The Male Hunter | Olympus' Traitor #1

Chapter 39: Confrontations with Artemis

Everyone else in the tent quickly ducked out and followed Percy, moving silently so as not to alert anyone to their nightly activities. Quickly and stealthily they made their way towards the SUVs that the Romans had lent the Hunt, avoiding sentries along the way. As they reached the outer perimeter the wolves that often traveled with the Hunt noticed them, but ignored them for the most part. They instead went about their business and patrolled the edges of the camp. It took less than ten minutes to reach the car, and Percy was feeling great it looked like they were going to make a clean break.

Percy quickly issued instructions, but before he could go too in depth a feminine sounding voice cleared its throat behind them. Various hands went for various weapons as the group whirled around, only to lower them at the sight of the person who had confronted them. A petite girl with auburn hair stood facing them, arms crossed, eyebrow raised, and foot tapping. "Going somewhere?" she asked.

"Just. . . going for supplies?" Percy tried, not daring to look Artemis in the eyes.

Artemis' eyebrow crept even higher. "Is that so?"

"Um, yes?"

The group watched on with bated breath as Artemis opened her mouth to speak again. "You really are a bad liar, Perseus. Do you know that?" she stated. "Care to try again."

"AnnabethisintheAppalachianMountainstryingtoraisesomeevilkingdudefromTartarusandweweregoingtostopher," Percy quickly mumbled out.

Fortunately, Artemis' sharp hearing was able to pick up what he said. "And when were you going to tell me about this?"

"When we got back," Percy said sheepishly.

"And none of you were going to stop him?" Artemis interrogated everyone else, glaring at each one in turn. They all suddenly found their boots very interesting. "Did anyone even consider that this is exactly what that Athena Spawn might want you to do?"

"Well, no, not exactly, M'Lady," Thalia replied, feeling quite embarrassed.

"Then what were you thinking?" Artemis scolded. Oh wait, let me guess. Ms. Andle wants revenge, Perseus wants to put as little people at risk as possible, and everyone else is just supporting him. How's that?" Everyone nodded sheepishly, it was pretty accurate. "Now, back to camp," Artemis ordered, pointing the way back sternly. "We can talk about this in the morning."

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It was the dead of night, maybe about three in the morning, when he jerked awake, instantly alert. Luckily, the boy of about sixteen had lashed his sleeping bag to the tree branch, or he would have fallen out. Slowly shifting so as not to draw attention to himself, the demigod analyzed the scene below him. It was a mass exodus, hundreds of demigods wearing battle armor and carting supplies were exiting the camp, pegasai flying overhead. With bated breath, the boy waited nearly five hours before there was enough light to send a message. Taking a spray bottle that luckily hadn't frozen, he created a rainbow and threw a drachma in after saying the prayer to Iris. "Show me the Praetors at Camp Jupiter," he requested.

Immediately, the image shimmered to reveal a very tired looking Frank and Hazel standing over a table filled with maps. "- somewhere in this mountain range. We-" Hazel was saying before Frank noticed the message and brought her attention to it.

"What's going on Justin, this isn't your normal time?" Frank questioned.

"Apologies, Praetors," Justin said. "But you need to know this. Last night Greeks evacuated Camp Half-Blood on a march to the West. They were heavily armed, and seemed to be carrying enough supplies to sustain them for months."