Years passed for Percy and the hunters. To them, it seemed like very few, but in reality, it was almost a quarter of a century. Percy had taken the immortality part of his oath when he turned thirteen, the same age as Zoë was when she took the oath. The hunters had prospered in the time that Percy had been with them. They had gained a few more hunters, and only lost one, a young mortal girl, during a fight with a Hydra that they had ran into.
Percy had still been kept a secret from the other gods. Whenever they were required at a council meeting, at Camp, or anywhere where the gods could see them, Percy would be Andromeda, a mortal that had joined the hunt. None of the gods were suspicious of him, as they knew that mortals could join the hunt. There were only four gods that knew of Percy’s real story, Apollo, Hermes, who would visit the Hunters to bring news, Hestia, as she just knew, and of course Artemis.
Artemis still thought of Percy as her little brother, and it had rubbed off on Apollo too. After ten years, Artemis and Apollo seemed to become better siblings to each other, fighting less, and in general, just being better siblings. The council asked numerous times why they seemed to get along better, but each time, they would receive the same answer. That the two of them had decided that they needed to get along better for the sake of the council, along with the sake for the hunters, and the campers who regularly interacted with the two of them.
In reality though, it was Percy that brought the two of them together. Apollo had begun to think of Percy as a little brother too, and had started to train him on some of his duties. During the beginning of the training, Apollo had tried to get Percy to take on some of his characteristics with women, but after a slap across the face, courtesy of Percy surprisingly, he didn’t try that again. Percy said that he wanted to be like the hunters, swearing off a relationship for the rest of eternity, but that wasn’t entirely true, even though Apollo didn’t know that.
Artemis however did. She realized when Percy took his immortality why he took it at thirteen. Over the years, Percy had become very close with all of the hunters, but he became almost attached to the hip of one of them, Zoë. They hadn’t taken on a sibling like relationship, but instead, became best friends, growing closer as time went on. They went to each other if they needed to confess something, if they were having a hard time with something, or if they just needed someone to talk to.
But Artemis knew that there was something more for the two of them. Normally, if she saw this in one of her hunters, they would be cursed and very possibly killed, but this was Zoe and Percy, so there was not a problem for the two of them. Artemis noticed after about fifteen or so years, that the two of them were falling in love with each other. It was painfully obvious to Artemis, and even some of the hunters had noticed, especially Phoebe.
When Percy told Apollo that he was talking after the hunters, he was really saying that he was already in love with someone. Apollo had asked Artemis about Percy’s response, and all he received was a knowing smile, something that unnerved him, but he let it slide for the time being. Artemis was happy for the two of them, but knew that they would almost never admit it to each other, so she just let them live with it.
The hunt was camped on the outskirts of New York City, watching the sun set over the city from a hill not far from Camp Half-Blood as they had just come from the camp, after having to stop there for the summer solstice meeting. The Hunters had decided that they were going to stop there for the day, when Artemis had told them that she had a surprise for them.
The Hunt was excited at this, as Artemis never had gifts or surprises for them. They assumed that it was going to be a special hunt, or something, but it was something much more special. Artemis called all of them to the dinning tent, their normal meeting area. When the entire hunt was there, Artemis spoke.
“Do you all know of what today is?” She asked. The hunters shock their heads. Artemis smiled.
“Today is the twenty fifth anniversary of a very special person joining the hunt.” She said, and after a few moments of silence, the hunters began to understand.
Percy had chosen to be in his male form for the meeting, as Artemis had asked him if her idea was alright with him, and he agreed. Percy sat smiling, with Zoë on one side and Phoebe on the other. The two of them forced Percy up next to Artemis, who smiled after this. Artemis wrapped an arm around her little brother, and smiled even wider.
“Instead of having a large celebration, I am giving the hunt a gift. I have asked Percy about this, and he has agreed with me. I am going to give it to you, and then you will have to figure it out by yourself.” Artemis smirked at the shocked faces of the hunters, and raised her hand, murmuring in Ancient Greek. A soft silver glow surrounded all of the hunters, before disappearing moments after words. Zoë was the first to speak.
“What?!” She exclaimed. As soon as the glow disappeared, Zoë noticed that her sight, smell and hearing were much better than before. She felt more at peace with the wilderness, as if she was born in it. Percy stood next to Artemis, smirking. He decided that he didn’t want to spoil the surprise for the Hunters, so he didn’t show off the gift, even though he knew what the gift was. The hunters sat in silence for a moment, taking in their new abilities, before the all dog pilled on their mistress and Percy, thanking Artemis profusely for what she had given them, even if they didn’t know what it was yet.
Once Artemis managed to get all of the Hunters off her and Percy, she sent them all to sleep, as it was late, but asked for Zoë, Phoebe, and Percy to stay. When all the hunters left, Percy let out a yawn, before smirking at Zoë and Phoebe. To the surprise of Zoë and Phoebe, Percy started to glow silver, and when the glow died down, in his place, there was now a raven black wolf, with the same piercing sea green and silver eyes that Zoe had grown to love on Percy. Zoë and Phoebe stared at the black wolf, before the felt a presence enter their minds.
Close your mouths; you might catch flies. It was the voice of Percy, who seemed to be smirking, judging the slight laugh in his voice. Zoë and Phoebe stared at the wolf, which seemed to be also smirking at them. Try it yourself; think of yourself as a wolf. The presence said. Phoebe continued to stare at the wolf but Zoë was curious.
She thought of herself as a wolf, and a silver light encased her. After a moment, the light died down, and just like Percy, in her place, was a pitch black wolf, with the same volcanic black eyes that Zoë had. Phoebe turned, and yelped when she saw this, before she tried it too, seeing the excitement that the wolves eyes held. Just like Zoë, she thought of herself as a wolf, and when the silver light died down, another wolf had joined the other two. This wolf had blue eyes, and reddish brown fur, just like Phoebe’s eyes and hair. For a moment, Phoebe and Zoë stood still in their new wolf forms, before another wolf joined the party.
This new wolf was larger than the three of them, but not by much. It had dark auburn hair, and silver eyes. Artemis had joined them in the form of a wolf. She spoke to the other three in their minds.
As you can tell, I have given the hunt the ability to change in to the form of a wolf. I thought it would be useful to travel at a faster pace, and to distract enemies. Also, I thought it would be a good way to become a better family, as the pack always stays together. In each of the tents there are new packs for each of the hunters, when we travel, these packs fit on your backs as a wolf, making it very easy to transport the camp. These packs though will not be visible when they are on your backs, or feel heavy, making it easier to carry. Please tell the others in the morning. While in this from, you will sleep more comfortably to, as you are more at peace with the wilderness, and you will not have any dream a either. Please go to sleep now, tomorrow we leave. Artemis said, before padding out of the dinning tent, and into her own. Phoebe and Zoë looked at each other, before pouncing on Percy, showing their thanks through their actions like a wolf would.
After an hour of playing around in their new wolf forms, they walked into their respective tents, Phoebe into the tent that she shared with a few other hunters, and Zoe and Percy into the tent that they had shared since Percy joined the hunt. The two of them decided to sleep in their wolf forms, and so the each curled up on their respective side of the tent, facing each other as they did every night. They fell asleep like that, each curled up on the floor, facing each other.
The two of them were woken up the next morning at a screech from one of other hunters. After a moment of trying to regain their surroundings, Percy’s eyes widened at the position that they were in. Over the night they had moved closer together, and Zoë head was resting on the midsection of Percy. Zoë seemed to notice the position she was in, and was very glad that she was in her wolf form at the moment, because she was sure that she was blushing profusely. She hoped that Percy wouldn’t say anything, and to her relief, he didn’t. Infested, he stood up, turned back into his male human form, and reached a hand out to Zoë. Zoë followed him, turning back into her human, and grabbing his hand, letting him pull her to her feet.
Unbeknownst to the other, each of them felt a small spark in their hands when they touched. Neither of them mentioned it, but they both felt it. It had happened before, but it was more noticeable this tine. Instead of talking about it, the two of them rushed out of the tent to find Phoebe, in her wolf form, running around the camp from the rest of the hunters, who had their bows drawn, pointing it at Phoebe. After a moment of staring at the scene in front of them, Zoë and Percy decided to act.
“Stop! Stop!” He yelled, grabbing the attention of the hunters who were chasing Phoebe. One of the other hunters, Callie, yelled back to him.
“Why, we found it in our tent this morning, in Phoebe’s bed! It took Phoebe!” She shouted, mortified at the very idea.
“Have you looked at the wolf closely?” Percy called back to her. She shook her head, and took a good look at the wolf, stopping for a second. Her eyes widened when she looked into the eyes of the wolf as it ran past her again.
“Phoebe?” She asked quietly, but all the hunters who had their bows at the ready stopped and looked at the wolf in shock. They watched as the wolf glowed slightly silver, after a moment, Phoebe stood in place of the wolf, surprising the rest of the hunters, shocking them into a stupor. All of the other hunters turned to Percy, staring at him in shock.
In response to their shock, Percy smirked, and in a second, Percy was in his wolf form, standing in front of the hunters. They all stared at him in shock, before a sliver glow caught their attention again. The stared in shock again at the spot where Zoë had been standing, there was now another wolf. The hunters stared at the two new wolfs, before the felt a presence enter their minds, and when it spoke, they recognized it as Percy’s voice.
You can do it too, you know. Just think of yourself as a wolf, and it will happen. They all stared at the wolf that looked like Percy in shock, until one by one they each transformed into their wolf forms, all being amazed at it. That is when Artemis walked into the camp, and stopped in her tracks. The entire hunt was in their wolves forms, and it looked amazing to her. She asked them all to take back their human forms, and to come with her to the dinning tent. They all followed her instructions, and walked with her to the tent, where she explained everything that she had explained to Zoë, Phoebe, and Percy the night before. All of the hunters were very excited at this, and they all thanked Artemis profusely for the gift. After a few hours of discovering their new forms, Artemis called them all to pack up the camp, as they were heading out on a new hunt. The hunters were all excited about their new method of travel.
When the camp was all packed up, they all switched to their wolf forms, including Artemis, and their packs were immediately teleported on to their backs, as Artemis said they would be.
The hunt took off into the forest, with Artemis, Zoë and Percy in the lead; as a pack of wolves, enjoying the new feeling of being part of a pack.
Years passed after Artemis gave the hunt their gift. No one outside of the hunt, besides Apollo, knew of their new forms. The hunt had excelled in the past years with their new forms, becoming very dangerous when fighting like a pack of wolves.
A few years after the gift, Artemis had a conversation with the Hunters while Percy was with Apollo. She had asked them what they thought of her making Percy a lieutenant along with Zoë. They had all agreed with Artemis on the idea, and Zoë was ecstatic at the idea of her and Percy working together as the leaders of the hunt. Percy had come back from whatever he was doing with Apollo, and had immediately been shoved into Artemis’s tent, where Artemis and Zoë had been waiting.
Both Artemis and Zoë had huge smiles on their faces when Percy walked in, and Percy was confused, and slightly worried. Artemis had him sit down between her and Zoë, and started to speak.
“Percy, you have been in the hunt for almost thirty years, serving faithfully and with much love to your sisters in the hunt. You have changed how we looked at the male population, and for that we are thankful.” Artemis took a breath, and it left Percy worried. It sounded like Artemis was saying goodbye, but that wouldn’t make sense, given the huge smiles that adorned her and Zoë’s faces. Artemis saw his worried face.
“Do not worry, Percy, we are not here to kick you out, in fact it is quite the opposite. After thirty years, of being in the hunt, I have seen how you have taken leadership of the hunt, without being asked too. I asked the hunters their opinion on an idea and they all immediately said yes to it.” Taking another break, to catch her breath, Artemis became almost giddy about what she was about to ask of Percy. She could tell that Zoë was already giddy with excitement, something that she never saw in Zoë before today.
“Percy, will you accept the position of co-lieutenant of the hunt, alongside Zoë.” She said finally.
Percy was flabbergasted at this. They wanted him to lead the hunt with Zoë. He was having a hard time believing that this was really true.
“If this is a joke, I’ll kill you.” He said, and received an angelic laugh from Zoë.
“This is not a joke Percy. We really do want you to accept this. Please.” She said, giving him a look that said if you back down, I will hurt you. Percy was still in shock about the question, but he knew that he had to say yes. The hunt had given him a family, and a place which he could call home. He took a deep breath, and nodded. Zoë squealed and attacked him in a hug while Artemis smiled extremely widely. Zoë seemed to notice what she had done, and pulled of Percy, who was looking at her in shock. Zoë’s face reddened, but to her relief, Percy didn’t say anything, instead looked towards Artemis.
Artemis seemed to notice what Percy was trying to do; trying to remove the attention from Zoë Artemis nodded to Percy, and snapped her fingers. A bright flash of light followed, and when it was gone, Artemis and Zoë gasped at Percy. Unlike before, when Percy had accepted his oath into the hunters and had changed a little bit, Percy had one major feature that changed. Instead of his regular eyes, like they had been before, his eyes were now even more multi-colored. Each iris started out piercing sea green at the outer edged, and as they neared the pupil, they became silver, just like Artemis’s eyes.
Percy was bewildered when he heard them gasp, and turned to look at the mirror that was hanging on the wall of the tent behind him. He gasped when he saw his eyes, but stared in bewilderment at was on his head. Just like Zoë, he was now wearing a tiara, the symbol of a lieutenant of the hunt, though, instead of it being a normal tiara, it had green and silver jewels embedded in the band, and instead of having a peak in the front, it was similar all around, more like a band than a tiara. He turned back to face Artemis and Zoë.
“When you are in your female from, it will look like Zoë’s, but will still have the green jewels in it."Artemis clarified. Percy was ecstatic at the moment. While he had been in the hunt for years, he was happy now that he had a responsibility to the hunt, not just to be a part of it.
The three of them talked for a few more minutes, going over the various responsibilities that he now had, and so on, before they decided to let the rest of the hunt know about Percy’s decision. The three of them walked out of Artemis’s tent to find that all the hunters were sitting in front of the them, seemingly waiting for them. When the other hunters saw Percy, with his new band on his head, they all squealed, just like Zoë hand, and attacked him with hugs until he was not visible anymore. That’s when Callie noticed Percy’s eyes, and gasped.
When the rest of the hunters heard her gasp, they looked at where she was looking, and gasped as well. They were all awed by his new eyes, though Zoë liked them the most. She found them more attractive than before, and was incredibly happy that she considered him her best friend, besides Artemis. She knew that someday she wanted to reveal her feelings towards Percy, but she wasn’t sure how Artemis would take them. She decided though that she could wait a little longer until she was sure that she had fallen in love with him, and until she was sure that he had feelings for her too. She had received some clues from him, but they were few and far between, so she wasn’t entirely sure, but she was sure that she could wait until she was sure.
The hunt excelled even further in the following years, under the leadership of Percy, Zoë and Artemis. They had travelled across the US, and even into Canada. The hunt had stayed the same since Percy became the co-lieutenant, and in that time, the hunt had become one of the most dangerous forces within the Modern Greek world. They were able to destroy some of the most dangerous monsters in the world today, and had a reputation on Olympus for being a force to be reckoned with.
The hunt was running through the middle of West Virginia as a pack of wolves when Artemis stopped. The rest of the hunt stopped along with her, wondering why they had stopped. Artemis stood still for a moment, before changing back into her twelve year old from. She nodded to the rest of the hunt, and they all changed into their human forms. Artemis whispered to Percy.
“Change into your female form, we are about to have guests.” Percy looked confused, but nodded. In a moment, he was Andromeda. The moment after he changed, three people walked into the clearing. There were two girls, the older one had spiky black hair, and electric blue eyes, and the younger had blonde hair and grey eyes. The male in their group had blonde hair and blue eyes. As soon as they saw the hunt, the readied their weapons; they were clearly demigods.
“Who are you?” The girl with the spiky hair asked.
“Put your weapons down.” Artemis commanded.
“Why should we, you could just kill us?” The boy asked.
“Do not talk in the presence of Artemis, boy.” Percy said. The three demigods’ eyes widened, and they all bowed to Artemis.
“Do not bow, now, what are your names?” Artemis said kindly. She could tell that they had been wandering around in the wilderness, and they needed a place to stay. This time, the younger girl answered.
“I’m Annabeth, this is Thalia and this is Luke.”
A/N: Hey guys and gals, I hope that you enjoyed this chapter. I have established a time line for this story, and at this point, the hunt is happening before the original story starts.
Thanks for reading!
PiersonNyx