CHAPTER 1 - westover hall

To say that Pearl was having the time of her life would be an understatement. What was supposed to be a simple mission turned out to be a total disaster, and now she was left wondering at what point it all went wrong.

They had done like Grover asked them to do. Go to Westover Hall, blend in and dance like the others teenagers to distract Thorn, pick up the kids and return to the Camp. There. Simple.

Except that nothing ever goes as planned for Pearl Jackson, daughter of Poseidon. She couldn't say that she had been completely focused on her task, but it was really difficult given the circumstances.

First of all, who would be sane enough to send both Pearl and Thalia on a quest together, knowing that they were likely to end up losing their temper? The ride in Sally Jackson's car was surprisingly peaceful, but from the moment Thalia used the Mist with a simple snap of her fingers, Pearl had been having a hard time reigning her jealousy in.

Then, why did Grover had to invite them when the military high school was having a party? Sure it was the perfect way to blend in, but for the life of her Pearl could not dance. Especially not with Annabeth.

"Are you going to dance with me or what?" she had said, offering her hand and leading Pearl to the dance floor. Pearl could not remember a time where she had been that close to someone. She could feel the warmth of Annabeth's hand on her waist, count her freckles and smell her minty breath.

And finally, just as Pearl was about to get overwhelmed by Annabeth's presence, it turned out that not only the two demigods were important, but their aura also caught the attention of a powerful monster.

Which is why Pearl found herself pinned to the wall in an empty classroom with the di Angelo siblings and a burning pain in her left shoulder. Oh, did she also forget to mention that a manticore was threatening them?

"The three of you will come with me. Now if you make any noise, call for help or try to fight, I will show you how accurate I can be. Let's just say that Jackson is lucky my dart only brushed her shoulder." Thorn said, while leading them in the woods.

Pearl knew that the poison was slowly making her more vulnerable. She could defend herself with Riptide and her hidden shield, but that would mean abandoning the di Angelo siblings behind.

Upon reaching a cliff, she used her telepathic link with Grover to send him a distress message. And one thing leading to another, the six of them ended up surrounded and cornered by Thorn and a helicopter.

"You couldn't wait for us and had to go and play the hero again, right Jackson?" Thalia managed to spit at Pearl's face while simultaneously avoiding a dart.

"Not my fault if you're so slow to catch up with me. Also, weren't you off somewhere flirting with one of those boys?" the other girl slyly replied, before deflecting a dart aimed at Thalia with her shield.

"Speaking about that, how went your dance with dear Annabeth?" she inquired with a smirk and a sideways mocking glance.

"What does it have to do with flirting?" Pearl wondered, clearly confused. She paused for a second to look at Annabeth, not seeing the danger until she felt a stinging pain in her right thigh. She looked up and saw Thalia's horrified face, before tumbling to the ground.

She couldn't feel her leg, but managed to prop herself up on her elbows. Her vision was starting to blur and she was already seeing black spots.

They were fighting a losing battle and, judging by Thorn's vicious laugh, everybody knew it.

The call of a hunting horn echoed in the forest.

'The last thing we need right now is mortals to worry about.' Pearl mused, at the same time Thalia thought 'We're doomed.' Their thoughts could almost be heard in the silence that reigned over the clearing.

Said silence shattered by the hiss of a silver arrow, which ended up lodging itself in Thorn's shoulder. While he was wailing in agony, not believing what was happening, Pearl managed to sit and grab her shield. Waves of poison spikes were shot towards the trees, and in doing so the manticore's tail hit Thalia, sending her crashing into Pearl.

"Fuck off, Grace." she weakly managed to say.

"Then stop getting in my way, dumbass." she quickly replied, standing straight up and helping the other girl to her feet.

Struggling to balance herself on her uninjured leg, Pearl could only watch in awe as a dozen of girls emerged from the forest, shooting arrow after arrow at Thorn.

"The Hunters!" Annabeth exclaimed, still standing near the cliff with the di Angelo.

"Wonderful. Just what we needed." Thalia muttered sarcastically.

"Are you seriously mad that they're helping us do what we couldn't?" the injured girl incredulously asked her.

"And of course you would be the one falling for their little act. You don't know the first thing about them, and yet you're fascinated, huh?" she snappily replied.

"They helped us. What is wrong with you?"

"We probably could have handled Thorn ourselves, had it not been for your little hero complex!" she nearly shouted.

Too occupied by their argument, they almost didn't notice the girl with coppery skin and a little silver circled perched in her hair stepping forward. She addressed a young girl, who seemed to be the leader even though she couldn't be more than twelve.

"Permission to kill, my lady?"

As Thorn started to protest, Thalia looked ready to murder him with her spear. The leader just smirked and waved him off.

"Zoë, permission granted."

Thorn made a guttural noise with his throat, and then sneered.

"If I cannot have these alive… I shall have them dead!" he shouted, lunging at Thalia and Pearl. None of them had enough time or strength left to raise their respective shields or duck out of the way.

"No!" they heard Annabeth's desperate cry. The demigod charged the monster, ignoring Zoë's warning. "Get back, half-blood!" Zoë yelled. "Get out of the line of fire!"

Had it not been for Thalia's arms circling her, Pearl didn't know what she would have been capable to do. Anything to protect Annabeth. But Thalia seemed to know better. The next order didn't come off as a shock to her.

"Fire!"

As the Hunters let their arrows loose, Pearl heard herself scream. It all happened in slow motion for her. All of the arrows caught Thorn, but as he stumbled off the cliff they were standing on, promising that the Hunters would pay, he took Annabeth with him.

"Annabeth!" Pearl cried, freeing herself from Thalia's vice and running after her despite her injury.

The background was slowly fading away. She was aware of bullets being shot, the helicopter becoming a flock of ravens and scattering across the sky, but her attention was elsewhere.

She looked down at the ocean, searching for her friend.

Nothing. Annabeth was gone.

She felt numb. She came too late.

As she stumbled away from the edge of the cliff, her gaze landed on a baseball cap and it took all her willpower to not let the tears flow. Pearl put it slowly in her pocket and proceeded to look at the newcomers.

Some of them looked dangerous, others slightly intrigued as they got nearer to them. The one called Zoe seemed to know Thalia, observing her with a wary expression.

"You!" she glared at Zeus's daughter.

"Zoë Nightshade," she eventually said with a raised eyebrow. "Perfect timing, as usual."

"Four half-bloods and a satyr, my lady," she said in a monotonous voice, ignoring Thalia.

Their leader nodded. "Yes, some of Chiron's campers, I see."

Pearl didn't know what was happening, and didn't really give a damn about it. One thing was for sure though, these people weren't going to help them find Annabeth.

"Annabeth. You have to let us save her!" she demanded, refusing to give up on her.

They all turned to face her, having momentarily forgotten about her presence. The leader spoke up.

"I am sorry, Pearl Jackson. But your friend is beyond help."

'No,' she thought, 'Annabeth cannot have left me.' She tried to make her way back to the edge of the cliff, determined to go in the water anyway. However, Thalia surged behind her and circled her, stopping altogether her movements.

"You are in no condition to be hurling yourself off cliffs," the girl continued, in an admonishing tone.

"Let me go!" she screamed at the demigod holding her. "And you, who do you think you are?" she icily asked the girl, with what little energy she still had.

She saw Zoë move towards her, hand raised as if to slap her. Pearl felt Thalia tense behind her and pull her closer to her chest in a protective way. 'Right,' she bitterly thought, 'Let them think that you actually care about me when you won't let me find Annabeth.'

"No," the girl with auburn hair ordered, and Zoë put her arm down. "I sense no disrespect, Zoë. She is simply distraught, she does not understand." She turned to look at Pearl, who looked pale and exhausted, restrained by her supposed friend. "I am Artemis, goddess of the Hunt."

Upon hearing this, the emotions of the day added to the poison in her organism caught up with Pearl's resistance and she felt herself slip out of consciousness.

She vaguely registered Thalia's frantic calls and the warmth of her embrace, before everything went dark.