Mind over Matter

Honey I'm home

Percy PoV

It took two hours to run from Yellowstone national park to Half Blood Hill on the Long Island coast. Thalia's pine tree stood tall and firm, in amidst the branches you could see the Golden Fleece glittering in the darkening night sky. Peleus the dragon sat curled around the trunk of the tree, his body rising at a steady rhythm indicating the guardian of the hill was asleep. As the hunters began walking up the hill the sound of the conch horn sounded twice indicating our arrival. I made sure my cloak was firmly placed on my head and I had to rest my hand on the holster of my pistol and the hilt of my sword just to keep them from shaking. Inside I was bundle of emotions, anger at the demigods for the pain they had caused, anxious to see those that hadn't betrayed me, glad to be surrounded by the hunters who I trusted to at least not turn against me but mostly I felt fear.

Here I was, the saviour of Olympus, bane of monsters, scared of a couple teenage demigods. I was an assassin, a hunter of evil, I had hunted monsters, murderers and every time I was the one hunting, the one in charge. Now I must live in the den of monsters, surrounded by their faces, eat with them, sleep near them, help and protect them.

Monsters hunted demigods, but demigods could just as easily become monsters.

We arrived at the top of the hill and watched as the campers scurried around to meet us, some had weapons at hand, others were just running to meet their friends. Chiron cantered over to greet us and as everyone arrived I watched as they all finally noticed me in amongst the man hating hunters. Many stopped on the spot confused, some scared whilst those who had been on Olympus when Chaos was there knew who I was or at least, my mask.

"Greetings Lady Artemis, to what do we owe the pleasure of the hunt joining us at camp?" Chiron said, his fingers tapping steadily on his bow. Tap tap tap, pause, tap tap tap, pause, tap, pause, tap tap tap. Looks like morse code. I was suddenly grateful for evenings spent on the Argo II with Leo who would use morse code in times of severe nervousness. Annabeth has told me what he was doing and seeing as I thought he might be annoyed at me for not keeping on my promise to save Calypso, I wanted to learn it so we could have conversations and develop a better friendship.

M. A. N. B. E. H. I. N. D. Y. O. U.

Man behind you? OH, he meant me. I decided that I should probably introduce myself before Artemis thinks it's someone different and shoots at them. "Master Chiron, my name is σκιά or shadow if you prefer, I am the guardian of the hunters of Artemis, I have come to help in this newly arising situation." I spoke confidently and calmly, lacing a bit of Hestia's blessing to restore hope to people so that they wouldn't attack and be put at ease. I saw some of the worry melt off Chiron's face and as his hand moved away from his bow.

"Please, call me Chiron young man, master just makes me feel old. Are you a demigod my boy, if so you may rest in your parents cabin with your siblings. I also would like to discuss this situation you speak of, would you be willing to join us in a counsellor meeting at the big house?" I tried really hard not to point out that technically he's about 3000 years old but I quickly forgot that when he mentioned the cabin.

I was about to speak up when Artemis jumped in, obviously sensing my distaste for the idea. "There is no need for him to stay in a cabin Chiron, he is our guardian and so he shall sleep in the guardians home, that is if you still have it?" She asked, causing mass confusion to everyone at camp, including me and some of the newer hunters. "Why of course M'Lady, I believe it should be somewhere in my office, I will go retrieve it now." As the immortal centaur that had become a kind of father figure to me left I realised the rest of Camp was now staring at me.

I looked across everyone, seeing the faces of those who betrayed me, those who stuck by me and those who broke me. That's when a surge of movement brought me out of my inner musings. 13 kids, no older then 9 ran at me at full speed. I watched as the campers began to panic thinking they were going to attack, the hunt seemed to have the same idea as I felt some of them stirring restlessly. Everything turned to surprise when I dropped to one knee and hugged every child there.

"YOURE BACK!"

"IVE MISSED YOU!"

"SHADOWWWWWW!"

Those were some of the many shouts of joy that filled the air as we had our group hug. It had been a good two minutes before I heard M'Lady clear her throat. "Shadow, care to explain whats just happened here?" Amusement was clear in her voice, she knew what had happened, she could sense me through her blessing, she knew who all of these kids were. "Why of course M'Lady, how could I be so tactless. These are some of the Demigods I saved from bad situations across my four years of hunting, clearly some remember me." I laughed, a true humour filled laugh.

Of course it was ruined by whispers from the campers. 'Four years' 'it couldn't be' 'no he couldn't use a bow'. That's when one stepped forward, a friend I had long since been writing letters to, not under the name of my pseudonym but also not explaining my hunts.

"Shadow or whatever your name is, do you happen to know a Percy Jackson? He's a friend who went missing four years ago." Clarrise La Rue asked.

"As a matter of fact I do Miss La Rue, I know the exact whereabouts of your friend. He is" I slowly reached up to my hood, I hadn't planned to reveal myself today but I did have a flair for dramatics that I blame entirely on Zeus. "Right here." I said, throwing my hood down to reveal my raven black hair, Sea green eyes that glowed from the power of the blessings and my lop sided smirk. I knew I shouldn't do it just yet but I couldn't resist, persassy has been hungry for some action.

"Clarisse, ya miss me? Hi honey, I'm back."