New Generation: The Adventure Begins
by The Twelve Aces
Chapter 1
Greek's POV
Helen Chase (Oracle)
I stood behind Jake and covered his back, in case some other creature decided to appear and kill us. The gorgon charged at us again, lifting the battered broom over her head. Three minutes ago, she was the sweet old lady who swept the hall. Really nice, even offered to clean my room for free.
Then she went nuts.
Jake swung his broadsword at her in the hopes that it would knock her off our track. I hate to admit it, but my dagger seemed really wimpy next to that. I can't help it though; I'm not hardwired for battle like he is. He is a son of Zeus, and I'm just a mortal girl who just so happened to have True Sight. My dad's half-sister Aunt Annabeth shipped me to this boarding school when she found out. Dad and Mom died when I was three, so Aunt Annabeth is like my mom now and her husband, Uncle Percy's kinda like my dad.
Jake managed to hack the gorgon into dust while I was in the middle of my mental rant. Oh, well, good for him. I was tired of that…thing, anyway. She chased us down ten flights of stairs, then back up again because the elevator was out of order. My feet are dying. And I'm pretty sure that at some point, she was screeching to herself about how this was harder than 'chasing the water brat.'
"Nice one, Jake." I raised my hand for a high five. He slapped it lightly and let out a breath.
"I just can't wait to get back to camp." He shook his head, "I have never wanted to see a place so bad…well maybe Olympus, but still…"
"I know, right?" I totally agreed. Every week in this damn boarding school, we had been charged by monsters, consistently. We turned left and made our way to my room. Jake never let me walk to my room alone. Or even let me out of his sight. On campus, everyone either thought we were dating, or we were fraternal twins.
Once we were outside my door, I fumbled with the key and swung it wide open, revealing the mayhem that is my room. "Well? Are you coming in?"
He just looked at the room, then me, and then he raised a brow, "Aren't you supposed to be packing by now?"
"I was going to…at some point…probably."
"No excuses, go pack, young lady." He said in his 'I-am-your-FATHER' voice. I laughed.
"Yeah, yeah. When is Argus picking us up?" Argus was a big guy, a bit scary at first, but downright sweet when you look past his hundred eyes.
I went inside, and started to pick up clothes from the floor. I folded them into fourths and stacked them in one of my wide-open suitcases.
"Around noon tomorrow," He said before he scrunched up his face, "Is that pizza?"
I followed his line of sight and shrugged. "It was."
"It's green."
"So?" I raised a brow at him. His face had a weird expression before breaking into a grin.
"Are you sure you're a girl?" He teases me like this really often. We're really close though, so it doesn't bother me. I mean, we knew each other when we were five. The friendship between us is older than half of our lives.
"Oh, I am, I assure you." I joked back at him, "My Gucci handbag seems to agree." My dear dear Gucci. On some days, it's good enough to clobber a monster with. Jake says it weighs a ton, though I beg to disagree.
"Your rock-filled handbag?" Jake made another face. I may have hit him with it once…or twice…or thrice…
"No, it is filled with perfectly normal objects." I sniffed. What is that smell?That moldy pizza really has to go.
"Objects like paperweights." Jake grumbled (as if I couldn't hear him. Hmph.) before he raised his voice back to the normal level, "Hurry up, it's almost dinnertime. We better hurry if we want to get back to our rooms before curfew."
"Fine, I'll just fix this up after dinner." A glance around my room confirmed that, yes, it looks way better than before, and that I seriously need to start bringing more suitcases.
Jake, like a perfect gentleman, held the door open for me. I charged out the door and down the hall. "Race you there!"
"Hey, no fair!" I heard him shut the door and jog after me. We must have been more discreet than usual because I'm pretty sure that everyone wasn't staring at us. Or maybe they just got used to us? Either way I don't care.
Jake was catching up. Well, it's not like I'm surprised. He's a pretty fast runner. Like I said, he's lean and tall and moves like a well-oiled fighting machine, all part of the perks of being a demigod. I'm not a demigod, though. I'm way more important, in my humble opinion. I'm the Oracle.
Yeah, I get freaky visions sometimes. I don't like them, but it comes with being the one and only Oracle of Delphi. Along with, you know, total supremacy over the masses and all that. Nah, I'm just kidding. I got this really cool place at camp though. It's a cave. My cave. It used to be Rachel's, but she was killed in battle. Which is the reason, by the way, that I had to learn how to fight.
Rachel left tons of stuff, too. The cave had a frigging DDR machine. And the décor was a blend of Rococo and '70s hippy. Totally cool, and all mine. Another perk I've got is that I can use a cell phone, not like the demigods, because apparently it sends a signal to the monsters to come have them for dinner.
I pumped my legs harder and then winced at the strain. I never want to see the stairs ever again. Jake was a few inches behind me when I hooked my fingers on the cafeteria doorframe. "Ha! I win!"
"Only because you got a head start. Rematch!" Jake shot me a pout. I shook my head. Like his dad, Zeus, King of the gods, he obviously hated losing.
We grabbed our trays at the counter and moved to our usual table in the corner.
"Only a few more hours, Helen!" He grinned at me as he poked at his corn, "We'll be back at camp again."
"You just want to see Kiara again." I said around a mouthful of chicken. Totally unladylike, I know, but who cares, right?
"Shut up." He blushed. He still gets flustered, cute. I can't help laughing at him. Kiara is his girlfriend, and has been his girlfriend for two years. And of course, since she's a daughter of Aphrodite, she's model-thin, got really pretty blue eyes and totally manageable blonde hair. I feel really plain standing next to her, with my shaggy brown hair that brushed my shoulder and brown eyes. But then anyone would feel ugly next to Aphrodite's kids.
"Anyway," I cut him some slack and changed the topic, "Uncle Percy wants to know whether you're up for some partying with Chiron's folks. He's desperate."
"Nope, not after the last one." Jake shook his head. I know what he means, I was there too. The Party Ponies aren't really our cup of tea. They tried to get Jake to eat some weird smelling concoction and they totally trampled the log cabin they were staying in.
"Okay." We spent the rest of the meal talking about our friends back at camp. Unlike us, they stayed there twenty-four seven and all the days of the year, unless of course, Uncle Percy and Aunt Annabeth bring us all out for a day at the beach. (Never try to dunk Uncle Percy underwater if you don't want to end up passed out on the other end of the beach.) Sometimes we go for a day in the amusement park.
I finished eating pretty quickly, and once Jake was done, he dropped me back off in my room before he ran off to his room on the other end of the hall.
Packing up every end of the year is totally a drag. Where did I leave my orange Camp Half-Blood shirt? And my blouse…This may take longer than I thought. I'll just sort it back out at camp. Anyway, I've still got a case full of clean clothes, I've got to just make do with that and stuff the rest into my other suitcases.
If only Kiara could see me now, with all my clothes on the floor, I know she'd shriek. Two hours. That's all I gave myself before I passed out on my bed from boredom.
Jake was wrapped in a cocoon of gleaming chains knocked out cold. He was in a large cage…a prison cell maybe? And the door creaked open slowly like in those horror movies, and footsteps echoed through the cell. I could hear a man's voice speaking with a slight echo, as if from behind me.
"Yes, bring her in." The voice was deep. It sent creepy shivers down my spine. A pair of half-women-half-snake creatures dragged in a girl by the feet. She was wrapped in gold chains, like Jake, only she was conscious.
"You won't get away with this, my friends will find me!" She hissed as she looked past me. She desperately struggled with her chains.
I sensed a figure step forward from behind me. I only saw a glimpse of a large build, and ram horns, before the vision faded away slowly, but not before I caught the mysterious figure's last words.
"Soon, I shall rise again! Soon…"
I snapped awake, and, gods, my head feels like its splitting. Can someone please invent a magical aspirin to cure magic-induced headaches? Because the tapping sound must mean that regular aspirin is just not going to cut it.
Oh wait, someone's knocking on the door. I padded over to open it; there is only one person who comes knocking on my door at four in the morning.
"Jake. Bad dream?" I took in the sight of his tussled hair and wrinkled lightning bolt pajamas. I know I should be telling him about my dream, but I can't. He looks bad enough as is and I don't want to add to his problems. I'll just tell Chiron about it as soon as we get to camp.
"Yeah, but that's not it." He scratched at his head and let out a sigh, "I have a feeling something bad is going to happen."
"That makes the both of us." I twisted my chair up with the scrunchie I wore around my wrist. "Want some milk? I've got a bottle in the mini-fridge." Yes, I have a mini fridge. Did I ever tell you how Aunt Annabeth is seriously rich? I mean, she's an architect. And she's the one who remodeled Oympus. When you remodel a whole city, it makes a pretty good impression on your résumé. A lot of demigods pay lots of money for her to build them a home, and she does a pretty good job, even if she prefers building giant monuments and whatnot.
"Nah, I'll head back to my room. I just thought I'd check on you. Go back to sleep, okay? I already called Chiron and asked him to send Argus to pick us up sooner." Jake turned.
"Wait, you're going to-"
I was too late. He already fell on his face, "-trip on the rug."
"You could have told me a bit earlier." He lifted his face to glare at me.
"I tried. Sorry." I closed the door softly before I sat down at my desk. I feel inspired enough to write a few poems, and there's no use going back to bed anyway.
So I just sat like that, breezing through poems, and really just not paying attention. Every time I write, I just let the words flow from my mind and onto the paper. That's how Uncle Percy discovered I had the blessing of prophecy. At first he didn't want me to replace Rachel as the Oracle. And I wasn't thrilled, too. I had to swear off boys. Never get married. Never have children. But then, I agreed to become the Oracle because I knew, better than anyone else, that it was me and no one else who was meant for the job.
Something twisted in my gut, so I looked down and browsed through what I had written. My gut went from twisted to free-falling when I saw the last poem I wrote. It was in a different language. Greek. This couldn't be good. Six lines in ancient Greek. Oh, boy.
I stuffed it in my jacket pocket. Since I can't read it, I'm stuck. It seems to be a prophecy, but I can't be sure. And my headache's back with a vengeance. Maybe I should lie back down for a bit. It's only six a.m. after all, and Argus won't be here 'till nine.
Oh, gods, is that Jake again? Someone should really teach him how to knock and not pound hard enough to break my door down. "Wake up! Argus is here!" I heard his muffled voice through the door.
"Coming!" I stumbled out of bed and pulled on a clean, stylishly wrinkled blouse and a long, flowing, gypsy skirt. I was in for a two hour ride and I want to be comfortable for it.
I swung the door open right before I stuffed the remainder of my stationary supplies that I used earlier in a half-empty backpack. Within seconds, I managed to make my bed and fluff up the pillows. A final scan of my room and empty closet assured me that everything was packed and ready to go.
Jake grabbed a couple of large suitcases and I carried a duffel bag full of my clothes and my backpack. We dropped them off at the van before making a second trip to fetch my other bags. I know, I have a bit too many, but I had Jake to help me with them so I don't care either way. He already brought his things to the van before he came to get me, anyway. Smart move.
After the second trip, all seven pieces of my luggage were safely loaded into the back of the van. I kept my Gucci handbag close by and my dagger was hidden in my boots, in case of emergency, you know. Gods, the monotony of this ride is getting me sleepy. Hm…
"Helen!" Jake nudged me awake and I snapped into focus when I heard a large thud on the roof of the van.
"What just landed on the roof? Please tell me it's just one of the pegasi from camp," I heard another louder thud.
My hand crept to the top of my boot, and I rested my fingers on the hilt of my dagger. Jake already had his broadsword out. Luckily, the van is really spacious.
Argus' drove like mad trying to shake off whatever landed on the roof. And judging from the bulge, whatever is on the roof, should lay off the cookies. Suddenly, a large hand just tore through the metal roof as if it were made of paper and clawed the roof right off. Jake and I backed away from the hand before whoever it belonged to fell on us.
Two snake tails came in first, then a woman's head. It took me a few minutes to put the pieces together and another to read my gut instincts. "An Empousa, Jake! She's going to capture us. There's another on the roof, waiting to take us away."
Jake frowned and glanced at me before he leaned over to whisper, "Don't bring your dagger out, not even if I'm out of the game, okay?"
"Wuh?" came my smart response.
"When we get captured, if they don't see your knife, we'll have the element of surprise on our side."
I pursed my lips at the thought of staying on the sidelines in this battle but I nodded, "Alright."
A loud creak sounded behind me and the something fell through the roof.
"Helen!"
I felt something heavy whack into my neck and the world started spinning. My knees gave out under me. I'm so tired…
Chapter 1 (part two)
Roman's POV
Alyce
"Alyce!" Desiree's the only person who says my name as 'a-lees' instead of 'ah-lis' Come on! Siege starts in fifteen minutes." She nudged my gleaming bronze armor. Rolling my eyes, I playfully swatted her hand away and resumed with my paperwork.
"Hon, really, that can wait. I'll help you with it a bit later," She clucked her tongue impatiently. Hard to imagine she's a daughter of Minerva. "Come on! We have to go! You're the praetor! You can't be late."
My gaze flew to her perfectly manicured hand that rested on my shoulder.
"I don't want to go! I'm in the game today, Dennis gets to referee, I'll be playing against you, And I have to be on the same team as Alex!" Meet my brother Alexander. He's two years older than me, and he hates me. Absolutely abhors me. Desiree always tells me that it's just sibling rivalry and all that but I am absolutely positive that he would rather burn in Tartarus that even say something nice to me.
"And I promise I won't make it easy for you, but you've still got to get your butt over to the Field before it gets permanently glued to your chair." Desiree gave me a 'look.' Oh boy, if there's one thing I know about Des, it's that she's totally at home on the battlefield. She's the best strategist at camp, and very handy with her ball-and-chain flail.
"Fine fine." Draping my purple Praetor's cloak over my chair, I stood up and dusted off some imaginary lint off my clothes.
We ran to the Field of Mars. Once I spotted Alex, he met my gaze and gave me a mighty sneer. We do try to avoid each other, even though we're in the same cohort. It's not easy, let me tell you. But we have to, or my partner Dennis is going to have my head.
Both of us are children of Neptune, one of the Big Three. Actually, there are only three children of the Big Three at camp: There's Lucas, the son of Pluto. Then there are Alex and I, which is why we have to watch ourselves when we bicker. We're more powerful in comparison to the other demigods in camp. Lucas can summon the dead, talk to ghosts, and sometimes blend into darkness. Alex can cause massive earthquakes at will. And I have the ability to control water and sometimes, I can even make storms.
We almost caused a tsunami the last time Alex and I fought. We didn't even mean to, really. We were just screaming at each other and then Lucas and Desiree tackled us apart, because apparently, we were unconsciously causing the river to rise and a massive earthquake was rocking (no pun intended) the riverbed.
Unfortunately, the river collapsed back down and Desiree was hit hard by the waves. I was fine because water never hurt me. Alex raised the earth to form a shield, and Lucas did likewise only with bones. But Desiree wasn't so lucky and the pressure sent her flying straight into a tree. Luckily, she was able to maneuver herself so she hit her ribs and not her spine. Still, I felt terrible, and even Alex looked remorseful. She was out for three days and didn't even stir.
Dennis suddenly appeared beside me, bringing me out of my thoughts. "Watch yourself out there Lyss," He snickered and gave me a pat on the shoulder, "Don't kill your brother, okay?"
I really wanted to sneer back at Alex right now, because I was voted praetor and he wasn't. Not that he's terrible to everyone else―Desiree tells me he's a decent person when I'm not around. (Or maybe it's when she's in the vicinity?) It's just that he's ruthless on the battlefield and the others would rather have a leader than a warlord.
But enough of my thoughts ―the Seige has started.
Tonight, the first cohort's on the defensive, and the fifth cohort's on the offensive. We were attacking steadily, but as always, with Desiree on their other side, the fort was practically impenetrable.
About ten minutes into the game, half of my cohort was already exhausted from battling the guards at the entrance to the fort. Archers constantly rained arrows down onto us, and more than a dozen people have already been shot.
"Alyce." A hand firmly grasped my wrist. I whipped my head around to see who it was. Well, fancy that. It's my dearest brother Alexander.
"I found blind spot in the wall by the woods. If we get there before they think of guarding it, we can break through." He whispered. He pulled me towards the forest.
That sounded strangely suspicious, "And you didn't break it down on your own because?"
He shrugged, "In case they actually are guarding that spot from the inside, they won't be attacking me if I'm with their almighty praetor." Then he gave me another sneer before he let go of my wrist.
I mulled it over in my head. This may be our only chance at breaking through the fort, so I followed him. He was taller than me, so I had to jog twice as fast to keep up with him.
I lost sight of him when we were already deep in the forest. I kept moving forward, because at some point, I'll probably reach the end of the forest, right?
Everything was absolutely peachy. Really. Here I was, lost in the forest when my cohort was probably losing the Seige.
Then, someone started screaming.
Before I knew it, my feet were running in the direction of the scream.
There! I reached the end of a clearing and pressed myself up behind a tree. I craned my neck around to see and felt my gut plummet a hundred feet.
Alex was surrounded by a dozen half-human-half-snake creatures. Have I mentioned the fact that I'm deathly afraid of snakes?
I scrambled to get away and froze.
The crack of the dried branch I stepped on seemed to resonate throughout the forest, and the creatures' heads all whipped towards me.
"Oh gods," I had to get away from here. Right away. My feet took off on their own accord and I streaked through the trees but the snake-women…they were faster.
Please save me please save me please save me… The plea echoed through my head as I suppressed the urge to scream. I held my breath and scampered up a tree. I felt tears of relief stream out of my eyes when they passed my tree. But then I felt a hand shove me and I fell off.
I whipped my head around and found Alex sitting in the tree with a sinister grin on his face. The snake-women charged at me.
I drew my sword and swung blindly around me. I was outright bawling in fear now as the snake-women kept closing in on me.
"Alex! Save me! Please! Help!" I raised my head and screamed. But he just sat in the tree and stared at me with morbid fascination then flashed a Cheshire cat grin.
"To think that my almighty and powerful sister Alyce would be begging for my help one day," His voice echoed, "The standards for praetor must really have dropped."
One of the snake-women took advantage of the moment and crept up behind me. I didn't notice her until it was too late. One of her tails wrapped around my ankle and yanked hard. I lost my balance and when I regained my senses I was hanging upside down by my ankle. I clenched my empty fist and saw my sword lying on the grassy floor.
A thump in front of me told me that someone just jumped down from a tree.
"Tie her up." Alex commanded. I forgot my fear and instead felt fury boil up under my skin.
Two of the snake-women dragged a gleaming chain towards me. I tried to break free but the grip on my ankle was too strong. There was a sudden jab on my arm and I saw a syringe filled with a clear liquid pierce through my skin. My body was suddenly numb, and the snake-woman dropped me. With all the strength I could muster, I turned my head and fixed my glare on Alex.
"You." I focused all my hate and loathing and spit the word out like it was poison.
"Yes, me." He dusted off his shirt, "Who else were you expecting to turn against you, hmm? Certainly not your dear brother Alexander."
"Why?" One of the snakes bound my hands with the golden chains.
"My master requires a child of the sea, but I don't hold any power over water so I'm out of the question, and that leaves you." I heard a hint of jealousy in his tone.
"Without you I would be the most powerful demigod in camp. Without you, they'll turn to me for protection, you'll see... Or maybe you won't. Either way, it doesn't matter, as long as I get what I want."
"Lucas and Desiree, they'll find out about this! You won't get away with this! They pull a lot of weight in the Senate."
"Hmph," Alex scoffed, "So do I, little sister. Anyway, the only one who would prove a challenge to me would be Lucas, after all."
He raised his head and addressed the snake-creatures. "Take her to the master; I'll stay clean up the mess."
He fixed his direction back on me, "Master would be so pleased to finally meet you, little sister…"
I felt whatever they injected me with earlier work its way through my system as everything dimmed and faded into blackness.
Well my master requires a child of the sea," he said, "and we both know who's more powerful between the two of us. And since I don't hold any power of the sea, that's where you come in." His voice had a hint of jealousy and when I met his eyes, they held anger and resentment.
"Without you, I would be the most powerful demigod in camp." he said, "Why is it that my little sister with less years of training would have more power than me?"
"Lucas and Desiree, they'll find out about this! I swear they are going to catch you! You won't get away with this!"
I was about to attack my brother while the Empousai was pulling on the chains. They ignored my thrashing and Alex ordered the Empousai, "Take her back to the lair. I'll cover up what has happened here," then he directed his attention back to me.
"My master would be happy to finally meet you, little sister" he said, grinning evilly. He just stood there with me cursing at him in Latin and the Empousai dragging me toward a wall of darkness. I glared at him with anger and disbelief that the one that betrayed me was my own brother…
End Chapter 1
Thank you for reading, and we are The Twelve Aces. Obviously, there are twelve of us. Some of our members have their own stories. Desiree makes Naruto, Alyce makes Harry Potter, and James makes Pokemon you could check it out their pen names are in our profile. :D
Once again, THANKS FOR READING and PLEASE REVIEW.