𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐬'𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 • 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘺 𝘫𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘴𝘰𝘯

An Old Dead Friend Comes To Visit

"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, onboard 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.

"I don't know," Grayson said. "I think somebody would know if Kronos had re-formed. The gods would be more nervous. But still, it's weird, you had a nightmare the same night as Zoë. It's almost like—" 

"They're connected," I said. 

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.

"Ah, love," Grover said dreamily. 

I thought about Zoë's nightmare, which she'd had only a few hours after mine. 

"I've got to talk to Zoë," I said. 

"Um, before you do..." Grayson took two things out of his coat pocket. They were threefold displays like travel brochures. "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." 

"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 Y/n's backpack," Grayson said. "Annabeth had the other one in her bag."

I stared at him. "I don't understand." 

"Well, it seems to me... maybe Y/n and Annabeth were thinking about joining." 

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. The rest of the day I tried to keep busy, but I was worried sick about Y/n. 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. 

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. 

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. 

I looked in 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.