The breakfast was awkward. Beyond awkward actually. While Percy had expected this, he was mercilessly shunned by most of the hunters. Most of them had decided to not pay him any mind other than the occasional glare and the one huntress that behaved differently aside from Artemis and Thalia was a young daughter of Apollo by the name of Christine. She threw suspicious glances his way as well but quickly connected them to Artemis as well, seeming to be more on the curious side rather than vindictive.
Christine was on guard duty last night together with Thalia when Artemis returned with him so he imagined that had left quite a few questions to be answered for the young demigoddess. Speaking of Artemis, Percy could feel her gaze brush over him every so often and he wasn't sure what to make of it. It was definitely more amicable, or rather less guarded and hostile, than it had been before but he just wasn't sure how long that would last. Still, her softened attitude towards him was more than welcome as he had also enjoyed spending time with her last night.
Regardless, Artemis kept a distance between them right now, just like the rest of her huntresses with only Thalia as an exception. When she woke him up earlier she had wasted no time drilling him about last night. Apparently Artemis had told her that they had something to do but had refused to elaborate further. How nice. So he repaid her favour, telling his cousin that he just helped Artemis with something and that she would need to ask the goddess herself if she wanted to know more.
That had stomped the topic as Thalia wasn't feeling the punishment for annoying her mistress this morning. Aside from her curiosity, Thalia had however also warned him of the day ahead of him. He'd need to hunt on his own, something he never really needed to do before. He didn't feel particularly hopeful about doing it successfully either.
His eyes were randomly zoning in on different parts of the hunters' camp as if knowing their layout better would give him an advantage later and his feet were shuffling constantly. His silent panic was only interrupted when Thalia plopped down before him with her own meal. She had been with Artemis first, talking about whatever caught their fancy until she went to grab seconds and sat with him this time.
His cousin had insisted that she should spend time with him frequently to make a point to the other hunters and that apparently included breakfast. However this wasn't just for the heck of it, Thalia had an actual reason to sit with him this time which came in the form of a sheet of paper. "Your chores this week", she stopped to take a bite of her meal, swallowing it way faster than she probably should, "memorise the names and times and don't miss anything."
With that she was back to eating, leaving him to read his schedule for the week. It was packed, every day only including at most three hours of free time but it still looked manageable. Given how his schedule had been back at camp before he left, this could be considered a holiday. If he could get along with the hunters at least.
He let his gaze wander over the girls in question, some he recognised others he didn't. He remembered four of the hunters as girls he had seen and in one case even saved back at camp. Two more hunters he fought with during the battle of Manhattan. However all the others were strangers to him, new recruits from after the last war. It was sad to see, especially given how he had to witness the same happen at camp. The older generation, barely adult by mortal standard, died out and was replaced by new kids to fight.
It was the one thing the titans were right about, the demigods were massively mistreated. Though the hunt had only shrunken to this size because of Orion rather than some fundamental problem. Artemis did her best to train them and prepare them for the godly world. He only wished they could replicate that for the camps of demigods but alas, they lacked gods willing and able to spend time training their children.
Percy was abruptly ripped out of his musing, his subconscious glare disappearing when Thalia got back up, slamming her hands on the table in the process. "Alright, let's get you geared up for later, shall we?"
The daughter of Zeus was brimming with energy and motivation, already marching towards another tent on the far side of the camp. Percy himself hurried to get up and follow her, running a few steps to catch up with her fast-paced walk. It was only when they reached the tent that Percy saw the second tent right behind it.
He briefly wondered what was inside but shut the thought down when Thalia entered the first tent and revealed it to be an armory. The walls were lined with typical equipment for the hunters: bows, arrows, quivers and knives. There were a few other weapons too, spears and swords mainly but Thalia ignored them all and grabbed a horn at the far side of the tent.
"This horn is used to signal whenever you find prey so that the others can go pick it up and prepare it or to call for backup on difficult hunts. Make sure you always have it on you during your hunts otherwise you get guard duty for a week. I'd also give you a bow but…you're probably better off without one. Do you need anything else?"
She turned towards him and held out her hand, offering the horn to him. Percy looked around the tent once, not seeing anything he really needed until he remembered that he would be hunting animals. Normal animals that his sword couldn't cut. So he went and took a look at the spears.
Spears were the weapon he was most comfortable with after the sword and while he couldn't match Thalia, he was good enough for a wild animal. At least he hoped he was. Percy grabbed one of the spears testing its weight before deeming it a little off and moving on to the next spear. After repeating this process a few times, he finally found a spear that felt good, showing it to Thalia. "This one feels good. It doesn't belong to anyone yet, right?"
He just wanted to make sure he didn't take someone else's weapon. "Technically these are all mine, I'm the only huntress who actually uses a spear but I'll lend it to you for now. Gotta take care of my little cousin, don't I?" She had an awfully cocky look on her when she said that but Percy wouldn't refuse a gift because of that and so he took the spear and stayed quiet.
As he still tried to figure out how to carry the spear without hindering his own mobility, Thalia gave him a small coin and pressed it onto the tip of the spear. Percy watched with slight wonder as the spear was absorbed into the coin and only reappeared when Thalia flipped the coin. "Taking inspiration from your brother?"
He'd recognise the motion of the coin toss anywhere after seeing Jason do it every time they had charged into battle together and he was a little surprised that Thalia would just copy him like that. "What can I say, the genius runs in the family."
Again he chose to just stay quiet. Thalia still had both the spear and the coin in her hand and she would probably keep both if he fired back. Once she handed both over to him and he stored the coin next to his pen, Thalia led him back outside and over to the second tent, this time stopping before going in. "This tent is for the wolves to sleep in so be careful. They usually roam around the camp freely but we keep them in here whenever there is somebody new. Most new recruits are scared of them."
"I think I'll manage that just fine. They aren't trained to attack men on sight, are they?" It was only a half-joke from him as he wasn't sure if Artemis would actually do this or not. A chuckle from Thalia eased his worries though as his cousin stepped into the tent which as always was enchanted to be larger on the inside. Much larger. There were easily twenty wolves in the tent, outnumbering the hunters outside and they went to notice him out just as quickly.
Before he could even blink they all had their eyes trained on him and one larger wolf stepped towards him, slowly closing the distance. Percy just stood still. Something was telling him not to fear the wolves, that they were friendly. Maybe his intuition had gone crazy after turning immortal but he felt as comfortable as ever standing in the middle of twenty hunting wolves. Even Thalia looked somewhat apprehensive when the large wolf reached him and started sniffing the air but he didn't even put his guard up, unable to view the large animal as a threat.
To the surprise of both him and Thalia, the wolf continued sniffing the air a few more times before nudging his leg with his head and giving a lick to Percy's dangling hand. Afterwards the predator turned around and howled, presumably signalling his pack that the new human was alright. To the bewildered look of Thalia, all wolves circled around Percy and started to swarm him. A few even demanded pats from him. "How…what do you mean? How are they trusting you? It took me a year until they let me pet them!"
At her genuine confusion, Percy couldn't help but laugh, a grin spreading across his face. "Well, can't blame them for recognising my greatness immediately, can I?"
Percy was by now busy playing with the wolves, the entire pack having swarmed him and gotten him to crouch down so he could reach them better. He noted absentmindedly that Thalia left the tent while he was trying to get a smaller wolf to stop trying to jump on his shoulders. The wolves that had been wary of him at first were now incredibly energetic and demanding of his attention. Percy had never been much of an animal person, only ever interacting much with the animals he could speak to but somehow he found these wolves rather endearing.
As such he spent the better half of ten minutes getting swarmed by a pack of wolves before finally breaking free from the pack and leaving the tent to look for his cousin who it turned out was just sulking and waiting for him outside. "Ready to get going, Mr. Popular?"
"Hey, not my fault the wolves have good taste!" He raised his arms in mock indignation, a smile already breaking out and being mirrored by Thalia. "Yeah, right. I don't know what it smelled on you, you still reek of kelp."
"Is someone angry that she got a permanent pine perfume?" His retort was immediate and so the two cousins started bickering again, making their way over to Artemis' tent in the meantime. The goddess would personally oversee his first hunt to prevent accidents.
Artemis could hear the pair of cousins approaching from a distance as her lieutenants' raised voice pierced the air and the speed at which she was firing out little jabs made it clear who was with her. As such she was already waiting before her tent when the two of them arrived and Thalia took her place at the side of Artemis. "We went over everything and he's got all the equipment he needs."
Artemis noticed the dirty look Thalia threw towards Percy, suggesting that she'd lost the previous banter. She didn't pay it any mind though and went back to the dining tent, blowing her own horn as she arrived. Thalia and Percy both followed her, waiting for the hunt to gather. They didn't have to wait long as her girls were quick to appear, all of them present after less than a minute. "Hunters, today we will be witnessing the first hunt of Perseus. With that he will prove himself worthy of travelling with the hunt and joining our ranks. To a good hunt!"
She raised her fist for a cheer, the gesture resonating through the gathered members even though none of them echoed her call. She could glimpse some surprise in their faces that she'd give this speech for a man as it was normally reserved for when a new member had been chosen. Even her eldest huntress was now far too young to remember the last time this was done for a man. To remember that terrible mistake.
Phoebe and Zoe had for a long time been the only two to still remember Orion from experience rather than from tales and both of them were gone now. She had gotten a few cheers back when she gave this speech for him though. How unfair life could be that someone like Orion got more support than Percy. The immortal in question didn't seem to care much though, not reacting to the lack of verbal response.
Normally these first hunts served as an initiation and a bonding event where the older hunters would give advice and guidance to the new ones but that aspect would be lost this time. So they dispersed. Her huntresses took to the trees, scattering around the perimeter of the camp and leaving her with Percy. "You'll largely be on your own for this hunt. If you run into a group of monsters or a strong monster you can use the horn to signal for backup but that's about it." She was already walking towards the wolf tent. Thalia had been instructed by her to at least introduce him to their pack so she hoped at least one wolf would join Percy in his hunt. What she didn't expect was for the entire pack to come running out and circle them both. Usually the wolves always made a beeline for their patron and didn't even bother with anyone else, even Zoe had been repeatedly shunned by them.
But Percy was apparently different. While most wolves did run to her first, three of the younger ones piled around him, nudging him excitedly. For a moment she could do nothing but give him an incredulous look, caught off guard by how much they adored him. It didn't make any sense. Apart from her having raised some of these wolves, she was also their patron. They had an innate connection with her. How did he manage this?
Artemis took a moment to calm herself, letting the wolves greet her and Percy both before realising that the latter would have the whole pack aid in his hunt. Maybe he'd have an easier time than she'd anticipated originally. As she signalled for his hunt to start, Artemis too disappeared into the trees. She'd keep watch on him from a distance.
At first Percy just stood still. It looked like he was concentrating, focusing inwards as he closed his eyes and waited. Artemis was unsure what exactly he was trying to do, not seeing how his powers would help him here. She was halfway sure that he also didn't know how they'd help and was just trying things out when he suddenly bolted off, the wolves hot on his trail.
To her huntresses it looked like he just ran in a random direction and even she thought he might have just guessed. There was a monster further down the direction he went in but it was too far for him to have sensed or noticed it. Yet he managed to beeline towards it, catching the lone dracaena unprepared and dispatching her swiftly. Repeating the same motion as before, Percy came to a complete stop and sensed around him before rushing towards the next monster. Again and again he repeated this recipe, making Artemis certain that he wasn't just relying on pure luck but had some method to track monsters, one that perhaps even equaled her own capabilities.
The young immortal took out twenty monsters throughout the perimeter of the forest, cleaning it completely, much to the surprise of Artemis who had expected him to find at most five. When he was done hunting monsters though it became very apparent that he didn't have any comparable method for hunting normal prey. She watched Percy try to sense around him for animals multiple times and each time he came up empty and ran into random directions before stopping and trying again. However he was saved by the pack of wolves that accompanied him as they were all the more adept at finding prey and where Percy failed they came through and caught the trail of multiple animals, tracking them down and killing them.
It was still clear to her that Percy's expertise was limited to hunting monsters but the results of his hunt were an overall success thanks to the wolves. He had lost the rest of her hunt long ago as they couldn't keep up with his speed, something she had to give him credit for. Her girls were far from slow.
Only Thalia kept up with them and she too went back to camp when she noticed her sisters all having failed to follow them. It wouldn't do for them to be left alone the entire time. Additionally Artemis had the sneaking suspicion that her lieutenant had grown rather hungry as Percy extended his hunt well into the afternoon.
When he finally decided to stop and return to the camp, Artemis went ahead first and started to organise dinner. As always she'd announce the result of his hunt there. Her girls already knew some of his catches as they had transported them back whenever he blew his hunting horn but they had all missed the monsters he decimated.
Percy arrived shortly after her with an impressive feat of agility. While his endurance might be attributed to his immortality, his speed was certainly impressive regardless. He easily ran along her wolves and outran her hunters, a group known for their already exceptional agility.
The pack of wolves that arrived with him quickly spread out around the camp, going to rest or play now that their duty for the day was done. Her oldest wolf, the current leader of the pack, came directly to her, resting her head in Artemis' lap.
She started petting the wolf absentmindedly, observing her hunters as they prepared the prey Percy caught, watching their antics. They looked much more comfortable than just yesterday or even earlier today with most only throwing an occasional look towards Percy rather than a constant barrage of dislike. Percy himself was once again with Thalia, giving her one of her spears that he'd apparently borrowed for today.
Her relaxation was only cut short when dinner was ready, demanding her presence. She found everyone gathered much like they had been just this morning. Thalia had opted to immediately sit with Percy this time, leaving her alone at the front of the tent to address the gathered group.
"Huntresses, I will now announce the result of today's hunt. Perseus has in total managed to catch one bear, one stag, three bunnies and one deer. Additionally he hunted five cyclops, ten dracaenae, four telkhines and one empousa. This makes for a formidable amount and was also enough for today's meals. As such he has successfully passed his first hunt."
She ended by raising a glass in his honor, the action this time mirrored by her hunters. She could see the mixed reactions in their faces, some of the younger ones were very clearly impressed by his achievement while others looked almost angered by it. Her oldest huntresses in particular looked in a mix of annoyance and begrudging respect as Percy had outdone both of their initial hunts despite not having her blessing.
The only one openly happy was Thalia who relished both in the fact that she had something to tease her sisters with and that her cousin had been successful in his first hunt. Honestly, the entire thing was nothing more than a tradition so 'failing' wasn't really possible. There wasn't a punishment in place even for those that caught nothing at all.
The dinner itself went by quite pleasantly with her talking to her second oldest huntress Pauline the entire time, recounting how Percy had hunted to her. She still wasn't sure how he managed to extend his senses to a level normally reserved to her alone but that was a question for another day. His success seemed to have lighted a competitive fire in Pauline though as she was quite adamant about wanting to hunt alone first once they made it to their next location in a few days.
Artemis was glad to agree, smiling at the passion behind Pauline's eyes. If they competed like this, maybe it would be possible for some of the bad blood between Percy and her hunt to disappear. At least things would be less cold between them, a change she already longed for. Having this atmosphere in her camp was quite frankly just depressing, a far cry from their usually lively selves.
Before she really knew it, the dinner was already over and two of her girls started cleaning up. It was time to call it a night. Since they'd be on the move tomorrow she had to make sure everyone got enough sleep.
"We will be moving south tomorrow at noon. Rest well and pack up once you wake up tomorrow. Tonight's guard duty will fall with Perseus and Naomi."
Naomi was still too young to run over a long distance so she'd spend tomorrow being carried by Artemis and probably sleeping on her back again. Because of that she volunteered to take guard duty the night before they travelled. As this had been agreed to beforehand, the huntresses accepted it without question and left the tent one after the other.
To her confusion though, the twins Clara and Hanna threw a look at Percy before leaving. "Make sure you guard properly this time.", said Clara just to be followed up by Hanna, "And don't get anyone killed again."
There was a clear malice in her tone, something Artemis didn't know how to place. She wasn't aware of any bad blood between them, at least nothing particular. Thalia was looking just as perplexed next to her, also unaware of what had happened between Percy and the two daughters of Hermes.
Percy himself however flinched at the comment as if it reminded him of a long buried memory. At both her own and Thalia's questioning gaze he did relent though, retelling what had apparently caused the rift they just observed.
"Back when I was the director of Camp Half Blood for a while I was on guard duty when Hanna and Clara arrived. They were with two other demigods, a daughter of Ares and a son of Apollo. Back then another son of Apollo and a daughter of Aphrodite had guard duty together with me and…well, they left their posts. Because of that I was the only one to respond when they shouted for help and because I was at the opposite side of camp at that moment I…when I arrived the daughter of Ares had already died. The son of Apollo made it through with some injuries, as did the two of them but she succumbed to her injuries before we could treat her."
Percy looked mournful, as if he truly blamed himself. Artemis knew how large the camp was and how far Percy would have to run to get to the demigods in time if he was truly on the opposite side. It'd be around a mile between his spot near the beach and the forest that demigods usually arrived through. There's no way he could have covered that distance instantly, no matter how superhuman he was. But this didn't explain Clara's and Hanna's hate for Percy. If anything they should have hated the two campers that had slacked on their duties instead. As if on cue Percy answered her unasked question.
"I told them that I had been the only guard that night and that I was too far away. I wanted to avoid large conflicts in camp so I let Will, Drew and Clarisse hand out punishments for the two demigods discreetly and took the blame for being too slow. I was…back then I really believed that I had been at fault too."
An uncomfortable feeling of frustration came over Artemis as she stared right at Percy. She had known him as dense and foolish since their first encounter where he had repeatedly tried to jump off a cliff but this was somehow even more vexing to her. At least he understood now that he could have done nothing to prevent the girl's death but still…before she could act at all however, a ray of lightning flew out from Thalia, hitting Percy square in the chest and eliciting a small groan from him. In addition Naomi gave out a scared shout, reminding all three of her presence in the tent, something they had somehow forgotten about before. Not to mention that her newest recruit despised violence like this.
Thalia in particular looked quite stressed by her being there, her anger dissipating way too quickly as she tried to calm down the young girl. Simultaneously Percy got back up, rubbing over his now singed shirt. He looked only mildly annoyed by his cousin's actions, probably because he was also aware of how needlessly stupid he had been to shoulder the burden others should have to carry.
She sighed tiredly, looking over to Thalia, who was still trying her best to apologise to Naomi. Her attempts seemed to be successful though as she finally managed to draw a small laugh out of the girl. While she wanted nothing more than to give Percy a verbal lashing for his idiocy, she chose not to. Today had already been a long day for him so she would let this rest for now.
She stepped up behind her lieutenant before putting a hand on her shoulder and motioning for Thalia to come with her. After leaving the tent, she separated from Thalia and left to go back to her tent while Artemis transported herself all the way up into her chariot, ready to take up her nightly duties.
So that's the next chapter done. I was wondering, should I explain a little bit of what's going on in these notes? I thought up proper reasoning behind how Percy managed to befriend the wolves and hunt so well but I'm not sure if it will ever become relevant to the story for example.
Anyways, the next chapter will be about the coming night and their travel south (to Camp Jupiter). I'm not sure when I'll write that, I won't be following any kind of schedule until the 6th of January at the earliest because of Christmas and New Year and family stuff.
See y'all soon!
-M