The Male Hunter | Olympus' Traitor #1

Chapter 44: The Battle Begins

Annabeth was kneeling on the floor of her darkened quarters, the obsidian shard laying on the floor in front of her exuding an inky blackness. "What is it?" the annoyed voice of King Ixion emitted from the stone.

"My king, I'm afraid that there's been a. . . hiccup," Annabeth said. "The War Spawn and his crew have yet to arrive or report in. I believe that they have been captured, which also means that our timeline is back to the original pace without the Daughter of Hecate."

"That is. . . unfortunate," Ixion said menacingly.

Annabeth's Face paled. "I apologize, my king," she stammered. "I will work to prepare the ritual as quickly as possible."

"See that you do, but until then it seems to me that you need a reminder of who holds the power here," the voice emanating from the stone said darkly.

"No, please, I am doing the best I can!" Annabeth pleaded.

"Your best isn't good enough," Ixion threatened as the darkness that seemed to be emanating from the obsidian shard flowed into Annabeth. Almost immediately, she startes screaming bloody murder.

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The black SUV rumbled down the interstate, a fleet of identical SUVs and a couple box trucks trailing behind it. "Hey, Thals, you sure you're okay?" Percy asked the girl in the seat next to him as he sat behind the wheel.

"I'm fine!" Thalia snapped.

"See, this is exactly what I'm talking about!" Percy argued. "You haven't been acting like yourself since that talk with my mom!" Percy's voice then softened. "I'm worried about you Thalia, I just want you to be okay."

"I'm. . . just trying to work through some things," Thalia replied.

"Well, whatever it is, we can work through it together."

Thalia shook her head. "Not yet, this is something I need to come to terms with myself first. I promise you, I will tell you when I'm ready."

"Okay," Percy relented. "When you are ready."

Suddenly, a voice cleared its throat from the backseat. "Just a friendly reminder that we are all here too," Hannah said awkwardly from behind the couple. Looking back, Thalia could see Hannah, Reyna, Kate, and Clara looking extremely weirded out by the situation that was unfolding in front of them, which caused her to burst out laughing. Thalia's laugh, infectious as it is, quickly spread to the rest of the car.

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The column had stopped for the night, now somewhere in the midwest of the United States. It was estimated that they would reach the battlefield sometime within the next two to three days. Currently, everyone was gathered around multiple campfires to socialize before it was time to turn in. Around one such fire, sat Hannah, Clara, Percy, Thalia, Reyna, Atalanta, and Kate. "Hannah," Clara said as she turned to the older girl who was sitting next to her. "What was my brother like before I joined the Hunt? I've heard stories, but he would never tell me when I asked."

"Jacob never liked talking about his past," Hannah sighed. "He was ashamed, but he shouldn't have been. He had his reasons for doing the things he did, and he was a great help even if he didn't realize it." Clara gazed at her expectantly as Hannah started telling Jacob's story. "I'm told we first met in kindergarten when we were in the same class, but I don't remember that. We went through school together until fifth grade where he was kicked out for accidentally severely injuring a kid during basketball in P.E. and moved to Manhattan. That was also the year I was taken to Camp by a satyr. We met again one year later when your brother came to camp with Percy. That was the beginning of our adventures as we went against the rules to sneak out and help Percy on his quest. Jake was adamant that we keep some 'uncaring god' from smiting Percy. Upon returning and finishing the summer, we both decided to stay year-round."