Well hi! I'm so sorry I'm taking so long with chapters! Anyway, another BIG thankyou to my lovely followers, favouriters and especially reviewers! Ah, I love getting reviews! They give me warm fuzzies every time :D And now, responding to my reviews…
NinjaxSketcheartx: Thanks! I like Leo's POV too – it's quite nice to write. Yeah, I agree that the prophecy is very long. It's a bit clearer than most prophecies, but I think you have to admit there are a few things that a pretty unclear. But I totally get what you mean! Thanks! I'm getting a little out of the block now, thank goodness!
Storm Dragon Wolf Princess: Good to be back in the world of fanfiction! :) That'd be really good – I'd love to hear other prophecy idea! I'll explore a few in this chapter, but they all won't be right. No, most will definitely be wrong.
Annabeth Brady: Um… have fun? Ahem, out of curiosity, what mark was I aiming for?
Call Brandybuck: That conversation was pretty fun to write (I had to do a few re – writes), and I'm very glad it was funny to read :) I know… that feather were damn boring! But I had to put them in there somehow, and this was the best way.
Novanto: Thanks! I did try.
Chiisana Pierrot: Phew! I'm glad it was a good comeback :D Yeah, I remember Carter. I think it's a little too obvious he's not one of my favourite characters. And I'll try not to mess up his personality :P I hope I get him pretty right. I get what you mean! And yes, Ember Blaze… a very fitting name for the daughter of fire lol. Your Lit teacher is on fanfiction? Yes, you have a very cool Lit. teacher! And she likes it! :D Nice! I guess she noticed my bad grammar in some places – the first chapter especially. Ah well, I've tried to make it better. Later – Triple H
LeslieCamilleLogan: Yes, yes – a very 'cliché' name. Ah well, authors have to have some random quirks, and mine is making names like that. Please don't judge me. And yes, Jobberknoll feathers are mentioned in Harry Potter, but they've been in mythology before JK Rowling's grandmother was born. Kind of like Hippogriffs and stuff. I'm glad you love it! :D
KC Lover: The next chapter is… out. Lol. I'm glad you like my story! :D
Juli Beawr: Yeah, it rhymed :) If it had to do anything, it had to rhyme. I'm glad you liked it! I know… I wish Leo had a GF. Poor '7th wheel'.
Guest: Because I can! Moohoohaha!
Deathly – Hunger – Jackson: I hate writers block too! And yeah, I meant that :S You guys know what I mean. Glad you liked the prophecy! And yes, it was a very long wait. I was getting impatient myself.
ChaserMoonstone: No, I'm not talking about Apophis, but he'll… be mentioned. I'm really glad you like the chapter! The next one is coming. Oh wait, it's here…
Carlysuerose: Hehe, glad you liked my chapter 3 opening :) And yeah, a few people have been waiting for Leo to make an appearance! He's one of my fav's too!
Donna: So glad you like it!
Little Chibi: Yes! That is totally how it is! A VERY annoying cold.
Ravenwolf24: I know right! Awe thanks! I couldn't possibly be better than RR, but it's nice of you to say so… I guess we can't judge it til it's out!
ME: And… Chapter 9 is here!
(Silence)
Me: CHAPTER 9 IS HERE!
(A very loud pin drops.)
Me: I give up.
Chapter 9: Carter
"That's actually not too bad," Percy gave a little shrug. Carter spewed chips, and Sadie looked like she had swallowed a very large steak knife, but the others gave little nods and agreed. Carter couldn't believe this!
"What in the bottom of the Duat makes that not bad!?" Personally, that entire experience had freaked him out, from the glowing green eyes to the prophecy about them saving the world.
"Normally the prophecy makes it sound like somebody's going to die, and is more difficult to understand. This one is… not bad." Annabeth summed up everybody else's feelings.
"Erm, but we're not saying that makes this a super easy quest where our lives won't be threatened over and over again." Frank said in a pretty glum voice. Carter looked at the group around the ping – pong table. They all looked like they had seen battle, killed monsters, saved the world, been there, done that. Several times. Carter guessed a few of them had been looking forward to settling down. He made eye contact with Sadie, and knew immediately they were thinking the same thing. They didn't even need their ankhs. But Carter knew they shouldn't do it yet. It might give the wrong impression. He told Sadie that via – ankh.
"But, on that happy note," Sadie took charge, "I think we should figure out the prophecy as best we can."
"Good luck with that." Percy muttered. Carter guessed he had had experience with guessing very wrong when he was figuring out a prophecy.
"We may as well give it a shot," Carter said pointedly, looking at Percy. Percy gave a deep shrug.
"To conquer, two worlds of old must combine," Sadie began. "Well, that's pretty straightforward.
"It is?" A girl with blue feathers in her braided hair Carter hadn't met spoke.
"Well, yeah. You Greeks and us Egy…" Carter gave Sadie a horrified look. They didn't know that Carter and Sadie were Egyptian magicians yet! They hadn't told anyone, but they suspected the horse man knew. One way to get in Greek and Roman's bad books is to come strolling in, charge their favourite hero (Except it wasn't really them charging…) and once you've made up, admit to being one of their ancient sworn enemies. What a charming way to introduce yourself! A clue: no. Sadie and he still hadn't found time to talk about what had happened. It had been so weird – weirder than having Horus harass you. One second they were either going to run away or die, and then they suddenly had an urge stronger than anything else. Everything became a fuzzy haze, and the charged involuntarily… Carter snapped out of his train of thought. The centaur had spoken to him.
"I think the others should know who you are." Carter coughed and looked at Sadie.
"Well guys, you know how the Greek gods exist…" he began.
"Don't we ever." Frank muttered.
"Well," Sadie continued, "So do the Egyptian gods." It was then chaos broke out. The one who looked like an elf yelled 'I knew it!' while some of the others looked confused. The Annabeth girl with serious grey eyes studied them both and analysed the situation.
"Everybody SHUT UP!" Frank yelled, standing up. Everybody did. Frank sat down and nodded at the two Kane's.
"Thanks," Carter said, "So, the Egyptian gods exist. And we're…"
"Which Egyptian god is your parent?" An anonymous voice called out curiously. Carter scowled. "I was about to explain that the Egyptian gods don't run around and have mortal kids. It's not their style. Instead they have hosts – normally the blood of the pharaoh's works best. Ever since the Apopocalaptic period… "
"You're losing us." Percy said, tapping on the table with his fingernails.
"What do you want me to do about that? You guys have the shortest attention span…"
"I'll take it from here!" Sadie burst in. "So, as my dull brother was trying to explain, the Egyptian gods don't have kids. That we know about, at least. Instead they have hosts, which are mortals who they… inhabit."
"Please don't tell me god's 'inhabit' you." Annabeth said cautiously. Carter and Sadie shared glances. Sadie nervously laughed.
"Yeah, we do. Carter hosts the god Horus; his girlfriend hosts the sun god Ra…"
"Carter has a girlfriend?" the boy Carter recognised as Jason asked incredulously. He shot him a dark glare.
"Yup!" Sadie said lightly. "And I have a boyfriend who hosts the god Anubis, and finally…" Whatever Sadie was saying was lost. The guy who'd ridden on the horse skeleton jumped to his feet, his eyes full of rage. Carter hadn't heard him speak yet.
"Anubis?!" His eyes were full of dark fire. Everybody looked nervous, even Percy. "If you have anything to do with Anubis, I'm done." He slammed his fist on the Ping-Pong table, sending drinks flying and stormed out of the room. Chiron cleared his throat.
"I'm sorry. He's… had it rough." Chiron followed him out of the room.
"At least he still has parents." Sadie said moodily. That was it for Percy. He stood up and looked at her furiously.
"You don't know anything about us, so don't go jumping to conclusions. Nico's mother is dead. His sister is dead. Thalia and Jason's mother is dead. Half of our friends are dead. Frank's mother is dead. Leo's mother is dead. Annabeth's father, until recently, didn't want her. Hazel…" Percy's voice faltered momentarily. The looked at, and she gave a little nod with her head. He continued. "Hazel's mother is dead. She's died herself… but we won't go into that. We've had so many hard childhoods and losses. Don't you dare go around saying anything like that! And our other parents are gods. This means we don't get to see them much at all." At that Percy sat down, his anger faded. Sadie looked truly remorseful, which was a new look for her. Carter couldn't help liking it.
"Sorry." She said awkwardly. Percy shrugged. The others all looked like they would've given Sadie a piece of their mind if Percy hadn't spoken first.
"As Sadie was saying before all that," Carter continued with their previous conversation, "Sadie hosts Isis…" Leo cackled gleefully.
"Oh!" he said impishly. "Is she who you were talking to before?" He mimed holding an imaginary phone and mimicked Sadie. "Oh my gods'! Isis! I'm scared! Can you bring my teddy bear?!" That released some of the tension from the room as quite a few demigods snickered. Sadie's face was the colour of ripe strawberries. Carter had to laugh. She gave him a glare that said 'I'll get you for that later.' He stopped.
"You guys get off topic so easily!" he said in an exasperated voice.
"It's a gift," Leo said wryly. That just caused more laughter.
"Guys," Annabeth said in a low voice. Everybody silenced. Carter was impressed. Not many people can pull that off. "Just let the Egyptians speak!"
"Um… thanks. So, the Egyptian gods exist. We host the Egyptian gods. More questions later. Moving on…"
"We were figuring out the prophecy." Sadie supplied.
"You were figuring out the prophecy." Percy pointed out. Sadie shrugged indifferently.
"Well, now we know what it means by 'To conquer, two worlds of old must combine'. It's obviously the Greeks/Romans and the Egyptians."
"Hopefully," Piper said. "We'd hate to find out other gods exist. Soon we'll have Aztecs, Mayans…" Carter laughed. "Soon we'd find we had the Cherokee gods and the…" Piper's eyes widened. Carter wondered what was happening, because she suddenly zoned out. He shrugged it off.
"Anyway, that's probably a safe guess. Next line anybody?"
"And find their fate in the palace of brine." Hazel had been practically silent before now, but now her voice sounded out from a corner of the room. Carter was surprised when she reminded him very faintly of Zia.
"Sorry, the Egyptians are all out of brine palaces." Carter joked. Nobody laughed.
"There's my father's palace." Percy volunteered. Carter was impressed. He had a father who had a palace? Seriously? His dad hadn't even had a house.
"No, I don't think it's your father's palace. Do you remember…?"
"I remember!" Leo burst. "I got the Home Ec. Teacher and Frank got the war trainer!" Everybody looked confused except for Frank, Hazel and Leo. Hazel nodded.
"Please tell me we're not going there!" Frank pouted.
"At least you can turn into something like a fish." Leo muttered. His fire powers didn't work underwater and it sucked. Carter was watching this all in utter bemusement.
"What are we talking about?" he asked. Hazel looked around at all of the demigods.
"Can I talk to you later Carter and Sadie?" she asked. "I'd prefer to just tell them about my idea first."
"Uh…. Sure." Carter said. Sadie looked miffed.
"If you don't trust us…" Sadie said.
"Why should we?" Percy flashed. "You send an albino crocodile and a gryphon to our camp, you show up and then you attack us. 2 points for trying, but seriously? First impression = not so good." Sadie shrugged.
"Touché."
"Hazel, you explain your idea later. Let's go on to the next line." Carter said.
"Sure." Piper sighed. Carter realised pretty much all the demigods doubted trying to explain the prophecy would work too well, and they were just humouring them. Still, he didn't like having a prophecy that outlined his fate and not even trying to decipher it. He guessed the others were used to it – but he wasn't.
"The Serpent that began the world…" Sadie supplied. Carter went cold.
"Apophis," he murmured.
"Apophis?" Annabeth asked.
"Yeah. Lord of Chaos. Pretty much Evil #1. Been there. Annihilated him. Not going there again."
"Ah." All the demigods acted like that was something they understood. Carter wondered what they'd been through.
"Apophis is rising?" Carter knew how much his voice quivered.
"Not necessarily," Annabeth shrugged.
"There's no other serpent in mythology, okay!" Carter said desperately. He felt so lost and scared.
"Hold it Mr Wise Guy!" Annabeth raised a finger. "You think that your mythology is the only one that counts at this Ping Pong meeting?" A few demigods tittered. Carted reddened.
"I'm sure we can find some other options," Piper continued more gently. "And you've got us to help you this time as well. And we've got you." Carter relaxed.
"Yay… we've got a whole 2 new people!" somebody said sarcastically. That made Carter very indignant. Not only was he a very powerful magician, but he had a whole league of magicians back at Brooklyn House. They're probably freaking out! he realised.
"We've actually got quite a few people back at home!" Sadie said. Nobody responded.
"So, we'll look for a serpent in our mythology. Hopefully a nice friendly one!" Jason said.
"I doubt it." Sadie said dryly.
"Will soon have his bane unfurled," Carter prompted.
"This is ridiculous!" Percy said finally. "This is wasting time, and we've got no idea! No idea! What bane will unfurl? Come on? Let's just… let it roll. What's going to happen will happen anyway." He gave a tired sigh. "I'm tired of misread prophecies." Carter felt taken aback. He wanted to figure out this prophecy, but Percy had a point. It was then that Chiron came back into the room.
'I've had a chat with Nico." He said quietly. "You all need to go and rest. Oh, Carter and Sadie. I said the Hecate cabin was best, but when I realised you were hosting gods I thought otherwise. Carter, could you can choose between Ares and Apollo."
"Oh dude, pick Apollo!" Percy said immediately.
"Sadie, you can choose between Aphrodite, Athena and Hera." Carter had no idea about which one to pick. Percy wanted him to pick Apollo, so…
"I pick… Ares?" he said cautiously. Percy shook his head and sighed. Chiron just managed to suppress a smile.
"Are you sure?" Chiron said slowly. No! Carter wanted to scream. I'm not sure! I'm just getting in Percy's face. That guy's too perfect!
"Yes." Carter said. All of the demigods were laughing now. What had he gotten himself into? Sadie was next.
"Uh, any tips guys?" she looked around.
"Don't pick Hera!" Annabeth said passionately. Carter hoped Sadie wouldn't be as stupid as he'd been. She wasn't.
"Hera is most like Isis." Chiron said.
"Oh, then I'm definitely not picking her!" Sadie said passionately. Carter knew how she felt.
"Pick Athena!" said Leo. Carter felt that for once he was sincere, but Sadie obviously didn't see that.
"I pick Aphrodite." She said firmly. Again everybody laughed.
'Well," Chiron said, trying not to smile and failing miserably. "That will be interesting."
And that's it! Another chapter DONE! It's very long winded with lots of things happening and random conversations starting, but seriously, in a room full of ADHD demigods it'd be impossible to stay on – topic for long. So… the questions of the chapter; WHAT is wrong with Nico? WHO is the serpent that began the world? HOW will Sadie and Carter cope in the Ares and Aphrodite cabin? And many more will be answered in the coming chapters! And, a little reminder, please review because reviews give me warm fuzzies! Bye!
