The Standoff
I found Zigger just about to cross the stream. I took my sword and held down the second button. The green fire shot out. Zigger tried to dodge, but it hit his metal leg. The mini furnace blew up, and metal and hot coal was everywhere!
"WHAT? NO! You'll pay for this!" Said Zigger. A knife came out of the spot where his fake leg was. It was the same length as his other leg. He began to swing it around trying to hit me with it. There was only one thing I could do. I took my sword, and pressed the third button. A blinding flash came out of the sword. Zigger blocked his eyes and lost balance. Suddenly, Will passed the stream with the other team's flag in his hand. Zigger let out a deafening scream like a little girl. Some other kids from the Hephaestus cabin picked him up off the ground.
"I will settle this Will! And you!" He pointed to me, "You won't get away with this! Now I have something to settle with you! I will get you two back, one of these days!" Will and I high fived, thanked the Hermes cabin for their help, then headed back to the cabin. When we got there all we wanted to do was sleep, sleep, and sleep. And we did so.
The next morning we walked down to the dining pavilion. For breakfast we had pancakes, and French toast. I put a piece of French toast, and a pancake on my plate. I put the piece of French toast on the bottom, and the pancake on the top, with syrup in the middle. I did it all the time at my house.
"Well. Zigger seems pretty mad about his leg. It took him a month to make. And that's working three hours a day." Said Will.
"Wow. It must have meant a lot to him." I said.
"Oh it did. He didn't wear it around until a month after he made it. He hid it in his storage." Said Will.
"Wait! Where's Narron!" I leaped from my table and dashed to Half-Blood hill.
"Who-Ron?" Wondered Will.
"NARRON!" I called. Suddenly the dirt began to move around and Narron popped out.
"Morning Jack." Said Narron. I let out a breath and sat down on a rock.
"I was worried you ran off." I said
"You were worried about me?"
"What? Of course not."
"Anyways, good work on capture the flag last night." Said Narron.
"What? How do you know about capture the flag?"
"The whole camp is talking about it. You stood up to that bully. How heroic." Said Narron.
"I wasn't trying to be heroic I just wanted to win." I said.
"Well, you put him in crutches." Said Narron.
"Jackson! Get inside. Meet me at the big house." Said Chiron.
"Am I in trouble?" I asked.
"Don't ask any questions. Just meet me at the house." Chiron ran back into the camp. Narron said farewell and buried himself underground. I ran to the big house. Bobby and Kali where waiting inside for me.
"Jackson. Sit down." Said Chiron. I took a seat next to Bobby.
"Do you know why I called you here today?" Asked Chiron.
"No sir." We all said.
"Poseidon sent me a Iris-message. He told me to send a group of Half-bloods to Mount Olympus immediately for a quest. And I thought that since, Kali hasn't been on a quest for years, and you two haven't been on a quest period, so I thought that I would send you guys."
"Yes sir! I'm definitely up to it!" Said Kali. Chiron stared at her for a few seconds, and she sat down.
"It's not your choice Kali. You will only go if Jackson is up for it. So Jackson, what do you say?" Kali was staring at me mouthing, please, please, please. Bobby obviously felt the same way, he was nibbling on a Coca Cola can. They put me under so much pressure. Shake your groove thing shake your groove thing. My phone rang. I pulled it out of my pocket. Chiron jumped from his chair, pulled out a sword, and sliced it in two.
"What was that for?" I asked.
"Do you realize what you've done? Having a phone is like telling monsters exactly where you are. They're probably on their way to camp by now." Said Chiron.
"Okay I'm sorry."
"Never mind. Are you up for the challenge?"
"Yes. Of course." Kali jumped up and rejoiced, then sat back down in embarrassment.
"Good. I got you all these magic backpacks." Said Chiron. He pulled them out of a drawer.
"Look at this." He unzipped the backpack, and put his entire body in it. He pulled himself out of the backpack.
"They have enough space to fit five TV's, and ten computers. And you can widen the entrance to the bag. Jackson, we sent a few men to your house to grab your things." He put his hands on both sides of the backpack and pulled. It began to widen. He put it back in its ordinary size and handed us each one.
"Good luck on your quest. Pack your bags, and Argus, head of security will meet you out front in an hour after you see the oracle. I'll-"
"What oracle?" I asked.
"The oracle gives prophecies to all the campers before they go on quests. Kali will show you. I'll see you all by the winter solstice." Said Chiron. Kali ran up and hugged him. I could tell that the two were close.
"Goodbye, my dear." Said Chiron.
"Goodbye Chiron." Said Kali. Bobby headed back to his cabin, and Kali took me to see the oracle, who was apparently a girl named Rachel. We finally tracked her down talking to some Hephaestus kids about the capture the flag game last night. I walked up to her.
"Hi. I'm Jackson. We're supposed to get a prophecy from you or something?" Rachel froze for a second, and suddenly her eyes turned green and smoke poured out of her mouth.
You will seek and find Poseidon's son,
But first go astray into the land beyond,
An unlikely gift will help you succeed,
But your success is short-lived,
So rest not easily
"There ya go!" Rachel said after returning to normal, and continued talking to the Hephaestus kid. Right before I started to leave with Kali, Rachel said, "Oh! By the way, you might want to avoid Zigger for a while – he's pretty mad."
"Uh, thanks." I said; like I didn't know that Zigger would chop off my head if he could. We went back to our cabins, and I looked inside my bag. There where shelves inside of it. I put my orange camp Half-Blood t-shirt and my orange camp Half-Blood zip up hoodie inside. I took some paint and smeared out the words camp Half-Blood on both the shirts, and changed them with my favorite bands name, "Connect-Four". They where a heavy metal band. I also put in my Nintendo DSI XL light, and all my games. I had about 50. My stepdad may be a jerk, but when I ask for a gaming system, he'll get it for me in a heartbeat. Why? Because as a kid he didn't get anything he wanted, and he didn't want me to turn out like him. I have a WII, X box 1, 2, and 3. Oh and a WII XD. It's just like a WII, but it has internet, you can chat and Skype your friends and you can do multiplayer with anyone else who has a WII XD. I packed my laptop, my Acer, my IPod touch; it was the latest version so it was as thin as a slice of lunch meat, and I packed my portable charger. I packed five sandwiches in zip block bags. One of them was turkey and cheese, and the other four where mayonnaise, mustard, cheese, turkey, and lettuce. I also packed a jug of water. I packed a few things for luxury like my mini TV, twelve DVD's, some comic books, a tent, a clock, a cot, a pillow, a small side table, my camera, my video camera, and a ton of memory cards to go with it. I zipped up my bag and waited at the front gate of camp for Argus. Suddenly a falcon landed on my shoulder.
"AHHH! Get it off" I said.
"It's just me. You know, Narron. I wanted to come with so I turned myself into a falcon. So can I come?" Asked Narron. I sighed.
"I guess. But no turning into a phoenix in public."
"You got it."
A few moments later Argus drove up in a black SUV and picked all of us up.
"I am so pumped! The last quest I was on I nearly wiped this kids mind forever." Said Kali.
"Well that's comforting to know." I said.
"I probably shouldn't have mentioned that. Chiron told me to split this evenly." Kali pulled about $3,000 out of her pocket. Bobby and I had the same reaction, are jaws dropped, and are eyes widened. I snatched the money from her hand and gave us each a thousand. Argus dropped us off at the Empire State Building and drove away.
"So why did he drop us off here?" I asked Kali.
"It's the entrance to Olympus. On the 600th floor." Said Kali.
"But there is no 600th floor in the Empire State Building. There's only 104." I said.
"Or so you thought." Said Kali. We walked inside. Kali leaned over the side of the desk and said,
"Hi, we would like a key to the 600th floor please." The man looked up from a big book he was reading.
"Good one kids, but there's only 104 floors." Said the man.
"See. Told you." I said.
"We have an appointment with Poseidon." Said Kali.
"Is that so?" Said the man.
"Yeah. He thought it would be too hard to find Atlantis."
"You guys are nuts. I'm calling security." He picked up the phone. There was yelling. He put the phone down, and cleared out his ear.
"You seem to have an appointment." He handed us a key that said, "600th" . Bobby and I followed Kali into the elevator. She felt along the wall, and she stopped at a point, and shoved the key into it. She turned the key and pulled it out, and the wall formed again. The elevator began shooting up! I could feel us exiting though the top of the building. Then we came to a light stop. The doors opened. Olympus was beautiful.
"Know that's what I'm talking about." Said Narron.
"Come on. We have to get inside." Said Kali. On the way in we saw amazing things. Wait a second, am I day dreaming?
"Hey Kali." I tapped her shoulder.
"What is it?" Asked Kali.
"Is that the Beatles?" I asked.
"Yeah. After two of them died, their father, Apollo, granted them life with him, so ones a month they have a reunion and play one of their songs." Said Kali. Today they were playing "Come Together".
"Are you the half-bloods Poseidon sent for?" Said a man standing at the front of a temple.
"Yes." Said Kali.
"Come inside quickly." The man ran back in the temple. We followed.
"Thank goodness you're here. Please sit down." Said Athena.
"My father will be with you in a moment." She said. We waited there for a while.
"So you're the half-bloods that Chiron sent to help Poseidon? Well, I hope Poseidon's desperate." Said Zeus.
"Look away. If you see gods in there godly form you disintegrate." Said Kali. I covered my eyes. Poseidon walked up behind Zeus.
"Is that them?" He asked.
"Yes dear brother."
"Good. I called you here today because, my demigod son , who's 11, and he uses his phone like a maniac, has Dozens of monsters after him. Luckily he doesn't stay in one place for long. But after a monster broke into one of his apartments, I knew he needed protection, so I sent out to Chiron to send a few half-bloods to get my son and take him to camp. Can you do it?"
"Of course! Can you describe him?" Said Kali. Poseidon shrank down to about 6 feet tall and walked over to Kali. She began to draw as he described him to her.
"Welcome to Olympus son." Said Zeus.
"Hey dad." I said. Zeus shrank down.
"You're as handsome as me." He said.
"Um…thanks. Um, nice tailored suit. It definitely suits you." I said.
"Thank you. I bought it at men's warehouse. Nice ripped jeans. If you want, there's some food on the table."
"Whoa, stop acting like you didn't miss out on like 12 years of my life."
"Hey I stayed as long as I could. In case you didn't notice, I'm a little busy running the planet!" He yelled.
"Well maybe you could have devoted like one day each month to come see me!" I yelled back.
"Hey I do my best on keeping you safe from monsters! Without me you would be dead right know!" Kali and Poseidon stared at us.
"Well. You better get going. You've got a half-blood to find." Said Zeus.
"Yeah. I'll go anywhere but here at the moment." I said. Kali, Bobby, and I all walked out.
"So what happened back there?" Asked Kali.
"Nothing. You know, my stepdads apartment sounds pretty good at the moment." I said.
"Oh come on it couldn't have been that bad." Said Kali.
"Oh it was. But never mind that, we've got a half-blood to find." I said
"Alright, fine." Said Kali. We walked outside and waited at the bus stop. The bus drove up, and the doors opened.
"Come in." said the bus driver.
"Oh, I've already got a bad feeling about this." Said Bobby.
"I smell a really bad monster." Said Bobby.
"Are you sure?" Asked Kali.
"Of course I'm sure."
"How do you smell a monster?" I asked.
"That's one of the abilities of satyrs. They can smell monsters." Said Kali.
"Oh, well, what kind of a monster is it?" I asked.
"That's another thing about satyrs. They can tell if there's a monster, just not what kind.
"I SAID COME IN!" Said the bus driver. We walked onto the bus and sat in the back sea