Drowning in the Siren's Song

Chapter 24

"We knew you were here the entire time." One of the hunters picked at her nails, talking nonchalantly like they hadn't cornered him and were looking at him like they were about to devour him. 

"I cannot believe that the only way to get you to talk to us was to hunt you down!" The girl beside her clutched her ribs, breathing heavily. She was one of the slower ones, who'd just appeared now.

"Mhm, but it was fun to see him skittering around trying to avoid us." A third girl snickered, slapping her thigh in the process. "There's a reason why we're the hunters of Artemis, you know." She directed that to him, looking at him pointedly. 

Poof! Percy exploded in embarrassment, flushing wildly. His ears were a bright pink and even his neck was slowly turning red. He looked away hurriedly, refusing to meet their eyes. 

Artemis and Zoe sighed in the background, watching him squirm uncomfortably. It was the first time he was surrounded by so many people and since he was curled up on the ground looking up at them, he felt even more intimidated. 

"We tried to tell you." Zoe walked forward, the circlet in her hair glinting in the sunlight. The sea of silver parted easily for her as she came to crouch in front of him, matching him in a more elegant way.

"Tell me what?" He asked hesitantly, bringing his knees closer to his chest. He was severely out of his comfort zone and just felt like disappearing. After being alone and surrounded by silence for so long, the attention of so many people felt suffocating. 

"That they knew you were here the entire time, you idiot." Zoe shifted a step back, noticing how Percy was shaking. "We're the hunters of Artemis. It would be embarrassing if they couldn't even notice the presence of a kid around them. Not to mention the fact that the forest loves to talk about you and that you've charmed all of our hunting animals." She rolled her eyes. 

Percy was overwhelmed, but not enough to prevent his brain from working.
"So... if you knew I was here, why didn't you, er, kill me...?" 

His question got a snort from a big ginger haired girl who'd looked like she could maul someone in a hundred different ways. "Oh we sure wanted to, boy." She grinned widely, making him shiver slightly. 

"Shut it, Phoebe. You're scaring him." Another hunter spoke, fearlessly grabbing Phoebe's, shoulders. She had long brown hair in a loose braid and was much smaller compared to her, but he could see how strong she was since she shoved Phoebe hard. In response, the ginger simply huffed and turned away, making the other girl chuckle softly. 

"To be honest, we didn't like you." She turned her attention to him. The air grew colder and Percy desperately wanted to flee, but when surrounded by a group of expert hunters who you knew didn't like you, one should not run away. It may result in death by arrow or decapitation.  

But contrary to her words, she was smiling. "We observed you for a while and decided that you were...not bad." Cue Phoebe's second snort and the following shove from the brown haired lady. "Also, Lady Artemis and Zoe seemed to tolerate you." She added, shooting a meaningful glance towards the two. 

"But oh gods, every time we came near you, you scuttled away like a squirrel. You seemed so scared, we felt honored." She winked at him, effectively startling him beyond measure. "I'm Naomi, by the way. Nice to make your acquaintance." 

She effortlessly calmed the chill in the air, encouraging the other hunters to follow suit. Their eyes were quiet and genuine as they imitated Naomi's greeting, albeit a little gruffly. Looking closer now, they weren't so bad. He'd expected hostile looks and maybe a few death threats, but they weren't like that at all. 

They were just a group of girls who'd grown up seeing the bad side of men and had learned not to trust them again. And yet, here they were, marking him as an exception to their firm beliefs. 

He slowly unfurled himself, a little ashamed of how childish he must've appeared, cowering and huddled, and straightened his back a little, knowing that if he attempted to get up to bow properly, his legs would give out. 

"Nice to meet you too..." He was unsure with the turn of events, but more than feeling fearful, he was so very embarrassed at the moment. He'd exhausted himself completely trying to keep up with the hunters and avoiding them but now he got to know that they'd known that he was in the forest and had even tried to approach him. 

"You got ability, boy." A girl with blindingly red hair spoke, her words a little rough as if she wasn't used to the language. "We were in suspicion for few days before confirmation. You are good at hiding. Hard to know where you are. I like how you run on trees." She spoke in all seriousness, making a few other hunters, who he guessed were the younger ones, nod in agreement. 

"Right!" A bubbly girl chimed in, peeking from behind her. "It was very surprising. We had to put our minds together for a plan to corner you today since you were so hard to find."

"That's right." Artemis, who had faded in the background spoke. She'd just been observing until then, but felt obliged to brag a bit. "He lasted a full half an hour when Zoe and I were chasing him." 

Surprise filled the air as the hunters whirled between Artemis, Zoe and Percy, finding it difficult to believe her words. Zoe nodded to her words, taking them aback more than Percy would've thought possible.

Was it such a big deal? He though to himself, but apparently it was. He could even see Phoebe's eyes dart at him time to time even though she was trying her best not to look affected. The other girls, though, chose more of an unveiled method at conveying their awe.

The sudden mood change caught him a bit off guard, but he was pretty glad nevertheless. At least he could get some proper sleep now that he didn't have to run away from them.