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Astoria heard a clear, piercing sound: the call of a hunting horn blowing in the woods.
The manticore froze. For a moment, no one moved. There was only the swirl of snow and wind and the chopping of the helicopter blades.
"No," Dr. Thorn said. "It cannot be-"
His sentence was cut short when something shot past her like a streak of moonlight. A glowing silver arrow sprouted from Dr. Thorn's shoulder. An arrow Astoria had seen way too many times that year, the huntresses of Artemis were here. The last 10 months she had had many meetings with huntresses and she was thinking of joining. Thalia hated their lieutenant and she was begging Astoria not to join but Annabeth was interested in them too.
He staggered backward, wailing in agony.
"Curse you!" Thorn cried. He unleashed his spikes, dozens of them at once, into the woods where the arrow had come from, but just as fast, silvery arrows shot back in reply. The arrows had intercepted the thorns in midair and sliced them in two, Astoria was great at archery, she was even better than Apollo kids but that was still way out of her league.
The manticore pulled the arrow out of his shoulder with a howl of pain. His breathing was heavy. Percy tried to swipe at him with my sword, but he wasn't as injured as he looked. He dodged his attack and slammed his tail into my shield, knocking him aside. Astoria moved to his side and helped him up, he looked okay but still leaned onto her for support.
Then the archers came from the woods. They were girls, about a dozen of them. The youngest was maybe ten. The oldest, about fourteen, like her. They wore silvery ski parkas and jeans, and they were all armed with bows. They advanced on the manticore with determined expressions. Annabeth made eye contact with Astoria.
"The Hunters!" They both cried.
Next to her, Thalia muttered, "Oh, wonderful."
One of the older archers stepped forward with her bow drawn, Zoë Nightshade. She was tall and graceful with coppery colored skin. Unlike the other girls, she had a silver circlet braided into the top of her long dark hair, so she looked like some kind of Persian princess. "Permission to kill, my lady?"
The monster wailed. "This is not fair! Direct interference! It is against the Ancient Laws."
"Not so," another girl, Artemis, said. This one was a little younger than them, maybe twelve or thirteen. She had auburn hair gathered back in a ponytail and strange eyes, silvery yellow like the moon. Her face was so beautiful it made her catch her breath, but her expression was stern and dangerous. "The hunting of all wild beasts is within my sphere. And you, foul creature, are a wild beast." She looked at the older girl with the circlet. "Zoe, permission granted."
The manticore growled. "If I cannot have these alive, I shall have them dead!"
He lunged at Thalia and Percy, knowing they were weak and dazed.
