The Male Hunter | Olympus' Traitor #1

Chapter 44: The Battle Begins

"I remember that," Clara said sadly. "He never came home again."

Hannah gave her a sad smile. "There were some things he was trying to work through. Besides, he did try to visit you once during the winter. He made it part way to Manhattan before he ran into Luke Castellan. That day changed him, that was the day that he decided to help Luke overthrow the gods. Your brother was never a huge fan of the gods, he hated how distant he was from their children. Finding out I was unclaimed didn't help either."

"So," Clara said hesitantly. "He did join the Titans?"

"For a time, yes," Hannah nodded. "However, it didn't last. The following summer Thalia's pine was poisoned and Percy snuck out to go help find the Golden Fleece. We spoke out against the accusations leveled against him, but it only got us thrown out. Under the guise of trying to help Percy, Jacob got the two of us aboard Luke's cruise ship, the Princess Andromeda. I was captured, and Jake was allowed to roam free. However, it wasn't even a day later that he was thrown into the cell with me. I found out later that he had rebelled against Luke because he felt that Luke was risking fellow demigods by having them work with monsters. Eventually, through some clever manipulation and planning, we were able to break free and escape. Unfortunately, in order for me to escape your brother had to stay behind." A tear leaked from Hannah's eye as she remembered the memory. "He sacrificed himself for me."

"I don't know a whole lot about what happened next since I wasn't there, but Jake was able to tell me some things. He told me how he eventually escaped when the ship made port in Florida, and how once he was off he felt this inexplicable urge to travel west to California. Not knowing where else to go, that's what he did. Your brother told me that eventually he made his way to the Wolf House and discovered that he was a Roman son of Apollo, not Greek. Eventually he made his way to Camp Jupiter where he was inducted into the Fifth Cohort," Hannah explained.

"Unfortunately, his time there didn't last long. As you know Mount Tam is just across the bay from Camp Jupiter. Well, one day a few months later, some of the Titan forces found him when he was guarding the tunnel into Camp Jupiter and he was taken. Because of what happened next, much of this time was fuzzy for him. Your brother told me that all he really knows is that somehow the Titans found a way to purge his memory of Camp Jupiter and send him back to Camp Half-Blood as a spy. Naturally, I was pissed that he had been gone for so long and slapped the living Styx out of him when he returned." This got a laugh from everyone that was listening in. Things get dark at this point in his history, this is when your brother went off the deep end. He was an enemy spy, and his main purpose was to help the Titans get demigods before we could."

"This brings us to Percy's third quest," Hannah went on. "Just as Percy snuck out, so did Jake. Except, he was intent on ensuring the quest's failure. He made it all the way to the Hoover Dam without being noticed before he was discovered, and subsequently fake captured by the Titan forces that were converging on that area. Meanwhile, I was hanging out back at Camp with Nico and getting pestered by the Hunters to join. I would have to since by this point I had strong feelings for your brother, but felt that he didn't return them. Luckily, Percy and Annabeth later convinced me not to."

"I remember that," Atalanta interrupted. "We thought you were such a fool to be waiting for a boy that had the audacity to just up and leave you for nearly six months. Still do," she finished with a wink.

"Anyways," Hannah said, rolling her eyes and returning to the story. "During the battle on Mount Othrys Jacob was freed by the questers and brought back to Camp Half-Blood. The following summer was the Battle of the Labyrinth. As you likely know, Annabeth led a quest to try and navigate the maze so as to prevent Luke from reaching camp using it. Once again, your brother insisted we follow to try and help. Later he did admit that he was doing it to help Luke capture Percy though."