Hey everyone!
Before you read this, please note that this takes place 150 years AFTER Kronos was defeated in New York. So all the demi-gods and mortals in the Percy Jackson series ARE DEAD! All of my characters (except for the gods, Grover, Rachel-Oracle and Chiron, they're all still around) are OCs. This story's purpose is to delve into my personal interpertation of Rachel Dare's prophecy at the end of the last book. So read with this in mind.
ALL IDEAS ON THE PROPHECY I HAVE THOUGHT UP MYSELF, AND THEY ARE MINE! PLEASE DON'T USE THESE IDEAS OR ANY CHARACTERS OF MINE WITHOUT PERMISSION! I HAVENT READ ANY STORIES INVOLVING THE NEW PROPHECY, SO IF ANYTHING IS THE SAME OR SIMILAR TO ANY OTHER STORY IT IS MERELY COINCIDENCE! :D
Thanks, and please, please review!
Chapter 1
I let a deep sigh escape me as my mom fussed with my rumpled black tank-top, pulling it up so that the straps of my bra weren't showing, and frowning sternly at me when I tried to step away from her. We were standing in the entrance hallway of our small house, and a short honk told me that the taxi was waiting outside for me. My mom touched my hair, and combed through it a few times.
"Honey, your hair…"
"Ugh, Mom, c'mon!" I groaned, and her hands stoked through my long pale blonde hair once more before she finally let up, and her cheerful blue eyes shone as she smiled at me. Her hair was the same shade of blonde that mine was – the difference was that hers was wavy, and mine was as straight as a board…inherited from my dad, I suppose – only a little more weathered, a little less lustrous now that she was getting older.
My mom, Sarah Reynolds, was single still, even after having me – don't even get me started on the whole dad issue…I'm so not in the mood – and she made up for the summer that I would be gone by doing this every time I left for camp. She fussed over me all morning, making me my favorite breakfast (bagels with cream cheese, and fresh cinnamon rolls) and made a deal about my hair and my clothes, fidgeting and kissing my forehead over and over again as she brushed my hair with my special brush. The brush was the prettiest thing I owned, and it was made of pure silver and sparkling crystal. It was the only thing I had to remind me of my dad…he had given it to my mom for me when I was born, and it had my name written in neat cursive on the handle.
Her eyes searched mine as I hefted my backpack onto my shoulder, and lifted my duffel-bag with all my stuff for the summer onto my other shoulder.
"Layna…you know, you could always stay with me if you want. You don't have to go to camp."
I laughed, and hugged her as tightly as I could with the bulky items on my shoulders. I breathed in the sweet smell of her perfume for one last time, smiling. You see, I had a very special relationship with my mom, and I could see why my dad had fallen in love with her.
Most people don't really like my dad because of his…dark personality that matches his pitiless job, but my mom was different in that respect. My dad told me when I was younger that there had only been two mortals who had caught his interest, and that was because both of them were unable to hold grudges. Their personalities were so pure that they could not hold any anger against someone for something that happened in the past. This was kind of funny, because the fatal flaw of my dad and all of his children – well, his only child right now is me, so I can't really throw around that all of his children phrase – is their tendency to hold grudges.
It was great, because I was a hard child to handle most of the time; the constant monster attacks, the dyslexia, the ADHD, and I still cringe when I remember the time that I nearly burned the house down when discovering my powers…
My mom was still looking at me expectantly, and I smiled as she brushed my hair behind my ear affectionately, the way that only mothers can.
"Mom, I want to go. Camp is cool. I wish you could visit me, but…"
My mom smiled sadly at me, and kissed my forehead. "Alright, honey…as long as you're sure." She linked an arm with mine, and we headed out the door onto the porch. My mom let my arm go after one long hug, and I waved as I lightly ran down the stone walkway, swinging around the white gatepost as I exited the creaky gate, and shut it behind me. I was about to open the door, but something made me look back.
I looked back at the small cozy house, lit by the early light of dawn, with the roses growing up the sides of the window, the stone paving the walkway up towards the porch stairs. My eyes glanced over the green grass that waved in the breeze, and the graceful willow tree. I remember glimpses of my dad visiting when I was younger; I remember faint glimpses of his proud and timeless face as he watched me bat the low swinging leaves of the willow tree in excitement, his proud smile as he watched me hack at a small dummy using a plastic sword my mom got me for my fifth birthday. I always got like this before I left for camp…I felt like I had to commit this scene to memory, in case something happened to change it all.
But I was so silly to imagine that anything would happen. Nothing had happened in the entire time I had been at camp, and I had started going there when I was eight. I was sixteen now, and if Chiron was indeed telling the truth, nothing had happened in the past century and a half. Sure, there were monsters – when weren't the ugly buggers trying to screw up our lives? – but everyone managed to get to camp okay, with only one death every five years or so. Why would I have any reason to believe that anything would change?
I waved one last time at my mom, who waved back with a big smile on her face, and hopped into the backseat of the taxi. I sighed as the car drove away, and it took everything I had to not turn around and stare as my house disappeared from sight as we turned the corner. I saw a glimpse of the driver, and immediately relaxed.
Argus had come to pick me up – most kids came back to camp right when school ended in June, while I waited a week to spend some time with my mom – and I smiled at him weakly as one of the many blue eyes on his neck peeked at me in between the head rest and the seat.
I sighed, rolling up the window to block out the blinding sunrise that pierced through the clouds. Apollo must be feeling happier today or something. And by happier, I mean happier than usual, because I swear that god is always happy. I don't think I've seen him angry…well, except for when the Ares cabin threw mud all over the Apollo cabin last year.
Apollo was so angry about his kids' golden cabin being sullied that he made it so that the Ares kids had one terrible (and I mean terrible as in cringe-inducing and awful to the point of violence) stuck in their head for an entire week, and they had it stuck in their heads that they were constantly humming and singing it aloud. Now, you're probably wondering, What's so bad about having a song stuck in your head?
Trust me; it was the most terrible week of camp, for all of us. Not only were the Ares kids unable to concentrate on bullying and breaking things, but the constant humming and singing coming from these kids that couldn't sing for crap – they're the sons and daughters of the god of war, not the god of Britney Spears – drove the rest of us up the wall.
I leaned my head back against the seat as the tinted window blocked out the intrusive rays, and flipped out my phone to see that my mom had sent me a text already. The same text that she always sent when I left for Camp Half-Blood.
Be safe.
I smiled slightly, and quickly typed back a response, the same response that I sent every year.
I always do, Mom.
And it's true. Even if nothing has happened in the past century in a half, there is always danger out there for people like me. Monsters are a given, but I knew that worse things were after us too.
When you're a demigod, danger could be anywhere. That's why at Camp Half-Blood, they trained you even if there was no danger. They trained you as if a war was on its way; they trained you until you dropped.
Because at any time, in any place, at any age…danger could decide to rear its ugly head, and if you wanted to survive, you had to be ready for it.
I made my way up Half-Blood Hill, Argus making his long strides beside me, both of us silent. I never had the nerve to ask, but I think that Argus had an eye on his tongue, so that prevented him from ever speaking. Seems kind of annoying, but I suppose he had been born with it, so he didn't know any other way.
It was strange, though. No monsters had attacked me on the entire journey from my home to this point. Normally, they were all over me like white on rice. But this year…there was nothing. I could sense Argus's uneasiness as his eyes flickered around, and a slight scowl formed on his face. I mean, I sure wasn't complaining, but a constant routine of battling monsters every time I tried to get into camp had been formed, and I felt a little too normal as I shifted my bags so that they were more comfortable on my shoulders.
My heart lifted as the familiar pine tree came into view, and the Golden Fleece glimmered brightly on its sturdy branches. A big grin spread across my face as I started running, and Argus kept up with me easily. This was my home. Even if people still whispered about my dad behind my back, even if people teased me and tried to get under my skin mercilessly…it was my home. Where I truly belonged.
The volleyball courts were in sight beyond Big House, and if I looked to my left, I could see the ripe strawberry fields, their sweet aroma filling the air around the camp. I passed by the tree, and I patted the sturdy bark before taking off down the hill, waving back to Argus as my bags bounced on my shoulders. My hair blew behind me wildly as I almost tripped, and I
Argus smiled, and he lifted his hand in the air in farewell. The eye on his palm winked at me, and I grinned before turning back around as I got to the bottom of the gently sloping hill. Campers were already waking up, and I saw a few heading down to breakfast, chatting and laughing as they playfully pushed each other.
"Layna!"
I turned to see Chiron waving me over in his human wheelchair form, and I watched as he shuffled through the papers in his hands before walking over to where he was situated on the wooden porch. Chiron was a centaur most of the time, and my confused look made him smile as he looked up at me.
"We have some younger children arriving soon with the trainee satyr Nian, and I think that they will be much more accepting of the whole situation if I spoke to them like this." The man's eyes studied me, and a small smile crossed his face. "My, my…you've grown taller, my dear!"
"Only an inch or so…"
Chiron patted my arm kindly as he glanced back down at his papers. "Every step in your growth is an accomplishment, Layna, even if it is just an inch. Now, I'll just check you in, and you can get settled."
"Thanks, Chiron." I said with a smile, and he checked off my name before smiling back at me.
"Now, you'll want to hurry if you want to make it to breakfast. It starts in half an hour."
I nodded, and said goodbye before heading off towards the cabin area, which was across the river and past the lake and training arena. I walked quickly across the wooden bridge, hearing the beautiful river naiads chatting and giggling as they swam leisurely by. I smiled at them, but they merely whispered darkly to themselves, and one of them hid behind a bush. The others didn't smile at me, instead quickly splashing under the water so they were gone from sight.
It wasn't like I didn't expect it. It happened every year, after all. Everyone is all fun and happy until the dreaded question arises. The question that everyone has a need to ask, and the question that everyone dreads. But no one dreads it as much as me.
I smirked to myself as I crossed the river and made my way towards the circle of cabins. There were eighteen in total, and they were all numbered. Now, I could go through the original twelve all by name and go on and on about what they looked like and who they stood for, but to be perfectly honest, if you don't know this already, tough luck. I'm sure that another story describes them all perfectly well, so if you want the rundown on those original twelve, go and read Percy Jackson's story and he'll tell you. I've never really read the story myself, but my dad has plenty of stories involving Poseidon's favorite son, and I've been told enough by Grover and the Oracle to know the gist of the story.
Anyway, there are a few changes that I will tell you about concerning the cabins. Ever since the Battle for Olympus – which took place one-hundred and fifty years ago, give or take a few years – there have been new additions to the cabin semicircle, and the additions lengthened it to a complete circle.
Six new gods were now being represented at camp. Here they are:
Cabin 13: Hades – God the Underworld
Cabin 14: Iris – Goddess of Rainbows
Cabin 15: Phobos – God of Fear
Cabin 16: Nemesis – Goddess of Revenge and Balance
Cabin 17: Aeolus – God of Wind
Cabin 18: Janus – God of Gates, Doorways, Beginnings and Endings.
I stood in the center of the circle of cabins, and saw kids emerging from within their individual cabins. All of them were clean and scrubbed, and my eyes finally locked onto one cabin in particular.
Black marble made up the cabin, and there were small fires lit at the top, lighting up the number in a haunting glow. Spires sharpened to lethal points at each corner of the roof, and the wood was made of smooth wood, with a bone doorknob inlaid with a blood-red ruby. As I drew nearer to the cabin, I smiled a small smile when I saw the empty cabin before me.
And no other kids would ever fill it, because my dad only had kids with women that had those same qualities as my mom and Maria di Angelo. It was sad, but not many women had that quality, or at least, they didn't have the pure and loving nature to that quality that my mom and Maria did. Dad was quite picky, unlike someone like Aphrodite for example.
I was so very alone in my cabin, which actually scored good points for my dad, because it meant that he didn't sleep around like most of the other gods did – excepting Artemis and Hera or course, seeing as they both agreed not to not to romanticize with mortals. I was kind of proud that my dad hadn't given in to the urge to sleep around with as many mortals as possible since the pact sworn between the Big Three had been lifted by Percy Jackson all those years ago.
Hey, so…whose kid are you?
That question always made me smile, but what made me smile even more was their response when I answered. Their faces would blank in shock, their feet automatically taking them a step backward, and then they would laugh nervously to try and cover up their social blunder. But then they would find an excuse to get away from me…because even though I officially was a part of Camp Half-Blood, in the minds of the campers…I was still sort of…apart from the rest of them.
I snorted as I tossed my bag onto the room full of unused bunks, not even bothering to note the changes in interior decoration from last year as I took out my dad's brush and touched the icy silver with irritated fingers, standing before the desk which had a mirror surrounded by obsidian melted into intricate shapes and swirls.
A slender blonde-haired girl stared back at her with eyes that were surprisingly dark and powerful. The intensity seemed to make the air around the mirror shiver slightly, and the fires around the mirror dim to an ominous glow.
Oh me? Well, I'm the daughter of Hades. You know…the God of the Underworld…
Hate it? Love it? Want to read more? PLEASE REVIEW AND TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK, DON'T BE AFRAID TO SAY WHAT YOU THINK!
