She can't be serious.

She's not serious, right?

Oh, but the way she's standing, hands cocked on her hips, smirk pulling at one corner of her mouth - she's serious. Oh gods, she's serious.

"Hunter?" Jasper's sharp tone makes me wince, and I slowly turn a shaky smile on him.

"It's, um, nothing...?" I cough, a poor attempt at covering up the nausea suddenly churning my stomach into a tsunami, and wave my hand frantically at Thalia, telling her to lay off it. Her smirk just escalates in amusement. She greatly enjoys torturing me, and it looks like even in our few months apart she has no plans to change, even if it would make my life easier. I swallow my stutters. "It's really nothing, Jasper," I sigh, avoiding eye-contact as best I can. "Thalia's kidding, alright? She's asked me about joining the Hunters before, after the Battle of Manhattan, but I... couldn't leave Camp Half-Blood behind just like that. It's my home."

The ticking muscles in his jaw quiets; the tension crinkling his brow relaxes. He rolls his eyes, the picture of mockery, and waves a hand, indicating the crisis has been averted.

Jasper doesn't necessarily like the Hunters of Artemis. He finds them pretentious, especially their vow to keep away from men for all eternity. He thinks it's some sort of feminist overload.

And this boy is a son of Athena.

Go figure.

I sigh, pressing a hand to my forehead; I nearly jerk back in surprise. I'm... hot. Scalding, even, like a boiler about to blow. Ugh. Is it the adrenaline still shooting through my veins...?

I catch Lady Artemis eyeing me curiously, so I quickly drop my hand and stuff it into my pocket; it warms my thigh to an uncomfortable level but I do my best to ignore and focus on the situation at hand. "So," I say, nudging my chin at Thalia, "what brings you here? You guys" - about a dozen heads snap my way and my free hand flies up in a don't kill me gesture - "I mean girls, don't usually come to New York, cause Camp Half-Blood is right here."

"You are correct," Lady Artemis replies, tightening her already fierce grip on her bow. "We are not staying long here; we've only stopped in order to hunt this pack of hounds."

I rub the back of my neck sheepishly, knowing they were probably only here because they caught a whiff of demigod. I really can't help causing trouble...

"We're actually heading to California," Thalia tells me, crossing her arms over her chest. I can't keep the look of wonder creeping over my face, and she cocks her head to the side questioningly.

"That's where we're going," Jasper says. He still looks marginally uncomfortable, but at least he's talking. Isaiah is a nonsensical mess, practically drooling over the haughty Hunters currenly eyeing him as they would empousa - that is to say, like they want to jab a few arrows through his eye sockets.

Artemis and Thalia exchange a swift glance.

I blink.

Jasper scowls.

Isaiah waves girlishly at the glaring Hunters.

"I figured you were on a quest," Thalia says, breaking the quickly encroaching silence, "but I didn't think..."

"What, exactly, does your quest entail?" Artemis inquires. "Please, could you share with me your prophecy? Perhaps I could help make sense of it."

Anyone who turns down a goddess' help - at the very least Artemis' help - is a complete moron and should be treated as such.

"Yes," I cheer, a bit too enthusiastic for Jasper's liking, but perfectly acceptable for my own. Ignoring the embarrassed flush that crosses my cheeks, I recite the enigmatic prophecy for the Goddess of the Hunt.

She closes her eyes, draws in a slow, coiled breath.

I don't take it as a good sign.

"It seems our paths intertwine once again with the Half-Blood Campers," she says, angled back towards Thalia. Her lieutenant rubs consciously at the back of her neck, her brows drawn together nervously. Turning back to me, she says, "That tearful Huntress you are meant to free seems to be my fallen lieutenant, Zoe Nightshade."

Jasper, who's since returned to my side, lifts an incredulous brow (his apparent specialty). "Free her? I thought she was made into a constellation, by you, Lady Artemis."

Her eyes close again; she draws in another stinted breath. "Again, you are correct. I released Zoe's spirit in the form of a new constellation to forever grace the sky. But - while I am not sure how - it appears she has disappeared from the night sky."

An ominous chill cuts through me like a cursed dagger. Disappeared? Sure, some constellations aren't visible all year, only appear in certain hemispheres at certain times, but... Artemis wouldn't make a mistake like that. And it's been several years since Zoe's death; if part of her cycle meant straying from above Mount Tam for part of the year, the Hunters would have mapped that out already.

Which means...

"How long ago did this happen?"

"Just a week or so ago." Thalia grimaces. "We would have left for Cali sooner, but we were busy hunting a family of telekhines in New England." She grits her teeth. "If someone's done something to Zoe, I'll fill them with so many holes people'll think they're the God of Swiss Cheese...!"

I'm tempted to laugh at that (because, c'mon - God of Freaking Swiss Cheese) but hold myself in check; an angry Thalia is not one to be messed with. I can already make out the flickering blue sparks crackling around her like a halo of pure electricity. But at Artemis' light touch on her arm, the static fizzles out of existence and look of practiced calm slips over her taut features.

After whispering a few words against Thalia's ear, Artemis returns her unflinching moonlit gaze to us. "Regarding your quest, I think it best if we join together for the time being," she informs us easily, despite the dozen or so stricken stares boring into her slender frame. "Our goals, for now, are the same: We wish to free a noble Huntress. After that is accomplished, I cannot promise you help on whatever else this quest requires you to do."

"You're already giving us way more than you have to," I cut in quickly, anxious that she understands my gratitude. After a moment's thought, though, my face falls, and I lower my eyes to my beaten sneakers. "But, your Hunters... They won't be too happy to travel with a couple of boys, right?"

"True," Artemis concedes, "that would be problematic. But fortunately for you, I have a task more important for my Hunters; they will be not be joining us on this trip."

"Yup," Thalia grins, having regained a shred of her usual vigor, "it's just gonna be me and Lady Artemis with you guys, and I don't have any issues with these two" - she hooks her thumb at Jasper, then swings it around to Isaiah, who's finally caught onto the severity of the situation and is slinking back towards us as we speak - "so no worries, okay?"

A little sigh of relief escapes me; gods, this stress'll kill me before any monsters get a chance to. "Okay," I breathe, a tiny smile curling my lips.

Now if only Artemis would quit stealing odd glances at me like an infected mutant, my day would be looking up.
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This chapter was written by Arctic_Sky