DISCLAIMER - I don't own anything but the plot.

Annabeth took Percy aside after the initial astonishment had subsided, and told him, "The clue was 'The first of first and the last of last'."

"Hmmm… sounds weird, but why did that astonish you so much? Treasure hunt clues are meant to be crystal, after all!" Percy said.

"It's 'cryptic', Seaweed Brain, not 'crystal'. And that was definitely not why Piper and me were gaping, silly! Olympus' symbol flashed for a moment below the clue, and a message appeared. It read "Your clues lead not only to the treasure, but also to a revelation. Be prepared."

Percy stared, "The gods communicated with us! Or Leo is playing an extended trick to get us confused."

"I don't think Leo would do anything of the kind, Percy. He really wanted this hunt to be successful and he wouldn't use such tactics to get the teams confused." By then, Piper had walked up. She 'piped' up at once,

"No. It can't be Leo. I'm sure he wouldn't mess with Olympus' symbol like that."

"Anyway," said Percy, "we should just go ahead with the hunt and face whatever is coming when it comes." Annabeth nodded and spoke,

"Now, the clue said 'The first of first and the last of last'. I think I know this one…"

Annabeth thought a little. Then, her face brightened and she blurted, "It's just a play with words, that's all. 'The first of first' means the beginning of the word 'first' and 'the last of last' means the ending of the word 'last'!"

"So F…T," said Piper, catching on. "That can't be right. I think it's the first two letters and the last two letters. 'Fi…st'.

"Fist!" Percy said.

"Zeus' Fist!" exclaimed Annabeth and then shouted, "Race you there!"

Within an instant, she was away and running towards the forest. Piper and Percy exchanged looks that quite clearly said - What is wrong with her today! They decided they had better inform their team. They went and announced their deductions. Some people's faces were downcast. They were disappointed that they hadn't even got to listen to the clue. Some were pale. The Zeus' Fist was known throughout the Camp as a cursed place. Definitely not where you should hide a treasure hunt clue! But then, this was Leo's hunt and when Leo did something, it was sure to be something crazy and unexpected. "Race you to Zeus' Fist. Whoever gets the clue first gets to skip all cleaning duties for a month!" Percy shouted. The race was on!

Annabeth reached the Zeus' Fist out of breath. She waited and inhaled deeply, before walking closer to the outcropping of rocks. This place brought back some bad memories to Annabeth. It was here that a path into Daedalus' Labyrinth had been found in Camp Half-blood. It was here that Luke's army had emerged from the Labyrinth to attack Camp. And it was here that the monster, Kampe, had died. Many called it a cursed place, and though Annabeth did not believe in the legends, she could not deny that the place was eerie.

Gathering up her nerves, she walked to the closest edge of the outcropping and surveyed it from all sides. Where could Leo have hidden a clue? She had just made up her mind to climb up to its peak, when the silence around her was broken by the sounds of running feet. Annabeth started, then realised it was her team, which she had so unceremoniously abandoned. Percy ran up to the Zeus' Fist and stared at it thoughtfully.

"Anyone know where the clue could be?" Percy shouted to the children and satyrs assembled there.

"Hmmm... what about at the peak, where we used to put the flag during Capture the Flag?" one boy shouted.

"Alright, then. You can climb up and look," Percy said. The boy eagerly climbed up to the peak, looked there and shook his head slightly.

"Not that easy, then. Think hard, team. There's some trick to this," Percy declared.

"What about the old entrance to the Labyrinth?" an Aphrodite cabin girl suggested fearfully.

No one spoke. "I suppose that is a possibility... I'll go and look," said Percy. He carefully avoided Kampe's embedded scimitars on the rock and climbed up to the entrance spot. He looked for Daedalus' mark that was found at the entrance of every passage to the Labyrinth, but of course, it wasn't there. Since the great inventor's death, the Labyrinth had collapsed and all the passages were destroyed, including this one.

Percy was just about to look away, when something shimmery caught his eye. Hephaestus' symbol glowed brightly. Percy placed his palm against it, and a grating noise was heard.

"Up here!" he called out to everyone, and began to climb inside the narrow tunnel that had been formed by the shifting of some rocks. He found some handholds and lowered himself in cautiously. Within a moment, his feet touched the ground and he found that he was standing in a ditch that was just his height, with everyone staring at him wide-eyed from outside. Percy moved his feet around, and kicked a hard object. Bending down, he saw that it was a small wooden crate. He picked it up and handed it to Grover, looking on excitedly from outside. Using the handholds (or footholds, whatever), he climbed back out into the damp air of the forest.

Grover had the crate and was trying to get it open. When the lid gave no sign of budging, he smacked it on the ground. It still didn't open. Then several satyrs gathered around him, held the lid and pulled. The wood splintered, but the lid was still jammed.

"Here, let me try," said Tyson, and took the box. His hands, moved along the length of the box, and after examining it thoroughly, Tyson said, "There's a lock. We need to jiggle it open." He looked around on the forest floor, and his gaze rested on a single, sharp pine needle. He bent, picked it up and pushed it into the minute space between the lid and the box. He jiggled the needle about for a minute, and then something clicked.

The lid popped open, and a piece of parchment fell to the ground. Everyone held their breaths as Tyson bent to pick it up...

A/N - My sincere thanks to TwiHardFoeever for editing this story. You've done an amazing job!

Also, thanks to all my readers, who've reviewed this story so far. Let's see how many reviews I can get for this chapter. I'll post the next one sooner if I get over 10 reviews!