really hoped they didn't leave the ring back in Chicago, the chariot didn't have enough fuel for another trip.
"Look around the store, it has to be here somewhere." Annabeth told him.
"Alright." He said, turning to proceed down one of the aisles lined with various gruesome art pieces and trinkets.
Percy was just about to reach the end of the aisle when he noticed something odd. The floor had a u-shaped object sticking out of the floor. He'd nearly tripped over it. At first, he thought it was some weird trinket that had fallen off the shelf but when he knelt down and tried to pick it up, it didn't budge. He realized it wasn't a trinket but actually a part of the floor.
"Hey, Annabeth!" He called.
"Yeah?" She called from the other side of the store.
"Come here a sec!"
Percy waited until Annabeth appeared. She saw him and started walking towards him.
"What's up?" She asked.
"Look at this." He pointed at the object.
Annabeth knelt across from him and looked at it, "What is that?"
"I don't know, I almost tripped over it." He said, "Here, help me pull it up."
Annabeth nodded and got behind him, her hands resting on his arms as he started to pull. Whatever it was, it didn't want to budge because it was taking a lot more strength than Percy anticipated. Then all of a sudden, something broke.
"Fuck!" Percy cursed as he fell on his rear, Annabeth bracing him.
When Percy looked at the object, he realized nothing had broken. Instead, the floor was poking upwards, like a hatch. He crawled over and pulled on it again, this time, the floor creaked to reveal a ladder descending into a room lit by pink lights.
He looked back at Annabeth who shrugged at him.
"I'll go first." He said, "Watch my back, yeah?"
While Percy descended, he kept Athena's warning to him in mind. He remembered she'd warned him that one of these locations was guarded by Eros. Eros wasn't at the other location, so that meant he had to be at this location too.
Percy's shoes made a thump as he jumped off the ladder. He was expecting some sort of vault of treasure but instead, he found himself inside a small bedroom of sorts. A solitary pink light hung from the ceiling, above a crisp white bed. There was a dresser with a mirror attached to it, bottles of perfume and cologne lined the dresser. It reminded him of the dressers that every Aphrodite camper had back at camp.
He noticed a closet not far from the bed. Naturally, he walked over and opened it. A feeling of fright caused him to nearly shout when he felt a pair of hands on his shoulder. He spun around, only to find Annabeth jumping back so he didn't accidentally knock her down.
"Jumpy much?" She asked him.
"Sorry." He said sheepishly, "I just don't know what's in here."
"Look, it's just a bunch of dresses." Annabeth said, pointing to the closet, "There's no one in there."
"Right." He said before turning to the closet. For a second, he thought it was just a bunch of dresses. Then he saw a small lockbox on the floor. "Hey." He said, "Look at this."
When he handed the lockbox to Annabeth, she held it up to her ear and shook it. The sound of a small item being tossed around caused both of them to look at one another. She looked around and grabbed a nail file off the dresser and shoved it into the keyhole, shaking and jittering the file to try to unlock the box. With a click, the box sprung open.
"Bingo." She said, opening the box.
Inside the box was a simple celestial bronze ring with a ruby on the top. A picture of a beautiful girl wearing it was right next to the ring. Percy guessed that was the daughter of Aphrodite who it previously belonged to.
"This is it." Annabeth said as she plucked the ring out of the box, "Let's get the hell out of—"
The sound of someone whistling in the store could be heard. Annabeth stared wide-eyed at Percy, quickly grabbing him and dragging him to the bed.
"Get under the bed!" She hissed while shutting the closet.
Percy tucked himself under the bed, pulling Annabeth as close as possible to him so she didn't get caught. The two demigods waiting with bated breath. Percy's heart pounded against his chest as a pair of Greek sandals descended the ladder before landing on the floor.
"Phew, that girl was amazing!" A guy's voice said with a sigh, "I'm beat!"
Percy turned to Annabeth who mouthed the word 'Eros' to him.
The feeling of the bed slowly sagging as someone laid on it nearly caused Percy to squeak. He hoped to every Olympian out there that Eros didn't decide to check under the bed.
"What do we do?" Percy whispered in Annabeth's ear.
"I don't know." She whispered back, "Wait, I guess."
The next thirty minutes were dedicated to Percy and Annabeth listening to Eros singing random love songs before he finally faded off to sleep. The sound of the god snoring told Percy that they were in the clear to move. He slowly crawled out of bed and peered over the bed. Sure enough, Eros was laying on the bed, his head tilted upwards as he snored. When Annabeth came up, her jaw dropped. She shook her head at the sleeping god before tiptoeing to the ladder and climbing up. Percy followed not far behind, making sure to look over his shoulder to check if Eros was still asleep.
Once they were up, Percy quickly shut the hatch and ran out of the store with Annabeth, both demigods cackling as they ran. To Percy, that was the most cartoonish heist he'd ever pulled off.
Annabeth braced herself against Percy while she howled with laughter, "That was so dumb!"
Percy chuckled, "Did you see his face?" He mimicked Eros's sleeping face, causing Annabeth to laugh even louder.
Once Annabeth finally cooled down, she wiped her eyes, "Is it just me or was his face changing too?"
"Huh?" Percy asked, "His face looked the exact same to me."
"No, his face was doing this weird thing where it kept changing. First, it was Luke's face then it changed to your face." She said.
That's when Percy realized what she'd seen. He'd seen the same thing when he saw Aphrodite that one time.
"Oh, it's just some weird love magic." He said, "Don't worry about it."
Annabeth took his phone out and pulled up the map, "We should probably see if we can get a bus. That map said Proteus's home is where the Mississippi River starts."
"Alright, then we should—" Percy was cut off by an arrow piercing the building next to him.
Percy jumped and instinctively went in front of Annabeth. He drew Riptide just in time to see a line of girls with bows and arrows run from an alleyway to form a line in front of them. They all had arrows notched with silver arm bracelets on their arms. They all wore strict looks on their faces as they kept their bows aimed.
"Thalia?" Annabeth asked.
Ω
Percy didn't lower Riptide, even as he locked eyes with the familiar daughter of Zeus he'd known for years. Her blue eyes locked onto him, her bow aimed at him with the arrow glinting evilly in the sunlight. Percy wasn't sure if he could survive a shot from her bow but he wasn't about to give up, not when they'd just gotten the ring he needed for the quest.
Annabeth shuffled behind him and pressed her back against his as she made sure no one could sneak up and shoot him in the back, she peered over his shoulder at the line of heavily armed girls in front of her.
Percy eyed the line of girls, all of them were ready for a fight and he had no doubt that they'd put up a fierce fight if he tried to break through the line. The youngest girl in the group looked about 14 while the oldest looked 18, the same age as him. He wasn't sure if those were their actual ages, the Hunters were weird with their whole immortality thing.
He eyed the daggers and swords strapped to their waists, some even had old World War 1 era bayonets. Their arrowheads were sharp and ready to pierce any target, the celestial bronze had a faint glow even though it was daytime. Judging from their clothing, he figured they must've been hunting him and Annabeth for a while. Some of them wore hunting camo clothes you could probably find in any supermarket across the U.S, while others wore hiking gear and Greek armor.
"We can do this the easy way or the hard way." Thalia said, "Drop your sword, Percy, and we won't hurt you."
"How about you lower your bow first?" He offered, not wavering at all.
Thalia shook her head slightly as she aimed, "That's not gonna happen."
Percy glared at the girls, he knew he could take them. The hardest one to take down would be Thalia but after sparring with Jason so many times, he had pretty much learned every trick a child of Zeus could throw at him. The whole scenario was akin to watching a huge great white shark stare down a pack of dolphins.
"This is all a mistake!" Annabeth said from behind him, "Thalia, you have to believe us!"
"Then tell Percy to lower his sword and I'll believe that." Thalia said.
Percy looked over his shoulder at Annabeth, who shook her head. He gritted his teeth as he turned to face the Hunters. Annabeth didn't want him to fight them and as much as he would've definitely been willing to do so, he trusted her.
"Don't lower your sword, just let me do the talking." Annabeth whispered in his ear.
Percy watched as Thalia narrowed her eyes at them. Some of the girls in the line shifted nervously, even they knew that this was far from the typical hunt. A son of Poseidon and daughter of Athena working together was a dangerous combo, only the brave and foolish would dare to take them on.
"Listen, Thalia, I know Zeus probably sent you guys after us for leaving camp but I promise you we had a good reason." Annabeth said calmly.
Thalia looked beside her at her fellow Hunters, Percy could tell in her electric blue eyes that she desperately wanted to believe them.
"I'm sorry, Annabeth, but we have to take you two in." Thalia said as she took aim straight at Percy.
"Stand down!" A older woman's voice rang through the air.
The line of Hunters lowered their bows almost instantly. Even Thalia lowered her bow, though she was the last one to do so. She turned around and said, "What is it, my lady?"
The Hunters moved aside to reveal a woman in her early twenties dressed in silver Greek armor worn over a white cloak. She had a glowing silver bow strapped across her back, Percy had never seen a bow like that before. He stared at the woman, she was good-looking. Her black hair was wild and free, her silver-gray eyes seemed to burn holes into his very soul, it was actually kind of scary.
Percy knew who this woman was. She was the goddess of the Hunt, Artemis herself.
"My lady." Annabeth said with respect.
Artemis regarded her with a nod, "Annabeth Chase. I see you are doing well." She turned her attention to Percy, "And Percy Jackson, we meet again."
"Artemis." He greeted, slowly lowering his sword. A few of the girls shot glares at him though he didn't care.
Artemis sighed, "When are you going to learn that names have power?"
"Never." He said.
"Figures," She said, "I take it that you two are not willing to come peacefully to Olympus?"
"My lady, this is a huge mistake." Annabeth said, stepping out from behind Percy, "We're trying to find Ares's shield and Demeter's staff. We don't have them."
Artemis seemed to give her words some thought, "It seems that way. However, from what that Jason boy told us, you two seemed to have left camp to avoid a punishment."
"He's telling the truth, my lady." Annabeth confirmed, "But my mom told us that we're the best chance Olympus has at finding the missing items. You can ask her."
Thankfully, that seemed to have won over the goddess, "Fine, I will ask Athena but only after you two accompany my girls to our camp. If I discover you are lying to me, I will bind you and bring you to Olympus myself."
Percy capped his sword though he didn't feel too safe considering a bunch of the Hunters were still mean mugging him. In other circumstances, they would've been a lot friendlier but in this case, they were chasing who they assumed was a possible traitor.
Thalia walked over to them and nudged Percy in the arm, "You almost got yourself shot, Kelp Head."
"And you almost got all your girls hurt." He retorted.
Thalia scoffed, "Please, you wouldn't get that close." She looked over at Annabeth, "Nice diplomatic skills you got there, Annie."
"Don't call me that." Annabeth growled.
Thalia chuckled, "Works every time. So, now that we're all friends again, mind telling me what the hell is going on?"
"It's a long story." Percy said, "I think it's better if we—" He cut himself off with a yell as something wrapped around his ankle and tripped him to the floor. He roughly impacted against the ground with a thud and a grunt as pain shot up his arm. Everyone spun around just in time to see him getting dragged off.
"Percy!" Annabeth shouted, running towards him.
Percy held his hand out to grab her hand but whatever was dragging him was too fast, she was quickly growing smaller as she fell back. Thalia barked orders to her girls who also tried to catch him while some aimed at whatever was dragging him but it was all in vain, he was dragged around the corner of the street and into an alleyway.
Percy managed to twist to see who or what was dragging him. That's when he caught sight of his kidnapper, a black wispy figure. At first, he thought it was some guy in a cloak but when he looked down, he found the figure didn't have any legs. He was floating above the ground. A gray clawed hand was wrapped around his ankle, Percy tried punching at the hand but it didn't seem to phase the figure at all. The claws dug into his skin, drawing blood.
Percy was just about to draw Riptide so he could stab this spirit but before he could, his head hit a rock and everything went black.
