vi. GWEN AND LUKE BECOME MATADORS
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Zeus sucked.

Gwen hadn't read all of the myths and stuff, but she'd gotten the feeling from her mythology lessons at camp that Zeus wasn't a super morally decent guy. Even the story of how he tricked Hera into marrying him was weird at best.

Zeus sucked because he was the reason that they couldn't fly to San Francisco. Gwen had asked why they couldn't just hop on a plane, but Luke shut her down fast.

One, they had two hundred bucks to spread across the entire trip, and even a single plane ticket would burn that up fast. Three tickets would leave them broke and stranded in the Midwest.

Two, he wasn't sure that any of them could sit still for a seven hour flight― and that was assuming that they didn't get any layovers on their trip.

Three, Chiron had told him not to fly. Apparently, Zeus wouldn't be happy that some punk kids were trying to copy the quest that his son, Herakles, had completed thousands of years ago.

"Zeus sucks," Gwen had muttered. Thunder rumbled immediately after she said that, so she made a mental apology before Luke could scold her.

The bus ride didn't totally suck, though, because she got the window seat. And Greyhound only sat two to each side of a row, so Cleo volunteered to sit across the aisle. Gwen definitely didn't complain about that.

Unfortunately, putting three kids with ADHD on a ten hour bus ride was a recipe for disaster. Even though they had taken the very back seats, the bus didn't offer much leg room. Or any room, for that matter.

To keep herself from habitually kicking the back of the seat in front of her, Gwen turned to Luke. "What's with the tree?"

Luke frowned. "What tree?"

"The one at camp," she said. "The big one. You were talking to it before we left."

Luke stayed quiet for a little while. Gwen was about to tell him to forget it when he said, "When I was nine, I ran away from home."

"That has nothing to do with the tree," she told him.

"Shh." He nudged her. "Anyways, I made it on my own for a while. And one day, I met another girl. Thalia. She was a demigod, too. But she was a forbidden child― one of the kids of the Big Three."

"So they can have kids?" Gwen huffed. "Chiron said―"

"They're forbidden for a reason, Gwen." Luke shook his head. "She was a daughter of Zeus, and Hades wasn't happy about Zeus breaking his promise."

Gwen didn't talk. She might have asked another question, but the way that Luke's voice wavered when he talked about Thalia told her that now wasn't the best time for a Q&A.

"You know Annabeth?" He smiled. "We picked her up along the way. And Grover found us after a little while. He's one of the satyrs at camp. You'd like him."

She didn't know how true that was, because she didn't talk to the satyrs, but she decided not to point that out.

"Grover was supposed to bring us to camp," he said. "And we were almost there. Me, Thalia, Annabeth, Grover... Hades sent a bunch of monsters after us, and they were almost on top of us before Thalia stayed back to fight them off."

"What?"

Luke nodded. "But she didn't die. Zeus turned her into a pine tree before she could."

"That's stupid," Gwen said. "Why would he do that?"

"Trust me, Gwen, Thalia would have faced much worse in the Underworld," Luke said. "That's Hades's domain. Zeus wouldn't have been able to get her a lighter punishment down there."

He tried to smile. It didn't work. "So... That's why I was talking to the pine tree before we left."

Gwen thought back to that morning, when they'd left camp. Annabeth had been saying goodbye to Luke and Cleo, but she'd also been with Luke when he talked to the tree.

She realized that she probably shouldn't have been thinking that they were crazy. Nothing could be crazy if the Greek gods were real and walking the earth.

"Sorry," she mumbled.

"Don't be." Then Luke really smiled and said, "Actually, I'm surprised no one told you sooner."

"It's a tree," Gwen shot back. "Why would I think it was magical?"

"Well, you've seen the dryads," he said. "You really never asked why that tree didn't have a spirit attached to it?"

"Shut up."

He and Cleo exchanged a knowing look across the aisle. She felt justified in making a fake gagging motion when he turned back to face her, even though he started blushing and called her a jerk in Ancient Greek.

Gwen didn't remember falling asleep, but she woke up to Luke nudging her and murmuring, "Gwen. Gwen. C'mon. Get up."

She shot bolt upright in her seat, rubbing her face from where it had flattened against the window. "Monsters?"

Around her, some mortal passengers began to laugh.

"Nope." Luke tried to hide his grin. "Just a rest stop. It's scary, but not that scary."

Gwen's face burned as she made her way off the bus and into the little convenience store by the gas station. She could see Luke and Cleo laughing in the reflection of the front window.

She cornered Luke in the candy aisle. "You guys are disgusting."

"Careful." He grinned and waved a bag of peanut M&Ms in front of her face. "Gotta watch out for monsters, Gwen."

He had her beat. Gwen stomped on his foot just as Cleo came out of the bathrooms, which wasn't a great look. She just huffed and left for the frozen food aisle.

They had to be careful about spending their money, drachma included. Cleo made sure that they bought stuff that wasn't total junk, especially stuff that would tide them over between meals. Gwen realized very quickly that she would have to learn to like trail mix.

The bus wasn't scheduled to leave for another half hour, so they camped out in the grass and opened up their box of granola bars. Gwen was about to take a bite, but something felt off.

"Wait!"

Luke and Cleo whirled around and said "What?" in perfect unison. They looked almost terrified, like she had said that she'd seen a hellhound charging full speed in their direction.

Gwen started to feel a little stupid, but she said, "Don't we have to burn an offering?"

The worry in their eyes vanished, and Luke grinned. "I thought you didn't like burning your food for the gods."

"If we get in a bunch of trouble with monsters, it would be nice to have the gods on our sides," she mumbled. "I don't know. It's kind of stupid."

"No, it's not." He stood up and said, "Good thinking, Gwen."

She smiled a little too hard after that.

Luke returned five minutes later with a box of matches, grinning. He lit a match and said, "If anyone asks, I bought this with our allowance."

Right. Gwen forgot just how good at thievery children of Hermes were. She made a mental note to never get on Luke's bad side.

It was hard to build a campfire without attracting weird looks from the other bus passengers. It was even harder to build a measly campfire out of sticks and expect it to burn like the brazier at camp did.

They ended up hurriedly chucking pieces of granola bars into the flames and hoping the gods appreciated the effort.

"We're halfway to Pittsburgh," Cleo said as they boarded the bus. "So... When we get there, what do you say we get some real food?"

Nobody complained. The idea of having a nice, greasy hamburger after a month of nothing but Camp Half Blood's strictly balanced diet made Gwen's mouth water. It almost made the four hour drive go by faster.

Almost.

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They got kicked off the bus at a station just outside of Pittsburgh.

What really happened was the conductor politely told them that it was in their best interest to not get on another bus. Apparently, three teenage kids who refused to answer questions about themselves and started fires in parking lots were "suspicious" and "potential threats."

So they took to walking. They'd been dropped off in a small town, but Luke still led them towards the woods. If they were on a watchlist, it would be easier to hike a few miles to the next town, he said.

Gwen thought that was total B.S. until she got into the woods. While Luke and Cleo hung back to try and figure out their directions, she started off through the sparse trees.

"Gwen!" Luke jogged over to her and put a hand on her shoulder. "What are you doing?"

"What?" She jerked her head towards the trees. "Let's go."

"There's a trail right here," he said, and motioned to the dirt hiking path that ran through the forest.

She didn't bother looking at it. "I know what I'm doing, okay? I can just... Feel it."

She became the official navigator after that. She was pretty sure that Luke and Cleo thought she'd gone crazy, but something in her gut told her not to follow the hiking path, and instead to make her own way through the forest.

Also, Luke gave her a handful of trail mix to keep her going, so that was a plus.

Each rustle of a bunny in the underbrush or birds taking off made them stop. Luke and Cleo always reached for their weapons, but Gwen would just shrug and keep walking, nibbling on a cashew.

The sun began to set, and behind her, Gwen heard Luke and Cleo talking in low murmurs. They'd probably have to camp out in the forest tonight, but there were worse places to sleep.

Another rustle in the trees made them stop― Gwen included. The thing in the forest sounded big, and it sounded like it was coming straight for them.

This time, she drew her flail. Luke still grabbed her arm and pulled her behind him.

The thing that came out of the trees wasn't a something, but a someone. He could have been human... If he wasn't ten feet tall. Gwen didn't know what giants looked like in Ancient Greece, but she got the feeling that he could be one.

He was unnaturally handsome, too. Tan skin, bright amber eyes, dark, wavy hair... When he grinned at them, he almost looked like he could be human.

Another thing that gave him away? His outfit. He dressed like Robin Hood― leather pants, boots, and one of those old fashioned jerkins to top it off. He even had a bow strapped to his back.

If it was possible, the giant got even more handsome when he laughed.

"Easy," he said, and held up his hands. "I come in peace. You guys lost?"

"No," Gwen said. Which was true― she didn't feel lost. Her gut told her that she was on the right path.

"Aw, come on." The giant looked between the three of them. "Three demigods walking alone in the woods? You sound lost to me."

"Well, we're not―"

"You're Orion," Cleo said. "The huntsman."

Orion. Gwen's mind instantly went to the constellation, but then she realized that he was the constellation, and that she had heard the myth of Orion during a lesson at camp. The Stolls had been bothering her for most of the lesson, but she mostly remembered his story.

Orion was the first-ever male Hunter. Apparently, Artemis liked him so much that she let him join her and the other Hunters― as long as he didn't overstep his boundaries. After all, the existing Hunters had sworn off of boys. And for a while things were great... Until Apollo got involved.

According to the myths, Apollo freaked out when he saw how close Orion got to his twin sister. Orion was in love with Artemis, but she was supposed to be an eternal maiden, so Apollo drove him crazy with bloodlust. That way, Orion wouldn't try anything with his sister.

That definitely would take anyone's mind off of their crush. It also felt like a huge overreaction. Like, wouldn't it have been easier to just talk it out?

Gaea, Orion's mom, wasn't happy when he started killing all of her precious animals― which the Hunters also looked down on― and sent a giant scorpion to kill him. And she succeeded, but Artemis was so sad over her friend dying that she made him a constellation to memorialize him.

How he came back from the dead, Gwen didn't know. But she also wasn't about to start asking questions.

Orion turned to Cleo, and he broke into another one of his stupidly charming grins. "That's me. And you are...?"

Cleo glanced at Luke and Gwen. She looked uneasy, but as far as any of them could tell, this Orion guy didn't immediately want to kill them. Maybe.

"Well?" Orion chuckled and said, "It's rude to keep people waiting."

"I'm Cleo." Motioning behind her, Cleo said, "These are my friends, Luke and Gwen."

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Miss Cleo," he answered, and held out his hand. When Cleo hesitated, he chuckled. "I don't bite. Just looking for a handshake."

She shook his hand. At the last second, he bent down and kissed the back of her hand, and her eyes widened. When he let go, her face had a noticeable pink tinge to it.

Orion shook Luke's hand, too. When he got to Gwen, she gave him the stink eye, so he settled for laughing and ruffling her hair. Good. She didn't want anyone kissing her hand.

"So... What brings you out here?" He asked.

"We're on a quest," Luke said. "And we really should be going, so―"

"Miss Cleo." Orion turned to her, smiling. "Do you think you and your friends could spare a minute to do something for an old hunter?"

Cleo frowned. "What do you want us to do?"

"My quiver is missing. Black, covered in little white stars. Probably some arrows inside," he said. "If you retrieve it for me, I'll give you a push in the right direction. I'm sure you could use it."

"Well, that's a really kind offer, but..." Cleo smiled at him. "It would be so much easier if you just gave us that push without sending us on another quest."

She had that honeyed tone in her voice, the same one that Gwen remembered hearing when she got claimed. Charmspeak. Did she really think she could charmspeak a mythological figure like Orion?

For a second, Orion seemed to consider her offer. Then he laughed. "Well, that's sweet, but I'll have to say no."

Luke reached out, took Cleo by the arm, and pulled her into a little huddle with himself and Gwen. "We can't do this."

"Do we have another choice?" She asked.

"Yes," he said. "We can walk away right now―"

"There isn't a time limit on your quest, right?" She asked. "If it helps us in the long run... Why not go for it?"

Luke looked like he wanted to shut everything down, but he didn't. Instead, he resigned himself to glaring at Orion over her shoulder.

Cleo turned back to him. "Alright. Where's your quiver?"

"You know, I think I left it a little ways to the south," Orion said, grinning. "Got spooked by a deer and dropped it."

Gwen scoffed. "You're a hunter and you got spooked by a deer?"

Cleo nudged her. "We're in."

Orion just smiled. "Then I'm gonna need one of you to stay back. Collateral, you know? Can't have anyone running off with my quiver. And you wouldn't leave your friend behind, would you?"

Gwen felt like smacking Cleo for being stupid enough to agree to his plan without hearing any of this first. When had beings like Orion ever been completely truthful to demigods?

Actually, she felt like smacking Cleo a lot of the time. Maybe that was an instinct.

"I'll stay back," she said. "I'm a terrible navigator."

Orion laughed. "Weren't you the one leading your friends through these woods?"

She flushed. "No."

"No?" He raised a brow. "Well, either way, I think Miss Cleo should stay back."

"No," Luke and Gwen said in unison. Either Orion didn't care, or he knew that they couldn't exactly do anything to change his mind, because he smiled and waved them off.

"You'll be fine," he said. "And when you come back with my quiver, you'll get your friend back."

Gwen huffed and grabbed Luke's hand before either of them could do something dumb. She practically had to drag him into the woods to get him moving, and once they were out of earshot, she turned and gave him a shove.

"You are so lame," she huffed. "I thought you liked her."

"What?" Luke frowned. "I do."

Grinning, she said, "So you admit it."

He paused, then shook her off. Denying it wouldn't really do him any good. Gwen had already made it clear that she knew about his crush, and that it totally sickened her.

"I mean, come on," she added. "You're gonna let a giant carry her off? It's that easy?"

"Gwen."

She huffed and kicked at a pebble on the trail. "You suck. I was just kidding."

They kept walking for a little while, until Luke nudged her. "Look."

The sun had almost completely set while they walked, so it took Gwen a second to see what he was trying to point out to her. About a half mile ahead, nestled among some trees, stood a little wooden shack.

"It's probably a ranger's station," he said. "Betcha we can find some stuff in there, right?"

"Yeah." Gwen smiled. "Like real food."

The half mile walk passed a lot faster when they spent it talking about all the good foods they might find in the station. Even a crappy TV dinner sounded pretty good to Gwen, but she giggled and joked with Luke about finding a five-course meal in the shack.

She tried the handle when they reached the station. "Ugh. It's locked."

"Let me try." Luke grinned and nudged her. "Got a bobby pin?"

Gwen dug around in her pockets and reluctantly passed one over. "You're crazy."

"My dad is the god of thieves," he said. "Makes lockpicking a piece of cake."

Sure enough, when he straightened up and tried the handle, the door swung open. The station seemed to be empty, but Luke still put a finger to his lips before stepping inside.

It looked like a pretty normal shack on the inside. A desk stood in one corner of the room, littered with papers. Gwen caught the headline INCIDENT REPORT on a few of them, which made her stomach churn. What kind of incidents even happened in the middle of nowhere?

Luke grinned, holding up a can of Coke. "Jackpot."

They pretty much ransacked the mini-fridge. Gwen felt a little guilty for stealing from the rangers that worked in the station, but then she saw the boxes of frozen dinners inside and began to shove them in her backpack.

So much for staying quiet. Both of their backpacks kept rattling with cans of soda and other goodies by the time they left the station.

They decided to stop walking forward and check out the area in other directions. Not even fifty feet from the ranger station, Gwen dashed over to a hunk of black stuff on the ground.

"Look!" She grinned and hefted the black thing. "This has got to be Orion's quiver."

Luke took it and turned it over in his hands. The thing was a quiver, alright. Probably twice as big as one meant for mortals, made of black leather and dotted with tiny white stars. Gwen looked between the quiver and the sky, trying to map out constellations.

"Let's go," Luke said, and slung the quiver over his shoulder. "We've gotta get back to―"

He froze. Gwen didn't ask why― she felt it, too. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up, and despite being completely alone in the forest, she got the horrible feeling that they were being watched.

"Gwen." Luke's voice was deadly serious. "Don't turn around."

"You're freaking me out," she hissed. "What are you looking at?"

Luke kept his gaze trained on a spot over her shoulder. "Just walk towards me."

"Tell me what you're looking at and maybe I will."

"It's a bull."

Gwen frowned. "It's a what?"

Luke didn't say anything, but she saw his jaw tighten. Behind her, something snuffled around, then let out a low groan. It sounded like a foghorn going off in her ear, and she flinched.

Even though she had been fine at the station, she suddenly felt dizzy. The air reeked, like a skunk had died in the hot July sun or something. "Luke?"

"Run." Luke took her hand, pulling her along a few steps. "C'mon, Gwen. Run!"

She tried to say something, but the words got stuck in her throat. Behind her, the foghorn groan sounded again, followed by earthshaking steps. Her feet kept catching on the roots as she ran, so Luke grabbed her sleeve and pulled her towards the ranger station.

They had just barely bolted the door shut when something huge slammed into it. Around them, the frame of the station shuddered upon impact.

Gwen fell on her butt in the middle of the room. Luke sat with her, leaning back against the mini-fridge. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, and she burst into tears.

"Hey, woah." Luke straightened up, frowning. "What's going on?"

On any other day, crying in front of Luke would have been utterly humiliating, but Gwen was too shaken and terrified to care. Through a blur of tears, she told him about the sudden dizziness and apologized for alerting the bull until Luke pushed her head between her knees.

"It's fine, Gwen," he said as he rubbed her back. "Just don't puke on me, okay?"

She laughed and wiped her runny nose on her sleeve. "I'm fine."

"That was a katobleps."

She frowned. "Bless you."

"Very funny." Luke sighed. "Katoblepas have poisonous breath, so I think that's what you were feeling. You were close enough for it to breathe on you."

"I just want to know how to kill it," she replied.

"Don't get too close," he advised her, and stood up. "And don't look in its eyes. It'll kill you."

Gwen huffed. "What is this thing, Medusa's pet?"

She stepped over to the desk. When she took a second look at the papers headlined with INCIDENT REPORT, she could make out a few blurbs about bulls migrating to the woods. According to the papers, the rangers figured that the visitors who got dizzy had accidentally ingested some poisonous berries. She almost wanted to laugh.

"C'mon." Luke grinned. "We have a bull to kill."

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The katobleps had meandered over to graze by a tall oak tree. It kept to itself, snorting and shuffling over to whatever bush caught its eye next. Gwen and Luke crept out of the station as slowly as possible. With each step, the many soda cans and TV dinners in their backpacks clanged together, and they froze.

Gwen had practically plastered herself to the side of the station. Luke walked in the other direction, his backpack clutched in his hands and the quiver on his back.

With one last look from Gwen, he started shaking the bag. "Hey! Over here!"

The rattling cans must have sounded like a dinner bell to the katobleps― or maybe that was the demigod standing in front of it. Whatever the case, the katobleps raised its ugly head, and Luke turned away, jogging ten feet to his right.

From her position, Gwen could see it better. It had squat legs and an ugly head that sat on a too-long neck. In seconds, she had drawn her flail. She had to grip the handle extra tight, since her palms were still a little clammy, but she was determined to kill that thing.

Each time the katobleps got close to Luke, he would dart off in another direction. She almost thought he liked messing with it.

"Maia!" He cried, and his sneakers sprouted wings, almost carrying him to the roof of the ranger station.

When it realized that its target was eight feet in the air, the katobleps grunted and bucked its head. Its front hoof pawed at the ground, like it was about to charge. Grinning, Luke perched on the roof, shaking his backpack to keep its attention.

The katobleps must have gotten bored, because it turned away... And it caught a glimpse of Gwen, who immediately bolted. She heard it lumbering after her, but then Luke started yelling, and the earthshaking steps faltered.

Gwen skidded to a stop, turned back towards the katobleps, and took off again. It had just turned its head when she brought her flail down on its rough hide.

It burst into gold dust with a pained bellow, and she had to take a few staggering steps so she didn't fall flat on her face. Other than a handful of hoofprints and an acrid smell in the air, the clearing looked as though nothing had ever passed through it.

Luke jumped off the roof and fluttered his way down to her side. "Maia."

The wings on his sneakers vanished, and Gwen snickered. "You looked kinda stupid with those shoes. Sorry."

"Apologizing right after you insult me doesn't cancel it out," he retorted, and ruffled her hair. "C'mon. Let's get this thing back to Orion and get out of here."

Gwen huffed and whined about how he'd totally messed up her ponytail, but she started walking. Luke handed her the quiver, and she spent most of the hike back matching the constellations on Orion's quiver to the real ones in the night sky.

"How do you even know where you're going?" Luke asked as they walked through the underbrush.

"I told you," she said. "I can just feel it. Like a gut instinct."

"That's kind of freaky."

"It's cool!"

Luke grinned. "Sure. And when Demeter claims you, you're gonna end up being Drew's sister―"

"Shut up!" Gwen tried to whack him with the end of Orion's quiver. "You're gonna jinx me!"

Still bickering, they walked into what should have been the clearing they'd left Orion and Cleo in. Instead, they found themselves at a small campsite, complete with a tent and a fire. The worst part? Cleo was practically sitting in Orion's lap, laughing and letting him play with her hair.

At the sound of something moving in the underbrush, Cleo and Orion had glanced up. They both froze at the sight of Luke and Gwen, beaten, tattered, and in a total state of shock.

Gwen was the first to break the silence.

"What the hell are you doing?"