Disclaimer: I don't own PJO. Glad everyone's enjoying it. I hope everyone's pleased with how I did Ana taking the sky.

Chapter Six

The Deathly Prophecy

The next morning after breakfast, I told Grover about my dream. We sat in the meadow watching the satyrs chase the wood nymphs through the snow. The nymphs had promised to kiss the satyrs if they got caught, but they hardly ever did. Usually the nymph would let the satyr get up a full head of steam, then she'd turn into a snow-covered tree and the poor, idiot satyr would slam into it headfirst and get a pile of snow dumped on him.

When I told Grover my nightmare, he started twirling his finger in his shaggy leg fur anxiously.

"I can't contact her at all," he admitted. "I've tried, but.." He trailed off.

"Nothing? Do you feel anything at all?"

Grover shrugged helplessly. "Nothing. Where ever she's being held is blocked from me somehow. But after what Zoe dreamed—"

"Whoa. What do you mean? Zoe had a dream? A demigod one?" I hadn't thought that Zoe was a half-blood. Actually, I had no clue what she was.

"I… I don't know, exactly," Grover stammered. There were dark circles under his eyes, and I felt a stab of guilt. As much as it felt like I was the only one concerned for Ana, I knew that wasn't true. She was very loved

"About three in the morning she came to the Big House and demanded to talk to Chiron," Grover explained. "She looked really panicked."

I paused as a thought occurred to me. "Wait, how do you know this?"

Grover blushed. "I was sort of camped outside the Artemis cabin."

I stared at him in disbelief. Whether at his actions themselves or the fact that he hadn't been killed for them yet, I'm not sure. "What for?"

"Just to be, you know, near them."

"You're a stalker with hooves."

"No I'm not!"

"Yes you are. When we get her back, I'm telling Ana, and she's gonna kill you."

"I am not a stalker! Anyway, I followed her to the Big House and hid in a bush and watched the whole thing. She got real upset when Argus wouldn't let her in. It was kind of a dangerous scene."

I tried to imagine that. Argus was the head of security for camp—a big blonde dude with eyes all over his body with legendary skills. He rarely showed himself unless something serious was going on. I wouldn't want to place bets on a fight between him and Zoe Nightshade.

"What did she say?" I asked, returning to the important part of the story.

Grover grimaced. "Well, she starts talking really old-fashioned when she gets upset, so it was kind of hard to understand. But something about Artemis being in trouble and needing the Hunters. And then she called Argus a boil-brained lout… I think that's a bad thing. And then he called her—"

"Whoa, wait. How could Artemis be in trouble? She's a goddess!"

"I… well, finally Chiron came out in his pajamas and his horse tail in curlers and—"

"He wears curlers in his tail?" Gods, I wished I could have seen that.

Grover covered his mouth looking guilty. My mental Ana scolded me for gossiping about Chiron and priorities.

"Sorry," I said. "Go on. What happened then?"

"Well, Zoe said she needed permission to leave camp immediately. Chiron refused. He reminded Zoe that the Hunters were supposed to stay here until they received orders from Artemis. And she said…" Grover gulped. "She said 'How are we to get orders from Artemis if Artemis is lost?'"

"Shit." That was all I could say or think. The goddess of the hunt and a Great Prophecy candidate had both been taken captive! We were in so much trouble, I could barely breathe. Ana's face, twisted in agony as she struggled to hold up the cavern ceiling, flashed in my mind.

"Surely they aren't powerful enough to capture an Olympian already," I breathed desperately. It was a horrific prospect, especially when taking into account the fact that the Council wasn't even openly acknowledging that we were at war, or that Kronos was reforming.

"I think that somebody would know if Kronos had finished reforming," Grover pointed out cautiously. "The gods would be more nervous. But still, it's weird, you having a nightmare the same night as Zoe. It's almost like—"

"They're connected," I finished. I would have been shocked if they weren't.

Over in the frozen meadow, a satyr skidded on his hooves as he chased after a redheaded tree nymph. She giggled and held out her arms as he ran toward her. Pop! She turned into a Scotch pine and he kissed the trunk at top speed, and the satyr toppled over onto his back in surprise at the abrupt impact.

"Ah, love," Grover said dreamily.

I thought about Zoe's nightmare, which she'd had only a few hours after mine, and came to a grim decision. And possibly a suicidal one, too. "I've got to talk to Zoe," I announced.

"Um, before you do…" Grover took something out of his coat pocket. It was a three-fold display like a travel brochure. "You remember what you said—about how it was weird the Hunters just happened to show up at Westover Hall? I think that they might've been scouting us."

"Scouting us? What do you mean?"

He gave me the brochure. It was about the Hunters of Artemis. The front read, A WISE CHOICE FOR YOUR FUTURE! Inside were pictures of young maidens doing hunter stuff, chasing monsters, shooting bows, running with wolves. There were captions like: HEALTH BENEFITS: IMMORTALITY AND WHAT IT MEANS FOR YOU! and A BOY-FREE TOMORROW!

"I found that in Ana's backpack," Grover told.

I stared at him blankly, refusing to understand the implications of what he was staying. Surely, Grover meant something else.

"I don't understand."

"Well, it seems to me… maybe Ana was thinking about joining."

I'd like to say I took the news well. Truthfully, I didn't. I found an empty spot, set up some feminine-shaped automatons, and spent the rest of the day hacking the dummies to pieces while arguing with myself whether or not Ana would ever join the Hunters.

I remembered the admiration in Ana's voice the few times the Hunters had come up in conversation between us. She admired them, their strength and independence, and Artemis was one of the few immortals Ana considered worth a second thought. And, if she were frozen at fourteen, she would be relieved of her fear of turning sixteen.

But she also hated the thought of immortality fiercely. Would loath giving up her friends for the rest of eternity. It just wasn't in her. And the Hunters all hated men. Ana didn't. She wasn't the type of person to judge everyone because of the actions of a few. If she joined the Hunters, their collective bitterness towards males would destroy her, I just knew it.

That night after dinner, I 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 armour. Some of them even looked like they'd been crying. I guess that Zoe had told them about her nightmare.

On our team, we had Beckendorf and two of his brothers, Jake and Isaac, Ellis, Jason and Sherman from the Ares cabin, the Stolls, Nico and I from Hermes cabin, and Silena, Laurel and Mitchell from the Aphrodite.

"I'll show them 'love is worthless,'" Silena grumbled angrily as she strapped on her armour. She and her siblings had been raring for blood since the Hunters had arrived. Frankly, I was feeling kind of terrified of them right now. Who knew what Silena was planning on doing with that nail scissors? "I'll pulverize them!"

That left Thalia and me.

"I'll take the offense," Thalia volunteered. "You take defence."

"Oh." I hesitated, because I'd been about to say the exact same thing, only reversed. "Don't you think with your shield and all, you'd be better defence?" I loved Thalia, and we rarely argued. But I wanted those damn girls to pay. If they hadn't interfered, Thorn would never have taken Ana.

Thalia already had Aegis on her arm, and even our own teammates were giving her a wide berth, trying not to cower before the bronze head of Medusa. I hated the shield, but not because of the image itself (though I didn't like that either, trust me.) No, my problem was the memories it invoked. Hal Green and Aunty Em's Garden Gnome Emporium were not fond recollections.

"Well, I was thinking it would make better offense," Thalia replied. Our eyes met, and we had a silent conversation. I lost.

I slumped in resignation. "Yeah, no problem," I lied.

"Cool." Thalia turned to help Laurel, who's long red (it's auburn, Luke, Mental Ana corrected me snarkily) hair had gotten stuck in her breastplate. Nico came running up to me with a big grin on his face.

"Luke, this is awesome!" His blue-feathered bronze helmet was falling in his eyes, and his breastplate was about six sizes too big. Everyone always looked so ridiculous when they first arrived. He'd look less like a toddler playing dress up once he finally copped on to the fact that this was real life, not his game where the only thing that got hurt if you lost was the player's pride.

Nico lifted his sword with effort. "Do we get to kill the other team?"

I eyed him warily. "Well… no." Not that the small boy would be able to kill anybody for a while. That sword definitely wasn't the right fit for him.

"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 is serious," I cut him off. "These are real swords. They can hurt."

He stared at me, looking disappointed at my words, but I couldn't bring myself to regret what I'd said. He had touched on a sore point for pretty much everybody in camp. Monsters were reborn, centuries, decades, even weeks after being defeated. But demigods? Elysium was the only way that'd happen, and if you chose rebirth, you still wouldn't see the people you loved again. Nico was a nice kid, but at the moment, all I wished was for him to grow up and realize this wasn't a game, it was real life, and people didn't come back after being killed.

I patted Nico on the shoulder, trying to summon up some of my cheer. "Hey, it's cool. Just follow the team. Stay out of Zoe's way. We'll have a blast."

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 next to me. "What kind of magic items? Do I get one?"

I was about to explain that he didn't, they tended to be spoils of war or parental gifts, when I heard Thalia calling, "Blue team! Follow me!"

They cheered and followed, as I hastened to catch up to her and we led the way to our pre-chosen spot.

We set our flag at the top of Zeus' Fist. It was deep into the western section of the woods, in an easily defensible clearing. Given its' location, it was a good 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.

I set Nico on guard duty with Beckendorf and the Stolls, figuring he'd be safely out of the way, while still feeling included.

"We'll send out a decoy to the left," Thalia told the team. "Silena, you lead that."

"Got it!"

"Take Laurel and Jason. They're good runners. Make a wide arc around the Hunters, attract as many as you can. I'll take the main raiding party around to the right and catch them by surprise."

Everybody nodded. It sounded good, and Thalia said it with such confidence you couldn't help but believe it would work.

Thalia looked at me. "Anything to add, Luke?"

I nodded, falling into the role of leader with ease, though I had been acting as second-in-command since Ana came to camp. "Yeah. Keep sharp on defence. We've got four guards, two scouts. That's not much for a big forest, and this sort of terrain is the Hunters' territory. I'll be roving. Yell if you need help."

"And don't leave your post!" Thalia added.

"Exactly."

Everybody nodded. We broke into our 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.

I waited for something to happen. I flew up to the top of Zeus' Fist and gained a good view over the forest.

I remembered how the Hunters had stormed out of the woods when they fought the manticore, and I was prepared for a huge charge that could overwhelm us, as well as a subtle ambush that utilized their talents of camouflage. But nothing happened. It freaked me out, and the urge to go and find out what was happening poked at me.

I 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 I spotted another clump of Hunters heading to the right, bows ready. They must've spotted Thalia.

"What's happening?" Nico demanded, trying to climb up next to me.

My mind was racing. Thalia would never get through, but the Hunters were divided. With that many on either flank, their centre had to be wide open. I had my shoes, and if I moved fast…

I looked at Beckendorf. "Can you guys hold the fort?"

Beckendorf snorted. "Of course."

"I'm going in," I announced. "Maia!"

The Stoll brothers and Nico cheered as I raced toward the boundary line.

I was flying at top speed and it felt great. I sped over the creek into enemy territory. I could see their silver flag up ahead, only one guard, who wasn't even looking in my direction. I heard fighting to my left and right, somewhere in the woods. I was so close to winning I could almost taste it.

The guard turned at the last minute. It was Bianca di'Angelo. Her eyes widened as I slammed into her and she went sprawling in the snow.

Without giving her a chance to react, I ripped down the silver silk flag from the tree and took off again.

I was ten yards away before Bianca managed to yell for help. Her attempt at shooting me down missed by a mile. She was not a natural archer, and had no practice, despite Artemis' blessing.

Then. ZIP. I flew into a silvery cord that was fastened to a pair of trees. Before I could do anything, I went down hard, sprawling in the snow. One of my wings was bent, unable to hold my weight anymore until I could fix it.

"Luke!" Thalia yelled, off to my left.

Before she could reach me or say anything else, an arrow exploded at her feet and a cloud of yellow smoke billowed out around her team. They all started coughing and gagging. I could smell the gas from across the woods—the horrible smell of sulfur. I cursed and covered my nose as I realized what the hunters had done.

"No fair!" Thalia gasped. "Fart arrows are unsportsmanlike!"

I got up and started running again. Only a few more yards to the creek and I had the game. More arrows whizzed past my ears. A Hunter came out of nowhere and slashed at me with her knife, but I parried and kept running.

I heard yelling from our side of the creek. Beckendorf and Nico were running toward me. I thought at first that they were coming to welcome me back, but then I saw they were chasing someone—Zoe Nightshade, racing toward me like a cheetah, dodging campers with no trouble. And she had our flag in her hands.

"No!" I yelled, and poured on the speed.

I was two feet from the water when Zoe bolted across to her own side, slamming into me for good measure. The Hunters cheered as both sides converged on the creek. Chiron appeared out of the woods, looking grim. He had the Stolls on his back, and it looked as if both of them had taken some nasty whacks to the head. Connor had two arrows sticking out of his helmet like antennae. Seeing the shape they were in, as well as losing, only inflamed my anger towards the Hunters.

"The Hunters win!" Chiron announced without pleasure. Then he muttered, "For the fifty-sixth time in a row."

"Lucas Castellan!" Thalia yelled, storming toward me. She smelled like rotten eggs, and she was so mad that blue sparks flickered on her armour. Everybody, even the Hunters, cringed and backed up at the sight of Aegis. It took all my willpower and experience with angry daughters of the Big Three not to cower.

"What in the name of the gods were you THINKING?" she bellowed.

I balled my fists. I'd had enough bad stuff happen to me for one day. I didn't need this. I loved Thalia, but I just couldn't deal with her. Not today. "I got the flag, Thalia!" I shook it in her face. "I saw a chance and I took it!"

"Gods Luke! You know if you could control yourself, Ana would still be here!"

A horrified ripple went through the crowd. I recoiled, feeling sick. Her words repeated themselves in my mind even as her furious expression crumpled into guilt. "if you could control yourself, Ana would still be here!"

"Luke," she began, reaching out to me imploringly. "I didn't-, I'm so sorry-"

I don't know how, but somehow I ended up punching her. She cried out, and automatically went to defend herself. We scuffled briefly before several others separated us.

"Look!" Silena cried suddenly, pointing behind Thalia, who was being restrained by Chiron and a Huntress I didn't recognize. I stopped my attempts to get free, staring in shock at the sight.

Someone… something was approaching. It was shrouded in a murky green mist, but as it got closer, the campers and Hunters gasped in recognition.

"This is impossible," Chiron said. I'd never heard him sound so nervous, and it made the whole situation seem even worse than it was already. "It… she has never left the attic. Never."

And yet, the withered mummy that held the Oracle continued to shuffle forward until she stood in the centre of the group. Mist curled around our feet, turning the snow a sickly shade of green.

None of us dared move. Then her voice hissed inside my head. Apparently everyone could hear it, because several people put their hands over their ears to cover them.

I am the spirit of Delphi, the voice said. Speaker of the prophecies of Phoebus Apollo, slayer of the mighty Python.

The Oracle regarded me with its' cold, dead eyes. Then she spoke again. Approach, Seeker, and ask.

I swallowed. "What do I do to save Ana and Lady Artemis?"

The Oracle's mouth opened, and green mist poured out. I saw the vague image of a mountain, and two girls standing at the barren peak. Ana was, like yesterday, pinned beneath a cavern ceiling, straining to hold it aloft. Just ahead of her 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 as much pain as Ana. The Oracle spoke:

Five shall go west to the goddess in chains,

One shall be lost in the land without rain,

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.