A/N: Computers are annoying this, aren't they? I had some problems with mine, so, while updating hasn't been any slower than normal, it has been more difficult. And I've been enjoying the return of my favorite obsession, especially because Doctor Who has been awesome, this new season and everything. Anyway, please enjoy this latest installment of this stupid, poorly written fanfiction story.
Chapter Twenty-Seven: Κλάματα (Tears)
As his knees hit the ground, Nico rolled with the force of shadow travel, letting way to the force. Amelia however, fought the urge to hit the ground and ended up screaming before she threw up. She started panting, heavily.
Nico looked up at her from the ground, "Never shadow traveled before?"
"No!" Amelia moaned. "Where are we?"
"No idea," Nico said. "The forest. Somewhere. Maryland, maybe."
There two of them stood in silence. Mississippi slithered off of Amelia's arm and fell into the grass. He writhed, happily.
"The snake's glad," Nico said, smiling.
"My name is Missssssissssssippi!" He cried, not really seeming angry.
"So, how do we find Hypnos?" Amelia asked.
Nico jumped to his feet. He looked around, "Get help?"
"How?" Amelia cried.
Nico pointed behind him. "Zoe Nightshade, Kristen Dean, Percy Jackson, Sam Hubert, and, I don't know the other three." The boy started walking towards the group.
Mrs. O'Leary saw him first. She bounded forward and met the son of Hades with a slobbering dog kiss. Zaire was happy just because Mrs. O'Leary was happy and the wolf dog liked have an excuse to be hyperactive.
Sam saw him next. "NICO!"
Percy looked up, eyes wide, and saw Nico coming towards them. He grinned and started running. The two boys met up, sharing a hug. Everyone clustered around them, talking at once. Only Kristen and Amelia stayed back, one on either side of the group.
"Slow down," Nico grumbled. "What happened? Did camp survive?"
"We're all fine," Zoe said. "About a third of the camp survived."
Nico nodded, "This is Amelia guys. Just Amelia, and that's her snake."
Ivy saw the snake, screamed, and ran backwards.
Mississippi rolled his eyes.
"What happened to you?" Percy asked.
Everyone sat down as Nico shrugged and related the whole tale. The others gaped at him and Amelia as Nico talked. Amelia fidgeted, nervously, playing with her hair. As he finished, Nico told them that they had to find Hypnos.
"Hypnos?" Jessie repeated. "The god of sleep. How do you plan on finding him?"
"Um," Nico said, "I was hoping you guys might be able to help." Amelia sighed.
"Zoe," Percy said, thoughtfully, "how does IMing work?"
The ex-Hunter shrugged. "I don't know, that's a new invention."
"Relatively," Nico snorted, rolling his eyes.
"Okay, Jessie, how does IMing work?"
The daughter of Hephaestus closed her eyes in thought, "Well, Iris runs it. But I don't think that Ivy and Ian could handle a message like that."
Ivy and Ian looked confused.
"But how does Iris know where everyone is?" Sam asked.
Kristen caught the drift of things, "Ivy, Ian, where's Hypnos?"
"Washington DC," they said, in unison, "a nightclub there, but why did you... OH."
Amelia laughed. "THANK YOU!" She bounced on her heals.
"Oh, Amelia, this is Zoe Nightshade, Percy Jackson, Sam Hubert, Kristen Dean, and..." he trailed off.
"I'm Jessie Kale, and the twins are Ivy and Ian Wood," she stated, softly.
"We're about a week out from Washington," Zoe said, "maybe a little less. Maybe a little more. Depends on how fast we go. Will that be fast enough, Myth?" Zoe asked Amelia. She knew exactly who the young girl was. No doubt about it.
Amelia bit her lip, "Maybe."
It will be fast enough. Said the voice of the Ancient Queen. Your mother is fading, Oh Myth Reborn, but you will make contact with her before long.
"Creepy," Kristen muttered.
Jessie was the only one who actually looked scared; but she looked terrified until the voice went away.
"Jess?" Percy asked, "You okay?"
She rubbed her sling, "Yeah. Fine. Why wouldn't I be?" No one believed her.
Zaire barked, loudly.
"She says it's time to go," Zoe said, her eyes narrowing as she scanned the underbrush all around them. "And she's never been wrong before."
"Then let's go," Nico said, jumping to his feet.
OoOoOoOoOoO
Bobby crawled out from under the bed. He had fallen asleep, apparently and now he needed food. The clock on his bedside table said it was almost midnight.
He tiptoed through the silent hall downstairs, into the kitchen.
Shining light blinded him. The boy threw his hands up over his face. "Stop it!"
The light lowered and Bobby found himself staring at a group of policemen.
"What are you doing here, kid?"
"I... I'm... Bobby Chase... I... live here?" He shuttered, nervously.
The policemen exchanged a glance. One of them got down on his knees – seriously, Bobby thought, I'm not a two year old – and placed his hands on the boy's shoulder. "Are you alright?"
"I'm hungry," Bobby said.
"Where was he?" Asked one of the men, "I mean, we searched the house."
"Under the bed," Bobby answered. "I got scared."
"Scared of what?" The man on his knees asked. He had glasses and brown hair and looked friendly enough.
Bobby fidgeted. "I don't know. It's just a feeling I get. That something bad is going to happen. And no one ever believes me, but something bad always happens! What happened this time?"
The policemen looked at each other again. The guy stood and led Bobby into the dinning room. Two bodies were propped up in chairs, hardly looking dead. But Bobby knew that they were dead. "Mommy? Daddy?" He asked, rushing to them.
One of the police officers grabbed him and held him back.
"Where's Matt?" Bobby demanded. Pleasepleaseplease don't be dead, Matt!
"He's dead," the men answered, softly.
Bobby started crying.
"Mister Chase," said the man who had the most button and decorative stuff on his uniform, "I'm Chief Wilson. Do you have any idea who did this?"
"I was under the bed," Bobby sobbed. "I heard Mommy scream. And, and, and..."
"Rodger, don't pressure the boy, he's in shock."
"This doesn't make any sense."
Bobby ignored the men talking. He cried.
"Could this have anything to do with the Dare Mansion Massacre?"
"Very experienced killer."
"So far as I know, the Dares didn't know that the Chases existed."
"Well, neither of them do anymore."
Bobby cried.
"If it is linked to the Dare Massacre, we can probably believe that the Jackson murder..."
Bobby looked up. Percy Jackson was the guy who Annabeth died for.
Chief Wilson looked at Bobby, "You recognize the name Jackson?"
"Percy Jackson," Bobby said, "he was my sister's best friend."
"Sister?"
"There's a girl?"
"This IS connected!"
Bobby broke down in tears again.
OoOoOoOoOoO
Rachel stared into the crystal ball, watching Percy reunite with Nico. Those nine people felt so happy. How could anyone be happy right now? Rachel had the ultimate TV. She could tell the world was ending.
She pressed a hand against her temple. There was a vast emptiness in the back of her mind. She missed the Oracle.
Why hadn't she turned insane like May Castellan had? The emptiness was enough to make anyone go mad. Although, their circumstances were vastly different. The Oracle had turned May mad. The Oracle had been pulled from Rachel; leaving her empty. Like a ghost town.
Like this place.
Rachel looked around at the oppressive lack of anything. Sure, the flowers and landscaping was beautiful, but there were no birds, no bugs, no rodents, no people, no wind, no sound. Just sad, lonely space. The girl wished that the Ancient Queen would come back, just so she'd have someone to talk to.
"What? Hi."
Rachel blinked. She hadn't actually expected the Queen to show up! "Um. Sorry, I just wanted someone to talk to."
The Queen smiled softly at her, brilliant white teeth flashing against her middle eastern tone cooper skin. "Understandable. This place is great for the imagination. But it does start to warp your soul," she looked at the flowers in remembrance.
"That's not very comforting," Rachel said.
"You have a strong soul, child. One who can handle Apollo's Oracle can handle many things." Rachel sat down on the stone steps. The Queen sat beside her and placed a hand on her shoulder, "This will work out."
"Promise?" Rachel demanded.
"I... no..." said the Queen, dropping her hand. "But I'll try."
After a very long pause, Rachel asked, "Who are you?"
The Queen sighed, "I'm sorry, my child. When the age of my glory fell, Kronos striped my name from me. He gave me the mandate, never to interfere, only to watch and suffer."
Rachel snorted, almost humorously, but very coldly. "So you're like, the omnipotent being that could fix this mess but you can't because some stupid old Titan cursed you or whatever?"
"I could tear down the stars with one twitch of a finger," the Queen said, her anger rising. "Don't you dare question me, mortal."
"Then do it!" Rachel cried, "Fix this mess and set everything back to the way it was. The world is dying! Dying! But you can help."
"I am not invincible, child," the Queen growled. "And I learned my lesson on interfering."
Rachel looked at her, waiting for an explanation.
"That was ages ago, more than three thousand years now. Zeus began his uprising against the gods," the Queen ran her fingers over the stone, deep in thought. "I fought with the Titans, as did Gaia and a few of the other Protogenoi, but we were beaten. Zeus reigned victorious, locking not only his father and mother and uncles and aunts, but also the Protogenoi into our prisons."
She took a breath, and continued talking. "I choose to interfere in a fight; on the side of my first jailor. But I made the wrong choose. Now I would fight against my own sect, my closest of friends. The Ancestors. Because they turned away from me. And in three thousand years, I have grown to love you mortals. Prometheus was wise to bring you the Life-Giver."
"Life-Giver?" Rachel asked.
"The fires of Olympus," the Ancient Queen said. "With fire came invention and technology and advancements. Without the Life-Giver, you would still be primitive men, huddled together for any chance of survival."
Rachel sighed, "You're a very cheerful companion."
The Queen smiled, ever so briefly.
"So you're one of the Ancestors then?" Rachel asked, "The Protogenoi?"
"Yes."
"Oh."
"Doesn't that change anything?"
"I don't know, does it?"
"I don't know." The Queen said. "I'm sorry child, I must return to my work now."
Rachel leapt to her feet. "Can I come? Please! I need to get out of here."
"No. You are alive as long as I keep you in stasis."
"But isn't that interfering?" Rachel screamed. "I thought you couldn't!"
The Queen gave her a sad smile. "I will send down some books for you to read, if that will help you pass the time." She disappeared, throwing herself into the vastness of space and not looking back at the bedraggled figure of one lonely little girl.
Rachel wrapped her arms around her, trying to gather some warmth from the loneliness. The vastness surrounded her.
No wind.
Not a sound.
No birds.
Not a person.
Absolute nothing.
What good would her life be here if that stupid queen insisted on keeping her here for all of eternity? Here! The gods had forsaken this place. This rundown, depict old place was not fit for any living soul.
What would happen, Rachel wondered, if she got stuck here forever?
What would happen if the Sixth Age actually rose?
She closed her eyes, trying to block out images of disaster and chaos. The aftermath of the Battle of Manhattan had been bad enough and her side had won! How much worse would total destruction be?
Images ran through her head of all the various movies that had depicted apocalypse. None of them were good.
Her breathing quickened.
What would happen if her prophecy didn't come true?
What would happen if everyone stopped fighting?
"YOU HAVE TO HELP!" Rachel cried, screaming to no one but hoping that the Queen would hear.
The Queen did hear.
And the Queen cried.
Yet she could not help.
