Caleb let out a muffled groan, his body turning too heavy for Clarisse and Luke to hold up on their own. He staggered forward, dragging both of his friends down a step. Right there, blocking the path inside the gloomy grove, stood a tiny dryad. She had brown hair with green streaks, rose petals sprouting near her ears, and a dress stitched entirely from leaves. Despite looking like a five-year-old child, she faced the group with her fists firmly planted on her hips, overflowing with pure attitude.
"You're hurting my daddy! Get away from him right now, you witches!" the tiny creature exclaimed, her high-pitched voice echoing through the trees.
Clarisse shot a glance at Caleb's face. His green eyes were locked on the little girl, but when he tried to force his usual cold smirk, his features contorted into a grimace of pure agony. He coughed, spitting a dark trace of blood onto the dirt.
"I'm sorry... I don't know what to say, but I feel something familiar in her," Caleb murmured, his voice leaving him like a faint whisper before his head slumped to the side.
Clarisse felt his body go completely limp. "She's talking to you, Caleb! React!" she demanded, her sharp tone rising as she wrapped her arm tightly around his waist, taking on the boy's entire weight. "Luke, help me out here, he's gonna pass out!"
Before Luke could grab Caleb's other arm, the dryad unleashed a shrill shriek and charged straight at them. Luke threw himself in front to intercept the attack, but the little girl simply plowed right through him, slamming her chubby little arms directly against his shin.
The impact snapped like a dry branch cracking in half. Luke let out a roar of pain and collapsed to his knees in the mud, clutching his injured leg with both hands, his face pale with shock. That tiny little thing had almost split his bone clean in two.
With Luke crashing to the ground, Clarisse lost her balance. She was dragged down by Caleb's weight, and the two of them landed hard right next to a thick root breaking through the soil. Without giving them a single second to breathe, the dryad lunged forward and grabbed Caleb's knee. Her grip was absurdly brutal, but the eyes she raised to look at him were completely pure.
"DADDY!" she screamed, flashing a massive grin.
An uncomfortable warmth flooded Caleb's chest as a mild breeze cut through the freezing forest air. The girl stared at him with absolutely zero fear of the dark energy radiating from his body. The sheer shock made Caleb choke on his own blood, pure panic taking over inside his mind.
"WHAT?! NO! HOLD ON A SECOND!" Caleb tried to push himself off the ground with his trembling hands to get away, but the girl pinned him there like an anchor. "I'm... your dad?! What the hell are you talking about?! I'm just a kid! I can barely take care of myself!"
Out of the corner of his eye, the system's red warnings began flashing frantically, but he shut them out. His heart felt like a runaway drum.
On the ground beside him, Clarisse tried to push herself up, her hand darting to the hilt of her spear, her face flushed red from pure stress. She looked at the trail of blood, at the fallen Luke, and then at the three-foot-tall dryad. Her old battle fury exploded.
"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO, CALEB?!" Clarisse bellowed, shoving a finger right in his face as she tried to slot herself between him and the creature. "Where did this brat come from?! Are you a father now?! How did you make a child sprout from the dirt?! Have you lost your damn mind?!"
Luke, still on his knees and using a tree trunk to keep from collapsing into the mud, pointed at the soil around them. The earth was turning soft, and wild rose bushes were growing at an unnatural speed.
"It makes no sense... This is impossible," Luke stammered, his voice failing from the sharp pain in his leg. "She was born from the soil... Caleb, what did you channel when you tried to bury those people? Did you create a dryad?"
"I didn't do anything! I don't know!" Caleb shot back in desperation, his eyes wide as the dryad kept using her tiny body to prop his back up against the tree. "I just wanted to give them a proper burial! I didn't know this was gonna happen!"
Clarisse reached out her arm to yank Caleb by the collar and pull him away from the creature, but the dryad released the boy's leg and leapt right in front of Clarisse's hand, slamming her right foot hard against the ground.
The soil cracked. Several long, thick wooden spikes erupted from the earth instantly, aimed directly at the demigod's chest.
"SHUT UP, YOU ANNOYING WITCH!" the dryad screamed, her shrill voice startling the birds in the canopy above. "Stop yelling at my daddy! He's all hurt and bleeding! If you take another step or try to touch him, I'll make these spikes run you clean through!"
"WHAT?! WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?!" Clarisse roared. Her eyes flashed with that dangerous red glint, and the Ares aura made the air turn heavy, ready to splinter the spikes in half with her spear.
"HE'S MY DADDY, YOU STINKY BULLY!" the dryad bellowed right back, not backing down a single millimeter before the killer glare of the daughter of Ares.
"Guys... stop..." Caleb tried to intervene, but his vision blurred.
Before Clarisse could advance against the spikes, the Leviathan axe vanished from his hand in a flash of dull light. In the very next second, the seed bracelet materialized right back onto his burned wrist, squeezing the scorched flesh with brutal force.
Caleb unleashed a sharp scream of agony, and the bickering stopped dead in its tracks. Clarisse forgot all about the dryad and grabbed his shoulders as he slumped forward, while Luke tried to force himself onto his feet using the tree for leverage. Everyone turned toward Caleb, completely startled.
They moved to help him, but they were cut short by a deep, freezing voice that echoed directly out of the darkest shadows of the grove.
The sound made Clarisse freeze instantly, while the tiny dryad collapsed to her knees, utterly consumed by fear. Her eyes, which had been so gentle just moments ago, were now wide with terror.
"Your mind is strong, but what of your soul, insect?" the voice asked, reverberating through the trees.
Luke clutched his head with both hands, feeling a crushing pressure. That voice was so majestic and oppressive that, for a split second, it made him think of Kronos himself.
Beneath Caleb, ice began to rapidly spread, freezing the grass and the surrounding rose bushes. A cutting wind tore through the grove, whipping against everything in its path and throwing everyone's hair back. Within a few seconds, the wind escalated into a violent blizzard, blanketing the fresh vegetation under a thick layer of snow.
The tiny dryad, tears welling in her eyes, began to sob. Panic-stricken, she bolted to hide behind Clarisse, grabbing the girl's leg with so much force that Clarisse immediately realized her bones would snap if the girl squeezed any tighter.
"What the hell is happening?!" Clarisse stammered.
That was when she watched the axe materialize out of thin air back into Caleb's hand. The boy's eyes, previously green, had taken on a completely glacial shade of blue.
"Luke, what is going on?!" she insisted.
She got no answer. Luke was paralyzed, in shock, staring at his friend. He was trying to comprehend that voice. The pressure he felt heavily mirrored the presence of Kronos, but there was something subtly different about it.
Before he could piece the thoughts together, another voice echoed directly inside his mind, cold and commanding.
"Interesting... Our plans will have to change."
Luke recognized Kronos's voice instantly. He was stunned to hear his master, but he didn't dare question him.
Before anyone could move, Caleb closed his eyes and slumped forward. His body hit the grass with a wet thud, while the ice beneath him took on a crimson hue. The axe dissolved, reverting back into a bracelet on his wrist, but the seeds it carried were completely frozen solid.
Clarisse felt the tiny dryad release her leg and sprint straight toward Caleb.
"Daddy! Daddy!" the girl cried out, terrified, with tears streaming down her face.
Clarisse acted instantly. She approached the boy, hooked one arm under his back and the other beneath his legs, lifting his unconscious body. The second she held him, she noticed an absurd heat radiating from him. Her eyes went wide. Caleb was burning up. His body temperature felt close to seventy degrees Celsius—something Clarisse could barely believe was even possible.
"Luke! Help me!" she ordered, trying to keep the boy steady in her arms.
Luke snapped out of his trance and approached immediately. He helped support Caleb's left side, allowing Clarisse to better adjust his weight. Without wasting any more time, the two of them began marching toward Artemis's camp.
The tiny dryad remained standing still for a few seconds, observing the grove. The place that was previously green and full of life was now entirely claimed by winter. Snow blanketed the vegetation, the rose bushes were frozen solid, and the air seemed to have lost all its warmth. She looked in the direction of Clarisse and Luke, who were moving away carrying her daddy, and took a few small steps to keep up with them.
However, upon reaching the edge of the grove, she stopped. Before her lay the boundary separating her tiny sanctuary from the pine forest. The girl looked back at the place where she had been born, and then at the path the others had taken. Her small shoulders trembled.
"I need to be strong," she murmured in her sweet, innocent voice.
She clenched her tiny fists and took a deep breath. Then, she took a step forward. Then another. Still frightened, but determined not to abandon her daddy, the little dryad finally crossed the border of her sanctuary and began to follow Luke and Clarisse.
The Hunters' camp fell into absolute silence when Clarisse and Luke emerged from between the trees. The daughter of Ares carried Caleb in her arms, while Luke kept one hand pressed against the boy's back to keep his body from slipping. Both of their faces were tight with tension, and the tiny dryad trailed right behind them, occasionally tripping over the snow blanketing the path.
One of the Hunters stood up upon noticing Caleb's condition.
"What happened to him?"
"I don't know!" Clarisse shot back, not breaking her stride. "I just need someone to help!"
Artemis stood up near the bonfire. It took nothing more than a single glance for her to realize that something had fundamentally shifted since the last time she had seen the boy.
"Lay him by the fire," the goddess ordered.
Clarisse obeyed immediately. She knelt carefully and placed Caleb down onto a folded blanket. Luke squatted beside them, taking a deep breath as he observed his friend's pale face.
"He's burning up," Clarisse said. "I've never seen anyone with a temperature like this."
Artemis brought her hand close to Caleb's face. Her fingers stopped just centimeters away from his skin, feeling the unusual heat radiating from him.
"What force was it that dared to tear through thy body, child?" she murmured.
Caleb did not answer. His breathing was irregular, and small beads of sweat were beginning to surface across his forehead.
"We need to do something," Luke insisted.
"We are already taking care of it," Artemis replied.
The goddess made a gesture, and two Hunters approached carrying water and clean cloths. Clarisse remained kneeling, brushing the green strands of hair away from the boy's face so they wouldn't stick to his blood.
"Hey, flower-boy..." she murmured, giving his cheek a few light taps. "Don't you go giving me more trouble, got it?"
Nothing. She pressed her lips together and adjusted the blanket over his legs once more.
That was when a small figure materialized right beside the bench. The dryad approached slowly, looking first at Caleb and then at the Hunters gathered around him. Her green eyes were damp, and her tiny hands clutched the hem of her leaf dress.
"Is my daddy sick?"
Clarisse looked over at her.
"He is. But we're gonna take care of him."
The girl stepped a little closer.
"Is he gonna wake up?"
"He will."
The answer came way too fast. Clarisse realized it, but she didn't take it back.
The dryad looked at Caleb's face and then at his hand, which was resting on the blanket. Carefully, she wrapped her fingers around two of his.
"You promised you would stay with me, daddy..."
Luke averted his eyes, deeply intrigued by the little dryad's words. At no point had he heard Caleb promise anything, which made the statement even stranger. Furthermore, there was something curious about the way she acted: despite behaving like a child, she spoke with an impressive clarity for someone who had literally just been born.
The tiny creature looked on the verge of crying again, but a gentle voice cut through the silence.
"Thou hast no need to fear, little one."
Zoë approached without her bow in hand. She knelt at a respectful distance, letting the girl observe her. The dryad immediately concealed herself behind Caleb's arm.
"Who are you?"
A small smile surfaced on the Hunter's face.
"My name is Zoë. I am one of Artemis's Hunters."
The girl kept observing her with deep suspicion.
"Are you gonna hurt my daddy?"
"No, little one. I do not intend to harm him."
The dryad seemed to weigh the response. Then, she went back to hugging the boy's hand. Zoë observed the tiny petals near her ears. There was something about this creature that sparked her curiosity, but for the first time, she didn't attempt to force out answers immediately.
One of the Hunters knelt beside Caleb, opening a small first-aid kit. Another brought a basin with clean water, cloths, and a few medicinal herbs. Luke remained seated near the boy's head, while the tiny dryad stayed glued to his hand.
Clarisse didn't leave his side.
The Hunter began to carefully wipe away the blood pooled over Caleb's skin. When she moved aside the shredded fabric that still remained of his clothes, the massive slash tearing through his chest was once again laid bare. The injury ran diagonally down to his waist—a deep mark left by Luke's sword.
The woman halted her movements for a fraction of a second.
"By all the gods..."
Clarisse stares down at the wound. She had already seen that injury when Caleb was on his feet in the woods, but now that he lay still and unconscious, the sheer gravity of it looked infinitely worse.
The Hunter passed a damp cloth around the gash, taking care not to press down on the bruised flesh. Further down, on the side of his ribs, was the puncture wound caused by Clarisse's spear. The surrounding skin showed whitish markings, resembling small lightning bolts, branching across his body from the electrical discharge.
Clarisse felt her fingers tighten into a fist. That mark was hers.
The sound of the spear tearing through Caleb's body still seemed to echo in her head. She remembered the resistance she had felt at the exact moment of impact, the boy trying to dodge, and the expression of agonizing pain that had surfaced on his face. She had been under the Lamia's thrall, completely unable to command her own body, but that didn't make looking at the aftermath any easier.
And Caleb had still chosen to save her.
When the wolf lunged toward her, he could have tried to escape. He could have thought only of his own survival. Instead, even with a spear driven through his abdomen, he found the strength to hurl her out of the creature's trajectory.
Clarisse averted her eyes for a split second.
"This wound needs special attention," the Hunter commented, examining the electrical burns. "The discharge caused considerable tissue damage."
"Is he gonna be okay?"
The woman raised her eyes to look at her.
"We are doing everything we can. But he lost a lot of blood and suffered incredibly severe injuries. We still need to evaluate the state of his shoulder and his other wounds."
Clarisse nodded, unable to find anything else to say.
The Hunter went back to work. The Lamia's bite remained particularly concerning. The three punctures on his left shoulder were surrounded by an area of darkened, necrotic skin—the consequence of the venom that had flooded his system.
Lastly, the woman examined his right wrist. The seed bracelet was still there, wrapping around the deep, dark, and uneven burn that was already permanently seared into Caleb's skin. The seeds remained completely frozen solid, covered by a thin layer of frost.
The Hunter furrowed her brow, but she didn't ask any questions.
Clarisse kept watching. It was hard to believe Caleb was still alive after all of that. It was even harder to accept that a good chunk of those marks had been caused by people he considered friends.
She remembered his voice during the fight. Caleb had begged them not to attack, even as Luke and she charged at him with zero control. And when he finally regained consciousness, he hadn't tried to blame her. He didn't demand that she justify herself. He simply forgave her.
That ate at her. Not because Caleb had done anything wrong, but because Clarisse didn't know what to do with someone who kept showing kindness even after having every single reason to hate her.
"Clarisse."
Artemis's voice broke through her thoughts. The goddess was standing a few paces away, waiting for her attention. Clarisse looked back down at Caleb one last time before pushing herself up.
Artemis walked out to a distance where they could talk without being interrupted by the other Hunters.
"I saw how thou didst act during the confrontation and how thou hast conducted thyself afterward," the goddess began. "Even when faced with creatures far more powerful, thou didst not abandon thy companions. And when thou didst regain control of thy body, thou didst choose to protect Caleb, despite having been forced to wound him."
Clarisse crossed her arms.
"If you're gonna complain about my attitude, you can just spit it out."
"I did not come to chide thee."
"Then what do you want?"
Artemis held the girl's gaze.
"I wish to offer thee a place among my Hunters."
Clarisse went rigid. For a few seconds, it looked as though she hadn't quite processed the words.
"You're inviting me to join your group?"
"Yes."
The girl looked toward the silver tents. A few Hunters were talking near the bonfire, while others were organizing their gear. Zoë was close to the little dryad, who looked deeply suspicious of her presence.
"Why?"
"Because thou hast shown courage, determination, and a loyalty that did not go unnoticed. I saw how thou didst face danger and how thou didst worry for Caleb, even after everything that transpired between you."
Clarisse turned her face away.
"I didn't do anything special."
"Thou hast no need to diminish thy actions before me."
The girl remained quiet. Artemis continued:
"My Hunters are sisters. They fight together, protect one another, and do not have to face the perils of this world alone. By my side, thou wouldst have a family and a purpose that do not depend on the whims of the gods of Olympus."
Clarisse turned back to face her.
"What about the immortality?"
"Thou wouldst not age. Thy body would remain young, and time would not consume thee as it does mortals."
"So I couldn't die?"
"That is not what I said."
The response made Clarisse furrow her brow.
"My Hunters are not invulnerable. We can be wounded. We can fall in combat. Eternal youth doth not shield us from every danger."
Artemis paused briefly before continuing:
"Thou must also renounce romantic love and the possibility of taking a husband. The Hunt demands total allegiance, as doth the oath thou wilt swear before me. There will be no room to divide thy commitment between a companion and thy sisters."
Clarisse remained silent.
"Thou hast no need to answer right now," the goddess added. "A choice of this magnitude should not be made on impulse."
"Why are you offering me this right now?"
Artemis followed her gaze back to Caleb.
"Because I recognize qualities within thee that perhaps thou hast not yet learned to value. And because I desire for thee to know that other paths exist besides the one thy father and the other gods expect thee to follow."
Clarisse pressed her arms tight against her own body.
"Does this have anything to do with him?"
The goddess took a moment to reply.
"It doth."
Clarisse looked over at Caleb again. Luke remained seated right beside him, while the tiny dryad held his hand with her two tiny hands.
"He's a complicated kid," she murmured.
"Undoubtedly."
"Stubborn, annoying, and completely reckless."
"I noticed that as well."
Clarisse let out a heavy sigh through her nose.
"Then you know exactly what I'm talking about."
Artemis let a discreet smile slip, but her expression quickly turned serious again.
"There is something I must tell thee, Clarisse."
The goddess's tone made the girl straighten her posture.
"This boy possesses an extraordinary strength. I speak not only of the power he demonstrated within this grove. There is something in his connection to life that I do not yet fully comprehend."
Artemis looked back toward the boy.
"I have seen heroes of great power rise before me. Some performed deeds that seemed impossible, yet few managed to traverse their journeys without facing terrible tragedies."
"He's only eleven."
"I know."
The answer came without hesitation.
"It is precisely for that reason that I worry."
Clarisse gritted her teeth.
"So you're saying he's gonna have a miserable life?"
"I cannot state what will happen to him. I know not his future, nor can I determine the paths he will choose. But I have learned, over many centuries, that those who carry great power frequently pay for it in terrible ways."
The goddess turned her silver eyes back to Clarisse.
"And there is something thou must consider, should thy feelings for him run deeper than friendship."
Clarisse went rigid.
"What are you talking about?"
"Giving thy heart to someone like that boy can bring great suffering. Thou mayest watch him leave, thou mayest be wounded by his choices, or end up entangled in dangers thou didst never imagine facing. And there is the possibility that one day thou wilt have to witness his death... or that thy own life may be lost in attempting to protect him."
Clarisse's face lost some of its color. She clenched her fists but remained silent, listening to the goddess.
"I am not stating that this will happen," Artemis added. "It would be arrogance on my part to pretend to know the future. I am merely warning thee of the risks of involving thyself with someone whose life seems surrounded by so many perils."
Clarisse didn't answer. Feelings? That word got stuck in her head. When had she started feeling that way about Caleb? She didn't know, yet whenever she looked at him, she felt a warmth in her chest. She had never thought of Caleb that way. At least, not consciously. He was annoying, persistent, and had an absurd knack for getting into trouble.
Clarisse knew handsome boys. She had heard the chatter from the Aphrodite girls and witnessed their attempts to draw attention. She had never given much importance to any of that. But Caleb was different, and without her noticing, that had begun to draw her interest toward him.
She remembered how he had faced the Lamia, even while wounded and with venom spreading through his body. How he had kept fighting when Luke and she were under the creature's control. She remembered how he could have used the opportunity to pull away, but instead chose to shield her from the wolf's attack.
And then came the memory of when she broke out of the illusion and found Caleb standing before her, covered in blood. Even after everything that had happened, he hadn't treated her like an enemy.
Clarisse lowered her eyes to her own hands. Those very hands had held the spear that ran through his body. Now, however, all she wanted was to be certain that Caleb would be okay.
A movement near the bonfire caught her attention. The Hunter had finished cleaning part of the wounds and was now carefully examining the bracelet on Caleb's right wrist. The tiny dryad followed every single movement, squeezing Caleb's hand whenever the woman drew too close.
Clarisse felt her chest tighten. She wanted to be over there. She wanted to know if he was breathing normally, if the pain had subsided, if he would wake up soon. She wanted to hear some stupid joke, some annoying comment about her being way too worried.
It was a strange sensation. Uncomfortable. Something she didn't know how to name and that, even so, seemed to occupy more and more space inside her.
Thus, Artemis's words returned to her mind: Thou mayest have to witness his death. Clarisse swallowed hard. She didn't like that. She didn't like the thought of Caleb dead at all, much less the thought that one day she might lose him. And the worst part was that she couldn't simply push that possibility out of her head.
Her eyes remained fixed on Caleb by the fire. Clarisse didn't answer the goddess. For a few seconds, she seemed to forget to even breathe. And she remained in silence.