The Unclaimed

Chapter 15: Day one of the quest is completed (with a twist)

   The farther I got from the hunters, the more unsettled I felt. This was a foreign concept to me because for the past two years being alone had always been relaxing for me. When Michael started bonding more and more with the other campers, I started to sink into the background. During this time the campers started to pull away from me; I was the unclaimed freak who somehow had Artemis's blessing. When I had no one, I learned about the power that came from being alone. Only when I didn't have to worry about what others thought of me and how they were treating me was I able to fully focus on my thoughts. Being by myself permitted me to train bette and gain control of my instincts with more ease. So the question was, why did being alone feel so weird to me now.
   As I walked, I eventually came to a pond. I knew I shouldn't walk much farther, after all I told Artemis that I would stay close. But I wasn't ready to go back yet. So I settled by plopping down onto a large rock and watching my reflection in the lake. My mind began to wander; I couldn't help but wonder how Michael was doing, what was going on at camp, and so on. Questions about everything I was running away from seemed to be haunting me. I heard the sound of leaves being stepped on come from behind me.
   "Tell Artemis I'll be back shortly," I said assuming it was one of the hunters that was behind me. There was no response. At least no verbal response. There was a growling noise though. I jumped to my feet, spun around, and notched an arrow in my bow. A hellhound twice the size of the one from two years ago, was staring right at me. It's blood red eyes held no love, they just showed hate. It was crouched in a pouncing position. I felt my heart stop as I held its gaze. Facing monsters at camp was no big deal, facing monsters outside of camp but with a big was no big deal, but facing a hellhound on my own was an issue. Other monsters didn't have the same effect on me that hellhounds did. Every time I saw one of them I remembered the one that had nearly killed me and Michael all those years ago. I was frozen until I saw it leap into the air and heard someone scream my name from the distance.
   I released the arrow and fell back, into the lake, to avoid getting tackled by the hellhound. Just as I felt my body get wrapped with water, I saw my arrow make contact with my target. The hellhound disintegrated right as my head went under. It was colder than I had expected it to be. Luckily the water wasn't deep, I was able to touch my feet to the ground and then jumped back up so my head was above water. Thalia, Artemis, and all the other hunters were staring down at me with concern.
   "Are you alright," Thalia asked, clearly panicked. I swam to the edge of the lake and got out.
   "Yeah, I'm fine," I said coldly. "Why did you follow me? I told you that I wanted to be alone." Part of me said not to take my anger out on them; my tension was because I was shaken up from the hellhound. But another part of me was mad. I clearly told them that I wanted some time to think and they had blatantly ignored my request.
   "We're sorry we came," Thalia said. "It was just that you had been gone for a while and I had a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. I was scared something was wrong," I couldn't be mad at her logic. It was clear that they were just looking out for me.
   "I'm sorry for snapping at you," I looked down at my feet ashamed of my actions. "I'm just not used to people, besides Michael, following me because they were worried. Normally people just follow me when I say I want to be alone because they want to irritate me." The atmosphere of the hunt and the atmosphere of camp really were two incredibly different things. Thalia looked like she was about to respond but Jenna beat her to it.
   "Do you know what this is," she held a piece of paper in her hand. I shook my head. "I think you should take a look at it." She approached me and handed me the sheet. I looked over it and could feel the color drain from my face.
   "What does it say?" Artemis asked, she sounded worried.
   "Congrats dear demigod, you have         survived day one,
   To continue your journey you must follow the path of the setting sun,
   The knowledge of your parentage is what you most desire,
   Each day a new clue you shall acquire." I could barely whisper the last line by the time I got to it. The note was worded like a quest but it clearly wasn't one. In fact it sounded more like someone, whoever wrote the note, was making a game out of my quest. Thalia ran to my side and grabbed the note from my hand, she had to see it with her own eye.
   "My lady, how in Hades is this happening," she asked Artemis. It was clear that she was feeling very uncomfortable by the message the note presented. "Why would someone be doing this?" That was something I wanted to know as well. Was there really some immortal who was so bored with their life that they had to screw with mine? Hadn't I gone through enough? Artemis appeared to be in deep thought.
   "I will look into this note," Artemis said. "But until I find out who wrote it we need to just continue on the quest." She looked to the sky where the sun was starting to sink. "Come on we must pack up camp and then leave." With her word being the final say, we all headed back  to the camp site without a word. But I couldn't shake the feeling of dread that was now in the pit of my stomach.