For the last three days the training continued and each day the Grunts improved. By the fourth day of training, no one threw up during PT and there was no extra push ups done that day because there was zero mistakes made. Every night the Grunts went bed less sore and less exhausted. They reached the point where they felt they could keep on going even after training was over. Each day the Grunts were beginning to act more and more as a team, a unit, a whole body. They began to get along with each other and the tension had died between the Romans and the Greeks, the Amazons trusted the males a little more, the Hunters tolerated working with boys, and the satyrs were mocked no longer.
On the fourth night of training after dinner, Percy, Leo, Jason, Frank, Grover, Tyson, and Ella were spending their free time in the cafeteria on the lower decks of Argo II. Jason and Percy were sparring together, Frank would turn into a different animal and Grover would proceed to speak to him in the language of that creature, Tyson and Ella were in the corner chatting and giggling, and Leo was tinkering away at a cannon.
"Good one," Jason said after Percy disarmed him. Jason's gladius skidded across the floor of the ship and stopped at one of the entrances to the cafeteria.
Jason walked across the room to pick up his sword. Before he could grab it another person's fingers wrapped around the hilt and handed it to him. It was Perseus, who had just boarded the ship. He was accompanied by the rest of the Heroes of Old, Lupa, Chiron, Piper, Annabeth, Hazel, Thalia, Reyna, Octavian and Rachel. The people who entered wore somber expressions, except Octavian and the Heroes of Old. Octavian was fuming while the Heroes of Old donned their usual faces of indifference.
"We need to speak with you," Chiron said.
"Just me?" asked Jason.
"No, all of you," Lupa said pointing her snout to everyone in the room.
"Leo, can you make sure that this area is secure." Chiron nodded to Leo.
"On it," Leo said as he pulled out a Wii remote. Leo pressed one of the buttons on it and doors and windows of the ship closed and locked themselves shut, the cannons retracted from their holes, and their doors closed. "We're good."
"What is it Chiron?" asked Percy.
"Where here to discuss the Great Prophecy," Chiron told them.
Frank's, Percy's, Jason's, and Grover's eyebrows shot up.
"Has someone discovered anything new? Do we know more? Have discovered the whereabouts of Nico? Is there ways to stop Gaea," asked Grover excitedly.
"Don't play dumb goat boy!" Octavian shouted.
"Hey," Grover protested.
"What are you talking about?" Percy asked annoyed.
"That Harpy over there," Octavian pointed accusingly at Ella. "Her memory contains the knowledge of the Sibylline Books and all of you have been keeping it a secret this entire time." Octavian snarled.
"Only Frank, Percy, and I new!" Hazel protested. "Frank, Percy, Ella, I'm sorry but I had to tell someone and I told Annabeth, Annabeth told Rachel, Rachel told Chiron, and Chiron told Lupa. Everyone else found out afterwords."
Frank and Hazel locked eyes. Frank looked at her with understanding. He was always too kind. "It's all right Hazel, we couldn't keep it a secret forever." Percy nodded in agreement.
"Oh, please! We're all tired of this lovey-dovey crap!" Octavian sneered and Lupa barked at him telling him to hold his tongue.
"The only reason we kept it a secret in the first place was so this power hungry, fascist, Hitler Junior, son of bitch couldn't use Ella as a means of getting power." Percy yelled while pointing at Octavian.
Octavian was about to lunge forward but Percy uncapped Riptide and held its point at him.
"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Chiron shouted. Chiron rarely got angry but when he did it was the one of most terrifying thing a body could ever experience. "Mr. Octavian, if I were you I would restrain yourself before the Defeater of Kronos cuts off your head. After, only after, Mr. Jackson kills you will I allow Odysseus to put an arrow through his eyes."
Octavian stepped backward and Percy looked over Odysseus who had an arrow trained on him. Percy recapped Riptide and put it back in his pocket. They both starred daggers at each other but Percy's wolf-stare prevailed and Octavian uncomfortably broke eye contact and looked to the floor.
After Chiron deemed the two were calm, he cleared his throat and looked to Rachel. "If you would be so kind Ms. Dare, could you please explain what your intentions are."
Rachel stepped forward. "Annabeth and I were talking earlier and I told her a part of the Prophecy of Seven but we're not telling anyone till we hear the prophecy in its entirety. The only one who knows it in its full length is Ella. In order to learn it from her, Hitler Junior and I would need to combine each others powers."
"And how do you intend on doing that?" Jason asked.
Rachel hesitated, while squirming with much discomfort said, "I need to look into Ella's eyes while Hitler Junior inspects her with in."
"What?" Leo asked confused.
Octavian rolled his eyes and yelled, "For Gods' sake. Mortal over here is going to do her Delphi thing to Bird Brains while I cut her open and read her entrails! AND STOP CALLING ME HITLER JR!"
Protest erupted from everyone who had't already known what their true intentions were. That meant it was just Jason, Percy, Grover, Frank, Grover, and Tyson who were enraged because everyone else knew the plan from the beginning.
"That's messed up!" Leo shivered. "The Hitler Junior thing is funny but cutting her open..."
Tyson roared and jumped in front of Ella. "NO!"
Since the newcomers entered the room, Ella had been unusually quite but now she started to go ballistic. She flew in the air while screaming randomly. "Entrails, intestines, seventeen feet and thirty-five inches, eighty-eight point eight centimeters, metric system, Europe, England, Queen Elizabeth!"
The Heroes of Old drew their weapons at Tyson's sudden violent reaction, Reyna and Octavian did as well, Lupa barked, and everyone else jumped to Tyson's defense with their weapons drawn.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Percy shouted with his hands raised. "Everyone can just chill out! Put the weapons away and we cant talk about this without getting killed. Let's do this peacefully."
Ella: "World peace, hippies, drugs, LSD, the Beatles, ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE!"
Reluctantly but slowly the weapons were put down but continued to remain drawn.
"Look what you did jackass!" Frank shouted at Octavian while pointing upwards to the frantic Ella. "I would know a jackass when I see one because I can turn into one."
"That was stupid," Octavian replied.
Everyone looked up to Ella zooming across the celling of the ship's lower deck. She was zipping from corner to corner while she spouted out random facts.
"The Jackass is another name for donkey, the symbol for the American Republican party, George W. Bush, War on Terrorism, 911, New York City, ILH, Mount Olympus."
"Holy crap she's like a Bing commercial," Leo mumbled.
"How are we going to get her down?" the original Jason asked.
"I can shoot her," Odysseus recommended.
Everyone glared at him and Tyson looked as if he was going to break his spine in half. Percy wondered how his half-brother was controlling himself.
"Good idea," Octavian agreed.
"Oh, if Hitler Junior thinks it's a good idea then that means it's a terrible one," Odysseus said with disgust while putting an arrow back in his quiver.
"Somebody! Please help her!" Tyson whined.
"Frank, can't you... turn into a bird and get her down?" Hercules asked.
"Even if I turned into an African Swallow I doubt I could even catch her," Frank answered. "Did you see how much coffee she drank this morning?"
"Got any ideas Wise Girl?" Percy asked Annabeth.
Ella burst into another one of strings of facts: "Wise, wisdom, Aristotle, philosophers, ancient civilizations, Rome, Gods, goddess of Wisdom, Minerva!"
"Wait, what did she say?" Theseus said.
Thalia told him, "She said something about The Beatles. Personally I think Green Day is better-"
Theseus cut her off, "No, she said something about Minerva."
Ella: "Minerva, the roman goddess of Wisdom, Greek Gods, Athena, Greeks, children of the gods, demigods, half-blood hill, daughter, Annabeth Chase!"
Suddenly Ella's body began to convulse violently in midair causing her fall to the floor. Shell fell like a rock at hit the floor with a sold thud. On the deck she began to flop like a fish out of water. Tyson ran forward to help her but Hercules intercepted him and held him back with a bear hug before he could reach her. Ella began screaming out in Ancient Greek with a combination of Latin. Her screaming stopped and so did the convulsions. She laid motionless on the ground with everyone looking upon her limp body in silent awe and shock.
"ELLA!" Tyson screamed over and over again. If it weren't for Tyson's screaming, the ship would have been deathly silent. Hercules put Tyson into a sleeper hold and choked him until he went unconscious. Hercules gently lowered Tyson's the floor.
"Hey," Percy said in protest.
"Would you rather I let him go on a rampage and possibly hurt every one of us or worse...we end up killing him?" Hercules asked while gesturing to Odysseus and Bellerophon who had their bows at the ready.
Percy shook his head.
"What in Hades just happened?" Reyna asked wide eyed.
"Is she... dead," Piper asked.
"No, I can still feel her life force," answered Hazel. "Besides, I can see she's still breathing."
Theseus turned to Rachel and said, "Your up."
Rachel looked at him with uncertainty in her eyes and shook her head. Theseus stepped toward her and put his hands on her shoulders. He looked into Rachel's bright green eyes with his dark green ones with intensity.
"You can do this Rachel Elizabeth Dare, Oracle of Delphi," He told her encouragingly.
Rachel nodded her head with a new confidence, as if Theseus was her fuel, and she stepped gingerly to Ella's body. She placed a hand on the harpy's forehead. Octavian stepped forward as well but no one protested against it. They knew that Octavian was needed in order to make what ever they were going to do work. Rachel held out her other hand to him and he took it. Everyone else held their breathes in anticipation.
At first nothing happened, causing Rachel and Octavian to share quizzical glances. Then suddenly both their heads were violently flung backward as they looked toward the heavens. Green smoke poured from Rachel's mouth and filled the room. Pain stabbed into everyones heads which caused them to sink to one knee and hold the their skulls delicately. Images of the past, present, and future filled the room. The green smoke seemed to have affect a greater affect of the Heroes of Old.
Each Hero of Old saw something different. Hercules relived the painful massacre of his family which was caused by his own hands. Theseus watched in horror as his father fell to his death from a cliff and felt the feelings of remorse and regret when he left Ariadne behind. Bellerophon saw all the faces that slandered him after he failed to fly to the top of Mount Olympus. Leonidas watched arrow volley after volley strike unrelentingly into his Spartans. Achilles looked upon his own wedding that was interrupted as an arrow flew into his heel. Perseus looked into Medusa's eyes and he became a statue and was forced to watch Andromeda marry a different man. Odysseus was shown an image of his son and wife and then an image of Calypso, he was forced to choose. Jason watched as his greed caused him to hate his true love, Medea, and then to marry someone else. They were forced to relieve the horrible memories, see themselves commit unforgivable atrocities, watch opportunities slip out of their hands, and recalculate their decisions. The Heroes of Old curled on the floor as they moaned in agony.
Then the green smoke climbed into their eyes, ears, noses, and mouths while the ghostly, eerie, shrieking voice entered their minds.
Child of Lightning, 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.
To the North, beyond the gods, lies the legion's crown.
Falling from ice, the son of Neptune shall drown.
The legends return,
And much they will yearn.
Repent for their sins,
In order to save their kin.
Absolve for their crimes,
To live in bliss for all time.
Wisdom's daughter walks alone,
The Mark of Athena burns through Rome.
The seventh is revealed,
Who was hidden behind a shield.
The Child of Strife armed with a knife,
Will help save a life.
Seven half-bloods shall answer the call.
To storm or fire, the world must fall.
An oath to keep with a final breath,
And foes bear arms to the Doors of Death.
Rachel and Octavian's mouths slammed shut, the witch's voice ceased, and the green smoke dissipated. Everyone found themselves lying on the floor sweating and panting; slowly they climbed to their feet.
"Holy crap!" Frank murmured out of breath. "That was the spookiest experience of all time."
"Creepy," Piper, Leo, Hazel, and Grover agreed in unison.
"You get used to it after a couple times. It was worse when we had our old oracle." Percy told them. "Grover, remember when we had to carry her up the stairs into the attic."
"Don't remind me," Grover puffed.
Chiron was as calm as ever, Lupa remained her stern self, Thalia and Annabeth were shivering a little but this wasn't their first cake walk, Reyna looked a bit shaken up, Rachel and Octavian were surprisingly doing well but were gasping for air, and Tyson and Ella remained unconscious.
The Heroes of Old though, saying that, "They looked as if they had just seen a ghost" would be an understatement. All of them were pale white and where drenched in cold sweat. They where going through what appeared to be shock and were suffering massive trauma. They laid on the floor in curled up balls whispering to themselves.
After a few moments of recovery, Annabeth stood up and got out a piece of paper and re-wrote the prophecy they had just heard. She recited the whole thing again.
"What! That's all the information we know already," said Leo ungratefully.
"You're forgetting the whole two extra stanzas," Piper told him.
"Basically everything was put into to order," Reyna said. "Its like one long song, an epic poem."
"Like the Odyssey," Percy said.
"Sort of," said Annabeth. "All the other information we already know. We need to focus on the new stuff," Annabeth ordered them.
"Fine, first things first, we need to separate the new parts." Thalia said.
Rachel recited them in a monotonous voice:
The Legends return,
And much they will yearn.
Repent for their sins,
In order to save their kin.
Absolve for their crimes,
To live in bliss for all time.
Wisdom's daughter walks alone,
The Mark of Athena burns through Rome.
The seventh is revealed
Who was hidden behind a shield.
The Child of Strife armed with a knife,
Will help save a life.
"Wow, that's actually not vague for the first time in history." Percy said sarcastically. "The Fates finally decided to cut out the hocus-pocus crap."
"I'm not one too discuss the meaning of prophecies but I'll take a swing at it," volunteered Jason Grace. "The first part is talking about the Heroes of Old obviously. They have been brought back to make up for all the bad things they did in their last life. The 'save their kin' part could mean us, the modern heroes." Jason Grace said.
At the sound of them being mentioned the Heroes of Old flinched. They were still in their state of anguish, huddling on the ground in the fetal position murmuring about events in their lives.
"Are they going to be okay?" Leo asked looking at them.
"They'll be fine," said Chiron with a hint of concern. "Right now we need to focus on this prophecy."
Everyone nodded and this time Reyna took the reins. "The next part is about a child of Athena or Minerva. Most likely Athena because the prophecy said the 'Mark of Athena.'"
All eyes fell upon Annabeth.
"Why does everyone assume it's me?" asked Annabeth a bit irritated. "I have other siblings you know."
"Well, your kind of the only one that matters." Percy said.
"I'll take that as a compliment." Annabeth said with a sarcastic smile.
Percy shrugged.
"Before Ella started to go all epileptic she did mention Annabeth's name," Piper put in.
All eyes went back to Annabeth. Annabeth wished she had her Yankees cap to make herself go invisible.
"Annabeth's right, it could mean any one of Athena's other children," said Grover trying to be helpful.
"Yes, I think it would be wise-pardon me for the pun-for us to move on to the next section," Lupa suggested. "It doesn't help to linger too longly on a single part. I do think it would be best for you to be more careful Annabeth and warn you brothers and sisters as well."
Annabeth nodded but deep down inside she wished she was the one in the prophecy. She didn't want to seem self-centered but she had a feeling the line in the prophecy was about her and strangely she wanted it to be about her.
"Whats next?" Octavian finally spoke up, "Something about the seventh being revealed, a Child of Strife armed with a knife?"
"A Child of Strife? Wait, who is the God of Strife?" asked Hazel.
"That could mean any number of Gods," said Rachel. "It could be Ares, Athena, Phobos, Deimos, and so on."
They sat in silence pondering on who it could be. They went through a list of the Twelve Olympians and the Minor Gods.
"It's Eris," Achilles told them unexpectedly as he weakly stood to his feet.
Apparently he had broken out of his traumatic state. The color in his skin returned but he still seemed uneasy and nervous. The rest of the Heroes of Old were returning back to normal but they seemed edgy as well.
"Who?" Leo asked.
"Eris, the Goddess of discord and Chaos, the Lady of strife," Achilles answered softly as he looked off into space in remembrance.
"Her Roman name is Discordia," Lupa told them.
Achilles nodded his head. "She is the reason there was a Trojan War in the first place. She caused it and by doing so she killed many, many people. She destroyed an entire civilization and created an ocean of blood for her own amusement...All over a worthless apple," Achilles drifted off.
"Who ever this 'Child of Strife' is, they will only bring doom." Achilles said pensively.
"I fought in the Trojan War as well, Eris is not good news." Odysseus agreed.
"But this demigod is supposed to be final of the seven, sir." Reyna said. "Seven half-bloods are supposed to answer the call and this offspring of Eris is one of them."
Achilles shook his head. "That may be true but I only fear death will come with this half-blood."
"We are going to war sir, death is a guarantee," Thalia reminded him.
"The prophecy also says this person will save a life," Jason added.
"The only life they will save is their own," Achilles said dryly.
"But the prophecy-" Octavian bleated.
"-And you still look to prophecies for guidance after all they have done for us?" Hercules said incredulously.
"They only bring pain and sorrow," the original Jason added.
"They are made by the Gods and the Fates who are selfish liars and tyrants," said Bellerophon. "The only heroes in history who ever had a happy ending where Odysseus and Perseus but they had to suffer their whole lives from torments dealt by the Gods."
"Nothing ever good comes of depending on prophecies or trying to avoid them," Theseus spoke. "What matters is using your own skill and abilities in order to stay alive and fight for what you love. I know all of you understand this."
The other Heroes of Old nodded in agreement.
"The events that just happened in this room stays within the confines of this ship and is not to be told anyone else. Annabeth Chase may warn her siblings but that is all," Achilles ordered them.
"What do I say about this prophecy?" Achilles asked rhetorically. "I say that we 'Heroes of Old' will do what we were sent here to do and get what is rightfully ours in return. We will keep our end of the bargain with Gods and that's all we will do. Hopefully we do not get cheated again. If this prophecy does intertwine with our job, so be it. We were forced to relive some horrific events again today that we wished remained buried. It was a cruel thing for the Fates to do but that is how they are."
"Tomorrow after PT and a couple hours of training there will be a capture the flag game between The Heroes of Old and the Grunts. It will be the Grunts final test to see if they are ready. Make your fellow Grunt's aware please. Good night and you are dismissed."
The Heroes of Old walked out of the Argo II mournfully with their heads hung low. Leonidas stopped at the door and was about to lead an "Ahoo" chant but he thought otherwise and merely waved his hand in defeat and walked out the door.
Percy, Jason, Annabeth, Grover, Frank, Hazel, Rachel, Leo, Piper, Reyna, Chiron, Lupa, and Octavian where left there sitting in silence.
"I don't even no what to believe anymore," Frank sighed.
Everyone nodded their silent agreement and sighed as well.
"What I miss?" Tyson said as he sat upright rubbing his head and yawning.
"I miss Nico," Hazel said randomly. Her mind was continuing on the path of Achilles's doom and gloom speech. She was remembering sad memories and Nico was a thought that came up.
Percy sighed again, "Come on you guys, let's go tell everyone about the capture the flag game tomorrow." He should've been excited but he wasn't.
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