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Chapter 17: The Golden Princess

"How long are we supposed to wait…" I whined, rubbing my sore backside.

The four of us were parked on a bench outside a café named Tartarus. Yeah, I know—odd name for an internet café. But whatever. I guess it's one of those places that's trying to appeal to the whole hipster crowd. Not that I care about that right now.

We were supposed to be waiting for someone with a non-human aura to step out.

Sounds insane, right? But that's what the Hunters said. And, of course, I'm no expert at handling tasks from the Gods, so I'm just following their lead, biting my tongue and hoping this mission doesn't get any weirder.

What I do know is that my ass is sore from sitting on this bench for hours, and the last thing I want to do right now is wait longer.

"I'm sure he'll come out soon," Thalia said, her tone annoyingly calm.

"That's what you said an hour ago…" I groaned again. As you might've guessed, I earned myself a swift slap to the back of the head. I swear, next time I'll dodge it.

"Hey, look!" Sasha's voice cut through my whining. I followed her gaze and spotted a thin, Caucasian guy with shoulder-length messy hair, wearing an oversized jacket. Pretty normal-looking, right? Nothing special.

"Let's roll," Thalia said, standing up without hesitation.

The other two Hunters followed her lead.

"Wait, guys! What's the plan again?" I asked, suddenly scrambling to catch up.

I didn't get an answer. Instead, the sound of a man's body hitting the pavement filled the air. Apparently, the plan was to knock the guy out by hitting the back of his neck. Simple, effective, and extremely sketchy.

Thank the Gods it's a workday, so there's no one around to see four teenagers dragging an unconscious man into a dark alley.

"Now what?" I asked, staring down at the limp form of the guy on the ground.

Thalia smirked, rubbing her hands together. Sparks of electricity danced around her fingers. "Check this out."

"Clear!" she shouted, slamming her palms onto the man's chest.

The guy's eyes shot open wide, and he screamed, "Sweet mother of Zeus!" He jerked up, completely disoriented.

"W-Who are you kids?!" He stammered, panic written all over his face. I couldn't blame him. If I woke up in a dark alley and saw a bunch of armed teenagers, I'd be peeing my pants too.

"Wait, I thought Cerberus was supposed to have three heads…" I muttered under my breath.

And then, just like that, two more identical heads popped out from beneath his jacket.

"Back off, kid! I know Kung Fu!" the right head yelled.

"Dude, don't you see the arrows? They're the Hunters of Artemis!" the left head said, sounding both confused and concerned.

"No way! That one's a dude!" the center head exclaimed, pointing straight at Rey.

Rey, ever the troublemaker, promptly poked the right head's ear with one of her arrows.

"Ouch-ouch-ouch! Please don't, that's my most beautiful head…" the middle head wailed.

"So… you're Cerberus?" I asked, finally finding the words after the bizarre scene before me.

"Don't call me that!" the left head snarled.

"Fine then. Rowe, right? We've got some questions for you." I said, trying to steady myself as my brain processed the madness.

"And why should I answer to you—" the left head started, but I swiftly poked the tip of my arrow into the middle head's forehead, cutting him off.

"Ouch! Ouch! Fine! Fine! I'll talk!" Rowe blurted.

Sasha's eyes narrowed, and she practically screamed in his face, "Tell us everything you know about Orion!"

Rowe's three heads froze, and I saw sweat beginning to form on his brow. It wasn't the typical response of someone who thought they were about to get out of this unscathed.

"Wh-which Orion are we talking about again?" One of the heads stammered, clearly trying to buy some time.

I glanced over at the other Hunters. They were sharpening their knives, the eerie sound of metal rubbing against metal filling the alley. The sharp gleam in Rey's eyes must've been making Rowe panic, because suddenly, he was rambling.

"They made me do it!" "I'm just an errand boy!" "Pl-please don't kill me, I'm innocent!" All three of his heads were speaking over each other, a frantic blur of words.

"So, youdidbring Orion back to life?" Thalia pressed.

"I-in a manner of speaking…" the left head trailed off.

"'They' made you do it? Who are 'they'?" I demanded.

Rowe hesitated, his middle head looking guilty. "I-I don't know… Some guys in black hoods… They're very persuasive…"

Rey's grip on her knife tightened, and she pressed the blade against Rowe's right head's throat.

"No, no, no! Wait!" Rowe shrieked. "I remember something! One of them said something about a Golden Princess!"

At that, all three Hunters went completely still.

"'Golden Princess'? What kind of vague crap is that?" I asked, trying to make sense of the nonsense spilling from Rowe's mouth.

I glanced over at the Hunters, but they were exchanging knowing looks. Once again, I was left in the dark.

"Okay, what is it this time?" I demanded.

"This time, we need to return to Lady Artemis," Thalia said, her voice heavy with purpose.

"What?!" I couldn't hide my frustration. "We came all this way to find this guy, and now we're just going to turn around?"

"We've got the information we need," Thalia said. "If someone's going after the Golden Princess for malicious reasons, Lady Artemis needs to know immediately."

I groaned, slumping my shoulders. "Alright, alright… So, we're just gonna leave this man here?"

"Not quite…" Thalia's smirk reappeared. Sparks of electricity crackled around her hand again, and Rowe's faces went pale.

"Clear!" she shouted again, and the resulting scream was pure terror.

"Can we at least stop at the souvenir shop first?" I muttered, trying to regain some composure.


We arrived back at the Hunter's Camp around midnight, and, as expected, we drew attention from just about everyone. I pulled my Golden State Warriors cap lower on my head—my only purchase from the gift shop. It wasn't much, but at least it was something before we were dragged off to meet with Artemis.

The other three Hunters immediately headed for a meeting with Artemis as soon as we hit the ground. I, on the other hand, found myself near the Gryphon, pretending to look busy while avoiding the serious conversations happening nearby. The sounds of knives sharpening were unmistakable, and Artemis' face looked grim. The conversation wasn't going well.

When the meeting ended, Artemis stormed off to her tent, and I grabbed Thalia's arm before she could follow.

"Okay, you need to fill me in on what's going on," I demanded.

Thalia sighed, glancing at me with a mixture of exasperation and exhaustion. "Look, you know the story of King Midas, right?"

I nodded, eager to hear what she was getting at.

"Tell me how the story goes," she said.

I cleared my throat, recounting the basics. "Once upon a time, there was a king who…"

"Cut to the end," Thalia interrupted, clearly impatient.

"Well, if I remember it right, King Midas regretted his wish to have a golden touch after accidentally turning his beloved daughter into a golden statue. He asked Dionysus for help, and he went to a river that could reverse the curse… Something about donkey ears, too, if I'm not mistaken," I finished.

Thalia gave me a look of disbelief. "Except… that's not how it really happened."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"The myth is close, but not quite. Midas never regretted his wish. Helovedit. The ability to turn anything into gold, imperial gold at that—unstoppable power. He didn't regret it, not even after his daughter turned into a statue. In fact, he didn't even care about her as much as his wealth. The only thing that stopped him was a silver arrow to his head."

My mind was spinning. "But the legend said he regretted it…"

"Yeah, well," Thalia shrugged, "therealstory is much worse. Midas never reversed the curse on his daughter. She's still a golden statue to this day." She paused. "And now we've got aGolden Princesson the table."

I stared at her in shock, the pieces slowly falling into place. "So… I assume she's the Golden Princess? What do these people want with her?"

Thalia's face hardened. "I'm not sure, but if Midas is involved, it can't be good. Not at all."

She stared at me, waiting for some kind of response.

"Well, then what are we doing here?!" I snapped, urgency creeping into my voice. "Let's roll!"

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