The truth was, Percy was feeling the same way he was sure that Gohan was feeling. He wanted to strangle the Hunters of Artemis one eternal maiden at a time. The rest of the day Percy tried to keep busy, but he was worried sick about Annabeth. He went to javelin-throwing class, but the Ares camper in charge chewed me out after Percy got distracted and threw the javelin at the target before he got out of the way. Percy apologized for the hole in his pants, but he still sent Percy packing.
Percy visited the pegasus stables. However, there was an Aphrodite camper was having a heated argument with one of the Hunters, and he decided he'd better not get involved.
After that, Percy sat in the empty chariot stands and sulked. Down at the archery fields, Chiron was conducting target practice. Percy knew he'd be the best person to talk to. Maybe he could give Percy some advice, but something held him back. He had a feeling Chiron would try to protect him, like he always did. He might not tell him everything he knew.
He looked the other direction. At the top of Half-Blood Hill, Mr. D and Argus were feeding the baby dragon that guarded the Golden Fleece. Then, something else caught Gohan's attention: Gohan was walking past past the Big House with Beckendorf, Silena, and a few other campers, clutching a rolled up paper. Percy was curious, to say the least. Just what was Gohan up to?
Then it occurred to Percy that distracted him: no one would be in the Big House. There was someone else... something else he could ask for guidance.
His blood was humming in his ears as he ran into the house and took the stairs. He'd only done this once before, and he still had nightmares about it. He opened the trap door and stepped into the attic.
The room was dark and dusty and cluttered with junk, just like he remembered. There were shields with monster bites out of them, and swords bent in the shapes of daemon heads, and a bunch of taxidermy, like a stuffed harpy and a bright orange python.
Over by the window, sitting on a three-legged stool, was the shriveled-up mummy of an old lady in a tie-dyed hippie dress. The Oracle.
Percy made himself walk toward her. He waited for green mist to billow from the mummy's mouth, like it had before, but nothing happened.
"Hi," Percy said. "Uh, what's up?"
No answer.
"I have a question," Percy said a little louder. "I need to know about Annabeth. How can I save her?"
Still no answer. The sun slanted through the dirty attic window, lighting the dust motes dancing in the air.
Percy waited longer. Then he got angry. He was being stonewalled by a corpse. "All right," he said. "Fine. I'll figure it out myself."
He turned and bumped into a big table full of souvenirs. It seemed more cluttered than the last time he was here. Heroes stored all kinds of stuff in the attic: quest trophies they no longer wanted to keep in their cabins, or stuff that held painful memories. Percy knew Luke had stored a dragon claw somewhere up here—the one that had scarred his face.
There was a broken sword hilt labeled: This broke and Leroy got killed. 1999.
Then, he noticed a pink silk scarf with a label attached to it. He picked up the tag and tried to read it:
SCARF OF THE GODDESS APHRODITE
RECOVERED AT WATERLAND, DENVER, CO., BY ANNABETH CHASE, PERCY JACKSON AND GOHAN.
He stared at the scarf. He'd totally forgotten about it. Two years ago, Annabeth had ripped this scarf out of Percy's hands after Gohan had gotten a facefull of the stuff and gone love-crazy, even kissing Annabeth. Percy had a funny feeling that that had been the first kiss for both of them. To say the two had both had been embarrassed and mortified by the whole ordeal was an understatement. Notably, at the time, they hadn't known who exactly Gohan was at the time: he'd still had amnesia from arriving from his world. That had been the first adventure the three had ever had together.
Honestly, Percy had just assumed she'd thrown it away, or burnt the thing. And yet here it was. She'd kept it all this time? And why had she stashed it in the attic? Percy shook his head.
It almost seemed ironic now. Love magic had seemed so silly back then, but then love magic had driven Gohan crazy and nearly gotten them killed. Just went to show you how dangerous and double-bladed love could be.
Percy turned to the mummy. She hadn't moved, but the shadows across her face made it look like she was smiling gruesomely.
Percy dropped the scarf and tried not to run toward the exit.
That night after dinner, Percy was seriously ready to beat the Hunters at capture the flag. It was going to be a small game: only thirteen Hunters, including Bianca di Angelo, and about the same number of campers.
Zoe Nightshade looked pretty upset. She kept glancing resentfully at Chiron, like she couldn't believe he was making her do this. The other Hunters didn't look too happy, either. Unlike last night, they weren't laughing or joking around. They just huddled together in the dining pavilion, whispering nervously to each other as they strapped on their armor. Some of them even looked like they'd been crying. Clearly, Zoe had told them about her nightmare.
On the Camp team, they had Beckendorf and two other Hephaestus guys, a few from the Ares cabin (though it still seemed strange that Clarisse wasn't around), the Stoll brothers and Nico from Hermes cabin, and a few Aphrodite kids. It was shocking just how raring to go the Aphrodite campers were.
"I'll show them 'love is worthless,'" Silena Beauregard grumbled as she strapped on her armor. "I'll pulverize them!" She nodded at Gohan, who nodded back.
That left Percy, and Gohan.
"Okay, spill it! What's this plan of yours that I heard about?" Percy asked. Gohan simply cocked his head and smiled.
"It's need to know."
"We're co-captains! And I'm your best friend!"
"Percy, trust me. I want those Hunters to lose even more than you." At that moment, Thalia strode up
She already had Aegis on her arm, and even their own teammates were giving her a wide berth, trying not to cower before the bronze head of Medusa. Gohan, showing impressive fortitude, merely winching.
"It's simple. I take the offense," Thalia volunteered. "Percy takes defense."
"And me?" Gohan asked. Thalia rolled her eyes.
"Just stay out of my way."
"Ummm… Don't you think with your shield and all, you'd be better defense?" Percy spoke up.
"Well, I was thinking it would make better offense," Thalia said. "Besides, you've had more practice at defense."
"I think Gohan should be defensive. Let him guard the flag. There's no one anyone can take him." Gohan simply shrugged.
"Yeah, no problem," Gohan answered. Percy gave him a curious look. Just what was Gohan's big plan?
"Cool." Thalia turned to help some of the Aphrodite kids, who were having trouble suiting up their armor without breaking their nails. Nico di Angelo ran up to them with a big grin on his face.
"This is awesome!" His blue-feathered bronze helmet was falling in his eyes, and his breastplate was about six sizes too big. Gohan couldn't help but smile. He wondered if there was any way he'd looked that ridiculous when he was that young. He probably had. Though, no way he looked that silly in that armor.
Nico lifted his sword with effort. "Do we get to kill the other team?"
"No. You never kill unless you have to, under extreme circumstances. Life or death." Nico shifted nervously.
"But the Hunters are immortal, right?" "
That's only if they don't fall in battle. Besides—"
"It would be awesome if we just, like, resurrected as soon as we were killed, so we could keep fighting, and—"
"Nico, this isn't a video game." Percy interrupted.
"He's right. This is serious. Real weapons. These can hurt."
He stared at Gohan, a little disappointed, and he realized that he sounded just sounded like his mother. All the times she had forbidden him to fight because of how dangerous it was. Whoa. When did that happen.
Quickly, Gohan patted Nico on the shoulder. "Hey, it's cool. Just follow the team. Stay out of Zoe and Thalia's way. We're gonna have a ton of fun."
Chiron's hoof thundered on the pavilion floor.
"Heroes!" he called. "You know the rules! The creek is the boundary line. Blue team— Camp Half-Blood—shall take the west woods. Hunters of Artemis—red team—shall take the east woods. I will serve as referee and battlefield medic. No intentional maiming, please! All magic items are allowed. To your positions!"
"Sweet," Nico whispered. "What kind of magic items? Do I get one?"
Percy was about to answer when Thalia said, "Blue team! Follow me!"
"Come on! Let's show these Hunters why we're the best!" Gohan roared.
They cheered and followed. Percy had to run to catch up, and tripped over somebody's shield, so he didn't look much like a co-captain compared to Gohan and Thalia. More like an idiot.
They set their flag at the top of Zeus's Fist. It's this cluster of boulders in the middle of the west woods that, if you look at it just the right way, looks like a huge fist sticking out of the ground. If you look at it from any other side, it looks like a pile of enormous deer droppings, but Chiron wouldn't let us call the place the Poop Pile, especially after it had been named for Zeus, who doesn't have much of a sense of humor.
Anyway, it was a smart place to set the flag. The top boulder was twenty feet tall and really hard to climb, so the flag was clearly visible, like the rules said it had to be, and it didn't matter that the guards weren't allowed to stand within ten yards of it.
Gohan set Nico on guard duty with Beckendorf and the Stoll brothers, figuring he'd be safely out of the way. He remembered what he had been in his very first battle. He was not proud to admit that he had chickened out more than once during the battle against Vegeta and Nappa. Better to keep Nico out of harm's way. No telling what a newbie might do in his first battle.
"Okay guys, you remember what to do?" Gohan called out. He got an enthusiastic response from the gathered campers, except for puzzled looks from Percy and Thalia
"Remember, no one slip up! Beckendorf and Silena will lead the groups on the left and right. We'll send out decoys in all directions. Make sure you get their attention."
"On it!" Then, Gohan turned to Thalia.
"Thalia, go down the center. The Hunters will charge out to face you, and the flankers can grab the flag. Me, Percy and the rest will stay behind to guard the flag. Make sure no one gets past us." Percy was a little surprised. That was Gohan's big plan? The one he had been planning all day? It seemed a little…
"Simple! That is the simplest plan I've ever heard! You really think that'll work against the Hunters?" Thalia scoffed, shaking her head in disbelief. Gohan simply smirked.
"Let's let everyone else vote. Guys?" The others looked between Gohan and Thalia before raising their hands.
"I like it." Beckendorf volunteered.
"Same here." Silena added. Now Percy was even more confused.
Thalia scoffed in disbelief before throwing her hands up in the air.
"FINE! Go with the guy who's never been a leader in his life. Enjoy losing to the Hunters!" She poked Gohan in the chest and shocked him. Like, electric shocked him. Not that it actually hurt him, more like just annoyed him. Still, she's been known to fry off people's eyebrows.
Thalia looked at Percy. "Anything to add?"
"Um, yeah. Keep sharp on defense. We've got four guards, two scouts. That's not much for a big forest. Yell if you need help."
"And don't leave your post!" Thalia said. "Unless you see a golden opportunity," Percy added. Thalia scowled. "Just don't leave your post." "Right, unless—"
"Percy!" Now it was Gohan who barked the order. Everyone was momentarily stunned by the sheer fierceness of the command.
"Now, is everybody clear?"
Everybody nodded. They broke into their smaller groups. The horn sounded, and the game began.
Silena's group disappeared into the woods on the left. Thalia's group gave it a few seconds, then darted off toward the right.
Percy waited for something to happen. He climbed Zeus's Fist and had a good view over the forest. Gohan paced around the bottom, a calm look on his face.
Percy remembered how the Hunters had stormed out of the woods when they fought the manticore, and he was prepared for something like that—one huge charge that could overwhelm them. But nothing happened. Yells emerged from the forest, as well as the sound of steel clashing.
Percy caught a glimpse of Silena and her two scouts. They ran through a clearing, followed by five of the Hunters, leading them deep into the woods and away from Thalia. The plan seemed to be working. Then Percy spotted another clump of Hunters heading to the right, bows ready. They must've spotted Thalia.
"Perfect…" Gohan whispered.
"What's happening?" Nico demanded, standing next to Gohan.
Percy's mind was racing. Thalia would never get through, but the Hunters were divided. With that many on either flank, their center had to be wide open. If he moved fast... he knew Gohan had a plan, but this was a golden opportunity.
Percy looked at Conner Stoll. "Can you guys hold the fort?" He snorted. "Of course." "I'm going in. The Stoll brothers and Nico cheered as Percy raced toward the boundary line.
"Percy!" he heard Gohan's voice yell. But Percy ignored him.
Percy was running at top speed and he felt great. Percy leaped over the creek into enemy territory. He could see their silver flag up ahead, only two guards, who weren't even looking in his direction. Percy heard fighting to his left and right, somewhere in the woods. He had it made.
The first guard turned at the last minute. It was Bianca di Angelo. Her eyes widened as he slammed into her and she went sprawling in the snow.
"Sorry!" Percy yelled. He whirled to see himself facing down a notched arrow. The hunter, who he recognized as Phoebe, glared at him.
"Oh. Ummm… hi." Then, a loud THWAK echoed as Phoebe let out a grunt, before slumping to the ground. Gohan sighed as he lowered his hand and stepped over the unconscious Hunter.
"What happened to defending the flag?" Gohan asked, visibly annoyed.
"I could say the same to you." Percy countered, looking at the flag.
"Oh please, after you." Percy needed no other motivation, ripping down the silver silk flag from the tree and taking off, Gohan hot on his heels.
Percy was ten yards away before Bianca managed to yell for help. He thought they were home free.
ZIP. A silvery cord raced across his ankles and fastened to the tree next to me. A trip wire, fired from a bow! Before he could even think about stopping, he went down hard, sprawling in the snow. Gohan darted past him. It was like nothing could touch him.
"Percy!" Thalia yelled, off to his left. "What are you guys doing?"
Before she reached him, an arrow exploded at her feet and a cloud of yellow smoke billowed around her team. They started coughing and gagging. He could smell the gas from across the woods—the horrible smell of sulfur.
"No fair!" Thalia gasped. "Fart arrows are unsportsmanlike!"
Percy got up and started running again. Only a few more yards to the creek and he had the game. More arrows whizzed past his ears. A Hunter came out of nowhere and slashed at him with her knife, but he parried and kept running.
"Gohan! A little help here!" Percy looked around, but Gohan seemed to have vanished.
He heard yelling from their side of the creek. Beckendorf and Nico were running toward him. To his horror, he saw they were chasing someone—Zoe Nightshade, racing toward him like a cheetah, dodging campers with no trouble. And she had their flag in her hands. Yells emerged as Silena and the others burst out of the woods, hunters hot on their tail.
"No!" He yelled, and poured on the speed. At that moment… out of nowhere, Gohan leaped from the trees and landed in the creek. He thrust his fist out at Zoe, slamming her with a burst of wind and sending her flying back. However, she managed to roll in the air and leap back to her geet, glaring at Gohan.
"NOW!" he roared. Beckendorf nodded and pulled out what looked like a light-switch, flicking it. Then, with a loud cranking noise, what looked like a circle of full-sized mirrors sprang up around the creek, reflecting the expression of the surprised and confused Hunters. It was like looking in a mirror funhouse. Completely cutting off anyone off. Silena, Beckendorf, and the other campers save Percy and Thalia dropped to the ground and covered their eyes. Zoe looked around in confusion, before her eyes widened in realization.
"It's a trap!" she roared.
"SOLAR FLARE!" Gohan roared as he raised his hands to his head. A burst of brilliant light burst out from him. The Hunters screamed as they dropped their weapons and clawed at their eyes. Zoe had managed to partially cover her eyes, but still got a nasty burst of the light. Thalia screeched in rage.
"Asshole!" she roared as she desperately rubbed at her eyes. Percy groaned. He should have known.
"YOU!" she seethed as the flag dropped, hitting the ground with a loud THUD. She hissed as she held up her knives, stumbling forward, spots swimming in front of her eyes as the image of Gohan danced around. Gohan calmly pulled out Ascension. Zoe darted at him, but Gohan simply jumped back, dodging the hunter. She hissed as she charged at swung at Gohan, but no matter what she did, she couldn't seem to be able to touch him. The other campers watched in awe, and even let out a gasp of awe when Gohan completely ducked under Zoe's double stab, flipping and whirling to face her.
"A real warrior knows when to accept defeat." Zoe seethed. Clearly, this was someone who didn't like the word defeat.
"I will never be defeated by an Otherworlder! Never!" Gohan simply cocked his head and smiled.
"You already have. You just haven't realized it." Then, to everyone's surprise, Gohan lowered his blade.
"Screaming, Zoe rushed at the defenseless boy, clearly expecting him to jump or duck out of the way. However, she and her blades passed right through Gohan, meeting no resistance. As if she had passed through a ghost. She whirled to face Gohan, looking at him in both confusion and disbelief. He simply grinned as he held up his free hand and wiggled his fingers.
"Told you that you already lost. You might want to turn around." Zoe's eyes widened before whirling. To her shock and disbelief, there was a second Gohan standing on the Camp's side of the creek, holding both flags with a big grin on his face. Zoe gaped in shock, whirling back to look at the first. She raised her knife and hurled it at him, but the knife simply flew through him and landed on the ground. He grinned.
"Made you look." Then, that Gohan faded away, leaving a thunderstruck Zoe. The other Gohan grinned as he raised both flags. For a second, there was silence. Then, the campers let out a roar of excitement as they rushed Gohan and lifted him onto their shoulders.
"I cannot believe that worked!" Beckendorf laughed!
"You better put our mirrors back in perfect condition!" Silena ordered, but quickly smiled, clearly ecstatic at putting one over on the Hunters. The Hunters themselves were thunderstruck, shocked at their loss. Many of them were still rubbing their eyes, still suffering the effects of Gohan's solar flare.
Chiron appeared out of the woods, looking both surprised and elated.. He had the Stoll brothers on his back, and it looked as if both of them had taken some nasty whacks to the head. Connor Stoll had two arrows sticking out of his helmet like antennae.
"Camp Half-Blood win! For the first time… ever!" Chiron announced with pleasure.
Then he muttered, "Finally, after fifty-fifty time losses in a row." Gohan grinned as he got back on his feet.
"So. That was your plan all along? Lure the hunters into this giant elaborate trap and blind them?"
"A part of it, yes."
"How'd you pull off that double trick?"
"A ki projection. A new trick that I've been working on. Not as much energy needed as a full double, but still does the job."
"HEY!" Thalia yelled, storming toward Percy and Gohan. She smelled like rotten eggs, and blinking hard to get the spots out of her eyes. She was so mad that blue sparks flickered on her armor. Everybody cringed and backed up because of Aegis.
"What in the name of the gods were you THINKING?" she bellowed.
"What's the big deal? We won!" Gohan protested.
"And you didn't think to let me or Percy in on your elaborate scheme?! I can barely see!" Gohan smirked.
"I needed some unpredictability. Who better than the camp's biggest hotheads?" Thalia hissed in rage at the insult.
"You're calling me a hothead? Your plan was way too stupid and complicated! It almost failed!"
"But it didn't! We won! Come on, let's celebrate! Who cares how we did it, but we did! So it wasn't by your plan, but who cares-"
"Argh! You're so STUPID!" Thalia pushed him, and a shock went through his body that blew the young saiyan backward ten feet into the water. Some of the campers gasped. A couple of the Hunters stifled laughs, clearly happy to see the boy who humiliated them getting shocked.
"Sorry!" Thalia said, turning pale. "I didn't mean to—"
"WHAT THE HELL?" Percy roared as he raced to Gohan's side, helping the stunned young man to his feet.
"Ow." Gohan blinked, his hair standing on end.
Anger roared in Percy's ears. A wave erupted from the creek, blasting into Thalia's face and dousing her from head to toe.
"That's for blasting my friend!"
Thalia was breathing heavily, her face contorted with rage.
"Enough!" Chiron ordered.
But Thalia held out her spear. "You want some, Seaweed Brain?"
Somehow, it was okay when Annabeth called him that—at least, he'd gotten used to it— but hearing it from Thalia was not cool.
"Bring it on, Pinecone Face!"
Percy raised Riptide, but before he could even defend myself, Thalia yelled, and a blast of lightning came down from the sky, hit her spear like a lightning rod, and shot towards Percy. But then, Gohan leaped in front of Percy, crossing his arms together just as the lighting hit. Thalia's eyes widened in horror as several of the campers gasped. But when the smoke faded, it was replaced with another surprising sight: a shimmering blue ki shield. Gohan's eyes narrowed as he glared at Thalia, the shield dissipating.
"Thalia!" Chiron said. "That is enough!"
Percy snarled as he willed the entire creek to rise. It swirled up, hundreds of gallons of water in a massive icy funnel cloud.
"Percy!" Chiron pleaded.
"ENOUGH!" Then, to Percy's shock, Gohan trapped both him and Thalia into headlocks, one arm each. The water splashed back into the creekbed. Thalia screeched as she flailed, punching Gohan in the back.
"Let go!" she ordered as she waved her arms in desperation, but Gohan simply growled.
"Not until you calm down!" However, Gohan was then distracted when he saw something in the woods. He lost all his concentration all at once, letting go Percy and Thalia. They were so surprised that they turned to see what he was looking at.
Someone... something was approaching. It was shrouded in a murky green mist, but as it got closer, the campers and Hunters gasped.
"This is impossible," Chiron said. Gohan had never heard him sound so nervous. "It... she has never left the attic. Never."
And yet, the withered mummy that held the Oracle shuffled forward until she stood in the center of the group. Mist curled around their feet, turning the snow a sickly shade of green.
No one dared move. Then her voice hissed inside Gohan's head. Apparently everyone could hear it, because several clutched their hands over the ears.
I am the sprit of Delphi, the voice said. Speaker of the prophecies of Phoebus Apollo, slayer of the mighty Python.
The Oracle regarded the saiyan with its cold, dead eyes. Then she turned unmistakably toward Zoe Nightshade. Approach, Seeker, and ask.
Zoe swallowed. "What must I do to help my goddess?"
The Oracle's mouth opened, and green mist poured out. He saw the vague image of a mountain, and a girl standing at the barren peak. It was Artemis, but she was wrapped in chains, fettered to the rocks. She was kneeling, her hands raised as if to fend off an attacker, and it looked like she was in pain. A large dark shadow loomed over her, its red eyes gleaming.
The Oracle spoke:
Six shall go west to the goddess in chains, One shall be lost in the land without rain, one will be lost to the wall of water. Beware the lies of the false owl. The bane of Olympus shows the trail, Campers and Hunters combined prevail, The Titan's curse must one withstand,
And one shall perish by a parent's hand.
Then, as they were watching, the mist swirled and retreated like a great green serpent into the mummy's mouth. The Oracle sat down on a rock and became as still as she'd been in the attic, as if she might sit by this creek for a hundred years.