Chapter 18

As ever, thanks for the great response review-wise that I received after the last chapter. I know that many of you are happy that the romance has (finally) started, and I intend that to be an ongoing theme from here on in. Anyway, enough of me. On with chapter 18...

Artemis' POV

This truly was uncharted territory for me. I'd lived several millennia avoiding the clumsy touches and caresses of men, yet had just enjoyed the best minute of my life kissing a boy who I had presumed to hate me. How had I enjoyed it so much that I was gasping, lusting for more? And more importantly, how had I gone such an indescribably long time without feeling the sensation of utter transcendence (there really was no better way of describing it) that had accompanied the action? No wonder Apollo had always laughed at me about it. And what was I supposed to do in the aftermath of such an intimate action? Should I thank my partner for making me feel so brilliant? Or was that supposed to be a given, an unspoken fact. I was thankful for Percy's silence, for it suggested to me that he was just as uncertain of what to do as I was; perhaps this was new for the both of us.

The way that he looked at me made me feel like the only worthy woman in the world, and I found myself loving that too. Receiving admiring glances from the faces of men was nothing new to me; indeed that had been one of the reasons that I had decided to permanently stay in twelve year old form. I found that fewer men would try to make advances, and fewer men, therefore, would find themselves living the rest of their meaningless lives as small rabbit-like creatures.

But the way Percy looked at me, it was different to all of them. Nothing else seemed to matter to him; we stood in the middle of a blood-soaked apartment, with two dead bodies lying only a few feet behind me, and he had not even noticed. As his eyes scanned admiringly over every inch of my body, I felt more like a goddess than I ever had done whilst sitting on my throne on Olympus.

"You are..." Percy started, unable to think of any adjective that would do my beauty justice.

He, of course, was hardly unattractive himself. Maybe he was thinner than he should have been for someone of his age, something that was understandable considering he had lived in the wild for half a decade, and his skin was paler than it had been before he had been exiled, he still boasted that unruly dark hair, those deep watery eyes, and an expression of pure, simple honesty that was difficult to forget.

Suddenly, however, our Eutopia was broken. I saw it before it happened, a tiny tear drop of crimson dropping from the ceiling, plummeting down until it landed on the end of Percy's perfect nose. His euphoric expression was shattered as he touched it with his finger. An experienced fighter, Percy knew blood when he saw it. My heart sunk to deep lows as finally he became aware of the environment around him. He finally noticed the pints of blood that were splashed so nonchalantly, so tauntingly, on the walls around him, and the monstrous stench that lingered also. Retching, he quickly noticed the lifeless corpses behind me and with a sigh, I stepped out of the way, allowing him to mourn and vent his grief.

I was no longer the centre of his attention; he seemed to have forgotten that I was even there. All that mattered to him was the pale body of his poor, maimed mother that lay unmoving by his knees. The tears that left his eyes splashed down onto her face, making it appear as though they were both crying. It pained me to see such grief in someone who mattered so much to me, but I did not know what to do to comfort him. I had never met the woman and although I had been told a little of her kindness by Thalia, it did not seem right for me to join him in mourning.

Instead, Percy's sobs echoing behind me, I knelt beside Thalia and lightly tapped her on the face. Guiltily, I realised that instead of tending to her earlier, I had indulged myself by kissing Percy. It had been a selfish act and although Thalia did not appear to be badly injured, the consequences could easily have been more severe. To my relief, she began to groan lightly as I channelled some of my godly energy into her body. We needed to be out of there quickly.

Leaving my lieutenant to bring herself to full consciousness, I walked back to Percy. Maybe some words of comfort would be appropriate.

"I'm sorry, Percy." I told him, softly. "We got here as soon as we could but were too late."

The demigod appeared to have not heard me, or was more likely simply ignoring me, but I continued all the same.

I said, "Thalia told me that she was a good woman. I think that she would have been someone who, if I had met her, I would have admired greatly."

This seemed to please the son of Poseidon, who clearly wanted his mother's goodness to be well-known.

"She was the best person I ever met," he said proudly, wiping a tear from his eye. "Everything she did in life was done to help me, and she did it without any thought towards her own well being. You know, she lived with a vile and revolting man for years and years just to hide my scent from the monsters."

I was impressed, as Percy clearly wanted me to be. I doubted that I would be able to stand living with any man (well, almost any man) for even a week, even if someone's life was at risk.

With an affectionate stroke of her arm, Percy climbed around her to sit by the body of the other victim.

"This was Paul, her boyfriend." He said with a smile on his face. "He deserved her."

He turned to me, his grief seemingly having subsided somewhat. "How did this happen? Who did this?"

His expression frightened me. It had morphed from one of sorrow to one of rage and anger, and that was dangerous.

"It was done by an old god called Ouranos," I explained, subtly kicking the incriminating Olympian sandal out of sight as I talked. "He was trying to make you angry so that your mind would be easier to take to control of and he succeeded, but you're back now."

Percy nodded, clearly believing me.

"But listen to me, Percy." I continued urgently. "He will try to re-enter your mind. If you feel anything like that, you must resist and tell me immediately. And don't believe what he will try to tell you; he does not care about you, he only cares about himself and his own lust for power. You must put away your anger for now, or else you will be vulnerable to him."

"How can I not be angry?" Percy roared. "Look at what he has done! Think of what he may yet do!"

"Our time for revenge will come," I assured him. "But that time is not now. Right now, we have to assure your safety."

Percy closed his eyes and let his rage wash away. His face lost its angry tint and the waves in his eyes left their tsunami levels.

"Thank you." I said, relief evident in my voice. "I need you to help me pick up Thalia so that we can carry her downstairs to my chariot."

Thalia's voice sounded weakly from behind us. "I'll be fine; I don't need anyone to carry me."

She heaved herself back onto her feet with a massive groan, using the side of an armchair to pull herself up. When she took her hand away, she found it to be covered in blood and she recoiled, disgusted.

I bent down to pick up Thalia's spear, the weapon that had broken Ouranos' shield. Thalia quietly thanked me as I placed it in her hand, but her focus was on the demigod opposite her rather than on me.

"Percy!" She said breathlessly. "You made it... thank the gods."

Her eyes scanned the room and unwelcome memories flooded back.

She said, "I'm so sorry about all of this. Your mum was one of the best people I ever met."

Her tribute was met with a brief nod from Percy, but that was all. His shortness was not out of impoliteness, but sheer grief.

"Come on," I hurried them. "We've got to get out of here, now."

Thalia took a step forward, immediately losing her footing as she still tried to find full consciousness. Quickly, I placed her arm around my shoulder and with Percy doing the same on her other side, we slowly made our way to the exit of the apartment.

"Wait," Percy said as we got to the door. "We can't just leave them here to rot, can we? That's my mum; she deserves to be treated well."

I sighed, "I'm sorry, Percy. But she's mortal. If we take the body, not only will people suspect us of having something to do with it, but also the other mortals will have no idea where she has gone. No, she must be dealt with by fellow mortals."

Of course I did not want to leave the body of such a supposedly admirable woman to fester, but I knew that I had no other choice. We needed to leave quickly and inconspicuously, before we got wound up in mortal issues.

Percy looked like he wanted to protest, but fortunately he decided that he trusted me enough to follow through with my plan. The pain in his eyes was obvious, and immediately I felt bad.

We continued to limp away.

Thalia's POV

Once we had finally managed to get to Artemis' chariot, parked like a car outside the block of flats, Percy had immediately fallen asleep, and it took a great deal of self control to stop myself from doing the same. He looked utterly exhausted, spent and drained. No wonder, considering what he had been through.

"Why do you look older now, My Lady?" I asked as we floated swiftly through the air. "It's only now that my head is clear that I've realised how different its made you look."

Artemis kept her eyes on the sky ahead of us. "Do I look so different? I haven't actually seen myself yet."

I noted that the goddess had avoided my question, but assumed that there was no reason behind it. "You do look different. Everything about you has become very mature: your cheekbones are very defined all of a sudden and your eyelashes are so dark that it naturally looks as though you're wearing make up. And your hair is longer, a bit messier and slightly darker."

"Is it okay?" Artemis asked, a hint of nervousness in her voice. That in itself shocked me; in all of my time with the Goddess of the Hunt, I had never once seen or heard her worry about her appearance."

I was quick to reassure her, "You look amazing. Aphrodite would be jealous."

This wasn't just flattery, it was, as far as I was concerned, the truth. An added decade to Artemis' age had changed her from a tomboy-ish teenager into a grown woman with a naturally stunning physique. She truly did rival the Goddess of Love herself.

Artemis laughed, "Make sure she doesn't hear you say that. The last time Aphrodite felt that her beauty was being challenged, the Trojan War happened."

Artemis' rivalry with Aphrodite was no secret, especially to those of us who were fortunate to know My Lady. She saw the Goddess of Love as shallow and flirtatious, an encouragement to the advances of men. Very basically, she represented everything that Artemis had spent her life standing against. Similarly, Aphrodite disliked the Goddess of the Hunt because she knew that she had no power over her. Aphrodite had often stated that she was the most powerful Olympian of all, because love was an all-consuming force that defined the actions of all men and women, but Artemis' stubborn, relentless hatred of men made it impossible for even Aphrodite to make her fall in love with someone.

"You didn't ever answer my question," I gently reminded my friend. "Why did you decide to change form?"

Artemis replied casually, "It was a plan to help young Percy. I thought that if I changed into his age and presented myself as an equal to him, it might give him the motivation he needed to break out of Ouranos' power."

"And it worked?" I asked, incredulous that something so simple could break the power of a god of old.

"It definitely contributed." Artemis replied, looking down at the sleeping Percy, who was curled up in a ball on the floor of the chariot.

It was obvious to me that Percy's path to freedom had been much more complicated than just a case of her changing form into a woman of the demigod's age, but I decided not to probe any further. If there was anything important that I needed to know, Artemis would have told me.

"So are you going to stay like this? Or are you going to go back to being a twelve year old?"
Artemis hesitated. "I'm not sure. I feel good like this, more powerful, more imposing. But, maybe the girls would prefer me to be the same sort of age as them? So I'm not sure."

"The girls won't mind either way," I promised. "How far away from Camp Half-Blood are we now?"

The goddess turned her head slightly to look at me, confused. "Camp Half-Blood?"

I sighed, "Oh, My Lady. I don't think it would be wise to keep Percy in our camp. The hunters are still loyal to you, but I get the impression that there is unrest. They have not appreciated your frequent absences; we haven't actually hunted any dark creatures in about a month. They do not like the fact that you don't tell them what you are doing while you are gone, and I'm afraid that bringing a boy to the camp would be the final straw."

What a bizarre situation this was. Why was it now me trying to stop Artemis from bringing a boy into the camp?

"Ouranos is not done yet," the goddess reminded me. "We must keep Percy safe until he is strong enough to resist Ouranos himself."

"He'll be safe at Camp Half-Blood," I argued. "There is magical protection, and Chiron and Dionysus will still be able to watch over him, not to mention the friends that he has there."

Artemis held her ground. "We both know that Percy hasn't got any friends at Camp Half-Blood, Thalia. He was away for five years; they all forgot him, moved on. Didn't you see him the last time we were there? I didn't see him speak to a single fellow camper, nor did anyone try to speak to him."

"But-"

Artemis cut across me. "And we both know that neither Dionysus nor Chiron can be told of Percy's problem. If the Olympians get to know of Ouranos' return, they will not hesitate to simply kill any demigod who he tries to use as a host."

"But if you take him to our camp, you will lose the support of your hunters!" I implored. "I don't know what has made you so protective about Percy suddenly and I won't press you if you don't want to tell me, but you must make a choice between him and the Hunt. If any of the hunters see him-"

Once again, she cut across me, a glint in her eye as she spoke. "Who said anything about anyone seeing him?"

Percy's POV

I woke up comfortable and was immediately suspicious. I shot up from the foetal position in which I had slept and let my eyes dart around my surroundings.

The walls were a pure white and made of fabric; they were soft to touch, and yet totally undamaged. In my many years of adventures, I had not come across a material so lightweight and soft, yet so durable and hardy.

The space in which I was confined was small, a mere compartment in a grander structure. Other than the pile of soft furs that I was sleeping on, there was little else in the way of furniture or comfort.

Strangely, the lack of luxuries soothed my paranoid state. I doubted that Ouranos would imprison me in a tent, and colour and lightness of the material pointed only to people who needed to travel quickly and unburdened. People who were as pure as the white of the tent. Hunters.

My fears dissipating, I lay back down on the makeshift mattress that had been provided for me. The aches over my body were feeling less pronounced, and I was beginning to feel in total control of my actions again, after the indescribably unnerving experience of having to watch from within as someone else controlled my every move.

As my senses began to reorientate themselves, I heard two voices chatting quietly behind in another part of the tent. Recognising Thalia's hard, blunt but friendly tone and Artemis' cool, soft but magisterial one, I smiled and clambered from my bed. I brushed aside the light sheet which separated my compartment from the rest of the tent and, sure enough, saw my two hunter friends bent over the grand, oaken table which dominated the centre of the room.

"We spotted some strange looking tracks down by the river." Thalia was saying, pointing the the map on the table. "I said to the girls that you'd come out with us and take a look; they miss having you lead the Hunt."

Artemis nodded. "Yes, thank you. That sounds good."

I coughed quietly, uncomfortable about eavesdropping into their conversation.

Smiles broke out on their faces they turned to see me.

"You're awake!" Thalia grinned, charging at me and hugging me in a death grip. "We were worried! You've been out for almost a day."

Her tone made me laugh, as she seemed to suggest that I was to blame for failing to wake up sooner. I returned her hug happily, but my eyes had wandered off to catch those of the other hunter in the tent.

It pleased me to see that she was still presenting herself as the same age as me; it was a reminder that she had feelings for me, a reminder of that kiss. Not that I needed reminding; that would be a minute of my life that I would never forget.

Our eyes locked together for a brief second before she quickly broke the intimacy, looking down to the floor instead. The simple action disappointed me. Why was it that she seemed to be so uncomfortable around me when I was so transfixed by her?

"It's good to have you back with us," she said shortly, her tone hardly over-brimming with sentimentality.

Thalia, clearly sensing awkwardness, hastily excused herself with a clumsy excuse about tending to some equipment.

Now that I was alone with the goddess once more, I felt an uncontrollable desire to press our lips together again. I leaned forward towards her, my intentions obvious. Momentarily, she did the same, leaning forwards until our lips were mere milimetres apart. But then, suddenly, she recoiled and turned away, her anti-male instincts getting the better of her.

Audibly, I groaned in frustration but did not pursue her. I was reassured by the fact that she had very nearly let herself kiss me, and knew that with someone has inherently against relationships as Artemis, I was going to need no small amount of patience.

She seemed grateful that I didn't try again. "How are you feeling?"

The concern in her voice served as more reassurance that she still felt something towards me.

I replied, "I feel better than I have done in a while, thanks to your hospitality."

My words were accompanied by a smile and she returned the gesture shyly, her white teeth breaking out from behind her light pink lips in an adorable manner. Everything about even the slightest of her movements transfixed me, paralysed me.

"You had a nightmare, a bad one." She said shortly after, a frown replacing the small smile.

I grunted non-committally, totally unsurprised.

"Percy," she said, unwilling to put the matter to bed so easily. "You were twisting and turning and shouting and screaming. We tried to wake you but nothing we did had any effect."

I sighed. This was not something that I wanted to talk about. "Artemis, look. I've had nightmares pretty frequently for the last ten years now; I know how to deal with them."

"But what could cause you so much stress?" Artemis asked persistently. "All demigods have nightmares, my hunters included, but I've never seen anything like that before. It was like... it was like a seizure."

I looked down. "I've seen some bad things, Artemis. Things that even you haven't ever seen."

My words were hardly cryptic and the goddess, as quick to the uptake as ever, immediately knew to which place I was referring. The place that I couldn't even bear to name out loud. Tartarus.

"I take it that the hunters don't know that I'm here, right?" I asked, pointedly changing the subject.

The goddess narrowed her eyes, clearly wanting to talk more about my nightmare, but was perceptive enough to know that I wasn't going to say any more.

"Why do you think that?" Artemis tested.

"A few reasons." I explained in reply. "Firstly, you set up a compartment hidden from the rest of the tent where I could stay. Secondly, you know that the hunters won't understand my being here, and therefore them knowing would lead to them pestering the both of us."

Artemis nodded. "Well, you're right. On balance, we decided that since you'll only be here a few days, the girls don't need to know."

"And does anyone know about the kiss?"

Silence followed.

"Artemis?"

"No, Percy." She finally replied. "Nobody knows about that, and I'd like it to stay that way."

I didn't reply, confused.

Artemis continued uncomfortably, "I think that you know that I have certain... feelings towards you, and I also think that you feel the same about me. But we can't do what we both want to do. If we... got together, I would no longer be able to lead the Hunt. After all, I would have broken its founding principle. And you would also suffer. My brother likes you, but he's very protective about me; I'm sure you've heard the story of Orion."

"He's the dude that you shot, right?" I said, immediately regretting my words.

Artemis glared at me intensely, her silver eyes bearing right through me, burning a hole in me. I felt as if I was going to vaporise under her glare.

"Sorry," I apologised sincerely. "I didn't mean to be so insensitive."

The goddess replied, "It's not quite as simple as that, Perseus. He was swimming in the water. Apollo didn't like that fact that we were close and he tricked me into thinking that the back of Orion's head was a rock. He challenged me to fire at it. I did so. He died."

"And you put him in the stars, right?" I said quietly.

Artemis looked at me, her expression softening back into the kind one that I had come to love. "Yes I did."

We both stayed silent for a second, a sort of unofficial tribute to Orion, before I continued.

I leaned in close to her ear and whispered, nearly seductively: "I'm good at keeping secrets. Nobody would ever know."

The goddess looked at me, unsure. I could tell that she was being tempted. "Do you think?"

"Even if our secrecy meant that I could only see you once a year, but on that one occasion we were together, I would take it without hesitation." I said passionately and persuasively. "I would choose one day per year with you over an entire year with any other woman on the planet."

That did it. Before I knew it, our lips and our tongues were clashing again.

Generally pretty happy with that chapter. Maybe a bit rushed towards the end, but I think it's okay. I was really trying to emphasise the fact that Artemis tries to back away, but her passion gets the better of her.

Anyway, thanks for reading. Extra special thanks to those of you who review. I'm currently on 333, which is about 10x more than I had ever dreamed of before I started this story. Seriously. So you guys who do review, I am 100% super grateful.

Thanks again, and I hope to see you soon.

Charlie.