Chapter 26: Why Sally Jackson?

[Artemis POV:]

We had just arrived back at Sally's apartment. During our travels I had time to think about all that had happened and actually let my mind process it. If only I had half of my sister's mind speed, intelligence or whatever you call it.

Anyway I realised one key thing. Percy and Sally were extremely alike, even more so now her identity as Demeter has been exposed to me. The fact he prefers to sleep among the trees; his obsession with a particular food (I never understood Demeter's cereal craving), his almost nature-like care for those around him And most importantly they both hid their identities from everyone to have a peaceful life.. and I'm the one to have discovered and broken that peace for both of them.… Let's not think about that for now!

"Artemis? Hello? You've been staring at the glass of water like it's going to explode and I'm afraid that only happens when Perce is here" sometimes I forget Percy even has power over water; he has barely used it over the years opting to use his wolfish features instead.

"Perce? Is he here?!?" Asked a voice I had yet to put a face to. Aka more complications.

"Honey? Back already? Oh right half day I forgot.." said Paul to whom I assume is their daughter.. How did she bypass the ancient laws if she's Demeter?

"Yeah it's the Summer holidays now!" I can't wait to be in 5th grade! I'm gonna learn a lot!" With that attitude you'd think she was a child of Athena.. though Percy did say Paul was a teacher.

"Oh I started the botn- bote- botany group!" Ah there's the Demeter side. .

"De- Sally could we speak? I have questions I need answered" I can't sit here silently anymore. Paul led Estelle to the kitchen listening to her ramble on about how fun her last day of school was, completely ignoring my presence. I took note of a slight lisp or speech impairment in her voice. Probably why she stuttered before.

"Erm sure Artemis, let's head to my room to speak.. kids put the TV on, Estelle will tell you how to use it when she realises you're actually here" oblivious like her brother.. check. Huh, technically Estelle is their aunt.

"Okay grandma! Don't worry dad told us all about tv! I've always wanted to try using one, and I watched it before dad found me" Aria replied

"Of course he did… Just be careful. I just replaced that last month" I could hear the motherly fatigue in the sigh that followed. They turned the tv on, and began watching some moving drawings? Of a cat chasing a mouse. It did seem amusing though.

We moved to Sally's bedroom, and closed the door behind us to prevent eavesdropping from the little ones.

"Ok Artemis, ask away, I will answer anything I can" and suddenly I have no idea where to start.. Right, just ask the obvious. how.

"How did you do this?" she looked thoughtful for a few seconds before replying. What I wasn't expecting was a life story in reply.

"It all started out when Hades fathered a demigod child known as Bianca, I was furious at first I thought he had cheated on her. Once her time with me came around the following month I had an argument with her about it; a bad one. She was defending him and I was ready to make him a true resident of the underworld. Afterwards she left for the underworld early and told me she wouldn't return back to me for the next year or until I earnestly apologised to him; we did patch things up soon enough though, but at the time I had half a mind to let the world starve again.. I didn't want to deal with the council again so I decided to busy myself with something, anything. So I had the grand Idea of becoming mortal for a year, starting as a young adult just to see how they keep happy with such.. Constraints on their existence. I went in almost empty with only enough money to roof myself for a month and feed myself for it. I did a spot of decorating going to the local flora shop.. That's where it truly started. I saw the people there loving and caring for the plants and each other no care for status or power, just a love for what they were doing. I was going to apply but they had no positions open so I applied for the shop next door, a sweet shop and holy Hera were the sweets good.

I was only planning to stay a mortal for a year. But years turned to decades, and before I knew it being an adult mortal was more my life than being a God. something was missing though I felt like I had done almost everything. I went on vacation for a weekend to clear my mind. It was there I met Poseidon, he treated me better than anyone before him, not hard with Zeus as competition but still. It touched my heart that he'd fall for me as a mortal for my true personality and so I let him court me and you know the rest already." I took a few seconds to process what she had just told me.

"But how Is he a demigod?" She and Poseidon are Godly beings. How can they make a demigod?

"Because While err making him, I was still Sally not Demeter.. It's like Ceres, Sally became another aspect of me, a mortal one. My godly essence flared during our fun time, which meant he had a child with us both. Percy is a demigod but only a slither mortal. I didn't know this until I spoke to the oracle. She is more straightforward when you have a nice chat first rather than just demand a prophecy straightaway" I had to pick the most complicated almost demigod to fall in love with didn't I?

"I'M AN AUNTY?!?" seems Estelle has found out.

[Thalia's POV:]Where is Artemis when you need her? She had her pussy eaten and almost immediately after. Ok that aside.. I'm tired of waiting for her to figure out what she is doing. I need to find Percy and I need to find him yesterday. I'll need some help though, Ideally some smart help. And here I was in my tent trying to figure out our next move.

I can't rely on Annabeth since she is caring for her baby that caused this mess.. Ugh I can't be made at babies I'll become my dad. I do not need that kind of drama, Perce supplies more than enough on his own.

"Thalia, Artemis still hasn't returned shall we hunt for some food?" When Artemis is away, the lieutenant becomes temporarily acting leader of the Hunt. I think I'll make use of that.

"No, I think we need to take matters into our own hands and start searching for Percy ourselves. It is obvious the wolves have already gone to do so and maybe his kids too as I haven't seen them since they asked me about that dam map.. Should've seen that one a mile away" what they Percy's kids so I fawn over them!

"Where should we begin tracking him? His trail ended at the river, and by now any remains of it will be gone. Before our… Session with picture Percy we had managed to discuss the prophecy luckily." the prophecy was a weird one with only 1 useful line, lost to a cold promise? Did it mean a cold place or is it some weird phrase for broken promises? I need an Athenian.. I think one of the newer hunters Percy brought in was one. Lucy I think her name was.

"First go bring Lucy to my tent, I want her opinion on the prophecy before we make any further decisions" I hope she is a smart one or at least recognises the phrase or something. She nodded her head and left my tent. A few minutes passed and the opening of my tent door signalled Lucy's arrival.

"Err Thalia? I was told to come see you" I feel like a teacher. I don't like this.

"Right right, you remember the prophecy?" she nodded her head.#

"What did you think of the first line?" she looked at me in thought for a second before answering.

"Well cold promise could infer a broken promise, but it seems more likely that it refers to an actual location as well. Since it isn't an actual phrase, I think the oracle would bother much with being grammatically correct. My main reason for this is the point of a prophecy itself. They are meant to guide and inform without telling us the actions directly. If this was talking solely of a broken promise we'd have no information to act on and it'd be borderline pointless. Assuming we don't know the location of those lost to promise, knowing our world is pretty much everyone, so to conclude I have reason to believe it refers to a cold place such as Alaska" … well we are heading to Alaska.

"Thank you for that" understanding that was harder than my English exams..

She nodded happily at the praise and left me to plan our trip. When we go I'll leave Lady Artemis a note to tell her where we are heading.

For such a distance we'll have to catch a coach and with our numbers.. Gonna have to leave the young ones at camp. I'll have one of the older campers stay behind to care for them and kill any horny non-Percy males. With that we should be able to fit into a normal coach if there's not too many people on board already… wait no coaches or trains make that journey.. crap I really didn't want to ask Apollo for help..

I spent a few hours trying my best to find an alternative option but it seems Hera is smiling today. I prepared myself for corny flirts and called out for Apollo.

"Hey sis, finally decided to drop the eternal maidenhood have you?" I'm gonna throw up.

"Save it, I don't want to hear any of your stomach churning flirts Apollo, I need some help travelling. Nothing more" I swear if he flirts with me one more time we are gonna have a new target practice dummy.

"Travel help, what am I Hermes?" oh I forgot about him.

"Doesn't matter, we are on a hunt for someone and our lead places him in Alaska, I need transport there" I already regret this.

"Alaska?? Who are you hunting in the land beyond the awesome me?" don't punch the God Thalia, you need him. Just gotta tell him a half truth.

"A member of our hunt that ran away and got themselves lost" we count him as ours so it counts.

"Hmm where is my little sister? Should she not be present for this?" I'm impressed he didn't try to take advantage straight away.

"Last I saw her she had gone probably to a meeting on Olympus or something, she is probably on a hunt of her own, also she's older" I replied.

"Hmm, fine, have the hunters ready in the next hour. I'll be back then" since when did Apollo become mature? I feel gross just thinking that.

Travelling plans secured, he flashed away, and headed out to inform the rest of the hunt what we were about to do. They're not going to like it and neither do I. Once The hunt was gathered around the mess table. Waiting for my command. I relayed the plan.

"Hunters, as you know Artemis hasn't returned yet from wherever she went earlier today, as such I am now acting leader of the group until she returns. As such I have decided to get a head start on the search for Percy, thanks to Lucy we have pinpointed the location of the prophecy he is involved in. we shall be heading to Alaska. I have requested and confirmed our travel with Apollo who shall be here to pick us up in an hour. Any who have yet to finish growing into their immortal age will be dropped off at camp first where one of the elder campers will watch over you until our return. As for the rest, once we arrive at Alaska, we shall set up camp near the borders and operate from there. The land beyond the gods is dangerous if we don't have a place of contact for them" the hunters at first seemed ticked off at the Idea of interacting with Apollo again, but nodded their heads in understanding of the mission.

"Who will stay with us?" asked Lucy, I hadn't put much thought into it, not many would want to, not only because the camp is full of men, but because all of them are in love with Percy, even Phoebe was!

"We'll have to draw lots for that on Apollos bus" I'm not looking forward to flying in that thing again.. And with that we started packing up and dreading what's to come.

I think I'll have to bring a picture Percy.. Ya know to make sure I get the right demigod.. I always did think the kelp head reminded me of a dog.