Chapter 1 – The Hunters Come to Camp

-Annabeth's POV-

I sit under the branches and leaves of Thalia's pine tree, the one that borders and protects Camp Half-Blood. A while ago Thalia turned into . . . well she turned back into a human, and not too long ago she agreed to join The Hunt and become Artemis' lieutenant. So let's just say I miss her and this is pretty much the closest thing I could get to being with her.

"Hey Wise Girl," I hear someone say, bringing me out of my train of thoughts.

I turn and see Percy, my best friend – besides Thalia of course – whom I've known for about two years. "Hi Seaweed Brain," I tell him. "So, why did you want to meet here?"

"Well, you know . . . I just thought you would like it here," he says with an embarrassed smile.

I smile back. "Yeah, I do," I say with honesty. I mean, who wouldn't? The breathtakingly sweet, ripe, and fresh aroma of strawberries from the strawberry fields filling your nose and mouth, making you drool, the sight of the lake and the green forest, and of course, the beautiful, architectural, Greek buildings.

"Hello, Annabeth? Is everything alright? You seem to be entering your 'dream land' quite often right now," Percy says – a hint of worry in his voice.

"Yeah, I'm fine. It's just Thalia came back and then she . . . left again to be with the Hunters." I answer, lowering my head.

"Yeah, I feel the same. I mean, I didn't know her as long as you have . . . and most of the time we were fighting . . . but you know, she seems nice and all." Percy says nervously.

I laugh and say, "Well yeah, you didn't know her as long as I have, and yes, most of the time you guys were fighting, but she is nice and it is a good thing you guys are friends instead of enemies because if you were . . . let's just say . . . it won't be pretty."

"Yeah." He smiles, but then it falters.

"What's wrong?" I ask with worry.

"Nothing." Then he looked into the fading light of the sunset. "Um Annabeth, well I've known you for like . . . two years now and we grew closer and uh, well . . . I just wanted to know – "

Just then, a group of people in either silver or white come forward to Thalia's Pine – the way into camp.

Percy and I stand up and immediately draw our weapons.

"Hold your fire!" A girl with auburn hair that looked about nine-ish exclaims.

Like I would really follow a nine year-olds directions when she tells us to not attack intruders, I think and mentally snort. I look over at Percy and see he has already capped and pocketed Riptide. Should I follow his example? I wonder.

Then I see Thalia stepping forward. "Thalia!" I cry out. Then I look around and back at the girl with auburn hair. "Lady Artemis?" I ask.

She smiles. "Yes."

As I withdraw my weapon, I wonder what the Hunters are doing here at camp.

"Lady Artemis – " I start, but was then cut off by a trotting sound.

"Lady Artemis, Hunters, welcome," the voice of Chiron says.

"Hello, Chiron," Artemis replies. "Do you mind if the Hunters stay here for a while? I have some . . . business to take care of."

Chiron nods with a look of apprehensive understanding. "Yes, I would love to have the Hunters stay awhile."

"Thank you Chiron. Well, I best get going." Artemis says, turning around to face her Hunters. "You will have to stay here for a while. Thalia, you are in charge, but in case something goes wrong, Phobe you are second-in-command. Okay?"

All the Hunters nod and Thalia steps up to Artemis. "Good luck with your business Lady Artemis. Hunters, we are welcomed into the Artemis cabin! I expect you guys to treat the campers kindly and no intentional maiming." Wow, Thalia takes a lot more charge now, I think.

Then Chiron speaks up. "Dinner will be soon, and after that we will play Capture the Flag. Understood?" The Hunters nod and some reply, "Yes." as a response.

I walk over to Thalia and hug her. "Thals!" I exclaim. "I missed you so so much!

"I missed you too Annie – " I glare at her " – beth. Anniebeth . . . yeah . . ." She mumbles.

I laugh. "Hey, are you ready for Capture the Flag?"

"Yes, I'm so ready to kick your guys' butts!"

"Yeah right," I say with a roll of my eyes, "we will own you guys.

"Whoa, wait – did Annabeth just say the phrase 'own you guys'? Wow," Thalia says in mock surprise.

I glare at her, but shrug it off. "So, I'm starving. I wonder when the conch horn will blow . . ."

As you probably would've guessed, the conch horn blows and signals dinner time.

"Right about now," Thalia says simply.

I roll my eyes. "Thank you for the help," I say sarcastically.

She laughs. "Race you to the mess hall!" Thalia exclaims, then takes off running.

"Oh, no you don't!" I call and sprint past her.

Once I'm a good distance away, I turn back and see Percy slowly walking towards the hall, his head hanging and a look of anger and misery on his face.

As I am about to run back and ask him why he's so melancholy, Thalia whizzes past me, and takes off to the dining hall. Forgetting about Percy and his lugubriousness, I run up towards Thalia, trying to catch up.

"Campers and Hunters," Chiron calls out.

Dinner finished a while ago, and after thirty minutes of resting up, the game of Capture the Flag is finally about to start.

"Get ready for the game of Capture the Flag! Campers will be the Blue team, take the West woods. Hunters, Red team, East woods! I will serve as your medic and referee. Please no intentional maiming or killing! There will be consequences," he continues.

Once I finish strapping on my armor, I decide to look for Percy and tell him the plan I have in store.

"Percy!" I say to him once I've found him. He ignores me and continues adjusting his armor strap.

"Hey, Seaweed Brain," I tell him once I've gotten close.

"Hi," he mumbles so quietly, I could barely hear him.

"Well, isn't someone just as cheery as Apollo today?" I ask him sarcastically.

He turns around to look at me. "Oh, hey, Annabeth," he says, smiling.

I laugh. "Are you ready to kick the Hunter's over egotistical butts'?"

"Uh, duh," he says, smiling. "Who's captain though?"

"You're looking at her," I reply.

"Awesome. There is no way we could loose with you as captain."

I blush at the comment. "Thanks . . . ." Then I clear my throat and loudly say, "Everybody gather up!"

Soon after I said that, everybody circles around Percy and I.

"Okay, so I told all of you you're positions before, but if you need a reminder, just tell me. Everyone got it?" I say, loud enough for all the campers to hear.

Everyone nods and goes to their positions, but Percy stands around – probably because I didn't instruct him were to go.

I sigh. "You're offense. Try to get the flag without getting caught. You don't have to worry on protecting the base because the half of the Hephaestus cabin is there. Aphrodite, Hermes, the other half of the Hephaestus cabin, and Demeter cabins are sending the decoy – "

"Okay Annabeth, I didn't ask for the whole report." He replies jokingly.

"Haha," I say rolling my eyes. "Go towards the right side, I'll go to the left side. Meet me at their base and hide the flag behind your back. I'll run first and send all of them coming towards me while you run as fast as you can to the West woods, our side. Okay?"

"Yes ma'am!" He says mockingly.

"Whatever," I tell him with a light shove.

"Campers, Hunters, are you ready?" Chiron says loudly.

Everyone responds by either raising their weapons or shields, or by simply yelling, "Yes!"

"Go!" Chiron yells.

I look around for Percy and once our eyes meet, I give him a sign with my hands. I signed: Wait. It was made by a peace sign. I see him give me a slight nod that you will only catch if you are really looking for it. I look straight ahead then back at Percy's path and nodded. It meant he should run full speed into the Hunter's base.

As Percy crosses, I see Thalia watching him, looking ready to attack at any minute. Not wanting the plan to be ruined, I run to Thalia and leap in front of her.

"Annabeth," she gasps, surprised.

"Didn't think I'd let you ruin the plan, did I?" I ask rhetorically, getting my weapon out.

She smiles. "Wanna fight, Annie?"

I answer by unsheathing my knife.

She took hers out as well and we began to spar. We block and attack and slash at each other, but we were pretty evenly matched. The same thing – just a different routine – happens until I see Percy looking at me.

"Go!" I mouth to him, praying to the gods that he got the message.

A slash next to my side jolts me out of my focus on Percy.

I turn to Thalia with a, "What the Hades?" look on my face.

She shrugs. "You weren't paying attention. I was about to knock you down, but I decided against it."

"Oh," I say, "well thanks I . . . ."

I don't finish my sentence. Thalia holds her knife against my throat and smirks.

"I already gave you a warning," she smiles evilly, "now you're going to ja – "

She stops and almost drops her weapon.

"What is it?" I ask her, worried.

She points to the general direction she is looking in and I turn to face it in time to see a silvery-gray light and a fluffy, snow white owl feather drifting towards the ground.

I turn back to her, confused. "What was that?"

"I'm not sure . . . . But, you know I was facing towards the light, right?"

"Um, yeah," I answer unevenly, "what did you see?"

"Well, I saw that . . . ." she looks at me uncomfortably. "Well, Percy was in that light."

I furrow my eyebrows, waiting for her to explain. When she doesn't, I ask, "What are you thinking about, Thals?"

"Well, you know how when gods change into their real form, a bright, blinding, and deadly light surrounds them?" Thalia asks.

"Yes, but what are you suggesting? That a god suddenly decided to drop by for a visit, changed into his true form, and just happened to be next to Percy, causing him to die? That seems unlikely to me," I state.

"Okay, I see your point, I guess. Still, how do you explain the pure white owl feather?" Thalia questions.

"Explanation: There are owls all around the woods." I say. Well it was sort of a lie; there aren't that many owls around here . . . and the ones that are here don't have pure white feathers . . . .

Thalia walks over to the feather, picks it up, and shows me it. "Have you ever seen any owls as white as this feather?" She asks, stating what I just thought.

"Well . . . no. What are you trying to say, Thalia?" I ask, finally losing it. "You don't really think a god just thought of dropping by and kidnapping Percy, did you?"

"I don't know," Thalia snaps, then takes a deep breath. "Look, I saw what I saw, but . . . I guess it does seem unlikely."

"Yeah," I sigh. "Let's just drop it."

"You're probably right anyway; Percy is just somewhere."

"'Mmhmm, but if Percy is here somewhere, I hope he gets the flag soon, because it looks like a Hunter is at our base . . . ." I gasp. "Oh, Styx! She just got the flag!"

"Yeah! Go Katelyn!" Thalia screams.

That was her biggest mistake. After she yells that almost everyone in my team runs towards her, weapons at their sides, but still ready to attack.

Some of the archers shoot arrows on the ground; where they think Katelyn would step next, but it doesn't work. She jumps and dodges until she finally crosses the boundary line.

"Ugh!" I groan, ticked off at Percy for not getting the flag – where the Hades is he?

Out of nowhere, Chiron appears and says, "And the Hunters win! Again . . . ."

I go to my team while Thalia goes to congratulate Kate.

"Annabeth!" someone calls. "I thought your plan would work! Where were you? Where is Percy? Last I saw both of you guys were when Percy was at the base and you were fighting Thalia! But I expected one of you guys to get the flag!"

"Sorry," I yell back to the person. "I didn't know where he was . . . or where he is right now. Hey, can anyone see him right now?"

Some people look around and shake their heads.

Panic starts to fill my body. Is Percy really gone? No. He's probably just talking to someone . . . . I hope.

A/N: Hi! So like, do you like it so far? I think I put too much on the first chapter and should have made a prologue, but I really wanted to get this on – it's only around 2,000 words; just the chapter, not the A/N (:

For you new readers, hope you keep reading and I will be updating soon! (: Hopefully by, like, Tuesday. For the old readers, I want you to know I like rewrote it because I think it is more professional and better like this style. Do you like it? (; I'm always looking forward to your input!

So, hasta luego, me corazones! (:

(Or, see you later, my hearts! Though it doesn't really make sense . . . don't bug me about it -.- Haha xD)