Percy Jackson: Born of Three

Chapter 3.

~A few months after the last event~

Percy:

I waited.

Waiting us hard for me, the ADHD is pretty unbearable when you have to be still and silent. But I'm doing it.

For good reason. Soon, they'll need my help. But, even though I want to intervene...I really want to intervene, I know it would mess everything up. I don't want Annabeth to have to get kidnapped and hold the sky...but I don't really have a choice. This is how it needs to play out. This is how shit needs to go down.

But as soon as I can, I'll make my move.

Thalia:

I couldn't believe it. It was all the Hunters' fault. It was their fault Annabeth was gone.

~moments before~

We were trapped between a monster and a fully armed helicopter. We had no chance.

Then I heard a clear, piercing sound: the call of a hunting horn blowing in the woods.

The manticore froze. For a moment, no one moved. There was only the swirl of snow and wind and the chopping of helicopter blades.

"No," Dr. Thorn said. "It cannot be—"

His sentence was cut short when something shot past me like a steak of moonlight. A glowing silver arrow sprouted from Dr. Thorn's shoulder.

Oh, Styx.

He staggered backwards, wailing in agony.

"Curse you," Thorn cried. He unleashed his spikes, dozens of them at once, into the words when the arrow had come from, but just as fast, silvery arrows shot back in reply. It almost looked like the arrows had intercepted the thorns in midair and sliced them in two, but of course. I wasn't surprised.

The manticore pulled the arrow out of his shoulder with a howl of pain. His breathing was heavy.

Then the archers came from the woods. I was right. It was those accursed Hunters of Artemis. They advanced in the manticore with determined expressions.

"The Hunters!" Annabeth cried.

"Oh, wonderful," I muttered.

Zoë stepped forwards. "Permission to kill, my lady?"

"This is not fair! Direct interference! It is against the Ancient Laws."

"Not so," Artemis declared. "The hunting of all wild beasts is within my sphere. And you, foul creature, are a wild beast." She looked at Zoë. "Zoë, permission granted."

The manticore growled. "If I cannot have these alive, I shall have then dead!"

He lunged at me, knowing I was weak and dazed.

"No!" Annabeth yelled, charging at the monster.

"Get back, half blood!" Zoë said. "Get out if the line of fire!"

But Annabeth leaped into Thorn's back and drove her knife—Luke's knife into his mane. The manticore howled, flailing as Annabeth hung of for dear life.

"Fire!" Zoë ordered.

"No!" I screamed.

But the Hunters let their arrows fly. The manticore staggered back, wailing, "This is not the end, Huntress! You shall pay!"

And before I could react, the monster leaped off the cliff, with Annabeth on his back.

"Annabeth!" I yelled.

The helicopter started to shoot at us.

"Mortals," Artemis announced, "are not allowed to witness my hunt."

She thrust out her hand, and the helicoped exploded into a flock of ravens that scattered into the night.

The Hunters advanced on us.

Zoë stopped short when she saw me. "You," she said with distaste.

"Zoë Nightshade," I said angrily, my voice trembling. "Perfect timing, as usual."

"Three half bloods and a satyr, my lady."

"Yes, some of Chiron'd campers, I see."

Before I could unload on Zoë, a body flipped into sight, and what I saw made me freeze.

It was my younger brother. It was Percy.

Percy's hands were shaking.

"I didn't want...I had to...I can't mess with..." he sighed looking rejected. His ever changing eyes seemed to glow. They were sea green, now. And then they changed to a lightning blue. They looked the same as mine.

"Aunt Arty." I almost fell over, sure she would blast him, but instead she smiled. "Thalia," he grinned half-heartedly. "Zoë." He smiled politely.

Then something I sure didn't expect.  Zoë hugged him.

"Uhhh..." I was pretty much as dumbfounded as a demigod could get. I'd seen a lot of strange things, but this—this took the cake.

Percy gave me a half-hearted half smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "We-we have a lot to discuss. Uh, Arty, let's get in a tent or something and have a nice long discussion with tea and crumpets—and ahh, so these are my two new siblings."

I looked in his direction. He was looking at Bianca and Nico di Angelo, who seemed pretty confused.

"They are children of Zeus?"

"Sorry, Thals, but you seem to have forgotten my parentage pretty quickly. They aren't Zeus' kids—they are Hades'."

Oh crap.

Sorry.

Oh, Styx.