A/N: This, this is a long chapter.
Percy's Pov:
The next morning, after breakfast, I told Grover and Grayson about my dream. We sat in the meadow watching the 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 poor satyr would slam into it headfirst and get a pile of snow dumped on him.
When I told Grover about my nightmare, he started twirling his finger in his shaggy leg fur.
"A cave ceiling collapsed on them?" Grayson asked.
"Yeah. What the heck does that mean?"
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 asked.
"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."
"Wait, how do you know this?" asked Grayson.
Grover blushed. "I was sort of camped outside the Artemis cabin."
"What for?"
"Just to be, you know, near them."
"You're a stalker with hooves."
"I am not! Anyway, I followed her to the Big House and hid in a bush, and watched the whole thing. She got really upset when Argus wouldn't let her in. It was kind of a dangerous scene."
I tried to imagine that. Argus was the head of security for camp—a big blond dude with eyes all over his body. He rarely showed himself unless something serious was going on. I wouldn't want to place bets on a fight between him and Zoë Nightshade.
"What did she say?" I 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—"
"Whoa, wait. How could Artemis be in trouble?"
"I... well, finally Chiron came out in his pajamas and his horsetail in curlers and—"
"He wears curlers in his tail?"
Grover covered his mouth.
"Sorry," I 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? Like she needs directions?"
"No. I think she meant gone. Taken. Kidnapped."
"Kidnapped?" I tried to get my mind around that idea. "How would you kidnap an immortal goddess? Is that even possible?"
"Well, yeah. I mean, it happened to Persephone," said Grayson.
"But she was like, the goddess of flowers," I told him.
Grayson looked offended. "Springtime."
"Whatever. Artemis is a lot more powerful than that. Who could kidnap her? And why?"
Grover shook his head miserably. "I don't know. Kronos?"
"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.
My blood was humming in my ears as I ran into the house and took the stairs. I'd only done this once before, and I still had nightmares about it. I opened the trap door and stepped into the attic.
The room was dark and dusty and cluttered with junk, just like I remembered. There were shields with monster bites out of them, swords bent in the shapes of daemon heads, and a bunch of taxidermies, like a stuffed harpy and a bright orange python.
Over by the window, sitting on a three-legged stool, was the shriveled-up mummy of an old lady in a tie-dyed hippie dress. The Oracle. I made myself walk toward her.
I waited for the green mist to billow from the mummy's mouth as it had before, but nothing happened.
"Hi," I said. "Uh, what's up?"
I winced at how stupid that sounded. Not much could be "up" when you're dead and stuck in the attic. But I knew the spirit of the Oracle was in there somewhere. I could feel a cold presence in the room, like a coiled sleeping snake.
"I have a question," I said a little louder. "I need to know about Annabeth. How can I save her?"
No answer. The sun slanted through the dirty attic window, lighting the dust motes dancing in the air.
I waited longer.
Then I got angry. I was being stonewalled by a corpse.
"All right," I said. "Fine. I'll figure it out myself."
I turned and bumped into a big table full of souvenirs. It seemed more cluttered than the last time I was here. Heroes stored all kinds of stuff in the attic: quest trophies they no longer wanted to keep in their cabins or stuff that held painful memories. I knew Luke had stored a dragon claw somewhere up here—the one that had scarred his face.
There was a broken sword hilt labeled: This broke and Leroy got killed. 1999.
Then I noticed a pink silk scarf with a label attached to it. I picked up the tag and tried to read it:
SCARF OF THE GODDESS APHRODITE
RECOVERED AT WATERLAND, DENVER, CO.,
BY Y/N LUNA HUNTER AND PERSEUS JACKSON
I stared at the scarf. I'd totally forgotten about it. Two years ago, Y/n had ripped this scarf out of my hands and said something like, Oh, no. No love magic for you!
I'd just assumed she'd thrown it away. And yet here it was. She'd kept it all this time? And why had she stashed it in the attic?
I turned to the mummy. She hadn't moved, but the shadows across her face made it look like she was smiling gruesomely.
I dropped the scarf and tried not to run toward the exit.
That night after dinner, I was seriously ready to beat the Hunters at capture the flag. Itwas going to be a small game: only thirteen Hunters, including Bianca di Angelo, and aboutthe same number of campers.
Zoë Nightshade looked pretty upset. She kept glancing resentfully at Chiron, like shecouldn'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 thedining pavilion, whispering nervously to each other as they strapped on their armor. Some ofthem even looked like they'd been crying. I guess Zoë had told them about her nightmare.
On our team, we had Beckendorf and two other Hephaestus guys, a few from the Arescabin (though it still seemed strange that Clarisse wasn't around), the Stoll brothers and Nicofrom Hermes cabin, and a few Aphrodite kids. It was weird that the Aphrodite cabin wantedto play. Usually they sat on the sidelines, chatted, and checked their reflections in the riverand stuff, but when they heard we were fighting the Hunters, they were raring to go.
"I'll show them 'love is worthless,'" Silena Beauregard grumbled as she strapped on herarmor. "I'll pulverize them!"
I wondered if Y/n would fight with the Hunters, of with us.
That left Thalia, Grayson and me.
"I'll take the offense," Thalia volunteered. "You two take defense."
"Oh." I hesitated, because I'd been about to say the exact same thing, only reversed."Don't you think with your shield and all, you'd be better defense?"
Thalia already had Aegis on her arm, and even our own teammates were giving her awide berth, trying not to cower before the bronze head of Medusa.
"Well, I was thinking it would make better offense," Thalia said. "Besides, you've both hadmore practice at defense."
I wasn't sure if she was teasing. I'd had some pretty bad experiences with defense oncapture the flag. My first year, Annabeth and Y/n had put me out as a kind of bait, and I'd almost beengored to death with spears and killed by a hellhound. Grayson wasn't too good defence either. Last summer, we had a chariot race, and Y/n and I ended up winning, because Grayson couldn't defence.
"Yeah, no problem," I lied."Cool." Thalia turned to help some of the Aphrodite kids, who were having troublesuiting up their armor without breaking their nails. Nico di Angelo ran up to us with a biggrin on his face.
"Percy, Grayson, this is awesome!" His blue-feathered bronze helmet was falling in his eyes, andhis breastplate was about six sizes too big. I wondered if there was any way I'd looked thatridiculous when I'd first arrived. Unfortunately, I probably had.
Nico lifted his sword with effort. "Do we get to kill the other team?"
"Well... no," Grayson 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 wecould keep fighting, and—"
"Nico, this is serious," I intervened. "Real swords. These can hurt."
He stared at me, a little disappointed, and I realized that I'd just sounded like mymother. Whoa. Not a good sign.
I patted Nico on the shoulder. "Hey, it's cool. Just follow the team. Stay out of Zoe'sway. We'll have a blast."
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 theeast woods. I will serve as referee and battlefield medic. No intentional maiming, please! Allmagic items are allowed. To your positions!"
"Sweet," Nico whispered next to me. "What kind of magic items? Do I get one?"
I was about to break it to him that he didn't, when Thalia said, "Blue team! Follow me!"
They cheered and followed. I had to run to catch up, and tripped over somebody'sshield, so I didn't look much like a co-captain. More like an idiot.
We set our flag at the top of Zeus's Fist. It's this cluster of boulders in the middle of thewest woods that, if you look at it just the right way, looks like a huge fist sticking out of theground. If you look at it from any other side, it looks like a pile of enormous deer droppings,but Chiron wouldn't let us call the place the Poop Pile, especially after it had been named forZeus, who doesn't have much of a sense of humor.
Anyway, it was a good place to set the flag. The top boulder was twenty feet tall andreally hard to climb, so the flag was clearly visible, like the rules said it had to be, and it didn'tmatter that the guards weren't allowed to stand within ten yards of it.
I set Nico on guard duty with Beckendorf and the Stoll brothers, figuring he'd be safelyout of the way.
"We'll send out a decoy to the left," Thalia told the team. "Silena, you lead that."
"Got it!"
"Take Laurel and Jason. They're good runners. 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 themby surprise."
Everybody nodded. It sounded good, and Thalia said it with such confidence youcouldn't help but believe it would work.
Thalia looked at me. "Anything to add, Percy?"
"Um, yeah. Keep sharp on defense. We've got four guards, two scouts. That's not muchfor 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," I added.
Thalia scowled. "Just don't leave your post."
"Right, unless—"
"Percy!" She touched my arm and shocked me. I mean, everybody can give staticshocks in the winter, but when Thalia does, it hurts. I guess it's because her dad is the god oflightning. She's been known to fry off people's eyebrows.
"Sorry," Thalia said, though she didn't sound particularly sorry. "Now, is everybodyclear?"
Everybody nodded. We broke into our smaller groups. The horn sounded, and the gamebegan.
Silena's group disappeared into the woods on the left. Thalia's group gave it a fewseconds, then darted off toward the right.
I waited for something to happen. I climbed Zeus's Fist and had a good view over theforest. I remembered how the Hunters had stormed out of the woods when they fought themanticore, and I was prepared for something like that—one huge charge that couldoverwhelm us. But nothing happened.
I caught a glimpse of Silena and her two scouts. They ran through a clearing, followedby five of the Hunters, leading them deep into the woods and away from Thalia. The planseemed to be working. Then I spotted another clump of Hunters heading to the right, bowsready. They must've spotted Thalia.
"What's happening?" Nico demanded, trying to climb up next to me.
My mind was racing. Thalia would never get through, but the Hunters were divided.With that many on either flank, their center had to be wide open. If I moved fast...
I looked at Beckendorf. "Can you guys hold the fort?"
Beckendorf snorted. "Of course."
"I'm going in. Grayson, come with me."
Grayson did as told and pulled from his pocket Y/n's Celestial Bronze pocket knife. I winced. First the Hunters, then the dream, then the woods, and now this? It was as if the Fates just wanted me to miss her even more.
The Stoll brothers and Nico cheered as Grayson and I raced toward the boundary line.
I was running at top speed and I felt great. We leaped over the creek into enemy territory. Icould see their silver flag up ahead, only one guard, who wasn't even looking in our direction.I heard fighting to my left and right, somewhere in the woods. I had it made. Grayson looked at me, and I made signals indicating I would get the flag, while he guarded. He nodded, and I went towards the flag.
The guard turned at the last minute. It was Bianca di Angelo. Her eyes widened as Islammed into her and she went sprawling in the snow.
"Sorry!" I yelled. I ripped down the silver silk flag from the tree and took off, Grayson right beside me.
I was ten yards away before Bianca managed to yell for help. I thought I was home free.
ZIP. A silvery cord raced across Grayson's ankles and fastened to the tree next to him. A tripwire, fired from a bow! Before I could even think about stopping, we went down hard,sprawling in the snow.
"Percy! Grayson!" Thalia yelled, off to my left. "What are you doing?"
Before she reached us, an arrow exploded at her feet and a cloud of yellow smokebillowed around her team. They started coughing and gagging. I could smell the gas fromacross the woods—the horrible smell of sulfur.
"No fair!" Thalia gasped. "Fart arrows are unsportsmanlike!"
Grayson got up, helped me get up, and we started running again. Only a few more yards to the creek and I had thegame. More arrows whizzed past my ears. A Hunter came out of nowhere and slashed at mewith her knife, but I parried and kept running.
I heard yelling from our side of the creek. Beckendorf and Nico were running toward us. I thought they were coming to welcome us back, but then I saw they were chasingsomeone—Zoë Nightshade, racing toward me like a cheetah, dodging campers with notrouble. And she had our flag in her hands.
"No!" I yelled, and poured on the speed.
I was two feet from the water when Zoë bolted across to her own side, slamming intome for good measure. The Hunters cheered as both sides converged on the creek. Chironappeared out of the woods, looking grim. He had the Stoll brothers on his back, and it lookedas if both of them had taken some nasty whacks to the head. Connor Stoll had two arrowssticking out of his helmet like antennae.
"The Hunters win!" Chiron announced without pleasure. Then he muttered, "For thefifty-sixth time in a row."
"Perseus Jackson and Grayson Martin!" Thalia yelled, storming toward us. She smelled like rotten eggs, andshe was so mad that blue sparks flickered on her armor. Everybody cringed and backed upbecause of Aegis. It took all my willpower not to cower.
"What in the name of the gods were you two THINKING?" she bellowed.
I balled my fists. I'd had enough bad stuff happen to me for one day. I didn't need this."I got the flag, Thalia!" I shook it in her face. "I saw a chance and I took it!"
"I WAS AT THEIR BASE!" Thalia yelled. "But the flag was gone. If you hadn't buttedin, we would've won."
"You had too many on you!" Grayson intervened.
"Oh, so it's my fault?"
"I didn't say that."
"Argh!" Thalia pushed us, and a shock went through my body that blew me backwardten feet 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—"
Anger roared in my ears. A wave erupted from the creek, blasting into Thalia's face anddousing her from head to toe.I stood up.
"Yeah," I growled. "I didn't mean to, either."
Thalia was breathing heavily.
"Enough!" Chiron ordered.
But Thalia held out her spear. "You want some, Seaweed Brain?"
Somehow, it was okay when Y/n called me that—at least, I'd gotten used to it—but hearing it from Thalia was not cool.
"Bring it on, Pinecone Face!"
I raised Riptide, but before I could even defend myself, Thalia yelled, and a blast oflightning came down from the sky, hit her spear like a lightning rod, and slammed into mychest.I sat down hard. There was a burning smell; I had a feeling it was my clothes.
"Thalia!" Chiron said. "That is enough!"
I got to my feet and willed the entire creek to rise. It swirled up, hundreds of gallons ofwater in a massive icy funnel cloud.
"Percy!" Chiron pleaded.
I was about to hurl it at Thalia when I saw something in the woods. I lost my anger andmy concentration all at once. The water splashed back into the creekbed. Thalia was sosurprised she turned to see what I was looking at.
Someone... something was approaching. It was shrouded in a murky green mist, but asit got closer, the campers and Hunters gasped.
"This is impossible," Chiron said. I'd never heard him sound so nervous. "It... she hasnever left the attic. Never."
And yet, the withered mummy that held the Oracle shuffled forward until she stood inthe center of the group. Mist curled around our feet, turning the snow a sickly shade of green.
None of us dared move. Then her voice hissed inside my head. Apparently everyonecould hear it, because several clutched their hands over the ears.
I am the sprit of Delphi, the voice said. Speaker of the prophecies of Phoebus Apollo,slayer of the mighty Python.
The Oracle regarded me with its cold, dead eyes. Then she turned unmistakably towardZoë Nightshade. Approach, Seeker, and ask.
Zoë swallowed. "What must I do to help my goddess?"
The Oracle's mouth opened, and green mist poured out. I saw the vague image of amountain, and a girl standing at the barren peak. It was Artemis, but she was wrapped inchains, 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,
The Titan's curse must one withstand,
And one shall perish by a parent's hand.
Then, as we were watching, the mist swirled and retreated like a great green serpent intothe mummy's mouth. The Oracle sat down on a rock and became as still as she'd been in theattic, as if she might sit by this creek for a hundred years.