Percy Jackson, the Son of Olympus: The Lightning Thief

| Chapter XVIII || "I Thought You Were My Friend!" |

*January 5 XXXX*

*Thief's Point of View*

***

I watched through the misty screen as Percy met up with Artemis. 'No! This ruins everything! She's not as oblivious as the demigods! My job will fail and my master will blame me if his plan isn't put into action.'

I watched a bit more, and saw that she was quite fond of Percy, but so was Annabeth. 'Hmmm, this gives me an idea.'

'Once they get to the Underworld, I'll kidnap Percy and be on my way, delivering him to my master. Their quest will fall apart, and so will they with him gone. Then master will be pleased with my work and I won't have to worry about him using Annabeth for anything. If only I could get her on my side. So that she doesn't get hurt in the crossfire.'

I continued watching the screen, and suddenly, an idea popped into my head. 'Master can contact her in her dreams. He can promise her Percy and a place on the winning side. She will be a great asset to us. And most importantly, she will be safe from harm.'

I swiped through the screen and dashed away from the secret spot, covering my tracks. I returned to my cabin at camp, jumping into bed and closing my eyes, ready to contact my master with this new idea...

***

*Percy's Point of View*

***

Okay, saying that I was surprised and happy to see Artemis there is an understatement. I really missed hanging out with her on Olympus.

We sat together, eating baked sweets and talking about how we were going to retrieve the two stolen items. Annabeth had woken up a while ago and had been acting sort of weird lately, ever since she woke up.

She stayed with Travis, but I occasionally caught her looking over at Artemis and me. The two of them were also being sort of secretive as if they were planning something.

I shrugged it off, though, since I was way too excited to see Artemis again. I had a smile on the whole time, unable to wipe it off my face. We also talked about other things during the ride, like what we did while we were apart, and how we were going to prank our next victim. Of course, we never went small with any of our pranks. They were always very complex, which was one of the reasons we never got caught.

When the train finally stopped, Artemis and I gathered up our things and walked out, followed by Travis and Annabeth. I took Artemis' hand and led her through the crowd and out of the subway station.

Finally, we were in Los Angeles. I breathed in the city air, looking around at the busy streets. Artemis gripped my hand. She wasn't a city person. Of course, the only city she'd ever been in was Olympus. She spent all of her other time in the forest with her hunters.

"Stay close," I whispered to her, and she snuggled closer into my side.

I felt my cheeks heat up, but I just shrugged it off as her being cold. There did seem to be a cold wind blowing. There wasn't any snow,though, like what you would see in the rest of the world, but it was definitely chillier than I was used to down in the southern hemisphere.

I walked forwards, our little group of four making our way to the street for a taxi. I was thinking ahead and quickly stopped in a pet store. I bought a large red rubber ball, for reasons that I kept a secret from my companions. Whenever I visited the Underworld, I'd always have to bring a ball.

Once we reached the street, after a few close calls, we found a taxi that would take us to the Underworld's entrance. We could pay a visit to the Underworld to talk to Uncle Hades. He would know if anything was giving off a big energy surge around this area.