~The Arena~

'What are you two doing?' Annabeth asked in exasperation as she stared at the two boys.

Nico whipped the sweat from his brow and exchanged a look with Percy, 'Training. What does it look like?'

Annabeth crossed her arms, 'So you don't care about Frank, Reyna and Jason then? And whoever else has gone missing today?'

Percy turned red, looking slightly angry, 'Of course we care. But we're still demigods, and we need to train.'

Annabeth sighed, 'Sorry, Percy. We're all really stressed at the moment.'

'And we all deal with it in our own ways,' Percy agreed. 'But we can't do much if we don't know what we're supposed to be looking for, and no one's found the next note.'

'Guys!' Thalia yelled, running into the arena with the other demigods keeping pace. 'I found the next note!'

Percy facepalmed.

'What does it say, Thalia?' Annabeth asked patiently.

The daughter of Zeus read aloud, '"On the fourth day of Christmas my true love gave to me, four working craftsmen, three volar reindeer, two wrapped up presents, and mistletoe up a pine tree." Great.'

'Four working craftsmen,' Leo frowned. 'Craftsmen. The forges?'

'No,' Hazel shook her head. 'Arts and Crafts.'

'Makes sense,' Nico nodded at his sister.

'Wait,' Percy interrupted. 'Is everyone here? Who's not here?'

'Um,' Travis put his hand up, looking dejected. 'Connor was gone when I woke up.'

The demigods were silent for a moment while Travis sniffed, 'I was supposed to look after him. Mom made me promise to look after him.'

Piper put a hand on his shoulder, 'We'll get him back. Don't worry, the two of you will be back to pranking in no time.'

Thalia glanced at Annabeth, 'What was that you were saying the other day about this being a boring Christmas?'

Annabeth rolled her eyes, 'I said that that's what Clarisse said. And it looks like she was wrong anyway.'

'When is she not?' Percy laughed.

'I heard that, Prissy,' Clarisse strode into the arena with her sword out. 'What are you all up to anyway?'

Percy, Nico, Annabeth and Thalia all replied, 'training.' Hazel and Piper yelped, 'Nothing!' while Travis said, 'Prank,' and Leo simply grinned mischievously, saying, 'Wouldn't you love to know.'

Clarisse stared at them with a mixture of confusion and suspicion. Eventually, she just shrugged and waved them away.

'Whatever,' she decided. 'But unless you want to be decapitated, I suggest you leave.'

The demigods didn't protest. They left the arena with haste and started towards the Arts and Crafts station.

'What was the clue again, Thalia?' Annabeth asked.

Thalia opened the note and reread it, 'Four working craftsmen.'

Nico frowned, 'So, what is it we're looking for?'

Percy shrugged, 'Working craftsmen?'

Hazel shook her head, 'But it can't be real people. It must be something else. There has to be another meaning.'

'I got it!' Leo snapped his fingers. 'What do you guys always say I look like?'

There were different replies. Percy and Thalia said, 'trouble,' Travis said, 'a pranking buddy,' while Piper said bluntly, 'an idiot.'

Leo glared at them all, 'Uh, I was going for an elf.'

Annabeth's face lit up, 'Leo, that's brilliant.'

He smirked, 'It just comes naturally.'

As Annabeth and the other demigods rushed towards Arts and Crafts, Piper hung back to hit Leo over the head before they joined the others.

'Look around,' Thalia commanded.

'So, we're looking for an elf,' Travis clarified as he looked under a chair, disturbing a satyr sitting on it.

Annabeth sighed, 'Yes. Four, to be exact.'

'Found one!' Hazel cheered. 'But only one.'

'I've got another,' Thalia announced. 'It was inside a bust of Dionysus.'

The satyr who had been working on the bust suddenly saw the shattered remains and started cursing in Greek at Thalia who yelped and ran out of the Arts and Crafts building, the satyr on her tail.

'Hey guys,' Grover said from a corner. 'What are you up to?'

Percy bit his lip, not wanting to get his friend caught up in everything, 'We're looking for something.'

Grover frowned, 'Do you wanna be more specific?'

'It looks like this,' Hazel said, showing the satyr a small ceramic elf. 'There should be two more.'

'You mean like this,' Grover pulled one out of his pocket and Annabeth pounced on it.

'Yes,' she cried. 'How did you get it?'

Grover shrugged, 'It was sitting on the table. I just picked it up.'

'Thanks, G-man,' Percy clapped him on the shoulder. 'You saved us a lot of trouble.'

'What is it?' Grover asked.

Annabeth panicked, 'Uh, it's a, um-'

'Treasure hunt!' Hazel shouted wildly. 'We're on a treasure hunt!'

'Yes,' Annabeth grasped the cover story. 'We have to find four little elves.'

'I found this earlier,' another satyr trotted up and handed Percy the final elf.

Grover grinned, 'Thanks, Temere.'

Temere waved it away, 'Nah, it's no problem.'

'Thanks for your help, Grover,' Annabeth said. 'But we need to go now.'

'To find the other things on the list,' Hazel put in helpfully. 'For the treasure hunt.'

'Right,' Annabeth nodded, 'The treasure hunt. So, yeah, we best be going.'

The seven of them hurried out of the building to find Thalia still being chased by the satyr. Percy glanced at the others.

'Should we help?' he asked slowly.

Travis and Leo plonked on the ground and kicked back, grinning, 'I see no reason why.'

Percy chuckled as the rest of them settled down to watch the daughter of Zeus try and escape from the clutches of a very vengeful satyr.