Chapter VII — I Meet The Huntress

Note to self, never speak to Rachel when she’s having one of her fits, ever. On a positive note, I am now going on my first ever quest to kill some monsters and rescue some gods, oh the joy.

We had an emergency meeting in the Big House. Apparently Mr.D’s not there, must be off bullying satyrs or something. All the head counsellors of each cabin was there, including the hunters.

Chiron galloped in last with Rachel on his back, his face told us he was not in a good mood.
“Heroes, gather round. I’ve been told our camper here,” He pulled me beside him, “received a quest from our oracle. It has been awhile since we last had a quest, after the titan war. Annabeth,
could you be so kind as to tell me the prophecy?”
Through the hour we tried to decode the prophecy, with no luck.

Jake Mason of the Hephaestus cabin said, “I just know one thing, ‘But one might even lose her life’, someone from this quest might not be coming back alive. And since its a ‘her’, well, you know.”
Travis Stoll from the Hermes cabin started whispering something into his brother’s ears, then started talking aloud. “So if one of the girls might die, then cant he just choose guys?”
Connor Stoll sat up and agreed with his brother, “Yea, great idea. Cant he?”
“You know we cant control prophecies, it never works out well in the end.” Percy said.
“First things first.” Annabeth said,”Bryan, whose going along with you on the quest?”

My heart started beating at an irregular pace. “I…I dont know. I mean sure I could pick a few of you guys but I just cant stand endangering your lives.”
“Take time to think then, but we’ll need your decision tomorrow.” Thalia said, her eyes still red from sobbing.”Lady Artemis is in trouble and…its all my fault. If I had gone with her..” She started crying again.
I padded her shoulder.”Come on sis, you know its not your fault, if you went with Artemis, who knows what kind of trouble you’ll be in.”
I tried comforting her but it just isnt working. I glanced at Chiron and he seemed to understand. “Fine. Bryan will give his decisions tomorrow. For now, get some rest.”

I took Thalia back to our cabin and put her to sleep. I needed some time alone to think, so I walked out to the campfire. The night air was cool, I looked around the sky, the stars shining brightly.
Around the campfire stood a figure of a girl wearing silver clothes. I thought it was one of Thalia’s hunters so I thought its best to leave her alone. I turned around but she started talking. There was nobody else around so I figured she was talking to me. I sat down next to her beside the campfire. When she turned around, I noticed she was wearing a silver circlet around her head, just like Thalia’s. So I thought it might be her second-in-command or something.
“Hello.” She said.
“Umm, hiya.” I’ve always had difficulty talking to girls, except Claire because I’ve known her since childhood. I figured my face was probably as red as a tomato.
“Thou shall make a hard decision.” She said, with an old english accent, like the ones they do in Shakespear plays. “How are thy planning to make thy decision?”
“You talk funny.” I thought I was going to get shot with an arrow, but she just giggled.
“Oh, its a habit. I’ll try to improve on my accents. But seriously, how are uhh..you going to make your decision?”
“I dunno..I mean, I dont want to risk my friend’s lives. I dont even know why the Oracle chose me. Now I’m stuck with this thing.”
“Do not fear, young one.” She said young one as if she was a few hundred years old. “Thou- I mean you shall do what is right.”
“Yeah. I hope you’re right.” I sighed.
“If you need to think, to clear your mind, just look up towards the stars.” She snapped her fingers and I instantly felt dizzy.

I seriously hate it when people give me unintentional naps and unwanted dreams. In this dream, I saw Percy, Thalia and another girl fighting a man on top of a mountain. Annabeth’s hands were tied and beside her stood a boy about 14 years old.
I recognized him from Thalia’s picture, it was Luke, the guy who betrayed the Gods, the guy who betrayed my sister. Thalia charged Luke while Percy was busy fighting a hopeless battle against the giant man three times his size. The man smacked Percy and knocked him beside a 12 year old girl. The girl looked as if she was holding up something, I couldnt see what except for the dark clouds. With a shock I realised this was what Percy told me about in his story. The man Percy’s fighting is not just any ordinary man, its the Titan
General, Atlas. And the girl holding up the sky was the goddess Artemis. As Atlas closed in on Percy and prepared to strike, the other girl blocked Atlas and shot him with a couple of arrows. When she turned around, my jaw almost dropped to the floor.
It was the girl who just put me to sleep! With a mighty swing on his hand, the girl flew across the mountain and hit her head on a bunch of rocks. Percy realised he was in trouble, that he was no match for a titan. So he released Artemis from the weight of the sky and held it above his shoulders while the goddess fought the titan. The goddess dashed and shot with unbelievable grace. Artemis managed to lure Atlas to Percy and Percy forced the titan to hold the weight of the sky again.

The scene shifted. I was now onboard a sleigh, pulled by reindeers. On board was Percy, Annabeth, my sister Thalia, the goddess Artemis and the girl I saw. She was injured pretty badly, and there was no cure for her. When she died, Artemis turned her into a constellation.
My dream faded and I woke up, I looked up to the sky and saw the same constellation, the same girl whom I just talked to, the same girl who gave me visions from the last moment of her life. With a shock, I realise I was talking to non other than the huntress herself, Zoe Nightshade. I didnt feel scared, instead, I felt a sense of calmness. Even in death, she was helping young half-bloods like me to make decisions. I thought about what she said, “to clear your mind, just look up at the stars”. I thought long and hard, I turned my head and almost jumped into the fire when I saw Claire sitting beside me.
“Gods, I hate it when you do that.” I said. “You could have at least told me you were here.”
“I just like looking at you.” She smiled. “Listen, I heard about your quest. And I was wondering if I could come along with you guys.”
“Thats what I’ve been trying to think about.” I explained. “The prophecy says one girl might not return alive from the quest. If you went, I’m scared what might happen…”
“I’ll try my best to not get killed Bryan, I promise.” She said.”Dont count me out so fast, I’m a daughter of Hades you know?”
“Well ok..you can come. I was afraid you might flirt with the other guys in camp while I’m gone anyways.” I laughed.
She punched me in the shoulder, but she ended up laughing as well. But in my mind, I couldnt help wondering if I had made the right choice.

Tales of Camp Half-Blood

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