Annabeth: Chiron's secret mission for me and farewell party
Since no more than four people were allowed on a quest, not even this one, I volunteered as quickly as I could if Gabriel was going to make an expedition with Brian and Allie back to Saturn's Land. Now Chiron wanted to see me in the Big House and said that the reason was because of my request to aid Gabriel in this dangerous assignment. Argus was there to greet me when I arrived and I told him that Chiron had requested my presence at the Big House before he could whack me to a pulp with his club. As soon as I entered, I knew Chiron would have business for me that concerned Gabriel and the company he was traveling with.
The trouble is, I didn't know what kind of business he had for me. "Sit down Annabeth and help yourself to some strawberries if you wish. I have a special assignment for you if you choose to go with Gabriel. Will you accept the quest to Saturn's Land and possibly to the Titans?" Chiron asked.
I nodded when he asked this and he hesitated before continuing with his explanation. "You may not believe this but I am actually wishing that you spy on Gabriel for me. Lately, people have been turning to him more than they have to me for guidance and I fear that his impulsive nature may undo us all if we're not careful," Chiron said. I was outraged so much that it probably showed on my face when he made that request to me.
"Look Annabeth, I understand your outrage but I fear greatly for Gabriel. However powerful a warrior he may be, leadership has never been one of his strong points," Chiron explained. That blew my top and I knew I couldn't trust Chiron as long as Gabriel was around. "Listen Chiron ever since Gabriel showed up, you've done almost nothing to enhance the greatness of the camp!" I shouted.
"I can explain that-" he said before I cut him off. "Then explain it mother fucker, explain why it is that while Gabriel is making all the preparations to save our skins from Prometheus' wrath you have been sitting it pretty here in the Big House!" I yelled. I immediately regretted it when he rose up on all of his four legs and summoned up his bow as well as all his godly power in an instant. "You will spy on Gabriel for me and you will tell me if he is truly leading us or bringing about our ruin by having us paranoid over an enemy that may no longer be a threat!" Chiron boomed.
"Never, I will never do it Chiron. You may have been like a father to me but I will never do it even for you," I warned him. "Why do you believe in Gabriel so much?" Chiron asked. "Because unlike you, he has an actual desire to destroy Prometheus and an actual desire to save us all at any costs," I answered.
"Do you really believe that we have to destroy Prometheus? He is the very reason the Oracle can see the future. Were it not for him, the Oracle would not even have her power to see it the way she does," Chiron said. "But now that the power exists we don't need him to see the future anymore, do we?" I asked.
Chiron chewed on that for a little while then asked if I truly felt that Gabriel was a real leader. "At least he knows how to fight Prometheus and the Titans. On top of that at least he has shown no reservation on doing what must be done," I said. That seemed to really bring down Chiron and I began to wonder to myself if I had perhaps gone too far but then, yet again, spying on Gabriel was kind of an outrageous request coming from Chiron of all people.
Without a doubt, I would have expected Drew Beauregard to make such a request for the purpose of making sure he remained hers for the taking. I could even anticipate Clarisse of the Ares cabin asking that just because she wanted to try and beat him up herself yet again. Perhaps the most surprising after Chiron would be for one of Thalia's Hunters asking me to make sure he died on the mission due to the dent he put in their pride when they encountered him for the first time. But Chiron's request was just enough to make me wonder if Gabriel had personal reasons for avoiding the godhood his status as a son of Kronos sometimes attempted to seduce him into striving for.
"More than once, I have considered how much better I could perform as a god. But then it takes the physical labor out of committing the deed in question and I believe that the best way to earn heroism is to actually show signs of working towards it. In a lot of things, physical labor would be important in something like this," Gabriel once told me during one of our breaks. After hearing that I asked him a question that may sound a little personal: "Have you ever actually desired to become a god?"
For a little while, he hesitated then he told me something I don't think anyone should be without knowledge of. "Yes I have actually desired to become a god but then I remind myself that right at the present moment, there is more to life then seeking immortality. There was, and still is, far more to live for in the mortal world than there is in the world of eternity," he told me. "Then what would say was the problem with those who sought immortality in some manner like the Ancient Greeks and the Ancient Romans?" I asked.
"To me, it's a phobia that infects people even to this day and is a fear that gives Phobos the most power and that is a fear of eternity. Normally, this wouldn't be bad if the person in question didn't also fear it so much that they concentrated on setting the gateway to the eternity they seek that they don't actually live life on Earth before departing. You can ask the Egyptians all about that if you wish and if you can find someone who lived in Ancient Egypt," Gabriel answered. "So in a sense, they are so worried about death that when it eventually does come they have not exactly done anything to actually enter eternity?" I asked.
"Depends how you look at it but that's not an incorrect way of looking at it," Gabriel answered. On an off-note, he added that he wanted to pack a bag with enough supplies to last me a few days or so. "At most, we may or may not be gone two weeks but as much as you can (even if it's enough for two months) anyway," he said. "I suppose Brian and Allie are packing for the trip back to the death hole they escaped from?" I rhetorically asked.
"They're packing what they have in case they don't come back if that's what you mean. I suggest that you pack as much as you can and I will do the same myself, if you have anything else to say before we go our separate ways then feel free to tell me," he answered. "Well… there is one thing I probably should mention," I said. I knew it was about Chiron's favor and I knew I had to tell him even if he didn't give much reaction to it.
"Before I came to talk to you (this is actually the original subject that I wanted to speak to you about), Chiron asked me to spy on you for him while I was away with you and the Saturn children. Can you tell me whether or not that surprises you in any way?" I said to him. He shook his head no and said that he was not surprised by the fact that Chiron had asked me to spy on him. "Ever since my mother beat him at a tennis match (under his terms), he has been like all of the Olympians except Eos, Selene, Helios, and Hestia in the sense that he wanted to get even," he told me.
"Your mother beat him in a tennis match?" I asked, surprised. "According to Eos, my mother was an Olympic athlete that played tennis even in the early months of her pregnancy with me. Chiron used to love tennis in those days as well but was so boastful of his skills due to being a centaur that he challenged my mother to an eight-game match," he began. At my encouragement, he continued since he seldom ever released details of his mother.
"Though she was mortal, she commanded some interesting powers that fell into her possession from her ancestral relation to a powerful Greek magician that lived in Egypt (whose specialty weapon is telekinesis). Because of her magic abilities, she was able to outmatch Chiron in both speed and endurance but that's not how she won. She won by forcing him to make a shot up toward the sky as a last resort and an attempt to catch her off guard. Instead, she used her telekinetic abilities to jump after it and hit it between all four of his legs before scoring the point that left him in a near-catatonic state of surprise.
He lost and he kept practicing in hopes for the day when he would get even with her. But when she died shortly after my birth, he gave up for a long time and now here I am with only a few months to go before I am an adult," Gabriel concluded. All I had to say was that I truly felt sorry for Gabriel more than ever, especially when one considers that something his mother did gave him a complicated relationship with his half-brother now. "If there's one person besides most of the gods who I can say without doubt has certainly not learned to quit taking revenge is Chiron; no matter what he tells you, he always bore ill feelings about my mother and the fact that Chiron's father bore a demigod child with her made it worse," Gabe said, concluding the conversation completely.
I packed my stuff as soon as I got back to my cabin and decided not to tell Malcolm what Gabriel had told me today. From the way Gabriel looked at me when he explained Chiron's grudge as well as his mother's involvement in forming it, he had had a hard time letting go of that information to someone who never knew. The gods always knew these things because Zeus had made it the duty of all the gods to monitor Kronos' activities as well as those of his allies if necessary. But telling it to the likes of me was probably difficult enough considering that details about his mother were indeed to be treasured since he never actually knew her and knew very little of her.
After that, I decided to go and pay Percy a visit if he was in his cabin. To my delight, he was at his cabin leaning over his desk and probably doing his best to use a map of Camp Half-Blood. His biggest assignment from Gabriel had been to find all of the rivers in camp and identify which ones were likeliest to give him enough power to be of help should Prometheus attempt to invade Camp Half-Blood from the sea.
I placed a hand on each of his arms and rubbed up and down them as I placed my chin on his shoulder. "Any luck with your little assignment, Seaweed Brain?" I asked. "A little but nothing much since he gave me the assignment day before yesterday, Wise Girl," he answered with a smile. "I'll be headed out for Saturn's Land soon, are you coming to see us off when they arrange the farewell party tomorrow?" I inquired.
Chiron and Gabriel agreed to a little going-away party for Gabriel, myself, and the two children of Saturn that could be conducted in a manner where they could wish us luck on our way out to the gates. "Are you kidding? I wouldn't miss that for anything else in the world," he replied. "I'm glad to hear that, see you tomorrow before I take off then?" I asked and he nodded.
"See you then Seaweed Brain, hope you got a nice surprise for me!" I said as I left. "Hey, why not ask Chiron or Gabriel if it's all right if you can share my bunk tonight? I mean, it is the last time I'm going to see you besides an Iris-message for a while," Percy asked. For a second, I thought about it then said I would ask both of them if it was all right if I could do that.
I explained the reason to Chiron but had no need to do so with Gabriel. He already understood why I wanted to sleep in Percy's cabin but Chiron clung to tradition. "You know it's forbidden for cabins to have members sleep in other cabins. We do it so we can tell all of you children apart from each other," Chiron fussed.
However, Gabriel proposed a simple solution to how I should decide where I slept. "Take a drachma and toss into the air. If it's heads (or tails depending on your lucky side) then you'll have both our consent to sleep with Percy. But if it's tails (again unless that's not your unlucky side) then neither of us will approve," he suggested.
I selected heads as my lucky side and flipped the coin with my hopes carried on it. Relief washed over me like a tsunami when I realized that it was heads and Chiron had to consent even if he didn't like the idea of it. Gabriel winked out me however and I knew immediately that he had had a hand in that turn of luck. I smiled and thanked him when I had a private moment to do so and he simply said, "How'd you guess I had a hand in it?"
"Let's put it this way, that wink did not go unnoticed," I teased. He laughed as we rode through the farewell party that proceeded after I had my night with Percy. As to the details of that, well, let's just say those are details best left untouched but one can guess (with a high chance of getting it right) what happened. Nonetheless, the farewell party was a very excellent one and no doubt we had great transportation out: actually it was just the four of us on horses with Brian having a little trouble since he only had one arm.
The sword was strapped on his left waist to a leather belt that held up his pants. We went out the gates of Camp Half-Blood with the graces of a Greek king or maybe even just a general. But after the gates closed, I had a feeling like there was still some uncertainty about whether or not going to Saturn's Land was the right thing. I sensed it in myself but I also sensed something really bizarre about Allie, like she was the cause of all this trouble or something like that.
It would be terrible to find out how close to the truth it came when we had arrived in the ruins of Saturn's Land. Gabriel decided to let me lead us through New York since neither he nor Brian had ever been through New York and Allie had only been here once before so it was up to me. "The streets intertwine upon each other but I'll do my best to get us out of the city without attracting to much attention. Horses are normally only assigned to police officers who find it too difficult to navigate by car but it's not like we're riding on zebras, right?" I said.
Everybody liked that and I made sure to do as I promised. "We can afford to have regular horses without having to cover them in the mist, which is more convenient for this than pegasai," Gabriel agreed. "And a lot less likely to be noticed by the Titans," Brian added. Allie said nothing, she just continued to stare off into space as we moved along.
