Three
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Bianca makes a decision
I was being held back from just going after Annabeth by her presence. She was denying my wishes, like I was being forbidden of jumping off the cliff and looking after her. I felt like I was grounded.
"Mother," I said as I rose to face her smaller figure.
Grover gasped at the word, he quickly kneeled down and started yammering, "Thank you, Lady Artemis! You're so… you're so… Wow!"
"Grover," I called. "Stand up. There's more things you should be worried about."
"Whoa," Bianca said. "Hold up. Time out."
Everybody looked at her. She pointed her finger at all of us in turn, like she was trying to connect the dots. "Who… who are you people? Why are you all with–you?" Bianca pointed at me.
"That's not important," I answered. "What's more important is who are both of you. Do you know who your parents are?"
Bianca frowned at me. "(y/n), you know we're also orphans. We don't have parents. Our parents are dead. We just have a bank fund that–"
She stopped. I guess she could that by the looks on our faces, we did not believe her.
"What?" she demanded. "I'm telling the truth."
"You are a half-blood," Zoe Nightshade said. Her accent was hard to place. It sounded 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 Bianca. A god," I corrected.
"Cool!" said Nico.
"No!" Bianca's voice quavered. "This is not cool!"
Nico danced around like he needed to use the restroom. Thing he always did when he got excited. "Does Zeus really have lightning bolts that do six hundred damage? Does he get extra movement points for—"
"Nico," I glared. "Shut up."
Bianca put her hands to her face. "This is not your stupid Mythomagic game, okay? There are no gods!"
I scoffed lightly at how dumb new half-bloods could be. I had never stopped to think that this was exactly like how kids that just discovered they have parents look like. We both had something in common, we started with the stage of denial. She just needed to be convinced otherwise.
I calmed down a little.
"Bianca, trust me. I've been like that. The gods are still alive, they're immortal. If you give it just a little chance, you'll realize that." I looked back at my mother and frowned. "I also didn't believe it at first. The gods have kids, and those kids are like us. Like you. We have... dangerous lives."
"Dangerous," Bianca said, "like the girl who fell."
I frowned. My mother looked at me with a mournful look.
"Do not despair for Annabeth," she said. "She was a brave maiden. If she can be found, I shall find her."
I huffed. "You should be letting me look for her, then."
She looked at me with a stern look. "Don't you feel it, son? Some magic is at work. I do not know exactly how or why, but your friend has vanished."
I still wanted to jump off the cliff and search for her, but I had a feeling that she was right. Annabeth was gone. If she'd been down there, or anywhere near, for that matter, her presence would alert the shadows, and in the process, let me know she was there.
"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," mother said. "Hopefully he is destroyed for now, but monsters never truly die. They re-form over and over again, and they must be hunted whenever they reappear."
"Or they'll hunt us," Thalia said.
Bianca shivered. "That explains… Nico, you remember last summer, those guys who tried to attack us in the alley in DC?"
"And that bus driver," Nico said. "The one with the ram's horns. I told you that was real."
I remembered him telling me how he had encountered a bus driver with horns. I didn't believe him at first, but now I think that was real.
"That's exactly why Grover has been watching you," I said. "To keep you safe, if you turned out to be half-bloods."
"Grover?" Bianca stared at him. "You're a demigod, too?"
"Well, a satyr, actually." He kicked off his shoes and displayed his goat hooves. I thought Bianca was finally going to faint, right there.
"Grover, put your shoes back on," Thalia said. "You're freaking her out."
"Hey, my hooves are clean!"
"Bianca," I 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," I said. "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," Zoe said.
"No, there isn't!" Thalia said.
Thalia and Zoe glared at each other. I didn't know what they were talking about, but I could tell there was bad history between them. For some reason, they seriously hated each other.
"We've burdened these children enough," mother announced. "Zoe, 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."
"What about me?" Nico asked.
Mother looked at me and then back at Nico. "I guess you could spend some time with your old boyfriend. It has been quite some time, don't you think?"
My cheeks flushed and my eyes widened. "You knew about that?!"
Artemis led a confused-looking Bianca along the cliff. The Hunters began unpacking their knapsacks and making camp.
Zoe gave Thalia one more evil look, then left to oversee things.
I shook my head and decided I would take a walk around to clear my head for a bit.
"Hey, wait!" Nico called as he tried running behind me on his small legs.
I stopped on my tracks, Nico thought I was waiting for him to catch up, but in reality, I had stumbled across something. Annabeth's enchanted Yankee's baseball cap. I picked it up from the ground and sighed.
Nico chilled once he had reached me, the cold usually was a hard thing to get on his thick skull. He never brought more than one jacket, even when it was freezing outside.
I took off my coat and wrapped around his small shoulders. He smiled cheekily like he had just won a Nobel Prize.
I smiled warmly at the sight. I hadn't remembered how cute he was personally.
🌙🏹࿏
The Hunters set up their camping site in a matter of minutes. Seven large tents, all of silver silk, curved in a crescent around 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, completely unafraid, but I decided I would stick close to the tents. Falcons watched us from the trees, their eyes flashing in the firelight, and I got the feeling they were on guard duty, too. Even the weather seemed to bend to my mother'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 the pain in my shoulder and the guilt weighing me down. I couldn't believe Annabeth was gone.
I 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. I 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 you'd think she was still a tree.
Finally, a huntress brought me my backpack and I could eat an ambrosia to help the pain in my arm, but still, the white slash marks were still present and they didn't look like they pretended to be disappearing soon.
Nico rummaged through his own bag, which the Hunters had apparently packed for him, though how they'd snuck into Westover Hall unseen, I didn't know. Nico laid out a bunch of figurines in the snow—little battle replicas of Greek gods and heroes. I recognized Zeus with a lightning bolt, Ares with a spear, Apollo with his sun chariot.
"You grew the collection?" I hummed.
"You remembered?" Nico gasped. "It's been two years."
"You didn't have Ares last time I saw you." I said. "And I hope it burns, actually."
He ignored the last part.
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 for a long time, then?"
"For three years. Before that–you know," he shrugged.
"Right. The amnesia thing," I said.
He looked unsettled, but it didn't last long. "Hey, can I see that sword you were using?"
I summoned the blade to show him. I explained it was a gift from Artemis, and that I could summon it with a random chant and a wave of my hand.
"Cool! Does it appear anytime you want?"
"I don't know, only when I'm in danger or I ask for it?"
"Are you really the son of Artemis?"
"Yeah."
"So you can hunt anything?"
I heard suppressed giggles and glared back at Percy and Grover, who were trying hard not to laugh.
"Jeez, Corazón," I said. "I've never really tried."
Nico squeaked and nudged my stomach with his elbow. "Don't call me that in front of people."
"What? ¿Corazón?" I teased.
Nico blushed but went right back to his questions.
"Are you good friends with the punk girl? She's a daughter of Zeus, right?"
"Not quite. We didn't talk much since she came back from being a tree."
Nico decided he wouldn't question that and instead shoot another one. "If Annabeth was a daughter of Athena, wouldn't she know better not to jump on the manticore?"
"It's not like that, Nico," I furrowed my eye brows. "It's not like she knows everything."
"Is she your new girlfriend?" Nico asked.
Before you come in with questions, yes, Nico and I were away from each other for more than two years, but we technically didn't break up, and he was mostly fine about sharing with the condition he would like to know who it was. So you could say we were in an “open“ relationship. But that didn't stop him from being possessive in the slightest.
"No," I blushed.
"How many hit points do you have?"
I laughed. "Way more than you, that's for sure."
Nico stammered. "Hey!"
He would've started a small argument, but then Zoe Nightshade came up to us.
"(y/n) (l/n)."
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 studied me distastefully, like I was a bag of dirty laundry she'd been sent to fetch.
"Come with me," she said. "Lady Artemis wishes to speak with thee."
Zoe led me to the last tent, which looked no different from the others, and waved me inside. Bianca was seated next to the auburn-haired girl, who I knew as my mother.
The inside of the tent was warm and comfortable. Silk rugs and pillows covered the floor. In the center, 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 I didn't recognize. I 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. I thought she had another animal pelt lying next to her, and then I realized it was a live animal—a deer with glittering fur and silver horns, its head resting contentedly in my mother's lap.
"Take a seat," she smiled a small bit. "Get comfortable."
I sat down on the ground, right in front of her. She studied my appearance, like I had changed lots since the last time we saw each other.
I admit, I changed a little, but the thing she was most focused on was the piercings on my skin. Specifically the ones on each corner of my lips and the one in the middle of my tongue, that only appeared once I started talking, later. I didn't have none of those before, nor did I have the moon and an arrow tattooed on my neck.
"You did that for me?" she asked, referring at the tattoo.
"After Thalia came back," I mumbled.
"Where did you even get one without a legal parent?"
I stopped. I had met a guy once, he did a couple others tattoos for me before, but he was underground–illegal. He tattooed underaged teens who didn't get permission, or orphans who couldn't get it. He was the kindest guy ever. Most of his money was to raise his own kids, so it's not like he did drugs or anything with it.
"I know a guy," I said.
"Oh, that Reggie guy, right?" Bianca grinned. "He did one on my hips, it looked so cool!"
"Yeah, Reggie. The pink haired one," I giggled
Artemis sighed. "Sometimes I wonder if you got more genes from your uncles and your grandfather than you did your aunts and me."
"My lady," Zoe called. "The manticore."
"Oh, right." My mother cleaned her throat.
"You must forgive my Hunters if they do not welcome you," she 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 Zoe. "Which one was it?"
"That boy in Colorado," Zoe said. "You turned him into a jackalope."
"Ah, yes." Mother nodded, satisfied. "I enjoy making jackalopes. At any rate, child, I've asked you here 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 I told her. Skipping the part where me and Annabeth danced, of course.
When I was done, my mother put her hand thoughtfully on her silver bow. "I feared this was the answer."
Zoe sat forward. "The scent, my lady?"
"Yes."
"What scent?" I asked.
"Things are stirring that I have not hunted in millennia," Artemis murmured. "Prey so old I have nearly forgotten."
She stared at me 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”?"
"No, no. After that."
"He said somebody called the General was going to explain things to me."
Zoe's face paled. She turned to Artemis and started to say something, but Artemis raised
her hand.
"Go on, child," the goddess said.
"Well, then Thorn was talking about the Great Stir Pot—"
"Stirring," Bianca corrected. "Dummy."
"Yeah. 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," I said. "It has happened before. I mean, could happen again."
Artemis shook her head. "No. He was not. I've been too slow to see the signs. I must hunt this monster."
Zoe looked like she was trying very hard not to be afraid, but she nodded. "We will leave right away, my lady."
"No, Zoe. 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," mother 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?" I asked.
My mother gripped her bow. "Let us pray I am wrong."
"Can goddesses pray?" I asked, because I'd never really thought about that.
A small smile appeared on her lips. "Before I go, I have one last quest for you, my dear."
I cheered lightly in my head. "What is it, mother?"
"I want you to escort the Hunters back to Camp Half-Blood. They can stay there in safety until I return."
"What?" Zoe' blurted out. "But, Artemis, we hate that place. The last time we stayed there—"
"Yes, I know," Artemis said. "But I'm sure Dionysus will not hold a grudge just because of a little, ah, misunderstanding. It's also your right to use Cabin Eight whenever you are in need. Besides, I hear they rebuilt the cabins you burned down."
"The what?" I asked nervously.
None of them answered, Zoe only mumbled about foolish campers and turned away from me.
"And now there is one last decision to make." Artemis turned to Bianca. "Have you made up your mind, my girl?"
Bianca hesitated. "I'm still thinking about it."
"Wait," I said. "Thinking about what?"
"They… they've invited me to join the Hunt."
"What?!" I demanded.
"I–I thought you'd be happy about..." She trailed off after seeing my glare.
"Happy? Happy?! You're just–" I sighed. "Forget it. It's fine."
"Do trust me, son," my mother reassured. "I shall make sure she comes out alive, in all matters."
She looked at Zoe. "Is it worth it?"
Zoe nodded. "It is."
"What do I have to do?"
"Say this," Zoe 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?"
Zoe 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," Zoe said.
"Remember your pledge," Artemis said. "It is now your life."
That was great, I had come all the way here, to lose both, Annabeth and Bianca because of stupid reasons. And now Nico wouldn't have his sister anymore. What would he feel like, alone? I knew I was there now, but–well, it's his sister.
"Do not despair, child," my mother reassured. "You can still show the di Angelos your home, and if Nico so chooses, he can stay there."
"Great," I said, trying not to sound surly. "How are we supposed to get there?"
Artemis closed her eyes. "Dawn is approaching. Zoe, break camp. You must get to Long Island quickly and safely. I shall summon a ride from my brother."
Zoe didn't look real happy about this idea, but she nodded and told Bianca to follow her.
As she was leaving, Bianca paused in front of me. "I'm sorry, (y/n). But I want this. I really, really do."
Then she was gone, and I was left alone with the twelve-year-old goddess.
"Which brother are we riding with? Please tell me it's not Apollo, or Ares."
Mother's silver eyes gleamed. "You see, Bianca di Angelo is not the only one with an annoying brother. It's time for you to meet my irresponsible twin, Apollo."
I frowned. "Great."