Lord of the Eclipse

7 | Camp Half-Blood

"Come, Apollo should be coming soon." Perseus gently guided Annabeth out of the tent, and took a look around. Bianca was talking to her brother, probably about what had happened inside the tent. The satyr was standing a few feet away from them, fiddling with his reed pipes nervously. The hunters were packing up camp and were milling around the area.

"You never answered my question. Who are you? I've never seen a guy act like that around Artemis." Annabeth stopped and grabbed Perseus' wrist.

Perseus was silent for a moment before deciding on a cover. "I'm an unclaimed demigod. Artemis agreed to take me to camp; she didn't realize they would find other demigods and there were no satyrs near where they found me. I'm going to be going with you and the hunters to Camp Half-Blood."

Annabeth nodded. "This must be different for you then, huh? I mean, I remember discovering that I was a half-blood." Perseus awkwardly shrugged. "Don't worry, you'll get used to it eventually." She offered a smile and turned to walk away. "You'll see. It isn't as bad as you might think."

Perseus stared after her. What was up with that? Was she... courting him?

"She was flirting with you. I have no idea why. You're a loaf of bread." Perseus turned to see Artemis. Giving her a weird look, he shrugged. He seemed to be doing that a lot. "Apollo should be here soon. He's taking you and the others to camp. Try to blend in as much as possible." Perseus absentmindedly hummed in agreement and stared into the east where the sun should be appearing.

"I don't like you going on this hunt alone. I have a bad feeling about it." He wasn't making it up. He had learned to trust his instincts while reforming; they were what led him to his siblings energies.

Artemis nodded but didn't respond for some time. They just stood side by side waiting for the sun to rise.

"I need to do this. I have a bad feeling about it too. There's no other option though." A feeling settled in Perseus' gut. He knew Artemis couldn't be swayed on the matter, but he also knew it would end in disaster.

He was about to respond when a blinding light shot through the clearing. "Cover your eyes!" He shouted. Annabeth was staring at the sky in confusion, so Perseus quickly stepped in front of her, shielding her body from the shining light, and searing his own eyes in the process. He hadn't fully recovered his godly powers then. That sucked.

Before his vision cleared, he could hear the gasps of surprise coming from the demigods. Perseus blinked the dancing black spots out of his vision and raised an eyebrow at the... thing... parked in the clearing. When Apollo got out, he smiled at Perseus, but acted like he didn't know him.

"Arty! What's up? I haven't seen you in so long-"

"Apollo, stop. I need you to take my companions to Camp Half-Blood, along with a few of Chiron's campers." Perseus stared intently at the thing in the clearing. What was it? It was obviously made of metal, but what was that noise coming from inside. Music, perhaps? Although not like any music they listened to back before Perseus almost faded.

"Sure, no problem. I feel a haiku coming on-"

Perseus threw a glance to Artemis while Apollo was reciting some horrible poetry. "What is that?" he mouthed, gesturing with his head to the thing in the clearing. His sister threw her hands in front of her mouth to hide a grin but a laugh still escaped. Perseus glared at her. All he wanted to know was what the Hades that thing in the clearing was, and here his sister was laughing at him. He gave her a look that clearly said, "Seriously? How immature are you? Just tell me what it is."

Annabeth was the only one to notice the exchange between the two.

"Alright everyone. Hop on in."