Son of a Hunter

16

The time had come to leave. To leave the safety of the camp and to go out into the world. To go out into the world, and hunt down some beasts, prove himself to a pantheon of immortal Gods, and not get killed. Well, stranger things had been known to happen, Leon thought.

He had strapped his knives to his forearms, so he could whip them out at a moments notice. His bow was folded into his backpack, and he had managed to stuff a good amount of arrows into it as well.

Connor and Thalia were holding the group provisions in their backpacks, though they managed to get a large amount of money from the camp store for restaurants. And if they got desperate for money, then that was their thief Connor was for. Leon walked with the group over to the position of Thalia's pine tree, where Chiron was waiting with a piece of paper of some kind.

As they approached the tree, Thalia shuddered. Leon knew that she had been turned into this pine tree when she was twelve and had been so for years, until the golden fleece returned her to human form. Leon wondered how it must be to be a tree for several years. Was she aware of what was going on around her? He shuddered himself at the thought. But he didn't have time to wonder, as Chiron was holding the piece of paper out to him.

"Here Leon. This just came in from the Hermes delivery service."

"What is it?"

"See for yourself."

Leon unfolded the piece of paper to find a map of the continental USA. He studied it for a moment until he saw a image burning itself onto the paper. He furrowed his brow in confusion and took a closer look.

The words Washington D.C. Burned themselves on the map just over the location of the city. And just under that was an image of some kind of creature. A large cat-like creature, almost like a lion. He looked a little closed and realized that was just what he saw.

"Chiron, this creature..." He showed it to Chiron.

"Yes. Well, looks like your first hunt. The Nemean Lion."

"You mean the big pussy cat that Hercules killed?"

Chiron nodded.

Leon was quiet for a moment and then shrugged.

"Well...I guess it could be worse..."

Chiron gave him a squeeze on the shoulder.

"Leon, I have only known you for a brief time. Yet in that time, one has rarely risen to the skill of someone of your archery skill and woodsman-ship. The fact that you actually beat the hunters...yes, it was you...shows that something strong burns within you. I know you will do just fine. And You will come back, having proven yourself worthy of being the Virgin huntresses child and in the eyes of the Olympians of being so. Now go, Argus will drive you to the border of Manhattan and you can board a train to take you to the capital."

Leon nodded his understanding. He looked to his companions and gave them a head jerk toward the road. He heard them following him out.

Argus was waiting outside a van to take them to Manhattan. They boarded and Leon got a jolt due to the special eye trick of Argus. But he saw half of them roll so Argus was probably used to shocked people in his van. They drove in silence, with Liana doing her hair in a mirror, Thalia playing with hers, Connor yelling out threats to people being stupid on the roadway, and Malcolm lecturing him on more "intelligent" ways to insult someone.

What a motley crew we are, Leon thought to himself.

The van pulled up to the parking lot of a train station that Argus had told them was heading into the capitol. He bought them their tickets and left them there, in the lobby, holding tickets for a train that was not to leave for another couple of hours, and hungry as hell.