Fear of Erebus

Camp Half-Blood

For the first time in centuries, I humiliatingly tripped and fell square on my face.

"Lady Artemis, are you okay?" Several worried hunters rushed forward but I shooed away their offered hands and hurled myself to my feet. Brushing a few of the dried leaves from my pants, I turned to find a very uncomfortable and nervous looking Luke Castellan and... no door—what a surprise. Castellan, unfortunately, caught my quizzed look and supplied a simple answer:

"Yeah, it does that." I hope he was referring to the door.

"Where are we?" I heard Lisa ask.

"I think the more important question is why in Hades is the traitor here?" Phoebe snarled, taking a menacing step towards the male. I saw his hand twitch towards his sword, keeping a wary eye upon Phoebe's movements.

"Wait," I instructed, hoping Phoebe and the others would listen to reason. I stepped between them, if Perseus was true to his word, then it wouldn't hurt—too much—to protect the traitor. "Wait, just let me explain. You can't hurt him," Several yells of protest and the unsheathing of knives and daggers answered. "LET ME EXPLAIN!"

"Lady Artemis, what's going on?" Thalia's calm voice cut through the shouting like a battle axe to a mortal neck.

"I made a deal. With Perseus." Several of the girls were patient and allowed me to explain the bargain but Phoebe, always so doubtful, so hostile, glared at Castellan like he was nothing more then an annoying piece of dirt upon a clean white surface—which is, in all honesty, kind of true... "Perseus promised to assist in the war, only if we—the demigods, the gods, satyrs and spirits—give Luke Castellan a second chance."

An uproar of disapproval. Many making unquestionable claims about why it was such a bad idea, many of which I would happily agree with, but I was goddess of instinct and my instincts were flaring like wildfire; this war will take a miracle to survive.

I put my hands up, to quieten them. "Listen, I don't care if you can or can't trust this male," I pointed in his general direction. "And that's completely fine, just at least don't kill him!" My only response were an symphony of grunts. I nodded, satisfied that they agreed to this much. Only then did I notice Hylla and Reyna standing off to the edge of our group, having a heated discussion and it only made me wonder what kind of deal Perseus made with them.

"Well, then, that only leaves the other question. Where in Hades name are we?" Lisa asked once again.

"Camp Half-Blood." Only after I had said it, did I realise that I was completely in sync with the Castellan boy. I gave him a questioning glare. He only shrugged and began walking in the direction of the camp.

"Just because I haven't been here in ages, doesn't mean I can't remember what these woods were like!" He stated over his shoulder.

"WAIT! Wait, wait, wait!" I rushed ahead of him, ultimately preventing him from doing something foolish; like walking into the camp he had desperately tried to destroy on several occasions. "You can't just walk in there!" I indicated to the camp just over my shoulder. Despite the midday sun, no one, luckily, had seen us... yet. Castellan paused and looked down at me.

"Oh." It was as if he had momentarily forgotten that he pretty much had a 'Traitor of the Century' sign pinned to his back. This is why I don't work with men!

"Listen, just follow my lead, don't say anything and try to look as inconspicuous as possible!" I looked over his shoulder to address the others. "Does anyone have a hoodie or a cap?" As one of the girls rummaged through their backpack, I caught Castellan looking hopelessly over the camp. So close, yet so far. When will mortals learn?