To The Moon

Chapter 27

A/N

I feel like I have made Athena and Poseidon's relationship better than I have Artemis and Percy's. Hopefully this chapter will clean all of that up.

Percy POV

"Perseus Achilles Jackson," Artemis' stern voice called out from above me. I shot up and opened my eyes.

"What? What's happening?" Artemis stood there a small smirk playing on her lips, with her hands on her hips.

"We're going to climb a mountain today," she looked at me, an evil glint in her eyes.

I gulped. "Which one?" I asked.

She looked at me, "Luna Peak."

"Aren't we next to Luna Creek? And there is a lake upstream called Luna Lake?" I asked.

"Precisely. That is why I chose this valley, Percy. It has ties to the moon." She finished.

"I'm ready, are you ready?" I asked.

"You're not ready." She shook her head at me.

"I'm not?" The confused phrase came out of my mouth

"No," She said bluntly. She snapped her fingers. Some boots and crampons along with some ice axes appeared in front of me. "This mountain isn't very intense, but we would rather be safe than sorry."

I nodded at her words. "You should also get some winter clothing." She suggested.

I snapped my fingers and my clothes were suddenly fit for mountaineering. I put the boots on and grabbed the ice axe. "Ready." I concluded.

She nodded her head, and we walked out of the tent. My watch was covered by my jacket, but I could tell that it was two in the morning.

We walked out of the camp and started our journey up the mountain. The moon shone brightly above, mitigating the need for a headlamp.

We continued to trudge up the mountain, until we reached the sheer part where I started sliding down a few weeks ago. Instead of turning around and finding another route, Artemis just dug her ice axe into the wall. I followed suit and started making my way up the side of the wall.

When we reached the top of this small wall, a lake, clear as glass, stood in front of us. We walked around the lake and started trudging up the side of the mountain. Eventually, we had to continue to hoist ourselves up with the ice axes.

Although the work was tiring, the mountain wasn't all that tall. We were already at above 5000 feet and when we got past the steepest of the mountain, we could just walk along the ridge to the rest of the summit.

The climb was surprisingly easier than I had anticipated. I brushed it off as being a god as we continued to the summit under the moonlight. Once we reached the top, it looked like no other place I have ever been. On all sides, there were mountains as far as the eye could see. And just past the edge of the west mountains, you could see the city lights of Seattle very gently illuminating the mountains.

I sat down in the snow. The mountains were breathtaking but I was sore. Mainly my back from all of the cooking I did yesterday. Artemis continued Gaping at the surrounding area. I balled up a little bit of snow from the ground and tossed it at her.

"Hey!" She pouted, clearing her neck of snow.

"Hay is for horses, cows eat it too!" I called back.

"You're not funny," She looked at me, biting her lip.

I just balled up some more snow and tossed it at her. She swiftly dodged it and grabbed some of her own snow. She tossed it at my face, and from my sitting position, I couldn't dodge.