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Dr. Thorn froze. "No," he muttered. "It cannot be-." His words were cut off as a glowing silver arrow slammed into his shoulder. He let out an unearthly wail of agony.

"Curse you!" He cried. With that, he sent thorns where the arrow came from. Immediately, silver arrows streaked, and cut the thorns in half.

Dr. Thorn ripped the arrow out with a shout of pain. Seeing this, Percy slashed at him. Unfortunately, the little loser he was, he ducked and hit his tail into Percy's shield, knocking him down.

The archers approached from the woods. They numbered a dozen, the youngest about ten, the oldest about fourteen. They wore silvery clothes and were armed with bows.

"The Hunters!" The blonde cried.

"Great." Muttered the spunky girl. One of the older girls stepped forward. She was tall and graceful, with copper colored skin.

The bowstring gave a creak as the pulled it back to her cheek. I noticed she had a band of silver on her head. "Permission to kill, my lady?" She kept her arrow pointing at Dr. Thorn.

Dr. Thorn wailed. "This is not fair! Direct interference! It is against the Ancient Laws!

"Not so." Another girl said. She was a bit younger then the bow-happy Hunter., and prettier, but don't tell Bianca I said that. "The hunting of wild beasts is within my sphere. And you foul creature, are a wild beast."

She looked at the older girl. "Zoë, permission granted."

Dr. Thorn growled menacingly. "If I cannot take these alive, I will have them dead!" He lunged at Percy and the spunky girl.

"No!" The blonde yelled. She leapt onto Dr. Thorn's back. She drove her knife into his mane. Dr. Thorn howled.

"Get back half-blood!" Zoë yelled. "Get out of the line of fire!" But the blonde hung on, so the Zoë gave the order.

"Fire!" she ordered.

"No!" Percy screamed. The Hunters paid no heed. Zoë's arrow caught him in the neck. The others hit his midsection.

Dr. Thorn staggered back, yelling. "This is not the end huntress! You shall pay!" Before anybody could do anything, he jumped off the cliff.

Ummm, I began to question his reasoning. Hey! To save myself from death, I'm going to jump off a cliff! Weirdo.

"Annabeth!" Percy yelled, and I noticed she'd gone off the cliff too.

Unexpectedly, the helicopter started shooting machine gun rounds. Some scattered, but the leader, the one who gave Zoë permission, looked on calmly. "Mortals are not allowed to witness my hunt." She announced. She said mortal as if she wasn't one.

She thrust her hand out, turning the helicopter, people and all, into ravens. I stared dumbstruck at her.

The others talked to the newcomers, but I kept staring at the beautiful girl with eyes full of moonlight. I caught inklings of what they were saying, "Four half-bloods and a satyr, milady."

I even caught something about jumping off cliffs. Probably Percy. I haven't known him long, but he still doesn't seem like the strongest god in the Mythomagic deck.

Suddenly, the beautiful girl stared at Percy, here eyes glowing. "I am Artemis, goddess of the Hunt."

As soon as she said it, I knew it was true. Percy stuttered. "Um…… okay." was his well thought out reply.

Grover went head-over heels. He knelt as if he were proposing and started yammering. "Thank you Lady Artemis, You're so…. You're so….wow."

I rolled my eyes. Bet that one worked on the ladies every time. "Get up goat-boy. We have other things to worry about. Annabeth's gone." The spunky girl growled.

"Whoa." Bianca cut in. " Hold up. Time out." Everyone stared at her as she pointed fingers. "Who…who are you people?"

Artemis's expression turned soft, even sad. "It might be a better question, my dear, to ask who you are. Who are your parents?"

Bianca looked over at me, but I was staring at Artemis again. "Our parents are dead." Bianca began. "We're orphans, There's a bank trust that pays for our school, but…" She stopped, looking at everyone.

"What?" She asked exasperatedly. "I'm telling the truth."

"You are a half-blood." Zoë said matter-of-factly. It was hard to ell what she said, it sounded like she was from the middle ages. "One of thy parents was mortal. The other was an Olympian."

"An Olympian….Athlete?" Bianca asked.

"No." Zoë said in her accent. "One of the gods."

"Cool!" I exploded.

"No, not cool." Bianca scolded.

I danced in a frenzy. This was every 11 year old, myth magic obsessed, orphan's dream! "Does Zeus really have lightning bolts that do 600 damage? Does he get extra movement points for-"

"Nico, shut up!" Bianca said, her face in her hands. "This is not your stupid Mythomagic game, okay? There are no gods."

Well, isn't someone grumpy?

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Thank you reviewers! You guys are the best. I hoped you liked the chapter. Do you guys know how long the quest in TC lasts? Tell me in a review. Tell me how I did. Please!!!