SERENDIPITY ~ A. Chase

vi ~ The Oracle Comes To Visit

"Well, Zoe said she needed permission to leave camp immediately. Chiron refused. He reminded Zoe that the Hunters were supposed to stay here until they received orders from Artemis. And she said..." Grover hesitated and swallowed. "She said 'How are we to get orders from Artemis if Artemis is lost?'"

"What do you mean lost? Like she needs directions?"

"Needs directions? Seriously Kelp Head?" The brunette rolled her eyes.

"No. I think she meant gone. Taken. Kidnapped."

Cassie cursed, "Well fuck."

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

"Well, yeah. I mean, it happened to Persephone."

"But she was like, the goddess of flowers." The son of Poseidon remarked. Grover pulled an offended face.

"Di immortales! Goddess of Springtime." Cassie corrected, smacking Percy atop the head.

"Whatever. Artemis is a lot more powerful than that.
Who could kidnap her? And why?"

"I don't know. Kronos?" Grover offered.

"He can't be that powerful already. Can he?"

Kronos was no more than a bunch of chopped up pieces last time they saw him. Technically that hadn't actually seen him.

After the Titan-God war thousands of years ago, Kronos had been chopped into pieces by the gods and thrown into Tartarus to rot.

Just two summers ago he had tried to trick Percy, Cassie, Grover, and Annabeth into almost falling in the pit. And last summer, Luke had revealed his plan to summon the Titan Lord in his golden coffin. Bit by bit Kronos would reform as more demigods joined him.

He got to demigods in their dreams and influenced them to his side, but Percy didn't understand how that would work with Artemis.

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

"They're connected," Cassie mumbled, half-heartedly.

Their attention was drawn to a satyr sliding on the icy ground as he chased a ginger tree nymph. She giggled and opened her arms for a hug but Pop! The nymph was a Scotch pine before he even got a kiss.

"Ah, love," Grover sighed dreamily.

Cassie shared a look with Percy and let out her own sigh.

"We've got to talk to Zoe," The daughter of Ares informed.

"Um, before you do." Grover shuffled through his pockets before pulling something out. It looked like some kind of brochure. "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."

Grover directed his words to Percy but handed the paper to Cassie.

"Scouting us? What do you mean?" The son of Poseidon inquired.

Cassie flipped the brochure over and read the front. It was an advertisement for the Hunters of Artemis. Her eyes skimmed over the words: A WISE CHOICE FOR YOUR FUTURE!

There were pictures for examples. Hunters were shooting bows and fighting monsters. The captions were things like: HEALTH BENEFITS: IMMORTALITY AND WHAT IT MEANS FOR YOU! and A BOY-FREE TOMORROW!

"I found that in Annabeth's backpack," Grover explained.

He watched as Cassie's face fell the more she read. Percy glanced from over her shoulder but was troubled.