Chapter 50: The Oracle knows how to kill the mood

I got out of my bed and left the Poseidon Cabin. I wanted to get out. Out for a walk to the beach, or to the forest. Everything except staying inside.

It was still dark outside, around 5 am in the morning I guessed and I was heading towards the beach when I noticed the commotion at the big house. Chiron was trying to calm down a crying/shouting/dangerous huntress.

To my surprise, Chiron wore a striped pink pyjama and had his horse tail in curls.

I crawled behind one of the bushes, studying what was going on. Then I smacked myself on the head, of course, I should've remembered it.

The dream Zoë had about Artemis being captured.

I wondered if our dreams were correlated, although I had the feeling my dream was a whole other level of weirdness.

I was about to move on with my nightly hike when I heard the voice of Blackjack in my head.

Hey boss! He said on a cheerful tone, and I turned around.

Behind me, still invisible from the Big House was Blackjack, staring at me.

The fact that scared me the most was that he managed to sneak up on me, normally he was super loud. Apparently, he could also be a ninja, and that was not a disturbing thought at all.

"Stop calling me boss!" I whispered while trying to sound mad at him, which I failed at.

Jeez! You are in a bad mood! Blackjack called out.

"What are you doing here?" I asked while slowly sneaking away from the bush towards the beach trying not to stand out from my surroundings.

You are the one stalking a girl!

"Shut up," I muttered under my breath.

Blackjack whinnied which was his version of laughing in my face.

"You still want an apple?" I said threateningly which silenced Blackjack immediately, yeah I knew how to handle my pegasus.

I clapped with my hands and an apple appeared.

Before I could give it to him Blackjack snatched it out of my hand and ate it within 4 seconds.

"Now why are you here?" I asked.

Another little sea friend needs your help. Blackjack explained which made me raise my eyebrow.

'Chaos, maybe my memories are a bit dusty but shouldn't Bessie be stuck tomorrow and not today?' I asked.

Chaos shrugged,'Already told you, butterfly effect. You pie in the water, next week it becomes a tsunami on the other side of the world.'

'I thought the analogy was different.' I said.

I could not imagine a particular chain of events that caused Bessie to be stuck early. Maybe it was a coincidence, nonetheless, it was weird.

"All right! Take me to this poor and totally not dangerous sea creature." I said.

You got it boss!

"And stop calling me boss."

....

"Why are you the team captain?" Thalia asked.

We were all sitting on the Poseidon table discussing our war strategy against the Hunters, they sat on the Artemis table, not particular interested in us.

They had been crying, although they did a really good job at not showing it.

"I already have everything planned out." I said casually, "Beside Chiron came to me and not to sound cocky but I do have an amazing plan."

"Sure captain seaweed," Thalia muttered.

"Captain Seaweed." Nico repeated, "That's your code name? Do I get a code name?"

"No, it's just a ring name for Percy. He's a son of Poseidon so everything related to the sea can be used to insult him." Meg explained.

"So what's the almighty plan?" Nyx asked.

We had around 14 campers who wanted to join the game and 14 hunters which made the game at least a bit even.

I can't imagine how Camp Half-blood could ever lose in the summer, we had around 150 campers in the summer yet we did. Which made me want to win even more.

"We put our flag on Zeus's fist. We have the high ground and won't be ambushed." Nyx said.

I turned to Katie and Beckendorf, "Katie, do you think you and Beckendorf can defend the flag?" I asked.

Both of them nodded,

"Also no permanent damage please, it would be a bummer if a hunter died." I quickly added.

Beckendorf looked disappointed by this. He loved Greek Fire.

Katie waved with her hand and an ivy appeared and slowly grew to her shoulder length.

"They won't get through," she said determinedly.

"Also Ethan, I want you to guard the flag as well, in case we need a melee fighter."

Ethan nodded.

"And don't leave your duty," Thalia added.

"Silena, I want you to take Connor, Travis, Michael, and Sherman and made a wide arc around the hunters and attract as many as you can." I said.

"What about their fart arrows?" Connor asked.

"Try to outrun them, don't fight just attract a lot of attention," I reassured them.

"And we!" Nyx said and gestured towards herself, Thalia and me, "We go straight towards the hunter's flag. Straight through the center."

"Straight?" Thalia asked, "That's way to clear. If they see us they will know what we are up too."

"That's what we are counting on." I said, "We are the best fighters melee fighters at camp and we go straight towards the flag."

Thalia muttered something, which might have bin an insult.

"What about us?" Nico asked.

I smirked, "Meg how's your Chloro Crypsis doing?" I asked.

She shrugged, "If I don't panic it works great."

"What's clorokripsies?" Nico asked.

"Camouflage, but with plants. It's a Demeter thing." Katie explained.

"Cool, so what do I do?" Nico asked.

"Ever wanted to be invisible?" I asked.

...

The horn sounded.

Nyx smirked.

"The game is on," she said.

'you really like Sherlock don't you?' I said mentally.

Nyx nodded.

Silena and her group disappeared into the woods on our left, we gave them a few seconds.

We caught a glimpse of Silena and Connor, They ran through a clearing, followed by 3 of the Hunters while Sherman and Michael ran into a different direction. Distracting 3 other hunters.

"Okay, you guys got it?" I asked Katie.

She nodded, "you better get going!" She said and pointed at the center. The way seemed to be clear for us.

"Go!" I yelled, and as a team, Thalia and Nyx followed me.

We ran as fast as we can towards the creek, we ran past a hunter who thought she was lucky. However, I already had seen Katie and Beckendorf planting what they called, "Potato mines."

I silently prayed I never stepped into one.

When we reached the creek I made the water solidify into a flat surface, around 4 feet wide, we ran over it like it was just normal dirt and reached enemy territory without a problem.

However, our problem ran out of the woods while

Zoë followed by 7 other hunters, I saw one of them was Bianca, they had their bows out and pointed at us. They all had a smug smile on their face, Nyx groaned but did not make an attempt to attack.

4 hunters casually walked around us and made their way towards our side of the creek

"So who is the team captain of this horrible plan?" Zoë asked.

"Must have been a boy." A hunter named Phoebe said.

"Yep!" I said, "Totally me."

"What were you thinking Percy?" Bianca asked with a frown on her face.

"Well…" Thalia said, "We thought we send a group around the flag and distract a lot of hunters."

"Those punny campers?" Phoebe asked but Zoë scowled at me, "we already took them out."

"Ai," Nyx said uninterested.

"Well, now you are our prisoner boy," Phoebe said.

"No, wait…" Bianca said thoughtfully, then her eyes widened, "NICO!" she called out.

Nyx giggled, "yup!"

"This was a-" Zoë muttered.

She glanced past me and her eyes widened, a silver flag was flying toward us,

Suddenly all three of us jumped into battle.

I lunged forward and slammed Riptide's flat side down on Phoebe's arm while Thalia blocked the arrows Bianca shot at her.

Nyx shadow traveled behind Zoë and hit her in the back without using a weapon but just with her fist and a wide grin.

A horn blew in the distance and we heard cheering from across the creek. Campers cheered as both sides converged on the creek. Chiron appeared out of the woods with a smile.

On our side of the Creek stood Meg and Nico.

Nico was holding a Yankee cap in his hand and in his other hand he had the hunters flag. He was holding it at the bottom while Meg held it on top and I suspected they made a pact to share the victory.

Zoë gasped, "No way."

"Camp Half-Blood wins!" Chiron announced with pleasure.

"Impossible," Phoebe muttered while rubbing over the sour spot on her arm.

"No, it's possible!" Nyx tested, dancing around Zoë teasing her and singing "we won! You lost!"

"But…" Zoë muttered.

"This was just a distraction," Thalia concluded.

"We thought that the 3 best fighters at camp might attract enough attention," I added.

"Ai." Nyx added, "you failed."

"But how..." Zoë asked.

"You thought you saw a distraction and us, the real threat. You were looking but what you're really doing is filtering, interpreting. Searching for meaning." I explained with a smug smile.

"We took it," Thalia said, "And used it against you."

Read more: . /movie_ ?movie=now-you-see-me

"Good job," Chiron said and he patted me on the shoulder.

"This calls for a party!" Connor called out, but the party never came.

Someone emerged from the woods. Everyone looked in the same direction and all the happiness faded.

A figure, engulfed in green mist was approaching us when It got closer everyone gasped.

"Impossible!" Chiron called out.

'We use that word a lot here.' Chaos mentioned.

"Whasthat?" Nico asked excitedly.

"The Oracle of Delphi," Thalia muttered with fear.

the Oracle shuffled forward until she stood in the center of the group. Mist curled around our feet, turning the snow a sickly shade of green.

"Shall we kill it?" Nyx suggested.

Then it spoke, I am the spirit of Delphi, the voice said however something was wrong. Just like last time I visited the Oracle, it was a female voice, this was not the voice of an emotionless voice of the Oracle. Yet no one seemed to notice.

Speaker of the prophecies of Phoebus Apollo, slayer of the mighty Python.

The Oracle regarded me with its cold, dead eyes. For a second I thought it smirked at me then she turned unmistakably toward Zoe Nightshade. Approach, Seeker, and ask.

Zoe 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 will get lost in the land without rain,

One string of fate forever defined,

Choose Campers and Hunters combined,

One shall be slain by a parent's hand,

One shall defy fate but die in the end,

With final breath one shall betray,

And a final dead to keep the prisoner in stay.

Then the Oracle dropped dead, leaving us with a new doomsday prophecy.

...

"Great." I muttered.

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