On my way back to camp, I ran into Percy. Literally. He was running, whereas I was jogging, and he slammed into my side. I muttered a curse in ancient Greek under my breath.
"Sorry." I jumped to my feet, desperate to get back to the battle. I was about to start off in the direction of camp, when I noticed Percy's fearful look. "You alright?"
"Fine, don't worry about me." I nodded hesitantly and began to walk away. "Hey...find Annabeth for me?"
"Wait, you haven't seen her?" Percy shook his head. The fear in his eyes grew more prominent.
"You haven't either?"
"No." Percy ran straight to the camp. I heaved a sigh and took after him. I heard a twig snap in the distance. I stopped as did my heart. I drew an arrow, aiming at the space the sound came from. I barely had time to dive out of the way of the flaming arrow headed for my face. A whole volley of arrows rained on me. I looked up, seeing a flash of silver in the tops of the trees. Then rustling.
"Oh my gods, Starr!" I turned to see Brittney, dressed in a silver shirt. "We had no idea that was you! You and Luna look pretty alike from the top." Several more girls wearing the same outfit melted out of the shadows. A girl with jet black hair and a silver crown lingered in the darkness.
"You're hunting Luna?"
"Not, 'hunting'." The black haired girl glared at me as if I was dishonoring her.
"Well...I don't know if you noticed but we're kind of in the middle of something here at camp. Feel free to help or leave."
"Starr," Brittney stepped forward but I turned away. I knew I was being cold, but I just didn't have time to deal with this. Britt abandoned me in my time of need. I headed toward camp. When I looked over my shoulder the huntresses were trailing behind me, bows in hand. I couldn't help but grin as I led them into camp.
Chaos raged through camp, bodies lay still on the ground, some in orange t-shirts. I cried out, putting my hand over my mouth. A camper lay face down, but I immediately knew who it was from the singed ends of her dirty blonde hair. This caused a loud, choking sound from myself.
"Is that...." Brittney didn't need to finish her sentence. I just nodded.
"What was that? A dying donkey?" Lucy rolled over onto her back, proceeding to sit, making a sour face. I removed my hands from my face and stared at Lucy, dumbfounded.
"You're alive?" Lucy winced, placing a shaky hand over her stomach.
"I hope so." I knelt next to her.
"Move your hand."
"No."
"Lucy! Move your stupid hand!" She did, revealing a deep stab wound.
"Britt, do you have any ambrosia?" Brittney handed Lucy a square of ambrosia. "Stay here, I'll be right back." Lucy threw her hands up.
"Where am I gonna go?" I rushed to the infirmary, ignoring her comment. I grabbed a spool of gauze and a bottle of water.
When I came back to Lucy, the Huntresses were locked in battle with the rebels. I ducked under a rebel's arm from where he was trying to stab Brittney. I took out my dagger and cut his leg, which gave Brittney enough time to shoot him. Lucy's wound was barely healing, the ambrosia hadn't helped much. With shaky hands I unscrewed the cap on the water bottle and poured a small amount of it over Lucy's gash. I heard a scream for me over by Half-Blood Hill.
"Here," I handed Lucy the gauze. "Wrap this around your stomach and then eat a little bit of ambrosia." I sprinted toward Half-Blood Hill, to see Annabeth bent over someone, crying. It was Percy, laying pale and unmoving on the ground. "What happened?"
"I don't know! I found him like this."
"Is he still alive?"
"He doesn't have a pulse." I stood in silence while Annabeth sobbed. "I checked." I crouched beside her, grabbing Percy's wrist. Sure enough, there was nothing. I checked the side of his throat. Nothing. I sharply inhaled. Oh no, what have I done?
"Annabeth, I'm so sorry." Her sobs grew louder as I walked away. She needed a moment, I would know. I looked around, searching for Emily, or any child of Apollo. I spotted Emily at the edge of the wood, a rebel's hands around her throat.
I knocked an arrow and fired it at the rebel. He collapsed, leaving Emily looking shocked. She scanned the scene, then saw me. I waved her over frantically.
"Thanks."
"Don't worry about it. Can you go help Percy?" I gestured to Annabeth bent over Percy, still crying. Emily nodded, and hurried toward them.
I surveyed the battle and we were losing horribly. I fired arrows at the rebels until I felt something land on my head. I reached up and grabbed the scroll. My blood turned to ice. It was the scroll. The one with the prophecy. I reread the lines. The first one was about Piper, the second and third still unsolved.
"A child who betrays her ways." Then, it clicked. The second line meant Brittney. As a child of Aphrodite, she was supposed to be all about love, but when she joined the Hunters of Artemis, she swore off all love. Now there was only one line left and I had a feeling I knew who it was.
