The Unclaimed

Chapter 35: A monster that refuses to stay in the Underworld

   I was done with my quest. I was angry at the gods. Tired with the fates. And overall just fed up with being treated like an irrelevant pawn. All I wanted was to know who my parents were, without having to jump through hoop after hoop; was that really to much to ask for? These thoughts were spinning around in my mind as we ran.
   "Hey are you ok?" Thalia had appeared out of nowhere. "And save yourself some trouble and tell me the truth." I hesitated but then shrugged.
   "I've been better but I've also been worse." I said honestly. "I feel like I'm making progress but I'm irritated that I even need to make progress. Like, I feel like it's unfair that I've had to go through all of this just so I can find out who my dad is. And it makes me mad." Thalia listened to me rant respectfully. She waited until she was sure I was finished before she responded.
   "I'm not shocked that you're feeling this way," I looked at her confused; she continued speaking. "I've seen people go crazy just because they found out that they were a demigod, which granted is a lot to take in. But you handled it well, you handled Michael only being your half-brother well, and you even handled remaining unclaimed pretty well. Something was bound to make you crack eventually; no matter how powerful you are, you're still just a human." Her words made me feel slightly better but there were still many unsettled feelings buried within me.
   "Is it possible to forget your godly genetics?" I asked her quietly. "Could someone live in the mortal world without getting tracked down and killed by monsters?" I wasn't sure what prompted me to ask this, I didn't want to give up being a demigod. (At least I don't think I did) Thalia raised her eyebrows skeptically at me but she still proceeded to answer my question.
   "It all depends on who your godly parent is because that dictates how strong your scent is to monsters." My shoulders slumped in defeat even though I had already know the answers.  Thalia put a hand on my shoulder. "I'm not going to say that I know what you're going through, because I don't. But what I do know is that you are a special demigod, and a very powerful one at that. Artemis, clearly, knows this as well. As mad as you are at the gods, don't try to run from something that you are destined for. People would miss you if you left, I would miss you." A year rolled down my cheek, I quickly wiped it away. My anger seemed to melt from within; it still existed but to a smaller extent. The positives were more visible now and for that I was grateful. A scream from one of the hunters ended our moment and we both immediately pulled our bows out and had an arrow notched. 
   Right in front of our group, a few mere yards away, was the Minotaur.
   "Why won't this friggin monster stay in the Underworld?" Thalia muttered under her breath. "He came to fight Percy twice and now Jessica, how is that fair?" I didn't gets chance to say anything because it charged at us. It was by far the biggest and ugliest monster I had ever faced; I wasn't sure whether to laugh at it or scream in fear. As my legs and arms moved faster than ever before and I acted off of pits instinct, nothing was clear to me. My body was so focused on fighting that I had no clue what was going on around me. My mind went blank. It wasn't until I saw one of my arrows his the ugly beast right between his eyes and his form disintegrated that I was able to relax. Into my hand floated a white peace of paper. I read it aloud.
   "Your will to live is impressive, your strength is almost to much,
    It is odd that one with such power simply desires a parents touch,
    Your father would view your wish as a  weakness,
    He would almost certainly say that you were showing to much meekness."
The color faded from Artemis's face. It was clear that she understood something in the message that I did not. All of us were quiet; everyone kept looking at one another. No one knew if they should speak or not.
   "Ladies please set up camp," Artemis said boldly. "Thalia I need to speak with you. Everyone please eat and then go straight to bed." I hadn't realized that it was getting dark out until she said this. She motioned for Thalia to follow her and then started to walk away from us. After shooting one last concerned look in my direction, Thalia followed her. The rest of us listened to directions; we set up camp, got food, and went to bed.