When the group of demigods materialized at Camp Jupiter, appearing out of the shadow of a bannister, they immediately noticed their missing companion. Percy and Annabeth, who had been holding hands with Ryker, looked to each other in confusion and released their now joined hands. A piece of paper which had been placed in between their hands fell to the ground and Annabeth quickly scooped it up off the ground. Percy saw her eyebrows shoot up and immediately went to read it as well when Annabeth handed it to him. I.O.U one demigod. Hope all is well. –Hunters of Artemis
Percy handed the note to Nico and they each took turns reading the note, all of their eyes filling with surprise with the exception of Will who scowled before returning his attention to Silena. "They better take that shard out of his chest." He grumbled, clearly unhappy to have his patient taken from him with no warning. "Otherwise it could work through his ribs and puncture a lung."
"Why would the Hunters take him?" Hazel wondered, handing the note back to Annabeth.
"Artemis did claim his life as her own." Piper mused, "But I'm sure we will find out soon enough."
"You're back!" A very familiar Praetor's voice called, relief in every letter. Frank ran over to them, literally sprinted to Percy's amusement, and wrapped Hazel in an embrace. He then stepped back and grinned sheepishly. "Sorry, it's just really good to see you. Things have been… crazy. By the way, who's that?" Frank asked, staring down at Silena.
"A very old friend." Percy told him, glancing around pointedly. His message was clear: not here. Their arrival had begun to draw attention of the Romans and they had already accumulated a small crowd. "Who needs medical attention. Private medical attention." He looked meaningfully at Frank and the Praetor immediately understood.
"Alright everyone, clear out." Frank commanded, authority ringing in his words. "They just got back, plenty of time to gawk at them later. Make way."
Will assisted Silena in getting to her feet, her arm around his shoulders as he assisted her in walking. Nico placed her other arm over his shoulders and together they half-carried, half-dragged Silena out of the public's eyes and into the medical tent. Percy followed them inside, closing the tent flap after everyone had filed in. "So who is this?" Frank asked again, crossing his arms.
"Where is Jason at?" Annabeth questioned back. "Everyone should be here for this. Reyna too."
Frank's face became drawn and tense. "Jason is at Camp Half-Blood. Reyna… Reyna disappeared two nights ago."
"Two nights?" Percy echoed, shocked. He then frowned and considered something. "We've only been gone two nights…"
"You've been gone for a week." Frank said slowly, one eyebrow raising.
The demigods exchanged bewildered glances. "But… no we haven't." Piper insisted.
Frank pulled out a cellphone and handed it to her. Percy did not even have to see the phone to read Piper's reaction perfectly. "How?" Hazel asked simply.
"The chamber." Nico said, gnawing his lip and glaring at the ground. "The chamber must have had some sort of spell on it that influenced the rate at which time passes in there versus the outside world. It explains why Ryker looked so beat up when we got to him. The chamber must have been able to both increase and decrease time passage."
"So Ryker could have been fighting those dragons for who knows how long before we got there?" Percy asked, slight awe in his voice.
"Dragons?" Frank demanded. "What dragons? I thought that you were fighting one dragon. And speaking of Ryker, where is he?"
Annabeth handed Frank the note rather than explaining Ryker's disappearance. "Python was guarded by a chamber filled with dragons. There was a set of doors that led to them and they locked when he went through. Long story short we got to him and kicked dragon butt. Then we got to Python and-." While Annabeth continued to recount to Frank the tale of how they fought and defeated Python Percy turned his attention back to Silena.
She had already regained some color and was talking quietly with Will. "I feel fine, I swear on the River Styx." She protested as Will forced her to eat more ambrosia.
"Be that as it may, I can still sense some weakness in you." Will told her firmly. "Now eat Ms. Oracle."
"Ms. Oracle?" Silena asked in confusion even as she ate. "What does that mean?"
"It means that the Oracle of Delphi is using you as her host." Rachel said as she strode into the tent. She immediately fixed a stare on Silena and examined her for a long moment. "I can sense the Spirit in you."
"Well I don't want it!" Silena cried. "I don't even know what's going on!"
"Join the club." Nico said darkly. After assisting Silena into the camp he had retreated into the shadows and Percy had forgotten about him temporarily. The son of Hades had a severely contemplative expression on his face almost bordering a snarl. "Silena shouldn't even be alive. Elysium is one of the most heavily watched places in the Underworld. Someone shouldn't have been able to get her out, but here she is. Whatever it was that took her has to be powerful. Really powerful."
"Any ideas?" Percy asked hopefully. "Any gods that are upset with your father?"
"Plenty." Nico said with hard eyes. "But none of them are strong enough, or brave enough, to pull this off. Zeus hates people being brought back to life. Hates it. The only reason that I wasn't blasted into smithereens for bringing Hazel back was because the gods' personalities were fighting with each other."
"Do you think that the gods know about this?" Frank asked. "I mean, they should, right?"
"Not much happens in the Underworld without my father knowing." Nico said cautiously. "But that doesn't mean they know exactly what's going on or what's doing it. I'll have to ask him myself to find that out."
"Which means that you are going into the Underworld, right?" Hazel asked worriedly. Percy could understand her concern. He always worried about Tyson whenever his brother was doing something dangerous. "Do you have to?"
"I wish I didn't." Nico admitted. He sighed and then assumed the customary frown that Percy had seen him wear for most of the time that he had known him. "But that doesn't mean I can't go. If my father doesn't know what's going on… that's really bad."
"When are you going to leave?" Will asked grimly, looking up from Silena.
"Now." Nico said, disappearing into the shadows without another word. It always struck Percy as eerily fascinating whenever Nico appeared or disappeared in a shadow. He blended in so well with them that Percy had often wondered if he had actually been there at all. In a sense, Nico was a shadow.
"I really hate when he does that." Will muttered. "He really needs to work on his goodbyes."
"You said Reyna was taken?" Annabeth asked grimly, bringing attention back to the matter at hand.
"That's right." Frank answered just as grimly. "I saw her that night too. We had been discussing new defensive tactics in light of the abductions. It was like ten before I left. The next morning I went to speak to her again but she was gone."
"Was there any signs of a struggle?" Annabeth's eyes were unfocused as she considered this new development.
Frank shook his head. "No. There was nothing. I thought she might have stepped out to do her rounds, but no one had seen her. It's like she just disappeared. No one saw anything strange that night either, certainly nothing that resembled Orion."
"Which means that we're not safe anywhere." Hazel glanced around her warily as though she expected Orion to appear out of thin air and abduct one of them.
"What about Terminus?" Piper offered. "He's a god. If we can hide within his boundaries I doubt anyone would be able to get past him."
"It's a good idea." Percy agreed, warming to the thought. "Besides, Terminus is a god. If we catch Orion we can use him to kill Orion and end this."
"There's only one problem with that." Annabeth injected. "Terminus can only protect a certain area. We have too many people in the Roman camp alone to fit in there."
Piper seemed somewhat deflated at her idea having been shot down. "Oh yeah," He said despondently, staring down at the ground.
"Well," Rachel said heavily, still staring at Silena. "I guess first things first."
"What do you mean?" Silena asked hopefully. "Are you going to take the Oracle back?"
"If I would I could." Rachel told her. "But I can't. Only Apollo can do that, and he hasn't been heard from in a long time. No, first things first is that we need you to finish a prophecy."
"I don't know how." Silena said confusedly, sitting up as Will stepped back.
"It takes a while, but when I was Oracle I figured out a trick to sort of draw out prophecies." Rachel admitted. "Come back to my house with me, I'll help you out."
"What about the rest of us?" Percy asked. He absentmindedly wondered what trick Rachel had come up with. "What should we do?"
"Actually," Frank stepped forward. "About that, I need to speak to all of you."
"What's up?" Hazel asked interestedly.
"We only have one Praetor now." Frank said as Silena was led by Rachel out of the tent. "Because of the disappearances the Senate has already begun to ask about Reyna's replacement even if it's only temporary."
"But Reyna isn't dead she is just missing." Percy protested.
"I know, I know." Frank said tiredly, raising his hands in defense. "That's why I said 'temporary'. The Senate wants me to make a recommendation for the temporary Praetor."
"Okay…" Annabeth said slowly, glancing at Percy. "So who did you have in mind?"
Percy saw the look and distinctly hoped that Frank was not about to recommend him for Praetor again. It had been kinda fun last time but Percy had no desire to become a Praetor again. Thankfully Frank was quick to dispel the thought. "I was thinking Annabeth." He admitted, looking at the daughter of Athena.
Annabeth seemed caught off guard by the statement. "Me?" She repeated. "Why? I'm not a Roman."
"No, but you are the best at strategy." Frank told her. "Right now we need someone like you. Someone who can unite both the Greeks and Romans in case we need to throw down with some big bad monster."
It was at times like this that Percy truly understood one of the other aspects of Mars' personality. Strategy. Frank knew that with whatever it was that Orion was doing, it would most likely turn into a battle at some point. Annabeth was a brilliant strategist and she was well liked by both camps. As long as it was temporary Percy doubted that the Romans would mind a Greek being Praetor, particularly since the position had been vacated after the last Praetor was abducted. "I think it's a good idea." Percy agreed. Annabeth looked at him warily and he grinned at her. "Come on Wise Girl, you are a great leader."
"Fine." Annabeth looked back to Frank and nodded. "I'll do it."
"Alright, come on." Frank pulled the tent flap. "We should go tell the Senate, they will want to know about this as soon as possible."
After Frank and Annabeth left the others as they went to speak the Senate those who were still in the tent lapsed into silence. After a few minutes Piper heaved a great sigh and shook her head. "You know, I still can't figure it out." She said.
"You are going to have to be a little more specific." Will told her. "Unless you figured out a lot more than I have there are a lot of things I can't seem to grasp."
"Why would Orion be grabbing all of these demigods?" Piper clarified. "It doesn't make sense."
"That's sort of the question of the hour." Percy told her.
"No, I mean why these demigods?" Piper said. "I mean, if his goal was to cause trouble with the camps wouldn't it have made more sense to grab the Seven?"
Will was the first one to grasp the significance of the statement. "You think that Orion has a bigger plan than just taking demigods?" He asked.
"I don't know." Piper admitted, sitting down on the bed that Silena had been resting on. "But I feel like when we find out we aren't going to like it."
