Chapter 14: The day before the Quest

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Thalia POV:
As I was talking with Percy, and the others as well as Annabeth and the five others have left the Council Palace. Artemis came up to me, with a deathly glare as she saw me talking with Percy. I couldn't blame her, since she figured out that the Assassin's could've stolen the bow, but she didn't have to look so evilly at Percy for it. Besides, Percy is my friend, and I know he wouldn't steal anything from a god or goddess, even if he was framed for stealing my dad's lightning bolt, blowing up a national monument, and blew up a school... Twice. "THALIA GRACE"!!! Artemis yelled at me, stomping towards me. "do not speak with this boy! Now come with me! You will pack and be on your way"! She gripped my arm tightly with an iron grip, and practically dragged me out of the palace. And before Artemis could vanish us both out of Olympus, I looked back at Percy and said "see you tomorrow Perc-", but I did not finish, as I felt lady Artemis's hands get warmer and hotter. An indication of her about to teleport. So as quickly as lady Artemis' hand began to feel as warm as the sun's heatwaves, I hurriedly shut my eyes as tight as I could, and I felt a flash of intense heat, and in seconds later that heat died down, and Artemis' grip had let loose from my arm. Thank gods too, even for my godly half-sister, she has one tight grip. She looked like as if she'd want to hunt a boy down while he was a Jackalope. Apollo actually calls that the Artemis  face.
She started walking off from where I stood, and I realized we were teleported back to our camp, except it looked abandoned as the wood fire was smoking with a slight black smoke and ashes, and the camp was silent as I heard none of the hunters. In fact, there were only two tents left, mine and Artemis' tents. "I've sent them on their way to camp for just a few days" Lady Artemis spoke, with a tone of annoyance or temper. She went inside her tent, and came out a few seconds later with a silver backpack, and handed it to me. "Now start packing, it's enchanted to carry anything weightless and bottomless. Pack only what you need and you will be on your way tomorrow". I nodded, and walked towards my tent. But before entering, Artemis halted me saying "wait". I stopped and turned. "Yes m'lady"? She sighed and said "once you're on that quest, keep an eye on the Jackson boy, I fear I do not trust him, and neither should you". I knew that lady Artemis knows of Percy as an Assassin, but it doesn't mean he's the enemy. "Yes lady Artemis. But please, don't think of Percy as the enemy".
"But he is an Assassin Thalia". She replied.
"Yes, I understand that, but he saved us all, twice. But he isn't the enemy, he just doesn't know about what's happening-". "Of course he doesn't, because he's a BOY". She said boy very harshly as always, but the way she said it was most likely rage. She sighed and rubbed her temple as if having a headache. "Thalia Grace, you are my dearest half-sister, and even if Perseus is a hero, I don't trust him with the Assassins. I care about you dearly Thalia, and I don't want anything to happen to you, besides, our father would punish me for a millennia if I let anything happen to you. And if you side with Perseus if he's the enemy, I would have no choice but to remove you from the hunt".  As she said the last part, I felt like having a heart attack. I never want to be removed from the hunt. I only joined them to escape the great prophecy a few years ago after Zöe Nightshade died. But what if I do side with Percy, would I still be a hunter, or no better than the Assassins? "Do I make myself clear"? Lady Artemis asked calmly, in an ordering tone. I sighed, nodded slightly and replied with a "yes". Lady Artemis' face has softened, and so has her voice. "Good. So now pack and you will sleep here tonight, and you will be on your way tomorrow". I nodded and entered my tent. Packing the bag with my assortments of hunter's clothes, normal clothes, and my weapons of hunting knives, and my bow and quiver. And also my favourite leather jacket that I had since I was fourteen, of course it was a little small, but I still like it. And as I continued packing, I looked in the small chest I had next to my sleeping bag, I looked inside and grabbed my small pouch of gold drachmas and a ziplock bag of 300$ cash for emergencies. But as I packed them in the bag's small pockets, on the bottom of the chest was one of my oldest photos, one of me, Percy, and Annabeth at camp by the campfire. Another one was of me, Grover, and Zöe at the Hoover dam I took during our quest to find lady Artemis before we got trapped by the skeleton warriors. And the last photo was one of my oldest when I was fourteen with Luke and Annabeth when she was just seven, and we went to an ice cream shop in Mississippi and got Annabeth a cone of strawberry ice cream, that was also the day Grover found us and started bringing us to camp.

 And the last photo was one of my oldest when I was fourteen with Luke and Annabeth when she was just seven, and we went to an ice cream shop in Mississippi and got Annabeth a cone of strawberry ice cream, that was also the day Grover found us and...

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Even though we're living in a world of monsters and gods, there are still some pretty good memories to remember. If I'm going on this quest, I would want to bring these photos for good memories. So once I was done packing, I walked out and decided to head out into the woods while lady Artemis was gone to Olympus for a few hours. I wanted to provide some meat for the hunters, so I decided to hunt some rabbits and elk. I grabbed my bow and quiver and knives, and went out into the woods.
***later***
Well, not that much luck for hunting, as I found no traces for tracks or scents of animals, not even a footprint for a rabbit. So I retraced my steps and returned to the camp, where lady Artemis was waiting for me by the burning campfire. "Where were you"? She asked on my return. "Went hunting for some rabbits or elk while you were gone. No luck today m'lady". She nodded and said "Well I am glad you are still here", and she gestures for me to head to my tent. "Sleep well tonight Thalia, I'll wake you up tomorrow for the quest". "Thank you lady Artemis". I said and returned to my tent. I went in my sleeping bag with my hunting clothes still on, and I comforted my head on my pillow. Within a few minutes my eyelids shut as if they were heavy as lead, and I fell into slumber.
*dream*
During my sleep, I had one of the most terrifying, yet mysterious dreams yet. I had no physical form in my dream, but instead I saw flashes of memories, all in different time periods, which is weird because I don't even account knowing these things. One flash was of the Middle Ages, and a crowd was gathered around a hanging, another was during a sort of Carnival party in the Italian city of Venice, a third flash of the Pantheon in Rome where a crowd of cardinals in red and guards of Roman silver armour surrounded a carriage and the temple. The fourth flash showed the old city of what I thought was Turkey, Constantinople, and an old man has been standing on the tower overlooking the city in a black hooded robe. So many flashes of many different time periods. One of them a eighteenth century battle of British and patriot soldiers, another of a Caribbean Sea overlooking a floating ship with a man wearing a leather vest with a white tattered hood over his head with twin swords at his belt. And another ship sailing across the snowy sea of the Atlantic, as a man in black robes and leather gloves sailed across the sea. Another of the old city of Paris of the people rebelling against the guards during a beheading, and amongst the crowd was a man in dark blue wore a good with a sheathed rapier sword on his belt. And one more of the city of London, England, of a sort of fight between two gangs of men and women in red and yellowish green, and among them were both a man and a woman in black jackets as they wore hoods over their heads, Assassins. "If, I want to live, I live" I heard with the voice of a man. "If, I want to take, I take", okay, this was freaking me out now. "If I want you to die, YOU DIE"!!! As the voice said the last sentence I saw visions of war, bloody massacres and people being hung or stabbed, while they screamed for mercy. I couldn't bear to look at this all, as this was all scaring the life out of me, as I felt like I couldn't breathe, and suddenly, I woke up, breathing heavily as I recounted for what happened, trying to get it all out of my head. Did all of that really happen? Was I really seeing visions of the past? and why were those visions coming to me? As I remembered the nightmare, I recounted seeing one more flash, of two different symbols glowing red; a Red Cross, and the Assassin symbol. And I recounted something I learned in history about that Red Cross, and I realized what it was. They were people in the Middle Ages who were Knights serving for the church, and robbed the fortune of innocent people. And I realize now that the single cross in the last flash in my dream, was a symbol of the Templar order.
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A/N: sorry for the long update, I was just too busy or too lazy by playing Battlefield for a long time to update this book. But how was it? Leave a comment and vote.

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