Hello, peeps! Sorry about missing last week's update. I spent my entire weekend drawing obsessively.

This was loads of fun to write. You have my sense of duty (damn you, G&S!) to thank, as well as the casting directors of Into the Woods Jr. I auditioned on Friday for the production the theater school I'm a part of is putting on, and I thought it went well, but then I didn't get a callback so I was really scared and fretted all through Saturday and this morning. But then the cast list got sent out and I'm Florinda! Yay! So I was really happy and spent an hour or so working on this for all you wonderful people who have been so patient and supportive throughout my erratic updating.

One more thing, last chapter was written really quickly because I had to go walk the dogs for three hours and I wanted to get it posted before that, so a) I apologize for the typos and formatting errors some people have noticed and b) I took away the 'shadows thickened once more' line. I don't know what I was thinking, but I'm not going anywhere witht that.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

Leo was excited. He had a new weapon, a top-notch Herculean axe, and they were almost out of the danger zone.

Or so they thought.

That thought was immediately rescinded when the freaky flying thing that nobody could quite see zoomed down and abducted the two demigods who had fallen behind the rest of the group. Sure, they probably looked pretty suspicious, sneaking at night through the fields of a high-security manor, carrying weapons out of legend, but still- that was no reason to kidnap them, right? And maybe Leo had angered the creature slightly by shooting fire at it, but hey, forgive and forget, eh?

Things only got worse when they got the Iris Message from camp.

Crouching down by the edge of the road and signaling to the rest of the group to take a rest, Annabeth nodded at Chiron's face in the shimmering mist.

"Chiron, Rachel," she greeted them. "How's things back at camp?"

The centaur made a face.

"Not the best. I hate to ruin your holiday-"

"Too late for that," Leo muttered.

"-but Rachel gave a prophecy."

The group gave a collective gasp and huddled a little closer.

"Did you write it down?" asked Annabeth urgently.

"Yes. And we think it might concern some of you. Here it is:

Daughter of shadows, descendant reborn
Of lost innocence and loyalty mourn
The golden, the fallen, again will he rise
Hand of a brother through starless eyes
Lost to the depths will six short lives be
For down under, above, segregation is key.

I'm sorry. It doesn't sound good."

Chiron looked up at them, taking in their bedraggled appearance and the fields behind them. He frowned.

"Is that really Germany?"

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Trouble Kelp smirked at the fact that Artemis' eyes widened slightly. The genius walked swiftly over to where the two teenagers lay, unconscious, on the floor.

"How did you subdue them?" Artemis asked, somewhat miffed that the Commander had succeeded where he had failed. Trouble shrugged.

"Couple of stunners and a pair of high quality Black Arrows," he said.

"Black Arrows?"

"The latest in wings. Faster than any of the Kobois, and certainly faster than Foaly's little gizmos." Trouble grinned. The high-tech wings and Foaly's indignation when he saw them more than payed back the inordinate amount of money Unwinn Enterprises had demanded.

"Ah." Artemis tilted his head, examining the two bodies entwined on the Persian carpet. One was a girl, with coffee-brown hair and matching skin, and the other was a tall, muscular Asian boy. "I apologize, Commander, for what may be a moment until you and I can discuss our business. I think you will understand that there are other matters I must attend to?"

Trouble grunted, and reluctantly, offered his help. Artemis' eyes widened even more- he had never thought to see the day when Trouble Kelp offered his help without a prompt.
"One of them shot fire at me. From his hand," he explained. "I want to know how. And the boy here took two shots from a stunner before he went down."

Artemis was quiet for a moment, and Trouble was sure he was going to decline his offer of help, but then the mastermind nodded and gave a faint smile.

"Butler had a run-in with another of them. A boy, probably around fifteen, dressed in all black with a lot of jewelry. Apparently his name is Nico di Angelo. Was he in the group that you... apprehended?"

Trouble shook his head, mystified.

"I don't think so," he said, "They were all wearing pretty bright colors. Orange and purple and whatnot."

"Hmm." Artemis said no more on the subject, but Trouble got the feeling he was slightly satisfied, as though he had been correct about something.

"Well," the teenager sighed, more engaged, "Can you wake them up?"

Trouble, four years of don't please Artemis Fowl engrained in him, hesitated a moment, but eventually reached for his StaticBurstand jolted the two bodies. Their limbs twitched as the electricity flowed through them, and the boy groaned.

"Oh, Hades," Frank said.

And it was obvious even to Trouble that for Artemis, everything clicked.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

"Not good, not good. Really not good. Really, really bad."

Percy muttered as he watched as Annabeth paced the small clearing in the chilly wood. They had decided it was safest to get off the property before discussing their situation.
"I know, Percy," said the daughter of Athena, stopping in her tracks. "We're in a very bad position. Let's take stock." She sighed and sagged onto the damp ground next to her boyfriend and faced the remaining demigods.

"Okay," she said. Percy recognized the voice. It was her I've got to put on a brave front because I'm a leader when all I really want to do is sleep and/or kill something voice. "Frank and Hazel have been abducted by a flying creature. It is unknown whether or not this new enemy is working in tandem with the arrow-shooting being and the Mare of Diomedes. Leo shot fire at this creature, so it knows at least one of us is pretty powerful." The group turned to Leo, who had been inspecting his new axe critically, cleaning the grime off the fastenings. He looked up, startled.

"What? Me? Oh. Well, what did you want me to do?"

Annabeth sighed again.

"It's fine, Leo. Moving on. There's a weird kid and a huge butler living in a manor that Hazel got strange gold readings off of. One of our numerous enemies got control of a Mare of Diomedes, let it loose on us, and shot golden arrows at us." She glanced at Jason. "The Mare is out of the picture, right?" She plunged on as Jason nodded an affirmative. "Good. Nico still hasn't come back. And frankly, I hate to say this, especially to you, Percy, but... I'm not sure we can trust him anymore."

Percy frowned. A sadness had overtaken him, a dull sort of blanket. He still remembered Nico as a spunky, cheerful, ten-year-old obsessed with Mythomagic. That memory, when overlaid with the cold, antisocial and rather apathetic teenager Nico was now, did not fit. He still saw Nico as his little cousin, in a way. Someone to look after, not someone you had to look after yourself around.

Annabeth made a sympathetic face.

"I'm sorry, Percy," she said simply. "Then there's this prophecy. I know they never turn out the way with think they will, but we're all going to be making our own predictions, so we might as well share them."

Piper raised her hand hesitantly.

"I think we all know that the first line refers to Hazel?" she asked. When nobody contradicted her, she continued. "So Hazel, the daughter of the god who can control shadows, and the descendant of said god who came back to life, is going to be said about someone, probably her, losing innocence and loyalty. I really don't think Hazel is going to betray us, so I think she'll mourn about someone else betraying us. Any ideas, Annabeth?"

Percy saw the pain behind his girlfriend's eyes, and knew what she was going to say. She shot a regretful glance at him.

"Yes. Nico. If Nico does betray us, then Hazel would be the most hurt. I'm really sorry, Percy, but all the signs point to him not being trustworthy."

Percy didn't say anything.

"Okay," Leo said slowly, "Hazel is going to be sad about Nico betraying us. What about the next line? What was it, something about a golden hand?"

"The golden, the fallen, again will he rise/Hand of a brother through starless eyes,"recited Annabeth. "This one's tricky. My first thought would be Luke, because-" her voice caught "-he fell from grace by serving Kronos, and then the golden would signify either his gold eyes or that he rose once more when he... when he sacrificed himself." She twirled her hand randomly through the dead leaves. "I hope it's not that. Luke said he was happy. Anyway, I think he chose rebirth." Her hand stopped. "Rebirth. Again he will rise. Oh, damn."

After a moment of awkward silence, Percy took up the reigns.

"Hand of a brother through starless eyes. That one makes no sense whatsoever. Let's leave it for now. What was the next part?"

"Lost to the depths will six short lives be/For down under, above, segregation is key," said Annabeth in a hollow voice.

A deathly silence fell over the clearing as the demigods realized the implications of the first line.

"So," said Leo finally, in a light voice, "Looks like six of us are going to die."