The sun hide darkness

It was a day like any other, another day spent looking for Lady Artemis. I ran away, a few months ago, from yet another orphanage, after hearing that they wanted to send me back to Ireland, because I entered the country illegally and there was no one willing to take care of me. But I… I don’t want to go back to Ireland, I want to forget about the bad that happened there, it was Artemis who allowed me to come to America, my “Lady”, I’m sure she will help me again, if only I could find her… That’s what she told me, that I should look for her in the forests and she would hear me and appear before my eyes. I really hope it works, I don’t want to go back…

After wandering for hours, at sunset, I find refuge in a cave, hiding myself adequately and always staying close to the exit, it is the best thing when hiding in a cave, to be able to quickly escape from the unwanted “guests”, and above all, hungry. Better to stay away, if possible, from the caves that the Cyclopes could use as a shelter, but I have no other place to find refuge, so I have to be satisfied, and hope.

A sudden scream wakes me up abruptly, it seems that someone was not as lucky as me, because finding a cave that is free and that remains so all night can be called luck, and unfortunately Nike is not friendly with everyone. I look around, going out cautiously, holding my jewels around my neck, hoping that they will be useful to me, even if I am not convinced.

I approach the cave from which I hear the noise that woke me up, it is not surprising that the mortals did not notice anything, the mind does exceptional work, when it does not want to see something, even if that something is exactly in front of them. The Mist, that is what the Demigods call it. I look around, keeping myself hidden, examining the environment that would soon become my battlefield, because I am too good and I will not leave the group in the hands of the Cyclops, I have not learned to be like my attackers, through Artemis and her hunters, I have learned that there is something better in the world than the banality of evil.

Taking advantage of a moment of distraction of the Cyclops, I enter the cave hiding in the shadows and with a stealthy step, which my experience in war and otherwise has allowed me to learn to have a greater chance of success, and, consequently, of salvation. The inside of the cave is not as small as it seems from the outside, it is large enough to contain a big cauldron and the body of the Cyclops, sitting comfortably stirring whatever is in there, I do not want to know. The three attacked boys are right above this pot, hanging and tied with ropes. They are a girl and a boy, definitely older than me, lastly a goat boy. Well, it is not the strangest thing I have ever seen in my entire life, so I am not shocked. A few more minutes of observing and I notice a little girl, blonde with gray eyes like a storm, she must have escaped the monster’s attention, she is hiding and trying to ambush the Cyclops, how the little girl thinks she can do it alone is a mystery to me.

In fact, the Cyclops is not that stupid, too bad, he must be a moderately intelligent family member, or he has pretty clean ears, one of the two. But luckily he hasn’t noticed me. Not yet, and I have to make sure the Cyclops remains blissfully unaware of my presence, at least for a while longer. Cautiously, I get closer and closer to the one-eyed monster, while the latter uses his most disturbing trick to scare the little girl, perfectly imitating the voice of the girl tied above the pot, behind blonde one. And it must be someone the little girl cares about particularly given his expression halfway between terrified and horrified, it’s probably also the first time she’s had to deal with monsters of this kind, Cyclops are quite rare anyway, you don’t meet them often. And luckily.

“Hey, you!” I whisper, trying to get her attention as the Cyclops laughs at the effect of his trick on his victim. Of course I can’t get her to turn towards me right away, she’s been shocked by the Cyclops’ voice. “Hey!” I try again, raising my voice slightly but being careful to keep it low enough to not attract unwanted attention. Finally the other girl turns to me, looking at me with a surprised look, she wasn’t expecting anyone else here. I point to the Cyclops’ foot, directly in front of her. I then gesture for her to wait for me to count to three, before letting her know that I wanted her to stab the monster’s foot with the blade of her knife. The other girl nods slightly, her grey eyes shining, as I retreat into the shadows.

After arriving in the illuminated part of the cave, I exposed my pendants to the light, without being seen which was not too difficult given the stupidity of the Cyclops, thus obtaining my weapons, not who knows what but something decent to defend myself as best as possible. My quiver is full, as always, so I climb onto a ledge of the cave that the monster has transformed into a shelf, dirty with asticky substance and a vague red color, I do not want to have my suspicions confirmed, so I give up and get into shooting position, aiming at the monster’s eye, hiding behind a tall container that oozes traces of the same substance that dirty the ledge. It seems like I am a fairy tale elf, one of the small ones but the truth is that really so compared to the size of the monster I find myself facing.

I take one of the arrows from my bow, the arrow with the red tip, a sign of a stinging dressing on the tip, it took me a long time to prepare them, I’m happy that now they can be more useful to me than I had hoped during their preparation. Still hidden, I whistled not too loudly, the cave has the fantastic ability to be a good sound conductor, every sound echoes perfectly, I had noticed it before when the Cyclops scared the blonde girl, so even my whistle does not need to be deafening to reach the monster’s ears. “Hey, who’s there?” The Cyclops asks, pointing his huge eye at me, I waited a few seconds for my victim to be in the exact position I wanted him in. “One… Two…” I repeated in my mind, focusing on the target, usually I don’t need to do that, but this time I intended to be careful. I shot the arrow a few seconds later, the Cyclops obviously saw it and tried in every way to stop it with his huge hands, but my arrow was small, insidious and fast, and he is not an intelligent being, so he failed miserably, ending up hit right in the center of his huge eye. “Three!” I screamed at the exact moment in which the steel tip of my arrow hit the eye of my unfortunate opponent, and the little girl violently hit the giant’s foot with her dagger, giving him another quite serious wound.

“Come on, let’s free your friends and get out of here!” I screamed once I reached the other girl. “How do we get them down from there? I can’t climb and the pot is too big to move.” Her voice was very wise, even though she was no older than me. “We have to find a way, quickly before he recovers from the wounds.” I said, looking around, looking for a solution that I couldn’t find, and I was afraid that the wound on his foot and his eye, even if the latter was the most serious and therefore the one that gave us the most advantages, would heal too soon and offer the Cyclops the chance to add me and the other girl to his evening menu.

“Hey, look over there!” The little girl pointed to some nice big and heavy wooden boards. “Do you think you can help me lift them?” She asked me, while the Cyclops, going crazy from his inability to see, and the echo of our voices that prevented him from understanding where we were, continued to crash into the various walls of the cave. “I hope so, but I have no better ideas therefore… Let’s do it!” I exclaimed with a determined look while, dodging the blows randomly landed by the giant, we headed towards the boards. We grabbed a couple, because we could do no more than that, and we stuck them between the floor and the bottom of the pot. “We have to drop it, we have to!” the girl exclaimed, ducking just in time to avoid a slap from the Cyclops. “Come on, then!” I exclaimed, smiling. We pushed with all our strength on the boards which, as they rose, after a while caused the cauldron to overturn, spilling all the vomit-green liquid onto the floor of the cave in the direction of the Cyclops who, in less than 5 minutes, slipped and fell.

“It worked!” I exclaimed happily, watching the girl who nods slightly and then immediately turns her gaze above her, towards the trapped people. “I saw that you can climb well, it’s not like you could…” she continues but I raise my hand to stop her immediately. “Keep an eye on the giant, I’ll take care of the rest.” I stated immediately starting to climb the wall, the Cyclopes usually don’t smooth the walls of the caves they inhabit, regardless of how much time they spend there, because they love the “wild” look that the various protrusions on the walls of their house give off. This is an advantage for me now, that I can use them to reach the prisoners.

After freeing them, and forcibly dragging one of them away, we all find a place far enough away from that blessed Cyclops and, since the girl was dead tired, we decided to camp, yes, we have, because I’m here too.

“Thank you for helping us, I feared it was really the end.” The goat boy says looking at me with his huge eyes that give me a positive feeling, they make me feel tender, but I think it’s normal for a satyr, I haven’t had much to do with them in a positive way so I can’t say. “It wasn’t a problem, I couldn’t leave you hanging there over that disturbing cauldron.” I say shrugging and sitting on the ground. “You were good at fighting, how long have you been practicing archery?” The girl with short black hair, eyes as blue as the sky, that almost seem to shine, asks me. “Since…Since forever. I’ve always been good at it, you can say I’m talented.” I said shrugging, bringing my hands closer to the fire that the boy with blue eyes and messy blond hair had kindly lit for everyone. “Oh yeah? And…How did you know we were in trouble?” the boy asks me, I shrug nonchalantly. “I heard you scream, or maybe it was her.” I say, pointing to the other blonde girl. “I’m not sure who did it, but I heard it so I came to check it out” I explained briefly. “Well, you were really good in that cave. You were smart, I don’t know if I could have used the Cyclops’ dinner against him.” The boy smiles, half mockingly and half in admiration. “When you’re alone, you learn all the tricks of the trade.” I whispered, as the two older people looked at each other for a moment.

“Are you…Alone?” asked the goat boy, while I simply nod. “And… Did you run away from home?” At this question we all turned to the other girl, who hadn’t spoken up until that moment, and found her staring at me with those inquisitive gray eyes of hers. “Yes, you can say that.” I confirmed, a few minutes later. “We ran away too, where are you from?” the girl with the gray eyes asked me while I shrugged. “I’m from Ireland.” I stated, simply shrugging again, it’s not a subject I enjoy talking about. “But we’re in America, how did you get here? How come there’s no one here for you?” the other girl with the black hair asked me and I shrugged again, I don’t want to face my… Being here illegally, basically. “I came to find a better life, like they did in the 1800s… But there’s no better life, here, at least not for me. But I don’t want to go back to Ireland, at least not yet.” I stated and then closed up and didn’t specify anything else, I had already told them too much.

“What’s your name?” asked me, again suddenly, the girl with the blonde and curly hair. “Flora, you?” I said smiling kindly. She smiled back, I think it was the first time I had seen her smile all night. “Annabeth Chase, nice to meet you.” she says offering me her hand which I shake hoping that this could be a friendship that would last. “I’m Thalia Grace, nice to meet you.” says the girl with short black hair, while offering me her hand which I shake firmly soas not to lose her equally firm grip, I like this girl, she sends me positive vibes, and I rarely make mistakes in this sense. “My name is Luke. Nice to meet you, Flora.” says the boy with blue eyes and blonde hair, he has a beautiful smile, but there is a strong anger that he tries to repress in his gaze. “And I’m Grover. I’m a satyr as you can see and…Well, thank you so much!” Grover says smiling shyly while shaking my hand, sticky, he must have eaten something unidentified.

“Now…Can we talk to you? A little specifically.” Thalia says looking first at Luke, then Grover, then Annabeth and lastly at me. I nod, munching on some cookies that they had kindly given me to eat. “You said that you were always talented with a bow and… You saw and heard the Cyclops and our screams… This led us to think that you… Are not an ordinary person.” Thalia says, trying to find the right words, afraid of offending me. “Yes, I know.” I simply stated, which shocked all the older boys. “Did you already know that you were a demigod?!” Grover asked me, shocked. I simply nodded. “Not everyone can understand that they are… What they are on their own, how did you do it?” Grover’s shocked voice again. “I was told by…Lady Artemis.” I stated calmly but it seemed to have shocked everyone.

I told them how I met Lady Artemis, what I do for her, what role I have within her Huntresses, it’s not that much, it’s more of an “external assistant” role, meaning that I’m not part of the Huntresses but I offer my help whenever they need it, for any task. Therefore I don’t have to follow all the rules of the other Huntresses, except one. Don’t bring boys to their camp, not that I want to. “Wow… What a story.” Luke exclaimed at the end of the story. “It’s not every day something like this happens, you’re lucky!” Grover says, enthusiastically. “Well, she helped me get here, she said she would help me get to a place called ‘Camp Half-Blood’ where they would take care of me and my training. But… I haven’t found her yet, maybe she’s busy.” I said shrugging. “Well, we’re going right there, you can… Come with us, if you want.” Thalia says smiling kindly, I didn’t think she would be able to smile, she looks so unapproachable but…I liked her smile. “Are you sure?” I asked doubtfully, I’m used to traveling alone and doing everything alone, it’s the first time I’ve been offered a place in a group and, worse, in a group that’s already formed before. “Sure, I mean, why not. We’re going too, we can go together, also because we don’t have the heart to leave you here alone.” Thalia continued to speak, her blue eyes fixed on me. “I’d like to but I don’t want to bother you, I mean, you’re already a group and I don’t want to interfere with your rhythms…” I whispered, lowering my gaze. “We haven’t always been, Luke and I started traveling alone, then we met and decided to continue together, then we met Annabeth and, lastly, Grover. So you’re welcome too, it’s not the first time we’ve changed our number.” Thalia nods with a determined but kind look, she has convinced me, without Lady Artemis I can’t reach this phantom ‘Camp’, and a little extra help won’t hurt. “Okay.” I finally said, making all 4 of them happy. “You’ll see, we’ll reach the Hill and the Camp together.” Thalia says giving me a high five, together. I might like it if “together”means the 4 of them and me.

The Camp seems to be far from where we first met, Annabeth updated me on what happened before I joined the group, Grover had found the trio a short while ago, he had told them about the existence of this Camp and how it was the only safe place for people like us, he had offered to accompany them, since that is his job as a Satyr Seeker. The three had accepted but Grover is not the best at orienting himself, and so they got lost several times, including the time when I saved them from the Cyclops. At the same time, Grover is kind, good and even adorable, it is impossible not to treat him well and not to grow fond of him, even for a loner like me. I have also grown fond of the three initial members of the group, Thalia with her courage, Luke with his tendency to protect me and Annabeth, even if the anger in his gaze has not disappeared and Annabeth, who I call ‘Beth’, with her intelligence. They are the first real friends I have. We have each other’s backs, we keep watch at night, we get food and water and we travel together avoiding cities and towns, since they would be a problem for me, I wouldn’t want to attract anyone’s attention considering how I got here. On a journey like this, where dangers are always around the corner and your life is threatened every second of every day, it is practically impossible not to grow fond of and develop strong bonds in a group, even if you haven’t been together for a long time.

“Did you hear that too?” I ask, for the umpteenth time, one evening. “If they’re still monsters I swear I’m going to get really pissed.” Thalia curses, it’s been a tough day, it seemed like the monsters were constantly on our tail, worse than usual. And what’s worse, they seemed to have a clear target: Thalia. I haven’t voiced my suspicions yet but…I’m scared. This time I’m scared, I’ve never felt, when I was alone, such a burning fear that didn’t directly concern me but someone else. I always knew that the Hunters of Artemis had their lady to protect them, while we…We have to get by on our own, and I’m scared that something could happen to them. And that I can’t do anything to save them. “Yeah, I heard it too, just now.” Luke says, turning his blue gaze from one side of the forest surrounding us to the other. “But we’re on the right path this time, right Grover?” Annabeth, exhausted, asks the Satyr who looks around, sniffs the air and the grass a bit and then nods confidently. “Sure, we’re where we’re supposed to be. Just a little more effort.” Grover says excitedly, I don’t know how much Annabeth, Thalia and Luke believe him but I trust him, since I’ve been on the Team, he hasn’t changed direction even once. So we should be there by now. “This is all so strange…” I whispered looking around with wide eyes, the shadows and darkness seemed to envelop everything like a quilt made of rubber, suffocating. It left no room for light, the only one was that of the stars in the sky.

I don’t know why, but after half an hour I looked at a point in the darkness and found two hungry yellow eyes staring at me, scared I looked around again and saw all sorts of hungry eyes hiding in the darkness. “Guys, we can’t ignore the monsters, we’re surrounded now!” I shouted and everyone got into battle gear, and the hounds of Hell jumped out. “How many are there?!” Grover screams scared to death, at that moment we heard a kind of sound, it was like a human laugh but it had nothing human, it seemed… A mix between a human laugh and a crow’s cry, or raven, which is maybe even worse in Greek mythology.

“Guys, we have trouble from the sky too!” I screamed as the others looked up and we saw three demonic figures with bat-like wings, claws that were presumably bloody, eyes that were glowing, and mouths bristling with sickly yellow fangs. They were hideous. “What are those!?” I asked in fear. “The Furies… I didn’t think that…” Grover starts to speak but is interrupted by Luke who literally impales a hound that had tried to bite the Satyr’s neck. “Run!” Thalia screams as her spear emits lightning that hits the hounds relentlessly. “We can’t leave you here!” Luke screams as I fire another arrow aiming at the neck of the hound that tried to attack Thalia. “These monsters want Thalia!” Beth screams as she swings her dagger. “That’s right, run!” Thalia squeals as yet another dog is held back by plants that grew thanks to the little song Grover played on the flute. This power is cool, actually.

I saw the Hounds surrounding Thalia, I started running towards her, loading another dart to kill the dogs, when those three figures, who I don’t know where they were until that moment, landed in front of me. Seeing them up close is even more traumatizing than seeing them from afar as they fly in the sky. The shock wave of their landing made me fall to the ground. “You want to save your friend…? Poor deluded girl!” the one in the middle spoke with her voice mixed between crow and human. The other two started laughing as if to mock me. “How cute, what does she think she’s doing? She’s too small.” the Fury on the right laughs. “Come on girls, let’s go destroy the little girl’s friend!” the Fury on the left finishes her speech while laughing along with the others and all three take flight again, heading towards an increasingly tired and struggling Thalia. What did they think they were doing? Did they think their laughter would hurt me? Did they think they could just stop me? Did they think that even one of their words would convince me to leave Thalia to her fate? I stood up, Annabeth had already been dragged to the top of the Hill by Grover, who was coming back to get either me or Luke, she was already safe and soon Luke would be too. I looked around, the Hounds, as I thought, had stopped attacking me since I wasn’t their target, and probably the Furies had scared those dogs, so they hadn’t come close to me yet, I could use that as an advantage.

I couldn’t see where the Furies were exactly, what point they were in, but I could see Thalia submerged by the pack of dogs, in a worse and worse condition. I couldn’t leave her, I didn’t care what she said, or what Grover did, I couldn’t leave the first person in the world who wanted to take me with her alone, not now. Not ever. I had to stay by her side, even if it meant great risk. As soon as I saw the Furies lunge at my friend’s back, I shot an arrow at each one, aiming for the attachment of their wings on their backs, the Furies, hit, screamed in a mixture of pain and anger, revenge. “Flora, don’t do something crazy like that!” Thalia raised her voice as she desperately tried to defend herself from the huge pack of dogs that had dangerously surrounded her. “I won’t leave you alone, I won’t do that crazy thing!” I said, looking up to see where the Furies had taken refuge. As soon as I saw them coming towards me in a particularly low flight I jumped and kicked the Fury closest to me, the one in the middle, in the head. This blow made her lose her balance and she fell to the ground on her face, dragging herself for a few meters. I had just landed, I hadn’t had time to move that one of the Furies, coming back at an impressive speed, grabbed me by the ankles. “Ah, we rebelled huh?” the Fury who had me in his grip laughed, making my body move as if I were a doll in his clawed hands. “Oh yes, she could have gone to the Hill and saved herself but… Apparently she doesn’t want to.” The other Fury also laughs pressing a claw on my face, digging into my skin, from the top of my forehead on the right to the bottom left of my chin, the pain and burning are very strong, and I don’t scream, which destabilizes the Furies and makes them even angrier. If only they knew that I’ve been through worse. “Oh, you think you’re strong, child?” asks the Fury I hit in the head earlier, she’s caught up with the other two after getting up. I don’t answer at first, but then I look up. “You don’t scare me, I love Thalia and I’ll protect her even if it costs me my life.” All three Furies look at each other with ferocious grins and looks shining with anger and vengeance. “We’ll see if you’re still so bra-” “Let her go!” The Fury holding my leg was hit in the side by Thalia’s spear, the two Furies not hit went flying, while the one that was hit let go of me, making me fall to the ground, where I hit my neck and head hard.

I put my hand on the wound on my face, looking up, Thalia stood before me, her spear sending out electrical discharges making the air crackle around us, I couldn’t see her face but I could imagine her gnashing her teeth in a last attempt to defend herself and me. The electrical discharges of a dazzling white and a brilliant blue, crackled from the spear and her body. “We won’t leave her!” says one of the two uninjured Furies. “She should have stayed quiet and not attacked, only then would we have let her go!” another Fury screams brutally attacking Thalia, I felt useless. I stood there watching the Furies brutally attack my friend and worsen the wounds already inflicted previously by the group of Hounds, who by the way continue to attack her along with the Furies. I quickly tore off a piece of my clothes and tied it over the wound. It’s not an adequate bandage, nor is it effective, but I can’t have more for the moment, I have to make do.

I took the arrows, I aimed and I hit again, this time in the face, the Furies who had thrown themselves at Thalia, this made them even angrier and Thalia, exhausted and barely holding on to the spear, continued to scream, I no longer understood what she was saying, it was as if her voice was miles and miles away from me, I perceived it as muffled. I don’t know how it could have happened, but everything, before my eyes, happened in slow motion. The Furies threw themselves at me with all their rage, I could feel their claws violently penetrating my flesh, tearing my clothes and tearing everything in their path, be it cloth, skin or flesh. I screamed, with all my strength, perhaps it was the blood loss, copious, that made me perceive everything so slow, so far away and muffled? I seem like a rag doll in their clawed hands, a broken and bloody doll. When suddenly I felt a searing pain, one of the worst I have ever felt in my life, one of the Furies, with her claws, finished the job they had started, she took out my eye. The pain was just too much, and I lost consciousness. I was…Helpless.

When I came to, there were arrows flying left and right, I looked around and saw Centaurs fighting against what remained of the Hounds, I don’t know where the Furies had gone, but it doesn’t matter. I only care about Thalia, who I searched desperately for, finding her lying on the ground, I rushed towards her with the little strength I had left, someone had tried to hold me back, but they weren’t very convinced, so I had no trouble freeing myself.

“Thalia!” I screamed, my heart broken, reaching her body, she was full of wounds, dripping blood and her clothes were torn. “Thalia, I will help you! I will! Hold on…” I whispered but was interrupted by her laughter. “Hey, little one. It’s late now, there’s nothing you can do but… Thank you.” Thalia whispered, coughing up blood. “No! I can’t abandon you…I can’t abandon the first person in the world who truly wanted me with them!” I screamed, taking her hands. “You will make it, I will make sure of it, I can’t…” Thalia smiled, looking at me with those particular blue eyes, as if they were electric. “It’s no use, but promise me.” Thalia whispered as I held her hands and, tearfully, I nodded. “Protect the rest of the group, they will need someone as strong, kind and loyal as you.” Thalia smiled at me, squeezing my hand, I don’t know where she found the strength to do it. “No… I can’t, I’m not like that!” I shouted. “I don’t have much time, Flora. Listen to me. Just do it.” Thalia whispered, tugging my hand slightly to bring me closer to her. “When you saved us, you had no obligation, but you did it, you proved to be intelligent, during our journey you were always cheerful and loyal, and during the last fight you were strong and brave. You faced the Furies and the Hounds, for me. For us. I’ve watched you on this journey, and I’m convinced that in the most difficult moments you are worth more than you think.” Thalia whispered as my vision became increasingly blurry, tears mixed with blood obstructing the view of my only remaining eye. “Thalia, I…” I whispered hoarsely. “Don’t cry anymore, for me. I’m proud of you, little one.” Thalia whispered, and closed her eyes, forever.

“Let’s go little one.” I don’t know how much time had passed, Thalia’s body had transformed into a huge pine tree, I don’t know why and I don’t even have the strength to ask. The voice is unknown, it must not be Grover. I felt hands taking me in my arms, I tried to rebel to stay close to Thalia, but I was too exhausted and my attempts were too weak to be even minimally effective. I didn’t look around, I just let whoever had grabbed me take me where they wanted, I didn’t rebel anymore, it didn’t seem real to me that Thalia was dead and it didn’t seem like I could belong to something as real as when she was here. But…But Thalia is gone, and I promised her that I would protect Grover, Luke and Beth, and I have no intention of breaking my promise. Not a second time, I will do it for myself and for her.