Percy Jackson: Hunter of Artemis

Camper Encounter

Percy's POV

I finally heard the girls enter the clearing after around half an hour.

"Finally! It took you guys forever to get here," I exclaim.

"If you had just dried me off, you wouldn't have had to wait," Phoebe said.

"That may be so, but if I had just dried you off, I wouldn't have had a good laugh," I retort.

Phoebe glared at me. I raised my hands in mock surrender and chuckled. Thalia laughed and set up her tent. Phoebe grumbled and set up her's as well as I set off to hunt for dinner. After a while, I had finally tracked down an elk and killed it. I hefted the animal onto my shoulders and trekked back to our little camp.

When I got back, there was already a fire started and Phoebe was sitting next to it, tending the coals and waiting for me to get back with dinner. I set the elk down next to her and began to field dress it. I handed Phoebe the chunks I had cut off for dinner and she started cooking them. I left her to her work and walked to Thalia's tent.

"Can I come in?" I asked once I was outside her tent.

"Sure," I heard her say before I stepped into her tent.

"Hey," I say.

"Hi."

"What's up? You seem a bit down," I ask.

She sighed. "It's nothing really," she said.

I looked at her skeptically.

"It's just that, what's going to happen on this quest? I'm worried about this choice that you have to make and I'm worried about the traitor and the item we seek. What is it? Who is the traitor? I don't get it!" She exclaimed.

"Hey. It'll be alright," I said sitting by her side. I wrapped my arms around her and began rubbing gentle circles on her back.

"Thanks Percy. You always seem to know how to cheer me up," she said.

"Anytime Thals. Anytime. Know if I'm correct, I believe Phoebe has dinner ready for us," I said just before Phoebe called for us to come to dinner.

"You read her mind, didn't you?"

"Yes I did," I said.

Thalia just laughed as we walked out of her tent and over to the fire.

We ate our dinners in a comfortable silence. Afterward, we began our conversation.

"So. Did you have fun today?" I ask.

"If you count chasing your little brother soaking wet fun, then I had a blast," Phoebe said.

"I had fun," Thalia said simply.

"Well I know I had fun!" I said.

"Of course you did," Phoebe said.

We laughed and conversed for a while until I felt something. Someone was here.

"Guys. There's something watching us," I whisper to the girls.

Their expressions went from playful and happy to completely serious. No one gets away with watching the Hunters of Artemis.

I got up and motioned for the girls to stay. I had my bow at ready and I stalked out into the woods. I felt whatever was watching us try to dart away from the camp. I quickly caught up to it and followed it, silent as a deer.

Suddenly, it tripped. I quickly raced forward and put my arrow on the side of the person's neck. The person stiffened.

"Get up," I ordered.

The person slowly got to their feet. Finally, I got a good look at his face. I realized, shocked, that it was Malcolm, son of Athena. I growled under my breath. He was spying on the girls and I.

Angry, I grabbed him by the ear and dragged him back to the camp. To my greatest annoyance, he kept muttering 'ow' over and over again.

When we finally reached the camp, I tossed him near the fire pit where the girls were still sitting. They gasped in recognition as they saw his face.

"Why are you here?" I demand.

"I-I have a c-cabin in th-this a-area," he stuttered. But I could tell he was lying.

"One thing you should know about me," I said, pulling one of my hunting knives out. "I hate liars."

Malcolm shrunk away from me.

"Now. Tell me the truth," I say in a deadly calm voice.

"Ch-Chiron has b-been sending out q-q-quests t-to f-find y-you," he stuttered.

"Tell him to stop. I don't want to be found," I say.

"But you've already been found," he pointed out.

"And you're going to regret finding me."

He audibly gulped.

"Um..... Brother? Maybe you shouldn't threaten people. Remember what happened last time?" The girls said simultaneously.

"How could I forget? I told him to give us information or we will be forced to capture him and he pulled out a knife and proceeded to attack me!" I said with a laugh. "But still. I will threaten the campers because they are the destroyers of my old life."

"What do you mean?" Malcolm asked.

"I mean that you all destroyed my old life. But I guess I should thank you. I now have a life far better than anything camp could've given me. I joined the Hunters of Artemis," I say.

"You joined a man hating group? And they didn't rip you apart?" He asked.

"Trust me. We almost did in the first couple of weeks. But then we got a liking to him. He's the only decent man on the planet. So he's our brother now," Phoebe said.

"I'll always trust the pretty ones," Malcolm said, winking suggestively.

"You do understand that you just flirted with a Hunter in the presence of our brother right? The last time a guy did that, Percy here gave that guy a couple broken bones a lot of bruises and a black eye. And that's when he was in a good mood. Right now, he is not in a good mood. The best thing you can do now, is hope to fall unconscious. Then you might not feel the pain," Thalia said all too cheerfully.

"Unluckily for him, I never let my victims fall unconscious. And if they do, I stop until they wake up then begin again," I say. "Now. We can do this the easy way, or we could do this the hard way. The easy way is that you just go straight back to camp and deliver my message. The hard way is, you refuse to leave peacefully, and I end up beating you to a pulp. What's your choice?" I ask.

"I choose the easy way," he said hurriedly.

"Tell Chiron not to send any more quests to find me and that the next camper that finds me will end up either dead or pretty close to death," I say.

Malcolm paled before nodding and running off as quick as he could away from our camp.

"He does know camp is that way right?" Thalia asked, pointing to the opposite direction Malcolm went.

"He'll figure it out sooner or later," I say returning to my place by the fire as we continue laughing and enjoying one another's company before retiring to our tents for the night.