Chapter Text
As Ivy settled into the idea of being a demigod, she also had to process some other information. Like the fact that Bianca di Angelo would not be returning with Ivy and Nico to camp. Bianca had exited Artemis’s tent, and pulled Ivy aside to tell her. She said it was because Ivy had always been nothing but kind to her and Nico. The only stipulation was that Ivy couldn’t tell Nico, not before Bianca got the chance to talk to Nico herself about her decision to join the Hunters of Artemis.
Percy left Artemis’s tent in an irritated state, he was in on the secret too and didn’t seem too thrilled of the idea of Bianca becoming a Hunter. He looked at Ivy though and approached her slowly, “You’re up next. She says she needs to talk to you too.”
Ivy wanted to say no but she wasn’t really sure if she could even say no? Would that even be possible? Ivy went with the idea that it wouldn’t be in her best interest to say no to Artemis. So she walked through the snow after stalling long enough to grab her coat out of her things that the Hunters had gathered. She entered Artemis’s tent and saw the goddess sitting there with Zoë Nightshade. A silver deer laid next to both of them, at first Ivy thought it wasn’t really there.
She suddenly felt the weight of standing face to face with a goddess like this. Artemis looked young but even Ivy could feel the pull towards being certain she was respecting her.
“Your high.. Lady.. My lady?” Ivy stumbled over her words, the pressure too much for her to form a coherent sentence. Artemis just smiled though and didn’t look like Ivy had disrespected her, so that was a plus at least. Zoë didn’t look as pleased though, but maybe that was just her default face.
“You are aware of Hecate’s daughter being thy friend, yes?” Zoë looked like that idea was an insult. Ivy blinked a little and probably looked a lot like that deer lounging next to the goddess. “That witch is-”
“Zoë please, we do not speak ill of the gods, even if they are not olympians.” Artemis cut her off, and Zoë stiffened and nodded her head. Artemis observed Ivy for a second before nodding her head, “It is frowned upon for me to be doing this without reporting you to Zeus right away, but your mother was once a friend of mine so I will do her this favor..”
Ivy wanted to ask what she could have possibly done to be reported to Zeus, but Artemis kept talking, “It is strange that you have not even attempted to ask just who your mother may be?”
“That’s because I don’t care to know,” Ivy blurted out in a tone that probably wasn’t appropriate, but it was the truth. “If she wanted me to know her, she would have shown up or something.. Sent a sign. My dad was the only one around in my life, he gets the credit.. Not her. Even if she is a goddess.”
“You were very fond of your father then?” Artemis’s question made something in Ivy twitch. Ever since her dad had gone missing, Ivy made it a point to not speak of him much. It hurt to think that he was either dead, or just out there away from her.
Now it was worse because was she the reason he had left? With all of the strange things that had started happening around her at her aunts, was that happening around her old home as well? Strange creatures, Ivy reacting, the nightmares.. Had she been the reason he left? To get away from all of this.. She had always wondered how she showed up at that courthouse that day to go with her aunt. It never made any sense.
Tears slipped from the corner of Ivy’s eye, she quickly wiped them away and let out a pathetic: “Yes.”
Artemis nodded as if in thought. She was quiet for a moment before she seemed to make her mind up about something, “You will go to the camp with the others, I think Chiron will be able to aid you more on your questions. I must warn you though Ivy Ackler, this journey you are about to go on will not be easy. You must be prepared for that.”
Artemis sighed exasperatedly, “Now, I have to deal with something.. Bianca di Angelo is not the only one with an annoying brother after all.”
Ivy left the tent, her coat wrapped tightly around her as she went through the snow. She was surprised to see some boots that looked a bit like the ones that the hunter girls were wearing set up next to her bag of things. She closed herself in a tent and changed into something that was a little less school-dance attire.
When she stepped back out Percy and Thalia regarded her, both of them studying her for a second as she approached them. Thalia was the one to speak up first, “So are you a hunter now?”
Percy looked irritated at the thought, but Ivy shook her head and both of them seemed to let out a breath of relief. Ivy raised an eyebrow, “Are the hunters that bad? I mean they’re just kids right?”
“Camp is just the best option,” Percy said hurriedly, “The safe option, there are more of us and you can learn more and..” He sighed and shook his head, “Look we’re just happy to have you join. You’ll like it there.”
Ivy nodded and watched as the hunters started to take down the rest of camp. Off to the side she could see Bianca and Nico talking, and she could only assume that it was the conversation that Bianca would be leaving Nico. Ivy felt a twinge of annoyance with Bianca for abandoning Nico like this, the two of them only had each other. They had only ever had each other, and Bianca didn’t even seem to think twice about leaving him.
“You know them right?” Percy asked quietly as he stepped closer to Ivy and Thalia went off to pull Grover away from drooling over the hunters.
“Yeah, they’re younger than me but I’ve never brushed them off, especially Nico, he’s a cute kid.. He asks a lot of questions though, and will probably talk anyone’s ear off about the gods and goddesses.” Ivy smiled to herself, “Look, I know what his sister is doing, so I will look out for him at camp okay? If anything happens with him I want to be the first to know.”
“Well let Chiron know that when we get there,” Percy looked back towards the direction of Ivy’s old school. He shuffled a little and asked, “So do you think anyone has noticed that three students and a teacher are missing?”
“Four students, that shadowy figure earlier? Her name was Stella, she was my roommate,” Ivy corrected and looked at the actually nervous look on his face, “But maybe? I mean it might be a little weird.”
“Well hopefully that woman just doesn’t remember my name, I don’t know how another nationwide manhunt would go for me.” Percy muttered to himself, and Ivy looked at him like he was crazy, “It’s a long story.”
Grover and Thalia walked up, and Grover gave Ivy a couple of apologies about lying to her all year. Once he finally quit, Percy started filling the two of them in on what was going to happen next. Apparently the Hunters did not have a good track record when it came to visiting camp. Ivy didn’t really have much time to ask questions before Percy was telling them about Bianca.
“She just joined? No questions asked?” Thalia scoffed in annoyance, she seemed like she had a personal grudge against the hunters. Grover seemed almost jealous when he responded with: “Are you sure we can blame her? Getting to follow Artemis for eternity?”
“Satyrs.. You’re all in love with Artemis, do you not get that she will never love you back?” Thalia scoffed and rolled her eyes.
“She’s so into nature though..” Grover swooned. Percy and Ivy shared a look, both of them trying to not break into a grin. Thalia shook her head and called him nuts but Grover obviously wasn’t listening.
The sky began to lighten, the dark blue of the nighttime winter sky now bleeding into a light blue on the horizon. Artemis looked irritated for reasons that Ivy didn’t fully understand, but Percy asked her why she was waiting for dawn. Artemis glanced at them both and nodded, “For my brother yes. He is extremely lazy this time of year.”
Ivy knew this legend, Apollo. He drives a chariot across the sky to bring the sunlight. It was just another story that her dad told her though, another legend of the Greek gods. The sun was actually a big ball of gas up in space, so there was no way Apollo was actually driving it?
“It’s not exactly like you’re both imagining,” Artemis spoke as if she could read Ivy’s mind. Percy nodded though and looked out at the horizon, “Okay so it’s not like he’s going to pull up in-” Before he could finish his thought, there was a burst of light so bright that Ivy had to turn her head away.
“Don’t look, not until he parks.” Artemis instructed and Ivy listened as everything heated up around them. Her boots became wet, and the snow around them melted away to reveal the grass underneath.
When Ivy did look she was shocked to see a glowing sports car. The driver was a blond guy and Ivy was star struck, he looked like he should be a movie star. He appeared to be about seventeen years old, smiling confidently as he climbed out of the red sports car. Even Thalia seemed to have the same reaction. “Whoah, Apollo is hot.” Thalia whispered to Ivy. Ivy couldn’t look away though, especially not when she made eye contact with him. This night had been weird, she couldn’t deny that, but the god Apollo was gaping back at her like she was the most shocking thing about that moment really took the cake.
“Woah wait is that-” He started to speak, but Artemis let out a sharp noise that made him pause, “What?! Little sis you-”
“The situation at hand requires your full attention brother, we will discuss this more later,” Artemis intercepted his line of sight with me, “You will not speak about any of it, you will not say anything. The only thing you will do is take my hunters to camp with these four. I must hunt alone.”
Apollo just kept trying to get a look at Ivy though. Finally he just grinned and shrugged, “I think this moment calls for a haiku.” Every single one of the hunters groaned when he said this, even as he held his hand up and started to recite what was objectively a bad poem for the guy who was supposed to be the god of this stuff?
“Alright, one ride coming right up,” Apollo moved towards Ivy and Thalia, “Thalia right? Zeus’s girl? Got turned into a tree, I’m happy you came back, pretty girls shouldn’t be trees,” Tree? Ivy wanted to ask Thalia what that was about but then Apollo was leaning down to get in Ivy’s face. “And you, Ivy right? Pretty sure that’s your name. Heading to camp for the first time huh?”
Ivy didn’t know what to do as her cheeks started flushing to the same shade as the glowing red sports car. She sputtered a little as she tried to think of anything cool to say, or you know something respectable since he was a god. All she managed though was a squeaky, “Hi?”
“Brother, you should be on your way.” Artemis spoke up, and Apollo nodded.
“Yes, yeah,” Apollo looked from Ivy to Percy, “Percy Jackson yeah?”
Ivy was a little relieved when even Percy started to stumble over his words, “Yeah, well I mean yes.. sir.” Apollo just stared at Percy the same way he had stared at Ivy. Like they were both more interesting than the fact he was a literal god.
“Well, we’d better load up then, my ride only goes west and if you miss it you’ll be stuck awhile.” Apollo grinned and Ivy looked past him to glance at the sports car.
She shouldn’t have been as surprised as she was when it turned into a shuttle bus. Everyone loaded onto the bus, Ivy sitting next to a window as she looked out at her old school. Would her aunt be mad? Would she even care? Ivy wasn’t even sure where she was supposedly going, Camp Half-Blood? Whatever that might be.
“Ivy?” Nico got her attention and she looked over to see him sitting in the seat next to her as the last of the group made it on. He didn’t look as upbeat as he sat next to her, he just put his bag on the floor and looked at the back of the seat in front of him.
“Bianca talked to you then I guess?” Ivy nudged him with her elbow, he just nodded and kept his head forward, “Hey, listen to me.. She.. Well your sister she..”
“She’s abandoning me,” Nico whispered, and still just kept his head forward. Ivy could see the tears flowing down his cheeks though, “She is going to go with Artemis and leave me behind.”
Ivy reached over and squeezed his hand, “Well, I’ll stick around, okay?” That got his attention, “If this Percy guy isn’t a total lunatic, then camp should be cool. My aunt probably wouldn’t care if I never came back.. So I will stay with you at camp.”
Nico seemed to accept that response, and nodded his head. Percy walked over to the two of them, sitting in front of them and looking back to give a thumbs up, “You guys good?” Ivy and Nico nodded, “Good, that’s good.”
Nico saw Apollo and moved out of his seat to go sit closer and start asking questions. Ivy got up to move into Percy’s seat, and looked at him intently, “Listen, it’s none of my business what Bianca does, but I need to know this place Nico and I are going, is it going to be safe?”
Percy looked back at Ivy and quickly nodded, “I swear it will be safe. Camp is the best place for demigods. I’ll help make sure you guys are safe.”
Ivy laughed, “Slow down hero, I will be fine.. It’s him I am worried about,” Ivy looked towards Nico who was spouting off questions to Apollo, and looked as smitten as could when Apollo answered. “He has no one now..”
Ivy remembered the day the people with the state came to get her. The day she found out her dad wasn’t coming home. She didn’t even have time to process that she had lost the only person she’d ever known before she was dragged away from the last place she shared with him. It was hard.
“Well, he has us.” Percy looked forward as Apollo tried to convince Thalia to drive, “Ya know, if she doesn’t kill us all in the next few minutes.”
That proved to be a genuine fear. If Thalia was Zeus’s daughter, Ivy felt like she should be more confident when it came to giant flying things through the sky of all places. After a few close calls though, Ivy just hid her face against Percy’s arm as the rest of them tried to give Thalia instructions. They finally made it to the camp, after crashing into a giant lake.
Ivy was grateful to be off the death trap that was Apollo’s chariot.. Then she was amazed at everything she was seeing. It looked like the run of the mill summer camp, like the ones Ivy had seen in the shows that Stella had shown her, but there were little details that really made it stand out. Like the cabins that formed a U-shape, and then other buildings that looked like something out of a Greek legend. Ivy’s father had pictures of Greece, it had been a dream of his to go there.
“Hey, Ivy before you go,” Apollo stopped her, and waved Percy along when he paused to wait for her. Ivy looked up at Apollo, and for a second he looked different. More serious, more like an adult than the teenager he was presenting himself as, “Don’t take no for an answer, and maybe you’ll find him again at the end of this.”
Ivy blinked a few times and kept looking at his face, something tugging in her chest, “Find.. Find who? Find my dad?”
Apollo’s solemn look was wiped away, replaced with that cheeky grin, “Be careful with those prophecies Percy Jackson, and Thalia,” Thalia turned red when he acknowledged her again, “Be careful.”
Ivy watched him take off again and she turned to look at Percy and Thalia, “Are gods always so cryptic?”
“Sometimes yeah,” Percy nodded and looked at Thalia and then back at Ivy, “What’d he say to you?”
Ivy looked back at the spot that Apollo had just been, and shrugged, "Nonsense.. I think?”
“So who’s Chiron? I don’t have his figure?” Nico spoke up, he looked upset again as he stood next to Ivy. Percy looked at him and smiled.
“Our activities director, he’s.. Well, you guys will see. Follow me.” Percy motioned his head towards the path. Nico followed with his arms crossed, glares being shot towards where the hunters and his sister were now standing and filing into a cabin.
Percy was a decent tour giver, he gave brief descriptions of the cabins as they walked. He told Ivy and Nico about the building they were going to, and where various other things were. Ivy looked about as amazed as Nico did as they went up the steps to The Big House. When they went into a room there were two men sitting at a table playing cards, one who was dressed in ridiculous clothing and the other who was..
“Wait, it’s you?” Ivy stopped in her tracks and blinked a few times at the man in the wheelchair. He looked back at her, just as surprised at the sight of her. Even the guy in the questionable outfit set his cards down and sat up straighter.
“Oh that brat.. I told him this would be a problem one day Chiron.” The poorly dressed man muttered, and Ivy just blinked again. That was Chiron?
“Percy, Thalia.. This is?” Chiron looked at Nico, and Percy was the one to introduce him. The question hung in the room though, how did Ivy know him? “You succeeded, in your task and more..”
“I know you,” Ivy stepped forward abruptly, “You used to teach me, you.. You knew my dad. You were his friend.”
Chiron sighed, and moved his chair back a little. He looked at Ivy for a moment before he smiled almost sadly, “Hello again Ivy.”