The Adventure That Lies Ahead | PJO x HP

CHAPTER 44

After seeing Dr Thorn turn into a monster and plummet off the edge of a cliff with Annabeth, you'd think nothing else could shock Percy. But when this twelve-year-old girl told him she was the goddess Artemis, Percy said something really intelligent like, "Um... okay."

That was nothing compared to Grover. He gasped, then knelt hastily in the snow and started yammering, "Thank you, Lady Artemis! You're so... you're so... Wow!"

"Get up, Goat boy!" Thalia snapped. "We have other things to worry about. Annabeth is gone!"

"Whoa," Bianca di Angelo said. "Hold up. Time out."

Everybody looked at her. She pointed her finger at all of them in turn, like she was trying to connect the dots. "Who... who are you people?"

Artemis's expression softened. "It might be a better question, my dear girl, to ask who are you? Who are your parents?"

Bianca glanced nervously at her brother, who was still staring in awe at Artemis. "Our parents are dead," Bianca said. "We're orphans. There's a bank trust that pays for our school, but..."

She faltered. Isa guessed that Bianco could tell from their faces that she thought they didn't believe her. Isa didn't smile sympathetically at them, she smiled empathetically, knowing how it felt like to have no parents.

"What?" she demanded. "I'm telling the truth."

"You are a half-blood," Zoë Nightshade said. Her accent was hard to place. It seemed old-fashioned like she was reading from a really old book. "One of thy parents was mortal. The other was an Olympian."

"An Olympian... athlete?"

Isa snorted.

"No," Zoë said. "One of the gods."

"Cool!" Nico said.

"No!" Bianca's voice quavered. "This is not cool!"

Nico danced around like he needed to use the restroom. "Does Zeus really have lightning bolts that do six hundred damage? Does he get extra movement points for⎼"

"Nico, shut up!" Bianca put her hands to her face. "This is not your stupid Mythomagic game, okay? There are no gods!"

As anxious as Isa and Percy felt about Annabeth⎼all they wanted to do was search for her⎼the two couldn't help feeling sorry for the di Angelos. They remembered what it was like for them when they first learned they were a demigod.

Thalia must've been feeling something similar because the anger in her eyes subsided a little bit. "Bianca, I know it's hard to believe. But the gods are still around. Trust me. They're immortal. And whenever they have kids with regular humans, kids like us, well... Our lives are dangerous."

"Dangerous," Bianca said, "like the girl who fell."

Thalia and Isa turned away. Even Artemis looked pained.

"Do not despair for Annabeth," the goddess said. "She was a brave maiden. If she can be found, I shall find her."

"Then why won't you let us go and look for her?" Isa asked.

"She is gone. Can't you sense it, Daughter of Poseidon? Some magic is at work. I do not know exactly how or why, but your friend has vanished."

Isa along with Percy still wanted to jump off the cliff and search for her, but they had a feeling that Artemis was right. Annabeth was gone. If she'd been down there in the sea, Isa thought, she'd be able to feel her presence.

"Oo!" Nico raised his hand. "What about Dr Thorn? That was awesome how you shot him with arrows! Is he dead?"

"He was a manticore," Artemis said. "Hopefully, he is destroyed for now, but monsters never truly die. They reform over and over again, and they must be hunted whenever they reappear."