The Staff of Midnight by RockingDevil101
(Heroes of Olympus/Kane Chronicles Crossover)
All credit To Rick Riordan Books.
Chapter 1: The Meeting On The Shore
The beach was a sparkling gold with a shade of deep red shooting across it like fresh blood.
The air was cool and a soft breeze ruffled the jet-black hair into the young teenager's face, its cold draughts hissing like the snarl of a viper.
The Atlantic ocean stretched out before him like a velvet carpet that rippled with crashing waves. It was a perfect day on Long Island beach.
However beautiful it was, Sapientia Intraarnox could not enjoy it. He was dressed in ragged jeans, a white shirt and a black jacket pulled over broad shoulders. At first glance, you would've estimated that he was thirteen, fourteen at the most; but then, when you peered closer, you could see the marks of age: faint worry lines, scars neatly carved into the pale skin, the unnerving intelligence seen from those piercing black eyes...
To hide any slim chance of anyone nearby guessing his parentage, he wore dark-tinted specs and thin leather gloves. It wouldn't do for the surrounding inhabitants to notice him, much less think he was one of them...
Sapientia gazed around. No one was in sight. This was exactly what he didn't need — people making flashy appearances.
"I'm here!" he called. "What now, a big crash of thunder? A hovering disco ball? A soda volcano?"
YOU SOUND PATHETIC.
He sighed. "Forgive me, o' goddess, but I am little harassed, plus the the traffic — you'd think it was six on a Monday morning."
THAT IS ACCEPTABLE.
An immensely tall figure swathed in a shimmering black dress materialized out of thin air beside him. Her snow-like skin glittered with tattoos of stars and constellations moving up and down her slim arms. No, not tattoos, he realized; actual shadowy models of stars, that floated across her skin like moths attracted to a flame.
She was beautiful but he barely noticed. In fact, the only thing he noted — with inner disdain — was the eyes: there was no eyes at all, just pools of black depthless shadow writhing in shallow sockets.
"So, my Lady," he began, "what have you summoned me here for?"
THE CAMP OF THE HEROES, OF COURSE. Her voice was like raw silk mingled with a certain delicacy, like gentle rain or the fall of a leaf. She pronounced heroes with the O elongated, and he guessed this was her way of mockery. HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN WHAT WE'RE CLOSE TO?
Ed looked shiveringly over his shoulder. The top of a bright blue attic of a large country house could just be glimpsed, and the boy thought he saw two pale orbs in green smoke at the circular window, watching him . . .
"Yes, I know," he managed. "But what exactly do I do? Infiltrate them?"
YES.
"How? Just stroll up there on the pretence that I thought this was where the Texan nightclub was?"
She laughed, a soft hair-raising scraping noise like — well, like a snakes laughter, I suppose... or ice-cold precipitation falling on molten rock.
Whichever you prefer, reader.
I WILL POSITION THE HOUND. I WOULD ADVISE YOU TO CHANGE YOUR APPEARANCE, IN CASE WE ARE CURRENTLY BEING WATCHED.
Sapientia nodded grimly. "And the other two?"
CURRENTLY UNAWARE.
"Situated?"
IN THE CAVERNS. THE LESS YOU KNOW, MY BOY, THE BETTER.
"Yes," he agreed reluctantly. Before he turned, he looked over the rolling waves. Their sculpted blue figures framed with frothy white foam turning to a dark glowing scarlet as the sun finally began its descent beyond the horizon.
Author's Note: Hey people! Hope you like this (I did, does that count?) and please pass me a review. And this is really just the prologue — a short first introducing chapter — of the series: The Staff of Midnight. ENJOY!—RockingDevil101.