Hey people. Sorry I haven't touched this story in a while, it's just that I've been kinda stuck, so I've been working on my other stories. I think you'll all find the double meaning of this chapter title to be especially interesting.

"You've been poisoned."

Thalia's spirit looks at Percy, a grimace plastered across her face, "That explains the pain."

Percy begins to pace around the tree, not noticing that it has gotten very dark out. He begins muttering to himself, trying to come up with a solution.

"Woah there." Thalia says from her branch, "Stop pacing, you're not the one who is hurt."

"I'm trying to figure out what to do." Percy says angrily.

"Well your pacing is giving me a headache."

Percy stops, "Oh, sorry."

Thalia looks up at the sky, "It's getting late Seaweed Brain, why don't you go back to your cabin and sleep on it. I'll be fine for those few hours."

Percy hesitates, "You sure?"

Thalia rolls her eyes, "Of course I'm sure, now go get some sleep."

Percy nods and begins to trudge down to his cabin. When he gets about halfway there, he is intercepted by Grover.

"What do you want, I'm really tired." Percy says, semi-annoyed.

"What's going on?" The satar demands.

"What do you mean?" Percy tries to play dumb.

"You may have a good poker face, but I can read your emotions, so it's useless." Gover folds his arms across his chest, "The moment we arrived at camp, I felt an unbalnce in the natural energy of the camp. What do you know?"

"What makes you belive I know anything about that?" Percy demands, careful to keep his emotions in check.

Grover examines him, then throws his hands in the air, "Great, now eve your emotions have a poker face. Fine then, what's up between you and the Hunters of Artemis?"

Percy looks the satyr up and down. He notices the black eye, bruises across the arms, and a very familiar slap mark on Gowver's left cheek.

The Boy Hunter thinks for a minute, then grins, "THey're my sisters, of course."

"Sisters?" Grover asks as Percy brushes past him, and begins to walk towards Cabin Eight.

He gets to the Artemis cabin and knocks on the door. Percy then hears voices inside.

"Ugh, it's probably that Aphrodite boy again." One girl says.

"I can't believe that he tried to ask Zoe to do that in front of all of us."

"Was he actually that stupid, or what? And he was lucky Percy wasn't around when that happened."

"Hey, Zoe taught him a lesson, even if he still alive."

"I'm in a good mood today." That last voice was Zoe's.

"So, are you going to let me in?" Percy calls out, "Or do I have to stand out in the cold?"

Someone opens the door and a blur of silver flies out of the opening and tackles the Boy Hunter. He is knocked off of the footstep and into the snow.

"Hey Kayla, I never get this kind of welcoming." Percy says laughing.

"Percy!" Kayla says, "An Apollo boy flirted with me! This is why I don't like camp."

"So, do you want me to deal with him first, or the Aphrodite guy who tried to ask Zoe out?" Percy asks, his face a mixture between mischevious and deadly serious.

"Ah, hello there Percy, I see you've heard about our predicament." Zoe says from the door.

"Hey Z! Yeah, I also noticed your handiwork on a certain satyr."

"Oh, him. He was becoming rather irritating." Zoe says, almost absentmindedly.

The Hunters and Percy laugh at that for a few minutes. Once the laughing ends, Percy speaks up.

"Um Kayla, can you get off me now?"

"Oh right, sorry." She stands up and dusts herself off.

Percy rolls his body backwards, bringing his feet above his head, then kicks his legs up and forward, launching his body into the air. He lands on his feet.

"Show-off." Phoebe mutters.

Percy shrugs sheepishly.

"Yo Percy!" A voice calls out from down the cabin line.

Percy turns, "Oh, hi Lance."

Lance wraps his arm around Percy's shoulders and nods towards the Hunters, "So how come they haven't killed you yet?"

'Because I'm not a self-centre jerk' Percy thinks, but doesn't say.

The boy then notices a specific Hunter, "Well, hello thew Lieutenant. Have you considered my offer any more?"

Zoe merely growls in response.

Percy's eyes swirl in a malestrom of anger, "Lance, let's talk." He says as he leads the son of Aphrodite away.

Once they are a considerable distance away from Cabin Eight, the son of Poseidon turns to Lance, "Flirting with the Hunters is asking to get slapped. Asking one out is begging bodily harm upon yourself. Which did you do?"

The anger coming off of Percy was nearly palpable. It screamed 'don't lie to me.'

"Um, it wasn't really rather of those." He says nervously.

"Then what was it?" Percy asks, dangerously calm.

"Itwasmorelikeaonenightstandkindofthing." He says quickly.

Percy pulls out a hunting knife from his belt, "Tell me slowly."

"It was more like a one night stand kind of thing." He says, slower, "Umm, sorry."

Percy's face goes from angry to pure evil, "You got off lightly with Zoe because she was in a good mood. I on the other hand, am not in a good mood."

Percy swings his left hand, connecting with the foolish boy's face. The next two minutes consist of Percy mercilessly assaulting Lance. [I'll spare you the details.] It ends with Lance lying on the ground in front of Percy, who is now holding a knife uncomfortably close to the son of Aphrodite's groin area.

"You asked a Hunter of Artemis to forsake her sacred oath to a goddess, merely for your own pleasure!" Percy's eyes were now glowing with anger, "You cannot even use the excuse of 'I love her.' It's people like you who put shame to the male gender."

"Yeah, and why exactly do you hang around the Hunters?" Lance demands, but sounds more like a feeble effort to stall for time.

""I should castrate you." Percy says, pretending not to hear Lance's question.

The knife moves closer, almost as if acting on its own. Lance's eyes widen and he begins to squirm, but can't break out of Percy's grip. Instead he resorts to shaking his head frantically. He opens his mouth to call out, but Percy puts his hand on the boy's mouth. He then slowly removes the knife and sheathes it.

"I'm going to let you off the hook this once only. If I see you disrespect another girl or if I see you anywhere near the Hunters again, you will wake up the next morning less of a man. Do you understand?"

Lance nods frantically.

Percy gets off of the very scared boy, who stands up and runs off as fast as he can. Percy walks back the the Artemis Cabin.

"We saw him run off as fast as he could." Kayla says, "What did you do?"

Percy just shrugs, "I made sure he knew the risks involved in doing what he did."

"You looked kind of stressed out." Phoebe says.

"Long day, that's all." Percy brushes it off.

"Then why don't you go back to your cabin and end the day." Zoe says.

"Nah, I've still got stuff I need to do." He says.

"Percy, as your lieutenant, I am ordering you to go back to your cabin." Zoe says more forcefully.

"Ok, ok I'm going Z. Goodnight." He turns and walks across the Greene to the Poseidon Cabin.

"Goodnight Percy!" Kayla waves to him.

Once in his cabin, Percy lies down on his bed. After a few minutes of trying to get to sleep, he gives up and walks over to his desk and pulls out a sketchbook. He hasn't used it for a while, but he's had it for years, to the point where it is nearly full. There are times when his planing notebook is necessary, and there are times when Percy needs a more...creative output.

Percy managed to keep this book hidden from the rest of the Hunt so not even they know that he is an artist. Percy flips to a blank page and tries to clear his thoughts. Now that he is no longer focused on anything in perticular, the issue of Thalia's predicament forces itself to the forefront of his thought. Percy then begins to draw.

About an hour later, he is done. He holds up the completed work. [I am tempted, and prepared, to make this description 1000 words long ;)] It's a picture of a pine tree. It's shedding needles. There's a plow of needles on the ground at its base. The tree is now a patchwork of holes and needles. The needles that are still on the tree are brown and dying. The tree looks sturdy on the surface, but upon closer examination, one can tell that it is dying. There is a carving in the tree: TG. The tree is scarred. There are many marks on it, like old battle wounds. On the lowest branch sit two people, a boy and girl. They are both looking up into the night sky. Their backs are turned, so that their faces cannot be seen. The girl seems to have a slight glow around her, and she is leaning on the boy for support. The boy has his arm around the girl's shoulder protectively. There is a full moon in the sky, and it sheds a half light on everything in the picture. The constellations are in clear view in the night sky. Leo, Virgo, and Ursa Major were all visible. Circling around the top of the tree is an owl. It's Brown and black, and has a menacing appearance all around.

Percy looks at his drawing for a long time, then sighs and closes his sketchbook. Drawing had cleared his mind. The Boy Hunter laid down on his bed, and fell asleep.

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Yeah, I know it's been a while. I'm sorry that this doesn't move the plot along at all, but I was "drawing a blank" as to whet to do next, so I decided on a filler chapter. It's not my best work, but it's here.
Vote, comment, and as always, be awesome.
Leonidas_son_of_Nike