Chapter 36: Ingredients

Yeah, I know I hadn't updated for a while. I have been helping my dad with his job so I have been busy but now I have a new chapter for you. I hope you enjoy it and please read the author notes at the bottom.

Percy's POV

"Say what?"I yelled.

Some flinched at my outburst but I couldn't care less right now. Hecate, the ruler of magic and the most powerful goddess who isn't an Olympian has been kidnapped? How the Hades did this happened?

Chiron sighed started talking.

"While you were in Ogygia we have been busy doing what you instructed," He began. "We managed to contact Penthesilea and she used her influence to grant Hecate, Rachel and me an audience with Hylla, the Roman Amazon queen. We gave her a brief summary of your time traveling journey and then inform her that we suspect that she and her sister are half-bloods from the New Great Prophecy."

"Then everything went wrong," Chiron continued sighing again, "when a Giant called Clytius suddenly attacked the amazon base, catching us off guard and demanding we hand him over Hecate."

"Another Giant has awaken?" I asked surprised.

Chiron nodded looking troubled.

"That particular Giant is Ares counterpart but he holds a grudge on Hecate because she immolated him during the First Titan War and that made it easier for Hercules and Ares to finish him off," Chiron explained. "Anyway, we were trying to fend him off but, although we were clearly injuring him and we had a goddess fighting with us, it seemed that his blind rage made him ignore the pain and he kept fighting. Then all of the sudden he grabbed Rachel with one huge hand," He said making me gasp. "It wouldn't have taken him any effort at all to crush her to death but before he could even start… Hecate got on her knees and swore on the River Styx that she will come with him if he let Rachel go unharmed."

I stood there surprised at what I have heard. I looked at Rachel and she nodded. Hecate had actually saved Rachel and went as far as getting on her knees to keep her safe. I seriously doubt many gods would have swallowed their pride to that extent. Well, makes me decide two things.

The first is that Hecate is now officially my favorite goddess the one I respect the most. She and my father are in a tie right now although if she keeps earning more of my respect she might surpass even him and become my favorite immortal ever.

The second is that if she hadn't turned herself in Rachel would have probably died. That means I owe her again. And I will pay my debt by rescuing her, even if I have to face the 14 Giants single handily.

"Well I don't know about you guys but Rachel and I are going to rescue Hecate, right Rachel?" I asked.

She nodded at once and grinned.

"You read my mind Percy," She teased.

I chuckled.

"Actually yes, I did."

The other campers were looking at us weirdly but I didn't bother to explain. The full implication of what is like to have a mind link like ours… there are no words to explain it completely. You have to experience it to fully understand it.

"I expected you to decide that Percy, but we don't have a clue of where they are holding Hecate captive," Chiron explained.

I didn't bother to answer him either. Instead, summon back my Grimoire in its feather form to my right hand. After muttering "reveal yourself" in the old tongue the feather was gone and the thick book took its place.

I ignored the gasps and whispers of the campers and I found the page I was looking for. I read the instructions written in the old tongue and when I was sure of what to do I closed it.

"Okay, I can find Hecate with a special tracking spell," I began. "Normally, it is very hard to track down gods with magic because they can erect barriers around them to provoke interference. However, this particular tracking spell should point me in the right direction if I get all the ingredients and use any celestial event. The sooner will be high noon in one hour and a half so unless we want to wait until moonrise and waste most of the day we should get the ingredients fast," I explained.

"Okay," Thalia said slowly, taking everything in. "And what ingredients do you need?"

"Well, I need 5 pounds of Juniper wood," I said. "So Grover, please could you tell your girlfriend to make you some?"

My satyr friend nodded and left the room.

"I also one golden drachma although that should be easy enough to find, I hope," I said looking around.

Bianca tossed me one and I catch it.

"Thanks," I muttered. "Now, when I have enough wood I need to surround it with a circle of celestial bronze spears of the same length. As long as they aren't rusty they should work for the spell but the shinier they are the better. Clarisse, could you please do that for me?"

She stood up and left although she muttered something under her breath that sounded like "who died and made him boss". I paid no mind and continue.

"Now, the trickiest thing on the list… is blood from an Olympian," I claimed making some gasps. "So I guess I will have to ask Mr. D. to give me a sample."

Everyone looked at each other nervous.

"Do you actually believe that he will give you some of his blood willingly?" Annabeth asked like if I lost my mind.

I shook my head.

"Not at all," I replied. "So I will rely on my plan B when asking inevitably fails."

"And what is plan B?" Thalia asked me.

"Honestly? Put him in his place; this camp should have done that a very long time ago."

Okay, so the next chapter will feature a confrontation between Dionysus and Percy. How do you think he will respond? Let me know what you think. I will update when I can.