Hunter

I woke up at the crack of dawn and quickly brushed down my mane, or my hair. This thing is crazy and wild, unlike so many of the other girls, where their hair is manageable. Quietly, I put down Eos' hair brush, which I secretly use every morning, since I get up before everybody else. And if she ever asks how my hair is suddenly well done in the morning, I already have the excuse saying that I go to the river that runs through our very reliable forest and wet my hair.
Bam.
I tip-toed out of the room (Percy's a light sleeper) and got my things, meaning only my knives in my back satchel and my old sandals. They were already starting to thin, that's how long I've had them. Before they were a dark shade of brown at the bottom, and light brown at the thong (yes, it's called a thong, that part where it goes in between your toes and stretches across you foot at the sides). Now, it's just faded everywhere.
"Nyx?" I heard my only brother's voice. I turned around and found Percy in his nightwear, rubbing one eye and yawning.
"Hey, Percy," I said, walking over to him, whispering.
"I heard you get up," he said, yawning again. "Where you going?"
"You know where," I laughed. "Wanna come?" he sleepily nodded. "Go get dressed." I sat down in the comfy chair and waited for Perses to finish. When he finally finished a minute or two later, I fixed his short, dark brown hair a little. Although you could easily tell which people were poor and which had money, I still wanted him to look nice.
Wow, I'm like my mother.
I walked out the house and saw Lelantos waiting for me in front of his house. I shut my wooden door against my hard clay house (one of so many) and we walked right next to each other, the sun still straining to reach the top of the sky.
"Are you excited?" my friend asked me.
"Nervous, mostly," I said. "Lelantos, what if I don't get in?"
"I'm sure you will," he said.
"Really," I said sarcastically, looking at him. "When just yesterday you were making fun of me because I missed my first shot."
"Well, Nyx, first impressions are crucial in this situation," he replied. I nodded, agreeing. "But I'm sure that knife bouncing off the second one gave you some cred."
"There are so many people in this country who tried out for this hunting class. One hundred twenty-five people out of thousands, Lelantos!"
"You'll get in," he said. I noticed the gash on his cheek from yesterday was still fresh, in a way.
"Your cheek okay?"
"Huh?"
"Your cheek," I repeated.
"Oh yeah," he said. "It's fine." Lelantos really did look like a warrior. With his clothes, hair, and now gash, he could be a God, practically.
We walked the twenty minute walk to the town Square, where it was over crowded. Way over crowded. Everybody was lined up in front the Royal House, waiting for Zeus to walk on out and call out the names for the hunters who passed. But instead, Hestia, Zeus' wife, came out, causing a roar of applaude from everybody in the Square. She waved, and her daughter Aphrodite soon followed, bringing hoots from the males, not very appropriate here, but nobody cared. Next was Dionysus, who brought screams from the girls. Also not very appropriate, but again, nobody cared, especially Dionysus and Aphrodite. I held Percy's hand tightly, knowing he'll run off for sure if I won't. Even if he is nine and should know how to behave, he is named after the Titan of destruction.
Dionysus and Aphrodite are very special. Usually, in the God Circle (a.k.a the Royal Family and relatives), your kids were the same gender. But, every once in a while, the God Circle welcomes both a baby girl and a baby boy. So Dionysus and Aphrodite are given even more special treatment than what the Royal Family usually has, which I'm sure they don't mind.
Zeus then came out, getting a nice, sweet applause from everybody, since he was so well respected.
"Hello, my people," his voice boomed over the Square. Everyone hushed. "And welcome to the annual naming of the new hunters of Greece. Now, to not waste any more time here, although it's a beautiful day..." it was hot outside, God knows how many degrees. The sun was blazing, no clouds in the sky. "Agape Alatzi..." the name reading was the worst. My last name, Rousses, obviously started with a "R," so I would be waiting awhile. As people's names were read, they left, either estatic, eager to share the news, or wanting to murder the evaluators of the auditions for the hunters.
I hope I was part of the first category.
Lelantos' last name is Mamalis, so he'd be before me in the calling of the names.
"Kleitos Malihoudas," Zeus continued reading. I could tell he was hot and tired. The sun was definitely doing a toll on the people with late last names, whose beginning letters were at the end of the alphabet. "Lelantos Mamalis."
"Yes!" Percy jumped in the air, laughing.
"Awesome!" I said, giving Lelantos a high-five.
"Now on to you," he said with a grin.
"When should we meet?" I asked. I never asked where, no point. We know our meeting spot is at the top of Mount Olympus, a hill that wasn't so far from the city. It isn't the real Mount Olympus, of course, but we named it that since it's so high up.
"What do you mean?" he asked, confused.
"It's gonna take a while before they reach around my last name, if I even get in," I said.
"I'm not going anywhere. I mean, you waited for my last name all this time, I should wait for you," he replied.
"Who said I was waiting for your last name?" I asked. He raised his eyebrows.
"So you were here just for yourself?"
"Exactly,"
"Screw you," he started walking away. We both knew it was just a game.
"Lelantos, come on!" I said, pulling him back, still holding Perses' hand. We stood back where we were.
Zeus continued reading, then after the ending of the N last names, Hestia came to take charge, Zeus grateful. He disappeared inside the Royal House and Hestia, voice much smaller and lower, continued.
"Myrrine Rousakis," Hestia read. "Helene Roussos..."
My heart sunk. They skipped my last name. I was in the second category. I wouldn't be going to the hunters class with my best friend and others. I would stay home, wishing I was with Lelantos in the secret location of the summer-long class (today marked the sixth day of summer).
"What was I thinking, anyway?" I asked myself. Percy hugged me and Lelantos awkwardly stood beside me. "Mother needs me. Percy needs me..."
"You should've got in," Lelantos said as we walked back to our houses.
"Whatever," I said. We walked in silence back to our neighborhood, where everybody made the smart decision to stay in the house instead of standing in this sweltering heat.
"See you soon?" Lelantos asked me when we reached our destination.
"Whatever," was all I could manage. He hugged me, something we hadn't done since... Never, and I took Percy in and shut the door. Eos and Mother were eating in the kitchen. I think they were crackers.
"How'd it go?" Eos asked with a smirk on her face. Anybody with some sense could tell I failed the test. I wanted to punch my sister in the face and shoot a knife through her skull. Then boil her in the hot spring and watch her die.
"We need you, anyway," Mother said, ignoring my sadness. "Go to your room and clean up a little, will you?" I obeyed my only parent left and went to my room, cleaning up the dust bunny issue we have and later laying down in my bed.
The hunters are supposed to leave late tonight. Without me. What am I supposed to do without Lelantos? Hang out with Eos? God knows one of us will kill each other. Percy? Yeah, he's fun, but he has his own friends. Definitely not Mother, she'll have me working all day. I wonder if this is how she felt when Father went missing. Empty, a hole in your stomach with no way of filling it.
Hours passed and I didn't eat anything and was attached to my bed all day. When nightfall came, I could hear Lelantos leave his house, all his brothers and sisters coming out to say goodbye. I forced myself not to cry. I'm still an unofficial hunter, and hunters do. Not. Cry. I could hear one of Lelantos' younger sisters, Alexandra, say "I love you."
I turned to my side and forced myself to sleep away the depression.

Three days passed since the calling of the names when a knock came on the house door, something that never happened. I could hear a horse outside, meaning it was something important. Probably thinking it was news about my Father and how he was found, Mother sprinted out of her room, still in her nightwear, and opened the door.
You're not supposed to wear nightgown outside, especially in front of high-class people.
"Artemesia Rousses," the short man on the not-so-short horse read off of a scroll, saying my mother's name.
"Yes?" she asked. I was watching from the comfy chair. Perses was out with his friends in the forest, and Eos was in the Square.
"Is your daughter, Nyx Rousses, currently present?"
"Yes," Mother relaxed, realizing it wasn't about Father. Did I do something wrong? I haven't left the house one since the day at the Square.
"Zeus has a message for her," the messenger said. I stood up and met Mother at the door, staring at the horse and its pretty brown hair. The messenger cleared his throat and read off the scroll. "Miss Rousses, I am very sorry for the inconvienence of missing your name at the name calling. Although it was really my wife's fault, I am taking the blame. Anywho, I have arranged for a carriage to take you to the day-long journey to the hunter's class in its secret location and noon today. Congratulations for your success, and I hope to see you as one of my future hunters'."
The messenger turned the horse around, nodded, and trotted off, probably eager to leave my neighborhood.
"Oh my Chaos," I said, breathing hard.
"Better get ready," Mother said, pushing me in the house and shutting the door. "Noon is soon." she went back to her room, sad it wasn't about my Father, still to be found. I went to my room, wishing Eos was here so I could rub the news in her face, and actually rook apart my braid and re-braided it, making sure it looked nice. I can't wait to see Lelantos and his reaction. The excitement was jumping all around inside of me, when suddenly I gasped. Percy! I don't mind not saying goodbye to Eos, but Percy?
I sprinted out the house towards the hot spring in the forest, Percy's favorite spot. I saw him and his friends sitting around the spring.
"Nyx?" he asked. Everybody looked up at me.
"Percy," I said, out of breath. I had dodged vines and low branches, jumped over logs and escaped a spider web just to see this kid. "I got accepted."
"Where?" he scrunched up his nose.
"Hunters class!" I said.
"Awesome!" he jumped up to hug me. "You're leaving when?"
"Now," I said. "I just wanted to say bye." I hugged him back, tighter, and we released.
"Go!" he said. "I'll be waiting for you in the Square when you return!"
"Love you!" I yelled as I started running back.
"I love you too, Nyx!" he screamed in return. I let just one tear fall on my happy face and was back in my neighhborhood, and I could see the carriage in front of my house, imagining the faces of people who were wondering why someone in a carriage would be here.
I walked to the carriage and waved goodbye to Mother, standing at the door, in respectable clothes. I stepped in, awed by the inside. It wasn't very big but with enough space, and I sat on the leather- yes, leather- seats, two windows on each wall. The driver whipped the horses, and we started moving forward.
Oh.
My.
Chaos.