The Alexander Chronicles
Part I: Greece
Book I: Enigma
Chapter IX: The End of the Beginning
Before we actually went to Camp Half-Blood, Percy had us stop at his home. When we arrived, we were greeted by Mrs. Jackson, who immediately took Percy into a bone-crushing hug. Apparently Hades had released her that morning, with no memory of the past month. When we finally entered their apartment, I realized that Gabe could actually be worse then The Mess: garbage was ankle deep in places, the couches were buried under a mountain of beer cans, and Gabe and his friends were doing nothing to make the place look better, only playing poker at the dining room table. Gabe verbally attacked Percy and even threatened to hit Mrs. Jackson; I was so furious that I was about to attack him, until I realized I didn't know how to fight anymore! I tried thinking about attacking him with multiple weapons, but all I knew how to use were the javelin and bow. I immediately realized what had happened; it was because of Mars that I instinctively knew how to fight so well and now, all that knowledge was gone. I realized that I couldn't help at all, so I told Percy that I would stop by my home, and meet him at camp.
When I arrived at my house, I received a big shock. Somebody else was living there. Apparently The Mess had died of a drug overdose more than a month ago and the city had sold it. So I turned on the shoes and flew back to the only home I had left. When we arrived, everybody treated us like conquering heroes: they crowned us with laurel wreaths and had a huge feast to celebrate our return and Grover was rewarded with the searcher's license that he'd been coveting and he finally received his horns-apparently ever since the death of Faunus, old Bacchus had been in charge of the fauns and only granted them their horns after they completed one job or another. After the feast, we burned the burial shrouds they'd made for us in case we didn't return. Annabeth's shroud was amazing—gray silk with embroidered owls. Percy's was made by Ares, so I wasn't surprised when they revealed it: an old bed sheet that had smiley faces with X'ed out eyes for a border and 'LOSER' painted in the middle. My cabin mates from Hermes had taken a purple satin sheet, stitched question marks for a border, and in the center, put a picture of my dead body surrounded by a few piles of sulfur, with 'Nygma' at the top.
One week later, Percy got a letter from his mom that he shared with me. Apparently, she had used Medusa's head on Gabe and sold him to an art museum in Soho, and was using the money to start school, get a new apartment and she put down some money for Percy and me to go to a private school next year. When I read that, I was moved to tears. I'd never had anyone take care of me like that other than my mom. Whenever I wasn't busy with other things, I was thinking about whether or not to take her up on her offer. Luke on the other hand had been acting quite odd since I left. Oh, we would still chat, (even if he said nothing about the kiss he gave me!) but there was something . . . off about the way he'd been acting.
In the meantime, I talked to Chiron and found out I had three would-be step-siblings in the Athena cabin. Doc had had three kids with Athena: Sarah-15 years old, Joseph-14, and Grace- also 14. We soon became friends and I learned that Doc was still in love with my mom, but didn't want to put any of us in jeopardy because of our combined scent. Professionally, he was trying to prove that Theseus and Perseus were real people and he occasionally brought them along to his digs. I kept up my training with Luke, but I found out that Mars had left me with a learning disability when it came to weapons; it took me twice as long to learn anything when compared to the average camper, so naturally I trained twice as hard. In the meantime, I finally had a chance to translate Phobe's prophecy from two of it's original languages to English. As one of the languages was Latin and the other Greek, I asked Sarah for help, and together we managed to translate it.
Seven seals bind he who shall end the gods
Delphi shall cause worry
And four will stand empty
The Oracle, the Rich One shall bind
To one body she will be confined
Any who take on the spirit be warned
Madness shall befall any who take on Delphi's curse
Three shall work an ideal
That which shall bring great ones to heel
The first seal broken: A symbol of power stolen
Two half-bloods of the eldest gods
Shall reach sixteen against all odds
One of the sea and the east, accused of theft
One of the air and the west, of mortal parents bereft
The first claimed as a final gambit
The second, on the final night
United from birth
The truth they shall unearth
The second seal broken:
Betrayal by a friend
The third seal broken:
The guardian tree poisoned
The Daughters of War lose their home
But gain new ones in the West
One a Queen among Women,
The other, a leader of the West
The great General shall be freed
The betrayer carries his burden
The fourth seal broken:
A virgin huntress shall bear the sky
But beware mighty Titan,
A Gorgon shall imprison you forever
The Children of the West and of Sky,
Children of Destiny shall unite
The Crooked One shall rise once more
And among the minor gods increase his rapport
The fifth seal broken:
The Labyrinth invaded
A rejected son shall seek solace
And ally himself with the prisoner who is formless
The sixth seal broken:
The Crooked One lives again
Then there was a line we couldn't translate. Gods, who could I turn to that knew how to translate Egyptian hieroglyphs?!
Cetus strikes the West
While Kampe strikes the East
The Son of the Air and the West rises to Rule
Eldest son of wisdom, shall finally fall to death
And destroy the great maze with his final breath
Eleven more lines of hieroglyphs, gods, why was there so many hieroglyphs?
They shall see the world in endless sleep
The hero's soul, cursed blade shall reap
A single choice shall end his days
Olympus to preserve or raze
In the West, Othrys fall to the Children of the West
The Southern Stars falls to the Child of Lightning,
If Olympus shall be maintained,
The minor gods shall have gained
Respect and cabins shall Balance win
All through the sacrifice of a son
But watch the West for the Giant's rise
And now eight more lines of hieroglyphs! Everything after that seemed obscured, but who knew why.
(A/N: Regular italics are in Greek, underlined italics are Latin.
The obscured part is, naturally, about Heroes of Olympus.)
I couldn't believe it, but this prophecy seemed centered on me and Percy. Two half-bloods of the eldest gods: one born of the sea (Neptune), accused of theft (the Lightning Bolt) and claimed as a final gambit (to save Neptune from an unwanted war); the other born of the air (Jupiter), with no mortal parents (Mom died just outside camp, and she never married) and claimed on a final night. But I was worried about what it said about the second seal: betrayal by a friend, that sounded suspiciously similar to the second-to-last line of Percy's prophecy at the beginning of the quest.
The final night finally came, and they unveiled the bead for this year, a black bead with a sea-green trident, which according to Luke "commemorates the first Son of the Sea God at this camp, and the quest he undertook into the darkest part of the Underworld to stop a war!" There was a quick toast to that, and Luke left after that. Just after he left, everyone gasped and stared at me. I couldn't understand why until Annabeth pointed above my head. When I looked up, I saw a lightning bolt, Dad had finally claimed me. Chiron shouted, "It is determined! King of Olympus, Ruler over the Air, Wielder of the Lightning Bolt. Hail, Alexander Summers, Son of Zeus!"
I sneaked away as soon as possible, and returned to the Mercury cabin to gather my things. I was surprised to see Luke doing the same. "Hey, I thought you were a year-rounder, Luke, why are you packing?"
Luke jumped at the sound of my voice, but calmed when he saw me. "Hey Alex, what are you doing here?"
"Oh, I was just claimed, so I need to move. What about you?"
He gave me one of those odd looks he'd been giving me all month before saying "I'm leaving, Alex, and I'm not coming back." The look I gave him must have revealed my confusion as he explained. "I've long since lost any trust I felt in our parents, Alex, and year after year I've seen how they abandon us, sometimes not even claiming us as theirs! Things need to change, Alex, and I'm joining the only being who could change things."
There was only one being that I could think of: "Saturn."
Luke laughed. "One of these days you are going to tell me why you prefer the Latin names, Nygma. But yes, he has spoken to me of a world without the gods, a new Golden Age for humanity, an end to the Mist and hiding from mortals. We would finally get the recognition we deserve for protecting them from monsters! Join us, Alex, and there's no telling what we could accomplish."
"Us?" I asked. "How many have joined you, Luke?"
"Here? Oh, a few dozen, most of them undetermined. Others are children of the minor gods, none of whom are as powerful as you. If Thalia were still alive, I know she'd join us, so why don't you join us in her name?"
For a second, I was tempted, but I knew mortals all too well. It could never work, unless Saturn managed to force the military and scientists to leave us alone and keep the fearful mortals in line-and that would mean he would be a tyrant, far from welcome, and humanity would work to overthrow him. "Sorry Luke, but no, I can't join you. Before you leave though, I need to know: why did you kiss me?"
Luke sighed. "Too bad, Alex, we could have really used you. Kronos foresaw you becoming our most powerful ally if you agreed, and he suggested that I flirt with you to try and get you to join us. Sorry, but I never liked you in that way. It's rare for us, but I am completely straight. Chris, go ahead." I had just enough time to wonder what he meant by that when I felt something hard hit me in the back of my head, and I collapsed into darkness.
I was woken the next day by a tug in my stomach, something I'd only felt once before, during the winter solstice. I had a terrible feeling I knew what it was, and started searching for Percy. I found him deep in the forest, near the creek with an empty Coke can in the creek and a dead scorpion nearby. I dragged him into the creek and shouted for Chiron.
Percy awoke the next day and told us what had happened, all of which I already knew. "The second seal broken: Betrayal by a friend," I quoted. "It's part of a prophecy, and apparently that cunnus Luke's fulfilled it!" Chiron gasped at my language, but I didn't care what he thought. That ciis ineptes had fallen for Saturn's promises and betrayed us! Right then, my former love for him turned to hatred and I vowed never to fall in love again. Not even Nico would be able to touch my heart again, to Tartarus with my visions!Later, Percy, Annabeth and I made plans for the next summer: we would go out and hunt down Luke, with or without permission. I told Percy that I had finally decided to stay at camp for the year, but to tell his mom thanks. I would see what this place had to offer for the year-rounders, and maybe I'd go see the man who would have been my step-father, Dr. Chris Egan, son of Apollo.
A/N: Just a quick note. Cunnus is a Latin insult, but due to the indeterminate age of my readership, I will leave it to you to discover what it means. Suffice it to say that it is a terrible insult, especially for anyone of the male gender. Ciis inepetes translates as traitorous fool in this context.