Titans Wrath

Artemis: Chapter 11

     Phoebe and I watched Percy's back retreat toward the front of camp, only stopping his long strides to grab a blue horse plume helmet from a rack and slip it onto his head. Phoebe looked down at me with concern clear in her eyes, and I looked back at her with my brow knit into a frown. Demigods, monsters, and sometimes even particularly sensitive mortals could sense the power of a being, to a degree. The most powerful of the demigods often could, in the heat of battle, emit almost an aura of power, not unlike what a god or goddess just does naturally. It comes as they tap into their immortal blood, pulling from their parents domains, but us immortals, were different. We were constantly tuned in to the power of those around us. With Perseus, every time we've interacted before his appointment of guardianship, his power seemed to grow massively. From the first time I met him, on that cliffside when he had thought his now wife, Annabeth, had died, he gave off the most powerful aura of all the people in his group, including both his cousins. Then, days later, when he'd shown up at the top of that accursed mountain and took the weight of the sky off my shoulders so I could fight Atlas, his aura had flared so much I had a hard time distinguishing it from Atlas's own. This pattern continued, his power continuing to grow monumentally with every passing year. Zeus, being as pig headed as he is, held meetings after every interaction a god had with the demigod, and grilled them about the power he possessed. He was so scared the young demigods power would continue to grow to a dangerous level, and that he'd have to be delt with, but even when that time came, Poseidon threatened war if Zeus touched a hair on his head and well, the only being that Zeus fears more than Perseus, is his father. 

     But in that moment, as Perseus walked away, and the following minutes after the fact, the demigod put off an aura of power so strong, it was oppressive. Wave after wave of stifling, terrifying power. Not even my father, nor either of my uncles could match without pulling directly from their domains and going into their godly forms. I need to speak with Apollo, and we need to speak to Perseus, because if his power continues to grow like this, he'll grow too powerful for his body and it'll kill him. What the rest of the hunt, the campers and I heard from the other side of the hill was nothing but screams of terror and pain. Shortly after Percy crested the hill, Annabeth, Katie, one of the Stoll Twins, and Thalia all ran into the pavilion, looking around frantically. 

     Thalia ran over to me, as well as Annabeth. "Where's Percy?" Annabeth called, and Phoebe pointed to the top of Thalia's Hill, where the screams were coming from moments ago. Thalia crouched down next to me while the rest of the guardians ran towards the hilltop. Thalia started wrapping my burned arm in necter soaked gauze, before looking up at me warily. "It was Percy, wasn't it?" She spoke quietly, her voice barely above a whisper. "We felt it across the camp. It felt like a nuclear bomb had went off." 

     I nodded and glanced back to the top of the hill, where the others were cresting the hill once more, now with a semi limp Perseus held between Annabeth's and Katie's arms. Even from here, I could see his normally golden tanned skin was now a bright red, and he was steaming. His head lolled from side to side, and he seemed lost, like he wasn't sure where he was. His mouth moved, but no sound came out of his lips and after a few moments of this, I watched his body go completely limp, and his head hung. I cursed and sent a mental call for Apollo. I got up and ran towards the group, taking Percy's weight from Katie and Annabeth as they struggled to keep him upright coming down the hill. 

     "Holy Hades, Annabeth, What are you feeding him?" Katie grunted as I took him from her, but Annabeth was already drilling me trying to figure out what was going on. I remained silent as she rapid fired questions at me over and over, just as I'd seen Percy do a thousand times, and just focused on getting him to the infirmary. I laid him down on a stretcher and got to work. 

     It took a moment to get his shield to retract back into watch form, but once it did, I removed it and placed it to the side, along with his breastplate, helmet, and bracers. Annabeth helped me undo the straps of his armor, and once everything was off him, I cut his shirt open. His chest was broad and toned, and the sight made a weird feeling rise in the back of my throat, but I pushed it down, I didn't have time to worry about that right now. Right as I got his shirt opened up, Apollo flashed in.