Emily and the Olympians… 5- I Get a Quest and a Weird Experience

"Trish…I need to talk to your dad." An arrow hits the bulls eye and Trish turns to me.

"Why?" I glance around and sigh.

"Can I explain in private?" She nods and we step away from the archery pit. Once we're out of earshot of almost everyone else, I explain about my conversations with both Hades and my dad. Trish nods slowly throughout the entire explanation. When I finish, she sighs.

"Ms. In and my dad are the two in charge of releasing campers for quests. And Ms. In is almost always at the cove. I'll talk to Chiron and see if Ms. In has talked to him." I nod slightly.

"Then I'll see if Ms. In is at the cove and ask if she's talked to my dad. He said he'd talk to her about this." Trish nods slightly and I head for the cove. Sure enough, I spot Ms. In at the edge of the water with someone. I recognize my dad immediately and duck behind a rock.

"Why don't you go ahead and speak with Chiron. I want to talk to my daughter." I stiffen as Ms. In laughs at that. He must have seen me before I ducked behind the rock. I stand up slowly and smile slightly.

"Sorry…" Ms. In walks towards me, smiling.

"It's not a problem. Poseidon was just explaining to me what you two talked about last night. I'll go talk to Chiron about letting you take on the quest. Be thinking of two companions you'd like to take with you." I nod and she leaves the cove. I approach my dad slowly and he laughs slightly.

"What?"

"When we talk while you sleep, you don't hesitate. But we meet in person and you act like I'm going to hurt you or something." I frown.

"Well. Meeting while I'm asleep is different from meeting in person." I walk over to him and cross my arms. "As often as I'm in this place, you never come out and talk to me."

"I haven't had the time. If I could have, I'd have been here every single time you have." I nod slowly.

"Then what's been taking up your time? I mean…I can understand that…but…" He smiles—that soft smile that I remember from when I was little.

"The whole situation." I nod.

"Meaning the theft and everything. Is it really that bad up there?" He nods.

"Zeus is blaming me for the theft. And he wants the bolt back before the solstice. I had nothing to do with it. So it's chaos." I nod slowly. If it were to come to war…I wonder who would side with whom. He glances at the stormy water and sighs slightly.

"If you need to leave, don't let me stop you. Ms. In is probably already done talking to Chiron by now." Dad nods and turns to the water.

"I'm sure that they'll let you leave. Be careful who you take with you. And always remember that you're never alone." I nod and he leaves, vanishing into the water. I walk to the shoreline and sigh.

"Thanks." I turn and head for the Big House. When I get there, I spot Chiron and Ms. In talking on the porch.

"Ah! There you are! You're just in time. I was about to send Altricia to look for you." I smile slightly. Perfect timing, Dad. "You know the quest, correct?" I nod once.

"Yes sir."

"And you accept it?" I nod again.

"Yes." Chiron nods in return and smiles.

"You may take two comrades with you to assist you. Do you have anyone in mind?" I nod slightly.

"Yes." Ms. In smiles slightly and I hesitate.

"Well?"

"Altricia and Sybil Gray." Ms. In steps off of the porch.

"Then I'll go speak with those two and see if they will be willing to go. I'll leave the rest to you, Chiron." He nods and Ms. In disappears.

"You'll need to speak with the Oracle." I nod slightly and step onto the porch. "In a moment, Argus will take you up to the attic." I nod again and sit down at Dionysus' pinochle table. After a few minutes, Trish and Sybil arrive and I smile at them both. Argus comes around a corner and I get up. "Go ahead. I'll speak with these two and get them up to speed." I nod and walk over to Argus.

He nods once to me and leads me into the house. We go upstairs and to a little corridor with narrow stairs. I go up them alone and into the attic. More than a little creepy.

Mummified parts in jelly jars, dead bugs and old things…it looks like a museum exhibit that hasn't been organized very well. I spot a mummified hippy in a chair and watch it.

"Um…hello?" I jump slightly as a green fog comes out of the mummy and it seems to move its mouth. A very creepy voice moans slightly and I look around.

The green fog surrounds me and then forms into a foggy scene in front of me.

"Emily Jackson…daughter of Poseidon." I swallow nervously.

"What am I supposed to look for?" The mist swells and the scene clears up. The recreation room at Yancey. Nancy Bobofit and three of her goons are sitting at a table.

"You will travel west to face the one who has turned." Nancy looks at me and the Oracle's voice comes out of her mouth. Goon number one looks up and a shiver runs down my spine.

"Trust little of what you have heard. Give thought and reason to each action." Goon number two smirks in my direction.

"For a girl to your side will threaten. The item required will be handed to you." The third goon looks at me and sneers.

"At a cost it will be through. Great perils await you, Emily Jackson." The scene dissipates and the voice moans again. "Choose allies wisely and judge each decision." The mist retracts into the mummy and I sigh. That didn't tell me anything really. I kind of figured I'd be heading west. That's the direction where the entrance to the Underworld always is.

I leave the attic and head back outside. Chiron is gone, but Trish and Sybil are waiting for me.

"Well?"

"We're going west. Obviously."

"Yea. If we're delivering whatever it is that we're looking for to Hades." I nod.

"Anything else important right now?" I shake my head.

"All I know is a bunch of riddling rhyme." The two girls laugh slightly.

"We are going with you." I smile.

"Thank you."

"Chiron said that Argus will take us into Manhattan in an hour. Do we have a plan after that?" I shrug and step off the porch.

"Not yet. But let's get packed up. Trish, don't you stay here?" She nods and heads inside.

"We'll meet back up when?"

"Thirty minutes. That should be enough time for Sybil and me to pack and get back." I look at her and she nods once.

"Alright." Trish disappears into the house and Sybil and I head for the dorms.

"Thanks for picking me to go with you. I would have thought you'd ask Percy."

"Nah. I kind of don't want to involve him right now…I'm not gonna drag my brother into our dad's family issues." We get to the dorms and Sybil goes towards her dorm. "Be quick. We need to get back to the Big House as soon as possible." Sybil nods and disappears into her dorm. I head to three and hurry to my bed. It's still slightly early in the day so I won't be seeing Percy before I leave.

I grab a bag and look up when I hear someone at the door.

"I heard from Ms. In that you and Sybil are going on a quest. Congrats." Maria Dorobo is standing there, holding a blue duffel bag. "We pulled together and got three bags made up. Got everything you three will need for a while. Changes of clothes, toiletries, some cash, a bag of drachmas, and some maps. We wanted to wish you all luck." Maria holds the bag out to me and I walk over.

"Thanks, Maria." I take the bag.

"I already gave the other two bags to Sybil. You three can definitely do it. Whatever it is that you're doing on this quest." I smile and hug her.

"Thanks so much, Maria. And thank the rest of your dorm for me. But I have to get going." I shoulder the bag and hurry to my bunk to grab a few extra things. My sword and some of my own clothes.

"By the way, that bag can hold as much as you need. I got it from my dad." I nod slightly and drop the bag onto my bed. I stuff the clothes and things into the bag and shoulder it again. I hurry out the door and towards the exit of the U of dorms. Sybil is waiting for me, carrying two duffel bags, one is black, and the other is red.

"Ready?" I nod.

"Yea. Let's get going." We head back to the Big House and I spot Trish.

"Well?" She's carrying her chair and her duffel from school. "What's with those bags? If we don't travel light we won't be able to make good time." I nod slightly and Sybil sets the two bags she was carrying on the steps of the porch.

"Some of the guys in eleven packed up some bags for us to take. I've got mine stuffed with essentials and it's light as a feather." I nod.

"Mine as well. Maria said that they could hold as much as we need. Including that chair of yours when you're not using it." Trish nods slowly.

"Do we have a plan then?" She steps off the porch and looks at the red and black bags. "Which one is mine?"

"The black one. Sorry. Red's my favorite color." Sybil smiles slightly and Trish starts to transfer her things into the black duffel.

"We have maps now. Are you armed, Trish?" She nods absently. "We're going west…first we need to find out where the entrance to the Underworld is. From there, we can head that way and see if we can't find whatever it is on the way."

"We have until June twenty-first." I nod slightly.

"Which is the deadline my uncle has laid out for the return of his master bolt. If it's the bolt that we find, then we should just find a way to Mount Olympus."

"That one's easy. The six hundredth floor of the Empire State Building." I nod slowly.

"Okay. And if we're all the way in…say California on the twenty-first? I can't ride in an airplane without risking getting struck down and having tons of people getting hurt!" I sigh. "Anyways. Our plan is to find out where the entrance to the underworld is and head that way. If we're lucky, we'll find whichever thing we're supposed to find and figure out what to do from there. If we run into any monsters on the way, we'll destroy them."

"Sounds like a good plan. Almost worthy of a child of Athena." I turn to Annabeth and laugh slightly.

"That's what I get for hanging out with you, Wise Girl. Keep my seaweed brain brother out of trouble." She laughs and nods.

"No problem. Here." She hands me a Red Sox hat and I frown.

"I don't like baseball."

"Yea, well I don't like the Red Sox. Mom gave it to me at the winter solstice in case I needed it. It should come in handy." It's probably the same as her Yankees cap.

"Same principle?" She nods. "Thanks. See you." She nods and I stick the cap in my bag. On the bright side, no one would see that I was wearing it. I turn to the others. "Argus should be ready…right?" Trish nods and lifts her bag over her shoulder. I wave to Annabeth and we head for the pine tree.

Maria Dorobo, seventeen, daughter of Hermes. Half Japanese. Her last name means 'thief'. One of Mil's few friends in the Hermes dorm. She is also called Hermes' favorite daughter, because she gets a lot of gifts from him regularly.