Percy Jackson The Complete Collection (52 page)

Thalia looked at me. ‘Anything to add, Percy?’

‘Um, yeah. Keep sharp on defence. We’ve got four 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,’ 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 static shocks in the winter, but when Thalia does, it hurts. I guess it’s because her dad is the god of lightning. She’s been known to fry off people’s eyebrows.

‘Sorry,’ Thalia said, though she didn’t sound particularly sorry. ‘Now, is everybody clear?’

Everybody nodded. We broke into our 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 towards the right.

I waited for something to happen. I climbed Zeus’s Fist and had a good view over the forest. I remembered how the Hunters had stormed out of the woods when they fought the manticore, and I was prepared for something like that – one huge charge that could overwhelm us. But nothing happened.

I caught a glimpse of Silena and her two 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 I 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 me.

My mind was racing. Thalia would never get through, but the Hunters were divided. With that many on either flank, their centre 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.’

The Stoll brothers and Nico cheered as I raced towards the boundary line.

I was running at top speed and I felt great. I leaped over the creek into enemy territory. I could see their silver
flag up ahead, only one guard, who wasn’t even looking in my direction. I heard fighting to my left and right, somewhere in the woods. I had it made.

The guard turned at the last minute. It was Bianca di Angelo. Her eyes widened as I slammed 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.

I was ten metres away before Bianca managed to yell for help. I thought I was home free.

ZIP!
A silvery cord raced across my ankles and fastened to the tree next to me. A trip wire, fired from a bow! Before I could even think about stopping I went down hard, sprawling in the snow.

‘Percy!’ Thalia yelled, off to my left. ‘What are you
doing?
’

Before she reached me, an arrow exploded at her feet and a cloud of yellow smoke billowed around her team. They started coughing and gagging. I could smell the gas from across the woods – the horrible smell of sulphur.

‘No fair!’ Thalia gasped. ‘Fart arrows are unsportsmanlike!’

I got up and started running again. Only a few more metres to the river and I had the game. More arrows whizzed past my ears. A Hunter came out of nowhere and slashed at me with her knife, but I parried and kept running.

I heard yelling from our side of the river. Beckendorf and Nico were running towards me. I thought they were coming to welcome me back, but then I saw they were chasing someone – Zoë Nightshade, racing towards me like a cheetah, dodging campers with no trouble. And she had our flag in her hands.

‘No!’ I yelled, and poured on the speed.

I was a metre from the water when Zoë bolted across to her own side, slamming into me for good measure. The Hunters cheered as both sides converged on the creek. Chiron appeared out of the woods, looking grim. He had the Stoll brothers on his back, and it looked as if both of them had taken some nasty whacks to the head. Connor Stoll had two arrows sticking out of his helmet like antennae.

‘The Hunters win!’ Chiron announced without pleasure. Then he muttered, ‘For the fifty-sixth time in a row.’

‘Perseus Jackson!’ Thalia yelled, storming towards me. She smelled like rotten eggs, and she was so mad that blue sparks flickered on her armour. Everybody cringed and backed up because of Aegis. It took all my willpower not to cower.

‘What in the name of the gods were you 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 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 me, and a shock went through my body that blew me backwards three metres 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 river, blasting into Thalia’s face and dousing 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 Annabeth called me that – at least, I’d got 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 of lightning came down from the sky, hit her spear like a lightning rod, and slammed into my chest.

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 river to rise. It swirled up, hundreds of gallons of water 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 and my concentration all at once. The water splashed back into the riverbed. Thalia was so surprised she turned to see what I was looking at.

Someone… something was approaching. It was shrouded in a murky green mist, but as it got closer, the campers and Hunters gasped.

‘This is impossible,’ Chiron said. I’d
never
heard him sound so 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 centre 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 everyone could hear it, because several clutched their hands over the ears.

I am the spirit 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 towards Zoë 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 a mountain, and a girl standing at the 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:

Five 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 into the mummy’s mouth. The
Oracle sat down on a rock and became as still as she’d been in the attic, as if she might sit by this creek for a hundred years.

The least the Oracle could’ve done was walk back to the attic by herself.

Instead, Grover and I were elected to carry her. I didn’t figure that was because we were the most popular.

‘Watch her head!’ Grover warned as we went up the stairs. But it was too late.

Bonk!
I whacked her mummified face against the trapdoor frame and dust flew.

‘Ah, man.’ I set her down and checked for damage. ‘Did I break anything?’

‘I can’t tell,’ Grover admitted.

We hauled her up and set her on her tripod stool, both of us huffing and sweating. Who knew a mummy could weigh so much?

I assumed she wouldn’t talk to me, and I was right. I was relieved when we finally got out of there and slammed the attic door shut.

‘Well,’ Grover said, ‘that was gross.’

I knew he was trying to keep things light for my sake, but I still felt really down. The whole camp would be mad at me for losing the game to the Hunters, and then there was the new prophecy from the Oracle. It was like the spirit of Delphi had gone out of her way to exclude me. She’d ignored my question and walked half a mile to talk
to Zoë.
And
she’d said nothing, not even a hint, about Annabeth.

‘What will Chiron do?’ I asked Grover.

‘I wish I knew.’ He looked wistfully out of the second-floor window at the rolling hills covered in snow. ‘I want to be out there.’

‘Searching for Annabeth?’

He had a little trouble focusing on me. Then he blushed. ‘Oh, right. That too. Of course.’

‘Why?’ I asked. ‘What were you thinking?’

He clopped his hooves uneasily. ‘Just something the manticore said, about the Great Stirring. I can’t help but wonder… if all those ancient powers are waking up, maybe… maybe not all of them are evil.’

‘You mean Pan.’

I felt kind of selfish, because I’d totally forgotten about Grover’s life ambition. The nature god had gone missing two thousand years ago. He was rumoured to have died, but the satyrs didn’t believe that. They were determined to find him. They’d been searching in vain for centuries, and Grover was convinced he’d be the one to succeed. This year, with Chiron putting all the satyrs on emergency duty to find half-bloods, Grover hadn’t been able to continue his search. It must’ve been driving him nuts.

‘I’ve let the trail go cold,’ he said. ‘I feel restless, like I’m missing something really important. He’s out there somewhere. I can just feel it.’

I didn’t know what to say. I wanted to encourage him, but I didn’t know how. My optimism had pretty much been trampled into the snow out there in the woods, along with our capture-the-flag hopes.

Before I could respond, Thalia tromped up the stairs. She was officially not talking to me now, but she looked at Grover and said, ‘Tell Percy to get his butt downstairs.’

‘Why?’ I asked.

‘Did he say something?’ Thalia asked Grover.

‘Um, he asked why.’

‘Dionysus is calling a council of cabin leaders to discuss the prophecy,’ she said. ‘Unfortunately, that includes Percy.’

The council was held round a ping-pong table in the rec room. Dionysus waved his hand and supplied snacks: Cheez Whiz, crackers and several bottles of red wine. Then Chiron reminded him that wine was against his restrictions and most of us were underage. Mr D sighed. With a snap of his fingers the wine turned to Diet Coke. Nobody drank that either.

Mr D and Chiron (in wheelchair form) sat at one end of the table. Zoë and Bianca di Angelo (who had kind of become Zoë’s personal assistant) took the other end. Thalia and Grover and I sat along the right, and the other head councillors, Beckendorf, Silena Beauregard, and the Stoll brothers, sat on the left. The Ares kids were supposed to send a representative, too, but all of them had got broken limbs (accidentally) during capture the flag, courtesy of the Hunters. They were resting up in the infirmary.

Zoë started the meeting off on a positive note. ‘This is pointless.’

‘Cheez Whiz!’ Grover gasped. He began scooping up crackers and ping-pong balls and spraying them with topping.

‘There is no time for talk,’ Zoë continued. ‘Our goddess
needs us. The Hunters must leave immediately.’

‘And go where?’ Chiron asked.

‘West!’ Bianca said. I was amazed at how different she looked after just a few days with the Hunters. Her dark hair was braided like Zoë’s now, so you could actually see her face. She had a splash of freckles across her nose, and her dark eyes vaguely reminded me of someone famous, but I couldn’t think who. She looked like she’d been working out, and her skin glowed faintly, like the other Hunters, as if she’d been taking showers in liquid moonlight. ‘You heard the prophecy.
‘Five shall go west to the goddess in chains.’
We can get five hunters and go.’

‘Yes,’ Zoë agreed. ‘Artemis is being held hostage! We must find her and free her.’

‘You’re missing something, as usual,’ Thalia said.
‘Campers and Hunters combined prevail.
We’re supposed to do this together.’

‘No!’ Zoë said. ‘The Hunters do not need thy help.’

‘Your,’
Thalia grumbled. ‘Nobody has said
thy
in like three hundred years, Zoë. Get with the times.’

Zoë hesitated, like she was trying to form the word correctly.
‘Yerrr.
We do not need
yerrr
help.’

Thalia rolled her eyes. ‘Forget it.’

‘I fear the prophecy says you
do
need our help,’ Chiron said. ‘Campers and Hunters must cooperate.’

‘Or do they?’ Mr D mused, swirling his Diet Coke under his nose like it had a fine bouquet.
‘One shall be lost. One shall perish.
That sounds rather nasty, doesn’t it? What if you fail
because
you try to cooperate?’

‘Mr D,’ Chiron sighed, ‘with all due respect, whose side are you on?’

Dionysus raised his eyebrows. ‘Sorry, my dear centaur. Just trying to be helpful.’

‘We’re supposed to work together,’ Thalia said stubbornly. ‘I don’t like it either, Zoë, but you know prophecies. You want to fight against one?’

Zoë grimaced, but I could tell Thalia had scored a point.

‘We must not delay,’ Chiron warned. ‘Today is Sunday. This very Friday, December twenty-first, is the winter solstice.’

‘Oh, joy,’ Dionysus muttered. ‘Another dull annual meeting.’

‘Artemis must be present at the solstice,’ Zoë said. ‘She has been one of the most vocal on the council arguing for action against Kronos’s minions. If she is absent, the gods will decide nothing. We will lose another year of war preparations.’

‘Are you suggesting that the gods have trouble acting together, young lady?’ Dionysus asked.

‘Yes, Lord Dionysus.’

Mr D nodded. ‘Just checking. You’re right, of course. Carry on.’

‘I must agree with Zoë,’ said Chiron. ‘Artemis’s presence at the winter council is critical. We have only a week to find her. And possibly even more important: to locate the monster she was hunting. Now, we must decide who goes on this quest.’

‘Three and two,’ I said.

Everybody looked at me. Even Thalia forgot to ignore me.

‘We’re supposed to have five,’ I said, feeling self-conscious. ‘Three Hunters, two from Camp Half-Blood. That’s more than fair.’

Thalia and Zoë exchanged looks.

‘Well,’ Thalia said. ‘It does make sense.’

Zoë grunted. ‘I would prefer to take
all
the Hunters. We will need strength of numbers.’

‘You’ll be retracing the goddess’s path,’ Chiron reminded her. ‘Moving quickly. No doubt Artemis tracked the scent of this rare monster, whatever it is, as she moved west. You will have to do the same. The prophecy was clear:
The bane of Olympus shows the trail.
What would your mistress say? “Too many Hunters spoil the scent.” A small group is best.’

Zoë picked up a ping-pong paddle and studied it like she was deciding who she wanted to whack first. ‘This monster – the bane of Olympus. I have hunted at Lady Artemis’s side for many years, yet I have no idea what this beast might be.’

Everybody looked at Dionysus, I guess because he was the only god present and gods are supposed to know things. He was flipping through a wine magazine, but when everyone got silent he glanced up. ‘Well, don’t look at me. I’m a
young
god, remember? I don’t keep track of all those ancient monsters and dusty Titans. They make for terrible party conversation.’

‘Chiron,’ I said, ‘you don’t have any ideas about the monster?’

Chiron pursed his lips. ‘I have several ideas, none of them good. And none of them quite make sense. Typhon, for instance, could fit this description. He was truly a bane of Olympus. Or the sea monster Ketos. But if either of these were stirring, we would know it. They are ocean monsters the size of skyscrapers. Your father Poseidon
would already have sounded the alarm. I fear this monster may be more elusive. Perhaps even more powerful.’

‘That’s some serious danger you’re facing,’ Connor Stoll said. (I liked how he said
you
and not
we
.) ‘It sounds like at least two of the five are going to die.’

‘One shall be lost in the land without rain,
’ Beckendorf said. ‘If I were you, I’d stay out of the desert.’

There was a muttering of agreement.

‘And
the Titan’s curse must one withstand
,’ Silena said. ‘What could that mean?’

I saw Chiron and Zoë exchange a nervous look, but whatever they were thinking, they didn’t share it.

‘One shall perish by a parent’s hand,’
Grover said in between bites of
Cheez
Whiz and ping-pong balls. ‘How is that possible? Whose parent would kill them?’

There was a heavy silence round the table.

I glanced at Thalia and wondered if she was thinking the same thing I was. Years ago, Chiron had had a prophecy about the next child of the Big Three – Zeus, Poseidon or Hades – who turned sixteen. Supposedly, that kid would make a decision that would save or destroy the gods forever. Because of that, the Big Three had taken an oath after World War II not to have any more kids. But Thalia and I had been born anyway, and now we were both getting close to sixteen.

I remembered a conversation I’d had last year with Annabeth. I’d asked her if I was so potentially dangerous, why the gods didn’t just kill me.

Some of the gods would like to kill you,
she’d said.
But they’re afraid of offending Poseidon.

Could an Olympian parent turn against his half-blood child? Would it sometimes be easier just to let them die?
If there were ever any half-bloods who needed to worry about that, it was Thalia and me. I wondered if maybe I should’ve sent Poseidon that seashell-pattern tie for Father’s Day after all.

‘There will be deaths,’ Chiron decided. ‘That much we know.’

‘Oh, goody!’ Dionysus said.

Everyone looked at him. He glanced up innocently from the pages of
Wine Connoisseur
magazine. ‘Ah, Pinot Noir is making a comeback. Don’t mind me.’

‘Percy is right,’ Silena Beauregard said. ‘Two campers should go.’

‘Oh, I see,’ Zoë said sarcastically. ‘And I suppose you wish to volunteer?’

Silena blushed. ‘I’m not going anywhere with the Hunters. Don’t look at me!’

‘A daughter of Aphrodite does not wish to be looked at,’ Zoë scoffed. ‘What would thy mother say?’

Silena started to get out of her chair, but the Stoll brothers pulled her back.

‘Stop it,’ Beckendorf said. He was a big guy with a bigger voice. He didn’t talk much, but when he did people tended to listen. ‘Let’s start with the Hunters. Which three of you will go?’

Zoë stood. ‘I shall go, of course, and I will take Phoebe. She is our best tracker.’

‘The big girl who likes to hit people on the head?’ Travis Stoll asked cautiously.

Zoë nodded.

‘The one who put the arrows in my helmet?’ Connor added.

‘Yes,’ Zoë snapped. ‘Why?’

‘Oh, nothing,’ Travis said. ‘Just we have a T-shirt for her from the camp store.’ He held up a big silver T-shirt that said
ARTEMIS THE MOON GODDESS
,
HUNTING TOUR
2002, with a huge list of national parks and stuff underneath. ‘It’s a collector’s item. She was admiring it. You want to give it to her?’

I knew the Stolls were up to something. They always were. But I guess Zoë didn’t know them as well as I did. She just sighed and took the T-shirt. ‘As I was saying, I will take Phoebe. And I wish Bianca to go.’

Bianca looked stunned. ‘Me? But… I’m so new. I wouldn’t be any good.’

‘You will do fine,’ Zoë insisted. ‘There is no better way to prove thyself.’

Bianca closed her mouth. I felt kind of sorry for her. I remembered my first quest when I was twelve. I had felt totally unprepared. A little honoured, maybe, but a lot resentful and plenty scared. I figured the same things were running around in Bianca’s head right now.

‘And for campers?’ Chiron asked. His eyes met mine, but I couldn’t tell what he was thinking.

‘Me!’ Grover stood up so fast he bumped the ping-pong table. He brushed cracker crumbs and ping-pong ball scraps off his lap. ‘Anything to help Artemis!’

Zoë wrinkled her nose. ‘I think not, satyr. You are not even a half-blood.’

‘But he
is
a camper,’ Thalia said. ‘And he’s got a satyr’s senses and woodland magic. Can you play a tracker’s song yet, Grover?’

‘Absolutely!’

Zoë wavered. I didn’t know what a tracker’s song was, but apparently Zoë thought it was a good thing.

‘Very well,’ Zoë said. ‘And the second camper?’

‘I’ll go.’ Thalia stood and looked around, daring anyone to question her.

Now, okay, maybe my maths skills weren’t the best. But it suddenly occurred to me that we’d reached the number five, and I wasn’t in the group.

‘Whoa, wait a sec,’ I said. ‘I want to go, too.’