Hi, I'm back for another chapter. Thanks to anyone that reviewed, really appreciate it. That's about it.
Disclaimer – Don't own PJO or HoO
Percy's POV
I pushed open a trap door and climbed into the attic. It was musty and humid. The smell of rotten wood and snakes filled my nostrils. Around me lay spoils from countless quests, including a creepy Hydra head which mounted on a wall.
I turned my attention to the oracle, it was wrapped like a mummy and dressed in a sundress with multiple bead necklaces hanging loosely around its neck. The more I looked at it, its creepy white eyes void of emotion which bored into me, the more I appreciated Rachel becoming the new oracle. Around her neck, I knew was a certain bead. Inside was the Great Prophecy, something which haunted me for my first 4 years. But when I reached in to grab her necklaces green smoke started to spill from her mouth.
More tendrils of smoke started to creep out of its jaw as I stepped forward. They started to swirl around me as the oracle faded from view behind the smoke. Just as it disappeared from my sight I heard a voice slither into my right ear.
I am the spirit of Delphi, speaker of the prophecies of Phoebus Apollo, slayer of the mighty Python. Approach, seeker, and ask.
"What is my destiny?" I asked. The green mist the oracle disappeared into slowly took shape. Humanoid figures started to form and a table between them. My step-dad Gabe appeared first, in his mouth a cigarette hung loosely. He set his cards down on the table, took the cigar out of his mouth and began to speak.
You shall go west, and face the god who has turned. Ares. To his left one of his buddies threw two chips in before continuing the prophecy.
You shall find what was stolen, and see it safely returned. Zeus's Master Bolt. Another gambler began the next line.
You shall be betrayed by one who calls you a friend. Luke. Finally Eddie gave the final line.
You shall fail to save what matters most, in the end. The table disappeared along with its occupants however instead of dissipating the green smoke formed one last form. Octavian stood in front of me, in one hand a sacrificial knife. Underneath him mutilated stuffed animals lay motionless and in his other hand was a teddy bear. I took a step back in surprise and tripped.
Octavian smiled, took the knife and decapitated the teddy bear with its head falling right in front of me.
And you shall cause the rift to mend (AN : Sorry this line is so bad) Octavian said before being whisked away into the oracles mouth. My heart was beating out of my chest, Thump, Thump. I slowly managed to get up however I felt an eerie sense dread. Something changed, this would be different. I knew Annabeth would make sense of this, she always had. I stumbled out of the attic, not thinking that perhaps the Great Prophecy had changed too.
As I approached Chiron he gave a sympathetic smile, all he knew was that I just received my first quest. I looked over at Annabeth and she was smiling at me. Her face quickly turned to a frown when she saw the wild and frightened look in my eyes. Before she could try to get anything out of me Chiron asked me something.
"What did it say." He asked. I gave a weak smile before repeating the prophecy.
"You shall go west, and face the god who has turned. You shall find what was stolen, and see it safely returned. You shall be betrayed by one who calls you a friend. And you shall fail to save what matters most in the end." I said shakily. I felt like Annabeth on her prophecy about the Labyrinth. Keeping something from someone that would have good insight. Chiron patted me on the back, probably comforting me on the last line.
"Prophecies often have double meanings, we often mess things up trying to decipher them, but it doesn't hurt to try. The first line, while the two of the most powerful gods are fighting, who would have the power to fight them in their weakened state. Who harbors a grudge for being left out. Who received arguably the worst of all the domains." My thoughts turned to Hades. While at this time he seemed evil, the enemy I knew he was misunderstood. The true answer to the first line was Ares, but nothing in the prophecy gave any hint on his involvement.
"Hades." I felt the room get cooler. Chiron nodded.
"The Lord of the Dead is the only possibility." Chiron said. I decided not to mention the fact that I already knew who it was.
"He sent a fury here. Summoned a Hellhound from the Fields of Punishment. He must have a spy in camp to summon it, I suspect that is the friend that will betray you. To complete this you must travel to the underworld, confront Hades, and retrieve the bolt." Chiron stated.
"You sure its not in Maine, I heard its very nice this time of year." Grover said. Chiron gave him a look before looking back at me.
"The second line however seems to point to the fact that you will succeed in your quest." I looked at him to continue but he made no attempt to try to give input on the fourth line.
"Poseidon needs you. Its no accident he claimed you, you need to clear his name. A risky move, but he's counting on you, relying on you." I felt anger bubble in my stomach. However with knowledge of the future I couldn't let it control me. The gods were better rulers than the Titans, and certainly Gaea. I wouldn't let the anger get to me like what happened to Luke.
"So, I have to go to the Underworld, confront Hades, retrieve the gods most powerful weapon, and make it to Olympus in 10 days." He nodded at each part before smiling. I may have looked nervous but this should be easy, take out the Lotus Casino days we lost and we got plenty of time to finish it.
I turned to Grover and gave him one last chance to back out, despite the fact I knew he would agree. He had a nervous look and was chewing on a pop can
"You sure you want to come with me. Trust me, I wouldn't hold it against you if you didn't" He gave a weak smile before replying.
"Satyrs and underground place don't mix well. But you saved my life Percy. I can't let you down, what friend would I be if I did?" I gave him a smile before looking at Chiron and standing up.
"Percy, you still need one more member for your quest. I selected one without asking but I'm sure you'll agree in my choice." He said before pointing at Annabeth. I smiled over at her but she only glared at me. She motioned me outside while standing up.
"I agree Chiron." I said before following Annabeth outside into the rain.
Chiron's POV
As Percy walked out I gave a slight sigh. Something was up, I could tell it. Not only had I not mentioned where the Underworld is they didn't even bother to ask when it would start or where to go. Despite this I figured this afternoon they would be at the top of the hill, waiting for me despite never being told to do so. Percy hadn't even questioned walking out into the storm and followed Annabeth without question.
I looked over at Grover who was deep in thought with a frightened look on his face, he seemed normal. The other two, not so much. It started with the Fury attack, that day Percy miraculously changed. He magically learned Latin and carried himself in a much different manner. Annabeth on the other hand seemed much older and more intelligent. On top of that she seemed to be wary of Luke and would give him frightened glances when she thought no one was looking. Someone she revered she suddenly became frightened of. Then the Minotaur attack and their meeting.
You could just throw the Athena-Poseidon rivalry to the side with these two. When he appeared on the porch, she immediately took in him and cared for him. Despite not asking she spent almost all her time looking after Percy, and then when he woke up they suddenly became best friends. Despite (AN: I use despite way too much in this story) not knowing her a second of his life he managed to make her laugh continuously.
You would've believed she would continue the rivalry once she discovered his heritage given her stubborn attitude but it seemed to bring them closer. She suddenly acted even more closely to him. They would disappear in the middle of the day and come back acting like they were never gone. I had tuned in on some of their Latin lessons for each other but I doubted Percy learned much during them. They would argue, then make up, and laugh if off. When the quest came she didn't ask once to be apart of had wished for this moment all her life, it was one of her greatest goals. However when I approached her she seemed to automatically know she was being included as apart of it, barely gave me a smile when she heard the news.
Something was up with those two. Whether it was for the better or for the worse I had no idea but I would have to keep an eye on those two.
Jason's POV
As I awoke I immediately thought of my plan. I looked around the room to see if anyone was awake before slowly getting out of bed. To complete this I would have to use something Thalia taught me. I sneaked over to Gwen and shook her as quietly as possible. She grumbled a bit before opening one eye and glaring at me.
"What do you want Jason? We still have plenty of time to sleep." She complained. She was about to turn over and put a pillow over her head before I faked a moan.
"Ugh, I'm not feeling to good. Gwen can you help me get to the medics." I faked before crouching over in fake pain. Her face immediately hardened before putting an arm around me. I knew this was manipulation but it was the only way this would work.
"Hold on to me Jason, I'll get you there." She said before leading me outside. When we were out of earshot of anyone else I stopped walking and turned to Gwen.
"Can we take a break?" I asked. Guilt filled me as I saw her pained eyes but I had to do this.
"Ya Jason, What hurts?" She asked concerned. I turned to her and saw her look of confusion as I stood up perfectly fine. While guilt seemed to build more every second I stood there I knew this was needed. I snapped my fingers praying it would work. Thalia had briefly taught me how to use the mist, I hope I had mastered it enough for this to work. Her eyes glazed over and I gave a sigh of relief. Guilt was really eating me up now.
"We were going to talk to the Praetors about our dream. The one with the Imperial Gold stash and monster group guarding it." He eyes seemed to straighten out before nodding.
"No time to waste Jason, lets get going. If were lucky we can go on a quest." She said determined. I don't know how lucky a quest would be considering I had failed my last and most important one but this was something I needed to do. She started to walk away and I tried to follow but I felt my feet not work. I had manipulated my friend for my needs, how could they trust me. But this wasn't for me, this was for the world. I slowly followed her as we walked to the Praetors house.
I glared at Octavian. Here I was trying to get a prophecy to recover "missing Imperial Gold" and he was smiling smugly at me. He hadn't made a move and seemed to completely ignored our request.
"Octavian, Can you hurry up and look at those entrails before I make you a member of them." I grumbled to Octavian. He kept smiling at Reyna, Gwen, and I before crouching down next to the dead stuffed animals. They laid dismembered on the ground. He poked and prodded a few, mumbling a few words before looking back at us.
"Hmp, It seems the gods have no opinion on this quest. I'm not getting any message from them, are you sure you had a dream about this, perhaps the gods don't approve of the members or your so called dream never happened." Gwen was about to respond but I beat her to it.
"Yes we're sure. I guess we'll go off of our memories for this quest." I said before walking out of the temple. Octavian was dangerously close to figuring out the purpose of what I did. While this may seem to be a quest to find weapons and bring glory to ourselves this had a entirely different purpose. I had to figure out a way to secretly communicate with Percy and Annabeth without the gods discovering, luckily a quest was a perfect way to do that.
Octavian tried to yell over at us to stop before he started to laugh. He quickly stopped before yelling one last thing.
"Stop hiding things Grace, they'll only hurt the legion more. Your only looking for glory. Run Grace, you know I'll figure out eventually. Nothing can stay hidden from the gods!"
"You know Jason, I don't remember much from my dream now. You sure we should do this?" Gwen asked. I hid my emotions trying not to give anything away.
"Gwen, this isn't for us. This is for the better of the legion. Trust me, its ok." She nodded before continuing to walk down the hill.
Percy's POV
Annabeth walked in front of me and kept glancing back to make sure I was still following. Every time I met her eyes and she looked at me with a blank expression. By the time we reached the Athena cabin she was soaked by the rain while I was perfectly dry. She peeked one head in looking to see if it was vacant before inviting me in.
I immediately thought of the rule about no campers alone in a cabin before I remembered, that rule hadn't been put in place yet. I guess Annabeth and I are lucky.
"First, can you dry me off." I nodded, touched her shoulder and willed the rain away. She smiled gratefully before sitting in her bed and looking at me.
"What happened, when you came out of the attic you were scared so you're either a really good actor, which I know you're not, or something happened." I nodded before recalling the last line of the prophecy.
"Everything was normal, nothing changed with the oracle or the beginning of the prophecy. Gabe and his buddies gave the four lines but when it was suppose to end something else happened." She motioned me to continue.
"Suddenly they disappeared and Octavian replaced them." Annabeth's eyes widened but she didn't say anything.
"He was holding a knife and entrails were on the ground. Then the oracle gave one last line, And you shall cause the rift to mend." She nodded grabbing a notebook and wrote the words down. Besides them she wrote Octavian and Romans.
"Ok, first Percy, in Yancy did anything different happen. Not like in school but like a change in something Camp related." She asked. My thoughts went to the fates, I hadn't told her my first time but this was different.
"Well, when I left to go home on my last day, something changed. When I saw the Fates-" Annabeth's eyes bugged and she gave a small squeak.
"You saw the Fates and you never told me. Perseus Jackson I swear I'm going to kill you." She grabbed her knife and stood up with her eyes no longer calculating but raging thunderstorms. I slowly managed to make her drop the knife and calm down, only then did I continue.
"The first time, they cut the string they were weaving. I always assumed it was mine but when they carried Luke's body away I realized it was his. This time it was no different. They cut his lifeline, but then they took out more lines, and more. Until they held seven." I saw Annabeth's eyes become darker and gloomier as the realization of what happened hit her.
"I knew it was us. They kept opening and closing the scissors, taunting me. In the end they just put them back and disappeared." Annabeth's eyes started to tear up before she brought me in a big hug. We stayed there for a moment to calm down. I could smell her lemon shampoo, it was calming. And I could tell my scent had the same effect on her. After a while she released before grabbing her notebook.
"I guess they know about us. Its going to be all different. All we can do is look at what we know now." She read the notebook a few more times before discussing withe me.
"I figure the rift we have to mend is Roman and Greek. Octavian basically confirmed that. Do you think any of the Romans managed to come back too?" She looked up at me and her eyes were hopeful. I could tell she was in need of someone else, hell, I was too.
"Well, we can't confirm it, but its a possibility." I said. I didn't want to crush our dreams that it was probably not possible. We needed every bit of hope we had.
"The quest, something different will happen with the Romans, should we seek them out when we are in California. Or possibly if someone came back they will seek us out." I debated for a second before she answered her own question.
"No, the gods will wipe our minds, and with it discover the future. Only the fates know what kind of twisted idea Zeus would try to stop our future from happening, stop the Titans from rising and create a possibly worse future." She wrote a few more notes in her notebook and I could tell she needed support.
"You know, we never were very good at figuring out prophecies. I saw we just let this one play out and I figure this problem will be solved all by itself." She looked up at me and broke into a smile.
"We better pack and get to Thalia's tree, we dont want to have Chiron waiting." She said while standing up. I smiled and went to leave before she said one last thing.
"Oh, and Seaweed Brain." I turned to look at her. "I love you" She gave me a kiss before shutting the door on a stunned me.
There it is. I have managed to make it so both camps are sending people on quests. For the Greeks its basically going to be a rewrite with a few twists but Jason's is all mine to make.
For this chapter I managed to do something new which I haven't done for any of my other ones, I actually read it after I wrote it and edited it. This is the first time I did it and it surprises me how many mistakes I leave in my writing. I managed to add 267 words in my story by fixing sentences, adding more to elaborate on subjects, and things of that nature.
I'm hoping to get one more chapter out because I will be gone from Saturday 27th till Sunday the 5th.
Thats about it, I hope you enjoyed and if you have any ideas for something to happen in the story review it to tell me.
Bye