Hello there, gods, half-bloods and friends, welcome to the next chapter of The God Hunter.

I was originally going to update Avatar: Immortal Dragon, but I got sick and when I got better I didn't had enough time to finish that chapter, so here's this one.

Hope you enjoy and now story time.

Most half-bloods only trained during the summer, but it was still strange to see camp so empty. It was just the year-rounders who where still there, the ones who didn't have homes to go to, or would get attacked by monsters too much if they left. But there didn't even seem to be many of them, either.

Beckendorf was stoking the forge outside the camp armory. The Stoll brothers, Travis and Connor, were picking the lock on the camp store. A few kids from the Ares cabin were having a snowball fight with the wood nymphs at the edge of the forest. That was about it.

Even Clarisse didn't seem to be around.

The Big House was decorated with strings of red and yellow fireballs that warmed the porch but didn't seem to catch anything on fire. Inside, flames crackled in the hearth. The air smelled like hot chocolate.

Mr. D and Chiron were playing a quiet game of cards in the parlor.

Chiron's brown beard was shaggier for the winter. His curly hair had grown a little longer. He wasn't posing as a teacher this year, so he could afford to be casual. He wore a fuzzy sweater with a hoofprint design on it, and he had a blanket on his lap that almost hid his wheelchair completely.

He smiled when he saw them. "Percy! Matt! Thalia! Ah, and this must be."

"Yes, this is him. Nico di Angelo." Matt said as he patted Nico on the shoulder, "He and his sister are half-bloods."

Chiron breathed a sigh of relief. "You succeeded, then." he said, but his smile melted when he saw their expression, "What's wrong? And where is Annabeth?"

"Oh, dear." Mr. D said in a bored voice, "Not another one lost."

"What do you mean?" Thalia said, "Who else is lost?"

Just then, Grover trotted into the room, grinning like crazy. He had a black eye and red lines on his face that looked like a slap mark. "The Hunters are all moved in!"

"The Hunters, eh? I see we have much to talk about." he said with a frown before he glanced at Nico, "Grover, perhaps you should take our young friend to the den and show him our orientation film."

"Oh, right." Grover said, "Yes, sir."

"Wait, the orientation film is real?" Matt said surprised.

"Is it G or PG?" Nico asked, "Because Bianca is kind of strict..."

"It's PG-13." Grover said.

"Cool!" Nico happily followed him out of the room.

"Now." Chiron said to Percy, Matt and Thalia, "Perhaps you three should sit down and tell us the whole story."

When they were done, Chiron turned to Mr. D, "We should launch a search for Annabeth immediately." he said.

"I'll go!" Percy, Matt and Thalia said at the same time. A short pause followed as the trio looked at each other.

"I mean we'll go." Matt said before the other two could argue, "With the three of us, Annabeth will be found faster than..."

"Certainly not!" Mr. D interrupted.

"Why the feck not." Matt shot back.

Percy and Thalia both joined in in his complaining, but Mr. D held up his hand. He had that purplish angry fire in his eyes that usually meant something bad and godly was going to happen if they didn't shut up.

"From what you have told me, we have broken even on this escapade." Mr. D said, "We have, ah, regrettably lost Annie Bell..."

"Annabeth!" Matt snarled, "She went to this camp since she was seven, how can you NOT remember her name."

"...Your lucky, Matt Hauer. That Lord Zeus has granted you certain... leeway." he said dismissively before he continued, "You procured a small annoying boy to replace her. So I see no point risking further half-bloods on a ridiculous rescue. The possibility is very great that this Annabeth girl is dead."

Matt was about to retort, and he would have if not for a voice in his head.

Calm yourself, Matt. This is not the moment to lose control of yourself, there will come a time when you get to strangle the dismissive prick. Unfortunately that time is not now.

"Honestly, I'm more surprised that he got my name right." Matt thought, "About Step-Zeus, why would he be giving me certain leeway?"

Probably trying to win your favor and get into your good graces. It is probably his hope you could be of use to him. Your a powerful asset to have.

"Annabeth may be alive." Chiron said, but even he was having trouble sounding upbeat.

He'd practically raised Annabeth all those years she was a year-round camper, before she'd given living with her dad and stepmom a second try. "She's very bright. If... if our enemies have her, she will try to play for time. She may even pretend to cooperate."

"That's right." Thalia said, "Luke would want her alive."

"In which case." Mr. D said, "I'm afraid she will have to be smart enough to escape on her own."

Percy got up from the table, "You're glad to lose another camper." he said, "You'd like it if we all disappeared!"

"You have a point?" Mr. D said with a stifled yawn.

"Yeah, just because you were sent here as a punishment doesn't mean you have to be a lazy jerk!" Percy growled, "This is your civilization, too. Maybe you could try helping out a little!"

For a second, there was no sound except the crackle of the fire. The light reflected in Mr. D's eyes, giving him a sinister look. He opened his mouth to say something when Nico burst into the room, followed by Grover.

"So cool!" Nico yelled, holding his hands out to Chiron, "You're... you're a centaur!"

"Yes, Mr. di Angelo, if you please." Chiron said as he managed a nervous smile, "Though, I prefer to stay in human form in this wheelchair for, ah, first encounters."

"And you're the wine dude?" he said, looking at Mr. D, "No way!"

Mr. D turned his eyes away from Percy and gave Nico a look of loathing. "The wine dude?" he said confused.

"Dionysus, right? Oh, hey! I've got your figurine."

"My figurine."

"In my game, Mythomagic. And a holofoil card, too!" Nico said, "And even though you've only got like five hundred attack points and everybody thinks you're the lamest god card, I totally think your powers are sweet!"

"Well, that's..." Mr. D said, who seemed truly perplexed, which probably saved Percy's life, "That's gratifying."

"Matt." Chiron said quickly, "You, Percy and Thalia go down to the cabins. Inform the campers we'll be playing capture the flag tomorrow evening."

"Capture the flag?" Matt said, "Do we even have enough..."

"It is a tradition." Chiron said, "A friendly match, whenever the Hunters visit."

"Yeah." Thalia muttered, "I bet it's real friendly."

Chiron jerked his head toward Mr. D, who was still frowning as Nico talked about how many defense points all the gods had in his game.

"Fine." Matt said with a shrug as he stood up, "Let's go gang."

They manage to get Percy out of the Big House before Dionysus could remember that he wanted to kill him.

"You've got trouble enough." Thalia said, "Do you really need another immortal enemy?"

"Oh, when I do it its bad." Percy scoffed before gesturing at the blonde, "But when Matt does it, everything is cool."

"That's because your not Matt." Thalia pointed out.

Percy gave her one last glare before he went ahead to the cabin area, leaving Matt and Thalia behind at the armory.

Thalia looked out across the valley, toward the top of Half-Blood Hill. Her pine tree was still there, the Golden Fleece glittering in its lowest branch. The tree's magic still protected the borders of camp, but it no longer used Thalia's spirit for power.

"This is so... shit." Matt muttered, "What did you mean? With Percy not being me?"

"Don't get me wrong, Percy is good. He has the potential to become one of the best. It's just..." Thalia said, looking at the tall blonde before letting out a sigh, "Okay, at the risk of inflating your already massive ego, your just on another level. Something that only come along once in a generation."

Matt was amused and honored she thought so highly of him. "Thank you... You know, Annabeth always talked highly of you and your skill in battle." he said, "And up until now, you've lived up to the hype."

"Thank you." she said before letting out another deep sigh, "This is so messed up... First I found out that Luke is lost. Now Annabeth..."

"Don't think like that." Matt assured her as he placed a hand on her shoulder, "We'll get Annabeth back. We just need a plan..."

"You're right." she said as she straightened up, "We'll find a way."

"You haven't been around for very long." Matt said with a smile, "But that's what we always do."

"How you say it almost makes me want to believe you." she said with a small smile of her own before she turned serious, "You know, you asked about my mom and I kind of snapped at you."

"Kind of snapped?" he said amused.

"Okay, I did snapped at you." she admitted, "It's just... I went back to find her after seven years, and I found out she died in Los Angeles. She was a heavy drinker, and apparently she was out driving late one night about two years ago, and..." Thalia blinked hard.

"Oh." Matt said when he realized what she meant, "I'm sorry to hear that. My condolences."

"Yeah, well. It's... it's not like we were ever close." Thalia said, "I ran away when I was ten. Best two years of my life were when I was running around with Luke and Annabeth."

The two stood in silence for a few minutes. Thalia stared off into the distance while Matt was looking at her with her ragged black hair and her black punk clothes, an old wool overcoat wrapped around her, she looked like some kind of huge raven, completely out of place in the white landscape.

"Thalia, you should be team captain." Matt said suddenly.

"What? No, no." she said, "You've been at camp longer. You do it."

"Okay, how about this." Matt said, pointing to the practice arena, "No special abilities, just weapons. Winner get's to choose."

"Your on, Hauer." Thalia said with a smirk.

Over at the basketball court, a few of the Hunters were shooting hoops. One of them was arguing with a guy from the Ares cabin. The Ares kid had his hand on his sword and the Hunter girl looked like she was going to exchange her basketball for a bow and arrow any second.

"Okay, that's enough." Percy said as he broke it up, "Save it for capture the flag."

The two sides turned around and trudged off the court, before they could kill each other with a sword and a basketball.

"Wait, hold up." Percy said to the Ares kid, "Where is Clarisse?"

"Went on a quest for Chiron." the Ares kid said, "Top secret!"

"Is she okay?" Percy said concerned.

"Haven't heard from her in a month. She's missing in action." the Ares kid said, "Like your butt's gonna be if you don't get out of the way!"

He made his was through, purposely bumping his shoulder against Percy's.

"Nice going, Percy." Korsica said as she came walking up, glancing at the other Hunters over her shoulder.

"Geez, thanks." he muttered as he turned around to walk away.

"I wasn't being sarcastic or anything." she assured him, "And I've been meaning to talk to you, now that my overprotective older sister is out of earshot. How are you holding up?"

"What?" Percy said surprised as he stopped in his tracks.

"You fought a manticore and that girl, Annabeth went missing, it sounded like you two where close. Then Bianca joined the Hunters, making your entire quest seem almost like a failure." Korsica said with a kind smile, "That can be... tough on most people."

"None of that shit should've happened." Percy admitted as he looked to the ground.

"You don't know the half of it." Korsica muttered.

"Okay, I just got to say." Percy said when he looked at her, "Have we met somewhere before?", he had no idea where this feeling of familiarity was coming from when he looked at the only friendly girl among the Hunters of Artemis.

"That's one of the oldest pickup lines in the book, Mr. Jackson." Korsica said dryly.

"Th-That's not how I meant it!" he protested.

"Relax, Percy. Just messing with you." she said with a smile, "I have a very good memory and I'm pretty sure we haven't met before."

"Alright then." Percy said with a shrug, though he still couldn't shake the feeling of familiarity, "So Korsica. Pretty interesting name."

"Yeah, I know. Mom named me after my dad's favorite blend of tea." she said, "So is Percy short for Perseus?"

"It is." Percy said, "My mom liked that name, Perseus was one of the only heroes with an happy ending."

Their attention was drawn towards the training area, where a crowd had started to gather. Percy and Korsica joined to see what was going on.

It appeared Matt and Thalia where having a sparing match, if one could call it that. Because it looked less like a spar, and more like a graceful dance, with the Son of Hera and the Daughter of Zeus trading blow, parrying and evading.

A few people in the crowd started to make bets on who would eventually win.

After fifteen rounds of no clear winner, Chiron called it a draw. There where a lot of unhappy betters during dinner that night.

The torches and braziers kept the outdoor pavilion warm, as per usual everyone had to sit with their own cabin mates, which meant Percy was alone at the Poseidon table, Matt all by his lonesome at Hera table and Thalia sat alone at the Zeus table.

At least the Hephaestus, Ares, and Hermes cabins had a few people each. Nico sat with the Stoll brothers, since new campers always got stuck in the Hermes cabin if their Olympian parent was unknown. The Stoll brothers seemed to be trying to convince Nico that poker was a much better game than Mythomagic.

The only table that really seemed to be having a good time was the Artemis table. The Hunters drank and ate and laughed like one big happy family. Zoe sat at the head like she was the mother or something. She didn't laugh as much as the others, but she did smile from time to time. Her silver lieutenant's band glittered in the dark braids of her hair. Bianca di Angelo seemed to be having a great time. She was trying to learn how to arm wrestle from the big girl who'd picked a fight with the Ares kid on the basketball court. The bigger girl was beating her every time, but Bianca didn't seem to mind.

When dinner was finished, Chiron made the customary toast to the gods and formally welcomed the Hunters of Artemis. The clapping was pretty half-hearted. Then he announced the 'good will' capture-the-flag game for tomorrow night, which got a lot better reception.

"Hey, Nightshade!" Matt said as he came up to Artemis table, earning a few glares from the Hunters.

"What do you want, foolish fool?" Zoe said annoyed.

"Look, I believe we got off on the wrong foot. You said somethings, I said somethings, there are good people on both sides." Matt said, showing a neatly wrapped package in his hand, "So I got you something from the store."

"A gift? For me?..." Zoe said surprised yet she remained suspicious as she glared at him, "What is it?"

"Just open it." Matt said as he tossed it to her.

Zoe caught it with one hand, before removing the wrapping to see that it was a book. The cover had a cute panda, wearing a big pair of glasses as he was sitting behind a computer screen.

Above it was written:

English Thesaurus: For Kids!

Classified and arranged to facilitate the expression of ideas and assist in literary composition.

Matt had a satisfied grin as he heard a growl coming from Zoe as he turned around. He felt the hateful glares at his back from the entire table.

Afterward, they trailed back to the cabins for an early, winter lights out. The moment Matt's head hit the pillow, he fell asleep.

In his dream, his eyes opened but it wasn't the usual living room he had grown accustomed to.

Matt was on a dark hillside, shrouded in fog. It almost seemed like the Underworld, because the sky above couldn't been seen, just a close, heavy darkness. Old broken Greek columns of black marble were scattered around, as though something had blasted a huge building to rums.

"Annabeth!" Matt shouted as he saw her, but she didn't hear him.

Annabeth was struggling up on the hill, "Thorn!" she cried, "Where are you? Why did you bring me here?" She scrambled over a section of broken wall and came to the crest of the hill.

She gasped and Matt looked in her direction. His blood boiled when he saw him, Luke. And he was in pain.

He was crumpled on the rocky ground, trying to rise. The blackness seemed to be thicker around him, fog swirling hungrily. His clothes were in tatters and his face was scratched and drenched with sweat.

"Annabeth!" he called, "Help me! Please!"

She ran forward.

"What are you doing?" Matt shouted, "He's a traitor! Screw him!"

Again, she didn't hear him.

Annabeth had tears in her eyes. She reached down like she wanted to touch Luke's face, but at the last second she hesitated.

"What happened?" she asked.

"They left me here." Luke groaned, "Please. It's killing me."

"That's a good thing." Matt muttered.

Luke seemed to be struggling against some invisible curse, as though the fog were squeezing him to death.

"Why should I trust you?" Annabeth said, her voice was filled with hurt.

"You shouldn't, I've been terrible to you." Luke said, "But if you don't help me, I'll die."

"He might die?" Matt said, "Oh no! Anyway!"

Then the darkness above Luke began to crumble, like a cavern roof in an earthquake. Huge chunks of black rock began falling. Annabeth rushed in just as a crack appeared, and the whole ceiling dropped. She held it somehow, tons of rock. She kept it from collapsing on her and Luke just with her own strength.

She shouldn't have been able to do that.

Luke rolled free, gasping. "Thanks." he managed.

"Help me hold it." Annabeth groaned.

Luke caught his breath. His face was covered in grime and sweat. He rose unsteadily.

"I knew I could count on you." he said as he began to walk away as the trembling blackness threatened to crush Annabeth.

"Help me!" she pleaded.

"Oh, don't worry." Luke said, "Your help is on the way. It's all part of the plan. In the meantime, try not to die."

The ceiling of darkness began to crumble again, pushing Annabeth against the ground.

Matt woke up, sitting upright in his bed. There was no sound in the cabin, the clock on the wall read just after midnight.

"I can assume you have seen it." Asherah said, sitting on the edge of his bed.

"Yeah, I did." Matt thought, "The dream, was that your doing?"

"It was. I'm starting to get some of my influence back." Asherah said, "I tried sensing Annabeth, looking if she was alive, if there was a chance you could save her. The dream is what I found."

"Thank you, Ash. Now I am sure of two things." Matt thought, "Annabeth is in terrible danger, and Luke is responsible!"

And that's the chapter, hope you enjoyed.

Many thanks to everyone who reads, reviews, favorite, or follows this story.

By now you know the drill, take care of yourself, get some rest, drink plenty of water, and I will see you people next time.