The Sacred Thievery

Chapter X: Hellhounds.

Connor was incredibly quick. While everyone else was tensing, he lashed out with his Celestial bronze blade, and nearly sliced right through a hellhound. Bryan flinched mightily, and the hellhound yelped and leapt backwards.

Though he missed, this move saved the three's lives. When the first hellhound leapt back, so did the other two, giving the three demigods time to escape, which they did, running backwards, away from the three hellhounds.

The Hermes cabin attacked. Pillows flew through the air, a few of the items actually hitting, but none doing any damage to the monsters. Connor charged, but as he slashed, his target bit down on his blade, and yanked it from his hand, throwing it backwards.

I noticed Jesse. She pulled an arrow, and stretched her bowstring backwards, her fingers trembling. Her arrow flew, and managed to shoot right through a hellhound. I expected the hellhound to die, but the arrow made its body where it was shot fade into dust. But then the dust solidified, and it was completely fine.

While stunned, I thought over something important. Chiron had mentioned a magical border that protected the camp from monsters. If there was one, how could the hellhounds get into camp? And also, how was I supposed to defend myself from them?

But as I was thinking of this, more hellhounds seemed to be summoned from the shadows of the others. Three more came, and I was feeling hopeless as I backed away. If this kept happening, we would be quickly overwhelmed. Some kids had gotten daggers in their hands, and were trying to fend off the hellhounds. Connor had one as well, and he managed to actually kill one, slicing three quick times with his blade before it could reform, and the hellhound turned to black dust.

My foot clanged on something. It was Connor's sword, which I realized when I looked back. I grabbed it. It wasn't very heavy, but even with that, I doubted I would be much good with the blade. As I picked it up, I felt a cold chill down my spine. I turned, and from my shadow rose another hellhound. Before I could wonder how it had come from my shadow, it pounced. My reflexes took over, and I slashed the hellhound. It briefly faded into black dust, and remembering what Connor did, I swung with both hands, slicing a second time, turning more of the hellhound to dust. Before it reformed, my arms tiring, I swung again, killing the hellhound.

But as I did, I heard an indignant grunt. I turned to see Bacchus, holding his thyrsus in one hand, which was pointed towards a hellhound, and holding a Diet Pepsi can in the other, which he put away from his mouth. A blast of purple, glowing flame shot towards a hellhound-who was pouncing on Judy-from his staff, and it was vaporized.

All the hellhounds turned to the wine god, and so did the demigods, probably grateful yet surprised at what was happening. Another blast fired, vaporizing another hellhound. Then, cracks split in the ground, and multiple vines erupted from the ground, lashing out at multiple hellhounds, leaving black piles scattered around the ground.

In response to everyone's intensifying looked, Bacchus simply shrugged. "Demigods. Always leaving us gods to do the work." Chiron galloped in, looking at the situation with an arrow nocked in his held bow. He looked around expectantly, no one speaking.

He eventually must have figured out what happened and sighed. "Everyone, go back to your regular activities." All the Hermes children went back into their cabin, and the other kids scampered away from the area. He turned to me. "Timothy, come with me." When he saw Jesse's expression, he said, "Jesse, you can come as well."

We followed Chiron back to the Big House. On the way, everyone looked at us, wondering why we were following Chiron. When there, Chiron went to the pinochle table and waited. We sat at two of the chairs there, waiting for what we were to be told.

"Timothy, what happened in your dream?" He asked.

"H-how did you know?"

"Timothy, I have seen the tension in the faces of heroes when they have startling dreams for centuries. You have the exact same one most have."

So I explained how when I went to bed, I had a dream of the thievery of the Golden Hind. I explained the important details, such as the empousa and the Hunters. Then I explained what I overheard from Reyna and Thalia before they left Camp Half-Blood. Jesse seemed surprised I hadn't told her based on her face, but in my defense, I hadn't even seen Jesse before the hellhound incident. Chiron tensed, his tail lashing even more than it did before.

"I suspected this. If you were given this dream, it must be important, and to you as well," he said.

"But what am I supposed to do? The Hunters should be able to get it, and I'm not very necessary if they do."

"That's the problem. If you had this dream, I suspect they won't. You must have to help them do it. And for you to do that, we would need you to go on a quest. But for that, we would need you to get a prophecy from the Oracle."

Yes, I had the dream, and I saw his logic. But to go on a quest? I was the most unlikely for a quest. I was a powerless mortal who had arrived yesterday. And if the captor's master was able to keep the Hind from the Hunters of Artemis and Artemis herself, how was I supposed to find it? And I didn't know there even was an Oracle here.

"So, what am I supposed to do in this quest? It's not very specific. Is it about Artemis, the Hunters, or the Hind?"

Chiron's face tensed. "If Artemis isn't listening to her Hunters, she's most likely hunting for the Hind herself. She gets very furious when her sacred creatures are even disturbed. Being captured is much worse. I fear what she might do."

Jesse spoke up. "Do you think this has to do with the hellhounds?"

"Possibly. But the missions seem much too unalike. Sending monsters into Camp Half-Blood and capturing the sacred animal of Artemis in a sacred area. And the hellhounds, they're creatures of the Underworld.

"The realm of Hades," Jesse and I said at the same time.

"But what would he want from attacking here?" I asked. "He may be the god of the dead, but he isn't evil, right?"

"No, he isn't. But because of that, my brother is a suspect. But I think one thing is certain. You, Timothy, must help find the Golden Hind. And you must do it before Artemis gets to it." He sighed, like he already regretted what he'd say next. "Unfortunately, you will need a prophecy, and those never sound good."