Chapter 12 Tale of An Escape

Artemis jumped off the boat, turned back to the old boatman who was frowning in concern. She felt bad
for him rolling with all his strength for her to get to the island before any other Olympians arrived.

"Thank you old man," she told him. "You should go, the gods will be here soon."

"Will you make it Milady?" He asked her. "Can you protect him?"

"I-I don't know," she said utterly, the fact that she didn't even know if she could make it out alive. "But
you should go"

He just nodded and started to sail the wooden boat away.

Artemis turned to the house at the top of the hill, where Perseus and her mother were still oblivious to
the danger. She sprinted to the top.

The doors kicked open, Artemis ran in to see Perseus and Leto having dinner. They stood up to look at
her in shock, though Perseus looked a bit more excited to see her again.

"Hey, Art-"

"Pack your things" Artemis cut him off as she rushed inside. "Things were already revealed."

"What do you mean Artemis?" Leto walked away from the table and followed her, who was walking
around without knowing what to do.

"Apollo gave out a prophecy," Artemis told them. "It somehow related to Perseus and now the entire
Olympus is hunting him!"

They both gasped and looked at each other.

"B-but didn't Apollo promise to protect our secret? He wouldn't betray us" Perseus said.



"It doesn't matter anymore ok!" Artemis yelled. "You guys must pack and leave this place immediately!"

"But go where Artemis?" Perseus asked her.

At the point, Artemis suddenly stopped. She was so worried about their survival that she completely
forgot the next stage after they escaped. Clearly, the entire mythological world was hunting him, she
couldn't trust anyone except herself. Speaking of herself, an idea suddenly came into Artemis.

"To my hunt," she said. "That's the safest place for you right now. Being close to me, I can be able to
protect and keep watch on you."

"Wow wow wow, hold up!" Perseus put his hands to a sign of stopping. "You are telling me to go and
live with your hunters? They would rip my head off before I could have my first meal there!"

"Or you rather let the gods execute you instead?" Artemis folded her arms in annoy. How come he
could still make an argument at the moment like this?

"Wel-"

"Perseus!" Leto cut him. "Listen to your sister"

He looked at her, but only to receive a stern look. Perseus sighed and ran upstairs.

"Why don't you go pack your things mum!?" Artemis turned to her.

Leto calmly walked up to her, she held her hands and stared straight into Artemis's eyes.

"I can't go Artemis," she said. "They haven't known about Perseus here yet. If they come and I'm not
here, then they would know where to find next and that would be you. They will hunt down the last
person that related to Percy and Zeus, you know he won't stop until he eliminated the threat."

"But mother!" Artemis squeezed her hands. "What if they-"



"They won't!" Leto confirmed. "as long as I don't say anything, they can't conclude a crime without
evidence. I'll be fine Artemis"

Her eyes were glittering, perhaps the tears wanted to drop. Artemis knew she was holding it back, to
encourage them. But she was still worried about her mother being left alone.

Just then, Perseus ran down stairs with a pack bag. He stopped between them and looked at their
faces.

"Are we going or not?" He asked.

Artemis sighed and started to walk outside. "I'll leave you too alone for a moment."

Perseus looked at her confused, he then turned to his mother to whom she held his shoulders.

"Take care of yourself ok Perseus?" She brushed his cheek.

"W-what are you talking about mum!?" He screamed.

"I can't go, Percy," Leto told him. "They will find out who relates to you if I go"

"But mum!" he held her hands. "How can I support to live without you?"

"You will!" Leto said in a serious voice as she squeezed on his shoulders. "You have grown big enough,
you can take care of yourself. Perhaps it's time for you to see the world Percy, time for you to seek a
new future"

"Mother"

"Listen to me carefully son!" Leto snapped, to which she was trying to hold back the tears. "You can do
it ok. Artemis will be there for you when I'm not. No need to be afraid because she will protect you. You
must move on to survive. I'll see you again."



Artemis saw tears were pouring down Perseus's cheek as she couldn't hold but her heart trembled.
Leto swept the tears of his cheeks and kissed his forehead. She held it so long, so passionate because
she knew it would be long for her to see him again. They have been together for nearly two thousand
years that their bond would be unbreakable. Perseus loved her as much as she loved him, but he knew
it was his mother wish for him to go.

Leto let go of him and walked back to Artemis, who was trying not to cry or that would frighten Perseus
even more.

"Promise me to take care of him ok?" Leto held her hands, her eyes wet from tears. "Don't leave him
no matter what and protect him for me, can you do that Artemis?"

"I won't fail you mother," Artemis told her and hugged her. She pulled her so close, knowing it would be
long before her second return. It could be for the next few centuries until she could see her mother
again.

They let go of the hug. Leto guided Perseus's hand to Artemis and put their hands together. Artemis's
heart suddenly skipped a beat from the contact with his hand. Despite the situation, she stilled blushed
a little.

"She will be your guardian" Leto looked at Perseus. "And you will be her protector. Promise me that you
will fight to protect Artemis no matter what costs, promise me, son!"

Artemis and Percy exchanged looks. He turned to his mother and nodded.

"Now you two must go," Leto said. "Run as far away as possible. Find a safe place and do not return
here until everything has settled."

With that, under the crescent moon on the August night, Perseus for the first time, leaving his mother
behind to seek a new life ahead.



▪ ▪ ▪

The two walked down the hill, dashing into the forest to get to the meeting point. Leto said there was an
altar near the coast where Artemis could use her power to teleport outside.

They kept their silence, perhaps was still mourning over the fact they had left their mother. Artemis, to
be exact was hurt more than everything. She was worried about her mother, now he had taken
responsibility to care for Perseus. She didn't know how she could take care of him, not talking about
preventing her hunters to kill him in the fist sight.

As they were near the coast, she found the altar with broken Greek columns set at the circumference of
the marble stone circle. She was still wondering why didn't Leto use it to escape this place before?
Then again, all the question drew back to Perseus.

Suddenly, at the beach, just a few yards away from her, five golden columns of light appeared and
Artemis's blood turned cold. The Olympians had arrived.

The lights died and revealed Zeus, Hermes, Ares, Dionysus and Athena. They all nodded at each other
and started to walk up to the house, straight at Percy and Artemis's direction when they were heading
to the beach.

"Why are yo-"

Artemis without hesitation clapped her hands over Perseus's mouth and put her finger on her lips to
signal him to be quiet. She pointed to gods before them and Perseus's eyes widened.

"What are we gonna do?" He whispered. "They are heading straight at us!"

"I don't know!" She whispered out loud. Then she looked around and pointed a bush just near them.
"Hide over there."



The two jumped into the bush and waited for the gods to approach. They watched vigilantly for any sign
of suspicion from the Olympians, so far so good.

Suddenly, Athena for the brain of her sake looked up and sniffed the air. She turned towards their
direction. Artemis eyes widened and for a moment, without hesitation, tackled Perseus onto the ground
with her. Trying to lay as low onto the ground as possible to hide.

Athena walked closer, lucky for them she didn't bring the other four. The goddess of wisdom stood just
upon them, where the two was hidden by the shadow of the bush. Sweat was rolling down Artemis's
forehead from nervousness until Athena gave up and walked back to her initial direction.

Artemis gave out a sigh of relief and turned back, to face with Perseus beneath her.

They were there, under the moon and the stars of the night. Artemis was laying on him and stared
down as Perseus looked up into her silver eyes. His hands were laying loss while hers were at the
sides of his head. Their noses nearly touched that their breath dancing along with each other. Artemis
lips trembled at the invitation of his. Her cheeks fluttered from his piercing sea-green eyes.

She breathed deep, her stomach shook for the second time they were in the same situation. The time
when she tackled him in the race to the cave. Except that time was at sunset.

The breeze from the sea shivered both and brought them back to reality. She rolled off him immediately
and looked in the space in disoriented while her cheek steaming from embarrassment. Percy just
scratched the back of his head and found the bush next to him so interesting to watch, his lips trembled
from the previous experience.

"Uh we should better go," Artemis said utterly and Perseus agreed with a 'yeah' in awkwardness.



They stood in the middle of the altar, Artemis tried to concentrate on teleporting them both, but it was
just too much power required.

"I-I can't," she said.

"What do you mean you can't?" Perseus stared down with a frown.

"The power is too much" she growled under her throat. "No wonder why mother didn't try it before, I
can't teleport us out!"

"So now what?" Perseus put his hands on his waist. "Swim to the shore?"

"Don't be ridiculous Perseus." She scowled him off.

Artemis stared down at the ground for a moment. She tried to think of any possible way to get more
power until she glanced at Perseus. Ideas came to her, but it was so embarrassing for her to even think
of it. It would cross the line if she did. Just then, she noticed some changes in the forest and she knew
that was only her option.

"H-hug me," she told him.

"What?" Perseus looked at her in shock.

"I said hug me!" She snapped the second time at him and stared at the ground.

"And why should I do that?" he asked her. "Aren't you hate us male?"

"Yeah but I need to borrow your power so I have to make physical contact with you" she explained and
folded her arms.

"Can't I just hold your hand instead?" He suggested. "No need to be that close you know."



"Yeah but this requires a lot of energy," she told him. "You need to hold close to me or you may drop
between space and time and I won't be able to find you ever again. Now hug me before the other Gods
come back to catch us!"

With no more argument, Perseus stepped forward and embraced her into his arms. Her scent of fresh
forest clashed over him, so warm and sweet that his knees trembled from it. He could just stand there
and smelled her hair forever.

Artemis, on the other hand, was blushing crazily that her heart nearly jumped out from her chest. Never
again she would be this close to a man, this would be the last. She closed her eyes and concentrated
in somewhere on the west. With a blink of eyes, they both disappeared from the island where Perseus
once called home, the place he had grown up and his mother was there waiting for him to come back
one day.

They were shot out from a portal as they both hit the ground. This time, Artemis was beneath Percy
and they still held dear on each other. Soon they pulled away and examined their surrounding. It was
so strange for Percy that he kept looking around. He met Artemis who was brushing the dirt off her
pants.

"What're we going to do now?"

She knew the teleportation had alerted the gods on the island. They would be here in a few minutes so
she looked up to him.

"Let's get out of here first!"

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