Artemis assured us that dawn was coming but, it was colder and darker and snowier than ever. Up on the hill, Westover Hall's windows were completely lightless. Darlyng wondered if the teachers had even noticed that her, the di Angelos and Dr. Thorn were missing yet.
The Hunters broke camp as quickly as they'd set it up. Dar stood shivering in the snow (unlike the Hunters, who didn't seem to feel at all uncomfortable), the harsh winds hitting her exposed legs . Bianca sat off to one side, talking with Nico. Darlyng could tell from his gloomy face that she was explaining her decision to join the Hunt.
Thalia and Grover came up and huddled around Percy , anxious to hear what had happened in his audience with the goddess.
When he told them, Grover turned pale. "The last time the Hunters visited camp, it didn't go well."
"How'd they even show up here?" he wondered. "I mean, they just appeared out of nowhere."
"And Bianca joined them," Thalia said, disgusted. "It's all Zoe's fault. That stuck-up, no good-"
"Who can blame her?" Grover said. "Eternity with Artemis?" He heaved a big sigh.
Thalia rolled her eyes. "You satyrs. You're all in love with Artemis. Don't you get that she'll never love you back?"
"But she's so... into nature," Grover swooned.
"You're nuts," said Thalia.
"Nuts and berries," Grover said dreamily. "Yeah, but Percy," he continued, leaning closer. "What did they say about her?"
The three of them turned into Grovers line of sight, all now staring at the stranger in the pink dress.
"Not much," Percy stated. "She rejected the requested but I think she's a clear sighted mortal, Zoe said there were only five half-bloods."
Darlyng felt eyes on her as she lit another cigarette. Turning slowly she gave them a soft smile before walking over to them. Puffing out a breath of smoke she stuck out her hand.
"Darlyng Darling, nice to meet you" she exclaimed.
Percy looked at her hand dumbly "that's your name?" He said meeting her eyes.
Thalia elbowed Percy in the side as she should shook Dars hand with the other. "Nice to meet you too I'm Thalia Grace, I know this is probably a huge shock but we're the good guys and Im glad you didn't join those bitch hunters.
Darlyng's face was starting to feel quite hot the longer she stared and was quite upset when her new obses- new crush let go of her hand.
Finally the sky began to lighten. Artemis muttered, "About time. He's so-o-o lazy during the winter."
"You're, um, waiting for sunrise?" Grover asked turning his head away from their new companion
"For my brother. Yes."
"It's not exactly as you think," Artemis said out of nowhere
"Oh, okay." Percy started to relax. "So, it's not like he'll be pulling up in a-"
There was a sudden burst of light on the horizon. A blast of warmth. Stars what a contrast
"Don't look," Artemis advised. "Not until he parks."
Parks?
Dar averted her eyes ,before putting Elle into the shelter of her bag, and saw that the other kids were doing the same. The light and warmth intensified until Dar felt like her makeup wa melting off. Then suddenly the light died.
We looked. And she couldn't believe it. It was a car. It was so awesome it glowed. Then Dar realized it was glowing because the metal was hot. The snow had melted around the Maserati in a perfect circle, which explained why she was now standing on green grass and her heels were wet.
The driver got out, smiling. He looked about seventeen or eighteen. This guy had sandy hair and outdoorsy good looks. The Maserati driver wore jeans and loafers and a sleeveless T-shirt.
"Wow," Thalia muttered. "Apollo is hot." Darlyngs heart tightened at that sentence.
"He's not that hot," She mumbled.
"Little sister!" Apollo called. If his teeth were any whiter he could've blinded them without the sun car. "What's up? You never call. You never write. I was getting worried!"
Artemis sighed. "I'm fine, Apollo. And I am not your little sister."
"Hey, I was born first."
"We're twins! How many millennia do we have to argue-"
"So what's up?" he interrupted. "Got the girls with you, I see. You all need some tips on archery?" Heavens he was cocky.
Artemis grit her teeth. "I need a favor. I have some hunting to do, alone. I need you to take my companions to Camp Half-Blood."
"Sure, sis!" Then he raised his hands in a stop everything gesture. "I feel a haiku coming on." The fuck was that? A rash?
The Hunters all groaned. Apparently they'd met Apollo before.
He cleared his throat and held up one hand dramatically.
"Green grass breaks through snow.
Artemis pleads for my help.
I am so cool."
He grinned at us, waiting for applause.
"That last line was only four syllables," Artemis said.
Apollo frowned. "Was it?"
"Yes. What about I am so big-headed?" Ha.
"No, no, that's six syllables. Hmm." He started muttering to himself.
Zoe Nightshade turned to us. "Lord Apollo has been going through this haiku phase ever since he visited Japan. 'Tis not as bad as the time he visited Limerick. If I'd had to hear one more poem that started with, There once was a goddess from Sparta-"
"I've got it!" Apollo announced. "I am so awesome. That's five syllables!" He bowed, looking very pleased with himself.
"And now, sis. Transportation for the Hunters, you say? Good timing. I was just about ready to roll."
"These demigods will also need a ride," Artemis said, pointing to us. "Some of Chiron's campers." Who? Was she being kidnapped?
"No problem!" Apollo checked us out. "Let's see... Thalia, right? I've heard all about you." Stalker much.
Thalia blushed. "Hi, Lord Apollo." Dar wanted to curl up and die.
"Zeus's girl, yes? Makes you my half sister. Used to be a tree, didn't you? Glad you're back. I hate it when pretty girls turn into trees. Man, I remember one time-" Ew what in the incest?
"Brother," Artemis said. "You should get going."
"Oh, right." Then he looked at Percy, and his eyes narrowed. "Percy Jackson?"
"Yeah. I mean... yes, sir."
Apollo studied him, but he didn't say anything, which was a little creepy.
Then he spotted Dar , and his gaze skinnied. "And you?"
The smoke in Darlyngs mouth exited with a slight cough "Darlyng, your royal majesty?"
"Well!" he said at last, winking at dar. "We'd better load up, huh? Ride only goes one way-west. And if you miss it, you miss it."
They looked at the Maserati, which would seat two people max. There were about twenty of us.
"Cool car," Nico said.
"Thanks, kid," Apollo said.
"But how will we all fit?"
"Oh." Apollo seemed to notice the problem for the first time. "Well, yeah. I hate to change out of sports-car mode, but I suppose..."
He took out his car keys and beeped the security alarm button. Chirp, chirp.
For a moment, the car glowed brightly again. When the glare died, the Maserati had been replaced by one of those buses on tv.
"Right," he said. "Everybody in."
Zoe ordered the Hunters to start loading. She picked up her camping pack, and Apollo said, "Here, sweetheart. Let me get that."
Zoe recoiled. Her eyes flashed murderously. Feminism at its finest?
"Brother," Artemis chided. "You do not help my Hunters. You do not look at, talk to, or flirt with my Hunters. And you do not call them sweetheart."
Apollo spread his hands. "Sorry. I forgot. Hey, sis, where are you off to, anyway?"
"Hunting," Artemis said. "It's none of your business."
"I'll find out. I see all. Know all."
Artemis snorted. "Just drop them off, Apollo. And no messing around!"
"No, no! I never mess around."
Artemis rolled her eyes, then looked at us. "I will see you by winter solstice. Zoe, you are in charge of the Hunters. Do well. Do as I would do."
Zoe straightened. "Yes, my lady."
Artemis knelt and touched the ground as if looking for tracks. When she rose, she looked troubled. "So much danger. The beast must be found."
She sprinted toward the woods and melted into the snow and shadows.
Apollo turned and grinned, jangling the car keys on his finger. "So," he said. "Who wants to drive?"
The Hunters piled into the van. They all crammed into the back so they'd be as far away as possible from Apollo and the rest of us highly infectious males, Bianca sat with them, leaving her little brother to hang in the front with us, which seemed cold to dar but Nico didn't seem to mind.
"This is so cool!" Nico said, jumping up and down in the driver's seat. "Is this really the sun? I thought Helios and Selene were the sun and moon gods. How come sometimes it's them and sometimes it's you and Artemis?" How did this child know more than her?
"Downsizing," Apollo said. "The Romans started it. They couldn't afford all those temple sacrifices, so they laid off Helios and Selene and folded their duties into our job descriptions. My sis got the moon. I got the sun. It was pretty annoying at first, but at least I got this cool car."
"But how does it work?" Nico asked. "I thought the sun was a big fiery ball of gas!"
Apollo chuckled and ruffled Nico's hair. "That rumor probably got started because Artemis used to call me a big fiery ball of gas. Seriously, kid, it depends on whether you're talking astronomy or philosophy. You want to talk astronomy? Bah, what fun is that? You want to talk about how humans think about the sun? Ah, now that's more interesting. They've got a lot riding on the sun... er, so to speak. It keeps them warm, grows their crops, powers engines, makes everything look, well, sunnier. This chariot is built out of human dreams about the sun, kid. It's as old as Western Civilization. Every day, it drives across the sky from east to west, lighting up all those puny little mortal lives. The chariot is a manifestation of the sun's power, the way mortals perceive it. Make sense?" Not one fucking bit.
Nico shook his head. "No."
"Well then, just think of it as a really powerful, really dangerous solar car."
"Can I drive?"
"No. Too young."
"Oo! Oo!" Grover raised his hand.
"Mm, no," Apollo said. "Too furry." That's a tad bit discriminatory. He looked past Percy and focused on Thalia. Darlyng was laid down on the seats opposite with Elle sleeping on her chest.
"Daughter of Zeus!" he said. "Lord of the sky. Perfect."
"Oh, no." Thalia shook her head. "No, thanks."
"C'mon," Apollo said. "How old are you?"
Thalia hesitated. "I don't know."
Huh?
Apollo tapped his finger to his lips. "You're fifteen, almost sixteen." Same age as Darlyng.
"How do you know that?"
"Hey, I'm the god of prophecy. I know stuff. You'll turn sixteen in about a week."
"That's my birthday! December twenty-second." Dar made a mental note to rememeber that
"Which means you're old enough now to drive with a learner's permit!"
Thalia shifted her feet nervously. "Uh-"
"I know what you're going to say," Apollo said. "You don't deserve an honor like driving the sun chariot."
"That's not what I was going to say."
"Don't sweat it! Maine to Long Island is a really short trip, and don't worry about what happened to the last kid I trained. You're Zeus's daughter. He's not going to blast you out of the sky."
Apollo laughed good-naturedly. The rest of us didn't join him.
"Take it away!" Apollo told Thalia. "You're gonna be a natural!"
By that point Dar had started to drift curling into a ball on her seat.
Until the bus tilted, and lurched upward so fast Dar fell back and crashed against the window Elle squealing in terror.
"Ow" Grover said.
"Sorry."
"Slower!" Apollo said.
"Sorry!" Thalia said. "I've got it under control!"
"Thalia," He said, "lighten up on the accelerator."
"I've got it, Percy," she said, gritting her teeth. But she kept it floored.
"Loosen up," He told her.
"I'm loose!" Thalia said. She was so stiff she looked like she was made out of plywood.
"We need to veer south for Long Island," Apollo said. "Hang a left."
Thalia jerked the wheel and again.
"The other left," Apollo suggested.
"Ah..." Apollo said, and I got the feeling he was forcing himself to sound calm. "A little lower, sweetheart. Cape Cod is freezing over."
Thalia tilted the wheel. Her face was chalk white, her forehead beaded with sweat. Poor baby probably afraid of heights.
The bus pitched down and somebody screamed. Maybe it was Apollo. Now we were heading straight toward the Atlantic Ocean at a thousand miles an hour, the New England coastline off to our right. And it was getting hot in the bus.
Apollo had been thrown somewhere in the back of the bus, but he started climbing up the rows of seats.
"Take the wheel!" Grover begged him. Elle was praying frantically into Dar's mind
"No worries," Apollo said. He looked plenty worried. "She just has to learn to-WHOA!"
"Pull up!" Dar yelled.
There was a wild light in Thalia's eyes. She yanked back on the wheel.
"There!" Apollo pointed. "Long Island, dead ahead. Let's slow down, dear. 'Dead' is only an expression."
Thalia was thundering toward the coastline of northern Long Island.
"I'm under control," Thalia muttered. "I'm under control" lovely words of affirmation.
"Brake," Apollo said.
"I can do this."
"BRAKE!"
Thalia slammed her foot on the brake, and the sun bus pitched forward at a forty-five-degree angle, slamming into a lake with a huge FLOOOOOOSH! Steam billowed up.
The bus bobbed to the surface, along with a couple of capsized, half-melted canoes.
"Well," said Apollo with a brave smile. "You were right, my dear. You had everything under control! Let's go see if we boiled anyone important, shall we?"
"Whoa," Nico said as he climbed off the bus. "Is that a climbing wall?"
"Yeah," Percy said.
"Why is there lava pouring down it?" Maybe there suicidal?
"Little extra challenge. Come on. I'll introduce you to Chiron. Zoe, have you met-"
"I know Chiron," Zoe said stiffly. "Tell him we will be in Cabin Eight. Hunters, follow me."
"I'll show you the way," Grover offered.
"We know the way."
"Oh, really, it's no trouble. It's easy to get lost here, if you don't"-he tripped over a canoe and came up still talking-"like my old daddy goat used to say! Come on!"
Zoe rolled her eyes, the Hunters shouldered their packs and their bows and headed off toward the cabins. As Bianca di Angelo was leaving, she leaned over and whispered something in her brothers ear. She looked at him for an answer, but Nico just scowled and turned away.
"Take care, sweethearts!" Apollo called after the Hunters. He winked at Percy. "Watch out for those prophecies, Percy. I'll see you soon." He was giving Dar major pedo vibes.
"What do you mean?"
Instead of answering, he hopped back in the bus. "Later, Thalia," he called. "And, uh, be good!"
He gave her a wicked smile, as if he knew something she didn't. Then he closed the doors and revved the engine. Percy turned aside as the sun chariot took off in a blast of heat. When he looked back, the lake was steaming. A red Maserati soared over the woods, glowing brighter and climbing higher until it disappeared in a ray of sunlight.
Nico was still looking grumpy. I wondered what his sister had told him.
"Who's Chiron?" he asked. "I don't have his figurine."
"Our activities director," Percy said. "He's... well, you'll see.
"If those Hunter girls don't like him," Nico grumbled, "that's good enough for me. Let's go." Wow what an angsty kid.
He smiled when he saw us. "Percy! Thalia! Ah, and this must be-"
"Nico di Angelo," I said. "He and his sister are half-bloods. And that's Darlyng she's a clear-sighted mortal"
Chiron breathed a sigh of relief although giving Dar a strange look. "You succeeded, then."
"Well..."
His smile melted. "What's wrong? And where is Annabeth?"
"Oh, dear," Mr. D said in a bored voice, "Not another one lost." He sounded fun.
"What do you mean?" Thalia asked. "Who else is lost?" Dar was lost in her eyes.
Just then, Grover trotted into the room, grinning like crazy. He had a black eye and red lines on his face that looked like a slap mark. "The Hunters are all moved in!"
Chiron frowned. "The Hunters, eh? I see we have much to talk about." He glanced at Nico and Dar. "Grover, perhaps you should take our young friends to the den and show them our orientation film."
"But... Oh, right. Yes, sir."
Darlyng spoke up "actually could I get changed its kind off cold in this."
Chiron gave the girl a small smile "Ofcourse my dear girl, Grover take Darlyng here to the Aphrodite cabin on your way, they may have extra clothes."
"Yes, sir."
"Orientation film?" Nico asked. "Is it G or PG? 'Cause Bianca is kinda strict-"
"It's PG-13," Grover said.
"Cool!" Nico happily followed him out of the room with Dar trailing behind.
Once they reached the cabin Grover knocked ont the door before trotting away.
Rude much.
A very pretty girl opeoned the door looking confused.
"Hi I'm Dar , the horseman said you had clothes for me?"
"Oh come on in, I'm Silena"
The two stood infront of a closet as Darlyng stared on in disgust.
"you want me to were that ?"
Silena laughed "its not all that bad"
"Do you have this in a different colour? preferably not prison orange."
"Nah but I could give you something else for the time being, tell chiron we're out of shirts..."
Both girls shared mischevious glances before they reached into the closet and started looking for things to wear.
In the end Dar was left in low rise navy bootcut jeans with cute pink shirt and mini pink heels.
Silena whistled at Darlyng as the two giggled together, Elle joining in on the laughter with light 'ribbiting' sounds causing the girls to laugh even harder.
ʀᴀᴇ ʀᴀᴅɪᴏ
𝐒𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐭 𝐌𝐨𝐧 𝐂𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐲 𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐈 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐞𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐲𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐭. 𝐌𝐲 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐲 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐭 :𝐃
ᴀᴜ ʀᴇᴠᴏᴜɪʀ
𝐍𝐨𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝 :))