Author's note
Hey, some of you guys might be wondering where seven chapters went and why did the name change? Well, some of them have been repurposed and the others are gone, reduced to atoms. As for the name, I'll let you guys figure it out. Also I just really like moths.
I've decided to completely depart from the canon events of the books. I wanted to explore characters rather than put them in the same situations that another character experienced. The only parts of the story which I thought was good were the parts with Apollo in chapter four, Hermes in chapter six, and Bianca's perspective of events in chapter five. I enjoyed expanding on and exploring underutilized characters. But the rest of the story felt forced, because I felt like I was obligated to follow the original prophecy. Bianca shouldn't be on the quest if she never joined the hunt, but then I couldn't have her as a main character if she wasn't there, so it felt incredibly out of place. I also hit a brick wall with the Atlas fight. I wanted to avoid having her take the sky, but it didn't make sense to have Thalia take it when her fight with Luke is a significant part of her joining the hunt. I just wasn't happy with the plot and how it was progressing.
I've decided to seriously change what happens after the Westover rescue. Percy and Bianca won't be going on the quest for Artemis, they'll be dealing with a different quest entirely and with a new group of questers. Which is why there's been a while since the last update, I've taken time to rewrite the first chapter and it ended up being longer than what I usually write. I'm going to continue with the slower pace and longer chapters.
With that being said, I hope those of you that followed for the original plot are willing to stick around and give the new one a chance.
Percy was having a bad day.
Grover, his best friend, needed an extraction from his undercover operation at Westover. Apparently, the demigods there were in serious danger. No problem, just another day in the life of a demigod, right? Wrong.
His mom was driving him there. That wasn't necessarily the bad part, he couldn't drive, no one else had access to a car, and Argus watched an entire playlist of sad animal videos—it got really bad when the gorilla was shot—and was flooding the camp with his tears. No, it was the baby pictures. His baby pictures. Sally Jackson had brought it along with them for no particular reason save to torment him, and gushed about them for the entire ride, from New York all the way to Maine. His mother meant well, but he wouldn't be able to look Thalia and Annabeth in the eyes without feeling embarrassed for at least a year. The worst part of it was that he had to be present for the entire thing, but he did seriously consider making a tactical retreat by jumping out of the car. The injuries might have been preferable, honestly.
Things didn't go well at Westover either. Percy walked into a trap set by the manticore and ended up getting poisoned—don't worry, he got better—and needed to be rescued by the teenage girls in bright, reflective, silver camouflage. It was kinda counterproductive, but hey, he didn't go hunting so who was he to judge? It got worse for everyone else when Annabeth went over the cliff and disappeared. Thalia, of course, not so subtly blamed him for everything and he couldn't help but agree with her. Which left him with his current situation.
Percy was in Artemis' tent with her lieutenant and Bianca di Angelo, one of the demigod siblings that grover had found. Artemis was giving a divine sales pitch to Bianca. You know, the usual immortality in return for eternal chastity and servitude to a goddess and her gang of really mean girls who looked like they were about to skin him. He didn't like it at all.
It was honestly kinda rude, the Camp had been planning a rescue operation for a while. Grover was stationed here for months and now they were just swooping in to snatch up one of the demigods. Worse of all, Bianca looked ready to just leave Nico, her brother, for strangers she just met.
"Wait!" Percy had interrupted again. Zoë looked at him like he was a pile of refuse that had gained sentience. Artemis merely raised an eyebrow. "You can't be serious. You just met them."
"That is true," Artemis said. "However, all of my hunters will welcome her as family, as they have done for all newcomers since time immemorial."
"Nico is her family," He stressed. "You aren't actually going to leave him are you?"
She seemed like she was. Bianca wasn't looking him in the eye, but he could still see glimpses of emotions on her face. Some were far too familiar for his liking.
"Percy, you don't get it," Bianca whispered.
He didn't get it? No, he did. Percy understood perfectly. Embarrassment. Denial. Anger. He'd felt all of this when Poseidon claimed Tyson in front of the entire Camp. He spent the entire summer bitter because of his little brother. His monstrous little brother, who made him the butt of every joke at camp. His brother who he felt both protective and resentful of because he'd never had one before and Percy just didn't know how to deal with it. His cyclops brother, who loved him with all his heart. Tyson, who was so happy to have a brother. He was so happy to have Percy as a brother. Tyson just wanted a family, someone to be there for him.
It took him too long to realize how Tyson felt because Percy had been too busy feeling sorry for himself.
"I do," Percy muttered. "My little brother is a cyclops. And I tried so hard to pretend that he wasn't. I told people we weren't really brothers, that he was a distant relative at best. I get it, I really do. But I was wrong and so are you. All he wanted was someone that would love him no matter what. I know Nico feels the same way."
She didn't respond to him. Bianca stared at some of the trophies in Artemis' tent. There was a stuffed boar's head, a white tiger pelt, and… was that a koala?
"Wallow in self-pity another time, boy. Thy mistakes have nothing to do with Bianca's choice." Zoë crossed her arms at him.
"It does!" Percy argued. "Family is supposed to be there for each other! No matter how angry I was at Tyson, he still came to help me! You can try and run and deny it all you want, but Nico is still your brother and you're his sister! Are you really going to abandon him with people you just met?"
"Family is not always blood." Zoë glared at him. "One found is not inferior to one in which thou are born. If she wishes she may—"
"Family are the people important to you! Not some strangers that come by recruiting you for an eternal camping trip!"
The ensuing silence filled Percy with dread.
He didn't feel any hostility from Artemis. He also wasn't a jackalope: a good sign. She wasn't the immediate threat.
Zoë, however, radiated murderous intent. The lieutenant's eyes simmered with malice and violence. She flexed her fingers as if prepping for murder. He needed an exit strategy. Percy was the one closest to the flap of the tent and none of them had weapons so far as he could tell. He wouldn't put it past Zoë to use her bare hands to kill him, he suspected that she might even prefer it that way. If he bolted he could probably get to cover behind one of the trees. But the other Hunter's might take his flight as a signal to shoot him down. If he contacted Grover, maybe the satyr could…
"Sorry," Bianca interrupted his train of thought. "I-I'm not ready to decide." She fiddled with her hands. Looking anywhere that didn't have them in her line of sight.
This was good. Bianca was distracting them. That would give him around a thirty-second head start on his escape, he wasn't the fastest sprinter, but his life depended on it. His watch-shield was still busted, but it could open enough that it would block some arrows. Percy tensed, ready to dart up from his sitting position and…
Zoë turned towards the other girl, "Do not be foolish—"
"Leave the matter be, Zoë," Artemis sighed. Percy had nearly forgotten about the moon goddess in his panic. She had been quietly listening to the argument between the demigod and her lieutenant. Her eyes betrayed no emotion, just the serene silver of her irises. "Bianca, you still have time to consider the offer, the Hunt will be at camp for the time being, should you change your mind, they will welcome you. Percy Jackson, you may return to your friends, but it would be wise to not let your temper get the best of you again. I may forgive youth and naivety more than most gods, but even I have my limits."
Maybe he was wrong. Artemis might want to kill him too. A couple more gods and he'd have the whole pantheon which comes with the prize of a first-class ticket to the underworld.
Percy and Bianca trudged through the snow to where Nico and Grover were. He let out the breath he didn't realize he was holding. The whole time, the Hunters glared at him, whispering as he escorted Bianca back. He started wondering if hunting demigods was illegal in Maine.
"B!" Nico had bolted when he saw the two of them. "Are you okay? What did they want with you?"
Bianca gave him a sad smile and ruffled his hair, "Nothing, Neeks. They just wanted to talk."
"Alright," Nico frowned slightly, but he lit up as he turned towards Percy. "C'mon, Grover and I made a deck for you!"
"I made sure you got blue cards!" Grover smiled.
"Is that really what you think it takes to get my interest in something?" Percy asked.
"Yes," Grover said without hesitation. The satyr wasn't wrong, blue was objectively the best color, but it still hurt to hear.
Nico shoved a small leather box into his hands. Inside was about forty cards or so. Percy looked through cards, they consisted of mostly sea monsters and the odd hurricane and whirlpool every now and then. And he came to the quick realization that between dyslexia and the card descriptions, he had no idea what each card did.
"Uh, thanks, but I don't know the rules," Percy said.
"Don't worry, Bianca will be on your team." Nico handed his sister a case.
"Nico, I don't know the rules either!"
"And Grover and I will be on a team," Nico had stopped listening. He started setting up play mats and taking figurines out. There were so many dice, that Percy was starting to get concerned. Those were a choking hazard. Nico handed both him and Bianca a figurine.
"These are your Hero figures," The boy was starting to visibly buzz with excitement. "Each player has one and begins the game with them in play. The goal is to eliminate the other player's Hero. Each Hero has its own special effect that it can activate. Every turn you can play a…"
Nico finished his impromptu presentation on the rules roughly thirty minutes later. The entire time Bianca looked at Percy as if he was personally responsible for this tirade. He glanced at the figure that Nico gave him. It was of a woman in a dark blue tunic surrounded by thrashing waves coming up to her waist, on the base was the name: Kymopoleia. He didn't recognize it. Annabeth probably would've known who this was. She was in charge of teaching mythology. Percy never paid attention.
"Nico, not that there's a problem or anything but why didn't you give me a Poseidon figure?" Percy was curious. "It's just that he's my dad and I thought…"
"Huh, oh, it's 'cause Poseidon doesn't synergize with your deck," Nico had gotten excited again. "See, Poseidon's ability is that for every sea monster card an opponent plays, you can use his Trident on it for free! But since you're the only one running sea monsters it would be unfair. I mean you could but none of the sea monster cards have the Death's Doors effect. That's why I gave you Kymopoleia, her effect forces someone of your choice to discard five cards whenever you play a sea monster!"
Nico started explaining card effects. It didn't make any sense, Percy wasn't prepared for a lecture, and he was already bad enough at school. He hoped that there wasn't going to be a quiz on it.
He heard Bianca sigh over Nico's explanation.
This was going to be a long night.
Percy and Bianca were stuck cleaning up the cards and dice after the game.
Nico had fallen asleep and Grover had taken it upon himself to get the kid into a sleeping bag. Thalia was still off blowing off steam somewhere, they had heard shouting and thunder several times while they were playing the game. She must've picked a fight with someone from the Hunt. Not that he was one to judge, he didn't really want to be yelled at by either party right now.
Percy tried to make some small talk while they packed everything.
"How much money has Nico spent on this game?" It was a genuine concern because Nico had several binders for the cards. Percy had bought some Pokémon cards with his savings when he was younger and those weren't expensive, but they also only had like ten cards. Nico must've had hundreds, maybe even thousands of cards.
"Too much," Bianca muttered. "I don't even know the exact amount. I've tried to get him to stop. We shouldn't be wasting money on those."
That was… rough. He could sympathize a bit. Percy never really had a lot of money growing up. His mom worked multiple jobs to keep them afloat before he came to Camp. It didn't help that they lived with a parasite for the majority of it. He didn't regret what happened with Medusa's head and he never would.
"So, there's a whole camp of demigods, huh?" Bianca roused him from his thoughts.
"Yeah, most of them are from the twelve Olympians." He replied.
"Most?" She raised an eyebrow.
"Some are unclaimed and some are children of minor gods. We've got a couple of nature spirits. And harpy cleaning ladies too."
"And you're the son of Poseidon."
"Yup. Sea god. Stormbringer. Uh, horse whisperer, can't forget about that one, campers keep getting me to translate." Percy never really knew what inspired the god of the sea to create a land animal. It felt… weird. But then again, his dad also decided to slap a fish's bottom half onto them and create hippocampi. Which didn't make more sense, because hooves don't do well underwater, but at least it fit the ocean theme.
"You can talk to horses?" She asked incredulously.
"It's more like they won't shut up around me." Blackjack always asked for doughnuts every time Percy came by. The pegasus was getting fat, but Percy didn't know how to bring it up without sounding like an asshole. He wasn't going to say: Hey buddy, you're packing on the pounds and I think you need to lose weight! Maybe he should start having Blackjack fly to the doughnut shops? That would burn off the calories. But then the mortals might freak out and he still didn't know how to use the Mist.
"You're Thalia's cousin then?" Bianca said after a while.
"Technically, I guess." Percy frowned. He'd never really thought about it like that. Thalia felt like… a friendly rival. Or a punching bag. A very loud and annoying punching bag that also hit back. "Gods don't have DNA, so there isn't really a family connection to any of the other campers. Unless you have the same godly parent, then you're half-siblings. Or full siblings like you and Nico. You might even have brothers and sisters at camp."
Bianca gave him a meaningful look.
"That might be nice." She said. "Nico and I have been by ourselves for a while now. I'm not sure what happened to our parents. I just wasn't sure what to do anymore. It's frustrating, relying on yourself. And I was just tired of… feeling alone."
"I get it," He turned towards her. "I was twelve when I found out about being a demigod. I didn't know who my dad was. My mom kept me going though, she was all I thought about. I can't imagine what it was like for you two, being by yourselves. But Camp is full of good people, they'll help you out. You'll be safe there and I'll help in any way I can."
Bianca beamed at him. "Thanks."
They finished packing away Nico's things and said their goodnights.
Percy was about to enter the tent that Grover had borrowed when a moth landed on the zipper. It was dark and murky with yellow markings on its body. It was like the creature was made of volcanic ash and sulfur. A white skull emblazoned its thorax like a tombstone on black earth. Its antennae twitched and Percy heard the sound of scissors snipping thread echo around him. It flapped its wings and dissolved into darkness and dust.
He was going to have nightmares tonight, he just knew it.
His dreams were of shadows and ice.
He couldn't see.
Percy tried to move but he felt the bitter cold of the walls. He was enclosed in a frozen box. He hugged his limbs close to his body and tried to preserve what little heat his body had left.
Percy was shivering when he woke up.
"Percy! You're freezing!" Grover handed him a cup of hot chocolate. The satyr frowned. "Strange… the tent is magically heated."
"Y-yeah. It d-didn't help," His teeth chattered. His body slowly warmed up as he drank the hot chocolate. "I had another one, it was so cold, and dark. There was nothing there but ice."
Grover sat next to him. "I don't know, Perce. Your dreams have always been weird, but they don't affect you physically. We should ask Chiron when we get back to camp. Or maybe that Clovis guy in Hermes cabin, he's the son of Hypnos."
"We have a Hypnos camper?" Percy had never heard or seen him before.
"He's usually sleeping."
"Ah…"
That was probably the worst thing to inherit from your godly parent. How did Clovis even survive all those monster attacks and make it camp?
They sat in silence for a little bit. Percy's thoughts turned towards Annabeth.
"Hey, you're still blaming yourself, aren't you?" Grover spoke up. "It's not your fault."
Percy didn't argue. The satyr could tell what his emotional state was. Maybe not exactly what he was feeling, but close enough where he couldn't hide anything from Grover.
"Thalia seems to think that as well," Percy grumbled. "Maybe we're both right about it."
"You two are so similar to each other," Grover said. Percy was mildly offended. Thalia was the most infuriating person that he'd ever met. "And you're both wrong. You both blame yourselves for what happened but you handle it in different ways. Thalia lashes out and you take it in. She can't handle being wrong and you can't help but feel responsible. Neither of you guys are at fault."
"Grover… Annabeth's gone."
"We'll find her. I might not have an empathy link with her, but she's strong. And a heck of a lot brighter than both of us!"
Percy nodded. Annabeth was smarter than anybody at camp, she wouldn't get herself killed. He just doesn't know where she is or even if she's safe and that scared him.
"You idiots awake?" Thalia's voice called from outside the tent.
"Yeah!" Grover called out. "What's up?"
"Our ride's here."
What ride? They didn't call his mom yet.
As it turns out, Apollo was free this morning and was gonna give them a lift. What could go wrong?
It ended poorly.
It wasn't because of the god. No, he was actually quite pleasant unlike most of Percy's divine relatives. Apollo wasn't the one who ended up driving them.
Percy made a solemn vow, that under no circumstance, would he ever allow Thalia to drive ever again.
See, Percy Jackson isn't an expert at driving the sun chariot, especially when it was shaped like a school bus, but he was certain that it wasn't supposed to crash. No one was hurt, fortunately enough. Although, Nico had tripped getting out of the bus, and had grabbed Bianca's sleeve, taking her with him tumbling into the water.
The same couldn't be said for the lake.
There was a noticeable dip in the lake's volume. The sand closest to the impact had been turned into glass. It looked like the bus just punched a hole into a giant mirror. Some of the campers who were minding their business and hanging around were completely soaked. The water boiled a bit and steam rose from the surface. Some of the naiads were trying to rescue the fish flopping on the glass. There was also the screaming which only he heard.
Make it stop! It burns!
Can't…breathe.
Save us!
"Yo, you okay kid?" Apollo shook his shoulders. "Your dad will turn me into a goldfish again if you got brain damage from that."
"Yeah, It's just that the fish—wait what do you mean by again?"
"See, there was this one time in Hawaii. Your dad invited some of the gods to a luau—" The god stopped talking. Apollo went rigid. Percy had never seen a deity turn pale before. It didn't fill him with confidence. Apollo looked like someone who had just watched a tragedy unfold before his eyes.
"Um, you alright?"
"Something is wrong, very wrong," Apollo muttered. "Sorry, another time…"
The sun god abruptly made his way back into the driver's seat of the sun bus. It morphed back into a sports car and blazed off into the morning sky, reboiling the lake with its departure. The screaming continued.
"Percy, my boy!" Chiron had shown up in his wheelchair, and a couple of campers came with him. Sometimes, Percy wondered how comfortable it was compacting your lower half into it. Actually, how big was it inside that thing?
Chiron looked over at the group. He frowned ever so slightly when he saw the hunters. Slowly, he wheeled himself over to Percy, sliding along the glass.
"Where's Annabeth?" His eyes conveyed the worry and anxiousness that Percy also felt.
"I don't know." It came out more like a whisper.
Chiron took in a deep breath. "Meet me at the Big House later, I fear we have much to discuss. I will need to discuss things with Argus. He has not yet recovered from the gorilla's death and I am afraid that the Hunt's presence will only stress him out further. I wouldn't want a repeat of the 1980s… he just wanted popcorn."
The centaur wheeled himself away and left Percy with his thoughts.
"Percy!" Lee Fletcher came running to him. He was the counselor of Apollo cabin, same blond hair, and blue eyes as his siblings and father, a bit more on the serious side than them. Other campers followed behind. "Met my pops, huh?"
"Yeah," Percy said. "Thalia crashed his car."
"I noticed." He gestured around them. "It's gonna take weeks to clean up all this glass."
"Hey, you wouldn't happen to know what happened between Argus and the Hunt in the 1980s do you?"
Lee paled. "I've only heard stories. None of them are good. I didn't even know you could do that with a microwave."
Percy waited for him to elaborate, but Lee just looked like he was about to be sick.
"Did you save the half-bloods?" Travis Stoll asked from the crowd. He was Hermes cabin co-counselor with his brother, Connor. They live up to their heritage and name. Percy stayed in his cabin for his first summer, back when Luke Castellan was in charge. He never found out who stole the candy from his bag but he found slightly crushed snickers bars in the camp store for half off the next day. Percy strongly suspected it was one of the Stolls, partially because Hermes cabin ran the store, but also because they robbed their own store and each other as well.
"Siblings. Brother and sister." Percy said.
"Claimed or not?"
"Unclaimed."
"Hmm, might have an issue then. We're still expanding the cabin. Connor's talking to Beckendorf right now, work is slowing down 'cause half the Hephaestus kids are working on the greenhouse sprinkler system."
"Hopefully we'll know before dinner," Percy sighed. That cabin was packed the year he stayed in it. And despite the campers who disappeared from it during Luke's betrayal, it just filled right back up again.
"If they're Hermes kids then we'll just use the store as temporary shelter." Travis had that glint in his eyes that made Percy pat his pockets. Nothing was stolen… yet.
"Where's Annabeth? She came with you guys, right?" Lee asked.
Percy's silence must've answered their question for them.
"You know what, never mind. Why don't you show the newbies around?"
"Uh, right, see you guys later," Percy went off to find the di Angelos.
They stopped by the camp store first.
The siblings were in dire need of dry clothes and after his nightmare, he took hypothermia a lot more seriously. Unfortunately, Percy could see from the outside of the building that Connor Stoll was manning the register. He must've finished his business with Hephaestus' cabin early.
"Okay, when we go in there don't let him get too close to you," Percy warned. "And if he does, check your pockets. Also check them again before we leave, because if you're missing anything, they'll be sold for a discount the moment you leave."
Bianca frowned. "Is that a normal occurrence?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Genetics."
The door jingled when he opened it.
"Percy, nice to see you again," Connor said. He was pretty much identical to his brother. Curly brown hair and blue eyes, if it wasn't for the fact that Connor was shorter, they could've passed for twins. "And you brought new faces too! Oh, they're soaked. Is that your doing? I knew you were a prankster at heart!"
Connor gave him a thumbs up.
"Nah, Thalia crashed the sun into the lake, they just fell into it getting out."
"Really?" He leaned forward an inquisitive look on his face. "Is it still there? Do you any idea how much a wheel from the sun chariot sells for? I could buy twenty hydra eggs and enough food to feed them for a decade."
"First of all, no. Second, you'd be stealing from a god."
"Dad got away with it."
"Your dad is a god," Percy said. "What would you even do with twenty hydras?"
"Pranking the Demeter cabin. Katie's been rubbing poison ivy on our doors. I think it's about time we got even."
Percy narrowed his eyes. "Didn't you guys replace their plants with plastic ones from Home Depot?"
"Not my fault they can't take a joke." Connor gave him a wry smile. "Anyways, I assume your friends need clothes?" He stood up from his seat at the register. "Tees and shorts are in the back. There's a changing room back there too. You can pay with drachmas or credit card."
"What's a drachma?" Nico asked. He was also grabbing a handful of booster packs. "Usually Bianca handles the groceries."
"Oh man, they don't know anything about money? You're the best Percy, a real pal!"
"Dude, don't rip them off," Percy chastised. "I'll pay. I've still got drachmas left over."
Connor leaned over to Nico, who had cleared half the shelf. "Psst, load up on those, he's paying." Nico didn't even notice the son of Hermes swipe a sleeved playing card from his backpack. Connor looked at it and frowned. He slipped it back. Apparently, Mythomagic cards didn't have a high resell value.
"You gonna get anything?" Connor asked. His eyes twinkled with mirth.
"No, just showing them around."
"You should drop by the armory. I heard that the Hunters are here. Probably gonna be CTF tonight."
"Does that usually happen when they're here?"
"Yeah, we're on a losing streak. I think we're on forty-six? It might even be in the fifties. I can't remember us winning a single game."
"That bad, huh?" Percy fiddled with his pen. Then he paused. This was still bugging him. "You wouldn't happen to know what happened to Argus in the 1980s, would you?"
The smile dropped from Connor's face. He looked… troubled. "You don't want to know, trust me. The only person who knows the full story is Chiron and what he's let slip isn't pretty."
There was a heavy thunk as Nico deposited his haul onto the counter.
"Good choice, Trojan war expansion, heard that one in every hundred packs got gold foil Achilles and Patroclus duo card." Connor headed back around the counter.
"I know! It's so cool!"
Percy sighed as he got out his coin pouch. He was going to need to get a job at Camp.
Nico and Bianca left the camp store looking much less wet and much more like the average camper.
Percy left it significantly poorer than before.
Travis was by the armory when they got there and he felt as if the Stolls were playing a prank on him.
The thief waved at him. He held a suspiciously shiny and holstered firearm in one hand. "Percy, I'd offer to sell you this engraved colt 1911, but I've seen you with a bow, I'm going to assume you're equally as bad with a gun."
"That is not only rude but probably a safe assumption," Percy admitted. Bows never clicked with him. It always went poorly. He's still banned from going within a thirty-meter radius of the archery range. They determined that to be the threat radius of his missed shots.
Travis turned towards the di Angelos. "How about you, little man?"
Nico made a face at Travis. "I'm not little."
"You're not getting that either," Bianca interjected. "No guns."
"We're just here to get them some weapons and armor."
"Alright, let's see," Travis hummed. "I think we've got something that might fit in the back. How about I get the armor and you deal with the weapons?"
"Sounds good." Percy turned back towards the siblings. His eyes widened at the sight. "Nico, stop!"
The boy froze. His hand inches away from a small round clay pot. It was a Greek fire bomb. It would've engulfed the entire building in an inferno if it cracked.
Percy took a deep breath. "Okay, don't touch anything without asking me. That could've been bad."
It took them an hour to get sorted. Nico had almost impaled himself with a pair of wicked sharp gardening shears. Supposedly, the Demeter cabin decided to get creative and violent at the same time. He ended up getting a sword that was a bit big for him, but that was the best they could do. Bianca turned out to be a natural with a bow. Unlike Percy, she could aim. And hit things that weren't campers or nature spirits. And for some reason, the arrows didn't fly backward when she shot. Honestly, Percy didn't understand how people did that. Travis also came by somewhere in the timespan and left them two heavily worn but usable armor sets.
Percy glanced outside the armory's door. It was around noon. He still had to see Chiron. They needed to figure out how to help Annabeth.
"Travis, you mind showing them the rest of camp? I've got to meet with Chiron."
"No problem." He turned away from Percy. "Alright, I'm going to show you guys how to pickpocket someone without getting caught. It's about the timing and distraction."
Percy hoped they weren't related to the Stolls.
There was a crowd around the Big House when he got there.
The Hunters and Apollo cabin had started a commotion. Argus stood stalwart in front of the door, but that was diminished by him dabbing at his hundred eyes with tissues, he must've not been over the gorilla. Or the 1980s, both seemed equally likely right now.
Zoë and Lee were at the front. Chiron eventually stepped out of the front door, ducking his head down as he did so.
"Please! Calm down, everyone." He called out.
"The Hunt must leave at once!" Zoë yelled.
"You must wait for your mistress to return." Chiron insisted. "You have received your orders, now you must obey them."
"How can she return when our goddess is lost? She needs us!"
"Chiron!" Lee shouted. He looked pale and clammy. Sweat dripped from his forehead. In fact, all his siblings looked the same way.
"Lee, what's wrong, my boy?" The centaur took a few clops forward and examined the Apollo campers. Concern flashed in his eyes. "Have you come down with something?"
"No! The—"
A small white moth descended onto Lee's shoulder. It looked like a ball of fluff and snow with big black eyes. It went after a bead of sweat from his neck and shuddered. It flapped its wings and shimmered and sparkled into nothingness.
Chiron looked as if he was about to fall over. "No… that can't be." He took a step back, bracing himself against the railing of the deck.
Percy found his voice suddenly. "What's going on? Chiron, what's happening?"
"I must contact Olympus. The gods must—"
The sun went out.
There wasn't a gradual change. No, it was sudden and abrupt. It was as if someone had flipped the cosmic light switch and turned day into night. Except the moon wasn't there either. The only thing which illuminated the sky were the stars that Ouranos used to paint the heavens with an eternity ago.
Snow crashed through the protective barrier of Camp Half-Blood and they were engulfed in a blizzard. The cold bit at his skin and turned his fingers numb. This wasn't supposed to happen. It couldn't.
The shouting started up again. Hunters and campers alike. Percy tried to get to Chiron, but the crowd wasn't dispersing anytime soon.
The door to the Big House creaked open.
Green mist spilled out as the desiccated corpse of the Oracle shambled from the doorway. The shouting died down as people backed up, giving it a wide berth. It took an agonizing march until it stood in front of Zoë Nightshade.
She stood ready but fearful. Zoë shook in front of the mummy but didn't back down.
The mist seeping from the Oracle's mouth coalesced into the image of Artemis kneeling on a mountaintop, her arms, and legs bound in chains. The words spilled out of its mouth in a withered rasp it spoke:
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 parent's hand.
The mist didn't dissipate. It swirled around the Oracle like a vortex of emerald dust. The corpse shuddered and turned, bones creaking as it faced Lee Fletcher and the Apollo cabin.
Green light illuminated the counselor's face, terror and dread danced in his eyes.
The image of the sun god emerged from the haze. He was entombed within a vault of ice, shivering miserably as he was bound by chains to the wall. Once again, the rotten and decaying Oracle delivered a prophecy:
Six depart and seasons turn,
Northern lands hide the sun away,
Fickle friend won through favor's sway,
Prison's key filched from wayward kin,
Witch's spell absolves traitor's sin,
Ocean's blood endures Winter's bite,
Angel's tears summons pallid light,
Pain and loss to brave once more,
Salvation lies beyond the shore,
Nine return as all things burn.
The mist retreated back into the Oracle's mouth and it fell forwards into the snow.
The snowstorm raged as Chiron sounded a war horn: a signal calling for the counselors of each cabin.
