All rights belong to Rick Riordan

Chapter 45

Why Do Girls Hate Me?

(Percy)

Thankfully unlike the rest of the hunters Reyna was not completely in the dark as to what I was, much to the rest of the hunters shock as they all looked at her curiously for hiding the information. However I explained that it had been a result of how tough she was to track down and that she forced me to reveal my nature which actually resulted in them being more impressed than shocked.

Although they did find her recount of breaking my nose hilarious, much to my chagrin and even Artemis let out a giggle. I simply shrugged and explained she caught me by surprise. Which elicited another roar of laughter and jokes from Phoebe saying how if I could not defend myself what use was I as a guardian.

Well until I suspended her in time for a few minutes until Artemis told me to release her.

Eventually though Hazel came over with Frank who was sporting a vicious set of claw marks down the side of his face that were still in the process of healing which I guessed were the result of him approaching an angry Nemea. They came over to return my weapons to me and to inform us all that the campers would be returning soon and that I had better calm the lioness down before they did so.

So as it was while the hunters quickly went about tidying up the mess they had spent all morning creating around their cabin. Me and Artemis had a chance to be together even if only temporarily though there was not much we could do in the camp when there could be observers unfortunately.

'You don't still have to hold the flowers you know.' Artemis teased and I remembered the moonlace I still held.

'Well I don't exactly have anywhere to put them at the moment do I? I thought it was usually the guy who buys his girlfriend flowers not the other way around.' I said teasingly.

'They were not my decision Persephone just gave them to me I had no choice in the matter.' She stated.

'I am not complaining they are beautiful flowers and they remind me a lot of you.' I said complimenting and I saw her blush a little at the praise.

'What the colour or the fact that they are beautiful.'

'Both though I do prefer you a little older, at the moment you are more cute. But as it is, cute is still good. So here you go I think they suit you more than me.' I said handing her the bouquet which she held in front of her with a smile before they disappeared in a golden light to wherever she sent them.

'Well while we are around the hunters and others we don't exactly have a lot of choice do we. I cannot think of an excuse to justify me suddenly appearing as a young women for no reason when for the majority of three thousand years I have looked similar to this. The only place I could justify it is New Rome.' She explained and I remembered the current political climate of the city what with it having one AWOL Praetor who was now a hunter and the other being a bit of a dick or so I was aware but at least they were not going to war with anyone anytime soon.

Perhaps we could visit there sometime in the near future, it would be interesting to see how they would react to my appearance especially after they had been proclaiming my death and disappearance. Boy were they going to be in for a shock.

'Stop day-dreaming about visiting the Romans we are nearly there.' Artemis said breaking me back to the current situation.

'How did you know I was thinking of that?' I said turning towards her.

'Because you're an easily distracted idiot most of the time, plus you had this vacant look on your face which meant your Seaweed Braincells were working overtime as you pondered something.' She said teasingly.

'Very funny Ariel.' I said teasingly and I watched her turn red.

'Will you stop calling me the anything to do with that story.' She said angrily punching me in the arm.

'You're right it is mean, at least she could swim without falling on her face.' I added mockingly only to receive another punch.

'When we get a chance you are teaching me how to use that damn tail, how come you were able to learn it so quickly anyway?' She said bitterly as if it was unfair.

'Well if I had to guess I would say it was because I have Tides as a major domain while yours is just a minor one in the same way I have the Hunt as a minor and your main domain is the Hunt. We have our major domains skills come to us naturally while we have to work towards perfecting the others.' I said guessing.

'That is surprisingly astute for you, have you been taking classes or something or did you cheat and ask for help.'

'Hey I can be clever sometimes, also I had the same problem when I got the air as a domain and I had no idea how to use my wings, for ages I was flapping them like a retard until Lelantos started teaching me how to control them independently.' I said defensively flapping them in her direction creating a gust that blew her hair into her face.

'You may have moments of inspiration I will give you that, but generally you have dumb luck that things work out the right way.' She said after spitting a few auburn strands out of her mouth.

'Hey if it was not for dumb luck I would have died dozens of times, hell I was lucky you felt the same way about me or that could have turned out badly. I was already on my deathbed and it almost became literal.' I protested and I was right I had been lucky a hell of a lot in my life. Clearly the Fates found it hilarious to keep me alive, well when they weren't lamenting my list of accolades.

'Yeah well that may be but fortunately you may want to look forward before something else kills you.' Artemis said confusingly before everything became clear including the fact of why she had stopped moving several feet back. When a giant golden paw smacked me round the side of the head and I found myself in the dirt.

Thankfully Nemea did not have her claws out when she hit me otherwise I could have lost my head from the blow. Typical you only miss some things after you have lost them, stupid river.

As I rose from the ground I noticed the Lioness looking still pretty annoyed with me which was not a good sign but at least she was not moving, for the moment at least.

'Artemis do you see what I mean about girls around me, they all want to hurt me.' I called over to her which was replied by a palm meeting a forehead in exasperation.

'That's because you are a bloody idiot, how about less chat and more dealing with the 3 ton indestructible feline.' She finally said just in time for said cat to dive towards me. Or at least try to.

From the moment she left the floor she was engulfed in light and grew smaller until she landed in my outstretched arms back as a cub. It used to be quite draining to control time over Nemea while now I barely felt the loss of energy which I suppose was a result of my complete nature now.

I was careful to hold her away from my chest, I was still wary of her claws even in her younger state as recollection of Annabeth's room aboard the Argo came to mind.

'See Artemis no problem, until she calms down I can keep her as a cub and this way no one feels intimidated by her, well maybe except the local mice population.' I said walking towards the goddess who was looking less than impressed with my easy escape from the lioness.

'That is cheating you know. What would you have done if that did not work?' She said pouting.

'Run like hell.' I replied simply.

'A good strategy except for the fact that she is faster than you on the ground.' Artemis said and the kitten in my hands seemed to mew in agreement to the statement.

'Perhaps you should hold onto her for a moment as she seems desperate to claw my wrists.' I said holding the cub out towards her and sure enough there were some long narrow scratches on the inside of my forearms.

Artemis however simply shrugged and took the cub from me and to my annoyance the kitten laid upside down in her arms as if happy to be there.

'See she knows that men are mean too, always trying to ruin our fun.' She said before sticking her tongue out at me.

'Well then perhaps you could explain to her that some of us are decent we just have to use unconventional methods to deal with girls mood swings.' I told her as my eyes noticed a flash of gold on the floor and I focused on the familiar form of my spear which had scorched all the ground around it. As I picked it up it shrunk back into its smaller baton form and I went to put it in my jacket pocket when I remembered I was no longer actually wearing the thing. So I was forced to put it for the time being in my jeans.

'Is that a spear in your pocket or are you pleased to see me?' Artemis said looking at me serious before breaking down into laughter and sure enough as I looked down it did look pretty suspect to which I quickly responded by taking the spear back out and keeping a hold of it in my hands.

'You have a really sick mind sometimes.' I told the smiling goddess.

'Coming from the guy who stuck a flag pole up someone's ass yeah I am the one with issues, all I did was turn them into animals and occasionally fill them with arrows afterwards. I would say you are the one for cruel and unusual punishment.' She said with a raised eyebrow.

'Well ok maybe I got a little ahead of myself that one time.' I said putting my hand behind my head.

'Or the beat down you gave the Minotaur, or mailing the Laistrygonian his girlfriends dust. Let's be honest you can be pretty cruel to others when you want to. Even if they were all sort of deserving like your former step-father unfortunately I can't do the same response to my step-mother.' She said nonchalantly and I was unsure if she actually meant it about Hera or not. I could not blame her after all the Queen of Heaven cost me months of time with Annabeth so I was ready for a quest that took a few days.

'Ok we have already discussed my apparent ability to be a dick to those who piss me off, but seeing as who else is in this entire fucked up family is I still think I am pretty low on the spectrum of being a dick to others.' I protested at least I did not create storms or earthquakes like our fathers when annoyed.

'Touché. Now come on the campers will be back soon and I want to see the look on their faces when you show up again.'

'I think I can find a way of making an entrance worthy of your dad.' I said with a grin as I began to think of a plan for it.

'I am sure you can, though try not give Dionysius a heart attack, gods no someone might actually miss him if he died for a while, or not.' Artemis said with a sly smile.

'Do you actually like any of your brothers?'

'I didn't mind the original Perseus but other than that no, not really.' She said after a seconds thought.

'Well good to know that I not going to have a dozens of your siblings after my head when they find out.'

'The only problem ones will be my father and Apollo I suspect, Heracles hates us both but what can he do, last I checked he was beaten by a girl with a supply of fruit.' She said mockingly.

'After that I knocked him out in the throne room after the rewards ceremony with one hit.' I added.

'So that was why he looked like someone used his face for a game of a whack a mole.' She said laughing.

'Yeah I smacked him on the head with my shield, I think he got several inches shorter as well.' I said also laughing as we neared the hunters cabin.

'Where am I supposed to stay while we are here? Am I supposed to stay in my father's cabin or what?' I said confused as I considered that little fact.

'Or you could come with me tonight.' She whispered with a smile just as Thalia came around the corner of the cabin followed by a now fully awake and armored Reyna as per usual.

'Hey Lord Seaweed Brain! Where the hades is my sword?' She shouted as she saw me.

To be honest I had actually forgotten the fact I still had it as it was tucked behind my belt, looking back I was lucky I did not manage to impale myself on it when Nemea swatted me aside. As I took the blade out I realized I never actually did find out what it was made from before my attempted murder.

'Oh yeah sorry about that I forgot I still had it, did you find out from Leo what metal this is?' I asked.

'Orthrytic Silver, same as my chariot.' Artemis answered for her as I looked at her curiously.

'Orthrytic Silver? How come I have never heard of it then?' I asked confused as I was unaware of the metal.

'It was only found on Mount Etna in a limited amount, there is not much made from it. Only a few Titans had anything made from it. Such as Selene's chariot, Oceanus's sword, Koios's spear and a few others I think.' She explained, I was surprised to hear Koios had a silver spear but then again I had never actually seen him train or fight so it was not unbelievable.

'Oh ok then.' I said still thinking of the metal, now I wanted something made of it as I reluctantly handed the sword across. I had every other metal known to mythology in one way or another.

'I can tell what you are thinking; you want one as well don't you. Well you are not taking a lump put of my chariot that is for sure.' She said firmly.

'Don't you have insurance on it, no one would ever know.'

'I think the mortals may notice a piece of the moon missing. Whatever happens to the chariot is reflected on the moons surface. The craters they see are really the dents in the metal put there when it was forged.' She explained.

'Well that makes sense I suppose, but I really want one now.' I said mock pleadingly.

'Not happening, find someone else to rob of their stuff like you did before.'

'I can't exactly challenge Koios to a duel and say I am only doing it for his spear, so I had the complete set. It is bad enough with it being three to five on the council without making it worse.' I said considering the possibility quickly.

'Well then tough luck, keep dreaming. Now come on.' She said walking past me towards her cabin.

'Hey Percy was that cub in her hands Nemea?' Thalia said noticing the small golden ball of fur in her arms as she passed.

'Yeah until she calms down it is safer to leave her as a kitten, it is not the first time she has gone on a rampage against me. I find this way is better besides she looks cute as a cub.' I explained and the pair of demigods looked at me with open mouths at my casual treatment of one of the most feared monsters in Greek mythology.

'Anyway girls I have to go prepare for my big entrance when the campers get here, so have fun.' I said quickly before flapping my wings and taking to the air leaving them both staring at the spot I had been.

AN. A short chapter I know but it was just to sort out a few lingering issues before the campers return.

I have had a lot of ideas for Percy's new symbol of power, the most common of which I could not believe I did not consider which made me feel like an idiot. I also see that a lot of people like my Sebastian idea and I am sure I could temporarily use it though it will not be permanent unfortunately.

Also for those of you worried about Percy being bound by the Ancient Laws now he is an Immortal don't worry I have a way around that. So more mortal bashing is on the way if necessary.

Anyway as always Read and Review.