Here's the second chapter. Hope you enjoy and review. I had to do a little editing in the last part because we meet Apollo. I haven't finished the new book by Riordan yet, but seeing as Apollo has a punishment, I had to make an adjustment.
Also, I'm not sure if I mentioned this, but this takes place in a future, so aside from gods, Chiron, and Rachel, there are no cannon characters.
Chapter 2: Summer Vacation Begins
Nova took a deep breath before crossing over the threshold of the camp. She stood at the top of Half-Blood Hill looking nothing like the experienced camper she was. Down below, she saw younger Half-Bloods running around, wearing jeans or shorts, sneakers, and, of course, there was a sea of orange shirts.
Nova, however, wore knee high black wedged boots over her grey skinny jeans, a loose white button-up shirt, long sleeves, and a thin waist belt to show off her skinny waist. Her hair was in perfect Taylor Swift waves, and she had lined and mascaraed her eyes for them to pop, blushed her cheeks for the perfect color, and glossed her lips with a little tint.
She dragged her duffle behind her as she made her way down the hill, while she held her guitar by the case handle in her left hand. Her quiver was slung over her shoulder, bow stored in it. To mortals, it looked like a cute black leather backpack.
Some campers could bound up and down the hill at near super-speed (though in the case of the Hermes kids, it was literal super-speed), but Nova kept her pace slow. Partly because she didn't want to seem like a crazy kid while speeding up and down the hill, but mostly because going down the hill with bags was hard enough, not to mention her shoes were not made for hill climbing. Anyway, she was in no hurry to get to camp. She knew someone would ask about Peter, and she didn't want to explain that he had left her, again.
"Nova!" a voice called from among the campers, and suddenly, a dark-haired tanned girl broke from the group and bounded up the hill toward her. Odessa wrapped her skinny arms around Nova tightly, and had she been any other camper, Nova would have rolled her eyes. But Nova loved Odessa like a sister... in fact, Nova liked Odessa better than any of her actual siblings, mortal or godly.
Granted, dropping her things and falling to the ground wasn't how Nova wanted to start her summer.
"I have missed you!" Odessa said, sitting back on her heels.
"I've missed you too, Dessa," Nova said. She looked Odessa over, and it was as if nothing had changed. Odessa was still short, shorter than some of the twelve-year-olds. Eyes still sparkling with curiosity. And still smiling as always.
Nova had never seen Odessa not smiling, from the day Odessa was brought to camp and Nova had been assigned the task of showing her around. She had heard of what had happened at Odessa's school, the incident which had brought Odessa to be discovered despite her blood being that of such a minor goddess, but Odessa had been too filled with wonderment to even think about the incident.
"Your hair is blonde!" Odessa cried.
"You already knew this," Nova said.
"I know, but it has a red tinge and the bottom is nearly platinum," Odessa said. She threw her arms around Nova again.
"Of course my hair has a red tinge," Nova said with a sigh. "My hair is naturally red."
Odessa giggled, causing Nova to giggle. That's how it worked with a daughter of Iambe like Odessa. A smile made others smile, a laugh made others laugh, and her happiness and joy spread like wildfire.
In all of Odessa's life, she had only experienced true sadness once, when she was eleven and there was a hit and run at her school. Her friend had been nearly killed, and Odessa's sadness was over-whelming and came off her in waves, and everyone, already shocked and scared, became nearly heart-broken. Chaos had erupted and the Mist nearly broke, attracting all sorts of monsters.
Luckily for Odessa, she lived in Brooklyn, so the demigods of Camp Half-Blood were able to arrive, save her, and defeat the monsters before she could be killed. Nova hadn't gone on that mission, as she had only been twelve, but she and Odessa were still a good match for best friends.
It was why Nova looked forward to the Summer two days into the school year. After spending a full ten weeks with Odessa every summer, she was happy and joyful. She forgot about Peter, and she wrote a few songs that only her cat would ever hear. Every summer, she jammed with her siblings, other children of Apollo. She got love advice from the children of Aphrodite. A child of Poseidon had taught her how to swim her first summer. Children of Athena helped her learn ways to study despite the dyslexia so that her mother would allow her to perform. Camp was a safe haven for her, not just from monsters, but from the regular things teenagers went through in life.
"So, how are you going to vlog here with no good electronics?" Odessa asked.
"Oh, come now, like we can't charm a few boys from the shop," Nova said. "We know where Bunker Nine is and we're not afraid to go there."
Odessa giggled and nodded. "Onward!" Odessa cried out, pointing forward.
"Kayson!" Anna Lincoln cried out opening the door to her son's room to find him slumped over on his bed, book in his lap. His glasses were askew on his face and he had been breathing slowly. At the cry of his mother's voice, he jerked up, his glasses falling off. He grabbed them and shoved them back on, before noticing his mother in the doorway.
"What?" he asked.
"It's ten thirty!" Anna snapped.
Kayson blinked, then took off his glasses to rub his eyes for a moment. "It's summer break, Mom," he said.
"I know," Anna said. "But you are not spending this summer the same way you did last year, bemoaning after Molly, sitting in this room and reading medical manuals. You can read all of those you want when you're premed and in school. Enjoy the last summer of high school, Kayson."
Kayson closed the book, but kept his finger in it to mark his page. "Tell me who my dad is."
Anna's shoulders dropped. It wasn't the first time he had asked about his father, but she was insistent that she would never tell him. He did love and respect his mother, but she had three sons and no man. The twins' father was a bum, but at least he paid child support. But there was never support from Kayson's father.
"You don't need to know," Anna said. "He was a good man, but you wouldn't believe me if I told you."
"At least tell me where you met him, where he lives," Kayson said.
Anna looked at her son for a moment. "Greece," she said. "I met him in Greece."
"And his name?" Kayson asked.
Anna sighed. "I called him Ask," she said. "Now," she pointed toward the door. "Go shower and then do something. We have a pool in the community. Go swimming. Heck, go read by the pool for all I care, just get out of this apartment."
An hour later had Kayson at the local library on a computer. When he typed in "Ask Greece" he got pages upon pages of travel sites and suggestions. He sighed after his fifteenth page. So, he decided to change the 'K' to 'C' and this gave him very different results. On the second page, he came to a Wikipedia entry called the 'Rod of Asclepius.'
Of course, as interested in medicine as he was, he clicked on the site, just to read a little about the symbolism. He then clicked the link to Asclepius.
Kayson stared at the computer after reading about Asclepius. He wondered, was it possible that his father was a god. For the most part, Kayson was a man of science. But, he also knew that there was something else, after all, he could heal small injuries with just a touch. With two five-year-old brothers, he did it every day.
After a few moments, Kayson laughed. What was he thinking? There had to be some explanation to his powers, but it wasn't that.
So, Kayson returned to his original search, not coming up with any new theories after an hour of searching.
Kayson decided to head home. Maybe he would sit outside the apartment pool and read a book. He could even take the twins with him and teach them to swim if he felt bold when he got home.
"Kay!" Molly's voice rang out a block away from the library.
Kayson turned around to see her and smiled, noticing her bikini strings sticking out from under her tube dress. She came trotting over to him carefully in her heeled sandals.
When she got to him, he could tell that she had been crying, though only the very trained eye could see it. She had covered it very well, but Kayson had known her long enough to see it. But, she was smiling and out of her house, so whatever had happened, she had chosen to forget it.
"How was the date?" Kayson asked, even though he knew he was dooming himself. If Mark had been the one to make her cry, he'd be the supportive shoulder to lean on for the next hour. If not, he'd have to hear her squeal about all the things he did right.
Instead, she rolled her beautiful eyes. "I do nawt want to talk about Mark," she insisted. She smiled and poked his chest. "Let's talk about you."
Kayson felt his cheeks grow hot and his eyes got wide. "M-me?" he asked. She nodded enthusiastically. "I'm, you know everything there is to know about me."
She reached up and took his glasses, and his vision blurred slightly. Not enough, however, to truly block out what he was seeing. She slipped the glasses onto her face and then looked around. "Your vision isn't that bad, Kay," she said.
"Molly, can I have my glasses back?" Kayson asked. "They're not exactly cheap, you know."
She turned around and slipped the glasses down and looked at him over the frame. He briefly had a sexy librarian thought. "Are you sure that's what you want, Kayson Lincoln?"
"I kind of need them to see," Kayson said.
She smiled and backed up a few steps. "Then come get them," she said and turned around. She slipped out of her sandals and ran barefoot down the block.
Kayson sighed and picked up her shoes before chasing after her. "Seriously, Molly," he called after her as she turned to look at him.
He ended up chasing her half way to her house before he had to stop to catch his breath. He was not used to running, and certainly not when he kept remembering her the day before in just her underwear which was sending some of his blood to the wrong part of his body for running.
She looked back at him and laughed. "You're gonna have to run faster than that!" she called to him before she turned a corner. Kayson sighed and concentrated on moving his legs faster. However, when he turned the corner, it took him a moment to find her.
His legs took him faster than ever as he ran to her side. "Molly!" he gasped, dropping to his knees.
"It hurts," she said, her hand on her side.
"What happened?" Kayson asked. He lightly took her hand and moved it. She didn't look at him. "Let me see, Molly," he said. "I can't help unless I know what's wrong."
Molly nodded, but instead, worked to stand. "Not here," she said, indicating to the fact that she was in a dress. Instead, Kayson helped her back to her house, only a block away.
She took off her dress, leaving her in her bikini. There was a large bruise, and Kayson knew it probably came from a fist hitting her side. It was over her lowest ribs, which made Kayson think that it had to be a cracked rib.
He had never healed a broken bone before.
A quick, gentle swipe of his fingers healed the bruise and tenderness of the bruise. "Does it still hurt?"
Molly nodded, a few tears dripping from her eyes.
Kayson took a breath and placed his hand over where the bruise had been. He concentrated, and then he felt a warmth from his hand, and a sudden pain in his side. Molly gasped.
"Kay!" she cried out. "It... it feels all better! And did you see? Your hand, it glowed!" She threw her arms around him in a hug. Kayson yelped.
"Oh my god! What happened?"
"I think I healed you by taking the injury on myself," Kayson said.
Molly gasped. "No! Give it back, then," she said. "You shouldn't have to suffer my injury."
"I can't give it back," Kayson said. He stared Molly in the eye. "What happened?"
She looked away. "Mark hit me," she said. "I didn't like how the night was going, so I left and he followed and punched me." She looked Kayson again. "You should not have to suffer for me."
"Promise me you'll never see him again and we'll call it even," Kayson said.
Molly shook her head. "No, I still owe you. Kay," she said. She then leaned over and kissed him quickly on the lips. "So, once you're better, we'll do something. Your pick."
Kayson smiled. "Yeah," he said. "Okay, I'll come up with something. In the mean time, I think I should head home. My mom might be worried." He stood up, wincing a bit. He never had a serious injury before, so it was a new experience, pain that didn't immediately fade. He wasn't a fan.
Dick rolled his shoulders as he got ready for the second half of his shift. Saturdays were the busy day, and he always worked nine hour shifts, and that didn't include his required meal half way through. Eleven to nine, and then he'd go out and party.
He didn't know why he was surprised to be greeted by the lady-monster's friends. After having stuck a magical sword in her, he thought he'd never have to deal with her again, and yet he had forgotten she had three friends with her.
"So, are you girls here to kill me as well?" Dick asked, pulling out his notepad. The flashlight was in his pocket, just in case.
He had spent a good deal of the night before trying to figure out how it worked. He had taken the flashlight apart, but it seemed to be totally normal. Batteries, bulb, tube... and no sword inside it. Yet every time he pressed the button, a sword popped out. Unless he simply held the button down. That's when it would shine like a flashlight.
He decided it was magical.
There was, after all, no other explanation for it.
"Oh, how did you know?" one girl asked. "It's not every day a girl gets to kill the son of the God of the Underworld. Your father misses you very much, and we're just here to send you to him."
Dick took a step back. As far as he knew, is father died in the Middle East while his mother was still pregnant with him. And she had just mentioned the underworld, though she also mentioned the word 'god', and not in the Christian sense.
"Unfortunately, I don't have time tonight," Dick said. He gave them a cheeky smile. "So, what can I get you ladies tonight?"
"Half-blood steak," one said.
Dick blinked a few times. "Half-blood..."
The three girls laughed. "He doesn't even know what he is," one said. "Classic."
"Don't they have a new rule?"
"Oh, like Hades was ever a stickler for the rules."
Dick closed his order pad. "Well, I'll just let you decide among yourselves what you want and come back in a bit," he said.
It didn't seem that the girls would take that, as one jumped up and at him. Immediately, her hair set to fire, and she became a hideous creature with one donkey leg and one bronze leg.
People began to scream and scramble from where they were seated. In the panic, Dick grabbed a serving tray and whacked the girl upside the head with it. A steaming hot chocolate became a weapon against the second, and by the third, he had pulled out his flashlight. She laughed and charged, but was unable to dodge when he activated his sword.
He was shocked when one jumped onto his back, but he purposely jumped onto a table, causing her to scream and release him. Before the two remaining could react, he was dodging into the escaping crowd, and then filing in with a crowd of people into an El station. He sighed and took a seat on the train as it sped him towards his home. Suddenly, everything he saw seemed foreign and he knew his life had changed forever.
Odessa woke up in a cold sweat and in fear. She looked around to see she was still in her tent. Because she was the only child of Iambe, she had been given a choice. Build a cabin (of course, others would help her), stay with the children of Hermes (but after her first summer, most of her possessions had disappeared), or stay in a tent. She chose the third after her first year, though she was slowly building a more permanent place as she had started staying there most of the year. She only went back home for birthdays.
Sometimes Nova stayed with her, and it happened to be one of those nights. Nova always slept fitfully. As the child of Apollo, she sometimes had prophetic dreams. It was a rare ability, and very different from the Oracle's prophecies. Instead, she saw flashes of things, most of it jumbled that she couldn't make heads or tails of it, just suffer.
Odessa's fretful dreams, however, were not prophetic. Hers were always about the exact same event. A black sedan speeding down a street, swerving to avoid cars. The screams as it hit a young girl, one of Odessa's friends. The police didn't see the girl go down, didn't stop to help her. Odessa's scream and despair had been so strong that people down the block began weeping for no reason at all.
The monsters could smell her from miles away.
It was the same day that Odessa met Nova, hours later, once her friend's life had been rescued by one of Nova's siblings and a hymn to Apollo.
Odessa smirked, realizing her dream usually went on longer, and peeked her head out of the tent to see a red-headed boy trying to sneak to a different cabin. Finn Aisling, son of Morpheus, who Odessa had a small crush on. "Thanks, Finn," she said, feeling a little heat in her cheeks. During summer, he tended to be the one that went around and saved people from nightmares, specifically his cousin on his mortal side, daughter of Hades, who was only eight but had already been through too much.
Nova whimpered, shaking her head, so Odessa tried to wake up up. She knelt next to her friend and shook her shoulder. "Nova," she said quietly. She had to be gentle, because it was not uncommon for a camper to wake up wielding a weapon.
Granted, Nova's weapon was the bow and arrow. Odessa's eyes landed on Nova's quiver and moved it out of Nova's reach and tried again. "Nova!" Odessa said, a little more strength in her voice.
Nova gasped, her eyes snapping open as she sat up. She looked around and spotted Odessa. She sighed and fell back down. "Sorry," she said. Her eyes slid to Odessa and Odessa smiled down at her. "Was I that loud?"
"No, not really," Odessa said. "But you seemed sad." She smiled, her powers making Nova smile as well. "Wanna talk about it?"
Nova rolled her eyes, but was still smiling. "I saw mostly two guys. One did not seem to be a Half-Blood even. The other, he was fighting a few empousi. He barely escaped... and it was weird. I saw it all through their eyes."
"Maybe you should talk to Chiron," Odessa said. "They might need our help."
"We know nothing about them," Nova said. She shrugged. "What help can we be?"
"We can't help if we don't try," Odessa said, bright look in her eyes.
Nova sighed and nodded. "Let's go before I forget what I saw."
Ten minutes later had the two sitting in the Big House War Council room, each of them holding a steaming cup of hot cocoa that Apollo had conjured up. After his trials as a mortal and gaining his godhood back, Apollo tended to visit the camp often, to both check up on his children and help supervise certain camp activities. All the campers were happy for it. That was, all but the children of Apollo. For Nova it was especially awkward, as a lot of the girl campers that weren't children of Apollo tended to have huge crushes on the god, as he did tend to look like a very good-looking eighteen-year-old. Odessa felt her cheeks flushing sitting with him as she sipped the hot cocoa.
"How are you, my daughter?" Apollo asked as they were waiting for Chiron. "Are you still dating that nasty Roman?"
"We've made peace with the Romans," Nova said. Odessa noticed that Nova never called him 'Dad.' Nor did she call him 'Apollo.' In fact, Odessa had never heard Nova address Apollo by anything. "Years and years ago."
"That doesn't answer my question," Apollo said and smiled. Odessa felt her cheeks get darker.
"We broke up," Nova said, averting her eyes. "Thank you for reminding me."
"Oh, shall I smite him?" Apollo asked.
"Not unless you want to start another war," Nova said. "So, please, don't."
There was a cough and they all turned to see Chiron walk in, in Centaur form. He turned to Nova. Rachel Dare walked in behind him and took a seat across from the two. "Please," Chiron said. "Tell us what you saw, Nova."
Nova sighed. "Well, I saw everything from their eyes," she said. She shook her head. "It's already fading."
"Do you mind?" Rachel asked, holding her arms over the table, palms up. Even though she was approaching her forties, Rachel Dare still looked very good.
Nova took a breath and then rested her hands on Rachel's hands. Odessa kept a close eye on her friend. Suddenly, Rachel's eyes began to glow green.
"Two Half-Bloods will take the quest,
To the heartland they face the test.
Ride to destiny in the trains above
But beware the one touched by love."
Rachel slouched, a cold sweat on her forehead.
"I think that it is obvious who needs to take this quest," Chiron said.
"Can we break down this prophecy before we go?" Nova asked.
Odessa, however, was smiling. "Nova! We got a quest! You and me!"
Nova smiled back. In fact, Odessa noted that the whole room smiled with them. And, that smile just made Apollo look a little better in Odessa's eyes.
"But, onto the words," Nova said. "Okay, first line, Two Half-Bloods will take the quest, which is actually rather cut and dry." She looked over at Chiron. "Is there any other way to interpret that than straight on?"
Chiron shook his head. "That seems clear," he said. "The second line, however, To the heartland they face the test, poses a few more problems."
"Like, which heartland it refers to," Apollo said.
"There are multiple heartlands?" Odessa asked.
"The heartland of this country," Chiron said, "And the heartland where we originate from. Greece."
"Oh, and Memphis," Odessa said brightly. She received a few stares. "You know, that song by Paul Simon..."
"That's Graceland, honey," Nova said.
"But, don't forget the prophecy also speaks of love," Rachel said. "So it may tie into that."
"And what is the test?" Nova asked.
"Maybe it's the test of saving the Half-Bloods from your visions," Odessa said, turning to Nova.
"Who knows?" Nova asked, visibly deflating.
"Okay, what are these trains above?" Odessa asked, changing the topic. "Are there trains in Olympus?"
"Your quest doesn't have you going to Olympus," Chiron assured the girl.
"It's Ride to destiny in the trains above," Nova said. "Trains above could be a metaphor for something, right?"
"Trains above could refer to planes," Rachel said.
"Or the wind court," Apollo said. "If there are trains there."
"The final line is the one that troubles me," Chiron said. "But beware the one touched by love."
