❛002❜
THEY HAD A plan. was it really a plan? ivy was at least sure they had half of a plan. it was all percy's fault, there's nothing new there. after the brunette was able to find her friends, she realized how one token member was missing alongside the di angelo siblings. the plan would be complete if they knew what monster took them, that generated most of their problems. ivy wondered what in the hell went through the boy's mind when heading off to face a monster alone; she didn't have much time to curse percy's lack of critical thinking.
an invincible annabeth slammed into percy.
knocking not only the son of poseidon but the di angelos to the ground unexpectedly, they took dr thorn by surprise. the monster threw a volley of missiles zipped harmlessly over their heads. this gave ivy, thalia and grover a chance to advance from behind – thalia wielding her scary magic shield, aegis.
only the few people who have seen thalia charge into battle have known true fear. she uses a huge spear that expands from this collapsible mace canister she carries in her pocket, but that's not the scary part. her shield is modelled on one her dad zeus uses – also called aegis – a gift from athena. the shield has the head of the gorgon medusa moulded into the bronze, and even though it won't turn you to stone it's so horrible most people will panic and run at the sight of it.
even dr thorn winced and growled when he saw it.
thalia moved in with her spear. "for zeus!"
ivy thought dr thorn was a goner. thalia jabbed at his head, but he snarled and swatted the spear aside. his hand changed into an orange paw with enormous claws that sparked against thalia's shield as he slashed. if it hadn't been for aegis, thalia would've been sliced like a loaf of bread. as it was, she managed to roll backwards and land on her feet.
the loud sound of the helicopter was getting closer.
dr thorn launched another volley of missiles at thalia, and this time ivy could see how he did it. he had a tail – a leathery, scorpion-like tail that bristled with spikes at the tip. the missiles deflected off aegis, but the force of their impact knocked thalia down.
ivy sprang forward, grover following her actions. the daughter of aphrodite had kapsoura ready to fire, she notched arrow after arrow to the monster. she wished she could actually use her powers now, but it was night time, she couldn't summon light. (at least not yet, according to chiron.)
beside her grover put his reed pipes to his lips and began to play – a frantic jig that sounded like something pirates would dance to. grass broke through the snow. within seconds, rope-thick weeds were wrapping round dr horn's legs, entangling him. it made it an easy target for ivy, one of her arrows got him right ... down there.
sorry not sorry.
dr thorn roared and began to change. he grew larger until he was in his true form – his face still human, but his body that of a huge lion. his leathery, spiky tail whipped deadly thorns in all directions.
"a manticore!" annabeth said, now visible. her magical new york yankees cap had come off when she'd played as a bowling ball.
"who are you people?" bianca di angelo demanded. "and what is that?"
"a manticore?" nico gasped. "he's got three thousand attack power and plus five to saving throws!"
ivy didn't know what he was talking about, but she didn't have time to worry about it. the manticore clawed grover's magic weeds to shreds then turned towards them with a snarl.
"get down!" ivy jumped and pushed the di angelos flat into the snow, annabeth lounging herself to the ground. percy hit his wristwatch, and metal plating spiralled out into a thick bronze shield. not a moment too soon. the thorns impacted against it with such force they dented the metal. the beautiful shield was badly damaged. ivy wasn't sure it would even stop a second volley.
she heard a thwack and a yelp, and grover landed next to them with a thud.
"yield!" the monster roared.
"never!" thalia yelled from across the field. she charged the monster and, for a second, ivy thought she would run him through. but then there was a thunderous noise and a blaze of light from behind them. the helicopter appeared out of the mist, hovering just beyond the cliffs. it was a sleek black military-style gunship, with attachments on the sides that looked like laser-guided rockets. the helicopter had to be manned by mortals, ivy knew some mortals had no morals on who they work for or with for money. the searchlights blinded thalia, and the manticore swatted her away with its tail. her shield flew off into the snow. her spear flew in the other direction.
"no!" percy ran out to help her. he parried away a spike just before it would've hit her chest. he raised my shield over them, but ivy knew it wouldn't be enough.
dr thorn laughed. "now do you see how hopeless it is? yield, little heroes."
they were trapped between a monster and a fully armed helicopter. they had no chance.
then ivy heard a clear, piercing sound: the call of a hunting horn blowing in the woods. the hunters.
the manticore froze. for a moment, no one moved. there was only the swirl of snow and wind and the chopping of the helicopter blades.
"no," dr thorn said. "it cannot be –"
his sentence was cut short when something shot past me like a streak of moonlight. a glowing silver arrow sprouted from dr thorn's shoulder.
he staggered backwards, wailing in agony.
"curse you!" thorn cried. he unleashed his spikes, dozens of them at once, into the woods where the arrow had come from, but just as fast, silvery arrows shot back in reply. it almost looked like the arrows had intercepted the thorns in mid-air and sliced them in two. ivy grinned, she wanted to do that.
the manticore pulled the arrow out of his shoulder with a howl of pain. his breathing was heavy. percy tried to swipe at him with his sword, but he wasn't as injured as he looked. he dodged his attack and slammed his tail into his shield, knocking the boy aside.
then the archers came from the woods. they were girls, about a dozen of them. the youngest was maybe ten. the oldest, about fourteen, just a bit younger than her. they wore silvery ski parkas and jeans, and they were all armed with bows. they advanced on the manticore with determined expressions.
"the hunters!" annabeth cried.
next to percy, thalia muttered, "oh, wonderful."
ivy didn't have a chance to ask what she had against them..
one of the older archers stepped forward with her bow drawn. she was tall and graceful with coppery coloured skin. unlike the other girls, she had a silver circlet braided into the top of her long dark hair, so she looked like a persian princess. "permission to kill, my lady?"
the monster wailed. "this is not fair! direct interference! it is against the ancient laws."
"not so," another girl said. this one was a even more younger than ivy, maybe twelve or thirteen. she had auburn hair gathered back in a ponytail and strange eyes, silvery yellow like the moon. her face was so beautiful it made ivy catch her breath, but her expression was stern and dangerous. "the hunting of all wild beasts is within my sphere. and you, foul creature, are a wild beast." she looked at the older girl with the circlet. "zoë, permission granted."
the manticore growled. "if I cannot have these alive, i shall have them dead!"
he lunged at thalia and percy, knowing they were weak and dazed.
"no!" annabeth yelled, and she charged at the monster at the same time ivy raised her bow threatenly at the monster.
"get back, half-blood!" the girl with the circlet said. "get out of the line of fire!"
but Annabeth leaped onto the monster's back and drove her knife into his mane. the manticore howled, turning in circles with his tail flailing as annabeth hung on for dear life.
"fire!" zoë ordered.
"no!" ivy screamed.
but the hunters let their arrows fly. the first caught the manticore in the neck. another hit his chest. the manticore staggered backwards, wailing, "this is not the end, huntress! you shall pay!"
and before anyone could react, the monster, with annabeth still on his back, leaped over the cliff and tumbled into the darkness.
"annie!" ivy yelled.
the brunette started to run after her, but their enemies weren't done with them. there was a snap-snap-snap from the helicopter – the sound of gunfire.
most of the hunters scattered as tiny holes appeared in the snow at their feet, but the girl with auburn hair just looked up calmly at the helicopter. percy pulled ivy into his arms, who was too shocked in grief to move for cover.
"mortals," she announced, "are not allowed to witness my hunt."
she thrust out her hand, and the helicopter exploded into dust – no, not dust. the black metal dissolved into a flock of birds – ravens, which scattered into the night.
the hunters advanced on them.
the one called zoë stopped short when she saw thalia. "you," she said with distaste.
"zoë nightshade." thalia's voice trembled with anger. "perfect timing, as usual."
zoë scanned the rest of them, her eyes lingered in ivy. "five demigods and a satyr, my lady."
"yes," the younger girl said. "some of chiron's campers, i see."
"annabeth!" ivy cried. "you have to let us save her!"
the auburn-haired girl turned towards her, her silver eyes soften. "i'm sorry, ivy fitzgerald, but your friend is beyond help."
ivy tried to struggle to her feet, but percy held her down on his arms with the help of other girls. "fitzy, it's okay," he murmured in her ear just for her to hear, scowling angrily at the goddess in front of them.
"you are in no condition to be hurling yourself off cliffs," the auburn-haired girl told her.
"let me go!" ivy demanded.
"who do you think you are?" percy questioned forcefully.
zoë stepped forward as if to slap him.
"no," the other girl ordered. "i sense no disrespect, zoë. they are simply distraught. he does not understand."
the young girl looked at percy, knowing ivy recognized her. her eyes colder and brighter than the winter moon. "i am artemis," she said. "goddess of the hunt."
percy blinked, "um... okay."
ivy face palmed, he truly had a way to charm higher beings into liking him.
but that was nothing compared to grover. he gasped, then knelt hastily in the snow and started yammering, "thank you, lady artemis! you're so... you're so... wow!"
"get up, goat boy!" thalia snapped. "we have other things to worry about. annabeth is gone!"
"whoa," bianca di angelo said. "hold up. time out."
everybody looked at her.she pointed her finger at all of them in turn, like she was trying to connect the dots. "who... who are you people?"
artemis's expression softened. "it might be a better question, my dear girl, to ask who are you? who are your parents?"
bianca glanced nervously at her brother, who was still staring in awe at artemis.
"our parents are dead," bianca said. "we're orphans. there's a bank trust that pays for our school, but..."
she faltered. ivy guessed she could tell from their faces that they didn't believe her. sure, she was an orphan, too. but it had been her mortal father who left her her banktrust, not aphrodite.
"what?' she demanded. "i'm telling the truth."
"you are a half-blood," zoë nightshade said. her accent was hard to place. it seemed old-fashioned, like she was reading from a really old book. "one of thy parents was mortal. the other was an olympian."
"an olympian... athlete?"
"no," zoë said. "one of the gods."
"cool!' said nico.
"no!" bianca's voice quavered. "this is not cool!"
nico danced around like he needed to use the restroom. "does zeus really have lightning bolts that do six hundred damage? does he get extra movement points for –"
"nico, shut up!" bianca put her hands to her face. "this is not your stupid mythomagic game, okay? there are no gods!"
"hey, no need to insult him," ivy said, she had little siblings. she understood sometimes getting overwhelmed, but they were still kids. bianca took a deep breath but didn't reply.
as anxious as ivy felt about annabeth – all she wanted to do was search for her best friend – she couldn't help feeling sorry for the di angelos. ivy knew it was unsettling when your whole world gets turned upside down.
thalia must've been feeling something similar, because the anger in her eyes subsided a little bit. "bianca, i know it's hard to believe. but the gods are still around. trust me. they're immortal. and whenever they have kids with regular humans, kids like us, well... our lives are dangerous."
"dangerous," bianca said, "like the girl who fell."
thalia turned away. ivy scowled, looking at her feet. percy – who was not holding ivy back from jumping off the cliff anymore – had his fists clenched tightly at his sides, his jaw tensed in anger. even artemis looked pained.
"do not despair for annabeth," the goddess said. "she was a brave maiden. if she can be found, i shall find her."
"then why won't you let us go and look for her?" percy asked.
"she is gone. can't you sense it, son of poseidon? some magic is at work. i do not know exactly how or why, but your friend has vanished."
ivy still wanted to jump off the cliff and search for her, but she had a feeling that artemis was right. annabeth was gone. the brunette looked towards percy, if she had been in the sea he would sense it, but the boy shook his head. her best friend was truly gone.
"oo!" nico raised his hand. "what about dr thorn? that was awesome how you shot him with arrows! is he dead?"
"he was a manticore," artemis said. "hopefully, he is destroyed for now, but monsters never truly die. they reform over and over again, and they must be hunted whenever they reappear."
"or they'll hunt us," thalia said.
bianca di angelo shivered. "that explains... nico, you remember last summer, those guys who tried to attack us in the alley in d.c.?"
"and that bus driver," nico said. "the one with the ram's horns. i told you that was real."
"that's why grover has been watching you," ivy said. "to keep you safe, if you turned out to be half-bloods."
"grover?" bianca stared at him. "you're a demigod?"
"well, a satyr, actually." he kicked off his shoes and displayed his goat hooves. ivy thought bianca was going to faint right there.
"grover, put your shoes back on," thalia said. "you're freaking her out."
"hey, my hooves are clean!"
"bianca," percy said, "we came here to help you. you and nico need training to survive. dr thorn won't be the last monster you meet. you need to come to camp."
"camp?" she asked.
"camp half-blood," the son of poseidon clarified. "it's where half-bloods learn to survive and stuff. you can join us, stay there year round if you like."
"sweet, let's go!" said nico.
"wait," bianca shook her head. "i don't –"
"there is another option," zoë said.
"no, there isn't!" thalia said.
thalia and zoë glared at each other. ivy knew what they were talking about, joining the hunters. but what she didn't understand was thalia's animosity against them, perhaps they've traded insults like her siblings have with them.
"we've burdened these children enough," artemis announced. "zoë, we will rest here for a few hours. raise the tents. treat the wounded. retrieve our guests' belongings from the school."
"yes, my lady."
"and, bianca, come with me. i would like to speak with you," artemis said, she looked towards ivy for a second. the brunette nearly missed the message the goddess passed her with her almost unreadable expression, we'll talk later.
"what about me?" nico asked.
artemis considered the boy. "perhaps you can show grover how to play that card game you enjoy. i'm sure grover would be happy to entertain you for a while... as a favour to me?"
grover just about tripped over himself getting up. "you bet! come on, nico!"
nico and grover walked off towards the woods, talking about hit points and armour ratings and a bunch of other geeky stuff. artemis led a confused-looking bianca along the cliff. the hunters began unpacking their backpacks and making camp.
zoë gave thalia one more evil look, then left to oversee things.
as soon as she was gone, thalia stamped her foot in frustration. "the nerve of those hunters! they think they're so... argh!"
"what did they do to you?" ivy asked curiously, she knew it was probably dangerous to ask an angry thalia but she didn't care for that at the moment.
"i'll tell you what they–"
"i'm with thalia," percy interrupted. "i don't trust –'
"oh, you're with me?" thalia turned on percy furiously. "what were you thinking back there in the gym, percy? you'd take on dr thorn all by yourself? you knew he was a monster!"
"i –"
"if we'd stuck together, we could've taken him without the hunters getting involved. annabeth might still be here. did you think of that?"
percy's jaw clenched so hard she thought it might snap.
ivy thought of intervening before a zeus versus poseidon stand off ensued between their children, but then she looked down and saw something navy blue lying in the snow at her feet. annabeth's new york yankees baseball cap.
thalia didn't say another word. she wiped a tear from her cheek, turned and marched off, leaving percy and ivy alone with a trampled cap in the snow.
"perce," ivy said, trying her best to keep her voice from cracking. she sniffled. "it's not your fault. thalia is just taking her anger out on you."
he frowned to himself, shaking his head. "i– i'm sorry, princess. i wish i could..." he trailed off. they both wished for a lot of things, one seeming more impossible than the other.
ivy's heart skipped a beat at the nickname.
"come on," she grabbed his hand and pulled him softly. "let's get your arm fixed up."
the hunters set up their campsite in a matter of minutes. seven large tents, all of silver silk, curved in a crescent round one side of a bonfire. one of the girls blew a silver dog whistle, and a dozen white wolves appeared out of the woods. they began circling the camp like guard dogs. the hunters walked among them and fed them treats. falcons watched them from the trees, their eyes flashing in the firelight, and ivy got the feeling they were on guard duty, too. even the weather seemed to bend to the goddess's will. the air was still cold, but the wind died down and the snow stopped falling, so it was almost pleasant sitting by the fire.
almost... except for for the weight in her heart. ivy just couldn't believe annabeth was gone. she felt angry at both thalia and percy, they had to focus on other things rather than their petty fights. neither of them were at fault on what happened to annabeth.
ivy watched thalia pacing in the snow at the edge of camp, walking among the wolves without fear. she stopped and looked back at westover hall, which was now completely dark, looming on the hillside beyond the woods. she wondered what she was thinking.
seven years ago, thalia had been turned into a pine tree by her father, to prevent her from dying. she'd stood her ground against an army of monsters on top of half-blood hill in order to give her friends luke and annabeth time to escape. she'd only been back as a human for a few months now, and once in a while she would stand so motionless she could play three #3 and get a tony award.
finally, one of the hunters brought ivy her tote bag. she had also lended her a first aid kit to treat percy's wounded arm. grover and nico returned from their walk.
"it's green!" nico said with delight.
"keep still," ivy told percy when he moved to look at his own wound. "here, eat some ambrosia while i clean it out."
the son of poseidon winced as ivy dressed the wound tenderly, but the ambrosia square seemed to helped. between that and the magic salve the hunters gave her to use, the boy's shoulder looked better within a couple of minutes.
nico rummaged through his own bag, which the hunters had apparently packed for him, though how they'd snuck into westover hall unseen, ivy didn't know. nico laid out a bunch of figurines in the snow – little battle replicas of greek gods and heroes. ivy recognized zeus with a lightning bolt, ares with a spear, apollo with his sun chariot.
"big collection," percy admired, his sea-green eyes scammed across the cards.
nico grinned. "i've got almost all of them, plus their holographic cards! well, except for a few really rare ones."
"you've been playing this game a long time?" ivy asked.
"just this year. before that..." he knitted his eyebrows.
percy furrowed his eyebrows, "what?"
"i forgot. that's weird."
nico looked unsettled, but it didn't last long. "hey, can i see that sword you were using?"
percy showed him riptide, and explained how it turned from a pen into a sword just by uncapping it.
"cool! does it ever run out of ink?"
"um, well, i don't actually write with it."
"are you really the son of poseidon?"
"well, yeah."
"can you surf really well, then?"
ivy stifled a laugh, percy gave her a look that screamed help me.
"shit, nico," he said. "i've never really tried."
he went on asking questions. who was ivy's parent? (aphrodite but her mortal family was distantly related to apollo.) was she so pretty because of aphrodite or apollo? (maybe both, maybe none.) did percy fight a lot with thalia, since she was a daughter of zeus? (none of them didn't answered that one.) if annabeth's mother was athena, the goddess of wisdom, then why didn't annabeth know better than to fall off a cliff? (ivy reminded herself that murder was ilegal.) were ivy and percy dating? (ivy told him that percy wouldn't have the guts to ask anybody out.)
ivy figured any second he was going to ask them how many hit points they had, and percy would lose his cool completely, but then zoë nightshade came up to them.
"ivy fitzgerald. percy jackson."
she had dark brown eyes and a slightly upturned nose. with her silver circlet and her proud expression, she looked a lot like royalty. she gave ivy a nod, then studied percy distastefully, like he was a bag of dirty laundry she'd been sent to fetch.
"come with me," she said. "lady artemis wishes to speak with thee."
zoë led them to the last tent, which looked no different from the others, and waved them inside. bianca di angelo was seated next to the auburn-haired girl, artemis.
the inside of the tent was warm and comfortable. silk rugs and pillows covered the floor. in the centre, a golden brazier of fire seemed to burn without fuel or smoke. behind the goddess, on a polished oak display stand, was her huge silver bow, carved to resemble gazelle horns. the walls were hung with animal pelts – black bear, tiger and several others ivy didn't recognize. she figured an animal-rights activist would've had a heart attack looking at all those rare skins, but maybe, since artemis was the goddess of the hunt, she could replenish whatever she shot. ivy thought she had another animal pelt lying next to her, and then I realized it was alive – a deer with glittering fur and silver horns, its head resting contentedly in artemis's lap.
"join us, ivy fitzgerald, percy Jackson," the goddess said.
both sat across from her on the tent floor. the goddess studied them, which made ivy uncomfortable. she had such old eyes for looking like a young girl.
"are you surprised by my age?" she asked.
ivy figured the questioned wasn't directed towards her, she wasn't surprised by the goddess appearance.
"uh..." percy stammered. "just a little."
"i could appear as a grown woman, or a blazing fire, or anything else i want, but this is what i prefer. this is the average age of my hunters, and all young maidens for whom i am patron, before they go astray."
'"go astray?" percy asked.
"grow up. become smitten with boys. become silly, preoccupied, insecure. forget themselves."
he blinked, "oh."
zoë sat down to artemis's right. she glared at percy as if all the stuff artemis had just said was his fault.
"you must forgive my hunters if they do not welcome you, percy jackson," artemis said. "it is very rare that we would have boys in this camp. boys are usually forbidden to have any contact with the hunters. the last one to see this camp..." she looked at zoë. "which one was it?"
"that boy in colorado," zoë said. "you turned him into a jackalope."
"ah, yes." artemis nodded, satisfied. "i enjoy making jackalopes. at any rate, i've asked you two here for a reason, percy so that you might tell me more of the manticore. bianca has reported some of the... mmm, disturbing things the monster said. but she may not have understood them. i'd like to hear them from you."
and so he told her. ivy listened intently, this story was new to her too. although she wasn't completely sure on why she was there in the first place.
when percy was done, artemis put her hand thoughtfully on her silver bow. "i feared this was the answer."
zoë sat forward. "the scent, my lady?"
"yes."
"what scent?" ivy asked.
"things are stirring that i have not hunted in millennia," artemis murmured. "prey so old i have nearly forgotten."
she stared at percy intently. "we came here tonight sensing the manticore, but he was not the one i seek. tell me again, exactly what dr thorn said."
"um, i hate middle school dances."
ivy cleared her throat, "perce, i don't think that's what lady artemis wants to hear."
percy scratched the back of his head in thought, "oh, he said somebody called the general was going to explain things to me."
zoë's face paled. she turned to artemis and started to say something, but artemis raised her hand.
"go on, percy," the goddess said.
"well, then thorn was talking about the great stir pot –"
"stirring," bianca corrected.
"yeah, that. and he said, 'soon we shall have the most important monster of all – the one that shall bring about the downfall of olympus.'"
the goddess was so still she could've been a statue.
"maybe he was lying," percy offered.
artemis shook her head. "no. he was not. i've been too slow to see the signs. i must hunt this monster."
zoë looked like she was trying very hard not to be afraid, but she nodded. "we will leave right away, my lady."
"no, zoë. i must do this alone."
"but, artemis –"
"this task is too dangerous even for the hunters. you know where i must start my search. you cannot go there with me."
"as... as you wish, my lady."
"i will find this creature," artemis vowed. "and I shall bring it back to olympus by winter solstice. it will be all the proof i need to convince the council of the gods of how much danger we are in."
"you know what the monster is?" ivy asked.
artemis gripped her bow. "let us pray i am wrong."
"can goddesses pray?" percy asked.
a flicker of a smile played across artemis's lips. "before i go, percy jackson, i have a small task for you."
"does it involve getting turned into a jackalope?"
"sadly, no. i want you to escort the hunters back to camp half-blood. they can stay there in safety until i return."
"what?" zoë blurted out. "but, artemis, we hate that place. the last time we stayed there –"
ivy winced at the memory. she hadn't been there, she had never been in camp when the hunters visited. they had made their stops there while she was at school, but she knows how her siblings are the number one enemies of the hunters. it was why she didn't know why the hunters respected her so much, or why she was in the tent.
"yes, i know," artemis said. "but i'm sure dionysus will not hold a grudge just because of a little, ah, misunderstanding. it's your right to use cabin eight whenever you are in need. besides, i hear they rebuilt the cabins you burned down."
zoë muttered something about foolish campers.
"and there is a decision to make." artemis turned to bianca. "have you made up your mind, my girl?"
bianca hesitated. "i'm still thinking about it."
"wait," percy said. "thinking about what?"
"they... they've invited me to join the hunt."
"what? but you can't! you have to come to camp half-blood so chiron can train you. it's the only way you can learn to survive."
"it is not the only way for a girl," zoë said.
ivy kept quiet for once in her life. now she had an idea of why she was requested by artemis, but seeing percy's reaction to bianca... she kind of wished for him to be somewhere else.
"bianca, camp is cool!" percy insisted. "it's got a pegasus stable and a sword-fighting arena and... i mean, what do you get by joining the hunters?"
"to begin with," zoë said, "immortality."
the son of poseidon stared at her, then at ivy, last at artemis. "she's kidding, right?"
"zoë rarely kids about anything," artemis said. "my Hunters follow me on my adventures. they are my maidservants, my companions, my sisters-in-arms. once they swear loyalty to me, they are indeed immortal... unless they fall in battle, which is unlikely. or break their oath."
"what oath?" percy said.
"to forswear romantic love forever," artemis said. "to never grow up, never get married. to be a maiden eternally."
"like you?"
the goddess nodded.
percy looked wide-eyed at ivy, he shook his head in disbelief. "so you just go around the country recruiting half-bloods –"
"not just half-bloods," zoë interrupted. "lady artemis does not discriminate by birth. all who honour the goddess may join. half-bloods, nymphs, mortals –"
"which are you, then?" percy asked.
anger flashed in zoë's eyes. "that is not thy concern, boy. the point is bianca may join if she wishes. it is her choice."
"bianca, this is crazy. right, fitzy?" percy said looking towards ivy for support, she didn't look at him, instead playing with the ends of her hair. "what about your brother? nico can't be a hunter."
"certainly not," artemis agreed. "he will go to camp. unfortunately, that's the best boys can do."
"hey!" percy protested.
"you can see him from time to time," artemis assured bianca. "but you will be free of responsibility. he will have the camp counsellors to take care of him. and you will have a new family. us."
"a new family," bianca repeated dreamily. "free of responsibility."
"bianca, you can't do this," percy said. "it's nuts."
she looked at zoë. "is it worth it?"
zoë nodded. "it is."
"what do i have to do?"
"say this," zoë told her, 'i pledge myself to the goddess artemis.'"
"i... i pledge myself to the goddess artemis."
"'i turn my back on the company of men, accept eternal maidenhood and join the hunt.'"
bianca repeated the lines. "that's it?"
zoë nodded. "if lady artemis accepts thy pledge, then it is binding."
"i accept it," artemis said.
the flames in the brazier brightened, casting a silver glow over the room. bianca looked no different, but she took a deep breath and opened her eyes wide. "i feel... stronger."
"welcome, sister," zoë said.
"remember your pledge," artemis said. "it is now your life.'
ivy smiled slightly at bianca. a part of her felt sympathy with the girl, she has been her brother's sole caretaker for years, and for once bianca wanted to do something for herself. the part that didn't feel sympathy, thought she was selfish to leave her brother all alone, in a new world, and people she didn't know. but maybe ivy was biased, all she craved was a family and she didn't have one. she was nobody to judge bianca when she was thinking of making the same decision as her.
"now, the other matter that requires my attention," artemis said, turning to ivy. the brunette blinked. "you're mother has been very vocal about her disapproval of my proposal."
ivy threw a glance at percy, who was leaning forward with eyes wide open and mouth agape in disbelief.
"what– what proposal, lady artemis?" she asked, even if she knew the answer.
the goddess smiled like she knew the brunette was playing dumb, "to join the hunt, my girl. just like bianca has."
"what?!" percy was red in the face. "no! ivy, you can't! what about your siblings a– and gabriel, annabeth, m–, camp!"
"i am thinking of them!" ivy snapped. "this is my decision, percy. not yours, or anybody else's."
he glared at her, gritting his teeth furiously. he scoffed and looked away from her.
ivy took a deep breath. she had thought about this before, ever since annabeth send her the pamphlet she had received while at school.
"well?" artemis asked.
but she hasn't thought of it enough. "may i– would you let me think about it, lady artemis? there's just... a lot i need to think about."
ivy felt percy's gaze return to her. those sea-green eyes of his felt like they were burning holes in her side profile.
the goddess exchanged a look with zoë. "you may, ivy. although you will have to give me an answer by the winter solstice."
ivy nodded, "of course, lady artemis." she was a bit unsettled by the means of the deadline, but kept her suspicions to herself.
"do not despair, percy jackson," artemis said. maybe for feeling like a failure on getting bianca to camp, or maybe because of what she had put on the table for ivy. "you will still get to show the di angelos your camp. and if nico so chooses, he can stay there."
"great," percy said venomously. he didn't even look at ivy. "how are we supposed to get there?"
artemis closed her eyes. "dawn is approaching. zoë, break camp. you must get to long island quickly and safely. i shall summon a ride from my brother."
zoë didn't look very happy about this idea, but she nodded and told bianca to follow her. as she was leaving, bianca paused in front of ivy and percy. "i'm sorry. but i want this. i really, really do."
ivy smiled at her, "i know. i understand.
percy clicked his tongue, shaking his head in disapproval. then the newest hunter was gone, and they were left alone with the twelve-year-old goddess.
"so," percy said angrily. "we're going to get a ride from your brother, huh?"
artemis's silver eyes gleamed at ivy's wince. "yes, boy. you see, bianca di angelo is not the only one with an annoying brother. it's time for you to meet my irresponsible twin, and ivy's ancestor, apollo."
a speaks!
angsty lols.
personally i would never even consider joining the hunt immortality sounds like a nightmare.
thoughts???