Last year, I was sent on a solo mission somewhere to the North of Thrace simply because I can withstand extremely cold temperatures. My mission was to retrieve a chest of Imperial gold weapons. Along the way, I ran into a bunch of Hyperborean giants…

---

“On Neptune’s trident!” I yelled, quite exasperated. I threw a grappling hook at the cliff next to me and hoisted myself up. The spot I was standing on just moments ago was now covered in a mountain of ice. I let go of the grappling hook as another giant threw a snow ball at me.

I threw another grappling hook. This time, I aimed at the neck of another giant. It threw its head back pulling me towards it. I unsheathed my gladius and sliced the Hyperborean’s neck. It fell towards the ground, turning into ice along the way.

I turned around to face the others but I found them in similar states as the one I just beat. The next thing I know, I was surrounded by a group of girls around my age, some even younger. They all had bows drawn and aimed at me.

“Now what?!” I groaned. Re-sheathed my sword and raised my hands in a surrender position. I noticed some of the girls parting to make way for another. Judging by the tiara on her head, she was the group’s leader.

“Who are you?” she asked.

“Selene Rivera. I’m a demigod. Daughter of Neptune. Just here on a mission to retrieve something that belongs to others like me. I don’t mean any trouble.” If these girls were planning to capture me or something, well, things won’t end very well for either of us.

The leader shrugged and slung the bow over the shoulder.

“You must be from Camp Half-Blood. My name’s Thalia. Daughter of Zeus. We’re the Hunters of Artemis,” she said. I stared at her in confusion.

“I’m sorry. Camp Half-Blood?” I asked. This time, it was Thalia’s turn to look confused.

“Sorry, I just assumed… Never mind.” She signaled the other girls to lower their bows. “What were you looking for?”

I wasn’t sure if I should tell her. I barely knew this girl. For all I know, she could be a demigod who worked for Saturn. And then I remembered that she called herself a ‘Hunter of Artemis’.
Artemis is the Greek name of my patron, Diana. I guess that was a sign that I can trust them. After all, we’re protected by the same goddess.

“A chest full of golden weapons,” I told Thalia, looking around hoping for a glimpse of a chest. Thalia nodded.

“Okay… What for?” I stared at her with an ‘are-you-kidding’ look on my face.

“My Camp’s running short on supplies,” was all I said. We walked inside a cavern. It was cold and I could feel the Hunters’ shivering.

“Dude, It’s freaking cold. How can you stand it?” I glanced at the Hunters. They were all wearing silvery parkas. Some even had scarves around their necks. They were hugging themselves trying to keep warm. As for me, I was wearing my trademark dark green jacket, my Camp Jupiter shirt, and cargo pants. I’m that awesome. I chuckled.

“That’s for me to know and for you to find out,” I said. A glint caught my eye. I turned to the left and saw a dull brown chest but with golden light peeking out from the middle. Jackpot. I walked to the chest, crouched, and opened it.

True enough, the chest was full of Imperial Gold weapons. I felt the air get colder. I slowly held one of the pugios. I counted, 1… 2… 3… I twisted and threw the dagger. It whistled past Thalia’s surprised face and right at the face of a Hyperborean standing behind her. It yelled in pain. Thalia drew two hunting knives, leaped up the Hyperborean’s leg and carved an icy path up to the giant’s neck. It turned into a huge ice sculpture before collapsing. Shards of ice flew in different directions. The Hunters shielded their faces. I raised my shield as ice rained down in the whole cavern. The sounds stopped and I lowered my shield slowly. The other Hunters looked unharmed.

“Thanks,” Thalia said keeping her two knives. “You really saved my sorry rear back there.” I shrugged.

“No biggy.” I turned back to the chest and tied the two grappling hooks I used earlier around it. “I guess I’ll go on my way, now. Stay safe!”

I turned around and began dragging the chest out of the cavern.

“Hey, uh, Selene!” I glanced back at Thalia. “If you feel like going hunting or anything, you’re welcome to join the Hunters.” And she handed me a silvery calling card. The address written on it was where we currently were.

“It says-”

“I know. It changes depending on where we are so you can find us,” Thalia grinned. “Join us soon, okay?” I returned the smile.

“Okay.”

---

I looked down at the calling card I was holding. It said that the Hunters were in Colorado. Just where I am. What they were doing here, I have no idea. I guess I’ll be finding out soon…
Okay maybe not that soon.

A heard a hissing sound coming from below me, I looked down and saw a sea-green dragon moving towards me. Yes, dragon not drakon. So… haha! It can fly.

Holy mother of stables! Maelstrom said as he veered to the left. The dragon flew straight up but it was so close I could feel the heat radiating from its body. It’s wings were attached to its forearms. It spun mid-air and prepared to dive towards us again. I recognized this particular dragon. It was the Cychreides. It was slain but Cychreus, a son of Poseidon which was how it got its name.

Maelstrom rolled to the right without warning. It was good that he did that because the
Cychreides dove downward. Instinctively, I grabbed my pegasus’ mane a little tighter than usual and dug my heels into his side.

Hey I didn’t want to fall! It’s not easy to stay on a flying horse with no saddle!

Chief! That hurt! Maelstrom complained, shaking his head so much it was difficult for me to maintain my grip.

“Then give me a warning next time!” I told him. I sighed and spun the gear attached to the ring on my left middle finger with my left thumb. The ring expanded, the metal stretching and covering my forearm. A sort of handhold appeared on my palm and I closed my fist around it. A silver teardrop-shaped shield formed on my left arm, the tapered part pointing to my elbow. A golden gladius hilt was on the opposite end. You see, my shield doubles as the sheath of my gladius. It’s pretty convenient.

“Maelstrom, this is going to sound crazy,” I said as I drew my sword. “But I want you to dive down and fly as close to the dragon’s mouth as possible.”

This doesn’t sound like a nice plan, he mumbled. The dragon was circling below us.

“When he’s about to blow fire, dodge to the left and get below him as fast as you can.”

Chief what are you going to do? He asked. I paused for a moment before answering.

“I’m going to jump.”

---

What has gotten into my head? Honestly I don’t know. It sounded like a stupid idea after the danger passed but right at that moment, it was really sensible to me. My shield was impervious to fire and I could withstand a good amount of heat so I could easily dice up the monster’s gullet, right? Thought so, too.

Maelstrom dove headfirst towards the Chychreides. It flew up to meet him. A rumbling sound came deep from the dragon’s belly and puffs of smoke began to rise from its nostrils. It started to open its mouth and I saw a harsh orange light within.

“Get ready Maelstrom,” I muttered. The rumbling grew louder. Maelstrom whinnied nervously.
“Any moment now.”

The Chychreides opened its mouth wide. Maelstrom rolled to the left and I jumped off him. I shifted to a diving position with my shield over my head. I ducked as much as I could so the fire won’t catch my hair. That would be nasty.

The fire came, as expected. It went over my shield. I felt its heat on my body but it didn’t bother me that much. I barely felt it. I had a little bubble of cold air around me, pushing the flames away. I let my sword peek over my shield. All I had to do was slice the sides of its maw and stab the roof of his mouth. Unfortunately, I miscalculated.

My shield hit the snout of the dragon instead of going straight into its mouth. My head bonked against the metal and the world seemed to go 360. Wait, I was. I rolled over the dragon’s head, onto its back, nearly stabbing myself in the process. If I carried on tumbling, well, basically I’d end up on Maelstrom’s back and we’d be eaten… eventually.

I managed to get my sword arm free and I stabbed wildly towards where I felt the hide of the Chychreides. It roared in pain as my blade sank through a chink in its scales. My momentum slowed down a bit but it was still enough for me to pull the blade down along the dragon’s back. It wasn’t long until I found myself free-falling again. I sheathed my sword and spread out my limbs to increase drag then whoomp!

I landed on Maelstrom’s back. My rump began to throb.

Chief, what have you been eating? He whinnied in irritation.

“Hey I’m not that heavy!” I looked up and monster goo landed right on my face. I spat out the ones that went in my mouth. I shuddered. That was one of the most disgusting things that ever fell in my mouth (not that there were many). I wiped my eyes. The dragon was gone. Disintegrated, no doubt. Hold on a minute. Don’t monsters leave spoils of war?

Too late. Something hard hit the top of my head.

“Yow!” I yelped. The thing bounced off my head and onto my hands. I nearly missed it. I fumbled around trying to get a grip on it. When I finally did, I had a few cuts on my hand like tiny little paper cuts. I winced. The dragon left behind a claw. I shrugged and tucked it into my belt bag. May need it later on.

I looked at the forest below me. If there’s a monster, the Hunters were bound to be close by.

---

“You may go, Maelstrom,” I said, patting Maelstrom’s head. He nickered.
But Chief- he tried to protest.

“Just do it, please,” I said. After Maelstrom pulled away, I reached up and felt my necklace with a moon amulet there. I pulled the amulet with my left hand and it came off with a sharp snap. The amulet began to glow. The light grew brighter, nearly reaching my knees and then it faded. I was holding a composite bow, identical to the ones being used by the archers at Camp. The only difference was the silver theme. It was a gift from Diana, hence the silver.

‘Wait, aren’t those for Hunters of Artemis?’ Several people asked me that question but everyone seems to forget that there are some mortals that Artemis/Diana favors who do not become part of her Hunters. For instance, there was the girl named Procris. She was favored by Diana yet she was allowed to marry. She was even given a javelin, which I used to own, to attract her husband.

No, I did not receive the javelin to attract anybody (why does everyone assume that?) I was given the javelin because I did Diana a favor by saving Laelaps, the dog destined to catch everything it chased. Some rogue demigod from Saturn’s army captured Laelaps to set him upon the Teumessian fox. Unfortunately, that fox was fated to never be captured.

Destined to catch everything versus fated to never be captured. How contradictory. Apparently, it wouldn’t be the first time those two would be put up against each other. Jupiter turned them into stone several millennia ago. Diana didn’t want that to happen again so I beat that demigod, Anthony, in a duel (bragging aside, it wasn’t hard. He focused too much on defending his left side, he completely ignored his right).

So when did I receive the bow? Eh, that’s a story for another time.

My quiver was strapped to my right thigh. Unusual place to put a quiver? I get that all the time.

I drew an arrow and notched it. I heard movement coming from my right. I drew my bow, aimed then fired. Someone yelped... and a volley of arrows flew towards me. I dodged, rolled, side-stepped, and knocked arrows aside. Thank the gods for giving me good reflexes.
A group of girls came charging towards me. Some looked younger, while others were around the same age. They brought out hunting knives and slashed. I ducked and hit one of them with my bow. She staggered but didn't seem hurt. A silvery glow appeared around her then flickered before disappearing.

Yep. Definitely a Hunter.

"Stop!" Someone called out. The other Hunters stopped attacking me and a girl slightly taller than the rest stepped into view. She had spiky black hair, the typical clothes of a hunter (except for a black Fall Out Boy shirt which made me teensy-bit jealous), and the silver circlet that marked her as the lieutenant of Artemis.

"Thalia?" I asked incredulously.

"In the flesh," she said, grinning. "You fired an arrow at me." I groaned.

"Hey, sorry about that." I touched the tip of my bow to the chain around my neck. It glowed before disappearing along with my quiver reverting back to the moon amulet.

Thalia grinned. "It's all right. We can talk over lunch."

Notes

A/N: Full Author's Note can be found at the tumblr blog: don-author-notes
It has some important info about this fic so please check it out.