Hello Readers! I'm back. Got some news for you guys too. I'm finding myself with a lot more free time lately so expect more chapters, or longer chapters. Also I don't need a name for Orion's other wolf. Got the name from one of my friends at work. So here is the next chapter of Orion's Journey.

Chapter 9

As the two children of Apollo stared at each other, one could say that the nice summer day with the sun shining in the sky, turned to a freezing, cold day in December. Everything seemed to freeze over. Even Xaria and began to cower behind Artemis. As if sensing the sheer hatred directed at his master, Merrick stepped out in front of Orion, his head held high as if to say, "I'll protect you." Seeing the bravado of the pup, the female half-blood decided to back off on the hatred a little bit, but then turned a sadistic smile to her half-brother and said, "Hmm, seems your mutt has more guts than you do. Maybe HE should be the new hunter." The girls around her snickering as to humiliate him even more. This only proved to irritate Orion to the core. As his anger reached its peak, he shouted back, "Who do you think you are?" "The names Sofie, and don't you forget it." She said with a look that screamed I will do bad things to you with a rusty arrow. Accepting the non-verbal challenge, Orion willed his bow to appear and notched an arrow and leveled a similar glare that said please, try it. I will feast on your bones. Hoping to calm the situation Artemis decided to step in and stop the two before they destroyed the camp. "Stand down, both of you. Orion I hate to tell you this, but you're way out of your league. Sofie, as a hunter who has been with me the longest I am appalled at your actions. Everyone else, disperse and continue with your duties for the night." As everyone went back to what they were doing, Sofie and Orion held their glare and gave a unanimous thought. This is NOT over.

As the night went on, the tension seemed to leave. Orion, however, was still fuming and chose to vent to the one person he knew would listen. "-like, who does she think she is? I was just trying to be nice and meet my half-blood family and here she comes acting like I kicked her in the face! You know what I'm saying?" he said as he turned to the concerned, yet confused wolf pup, who just stared at him with a supportive look. "You don't even understand me. What is going on with me?" he said. "Do you want the short list or the long?" said a voice behind him. Orion jumped and on instinct willed his bow to appear. He turned around to see Thalia, "Whoa, whoa, it's just me." She said defensively. "Oh, it's you. Did you come here to tease me and shoot arrows at me too? Or did you come to finish what Sofie started and just kill me?" he said. "Actually, I was walking across camp and heard you venting. Seems like you needed a friend." She said. Orion, bewildered, just stared at her for a minute. "I thought the hunters didn't like boys?" he asked. "It's not that we don't like boys, we swore off love, so to avoid temptation we do everything we can to not have them around. My best friend in fact is a boy, and my brother is very close to me." She said. At the word brother she could see Orion's face deflate. "All I wanted to do was introduce myself, and she treats me like I did something terrible to her. In fact, all of the hunters do. Why is it so wrong that I'm here? I didn't choose this life." He said. It was at this moment that Merrick, sensing his master's emotional distress, chose to show himself. He climbed into Orion's lap and looked into his eyes. Orion's heart seemed to warm at this. "Looks like someone cares about you." Said Thalia. Looking into the eyes of the pup Orion said, "Yeah buddy, it's just you and me." "I'm still here you know?" said Thalia. "Yeah you are, and I thank you for that, but you're one of them" he said spitting the word out like it was acid. "I've been here two days and nobody, but you and Lady Artemis, has shown me any kindness. Why is that?" "Well you did join an all-girl hunting group, led by Artemis, the number one anti-male goddess on Olympus herself. " Thalia said matter-of-factly. "And you have more people that care about you. What about Xaria? Or Merrick? They care." She said. "Well can you at least tell the hunters to lay off me a bit? I know that I'm the boy of the hunt which puts me at the bottom of the food chain, but Artemis said herself that we're a family." Said Orion. Hearing the word family, Thalia went deep into thought. "You know what? You're right. That's why I'm not going to tell the hunters to lay off." At this Orion was shocked to say the least, but before he could get angry and snap at her, he was cut off by Thalia again, "I'm going to help you get even." She said with a sadistic grin. Orion looked at her in awe. Here was the second in command to the leader of the hunt, helping him get even with the very people she leads. So stunned he could only say, "Ok."

With that, the Prank Wars began with a vengeance. There were "fart arrows" flying left and right, itching powder put in tents, there was even a boar loosed among the huntresses. The levels of chaos were so high that Artemis had to step in a few times to stop everyone from killing each other. "ENOUGH! I have had it with this constant fighting and pranks on each other! We are the hunt! We're supposed to be a unit! A family! For some of you that concept should be stronger than others" she said looking at Sofie and Orion who had their arrows notched at each other. "Now, onto a more important matter. There is a manticore out on the loose." Hearing the name of the species Thalia visibly flinched. Although, no one aside from Orion and Artemis caught it. "Let's pack up the camp and get out of here, and I swear on the name of Zeus, if I hear even the smallest of bickering, I will turn all of you into animals and hunt you down myself. Am I clear?" she asked with authority only a goddess of the hunt could hold. A resounding "Yes Ma'am" was their answer.

After silently packing up the camp, Artemis and the hunt took off. Orion and Merrick were bringing up the rear when suddenly Merrick started to howl. When Artemis heard the howl she halted everyone and immediately went on guard. It was no secret that a male wolf's nose was stronger than any of the other wolves. If Merrick smelled the manticore, it was close. Suddenly, everything went to Tartarus hunters began to get scratches left and right. Orion being a man of great instincts dodged what was about to scratch him, and loosed an arrow in the direction of the mysterious object. That was when they heard a deep clearly foreign voice.

"Ahh Artemis of the hunt, we meet again. Oh look, you brought along young Thalia too."

And Im gonna stop there! So review. Please.