Chapter-5

Percy

On a frozen cliff in the state of Maine, a girl spied on a bunch of cyclopes moving through a road below, headed for the Canadian border, with a rifle in her hand pointed at them.

Soon, she tapped her earpiece.

"Yes?"

"Attie, its me."

"Eli? What's the matter?"

"Father has reassigned you to New York City."

Attie scowled.

"He knows I don't like going to that place."

"You won't have to go in. Meet me in Westport. I'll explain everything."

"You could say something now?"

"...Its a hunt."

"THEOS-type?"

"THEOS-type. Four of them. One's a child of Zeus."

The girl's eyes widened. "...Zeus? Are you kidding me?"

"They're untrained. Not a problem."

"Its not their training that I'm talking about, Eli!" The girl snapped. "You're telling me Zeus broke his oath?!"

"It seems so. Lord Hades tasked Imperator with finding the offspring of Zeus."

"I've been telling him for years. If my visions come true, we're going to suffer a lot of damage."

"...Attie, you know this isn't our war to fight."

Attie let out a frustrated sigh.

"Focus on the assignment. Come to Westport."

"...Fine." Attie spoke as her finger twitched in anxiety and frustration.

"And to let you know, we've got them locked down in DC. But if they escape, they'll head to Baltimore next. So you have time before they come to New York."

"Okay."

"See you later, Attie."

"Same Eli." Attie spoke as Eli cut the call.

"I need stress busting…" Attie spoke with an explosive sigh, reaching into a pocket and pulling out a bar of chewing gum.

Attie popped it into her mouth and chewed vigorously, taking out the stress on the gum as she got up and headed back to her car, ready to head to Westport.

"So, they might be in Baltimore, huh?" Attie spoke as she started up her car.

"Wonder what they'll do with the hunt going on over there."

North of Baltimore, anyone passing on the roads reported a feeling of eyes watching them in the dark. No, not just human eyes. It was as if the moon itself was silently watching those.

Those people would often not notice a young girl with auburn hair standing in the darkness of the woods, silently watching the roads with her golden eyes.

Artemis had not moved from her spot for a week, having stayed completely still in her spot while her hunters moved through the wilderness away from Baltimore.

Their target was quite elusive, having evaded her hunters for quite a long time.

Artemis hadn't intervened, for the creature wasn't really a hostile monster. Simply a rare beast coveted by many. But the recent activity she had observed from the Triumvirate in Washington worried her.

While Zeus had decreed that Olympus would not engage in any hostile actions with the Triumvirate, it still does not mean the Triumvirate itself stretches the limits of Zeus' mercy while it can. The topic of demigods was in particular touchy, for Olympians knew of the Triumvirate's actions in the deaths or even the brainwashing of some of their children.

For Artemis, her hunters had butted heads with the Triumvirate in the past before, particularly on the topic of the creatures the Triumvirate captured. All of them hated the Middle Emperor and his megalomaniacal zoo in Indianapolis, but the other two also weren't in their good books either.

And right now, she had no intention of letting the Triumvirate get their hands on this particular creature.

Her former hunter Hemithea had informed her that the Manticore she'd spotted in Northwest Maryland had appeared in DC. That Manticore was her next target after this.

Artemis closed her eyes, which despite her position, could see everything down to the smallest blades of grass and pebbles in Baltimore. Apollo may be the one known for his nigh omniscient eyesight, but Artemis was no slouch either. She was the goddess of the wilderness. If Apollo looked down on everything from the heavens, she watched from within the darkness of the woods.
She could see the sudden rise in activity of underworld monsters, a clear sign that Hades was up to something here. But she would have to leave them aside for now.

Other than that…

"Hm?" Artemis opened her eyes.

"Five demigods." She noted. Another group of demigods on the run, who had entered Baltimore from the southwest, far away from her location. But Artemis had seen a Satyr roaming around Baltimore as well, most likely sent from Camp Half-Blood.

"That Satyr will guide them." Artemis muttered, but that wasn't what surprised her.

She could see a child of Athena, simply from her grey eyes alone, a child of Hermes, judging from the insufferable smirk on his face. But the last two…

There was no mistaking it. Artemis was too used to those electric-blue eyes to not recognize a half-sister.

"So father broke his oath." Artemis noted softly as the moon dimmed. She looked up at the sky.

"No doubt Apollo knows as well. He pretty much knows everything." Artemis spoke.

Is that why there were so many of Hades' monsters in the cities, hunting demigods? Were they after the spiky-haired girl?

Not to mention the boy beside her. Once again, this time it wasn't just the sea-green eyes. The boy looked as if Poseidon had aged millenia younger. And that wasn't just the only thing she noticed.

Artemis was the goddess of childbirth and nature. She could see the aura of life that radiated from every living creature, as well as the absence of that aura whenever she saw any dead or undead creature. She could tell when someone is about to die simply from the waning of their aura of life.

The Poseidon look-alike had his aura on nothing but one point on the small of his back.

The last time she'd encountered such a unique case….was Achilles.

Artemis stood up.

"A bearer of the curse…?" She mused before putting her bow back.

"It seems some investigation is in order." Artemis spoke. She was not going to disturb Zoe and the others. This was something she could look into alone.

And just as silent as she had been waiting for her prey for the past few days, Artemis just as silently vanished from the woods.

"Welcome to Baltimore, people!" Luke spoke, spreading his arms, the group looking upon the suburbs in the southwestern part of Baltimore.
Alabaster looked around the streets. "Its pretty empty."

"Of course it is. We're in the early morning." Thalia grumbled.

"At least its not like DC." Annabeth spoke softly.

"Emmie did say they would be concentrating their forces in DC. So we have a little bit of a reprieve here." Luke spoke.

"And what's the plan here?" Alabaster asked as Luke pulled out his map.

"Resupply. We have a safehouse on the banks of the Patapsco river. We'll go there, restock and then take a boat to the Elk river. From there, we'll take back creek to connect to Delaware river and then head up to Philadelphia, our next stop."
"Sounds easy enough." Thalia spoke as Percy looked at her. Over the past few days, he noted Thalia was a little distant towards him. But he didn't really know the exact reason why.

"Remember one thing Thalia." Percy spoke as his eyes scanned the roads. "Something that seems easy is usually harder than if it seemed hard. That's just how our horrible demigod luck works."

"Fair." Luke spoke as the demigods kept walking, keeping a cautious eye before Percy's eyes caught something.

Sitting on the lawn of a house, Percy saw a young girl wearing the silver parka of the hunters with auburn hair pulled back in a ponytail and cold, silver eyes watching the roads with an emotionless expression.

Is that…Artemis? Percy thought as his breath stopped for a second. There was no mistaking it, Artemis had taken the form with which he'd first seen her.

What's she doing here in Balitmore? Percy thought. Artemis' expression did not change as her eyes flicked towards the group.

Percy shifted uncomfortably as Artemis' eyes seemed to stare into his soul with the moon shining dimly behind her.

Artemis maintained that soul-piercing stare as Percy blinked for a moment. When he opened his eyes, Artemis was gone.

"She's watching us…" Percy whispered.

"Hm?"

"Nothing, nothing." Percy spoke. Maybe Artemis was just interested in Thalia and Annabeth. He did remember that Annabeth and Thalia had met the hunters before. Although he was pretty sure they didn't meet Artemis.

Suddenly, Thalia stopped.

"Monster?" Annabeth asked as Percy's eyes narrowed. Up ahead among the suburban streets were a bunch of deer sitting on the road, sitting lazily.
"They're monsters, all right…" Alabaster commented as the deer seemed almost docile.

But again, Percy had no hope that this was safe. The horns of those deers looked more like chainsaws than regular horns, and their blood red eyes had begun staring at the group.

One particular large one got up and began trotting towards them. The deer gave a loud resounding bellow as it lowered its head to display its jagged horns. The other deer got up as well and took very aggressive postures.

Looks like they don't appreciate demigods coming here. Percy thought.

Annabeth took a step back in fear as Percy unsheathed Riptide while Thalia brandished Aegis.

"Stay back. I'll handle them." Percy spoke as he dashed forward, rushing at the lead deer with riptide poised to cut its legs off…

…Before a silver arrow landed between the two of them, the deer jumping back as the arrow struck the ground with enough force to drill a hole into the road. The deer suddenly sensed something and dispersed, moving away from the street.

"Be careful with the Aeternae. They're not only quite dangerous, but killing them will get you into serious trouble." Percy heard a familiar voice as Artemis jumped down from a roof, a silver bow in hand.

"Many demigods have died from that mistake. The aeternae and many of the monsters infesting this city act as beacons for Hades. Kill some, and he'll summon monsters and undead creatures to hunt you down."

"You've got the same outfit as Emmie…"

"Yes. I am a hunter of Artemis. Still a member, while Emmie has retired."

Percy furrowed his eyebrows. So Artemis was pretending not to reveal her divinity. And he was pretty sure not playing along would make things worse for him, so…

"You look…young." Thalia spoke.

"You don't look any better." Artemis shot back as Thalia scratched her head in realisation.

"Whatever the case, don't kill any monster in this city. The more you kill, the more Hades will send after you." Artemis spoke.

"But what are you all doing in Baltimore?" Luke asked.

"There…is a rare creature here. One highly coveted by many, including the Triumvirate."

Percy crossed his arms. "Is it like something dangerous?"

"No. It is not a hostile creature of immense power. But what it can give you is quite valuable."

"What even is this…monster?"

"It is called a Tarandos. It's a deer whose hide can mimic any environment and it's practically made for hiding from hunters. Even Olympians like Lady Artemis struggle to sense it. Only Hades' helm of darkness eclipses the Tarandos' hide when it comes to invisibility. Other than its invisibility, the hide is also quite tough, capable of at least handling multiple strikes from weapons."

"Henceforth…you can see it would be coveted."

"So…you're after a chameleon deer basically. And why are you hunting it?"

"We're not going to kill it. The plan is to capture it and take it to Alaska, where it should be safe." Artemis replied.

Honestly, a cloak like Annabeth's cap… Percy thought.

"I do warn you about thinking of going after it. There is no requirement to kill it. And we intend to keep it out of anyone's hands, including yours…"

"Son of Poseidon." Artemis spoke as her voice tripled and Percy gulped.

Okay, how the Hades did she figure it out? Percy thought in nervousness.

"You do not know how to conceal your powerful aura." Artemis spoke. "You and the daughter of Zeus are too old and too powerful not to radiate your fathers' auras."

Percy noticed Luke, Thalia, Annabeth and Alabaster had stopped.

"What have you done to my friends?" Percy asked as his grip tightened on Riptide.

Artemis tilted her head in curiosity. "That defiance…on first glance, it would seem like defiance born out of the same stupid pride Agamemnon showed when I demanded a sacrifice from him."

"But…this isn't pride. This is defiance born out of fear." Artemis spoke nodding in approval.

"What have you done?"

"They're fine. You should realise I have no reason to harm you unless you decide to attack my hunters. And even then, I'm sure attracting the wrath of both father and Poseidon would not be ideal for me. I wish to only talk."

Artemis turned back.

"Your concern for your friends is impressive, and I'm sure you've heard advice cautioning you not to be controlled by that concern. But do be ready for the consequences of your actions."

"I know, and I'm making sure to be careful. I'm just taking them to camp half-blood, nothing problematic with that."

Artemis let out a soft laugh.

"Hm… 'Nothing problematic with that'. That's what I thought when I brought my dear friend Hippolytos' corpse to Asclepius. And then I almost started a war between Olympus and the Underworld."

Artemis' eyes flicked to Percy.

"That curse…it fuels your arrogance, just like my divinity fueled mine into thinking I could defy death without any consequences. You think you can break fate itself with that curse, don't you?"

Artemis' eyes glowed.

"If you continue believing that, remember one thing. Apollo couldn't save Hyacinthus from Zephyrus' jealousy, Demeter couldn't save Iasion from Zeus' wrath, and I couldn't save Orion from his arrogance."

Artemis then faded away as Percy noticed his companions moving again.

"You know, Percy, I didn't know you were into staring contests with the ladies." Luke joked as Percy cracked a smile.

Well…there goes any hopes of hiding secrets. Percy thought. He'd thought maybe he'd be able to hide his identity and his abilities from the gods, but Artemis had practically known everything except his little time-traveling shenanigan with just a look.

If Artemis could figure that out, how many other olympians would do so as well? Percy thought in concern.

Not to mention her warning about the monsters…Percy had little reason to doubt her, so killing any monsters basically rang an alarm bell in Hades' throne room…

Yeah, this will be much harder than DC. Percy thought.

"Come on, let's keep moving. We'll have to avoid fights with the monsters."

"But there's loads in this city, how are we supposed to do this?" Thalia asked.

"Huh…?" Annabeth spoke in confusion as Percy turned to her.

"Something wrong?"

Annabeth rubbed her eyes and stared towards a house.

"I thought I saw something move…"

Percy looked at the house and noticed there was nobody there.

"Let's just keep an eye out." Percy spoke before looking at Luke.

"So, how do we go about this?"

"I…could help." Alabaster spoke timidly.

"How?" Thalia asked.

"I-I can hide us."

"Once again, how?"

"There's this strange thing in the air. I can use it to cloak people and slip by unnoticed."

Percy furrowed his eyebrows. "You can use the Mist?"

"The Mist? Is that like some sort of cloak or something?" Luke asked.

"Something like that. Its a magical veil to hide the supernatural from mortal eyes." Percy spoke.

"But demigods usually can't manipulate the mist without intense training. If you can do that…it's very impressive, Al."

"Woah, so you're like a magician, Al!" Annabeth spoke as Alabaster chuckled sheepishly.

"I guess I am, Annie."

"But even then, do you have experience hiding multiple people?" Percy asked Alabaster.

"No…not really."

"Alright, then let's do this. Alabaster puts up the cloak, but we'll still move carefully in case he starts overexerting himself."

"Sounds good." Luke spoke as Alabaster looked around at them.

He raised his hands, gulping.

"Its okay." Percy gripped his trembling shoulders. "No need to rush. If you're finding too much difficulty, we'll find another way."

Percy smiled at him as Alabaster looked up at him before nodding.

Alabaster fully stretched out his hands and closed his eyes. For a few minutes, Alabaster stood there with strained concentration before the air rippled around them.

"Woah, did you see that?" Thalia spoke as Percy chuckled.

"Nice job, Al!" He spoke slapping Alabasters back as Annabeth cheered.

"Thanks, Percy…" Alabaster spoke as the demigods continued their way forward.

Percy thought back to Artemis' words.

He wasn't stupid. He did get what she was saying.

Don't get too comfortable just because you're nigh invincible. That's when you mess up bad. Percy thought.

"I'll be careful…I know that…" He whispered.

But even then, a part of him still felt unease.

It probably won't be the last time I encounter Artemis. Percy thought.

Alabaster's cloak was working. Percy was aware that if not strong enough, the Mist wouldn't be able to fool monsters, but Alabaster wouldn't have survived this long if his abilities couldn't hide him from monsters.

Through the streets of Baltimore, Percy could really see how committed Hades was. The Aeternae had practically taken over the streets, looking at Mortals passing by them with absolute boredom as a few large ones even scared some mortals with their horn-like bellows. Aside from these Aeternae, Percy could see massive populations of hellhounds roaming about, warding off herds of Aeternae and getting into tense standoffs with Cyclopes. At some point, they even spotted a Hydra sitting lazily by a Monster Donut shop, bringing back some old memories for Percy.

While Percy simply glared at the monsters, Luke and thalia kept their weapons at hand, warily staring at the sheer amount of monsters around as Annabeth and Alabaster hid behind Percy's legs. However, they avoided detection, although some Aeternae nearly chopped Luke's head off as they were turning around a street corner.

But despite all that, Percy couldn't help but feel like they were being watched. At first, Percy tried to spot who was trying to watch them, but he just could not see anything. Everything within him screamed alerts, but that's just because they were surrounded by monsters everywhere they went.

He then tried to lure out their stalker, but still couldn't see anything. At one point, Annabeth swore she saw the air ripple in front of a bookstore, but nobody was able to get a glimpse.

Do you think it's one of the hunters?" Thalia wondered.

"Could be. But I don't think even the hunters are this good at hiding. Maybe it's Mr. Chameleon Deer who's watching us."

"The Tarandos? Why would some shy deer be interested in demigods?"
"I don't know. I'm not an expert on chameleon deers. Maybe it's mistaken your hair for bushy grass."

"Real funny." Thalia drawled in annoyance as Luke smirked.

"This deer is really good at avoiding detection. Maybe too good."

"Whatever, Ar…the hunter says it's not hostile, so let's just let it do its own thing."

Eventually, the group neared the banks of the Patapsco river, into the neighbourhood of Locus Point.

"Where is this safehouse exactly?" Percy asked

"Fort McHenry." Luke spoke. "Me and Thalia once found a cache of equipment and supplies stuffed within the fortifications, clearly not meant for regular people. We come here from time to time to resupply if we're ever in this part of the country."

"I'm guessing we have a boat?"

"Uh…no." Luke replied sheepishly. "There's boats at some piers nearby?"
Percy stared at Luke before shaking his head.

Ah, what am I judging. Its not like I wouldn't do the same in this situation. Percy thought.

"Alright, so where in the fort is this safehouse?"

"I'll show you." Luke replied as the demigods walked past the groups of monsters lazily lounging around in the sun.

Behind the fort, in a biking trail, Luke suddenly knelt down next to some tree.

"Uh, this tree? Is there like a treehouse?" Percy spoke in confusion as Thalia chuckled.

"It's not that obvious, water guy." She spoke as Luke knocked a bunch of times before the grass suddenly opened up to reveal a metal cover on its side.

"Woah!" Annabeth and Alabaster exclaimed in surprise as Percy knelt next to Luke.
"Does this look like a tree house to you, eh, Percy?" Luke spoke smugly as Percy shrugged before looking at the metal.

"This is celestial bronze, and this place looks like a bunker. It's pretty obvious this was built by demigods during the revolution - Children of Hephaestus, to be precise." Percy noted.

"How did you even know there was a secret door here?"

"I sensed it. Child of Hermes, remember?" Luke spoke laughing as Percy shook his head for forgetting that fact.

"And opening it?"

"Morse code. Although that took some tries and help from a random harpy."
"Sounds interesting, let's…" Percy heard footsteps…Wait, no. He heard hoofbeats.

"Hey!" Thalia exclaimed as she brandished her spear and Aegis, while Percy whirled around and pointed Riptide in the direction of the hoofbeats. Annabeth grabbed her knife and Alabaster stepped back with his green eyes slightly glowing.

Whoever was behind him let out a scream and stepped back in fear.

"W-Wait! I'm not here to hurt you!"

At that moment, Percy's eyes widened.

In front of their weapons, quivering, there stood Grover Underwood.

A/N: Here's chapter-5, after 7 months. Just so you guys know, these long periods are a bit of a trend for me due to college stuff. This semester especially as opened up guns blazing with presentations and assignments slammed into our faces. So, apologies in advance if I take long to get another chapter out again.

Beyond that, next step of the journey - Baltimore. During my short hiatus, I got into reading some fantasy works like LOTR, which I blame for getting me self-conscious about my style of prose writing. As good as the story is, Tolkien's prose is definitely not my style. Because of that, I now have to look at the way I write my prose. Thanks Tolkien.

Bit of a shorter chapter too, because I realise I'm being too fixated on the relatively short nature of this story. I honestly shouldn't be trying to stretch out the storyline as I was trying to do earlier and found myself being more accepting of more shorter chapters - Because frankly, there's really nothing much for our group other than getting to camp Half-Blood. No point in ruining things with artificial extensions.

Hope you guys enjoyed and constructive criticism is appreciated.

Foot Notes:

Aeternae: Said to have been encountered by Alexander and his soldiers on the banks of the Indus river. While their description is very vague, I assume the Aeternae are just a bunch of poor Indian antelopes or blackbucks having been subjected to the classic case of Greek Hyperbole.

Tarandos: First mentioned in Aristotle's 'On marvellous things heard', the Tarandos is a rare creature living in the lands of a Scythian tribe known as the Geloni. Other than the chameleon abilities, the Tarandos is also the size of an ox with the head of a deer.

Response to Reviews:

surya25addanki: LB6 has left an imprint on my mind that will never leave me whenever I'm writing any stories about fairies. Despite my disappointment with some aspects of the story, LB6 did bring a new perspective of British folklore in my eyes. I will not go crazy with the cross-pantheon stuff. At the end of the day, the intention of this story is mostly to contain itself within the Greco-Roman segments and only bring in other pantheons if Percy goes to Brooklyn or Boston later on in this series of stories.

Berix: Thank you. This fanfic is inspired in some ways by Coeur Al'Aran's 'Relic of the Future', which is a RWBY time travel fic. The approach Coeur takes for the handling the 'Time traveler' archetype is something I really want to see happen in a PJO fic. I will stumble upon some segments, but I'll try to get my storyline through the backdrop of the entire storyline. I don't intend on extending this story into HoO.