Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson & The Olympians.

Chapter 1: "Sick Muse" by Metric

Annabeth POV

Hunting.

It's the sudden burst of adrenaline coursing through your veins as you run, the sharpening of all your five senses as you slash and dodge, and the surge of pride that washes over you that makes hunting such an enjoyable activity. It's something we Hunters of Artemis all enjoyed. No exceptions. Well—scratch that—there is one exception. And that's when roles are reversed and you, the hunter, suddenly become the hunted.

"Di immortales, di immortales, di immortales!" I cursed to myself as I rounded a pine tree and used its dark shadow as a cloak to hide myself from the pack of monsters on my trail.

I tried to keep my loud panting at a minimum, but I found it to be a useless attempt. I assessed my situation and I was one-hundred percent sure that anyone—and I do really mean anyone—would have enough common sense to come to the conclusion that I was in a big pile of Pegasus dung.

There was absolutely no way. Running from a gang of monsters through a forest was never good.

Surely the monsters would catch up to me in less than a three minutes, five minutes tops, and logically I should keep running if I wanted to put more space between us, but I could keep running for only so long with my injured calf.

Unfortunately, immortality didn't grant you the ability to deflect swipes from a furious gryphon. My calf had stayed untended to since then, and blood now coated my silver camo pants.

I needed rest and I needed it now. My legs were aching and protesting with fatigue so I let myself slide down against the bark of the tree to a sitting position, giving my legs temporarily relief. Still, I didn't let my body relax from its defensive position. Months in the Hunters of Artemis had taught me to never let your guard down during a hunt because it can be the last thing you do.

Sighing, I reached into my pocket and fished out a baggie full of squares of ambrosia. Most of them had been smashed into crumbs from my constant falling and fighting, but I managed to get a complete square into my mouth to relieve some of the pain. I pulled up my silver jacket and ripped a strip of my shirt to tie above my wound to prevent more blood loss. I didn't have any nectar on me to pour over it so I figured it was the best I could do for now.

My mission here? Well, I wasn't always running alone during the Hunt. Originally I was traveling with all the Hunters. Artemis had iris messaged Chiron at Camp Halfblood and had arranged our stay, so we were on our way when it happened.

There was an unexpected attack in the woods from a very large group of monsters, and Artemis ordered a temporarily split up—thinking the monsters would be less of a threat if they were separated. While that idea proved to be true, it was sort of inconvenient for us Hunters.

Roughly, each Hunter was assigned perhaps five or more monsters. That might not sound so bad, but I'm not talking about your average hellhounds or empousai. These monsters were vicious creatures and sought for spilled blood. But what really stuck out was that the packs of monsters were working together. Their movements and attacks were all insanely collaborated and coordinated with each other that it seemed like they were moving as one person rather than a group of monsters.

I was standing up to see if my wounded leg could now support my weight and adjusting my bow when I heard the first pair of feet—err, monster feet that is—thump against the forest ground, alerting their soon-to-be arrival. I wasted no time in forcing myself forward and nocking an arrow for defense as I sprinted forward. But I didn't get very far before the pain shooting up my leg forced me to take a sharp turn and hide behind a tree.

"Hunter of Artemis! Why do you hide? Why, you look good enough to eat! Come here, sweetie!" An empousa who was almost fifty meters away taunted.

"Aren't you supposed to be feeding on boys?" I grunted, remembering empousai feasted on the blood of the men they seduced.

"Yes, but I'll have to settle for you, honey. I do love the blood of a daughter of Athena!"

I snorted in response before I put my plan in motion. I made sure my arrow was set before I jumped out from my hiding place, assumed my stance, drew the bowstring and let the arrow fly in her direction.

There was a split second where I swore I could here the arrow glide through the air and impale itself into the empousa's side, even from fifty feet away, as she let out her high-pitched shriek and then dissolved into golden-colored dust. I allowed myself a smug grin as I lowered my bow and mentally counted one less monster after me.

Of course, my mini-celebration didn't last long because two other empousai and a pair of dracanae burst through the line of trees and ran towards me, the empousai cursing me in Ancient Greek for the death of the their monster sister.

"Gods! Just one second of peace, is it that hard to ask for?" I exclaimed in exasperation.

Without missing a beat, I reached into my quiver for arrows and I let a cluster of them fly with the release of my drawstring. I started to slowly step back as I did so, not wanting to stay near the monsters but at the same time not wanting to ruin my deadly aim by completely running backwards.

'Sides, I wasn't trained well enough like Thalia to do that. To be honest, I was better with knives than a bow and arrow.

"Arghhh! Eekk!" A series of bone-chilling yells went up before I saw one of each kind of monsters burst into golden dust right as the arrows penetrated their flesh.

I figured that was enough monster-slaying and I released around wave of arrows in the remaining two monsters' direction before I high-tailed it out of there. The arrows would slow them down and if I was lucky, maybe even kill them. But then again, as a demigod, when am I ever lucky?

I was in the middle of having green tree leaves and thick branches slap me in the face as I parted through the forest, perhaps a hundred meters away, when a white haze abruptly appeared in front of my face. My lithe body, still high on adrenaline and pure instinct, reflexively halted, hard, and before I could register it, I was falling backwards.

"Ahh!" I let out a squeal of surprise as my behind made a not-so-soft landing on top of a log, my legs pointing towards the sky as I landed on my back.

"Ha!" I heard a familiar laugh echo through the woods and I immediately tensed up, shooting to my feet, my bow equipped with another arrow if needed.

"Whoa, Annie. Hold your fire. It's just me."

I turned slightly towards my right and saw Thalia's face hovering in midair with almost invisible, milky white strands of mist curling outwards—an iris message.

"Thalia! Where are you?" I questioned, noticing the small scratches and soot on her cheeks.

Thalia scrunched her face. "Just arrived at Camp Halfblood. But here's a better question. Where are you?"

"Not exactly sure. I have a pack of monsters after me."

"Well you aren't too far from Camp. When I messaged you, I told Iris 'Annabeth Chase, Camp Halfblood' so you should be close enough if she accepted the location I gave her. As for the monsters…"—she gave me a reassuring grin—"just hold on in there, alright?"

I rolled my eyes. "Whatever you say, Thals. By the way, who's—"

But I never got to finish my question because the iris message suddenly disappeared, only to appear again, as if the connection had decided to blink. As it appeared again, though, the image of Thalia flickered again and I noticed that milky white curls that had once been at the edges of the iris message had now started to spread across the whole image.

I saw Thalia's electric blue eyes widen, and I knew I wasn't the only one who was having these problems with the connection.

"What the?"

"Thalia?"

The spirals grew in size, twirling and intertwining with other spirals of white mist until the swirls eventually concealed Thalia's entire face from my viewing.

"Annabeth? What's—"

And then she was gone.

The iris message grew in size until it was at least three times my height, the mist swirling madly and glowing a vibrant white before it exploded like a vivid firework in the middle of the woods. The interwoven curls ripped away from each other and danced in the air until they reached the ground, where they dissolved until any evidence that that had just happened was gone.

I scrunched my brow in confusion but I didn't get to ponder any longer on the subject thanks to the ever-so-present thumps of monster feet sounding closer and closer.

Except they were closer than I expected.

The explosion must have given away my location, I thought grumpily.

Before I could even take a step forward to retreat, I noticed them. Not too far away, maybe six feet away, stood the pack of monsters that were now starting to get on my nerves.

The dracana and empousa I left behind not too long ago were the closest to me, but I quickly realized that they weren't the only ones seeking some demigod lunch. Unfortunately—or for me at least—they brought backup.

Absentmindedly, I wondered where all these monsters were coming from, but I immediately pushed it to the back of my mind as I summoned a set of silver knives and threw them one after another. I figured they were too close for a long-range weapon like my bow and arrow.

The knives, revolving in perfect little circles until they hit their targets, would fend them off—distract them for a bit and give me a chance to hurry out of there.

I heard screeches and a couple of nasty insults directed towards me as I darted through the woods.

"Hurry, you idiots! Run, run, run! The girl is getting away!"

I sprinted until my legs hurt with pain and my knees were just about to buckle. Although the square had given me temporarily energy, I was still exhausted, and I didn't want to risk another square if it meant burning up.

I managed to throw the occasional knife behind me, but I could still hear footfalls behind me. Tiring out, I was starting to lose hope and my will to keep running, but then there was a flash of color in the air above me.

Several reachable meters away, a glaring streak of red swam up the sky in a similar way a firework would—a distress signal? The light it gave off colored the entire woods with crimson tint until it disappeared, but the streak of smoke it had left behind in its tracks would take longer to fade away.

Convinced the flare had came from Camp Halfblood—because what else, or who else, would be in the middle of nowhere? I ran towards the smoke tainted area with a newfound push of energy.

I ran and ran and ran until I was out of the clustered woods, and I was standing on top of a small hill—Halfblood Hill. From this viewpoint I could see the borders of Camp not too far away and a bit of the roofs of the twelve cabins. I almost laughed in both relief and the warmth that flooded my chest as I gazed at my former home. I welcomed the feeling, and I felt as if a huge burden had been taken from my shoulders as I sighed happily.

I jogged—well as much as I could with my calf that had now started to scream its pain—towards the entrance, knowing the monsters I had left behind might reappear, as they always seem to do.

And I was right…as always.

Except, the monsters weren't making a beeline in my direction anymore. Instead, they had curved and had started towards the Camp entrance, where a lone camper stood as Guard Duty. Well…was supposed to be. The guy, by the looks of it, was propped against the wall, his arms crossed over his chest with his head hanging low.

Great, I thought, my only salvation is this idiotic, sleeping camper.

Quickly, I dragged myself over there. Close enough so I could throw my silver knives at maximum speed and force, and hopefully disintegrate them in one hit. Tightly wrapped my fingers around the hilt—and the other silver knives hovering in the air next to me—I hurled my arm forward, letting the knife fly and hit the monster that was closest to the still-sleeping camper.

Before that dracana could let out a yell of either surprise or pain, it dissolved into golden dust. Thankfully the dust landed on the tip of guy's nose, and with a loud sneeze and sniffle, he was wake. He righted himself before getting into a defensive stance when he noticed the golden dust.

I was within touching distance now, and I could perfectly see him now. He had a mop of jet-black hair, olive colored skin tone, and a pair of sea green eyes. He was maybe… sixteen, around my age. He was good-looking, I'll admit, but you won't be hearing me say that again anytime soon—especially in front Artemis or the Hunters.

I was about to clear my throat to alert my presence when he finally noticed me. His eyes zeroed in on me.

"Whoa, did you kill that?" He asked with a sheepish expression, "Sorry for uh, not helping. I was kind of tired and uh…um—I'm Percy."

He stuck out a hand as if I didn't just kill a monster and save his butt from being lunch. He dropped it when he noticed I wasn't going to be shaking his hand anytime soon and let it drop awkwardly to his side.

"So—"

"You drool when you sleep," I blurted out.

"What? No!" He denied, but his hand shot out to wipe away at the bit of drool on his chin.

I stifled in a laugh but let it out when he looked at me, his cheeks turning pink in embarrassment. I turned around, ignoring his mumblings under his breath, and spotted the rest of the monsters barely over the hill.

"Listen, why don't you call in reinforcements? I've got a bunch of monsters over there, but uh, I'm kind—"

"Injured?" He finished as his eyes roamed over the multiple cuts on my body before settling on my calf.

"Yeah."

"You don't think I can handle them on my own?" He asked jokingly hurt.

"Because you handled that dracana so well," I said sarcastically with a grin.

"Hey! In my defense I shouldn't have been put as Guard Duty in the first place. I'm substituting for a friend," he replied.

"Wonder whose great idea was that," I muttered.

"I heard that! Anyway, c'mon, let's take you to the infirmary," he said as he grabbed my elbow and started leading me away.

"No! Uh, I know my way. It's okay. You go. We'll waste less time that way," I said, blushing at the sudden contact and nearly ripping my arm from his grasp.

He gave me a strange look before realization came to his eyes. "Oh yeah, you must be one of the Hunters. I thought you were a new camper. Sorry about that."

I nodded dismissively before turning on my heel and leaving.

"Hey! I didn't get your name!" I heard Percy call out several feet behind me.

I smiled and looked over my shoulder. "Annabeth! Annabeth Chase."

I saw him open his mouth to response, but I guess he changed his mind once a blur of black and silver crashed into me, nearly throwing me to the ground.

"Annabeth! Thank the gods." I recognized the voice as Thalia's.

"Hey," I replied happily but turned serious once I saw her face. "What? What's wrong?"

She sighed, clearly troubled, but she shook her head at me. "I'm not exactly sure. Chiron hasn't given me much details."

I stiffened. "Is the Camp in danger?"

"I don't know. I'm planning to ask him—"

I cut her off. "Let's go now."

She rolled her eyes at my suggestion. "Right. You're practically dead on your feet. Let's fix you up first."

"But—"

"I'm sure whatever it is, it can wait a few minutes. We can go as soon as you're better. Then you can ask as many questions to Chiron as your big brain can think of. Alright?"

I huffed in response. "And if it can't wait a few minutes?"

"Will you shut up if I give you some more info?"

I nodded vigorously. "You know it."

Thalia hesitated a bit before rushing out, "There's an evil hippie goddess on the loose."

I stared at her. "What?"

She smirked. "Nope! You said you'd shut up."

I groaned.

She ruffled my hair, much to my annoyance and to her pleasure. "The world's not gonna end while you're gone, Annie."

She backed up and walked way before I could formulate a response. She made sure her silver bow and quiver was strapped on securely before she jogged to the Camp entrance, where campers had already started fighting the monsters. "Move your butt to the infirmary while you're at it!"

I rolled my eyes at her retreating figure, mumbling and grumbling. "Will do."

Reluctantly, I dragged myself to the infirmary and let myself be treated by the medics. It hurt for the most part, but my mind was in another place.

Evil hippie… goddess? Who and what in Hades is that supposed to mean?

A/N: I did it again; thought of a great idea, wrote it out, and decided to post it on Fanfiction. A song, "Sick Muse" by Metric, inspired me. I hope you guys liked this first chapter, even though it's more like a small intro to the story. I promise Percabeth in later chapters. I actually took the time to revise it a bit, although don't hold that against me there are any errors. Tell me what you think! Thoughts, concerns, constructive criticism, questions, random things… I'll be sure to reply. Keep your eyes peeled for the second chapter.