¹On This Spring Day, percy jackson & the olympians

003.

ON THIS SPRING DAY
━━━━━ chapter three

━━━━━ VIOLET FELT HER blood run cold. If she had known that the auburn-haired girl was Artemis herself, Violet would've never talked to the goddess the way she had.

It shouldn't have been as shocking as it was. Violet had just seen Dr. Thorn turn into a manticore and plummet off the edge of a tall ass cliff with Annabeth. It really shouldn't have, but hearing this twelve-year-old girl say she was Artemis, Goddess of the Hunt, rendered the daughter of Eros a little speechless.

"You see?" the Hunter by her side hissed, digging her fingernails into Violet's arm. "Be more respectful."

"It's alright, Kathleen," Artemis promised. "She was running on adrenaline. She meant no harm."

Violet shook off the Kathleen's hold. She rubbed her arm, where the Hunter's nails had dug in. At least this goddess was forgiving—maybe that had something to do with Violet being a girl.

Percy eyed the goddess in front of him. "Um ... okay."

However, that was nothing compared to Grover's reaction. He gasped, then knelt hastily in the snow and started yammering, "Thank you, Lady Artemis! You're so ... You're so ... Wow!"

"Get up, goat boy!" Thalia snapped. "We have other things to worry about. Annabeth is gone!"

"Whoa," Bianca di Angelo said. "Hold up. Time out."

Everybody looked at her. She pointed her finger at all of them in turn, like she was trying to connect the dots. "Who ... who are you people?"

Artemis's expression softened. "It might be a better question, my dear girl, to ask who are you? Who are your parents?"

Bianca glanced nervously at her brother, who was still staring in awe at Artemis.

"Our parents are dead," she said. "We're orphans. There's a bank trust that pays for our school, but ..."

She faltered. From everyone's expressions, Bianca guessed none of them believed her.

"What?" she demanded. "I'm telling the truth."

"You are a half-blood," Zoë Nightshade said. Her accent was hard to place. It seemed old-fashioned, like she was reading from a really old book. "One of thy parents was mortal. The other was an Olympian."

"An Olympian ... athlete?"

"No," Zoë said. "One of the gods."

"Cool!" said Nico.

"No!" Bianca's voice quavered. "This is not cool!"

Nico danced around like he needed to use the restroom. "Does Zeus really have lightning bolts that do six hundred damage? Does he get extra movement points for—"

"Nico, shut up!" Bianca put her hands to her face. "This is not your stupid Mythomagic game, okay? There are no gods!"

As anxious as Violet felt about Annabeth—all she wanted to do was search for her best friend—she couldn't help feeling sorry for the di Angelos. She remembered how horrible it all was in the beginning, having your world turned upside down by the information.