Annabeth Chase

The quest opens

Chiron's voice was calm and rung with authority when he spoke a few minutes later. I was still full of grief but so many half bloods never made it that I knew that I couldn't blame myself.

"Bring his body back to the camp and have Hermes' cabin make a shroud. Someone take Tom to the infirmary and alert all the counsellors- meeting in the Big House – now."

The Apollo campers grabbed the two bodies carefully and began staggering up the hill.

I headed up slower dragging my feet behind me, tired from the fight.

The heads of all the cabins, Chiron, Mr D, Tom and Grover were gathered in the Big House for the emergency meeting. I looked around the table, all the faces were different: Chiron looked serious and business-like; Mr D bored; Tom shivering with terror, or maybe because he had only just woken up; Grover trying without luck to reassure Tom; Ashley, daughter of Aphrodite, playing absentmindedly with a strand of her hair; Nico smiling despite the tension flaring in the room; the Stoll brothers plotting quietly among themselves; Joel, from Apollo's, hiding his face; Lizzie, Demeter's, staring dreamily at Mr D (something none of us understood); Harry, fresh from the armoury, fiddling with the hinges of the table; Pollux, unfortunate enough to be Mr D's child, drinking his juice with obvious distaste; Clarrise flexing her muscles obviously; and newly appointed Charles, cabin 3, smiling eagerly around the ping-pong table.

"Tom you did all you could," Chiron started reassuringly, "Now we need you to tell us what happened."

"You did everything," Mr D amended," I couldn't be more grateful."

Chiron ignored Mr D's comment, and motioned for Tom to begin. He let out a nervous throaty laugh then started.

"I found him in Boston, no monsters hanging around him, and I managed to persuade him to come with me to my 'family's' house in Long Island and then…"

"He just left with you?" demanded Clarrise, with a snarl, leaning across the ping-pong table.

"Shut up Clarrise," murmured several voices, stopping Clarrise from knowing who she needed to pulverise.

"I knew him before," mumbled Tom, ashamed, "So anyway the plane journey was fine – still no monsters. We got on a bus and around four miles from here that serpent thing got on the bus," his voice quavered in terror, "he knew something was wrong and I had to get him off the bus without the monster seeing. There was an emergency exit so I blurted out some information about camp half-blood and demi-gods and we jumped out. That's when things started to go really wrong." His voice slowed down, he took breaths after each word. "He knew what he was and we were attracting a lot of monsters, I took us round a few detours and then there was only the serpent following us. A mile from camp the snake had found us again. We were moving slowly, the grass was really thick." A lot of heads looked startled by this, including Mr D's (who knew he was actually listening?). No one argued. "The snake moved fast and I tried to get rid of it, but I'm no good with swords and my reed pipes weren't working." He held them up, shaking and pounding them against the table in frustration. His head dropped in shame and we all knew he was finished. We'd witnessed the next chapter: His last chapter.

The room was silent for a minute before Nico looked up and asked the question everyone was itching to ask.

"Determined or undetermined?" His voice rang around the room.

Tom raised his head slowly. His expression had changed. His eyes no longer shone with grief but he was sweating from fear.

"Determined."

Silence fell once more. The un-asked question hung in the air. We all waited.

"His name was Oliver, son of Zeus."

The storm began again.

Everybody in the room froze. All of a sudden I realised the source of Tom's fear.

Outside the storm was still brewing reflecting the emptiness of cabin 1, Zeus' deadly fury and the power of his master bolt. I mean forget to send him a birthday card, he's likely to blast you to dust, fail to save his son he's definitely going to blast you into dust.

Chiron began speaking softly to Tom, and after a while he stood up and left.

"Mr D I think you need to visit Olympus, try to sort things out."

"That won't be necessary my dear centaur – come in Malcolm."

The door creaked open and Malcolm entered hesitantly heading to Mr D and Chiron.

"I have a message from Lord Zeus." Everyone winced. Malcolm exited as quickly as he had come, and Chiron delicately opened the paper he had handed him. His eyes scanned the short message and his expression relaxed slightly.

The council however didn't relax as they searched Chiron's face for answers.

"We've found another half-blood," he said at last, "A final child of Zeus."

A new quest was opened. Jack London, son of Zeus, needed to be escorted back to camp safely. One satyr wasn't enough. It was too important. But here's the twist: Jack London lives in London, England (go figure). England meant more land to cross, more monsters to meet, and more time to get killed. A satyr was in London already, scouting, and he was relocating to keep an eye on Jack. The trio would have to collect Jack and escort him back to camp. Now that doesn't even sound easy now wait for it. Factor in that the monsters waiting to kill the three lucky campers will be exotic and new; three of them are going to have persuade the unwilling teenager to come back with them and leave his family and friends. Plus, an angry god will be waiting to zap the threesome if they fail. Wow, I can't wait to sign up!

After all this had been explained Chiron spoke again.

"It will be dangerous," (really?), "so think wisely before you sign up. I think that it should be three of the people here now; you are the most experienced in the camp, Mr D any thoughts?"

"No other than maybe we could lose I mean use more than three?"

Chiron sighed and looked around. All campers liked quests, but they all also liked being alive and having no immortal enemies. Our faces were hesitant. Frantic looks were being flung from friend to friend. Someone had to volunteer…

I love quests; I already have an immortal enemy (long story), why just have the queen when you can have the king too? I've been in a lot of life-threatening situations. But some invisible cord was restraining me. I knew the dangers and that the stakes were high but instead of feeling the anxiety and fear of everyone around me I felt a surge of adrenaline and excitement.

Grover made a hard ruffled sound unexpectedly from the corner.

"I'll go," he stammered out, "A satyr will need to be there and-"His voice cut out as I stood up. I had no idea what I was doing but I couldn't let Grover go without me. It was selfish but I needed him – he was my best friend and my only distant link to Percy.

Chiron understood my action so I wasn't forced to choke out the impossible words. Two lunatics had signed up and one more would be joining them, but who would the other be?

A black mess of hair rose from the table. His face was battling fear and pain over protectiveness and loyalty. Our last quest member had been decided.

Chiron dismissed the rest of the campers, who gave us looks of guilt and Mr D fluttered out.

The room felt empty with only the four of us. Grover, probably thinking of a way to break it to Juniper, was hovering on his stool. Chiron was fumbling uncomfortably in his magical wheel chair. The floppy dark haired figure, Nico de Angelo was tapping a fast beat with his rough fingernails.

I, Grover and Nico were about to embark on our quest together.

Skipping the thanks and congratulation, as usual, Chiron said quietly,

"It's time for you to visit the oracle."