The Moon's Shine (PJO)

Chapter 3

At first, Percy thought he was hallucinating.

Maybe he was still haunted by how Lady Hestia, the most cheerful goddess, was depressed. It sure was a shocker—and taught him that nobody was immune to grief.

But the sobs he heard didn't sound like Lady Hestia's. They were more . . . refined. As though, even in a ghost town of a city, whoever it was had to keep their reputation.

Percy didn't want to intrude into anybody's privacy. However, a feeling in his gut moved his legs in search of the person.

He swept the city for an hour.

In that hour, he learned three things:

1) There was nobody in the city.

2) There was certainly nobody in the city.

3) He was definitely hallucinating.

Percy sighed to himself as he trudged to the exit of the city. The campers had started the funeral procedures if Lady Hestia had been right about what she'd heard.

And if he was right about them, they wouldn't wait for him.

Percy quickened his pace as he thought about it. Sure, if they didn't want him there, he certainly didn't have to go. But many of them had been good friends to him, and he wouldn't miss their last days on earth for anything.

He could see the elevator. As he came closer, he could imagine his journey to the camp; the elevator was scary—but fast, he had to admit. Within seconds, he'd be at the bottom. Then it would only take a couple of minutes before he could call the Grey Sisters' taxi. Again, it was scary, but it was even faster than the elevator.

It would only take him five minutes to reach camp. Meaning he would only miss the first few campers . . .

And then he heard another sob.

Percy froze, then spun around.

He was in a small plaza surrounded by palaces. It was on the outskirts of the city—on his way to the elevator—so he didn't bother searching it. Plus, if the person was in one of the palaces, there was no way he was going to try to get to them. 

Entering the palace of a god without permission resulted in death ninety percent of the time.

He turned back around, shaking his head in disappointment. He'd just wasted an hour on someone he couldn't help—

Something glinted in the distance. Percy looked that way, faltering as he saw a golden gate squeezed in the middle of two gleaming castles—one silver, and one gold. Could that be where the person was?

He ran there and tried to push it open, but it didn't budge. Percy prepared to vault over it, but when he gripped the gate, it swung open towards him—the opposite direction he'd tried.

Percy felt stupid as he walked into a garden—but it immediately turned into concern when he noticed a figure collapsed on a bench.

As he came, closer, however, he could tell it was a woman his age. A gorgeous woman. She had pale, flawless skin, and a lithe body—and even though her face was covered with her luscious black hair followed by her hands, he could guess that it was also extraordinary. She was shaking with silent sobs.

The moment he was a yard away from her, she stiffened. Two piercing silver eyes stared at him from the black.

Percy immediately dropped into a kneel, bowing his head as low as it would go. "Lady Artemis," he heard himself say, trying to disguise his fear, too afraid to look at her.