~Athena Cabin~

Annabeth frowned at the paper

'Come on, Annabeth,' Hazel complained. 'You can't lock yourself up here. You need to get out.'

The daughter of Athena shook her head, 'I can't do that. Until we have the next clue, I'm doing whatever it takes to find out whose behind this.'

Hazel rolled her eyes, 'Do I really need to get Piper to charmspeak you out of your cabin?'

Annabeth ignored her and continued writing notes. Hazel sighed and left the cabin. Annabeth looked over her shoulder at the girl exiting her cabin and bit her lip. She was probably serious about getting Piper. Turning back to her cluttered desk, Annabeth decided to make the most of the time she still had left in cabin 6.

Five minutes later, Hazel rushed back through the door, a look of worry etched on her pale face.

'Couldn't find her?' Annabeth asked with a sideways smile, temporarily forgetting about the disappearances.

'No,' Hazel said earnestly. 'Piper's disappeared.'

~Outside the Aphrodite Cabin~

'Great,' Leo said. 'That's our charmspeaker gone.'

Annabeth shook her head, 'Let's not get ahead of ourselves. Let's run a list of everyone who's disappeared.'

'Frank was the first,' Hazel said with a sniff. 'Then Reyna, then Jason.'

'Then Connor,' Travis put in miserably.

'That leaves us with,' Thalia counted off on her fingers. 'Annabeth, Nico, Hazel, Travis, Leo, myself ... and Percy.'

'Wait,' the demigods looked around wildly. 'Where is Percy?'

'Percy!' Annabeth cried desperately. 'Percy! Oh gods. Percy, where are you? This isn't funny!'

'Oh, the stupid Kelp Head,' Thalia muttered. 'What's he done now?'

'Percy!' Annabeth began to get hysterical. 'Not again! Please, Seaweed Brain!'

'Hey, what's all the shouting for?' Percy asked, coming out of the woods. He held Riptide in one hand and a crumpled piece of paper in the other.

'I come back from a walk and-oomph!'

Percy's sentence was cut short as Annabeth tackled him in a hug. Then proceeded to judo flip him over her shoulder. Oh well, you have to keep up traditions.

'Don't ever do that to me again?' Annabeth commanded hotly.

Percy's eyes were wide, 'I promise. I'm sorry.'

Annabeth's anger seemed to melt away as she bent down and kissed him. They stayed like that for a while until Thalia called, 'Let's keep this PG, lovebirds. We have young eyes here!'

Hazel frowned, 'I am fourteen.'

Thalia waved it away, 'And I technically should be around 25 or something.'

Percy rolled his eyes and put his arm around Annabeth who leaned into his embrace, 'If we can get past that, I found the next note. It was just sitting by the creek as if someone knew I was coming.'

Annabeth shivered, 'Creepy.'

'Well, what does it say?' Leo asked.

Percy unfurled the note, 'It says, "On the fifth day of Christmas my true love gave to me, five wooden sleighs, four working craftsmen. three volar reindeer, two wrapped up presents, and mistletoe up a pine tree."'

The demigods were silent as Percy folded the paper and put it safely away in his jean pocket.

'So,' Travis said slowly, shattering the silence like glass. 'Five wooden sleighs.'

'Isn't a sleigh what Santa drives?' Hazel asked. She looked rather lost without Frank to explain everything to her.

Percy nodded, 'Yeah. But I don't see where we can find a sleigh at camp.'

'What if we focused on the wooden bit?' Thalia suggested. 'Like with the presents.'

'Okay,' Annabeth said. 'So wooden. What comes to mind?'

The demigods thought for a moment.

'The woods,' Leo said.

'The Big House,' Travis looked towards the blue building.

Annabeth bit her lip, 'Maybe.'

They stood in more silence, thinking about where they next key could be. Leo, being the over ADHD boy he is, sat down and gathered a bundle of sticks, building them into a little sleigh as if that might help them.

Percy frowned at the son of Hephaestus, 'What are you doing?'

Leo shrugged, 'Making a little wooden sleigh, man. I can't sit still, you know.'

'Oh, we know,' Hazel said earnestly, eyes wide.

Percy continued to frown at the small twig creation, watching as it took shape into something that looked familiar. Annabeth crouched next to him.

'Are you thinking what I think you're thinking?' she whispered excitedly.

Percy smirked, 'If I'm thinking what you think I'm thinking, than I think you were already thinking what I thought in the first place.'

Thalia tipped her head, 'What?'

'I hate it when they get like this,' Travis murmured to Nico. 'Don't you just hate it when they get like this.' The son of Hades nodded his agreement, a small smile on his face.

Annabeth sighed and stood up, 'What does that look like to you?'

She pointed to Leo's half made sleigh. That creator himself looked up in surprise, 'What?'

Percy rolled his eyes, 'I don't know why the rest of you can't see it. It looks like a chariot.'

Nico fake glared at the son of Poseidon, 'Well, your dad and her mom did invent the chariot together.'

Annabeth nodded appreciatively, 'True. But that's not the point. What if five wooden sleighs, really means five wooden chariots?'

Travis began to grin, 'The chariot track.'

Percy winked, 'Spot on.'

'Let's go!'

~The Chariot Track~

'Over here!' Annabeth called from inside the chariot she and Percy had built together with Tyson when they were thirteen. 'I found them.'

'All five of them,' Travis wondered.

Annabeth nodded, frowning, 'Yeah, all five. That's weird. Why weren't they scattered around?'

'Well, the reindeer weren't scattered,' Leo pointed out. 'Maybe whoever's behind all this decided to cut us some slack.'

'Hmm,' Annabeth didn't look convinced.

Percy grabbed her arms and looked deep into her grey eyes, 'What is it? I know that look, you're thinking dark thoughts.'

She laughed and the others smiled.

'I'm just think about this stupid quest,' she admitted. 'Who's behind it.'

'I suppose we'll find out in the end,' Thalia shrugged.

'We might,' Annabeth agreed. 'But if we can find out now, we might be able to end this faster.'

'So, who do you think it could be?' Hazel asked eagerly.

Annabeth sighed, 'That's just it, I don't know.'

'How about we all meet up tomorrow and try to figure it out?' Percy suggested. 'We can talk about the notes, who we think is behind it-'

'Except one of us won't be here tomorrow,' Travis pointed out.

The group fell quiet as reality settled upon them like snow. If one of them disappeared each day, that would leave no one left on Christmas day. What would happen once everyone was gone? Would the mysterious messenger start taking other campers? Where did they go? What was happening to the others already missing?

'We can't stand here worrying about that?' Nico said eventually. 'If we focus so much on things we can't know until they happen, we won't be able to enjoy what's left of our holiday.'

Thalia ruffled the boys hair, 'You're smart for a thirteen year old.'

'Fourteen,' he said disbelievingly. 'I'm fourteen.'

Thalia dismissed it with a wave of her hand. While the others chuckled.

Annabeth grabbed the little wooden sleighs from inside the chariot and tipped them inside her pouch.

'That's five down, guys,' she announced. 'We're almost there.'

'But in the mean time,' Percy said mischievously. 'Let's have a little fun!'

He brought his hand out from behind his back and poured snow down Annabeth's shirt. She squealed and danced around while the others laughed at her.

'What are you all laughing at?' Percy asked slyly. 'It's your turn!'

He poured another batch down Thalia's shirt, who returned the favour. Leo and Travis smothered snow in each others faces. Pretty soon, there was an all out snow war between the seven friends. And they were able to forget about their troubles for just that little while.

But then, I did say little while.