𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐬'𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 • 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘺 𝘫𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘴𝘰𝘯

Everyone Hates Me, But The Horse

A/N: This one's shorter than my attention span.

Y/n Pov:

How did I ever manage to fall asleep when I was being crushed by tons of rocks? I do not know.

I just know that when I woke up, I was back in that barren cave, the ceiling heavy and low above me. I was kneeling under the weight of a dark mass that looked like a pile of boulders. After many attempts, I figured I was too tired even to cry out. My legs trembled. Any second, I knew I would run out of strength, and the cavern ceiling would collapse on top of us. 

"How is our mortal guest?" a male voice boomed. 

It wasn't Kronos. Kronos's voice was raspy and metallic-like a knife scraped across stone. I'd heard it taunting me many times before in my dreams. But this voice was deeper and lower, like a bass guitar. Its force made the ground vibrate. 

Luke emerged from the shadows. He ran to me, knelt beside me, then looked back at the unseen man. "She's fading. We must hurry." 

The hypocrite. Like he really cared what happened to me. 

The deep voice chuckled. It belonged to someone in the shadows. Then a meaty hand thrust someone forward into the light—Artemis—her hands and feet bound in celestial bronze chains. 

I gasped. Her silvery dress was torn and tattered. Her face and arms were cut in several places, and she was bleeding ichor, the golden blood of the gods. 

"You heard the boy," said the man in the shadows. "Decide!" 

Artemis's eyes flashed with anger. I didn't know why she just didn't will the chains to burst or make herself disappear, but she didn't seem able to. Maybe the chains prevented her, or some magic about this dark, horrible place. 

The goddess looked at me and her expression changed to concern and outrage."How dare you torture a maiden like this! How dare you torture my daughter!" 

"She will die soon," Luke said. "You can save her." 

I wanted to protest, but my voice was weak. My heart felt like it was being twisted into a knot. I wanted to run to her, but I couldn't move. 

"Free my hands," Artemis said. 

Luke brought out his sword, Backbiter. With one expert strike, he broke the goddess's handcuffs. 

Artemis ran to me and took the burden from my shoulders. I collapsed on the ground and lay there shivering. My legs felt like lead, and my chest felt free as if I had just finished crying. Artemis staggered, trying to support the weight of the black rocks. 

The man in the shadows chuckled. "You are as predictable as you were easy to beat, Artemis." 

"You surprised me," the goddess said, straining under her burden. "It will not happen again." 

"Indeed it will not," the man said. "Now you are out of the way for good! I knew you could not resist helping a young maiden. That is, after all, your speciality, my dear." 

Artemis groaned "You know nothing of mercy, you swine." 

"On that," the man said, "we can agree. Luke, you may kill the girls now." 

"No!'" Artemis shouted. 

Luke hesitated. "They—they may yet be useful, sir... Further bait." 

"Bah! You truly believe that?" 

"Yes, General. They will come for them. I'm sure." 

The man considered. "Then the dracaenae can guard her here. Assuming the daughter of Artemis does not die from her injuries, you may keep them alive until the winter solstice. After that, if our sacrifice goes as planned, their life will be meaningless. The lives of all mortals will be meaningless." 

Luke gathered up my listless body and carried me away from my mother. 

"You will never find the monster you seek," Artemis said. "Your plan will fail." 

"How little you know, my young goddess," the man in the shadows said. "Even now, your darling attendants begin their quest to find you. They shall play directly into my hands. Now, if you'll excuse us, we have a long journey to make. We must greet your Hunters and make sure their quest is... challenging." 

The man's laughter echoed in the darkness, shaking the ground until it seemed the whole cavern ceiling would collapse. 

Percy's Pov:

I woke with a start. I was sure I'd heard a loud banging. I looked around the cabin. It was dark outside. The salt spring still gurgled. No other sounds but the hoot of an owl in the woods and the distant surf on the beach. In the moonlight, on my nightstand was Annabeth'sNew York Yankees cap. I stared at it for a second and then: BANG BANG. 

Someone, or something, was pounding on my door. I grabbed Riptide and got out of bed. 

"Hello?" I called. THUMP. THUMP. I crept to the door. 

I uncapped the blade, flung open the door, and found myself face-to-face with a black pegasus. 

Whoa, boss! Its voice spoke in my mind as it clopped away from the sword blade. I don't wanna be a horse-kebob! 

Its black wings spread in alarm, and the wind buffeted me back a step.

"Blackjack," I said, relieved but a little irritated. "It's the middle of the night!" 

Blackjack huffed. Ain't either, boss. It's five in the morning. What you still sleeping for? 

"How many times have I told you? Don't call me boss." 

Whatever you say, boss. You're the man. You're my number one. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and tried not to let the pegasus read my thoughts. That's the problem with being Poseidon's son: since he created horses out of sea foam, I can understand most equestrian animals, but they can understand me, too. Sometimes, like in Blackjack's case, they kind of adopt me. 

See, Blackjack had been a captive on board Luke's ship last summer, until we'd caused a little distraction that allowed him to escape. I'd really had very little to do with it, seriously, but Blackjack credited me with saving him. 

"Blackjack," I said, "you're supposed to stay in the stables." 

Meh, the stables. You see Chiron staying in the stables? 

"Well... no." 

Exactly. Listen, we got another little sea friend needs your help. 

"Again?" 

Yeah. I told the hippocampi I'd come get you.

I groaned. Anytime I was anywhere near the beach, the hippocampi would ask me to help them with their problems. And they had a lot of problems. Beached whales, porpoises caught in fishing nets, mermaids with hangnails—they'd call me to come underwater and help. 

"All right," I said. "I'm coming." 

You're the best, boss. 

"And don't call me boss!" 

Blackjack whinnied softly. It might've been a laugh. 

I looked back at my comfortable bed. My bronze shield still hung on the wall, dented and unusable. I fiddled with Y/n's ring, which was still on my finger. I guess I had a feeling, even then, that I wasn't coming back to my cabin for a long, long time.