NICO POV

It was Wednesday night. Capture the flag. I was with Athena, Apollo, Demeter, Aphrodite and Hermes. On the other team were Poseidon, Ares, Hephaestus, Demeter and the hunters of Artemis.

Just before we entered the woods, Stacey came up to me and said," You are so going to lose tonight". "I don't think so" I replied. "Wait and watch" she said in a sing-song way and went to join her team.

Then the horn blew and we entered the woods. "Nico, you go guard the flag with Sam while we go for the attack" Annabeth called out. Stacey, who was nearby, seemed to hear that and winked at me. I was nervous. Sam and I went to Zeus's fist and stood guarding. After a long time, no one came to us. I was getting suspicious. Suddenly, we heard the rustling of leaves. Sam looked at me and nodded and went towards the bush. All of a sudden, two dark figures came out of the bushes and surrounded us.

They pulled back their hoods and I saw Thalia and Stacey grinning at me. Thalia quickly pushed Sam into the bushes and stuffed a cloth in her mouth and tied her hands. "Not so roughly, Thals" Stacey scolded. "Got a soft spot for your BFF?" Thalia teased her. Stacey stuck out her tongue at her and turned towards me. "You promised that I would get to beat him if I let you overtake Sam" Stacey said to Thalia. "Sure, go on" Thalia said, grinning at me. "Sorry, Death Breath".

I could feel my mouth getting dry. There was no way I could defeat Stacey in sword fighting. She was the next best sword person in camp after Percy. She looked at me, twirling her sword in her hand. I suddenly remembered the tree next to me. I quickly ducked and began to climb the tree.

"Thalia, go!" I heard Stacey shout. Then an arrow came whizzing past my ear, almost missing me. I climbed even quickly. Arrow after arrow came behind me. I kept ducking and diving. "How did he get so good in tree climbing? He was rotten at it" I could hear Thalia cursing. I grinned to myself.

Suddenly, I lost my grip on a branch and was falling down. "Nico, look out!" I heard Stacey shout. Suddenly, an arrow came and hit my jacket, pinning me to the tree. "Nico, you fine?" I heard Thalia shout. I looked down and saw I was dangling in the air. They both were standing under me, Thalia laughing and Stacey looking concerned. "Oh, yeah! I'm hanging five feet from the air, just lost my flag to the other team, Annabeth is going to kill me but I'm doing fine! never been better" I shouted at them.

Thalia began to laugh even more and even Stacey was smiling. Then she took the flag and began waving it in the air. All the people of the other team came running in the glade, cheering and lifted both of them on their shoulders. Then they noticed me and took pictures. I was embarrassed from the top of my head to the soles of my feet. Annabeth came running and gave me such a poisonous look, I preferred staying on the tree than facing her. But to my luck, I couldn't.

---

"How could you give up your guard?" Annabeth asked me for the hundredth time that night. We all were sitting at the Poseidon table, having the victory feast. Sam and I were getting grilled by Annabeth, while the others were sitting and smirking at us.

"There is always a next time, you can win the next time" Percy said, trying to calm Annabeth. "They have not eaten anything, cut them some slack".

She finally relented and we could eat in peace. We had almost finished when Rachel came running over to us. Annabeth hugged her and introduced her to Stacey. She sat down next to her. Suddenly, her eyes turned green, and she was enveloped in green smoke. She opened her mouth to say something and doubled over. When she got up, her eyes were black and red and she was surrounded by black smoke. She started hissing like a snake.

We couldn't understand anything, but Stacey looked like she could, because she was staring at her in horror. Then it got over and Rachel fell down. Percy quickly caught her and called for the Apollo campers and they took her away. Stacey was still staring in space, saying nothing. We took her to Chiron and explained everything.

"What did the Oracle say?" he asked. "We don't know. But it wasn't the Oracle, for sure. It was something else" Annabeth told him. "I know what it said" Stacey said. I looked at her in pure shock. How could she understand what the snake said? "What did it say?" Sam asked her.

"It was a message for me. She said to come where it would lead me with the bravest child of Athena to right a wrong and face the enigma of what I had done in the past" she barely whispered. Then suddenly, even she stood up straight and her eyes turned black and she too began hissing and spitting.

It all was too scary and mystifying. Stacey then collapsed and the hissing was over. Percy and I quickly took her to the infirmary and laid her down. Percy went to get some nectar while I checked her pulse. I could feel her life force weakening. "PERCY! CHIRON! SHE'S DYING!" Everyone came running.

Thalia kept her palm on her forehead and began reciting some incantation. Percy and Sam looked close to tears. I tried to keep her from passing on. It took all of my energy and sheer concentration. After what seemed like hours, she coughed and started breathing. Chiron made me loose hold of her palm and his brown eyes were the last thing I saw before everything went black.

Notes

SORRY FOR THE LATE UPDATE.