Annabeth couldn't stop pacing. Her nerves were shot. She was worried and scared. Why? Because she witnessed Perseus collapsing into Lady Artemis' arms. That was hours ago.

Since then, the hunters have been silent as Lady Artemis and her lieutenant brought Perseus into a tent. The seven out of eight of the prophecy were told to stay put in the center of their camp; at their fire pit.

The hunters were going around doing their daily activities, but many would glare at the males in our group.

Finally Annabeth couldn't take it anymore. "Why are we even still here?!" She threw her hands in the air, frustrated out of her mind.

No one talked. No one moved. Even the hunters seem to have paused as they stared at the scene. Then everyone turned to the biggest tent as the other male came into view.

Perseus had came out of Artemis' tent silently, he didn't look at anyone as he walked out of the camp. No one breathed. His face was unreadable.

Zöe Nightshade, lieutenant of Artemis, came bursting out of the tent crying. "Perseus! Perseus, please!" He didn't look back once, continuing to disappear into the woods.

Artemis was next to come out. She was calm with a small frown on her face as she took in the scene. She sent a small smile towards her close friend. "Go,  Zöe, go after him. We both know he didn't mean what he said." The crying maiden nodded, wiped away some of her tears, and ran off after the male.

Artemis watched one of her hunters disappeared where the Lost Legend had. She frowned again, moving towards Annabeth's group at the fire. "You found him?" It wasn't a question. She stared at Annabeth, demanding to know the answer.

Annabeth nodded. "Yes, Lady Artemis." She responded respectfully.

Artemis glanced at the woods before coming back to the conversation. "Perseus wasn't rude or cold, was he?"

Annabeth was going to respond, but a thought came to her; why would a maiden goddess ask her something like that? Was it because she didn't approve of Perseus? If that was the reason, why would she allow one of her hunters to go after him?

"Perseus is still cold and rude." Leo muttered under his breath.

Artemis narrowed her eyes at him. "Do not be rude, boy. I owe Perseus my life. He saved me and my hunters several times through the years. We wouldn't have won this battle as easily as we did without him. Be glad you are traveling with him, he's a good influence. A good man."

She turned her attention back to the Daughter of Athena. "Do not judge him too harshly." The maiden goddess went quieter, almost talking to herself as her eyes scanned the woods that Perseus and Zöe went into. "Perseus has sacrificed too much for everyone to be treated harshly by anyone."

It looked like Annabeth was the only one who heard the last part. Artemis shook her head briefly. "Alright, girls! Listen up!" All the rest of the hunters that were off doing other things gathered around. "There is an ancient monster in Greece that needs to be dealt with." She turned to Annabeth. "It would be easier for us to get there if we come along with the eight of you. Do we have your permission?" 

Annabeth blinked at the question.

"Lady Di-Artemis, why are you asking us for permission when-" Jason stumbled over her name, almost saying her Roman form's name instead of her Greek one, the form she was currently in.

"Perseus owns the boat?" Hazel finished for Jason, confused about the question as much as Annabeth was. Looking around Annabeth found everyone in the hunt and The rest of her group was confused by the request.

Artemis smiled at the question, amused that someone would ask that question. "The ship's name is The Night Tides, it doesn't only belong to Perseus. My hunt had used it for years before it disappeared with the co-owner. The navigator and first mate." Her eyes showed there was more to that story than anyone knew.

"Night." Annabeth repeated, staring at the goddess to confirm her theory. "Short for Nightshade. Your lieutenant co-owns the boat?"

Artemis pursed her lips, simply nodding at the question.

"Wait," Leo stepped forward, waving his hands around in crazy gestures. "You mean to say that rude and cold Perseus made friends with a man-hating hunter? How?" He suddenly grinned, opening his mouth to most likely tell an inappropriate joke about how Perseus had made friends with  Zöe.

"Leo!" Piper hissed, hitting the back of his head. She turned to the goddess who had raised an eyebrow in question. "Lady Artemis, please excuse Leo. He sometimes doesn't think about what he says before he says it." She sent him a slight warning glare, then a smile at the maiden goddess.

Artemis smiled at Piper before she turned to Leo. "If you must know, Perseus had saved  Zöe a long time ago. They have been inseparable ever since." She paused, a frown on her face. "Until he disappeared. And everyone thought he was a traitor." A scoff and angry expression from the goddess filled the silence.

"My Lady," Hazel broke the silence, holding Frank's hand to calm her nerves. "If the boat was co-owned by one of your hunters, why are you asking us for our permission when you don't really need it?" Her voice timid.

Artemis actually laughed a little at the question. "Because I know Perseus. He didn't tell you about what was happening here, he must have saw something in his dreams and changed your course without your knowledge." We nodded in agreement. "I thought so. Perseus, back when he had commanded the armies of Olympus, had to make split second decisions and wasn't questioned. All of us had complete trust in him." She shook her head, going tight-lipped. "I am asking if you're okay with having me and my hunters with you on your way to Greece, because I don't want any of you uncomfortable."

Annabeth looked around. She saw the exchanging looks that Leo, Piper, Jason, Hazel, Frank, and Nico gave each other.

"What do you mean by 'it would be easier for us to get there'?" Nico asked, his eyes dark and blank as he was around the group that took his sister away from him. Annabeth wanted to slapped herself! She forgot that Bianca, Nico's older sister had died after she had joined the hunters and went on a quest to save Lady Artemis and Annabeth herself.

She tried to send him a questioning look, silently asking if he was okay, but he wouldn't meet her eye.

Stupid Son of Hades...

"Olympus is closed. My father doesn't know I am here with my hunters. I cannot bring my hunters to Greece for our next hunt using my godly powers. If I want to remain hidden away from my father, I have limit myself." Lady Artemis answered with a frown.

We all seemed to have come to an agreement after more exchanging and questioning looks. Jason stepped forward. "Then you have our permission."

~The darkness that holds you, the one that suffocates you in the dead of night, keeps you here. Darkness doesn't kill you, it makes you wish you were.~

Once Jason had announced our final decision, Artemis asked if we could help some of her hunters, saying it would give us something to do. We agreed and moved around with the hunters, helping where we were needed.

The hunters, of course, gave the boys some glares and generally stayed away from them. That's why they got sent off to watching over The Night Tides. It was a way for the guys to be away from the hunters.

Lucky them, there hasn't even been an monster attack yet, they got the easy job. Annabeth filed that sudden thought for later. No monster attacks could spell trouble for them. And it's unusual for a group of eight to not get attacked.

She instead focused back on her job of helping a perky Daughter of Hermes and a strict Daughter of Ares gather the monster traps they had set.

Their bickering was starting to give Annabeth a headache. Now she remembered why she wasn't paying attention to them.

"...focus more on form than-"

"I AM NOT! Form in a fight isn't all-"

"Please! There's more to a fight than pranks!"

Annabeth got tired of the arguing and branched off from the two noisy hunters, deciding to go off on her own while looking for more monster traps that needed to be picked up before some woodland creature comes by and steps into it.

As she stumbled around some of the underbrush and tree roots, Annabeth came onto a scene that horrified her.

Perseus, with his back to Annabeth, was kissing Zöe Nightshade with his hands on her cheeks.

The Lost Legend was kissing the lieutenant of Artemis. What did Annabeth walked into?

Something. That's what you walked into, Annabeth, something.

Sorry for the lateness. I wanted to published this hours ago, but I got cleaning. I so can't want for my two older siblings to move out already!

Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed this somewhat boring chapter. I don't know, I'm still not out of my writing funk. My writing depression (that's what I call it) still has a hold of me and I feel like my writing isn't the best.

Oh well. I'll deal with it. Hope you liked this chapter!

~MsPenguingirl1234.

Published: February 6, 2018.