Greeks, Countrymen, Lovers, Monsters? (Sequel to Halfblood IsThicker Than Magic)

Yellowstone

Percy's P.O.V.

We gathered in the sitting room. We had precious little time left and I was fidgeting as Annabeth unrolled the scroll. Golden letters flashed across it and it took me a second to decipher the Greek letters.

'The second task is to capture the Ceryneian Hind,' Annabeth read out.

Silence followed the proclamation as we all racked our brains for any information on this task. As always, Annabeth was the first to come up with something. That something was not promising.

'Percy, the Ceryneian Hind, it took Hercules a full year to capture it, we-' her voice broke as we all realised the full implications of the task. 'We don't have that much time,' she finished quietly. I glanced at Nico who was looking shaky and pale.

'Then we have to find a way of completing the task quicker,' I said through gritted teeth.

'Look, can someone tell us a little more about this task?' Harry asked.

Annabeth nodded absent mindedly but didn't actually reply untill I nudged her with my elbow.

'The Ceryneian Hind,' she began, 'was the third task set for Hercules by Eurystheus and Hera. They were angered that he had completed everything so far and it was obvious that he would be able to defeat anything they named and so they thought up something new. He would have to capture, not kill, the hind and bring it back to them as proof. It was said that the hind could outrun an arrow and was impossible to catch.'

'Sounds easy,' Ron jested but his smile didn't reach his eyes. He was as despairing as the rest of us.

Annabeth chuckled humorlessly. 'The only problem then is the fact that it is Artemis' sacred animal and I think the goddess would not be too pleased if we captured her sacred animal for the other gods.'

'How did Hercules get round it then?' Hermione asked. 'He obviously managed to complete the task.'

'Don't know,' Annabeth shrugged and I turned to gape at her.

'You don't know?' I repeated incredulously. She huffed and scowled at me.

'No one knows, Seaweed Brain. There are lots of different tales. One story is that he shot an arrow between its front legs, another is that he met Artemis in the woods and she told him to go back and tell Eurystheus what had happened and that his labour would be complete. However, I doubt that Poseidon would be satisfied with that. The most common version though is that he caught it in a net while it was sleeping and met Artemis on the way back. He apologised to her and she forgave him on the condition that he returned it once he had shown it to Eurystheus.'

'Okay then,' I replied. 'We find a net and capture it in its sleep and make a pact with Artemis.'

Annabeth sighed. 'Look Percy, you know Artemis. How likely is it that she will just let us trap her sacred animal, huh? We're not as fast or strong as Hercules and we don't even know where the hind is. Plus we probably wont have a convenient chance meeting with Artemis on the way back because all the gods are too busy in Olympus yelling at each other like a bunch of children!'

'Hey, I resent that!'

Annabeth let out a shriek and we all jumped to face the figure leaning against the counter.

'Lord Apollo! What are you doing here?' Nico gaped at the god.

'Came to check up on you guys. Your quest interests me and I thought I could write a poem about your progress. Not that you've made much from the looks of it.'

I clenched my fists and took a deep breath, forcing myself not to deck Apollo, god status regardless. 

'Please, not another haiku!' Ron begged as Apollo cleared his throat.