𝓟𝓻𝓪𝓮𝓵𝓲𝓪 - (𝓟.𝓙𝓪𝓬𝓴𝓼𝓸𝓷)

03.

vol ii
➵ chapter three ➵

After seeing Dr. Thorn turn into a monster and plummet off the edge of a cliff with Annabeth, you'd think nothing else could shock Percy Jackson.
But when a twelve-year-old girl tells him she's the goddess Artemis, he says something real intelligent: "Um... okay."

That's compared to Grover. He gasps, then kneels hastily in the snow and starts yammering, "Thank you, Lady Artemis! You're so... you're so... Wow!"
"Get up, goat boy!" Thalia snaps. "We have other things to worry about. Annabeth is gone!"

"Whoa," Bianca di Angelo says. "Hold up. Time out."
Everybody looks at her. She points her finger at everyone in turn, like she's trying to connect the dots. "Who... who are you people?"
Artemis's expression softens. "It might be a better question, my dear girl, to ask who are you! Who are your parents?"

Bianca glances nervously at her brother, who is still staring in awe at Artemis.
"Our parents are dead," Bianca says. "We're orphans. There's a bank trust that pays for our school, but..."
She falters. She can tell that the people before her don't believe her.
"What?" she demands. "I'm telling the truth."

"You are a half-blood," Zoe Nightshade says. Her accent is hard to place. It sounds old-fashioned, like she's reading from a really old book. "One of thy parents was mortal. The other was an Olympian."
"An Olympian... athlete?"
"No," Zoe says. "One of the gods."
"Cool!" replies Nico.
"No!" Bianca's voice quavers. "This is not cool!"

Nico dances around like he needs to use the restroom. "Does Zeus really have lightning bolts that do six hundred damage? Does he get extra movement points for—"
"Nico, shut up!" Bianca puts her hands on her face. "This is not your stupid Mythomagic game, okay? There are no gods!"

Percy can't help feeling sorry for the di Angelos. He remembers what it was like when he first learned.

Thalia must be feeling something similar, because the anger in her eyes subsides a little bit. "Bianca, I know it's hard to believe. But the gods are still around. Trust me. They're immortal. And whenever they have kids with regular humans, kids like us, well... our lives are dangerous."

"Dangerous," Bianca says, "like the girl who fell."
Thalia turns away.
Even Artemis looks pained, staring down at her devastated niece.
"Do not despair for Annabeth," the goddess says. "She was a brave maiden. If she can be found, I shall find her."
She squeezes Helia comfortingly. "I swear it, Niece."

"Then why won't you let us go look for her?" Percy asks.
"She is gone. Can't you sense it, Son of Poseidon? Some magic is at work. I do not know exactly how or why, but your friend has vanished."

Percy has a feeling she's right. Annabeth is gone, and Helia knows it too.
If she'd been in the sea, he would have felt her presence by now.

"Oo!" Nico raises his hand. "What about Dr. Thorn? That was awesome how you shot him with arrows! Is he dead?"
"He was a manticore," Artemis says. "Hopefully he is destroyed for now, but monsters never truly die. They re-form over and over again, and they must be hunted whenever they reappear."

"Or they'll hunt us," Thalia says.
Bianca di Angelo shivers. "That explains... Nico, you remember last summer, those guys who tried to attack us in the alley in DC?"
"And that bus driver," Nico says. "The one with the ram's horns. I told you that was real."
"That's why Grover has been watching you," Percy says. "To keep you safe, if you turned out to be half-bloods."