The Hunters of Artemis (Chapter 23)

Quote:"There is a fine line between a joke, and a crime. Once you cross that road, you deal with the consequences. "

I make it just in time. Whew, close call.

I see Artemis and basically every hunter all gathered at the campfire. They all seem to be in a really bad mood, this will be tough, to say the least. Every hunter wears standard animal skin clothing, as well as a silver pendent, and other silver accessories. Almost all of them have a quiver, as well as a bow. Some have daggers on their waists, and each are prepared for almost anything. Usually on their free time, Thalia told me they were allowed to wear casual clothing.

I decided to warp near the mass of hunters, I don't warp close since they don't know me yet, so I may as well put up a sign that says "shoot me".

"Hi Artemis." I mentally facepalm at my choice of words.

The hunters all gasp and stare at me with distaste. Artemis comes up to me and greets me.

"Girls, this will be our guardian until Gration and Python are sent back to Tartarus. And please do not anger him, because he happens to be a very influential person." Artemis announces to the hunters.

"We don't need help from males we can handle ourselves! He would only try to flirt and claim all the glory for himself!" Pheobe shouted, glaring at me. The Hunters slowly agreed with her as well.

"I have sworn an oath to never flirt or have an affair with any of you. I know each of you are capable of defending yourselves very well, but Gration and Python have arrived when Olympus is still recovering from Doomsday. I will treat each of you as equals, but I only ask for the same in return." I stated calmly.

"How dare you enter our camp, and taint it with your foul presence? You even demand from us? You are like all other men, pigs!" Atalanta screamed at the top of her lungs.

"There are bad men in this world, but there are good ones as well. Same rule applies to women, especially the one who broke my heart long ago." I said solemly.

Artemis nodded in sympathy, and Thalia gasped as she figured out who I was. She recognized my voice and attitude I guess.

"A woman cannot break a man's heart! That is impossible, you are lying to us!" A younger hunter exclaimed angrily.

"You don't believe me? Think about Medusa, who would trick men into falling for her, just to turn them into stone. Think of every empousa you have ever seen, who all wish to trick mortals and demigods alike into falling for them, only to devour them." I replied.

Artemis started to glare at me for some reason.

"Both of those are monsters! Monsters are just as bad as men!" Retorted someone in the crowd.

I sigh in frustration, I mean, I probably should have expected this, since they are literally taught that all men are bad from the second they joined the hunt. I bet some of them have been here since BC times.

"Look, I am here to help each of you live. If any of you ever see me flirt or do anything of that sort of manner, you may tell Lady Artemis and she will have me removed as Guardian. Simple as that." I reason.

"We don't need a male guardian! You are probably weaker than our youngest hunters!" Pheobe shouted.

"I am the guy who lives over there." I point in the direction where my house is.

Pheobe gasps, remembering the barrier incident. She glares at me, and the other hunters look surprised. Pheobe was one of the oldest Hunters, and whatever made her gasp must mean she knew that I was extremely strong.

"I will leave each of you alone if you wish, I will give each of you respect and privacy you all deserve. I will protect each of you with my life if I need to. Lady Artemis was given the choice between me and I am guessing Heracles, so I assume each of you do not want to be near that guy." I explain.

Artemis, at this point, is bored of hearing this go on and on, so before any hunters can speak up, she starts.

"Everyone, he is only here until we beat Gration and Python, once the two are gone, he may leave. I trust him and I owe him a debt I cannot repay. I am certain he is one of the few good men still on Earth, so I expect you all to treat him as a Hunter." She announced.

The hunters all looked pretty ticked off, but all of them obeyed Artemis. They all walked out of the gathering area and went to do their daily activities. That left me and Artemis.

"So, what do I do?" I ask. I know I was the Guardian, but nobody was currently attacking the Hunt.

"I don't know, I havent had a Guardian in over 2 millenia, and back then, everyone had to be on guard at all times, since we werent as good back then. I guess that you just do whatever the Hunters do. You can take up the jobs and chores that most of them do." She explains.

"What kind of jobs and chores?" I ask.

"Like sharpening our arrows, daggers, fixing our bows to keep them working, cleaning the clothes, or things such as that." Artemis tells me.

"Sounds easy enough." I reply.

"Alright, now go." She commands.

She turns to leave, but I tell her something while she leaves.

"Look, Artemis, I want you to know that you don't owe me anything. I know that you feel like you owe me for a lot, I can see it in your eyes and in the tone of your voice. You want to repay me for everything, but I need to tell you that you don't." I tell her in a serious voice.

She sighs heavily, as if she hoped she didn't have to run into this. "It is impossible for me to repay you. I helped send you to a place worse than the Underworld, only for you to return and save all of us." She replied in a sad tone.

"You don't owe me anything. Tartarus was bad, but remember what I said. It was where I met Zoë, and had some of the best times of my life. While it did have a bad ending, I assure you, it could have been a lot worse. I saved the world, but really, what makes you think I owe you? I saved Olympus three times, and during the first 2, you didn't act like you owed me, so why now? I understand that you feel like you are in a debt that is impossible to pay off, but you already have. You allowed me, another son of Poseiden into the hunt despite previous events. I forgive you and I swear that you don't owe me at all. Just don't start being rude or all Anti-Male on me and stuff ok?" I explain in a long explanation.

Artemis looks dumbfounded. This must be the first time she has ever seen a male give forgiveness after...well...everything.

She looks more relaxed, as if a large weight was lifted from her shoulders.

"Thank you Perseus. And to be truthful, I did feel like I owed you a lot. But if you are certain that the debt has been repaid, I will treat you as a normal Guardian from now on." She informed me.

"Thats fine, just don't act like Zeus and we'll be fine. You are the leader of the hunt, and since I am technically part of the Hunt, you are my leader. Despite me being more powerful than you, you are free to boss me round k?" I tell her.

She gives a rare smile of relief. "You really are a good man Perseus. Listen, I already know that many of the girls will try to make your life quite difficult now that you are their Guardian, so I warn you to be careful around them for a while. Now I must straighten up the girls, some are quite shaken still." She sighs.

She flashes out, but she clearly is much less stressed about me being the Guardian.

I hear clapping behind me. I already knew who was behind me, I sensed their presence, but I will allow her to know who I am.

"Kelp head?" Thalia shrieks at my face.

"Yes, Pinecone Face?" I smile as I lift my hood up and show her my face.

She rushes forward and tries to strangle me to death in a hug.

"Why didn't you tell me you were our new guardian?" Thalia shouts and raises her hand.

"Oh yeah....about that.." I try to find answers.

"Still a Seaweed Brain. So you are going to protect us?" She asks me.

"Yup." I said popping the 'p'

"Awesome!" She exclaims, and she playfully punches my arm.

"Why is your skin hard as a rock?" Thalia notices.

"A lot of things, but I can do this now." I explain and walk towards a pine tree. (Pun)

I grab the bark at the bottom of the tree, and I rip the whole tree from the roots up. I hold the whole tree sideways in my arm, add I see Thalia with her jaw open.

"Percy, why are you able to do that?" She asks with awe.

"Magic!" I exclaim.

Thalia rolls her eyes. "Why do I even bother? So any other superpowers?" She asks.

2 hours later

I showed her all my powers. She was so close to fainting infront of me. My last one was shapeshifting, in which she pouted in jealousy.

"How did you even get all those!?" She yells in my face.

"Long story." I tell her how I got these powers, killing Titans, the blessings, Zoë's soul, and Chaos' s blessing.

"So let me get this straight, you are supposed to stop whatever may be coming to endanger earth?" Thalia asks me.

"Once again." I roll my eyes as the fates.

"Well, its going to be nothing compared to living with us! Being the only male in the Hunters of Artemis will be tougher than fighting Kronos." She joked.

"Yeah, yeah, I know." I sigh.

"I will see you later, Kelp-for-Brains." She said as she walked back to her tent.

"See ya, Thunder Thighs." I smirked as she attempted to zap me before she left.

So I better get to work on those chores. The Hunters have an area near the lake they use to do their cleaning. Kinda old fashioned, but I guess it works.

I don't need to get a tent since I sleep like next door, and I don't really want to ask them, it would only cause another arguement.

I guess I will just help around, do whatever people ask me to do, if they ask kindly.

I walk around the whole camp, and it is pretty cool. I received many looks from others, mad, shock, anger, etc. Well, better get used to it.

Finally, I get to the cleaning area, and I see some girls cleaning laundry. It looks really tough, as the animal skin looks is like armor, so trying to clean them is quite frustrating. About 2 girls frown as they work, I guess I should help.

I walk towards them, and when they see me, they glare at me.

"You two need some help cleaning those?" I ask politely.

"No, we are doing fine." Mumbled a girl, who looked about 15. She had blond hair and tan skin, along with a skinny build. She looked like your average teenager.

"Like you could do any better than we are." Snorted the other, who looked about the same age. This girl had red hair, and most notably, blue eyes. She was bigger than the other girl, but than again, they aren't nearly as tall as me. I am pretty sure the tallest Hunter was 5"9. Artemis doesn't count for obvious reasons.

"Well, I was just asking. You guys look tired from working, I could finish it if you guys want." I stated calmly.

The girls looked at each other and shrugged. They walked past me and with my abnormal hearing, I heard them talking.

"Stupid boy, as if he could finish all those, Tina." One of them commented.

"I know Kailey." The other one snorted.

Well, at least I know their names.

I saw the remaining armor and clothes that needed to be cleaned. There were probably at least 60 to begin with, and the two girls had gotten it down to about 46.

I used my water control to make the water from the lake to wash the armor thoroughly. I submerge the armors and I make the water rub itself against them and at a very fast pace, making them basically scrape off any dirt or stains.

I do it one by one, so I don't reveal all my power, and I pretend to act tired when I finished. My hood helped keep my identity safe, and I would reveal myself soon maybe. I didn't want them to know who I was, since they probably would just annoy me to no end. Plus, some of them would hate me.

When I finished all of them in about 10 minutes, the girls who previously worked stared at me. They had been working for over 2 hours, and didn't even get half done, but I had done more than half of them in about 10 minutes.

The girls snapped out when I walked up to them.

"So, if you guys ever need help, ask me alright?" I fake panted.

The girls looked at me like I was an alien. I guess it was the first time a man had ever shown them kindness.

"Umm, Thank you, and we will tell you if we need you." Kailey replied.

"Thanks, I guess." Tina added.

I smiled, it was a start.

When I finished with Kailey and Tina, I walked out to the Archery area. I used to be unbelievably terrible at archery, but now, I bet I could go against Apollo. Maybe.

The Archery area wasn't just archery, as it also had many other activities such as swordplay, physical training, etc. Zoë once told me about this place. I wish she were here to see her sisters.

I haven't used a bow since I was in Tartarus, I guess I should practice a bit.

I pick up a bow, and I noticed it was a lot better than the ones at camp. I feel the bow to know its strength, and it felt right. I grab some arrows from a huge pile near a bush, and I get ready.

I notice an empty spot to shoot from. The targets are the classic ones.

White= The Worst

Black= Still Bad

Blue=Meh

Red= Good

Yellow=Great

Small Black Dot= Awesome

I line up my shot, and I breathe in. I let the arrow fly, and I open my eyes and I got a bullseye. (Small black dot)

I try again, same result. Overtime, I get the full hang of it, and I feel like I can't miss. My target is basically obliterated by now, the middle section is covered in arrows. The small black dot no longer exists, as it was punctured way too many times.

I notice a small crowd forming of like 15 girls. I continue to 'practice' and the girls stare at my success rate.

Pheobe steps up infront of my shot and stops me from practicing.

"How can a mere boy shoot so well?" She demands.

"Umm, you really want me to answer that question?" I ask her sarcastically.

"I challenge you to a game of Archery!" She tells me.

"Sure, why not?" I say casually. Some girls behind Pheobe snicker at me. I already knew Pheobe was the best archer here, and I want to see if I can beat her.

We get to a new, clean target area and start the competition. A crowd stands behind us, which makes me a bit uncomfortable to be honest. Pheobe smirks, as if she knows she will win.

"Okay male, the game is simple. We both take turns shooting until one of us misses the yellow area. Once an arrow misses that spot, the person who shot it has to make dinner. However, I doubt you can cook." She grins as she informs me.

I nod at her, she is like the female version of Jack, but at least Pheobe has a reason. She was taught this way for who knows how many millenia, so it makes sense she would act this way. Jack? Nah, he's just stupid.

She begins first and hits the target. She moves so I can shoot, and I also make it into the yellow.

After both of us have gotten over 6 arrows on the yellow spot each, we start to hit our own arrows on the target. She gritts her teeth, as if she expected to win on the first shot.

Two hours later

I was still perfectly fine, Pheobe however, was blistered to a pulp. Her fingers were red from pulling strings, and she looked extremely tired. Our board was so damaged, that when I shot it, it cracked apart and we had to replace it. The crowd was over half of all the hunters at camp.

"I will not...lose..to a ....male..." she panted out and pulled the string.

The arrow landed in the blue, so I won.

"How are you not tired? You must have cheated!" Pheobe accused me.

Some girls look at me skeptically, it must have looked impossible for me to beat her.

"I swear on the river styx I did not cheat." I state and thunder is heard in the distance. Pheobe looks like she was smacked by a fish, and was shocked that she lost in a competition for archery. She angrily glared at me.

The crowd stares at me before Artemis walks up to me.

"I thought you said you were terrible at Archery." She questioned.

"Zoë taught me." I said.

"Oh, I guess that does make sense." She says, rather embarrassed.

The crowd gasped at the name of Zoë. Artemis told me she was basically the Michael Jordan of the Hunters, and she was a legend amongst them all.

"You knew Zoë Nightshade?" Asked Atalanta.

"Yeah, I knew her. She was a great person and an even greater warrior than me." I say solemnly.

Artemis and her hunters all look at me with a new light. A man praising their best hunter? Anyone, male or female, who knew Zoë and was friends with her, would be considered very respected among the hunters. Although, some don't believe me, and little do any of them know the truth.

After the shock, the Hunters and I finished the competition, and Pheobe begrudgingly admitted defeat.She began to leave when I stopped her.

"Pheobe, it's fine, I will cook dinner." I suggested to her.

She looks at me skeptically. "You can cook?"

"Yeah, I have a sort of skill in cooking. I know that you hate losing, much less to me, and I don't want you or any other hunter to hate me. Alright? " I ask nicely.

Pheobe relaxes. "Thank you." She calmly walks back to her tent, and I notice some of the hunters staring at me oddly.

I walk past the stares and look for something else to do. It is late afternoon, so dinner is in about 2 hours.

A lot of hunters are still hateful against me, and I noticed this over the day. I was walking around the camp when a group of 4 girls stood infront of me.

"Get out of our camp, male." The one in front said.

I sighed, I knew this was not going to end well.

"What would you like?" I said with a smile plastered on my face.

"We want you to leave. Now." Another one said angrily.

"I am sorry, but I take orders from Lady Artemis." I said sarcastically.

The group of girls glared angrily, and each took out a dagger, probably made from silver.

"Get out, or we will make you, filth." The last one said.

"Sorry, can't do that." I reply, grinning under my hood.

The 4 girls charge at me, and I just flash behind them. The confused girls look around and spot me behind them. I laugh on the inside as the girls continue to try and stab me and I flash a certain distance away.

2 hours later

After a while, the girls got exhausted and the horn sounded for dinner time. Much like camp, this horn was more high-pitched.

The girls glared at me when I flashed away to the dining pavilion. The girls haven't arrived yet, and Lady Artemis was glaring at me across the area.

"You said you were supposed to cook dinner! I trusted you! I knew I shoul-" she began but I cut her off.

I snap my fingers and the tables that were set up were all filled with food from grilled chicken, sandwiches, chips, steaks, lemonade, water, various fruits and more.

Artemis stared at me and muttered "not bad"

The girls started to arrive, which was my que to leave, I don't want to start an arguement.

"Perseus, where are you going?" Artemis asked me.

"Well, I assume you guys don't want me around, and I don't want to argue with anybody, so I was heading outside." I replied.

Artemis raised an eyebrow. "Nonsense, you are part of the hunt, and you may eat with us. You can sit next to me or Thalia if you like."

My cheeks were crimson red, but I doubt Artemis noticed, because if she did, I would have at least 4 arrows shot at me already.

"Uh, thanks." I replied quickly.

I sat down next to Thalia, who sat next to Artemis, who sat next to Pheobe, etc. The girls all looked shocked at the food, and they knew I was the one who made it because I "volunteered".

"How can a boy cook so well?"

"This is awesome!"

"Maybe he isn't so bad after all."

I smile under my hood as I hear the talking. I look at my plate that has a half-eaten sandwich, and when nobody was looking, I burned it to ashes and swiped it off the table. What? I was full, you would have done the same.

I noticed Artemis looked much more calm, knowing that the girls semi-accepted me.

After dinner, it was dark, and usually the hunters gathered near the campfire to talk about stuff. Announcements, gossip, that sort of stuff.

I was hesitant to go, until Thalia came up to me.

"Percy, why aren't you coming?" She asked me.

"I'm not sure, what if they still don't like me?" I ask a bit nervously. I hate arguments that end with a lost cause. Arguing with a person who was taught to hate men since the beginning of the millenia is like teaching your dog to be able to do quantum mechanics. Its not gonna get very far.

Thalia puts a hand on my shoulder for assurance. "You? Savior of All? Scared of 60 teenage girls?" She grinned.

"Ahem, 60 teenage girls all armed with pointy knives and bows." I corrected her.

She chuckles. "Don't worry, if I see any trouble, I will help, alright?" She insists.

"Thanks Thals." I thank her.

"No problem, Fish-Face." She smiles.

"Pine-Needle" I grin.

We talk as we both head to the fire pit at the center of camp. There, the Hunters are all gathered and hang out until they get sleepy.

Now is a perfect time. I think it is better to reveal my identity, and I feel like many of them don't trust me because of my identity being hidden.

Well, here goes nothing.