Vesta's Child (Discontinued)

Chapter 4

"Come on Percy, you gotta be faster." Artemis instructed as Percy jumped from tree to tree. He grunted as he launched himself to the next tree, he was racing Phoebe and she was just a bit ahead of him. Over the year of training he's had so far he had started to develop calluses from tree climbing, and fighting with hunting knives. Percy used the end of a tree branch as a spring board and propelled himself even farther ahead. He was neck and neck with Phoebe and she gave him a side ways glance.

"Come come Percy boy, your gonna let yourself be beat by lil ole me?" She feigned an innocent smile but distracted herself and a branch caught on her parka. He looked forward and smirked.

"Ack! Aw Styx's!" Phoebe yelped and Percy crossed the finish line which was Apollo who had both hands stuck out. Percy leaped from the branch onto the ground and slapped Apollo's hand.

"Whoop whoop! Percy for the win! Yes! He's awesome!" Apollo cheered while he put Percy onto his shoulders, Percy laughed and held onto Apollo's forehead as they walked over to Artemis who couldn't help but smile at the two. Though she and Apollo still bickered constantly, Percy had made their relationship better just because he was so fun to be with. Apollo let Percy down and Phoebe ran up to them panting.

Percy looked at her apologetically,"Sorry Phoebe, if you weren't so clumsy you would have won." her eyes widened comically while Apollo laughed and Artemis couldn't decide whether to congratulate Percy for being humble or give him a smack to the back of the head for acting like Apollo. There was a flash of flames and the twenty year old hearth goddess appeared.

Percy grinned and ran to her,"Mommy! I beat Phoebe at tree racing!" Phoebe snorted but couldn't help to give him a small smile, he might as well be her little brother. He was sweet yet competitive which made him all the more fun to be around. He gave her a large hug and she cradled him and couldn't help but be proud of her son. He pulled back and looked up at her hopefully.

"Is daddy coming?" Vesta kissed his forehead lovingly and looked down at him sadly. She knew that Percy had time and time again come to her hoping for his father to appear. The sea god was constantly turning down the boy's desires to meet him and it was infuriating.

"No Percy, he isn't coming today. He got held up at his palace, I'm so sorry." Percy nodded dejectedly but brightened with a cheery smile.

"That's okay! I'll meet him eventually." He had hope that he would someday meet his father. Zoe was watching from a distance with curiosity, she had started to warm up to Percy but the other hunters were irritated that he was still here. Percy seemed to try to go out of his way to make her happy, to gain her approval. He had tried to show her that he was a good guy and it was working, she knew it was time to give him a chance. She slowly approached the group but received glares from the godly twins and Phoebe.

Percy looked at her and smiled,"Hi Zoe! How are you today?" She couldn't help but chuckle at his formalities and waved back.

"Hello Percy, I'm fine. How are you?"

"Good! I beat Phoebe at the tree racing, only cuz she got cocky and tripped." Phoebe mock glared at him and he stuck his tongue out at her.

Zoe smiled and then looked over at Artemis,"Milady may I speak with you?" Artemis lost the glare and nodded, they walked a bit of ways away and Zoe began talking,

"I'm sorry I have been so cruel to Percy, it's just I thought another son of the sea god would be bad. I didn't want another Orion situation to happen and-" she was cut off as Artemis roared with laughter and she clutched her sides as they started aching,

"Y-you thi-think I-will fall f-for Per-" She erupted with laughter again leaving Zoe irritable and confused,

"No! I just didn't want to see you hurt again! I...I was wrong. He's only six and I've treated him bad when all he was was nice to me." Artemis had stopped laughing and put a hand on Zoe's shoulder.