The Lone Guardian (A Percy Jackson Fanfiction)

Chapter 3

"Yeah, right, sorry. My name is Percy Jackson.," I answered. A few of the girls' eyes widened, probably recognizing my name, but before any of them could say anything, Thalia poked my arm.

"So, Kelp Head? Shadow travel?," she asked.

"Can I at least get some ambrosia to fix my nose and get cleaned up first?," I whined.

"Ugh. Fine. But make it quick.," Thalia said.

"Sure thing, Pinecone Face.," I promised with a smirk. Thalia stuck her tongue out at me before walking away with the other hunters, most of whom were shooting distrustful glances towards me. I ignored them and turned to Artemis.

"Where should I set up camp, milady?," I asked politely.

"Right here is fine. At least, it's far enough away for the hunters to not be too bothered.," she replied and handed me a square of ambrosia for my nose.

"Thank you, Lady Artemis.," I said and stuffed the square in my mouth. She rolled her eyes and walked in the direction the hunters took.

I set my new backpack on the ground and went to a nearby stream where I cleaned off the blood from my hands and face. I then returned to my campsite and began to assemble my tent, which happened to match my backpack. From the outside, it looked like an average tent, but when I entered, my eyes widened in surprise.

"Whoa.," I said to myself.

The inside was huge. There was a king-sized bed with blue linens on one side and on the other, an open door that led to my own bathroom. At the end of my bed, there was a large trunk that, I soon discovered, was full of blue, gray, and black jeans, every t-shirt I could want, a bunch of different colored hoodies, and multiple pairs of Converse, also in different colors. Next, I noticed what was hanging on the wall above a rack of black and sea-green armor.

It was a beautiful black bow covered in sea-green waves matching the armor below it and another note attached to it. It said:

Hope you like the bow. Just pull back on the string and think about the type of arrow you want for it to appear.

Hephaestus

I pulled back on the string as the note suggested and was only slightly shocked when a pure black arrow appeared. I gently put the string forward and the arrow disappeared.

"Awesome.," I whispered. I hung the bow back on the wall and sent another prayer of thanks to both Hephaestus and my father, before exchanging my bloody shirt for a clean one and going outside to find Thalia.

I found her talking with the other hunters in what appeared to be the mess hall, but when she saw me she stood up and, much to the others' surprise and anger, hugged me.

"I didn't get to do that earlier with you being covered in blood and all.," she said when she stepped back. "Where did you go after the funeral? You ran off so fast, I didn't get the chance to talk to you."

"I, uh, went to Olympus. That's when I was offered the job. It was also when I got blessed from a few of the gods, including Uncle Hades, which explains the shadow travel.," I said, not meeting her piercing blue eyes. She narrowed her eyes suspiciously.

"And why, exactly, did you go to Olympus in the first place?," she asked.

"Uhh...," I said. Then, I made the mistake of looking her in the eye and knew that if I didn't tell her, I'd get an arrow in a place where the sun doesn't shine.

I sighed before explaining my original reason behind my visit in hushed tones. Thalia looked like she was about to cry, but, instead, she slapped me and pulled me into another hug.

"You're an idiot, Percy Jackson, and don't you dare think of doing that again!," she yelled at me. I nodded quickly and hugged her back.

The rest of the hunters had been silent through our quiet exchange, but, at this, they started to go for their bows. Luckily, Artemis walked in at that moment and Thalia went to stand next to her as I and the others stood at attention.

"Hunters," Artemis began, " we shall be having dinner in a few minutes, after which you will go to bed."

There were a few complaints to this, but Artemis raised her hand for quiet.

"No complaining! You need your rest, so we can get an early start tomorrow. We will be moving to a forest in South Dakota for a while. Percy?"

I looked up at my name.

"Would you mind summoning some grilled venison, steamed vegetables, and a glass of water for my dinner, please?," she asked. I smiled.

"Not at all, milady."

I screwed my face up in concentration, earning some snickers from the group, and managed to have Artemis' order appear at her place at the head of the table. I smirked victoriously as she started eating.

"Oh! Oh! Me next!," Thalia exclaimed. I gestured for her to go on.

"One grilled cheese sandwich with bacon and Coke, please!," she shouted. I summoned her food and she immediately began stuffing her face. The other hunters glared at the food suspiciously, but their distrustful glares eventually became envious.

Finally, one of the girls, I believe named Atalanta, asked, "Can I have the same thing?"

"Me, too, please.," Phoebe said, followed by another hunter and another until each of the hunters had a sandwich and a Coke. I summoned a blue pizza (ha, I wasn't sure if I'd be able to make it blue) for myself and Coke and devoured it.

After we all finished eating, Artemis stood for another announcement.

"Now, hunters, off to bed. And starting tomorrow," she paused and gave me a look that said the rest of her announcement would cause me pain, "Percy will be taking care of all your chores."

The hunters all cheered as they made their way to their tents, but I grimaced and walked to my own tent, grumbling about chores.

As I crawled into my bed, the last thought to cross my mind before I fell asleep was, If I have to spend eternity doing chores, being guardian of the hunt is a pain in my podex.