Chaotic Life Of Being The Illegitimate Son Of Artemis

1.New Beginnings/Escape From an Angry Mother and her Clan of Crazy Teenage Girls

He was finally a substantial distance away from the makeshift camp that he was able to catch his breath. The last two times he tried escaping from his mother and her hunters, Aaron was caught in under a few hours and had to endure grave punishment. To say the least, being a jackal ope wasn't a fun experience.

Taking the extra precaution to make sure the hunters followed a false trail, Aaron made it so his tracks were blindly obvious and lead to the train station. There he bought a ticket to Colorado. To make sure the hunt continued to pursue his fake line of travel, he littered his ticket receipt, that clearly stated his name, near the ticket box office. Naturally, the hunters would probably mistake his trap for the "male carelessness and stupidity" that they always accused him of. Aaron honestly thought those nature freak 'maidens' needed to chill. They never refused to take any small chance they could to remind him how much they hated the opposite gender. Aaron was also always baffled as to why they cared so much about their maiden hood and their no dating policy. Obviously if they cared so much about all that, then Aaron himself wouldn't have come into existence. Of course whenever the boy questioned his mother about it, Artemis would only say that it wasn't her choice and then ends the discussion by making him do her hunters' laundry. And to think that girls were supposed to be the clean and presentable gender, but when there were no incentives to impress anybody, girls could be pretty disgusting. It always made Aaron remember how many times he questioned whether girls even wash their bras. 

Quickly getting out of his thoughts, Aaron embarked on his journey from the West Virginia train station to New York's infamous Camp Half-Blood. He himself was never allowed to visit, much less attend, the camp at risk of ruining the image of the hunters' no male policy. The only reason Aaron had set camp as the place to settle was because he knew the hunters hated the place enough to set a couple cabins on fire. This would hopefully make the hunters reluctant to coming back to camp. Aaron also preferred if he didn't have to constantly fight for his life against monsters, so Camp Half-Blood was probably his best bet. 

Being the environmental enthusiast he was, Aaron opted to taking the bus up to New York rather than hiking. Sure he loved being outside etc., he was the son of the goddess of the hunt after all, but sometimes camping could be a pain. Unfortunately, he didn't have all that much mortal money himself, so he had to live off of cheap nature bars and peanut butter snacks for most of the trip. 

Using the last of his cash, the teenage boy bought the cheapest and darkest shade of hair dye he could find. With his tight budget, he couldn't really do much to his seemingly unnatural golden eyes (which didn't resemble Artemis's silver ones anyways), but he could cover up his auburn hair that was indistinguishable from his mother's. As much as he loved to get revenge and mess with Artemis, he did have a heart. He wasn't going to go around proving to everyone how the goddess of chastity wasn't as chaste as she is praised for. He also just hated having his hair more on the red spectrum than the brown one. Heck, his hair almost ran on scarlet, but still not quite. From the little movies he has seen, the redhead tends to take the useless comedic role... All the cool protagonists had cool dark hair anyway.

Being dropped off at the edge of New Jersey, Aaron begrudgingly made the rest of the way to Long Island on foot. Had it been winter, the travel would have been much more brutal, but the sun's late summer gaze helped make his travels snow free. So it was a little hot, but heat Aaron could handle. Unfortunately, being who he was, he couldn't but help attract a couple monsters on the way. Luckily, being the son of the goddess of the hunt came to an advantage as he was pretty proficient with a bow. Years of dodging deadly females, who he may or may not have intentionally provoked, also came in handy. 

It wasn't long until the now-not-so-auburn-haired-boy came across fields of strawberries near a tall hill with a tall pine tree perched on top. Am I finally here already!? Fortunately, he hadnt had any encounters with the hunts since his stunt, so he prayed to the gods that they went to Colorado. To say the least, Aaron almost felt bad for whatever guy was near when the hunt finds out they'd been gypped.

Aaron cautiously made his way up the hill and stood there in aw looking down at the camp. Of course he wasn't expecting something as makeshift as the camps he was used to with the hunt, but he couldn't help but be amazed by each unique cabin, the camp's own amphitheater, and was that a lava wall?  With all the land and structures that the camp displayed, the boy was expecting there to be more people around. Dismissing the thought, Aaron continued his way across the hill when he tripped. And rolled down the hill... landing on his face. 

"Travis!" a raging female's voice was progressively getting louder. "What did I tell you about setting pranks on campers heading out for the school year?"

A curly haired boy with freckles, who Aaron presumed to be Travis, made his way out of a nearby bush. "What are you talking about?! He tripped on his own!"

Obviously unconvinced the brunette girl persisted, "Sure, then why are you hiding in a bush?"

Travis seemed to think a bit before responding, "It's cozy!"

"Then just what is this? Hmm?" The girl said as she held up a thin wire invisible to the naked eye. 

The boy just turned his head to avoid eye contact with the not so pleased girl. "I didn't put that there..."

"Of course, then who did? huh"

"Conner did!" The boy beamed.

"Ugh," the girl groaned. 

Scaring the living day lights out of Aaron, who was casually trying to escape this conversation unnoticed, a person came right behind him from another suspicious bush.

"Plus, he's not even a normal camper," Travis #2 said behind him. "We were just greeting a newbie."

The girl finally turned to look at the Stoll brothers' new victim, "Oh your right. I haven't seen him around before..."

Brushing himself off, Aaron spoke up with a not so subtle hint of sarcasm, "Yes, thanks for making sure I hadn't snapped my neck on the way down."

The brunette rubbed her neck sheepishly and then held her hand out for a shake "Oh, sorry. I was a little occupied with these idiots. Welcome to Camp Half-Blood! The wonderful place where the gods' bastard children learn to avoid shortening their lifespans! I'm Katie Gardner."

Reluctantly, the newcomer took her hand, "Aaron Nightshade."