"Uff," I grunted as I pulled the string taut and positioned the arrow. I tried to aim as accurate as possible, and released my hold on the string when I felt confident enough.
"Eeek!"
I groaned. "I'm sorry, Tiffany!" I yelled. The dryad whose tree trunk I managed to bury my arrow in squeak in shock and proceeded to run away in tears. How was it that nearly every single time I attended archery class, it always ended with a certain tree disaster? As the lesson progressed to the end, I packed up the supplies and piled it at the side, then walked to the next activity of the day.
I wondered about my revelation of Hera's order to the senior campers that day, and was curious about why Hera wanted me to be placed in the second generation section. I had snooped around during my first week here, and it seemed quite new but not less impressive than the original buildings. I was glad that Percy had voiced his opinion of me not being suited there, I quite like being here in the Hermes cabin; a routine had somewhat taken shape and I would hate to have it messed up and leave me disorientated again. But it was intriguing how Percy knew my aura. Maybe he had a satyr tell him, who knows?
As I neared the canoe lake, I walked up to Xav, giving a tentative smile as we prepared for our canoe lesson. I had dropped all the pretenses that Hera had made me hold up at the start of my trip. There had been some strange looks when I had excelled in their Greek lessons, but for the water sports, I didn't really pay it any attention as the 'beach incident' had covered the insinuated bad luck pretty well, don't you think? We had been practicing with partnered canoeing for the past few lessons and I would be proud to say that it has gone as smoothly as one would expect it to have been. A little too smoothly, I concluded when I observed the other groups flailing their arms, trying to balance on the still water as we row pass them effortlessly.
We were then deemed capable enough for paired work and were set to do some solo practice. I watched as Xav waved then headed over to where his new bunch of friends from various godly parents gathered, talking animatedly as they laughed. The weirdest occurrence had happened amidst me being alienated. Kids from rival godly parents started warming up against each other. Where arguments would've broken up, and now stilted conversation would take place. But still, it's better than nothing. Personally, I think the cause of this unlikely peace was the 'beach incident'. While I had a traumatizing part in it, many focused on the rivals Ares and Hecate as they banded together by some unknown force and charged towards the innocent girl – really, I had done nothing to warrant such an attack, from two of the strongest cohort heroes, no less. The demigods themselves puzzled over this bizarre event, and they found themselves no longer foes but friends.
The rest of the camp saw how strong they had become in every capture the flag event after the 'beach incident' and had followed after their albeit unconventional footsteps and gained themselves the unlikeliest allies.
Unfortunately, I seemed to have not qualified to be included in the list of potential friends. Xav had been a great company, but he had been a little distant lately. As I strapped myself in my canoe and push off the beach with a shove of my paddle, I looked towards his new group of friends. I had been really glad to see Xav talking to other people, because in my early friendship with him, I have noticed that Xav seldom socialize with people, opting to keep to himself. Annabeth's raised alarm over the mention of his name during our early run in had popped up in my mind, and I wondered if he had been involve with something bad before to be outside of an otherwise welcoming community.
As I made my lap around the lake, a yell of my name caused me to pause as I neared the docking area. It was the instructor of the class, a daughter of Nike.
"Hey, Rose!" she shouted as she neared the water. I quickly paddled to where she was standing near the edge of the wooden walkway. "Hey, you yelled for me?" I panted slightly.
"Yeah, Chiron wants you up at the Big House. Says it's urgent, so you better hurry," she rushed out and raised an eyebrow in a teasing manner as she watched me struggle out of my canoe. As I was sure I was going to lose balance and topple over into the lake from all the shaking of the canoe, I miraculously stayed dry as I hopped from balancing precariously on the canoe and onto standing steadily on the wooden walkway. The instructor, whose name I'm embarrassed to say I have forgotten, looked slacked jaw as I walked towards her.
"How did you do that?" she pointed to the floating canoe with a look of disbelief.
"What? What did I do?" I turned and looked around myself, not understanding what had caused her inquiry.
"That. The canoe was tipping over, and the water just, it just, filled over the other side, just, how did you do that?" she stuttered out, questioning.
I panic at her blabber and just gave her a shrug before running down the walkway and headed to the Big House, leaving her dumfounded by the lake. My head swarmed with thoughts as I made my way to the blue mansion. But I dismissed them, knowing there was no possible way it could have happened and chalking it off as one of Nike's children optimistic and creative imagination. No way did it happen unintentionally when I went all out to experiment just earlier this morning.
I let myself in through the front door and made my way to Chiron's office. Knocking on the door twice, a soft "come in" sounded, and I pushed open the door to reveal Chiron back in his wheelchair, seated behind his desk with horrible, horrible music blasting through his boom box.
"Hello, you asked for me?" I winced as I suppressed the urge to press against my ears.
"Yes, as a matter of fact I did," he said as he made a move to turn off his blasted music. I silently gave a sigh of relief.
"Take a seat," he said, and I did.
He stared hard at me for a few, tense seconds. I tried hard to not fidget under his stare, this being my umpteenth time in his office, I should've gotten used to it already really.
"Let's cut to the chase shall we?" he started, giving a slight clearing of his throat while I nodded seriously at his words.
"You have been summoned by the council of Olympus to go on a three day quest to find Hera's diadem, which was last known to be located somewhere in California."
Silence followed, before a very quiet "what" came from my mouth, opened in shock at the news. I had expected to fit and blend in with the demigods like fish in water, and what did I get instead? A quest. Nothing would gain me faster and more concentrated attention than this, not even the 'beach incident' would garner the amount of attention I could already anticipate.
"Wait, hold up," I raised a hand and shook my head, then pinched myself hard on the thigh. The redness that formed immediately assured me that this was not a new nightmare making its way into my head. "The council of Olympus, wants me, to find Hera's diadem?" I asked in disbelief, shouting near the end as I realized that Hera's name had been brought up yet again.
"Yes," Chiron nodded seriously, no signs of joke on his wrinkled face but a small comforting smile, probably reserved for all his students for the past thousand years or so in this situation.
"Well," I scrambled for an excuse, any excuse, to get out of this mess. "Well, why can't she go get it herself? Did she lose it or something?" The minute those words came out of my mouth, I knew they were stupid and useless. Chiron probably thought I'm the densest student to ever have to go on a quest. I'm still kind of stuck on the thought that I've been summoned. To go on a quest. For Hera's freaking diadem.
"No, she didn't lose it; she merely gave it to a friend for safekeeping for the past two hundred years ago and has now decided that she wants it back. She could very well go and get it herself, but that is not the way the gods work, as you've been taught, I'm sure, in your Greek lessons along with learning the language itself," Chiron explained patiently in his teacher voice, while I sat there thinking, why in Hades would Hera give a diamond encrusted diadem off to some random friend across the country, for two hundred years?
"I know it's a lot to take in, so why don't you take some time to think about it?"
I nodded, and stood to leave the room.
"Oh, and before you leave," Chiron raised a hand to stop my pace. "Remember that it's a three day quest to the other side of the country, and you would be able to have a visit to our oracle and that you would be suggested to bring along two friends should you wish to. Also, personally I think it's best not to refuse the gods," he gave me a 'you know why' look and continued, "and don't take too long to think about it, alright? I'll need an answer by tomorrow night at the latest," he insisted, then wave for me to get along and turned his boom box back on, leaning back as if nothing was wrong.
The walk back to the cabin was a blur, I didn't remember much except for the thoughts circling my head. A three day quest to the west coast, with or without company, and an audience with Rachel, the hippie oracle. All these to retrieve a diadem – Hera's diadem. It staring to shape up a lot like an assessment, maybe one to see if new gods had taken up to their familiarity of the human world or not? Well, I'm not sure if I'm ready, thinking back to my awful archery classes, but I'll chuck my ass back to shape if that's what it's going to take to complete this quest. And you bet your cow I'll be there fighting and ready to go, Hera.
I marched the rest of the way back to Hermes cabin, formulating a plan of how to break all this to Xav and what I should pack for the quest. Something light for sure. And something cool to show off of course.
It wasn't until Hera herself had given them a visit that Percy's rage had reared its ugly head. He had been practicing not to piss off anybody important after so many battles and wars, but it seemed that when it comes to his daughter, nothing is expected, including the girl they had found eavesdropping on them.
Nothing had shocked him more than seeing that girl with an uncanny resemblance to both Percy and Annabeth as it had when the girl – Ambrosia – had been cowering under the hungry gaze of a chimaera. They had been able to save her, but they couldn't give her what she deserved.
Percy had been puzzled as to if Rose was their daughter or not, but he had been willing to test out his theory. Annabeth, however, had been sure from the moment she laid eyes on her that she was their daughter. They had kept quiet of her identity when Annabeth had been pregnant to avoid harm coming unto their daughter, but look how had that turned out. Now, though, they have to keep everybody, even the person in concern, in the dark, for fear of the information landing on the wrong hands.
Weird occurrences had been popping up around Mt. Othyrs. Camp Jupiter had reported attacks near the mountain and had alerted Percy to keep an eye out for Mt. Olympus as well. Percy had shared his concerns with Annabeth that a spy might have been planted at Camp Jupiter for them to have expected their responses so well, and they feared that the same thing would be done to their camp.
Then, he was absolutely distracted from the protective thoughts towards the foreseeable harm towards Camp Half-Blood when his test on Rose worked unexpectedly well. He had always prepared bottles of sea water in case of emergencies and of course, for classes where he made sure to stand up for the bullied kids – he was once one of them after all. But this time, he had specifically picked on Rose, gave her that bottle of salt water and gauge for himself if she had the blood of the sea in her.
At first, it didn't seem like she was faring any better than the other kids, and Percy felt the hope swelling in him starting to deflate. But suddenly, her eyes seemed brighter, just like Annabeth's, he thought fleetingly, before the perfect array of offensive moves came. She's a fast learner, he thought, as he faced the attack he had just fed her with before.
Then, it was a move so swift he had not the time to block it, but rather to bear it with his eyes shut tight. What had come unexpectedly was the feel of cool metal blade against the small of his back, and he was instantly alarmed.
Somehow, someone had caught the rumors of the hero of Olympus' invincible story and his vulnerable spot – the small of his back. The curious thing was, it was not here where the rumor had started. Instead, it had started its roots in Camp Jupiter, with Jason relaying information to a shock Percy, which was what had started their suspicions of spies in the first place.
Throughout all his years since the defeat of the Giants followed by various other prophecies that he had had the privilege to have been a part of, many had come in contact with the open space of the small of his back. After his invincibility had been washed away at the River Tiber in Camp Jupiter all those years ago, that special space on his body had returned to its previous state. But somehow, the rumors fueled that Percy still experience some discomfort or tenderness at that specific part of his bodies. Annabeth and him had discussed it with Chiron and thought it best to keep them thinking that they had an advantage against them.
So when young Rose had hit him in the small of his back in such a public venue, he could only pretend and put on an act, as he scanned the arena for any suspicious or telling facial expressions. All of them were filled with concerned, except for one person. And this person had caused much trouble since he was brought into the hearth of the heroes, Percy thought as he narrowed his eyes.
This person was Xav Dangelo. And he had a smug look on his face that Percy would be very happy to swipe off.
A/N: Hello world! I just wanted to say a great Thank You to all you people who had been reading, reviewing to this story as well as following and adding it to your favorites. I can't express my gratitude and love for you guys! Unfortunately, I had caught a mild flu and it hit on writing schedule for this chapter so if it's off its usual standard, then please forgive me. Last but not least, I hope that you will like and enjoy this chapter all the same, as it looks like our Rose/Sia may be facing some challenges ahead!