The Last Arrow - The Great Holiday Mystery

1. Say What?

~The Canoe Lake~

Percy and Annabeth smiled at each other. Jason and Piper smiled at each other. Frank and Hazel smiled at each other. Grover and Juniper smiled at each other.

The eight sat on a large, plaid picnic blanket by the lake, enjoying the spray of the water Percy cast up, and the general serenity of being in each other’s company. They’d made Leo swear on the river Styx not to interrupt their quadruple date, and it was going wonderfully.

As the day before Valentine’s Day, the group was trying to work out a group date for the following day. Because Juniper was a tree nymph, she couldn’t leave camp, so they had to find a camp related activity.

Piper wanted to set up a romantic picnic in the woods, Percy wanted to go for an underwater trip with him projecting a breathing bubble, Hazel wanted to ride the pegasi, and Grover wanted to spend the day in the meadow.

‘Why don’t we compromise?’ Annabeth suggested. ‘Bit of everything?’

There was silence while the others registered the obvious sensibility.

Annabeth raised an eyebrow, ‘I’ll take that as a yes.’

Jason suddenly held up a hand, signalling silence. The demigods obeyed, knowing not to mess with danger. Jason stood and carefully drew his imperial gold sword from his scabbard. ‘Reveal yourself.’

A wind gusted from nowhere, blowing the eight’s hair and knocking Grover completely to the ground. A voice whispered in amongst the air and tranquillity.

 Jason Grace, you should know a sword is no use against me.

Jason nearly snarled, ‘It worked against you once, it can again.’

Perhaps, but today is not the day for that. Today I come to you for a different reason.

‘Is it to destroy couples?’

You need not my help with that, son of Jupiter. It is already happening.

‘What?’ Jason faltered, his sword tip dipping, and in that moment, a dagger flashed across his thigh.

‘Jason!’ Piper cried, drawing her dagger with the rest of them following suit.

‘I’m fine,’ Jason grunted, holding his left hand against the wound to keep the blood in.

‘At least have the decency to show us who you are,’ Percy said.

Fair enough, Perseus Jackson. Your life has been messed with far enough for me to be decent.

The air a few feet away rippled and a lean young man was made visible. His eyes were as red and poisonous as blood, stinging into the souls of the eight. His straight black hair was tied behind him in a ponytail, running down his snowy white wings. A quiver was strapped to his back, each arrow dipped in a crimson substance. A dagger was strapped to his waist in an ornate silver sheath.

‘Who are you?’ Frank asked, utterly bewildered. Hazel, Grover, Juniper, Piper and Percy nodded in agreement.

Annabeth just stared uncomprehendingly like she was just concluding that the man was actually there. Her mouth hung open a little and her eyes were brighter and wider than ball bearings.

‘This,’ Jason spat, ‘you might know as Eros. Or for Romans-’

‘Cupid,’ Annabeth finished. ‘But what are you doing here?’

‘Well, that is, if I may say, a delicate matter,’ Cupid said evasively.

‘So you’re not going to tell us?’ Hazel asked confusedly.

Cupid’s shoulders tensed, and he pulled an arrow from his quiver, examining the tip critically. His wings beat the air restlessly.

‘I didn’t say that,’ he acknowledged finally. ‘But it is a matter I wish not to be over heard.’

‘Why not?’ Juniper scowled.

‘Ah,’ Cupid fidget, and unusually attribute for the over-confident god of love. Jason noticed and frowned suspiciously. ‘The other gods would not be, shall we say, pleased.’

‘So why are you here?’ Piper demanded.

‘There is a small service a require,’ Cupid admitted awkwardly.

Jason broke in with a blunt tone, and a strange face, ‘Where’s your bow?’

The god’s throat seemed to constrict and he let out a strangled squawk like a duckling being trodden on. Piper, Hazel and Juniper’s hands jumped to their mouths while Jason and Annabeth groaned in exasperation and Grover, Frank and Percy just looked confused.

‘I don’t get it,’ Frank muttered.

‘I-’ Cupid cleared his throat as if the words would come out as sharp, jagged pieces of glass. ‘I have lost my bow.’

‘Are you kidding me?’ Percy questioned in astonishment.

‘But wouldn’t mean no more love magic?’ Hazel asked. ‘So no more people will have to suffer under him? That’s a good thing, right?’

‘No, no, no,’ Cupid paced back and forth anxiously, hands waving about. ‘There will be no more love magic. My mother, Aphrodite, is the goddess of love, but it is my powers that keep love alive in the world. Especially on a day like tomorrow.’

Annabeth buried her face in her hands, rubbing her temples gingerly like one might handle explosives.

‘So, if you don’t have your bow,’ the daughter of Athena started, ‘what will happen to love?’

‘It will fall apart,’ Cupid admitted bluntly. ‘That’s why I came to all of you. You would never want love to fall apart?’

‘And why is that?’ Piper demanded, crossing her arms over chest in a huff.

‘Because you would start fighting with your other half,’ Cupid grinned slyly, looking like a fox with a mouse or a rabbit in its gaze, right within striking distance. ‘Couples would break up, love would be torn in two, and there would be no happiness or friendship left in the world.’

Annabeth and Percy instinctively moved closer together and grasped each other’s hands like a lifeline, an anchor that kept them alive.

‘Wait,’ Grover interrupted. ‘You mentioned friendship. What has friendship got to do with the god of love?’

Cupid scoffed, ‘Stupid satyr. You think love only comes from romance? No, there are many kinds of love. Love can come from friendship, strength,’ he glanced sideways at Percy, ‘and loyalty.’

Percy gripped Annabeth’s hand tighter, so she ran comforting so circles of the back of his. Cupid laughed sadistically as the group shivered in repulsion.

‘I know how little you wish to help me,’ the god began, ‘but I also know of how much you wish to stay with each other. So if you value the love of the world, you will do this.’

A glance between the eight was all it took to determine the answer.

‘Where do we start?’