The Huntress

Chapter 16

Jade's POV:

While I spoke, Lupa listened and offered some help. She would whisper suggestions and I would have to stop to listen.

When Lupa asked me how Tartarus turned the spirits insane, everything clicked. "The helmet. Hades' Helmet of Terror." I mutter, mostly to myself. The room exploded with disagreements.

"Silence!" I boom, even making Zeus shut up. "I can barely hear myself think," I mutter. "Preposterous!" shouts Hades.

"My helmet has been locked up ever since the Titan War!" "Lord Hades, please hear my explanation before defending yourself," I almost scold the god and he looks a bit sheepish as he sits.

"Think about it. How did Tartarus make spirits go mad? They practically have no mind to break. He made them go made through their eyes, their vision." Some nod in agreement.

"Tartarus is scary without the helmet, imagine him with the helmet." Even Hades nods. "But how did he get his hands on it then?" He asks and I stop and listen to Lupa. I echo her words, "The Furies. Their weakness was probably their loyalty to you." He nods and doesn't say another word.

"Does anyone have another topic to be discussed?" Asks Zeus. Nobody offers anything. "Meeting dismissed!" He yells and all the gods disappear except for Poseidon and Hestia.

Hestia walks to her hearth and begins to tend to it. Poseidon shrinks to his human for and starts walking towards me, but is stopped by a blonde. "Poseidon, where's Percy?" She asks and I can practically hear how she's trying not to cry.

I turn and begin to walk to the bathroom. I hear Poseidon's reply, "Percy is at Apollo's infirmary. He is very badly injured." I close the door and look at myself in the mirror.

I look worse that I feel.

I realise Apollo forgot about me and I don't know whether to be happy or upset. I wash my face off and the water comes off Brown and red. I take off my jacket and gasp.

All the way from the slash I got from that spirit to my forearm, my viens were black and ny skin is grey. That would explain why I can't move it.

I take a piece of ambrosia and suck on it as I rub a paste made up of some silver dust and water over the wound. I let it sit like that while I rub some of the same paste on my head injury.

After a minute or two, I wash it off and I see the wounds slowly closing and my black veins gradually returning to its original blue. I smile as I move my arm around a bit. I hear a knock on the door.

It's Hazel. "Just a minute!" I call and drink some nectar. My blurry vision immediately clears and my knee feels good as new. I wrap my jacket around my waist and open the door.

I step out and Hazel gasps at my arm. "Chill, it's healing. So what did you want to tell me?" She stares at my arm as she tells me, "Everyone wants to talk to you." I shrug and follow her outside.

'Everyone' actually means all the head councillors, the centaur and the Big Three children. Jason winces when he sees my arm. "Ow. That looks painful," he says and everyone looks at me.

They pale, but I laugh. "Nah, you get use to it." "You healed pretty quickly," observes the blonde. Annebeth. "Yep. My secret." She frowns in a mistrusting manner.

The centaur walks foreward and introduces himself before she can ask anything else. "I am Chiron, director of Camp Half Blood." I nod and he continues. "I offer you a place to stay if you ever need it at Camp." I smile and thank him.

A voice from behind me speaks and I jump a little. "I will make sure she arrives there when I have finished speaking with her." Chiron nods and suddenly the campers dissaper in a flash of light.

I turn around, facing Poseidon. "What would you like to know?" I ask him and he chuckles. "I would not like to know anything, I actually wish to tell you something." I nod and follow him as he walks to the back of the building.

When he turns to me again, he looks slightly different. He isn't wearing shorts and a Hawaiian shirt, but armour over a deep blue shirt and black pants. His face is a little bit more defined, almost handsome. Other than that, he looks the same.

He surprises me by pulling me into a tight hug. I don't resist. I take it as a thank you, and you don't get those everyday from a god. I pull away and he looks down at me, his eyes shining with pride.

He gently takes my wrist and turns it over. A black tattoo glimmers into view and I look away.

"Don't hide it," he says softly and I glance at it. The tattoo is of a wolf, looking fierce as if it's warning off a challenger. Behind it is a trident. It is a deep blue, matching his shirt, but it begins to glow when he touches it.

Below it is 5 lines.

I refuse to look at him so he gently grabs my chin to make me look at him. "I am very proud of you. Thank you, on behalf of all the gods." I nod and he lets go of my chin.

In a flash he's gone.

I quickly wipe away a tear and look at the tattoo I've been hiding for months. Yep, that's right. 3 months ago, this appeared on my arm. At first, I struggled to consistently hide it.

It was a very thick layer of Mist I hid it under, so that even the gods couldn't see through it.

The second I heard the prophocey, I wanted to turn tail and run. I didn't want to be part of it, but now? Now I want to kick Tartarus' butt straight back to his pit.