Percy Jackson: The Wolf Curse

Chapter 4: The Hunt's Hunt

[Percy's POV:]

It was midday and the hunt was halfway to its destination. A creek located half a mile east of the Cyclops gathering, according to Karla the hunt had been based there more than a few times. It seemed to be a place of great pain to Artemis and she was very reluctant to go there again. Aria was asleep on my back gripping my fur and snuggling herself in as much as she could. Karla began to tell me the story that was attached to the pain.

It was a story from when the hunters of Artemis was relatively new, a hunter by the name Callisto who at the time was regarded as Artemis' best friend and confidant. Unfortunately she also attracted the attention of Artemis's father, the drama queen himself who everyone knows can't keep it in his pants. Zeus disguised himself as Artemis in an attempt to seduce Callisto, she refuted his advances, but of course Zeus had his way with her anyway. Fearing Artemis' fury she hid her resultant pregnancy from her only to be caught later during a bathe and exiled from the hunt as well as changed into a bear for her lies. The next time the hunt were to see her, would be her last. This happened in the very creek they were heading to, Callisto's very constellation, Ursa Major placed by Zeus in guilt, was best viewed from that spot.

Percy realised that this was the very same constellation that Zoe had them follow during their quest.. he realised it was probably her who had killed her in the end though couldn't be certain.

Percy wasn't quite sure why Karla had told him this, sure Artemis' mood was sub par, even the hunters had noticed, when they asked she shrugged them off meaning they clearly didn't know the story. "Why tell me this? I'm grateful that you did, but why me?" She looked thoughtful for a moment before replying "because you seem to genuinely care" those words made no sense to me, of course I would, who wouldn't? Pushing the thoughts aside, we all walked in silence, the story still playing fresh in my mind. To think the constellation that led them through that Junkyard was linked back to Artemis in such a way was nearly as strange as becoming a wolf himself.

"It was a mistake to cast her out like that, even if she lied. It was out of fear, I could've helped her through it. She was raped by my father and I cast her out and I'm forever sorry for that" spoke Artemis, she must have heard my thoughts and while her actions were horrible to say the least, her genuine regret and guilt near enough made up for that fact. The gods all have their evil sides and their good even Hestia who did a minor "evil" to better the good with Prometheus even going as far to protect him from the punishing aftermath of her sneaky actions to bestow a small part of the hearth's fire on the mortals through him. Percy couldn't help but wonder why he knew such a story, perhaps Greek history class had actually managed to teach him more than he thought.

"Lady Artemis, we all do things that we regret and as an immortal those regrets will be bigger than most. Callisto's sacrifice can serve as a good thing should you learn from it" I'm sounding WAY too much like an Athenian child. I put those thoughts aside once more trying to remain focused on the conversation at hand.

"Perhaps, thank you Damian. I needed that. Now let's hurry up and get to the creek. I think a sacrifice to the stars is in order" with that we travelled the rest of the way chatting about minor things such as what meat was better boar or bear somehow we concluded deer to be the best, not sure how that even became part of the convo.

Before we knew it, we had arrived at the creek and Artemis still had a look of despair from the memories it held. Callisto and her friendship was practically as strong as Zoe's was, if not more. I volunteered to hunt for Callisto's sacrifice while the others hunted something for Zoe. The obvious choice would be a bear since she was turned to one, but then I realised that would basically be cannibalism and probably offensive to her. Instead I began tracking down the largest deer I could find. I know fish would be more appealing to a bear, but that ain't happening while I'm here Simple as that.