"Lost? What do you mean Artemis is lost?" was the first question Perseus Riddle asked the moment Grover finished retelling his story.

"Like I said before, Zoë had a dream and got really upset. She went to see Chiron and demanded permission to leave camp immediately. When Chiron reminded her that she was suppose to wait for Artemis to give her orders, Zoë said something about not being able to wait for orders when Artemis herself is missing." his satyr friend recalled, still confused and slightly panicky from what he saw.

That morning, right after finishing a quick breakfast, the son of Poseidon had sought out Grover who was watching other satyrs chasing after tree nymphs in the meadows. They both went a little deeper into the woods to be able to talk privately. He had needed to confide in somebody about the dream he got last night to figure out what to do. In turn, the satyr had recounted the strange thing he saw as well. Apparently, while he was for 'some reason' standing around near the Artemis cabin (seriously?) Grover had seen a distressed Zoë coming out and going over to the blue house in a hasty manner.

Percy sighed deeply, his right hand slowly massaging his forehead. The remnants of the painful migraine he got resulting from the dream wrecking his occlumency shields were still lingering, he had been nearly 20 minutes late to breakfast because he had to make sure nothing was permanently wrong. As of late, he seemed to be always exhausted. Probably form the lack of good sleep, but also, maintaining his mind shields constantly was taking its toll on his body.

And now this? Not only was Annabeth in danger but the Goddess of the wild, one of the 12 Olympians, had been apparently kidnapped? Give me a break.

"Zoë having this dream the same night I get mine? This can't possibly not be connected." murmured the boy. Grover suddenly winced, a horrified expression beginning to unfold.

"You- you don't think Kronos got Artemis, do you?" the thought of the titan kidnapping a powerful goddess did not sit well with either of them.

"He can't possibly be that powerful already, can he? Wouldn't the gods be more skittish or something?" Grover shook his head, they were both at a loss. For a while the two friends were quiet, all of this was a lot to take in. Sometimes it was easy to forget that they were just kids caught up in the midst of a Holy War. After a while, the satyr pulled something out of his pocket, a brochure of some sort.

"Hey uh.. I found this in Annabeth's bag, I think the hunters might've been scouting us, it was strange how they knew we were gonna be in Westover Hall. I think... I think Annabeth might've been considering joining them." Expression neutral, Percy casually glanced at the brochure inviting the reader to join the hunters.

Annabeth joining the hunters? It was strange to think about, not having the daughter of Athena at his side. For a while it was silent with contemplation, after several seconds, the half-blood stood up and stretched. "I can certainly see the benefits of joining. I don't really think it's our business at this point. Her choice is her choice right? For now, let's just focus on getting her back safe." the boy smiled with an ease he did not truly feel, however, the smile calmed Grover and he tentatively smiled back.

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That night, the game of capture the flag against the Hunters was starting.

It was a fairly small game, thirteen hunters against the same number of campers. Not one of the young warrior girls seemed happy to be playing. In fact, many of them, most especially Zoë Nightshade, seemed resentful. The lieutenant had most likely told them of her dream and they were all obviously much more worried about that then they were of some stupid game. Nonetheless, they were here, and they respected Chiron enough not to go against his word.

The players on the camper's side included Beckendorf and two of his guys, a few from the Ares cabin, the Stoll brothers, and Nico. Surprisingly, a few Aphrodite kids were enthusiastic about participating, they had been arguing with the Hunters often lately about what they thought about their "stupid rules against true love" and they were ready to fight. Of course, there was also Thalia and Percy.

The son of Poseidon was sitting in his table at the Dining Pavilion strapping on his armor at a leisurely pace. Thalia came up to him just as he finished putting on his arm guards "so how 'bout I take offense and you take defense?" the spiky haired girl offered and Percy considered this slowly. With her spear and her more outwardly aggressive fighting style the daughter of Zeus made a strong offensive player, not that Percy wasn't one as well but with his magic perhaps there were some things he could do to defend the flag that these muggles won't expect..

"Sounds like a plan" he agreed and with that Thalia turned away and helped the Aphrodite kids with putting on their armor. Not a moment later, Nico came bounding up to the older boy and started talking the other's ears off. In a good mood, perhaps Perseus would've indulged the younger demigod but in truth he really did not want to listen to the other going on and on about how awesome the game was going to be. Plus, Nico seemed a tad bit too excited about causing bodily harm on the hunters. Still holding a grudge against her sister then.

"Nico, I know you're excited but this is serious. This isn't just some game, we're using real weapons that can really fuck someone up so please refrain from doing so" Nico looked flabbergasted at his blatant cursing but looked sheepish and slightly disappointed.

Sooner or later the two teams went on their separate sides of the forest to think of a game plan, Percy let Thalia take the wheel to come up with strategy. She had the flag set at the top of Zeus's fist, a cluster of boulders in the middle of the Western Woods that was difficult to climb. It was a good place from a defensive point of view, although the flag was clearly visible as the rules of the game says it should be, with the time it would take to get to it and the traps and enchantments Percy was planning to place around it the Hunters was going to be struggling more than they probably expected.

The plan was to send decoys led by Silena towards the left of the forest to attract as many of the Hunters as they can while Thalia led the main raiding party to the right. Nico, the Stolls, Beckendorf and Percy was to be on defense. As the horn started and everybody broke off into separate groups, the only wizard of Camp Half Blood immediately took out his wand and began waving his arms in complicated motions.

"Uh.. what the hell are you doing?" Travis Stoll asked over Nico's continues stream of exclamations of Percy having a wand.

"I'm setting up enchantments, think of them as barriers of sorts" the boy explained in clipped tones, his brow furrowed in concentration. "I'll explain later, now stay quiet and let me focus" the other four nodded and watched with curiosity and awe at the magic being displayed. Percy rarely did anything more then simple spells when in camp, he never felt the need to show off and whenever he had to practice his fighting he tried not to get too dependent on his magic. Now however, he was muttering spells underneath his breath and walking back and forth, his wand flying through the air as he went through a series of movements that looked as if he was conducting an orchestra. The area they were in was humming with energy, colored streams of light flowed through the air and formed a dome. After five minutes of this, Perseus huffed with satisfaction and grinned, the results of his magics glowed for a second before it slowly faded.

"I placed a sort of barrier around the perimeter of this area, if a Hunter gets near they'll feel a strong urge to turn the other away. If they get past that, they won't be able to walk further then a few feet before being pushed back- think of it like the barrier around camp, only people from our side will be able to pass" Beckendorf grinned and clapped Riddle in the shoulder "I don't think I totally understand what you just did but that's brilliant Percy" the twins and Nico fervently nodded "they'll never win now" crooned Conner, high fiving his brother who was now laughing outright.

Percy got the four to split into teams of two to get into more defensible positions should the Hunters succeed in getting past Percy's protective magical barriers. The son of Poseidon himself climbed the tallest tree he could find behind Zeus's fist and placed the disillusionment charm on himself so he could see the playing field. The boy didn't even seem worried about the possibility about someone coming up from behind, he had taken the initiative to place spells around the immediate area that would alert him if someone dared to sneak up from the back.

Balancing himself on a sturdy branch, the wizard squinted his eyes as he took in the battle field. Silena was leading her group to the left, as planned, and five Hunters were following them. To the right, he saw Thalia with her raiding party moving at a swift pace. All seemed right, however..

There.

There was another group of Hunters with bows and weapons ready seemingly walking towards Thalia's directions. They've been caught and they haven't even realized it yet.

Maybe I should go and lend them a hand? Mused Percy but he shook his head, that would be a terrible idea. He knew that there was another group of Hunters that was probably heading in this direction to get the flag, he couldn't leave, he was after all the main force behind the defense and had to be here in case things go haywire. After a second he made a decision and casted a quieting charm on himself so that he could jump carelessly back down the tree without a sound and run towards where he knew the Stoll brothers were hiding.

Travis and Conner was ducked behind a huge tree and were both well camaflouged and hidden away. Getting rid of the quieting charm Percy muttered "don't scream I'm right behind you" both brothers whipped back in surprise and searched wildly around "why in Hades's name can't I see you Perce?" whispered Travis "are you invisible? You can do that? That's so fucking cool.." the boy in question smirked "well listen, I got something for you to do. I saw a group of Hunters walking towards the raiding party and Thalia hasn't realized yet, whoever is the fastest from the two of you is going to run over and give a heads up, the other stay with me and hold up defense" the sons of Hermes nodded.

"I'll go to Thalia" Conner decided, standing up and immediately sprinting away. His foot steps were impossibly quite, the demigod had grown up in camp and knew how to run through these woods undetected.

"I'm going to cast something over you that'll make you unseen like me, don't panic okay?" Percy murmured to the brother left behind, Travis nodded and grinned as the young wizard tapped his wand on his head and he slowly disappeared from view.

"That felt so fucking weird.. oh man, the amount of pranks we could get away with! You're so in dude.." Sometimes Riddle forgot just how alike the son of Hermes and his brother was with the red headed twins back in Hogwarts.

Suddenly, both demigods heard movements somewhere up ahead and both of them turned their heads to where the sound was coming from. "We should get a better vantage point" Travis whispered, pointing up to the trees. Percy agreed, he once again used the quieting charm on himself then on Travis. A few seconds later, the both of them were perching silently on tall trees and was able to see what was going on.

A grin blossomed on the son of Poseidon's face, his eyes twinkling with satisfaction. He had worried that the muggle repelling charm wasn't going to be enough to sway half gods but it was clear that it was still pretty effective. From his height, he could see Zoe Nightshade leading a very confused raiding party of Hunters, two of whom were now dashing the other direction. Some of them lingered, confused expressions on their faces and their bows drooping only slightly. Zoe herself however still had her bow ready although her brows were furrowed and she couldn't seem to bring herself to step forwards. There was the flag right there, with nobody in sight guarding it yet what was stopping her? There was something important I had to do, Zoe remembered, what was it? Why did she suddenly have a strong urge to walk away?

Percy felt almost smug, it had been a risky move using the muggle repelling charm since he didn't know if demigods were even affected by it. They're not magical, he had reasoned, although they were of godly blood they weren't wizards. The charm had worked to some degree, some of the Hunters had immediately ran away (those were the ones Percy suspected were of mortal lineage) and the others lingered hesitantly. It was clear however that the demigods of the bunch were slowly coming to a realization, their wills were breaking through and sooner or later they'll get past the repelling charm.

It's no matter, Percy thought, they still have to overcome my other surprises.

The sound of battle far off to the right side of the forest was what snapped the raiding party back on track. It seems like Conner had told Thalia just in time for them to meet the group of Hunters heading their way head on.

Zoe shook her head aggressively and snapped to the others, Percy strained to hear what they were saying "clear thy heads, it must be the wizardry of that son of Poseidon" all of the leftover Hunters nodded and got back into formation, weapons raised and movements swift. Their advance however didn't last long, a few feet later when they stepped into the clearing with the boulders and the flag the Hunters faced a literal wall.

Zoe was pushed back several feet and the rest of the Hunters followed, one of them even falling over. "What is this sorcery?" The lieutenant angrily exclaimed, she gestured for the spear of one of her comrades and threw it towards the flag. The weapon arced through the air only to meet an invisible barrier in a shower of sparks, the protective enchantments glowed briefly before it faded away again.

"This is unfair!" cried Zoe in frustration, and from behind her the sound of yelling and cheering became clearer. From their vantage points, Percy and Travis could see that Thalia had taken the silver flag of the Hunters and was currently dashing back towards the clearing with a few of the warrior girls chasing after her.

"Travis, let's go and give a nice welcome distraction to these lovely ladies, shall we?" the son of Hermes grinned and drew his sword in response. Perseus jumped down from the tree and got out riptide, the blade now in its true form in his grip.  The pair swiftly made their way over to Zoe and her group and sprung into action.

They made quick work to disarm the hunters of their weapons and to knock them down without seriously injuring anyone. After all, they had the element of surprise and of sight to aid them, the hunters couldn't risk doing much with the fear of accidentally harming someone from their own side. In the few seconds it took them to do this, Thalia bursted into the clearing and sprinted towards the boulders, the hunters following her unable to get closer as they were pushed back by the barrier. Chiron came out from the woods with two knocked out players on his back, the centaur had a smile on his face "for the first time ever, Camp Half - blood wins the game!" the daughter of Zeus raised the flag in victory, grinning from ear to ear as the campers cheered and celebrated.  

Percy got rid of the spells hiding him and Travis and jogged over to celebrate with everybody else. Seeing Beckendorf and Nico coming out of hiding,  he went over and muttered to the older boy "I hope you didn't mind me telling you to keep Nico out of the way, didn't want to see him get injured or anything in his first game" the burly son of Hephaestus waved it away "it's alright man, watching everything was fun and it seemed like you got everything under control anyway."

"Percy" Chiron came trotting over "that was a brilliant move you pulled my boy.. now, would you mind taking down the barriers you had put up around this area?" looking over to where the other was waving towards Percy forgot about the hunters who were now standing near the tree line where the protective spells held them back bewildered. 

Putting riptide back in pen form and tucking it away in his pocket, the wizard whipped out his wand and says "finite incantatem" in a clear voice. The campers who had been cheering and even the hunters watched with wonder as the barrier revealed itself in a glow of color and slowly disappeared. The almost unnoticeable magical energy that had been humming in the air was gone as well, leaving only faint traces.

"How is that fair!?" Zoe exclaimed angrily, her hunters behind her all with an array of enraged expressions. Thalia walked over, still smug and clapped Percy on the shoulder "you can't say shit Zoe, your hunters had those disgusting fart arrows and magic is not ruled against in the game. By the way, that was genius Riddle" the boy smirked "now now, don't want to be feeding my ego now don't you?" Thalia scoffed "as if seaweed brain."

The familiar nickname nearly made Percy stumble but the boy didn't respond, merely slapping on an easy going grin and acting like it didn't affect him as much as it probably did.

"Alright now, let's all go back and-

"What the fuck is that?" Chiron was caught off from continuing as hunters and campers alike gasped in fear as something got out from the woods. The.. thing was shrouded in a dark green mist, as it got closer it became clear just what exactly it was.

"That's impossible" Chiron mumbled, eyes wide and his voice the most tense anybody has ever heard it. "She.. she has never before left the attic."

She.

It was a mummy, a withered old mummy shuffling forwards towards the middle of the clearing, many demigods back away in terror and the hunters stood tensely around their leader. Percy had predicted that a prophecy may soon came, but even he hadn't foreseen that things would play out like this.

It seems like the oracle has finally made it's own move in this battle field.

Well well well

After god knows how long here I am hahahaha

I am so sorry it took so long for this update! The past few months has been so hectic due to national exams and end of the term projects so I wasn't able to continue this. This is literally the longest chapter I've written I'm pretty sure like holy shit. Also, before I forget, happy Ramadan and happy fasting to all my fellow muslims!

Also just a side note, the editing is not 100% finished so I'll probably be going back and fixing stuff at a later date.

Anyway thanks for being patient and I hope you liked this, see you around folks :)

-ThatBookFanatic