Keeper Of Their Hearts (EG/PJO) - Book One

X. We Battle The Zombie Brigade In The Wheatfield

Time: Night
Location: Hunters Of Artemis Encampment, 2 miles northwest of Gettysburg

The campfires glowed brightly on this night, as we sat down in the Hunters' encampment on this night. If I had to say one thing about how unnerving it honestly felt to be sitting in the Hunters' encampment knowing full well that they would all be looking for an excuse to tear any of us - me, Dawson, Alabaster, Charles, Michael, and Sherman - to pieces, it would be described by myself as fucking nerve wracking, I have to be clear with you here. It was not a pleasant time at all.

I felt like I was in a certain sort of hell that night.

It felt a little bit cold that night, almost as if the temperature had dropped by a stone. It felt like that one time that my dad and step-mom took me to a World Series game in early November. Okay, it wasn't as cold as it was that night, but it definitely was something close to resembling how it felt that night.

Maybe that was just because of the unfriendly attitude of the hunters. I'm not exactly sure about it.

Either way, I was rather puzzled by Artemis' logic. Why would she, a known man-hater, basically allow six guys — five demigods and a satyr — alongside another female demigod to assist the hunt, even if temporarily? It made absolutely zero sense.

I stopped thinking about it after a while, because as Luke said once, "You spend too much time thinking about why the Gods do what they do, you'll basically drive yourself crazy." Like, believe me when I say, I didn't want to end up being that guy. I would prefer my sanity to be intact, thank you very much. Plus my life as well too, since you know, I'm a half blood in my teenage years and I basically have a sign on my back — not actually though — that basically says "eat me" to every monster out there right now until I turn eighteen.

If I manage to live that long.

I mean, Luke had been lucky to come out of that failed quest of his with only his scar, but in the short time I have spent at camp, I have at least heard tales from others about people who didn't make it. There's one tale I have to yet to hear that keeps popping up in those conversations though.

A certain girl named Thalia Grace.

I don't know much about her, but I heard she somehow met her end on the slopes of Half Blood Hill as she and Luke brought Annabeth to camp, and then was turned into a tree — yes a fucking tree — by Zeus himself. Like I said, I don't know all the details, but I was already fucking confused as hell here.

Then again, this was now my reality for me as a demigod right now. Trying to understand a lot of things that I didn't know currently at the moment. And again, as Luke had said (and possibly Blake to Percy too), "Demigods just process reality differently than most humans do." So my experience in having to adapt to this world was mostly the norm here, although in some cases, it was clear that my experience — like that of Percy's — could definitely be considered as an abnormality if you think about it.

I highly doubted that most kids got to go on quests within a week of arriving at camp. Like, that's just sending them back out into the wild to die basically. It was cruel.. and yet, at least I got put onto a quest that has a good chance of survival.

I slept on the ground, curled up with Alabaster like siblings would. It wasn't the best place to sleep, but at least we found a good spot to sleep on. Even if like back at camp, it was on the ground.

As I fell asleep that night, I thought about Lou Ellen, Luke, Katie, everyone back at camp. I wondered how they were all doing. I thought especially long and hard about Lou Ellen and Katie. Gods, I missed them both so much.