AS IT TURNED OUT, Morpheus had opted out of creativity for the night and decided to give Naomi and Percy the same dream of their best friend being crushed until a ceiling of darkness.
After breakfast, they talked to Grover about the shared dream. They sat in the meadow watching satyrs chase the wood nymphs through the snow. The nymphs had promised to kiss the satyrs if they got caught, but they hardly ever did. Usually the nymph would let the satyr get up a full head of steam, then she'd turn into a snow-covered tree and the satyr would slam into it head first and get covered in snow.
When Naomi and Percy told Grover about their nightmare, he started twirling his finger in his shaggy leg fur.
"A cave ceiling collapsed on her?" he asked.
"Yeah. What the hell does that mean?" Percy asked.
Grover shook his head. "I don't know. But after what Zoë dreamed—"
"Whoa. What do you mean? Zoë had a dream like that?"
"I... I don't know, exactly. About three in the morning she came to the Big House and demanded to talk to Chiron. She looked really panicked."
Naomi frowned. "Wait, how do you know this?"
Grover blushed. "I was sort of camped outside the Artemis cabin."
"What for?" Percy asked.
"Just to be, you know, near them."
Naomi stared at him. "Grover, that's creepy."
"You're a stalker with hooves," Percy said.
"I am not!" Grover insisted. "Anyway, I followed her to the Big House and hid in a bush and watched the whole thing. She got real upset when Argus wouldn't let her in. It was kind of a dangerous scene."
Naomi tried to imagine that. She wouldn't want to place bets on a fight between the camp's hundred-eyed head of security and Zoë Nightshade.
"What did she say?" Percy asked.
Grover grimaced. "Well, she starts talking really old-fashioned when she gets upset, so it was kind of hard to understand. But something about Artemis being in trouble and needing the Hunters. And then she called Argus a boil-brained lout... I think that's a bad thing. And then he called her—"
"Wait, go back. How could Artemis be in trouble?" Naomi asked.
"I... well, finally Chiron came out in his pajamas and his horse tail in curlers and—"
"He wears curlers in his tail?" Percy asked.
Naomi glared at him to shut up.
"Sorry," he said. "Go on."
"Well, Zoë said she needed permission to leave camp immediately. Chiron refused. He reminded Zoë that the Hunters were supposed to stay here until they received orders from Artemis. And she said..." Grover gulped. "She said 'How are we to get orders from Artemis if Artemis is lost?'"
"What do you mean lost?" Percy asked. "Like she needs directions?"
"No. I think she meant gone. Taken. Kidnapped."
"Kidnapped?" Percy looked bewildered. "How would you kidnap an immortal goddess? Is that even possible?"
Naomi stared at him. "My mother was literally kidnapped by Hades. That's her biggest myth—the kidnapping of Persephone."
"But she's, like... the goddess of flowers. Artemis is a lot more powerful than that."
He winced as soon as he said it.
"First of all, she's the goddess of springtime," Naomi corrected, narrowing her eyes at him. "Second, she's the queen of the Underworld. Third, how dare you put me in a position where I have to defend a mother I'm not even sure I like?"
Percy looked at the ground. "Sorry," he mumbled.
Grover shook his head, disappointed. "Honestly, Percy."
"Okay, I said I'm sorry!" Percy said. "So, who would kidnap Artemis? And why?"
"I don't know," Grover said miserably. "Kronos?"
"He can't be that powerful already. Can he?"
The last time they'd seen Kronos, he'd been in tiny pieces. Well, they hadn't actually seen him, but the point still stood.
"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 two having a nightmare the same night as Zoë. It's almost like—"
"They're connected," Percy 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.
Percy looked at Naomi. "We've got to talk to Zoë."
"Um, before you do..." Grover took something out of his coat pocket. It was a three-fold display like a travel 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."
"Scouting us? What do you mean?"
"Well, I mean, Artemis did invite Naomi to join," Grover pointed out. "And... well..."
He handed Percy the brochure from his pocket. 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 Annabeth's backpack," Grover said.
Percy stared at him. "I don't understand."
"Well, it seems to me... maybe Annabeth was thinking about joining."
❊
Naomi only took the news slightly better than Percy, who was throwing a bit of a tantrum... and a few javelins.
She focused on keeping herself busy. She spent most of the day in the humid greenhouse, harvesting celery and parsnips and other winter produce she'd never force herself to eat. When Miranda kicked her out for ripping one too many of the leeks (it had nothing to do with the idea of Annabeth joining the Hunters and forswearing any and all forms of romantic love—she was just being clumsy), she found Drew and Lacy in the arts and crafts building, Lacy making macaroni art and Drew snipping angrily at her attempts at paper snowflakes.
(Naomi very carefully replaced Drew's regular scissors with safety scissors.)
When the time came Capture the Flag, Naomi was full of energy and ready to expend it all on kicking the Hunters immortal butts. She'd forgotten all about Artemis's invitation—they were the enemy now.
(She wasn't sure when she got so dramatic, but Silena approved.)
It was going to be a small game, like most matches were outside of summer. Only thirteen Hunters, including Bianca di Angelo, and about as many campers.
Zoë Nightshade looked pretty upset. She kept glancing resentfully at Chiron, like she couldn't believe he was making her do this. The other Hunters didn't look too happy, either. Unlike last night, they weren't laughing or joking around. They just huddled together in the dining pavilion, whispering nervously to each other as they strapped on their armor. Some of them even looked like they'd been crying. Zoë must have told them about her nightmare.
On the campers' team, they had Beckendorf and two other Hephaestus guys, a few kids from the Ares cabin, the Stolls and Nico from the Hermes cabin, and the Aphrodite girls, who were raring to brawl from the looks of it.
"I'll show them 'love is worthless," Silena grumbled as she strapped on her armor. "I'll pulverize them!"
Drew caught one of the Hunters' eyes, pointed at the immortal girl who didn't look much older than Lacy, and made a none-too-subtle cutting motion across her throat.
"Yeah!" Lacy cheered enthusiastically.
Naomi summoned Hemlock, needlessly checking the blade for any nicks or scratches in the metal. It looked as clean and new as the first time she'd held it. It hadn't been that long, after all—about a year and a half.
Thalia whistled for her attention. "Naomi, you're on defense with Percy," she called. "Make sure he doesn't get attacked by another hellhound."
"Annabeth told you about that?" Naomi asked.
"'Course she did," Thalia said. She looked at Silena, who was struggling to strap on her armor without chipping her manicure (which had taken her an hour to get perfect, so Naomi understood the concern). "Beauregard, don't—stop tugging it like that!"
She walked off, and Naomi went over to join Percy.
"It's like our first game all over again," she said lightly, bumping his shoulder with her own. "Hopefully minus the Ares cabin pummeling."
Percy narrowed his eyes at her, but he wasn't mad. "I've never seen Drew this pissed off."
"You should've seen her when one of the Ares kids broke her favorite Paramore CD," Naomi said. "She nearly bit Ethan's..." She swallowed, remembering once again the MIA status of yet another friend. "She nearly bit his head off when he asked her what the big deal was."
"I'm sure he's okay," Percy said, though he didn't sound that confident.
"I hope so," Naomi whispered.
Before the mood could get any darker, Nico di Angelo ran up to them with a big grin on his face.
"This is awesome!" His blue-feathered bronze helmet was falling in his eyes, and his breastplate was about six sizes too big—a plight Nami knew all too well. Her armor now still just barely fit her with the straps tightened all the way.
She blamed the orphanage for stunting her growth, but she feared it was just an unlucky case of genetic sabotage.
Nico lifted his sword with effort. "Do we get to kill the other team?"
"Well... no," Percy said.
"But the Hunters are immortal, right?"
"That's only if they don't fall in battle. Besides—"
"It would be awesome if we just, like, resurrected as soon as we were killed, so we could keep fighting, and—"
"Nico," Naomi interrupted gently. "This is serious. Real swords can cause real damage."
Nico stared at her, visibly disappointed.
Naomi caved almost instantly. "Hey, how about some time Percy and I give you a beginner's lesson? We'll teach you a few tricks you can do, like this—"
She tossed her sword into the air, spinning a tight circle before catching it in her non-dominant hand and smacking Percy's out of the way without warning. He fumbled to catch it as it flew lightly into the air, but Naomi stepped into his space and grabbed it in her free hand, catching it as well and crossing them below his chin.
Percy blinked, startled. "Wha—when did you learn that?"
"Clarisse taught me before she left," Naomi said with a grin, stepping back and handing him his sword back. "Cool, huh?"
"Well—I mean, it's cool, but when are you ever going to use that in an actual fight?" Percy said. "I was distracted. That's the only way you got my sword."
"Sure," Naomi said, trying to suppress a bigger smile. "We'll go with that."
"Whoa!" Nico said, staring at her with so much awe Naomi's ego grew in size a little. "You have to teach me that! Hey, does your sword turn into a pen, too?"
"Ring," Naomi told him. "See?" She willed Hemlock back into its ring form and showed him the bronze band.
Nico took it, staring at it. "So cool," he whispered.
Chiron's hoof thundered on the pavilion floor.
"Heroes!" he called. "You know the rules! The creek is the boundary line. Blue team—Camp Half-Blood—shall take the west woods. Hunters of Artemis—red team—shall take the east woods. I will serve as referee and battlefield medic. No intentional maiming, please! All magic items are allowed. To your positions!"
"Sweet," Nico whispered. "What kind of magic items? Do I get one?"
Naomi was trying to figure out how to break it to him that he would not, but then Thalia ordered, "Blue team! Follow me!"
They cheered and followed, and Naomi, Percy, and Nico rushed to follow.
❊
They set the flag at the top of Zeus's fist—a cluster of boulders in the middle of the west woods that, if you look at it just the right way, looks like a huge fist sticking out of the ground. It was a good place to set the flag. The top boulder was twenty feet tall and really hard to climb, so the flag was clearly visible, like the rules said it had to be, and it didn't matter that the guards weren't allowed to stand within ten yards of it.
Percy set Nico on guard duty with Beckendorf and the Stolls, which was probably where he'd be safest.
"We'll send out a decoy to the left," Thalia told the team. "Silena, you lead that."
"Got it!" Silena said, looking determined.
"Take Drew and Asher. Make a wide arc around the Hunters, attract as many as you can. I'll take the main raiding party around to the right and catch them by surprise."
Everybody nodded. It sounded good, and Thalia said it with such confidence you couldn't help but believe it would work.
Thalia looked at Percy. "Anything to add?"
"Um, yeah. Keep sharp on defense. We've got five guards, two scouts. That's not much for a big forest. I'll be roving. Yell if you need help."
"And don't leave your post!" Thalia said.
"Unless you see a golden opportunity," Percy added.
Thalia scowled. "Just don't leave your post."
"Right, unless—"
"Percy!" Thalia touched his arm, and Percy flinched as she shocked him.
"Sorry," she said, though she didn't sound like she meant it. "Now, is everybody clear?"
Everybody nodded. They broke into their smaller groups. The horn sounded, and the game began.
Silena's group disappeared into the woods on the left. Thalia's group gave it a few seconds, then darted off toward the right.
Naomi climbed to the top of Zeus's Fist with Percy, the two of them waiting for something to happen. She remembered how the Hunters had stormed out of the woods when they fought the manticore, and she was prepared for something like that—one huge charge that overwhelmed them.
But nothing happened.
Naomi caught a glimpse of Silena and her scouts. They ran through a clearing, followed by five of the Hunters, leading them deep into the woods and away from Thalia. The plan seemed to be working.
Then she spotted another clump of Hunters heading to the right, bows ready. They must've spotted Thalia.
"What's happening?" Nico demanded, trying to climb up next to them.
Percy didn't speak for a moment, then he looked at Naomi. "Can you guys hold the fort?"
She looked down at Beckendorf, then at the Stolls. "Yeah, probably."
"I'm going in."
Naomi didn't bother to try to talk him out of it. "Just don't get maimed."
Percy nodded, climbing down and racing toward the boundary line.
Naomi climbed down as well, much more slowly, as the Stolls and Nico cheered Percy on.
"He's so cool," Nico said to her.
Naomi shrugged. "He's alright."
"Is he your boyfriend?"
Naomi turned her head to look at him, startled. "What? No—no, he's not my boyfriend."
"Is that Ethan guy you were talking about your boyfriend?"
Naomi sputtered like a car breaking down. "No—no. No, he's not my boyfriend either."
"Do you have a boyfriend?"
"No."
"Why not?"
Naomi scowled at him. "You ask a lot of questions."
"I'm a curious boy."
"Incoming!" Beckendorf shouted.
Naomi looked up sharply, cursing as a familiar circlet-wearing immortal burst through the tree-line.
Travis and Connor, the first line of defense, crumbled as easily as saltine crackers. Travis took a silver bow to the temple and Connor was stuck with two arrows, forming antennae on his helmet.
Beckendorf tried to engage, but Zoë ducked out of the way of his sword and body-slammed him into the grass in the same moment. Naomi gawked at the ease with which Zoë brought him down.
She shoved Nico out of the way as Zoë advanced. She lifted her sword, trying to put on a brave face.
Zoë notched an arrow in her bow, but Naomi somehow managed to smack the bow down with the flat of Hemlock. It was a lucky shot—the only one she'd be getting.
Before she could even think about her next move, Zoë produced a hunting knife out of thin air and slashed it at Naomi's sword arm, making the daughter of Persephone hiss in pain and surprise.
Naomi lost her grip on her sword, but she caught it in her other hand before it could hit the grass. She made one last valiant swipe with her blade at Zoë's legs, but the Hunter jumped three feet into the air, Naomi's sword passing harmlessly through the air.
Zoë knocked her to the ground with an elbow to the cheek for good measure.
A second later, Zoë had the flag in her hand. She looked down at Naomi, an unimpressed look on her face. "No hard feelings?"
She took off for the boundary line before Naomi could say that there were, in fact, very hard feelings.
"Stop her!" Naomi shouted, trying to collect herself off the ground.
Nico and Beckendorf ran after the Hunter, but it was too late. Zoë leaped across the creek, landing a second before Percy could with the Hunters' flag.
"The Hunters win!" Chiron announced without pleasure. Then he muttered, "For the fifty-sixth time in a row."
Beckendorf helped Naomi back to her feet, patting her head. "Nice try."
Naomi sighed. "You too."
"Perseus Jackson!" Thalia yelled, storming toward the boy in question. She smelled like rotten eggs, and she was so mad that blue sparks flickered on her armor. Everybody cringed and backed up because of Aegis—everybody but Percy.
"What in the name of the gods were you THINKING?" she bellowed.
Percy's hands clenched into fists at his sides. "I got the flag, Thalia!" He shook it in her face. "I saw a chance and I took it!"
Naomi went over to them, pushing Percy's arm and the flag back down. "Guys, quit. It's supposed to be us versus the Hunters, not us versus us."
"Butt out of it, Murphy," Thalia snapped.
"Don't talk to her that way!" Percy yelled at her. "You don't get to take your anger out on her just because you messed up—"
"I WAS AT THEIR BASE!" Thalia screamed. "But the flag was gone. If you hadn't butted in, we would've won."
"You had too many on you!"
"Oh, so it's my fault?"
"I didn't say that."
"Argh!" Thalia pushed Percy, and he flew backward three yards into the water. Some of the campers gasped. A couple of the Hunters stifled laughs.
"Sorry!" Thalia said, turning pale. "I didn't mean to—"
A wave erupted from the river, blasting into Thalia's face and dousing her from head to toe.
Percy stood up. "Yeah," he growled. "I didn't mean to either."
Thalia was breathing heavily.
"Enough!" Chiron ordered.
But Thalia held her spear. "You want some, Seaweed Brain?"
"Bring it, Pinecone Face!"
"Guys!" Naomi pleaded. "Quit!"
Percy raised Riptide, but before he could even defend himself, Thalia yelled, and a blast of lightning came down from the sky, hit her spear like a lightning rod, and slammed into his chest.
Percy sat down hard. There was a burning smell.
"Thalia!" Chiron said. "That is enough!"
Percy got to his feet and willed the entire river to rise. It swirled up, hundreds of gallons of water in a massive icy funnel cloud.
"Stop!" Naomi screamed, and just before the first echo in the forest sounded, her stomach twisted. Darkness enveloped them all in its unforgiving grip, blotting out the sun above. Naomi heard the telltale noise of hundreds of gallons of water splashing harshly back into the river, and the electricity in the air dissipated.
Naomi's heart pounded in her chest.
Just as quickly as it had appeared, the darkness faded, leaving them once again in the dim light of the setting sun.
The silence was so loud, Naomi felt like she'd lost her hearing entirely.
"Miss Murphy." Naomi looked over at Chiron, whose expression was one of his rarer ones—shock. "What... was that you?"
Naomi's heart crawled into her throat. "I don't—"
Before she could finish her explanation—which was just that she had none—she saw something in the woods.
Everyone else turned to follow her startled gaze. A figure was approaching them, shrouded in a murky green mist.
As it got closer, the campers and Hunters gasped.
"This is impossible," Chiron said, somehow sounding even more shocked—and nervous. "It... she has never left the attic. Never."
And yet the withered mummy that held the Oracle shuffled forward until she stood in the center of the group. Mist curled around their feet, turning the snow a sickly shade of green.
No one dared move.
A voice hissed inside of Naomi's head. Judging from everyone else's reactions, they could all hear it, too.
I am the spirit of Delphi, the voice said. Speaker of the prophecies of Phoebus Apollo, slayer of the mighty Python.
The Oracle regarded Percy with cold, dead eyes. Then she looked from Naomi to Zoë. Approach, Seekers, and ask.
Zoë swallowed, looking at Naomi for a brief moment before returning her attention to the mummy. "What must I do to help my goddess?"
The Oracle's mouth opened, and green mist poured out. Naomi saw the vague image of a mountain, and a girl standing at its barren peak. It was Artemis, but she was wrapped in chains, fettered to the rocks. She was kneeling, her hands raised as if to fend off an attacker, and it looked like she was in pain.
The Oracle spoke:
Six shall go west to the goddess in chains,
One shall be lost in the land without rain.
The bane of Olympus shows the trail,
Campers and hunters combined prevail.
One shall greet death as an old friend,
Where old blood spills and horizons bend.
The Titan's curse must one withstand,
And one shall perish by a parent's hand.
Then, as they all watched, the Mist swirled and retreated like a green serpent into the mummy's mouth. The Oracle sat down on the rock and became as still as a statue, as if she might sit by this creek for a hundred years.
❊
naomi & nico bonding is so sweet in the moment... but we all know it's downhill from here 😢
i don't like how long the prophecy is but i had to add in my own lines for the ~plot~