The Twins of the Sea- A change in the past-

Chapter 6

Three days later-at lunch

Artemis addressed to her hunters "Prepare yourselves, we're going to eliminate a camp of dracaenas and empousas. The least experienced hunters will stay here, you two included" she said glancing at the Jacksons. The twins nodded their heads showing that they understood and so, the goddess left, leaving them with five other girls with ages between eight to twelve.

A ten years old girl got up and told the others that she was going to the river to get some water. Meanwhile, the children were practicing their archery skills. After half an hour the 12 years old girl asked "What takes her so long? The river isn't that far away. I'm going to check it up." And she left.

Seeing her leave too, the Jacksons stopped shooting and got closer to the rest of the girls. "Where is she going?"asked Andy. "Lena thought it takes to much for Jude to come back so she went to check it up" replied a girl. The answer sent a shiver down the children's spine, making them have a bad feeling about the whole situation. When they were about to tell them their opinion, a scream echoed through the forest.

Every hunter got on their feet and ran towards it. The twins didn't want to be left alone so they ran after the others. When they found the hunters they were shocked by the scene before them.

Two girls were tied up, two were unconscious on the floor and only Lena was still standing and defending herself from the monsters. They were tall and strong as the two monsters used trees as clubs. The most shocking thing about them was the fact that they had only one eye each. The twins stared at the monsters until Lena saw them and shouted "What are you two doing here? Leave!" That gave the monsters the opportunity to sung their clubs and hit her. Lena landed on her arm and broke it.

One Cyclops went towards her and the other went towards the Jacksons, talking to them with a voice all too familiar for them "Perseus, Andromeda come here children"-it was Sally's voice, their mother's voice."Mum?" they asked. The Cyclops smiled wickedly, but Lena's voice rang out "Don't listen to him, it's an illusion!" and she threw a dagger at his shoulder. The Cyclops yelled in pain before he disintegrated into golden dust. The other Cyclops yelled enraged and got ready to smash Lena. She closed her eyes anticipating her death when she heard the twins yell "NO!" When she opened her eyes she saw the Cyclops being hit by rocks thrown by Percy and Andy. That only enraged him more and made him go after the twins who began to run.

Lena, despite her broken arm, got her dagger and ran after the three of them. When she reached them she saw the Cyclops looking after the twins, who clearly hid somewhere, when he noticed her. In the blink of an eye he got her in his hand and began to tighten his grip on her. Lena screamed and at that moment the children got out and yelled "No" "Let her go!", the Cyclops only tightened his grip on the girl.

The twins were getting angry that they couldn't help her, that the monster was hurting one of their new friends. Suddenly, they felt a tug in their stomach and the water from the river slammed into the monster. Lena fell from his hand, but Andy somehow made a water hand catch her and put her on the ground safely . Percy on the other hand was dealing with the monster who was struggling against the hold of the water.

The monster exploded, covering the twins in golden dust as an arrow flew and hit the Cyclops in the eye killing it. The twins stopped and the water returned to the river. They stared at it until Artemis came and took hold of their shoulders and made them look at her as she was kneeling in front of them.

"What are you two doing here? You were supposed to be in camp."

"Sorry" they said "We saw Jude leave to get water" "And then Lena left after her" "And then we heard a scream" "Everyone left to the forest" "And we didn't want to be alone" "So we went after them" "And then..." they began to cry remembering what happened. Artemis saw this and hugged them saying "It's alright, you're alright, now let's get you two out of the water, ok?" The twins nodded their heads , but when they stepped out of the water, they collapsed because of the exhaustion, fortunately Artemis caught them both.

She noticed that they weren't wet, thinking that it was their power as children of Poseidon, she scooped them up and went to their camp with the kids sleeping in her arms.  

Back at camp, three daughters of Apollo were tending to the injured hunters. They were seated around the fire and Zoë was watching them. Artemis went towards her and placed the twins besides a log then she turned to Zoë and asked her what happened. Zoë began to explain everything "From what Lena told us Jude was thirsty so she went to get water from the river. She was being late so Lena went after her. There she saw two Cyclops tying Jude who when she saw her she screamed, but one of the Cyclops hit her on the head and lost consciousness. Lena tried to help her, but the Cyclops kept dodging her arrows. Then the others arrived, but the monsters beat them fast. Then the twins arrived..." she stopped herself and glanced at Percy and Andy who were huddled against each other. Artemis followed her gaze and when she saw them staying together she smiled "Please, continue Zoë" "Yes, my lady, as I said, they arrived and when they saw the four hunters unconscious and only Lena still standing they caught her eye and she yelled at them to leave. Seeing her distracted the Cyclops hit her and she broke her arm. Then one went towards the twins attracting them using their mother's voice" Hearing this the goddess clenched her fists. "Fortunately Lena threw her dagger at him before he got to them, but that only made the other one go after the. Lena followed them, but that only got her caught by the Cyclops. Then the twins somehow managed to control the water which slammed into the monster. By the looks of it they didn't know what they were doing, but they still managed to save Lena and keep the Cyclops immobilized until you came, my lady"

Artemisknew one thing for certain now: these children, HERS are strong, but together arequite a powerful force. She'll have to train them though, but for now she'llraise them, teach them and she'll be their mother figure. The moon goddesscouldn't help but to smile at the thought. She left Zoë to watch over the fiveinjured hunters while she got the twins to her tent, where she put them to sleep in their cot.