Act I - To The World Of Skies
Part V - Now, it's no wonder that her name means beauty; her looks have got no parallel. But behind that fair facade, I'm afraid she's rather odd, very different from the rest of us.
Piper woke feeling like she'd been trampled by an Irish step-dancing troupe. Her chest hurt, and she could barely breathe. She reached down and closed her hand around the hilt of the dagger Anthony had given her: Katoptris, Helen of Troy's weapon.
"How are you feeling?" someone asked.
Piper tried to focus. Rachel Dare, sat next to her. "Where—" Piper tried to say, but she felt like she was talking through a mouthful of cotton.
"You're in the Big House," Rachel said. "Camp offices. We brought you here when you collapsed."
"You grabbed me," Piper remembered. "Hera's voice—"
"I'm so sorry about that," Rachel said. "Believe me, it was not my idea to get possessed. Chiron healed you with some nectar... Do you remember your vision?"
"Something's wrong with the goddess," Piper said. "She told me to free her, like she's trapped. She mentioned the earth swallowing us, and a fiery one, and something about the solstice. What's happened to Hera?"
"We're not sure," Rachel said. "Anthony and Lena were here for you, by the way. Lena didn't want to leave you, but Anthony had an idea... something that might restore her memories."
"That's… that's great," Piper murmured. Her thoughts were spinning. Lena had been here for her? And if she got her memories back, would that be a good thing? Piper was still holding out hope that they really did know each other. She didn't want to have imagined her feelings for the other girl.
"Don't worry." Rachel squeezed her arm. "Lena seems nice. She had a vision too, a lot like yours. Whatever's happening with Hera... I think you two are meant to work together. You'll figure it out."
"How can you know?"
Rachel shrugged. "I know you'll face a hard choice, and your options aren't great. I get hunches sometimes. But you're going to be claimed at the campfire. I'm almost sure. When you know who your godly parent is, things might be clearer."
"I hope it's Athena." She looked up, afraid Rachel might make fun of her, but the oracle just smiled.
"I think Anthony would like that. You guys are a lot alike."
"Another hunch? You don't know anything about me."
"You'd be surprised."
"You're just saying that because you're an oracle and you're supposed to sound all mysterious."
Rachel laughed. "Don't be giving away my secrets, Piper. And don't worry. Things will work out... just maybe not the way you plan."
"That's not making me feel better."
Somewhere in the distance, a conch horn blew.
"Dinner?" Piper guessed.
"You slept through it," Rachel said. "Time for the campfire. Let's go find out who you are."
Piper spotted Lena in the front next to Anthony. Leo was nearby, sitting with a bunch of burly-looking campers under a steel gray banner emblazoned with a hammer. A centaur trotted up. 'A special welcome to our new arrivals. I am Chiron, camp activities director, and I'm happy you have all arrived here alive and with most of your limbs attached. In a moment, I promise we'll get to the s'mores, but first—"
"What about capture the flag?" somebody yelled. Grumbling broke out among some kids in armor.
"Yes," the centaur said. "I know the Ares cabin is anxious to return to the woods for our regular games-"
"And kill people!" one of them shouted.
"However," Chiron said, "until the dragon is brought under control, that won't be possible. Cabin Nine, anything to report on that?"
He turned to Leo's group. The girl next to him stood uncomfortably. "We're working on it."
More grumbling.
"How, Nyssa?" an Ares kid demanded.
"Really hard," she answered. Nyssa sat down to a lot of yelling and complaining, which caused the fire to sputter chaotically. Chiron stamped his hoof against the fire pit stones - bang, bang, bang - and the campers fell silent.
"We will have to be patient," Chiron said. "In the meantime, we have more pressing matters to discuss."
"Jackson?" someone asked. The fire dimmed even further, but Piper didn't need the mood flames to sense the crowd's anxiety.
Chiron gestured to Anthony who took a deep breath and stood. "I didn't find Andy," he announced. His voice caught a little when he said her name. "She wasn't at the Grand Canyon like I thought. But we're not giving up. We've got teams everywhere. Grover, Tyson, the Hunters of Artemis; everyone's out looking. We will find her. Chiron's talking about something different. A new quest."
"It's the Great Prophecy, isn't it?" Drew asked.
"What do you mean?" said Anthony.
"Well, come on." Drew spread her hands like the truth was obvious. "Olympus is closed. Your midget girlfriend disappeared. Hera sent you a vision and you came back with three new demigods in one day. I mean, something weird is going on. The Great Prophecy has started, right?"
Everyone looked at Rachel. Her eyes looked scary in the firelight. "Yes," she said. "The Great Prophecy has begun."
Pandemonium broke out.
Rachel took another step toward the audience, and fifty-plus demigods leaned away from her, as if one skinny redheaded mortal was more intimidating than all of them put together. "For those of you who have not heard it," Rachel said, "the Great Prophecy was my first prediction. It arrived in August. It goes like this: Seven half-bloods shall answer the call. To storm or fire the world must fall—"
Lena shot to her feet. Her blue eyes looked wild, like she'd just been tasered. Even Rachel seemed caught off guard. "Ut cum spiritu postrema sacramentum dejuremus," she chanted. "Et hostes ornamenta addent ad ianuam necem."
An uneasy silence settled on the group.
"You just… finished the prophecy," Rachel stammered. "How did you—"
"I know those lines." Lena winced and put her hands to her temples. "I don't know how, but I know that prophecy."
"In Latin, no less," Drew called out.
Lena sat down, looking embarrassed. Rachel Dare still looked a little shaken. She glanced back at Chiron for guidance, but the centaur stood grim and silent.
"Well," Rachel said, trying to regain her composure. "So, yeah, that's the Great Prophecy. We hoped it might not happen for years, but I fear it's starting now. I can't give you proof. It's just a feeling. And like Drew said, some weird stuff is happening. The seven demigods, whoever they are, have not been gathered yet. I get the feeling some are here tonight. Some are not here. We don't know what the Great Prophecy means. We don't know what challenge the demigods will face, but since the first Great Prophecy predicted the Titan War, we can guess the second Great Prophecy will predict something at least that bad."
"Or worse," Chiron murmured.
"What we do know," Rachel said, "is that the first phase has begun. A major problem has arisen, and we need a quest to solve it. Hera, the queen of the gods, has been taken."
Shocked silence. Then fifty demigods started talking at once. Chiron pounded his hoof again, but Rachel still had to wait before she could get back their attention. She told them everything that had happened.
"Lena," she called at last. "Um… do you remember your last name?"
Lena looked self-conscious, but shook her head.
"We'll just call you Lena, then," Rachel said. "It's clear Hera herself has issued you a quest."
Rachel paused, as if giving Lena a chance to protest her destiny. Everyone's eyes were on her. Lena set her jaw and nodded. "I agree."
"You must save Hera to prevent a great evil," Rachel continued. "Some sort of king from rising. For reasons we don't yet understand, it must happen by the winter solstice, only a few days from now."
"That's the council day of the gods," Anthony said. "If the gods don't already know Hera's gone, they will definitely notice her absence by then. They'll probably break out fighting, accusing each other of taking her. That's what they usually do."
"The winter solstice," Chiron spoke up, "is also the time of greatest darkness. The gods gather that day, as mortals always have, because there is strength in numbers. The solstice is a day when evil magic is strong. Ancient magic, older than the gods. It is a day when things… stir."
"Okay," Anthony said, glaring at the centaur. "Thank you, Captain Sunshine. Whatever's going on, I agree with Rachel. Lena has been chosen to lead this quest, so—"
"Why hasn't she been claimed?" somebody yelled from the Ares cabin. "If she's so damn important—"
"She has been claimed," Chiron announced. "Long ago. Lena, give them a demonstration."
Lena stepped forward nervously. She reached into her pocket. Her coin flashed in the air, and when she caught it in her hand, she was holding a lance: a rod of gold about seven feet long, with a spear tip at one end. The other demigods gasped. Rachel and Anthony stepped back to avoid the point, which looked sharp as an ice pick.
"Wasn't that…" Anthony hesitated. "I thought you had a sword."
"Um, it came up tails," Lena said. "Same coin, long-range weapon form."
"Dude, I want one!" yelled somebody from Ares cabin.
"Better than Clarisse's electric spear, Lamer!" one of his brothers agreed.
"Shut your mouth!" Clarisse said.
Lena smiled like she'd had a great idea. She raised her javelin, and thunder broke open the sky. Lightning arced down through the golden spear point and hit the campfire with the force of an artillery shell. The entire camp sat frozen in shock, half blind, covered in ashes, staring at the place where the fire had been. Lena lowered her lance. "Um… sorry."
"A little overkill, perhaps," Chiron said, "but you've made your point. And I believe we know who your father is."
"Jupiter," Lena said. "I mean Zeus. Lord of the Sky."
Everything broke into chaos, with dozens of people asking questions until Anthony raised his arms. "Hold it!" he said. "How can she be a daughter of Zeus? The Big Three… their pact not to have mortal kids… how could we not have known about her sooner?"
Chiron didn't answer, but Piper got the feeling he knew. And the truth was not good.
"The important thing," Rachel said, "is that Lena's here now. She has a quest to fulfill, which means she will need her own prophecy." She closed her eyes and swooned. Two campers rushed forward and caught her. When she opened her eyes, they were glowing. Emerald smoke issued from her mouth. The voice that came out was raspy and ancient: "Child of sky and storm, beware the earth. The giants' revenge the seven shall birth. The forge and dove shall break the cage, and death unleash through Hera's rage." On the last word, Rachel collapsed, but her helpers were waiting to catch her.
"Is that normal?" Piper asked. Then she realized she'd spoken into the silence, and everyone was looking at her. "I mean… does she spew green smoke a lot?"
"Gods, you're dense!" Drew sneered. "She just issued a prophecy... Lena's prophecy to save Hera! Why don't you just—"
"Drew," Anthony snapped. "If breaking Hera's cage unleashes her rage and causes a bunch of death… why would we free her? It might be a trap, or... or maybe Hera will turn on her rescuers. She's never been kind to heroes."
Lena rose again. "I don't have much choice. Hera took my memory. I need it back. Besides, we can't just not help the queen of the heavens if she's in trouble."
Nyssa also stood up. "Maybe. But you should listen to Anthony. Hera can be vengeful. She threw her own son, our dad, down a mountain just because he was ugly."
"Real ugly," snickered someone from Aphrodite.
"Shut up!" Nyssa growled. "Anyway, we've also got to think: why beware the earth? And what's the giants' revenge? What are we dealing with here that's powerful enough to kidnap the queen of the heavens?"
No one answered, but Piper noticed Anthony and Chiron having a silent exchange.
Anthony took a deep breath. "It's Lena quest," he announced, "so it's Lena's choice. Obviously, she's the child of sky and storm. According to tradition, she may choose any two companions."
Someone from the Hermes cabin yelled, "Well, you, obviously, Tony. You've got the most experience."
"No, Travis," Anthony said. "I'm not helping Hera. Every time I've tried, she's deceived me, or it's come back to bite me later. Forget it. No way. And besides, I'm leaving first thing in the morning to find Andy."
"It's connected," Piper blurted out, not sure how she got the courage. "You know that's true, don't you? This whole business, your girlfriend's disappearance... it's all connected."
"How?" demanded Drew. "If you're so smart, how?"
"You may be right, Piper," he said. "If this is connected, I'll find out from the other end, by searching for Andy. As I said, I'm not about to rush off to rescue Hera, even if her disappearance sets the rest of the Olympians fighting again. But there's another reason I can't go. The prophecy says otherwise."
"It says who I pick," Lena agreed. "The forge and dove shall break the cage. The forge is the symbol of Vul... Hephaestus."
Under the Cabin Nine banner, Nyssa's shoulders slumped, like she'd just been given a heavy anvil to carry. "If you have to beware the earth," she said, "you should avoid traveling overland. You'll need air transport. The flying chariot's broken and the pegasi, we're using them to search for Andy. But maybe Hephaestus cabin can help figure out something else to help. With Jake incapacitated, I'm senior camper. I can volunteer for the quest." She didn't sound enthusiastic.
Then Leo stood up. He'd been so quiet, Piper had almost forgotten he was there, which was totally not like Leo. "It's me," he said. His cabinmates stirred. Several tried to pull him back to his seat, but Leo resisted. "No, it's me. I know it is. I've got an idea for the transportation problem. Let me try. I can fix this!"
Lena studied him for a moment. Piper was sure she was going to tell Leo no. Then she smiled. "We started this together, Leo. Seems only right you come along. You find us a ride, you're in."
"Yes!" Leo pumped his fist.
"It'll be dangerous," Nyssa warned him. "Hardship, monsters, terrible suffering. Possibly none of you will come back alive."
"Oh, cool! Suffering?" Leo smiled. "I love suffering! Let's do this."
Anthony nodded. "Then, Lena, you only need to choose the third quest member. The dove—"
"Oh, absolutely!" Drew was on her feet. "The dove is Aphrodite. Everybody knows that. I want to go. Fighting is all fine, I suppose. And people who build things…" She looked at Leo in disdain. "Well, I suppose someone has to get their hands dirty. But you need charm on your side. I can be very persuasive. I could help a lot."
"Well…" Anthony said. "Given the wording of the prophecy—"
"No!" Piper's own voice sounded strange in her ears, more insistent, richer in tone. "I'm supposed to go." Then the weirdest thing happened. Everyone started nodding, muttering that hmm, Piper's point of view made sense too. Drew looked around, incredulous. Even some of her own campers were nodding.
"Get over it!" Drew snapped at the crowd. "What can Piper do?"
Suddenly there was collective gasp. Everyone stared at Piper like she'd just exploded. She wondered what she'd done wrong. Then she realized there was a reddish glow around her.
"What the hell...?" she demanded. She looked above her, but there was no burning symbol like the one that appeared over Leo. Then she looked down and yelped.
She was adorned in a beautiful white sleeveless gown that went down to her ankles, with a V-neck so low it was totally embarrassing. Delicate gold armbands circled her biceps. And her hair…
"Oh, god," she said. "What's happened?"
Anthony seemed surprised, but Lena smiled. "Wow," she said softly.
"No, no, no!" Piper protested. "Not possible! This isn't me. I... I don't understand."
Chiron the centaur folded his front legs and bowed to her, and all the campers followed his example. "Hail, Piper McLean," he announced gravely, as if he were speaking at her funeral. "Daughter of Aphrodite, lady of the doves, goddess of love."
