Pertemis A Wolf's Tale

Chapter XVIII: First Leave Of The Tale

Weeks passed then things just as well stayed the same. Percy walked towards the river, ready for the piles of clothes that were waiting for him. Since the day he had got the power, he didn't have to go to bed with an empty stomach anymore, although he still kept the traditional cooking because he knew Hestia wouldn't want him to overuse the power. He still remembered the nightmare of pains he had to endure that night. Even now he could sometimes felt the hot torrent of blood swirling inside him like lava. That he bolted up every night choking out the nothingness.

Yet, perhaps that agony had brought him and Artemis closer. He still remembered that night when she held on him until morning. She had warned not to mention it and even forget about that, but how could he. Even now when he had to wake up at night, coughing and choking, Artemis would often appear in his tent and patted on his back, smoothing him that it made the pain dissipated immediately. They still shared dinner, though, and the food he summoned for both was never limited that Artemis would always breathe out a sign of fullness and satisfaction after every meal.

He washed the clothes, tried it with his power by condensing the air and heat it up. The sodden fabric dried faster than usually put under the wind. He never actually washed their undergarment, it felt awkward and all and also he knew the hunters would have some misunderstand if he touched them. He left the undergarments out, and to his relief that they actually washed them themselves. Even if it was a test to see if he was really perverted, he actually passed it.

As he was about to walk back to camp, he noticed some strange flowers at the root of an old oak tree just near the river where he was washing the clothes. The flowers glinted under the sun with their yellow iridescent with blue. Its pollens swirled around the roots created a lustrous and delight torrent and movement of the northern light. Percy was drawn towards the flower and wonder how Artemis would feel if he gave her one. He knew she wasn't some kind of girls who would run around picking flowers, but being connected to nature, that would probably make her happy.

His hand moved closer to the flower until the torrent of pollen swelled in his nostrils. It was a blur of dizziness and trauma. It smelled like sulphur that the pollens traveled down his throat, made him wanted to rip it into ribbons. He was about to pull back but his fingers already touched a flower that his skin hissed and steamed under the touch. It was like touching a hot blade or acid that the pain traveled deep into his spinal core. He pulled back and winced, the burnt had dissolved his skin and flesh like poison, like snake venom. His knees buckled that Percy stepped back, astonished and perhaps scared those flowers more than anything. Even though his wound was starting to heal, thanks to his immortal blood, but he could still feel the sharp pain that it ached every nerve within him.

Maybe bringing it back would be a bad idea, Percy stated. No wonder why no one in camp has this flowers when its colour and appearance were so fascinating. It was indeed poisonous.

Percy glanced around, hoping there wasn't anyone around because if there was, especially with the hunters, then no doubt they would use the flowers in one of their pranks. And Percy knew that would be the most severe because right now, his fear for the flowers was even greater than Artemis.