The 10 of them all left the plane together. Apparently, they had been waiting for 30 minutes to get breakfast at the plane's snack bar, only to land before they could get anything. Needless to say, they were all more than a little crouchy.
"Ugggh!! I'm soooo hungry!!" Leo complained, then looked over at Micah hopefully. Micah sighed and smirked, rolling up his sleeves.
"What do we want?" He asked. Leo tapped his chin in thought.
"McD's Big Breakfast?" he said hopefully. After their last run-in with Ronald, everyone seemed more than a little hesitant… well, the girls were, anyways. The boys, on the other hand, were vehemently agreeing. Micah wrote their orders on his arm, then walked over to the ladies. They all agreed to get McGriddles. Micah finally came to Reyna.
"And for you?" he asked. She turned her back to the rest of the group.
'Are you sure you're up for this?' she whispered. He nodded.
'I'll be fine. I'm feeling alot better.' he replied. She got the same as the other girls. He flew off in a cloud of dust. In mere seconds, he was back, bags around both arms. He handed everyone their food, and they all sat down to eat. They ate breakfast, then headed into the town itself. Nestled up on a mountainside, it was a beautiful mixture of ancient culture and modern convenience. They walked around for a little while, taking in the scenery, Annabeth pointing out the amazing architecture. Micah had been in Athens before, trying to escape the Secret Legion of Apollo… but that was a story for another time. As soon as they found a traveler's rest area, they searched for a map, and located Mount Mytikas.
"Oh… dang." Leo commented. Everyone piled around him, looking at the map.
"Its 5 hours away." he explained. Micah groaned, then looked at Nico.
"How many can you take?" Micah asked. Nico shrugged.
"I can take at least 4 that far, easy." he replied
"I can get the rest. Let's get there." he instructed. Nico took Frank, Hazel, Piper, and Jason, and shadow traveled. Micah grabbed Percy, and took off, then reappeared nanoseconds later, grabbing Annabeth, then Leo, and finally Reyna. Seconds later, Nico and the rest of the group stepped out of the shadows. Micah smirked deviously at Nico.
"I win." he fake-gloated. Nico just rolled his eyes. They all turned and faced the mountain.
"Sooo… Olympus Prime. Kinda surreal…. Kinda creepy too." Leo commented. They all nodded in agreement.
"Well, let's get going. We want to make it to the summit before night." Piper suggested. They began to climb the mountain, all nervous and worried about what laid ahead of them. For the next 3 hours they climbed, no one saying much at all. Finally, they reached the peak. They all stood together, the silhouette of true warriors… until Leo came huffing over to join them. He rolled over on his back, panting like a dog.
"Oh man, dudes… that was rough. I.. I think I may have thrown up on Olympus just a little bit. Ok, a lot." he groaned. They all rolled their eyes and helped him up, then looked around.
"Well, we climbed the tallest mountain's peak, soo…" Jason asked looking around. They all looked for any signs of any kind of prophecy. Nothing. Just miles and miles of skyline below them. They weren't at the exact peak, more like under the peak. They were standing on a ledge that went into a little cave-like dip into the mountain. Frank walked into the dip and looked around. Then he saw it. Letters.
"Guys, I think I may have found something!!" he called. They all piled into the tiny indenture, Annabeth pushing to the front. She looked at the writing, then stepped back.
"Latin. Not my strong suit. Jason, translate." she asked. He shrugged and stepped up. In Latin, the wall read 'Et Lyte et vocant, a provocatione incipere'.
"It says 'The Lyte shall call, a challenge commence.' Jason said. As the last word was spoken, the letters lit up a bright purple, and something else became visible; a handprint. On the wall below the writing, the outline of a hand was also glowing a strong purple. They all looked around at one another, then at Micah. He stepped up, and slowly placed his hand on the imprint. The creases of the rock all glowed, then a beam of purple shot up into the sky, then vanished. They all stood still, waiting for something to happen.
Nothing.
"Maybe it's broke?" Leo suggested.
"I assure you, Mr. Valdez, it is not broken." a voice called from outside of the cave. They walked out, and saw a man standing on the mountain. He had dark brown hair, caramel skin, and looked almost identical to Micah and Luke. They all knew exactly who he was; Mercury. The Roman personification of Hermes, messenger of Olympus. He stepped towards the group, heading straight for Micah. Micah was heading towards him, too. Mercury was not at all prepared for the right hook Micah drove into his jaw, knocking him clean over. Though he didn't see the punch coming, he didn't look too surprised by it either. The rest of the group went stiff.
"Duuuude… you just punched a god. Why did you punch a god??" Leo asked frantically. Meanwhile, Piper and Annabeth were helping Mercury up.
"I'm so sorry, Lord Mercury, he didn't know." Annabeth plead.
"Oh, I knew." Micah spat, a disgusted look on his face. He stepped forwards towards Mercury threateningly.
"We both know that I know perfectly well who you are, and quite frankly I don't care. Leave me alone. I don't want you to even BREATHE near me!" he growled, then started walking away in a huff.
"But, Micah, don't you want the eldest prophecy?" Mercury called. Micah stopped cold. A few seconds went by, until finally he turned around. He appeared in front of Mercury in an instant.
"15 words, Mercury. 15 words and if I don't like what I hear, I'm going to turn around and leave." Micah hissed venomously.
"To earn the right to go on this quest, you have to beat me in a race." Mercury explained.
"That was 17… but whatever. Why would I need to beat you in a race?" Micah said impatiently.
"Many thousands of years ago, on this very mountain, while we were building the original Olympus, Zeus found an ancient scroll of unknown origin. This scroll contained details of a quest that the prophesied Lyte would embark on. It spoke of… something… so powerful, Zeus decreed that a trial be held before bestowing it upon any hero, to ensure that the scroll doesn't fall into the wrong hands. I was placed in charge of testing any who would claim to be the warrior of legend. So, if you want to receive our most ancient of quests, you must prove yourself worthy; by beating me in a race." Mercury explained. Micah didn't say anything. He turned to the other 10.
"We'll talk it over." he grumbled. He walked over to the group, who were quite frankly p'd at his behavior.
"Dude, do you WANT to get us killed?" Percy growled. Micah scoffed.
"He won't kill us. Not as long as we serve some purpose to them." Micah said spitefully. Annabeth went over to talk to Mercury, while the others tried to cool Micah down a bit. When Annabeth reached Mercury, she bowed. He waved her off.
"Not need for that, Annabeth Chase, you have proven yourself a hero of Olympus many times. You are welcome in my presence anytime." he said kindly. She stood up and smiled.
"Thank you, Lord Mercury." There was a silence between them, until Annabeth spoke up.
"Lord Mercury, if I may, you are the literal GOD of speed. Micah's ridiculously fast, don't get me wrong, but… there is NO way he could beat you in a race…" she said apprehensively. Mercury said nothing.
"... Is there?" she questioned.
"Micah is… very different… even by demigod standards, Annabeth. He had more power within him than even Zeus knows." Mercury said.
"But, Micah… he is your son.. right?" she asked. He didn't answer, merely standing up and walking over to Micah.
"Well, have made your decision, Micah?" he asked. Micah glared at him angrily.
"Fine, Mercury. You win. I'll race you." he said unhappily. Mercury simply nodded. He snapped his fingers, and a purple starting line spontaneously appeared on the ground.
"First one around the world 3 times wins." Mercury explained. They lined up on the starting line.
"ON YOUR MARKS…" Annabeth said loudly.
"So be it." Micah growled.
"GET SET…" both of them dropped to runners positions. Micah glared daggers of hate and determination into the god. Mercury saw him and smiled.
"Very confident, Micah. Need I remind you that you are racing the god of speed?" he smirked. Micah looked at him murderously.
"You're no god of mine." he lashed out wickedly, then looked ahead sternly.
"GO!" She yelled, and they were off in a huge cloud of dust. To the rest of the group, they looked dead even, but Mercury and Micah knew the truth. Micah was well ahead of Mercury, at least a few yards. As he ran, Micah used his horrible memories as fuel to push himself forwards. He remembered the day Mercury showed up to him on the streets, telling him the horrible truth about his mother, and his past, and what he truly was. He remembered Mercury telling him that these ridiculous Olympian 'gods' weren't allowed to even help him, because they didn't trust one another with such a 'valuable piece' such as himself, like he was some sort of… object. Tears formed in his eyes as he recalled the same being he was forced to race tell him that all he could do was wish him luck and leave him to fend for himself… at 13 years old. To Micah, they were all as good as dead. He did nothing for them, in fact he abhorred the thought. The only reason he was even on this dang quest was because he swore to himself to keep his new family safe. So he dug deeper, past the searing pain in his back, and surged forwards, until finally, he came to a screeching halt, right back where they had started. To everyone else, it looked like the two of them arrived at the same time. But Mercury reached into his satchel, and pulled out an ancient scroll.
"I knew all along, but here." he said, handing Micah the scroll, the others staring in disbelief.
"You truly are Olympus' Lyte. May your quest be prosperous." Micah yanked it out of his hands.
"You can tell Olympus they ought to know; I was never their Lyte." Micah told him off, then marched down the mountain without another word. Mercury sighed, then addressed the group.
"Go, heroes; catch up with your friend."
"He didn't, like, curse us ALL to death.. did he?" Frank asked nervously. Mercury chuckled a little.
"No, Frank. As he said, Olympus won't kill any of you. You are to invaluable to us. You are our heroes." he winked. Everyone but Annabeth and Reyna bowed, then ran down the mountain after Micah.
"Lord Mercury… you're not his father… are you?" she asked cautiously. He merely shook his head.
"Then… who is?" she asked. He looked at her sadly.
"When the time is right, he'll tell you. It's much more… complicated than you think. He'll tell you when he's ready." Mercury said, then turned away from them. Annabeth was heading down the hill, and Reyna was about to follow, when Mercury called out
"Oh, and Reyna." she turned and faced him
"You were right, about the Fates; they do want it that way." he winked and she blushed a deep crimson, bowing.
"Take care of him for me. No matter how he feels, or what the truth is, he's still my boy." Mercury said sadly. He reached into his satchel, pulling out a green liquid in a glass bottle.
"When you need it most, use this. It will fix everything." he explained. Reyna looked up at him with quesrions in her eyes, but as swiftly as he came, he vanished. Reyna wrapped the bottle in a few of her shirts, placed it in her bookbag, and ran to catch up with the others. This was it; the eldest prophecy. They were only one scroll-opening away from the greatest quest of all time.