AS ABSOLUTELY CLIĆHE as it sounded, Noelle di Angelo didn't quite mind the cold because she found that she-herself was rather frigid. Her most vital organ: her heart, seemed to be made up entirely of ice, frozen shards of something that once was incredibly tender.

    The avid bite of the winter did little to cause the girl any sort of internal chaos, so, when the crazed vice principal forced the unlikely quartet of partygoers from the school and into the wind-ridden outdoors, the only sort of physical bother she faced was the tight, steely, unwavering grip Nico had on her wrist. No matter how hard she tried to free herself from it, she found her attempts unsuccessful.

Dr. Thorn, if that was even his real name, didn't seem to care about the terror riddiling the trio of siblings and the gate-crashing idiot, who seemed rather pained. Evidently from the spike that had somehow shot from the vice principals being.

   The boy— Percy— let his eyes fall closed, and he halted dramatically, expelling an annoyed grunt from Dr.Thorn.

    "What are you doing, Jackson?" hissed Dr. Thorn. "Keep moving!"

  Percy shuffled forward slightly, "It's my shoulder. It burns."

    "Bah! My poison causes pain. It will not kill you. Walk!"

   As they were drug along by the, hurried into the dark woods that were almost completely dark besides the faint glow emitting from the lamp-lights, Noelle's siblings whimpered in fear. The man had always been odd about the di Angelo's, keeping a very keene eye on them, but none of them ever dared to think he'd actually put them in any kind of danger.

  "There is a clearing ahead," Thorn said. "We will summon your ride."

  Noelle scoffed out a laugh, her breath creating a cloud in the frigid air. "We aren't going anywhere with you, you freak!"

    "Silence, you insufferable girl!"

  Nico gasped as if Thorn's words scandalized him. "Don't talk to my sister that way!"

When Nico spoke, his words were weary as if he were afraid of how the Vice principal might react. But Noelle was proud of her brother for trying to stick up for her.

Thorn growled—growled as if he were some rabid animal of sorts. And Noelle's frown deepened.

"Halt," Thorn said.

The woods had opened up, revealing a rocky cliff through the bare slivers of greenery. Misty darkness surrounded the captives and their captor, rendering the children absolutely hopeless.

Dr.Thorn shoved them forward, causing the Jackson boy to stumble forward. Bianca, being the kindhearted girl she was, caught the boy by the hood of his windbreaker.

"Thanks," He murmured.

"What is he?" Bianca cowardly huddled closer to Noelle, subconsciously calming in the girl's elder presence. "How do we fight him?"

"How do we kill him?" Noelle corrected the girl, turning to Percy. "C'mon, saviour boy. Let us know."

Percy's face was already flushed from the cold, and the girl's clever quips did nothing if not deepen the maroon tint colring his cheeks. "I— I'm working on it!"

"I'm scared," Nico mumbled, curling into Bianca's side. He fidgeted with the singular figure he'd managed to snag before Thorn ambushed them.

"Stop talking!" Dr. Thorn said. "Face me!"

They obliged, turning to face him, but not before Noelle blurted out, "Jesus, you're needy."

Thorn's multicolored eyes gleamed hungrily beneath the pale moonlight as he studied the kids. He pulled a silver object from his phone and began speaking into it.

"The package is ready to deliver!"

Noelle furrowed her dark eyebrows, bewildered by the absurdity of it all. Still, she suspected being kidnapped by a crazy man who referred to her as a package was better than spending another second at the dance.

Percy's gaze darted around the outdoors frantically, searching desperately for am escape from the man. Of course, she was lumped with a useless boy who knew no more than she did about Dr.Thorn.

An eerie almost maniac laugh erupted from Thorn. "By all means, Son of Poseidon. Jump! There is the sea. Save yourself."

"What did he just call you?" Bianca muttered, wrapping her arms around her coat-clad frame. As the seconds passed, the temperature grew harsher and more demanding.

"I'll explain later!"

"You said you were here to help us," Noelle said bitterly, "we could really use that help now. Unless you were just talking out of your ass?"

    Percy groaned in what could've been annoyance, but could've also been pain for he had been impaled mere minutes before. "I'm trying, di Angelo!"

  "Try harder!"

    Percy glanced back towards the ledge of the cliff with a tautly-pulled face as if he were calculating something.

   "I would kill you before you ever reached the water," Dr. Thorn said to Percy. "You do not realize who I am, do you?"

    A flicker of movement behind him, and another missile whistled so close to Percy that it nearly nicked his ear. Something had sprung up behind Dr. Thorn—like a catapult, but more flexible... almost like a tail.

    "Unfortunately," Thorn informed them, "you are wanted alive, if possible. Otherwise you would already be dead."

  "Wanted by who?" Noelle quiered, pinching the bridge of her nose in attempt to lessen the Thorn-induced headache she suffered from. "We've not got any family, so I hope you're not expecting a ransom. Might as well kill us now if that's the case."

    "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," Jackson breathed as if he had some sort of grand ephiphany. "You work for Luke."

  "Who the hell is Luke?" Noelle cut in. "And what in the hell does he want with us?"

   Dr. Thorn's face twisted in disgust, "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?" Percy said, his voice tainted by the draw of a faux french accent. He shook his head in silent correction, before speaking normally. "I mean...who's the general?"

   Thorn looked out towards the foggy horizion, "Ah, here we are. Your transportation."

    The dull chopping of helicopter blades began to near them, and a bright searchlight illuminated the heavily wooded area.

   "Where are you taking us?" Nico whined.

  "He's not taking us anywhere," Noelle assured her brother. "We won't go anywhere with him."

   "You should be honored, my children. 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—"

  Noelle slapped a hand over his mouth before he could spew any further vulgarities.

    "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?" Percy rose both of his eyebrows so high, they dissapeared behind the rowdy bangs that fell over his forehead.

    "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 murmured, "He's completely nuts."

  "We have to jump off the cliff," Percy told them quietly. "Into the sea."

   Noelle snickered obnoxiously, "So, you're saying we have to kill ourselves. No way, Saviour Boy."

    Percy never got the chance to argue with Noelle, because an invisible force slammed into the both of them, knocking them to the snowy ground below.

   "Ughhh," Percy grumbled, for it was all he could muster considering Noelle fell atop him and knocked the air from his lungs.
 
  "Elle," Bianca hurried to her big sister's aid. Using a gloved hand to pull the elder girl off of Percy.

  She stood and brushed the powdery snow from the dark fabric of her jeans, but not before a volley of missles soared above her head, narrowly missing the girl.

    All of the sudden, the remainder of the party-crashers from earlier came charging toward them, malice directed toward the vice principal alight in their eyes.

  The stereotypical goth girl from earlier was weilding both a huge spear, and an even larger sheild  with strange, ancient looking designs carved onto the face.

    She moved in with her sword, "For Zues!" 

  Noelle gripped both of her siblings' winter coat and pulled them further away from the scene.

    Noelle was almost positive that Dr. Thorn was a goner, considering the girl jabbed at her with the tip of his spear. But he merely swatted it away with an annoyed grunt. Sometime amidst the action, his hand had transformed into an orange paw, with enormous claws that sparked against the girl's sheild, sending her rolling backwards.

  "Is it just me?" Bianca spoke, her voice wavering, "or does Dr. Thorn have a paw?!"

  "It's not just you," Nico confirmed, "He has a paw!"

    The sound of the hellicopter closed in on them, nearing the cliff.

    Dr. Thorn launched another volley of missiles at the goth, and this time Noelle could see how he did it. He had a tail—a leathery, scorpion like tail that bristled with spikes at the tip. The missiles deflected off of the goths sheild, but the force of their impact knocked her down.

    Grover, who had been cowering away from the fight, 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 around 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.

  The two youngest di Angelos shreiked in uncontained terror of the man— or mammal, whatever he was. While Noelle merely let her mouth fall open, her hold tightening on her siblings.

  The need from earlier suddenly shimmered into exsistence beside the group, holding some sort of baseball cap in her hand. "A manticore!"

   "Who are you people?" Bianca demanded. "And what is that?"

     "A manticore?" Nico gasped. "He's got three thousand attack power and plus five to saving throws!"

  "Nico, hush!" Noelle demanded in a fit of panic. "This isn't your silly little card game. And that isn't a manticore, because they don't exsist!"

    "Get down!" The nerd pushed the di Angelos flat into the snow. Noelle would have shouted at the girl for shoving her if she weren't so distracted by Percy who had summoned a sheild from his cheap-looking wrist watch.

   The thorns impacted against it with such force they dented the metal. The sheild was so damaged, Noelle wasn't sure it could protect the boy from anything again.

   Dr. Thorn knocked Grover down beside Jackson with a harsh THWACK!

    "Yield!" the monster roared.

    "Never!" The Goth shouted, before charging the monster again. If it weren't for the thunderous blaze above them, she surely would've ran the monster through. However, she was stopped by the looming helicopter above them.

   The bright searchlights blinded the girl and Thorn took that as his opportunity to knock her down with the jagged edge of his tail. Both of her weapons flew in scattered directions, and Percy bolted forward to help her.

    Dr. Thorn laughed. "Now do you see how hopeless it is? Yield, little heroes."

    They were trapped between an armed hellicopter and a monster. Noelle wondered if the punch the dance served was spiked.

Then, all of the sudden, a high pitched whistle broke through the tension filled silence.

The monster froze. For a moment, no one moved. There was only the swirl of snow and wind and the chopping of the helicopter blades.

"No," Thorn mumbled. "It can't be."

His sentence was cut short when something shot past Noelle like a streak of moonlight. A glowing silver arrow sprouted from Dr. Thorn's shoulder.

He staggered backward, wailing in agony.

If Noelle wasn't terrified, she might've laughed at the mans comical reaction.

"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. The archer responsible for the arrows must have been some sort of divine being, considering they were shot with such crazy accuracy, they sliced Thorn's spikes in half.

The manticore pulled the arrow out of his shoulder with a howl of pain. His breathing was heavy. Percy tried to swipe at him with his sword, but he only swatted the boy aside as if he were a ragdoll.

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!" The nerd cried.

From beside a fallen Percy, the goth murmured, "Oh, wonderful."

The di Angelo siblings watched from the side with confused-worry-ridden expressions, the younger of the trio clung to their older sister harshly.

One of the older archers stepped forward with her bow drawn. She was tall and graceful with coppery colored skin. Unlike the other girls, she had a silver circlet braided into the top of her long dark hair. "Permission to kill, my lady?"

Noelle wasn't sure who she waa speaking to, because she kept her eyes on Thorn.

The monster wailed. "This is not fair! Direct interference! It is against the Ancient Laws."

"What is going on?" Bianca dizzily murmured and Noelle couldn't help but agree. Though, she'd never admit it aloud.

"Not so," Another girl stepped forward. This one was younger. Yet her silver eyes looked wise beyond a mortal amount of years. "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. "Zoe, permission granted."

The manticore growled. "If I cannot have these alive, I shall have them dead!"

He lunged at Percy and the goth, aware that the many falls they took might have made them weak and dazed.

"No." The nerd 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 the nerd leaped onto the monster's back and drove her knife into his mane. The manticore howled, turning in circles with his tail flailing as nerdy-Nellie hung on for dear life.

"Fire!" Zoe ordered.

"No!" Percy shouted.

But the archers let their arrows fly. The first caught the manticore in the neck. Another hit his chest. The manticore staggered backward, wailing, "This is not the end, Huntress! You shall pay!"

And before anyone could react, the monster, with the girl still on his back, leaped over the cliff and tumbled into the darkness.

"Annabeth!" Percy yelled.

He started to stupidly run after her as if somehow he could reach the fallen girl, but their enemies weren't done with them. There was a snap-snap-
snap from the helicopter—the sound of gunfire.

Noelle shuffled backwards in panic, bringing her siblings with her.

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. Completely normal, not at all weird, Noelle thought.

The girls advanced on them.

The one called Zoe stopped short when she saw the goth. "You," she said with distaste.

"Zoe Nightshade." Her voice trembled with anger. "Perfect timing, as usual."

Zoe scanned the rest of them. "Five half-bloods and a satyr, my lady."

"Yes," the younger girl said. "Some of Chiron's campers, I see."

"Who is Chiron?" Noelle spoke up finally, shrugging both of her siblings off.

"Annabeth!" Percy yelled. "You have to let us save her!"

The auburn-haired girl turned toward him. "I'm sorry, Percy Jackson, but your friend is beyond help."

He 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?"

Noelle piped up, "Yeah, let him jump. It's what he wants!"

Already, the group was annoyed by her unnecessarily negative opinions.

Zoe stepped forward as if to smack Percy.

"No," the other girl ordered. "I sense no disrespect, Zoe. He is simply distraught. He does not understand."

The young girl looked at Percy, her eyes colder and brighter than the winter moon. "I am Artemis," she said. "Goddess of the Hunt."

The punch was definitely spiked, Noelle concluded.

AUTHOUR SPEAKS: chapter two after years of waiting ‼️ i don't like this much but the percelle banter is already taking me out and I wrote it 😭😭 i hope u enjoy and don't be a silent reader. ps. check out the edit i posted on my tiktok (tvgirlmuse) i posted about percy and noelle because it took so long !!