The Male Hunter | Olympus' Traitor #1

Chapter 2: Run Percy, Run!

Percy's mind raced. Nothing came to mind, he hadn't done much lately. Well, there was that prank I played a couple weeks ago. I guess the Hermes Cabin doesn't like pranks pulled on them? Percy thought. He smiled, remembering the looks on their faces as they opened their cabin door and lake-water just came flooding out. Besides, it's not like anything was harmed. Percy made sure to dry everything afterwards. The smile quickly turned into a frown though. There was no other explanation, that had to be why people were mad at him. Straightening up as best he could, Percy went to bed. Unfortunately, dreams haunted him that night.

Percy found himself at the top of the camp's amphitheater, all that remained of the fire were smoldering coals. Taking a closer look, Percy could see that it was filled with shadowed figures, it looked as full as when the whole camp was at the fire. Looking at the bottom to where the Apollo kids would lead the sing-along Percy could make out what he thought was five figures, and two of them seemed to be arguing with the other three. Before too much longer the pair of shadows threw up their arms and stalked off to the edge of the crowd.

After a few more seconds a figure from the remaining three stepped forward. Percy assumed they were in charge because they seemed to be doing most of the talking when arguing with the pair from before. "Friends," they started, and Percy could now tell it was a girl from her voice. "I am glad that you could all join us this evening." There was something about this girl that seemed familiar, but Percy couldn't quite place it. "You all know why you are here, so I shall cut to the chase. We are here to vote on the fate of the traitor who has fooled us for many years."

This brought a murmur over the crowd as groups seemed to be talking amongst themselves. Pretty soon these smaller groups seemed to merge into bigger and bigger groups, until it seemed that the whole crowd in the amphitheater had reached a consensus.

"Have you reached a decision?" the girl from before questioned.

There was silence for a few moments before a figure stepped forwards from the crowd. Male, Percy guessed. "We have," a gruff voice replied. "By an overwhelming majority we have decided that the traitor, Percy Jackson, shall be executed for his crimes against Camp Half-Blood and Olympus."

Percy heard a small gasp and glanced towards where he heard it. The pair that was arguing before seemed to be sneaking off towards the direction of the cabins.

A loud pounding jerked Percy from his dream. As he rubbed the sleep from his eyes, Percy realized that it was the door. Stumbling over to the door Percy opened it, only to be shoved aside by two figures. One of them slammed the door behind them, and Percy could finally make out who they were. It was Jacob and Hannah, and the looks on their faces screamed of panic and desperation.

"Percy, you have to go, NOW," Jacob managed to gasp out.

"What, why?"

"No time to explain," Hannah said. "Pack anything and everything, you won't be back for a while."

Percy turned to see that Jacob had his backpack in hand, and was stuffing various clothes inside it. "Seriously, what is going on?"

"We'll explain on the way," Jacob said as he shoved Percy's bag into his arms. "But we have to leave before the rest of the camp gets here. I have everything you should need in there, I managed to snag some bandages, nectar, and ambrosia from my cabin on my way over."

"All right, we're clear," Hannah called from the door.

"Seriously, where are we going?" Percy questioned as Jacob dragged him out the door.

"Away," Jacob whispered as they ran towards the hill. "Annabeth has convinced the camp that you were working with the Titans and Giants the whole time. She even used that stuff you did with the poison while you two were in Tartarus as evidence of how violent you are."

"No, Annabeth wouldn't-, I wouldn't-, What?" Percy stammered. "It can't be true, you have to be lying."

"My dad is the god of truth," Jacob said. "Trust me, I'm not lying."

"Percy opened his mouth like he was going to say something else.

"We don't get it either," Hannah cut in. "The only thing we can figure is that Annabeth got Piper to Charmspeak everyone."

By now they had reached Thalia's tree, and tears were streaming down Percy's face.

"We'll cover for you Percy," Jacob said. "We'll try to convince everyone that you're dead or something. Hopefully with enough offerings and prayers we can convince Iris to block IM's unless you want them."

"Thanks guys," Percy said. "I really-"

Suddenly, shouts of anger were heard from the camp.

"Malum Sit!" Jacob cursed.

"Sounds like they've discovered you're gone," Hannah said. "Quick, pull out Riptide! I have have an idea."

Percy looked at her confused, but did as she asked.

"Give us some cuts and bruises," Hannah explained as she formed a spear from the Mist. "We can say we tried to stop you from escaping."

"No way, I am not hurting you guys!" Percy exclaimed.

"Percy, please, this is the only way," Jacob sighed as he twisted his watch and ring to bring out a roman shield and a greek-style spear.

"I'm sorry," Percy said has he hit them both a few times, inflicting wounds across their bodies.

Voices could now be heard from the bottom of the hill.

"Percy, run!" Jacob hissed. "Run and don't stop until you have to!"

Percy started to go, but turned and hugged his two friends as tight as he could. "Thank you," he whispered, before turning and running into the night.

As he disappeared from view a furious looking Annabeth, closely followed by an equally furious Piper and Jason, stormed to the top of the hill.

"Where is he!" Annabeth shrieked, putting her knife under Jacob's chin.

"Gone. Escaped." Hannah said, sadly. "We tried to stop him, but. . ."

Annabeth shrieked in rage as she turned to the campers behind her. "Find him!"

"We won't be able to at this time of night," Jacob said. "Besides, monsters will swarm him soon. He may be powerful, but a child of the Big Three attracts a lot of monsters."

"I don't care," Annabeth fumed, before turning and stalking back to camp. Once again, Piper and Jason followed closely behind.

A group of heavily armed Ares campers ran down the hill out of camp, with Hannah and Jacob joining them to "finish what they started". However, their real mission was to help Percy avoid them, and hopefully find a way to fake his death.

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Percy stumbled through the woods, branches whipping at his face and arms as he barreled through the trees. Percy was trying to wrap his head around all that had happened, but he just couldn't. Why would people think he would betray them? He would literally do anything for his friends. And Annabeth, even just thinking her name filled Percy with a great anger and sadness.

It was then that Percy stumbled into a clearing, and he could see the stars clearly through the trees around him. "Why, why me?" Percy screamed. "Haven't I suffered enough already?" He then collapsed on the ground, sobbing quietly. After a minute or two he rose to his feet again, whipping tears from his eyes as a new resolve filled him. Percy knew where he would go now, he was going to see his mom.

A/N: Here we are, Chapter 2. I hope y'all liked it! Things are starting to heat up, and Percy has been driven from the place he calls home. Some questions have been answered, but it seems more have been created.

Anyway, I hope that whoever reads this has a nice day!

Edit; August 20, 2020: Added chapter cover