Chapter 9: A Burden?

"Wait, what's going on? Why was there a monster after us and who are you, people?" Bianca suddenly said loudly making everyone turn to her.

Artemis, seeing Bianca's anxious face, softened her expression.

"The better question is, who are you. Who are your parents?"

Bianca's expression turned grim,

"We don't know. We are orphans and we simply have a trust fund that pays for us...", she was explaining when the girl saw everyone's face as if they didn't believe her.

"W-What? You don't believe me?"

"You're a half-blood. One of your parents is an Olympian and the other is a human mortal."

"Olympian... athlete?"

Zoe shook her head,

"One of the gods."

"That's so cool! Is it Zeus? Is it Poseidon like Percy? Does Zeus really have six thousand damage?" shouted Nico.

Isaiah could've sworn he saw stars in his eyes when he asked.

"NO NICO! This is not cool! Gods are not real! We are just orphans!"

Thalia seeing her distress went to comfort her,

"Bianca, I know this is a lot to take in. But the gods are here and they have kids. Like us." the daughter of Zeus pointed at Percy and Annabeth, "And, sometimes, it becomes dangerous for us."

"Dangerous?"

"Yeah, monsters like Thorn will come after you because of your heritage."

Bianca then widened her eyes,

"I think I remember one of those," she turned to Nico, "Nico, do you remember that guy who tried to attack us in DC last year?"

"Yeah, there was also the bus driver. I told you that guy had ram horns, but no. You were like, "It's just your imagination, Nico" or "You've been playing too much Mythomagic and now it's affecting your brain!" Nico replied as he did a bad imitation of Bianca.

"Shut up!" Bianca retorted.

Annabeth chuckled,

"That's why Grover was sent here. To keep you safe in case you are half-bloods," she said.

Bianca turned to Grover,

"You're a demigod?"

"Nope, I'm a satyr," Grover said while kicking off his shoes and showing off his goat hooves.

Bianca looked like she was about to pass out from information overload.

"Dude, put your shoes back one. You're going to make her pass out."

"Hey, I clean my hooves squeaky- clean!" Grover snapped back.

Isaiah continued to listen to them as they explained to her about demigod life and a Camp Half-Blood. Curious, he turned to Annabeth,

"Hey, Annabeth. What's Camp Half-Blood?"

The girl turned toward the boy and replied,

"It's a summer camp only for children of the Olympians. The director is Mister D or Dionysus and Chiron."

Isaiah had a confused expression when he listened to her,

"What?" she asked.

"What's a summer camp?"

Thalia looked at him in surprise,

"You don't know what a summer camp is?"

Isaiah shook his head,

"In the mundane world, a summer camp is a gathering of people mostly kids that would do activities together. Since it usually happens in summer, it's called a summer camp. However, in the greek world, Camp Half-Blood is a summer camp for kids like us whose life is too dangerous outside or who don't have a home." Annabeth explained.

Isaiah nodded and asked,

"Can I visit?"

"What?"

"Can I visit your camp?" the boy repeated his question.

Annabeth looked hesitant, but looking at the eleven-year-old, she replied.

"I don't know since it's the first time I'm meeting someone like you. But, I'll need to ask Chiron and talk to the others."

"Okay!"

She then looked at Isaiah's suit.

"How are you not cold right now?"

Isaiah looked at his suit.

"Oh, that's because I placed a heating formation," he said and made the invisible formation glow on his suit.

"Amazing, the Hephaestus kids would go nuts seeing this," Annabeth said.

"The god of fire and forges?"

"Yeah."

Soon they heard a commotion from where Bianca is. They looked there and saw a heated exchange between Thalia and Zoe.

"There is always the other option," Zoe said.

"NO, there isn't!" Thalia snapped at what Zoe had said and both girls glared at each other.

"We've burdened these children enough. Zoe, go finish setting up camp since we'll stay a few hours"

"Yes, lady Artemis." and the girl went away.

"What was that about?" the young sorcerer asked Annabeth who cringed.

"Thalia and Zoe have always hated each other, but it's not my story to tell," she replied and the boy nodded.

Soon Artemis sent some of her huntresses to go retrieve the camper's stuff from school. Isaiah was amazed at the gadgets the girls had like the tents that fold into a napkin.

'Amazing! Is the napkin a pocket dimension itself? Or is it simply the tent folding itself, but where does everything go?"

That's when he remembered something,

'Wait, how could I forget? I have just the spell.'

"Root, Shine"

The hand touched the Root and shone triggering the circuits. He sent his mana to his eyes and cast (Structural Grasp) on them. As soon as the spell hit the tent, information started to enter his mind. Its dimensions, its functions, the material and how it's made. It was all being shown to Isaiah as the cast of single spells. Isaiah was never more grateful for this spell to exist since it made his life a thousand times easier.

Suddenly, he fell a presence behind and the sound of a bow being drawn was heard.

"What are you leering at, filthy boy?" a voice growled behind.

The boy looked behind and saw a buff girl with ginger-coloured hair that had an arrow pointing at his face and glaring down at him.

The sight didn't impress him.

"Did you say something?" he asked.

The girl gritted her teeth and her glare intensified.

"Insolent boy! I asked you a question! Answer it!"

she demanded him.

"Huh, Pheobe? Why are you talking to a tree?" a nine-year-old huntress asked her.

Phoebe looked at her comrade.

"What are you talking about, Aya? I'm demanding answers to this boy who was leering at us," she replied with disgust.

"All I can see is that you are shouting to a tree," Aya replied confused.

"What?" Phoebe turned back to where Isaiah was supposed to be, but all there was a tree.

Aya sighed,

"I know that you hate men, but it's getting ridiculous. Now you are seeing them when there is no one. One might wonder if it's hate or love."

Phoebe was flustered as she blushed in anger and embarrassment.

"W-What? He was right here. He was looking at our camp like a pervert."

She then looked around,

"Where did that little shit go? I'll gut him alive," she asked in anger.

"Come on Pheobe. Lady Artemis is calling for us."

Phoebe growled,

"Fine," she kicked the snow before following after the small girl.

Once they left, the tree that Pheobe had been talking to shook and Isaiah jumped down.

One could see sparks of orange emitting from his fingers as he giggled.

"You gotta love illusions," he said.

He walked out f the forest and saw Nico asking Percy questions in a rapid-fire while the latter was slowly getting overwhelmed. It didn't help that he was also very blunt.

"Since you are the son of Poseidon, do you know how to surf?"

"I don't know, I never tried."

Nico narrowed his eyes,

"Are you really the son of Poseidon?"

"Hey!"

Grover was dying from laughter at Percy's plight.

"Hey guys," Isaiah called out.

The three turned towards the sorcerer.

"Isaiah!"

"What's going on?"

Nico spoke first,

"I just wanted to ask questions, but now I'm starting to think that he's a fake son of Poseidon."

"Hey! Just because I don't know how to surf does not mean I'm not the son of Poseidon." Percy cried out.

Isaiah laughed with Grover at Percy who looked like he was about to cry.

"Oh, right. How did you kill that monster? I didn't see anything except for that knife. And, where did it go?" Nico turned his question assault to Isaiah.

The latter simply smirked,

"I ran towards it and slashed the monster."

"But, you were so fast. It was like you were the Flash. Can I learn that?"

Isaiah shook,

"Sorry Nico, you need to have mana to do what I did."

'And some very special eyes.' he added in his mind.

Grover then spoke up,

"I heard you and Artemis talk about mana. What is that?" he asked and Percy nodded?

"Well, mana is rare energy that is almost impossible to obtain and they are only found in mortals. There is not much information about it because of it. Its advantage is that it's very versatile and I don't need to borrow power from another being."

"How did you learn magic though. Or is it self-taught?" asked Percy.

"I learned it from my teacher who found me in Kathmandu when I was five years old. But I didn't start learning until I was eight because I was in a coma the whole time."

"Why?" Nico asked getting intrigued by the story.

Isaiah's smile thinned and Grover and Percy sensed something wrong.

"I don't know much. All I remember was that I was caught in a tragedy and lost my mother right in front of my eyes when I was five years old. I then wake up with no memories and a bald lady saying that I was in a coma for three years." Isaiah saw their expression fall and replaced with sadness.

That's when something struck Grover's mind.

"Wait. Were you a victim of the Disaster in Kathmandu?"

"Yeah."

"Hang on. What's the Disaster of Kathmandu?" asked Percy.

"You don't know?"

The latter shook his head.

"It's one of the biggest tragedies in the century. All over the city, bombs simultaneously exploded killing and injuring thousands," Grover explained.

"Oh," Percy could only say in shock before turning towards Isaiah,

"Wait, how old were you again?"

"I'm eleven."

"Does that mean you have no memories except for the last three years?"

"I only have the memories of the bombing and one memory of my mother."

"I'm sorry"

"That's rough, buddy."

"Thanks."

Isaiah then smiled,

"On the bright side, I got to learn cool magic for three years."

"Can you show us?" asked Nico.

"Sure, what do you want me to show you?"

"How did you make that knife appear?"

"It's called a dagger and it's like this. Root, Shine."

Blue arcane energy crackled above his palm before coalescing into a dagger.

All three boys had an expression of amazement,

"Woah/ Holy Hades!/ Damn!"

"How did you do that!?" asked Nico fidgeting in place as he couldn't contain his excitement.

"It's just a simple spell called (Projection). I materialize what I imagine and pump the appropriate amount of mana. Then voila." Isaiah replied while showing the dagger.

"And the Flash thingy?"

"That's just another simple spell called (Reinforcement), I just fill in the gaps of an object using mana to raise its effectiveness. In this case, I applied it to my body to break past its limits."

Grover scoffed,

"You didn't just break them. You obliterated them!"

Isaiah chuckled at his response.

"Now enough about me. I have a question if you don't mind."

The others didn't mind.

"I've heard about a daughter of Zeus-," Isaiah gestured towards Thalia who was talking with Annabeth and Bianca, "-a son of Poseidon,-" he turned towards Percy, "- but is there a child of Hades, right now?"

He then saw something unexpected, Percy and Grover grimaced.

"What's wrong?"

"The thing is that Thalia and I weren't meant to be born," replied Percy.

"Why?" asked the blue-eyed boy.

"Because children of the Big Three are too powerful. Apparently, during World War two, we caused a lot of damage to the world. Seeing the damage caused by their children, Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades all swore on the Styx to never have any more children."

"Well that obviously did not work," said Isaiah

Percy sighed,

"That's right. There was a huge uproar when Thalia and I were acknowledged as their children. If Hades broke his oath, it would be an even bigger problem."

Isaiah nodded. He now concluded that Binca and Nico are now more than likely the children of Hades. He decided he would keep his mouth shut for now to not cause any problems for them.

At that moment, Zoe approached them while looking at them in disgust like some trash she had been ordered to dispose of.

"Percy Jackson and Isaiah Sharpe. Come with me. Lady Artemis wishes to speak with you," she said before walking away. Isaiah and Percy followed her to a tent. They entered inside and saw Artemis sitting on a chair. Isaiah was surprised to see Bianca there. It seems like she was called before them.

"Come join us, Percy Jackson and Isaiah Sharpe."

The goddess turned to Percy. She exchanges some pleasantries with him and then asks him about the events that transpired through the night. Once Percy was finished, Artemis looked pensive.

"I see, I figured out the answer."

"The scent, my lady?"

"Yes."

"What scent?" Percy asked.

"Things are stirring that I have not seen in millennia. Prey so old I have nearly forgotten. We came here sensing the manticore, but he was not the monster we were looking for. What did it say?" she said before asking Percy who relayed what the monster had said.

"Hm. I must then hunt this monster alone."

"But-"

"No Zoe. It will be too dangerous and I will not endanger my hunters when I do not need to. Do you understand, Zoe?"

"I... yes. I understand Milady. But then where would we go?"

"That's where Percy comes in."

"What?" the bit asked confused.

"Could do me a favour? Could you escort my huntresses to the camp?"

"What? But my lady, we hate that place. Last time we went-"

"I know, Zoe. I'm sure Dionysus will not hold a grudge over a little misunderstanding."

Zoe grumbled something about stupid campers.

Artemis then turned to Bianca.

"Have you made your decision my girl?"

"Huh, about what?" asked Percy.

"I'm still thinking about it." she then turned to Percy,

"They asked me to join the Hunt."

"Wait. No. This is crazy Bianca! You have to go to the camp. We can help you learn to protect yourself," Percy replied

"That's not the only way for a girl. She can be a hunter." Zoe interjected with a sneer.

"What can the hunters give that the campers can't? "

"For one, immortality" Zoe replied a little smug.

"She's joking, right?" Percy asked Artemis.

"For as long as she was with me, Zoe was never one to joke. Once my huntresses swear loyalty to me, they will become my companions, my family and they will be granted immortality. Or at least until they break their oath."

"What oath?"

"To forever forsake romantic love. To be young maidens forever."

Percy turned to Bianca a little desperate,

"Bianca, you can't do this! What about Nico? He can't be a hunter?"

"That's right. He will be cared for at the camp. Unfortunately, that seems to be the only thing boys can do."

"Hey!"

"You can visit him from time to time. Nico will be cared for by the camp and you will be free from responsibility. You will have a new family, us." Artemis said.

"A new family. Free from responsibility." Bianca whispered.

"Bianca, this is nuts!"

Bianca turned to Zoe,

"Is it worth it?"

"It is" the older girl replied.

Bianca looked down and in thoughts before looking up. She was about to open her mouth when a new voice interjected.

"Bianca, can I ask you a question? There is something I don't understand," a voice suddenly asked.

Everyone turned to Isaiah. To be honest, Percy had forgotten that he was even here.

"I'm sorry?" the girl in question.

"Before you make your decision, I would like to ask you a question. Is that okay?" the boy asked her as he kept his ever-present smile.

Bianca looked confused but accepted nonetheless.

"Is Nico really your brother?"

"What do you mean? Of course, he is." the girl replied with an edge.

"Really? But I was under the impression that he was simply baggage." the boy.

At his words, Bianca was stumped.

"Now, I don't know how siblings interact, but from what my teacher told me, people from the same family don't abandon each other unless there is a rift and negative emotions between them. Is there something like that between you and Nico? I am genuinely curious."

"Get to the point, boy," Zoe growled not liking the direction of where this discussion is going.

Isaiah ignored her and started at Bianca.

The girl looked conflicted but answered,

"H-He's not baggage. He's my brother," she replied.

" I see. Then does that mean that you would abandon your brother who you've known for more than ten years for people you've known less than twenty-four hours?"

Bianca struggles to answer when Isaiah asked another question.

"Also, just like Artemis said, people would care for your brother at the camp, but who does Nico want to stay with, you or some unknown people?"

"They are not unknown. The campers are great guys." Percy interjected with a frown.

"Not from Bianca's perspective. In fact, for her, you are all unknown." Isaiah replied.

When Isaiah asked his question, Isaiah was simply using the information he had received from the Ancient One. He was now facing a situation where this information was incorrect.

"N-No. I don't want to abandon Nico."

"But you are not abandoning Nico, you are being free from responsibility, a burden. You could be free to live your own life forever young. Is that not what you want?"

"Also, you could still live your life since we will all care for your brother. You could grow up and experience life. And does Nico's opinion not matter? It will affect him too, right?" Percy added.

Bianca stayed silent.

After a minute of silence,

Bianca opened her mouth,

"I... don't want to leave Nico. I can't just leave him yet. But I also want to live my life and not be only his babysitter." she turned towards Artemis, "Can I not answer right now? I really need time to think about it."

Artemis looked at the girl before closing her eyes and nodding.

"Very well. You may give your answer at a later date. When you do, you can simply pray to me. Zoe, give her the brochure and start breaking camp since dawn is approaching."

"There is a brochure?" asked Percy a little surprised.

The girl glared at the boys. Percy at sweat rolling down his forehead while Isaiah kept on smiling. She then took a brochure from it and gave it to Bianca without a word.

"Thank you, now you may all leave. I would like to speak with the young sorcerer alone." Artemis said.

Bianca left the tent with a conflicted expression with Percy following slightly relieved. Zoe left last before glaring at Isaiah.

The boy was now left alone with the goddess.

The goddess of the hunt stared at the peculiar young boy and asked,

"How is your teacher doing?" she asked.

The boy looked confused,

"Huh, she's fine. I guess. Do you know the Teacher?

The girl tilted her head,

"Yes, I met her once, a long time ago when she was still a girl. I was on a hunt for a monster when my hunters were in trouble. They were about to be killed when she appeared and saved them," she then let out a small chuckle, "when I asked her to join the Hunt, she refused saying that her duty was to become the Sorcerer Supreme."

"Oh." Isaiah could only say.

"What happened to you?" she suddenly asked.

"I'm sorry?"

"We gods and goddesses gain power through the faith of the humans. Because of that we also can sense emotions. However, I don't sense some of the emotions from you. Humans always have emotions in them even if it is suppressed. However, I have never seen one where the emotions are simply not there. Even when you smile, it does not correlate with your feelings. So what happened to you?"

"I don't know. I only woke up three years ago from a three-year coma and I have no memory of my life before that," Isaiah lied.

Artemis didn't know if he lied or told the truth since she could only detect lies using emotions. However, the child in front of her was missing some emotions that made up lies like fear, anxiety and more.

'It's like looking at an automaton,' she thought.

The goddess stared before nodding,

"How unfortunate. Very well, we must go."

"Huh wait. I wanted to ask if I could visit Camp Half-Blood."

She looked at him confused.

"Why?"

"Well, it's not every day that you see living myths."

"I see then I, Artemis, permit you to enter Camp Half-Blood."

There were no visual effects,

"I don't feel any different."

"It would be strange if you did. Now come, Bianca is not the only one with an annoying brother. And he's especially lazy during winter." Artemis said before getting up and walking out of the tent with Isaiah following her.