The Male Hunter | Olympus' Traitor #1

Chapter 44: The Battle Begins

"Why was he spying, didn't he know that the Titans are worse?" Clara asked innocently.

Hannah went to answer, but Percy beat her to it. "He told me why, once. Jacob told me that he was angry, and that he felt that the gods just left us all to die for their own amusement. He had been so confused after the memory wipe that the Titans corrupted him, used his anger against him."

"That's what he told me," Hannah confirmed. "Anyways, we eventually met Percy, Annabeth, Grover, Tyson, and Nico at Triple-G Ranch where we joined forces and headed back into the Labyrinth. It was at Mount Saint Helens that we got separated. When Percy went in after Annabeth, Jacob followed. However, when they engaged the monsters inside your brother got separated from Percy and found himself back at the entrance with me. It was then that we saw Annabeth give Percy a kiss before he made his last stand."

"You, you saw that?" Percy asked, very embarrassed and cheeks burning.

"Ya, we then worked on convincing Annabeth to make a move on you. Sorry 'bout that."

"Don't be," Percy said as he wrapped his arm around Thalia. "I wouldn't be with the amazing woman I am with today if I hadn't gone through everything I did."

Hannah gave Percy a small smile before returning to the tale. "Anyways, when Percy so kindly decided to blow up the volcano, Annabeth and I were separated from Jake. We made our way back to Camp, but Jacob didn't arrive until after Percy came back and went back in with Annabeth. He was half mad by the time he stumbled over the border. Your brother blatantly refused to tell me what happened to him down there. Instead of going back in, Jacob stayed at Camp to help with the defense preparations, this led to the betrayal that he regrets the most. He fed information about our defenses to Luke, and they used it against us. We were still able to defeat the Titan forces, but Jacob always blamed himself for all the deaths that day. Seeing what he did that day shook him out of it, he marched right up to Chiron that night and told him what he had done. Your brother fully expected to be put to death, and he wanted it. He felt that he deserved to die." Clara just looked on with wide eyes as Hannah stared into the depths of the fire. "Luckily, Chiron is very forgiving."

"He was a good person in the end," Clara smiled.

"Ya, he was," Hannah agreed. "I just wish that he would see that, he always thought the worst of himself. There were many times that he told me straight out that he expected to be sent to the Fields of Asphodel or the Fields of Punishment. There's not much to tell after that. We fought in the Battle of Manhattan, and we fought in the Giant War. You know the rest of what happened these last few years."

"But what about his memories that the Titans messed with?" Clara asked.

"I'm not exactly sure," Hannah replied. "Mr. D worked with him after the Giant War, that's all I know." Finished speaking, Hannah just stared into the fire as a few tears made their way down her cheeks. She was more than happy to help Clara understand her brother a little better, but revisiting the memories hurt."

"Thank you," Clara said softly as she tenderly put her arms around Hannah. "Thank you for telling me about my brother, the hero."

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It had been two days since Hannah told Clara, who she now considered her little sister, about Jacob's life as a demigod. Currently, the column of Hunters and Romans being led up the trail by Nico and Violet in the dead of night. The goal was to reach the valley without being seen and construct a temporary fort before the traitorous Greeks and their monster allies could react. Then, they would spend the whole next day constructing siege equipment so that they could attack the fort and end Annabeth's rule once and for all. "Almost there, the pass into the valley is dead ahead," Violet whispered as the trail started leveling out.