𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐬. ||𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐲 𝐣𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐬𝐨𝐧

Chapter one - Titan's curse

(this scene takes place in chapter two of the third book of the pjo series)
Percy POV:

"The Hunters!" Annabeth cried.
Next to me, Thalia muttered, "Oh, wonderful."
I  didn't have a chance to ask what she meant.
One of the older archers stepped forward with her bow drawn. She was tall and graceful with coppery colored skin. Unlike the other girls, she had a silver circlet braided into the top of her long dark hair, so she looked like some kind of Persian princess. "Permission to kill, my lady?"
I couldn't tell who she was talking to, because she kept her eyes on the manticore.
The monster wailed. "This is not fair! Direct interference! It is against the Ancient  Laws."
"Not so," another girl said. This one was a little younger than me, maybe twelve or thirteen. She had auburn hair gathered back in a ponytail and strange eyes, silvery yellow like the moon. Her face was so beautiful it made me catch my breath, but her expression was stern
and dangerous. "The hunting of all wild beasts is within my sphere. And you, foul creature,
are a wild beast." She looked at the older girl with the circlet. "Zoe, permission granted."
The manticore growled. "If I cannot have these alive, I shall have them dead!"
He lunged at Thalia and me, knowing we were weak and dazed.
"No.'" Annabeth yelled, and she charged at the monster.
"Get back, half-blood!" the girl with the circlet said. "Get out of the line of fire!"
But Annabeth leaped onto the monster's back and drove her knife into his mane. The manticore howled, turning in circles with his tail flailing as Annabeth hung on for dear life.
"Fire!" Zoe ordered.
"No!" I screamed.
But the Hunters let their arrows fly. The first caught the manticore in the neck. Another hit his chest. The manticore staggered backward, wailing, "This is not the end, Huntress! You  shall pay!"
And before anyone could react, the monster, with Annabeth still on his back, leaped over the cliff and tumbled into the darkness.
"Annabeth!" I yelled.
I started to run after her, but our enemies weren't done with us. There was a snap-snap-snap from the helicopter—the sound of gunfire.
Most of the Hunters scattered as tiny holes appeared in the snow at their feet, but the girl with auburn hair just looked up calmly at the helicopter.
"Mortals," she announced, "are not allowed to witness my hunt."
She thrust out her hand, and the helicopter exploded into dust—no, not dust. The black
metal dissolved into a flock of birds—ravens, which scattered into the night. The Hunters advanced on us.
The one called Zoe stopped short when she saw Thalia. "You," she said with distaste.
"Zoe Nightshade." Thalia's voice trembled with anger. "Perfect timing, as usual."
Another figure walked toward us. Unlike Zoe, she had pale, fair skin and piercing grey eyes that scanned us with an intensity reminiscent of skulls. Her white hair gleamed with the soft, ethereal glow of moonlight. She seemed around the same age as the auburn-haired girl.
She instilled in me a fear that I had already sensed some time ago. I wonder who..
"Thalia?" Her surprised voice snapped me back to reality. I turned to see Thalia with an equally shocked gaze.
"Actis," Thalia muttered in disbelief..
"Annabeth!" I yelled as a couple of girls held me down "You have lo let us save her!"
"Your fiend is beyond help, Percy Jackson" the auburn-haired girl said.
"Who do you think you are?"
Actis stepped forward stomping the tip of her bow on the ground to draw attention to herself "Enough." She ordered with a firm tone.
"I appreciate your gesture, Actis, however I sense no disrespect in the words of this young boy, he is simply distraught" the other girl said before turning around in my direction "I am Artemis" she said, "Goddess of the Hunt, and these, are my Hunters."
"Whoa," Bianca di Angelo said. "Hold up. Time out." Everyone turned to look at her. She pointed at each of us, as if she was trying to figure out a puzzle. "Who... who are you people?" Actis' face became more serious, staring at Bianca like she was an enigma, their eyes held a similarity. "A better question might be, who are you? and who are your parents."
Our parents are dead," Bianca said. "We're orphans. There's a bank trust that pays for
our school, but..."
She faltered. I guess she could tell from our faces that we didn't believe her.
"What?" she demanded. "I'm telling the truth!"
"You are an half-blood." the white-haired girl spoke, "One of your parents was a mortal, the other must be an Olympian"
"An Olympian as.. an athlete?" Bianca asked, looking more confused than ever.
"No, as one of the Gods." she clarified.
"Cool!" Nico said.
"No!" Bianca's voice quavered. "This is not cool!"
Nico danced around like he needed to use the restroom. "Does Zeus really have
lightning bolts that do six hundred damage? Does he get extra movement points for—"
"Nico, shut up!" Bianca put her hands to her face. "This is not your stupid Mythomagic
game, okay? There are no gods!"
As anxious as I felt about Annabeth—all I wanted to do was search for her—I couldn't
help feeling sorry for the di Angelos. I remembered what it was like for me when I first
learned I was a demigod.
Thalia must've been feeling something similar, because the anger in her eyes subsided a
little bit. "Bianca, I know it's hard to believe. But the gods are still around. Trust me. They're
immortal. And whenever they have kids with regular humans, kids like us, well... Our lives
are dangerous."
"Dangerous," Bianca said, "like the girl who fell."
Thalia turned away. Even Artemis looked pained.
"Do not despair for Annabeth," the goddess said. "She was a brave maiden. If she can
be found, I shall find her."
"Then why won't you let us go look for her?" I asked.
"She is gone. Can't you sense it, Son of Poseidon? Some magic is at work. I do not
know exactly how or why, but your friend has vanished."
I still wanted to jump off the cliff and search for her, but I had a feeling that Artemis
was right. Annabeth was gone. If she'd been down there in the sea, I thought, I'd be able to
feel her presence.
"Oo!" Nico raised his hand. "What about Dr. Thorn? That was awesome how you shot
him with arrows! Is he dead?"
"He was a manticore," Artemis said. "Hopefully he is destroyed for now, but monsters
never truly die. They re-form over and over again, and they must be hunted whenever they
reappear."
"Or they'll hunt us," Thalia said.
Bianca di Angelo shivered. "That explains... Nico, you remember last summer, those
guys who tried to attack us in the alley in DC?"
"And that bus driver," Nico said. "The one with the ram's horns. I told you that was
real."
"That's why Grover has been watching you," I said. "To keep you safe, if you turned out
to be half-bloods."
"Grover?" Bianca stared at him. "You're a demigod?"
"Well, a satyr, actually." He kicked off his shoes and displayed his goat hooves. I
thought Bianca was going to faint right there.
"Grover, put your shoes back on," Thalia said. "You're freaking her out."
"Hey, my hooves are clean!"
"Bianca," I said, "we came here to help you. You and Nico need training to survive. Dr.
Thorn won't be the last monster you meet. You need to come to camp."
"Camp?" she asked.
"Camp Half-Blood," I said. "It's where half-bloods learn to survive and stuff. You can
join us, stay there year-round if you like."
"Sweet, let's go!" said Nico.
"Wait," Bianca shook her head. "I don't—"
"There is another option," Zoe said.
"No, there isn't!" Thalia said.
Thalia and Zoe glared at each other. I didn't know what they were talking about, but I
could tell there was bad history between them. For some reason, they seriously hated each
other.
"We've burdened these children enough," Artemis announced. "Zoe, we will rest here
for a few hours. Raise the tents. Treat the wounded. Retrieve our guests' belongings from the
school."
"Yes, my lady."
"And, Bianca, come with me. I would like to speak with you."
"What about me?" Nico asked.
Artemis considered the boy. "Perhaps you can show Grover how to play that card game
you enjoy. I'm sure Grover would be happy to entertain you for a while... as a favor to me?"
Grover just about tripped over himself getting up. "You bet! Come on, Nico!"
Nico and Grover walked off toward the woods, talking about hit points and armor
ratings and a bunch of other geeky stuff. Artemis led a confused-looking Bianca along the
cliff. The Hunters began unpacking their knapsacks and making camp.
Zoe gave Thalia one more evil look, then left to oversee things.
As soon as she was gone, Thalia stamped her foot in frustration. "The nerve of those
Hunters! They think they're so... Argh!"
"I'm with you," I said. "I don't trust—"
"Oh, you're with me?" Thalia turned on me furiously. "What were you thinking back
there in the gym, Percy? You'd take on Dr. Thorn all by yourself? You knew he was a
monster!"
"If we'd stuck together, we could've taken him without the Hunters getting involved.
Annabeth might still be here. Did you think of that?"
My jaw clenched. I thought of some harsh things to say, and I might've said them too,
but then I looked down and saw something navy blue lying in the snow at my feet. Annabeth's
New York Yankees baseball cap.
Thalia didn't say another word. She wiped a tear from her cheek, turned, and marched
off, leaving me alone with a trampled cap in the snow.
The Hunters set up their camping site in a matter of minutes. Seven large tents, all of
silver silk, curved in a crescent around one side of a bonfire. One of the girls blew a silver dog
whistle, and a dozen white wolves appeared out of the woods. They began circling the camp
like guard dogs. The Hunters walked among them and fed them treats, completely unafraid,
but I decided I would stick close to the tents. Falcons watched us from the trees, their eyes
flashing in the firelight, and I got the feeling they were on guard duty, too. Even the weather
seemed to bend to the goddess's will. The air was still cold, but the wind died down and the
snow stopped falling, so it was almost pleasant sitting by the fire.
Almost... except for the pain in my shoulder and the guilt weighing me down. I couldn't
believe Annabeth was gone. And as angry as I was at Thalia, I had a sinking feeling that she
was right. It was my fault.
What had Annabeth wanted to tell me in the gym? Something serious, she'd said. Now I
might never find out. I thought about how we'd danced together for half a song, and my heart
felt even heavier.
I watched Thalia pacing in the snow at the edge of camp, walking among the wolves
without fear. She stopped and looked back at Westover Hall, which was now completely dark,
looming on the hillside beyond the woods. I wondered what she was thinking.
Seven years ago, Thalia had been turned into a pine tree by her father, to prevent her
from dying. She'd stood her ground against an army of monsters on top of Half-Blood Hill in
order to give her friends Luke and Annabeth time to escape. She'd only been back as a human
for a few months now, and once in a while she would stand so motionless you'd think she was
still a tree.
Finally, one of the Hunters brought me my backpack. Grover and Nico came back from
their walk, and Grover helped me fix up my wounded arm.
"It's green!" Nico said with delight.
"Hold still," Grover told me. "Here, eat some ambrosia while I clean that out."
Nico began to show us as bunch of figurines he had into his bag, the figurines resembled the retailing of Greek myths, hence the gods and demi-gods. He asked me a ton of questions along the lines of "Can you surf?"(I was about to choke Grover for the look he gave me) and "Is Annabeth your girlfriend?" (I didn't answer to that one. )
Then, as I was about to lose my cool, Actis and Zoe came up to us.
As my gaze shifted to them, I couldn't help but notice the difference they bore. Zoe had dark brown eyes and a slightly upturned nose, with her silver circlet and her proud expression, she looked so much like royalty, and she appeared around the age of 16. On the other hand, Actis had sharp gray eyes and despite her mature and scarred look, she didn't appear older than a pre teen, as young as Nico even, and her half ponytail and tendrils that covered the edges of her face gave her a much piercing and dangerous look then intended.
"Percy Jackson" Zoe said, "Lady Artemis wishes to see you" Actis concluded.