EVERLASTING PROMISES BOOK-1

FAMILY TIME, WILDERNESS TRAINING, CAMP HALF BLOOD

Artemis

Artemis was sleeping peacefully when her hunters woke her up. Before, she would have woken instantly to see what they wanted, in case they were injured, or they were under attack, or just needed some help. But now, with Percy as an official and approved member and Guardian of the Hunt, she slacked off, telling her hunters to rouse Percy first before trying to wake her up. Unfortunately, it didn't work out quite as well as she had hoped. Percy was a heavy and deep sleeper, so even with Thalia pounding on the door and cursing at him, it took forever to wake him up, let alone get him out of bed. Strangely, whenever she, Artemis, called him or knocked on his door, he'd wake up instantly. True, his hair looked like a rat had nested in it, but that was much better than literally breaking down his door and yanking him out of bed. As it was, Artemis felt strangely touched that Percy reacted to her at once, but it came with a downside: Her hunters would usually just wake her up to get Percy out of bed. Such was the case right now.

"My Lady! C'mon, we know you're awake, we need your help!" A voice she recognized as Thalia came through the door, followed by annoyingly insistent tapping.

"Gah, leave me alone for a couple more minutes. Let me sleep." Artemis mumbled back, rolling around and stuffing her head into a pillow in an attempt to block out the knocking. For a second, there was complete silence and Artemis gave a grateful sigh before falling back asleep. Then there came a loud bang and her whole tent shook as Phoebe through her entire body against the door.

"My lady, Percy's in trouble!" Thalia yelled, pounding on the door even harder. Instantly, without a second's thought, Artemis shot out of her bed and ran to the door, flinging it wide open.

"What? Where is he? What's happened? What- Why are you all laughing?" Artemis asked, utterly bemused. Practically all of her hunters were doubled over laughing, several of them were wiping tears from their eyes as they shrieked with laughter.

"Oh my gods my lady I think we know how to get you up now," Thalia gasped out "What's happened to you? Where has the man-hating Artemis gone? Have you softened? Has Percy softened you?" Thalia managed to say before surrendering to whoops of laughter.

Artemis felt her face heating up. "That's not true. I only responded so quickly because I-and you girls-consider him as part of the hunt. If anyone else were in trouble, I'd also get up immediately. So what you just said is nonsense." Artemis finished with an air of finality.

The hunters had recovered themselves enough to stand still, though many of them were still grinning from ear to ear.

"Whatever you say, my lady. But we weren't lying, Percy is in trouble." Thalia said, carefully keeping her voice clear of any emotion and closely watching Artemis's reaction. For a split-second, Thalia saw fear and worry flash through her eyes before it was replaced with an indifferent look.

"Really? Well, it mustn't be very serious, considering this whole camp is still in one place and you girls had the time to have fun waking me up." Artemis said grumpily, keeping an indifferent mask on her face even though on the inside she was slightly worried.

Really Artemis? You're still trying to deny it? When are you going to realize Percy is perfect for you? Thalia thought, although not too loudly, since she didn't know whether Artemis could read her mind or not. "Yup. He's in trouble. Because we're going to wake him up." Thalia said.

Artemis frowned. "How is he in trouble then? And how does this include me?"

"Well, today we decided to wake him up with a prank. We haven't pranked him in ages. And besides, it'll be funny. We just need you to unlock his door because it burns our hand if we try to. And it melts any pick we put in there." Elizabeth said, a crafty look on her face.