𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐬'𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 • 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘺 𝘫𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘴𝘰𝘯

Artemis

Percy's Pov:

Meeting Artemis was not how I imagined meeting my best friend's mother would be.

Zoë led Grayson and me to the last tent, which looked no different from the others, and waved me inside. Bianca di Angelo was seated next to the auburn-haired girl, who I still had trouble thinking of as Artemis. 

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 Artemis's lap. 

"Join us, Percy Jackson and Grayson Martin," the goddess said. 

We sat across from her on the tent floor. The goddess studied us, which made me uncomfortable. She had such old eyes for a young girl. 

"Are you surprised by my age?" she asked. 

"Uh... a little," Grayson and I said in unison.

"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?" Grayson asked. 

"Grow up. Become smitten with boys. Become silly, preoccupied, insecure. Forgetthemselves." 

"Oh." 

Zoë sat down at Artemis's right. She glared at Grayson and me as if all the stuff Artemis had just said was our fault like we'd invented the idea of being a guy. 

"You must forgive my Hunters if they do not welcome you," 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 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, Percy." 

And so I told her. When I was done, Artemis put her hand thoughtfully on her silver bow. It was not the same silver bow Y/n used, but it was a replica of it. 

"I feared this was the answer," she said.

Zoë 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." 

Zoë's face paled. She turned to Artemis and started to say something, but Artemis raised her hand.