HAPPY 2013! Hope everybody had a fun New Year's celebration last night! I sure did! So here's chappie #7. Mainly about their task and stuff. Not super exciting, but hey, you gotta learn what's going on right? ENJOY YOUR FACES :D
Disclaimer: person: AHAHAHAA you know what would be funny?
me: what?
person: if you owned PJO or KC!
me: AHHAHAHAHAHHHAHHAH ERMERGAWSH I CAN'T BREATHE THAT IS SOO FUNNY CUZ I DON'T OWN EITHER OF THEM! LOLOLOLOL
7. Goddesses Bet on Our Lives
SADIE
I sat down in front of Isis and Hera. Even though I tried not to show it, I was kind of scared by Percy's attitude towards the Greek Queen of the Gods. I mean, not many super powerful beings that I know would let anybody insult them like that and let them walk out of there alive, or not as a rodent. But Hera's reaction surprised me the most. It was almost like she had done something horrible to Percy, something she hadn't planned. I am sorry, Hera had said. I hadn't meant for some of those things to happen. Especially not your fall. His fall? As far as I knew, another term for fall is to die, like in battle or something. And by the looks of it, Percy was still very much alive.
Though when Hera mentioned his fall, Percy had gotten a dark look on his face and shuddered. First chance I got, I was going to ask him what that was. I didn't care if it made him uncomfortable, I was still mad at him for breaking the doors and trying to kill Philip. I was so lost in my thoughts that I ran into Carter, knocking him into Percy. If Percy had fallen down, it would have been straight on top of Isis. Not the best thing that could happen. Fortunately, Percy was light on his feet. He caught himself and Carter before either of the goddesses noticed.
Once we all sat down, Hera spoke. "As Lady Isis has told you, we have come with a task."
Percy groaned. "Are you kidding me? What more could you want? I fell into freaking—"
Hera cut him off. "We need to see how Greeks and Egyptians work with each other. We cannot have a repeat of the Greek/Roman battles."
"You got that right," Percy muttered under his breath. "I still wish Hannibal had run over Octavian."
"Whoa, wait," I said, standing up. "Who did what now?" I asked Percy. He began to answer, but Hera again cut him off. I was starting to see why he didn't like her.
"Anyway," she said firmly, "Lady Isis and I have come to assign you three a quest."
"Yeah, yeah, we know," Percy muttered angrily. "Will you just tell us already, Miss Procrastinator?" I couldn't believe he was saying that. He was talking to a goddess, an incredibly powerful being that could vaporize him at any second, and he was calling her names? It was mad. Just plain mad. I looked over at Carter, and he obviously felt the same way. His mouth was hanging open and he was looking at Percy like he had just pulled the pin out of a grenade. Which, come to think of it, he might have just had.
Again, Hera didn't get angry. But the gleam in her eyes did get a little harsher. "Your task is to find an ancient creature. To be precise, the Hieracosphinx. Like a typical sphinx, but with the head of a falcon and body of a lion. In the ancient days of Egypt it was often the quest of many young men to retrieve a feather from the Hieracosphinx. One feather has the power to heal any wound, no matter how severe."
Carter and I had been following along as for as far as the healing feather part. I knew about the Hieracosphinx as I knew about all of the Egyptian monsters. But the bit about the feathers, that was left out of all the records and such that we read. "Wait," I said to the goddesses. "Nothing in the legends says anything about the healing properties of a Hieracosphinx feather."
Isis nodded. "That has always been a sore subject for the people of Egypt, as so many of their young men were lost on their quests to find it. Since then, they had made an agreement to never copy any of the magical information of the Hieracosphinx, in case someday, someone did manage to get a feather from it. Then only they would know what it meant."
Percy blinked. "Okay, so you want us to retrieve a healing feather from a Honeycomb Sphinx or whatever, that no one has ever succeeded in getting?"
"But," Isis countered, "None of them have been magicians." She looked pointedly at Carter and me.
"Nor Greek demigods," Hera put in, looking (obviously) at Percy. "And the three of you combined, the greatest of the age, will guarantee your success."
Isis looked at Carter and me, mildly concerned. "What do you think the chances are that they will survive?" she asked Hera.
The other goddess shrugged. "I would say probably sixty-forty. I would definitely bet on them though, Jackson always manages to pull through."
Percy cleared his throat. "Uh, are you guys betting on our lives?" he asked.
Hera looked at Percy absently. "Oh, yes, it was quite fun in the ancient days. All the rage with gladiator fights and such." Percy just rolled his eyes.
Isis clapped her hands. "Okay, so do you three agree to the task?" she asked, looking at us expectantly.
"I don't agree to it, but I'll have to do it either way," Percy mumbled. Carter just nodded his head stiffly, and I agreed as well.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold up," Carter said, putting up a hand. Hera and Isis turned to him. "Are you going to tell us where to find this monster?"
Isis nodded. "Right. The Hieracosphinx is quite fond of high up places. I would try the Appalachian Mountains if I were you." She looked at me. "I would recommend the use of a portal." I nodded in understanding.
"I wish the three of you good luck, and safe travels," said Hera, also looking at me. The goddesses stood up, and without another word, Isis dissolved into mist.
Hera began to glow. Percy grabbed Carter and me by the shoulders and shouted, "Don't look!" I happily obliged. We turned away Hera shone with the light of a supernova. Then the glow died. I looked up at my brother and Percy.
"Okay, then," I said. "Let's get to the mountains." Carter and I started to the roof, with Percy trailing behind. When we finally emerged, we saw our two artifacts on top of the roof that we used for portals. We had already used the mini pyramid today to get back from the Greek camp, so we decided to use the obelisk.
"Um, guys," Percy said. Carter and I turned to him. "How are we supposed to get to the mountains?" I smirked at him. I summoned my staff and magic kit from the Duat. Carter followed suit. I held out my staff and concentrated all my energy on the obelisk, thinking about a portal to the Appalachian Mountains. After a moment, a swirling vortex of sand appeared. I had timed it perfectly. Right now was one hour to after sunset, an auspicious time for magic.
I turned to Percy. "This," I said triumphantly, "is how we get to mountains."
so...yah. they goin to the mountains! pretty exciting huh? my next chapter will be out on... *sees butterfly* heheheeh preeeety. :):):) so what was i talking 'bout? ah never mind. probably wasn't something important like when I'll post the next chapter. anyways, until next time, dont die.
