~Poseidon Cabin~

'Wake up, lazy bones!'

Percy groaned and complained into his pillow, 'But I'm comfortable!'

Annabeth rolled her eyes, 'Come on, Seaweed Brain. Piper called an emergency meeting at the Big House.'

When Percy showed no signs of stirring, Annabeth grabbed a cup filled with ice cold water from his cluttered bedside table. She stood back and tossed the water all over Percy.

Caught off guard by the sudden splash, the freezing water drenched the son of Poseidon to the bone. He sat bolt upright in his bunk, shivering and blinking water out of his eyes.

'Was that necessary?' he coughed.

'No,' Annabeth admitted. 'But it was fun.'

Percy shuddered and yawned. With water still in his eyes, he reached out to the bedside table for support, missed and fell out of bed, tangled in sheets. He grunted in pain and sat up, blinking sleepily at a smirking Annabeth.

'Congratulations! You not-so-successfully got out of bed,' Annabeth said cheerily.

'What do I win?' he mumbled. 'A kiss from my girlfriend?'

Annabeth sighed, grabbed a Camp Half-Blood t-shirt that was hanging off a nearby lamp and tossed it to Percy.

'Get dressed and turn up to the meeting, Seaweed Brain. Then we'll see.'

Percy shrugged and pulled the shirt over his head as Annabeth head out the door.

~Rec Room~

'So what's the big emergency?' Percy yawned. 'I was in the middle of something very important.'

Annabeth had an excellent poker face, 'You were sound asleep.'

Percy sunk down in his seat, 'Beauty rest.'

Piper chuckled, 'What beauty?'

Percy tried to respond but the words seemed to catch in his throat. His mouth opened and closed without a single sound.

'You look like a fish,' Thalia remarked slyly. 'Oh, the irony.'

Percy settled for crossing his arms and sulking, muttering some choice words in ancient Greek.

Reyna shook her head, 'So, what's the big emergency? And why did you call us?'

Piper bit her lip, 'Because you were all there yesterday when we found that note.'

'Note?' Annabeth questioned. 'You mean the one inside the bottom of the star?'

Piper nodded, 'The twelve of us were all there when we found it, so I thought one of you might know something about this.'

'About what?' Jason asked nervously.

'This,' Piper brought a piece of paper out of her pocket and lay it flat in the middle of the table.

It was made of the same parchment as the note Annabeth found the day before. It was old, yellow and had several holes dotted here and there. Two single lines were written on paper.

Travis and Connor exchanged a look.

'What does it say?' Travis asked. 'Some of us have worse dyslexia than others.'

Piper didn't bother arguing. She just pulled the paper towards her and took a deep breath, like she was gathering her courage.

'"On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me, mistletoe up a pine tree."' She folded the piece of paper up again. 'See why I called the meeting?'

'Oh, yeah,' Connor nodded encouragingly. Then he froze and shook his head, 'No, absolutely no idea.'

Piper facepalmed and sighed, 'It's related to the first note. I found this sitting on my chest when I woke up. I can't remember anyone sneaking in last night.'

'But why is it such a big deal?' Nico asked. 'I mean, it's just a note. One of the Hermes kids probably got bored.'

Piper shook her head anxiously, 'I don't know. It feels like more than that.'

The door to the rec room suddenly burst open revealing a very flustered Hazel. Her face was red and etched with anguish.

'Gone!' she wailed. 'Gone! Gone!'

'Whoa, whoa, whoa,' Reyna stood up and placed her hands on the daughter of Pluto's shoulders. 'What's wrong? Who's gone?'

'Frank,' she cried hysterically. 'He's gone! Frank's gone!'

The silence that followed her outburst was almost unbearable. Not a sound could be heard apart from Hazel's crying and Reyna's attempts to soothe her.

The demigods exchanged looks.

'Start from the beginning,' Annabeth said calmly. 'What happened when you first found out he was missing?'

Hazel sniffed, 'Frank and I usually go down to breakfast early. But when I got to the Mess Hall, he wasn't there. So I went back to the Roman cabin and knocked on Frank's dorm. Dakota answered and said that he hadn't seen Frank since last night. I searched the whole camp, but I can't find him anywhere!'

She broke off on another string of sobs. The others sat silently, thinking. Percy's eyes suddenly lit up and he grabbed Annabeth's arm.

'What did you do with that note we found yesterday?' he asked quickly.

Annabeth blinked, 'You mean that one in the star? I've got it here.'

She removed the little piece of paper from her pocket and handed it to him. The son of Poseidon studied the writing carefully, trying his hardest to fight through the dyslexia.

'"On this one holiday which you might, be alone by Christmas night. To reclaim the lost you must take heed, follow what was written to find the key." It says to reclaim the lost; they must mean Frank!'

Hazel took a deep calming breath, 'I don't get it. Frank got lost?'

'No, don't you see,' Percy held the paper up for all of them to see. 'Frank isn't lost. He's been kidnapped. Be alone by Christmas night; I think it means we're all going to disappear until there's only one of us left.'

'Percy,' Annabeth grinned. 'That's genius!'

He put his arm around her, 'I try.'

'But how do we get him back?' Jason asked.

'Hang on,' Thalia put in. 'What was the last line? Didn't it say, "follow what was written to find the key?" The second note! Maybe it leads us to a key!'

Piper read the note aloud again, '"On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me, mistletoe up a pine tree."'

Leo shook his head, 'Does that make sense to anyone?'

'Yes,' Percy nodded enthusiastically. 'Pine tree! It's-'

'My tree!' Thalia cried. 'My pine tree!'

'Well then what are we waiting for!' Hazel shouted. 'Let's go! We have to find Frank!'

In a flurry of purple and orange shirts, the demigods got up from their seats and raced out of the Big House to Half-Blood Hill. Peleus raised his head and snorted as they approached, smoke curling away in thin wisps.

'Hey Peleus,' Annabeth said, stroking his snout. 'You mind helping us?'

Peleus snorted again and Annabeth took a step back.

'I'll take that as a yes,' she muttered.

'Guys,' Connor said, nudging his brother and pointing. 'Look.'

They all followed his finger to the tip of the tree where something red stood out amongst the cluster of green and brown.

'Peleus, could you help me get up to the top?' Annabeth asked.

Peleus bobbed his head and lowered himself to the ground, inviting Annabeth to climb. Percy grabbed her arm, looking worried.

'Be careful,' he said.

She squeezed his hand, 'I'll be fine. If I fall, you'll catch me.'

Annabeth let go of his hand and climbed on Peleus' back. The dragon got up and stretched, arching his back. He spread his wings and lifted his head, hoisting Annabeth higher and higher until she was level with the red object. She reached her hand out.

'Almost there,' she groaned. 'Come on, Peleus.'

She coaxed the dragon closer to the tree and stretched out as far as she could. Her hand closed around the red object and the demigods at the base of the tree cheered.

'Got it!" Annabeth yelled as Peleus returned her to the ground. 'It's mistletoe!'

'Just like the riddle said,' Reyna noted. 'Mistletoe up a pine tree.'

Annabeth examined the green leaves tied up with a red ribbon, 'How is this a key?'

Nico stood next to her and touched the mistletoe, 'Maybe it's part of a puzzle?' The clue was part of a song; the 12 days of Christmas. Maybe there are twelve objects to find.'

'But how do we find the rest?' Travis asked.

'I guess we'll have to wait for another note,' Piper mused. 'And until then, we wait.'

Annabeth bit her lip, 'But how long do we have to wait before the rest of us disappear?'

The demigods exchanged worried looks as the conch horn sounded for breakfast.