Commander Alpha

Chapter 12

Zoë's POV

The Warriors all lounged in the living room of our cabin, making the most of our day off.  We'd been training the campers for the past week, Percy and Luke on swordsmanship, Emma on hand to hand combat, Beckendorf on armor and weapon making, Silena on magical animals, Bianca and I on archery, and Castor helping wherever he was needed.  The boys played video games, and the girls did various activities ranging from reading to cards.  For the first time since arriving at Camp Half-Blood, we were peaceful.  Of course, that didn't last long.  Chaos appeared in the middle of the room, the breeze from his arrival moving the cards in Silena and Bianca's card game.
"Really!" Silena complained, but stopped at the look of worry on Chaos's face.  "What's wrong?"
     "Tartarus and Nyx are rising along with Kronos, Gaea, and Atlas." He said.  Then he cringed, probably receiving bad news from a mind link.  "I've gotta go, Planet 7632 just waged war on Planet 7648."
     "Again!  That's, what, the eighth time in two hundred years!" Luke exclaimed.  The look on his face was quite cute.  I scolded myself for thinking like that.  These odd kinds of thoughts had been sneaking their way into my head for the past two hundred years, and I didn't know how to stop them.  Chaos shrugged his shoulders and disappeared, knocking the cards off the table completely.
     "Rude." Emma said before helping Bianca and Silena pick up the cards.
     "We should go tell the gods." Percy decided.  I nodded in agreement.
     He created a portal and we all stepped through it, entering into the Throne Room of the Gods.  They were fighting in typical fashion, with the only gods not participating being Hestia who was tending to the hearth and Poseidon, who stared at the floor with the look of a man with many regrets.  Hestia gave us a kind smile, nodding to Emma, and returned her attention to the fire burning in front of her.  As we waited for our presence to be noted, I had a thought.
     'Could you tell Lady Artemis that I must speak with her so I may reveal myself?' I asked Percy.
    'Sure, if they ever stop arguing.' He responded, and I smiled slightly through the nerves of revealing my identity to Lady Artemis.  I missed her greatly.  After what felt like an eternity of waiting in silence for the gods to see us, Percy cleared his throat loudly.
     "Commander Alpha." Zeus greeted, sounding slightly surprised and slightly annoyed.
     'No master bolt this time.' Castor noted.
     "Lord Zeus." Percy bowed.  I heard a few of the Warriors barely restraining their giggles at the sight of Percy being respectful, and even bowing to Zeus.
     'Better buy myself a lottery ticket.' Beckendorf quipped.
     "Where is Chaos?" Zeus inquired, scanning the room for any other immortal beings that he hadn't noticed.
     "Ah, that is part of the reason we're here.  But first, Lady Artemis," Percy bowed again, addressing Artemis.  "One of my warriors would like to speak with you."  I felt my heartbeat in my throat as the leader of the hunt shrunk down to her normal size.  Percy moved his head, indicating that I should step out of formation to meet her.  I stood locked in place, the suspicious stares of the gods not doing anything to help my situation.  A reassuring look from Luke set me free.  I smiled gratefully at him and walked over to the approaching Lady Artemis, unable to stop my hands from shaking.  I hid them behind my back as I guided her to a secluded art of the throne room.  I didn't trust myself to speak, so I waited for her to initiate the conversation.
     "So... what did you wish to speak about?" She asked, mistrust obvious in her features.
     "Um..." I shuffled my feet nervously.  "I wish to reveal myself."  A look of curiosity overtook the one of mistrust as Artemis studied my hood.
     "You may." She said.  I sighed, glanced back at the Warriors who were giving me quick, encouraging glances.  I quickly yanked my hood off of my head.
      "I've missed thee, my lady." I said.  Artemis's eyes filled with tears, as she leaped forward and wrapped me in a bone-crushing hug.
      "I've missed you so much Zoë."  She cried.  We stayed like that, wrapped in each other's arms, for a while until Artemis pulled back and wiped her eyes.  "Well, I probably should head back now."  She said sadly.  I nodded in understanding, pulling my hood back up.  "However," she continued, "you must come see the hunters.  I fear they have never been quite the same since your death."  I nodded again, happy to see my sisters after so long.  Artemis put her arm around my waist and led me to the throne room.  She left my side and grew to her godly size, taking her place on her throne. 
     "So, what are you here about?" Zeus asked, ever impatient.
     "We have discovered that Tartarus and Nyx are both rising along with Gaea, Kronos, and Atlas."  Percy explained.  This sparked outrage from the gods.  Zeus clapped and it quieted.
     "What does this mean for us?" Zeus asked.
     "Well, we're going to have to train the campers harder than they've ever been trained before." Percy began.  We went over different strategies and possibilities for an hour or two more, then the meeting was called to a close.
     "Alpha, can I go with Artemis and reveal myself to the hunt?" I asked.
     "Go ahead," he said, "and check on Thalia for me.  Say hi."
     "I will."  I practically skipped over to Lady Artemis.  "When do we leave?"  She laughed.
     "Actually, I was thinking, what if we pranked them?" An evil smile played out on the goddess's face.  I felt my features grow to match.
     "Let's do it."
• • •
     I stood over the goddess, holding a long knife that was still covered in warm blood.  My heart pumped with adrenaline as I listened to her feeble cries.
      "Help me... help me..." she rasped, her breathing ragged.  I smiled slightly under my hood. 
     "ARTEMIS!" I heated several voices screech, nothing but absolute terror contained in them.  I turned to face the hunters, about twenty girls seemingly in their early to late teens.  Half of them raced to help their lady, while the other ten took out their weapons, their eyes filled with absolute fury.  I could hear sobbing behind me, and felt guilty for a second, but quickly pushed the feeling aside.
     "What did you DO!" A girl who I recognized as Thalia screamed, her eyes filled with unshed tears.  All at once, the girls threw their weapons at me.  I easily dodged them, catching and dropping them in midair to prevent them from hitting the hunters surrounding a blood-covered Artemis.  The hunters before me stared, their eyes wide and mouths open.
     "How-" Phoebe was interrupted by laughing from behind me.  I turned to see Artemis clutching her stomach, tears of laughter streaming down her face. 
     "My lady-" an unfamiliar hunter gasped.  "How-"
     "You should have seen your faces!  That was priceless."  Artemis laughed.  I offered my hand to her and helped her to her feet. 
     "Nice acting my lady." I complimented, laughing along with her.  The hunters all looked extremely confused.
     "Boar's blood." Artemis explained, looking at the blood covering her front.  "It smells terrible."  she wrinkled her nose and snapped her fingers, so the blood disappeared.  "Better."  The hunters turned to face me.
     "Who are you?" Thalia asked warily.  I smiled.
     "I've missed you."  I said, dropping my hood.  No one moved.  I heard the 'clunk' of someone dropping their bow.
     "Zoë!" Phoebe shrieked and flung herself into my arms.  This snapped the other hunters back to life, and they all pounced on me, the force knocking me to the ground.
     "It's been too dam long!" Thalia shouted from somewhere above me.  I smiled, I finally got the joke after Percy had explained it to me about four hundred years ago.
     "It really has.  And by the way Thalia, Percy says hi."  It was only when the hunters went dead still on top of me did I realize my mistake.  I used his name.  "Dam it."  I muttered.