LUNACY; percy jackson

03.3

[act three; chapter three     -     mythomagic]

After seeing Dr. Thorn turn into a monster and plummet off the edge of a cliff with her best friend on his back, you'd think nothing else could make Andromeda's day worse.

Apparently, she was wrong.

Artemis was here which meant a certain god of the sun had to be nearby and Percy was being real intelligent and said, "Um...okay."

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?"

Nico walked over to Andromeda and wrapped his arms around her torso, the girl wrapping hers around him as well, thankful for his attempt to comfort her. "Why does it matter? They're cool and nice."

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 and was now positioned on Andromeda's lap, curled up like a cat.

"Our parents are dead," Bianca said. "We're orphans. There's a bank trust that pays for our school, but..."

She faltered.

"What?" she demanded. "I'm telling the truth."

"You are a half-blood," Zoë 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."