by Rick Riordan
‘I’m scared,’ Nico mumbled. He was fiddling with something – a little metal toy soldier of some kind.
‘Stop talking!’ Dr Thorn said. ‘Face me!’
We turned.
Thorn’s two-tone eyes glittered hungrily. He pulled something from under his coat. At first I thought it was a switchblade, but it was only a phone. He pressed the side button and said, ‘The package – it is ready to deliver.’
There was a garbled reply, and I realized Thorn was in walkie-talkie mode. This seemed way too modern and creepy – a monster using a cell phone.
I glanced behind me, wondering how far the drop was.
Dr Thorn laughed. ‘By all means, Son of Poseidon. Jump! There is the sea. Save yourself.’
‘What did he call you?’ Bianca muttered.
‘I’ll explain later,’ I said.
‘You do have a plan, right?’
Grover! I thought desperately. Come to me!
Maybe I could get both the di Angelos to jump with me into the ocean. If we survived the fall, I could use the water to protect us. I’d done things like that before. If my dad was in a good mood, and listening, he might help. Maybe.
‘I would kill you before you ever reached the water,’ Dr Thorn said, as if reading my thoughts. ‘You do not realize who I am, do you?’
A flicker of movement behind him, and another missile whistled so close to me that it nicked my ear. Something had sprung up behind Dr Thorn – like a catapult, but more flexible… almost like a tail.
‘Unfortunately,’ Thorn said, ‘you are wanted alive, if possible. Otherwise you would already be dead.’
‘Who wants us?’ Bianca demanded. ‘Because if you think you’ll get a ransom, you’re wrong. We don’t have any family. Nico and I…’ Her voice broke a little. ‘We’ve got no one but each other.’
‘Aww,’ Dr Thorn said. ‘Do not worry, little brats. You will be meeting my employer soon enough. Then you will have a brand-new family.’
‘Luke,’ I said. ‘You work for Luke.’
Dr Thorn’s mouth twisted with distaste when I said the name of my old enemy – a former friend who’d tried to kill me several times. ‘You have no idea what is happening, Perseus Jackson. I will let the General enlighten you. You are going to do him a great service tonight. He is looking forward to meeting you.’
‘The General?’ I asked. Then I realized I’d said it with a French accent. ‘I mean… who’s the General?’
Thorn looked towards the horizon. ‘Ah, here we are. Your transportation.’
I turned and saw a light in the distance, a searchlight over the sea. Then I heard the chopping of helicopter blades getting louder and closer.
‘Where are you taking us?’ Nico said.
‘You should feel honoured, my boy. You will have the opportunity to join a great army! Just like that silly game you play with cards and dolls.’
‘They’re not dolls! They’re figurines! And you can take your great army and –’
‘Now, now,’ Dr Thorn warned. ‘You will change your mind about joining us, my boy. And, if you do not, well… there are other uses for half-bloods. We have many monstrous mouths to feed. The Great Stirring is underway.’
‘The Great what?’ I asked. Anything to keep him talking while I tried to figure out a plan.
‘The stirring of monsters.’ Dr Thorn smiled evilly. ‘The worst of them, the most powerful, are now waking. Monsters that have not been seen in thousands of years. They will cause death and destruction the likes of which mortals have never known. And soon we shall have the most important monster of all – the one that shall bring about the downfall of Olympus!’
‘Okay,’ Bianca whispered to me. ‘He’s completely nuts.’ ‘We have to jump off the cliff,’ I told her quietly. ‘Into the sea.’
‘Oh, super idea. You’re completely nuts, too.’ I never got the chance to argue with her, because just then an invisible force slammed into me.
Looking back on it, Annabeth’s move was brilliant. Wearing her cap of invisibility, she ploughed into the di Angelos and me, knocking us to the ground. For a split second, Dr Thorn was taken by surprise, so his first volley of missiles zipped harmlessly over our heads. This gave Thalia and Grover a chance to advance from behind – Thalia wielding her magic shield, Aegis.
If you’ve never seen Thalia run into battle, you have never been truly frightened. She uses a huge spear that expands from this collapsible Mace canister she carries in her pocket, but that’s not the scary part. Her shield is modelled on one her dad Zeus uses – also called Aegis – a gift from Athena. The shield has the head of the gorgon Medusa moulded into the bronze, and even though it won’t turn you to stone it’s so horrible most people will panic and run at the sight of it.
Even Dr Thorn winced and growled when he saw it.
Thalia moved in with her spear. ‘For Zeus!’
I thought Dr Thorn was a goner. Thalia jabbed at his head, but he snarled and swatted the spear aside. His hand changed into an orange paw with enormous claws that sparked against Thalia’s shield as he slashed. If it hadn’t been for Aegis, Thalia would’ve been sliced like a loaf of bread. As it was, she managed to roll backwards and land on her feet.
The sound of the helicopter was getting louder behind me, but I didn’t dare look.
Dr Thorn launched another volley of missiles at Thalia, and this time I could see how he did it. He had a tail – a leathery, scorpionlike tail that bristled with spikes at the tip. The missiles deflected off Aegis, but the force of their impact knocked Thalia down.
Grover sprang forward. He put his reed pipes to his lips and began to play – a frantic jig that sounded like something pirates would dance to. Grass broke through the snow. Within seconds, rope-thick weeds were wrapping round Dr Thorn’s legs, entangling him.
Dr Thorn roared and began to change. He grew larger until he was in his true form – his face still human, but his body that of a huge lion. His leathery, spiky tail whipped deadly thorns in all directions.
‘A manticore!’ Annabeth said, now visible. Her magical New York Yankees cap had come off when she’d ploughed into us.
‘Who are you people?’ Bianca di Angelo demanded. ‘And what is that?’
‘A manticore?’ Nico gasped. ‘He’s got three thousand attack power and plus five to saving throws!’
I didn’t know what he was talking about, but I didn’t have time to worry about it. The manticore clawed Grover’s magic weeds to shreds then turned towards us with a snarl.
‘Get down!’ Annabeth pushed the di Angelos flat into the snow. At the last second, I remembered my own shield. I hit my wristwatch, and metal plating spiralled out into a thick bronze shield. Not a moment too soon. The thorns impacted against it with such force they dented the metal. The beautiful shield, a gift from my brother, was badly damaged. I wasn’t sure it would even stop a second volley.
I heard a thwack and a yelp, and Grover landed next to me with a thud.
‘Yield!’ the monster roared.
‘Never!’ Thalia yelled from across the field. She charged the monster and, for a second, I thought she would run him through. But then there was a thunderous noise and a blaze of light from behind us. The helicopter appeared out of the mist, hovering just beyond the cliffs. It was a sleek black military-style gunship, with attachments on the sides that looked like laser-guided rockets. The helicopter had to be manned by mortals, but what was it doing here? How could mortals be working with a monster? The searchlights blinded Thalia, and the manticore swatted her away with its tail. Her shield flew off into the snow. Her spear flew in the other direction.
‘No!’ I ran out to help her. I parried away a spike just before it would’ve hit her chest. I raised my shield over us, but I knew it wouldn’t be enough.
Dr Thorn laughed. ‘Now do you see how hopeless it is? Yield, little heroes.’
We were trapped between a monster and a fully armed helicopter. We had no chance.
Then I heard
a clear, piercing sound: the call of a hunting horn blowing in the woods.
The manticore froze. For a moment, no one moved. There was only the swirl of snow and wind and the chopping of the helicopter blades.
‘No,’ Dr Thorn said. ‘It cannot be –’
His sentence was cut short when something shot past me like a streak of moonlight. A glowing silver arrow sprouted from Dr Thorn’s shoulder.
He staggered backwards, wailing in agony.
‘Curse you!’ Thorn cried. He unleashed his spikes, dozens of them at once, into the woods where the arrow had come from, but just as fast, silvery arrows shot back in reply. It almost looked like the arrows had intercepted the thorns in mid-air and sliced them in two, but my eyes must’ve been playing tricks on me. No one, not even Apollo’s kids at camp, could shoot with that much accuracy.
The manticore pulled the arrow out of his shoulder with a howl of pain. His breathing was heavy. I tried to swipe at him with my sword, but he wasn’t as injured as he looked. He dodged my attack and slammed his tail into my shield, knocking me aside.
Then the archers came from the woods. They were girls, about a dozen of them. The youngest was maybe ten. The oldest, about fourteen, like me. They wore silvery ski parkas and jeans, and they were all armed with bows. They advanced on the manticore with determined expressions.
‘The Hunters!’ Annabeth cried.
Next to me, Thalia muttered, ‘Oh, wonderful.’
I didn’t have a chance to ask what she meant.
One of the older archers stepped forward with her bow drawn. She was tall and graceful with coppery coloured skin. Unlike the other girls, she had a silver circlet braided into the top of her long dark hair, so she looked like some kind of Persian princess. ‘Permission to kill, my lady?’
I couldn’t tell who she was talking to, because she kept her eyes on the manticore.
The monster wailed. ‘This is not fair! Direct interference! It is against the Ancient Laws.’
‘Not so,’ another girl said. This one was a little younger than me, maybe twelve or thirteen. She had auburn hair gathered back in a ponytail and strange eyes, silvery yellow like the moon. Her face was so beautiful it made me catch my breath, but her expression was stern and dangerous. ‘The hunting of all wild beasts is within my sphere. And you, foul creature, are a wild beast.’ She looked at the older girl with the circlet. ‘Zoë, permission granted.’
The manticore growled. ‘If I cannot have these alive, I shall have them dead!’
He lunged at Thalia and me, knowing we were weak and dazed.
‘No!’ Annabeth yelled, and she charged at the monster.
‘Get back, half-blood!’ the girl with the circlet said. ‘Get out of the line of fire!’
But Annabeth leaped onto the monster’s back and drove her knife into his mane. The manticore howled, turning in circles with his tail flailing as Annabeth hung on for dear life.
‘Fire!’ Zoë ordered.
‘No!’ I screamed.
But the Hunters let their arrows fly. The first caught the manticore in the neck. Another hit his chest. The manticore staggered backwards, wailing, ‘This is not the end, Huntress! You shall pay!’
And before anyone could react, the monster, with Annabeth still on his back, leaped over the cliff and tumbled into the darkness.
‘Annabeth!’ I yelled.
I started to run after her, but our enemies weren’t done with us. There was a snap-snap-snap from the helicopter – the sound of gunfire.
Most of the Hunters scattered as tiny holes appeared in the snow at their feet, but the girl with auburn hair just looked up calmly at the helicopter.
‘Mortals,’ she announced, ‘are not allowed to witness my hunt.’
She thrust out her hand, and the helicopter exploded into dust – no, not dust. The black metal dissolved into a flock of birds – ravens, which scattered into the night.
The Hunters advanced on us.
The one called Zoë stopped short when she saw Thalia. ‘You,’ she said with distaste.
‘Zoë Nightshade.’ Thalia’s voice trembled with anger. ‘Perfect timing, as usual.’
Zoë scanned the rest of us. ‘Four half-bloods and a satyr, my lady.’
‘Yes,’ the younger girl said. ‘Some of Chiron’s campers, I see.’
‘Annabeth!’ I yelled. ‘You have to let us save her!’
The auburn-haired girl turned towards me. ‘I’m sorry, Percy Jackson, but your friend is beyond help.’
I tried to struggle to my feet, but a couple of the girls held me down.
‘You are in no condition to be hurling yourself off cliffs,’ the auburn-haired girl said.
‘Let me go!’ I demanded. ‘Who do you think you are?’
Zoë stepped forward as if to slap me.
‘No,’ the other girl ordered. ‘I sense no disrespect, Zoë. He is simply distraught. He does not understand.’
The young girl looked at me, her eyes colder and brighter than the winter moon. ‘I am Artemis,’ she said. ‘Goddess of the Hunt.’
3 Bianca Di Angelo Makes A Choice
After seeing Dr Thorn turn into a monster and plummet off the edge of a cliff with Annabeth, you’d think nothing else could shock me. But when this twelve-year-old girl told me she was the goddess Artemis, I said something really intelligent like, ‘Um… okay.’
That was nothing compared to Grover. He gasped, then knelt hastily in the snow and started yammering, ‘Thank you, Lady Artemis! You’re so… you’re so… Wow!’
‘Get up, goat boy!’ Thalia snapped. ‘We have other things to worry about. Annabeth is gone!’
‘Whoa,’ Bianca di Angelo said. ‘Hold up. Time out.’
Everybody looked at her. She pointed her finger at all of us in turn, like she was trying to connect the dots. ‘Who… who are you people?’
Artemis’s expression softened. ‘It might be a better question, my dear girl, to ask who are you? Who are your parents?’
Bianca glanced nervously at her brother, who was still staring in awe at Artemis.
‘Our parents are dead,’ Bianca said. ‘We’re orphans. There’s a bank trust that pays for our school, but…’
She faltered. I guess she could tell from our faces that we didn’t believe her.
‘What?’ she demanded. ‘I’m telling the truth.’
‘You are a half-blood,’ Zoë Nightshade said. Her accent was hard to place. It seemed old-fashioned, like she was reading from a really old book. ‘One of thy parents was mortal. The other was an Olympian.’
‘An Olympian… athlete?’
‘No,’ Zoë said. ‘One of the gods.’
‘Cool!’ said Nico.
‘No!’ Bianca’s voice quavered. ‘This is not cool!’
Nico danced around like he needed to use the restroom. ‘Does Zeus really have lightning bolts that do six hundred damage? Does he get extra movement points for –’
‘Nico, shut up!’ Bianca put her hands to her face. ‘This is not your stupid Mythomagic game, okay? There are no gods!’
As anxious as I felt about Annabeth – all I wanted to do was search for her – I couldn’t help feeling sorry for the di Angelos. I remembered what it was like for me when I first learned I was a demigod.
Thalia must’ve been feeling something similar, because the anger in her eyes subsided a little bit. ‘Bianca, I know it’s hard to believe. But the gods are still around. Trust me. They’re immortal. And whenever they have kids with regular humans, kids like us, well… Our lives are dangerous.’
‘Dangerous,’ Bianca said, ‘like the girl who fell.’
Thalia turned away. Even Artemis looked pained.
‘Do not despair for Annabeth,’ the goddess said. ‘She was a brave maiden. If she can be found, I shall find her.’
‘Then why won’t you let us go and look for her?’ I asked.
‘She is gone. Can’t you sense it, Son of Poseidon? Some magic is at work. I do not know exactly how or
why, but your friend has vanished.’
I still wanted to jump off the cliff and search for her, but I had a feeling that Artemis was right. Annabeth was gone. If she’d been down there in the sea, I thought, I’d be able to feel her presence.
‘Oo!’ Nico raised his hand. ‘What about Dr Thorn? That was awesome how you shot him with arrows! Is he dead?’
‘He was a manticore,’ Artemis said. ‘Hopefully, he is destroyed for now, but monsters never truly die. They reform over and over again, and they must be hunted whenever they reappear.’
‘Or they’ll hunt us,’ Thalia said.
Bianca di Angelo shivered. ‘That explains… Nico, you remember last summer, those guys who tried to attack us in the alley in D.C.?’
‘And that bus driver,’ Nico said. ‘The one with the ram’s horns. I told you that was real.’
‘That’s why Grover has been watching you,’ I said. ‘To keep you safe, if you turned out to be half-bloods.’
‘Grover?’ Bianca stared at him. ‘You’re a demigod?’
‘Well, a satyr, actually.’ He kicked off his shoes and displayed his goat hooves. I thought Bianca was going to faint right there.
‘Grover, put your shoes back on,’ Thalia said. ‘You’re freaking her out.’
‘Hey, my hooves are clean!’
‘Bianca,’ I said, ‘we came here to help you. You and Nico need training to survive. Dr Thorn won’t be the last monster you meet. You need to come to camp.’
‘Camp?’ she asked.
‘Camp Half-Blood,’ I said. ‘It’s where half-bloods learn to survive and stuff. You can join us, stay there year round if you like.’
‘Sweet, let’s go!’ said Nico.
‘Wait.’ Bianca shook her head. ‘I don’t –’
‘There is another option,’ Zoë said.
‘No, there isn’t!’ Thalia said.
Thalia and Zoë glared at each other. I didn’t know what they were talking about, but I could tell there was bad history between them. For some reason, they seriously hated each other.
‘We’ve burdened these children enough,’ Artemis announced. ‘Zoë, we will rest here for a few hours. Raise the tents. Treat the wounded. Retrieve our guests’belongings from the school.’