godsent | h. potter

three.

A CRUEL GAME OF HIDE AND SEEK

It had been one week since the Jackson twins went missing after the explosion at Mt. Helens and a day since Percy had returned to camp, miraculously alive.

His return brought forth a temporary relief throughout camp. But the mystery of Patricia's ongoing disappearance brought whatever sense of hope tumbling down.

Percy was ready to raise hell to whoever had taken his twin sister, and Annabeth was willing to raise it with him. Among all the campers, they were the only ones determined enough to think of ways to find her. The others seemed to just give up, but they never failed to at least give their support to the other two.

Both were weary. Their minds were plagued by too much problems. Finding Daedalus, defending camp, defeating Kronos. Their morale was already low, but the disappearance of a loved one made it almost nonexistent.

Not to mention, their quest to the labyrinth wasn't even finished, yet they had lost Grover and Tyson in the maze, and now, Patricia. Their original team of five has been reduced to two.

"There has to be a way to find where she is. She couldn't have gotten far." Percy rambled to the daughter of Athena, who looked as equally as distraught as the son of Poseidon.

They were desperate for any leads to Patricia's whereabouts. Percy had already asked his father and even Apollo, but the gods have given him no response. Poseidon had simply grimaced and told him that he was still looking for her.

"We're not sure about that, Percy," Annabeth says sadly, gray eyes shining with sadness, "For all we know, she's probably somewhere we can't reach."

"But I don't understand, who would do this to her?"

"I have a bad feeling that they're someone we know."

-

Students chattered about in a state of frenzy. They exchanged multiple theories of how Beauxbatons and Durmstrang would arrive. One first year had exclaimed that Beauxbatons would arrive on pegasi, another claimed that they'd apparate. Hermione had tiredly disagreed with the latter, explaining that you can't apparate inside the Hogwarts grounds. She explained it as if she had done the same thing for 500 years.

After a few minutes of waiting, the first signs of arrival appeared.

A little speck appeared on the bright blue skies. A beautiful white carraige pulled by what strangely resembled pegasi arrived, carrying students from Beauxbatons.

Ron and Patricia launched into a discussion of what the creatures pulling the carriage were called, with Harry secretly laughing at their heated faces. Hermione could only sigh at the two.

The two bickering Gryffindors halted when a rather large woman stepped out of the pristine carriage. Ron gawked openly and had exclaimed, "Blimey, that's one big woman!"

Of course, he earned a rightful slap from Hermione. Patricia asked Harry if they were usually like that, and the raven haired boy could only shrug, though the amused smile on his face answered her question clearly.

Then, from the usually tranquil waters of the Black Lake emerged a beautiful wooden ship. It had a strangely skeletal look about it, as though it were a resurrected wreck, and the dim, misty lights shimmering at its portholes looked like ghostly eyes. The students from Durmstrang had arrived.