Remember (A Percy Jackson Fanfic)

14. A big surprise

Third-person POV

It has been two months since Percy Jackson had joined the Hunt, and the Hunters had been avoiding him after he confessed about his true power. The power to kill anyone with a wave of his hand.

Almost everyone was avoiding him. He would walk around their camp and the Hunters would shy away from him and would never let themselves be alone with him. Even Thalia was avoiding him, and that broke Percy's heart. He couldn't blame them, though. He had been afraid of himself for a long time before Apollo helped him control and understand it.

The only people that didn't change their opinion on Percy were Artemis and the younger girls that he brought to the Hunt. Artemis talked to Percy a lot more now. She had tried to get Percy to talk more about his powers, maybe even some of the more...dark ones, but he would avoid the topic no matter what she tried. So she just decided to keep him company during his time in her Hunt.

The younger Hunters knew Percy wasn't a bad person. He had saved them and gave them a new home after all. Part of the reason why they didn't avoid him was because they didn't fully understand the extent of his power. They knew he could kill people via the water in their blood but they also knew he wouldn't use it on them. He was too nice to do that.

Percy would spend his days doing whatever he could to help in the camp. He would still cook most meals since he had nothing else to do, but the Hunters wouldn't eat as much as they did the first time. They still enjoyed it but they wouldn't express it as much anymore.

He would often spend hours in the armory tent sharpening arrows. Percy would sit there by the sharpening station sharpening silver arrows one by one until all of them were in their peak condition, as in they could pierce cleanly through a monster.

Percy would often sit by a nearby water source, if there was any, to think. To think whether it had been a mistake telling the Hunters about his deadly power. He would sit by the lake or stream, or whatever it was, and enjoy the peacefulness of the water's surface. Undisturbed and calm. It always reminded Percy of the good old days, when he had no idea about the Greek world. The time before he was thrown straight into Olympian drama.

Percy convinced himself it was necessary to tell them about the power he possessed. Better to tell them earlier than later. It allowed Percy to give them time to come to terms with it. 

If they would ever come to terms with it.

Percy was sitting by the banks of a lake near the Hunters' camp one February morning. They had stopped at Central Park again after a successful hunt for the newly reformed Dr. Thorn. It was annoying but they managed to send him back home to Tartarus with minimal injuries.

Percy looked out over the lake, a thin layer of ice over the surface covering the water. The nearby foliage had layers of ice and just enough frost for it to be barely visible. Percy breathed out of his mouth and watched as his breath turned into white fog in the winter air. It was cold, really cold but Percy was just wearing his normal black sweatshirt and sweat pants. The cold didn't affect him as much anymore. Living in Alaska had made him somewhat tolerant of cold weather.

Percy sighed and got up, brushing his clothes before making his way back to the campsite. He needed to see Artemis for what he was about to do. Being so close to the city reminded him of something he had almost forgotten about.

Percy walked through camp silently, his feet barely making any sound over the semi-frozen leaves and branches. He didn't want to distrub the Hunters, who were mainly huddling around the fire to keep warm or sharpening their hunting knives to pass the time. Being a source of fear was already enough.

He reached Artemis' tent entrance and was about to call out when a voice behind him spoke up, cusing him to jump.

'Percy? What are you doing?' said Artemis.