Disclaimer: Rick Riordan can launch blasts of superheated plasma at fanfiction authors playing in the Percy Jackson universe with a mere thought. No word on whether it can reach fanfiction readers as well. Caveat lector.
A Curse of Prophecy
Chapter Three
A New Prophecy
My first thought, as my brain struggles to restore my surroundings to clarity, is to wonder exactly how many layers of déjà vu one can experience before one loses any last shred of sanity.
"Will?" I try to open my eyes, but I only get a blurry blonde head to match with the soft female voice before I have to shut them again. Blonde? I don't usually see fair hair when waking up from being knocked out. The sad fact that there is a "usually" involved when I think about waking up from being knocked out doesn't escape me.
"Is he awake already?" A male voice this time, killing the déjà vu. I remember now: I'm in the Percy Jackson universe now. Couldn't I be transported to a less hostile universe sometime? Perhaps one universe to the left? But then, considering my library of books and video games, that seems rather optimistic. In fact, now that I think about it, I could have done much, much worse.
I make a groaning, grunting sound that is meant to be an affirmative reply.
"You said several hours, before," the girl—Annabeth, I correct myself—said, "but it's only been two."
Huh, I haven't lost my touch, I guess. "Where—?" My tongue feels thick from the unnatural slumber and my head is pounding something fierce, so I stop to swallow and scrape my tongue against my teeth, trying to force some blood into it. "Where are we?"
"Camp Half-blood," Percy says, the weariness in his voice suddenly breaking through the fuzzy barrier surrounding my awareness. "We just got back."
"We didn't want to try giving you Nectar, um, since we don't know if..." Annabeth trails off, eyes widening slightly and flickering to Daedalus.
He didn't miss the implication. "Don't know if you're a demigod? But surely..." Daedalus trails off as well.
"Hecate was around when the Titans were in power," Annabeth says slowly, her eyes pointed toward nothing, unfocused as her thoughts churned behind them. "She's older than Zeus, and one of the few beings to retain her power after he cast down Kronos."
I blink at the non sequitur. My brain is too fuzzy to follow her train of thought.
Percy makes a sour face. "She's a Titan? But I thought—"
"They aren't really separate," Annabeth cuts him off, anticipating his question. "Gods and Titans are both immortal beings, we just call them different things based on which side they took." She looks back at me and opens her mouth to continue, but seems to change her mind.
"I can see your thoughts churning, Annabeth," I croak out, getting her back on track. Percy raised his eyebrows at me. "What have you got?"
She shakes her head. "It's...nothing...just thinking of possible—"
A sour, wrinkly-faced, gray-haired satyr bursts through the door, cutting her off. A barrel-chested, shaggy brown-haired centaur enters just behind him. "Silenus, you mustn't—"
"What are you?" The satyr, Silenus, it must be, asks bluntly.
"We were hoping you might help with that," Annabeth answered for me, then turned to me. "Silenus is the...he's on the Council of Cloven Elders," she explains, slightly emphasizing the last word, as if I need her to tell me the guy is old. Or perhaps she is just insulting him, I can't tell.
"Tutored Mr. D. himself," the centaur adds helpfully.
Okay, that's way older than I thought. Satyrs actually tutored Gods?
"And I'm Chiron, activities coordinator here at Camp Half-blood. This young lady here—" he gestures to Rachel, who had apparently snuck in beside him, "—tells me you got them out of a tight spot in Quintus' workshop."
Daedalus looks away from Chiron's intimidating gaze.
"He did," Annabeth confirms. "It was the most incredible—"
"This is no son of Hecate," Silenus cuts back in, fixing me with a glare. "You are neither demigod nor monster. Yet you do not smell like a normal human, either, like this one." He also gestures to Rachel, and takes a moment to glare at her as well before turning back to me. "So I ask again: what are you?"
Shocked silence blankets the cabin. I look to Annabeth for support, but she's now being held back slightly by Percy. His hand is in his pocket, no doubt grasping the pen form of his sword.
"I...I don't know," I say, my face heating.
"Liar!" Silenus shouts, pointing an accusing finger at me.
"Stop it!" Annabeth yells. "He's a friend, okay? That's all that matters!"
She glances at Percy, then elbows him in the kidney. "Uh, she's right. He's had plenty of time to betray us," he says, looking pointedly at Daedalus, "but he hasn't."
"But then, sometimes it takes awhile before the betrayal becomes evident," Chiron adds, disappointment clear in his voice. He didn't look like someone that could pull it off, but judging by how everyone in the room other than Silenus started studying their shoes, he certainly had the 'disappointed parent' voice down pat.
"I'm sorry, okay?" If Daedalus still had a human body, his face would probably be beet red. "I made a bad decision, and I paid for it."
Chiron arches an eyebrow at him.
"Okay, a lot of bad decisions over a long stretch of time, and I'll be paying for it the rest of my life. Happy?"
Chiron opens his mouth to reply, but the door bursts open once again to reveal a tall, tanned man with light brown hair wearing leather armor and bracers. My eyes flicker to the long, bronze-capped wooden bow and a quiver of arrows slung across his back, and a memory tickles my fuzzed brain. Chiron recovers more quickly. "Lee? What is—?"
He trails off when Lee quickly steps in the doorway and off to the side. I freeze in fear as a skeletal, human-shaped creature with stretched, gray skin shambles in behind him. The thin, leathery bag of bones is vaguely recognizable as female, based on the clothing and hair, but from the complete lack of musculature that I can see it should be physically impossible for her to walk. And yet, she continues her unnatural and mechanical gait...directly at me. Nobody says a word as she halts at my bedside, and I fight every instinct to run even though nobody else is. Her sunken eyes are closed, for which I am quite thankful...until she opens them a moment later.
I stare into a black void for a moment that feels like an eternity, then I flinch back at the sudden emergence of dull blue light in her eyes and the grating rasp of a voice.
The Traveler must travel o'er many seas
To seek the Seeker and hear her pleas,
To trade with Traders of many faces,
And betray the Betrayers from many places.
Free the daughter, trapped on her isle,
Convince the mother with three smiles.
A heroine of charm and a heroine of deceit
Must bring home the lady to avoid defeat.
I barely notice the blue light wink out, and the Oracle—as I finally realize she must be—turns awkwardly and shambles back out through stunned silence.
Percy, surprisingly, is the first one to recover. "Um...what?"
That sets off a chain reaction of excited chatter, and only then do I realize much of the camp had followed the Oracle to hear the prophecy. "SILENCE!" Chiron bellows and the throng of demigods obey.
"It's impossible, Chiron," Silenus protests in the sudden quiet, "we don't even know—"
"The Oracle has spoken, Silenus," Chiron counters. "There can be none here who doubt that the prophecy was delivered to our visitor."
"The Traveler," Annabeth murmurs, looking at me strangely.
"It said to seek the Seeker," Percy says. "That must mean Grover! We have to help!"
"No, the Seeker in this prophecy is female," Annabeth points out. "To seek the Seeker and hear her pleas."
"And I fear your quest is not yet at an end, Percy," Chiron says. "Has Annabeth's prophecy been fulfilled?"
Percy looks chagrined and shoots Annabeth an apologetic look. "Well, what about the daughter trapped on her isle, that must mean Calypso, right? Will she...can she finally be free?" His voice is strained; I had forgotten he actually considered staying with her. Was that in this book? She's the one cursed to fall in love with heroes sent to her that can never stay. It's such a horrible fate; a reminder that the gods are not exactly benevolent around here. I wouldn't mind giving that rescue mission a shot, though it would mean going against the gods.
Annabeth bites her lip, clearly torn as to how to feel about that. "I don't think so. The mother with three smiles is a giveaway for Hecate."
"An astute observation, Annabeth," Chiron says, "and most likely correct. I had initially taken that to mean the Traveller would have to make the mother smile three times."
"I'm sorry, Will. I think you'll have to go to Circe's Island," she says with a grimace.
Percy's expression mirrors hers. "I don't suppose you can stop yourself becoming a guinea pig, can you?"
"I'll give it a shot," I say, feeling a bit nauseated at the thought of pitting my magic against a goddess. And that's only assuming I can get past the monsters guarding the island. Scylla and Charybdis, I believe Annabeth called them.
"What was that bit about Traders?" Daedalus asks suddenly. The group around my bed turn to look at him. "Was it traders, or traitors?" He emphasizes the 'D' and the 'T' respectively, and I realize I'm not sure either.
"An apt question, Quintus," Chiron says meaningfully, rubbing his beard. "The Oracle's voice was unclear."
"Traders makes more sense—" Percy begins.
"—but traitors is more dangerous," Annabeth finishes, glaring at Daedalus. "Prophecies are always vague, that this one included ambiguous words is not surprising."
"Indeed," Chiron said, shifting as if in preparation to leave. The others seemed to pick up on this as well. "We shall discuss this once our Traveler is recovered and we've had the story from the Labyrinth. Then, tonight, following our welcome and farewell feast, our new quest shall embark."
At that clear dismissal, Lee steps out of the cabin and shouts that the show is over and they're returning to archery practice. Silenus grumpily takes his leave as well, leaving our original party and Chiron. Rachel has a far-off look in her eyes, and she seems to be softly repeating the prophecy over and over. Annabeth looks at me worriedly, then turns away and won't meet my eyes. Daedalus is studying the floor, and Chiron is staring through the door, probably pondering what just happened.
"We have to go back in," Percy says, breaking the silence. "We have to find Grover."
"Luke is probably marching Kronos' forces through the Labyrinth right now," Daedalus argues. "It's too dangerous. We have to guard the entrance."
"There is another way," a small voice says from the darkest corner, making me jump. I hadn't even realized Nico di Angelo was there. His sharp eyes are on Daedalus. Ah, yes, the Labyrinth is tied to his life, that's how the book ended.
Annabeth catches on, too. "But, won't he—?"
"—die, yes," Daedalus says woodenly.
"No!" Percy shouts. "We have to get Grover and Tyson out first! We have to find them!"
Chiron studies each of us in turn. "We have no way of knowing where Kronos' forces are..."
"But—" Percy begins to interrupt.
"But," Chiron says with a hand up to stave him off, "we cannot ask Quintus to do this. Just, please, come back before they arrive. We will need every bit of help we can get."
His grim voice makes me feel pretty bad about leaving...not to mention probably taking two demigods with me. Of course, I'm also rather relieved to miss the battle. If I recall correctly, there are some messed up monsters on their way here. "Are you sure you wouldn't like me to postpone the quest until after the battle?" I ask anyway.
"I can vouch for his ability," Daedalus speaks up. "He vaporized an empousa and a Laistrygonian giant with a single Pyrokinetic blast the likes of which I've never seen."
Chiron's eyebrows jump at that. "Indeed?"
"I thought he used Misty-whatever," Percy says, glancing at Annabeth with a questioning look.
"There aren't very clear lines drawn between them," Annabeth says thoughtfully. "It could be either...if Hephaestus cabin saw what he did, they'd certainly claim him as a brother just as strongly as Lou Ellen. She's the eldest child of Hecate we know of. Technically unclaimed, but the Mystiokinesis gives her away." She adds that last for my benefit. I certainly don't remember her, but the way she phrases it reminds me that the only the twelve Olympians have cabins at the moment. It isn't until the second series that they change that. "Either way, what he did knocked him out for hours. It's too dangerous."
I didn't know whether to feel offended or relieved. "He's leading a quest, you know," Percy chimes in sarcastically. "Those tend to be a bit dangerous."
Chiron continues rubbing his beard, frowning in thought. "The end of the prophecy said, 'a heroine of charm and a heroine of deceit must bring home the lady to avoid defeat.' It would be folly to keep you here if there's a chance we need this lady to avoid defeat."
That point makes my blood run cold. Here's the thing: they already would have won if I hadn't shown up. What did I do to screw that up? Or what will I do? Last time I just saved a few people and moved up the timeline. This time, my presence may have doomed all of Camp Halfblood, or, based on what I remember, potentially even Olympus itself.
The pressure of it threatens to overwhelm me. This must be how the main characters feel all the time. I look up at Percy with what I'm sure is a haunted look, but he either misunderstands or thinks he's being helpful by giving me a thumbs up.
Yeah, not helpful.
"But there's no way he'll be finished so quickly," Daedalus continues, apparently unaware of my internal turmoil.
"I agree it is unlikely," Chiron admits, "especially if he has to travel to Circe's Island, and if that's only the first of 'many seas.' But perhaps we can take heart in that. After all, surely we will survive the coming battle if we are to avoid the defeat mentioned in the prophecy." He turns to me. "Taking all this into consideration, I do not believe it's worth the risk to keep you here, even at the cost of two of our number. As impressive as your abilities sound, I believe it best for you to be off as quickly as your recovery will allow. That goes for you, as well, Percy, Annabeth."
"And me," Rachel says defiantly, finally shaking herself out of her odd trance she'd been in since the Oracle. If I didn't already know that she'll become the Oracle in a year or so, it would seem like odd behavior. She moves purposefully to stand by Percy. "They'll need me if they're going back into the Labyrinth." Well, I guess she is undeterred by my words about angst last night. Well, either that, or she's happy to take advantage of Percy's cluelessness to rankle Annabeth. I wouldn't put it past her.
Annabeth looks like she sucked on a lemon for a moment, but she quickly hides it. "Nico? Will you help as well?"
He doesn't bother hiding his sour expression at that. "I'm not staying here, I might as well go along."
"We could use your help here, Quintus," Chiron says. The message is clear: Daedalus will be staying in Chiron's sight as much as possible.
He merely nods in acquiescence, keeping his head bowed. For such an old man, he is kind of a pushover...it's no surprise Luke was able to convince him to help Kronos. To be fair, though, I guess he hasn't spent much time among the living.
"We'll leave at the same time," Annabeth offers.
"No, that's okay," I say quickly. My voice doesn't tremble as much as I expect. I hope. I remember that Percy, Annabeth, Nico, and Rachel took the wings from Daedalus' workshop and took a detour trying to find another entrance, so hopefully, they'll have enough time to help Grover and Tyson. "Thanks for the offer, but I don't want to hold you up...not with your friends down there."
Percy stiffens at that reminder, and I could tell I got Annabeth with it, too. She bites her lip. "You'll be okay here by yourself?"
I force a smile at her concern and feel like I should tease her, but it quickly fades as she reminds me of another girl from another life. "I'll be alright," I say, forcing a smile.
"It sounds like he'll have a heroine of charm and a heroine of deceit to keep him company soon enough," Percy says with a smirk.
Unexpectedly I cough out a laugh, despite the continued reminders of my past. "Going on a quest with two beautiful ladies...it's positively awful I tell you."
Rachel crosses her arms. "How do you know they'll be beautiful?"
I smile mischievously at the trio. "Who said I was talking about my quest?"
Annabeth did not find that amusing.
The trio heading back into the Labyrinth sticks around a little longer until I reassure them satisfactorily that I will, in fact, be okay by myself. After all, I made it this long without a pair of demigod companions, didn't I? It feels a little odd sending them on their way when the last time I did this I stuck with the main characters the whole time. Way to completely wipe out any advantage my foreknowledge gives me, Oracle of Delphi!
"Take care of yourself, Will," Annabeth says worriedly, then leans over to give me a hug. "Come back to us," she adds in a whisper.
"I will," I say far more confidently than I feel. It reminds me of a similar promise I'd broken not too far in the past.
"And thank you for your help in the Labyrinth," she says with a meaningful look. I think she means more than just the fight at the end.
"Yeah, thanks for that," Percy says, clapping me on the shoulder. "And good luck."
"Good luck?" Rachel asks incredulously. "Good luck? That's the best you've got?"
"Hey, it was a heartfelt good luck," Percy says defensively.
"And I felt it in my heart," I say. "I can feel my luck is far gooder than it was before."
"You're welcome," Percy replies, just as deadpan.
"Boys are weird," Rachel says, breaking the false solemnity and causing Percy and me to chuckle.
"But at least we speak plainly," I counter, causing her to blush and resolutely avoid looking at Percy and Annabeth.
"Well, you do make things interesting, so I guess I'll miss you," she says.
I laugh. "I guess it's up to you to make sure things don't get boring, then, isn't it?"
"I guess so," she says with a smile, which quickly fades as she looks at me. No, not at me...through me. She opens her mouth to say something, but her lip trembles and tears start to form in her eyes, so she pulls me into a hug. "I'm sorry," she whispers in my ear, "for what is coming."
The blood drains from my face. Rachel is going to be the Oracle, and she's not just talking in generalities. "Shit," I breathe. All that pressure I felt before comes roaring back.
Nobody chides me on my language, and Rachel hugs me tighter.
After several moments of silence, Chiron clears his throat and quietly-somehow-makes his way to my bedside. His sudden nearness is so unexpected that it almost jars me out of the deep funk in which I was about to lose myself. Almost. Rachel slips away, and suddenly I feel...weak...lost. I can't bear to see such pity, so I don't meet her eyes. "William," Chiron begins in what I recognize as the voice of a lecturer, "the demigods here learn from a very early age what it is to be courageous. It is not the lack of fear that marks them, but the willingness to go on despite it. Admittedly I know very little of you and your history, but single-handedly defeating both an empousa and a Laistrygonian giant in a single blow is a feat everyone in this camp would struggle to replicate."
Murmured agreement ripples through my former companions.
"And know this: the Oracle of Delphi does not give prophecies lightly. You were fated to undertake this quest, and that means it is within your power to succeed. It will not be easy; it may require pain, sacrifice, difficult decisions, tests of strength or knowledge...but you can overcome it. You can succeed, no, you will succeed, if only you reach out and grasp every advantage given to you."
Out of the corner of my eye I could see Percy and Annabeth stand up straighter.
"But most importantly, you will not be alone. Your companions are your strength; trust them. Trust them, trust yourself, and trust the gods that watch over you, and you will succeed."
"Chiron..." Annabeth says, and I know she's feeling the pins and needles that I am. Percy looks like he's ready to punch a mountain in half, Rachel is staring at the centaur in awe, and so, surprisingly, is Nico.
"That goes for the four of you as well," he says, sweeping his gaze over them. "Come, let's get you some fresh supplies and send you on your way. Quintus, fetch a healer from Apollo cabin for William, then meet us at the entrance to the Labyrinth."
Daedalus gives us one last look, nods sharply, then strides out of the cabin. Annabeth squeezes my shoulder one last time. "We'll see you when you get back."
"When you get back," Percy repeats firmly.
Rachel takes my hand in both of hers and squeezes it. I finally raise my eyes to meet hers, but they are locked on our hands. "Trust," she says. "I trust you will do what is best. Chiron is right, it had to be you. It has to be you."
I give her a half-smile. I'm sure she has some vague idea of what will happen, but dwelling on it now will do no good. I recall Chiron's words about courage, and that I said something similar to a young boy once, though the centaur said it a million times better. "Please be careful, Rachel. They need you. This camp needs you."
Her eyes snap up to mine, wide with surprise.
"Courage," I say, squeezing her hand lightly. I start to say I'll see her later, but the words don't feel right.
"Courage," she agrees, then drops my hand and follows Percy and Annabeth out.
It is only after she leaves that I realize Nico had already slipped out without my noticing. I shift the pillows behind me and lie back, starting to think about the prophecy, and who I might ask to accompany me, but I could tell that line of thought would make my headache worse. I turn my senses inward and try to gently prod my magic, which makes me wince in pain. It feels...thin, stretched. "Like butter, scraped over too much bread," I say dramatically into the silence. Wrong fantasy series.
The door opens before I can chuckle at my own amusing thoughts. "Hello," a pretty, athletic blonde girl with a kind smile says from the doorway. The obnoxiously orange camp tee wraps tightly around her upper body, held in place with straps from her quiver of arrows and her bow.
I see no healing supplies, though. "Hello."
"I'm Kayla from Cabin Seven-sorry, that's Apollo cabin."
"William—"
"Lerner, I heard. Lots of excitement going around here. The whole Camp knows your life story, by now." I doubt that. I smile anyway, though. "Anyway, I'm just here to try and sing you to sleep, so make yourself comfortable."
I start to do so when her words hit me. "Wait, what? Did you say sing me to sleep?"
"Well, yes," she says, somewhat embarrassed. "We're not sure if it'll work, but..."
"It's worth a try."
She nods. "It will be a peaceful sleep, I promise. I'm...pretty good at it."
I smile at her modesty. "Tell the truth, you're the best, aren't you?"
"Well, with men...probably," she says with a blush.
"Well, now you've got me intrigued." I start to sit up to ask more questions, but she starts shaking her head.
"Uh uh, lay back and get comfortable, mister."
"Okay, okay," I say. I fix my pillows, lay back, stretch my whole body, then relax. "Whenever you're ready."
I hear about two Ancient Greek words that I don't understand before I'm fast asleep.
A/N:
Since the demigods didn't have to escape Daedalus' workshop (I leave how they defeated the last Laistrygonian giant and chased off Minos to your imagination), they took the Labyrinth straight back to Camp Half-blood. In canon, they go to New York to drop off Rachel, then fly back to camp..
In some classical literature, Silenus is a satyr older than the gods, and he did indeed tutor Dionysus.
I actually had the first bit written over a year ago, but I looked at the last paragraph of the first scene and realized I had an opportunity to show far more character interactions with the main canon characters. That one paragraph blew up into a full two-thirds of this chapter.
Apollo children can heal people by singing a song to their father. I think that's from the wiki, but once again I wrote that sentence a year ago so I don't remember the source. That might be something from classical literature, too, I have no idea. Anyhow, I figure to heal I need sleep, so that's what happens when Kayla does it. Kayla (along with her brother, who appears in the next chapter) appears in The Last Olympian at the Battle of Manhattan, but that is the only time they are mentioned in canon.
Now that I'm editing this years later, I'm kinda proud of Chiron's speech. Also, now that I'm editing this years later, did you notice that Annabeth was thinking out loud and about to make some kind of hypothesis about me until she got interrupted? I either forgot to go back to it, or it was meant to be foreshadowing. Dun dun! Spoiler alert: I have no idea where I was going with that.
