Zoë and Percy had a nightmare

The next morning, after breakfast, Drako went with Percy and Grover to talk a bit since he didn't have anything to do. They 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.

"I have something to talk you about," Percy said.

"What is it?" Drako asked.

"I saw Annabeth… and Luke," Percy started. "He tricked her and now she is trapped."

"How?"

"It looked like… like a cave ceiling collapsed on her."

Grover started twirling his finger in his shaggy leg fur.

"A cave ceiling collapsed on her?" he asked.

"Yeah. What the heck does that mean?"

Grover shook his head. "I don't know. But after what Zoë dreamed—"

"Wait. What do you mean? Zoë had a dream like that?" Drako asked.

"I… I don't know. About three in the morning, she came to the Big House and demanded to talk to Chiron. She looked really panicked."

Something sounded strange to Drako.

"Wait, how do you know this?"

Grover blushed. "I was sort of camped outside the Artemis cabin."

"What for?"

"Just to be, you know, near them."

What the fuck?

"You're a fucking stalker," Drako said.

"A stalker with hooves," Percy agreed.

"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."

Argus is a one hundred-eyed giant, who acts as a security guard who serves to the Olympians. He currently works at Camp Half-Blood, often riding the demigod heroes to quests. He does not talk much, for it is said that he has an eye on his tongue, and does not want to show it.

Argus was created by Hera and acted as her servant. His great service to the Olympians was to slay Echidna, the mother of monsters, as she slept in her cave. Hera's personal task for Argus was to guard the white heifer, Io, a mistress of Zeus, from him. He kept her chained to the sacred olive tree at Argive Heraion until Hermes (in some versions Pan or Apollo) sang or talked to him until he was drowsy and then touched all of his eyes, putting him in a deep sleep which allowed the god to free Io.

"What did she say?" Drako 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 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, stop it there. How could Artemis be in trouble?" Drako asked.

More important so, why wasn't he informed of that?

"I… well, finally Chiron came out in his pyjamas and his horsetail in curlers and—"

"He wears curlers in his tail?"

Drako tried very hard not to laugh. Just imagining the centaur with that was really funny, even in this situation.

"Sorry," Drako 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?'"

Drako was alarmed.

"What do you mean lost? Like she needs directions?" Percy asked.

This boy is kind of dumb.

"No. I think she meant gone. Taken. Kidnapped."

"Kidnapped?" Percy tried to get his mind around that idea. "How would you kidnap an immortal goddess? Is that even possible?"

"Well, yeah. I mean, it happened to Persephone."

"But she was like, the goddess of flowers."

Grover 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. Can he?"

Drako wasn't listening to the conversation between the two boys. He was thinking really hard right now.

Who has enough power to kidnap a powerful goddess like Artemis?

Drako knew that she was really powerful, at least 2 or 3 times stronger than a Maou. She could be even more powerful than that!

Even if she is fighting against someone stronger than her, she can scape easily with her abilities.

Drako didn't doubt that she was within the strongest 50 beings of this world.

If someone was going to kidnap her, it needed to be a very strong organization or a very powerful being. Maybe one of the top 20 or top 10, or even more than one.

The question is: Who wants to kidnap her? Who is the enemy of the Olympus right now?

The answer was easy to find since they currently have an obvious enemy.

Kronos and his army.

Now, Drako new that Kronos is still in the process of reviving. So, who has enough power on that army to kidnap Artemis?

Maybe his right hand? Maybe they lured her into a trap?

That answer was unknown.

But, Drako was not stupid. Percy had a nightmare the same night as Zoë, that wasn't a coincidence.

"Percy, both nightmares are obviously connected," Drako said. "You both have to talk about them."

Over in the frozen meadow, a satyr skidded on his hooves as he chased after a red-headed 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.

"Yeah, I've got to talk to Zoë," Percy said.

"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?"

He gave Percy 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!

"Hey, that's no longer valid," Drako said, pointing towards the BOY-FREE stance.

"I found that in Annabeth's backpack," Grover said, ignoring Drako attempt to joke.

Percy stared at him. "I don't understand."

"Well, it seems to me… maybe Annabeth was thinking about joining."

Percy didn't look like he took the news well.

..................….

Drako didn't have anything to do, so he just went to visit the Camp Half-Blood.

There were different training fields in the camp, where the campers could train. For example, Drako saw Percy in the javelin-throwing class. That class was pretty boring for Drako, so he just went somewhere else.

Drako found something she had been looking for for a while, the Pegasus stable, but it seemed that two people were having an argument inside it.

Drako stepped inside the stable, but it seemed neither person was aware of their presence.

Two girls were arguing, and it was no surprise that one was a Hunter and the other a demigod.

Drako remembered this Hunter. She was one of the weakest in the group, even weaker than newcomer Bianca Di Angela. This was probably because she was a mortal turned into Hunter. She was also part of the group that hated Drako's presence within the Hunters' group.

He also recognized the other girl, although he didn't know her name or talk to her before. She was the leader of Aphrodite's descendants, Drako had seen her while they were dining the night before.

She had attracted Drako's attention as she was different from the rest of her siblings. While they were constantly looking for attention, she was a bit more reserved and calmer. That, in turn, gave her a special charm.

Drako stepped in when he saw that things were getting worse. "Hey, what's going on?"

The two girls went silent and turned to look at Drako. The Hunter let out a "Tch" and stormed out of the stable.

The other girl, Aphrodite's daughter, let a sigh out of her mouth while looking at the back of the Hunter.

She had long black hair and a pair of beautiful blue eyes. She was, without a doubt, a very beautiful girl. This was expected, as she is Aphrodite's daughter.

She turned to look at Drako again. "Thanks, we could have a fight here if you didn't stop it."

"Don't overthink it, I was just passing by."

"I get it, were you curious about the Pegasus?" She asked.

"Yeah, I've always been curious about it. I've liked the original Pegasus since I was a kid." Drako said.

The girl smiled a bit. She walked over to one of the winged horses and stroked its back.

"It's not really Pegasus, it's Pegasi. They're descendants of the original Pegasus." She explained.

"You seem to really like them."

"Yes, I love them." The girl said.

The two of them were silent for a few moments. Drako was simply admiring the horses while the girl looked at him curiously.

"I've seen you at the table with Thalia before, are you the son of Zeus?" She asked.

Drako turned to look at her. "No, I am not. My situation is a little special, you know? I'm one of the Hunters, and I'm not even human."

"What?"

Drako understood the girl's surprise. In the thousands of years of the Hunters' existence, no man had ever been part of them before. It was only natural they wouldn't believe it.

"That's right, I'm a dragon. Due to certain circumstances, Artemis has welcomed me into her group. But, as you can see, I'm not very welcome in the group."

"Yes, I've noticed," the girl smiled slightly.

"Why were you fighting?" Drako asked out of curiosity.

"Tch, those Hunters are always denying love and calling it useless," she said angrily.

As the daughter of Aphrodite, denying love was the same as denying her. Drako could understand why she was angry.

"I don't understand these girls. You can be against having relationships or whatever, but you can't deny what most people feel. I'm sure more than one of the people who disparaged him had been in love at some point in his life," Drako reflected.

The girl looked at Drako, surprised to hear his words.

"Weren't you one of the Hunters? Aren't you forbidden to fall in love?" she asked.

"The oath I took was literally 'I will turn my back on men'. I never swore anything about women," Drako winked at the girl who was looking at him with her mouth open.

Drako turned around and headed for the barn exit.

"Wait!"

Drako turned to look at the girl.

"My name is Silena, Silena Beauregard. What's your name?"

"Drako."

"Are we gonna talk like this again?" Silena asked hopefully.

"Sure! As long as the gods want."

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So, talking of another character in Percy Jackson novels.

Silena Beauregard.

She is, without a doubt, one of my favourites female characters of this novel along with Piper and Thalia. I can't say too much because of spoilers.

Even with what little she appears throughout the novels, the impact that she has is so strong that can only make me love her!