Let the Hunt Begin – Part 1
"Run faster!" Harry shouted as he could hear someone running behind them at incredible speed; slowly catching up, like a beast about to capture its prey.
"Try running while a stupid owl thinks your fingers are gummy worms," Percy complained in pain, holding Bitey in his arms as she kept furiously biting his hand. "Ouch! Can you stop that?" Percy yelled, but the owl seemed to glance at him for a moment… and then started biting even harder.
"There," Harry pointed toward what looked like a dry tree trunk, covered in broken branches and fallen leaves.
"Harry, I don't want to say it's a bad idea, but any of them will find us instantly," Percy said immediately.
"At least try before sounding like an idiot," Harry shot back quickly. And right away, even while running, the two of them started swatting at each other.
"Enough!" Annabeth snapped as she took the lead and ran toward the fallen trunk. She still had no idea what they were running from, but those two idiots starting a fight was definitely not helping.
Just in case, she pulled out her Yankees cap and put it on immediately, vanishing.
Harry reached the trunk right behind her and pulled out his invisibility cloak. Percy and Grover quickly slipped underneath it with him.
For a moment, the only thing that could be heard were four slightly uneven breaths… until the sound of footsteps rushed toward them.
It was like a flash.
Something moving at almost Olympic speed shot past them, like a human velociraptor. All four of them held their breath as they watched someone run right through the path they had taken only seconds before.
And when she passed them, they couldn't help letting out a small sigh.
But before they could relax, the person stopped almost instantly. Her gaze shifted at once toward the place where they were hiding.
Now Annabeth could clearly see who they were running from.
It was a woman.
And a very beautiful one.
Blonde hair. Light eyes. Her clothes looked like an elegant athletic outfit, but for a brief moment Annabeth thought she saw a glimpse of the truth behind the Mist: what she was actually wearing was light armor. A long bow rested on her back, and a quiver full of arrows hung at her waist.
A sharp gaze pointed in their direction almost immediately.
As if it had followed Annabeth's eyes.
When the woman's gaze passed over her, Annabeth couldn't help feeling a flicker of nervousness. It was the same feeling you got when standing in front of someone trained to such a level that their mere presence made people uneasy.
Like when she stood in front of some of the veteran demigods who occasionally came to the camp to teach.
Annabeth quickly looked away. She felt like the longer she stared, the more likely it was that the woman would discover her position.
Meanwhile, on Percy's side, Harry and Grover had their hands clamped over Percy's mouth, because he kept trying to yell as Bitey continued biting him, shaking her head violently while attacking his hand.
They, on the other hand, recognized immediately who it was.
"It's Professor Gema," Harry whispered as he watched her slowly approach their hiding spot. She studied the ground for tracks, crouching slightly to touch the mud before looking up again in their direction.
That was enough to make Percy and Harry instantly nervous.
Both of them quickly looked away, staring in completely different directions while silently praying she wouldn't come any closer.
Unfortunately for them, it seemed their prayers had been sent to the wrong gods, because Gema's footsteps approached quietly… until she stopped right beside the fallen trunk, staring directly at the spot where they should have been crouching beneath the invisibility cloak.
"Don't find us… don't find us," Harry muttered under his breath. If Gema caught them, she would send them home immediately. Normally that might not have sounded so terrible… but they had a mission to complete.
They had to save Dred from his curse.
Gema's hand slowly lifted and moved toward them.
So close that Harry could see the faint scars on her fingers.
One more inch… and she would touch the cloak.
Even without looking directly at her, Harry and Percy could feel her hand approaching the invisibility cloak.
Suddenly, Harry's shadow trembled slightly.
And something slipped out of it.
Just as Gema was about to touch the cloak, the sound of someone running echoed through the forest, racing away at full speed.
Gema instantly looked over her shoulder toward the noise, her brow slightly furrowed. Her eyes seemed to try to pierce through the trees, barely catching sight of a shadow disappearing into the distance.
She looked back at her hand.
Closed her fingers in the air.
But she touched nothing.
Then she turned and began running toward the fleeing figure.
A few seconds later, once they were sure she wasn't coming back, Harry and the others slipped out from under the cloak, letting out long breaths of relief.
"Who was that?" Annabeth asked immediately.
"Our literature and math teacher," Percy said while quickly handing Bitey over to Grover.
The satyr was already holding Gladiolus in his arms. Now the owl stared directly into Grover's eyes, while the small dog in his arms leaned slightly away from her as if preparing to attack at any moment.
Percy looked down at his red fingers.
"If I survive this," he muttered, "I'm officially declaring war on owls."
"What?" Annabeth asked, staring at them in confusion.
"That's her side job, making sure we stay out of trouble," Harry interrupted. "She actually works with Mom. And… well… we can't say much because it's supposed to be secret. But technically she works for the government. You can think of her as some kind of special police officer."
"What does your mom do?" Annabeth couldn't help asking.
"She's a mage. She creates magical objects for them," Harry said calmly. That part wasn't exactly a secret.
"Oh, and she's also a writer," Percy added.
"And there's Aunt Mor too. She's a witch who seems to know about our world," Grover said. "Your family is kind of weird, Percy."
"Yeah," Percy replied calmly. "You'll have to be more specific about which side."
"It's better if we keep moving," Harry said with a serious expression. "I don't know what distracted her, but Professor Gema has extremely good eyesight. If she comes back, she'll catch us right away."
"What do we do with the bird from hell?" Percy asked, pointing at Bitey, who was now staring at Gladiolus with narrowed eyes while the poor dog kept his snout tightly shut, trying not to look at her; as if doing that would somehow make the owl stop seeing him.
"Well, if we send her back to Sirius, he'll probably just send her right after us again. And I still don't know the spell to hide from messenger birds," Harry said after thinking for a moment.
"Well… sometimes birds are aggressive because they don't have a partner, so I might have a plan," Grover said while carefully observing the owl.
Fortunately, even though she seemed a little evil, she had already taken most of her fury out on Percy during the trip.
…
After finally escaping the forest and reaching a nearby town, they went straight to Gladiolus's house.
It turned out to be a massive mansion.
There, a woman covered in expensive clothes and makeup that seemed excessive; so much that it almost hid her face completely; gave them some money as a reward for returning the animal.
So now they had enough to pay for a train ticket and continue their journey.
"Is all this really necessary?" Annabeth asked the air while walking alone along the sidewalk, staring at what looked like empty space.
"We don't know when the others who came to the United States might show up, so this is the best way," Harry's voice replied from the empty space beside her.
"Ouch! Percy, you stepped on me," Grover's voice complained.
"Sorry. It's a little hard walking all squeezed together," Percy answered.
"Oh no…" the three voices said almost at the same time.
Annabeth turned toward them, even though they were still invisible.
"What is it?" she asked.
But none of them answered.
"Chi—" she started to say, but before she could finish, a voice spoke right in front of her.
"Excuse me."
Annabeth jumped slightly in surprise. She hadn't seen anyone nearby before, and now a man was standing there as if he had appeared out of nowhere.
Her eyes widened a little as she instinctively moved a hand toward the dagger hidden in her sleeve before looking at the man's face.
He was handsome. Very handsome, actually. Blond hair, light brown eyes, and a very friendly smile.
Although something about that smile didn't quite reach his eyes.
It looked… fake.
He wore an elegant suit with a black tie, black vest, and a white shirt underneath. His coat rested over his shoulders, and for a moment Annabeth thought she saw what looked like two swords hanging at his waist.
But the man casually adjusted his coat, covering them.
"I'm looking for two kids who ran away. Their mother is a little worried," the man said with that unmoving smile before pausing and studying Annabeth more carefully.
A heavy pressure seemed to fall over her.
His eyes watched Annabeth the same way a wolf watches a rabbit.
Especially when his gaze briefly slid toward Annabeth's sleeve; right where her dagger was hidden; before returning to look directly into her eyes.
"Uh… I…" Annabeth suddenly felt a flicker of nervousness under that stare, like she was standing in front of a predator waiting to see if the little rabbit would try to run. "I haven't seen them, sir. And sorry, but I'm kind of in a hurry. My… parents are waiting for me," she said quickly.
"Oh, my apologies," the man said immediately, placing a hand lightly over his chest and nodding politely. "If you didn't see them, there's not much that can be done," he added before continuing on his way after the greeting.
Annabeth watched that gesture for a moment.
Then she remembered the greeting Percy had made in front of Medusa.
And suddenly she understood.
That man was one of the people Harry and Percy had mentioned.
So she quickened her pace, trying not to look suspicious or draw attention.
But unfortunately for her, the moment the man made that greeting and noticed the slightest shift in her expression… he already had her.
Dorien calmly pulled out his phone as he turned around to watch Annabeth's back.
A moment later she seemed to hear something near her and suddenly started running.
At the same time, other footsteps could be heard beside her.
But no one could be seen.
"I found them. They've got a companion. And judging by the footsteps, the goat boy might be there too," Dorien said with a faintly amused smile as he watched the girl disappear around a corner. "Should I grab them?" he asked.
"You should've grabbed them when they were right in front of you," Adrien's voice replied from the other end of the call. "Just catch them and let Sally know they're safe."
"Don't you want to see what they're trying to do?" Dorien asked.
Meanwhile, Adrien stood inside a warehouse filled with stone statues, looking around with a serious expression before answering.
"No. It's too dangerous. It's better to send them back to their mother," he said before ending the call.
He then walked toward a desk where several notebooks recorded shipments sent all around the world.
"We exist to protect people. From dangerous magical objects, from magical creatures that can't control themselves… and even from dark wizards," he murmured while looking at the statues.
"But this… seems to have slipped past us."
He studied the stone figures more carefully, as if realizing that the world hidden even deeper than the magical world… might be just as dangerous.
…
Meanwhile, at Camp Half-Blood, Chiron looked with confusion at an owl that landed nearby with a letter tied to its leg.
He took the letter and read it calmly.
"Chiron, please take care of the owl. It could give us away. Don't let her return home for now. Thanks. —Harry."
Chiron looked at the owl for a moment.
He didn't seem particularly bothered about having another owl in the camp and simply left it with the others.
He reached out to gently pet it while reading the postscript.
"P.S. The owl bites."
The line sat right there at the bottom.
Exactly at the moment the owl bit Chiron's finger.