Demigod Offspring Chapter 1

CASSANDRA

The dreams were back. The monsters haunted me night after night. I ran into my parent's room and nearly tripped over my dad's sword, leaning up against the wall.

"Stupid sword." I muttered. As I snuggled in beside my sleeping parents, I felt safe and protected.

"You're getting too old for this, Cassandra." My mom groggily said.

"I had a bad dream again." I said, feeling childish. She simply nodded and wrapped her arms around me. The next morning I heard my parents arguing in the kitchen.

"She's too young, Percy!"

"I know, but what about Rachel? Even our offerings to Apollo haven't yielded any news. Annabeth, she's having the dreams. You know we try to change fate." I heard my mother start to cry and felt my anger bubbling up inside my chest. I hate it when they argue about me. For the past few years, they'd talked about prophecies and visions and weird stuff like that behind my back. I stormed into the room and demanded they tell me what was going on. My mom wiped her eyes and looked to my dad.

"She's sixteen, Annabeth. She deserves to know." He said, his hands spread wide. Mom sighed as she sat down, motioning for me to sit beside her. Her expression was grim, and suddenly I wasn't so glad I'd asked. I sat close to her feet, just like I used to do when she would tell me Roman and Greek myths and stories about her and dad's adventures before they were married. But I had a sneaking suspicion this story would be… different.

Do you remember the stories about the oracle of Delphi?" she began.

"Yeah," I said.

"What does that have to do with me?" Mom didn't answer, but continued the story.

"When the gods needed to send a message to mortals, a prophecy was received by Apollo's oracle, whose temple was located in Delphi. Once the oracle died, another girl replaced her, and so on. Today, the oracle's name is Rachel Elizabeth Dare. Your father and I knew her when we went to Camp Half-Blood." That name brought a smile to my face. Demigods and children of demigods, like me, go to Camp Half-Blood to train during the summer from the time they were eight until they were ready to go to college. Then they went to Camp Jupiter to attend school and start a family. Because I was thirteen, I still went to Camp Half-Blood, but I was home for break. We lived in New Rome at Camp Jupiter, and I loved it. But it wasn't always that way. When my parents were my age, Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter didn't even know the other existed. When they finally collided, there was a civil war, but they eventually came to terms with their differences. Now demigods could travel between camps without difficulty; in fact, it was what most kids did. My mom continued her story.

"There was only one oracle per generation. The oracle normally resides at Camp Half-Blood, but right now, Rachel lives at Mount Olympus because she has been very sick lately. The sickness started about 5 years ago, but it's a disease no one has ever seen before." So that's why I had never seen her at camp. "Even Apollo himself can't cure her, and we fear she may not live much longer. The gods have all been searching for a cure for some time now, but with no luck. Your father and I have a theory, though. At the last Council we had with the gods, Athena pulled me aside and reminded me of something from the old stories. As Odysseus, one of her favorite heroes, was on his way home, his crew was lured into Circe's house. Circe was a sorceress, luring men into her halls and then turning them into the swine they were, quite literally. When the sole survivor of Odysseus' men ran back to tell him the bad news, he set out at once to rescue them. On the way he was stopped by Hermes, bearing a special herb that could cure any disease. It was called moly, and could only be harvested by the truly good of heart. It protected Odysseus, and he escaped with his men, without being turned into a pig. We think this plant might still exist, although it would be very hard to find." Her story intrigued me, like all Greek mythology did.

"But what does this have to do with me?" I asked, getting impatient. Mom sighed – again. My dad took up the story as he sat next to us, wrapping his arms protectively around his family.

"The last prophecy Rachel gave before she got sick was very disturbing to the demigod community."

"What was it?" I asked. Dad answered, with a pained look on his face,

"Plague shall strike, indebted need,

One shall search for the salvation cure,

Child of sea and craft, allies shall graft.

Offspring of half-bloods family feuds cause floods.

In the world without pain, the cursed herb she shall reap

Never her soul, her dignity keep."

No one said a word for a couple minutes. I finally asked,

"Child of sea and craft? Wouldn't that be a child of Poseidon and Athena?" I let out a little laugh. "Given their history, that could never happen!" Poseidon and Athena have fought for forever, always arguing about one thing or another because of a fight they had during ancient times. They were both competing for the patronage of Athens, and each gave a gift to the citizens to try to win their favor. Poseidon made a well spring up to provide water for the people, but it was all water from the ocean so no one could drink it. Athena made a tree grow to protect the borders of the city. Athena won the patronage, and since then the two immortals have carried a grudge.

"No, honey, there wouldn't be a child of Athena and Poseidon." My mom said.

"Use those brains you inherited from your mom, Cass." My dad said with a smile. As I thought harder about it, the truth dawned on me. Me, I thought. The only girl with both Poseidon and Athena's blood running through her veins.

"No! It can't be!" I shouted. "Please tell me I'm wrong," I pleaded. My parents just shook their heads with sad looks on their faces. I started to pace. "I'm just a normal girl!" Well, as normal as you could be with Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase as your parents. "I go to summer camp like the other kids, I fight, I have friends, I…" My voice trailed off as I heard the sound of the alarm bell that signaled the Pomeranian Line had been breached blare through New Rome. My father immediately grabbed his sword. He kissed my mother and I.

"I'll be back soon, I promise." He said as he tousled my long, blonde hair and sprinted out the door.

"Mom, how could something have gotten past Terminus?" I asked, worried.

"Dad will be fine." she said, but she didn't sound so certain.

"Mom." I insisted. She sat down and started massaging her head.

"Ever since Rachel got sick, the gods have been so busy trying to find a cure they haven't been on top of keeping the monsters away." The Pax Pact was made between the gods and their children after the civil war between the Greek and Roman camps. The gods agreed to help keep monsters away from New Rome so demigods could raise families in return for soldiers' service in the Divine Army. Armed with Celestial Bronze and Imperial Gold, our legions were almost undefeatable.

"Stupid Terminus." I cursed under my breath.

"Hon," my mom said. "You know Terminus is getting old, he's not the… statue… he used to be."

"Mom, he's protected the Pomeranian Line for thousands of years, I think he can take a couple monsters!" I objected. She gave me one of those 'just drop it' looks. "Well, I just hope Dad's okay." I said, changing the subject.

"Oh, I think he can take care of himself." she said with a smile, probably remembering her past adventures with her husband. My mom and I tried not to worry about dad or think about the prophecy. That night, I had my worst nightmare yet. That was one thing I didn't like that I inherited from my parents. I should ask Uncle Leo to invent some anti-dream pajamas or something. Surprisingly, all I could remember was this really creepy voice that kept repeating, "You'll never succeed, the seer will die!" over and over again. And yet the voice seemed girly, like a boy who hadn't been through puberty yet. Dad was snoring on the couch when I walked into the family room the next morning. The battle must have gone okay.