Chapter 6: An Old Dead Friend Comes To Visit
"What?" Everyone, except those who had been there looked very confused.
"Oh this was just creepy." Percy grimaced.
"Dead people usually are." Will muttered.
"It was gross too." Grover grumbled, recalling how he and Percy had to take their 'friend' back to the attic.
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 satyr would slam into it headfirst and get a pile of snow dumped on him.
A few people snickered at this.
When I told Grover my nightmare, he started twirling his finger in his shaggy leg fur. "A cave ceiling collapsed on her?" he asked. "Yeah. What the heck does that mean?"
"Nothing good?" Travis offered. "My dreams never mean anything good." Percy sighed.
Grover shook his head. "I don't know. But after what Zoe dreamed—"
"Why do you know what Zoe dreamed?" Artemis asked the Satyr sharply. He gulped nervously while the Greek demigods looked at him with a great deal of amusement.
"I... uh...we…"
"He was being a stalker." Percy put in.
"I was not!" Grover protested weakly.
"Really?" He raised an eyebrow and Grover sank down in his seat muttering under his breath.
"Whoa. What do you mean? Zoe had a dream like that?" "I… I don't know, exactly. About three in the morning she came to the Big House and demanded to talk to Chiron. She looked really panicked." "Wait, how do you know this?" Grover blushed. "I was sort of camped outside the Artemis cabin."
"Why would you do that?" Silena scoffed. Grover sighed and buried his face in his hands.
"They were just so…" His voice became so muffled by his hands no one would make out the end of his sentence.
"Chiron. I expect this will not be allowed to happen should my Hunters stay at Camp again." Artemis stated with a frown at the Satyr.
"Of course not, Lady Artemis." The Centaur bowed his head.
"What for?" "Just to be, you know, near them." "You're a stalker with hooves."
"You really are." Piper said.
"I am not! 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 blond dude with eyes all over his body. 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.
"I'd bet on Argus." Silena scowled.
"Me too." Beckendorf said, smiling over at Silena. A few other campers agreed and even Hera nodded in approval. Of course Argus would win.
Artemis looked disdainful. There was no way some guard with a few extra eyes would be able to defeat her Lieutenant.
"What did she say?" I asked. 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.
"It is." Annabeth told him while a few of the campers looked angry at Zoe's treatment of Argus.
And then he called her—" "Whoa, wait. How could Artemis be in trouble?"
"I knew you going alone was a bad idea." Apollo told his sister with an anxious frown.
"I will be perfectly fine, brother." Artemis replied with an eye roll.
"I… well, finally Chiron came out in his pajamas and his horse tail in curlers and—" "He wears curlers in his tail?"
"What?" Travis asked, a wicked grin spreading over his face.
"Curlers?" Connor reiterated, staring at Chiron who had gone rather red in the face.
"Sorry." Grover said to Chiron, feeling guilty as the other Greek campers made their disbelief and amusement known. However, they all respected Chiron enough that the teasing and humor didn't last very long although the Centaur noted the Stoll brothers whispering together which was never a good sign. He sighed.
Grover covered his mouth. "Sorry," I said. "Go on." "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?'"
"They have a point." Thalia said.
"There is a reason I told my Hunters to stay in Camp." Artemis said firmly. She had already figured that Zoe would be going on this quest which would bring her face to face with her family. She suspected it was also the quest that would kill her. This would be part of the reason why she hadn't taken her Hunters. She would never want Zoe to have to go back to Mount Othrys unless there was no other choice.
"What do you mean lost? Like she needs directions?"
"Really? You think Artemis, a Goddess, would need directions?" Thalia rolled her eyes at Percy.
"Hey that's usually what being lost means." He shrugged.
"No. I think she meant gone. Taken. Kidnapped." "Kidnapped?" I tried to get my mind around that idea. "How would you kidnap an immortal goddess? Is that even possible?"
"Yes." Demeter snapped, glaring at Hades. Both Hades and Persephone rolled their eyes having heard this every time they came to Olympus.
"Mother." Persephone sighed. "Do not start this argument again."
"Well, yeah. I mean, it happened to Persephone." "But she was like, the goddess of flowers."
"Excuse me?" Persephone looked at Percy with an affronted expression.
"Sorry." Percy winced.
Grover looked offended. "Springtime." "Whatever. Artemis is a lot more powerful than that. Who could kidnap her? And why?"
Poseidon had to bite back a groan.
"Do not dismiss me like that, child." Persephone glared at him furiously. Percy winced. He actually kind of liked Persephone but he had never really thought of springtime being powerful. Still, he had absolutely no desire to be turned into a dandelion, or any other kind of flower, so put on an apologetic face.
"Sorry, Lady Persephone." She studied him and saw that he meant it. She nodded and sank back against her husband.
Grover shook his head miserably. "I don't know. Kronos?" "He can't be that powerful already. Can he?" The last time we'd seen Kronos, he'd been in tiny pieces. Well… we hadn't actually seen him. Thousands of years ago, after the big Titan—God war, the gods had sliced him to bits with his own scythe and scattered his remains in Tartarus, which is like the gods' bottomless recycling bin for their enemies. Two summers ago, Kronos had tricked us to the very edge of the pit and almost pulled us in. Then last summer, on board Luke's demon cruise ship, we'd seen a golden coffin, where Luke claimed he was summoning the Titan Lord out of the abyss, bit by bit, every time someone new joined their cause. Kronos could influence people with dreams and trick them, but I didn't see how he could physically overcome Artemis if he was still like a pile of evil bark mulch.
A lot of people burst out laughing.
"I love your descriptions of stuff." Chris said through his laughter.
"I don't know," Grover said. "I think somebody would know if Kronos had re-formed.
"I wouldn't count on it." Percy muttered quietly, glancing over at Zeus.
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 said.
"Yes. Now you can get a quest to save Annabeth and my sister." Apollo nodded.
"You think Zoe would allow a boy on a quest with her?" Artemis raised an eyebrow.
"Well, the book is from Percy's perspective so I'm guessing it won't be about how he just sat at camp and trained for a while." Apollo pointed out with a shrug. Artemis contemplated this. She agreed with her brother but she knew there was no way Zoe would not come to find her, despite her orders. And if Zoe came, then she would not allow a male to join them so she wondered how Percy went on the quest. Maybe he snuck out again? But this time Annabeth and the Cyclops aren't there to help him. He wouldn't last five minutes without them, she suspected.
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,
A round of snickering broke out at this while the female Goddesses, except Aphrodite, rolled their eyes.
"Ah, love," Grover said dreamily. I thought about Zoe's nightmare, which she'd had only a few hours after mine. "I've got to talk to Zoe," I said.
"That probably won't go well." Nico told Percy with a grimace.
"I didn't know who else to talk to." Percy shrugged.
"Me!" Thalia rolled her eyes.
"You would've been as likely to kill him as Zoe." Annabeth told her friend dryly. "But you could have talked to Chiron." She added, looking at Percy.
"Not if he told me it was about you." Thalia replied.
"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 they might've been scouting us."
"Or they were tracking the powerful monster." Reyna pointed out.
"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. There were captions like: HEALTH BENEFITS: IMMORTALITY AND WHAT IT MEANS FOR YOU! and A BOY-FREE TOMORROW! "I found that in Annabeth's backpack," Grover said. I stared at him. "I don't understand." "Well, it seems to me… maybe Annabeth was thinking about joining."
"Are you still considering it?" Thalia asked interestedly. She knew her friend had a giant crush on Percy but through the reading he had shown much less interest. When she had first seen them, she was convinced they would get together eventually and she was almost jealous of Annabeth but then she realised that Annabeth also had a crush on Luke. That did complicate things but she figured the two of them would work it out eventually. Selfishly, a part of her hoped it didn't. It would be amazing to have her best friend immortal and by her side forever.
"Not as much." Annabeth shrugged. "But it's still an option." Aphrodite looked put out by this response and that worried Annabeth. That probably meant she had some horrible plans for her love life beyond making her torn between two guys, one of which was sweet but completely oblivious and the other had joined Kronos.
I'd like to say I took the news well. The truth was, I wanted to strangle the Hunters of Artemis one eternal maiden at a time.
"Excuse me?" Artemis glared at him.
"Sorry my Lady but the Hunter's had already recruited Bianca, I didn't want them taking one of my best friends too."
"You make it sound as if we kidnap them." The Goddess sounded even more annoyed.
"No, I understand that to join is their choice but you have no concern for the people they leave behind." Percy shrugged. Artemis made no reply to this. It was true after all.
The rest of the day I tried to keep busy, but I was worried sick about Annabeth. I went to javelin-throwing class, but the Ares camper in charge chewed me out after I got distracted and threw the javelin at the target before he got out of the way. I apologized for the hole in his pants, but he still sent me packing.
"Who was that?" Clarisse asked with a laugh.
"Adam." Percy said with a sheepish grin.
"It was hilarious." Connor put in with a smirk.
I visited the pegasus stables, but Silena Beauregard from the Aphrodite cabin was having an argument with one of the Hunters, and I decided I'd better not get involved.
"Wise choice." Beckendorf told him with a chuckle.
After that, I sat in the empty chariot stands and sulked. Down at the archery fields, Chiron was conducting target practice. I knew he'd be the best person to talk to. Maybe he could give me some advice, but something held me back. I had a feeling Chiron would try to protect me, like he always did. He might not tell me everything he knew.
"That may be true but you should still have come to me." Chiron sighed. Percy nodded.
"Although, you wouldn't have let me go."
"Because little details like that matter so much to you." Chiron said dryly. Percy smirked.
I looked the other direction. At the top of Half-Blood Hill, Mr. D and Argus were feeding the baby dragon that guarded the Golden Fleece. Then it occurred to me: no one would be in the Big House. There was someone else… something else I could ask for guidance. My blood was humming in my ears as I ran into the house and took the stairs. I'd only done this once before, and I still had nightmares about it. I opened the trap door and stepped into the attic.
"Unless it is your quest, she won't tell you anything." Apollo told him.
"I figured that." Percy sighed. The stupid Oracle couldn't give him a single sentence but could walk all the way to the lake to talk to Zoe.
The room was dark and dusty and cluttered with junk. There were shields with monster bites out of them, and swords bent in the shapes of daemon heads, and a bunch of taxidermy, like a stuffed harpy and a bright orange python. Over by the window, sitting on a three-legged stool, was the shriveled-up mummy of an old lady in a tie-dyed hippie dress. The Oracle.
That description still made Apollo cringe. He wanted to know what had caused this in his Oracle.
I made myself walk toward her. I waited for green mist to billow from the mummy's mouth, like it had before, but nothing happened. "Hi," I said. "Uh, what's up?"
Then the sun God broke out of his thoughts to burst out laughing.
"You did not just say that?" Annabeth asked in exasperation.
"It's not like I talk to mummies often." Percy shrugged.
I winced at how stupid that sounded. Not much could be "up" when you're dead and stuck in the attic. But I knew the spirit of the Oracle was in there somewhere. I could feel a cold presence in the room, like a coiled sleeping snake.
"It's impressive you can feel that even when she's not giving a prophecy." Apollo said with a smile.
"I have a question," I said a little louder. "I need to know about Annabeth. How can I save her?" No answer. The sun slanted through the dirty attic window, lighting the dust motes dancing in the air. I waited longer. Then I got angry. I was being stonewalled by a corpse.
More sniggering. Then a few of the Gods became thoughtful. They thought back to the chapter title and wondered if that meant the Oracle would actually move.
"All right," I said. "Fine. I'll figure it out myself." I turned and bumped into a big table full of souvenirs. It seemed more cluttered than the last time I was here. Heroes stored all kinds of stuff in the attic: quest trophies they no longer wanted to keep in their cabins, or stuff that held painful memories. I knew Luke had stored a dragon claw somewhere up here—the one that had scarred his face. There was a broken sword hilt labeled: This broke and Leroy got killed. 1999.
"Interesting label." Leo grimaced.
Then I noticed a pink silk scarf with a label attached to it. I picked up the tag and tried to read it:
SCARF OF THE GODDESS APHRODITE
RECOVERED AT WATERLAND, DENVER, CO.,
BY ANNABETH CHASE AND PERCY JACKSON
"You kept the scarf?" Will asked with a laugh.
"I guess so." Annabeth shrugged, though her face was a little red.
I stared at the scarf. I'd totally forgotten about it. Two years ago, Annabeth had ripped this scarf out of my hands and said something like, Oh, no. No love magic for you! I'd just assumed she'd thrown it away. And yet here it was. She'd kept it all this time? And why had she stashed it in the attic?
"It was in the attic because we didn't need other campers *cough* the Stolls *cough* getting hold of it." Annabeth stated. The Stolls smirked.
"We know where it is now." Travis pointed out.
"No love magic for you either." Katie glared at him.
"But…" He pouted.
"No!" She stated firmly.
"Whipped." Connor whispered to his brother.
"Shut up!"
I turned to the mummy. She hadn't moved, but the shadows across her face made it look like she was smiling gruesomely.
"That's both gross and creepy." Gwen muttered.
"Definitely." Frank nodded.
I dropped the scarf and tried not to run toward the exit. 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.
The campers all grimaced.
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 armor. Some of them even looked like they'd been crying. I guess Zoe had told them about her nightmare.
"Of course, she would have told them." Thalia said.
"Thank you for keeping them at camp." Artemis said to Chiron. The Centaur sighed. It hadn't lasted long.
On our team, we had Beckendorf and two other Hephaestus guys, a few from the Ares cabin (though it still seemed strange that Clarisse wasn't around), the Stoll brothers and Nico from Hermes cabin, and a few Aphrodite kids. It was weird that the Aphrodite cabin wanted to play. Usually they sat on the sidelines, chatted, and checked their reflections in the river and stuff, but when they heard we were fighting the Hunters, they were raring to go.
"Definitely." Silena growled. "It's a shame Drew wasn't there."
"I wish I had been." Drew scowled.
"What use would they be?" Artemis asked dismissively. "Children of Aphrodite are not made for fighting." Piper and Silena both glared furiously at this comment. Seeing his girlfriend about to blow up, Beckendorf stepped in.
"You clearly haven't seen Silena when she's angry then."
"Or Piper." Jason added with a smile at said girl. He hadn't known her long but their three-day quest had been enough to prove he did not want to be on the wrong side of her. Drew rolled her eyes. She still couldn't believe the girl with awful hair and no dress sense was her half-sister. Artemis sneered but said nothing further.
"I'll show them 'love is worthless,'" Silena Beauregard grumbled as she strapped on her armor. "I'll pulverize them!"
Artemis could not old back a disdainful scoff at this comment. "You would not be able to pulverize any one of my Hunters. Stick to ruining people's lives, girl." Silena was about to give an angry retort when she stopped. She was ruining people's lives. She was spying for Luke. Keeping him up to date with their missions and plans. Silena managed to meet Beckendorf's concerned gaze and give him a smile, though she didn't think it was very convincing.
That left Thalia and me. "I'll take the offense," Thalia volunteered. "You take defense." "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 defense?"
"Percy is actually right." Annabeth spoke up. Thalia gave her friend a betrayed look. "Not just because of your shield, that would help in offence or defense. But it would give the best defense for the flag as the opponents would want to avoid you. Whereas Percy is a brilliant fighter but Hunter's use arrows more than melee weapons so he would be better on the offence.
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. "Well, I was thinking it would make better offense," Thalia said. "Besides, you've had more practice at defense."
"That wasn't nice." Annabeth told her friend.
"Yeah. Sorry Percy." Thalia said, giving him an apologetic grin.
"If I'd known being co-captain was the same as just you being captain then I would have just accepted your offer of letting me be in charge." Percy rolled his eyes.
I wasn't sure if she was teasing me. I'd had some pretty bad experiences with defense on capture the flag. My first year, Annabeth had put me out as a kind of bait, and I'd almost been gored to death with spears and killed by a hellhound.
"Of course, I was teasing you." Thalia said.
"The hellhound wasn't Annabeth's fault." Hazel pointed out.
"I know." Percy said.
"Yeah, no problem," I lied.
"You should have said." Thalia frowned.
"Yeah because you would totally have listened to me." Percy shot back sarcastically. "All that would have achieved was having our fight earlier. I was trying not to have an argument despite your attempts to keep pulling me into one."
"Cool." Thalia turned to help some of the Aphrodite kids, who were having trouble suiting up their armor without breaking their nails.
"You should just stay out of the game. Go and gossip or something you are actually good at." Artemis rolled her eyes. Sadly, Piper was having to make an effort not to do the same thing. It was one thing not to be good at fighting but they were demigods. They needed to fight sometimes and if you couldn't even put armor on without worrying about your nails...you would be toast.
Nico Di Angelo ran up to me with a big grin on his face.
A few people smiled, eager for something to diffuse the tension that was slowly building.
"Oh goodie. I'm back." Nico groaned.
"Percy, this is awesome!" His blue-feathered bronze helmet was falling in his eyes, and his breastplate was about six sizes too big. I wondered if there was any way I'd looked that ridiculous when I'd first arrived.
"You did." Clarisse assured him.
"I think every new kid looks ridiculous in their first game." Will said with a laugh. Most of the campers nodded.
Unfortunately, I probably had. Nico lifted his sword with effort. "Do we get to kill the other team?"
"It's just a game, Nico. No need for killing." Will told him in a mock serious voice.
"Shut up."
"You really did have a fascination with killing things at the age of ten." Chris pointed out.
"He is a son of Hades." Connor laughed. "Percy compares everything to water and Nico wants to kill stuff."
"Well… no." "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 shook his head at his younger self's naivety.
"I take it you understand why resurrection is not 'cool'?" Hades asked his son.
"Yep." Nico nodded.
"Nico, this is serious. Real swords. These can hurt." He stared at me, a little disappointed, and I realized that I'd just sounded like my mother. Whoa. Not a good sign.
Everybody burst out laughing at this.
I patted Nico on the shoulder. "Hey, it's cool. Just follow the team. Stay out of Zoe's way. We'll have a blast."
"You do sound like an older brother." Travis smiled slightly.
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 break it to him that he didn't, when Thalia said, "Blue team! Follow me!" They cheered and followed. I had to run to catch up, and tripped over somebody's shield, so I didn't look much like a co-captain. More like an idiot.
"Nothing unusual there." Clarisse snickered.
"You're not really acting like a co-captain." Annabeth frowned at her friend.
"No. I wasn't." Thalia sighed. She did not like being reminded of how much she and Percy had argued to begin with. Not the fun kind of arguing either.
We set our flag at the top of Zeus's Fist. It's this cluster of boulders in the middle of the west woods that, if you look at it just the right way, looks like a huge fist sticking out of the ground. If you look at it from any other side, it looks like a pile of enormous deer droppings, but Chiron wouldn't let us call the place the Poop Pile, especially after it had been named for Zeus, who doesn't have much of a sense of humor.
"Excuse me!" Zeus thundered angrily. Annabeth continued reading hurriedly.
Anyway, 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 Stoll brothers, figuring he'd be safely out of the way.
"Gee. Thanks for that." Nico muttered.
"You could barely lift your sword, let alone fight with it." Beckendorf chuckled.
"Shut up."
"He's not wrong." Will told the son of Hades with a smirk.
"I said shut up!"
"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 smirked.
Thalia looked at me. "Anything to add, Percy?" "Um, yeah. Keep sharp on defense. We've got four guards, two scouts. That's not much for a big forest. I'll be roving. Yell if you need help." "And don't leave your post!" Thalia said. "Unless you see a golden opportunity," I added.
"Not even then." Thalia scowled.
"I stand by what I did. You would never have gotten there in time." Percy glared back.
Thalia scowled. "Just don't leave your post." "Right, unless—" "Percy!" She touched my arm and shocked me. I mean, everybody can give static shocks in the winter, but when Thalia does, it hurts. I guess it's because her dad is the god of lightning. She's been known to fry off people's eyebrows.
"There was no need for that." Annabeth frowned. "Thank goodness you'll both be on opposing teams when we next play. You're never allowed to be co-captains again."
"There is a reason powers are not allowed." Chiron stated with an unimpressed expression.
"Sorry," Thalia said, though she didn't sound particularly sorry.
Percy scowled at the floor while Poseidon frowned at the daughter of Zeus. She had been a good friend to Percy while they had been reading and he wondered how they had got to such a stage when they behaved like this not that long ago.
"Now, is everybody clear?" 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 climbed Zeus's Fist and had 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 something like that—one huge charge that could overwhelm us. But nothing happened.
"They wouldn't be that obvious." Artemis rolled her eyes.
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 center had to be wide open. If I moved fast…
"That should work." Annabeth nodded. Percy smirked. "But only if you had both planned on doing that. It would have been a good plan from the beginning. Changing the plan in the middle just causes confusion." Now Thalia smirked at Percy.
"Well, it could have been a plan if Thalia would have listened to anything I said." Percy pointed out.
"That is a good point." Annabeth conceded. Thalia scowled.
I looked at Beckendorf. "Can you guys hold the fort?" Beckendorf snorted. "Of course." "I'm going in." The Stoll brothers and Nico cheered as I raced toward the boundary line. I was running at top speed and I felt great. I leaped 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 had it made.
"Way to jinx it, Prissy." Clarisse rolled her eyes.
"I had made it to their flag." Percy shrugged.
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.
Nico opened his mouth to yell at Percy for shoving his sister but then shut it again. Artemis was glaring at him.
"Sorry!" I yelled. I ripped down the silver silk flag from the tree and took off.
"Why would you apologise?" Reyna asked in confusion.
"Because it was Bianca. I know what it's like playing this game with no training." Percy told her. "Any other Hunter and I wouldn't have bothered."
I was ten yards away before Bianca managed to yell for help.
"That's far too slow." Dakota criticized.
I thought I was home free. ZIP. A silvery cord raced across my ankles and fastened to the tree next to me. A trip wire, fired from a bow! Before I could even think about stopping, I went down hard, sprawling in the snow
The Greek campers all sighed. Although they had been angry with Percy after the game it hadn't been all his fault. They couldn't deny that most of them would have taken the opportunity themselves.
"Percy!" Thalia yelled, off to my left. "What are you doing?" Before she reached me, an arrow exploded at her feet and a cloud of yellow smoke billowed around her team. They started coughing and gagging. I could smell the gas from across the woods—the horrible smell of sulfur. "No fair!" Thalia gasped. "Fart arrows are unsportsmanlike!"
"Have you changed your mind on that since joining the Hunters?" Chris asked.
"No." Thalia said firmly.
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 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.
Artemis nodded smugly.
"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 Stoll brothers on his back, and it looked as if both of them had taken some nasty whacks to the head. Connor Stoll had two arrows sticking out of his helmet like antennae.
"What happened to you two?" Chris asked. Hermes glared at Artemis.
"Phoebe." Connor scowled.
"Is that why you...?" Thalia asked.
"Yes." They said in unison.
"The Hunters win!" Chiron announced without pleasure. Then he muttered, "For the fifty-sixth time in a row."
"Of course." Artemis said smugly. "My Hunters are the best."
"Perseus Jackson!" Thalia yelled, storming toward me.
"Oh dear." Thalia grimaced.
"I still can't believe I missed this." Clarisse groaned.
"It was not pretty." Katie told her grimly. It had scared a lot of the campers to see that much power wielded so easily.
She smelled like rotten eggs, and she was so mad that blue sparks flickered on her armor. Everybody cringed and backed up because of Aegis. It took all my willpower 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.
Thalia looked slightly guilty at this. Annabeth being missing had certainly not helped the situation. Not only did she calm both of them down, their nerves were already frayed with worrying about her. She should have known Percy felt as bad about Annabeth being missing but she had blamed him for that for charging after Thorn. Logically she had known it wasn't Percy's fault but he had been the easiest target because of their natural rivalry.
"I got the flag, Thalia!" I shook it in her face. "I saw a chance and I took it!" "I WAS AT THEIR BASE!" Thalia yelled. "But the flag was gone. If you hadn't butted in, we would've won."
"No you wouldn't. You had too many Hunters chasing you." Katie pointed out.
"Plus, Percy got to it first and he's one of the fastest campers." Silena said. "It was a good plan, the Hunters were just faster." She added through gritted teeth.
"You had too many on you!" "Oh, so it's my fault?" "I didn't say that."
"He didn't." Grover agreed. "He simply explained why his idea was a good one for a change."
"What do you mean for a change?" Percy pouted.
"You know exactly what I mean." Grover rolled his eyes. "But clearly you've picked up some of Annabeth's battle strategy."
"Argh!" Thalia pushed me, and a shock went through my body that blew me backward ten feet into the water.
"That was a bad idea." Leo whistled. "Given what happened last time someone pushed him into the water." Everyone looked at Clarisse who grimaced.
"And it was undeserved. He didn't do anything wrong." Jason added. He wondered why his sister was taking everything out on Percy. She seemed to be starting all the fights with him. He wondered if he and Percy would be like that if they sailed on the Argo together. Would it cause problems for the seven?
"Percy hurt?" Tyson asked anxiously.
"I was alright, big guy." Percy assured him.
Some of the campers gasped. A couple of the Hunters stifled laughs. "Sorry!" Thalia said, turning pale. "I didn't mean to—"
"This is going to be fun." Clarisse smirked.
"Not the word I would use." Piper muttered.
Anger roared in my ears. A wave erupted from the creek, blasting into Thalia's face and dousing her from head to toe. I stood up. "Yeah," I growled. "I didn't mean to, either."
A few people snickered.
"You both sound like your fathers." Demeter rolled her eyes.
"It's how most of their fights start." Hera agreed in exasperation. "One will say something to deliberately annoy the other and then suddenly they are both fighting like mad."
"And it is usually Zeus who starts the fight because he's being paranoid or just downright irritating." Demeter put in. Thalia and Percy looked at each other. That was pretty much how their fights went.
Thalia was breathing heavily. "Enough!" Chiron ordered. But Thalia held out her spear. "You want some, Seaweed Brain?" Somehow, it was okay when Annabeth called me that—at least, I'd gotten used to it—
Annabeth frowned at that phrasing. It sounded as if he hated the nickname. It may have been a mean nickname to begin with but now it was a term of affection. Did he know that? Or did he think she was still constantly being mean to him?
but hearing it from Thalia was not cool.
"Which was probably the point." Annabeth said dryly.
"Pretty much." Thalia admitted sheepishly.
"Bring it on, Pinecone Face!" I raised Riptide, but before I could even defend myself, Thalia yelled, and a blast of lightning came down from the sky, hit her spear like a lightning rod, and slammed into my chest. I sat down hard. There was a burning smell; I had a feeling it was my clothes.
"And your armor." Connor put in.
Zeus stared smugly at Poseidon but Hera elbowed him in the ribs and glared at him.
"You two had better not start fighting." Hestia warned her brothers.
"Thalia!" Chiron said. "That is enough!" I got to my feet and willed the entire creek to rise. It swirled up, hundreds of gallons of water in a massive icy funnel cloud.
"You controlled ice as well?" Triton asked, unable to help himself.
"It was mostly slush rather than solid ice." Percy shrugged. "It still was made of water so I could control it."
"You have very good control over your powers." Triton nodded approvingly. Percy grinned.
"Percy!" Chiron pleaded.
Chiron sighed. He had never been so grateful to see the Oracle.
I was about to hurl it at Thalia when I saw something in the woods. I lost my anger and my concentration all at once. The water splashed back into the creek bed. Thalia was so surprised she turned to see what I was looking at.
"Well, it had to be something shocking." Thalia shrugged. "And it was."
"Creepy too." Katie shuddered.
Someone… something was approaching. It was shrouded in a murky green mist, but as it got closer, the campers and Hunters gasped.
Apollo raised an eyebrow. So his Oracle had moved. He'd certainly never heard of that happening before but it was clearly different, and more desperate times.
"This is impossible," Chiron said. I'd never heard him sound so nervous. "It… she has never left the attic. Never." And yet, the withered mummy that held the Oracle shuffled forward until she stood in the center of the group. Mist curled around our feet, turning the snow a sickly shade of green.
Apollo, who had been grinning happily, suddenly frowned. "If my Oracle is moving then something big has, or is about to, happen."
"I'm guessing it's got something to do with Artemis." Athena nodded. "If something has captured a Goddess then that is a rather huge event."
None of us dared move. Then her voice hissed inside my head. Apparently, everyone could hear it, because several clutched their hands over the ears. I am the spirit of Delphi, the voice said. Speaker of the prophecies of Phoebus Apollo, slayer of the mighty Python.
"Still no need to put that in there." Artemis rolled her eyes.
The Oracle regarded me with its cold, dead eyes. Then she turned unmistakably toward Zoe Nightshade. Approach, Seeker, and ask. Zoe swallowed. "What must I do to help my goddess?" The Oracle's mouth opened, and green mist poured out.
"Looks like Zoe is leading a quest." Apollo looked at his sister. Artemis was frowning in concern. If Zoe was fated to lead this quest then there was nothing she could do to stop her Lieutenant from going to Mount Othrys. Even Gods could not change prophecies.
I saw the vague image of a mountain, and a girl standing at the barren peak. It 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 pain.
Apollo sighed. He felt useless. His sister had been captured and there was nothing he could do about it.
The Oracle spoke:
Five shall go west to the goddess in chains,
One shall be lost in the land without rain,
Nico winced. He knew who that would be and he was definitely not ready to hear it. He also knew that, as her death had been in the prophecy, there was absolutely nothing that Percy, or anyone else, could have done to prevent it.
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.
"What?" Piper asked. "Whose parent would kill them?" Artemis closed her eyes. She had a horrible feeling who that line was about and it grieved her to know there was no way around it.
Nobody answered Piper who looked even more concerned by this. The Gods were all exchanging looks, wondering if they would be the one to kill their child. It was also the first time they would have to read about a death directly and none of them wished to hear about their child dying, especially by their own hand.
Then, as we were watching, the mist swirled and retreated like a great green serpent into the mummy's mouth. The Oracle sat down on a rock and became as still as she'd been in the attic, as if she might sit by this creek for a hundred years.
"Chapter's done." Annabeth announced.
"I'll read." Clarisse said. Annabeth handed her the book.
A/N: This is the last chapter that I have written and I will focus a little more on my crossover story. So, I am not sure when the next update is going to come up.
