Percy Jackson betrayed and becomes "Guardian of the Hunt"? Nah! Let's have a Mortal have a go at this. Percys had enough heartbreak.
Will is a mortal in a strange world, hunting Greek Mythological monsters. His world changes even more when he discov...
[Hey Lads and Lasses! My exams are over! Now I just need to combat the writers-block. 😂 ]
[- Pringles out!]
The journey itself was quite uneventful. If you could call it a journey, as they usually have a destination in mind. The Hunts method of travelling seemed to be set to "wander", at least to us at the back, the veterans at the front seemed to know what they're doing.
My stamina was taking a massive blow. I'm used to long walks in the woods, but the hunters were at constant double-time. This meant I was the rearguard, and by that I mean that me, Janina, Chelsea and Isla were too tired to keep up with the main group and hanged-back a bit.
My role in the squad was a mixture of translating, entertainment, and refreshments. I've been able to improve my food-summoning power a bit further. Now, instead of only working when I'm hungry/thirsty, I am able to summon some when it's convenient, like when I'm tired or peckish. Though I am still struggling to do it at-will.
Another good thing from this is that I learned a bit more about Chelsea and Isla. Even though I've spent a month with the Hunt, I haven't had the opportunity to have a long talk with the two.
Chelsea was surprisingly built for a fourteen year old girl. Everything about her seemed to scream "child of Ares", so it took everyone by surprise when she was revealed to be Dionysus's child. She baffled us further by walking into the camps armoury and leaving with a bronze war-axe in hand.
She still has her sword with her though. Apparently, it was given to her by her ex-party loving, no nonsense, bodybuilder of a mother when a local dryad alerted her mother to a group of monsters. Turns out that her mother knew about her demigod status and trained Chelsea from a young age.
Either way, the only trait she seemed to share with her father was when she requested a glass of undiluted fruit-juice as a drink. She claimed that she "just liked the strong taste of it".
Isla, on the other hand, seemed to live up to her fathers legacy. She quickly became a pro archer in the month she's been here. She also knows advanced first-aid, a lot more than what an eleven year old should know.
Her mother is a nurse at their local hospital. Isla was told that her mother fell in love with a "visiting doctor", who had to leave before Isla was born. Neither of them knew that the "visiting doctor" was actually Apollo (probably visiting one of his kids). Isla only learned she was a demigod when the group of Empousashowed up at her school.
She managed to avoid them and got home. Her mother was still at work so she told her stepdad. Unfortunately, he was drunk and in a bad mood. He didn't believe her and ended up shouting at her and slapping her face. Apparently this had happened a lot when her mother wasn't around, so she ran away from home. She was then cornered by the group of Empousa and that's when Percy found her and fought them off.
Janina told the others her story, with me and translator. She also mentioned that the reason she washed to shore was that she was helping a fisherman when a storm appeared and knocked her into the water and she lost consciousness.
The next hour was just awkward silence as we had ran out of things to discuss.
Until...
"Hey, Janina?" I asked.
She turned her head in acknowledgment.
"Why do you have a tattoo?"
She looked at me confused. *What are you talking about?*
"The one on the back of your neck."
Her eyes gave a look of surprise. *WHAT!?*
"Yeah... here, let me take a picture." I said, taking out my phone.
This was quick copy followed by a squeal and a hand smacking my phone out of my hands. I looked up to see Ginger with a panicked expression on her face.
"Err... what was that for?" I asked.
"Oh, sorry. It's just that you can't use technology around demigods." She replied.
"Why?" Asked Isla.
"It's just that... the signals tend to attract monsters, like a homing beacon."
"The signals?" I began. "So if I were to only use the camera, and turn off any data, it would be fine?"
"Um... I don't know. Maybe? I'm not good at this kind of stuff." She said in a worried voice.
"Hey, it's alright young'n. Calm down."
Isla gave me a strange look. Shit. Luckily she seemed to shrug it off. Ginger on the other hand, seemed to be a bit pissed.
"Young one?! I'm twenty-three years old!"
And with that, she stormed off.
"Okay, that was weird. Hunter ages are weird, actually. Anyways, where were we?"
I opened up the camera app and took a picture of the back of Janina's neck.
"Here." I said, showing her the image.
She stayed there, shocked, staring at the symbol that she was only just aware of.
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"You really didn't know you had that?" Said Chelsea.
She handed my phone back to me and I shut it off, just to be safe.
*No. I have no memory of getting this, and the nuns would definitely have told me off for having it.* She replied.
"No, it must have appeared recently." I translated for the other two.
"Maybe it appeared when you entered camp. You know, all the magic in the air or something?" Suggested Isla.
"But then wouldn't it be a Greek symbol? Why is it a crucifix?" Replied Chelsea.
"Don't know." I said. "We should try to figure this out on a later date. But for now, let's focus on not getting left behind by the rest of the Hunt."
And with that, we quickly rushed to catch up with the rest. However, I couldn't shake off the feeling that that tattoo meant something, something big.
[Hey Lads and Lasses! Phew, that took a bit longer than it should have. Thanks for the 8k reads everyone! Keep 'em coming! Feel free to comment anything, I'll be sure to read them.]
