Chapter Text
August 2006
In the end, The Hunters of Artemis remained at Camp Half-Blood for several weeks. On the eve of their departure, Chiron organized a game of capture the flag. Tensions had been strong between the two factions ever since they had returned from the Sea of Monsters and Thalia’s recovery had not made things any easier. A war game would, in theory, help them work out their animosity, but Nico knew from experience that it was futile. The rivalry was too well-established.
The teams shook out to be thirteen hunters against about a dozen campers and Nico. Zoë was less than happy and Nico didn’t blame her. She kept giving Chiron resentful looks. The other Hunters seemed to share her mood. They didn’t laugh or joke around like they usually did. Instead, they huddled together whispering and exchanging nervous glances. He made a mental note to ask Bianca what was going on after the game.
The campers' team seemed a little overpowered to Nico. He, Thalia, and Percy had enough raw firepower to decimate a small city. With help from Chiron, Artemis, and Mr. D, Thalia had recovered more quickly than anyone had expected. By the time their Capture the Flag game rolled around, she was fighting fit and rearing to go. Her time as a pine tree had apparently not dimmed her spirit. In fact, she hardly seemed aware of the time that had passed.
It was nearing the end of the summer and the campers were eager for a final chance to stretch their combat skills. With Beckendorf and two other Hephaestus campers, a handful of children of Ares, the Stoll brothers, and a couple of Aphrodite campers also participating, the Hunters’ team looked very small by comparison.
The Aphrodite cabin was as aggressive as usual where the Hunters were concerned. Their leader, Silena Beauregard, grumbled about pulverizing the hunters as she strapped on her armour and checked her eyeliner. Nico was inclined to leave command to her since she clearly had the most skin in the game.
Of course, with Thalia and Percy involved, it couldn’t be that simple.
Nico found them by the Poseidon table arguing in their way of trying to hide that they were obviously fighting.
"I'll take the offence," Thalia was saying. “You take defence.”
"Oh." Percy looked like he had missed the bottom step going down a flight of stairs. "Don't you think with your shield and all, you'd be better defence?”
They were both dressed for battle in bronze breastplates and held their blue horse hair-plumed helmets under an arm. Thalia wore her shield, a replica of her father’s Aegis, openly. Even their own teammates gave her a wide berth. When Nico approached, she subtly angled it toward him. Cute.
"Well, I was thinking it would make better offence," Thalia said, ignoring Nico. "Besides, you've had more practice at defence.”
“If we’re putting Percy on defence,” said Nico, “we should park the flag by the river where he’ll be at his strongest. Make the most of Percy’s powers.”
Percy glared at him. Nico knew he had had some rough history with defence in those woods but really, it had to have been three years ago at least. Time for the kid to get over it.
"Yeah, no problem," said Percy, sounding very much like it was indeed a huge problem.
"Cool."
Thalia turned to help some of the other campers without ever once acknowledging Nico’s presence.
It was a more cordial interaction than Nico had really expected, all in all. The three of them clashed more often than not and Thalia’s temper was the worst of all. In Nico’s clearly unbiased opinion, at least.
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!”
Thalia cried, ”Blue team! Follow me!"
They cheered and followed. Percy ran to catch up, tripping over a loose shield in the process. Nico snorted. Co-captain, huh?
In the end, no one took Nico’s suggestion. The flag was set on top of Zeus’ fist – a cluster of boulders in the middle of the west woods and not particularly close to the river at all. The top boulder was twenty feet tall and difficult to climb which would make it easy to guard. They sent the smallest and most nimble team member, Ellis, son of Ares, scurrying up to place the flag on the top. As per Chiron’s rules, it was clearly visible and since anyone trying to climb the rock would be easy to spot, it wouldn’t matter that the guards weren’t allowed to stand within ten yards of it.
“We’re splitting the team into three,” said Thalia with full confidence as if the final plan had been well discussed. Nico knew for a fact that it hadn’t. “Percy’s in charge of defence. He’ll take Beckendorf, Travis, and Connor. Di Angelo will lead a decoy to the left. Drew, Mitchell, and Ellis, you’re with him.”
Drew and Mitchell were good runners from the Aphrodite cabin. Ellis was no older than eleven and the scrawniest Ares kid Nico had ever seen. Apparently, he had not made the cut for either main combat team.
"You’ll make a wide arc around the Hunters,” Thalia continued, “attract as many as you can. I’ll lead the main raiding party, that’s Silena, Mark, and Sherman, around to the right and catch them by surprise.”
Nico was not the biggest fan of taking orders from Thalia Grace but he couldn’t deny the plan was sound enough. It was downright diplomatic of her too, to split the team into three and divide command amongst all of the Big Three children. Born fucking leader.
Thalia looked at him for the first time all day. "Anything to add, Nico?”
Nico folded his arms. “Doesn’t sound like there’s anything left to cover, co-captain.”
Thalia didn’t even deign to glare at him. “Percy?” she asked.
"Um, yeah.” He looked at his unit. “Keep sharp on defence. We've only got four of us. That's not much for a big forest. You three circle the flag, 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!"
She touched Percy’s arm and a tiny blue spark lit up between them. Percy hissed.
"Sorry," Thalia said, though she didn't sound particularly sorry. "Now, is everybody clear?”
Someone’s taking after their dad, Nico groused. Bullying people into submission. He ought to stick up for Percy, and take Thalia Grace down a peg, but there wasn’t time for that if they wanted to beat the Hunters. Even with the superior firepower of the Big Three kids, the Hunters were a fighting machine and more than likely to have a few tricks up their sleeves. It didn’t help that they were all wound so tight.
Everybody broke into their smaller groups. The horn sounded, and the game began.
Nico signalled for Ellis, Drew, and Mitchell to follow him and took off into the woods on the left. They crossed the creek and plunged into the east woods. The Aphrodite kids were fast and Ellis with his kid energy looked like he could go for days.
There was a shout and Nico could hear footsteps behind them. Nico glanced back. Two Hunters were on their tail. He recognized one of them as Zoë’s second, Phoebe.
He grinned and kept running.
He kept an eye on the woods to the right as they ran. He thought he might have seen Bianca at one point, running full tilt for the west woods. He wanted to know what she was up to and how the bout with Percy that she was heading toward would go. There wouldn’t be a chance for that.
His team had picked up two more hunters in their chase. With their numbers, four pursuers was good enough for him. Besides, after Thalia, he was itching for a fight.
“Ready!” Nico cried, and stopped running.
He drew his sword and his companions followed suit. Time to stall.
The hunters faltered. They were armed with bows and hunting knives. They needed to get in close or fight at range.
“Attack!” Nico ordered, before the hunters could retreat far enough to use their bows.
The Aphrodite kids were a blur. They were quick and good on the defence, dancing out of the way of the Hunters’ knives. Ellis was tougher than he looked and absolutely vicious. Nico wanted to congratulate him but he was too busy trying to avoid a disembowelling at the end of Phoebe’s knife.
A cheer rose from somewhere in the woods followed by the familiar sound of a conch horn.
Could the game be finished already? It couldn’t have lasted for more than twenty minutes.
Their duelling died off slowly. Ellis looked like he would quite happily keep fighting until he keeled over.
Phoebe eyed Nico. “Peace?”
Nico nodded and sheathed his blade. “Peace.”
They followed the cheering to the creek at a light run.
It was the Hunters cheering. Phoebe and her companions joined in, pouring on the speed until they were absorbed into the rest of their team’s celebration.
Chiron held the conch horn. He looked grim. Both Still brothers rode on his back looking dazed. Connor had a couple of arrows lodged in his armour.
"The Hunters win!" Chiron announced without pleasure. Then he muttered, "For the fifty-seventh time in a row.”
"Perseus Jackson!" Thalia yelled, storming out of the Campers’ ranks.
Percy stood at the creekside. He held the Hunters’ silvery flag in one fist. He had abandoned his post on defence then, just like he had hinted he might. This was not going to be good.
Aegis cut a path through the crowd leaving Percy, Nico and Thalia isolated in the centre. Percy's knees shook a little. Blue sparks flickered on Thalia's armour. She stank like rotten eggs – clearly the Hunters had been using their fart arrows again.
"What in the name of the gods were you THINKING?" Thalia bellowed.
Percy balled his fists."I got the flag, Thalia!" He 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?”
“Would you two stop it?” Nico stepped between them. “We’re supposed to be on the same side.”
“Get out of the way!”
Thalia tried to push past him with Aegis. Nico planted his feet and shoved right back at her.
“Oh, stop with the shield,” he snapped. “You’re delusional if you think that’ll scare me.”
“Argh!”
Thalia moved to shove him hard again but he stepped aside suddenly, letting her stumble forward. Instead of falling like he thought, she tripped right into Percy. A shock of lightning sparked between them and Percy flew ten feet backward into the water.
Some of the campers gasped. A couple of the Hunters stifled laughs.
Thalia turned suddenly pale. “Sorry! I didn't mean to—”
A wave erupted from the creek and doused Thalia from head to toe.
Percy pushed himself to his feet, dripping wet. "Yeah," he growled. “I didn't mean to, either.”
"Enough!" Chiron ordered.
But Thalia held out her spear. "You want some, Seaweed Brain?”
Percy uncapped his sword. ”Bring it on, Pinecone Face!”
Nico reached for the earth. It shook beneath their feet. Two cages of stalagmites thrust out of the ground encircling Percy and Thalia.
“Di Angelo!” Thalia cursed.
She yelled and a blast of lightning rocketed down from the sky. It hit her spear like a lightning rod and bounced outward toward Nico.
He rolled and the lightning hit a tree behind him leaving it charred and smoking.
“You better let me out of here right now—”
"Thalia!" Chiron shouted. "That is enough!"
Behind them, the creek was rising. It swirled up, hundreds of gallons of water in a massive funnel cloud.
"Percy!" Chiron pleaded.
“Hey, Bianca!” Nico shouted. “I could use some backup here!”
Muttering broke out among the onlookers.
Nico faltered.
“Bianca?”
Zoë and Phoebe were in a furtive conversation.
Nico released the stalagmite cages and they slammed back into the earth making the whole clearing shake.
“Where is my sister?”
The water splashed back into the creek bed and the sky was quiet and still. A silent truce between Thalia and Percy.
“Zoë,” Nico’s voice shook. “Where is my sister?”
“She was here,” said Zoë. “I do not understand.” She looked at the rest of her troops. “Where is Bianca?”
No one seemed to know.
“Bianca!” Nico cried. Panic overtook him. He jogged farther out into the woods and cupped his hands around his mouth. “Where are you? Bianca!”
It was no use.
The search seemed to take an age. Darkness had fallen well before Nico could be coaxed back to the Big House. The other campers had abandoned the effort after a few hours under the guise of regrouping to search again later. Only the Hunters continued to search with Nico. They were a force to be reckoned with. Efficient and pragmatic, they searched the woods in a grid pattern to cover the most ground and even summoned their wolves to aid in their efforts.
It was all useless. The wolves seemed confused and kept routing back to Zeus’ fist. No one could find any trace of her.
At the Big House, Chiron corralled Nico, Zoë, and Zoë’s second, Phoebe, into the sitting room and pressed mugs of hot chocolate into their hands.
“We will continue the search at first light,” he said.
Nico shook his head. “No. I can’t stop now. I have to find her.”
Phoebe nodded. “He’s right. We will not leave one of our own behind.”
Resistance came from the very last place Nico would have expected.
Zoë stared down at the mug of hot chocolate in her hands. “Chiron is right,” she said. “We will not find her this way.”
“What are you talking about?” Nico demanded. “You can’t leave her behind—not my sister!”
She glared up at him, sparks flying from her dark eyes. “Do not lecture to me, di Angelo. I take no pleasure in this, but if we were going to find her in those woods, we would have already. She is gone. We need a new plan. Without—”
She stopped abruptly and stared up at the ceiling as if she were fighting back tears. Phoebe reached out to put a hand on her arm.
Zoë took a deep breath. She looked at Chiron, instead of Nico.
“I had a dream.”
If possible, Nico’s heart sank even lower.
“My Lady is not coming for us. She is being held captive.”
Chiron furrowed his brow. “Captive?” he repeated.
“By the Titan Lord, I suspect.” Zoë’s voice was gravely serious.
“Yeah, I’m sure that sucks,” said Nico, “but doesn’t change the fact that no one knows where Bianca is. She could have been taken as well for all we know! She’s a Big Three kid too.”
“She cannot turn sixteen,” Chiron reasoned.
Nico glared at him. “Don’t be naive. She can’t age as long as she keeps her vows to Artemis. If the titan army has her, she might not be an eternal maiden much longer.”
Phoebe and Zoë were very pale.
“We have to find her,” said Nico. “Artemis can take care of herself.”
“We will find them both,” Zoë countered.
“This will not be easy,” said Chiron, rubbing his chin in thought. “Someone will need to speak to the Oracle.”
“I’ll—” Nico tried to speak but he was cut off.
“I will go,” said Zoë. “I know she is your sister, but Bianca is my responsibility and Lady Artemis—” her voice caught. “I will go.”
“I’m going on this quest,” Nico insisted.
The Hunters did not tolerate the presence of males, but for Nico’s sake, they had been known to make exceptions. It was not the time for that to change.
Zoë nodded to him once and followed Chiron to the base of the stairs. She would climb to the Oracle’s attic alone.