The Nature of a Demigod

(Not) Working Together

"What do you mean lost? Like she needs directions?" Percy said obliviously. That struck me as odd though. "No. It sounds like she's lost, like, gone. Taken. Kidnapped. But-"

"Kidnapped?" Percy said. "How would you kidnap an immortal goddess? Is that even possible?"

"It's been done before. That's what happened to Persephone." I told him. "But she was like, the goddess of flowers." Percy protested. Grover looked offended. "Springtime."

"It's not important." I said. "Tell that to her." Grover said, appalled. "Look, Grover. As much as we don't see eye to eye, I'll be the first to admit, my mother is a lot more powerful than Persephone. There's not a lot of deities that could kidnap her."

Grover shook his head miserably. "I don't know. Kronos?" I scratched my chin in thought. "There's no chance he's already that powerful. Right?" Percy asked. "I'm not sure, Percy. Luke said Kronos got more powerful with each new recruit. Maybe it's been a busy winter for them..." I shuddered at the thought.

The last time we had been near Kronos, he was cut up in a million tiny pieces, escaping one by one from the deepest pits of tartarus. In the original titan/god war, Zeus, and others cut their father to bits and locked those bits separately inside of the deepest part of the underworld. Tartarus.

Roughly two years ago, Kronos, along with Luke Castellan, had managed to trick us to the brim of the pit. I fell in, but what Kronos really wanted was the master bolt, hidden in Percy's backpack.

Then last summer, on Luke's cruise ship, the Princess Andromeda, we saw a golden coffin, where Luke said the king of the titans was slowly regaining his lost power, every time someone new joined their cause.

The problem with this theory was that Kronos used dreams to influence and mislead people. That wouldn't explain how he could overpower one of the Olympians, unless he was fully retained from Tartarus.

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

"It sounds like they might be connected." I muttered. 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 folded my hands, breathing warmth into them. Zoe's nightmare filled my thoughts. She had the dream just a few hours after I did. As much as I hated the thought... "I've got to talk to Zoe."

"Um, before you do... " Grover took something out of his coat pocket. It was a threefold display like a travel brochure. "You remember what you guys said about how it was weird the Hunters just happened to show up at Westover Hall? I think they might've been scouting us."

"What do you mean scouting us? They were watching us before they showed up?" I asked. Grover handed me the brochure. It was for the hunters of Artemis. In bold text on the front, it said:

'A WISE CHOICE FOR YOUR FUTURE!'

On the inside, were a bunch of pictures of young immortal maidens doing stuff the hunters did. Chasing monsters, shooting their bows. There were some captions that said stuff like 'Health Benefits: Immortality and what it means for you.' and 'A boy free tomorrow!'

"I found that in Annabeth's backpack," Grover said. Percy stared at him. "I don't understand."

"I get it perfectly fine." I crumpled the piece of paper like it had personally wronged me, and gave the ball to Percy. "Throw that away for me. Or give it Grover or something. I don't care." I told him.