A Fire Burns Within Me Version 2

Hunters and Unfortunate Insanity

Previously:
A rustle of leaves and light footsteps then I suddenly saw a face I did not realize I had missed.

"Aww," she let out before dropping next to me and running her fingers through my fur.

You won't be saying that when you realize who I am, I thought with a mental snigger. I now have blackmail.

"You will be coming with me," Thalia said, picking me up with a surprising amount of ease. "We will fix you right up."

I can honestly say that I have never been more weirded out by a dimension. And that's saying a lot considering the sunshine and daisies dimension I just came from. And that fairy tale one...

Maybe I should focus more on going into saner dimensions.

I have spent the past hour and a half being pet and passed around the hunters to be cooed over. Apparently, I wasn't a wolf like I initially thought. I am a wolf pup. Not only is it awkward but it's embarrassing.

"Where did you find him, Thalia?" That was the current hunter hugging and squeezing me like I was a stuffed animal. My leg had been bandaged but still, every move to it hurt like Hades.

At my whimper of pain, Thalia took me back. Which I was grateful for because I knew she would at least not be so touchy-feely. Or so I thought.

I let out a huff of annoyance as Thalia kissed my nose. How ridiculous, my cousin would never show her affection that way. It was normally small electric zaps or punches.

"In the forest," she answered.

"Why were you in there?" A different girl asked. "Phoebe already went hunting today and Atlanta is on patrol."

"I was trying to follow...him," Thalia's voice dropped to a low whisper.

Him? Who's him? I thought to myself.

"Why? Do you not trust the Guardian?" This voice belonged to a small girl of around ten. I'm pretty sure she was fairly new because any other hunter would not have said that about this Guardian who is so obviously a male. "He brought Zöe back, didn't he?"

Zöe?

"No, and neither should you," a new voice said. "We don't know who he is."

"Lady Artemis! How did it go?" Every hunter was looking eagerly at the auburn haired goddess for a response.

"Lord Zeus will not change his mind," Artemis said. "He is convinced more than ever now that we need the Guardian. And he insisted it was not his choice on whether he stayed or not."

There were groans all around.

"Fine," Phoebe said. "We'll make him want to leave."

There were murmurs of agreement.

Artemis, however where very uncomfortable with Phoebe's evil glint in her eye. "Ok, but nothing drastic," Artemis agreed. "I don't want to explain that we killed him to Father."

Thalia huffed and left the camp fire angrily with me dangling helplessly from her arms.

What the heck is going on?

When Thalia finally stopped, she sat on a fallen tree and lifted me to her face. We stayed there for an unknown amount of time. Until-

"What are you going to name him?"

I yelped in surprise and twisted in the hands holding me in midair to see a ninja fall front he trees and land right in front of Thalia. He had a deep hood and wore a blue tinged cloak with silver lining. A bow and quiver hung on his right shoulder and a pair of knives at his waist. His voice sounded familiar too, like I know it on a very personal level. Or like I'd heard it recently.