Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson and the Olympians.

Chapter six: We Lose a Game

The next morning I woke up feeling refreshed. I had had a long and peaceful sleep with no dreams.

I dressed and then I saw that everyone was heading for breakfast. I followed them and when we got there I glanced over at the Artemis table and saw that many of the Hunters looked as though they had been crying. I was curious but I let it go. No way in Hades I was going to ask them what was wrong.

After breakfast, I followed the Hermes cabin through the activities. I found that sword fighting was the easiest for me and I hated archery. I tried my best in javelin practice but I had terrible aim.

Travis came up to me after lunch and asked, "Hey, Nico do you want to play in the capture the flag game tonight?"

"What's capture the flag?" I asked.

"It's a war game where each team gets a flag and the other team has to capture it. Whichever team catches the enemy flag first wins the game."

"That sounds fun." I said.

"It is." He agreed.

"Who are we against?" I asked.

"The Hunters." He told me.

"Then I'll play." I said and he smiled at me.

That evening before dinner everyone got ready to play capture the flag. My breast plate was a bit big for me and the plume on my helmet kept falling into my eyes.

I caught sight of Percy and ran over to him.

"Percy," I said "This is so cool."

"Hey Nico." he said grinning.

"Do we get to kill the other team?" I asked. I was honestly curious about this.

"Well... no." he answered.

"But the Hunters are immortal, right?" I pointed out.

"That's only if they don't fall in battle." Percy explained. A sudden idea came into my head and I said, "It would be awesome if we just resurrected as soon as we were killed so that we could keep fighting and-was

"Nico," Percy said sharply "This is serious. Real swords these could hurt."

I looked at him and his gaze softened and he patted my shoulder encouragingly.

"Hey, its cool." he assured me, "Just follow the team, stay out of Zoae's way and we'll have a blast."

Just then Chiron told us to get to our positions and our team followed Thalia and Percy into the woods and over to a cluster of boulders. Thalia gave a few orders to the team and then the game began.

I had been set on guard duty with a guy who I didn't know and Travis and Connor. Percy climbed the boulders and I tried to follow him without success.

"What's happening?" I demanded anxiously but Percy didn't answer. Instead he said something to the guy who I didn't know and then ran towards enemy ground.

Travis and Connor cheered him on and I joined in with them. Then two girls in silver Hunter clothes ran at us.

The first shot two arrows into Connor's helmet and then slammed her bow into his head. Then she slammed it into Travis' head.

The other guy and I both charged but the girl ran off like a cheetah and disappeared. Meanwhile the other girl who I now recognized is Zoae grabbed our flag and ran at light speed towards her own side.

Travis and Connor lay unmoving and the other guy and I ran after Zoae. At the same time, Percy was running towards us and Thalia and her team were screaming at him. Percy was holding the Hunters' silver flag and was picking up the pace as he spotted Zoae coming towards him. Zoae got to her side just before Percy could and slammed into him for good measure.

Everyone conversed on the creek and Chiron said, "The Hunter win for the 56th time in a row."

"Perseus Jackson!" Thalia yelled at Percy.

"What in the name of the gods were you thinking?"

Percy clenched his fists, "I got the flag, Thalia." he reminded her, "I saw a chance and I took it."

"I was at their base!" Thalia yelled at him, "But the flag was gone. If you hadn't butted in we would have won."

"You had too many on you." he argued.

"Oh, so now it's my fault?" she demanded. I was feeling a bit nervous at this point because I was worried that they would fight.

"I didn't say that." Percy protested.

"Argh!" Thalia screamed and pushed Percy. A shock went through him which blew him back into the water.

Many of the campers gasped. I was one of them. The Hunters all hid laughs behind their hands.

"Sorry." said Thalia turning pale "I didn't mean to..."

A blast of water hit Thalia in the face as Percy stood up. "Yeah," he growled "I didn't mean too either."

"You want some, Seaweed Brain?" Thalia asked.

"Bring it on, Pinecone Face!" Percy answered.

Thalia yelled and a bolt of lightning hit her spear and bounced straight on to Percy's chest.

"Thalia,. said Chiron "That is enough." but Percy had made the entire creek rise and seemed about to hurl it at Thalia.

"Percy." Chiron pleaded. Then Percy's concentration seemed to disappear and he turned to look behind Thalia.

Everyone else looked in the same direction and I gasped. A horrible withered mummy wearing a tie-dyed dress was walking towards us.

Green mist swirled around our feet and her blank dead eyes were fixed on Zoae.

"This is impossible," Chiron murmured "it...she has never left the attic."

Then a hissing voice spoke in my mind. I could tell that everyone could hear it because some of them put their hands over their ears.

"I am the spirit of Delphi." it said, "Speaker of the prophesies of Phoebus Apollo. Slayer of the mighty Python. Approach seeker and ask."

Zoae stepped forward and asked, "What must I do to help my goddess?"

Mist curled out of the mummy's mouth to form a shape of a mountain. Artemis was chained at the top and seemed to be in terrible pain.

The mummy spoke again.

"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 parents' hand."

Then the mummy sat down on a rock and didn't move again. I wondered what the words meant. There was only one thing that I was sure of. The mummy had just given a prophecy.