Chapter 2- I'm Doomed
"Hey Tony, Tony, wake up." A small high-pitched voice called.
I groaned, and rolled over, nearly falling off my bed. "What's up." I yawned.
"Have you seen Luke?" the little voice answered, it sounded almost scared
I lept off my bunk onto the wooden ground. I looked around. Huh, that was weird, where was he.
"I'm sure he's just doing head counselor stuff, what do you need Chi?" I turned to face the little girl. Her long black hair went down to her shoulders. I had to bend down to look at her eyes, which were a warm hazelnut brown. However today her eyes were red and puffy as if she had been crying.
"Hey what's wrong?" I bent down to talk to her.
"Capture the flag is today isn't it?" she sniffed. "But I'm scared, I don't know how to fight, I was hoping Luke could help me."
I sympathized with the little girl. I remembered my first capture the flag game. I was terrified out of my mind, even though I was only on defense. Why was everyone carrying swords, and spears and stuff? WHY DID SOME OF THEM SHOOT LIGHTNING? Eventually, I got used to it and thought it was totally cool. Mind you, I was thirteen and Chi was only nine, she'd be scared tonight.
"Aww Chi." I started, " I can teach you some stuff today. Capture the flag is really fun, you get to see everyone's magical items. And don't worry I'll give you a position next to someone strong, like," I looked around and spotted Tom, "Like Tom, he's really strong."
She looked and faced Tom. I gave him the look like you let her get hurt and I will pummel your face in. He got the hint and gave Chi a thumbs up. Tom was the best defenseman in the Hermes cabin. Chi smiled.
"Can you help me after breakfast?" she asked
"Yeah sure, hey what time is it anyway?" I looked around, there were only a few campers left in the cabin, shouldn't we all still be here waiting for breakfast?
"Chiron called an emergency meeting with the head counselors, so breakfast has been delayed, we have some free time." Tom answered as if reading my mind.
Just then, Connor and Travis came rushing in.
"Hey, did you guys hear?" Connor shouted excitedly. "Someone let a snake loose in the Ares cabin!"
Everyone looked at me.
"Don't blame me." I put my hands in the air.
Travis burst out laughing. "Aww man nice one Tony, wish I'd thought of that." He high fived me.
Kiara, another Hermes kid with mid-length brown curly hair rolled her eyes.
"You idiots," she grumbled, "Do you know how mad Clarisse will be with us during Capture the flag? If we lose our winning streak I'm blaming you."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever, I'm heading out." And so I left my cabin mates bickering about later tonight. As I stepped outside I was nearly blinded by the sunlight. Geez, Apollo seriously needs to turn down the head lights. I stretched and looked around, some Apollo campers were playing volleyball, while the Demeter cabin were making bright pink lilies grow. I took a step towards the washroom when someone grabbed me from behind.
"Hey, hey Clarisse it wasn't me who did that, honestly." I struggled from the person's grip, assuming it was Clarisse and her cronies.
"And don't you think it would be better to wait until tonight to beat me up anyway? I mean with a spear and stuff, you can stab my insides that would be more painful than beating me up now. Right?" I tried to break away from the person's grip but they pulled me behind the cabin.
"What did you do now Tony?"
I knew that voice, Luke? The person released their gripped, I spun around ready to kick them until I realized it really was Luke.
"Hey why you going around kidnapping people!" I muttered.
Luke looked around as if to make sure no one was listening. His eyes were wild, and he had big bags under them as if he hadn't slept in a while. I remembered last night when he had been wandering around outside.
"I need your help, with something. We need to leave camp." Luke said
"What why, what could be so important that we need to leave camp. And why me. I'm not doing anything until you explain. And besides Chiron said there would be no more quests" I started. I had never seen Luke like this.
"Listen, Tony, I can't explain the whole thing right now, but I need your help because I've only told you and Annabeth how I've felt, you're the only ones who understand, but Annabeth is too young to come on a quest with me."
"A quest to do what?" I asked
Luke took a breath "To free Momus the God of Mockery."
I snickered, "You feeling okay Luke, where'd you come up with this?"
"I'm being serious," Luke snarled
I backed away. And looked into his blue eyes, Luke had never been like this before he almost never got angry unless you brought up something about his father or hurt one of his friends. But ever since he came back from the quest he'd been angrier than I'd ever seen him. That's when it dawned on me, what he had told me yesterday, his rant that just came out of nowhere.
"Are you trying to get back at the gods by freeing this, Momus guy?" I started to get angry. "I don't want to help with something like that, I don't want to have twelve supernatural beings trying to cut my head off."
"Please Tony, think about it," Luke said
"No, I don't want to leave camp, besides you need a prophecy and Chiron will never let you go for something like this."
"Chiron will make an exception for me, I'm the one who caused all of this trouble in the first place he'll let me go, but please Tony think about it."
"No-," but I stopped myself there. Didn't I at least want a little bit to get back at the gods? What had they done for me, or any of us? Right now there were fifteen unclaimed kids in our cabin, and I'm sure we were about to be joined by more. Fifteen kids whose parents didn't give a damn to spend what, ten seconds sending them a sign. Fifteen kids who felt like they'd been abandoned. Hadn't I wanted a chance to prove myself in the mortal world? To prove that I was stronger than I was two years ago? This could be my chance but did I really want to anger the gods. I could stop Luke from freeing Momus but, then I would be betraying my brother, and I didn't want to do that either. But most of all I was afraid to leave camp. Honestly, I was scared of all the monsters, because I simply wasn't strong enough. In the week it took me to first reach Camp Half-Blood, I couldn't sleep because of fear. Everything I did to the monsters had no effect on them. Did I really want to experience all that again?
I felt like some invisible force was stopping me from doing what was right. I just wanted to forget about everything Luke said. Whatever choice I would make, I would end up angering someone, either the gods, by freeing Momus or Luke, by going on the quest and then stopping him from freeing Momus. The feeling that whatever path you choose will be the wrong one is a horrible feeling, it made a giant pit form in my stomach.
"I'll think about it," I stuttered
Luke nodded, "If you're coming then meet be by the big house at midnight."
With that note, he walked off towards the cabin. I stood staring at everything around me. I felt like I was hiding a big secret from everyone, from all my friends. Suddenly the Apollo cabin didn't look so joyful playing volleyball, and all the flowers the Demeter kids were growing looked dull. For once in my life, I felt something I hadn't or pushed away for years. Sadness, guilt, dread. I wanted to push it all away again, everything would okay. I could lie to myself for a few hours, I could delay my decision until later. And so, I walked towards the cabin and got ready for breakfast.
The rest of the day passed in a blur. I taught Chi, how to use a sword and a shield, she learned quickly, although it was hard to find armour that fit her small frame. I couldn't help laughing when I saw that her helmet was way too large for her head, so it slid to the side. She tried to walk in the armour but it was slowing her down so instead of walking she was shuffling. I remembered when I used to look like that when I first came to camp, honestly, I probably still looked like that.
I ran into the Ares cabin and tried not to laugh when I noticed the huge red bite marks all over their faces. Man, I was going to have to reward Gary with a rat after that prank. Unfortunately, my joy was short lived as they glared at me, threatening my very existence. That's when Clarisse came forward, laughed at me, and told me to wait for tonight.
And within a few hours, tonight came. The moonlight cast an eerie glow over the forest, I grabbed my weapons and armour and walked towards the boundary between the camp and the forest. Annabeth was looking over last minute plans and telling everyone their positions. I comforted Chi, and made my way to the front line, next to Luke and some Apollo campers.
"Be careful," Luke said to me, "the Ares campers are planning something, don't do anything stupid."
I looked over at the other side. The Ares team consisted of every cabin except Hermes, Apollo and Athena, although their numbers weren't as large because we had the two biggest cabins. Clarisse was running around yelling at people to be prepared. Just then Chiron came to the front and gave his usual speech of no maiming or no dessert. I had a feeling those rules wouldn't protect me today, I could abort the plan, but I kind of wanted to know what the Ares kids were planning. The flag bearers came up, the blue one for our team, and the red one for Ares. And then the game commenced, everyone ran into the woods.
I saw Luke and his group head to the left, so I went to the right. The woods were creepy at night. The light from the moon cast shadows off the trees and made them look as if they were moving. I could hear monster cries in the distance. I stepped over the creek into enemy territory and decided to find the flag quickly so I could get out of here. I threw my helmet to the ground as it was slowing me down and started to run through the woods, careful not be seen by any guards. I nearly jumped out of my skin when I heard talking behind me, only to realize it was just some Aphrodite kids, complaining about how their armour didn't match what they were wearing. I moved out of their line of their view and continued walking forward. The further I ran into the woods, the darker it got as if the moon had just given up trying to light beneath the trees. I could barely see what was in front of me so I had to slow down. I took out one of my daggers, and let the celestial bronze glow illuminate ahead of me. Thinking I would make a good shish-kabob for monsters, hey look armour included, I stumbled my way along until I saw it.
A dull red glow could be seen between the branches of a small tree. They placed the flag in a tree, that would be hard to get with the guards standing below it. According to rules, there could only be two guards protecting the flag. I put my dagger away and let my eyes adjust to the dark. Then I spotted the two Ares kids standing under the tree. Distraction time. I rustled the undergrowth and swore in ancient Greek. I looked back at the guards, nothing, they hadn't even moved an inch. I inched forward and made myself visible to them, and got ready to run. They looked right at me but ignored me. Deciding that they must have gotten used to me, and how I always ran away, I decided to take initiative, I would try and take the flag myself.
I was about to move forward until I felt a sharp jab in my leg that made me double up in pain. My skin felt like it was burning. Impossible there wasn't allowed to be another guard in the area, the rules said there could only be two. Someone picked me up by the back of my armour as if I weighed nothing and brought me to the center of the clearing.
"Did you really think I wouldn't notice what you were doing." A voice I knew shouted out.
"Yes," I muttered.
"Don't take me for a fool Carelli," the voice shouted, "You really are naive if would think something like that."
I looked up and saw I was surrounded by five Ares campers, and in the midst of them stood Clarisse yielding a massive spear, covered in something red. With a lurch I realized that was my blood, how much had I been bleeding? I managed to stand up and look her in the eye.
"You do realize, these three weeks were just a test, don't you?" Clarisse said
"A test for what?" I bit back
"To see how useful you could be. Honestly, you really are stupid if you didn't notice Annabeth was using you, to see how she could use you." Clarisse retorted
"She would never do something like that." I stuttered
"If it means she would win, of course, she would. You could be useful Carelli you're fast, but really all you are is a coward, you hide in the shadows and pull pranks on people, and she knows that. Unfortunately for her, she won't be able to use you anymore."
My stomach lurched, and I realized what she meant, I wouldn't be of any use, she was going to injure me so bad I wouldn't be able to move. Suddenly one of the Ares goons picked me up, I struggled in his grasp but it was no use, his grip was like the claw of a lobster. He kind of looked like one too.
"Think of this as payback for everything you've done Carelli," Clarisse sneered.
"Why did you wait three weeks?" I asked, "Because you weren't smart enough to figure out what I was doing earlier?"
Clarisse snarled. "You can have as many plans as you like in war, but without an army, you can't do anything."
Three weeks, chances to recruit more people to her side. Enough people to delay Luke and his group from getting here for long enough so she could hurt me. I was just a tool to get back at Annabeth, I was just an object, a mere sacrifice. I struggled even more, but my left leg was burning. Clarisse raised her spear, and I panicked. I really was about to become a human shish-kabob. A searing pain hit my chest, and I bit back a scream. I thrust out my right leg out of pain, and because lobster kid was taller, I hit him right between the legs. He doubled over in pain and I took that moment to run.
"You run, Carelli, because that's all you're good for," Clarisse yelled
But I didn't look back, she was right, and that's why it hurt so bad. Because it was the truth. I was a coward. Run, that's all I ever did. For one week that's all, I did when the monsters kept chasing me, run. Whenever I was in a fight, I ran. Whenever I was scared, I ran. Because I lacked strength, I lacked courage, damn it I was just a stupid little kid, thinking I had become stronger when I was just the same person as I was two years ago, a coward. I would never be of use to anyone. I had been used by a ten-year-old girl.
I finally, stopped running when I crossed the stream into our territory, and I doubled over in pain. I clutched my stomach, a large red gash ran across it. I didn't have any ambrosia or nectar with me, so I just sat in front of a tree waiting until the game was over. I didn't pay attention to who won, but I assumed it was our side as cheers broke out. The pain wasn't too bad, it looked worse than it felt, mostly it was just a reminder of my cowardice. I guess that's how Luke felt with his scar, it was just a reminder of his failure. I limped out of the forest and started to head back to the cabin to get my stock of ambrosia, but I was stopped by Luke
"Tony, Tony are you okay?" he grabbed my shoulders and looked at me with concern.
"Yeah, I'm fine." I brushed him off, I wasn't in the mood for talking with him right now.
He bent down and looked at my leg. "You're not okay." He looked around and reached into his bag. I stopped him
"I'm fine" I snapped.
He paused and looked at me. I couldn't look him in the eyes, I was just a failure.
"I'm not talking just about the cuts." He said.
"I'm just rattled, it's fine." And with that, I stalked off into the cabin. He would never understand, he was strong, I'm sure he never felt afraid of anything. I wished I could be like him. I was just so frustrated at myself for never getting stronger. I ate my ambrosia, quickly not bothering to savour it like I usually did. My wounds healed mostly and the pain went away, the only remains of them were a red outline which would fade in a few weeks. I was going to have word with Annabeth.
When I finally found her, she was all alone. I was about to confront her when she turned to face me.
"You have to go on that quest." she said
"So Luke told you then," I muttered. "But what use would he have for a coward like me huh."
Annabeth turned away.
"I don't like being used, or tested or whatever." I snarled
She turned to face me. "Maybe it was wrong to use you like that, to test what you could do, but if you were a real coward you wouldn't have even gone into enemy territory. Maybe you get scared sometimes but we all do, and I'm sorry for not telling you how I needed to learn what use you could be."
Was she trying to trick me? I looked into her grey eyes, no she was telling the truth, I was just an idiot for not noticing it earlier. My anger faded
"So why do I need to go on this quest," I asked her
She sighed sadly, "You know that tree on the border, that used to be a girl, named Thalia. Luke, Thalia and I travelled together-"
"I know that Annabeth," I interrupted
"Well basically," she continued, "We met Luke's father, Hermes one time, and after that encounter, he got angrier and more reckless, I didn't notice it at first, but every monster we came across he would start a fight with. Eventually, we were so overwhelmed we barely made it to Camp Half-Blood, and we lost Thalia on the way. When Luke gets angry, he gets reckless, you can't let that happen, don't let him get hurt."
I stared at her wide-eyed. "Me protect Luke, I'm pretty sure it'll be the other way around,"
Annabeth looked at me with her intense grey eyes. "I'm serious, you have to make sure he doesn't do anything stupid. This entire quest is based on anger, he's going to go wrong somewhere, and you, have to be there to make sure it doesn't happen."
I nodded my head, I had made up my mind I would be going on this quest. Whatever decision I had to make, whether for the gods or in Luke's favour, I had to make the right choice. Someone would need to be there with him to make sure he didn't get reckless. I could do that, and besides, I may not be strong enough yet, but this time I would have Luke, and he's strong. I'll be fine
"Annabeth," I started, "The purpose of this quest, what do you think of it?"
"I don't know, but freeing Momus, to anger the gods, doesn't seem like a wise decision."
And with that, she walked off and left me staring into the night.
I packed my bag, I was surprisingly efficient with it, I guess my father being the god of travelers and such. Clothes? Check. Ambrosia and nectar? Check. Swords, toiletries, and sleeping bag? Check, check, check. Magic items? Oh, wait I don't have any. I said goodbye to my friends in the cabin, I lied and told them I was heading home for a bit. I walked towards the big house at midnight and peered inside. To my surprise, Mr.D was nowhere to be seen. Thank the gods, I don't think he would have approved of two demigods bothering him at twelve o'clock. Inside I could see Luke arguing with Chiron. From this angle Chiron looked almost a hundred years older, he kept shaking his head at what Luke was saying, while Luke kept getting angrier.
"Chiron I need to do this, I can make things right," Luke said
"We can't risk any more quests going astray Luke," Chiron sighed
"This is something I have to do," Luke retorted
I walked in at that moment. Luke looked towards me and smiled. Chiron frowned when he saw me.
"Are you going along with this as well, Anthony?" Chiron asked me
"For different reasons, but yes," I responded
I looked him straight in the eyes and willed him to understand what I meant when I said that. Whether I went or not, Luke would still go, I needed to be there to make sure nothing went wrong like it did on his previous quest. I wasn't one hundred percent sure whether I was going to free Momus or not, but I didn't plan on it, I didn't want to anger the gods, the only problem was how I'd not make Luke angry.
"Luke would you please leave the room for a moment," Chiron asked not as a request, but more of an order.
When he left Chiron turned to face me. "There is so much you haven't learned yet Anthony, but I've learned it's best not to tell of a hero's fate, but let me tell you this. Luke's future is dark, and unfortunately, this quest may be the starting point of what turns him to the wrong side."
"What do you mean?" I asked. "I don't understand."
"Little can change a hero's fate. You may have already realized this but you are faced with a great decision. Let me warn you, others may sway your choice, but in the end, think not of yourself or those close to you, but of the decision that will help the greater good." Chiron called Luke back in.
I blinked slowly. Luke, a dark fate? He was my hero, my admiration. How could he turn to the dark side? That's when it dawned on me. Chiron was right, I had even seen it. When Luke came back from his quest he had been angrier, was that his darkness? Would he become even more bitter? I looked helplessly at Chiron but he didn't return my gaze. Luke walked up towards the attic, and without thinking I followed him. I needed to hear the prophecy too. I waited outside the door leading into the attic and pressed my ear against it.
I had heard terrible stories of the oracle and how it drove some people to madness. For once I was glad I was missing out, I really didn't want to see the oracle, but I needed to know what it said. I heard a strange hissing sound and green smoke poured out from under the door. An ancient and creaky voice that sounded suspiciously like a snake started to speak.
"Two shall travel West to the start of the sea
Soon in their journey those two shall be three
Heroes take heed, a betrayal lies in wait
This foredoomed quest shall start the cursed one's fate
One choice based on Justice alone
Will cause damages too deep to atone
But in the end their cause adrift
Between gods and half-bloods there will soon be a rift"
I backed away from the door before Luke came out. Foredoomed quest? Yay, we were already doomed. But it wasn't that line that bothered me- a betrayal lies in wait. Could that be me? Was I already betraying Luke by not really wanting to help him? This quest was meant to fail from the beginning, but it had to happen. If there was a prophecy for it than this quest had to happen, and unfortunately for me, I was going to be part of it.
Luke must not have liked what he heard because he didn't tell Chiron the prophecy when he asked him. I didn't tell Chiron either, but I had a feeling he already knew the consequences of this quest
"You ready?" Luke asked me
I nodded my head. I took one final look at Chiron and noticed how sad he looked. I couldn't help wondering how many heroes he had seen take a journey like this before, how many heroes he had trained only to see them fail. And with that, we stepped out the door and into the darkness of night.
