Chapter 1

Shadows dance up and down on the freshly dropped snow. The howling of the wind against trees conceals the crunching of boots as the small group trudges on. At least, that's what they were hoping for. With the way luck had been going for them so far it was likely that they were easily being tracked. One of the members held up their hand and the group stopped. The dim light from the rising moon glanced across her features as she inspected the snow in front of her. Her dark spiky hair was coated in wet snow and her face was set with a frown.

"Tracks… this must be the way they went" she muttered to the rest of the group. She glanced back at her three other companions. "Are you guys ready for this?"

A blonde with piercing gray eyes nodded solemnly "Of course we are Thalia, we have to save them from the manticore."

"Grover and I are ready, '' the last boy spoke with a slight smirk. Clark had been itching for action since his last quest to save Thalia, and he was glad to be about to get some. Thalia looked at the boy and shook her head in disgust. The group had been dispatched in order to find two new demigods from Westover Hall and would have easily succeeded if Clark had just used his brain. Instead he fell into the typical son of Ares stereotype and quickly drew his sword when he felt as if there was a monster in the room. Where before they may have had the element of surprise, Clark had nullified the advantage in a moment. The manticore had been alerted to their presence and quickly escaped with the targets. Now they had to deal with two frightened demigods and a manticore.

"Let's do this then." Thalia grumbled and took off in the direction of the tracks. She wasn't a hunter by any means but following the fresh prints in the snow was simple enough. They really needed to come up with a plan, however it was clear that the manticore was headed somewhere and that they needed to catch up to him. As they continued to run, the snow that had been gently falling started to pick up. Small droplets of snow stuck to the group's faces leaving brief stings. Their breaths became more labored as they broke into a dead sprint in order to close the gap. When it seemed like all hope was lost, the group finally broke into a clearing overlooking a cliff. The moon seemed to shine brightly in the snow filled air. In front of them, stood the manticore with the two demigods, one male, one female, at his side.

"Well it looks like you caught up." He simply stated while looking over the group. "I'm honestly impressed. Once that brute of yours started waving his sword like a fool. I thought I was easily going to be home free."

"You wish you could have escaped us that easily!" Clark fumed, he knew he had slipped up, but having a mistake pointed out by an adversary really pissed him off. "I can't wait to slice you up into bits."

The manticore glanced at him dismissively. "I bet you would boy, however I won't be dealing with you, I have greater things to attend to." He raised his hand and a dozen cyclops came out of the trees. The manticore grinned evilly, his pointed teeth reflecting the moonlight. "These monsters will easily deal with you while I take these children to my master." He turned towards the cliff where a helicopter could be seen approaching them. "And right on cue…" he gleefully declared. "Now kill them." As he walked closer to the cliff, the cyclops began to advance on the group. Thalia cursed uncapping her mace. They had been careless and now they were going to pay the price. Clark growled next to her and drew his sword and tentatively gave a practice screen.

"Thalia" the blonde girl muttered to her left. "We wasted all that energy sprinting to get here, there is no way we can actually win this."

"I know Annabeth, but we can't just give up." Annabeth nodded firmly and drew her dagger. Thalia knew what was about to occur couldn't be good. Them surviving would be a longshot and getting to the kids was even more unlikely. As they prepared to meet the cyclops head on charge. The noise of a horn filled the air. Tens of arrows appeared in the sky and arched over their heads towards the cyclops. Thalia knew what the horn signified and normally she would be irritated, but in this one moment she couldn't help but be thankful. Around 15 girls varying in ages from 8 to 16 emerged from the tree line. Bows in hand they prepared another volley.

"You shouldn't be here!" The manticore yelled from his area on the ledge. "But we prepared for you nonetheless." Shadows began to materialize in the clearing until there was a large group of hellhounds. Thalia was momentarily confused on where they had come from, but that confusion was quickly dispelled by the swing of a club towards her head. She leaned back and fell onto the snow, rolling to avoid another strike that would have hit her center mass. Hopping back up to her feet, she quickly threw a thrust at the cyclops. Her spear connected with the cyclops thigh and was instantly followed up with a jolt of electricity. The smell of burning flesh permeated the air as the cyclops convulsed once or twice before disintegrating into dust. Thalia took the moment to briefly look around at the other members of her party. Annabeth was staring down a hellhound with Grover covering her back. Clark was bleeding heavily out of his left arm, as he fought off two cyclops by himself. It was clear that while they were alive for the moment, it wouldn't be permanent at this rate. Thalia's focus was brought back to the battle as a hellhound leaped at her. Forcing her spear through its throat, Thalia allowed herself the smallest feeling of hope. 'Maybe we can do this' she thought to herself. She could feel the tide turning through the combined effort of the questers and the hunters.

"Thalia, on your left!" Clark smashed his fist into the nose of a hellhound. The creature started whining as its nose was shattered. The whines were quickly cut short by Clark's blade. "Looks like things were easier than expected." He jokes looking at the mostly damaged monster army. "At this rate we'll be done soon." Of course, Clark broke one of the golden rules of being a demigod. As soon as he was done stating that. A bloodcurdling scream made Thalia's blood go cold. Annabeth was lying in front of the manticore with three needles buried in her stomach. There was no blood from what Thalia could see, but Annabeth's pale face proved that the needles could easily have been a fatal blow. In the manticore's other hand the two twins were struggling to escape his grasp. Both looking equally as terrified and pale.

"Drop your weapons now or I will kill the girl." Thalia growled at the manticore but did as he said with Clark and Grover following suit. The hunters on the other hand continued to aim their bows at the manticore. Thalia could see the look in each huntress's eyes. They wanted to fire but they were waiting for something.

"Let the child go monster." A 12-year-old stepped out of the back and boldly walked towards the monster. "I will destroy you for threatening a maiden." Thalia realized that this was Artemis. She had once been almost recruited into the hunt, but at the time Artemis was not present. Now she finally got to lay her eyes on the goddess. The striking silver eyes held millennia of wisdom and experience, and had a burning hatred flashing in them. Her lips were held in a tight form that looked extremely unnatural for a 12-year-old girl. She looked downright terrifying.

"You violate the ancient laws by being her goddess." The manticore said feebly. "I will kill this girl before you can even fire an arrow." He quickly moved another spike towards Annabeth's heart to prove a point. Artemis frowned and took another step forward. She was about to speak but hesitated. Thalia followed her stare to the manticore and saw a shadow forming behind him. Out of the shadow stepped a teenage girl. She was clothed in a lithe battle armor that Thalia had never seen before. The shadows seemed to swirl around her. She quickly uncapped what seemed to be a pen and a blade appeared in the space above the cap. Swinging quickly, she sliced through the arm of the manticore that was holding the twins. She pushed the two aside before stepping over his detached limb and moving towards Annabeth. His surprise gone, the manticore took Annabeth within his arm and quickly jumped back.

"Who the hell are you?" he grunted as he tumbled back from a slash. The girl didn't respond and pressed her advantage, forcing the manticore to the edge.

"Let go of the girl" she demanded, forcing her blade to the throat of the manticore. Instead of complying the manticore just gave a demented grin and backed off the ledge with Annabeth still in his grasp.

"ANNABETH!" Thalia shouted, sprinting to the edge. Kneeling over the cliff and trying to peer into the darkness below, Thalia was barely able to make out the calm dark waters of the ocean beating on the rocky coastline. She tried her hardest to make out any figures but could not manage to.

She felt a firm hand placed on her shoulder. "If it's any consolation, she isn't down there. They were teleported somewhere." Thalia looked up to meet the sea green eyes of the girl that had attempted to save Annabeth.

"How do you know that?" She asked looking for deceit in the girl's eyes.

"I have my ways. "The girl responded mysteriously. "I know that you must have many questions, but I can't answer them right now." Thalia was about to ask why when Artemis approached them.

"Lady Artemis." Thalia said bowing, the mysterious girl she had just met seemed to be sizing up the goddess.

"Thalia Grace, it's good to see you unarmed." The goddess stated simply. "And you, whoever you are, I would like to talk with you in private." The girl shook her head in the negative.

"I would love to, but I actually have places to be." Artemis looked at the girl with shock. Unused to hearing her demands denied.

"You dare ignore an order from a goddess?" She said, trying to back her anger. Key word; trying, Thalia could feel the power radiating off of her.

"I would." The girl responded with an impassive stare. "I have much to do and you seem to want to take up my very valuable time." She turned as if to leave. "So, unless you want to say something right at this very moment, I am going to take my leave." Thalia sputtered at the gall that this girl had. Thalia was known for being a hothead, but to be such an upstart to a goddess, an Olympian no less, was insane even to her.

Artemis seemed to finally break out of her stupor and quickly grabbed the girl's arm. "Who are you and why did you help us?" she asked.

The girl seemed to hesitate and have a silent conversation in her head. After a second she sighed and turned back to the goddess. "I'm sorry I have been so disrespectful Lady Artemis. My name is Percy and I'm here to help."

End of chapter 1. I'm just writing this to pass the time throughout this whole quarantine as well as practice my writing. Any Reviews would be appreciated!