Pertemis: Chasing Time

Chapter 10: The Force To Come Out.

Thalia's POV

I was tracing through the forest trying to find Artemis. Her presence just suddenly disappeared in this area. Suddenly, something ran into my way and we crashed. I fell in the ground rubbing my forehead.

"What where are you going" I scowled.

"I'm sorry, I was in a hurry." The girl sounded familiar.

I looked up and realised that was Reyna.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"I...uh, come to check if Lady Diana found Percy. The Romans have already matched to Camp Half Blood"

I sighed. "I don't think she can be here to help you now"

Reyna gave me a confused look.

I rolled my eyes. "She has been kidnapped alright."

"What are we going to do now?" Reyna asked me.

"I don't know. If I know, I wouldn't be standing here complaining this to you"

"Can't you use your tracking power. I mean you are a hunter after all."

I looked away. "Well that tracking is just for monsters. Artemis has been blocked by some kind of power"

Come to think of tracking power. There is one power that can track humans or even gods down in my camp. But that power can only be given to the guardian. Then my mind suddenly switched to Percy. That's right. Percy has agreed to become the guardian of the Hunt. He would have that power. If there is anyone who can find Artemis. That person is him.

I clapped my hand over my mouth. "Come to think of that" I said. "Percy has the power to track down the gods and humans."

"So how are we going to find him than. Even lady Diana can't find him." Reyna asked.

"Well I can help you with that." A voice suddenly came as we turned back and drew our weapons.

Standing in front of me was a handsome man with blue hair and sea-green eyes like Percy. He was half naked and was wearing a blue shorts with trident on hand.

I frowned. "Triton?"

He responded me with a smirk. I took back my weapon and glared at him. "What are you doing here?"

"Now now lady" Triton said. "My father Poseidon told me to come and assist you with finding Percy"

"Do not lie to me Triton, or I will cut that tongue off you" I snarled at him. That jerk always annoying me. He couldn't get his hands off every girl he met.

"I'm not lying" Triton told me. "I gave Percy the pearls. So if he used it, I would easily know where he's gone. Don't be angry Thalia. Your beauty will fade if you're ang-"

"I warn you Triton" I grumbled. "Do not let me tell Nico that you are flirting with me."

Triton was scared a little. Yeah, over the last few months, Nico has gotten stronger that he even passed many minor gods. He's the champion of the Underworld and also the third strongest person.

"Find find" Triton gave up. "It's not like that I scare your boyfriend anyway"

"You dare-" but before I could finish my sentence, Triton snapped his finger and Reyna and I were teleported away.

I was standing in front of a familiar place. Yeah, Lotus casino.

"This place hasn't changed a bit since my last arrival." I muttered.

"Wait, you have been here before?" Reyna asked.

I just smiled. "Long story." We went into the casino, and immediately there was a staff walking up to us and offered us a Lotus flower. We all decided to take one, so as not to create any commotion. The staff walked away happily, and once the coast is clear, we dumped the flower on the floor. We went deeper into the casino, into the main floor. It was filled with all kinds of games. There were also exquisite food, and the decorations were flawless. It was like a child's paradise.

"We need to find Percy fast, before they realise we never eat the flower." I whisper loudly, loud enough for us to hear with all the game music blasting over the roof. We combed the area together, splitting up would be too dangerous in a place like this. After 2-3 times of repeated search, Percy was nowhere to be found.

"I think he's in a platinum room." I told Reyna.

"There's a platinum room?" She asked

"When you collected enough points from playing the games, you get to be moved up. The more points you have, the higher you go. Given how long percy been here, I believe he's already at the top." I replied. Again, we ventured deeper. Every time we see a staff walking towards us, we would quickly turn away. It took us quite a while to reach the platinum room, with all the detour we had to take. The room was slightly smaller, and so is the number of people. I instantly spotted Percy at the far end of the room playing some shooting games.

"there." I tapped Reyna's shoulder repeatedly and pointed in the direction of where percy is. We hurried down, cutting through all the kids who were all too busy and consumed by their game.

"Percy!" I shouted at him, but like all the other kids, he was already lost in his own world. I went up close and shouted right into his ear. He turned over shortly, giving me a quizzical look, and resumed enjoying his game. How dare him! Lady Artemis was searching for him frantically over the past month, and here is Percy having fun. In a fit of anger, I pulled him away and gave him one hard punch right into his stomach.

"Hey, I was about to set a new high score!" He shouted at me.

"Artemis is captured because she was searching for you, and you are setting a new high score in this god forsaken place?!" I screamed into his ear.

"Who the hell is Artemis? You are just jealous I'm beating your high score." He shook me off and went back to play his game.

"We should get out of here first." Reyna tapped on my shoulder, and pointed in the direction of a group of security guards rushing over. I immediately knocked percy out and carried him over me.

"Cover me!" I shouted, and we began to dash for the exit. Reyna was knocking over everything, garnering all the attention from the kids. Soon, there was a large group of kids arguing and shoving each other, but most importantly blocking the guards and causing disruption for us to escape. We made it out to exit fairly easily, thanks to Reyna's quick thinking. We settled down at a nearby café, where we set Percy down at the seat.

"So how do you propose we wake up him?" I asked. "Obviously, pouring water on him wouldn't work."

"Shock him." Reyna suggested, and I never felt so excited before. I placed my hand on his shoulder and concentrate real hard. Usually, conjuring electricity is easy, but better to make it stronger, just to be save right? In one hard squeeze, I summoned all my power and shocked him with everything I got.

"AHHHHHH!" He suddenly jolted awake and was in some form of spasm mode. I removed my hand shortly, didn't want him to die of electrocution.

"What was that for?!" He glared at me angrily.

"For leaving without a word! Do you know that Artemis is now captured because she was searching for you?" I shouted at him.

"Oh, then what do you need me for?" He said nonchalantly.

"We need your tracking ability to find Artemis, and your help to rescue her more." I answered.

"Wait. Do I have that power? I didn't I know about that."

"Because you lost your memory you dumb" I rolled my eyes.

Percy didn't say anything more as he closed his eyes, seem to concentrate. A moment later, he opened it.

"I can tell you where she is, but... I don't think I will be coming along with you." He looked away sadly.

"What do you mean you won't be coming with us? Don't you care about her?" I grabbed his head tightly and turned it to face me.

"I care! But she hates me now, and she asked me to get lost! What do you want me to do? Be shameless and go back to her again?!" He broke down.

"You know Artemis is stubborn and impulsive right. She probably said that out of her impulse too, or else why would she be searching for you?" I wrapped my hands around him.

"Out of guilt? Like how she always visited me when I get injured." He replied sadly.

"I just can't ok? My loyalty also has its limit. She's held in the Labyrinth. That's all I can help you, now leave me be." He pulled away from me and walked off.

"Isn't the Labyrinth destroyed by Peter?" I asked.

"I don't know, perhaps someone revived the Labyrinth, or it was never fully destroyed." He replied.

I stood up and took Reyna hand. "I hope you will come Percy." And took out the pearl that Triton shoved into my hand before flashing us here, and threw it in the ground.

Percy's POV

Stupid pinecone face, she had to pull me out of my isolation. It felt as though I was only in there for a few days, but in reality it has been over a month already. It felt great inside; I could forget all the pain and just let myself go loose. Pain... all of it is coming back slowly. All the memories- what Artemis- ARTEMIS! Thalia said something about her being captured! But...What would happen when I meet her? Is she going to go lashing out on me again? She has the rights to anyway. How am I supposed to face her? I dated her and then cheated on her. Even if she can forgive me, who knows something may happen again? I decided to go out of the café and started to walk aimlessly. My mind was in a constant debate- to save or not to. She's a god, she can probably handle herself. Besides, Thalia and Reyna are on their way to save her. I walked around for quite a while, until I found myself standing outside the Lotus casino once again. I could go back in again, but what would Artemis think of me? Does she really care for me? Thalia did mention that she was captured because she was searching for me. I can't be a coward and go back in, I owe her that much. Yes, I need to save her first. The rest of the problem can be settled later, or I could go back in afterwards. I took out the last pearl and threw it on the ground.

As appeared in side a dark place. I've gotten to live a long with darkness for eight months. So that didn't really bother me. I summoned a small flame on my index finger and started walking inside the maze.

I suddenly heard a scream of Artemis. I dashed into the corner and immediately stopped on my track. In front of me was a giant.

"Glad to have you join us Perseus Jackson" he smiled evilly.

"Where is Artemis?" I demanded.

"Now now hero" he said. "If you want to find your girlfriend, I think you should pay something right?" As saying that he summoned two Cyclopes and disappeared with an evil laugh.

I clutched my fists and charged at the monsters. I dodged the first one under its legs and swept Riptide, cutting its calf. The cyclops dropped on one knee. Riding the momentum, I jumped up and plunged my sword right into his head, shattering the 20ft giant into dust. One down, one more to go. I shook my head to face the giant, who was staggered by what just happened. Tightening the grip on my sword, I dashed forward. In an attempt to stop me, the giant swung his club at me. I easily dug under it and took the chance and sliced his hand off.

"MMMMMMM!" I heard Artemis's muffed scream again. All my momentum wore off. My mind seemed to forget about the injured giant and started to narrow down Artemis's position. I was so preoccupied with finding Artemis that I failed to realise the giant wasn't dead. He took the opportunity and used his other hand and knocked me hard. I flew and banged my back against the wall. With all that sudden impact, I felt unconscious.