The Queen's Champion

Suspicions

Ch. 27

(Three years since the last time anyone has seen Percy Jackson) (Time on Earth) (Six years to Percy and Co.)

The hunters were currently tracking down a group of monsters that had been gathering near Los Angeles. Zoe walked a few yards behind her mistress, staring sadly at Artemis' back as she continued to push forward. When Zoe had convinced her best friend to pick herself up instead of mopping around after Percy's disappearance, she hadn't realized what she had been getting herself and the rest of the hunt into. For three straight years, the hunters had been on the move, moving from hunt to hunt without break.

Although exhausting, Zoe couldn't deny the fact that the hunters had become an almost flawless fighting unit. In the three years, they had only lost one hunter, a young daughter of Aphrodite who was killed by a Hydra they had been hunting. In the past three years, the hunt had also not picked up a single new recruit. Artemis seemed to have decided she liked the group of girls she had and had no interest in bringing in anyone else. The only new recruit since Percy's death had been Piper McLean, the girlfriend of Jason Grace before he died in the battle with the giants. The girl had been a wreck until Thalia offered her a place in the hunt and taken her under her wing as they both grieved over Jason.

Now the hunt had three fully immortal hunters with Piper to go along with Zoe and Bianca. Zoe felt a familiar sadness enter her heart when she thought about being immortal. She should be stuck down in Elysium instead of with her sisters and mistress in the world of the living. Now she would be able to spend eternity with the hunt, thanks to her friend Percy. Zoe sighed as she continued to follow Artemis. She knew in her heart Percy was alive. She knew he would one day return; she just wished that day would hurry up and get here. Zoe longed to see her mistress happy again instead of carrying her grief buried underneath her insatiable lust for monster blood.

Artemis led the hunters into every single skirmish, picking out the most dangerous target and usually fighting it alone. Despite requests from both her lieutenants, Artemis refused to slow down. She seemed to think that killing as many monsters as she could would somehow make her forget about the pain of losing Percy. It never worked. Artemis' once glowing silver eyes were now dulled from the pain she carried. No matter how much time passed, the grief never seemed to lessen for the goddess.

Zoe was brought out of her thoughts as she almost walked straight into Artemis who had stopped and was now crouching on the ground in front of Zoe.

"What's wrong milady?" Zoe asked quietly.

Artemis' eyes narrowed as she looked at the area in front of her, "There is something powerful nearby, more powerful than what we are hunting."

Zoe was about to respond when an arrow flew from the side and caught Artemis in the leg. Zoe's eyes widened when she saw her mistress collapse onto the ground unconscious.

Zoe pulled out her bow and looked around wildly as the other hunters did the same. The shadows seemed to shift and shimmer around them as they tried to find a target. A figure in a suit walked out of the woods to the left of the hunters.

Zoe's eyes narrowed when she saw the Titan Prometheus walking towards them.

"Back away little girls. You have one chance to leave with your lives but your mistress is coming with us." Prometheus said arrogantly as he smiled smugly at Zoe.

"You won't touch her." Zoe growled back at the Titan.

Prometheus simply smirked as the shadows behind him started to solidify and monsters began to pop out of them. After a minute or two, around a hundred monsters stood behind the Titan looking hungrily at the hunters.