To Be Loved

Chapter Seven

I got a copy from the library. Thou are welcomed, AlbusDumbldore777 and thornjinx23905 for torturing thou by making thou wait so long.

________________________________________________________________

(Percy POV)

(This starts when the huntresses come)

I heard a clear, piercing sound: the call of a hunters horn blowing in the woods. I almost smiled at the sound.

The manticore froze. For a moment, nobody(no, not Nobody) moved. There was only the swirl of snow and helicopter blades. The wind was howling.

"No," Dr. Thorn said. "It cannot be—"

His sentence was cut short when something shot past me like a streak of moonlight. A glowing silver arrow sprouted from Dr. Thorn's shoulder.

He staggered back and wailed in agony.

"Curse you!" Thorn cried. He unleashed his spikes, dozens of them, into the woods where the arrow had come from, but just as fast, multiple silver arrows shot back at him in reply.

The manticore howled in pain as he pulled the arrow out of his shoulder.

The archers swarmed from the woods. They were girls, dozens of them. The youngest was maybe ten; the oldest, fourteen like my preferred form for myself. They wore silvery parkas and jeans, and they were all armed with bows. With determined expressions, they advanced towards the manticore.

"The Hunters!" Annabeth cried.

Next to me, Thalia muttered, "Oh, wonderful."

I had to suppress a growl at her sarcastic tone.

One of the older huntresses stepped forward with her bow drawn. She was tall and graceful with coppery colored skin. She had a silver circulate braided into the top of her long dark hair. I couldn't stop the corner of my mouth from turning up when I saw Zoë.

"Permission to kill, my lady?"

She kept her eyes on the manticore.

"This is not fair! Direct interference! It is against the ancient laws," the manticore wailed.

"Not so," A girl who looked twelve or thirteen said. She had auburn hair pulled back into a ponytail and silvery yellow eyes, like the moon. Her expression was stern. "The hunting of all wild beasts is within my sphere," Artemis said. "And you, foul creature, are a wild beast. Zoë, permission granted."

The manticore growled. "If I cannot have these alive, I shall have them dead."

He lunched towards Nico and Bianca, knowing that they were dazed and weak.

"No!" I yelled, charging the monster.

"Get back!" Zoë yelled to me. Her voice held a sliver of fear, and her eyes full of it. "Get out of the line of fire!"

But it was too late, and we both knew it. My feet had already left the ground, and I landed on the manticore's back. I drove a Riptide into his mane.

I momentarily met Zoë's eyes. I passed on a message to her.

She nodded slightly. I could see the fear, anger, and sadness she held for what she was about to do.

"Fire!" Zoë ordered. Her voice seemed a little quieter than usual, but I don't think that anyone else really noticed.

"No!" Thalia and Annabeth screamed, eyes wide.

But the huntresses' arrows flew through the air. The first caught it in the neck; another hit it's chest. The manticore stumbled back, wailing, "This is not the end, Huntress! You shall pay!"

The monster then leaped over the cliff and into the darkness.