Chapter 9- The Note

"Get off boy" Chiron cried out. "My legs are delicate!"

"Whoops" Carter scampered away. "Sorry Mr. Chiron"

Chiron glanced at Piper. "Who are these children? How do they know my name?"

Piper gestured towards one of the armchairs. "Let's sit and talk"

Chiron groaned. "Fine, but this is the last time I am changing"

"Changing?" Sadie questioned. "What does he mean by th-"

Chiron backed his horse legs into a wheelchair. A pair of fake legs popped out and a blanket covered them.

"Whoa!" Carter exclaimed. "A portable wheelchair? So cool!"

Piper sat down and gestured towards Carter and Sadie to go on. Sadie stood up and explained everything Carter had said to Piper. When she was done, Piper half expected Chiron to fall out of his wheelchair, though she didn't know if that was possible.

Chiron breathed a long sigh. "What I feared has come to pass"

"What you feared?" Carter questioned. "Can you see the future or something?"

"No child" Chiron answered. "I only know more than most"

"So this is what you couldn't tell me" Piper realized. "You knew Egyptian gods existed"

Chiron nodded. "I have visited the Duat multiple times. I must say, some of the gods there are slightly more tolerable than the ones here"

Thunder rumbled outside the Big House. "Oh alright" Chiron said in frustration.

"Wow" Carter said. "Horus never mentioned you"

Chiron's eyebrows perked. "You are the Eye of Horus?"

Carter shook his head. "Not anymore. Two years ago, we defeated Apophis and the gods had to retreat too, to maintain balance"

"Apophis?" Piper questioned. "Isn't he that big snake thing?"

"Yeah" Sadie agreed. "We almost died that time, but we got him"

Chiron turned to Sadie. "So you hosted-?"

"Isis" Sadie said. "Handy goddess. Bit temperamental too"

"Wait a minute, hosted?" Piper said, confused. "You're not children of the gods?"

"Children?" Sadie laughed. "Holy Horus! I wouldn't want to be related to those chumps in any lifetime"

"Then-"

"Nobody is descended from the gods in Egyptian mythology" Carter explained. "At least not directly. We just come from a long line of people who hosted the same god"

"Oh that's weird" Piper said. "This is a lot to take in"

"We will have time for explanations later" Chiron said. "Now why have you come here?

"We don't know" Carter said. "We came here to find out"

"You said Set is loose, did you not?" Chiron reminded them.

"Yeah, but even we don't know why, or how for that matter" Sadie said.

"Set is a formidable enemy" Chiron grunted. "Although, he might be slightly better than Kronos"

"Kronos?" Carter said. "Isn't he the Lord of Time? How can Set be stronger than him?"

"I never said stronger" Chiron corrected.

Before Chiron could continue however, Rachel Dare burst through the doors of the Big House. She was panting and sweaty. She held a piece of paper in her hand.

"A message" she gasped. "From Percy"

xxx

"That should do it" Percy said. He capped Riptide and put it back in his pocket.

"Dude that is sick!" Leo said.

"Impressive" Reyna noted. "A sword and a ballpoint pen too"

Percy laughed. "Something tells me you're pulling my leg"

"Pulling your leg?" Leo questioned. "I'm way over here"

Everyone burst out laughing. Even Nico mustered a smile. Suddenly, the ground rumbled. The demigods toppled to the floor as something shook the landscape. A stone's throw away, a section of a spire peeled away, forming sort of a cave entrance. Interestingly, the spire hadn't been there before.

"Ugh" Nico groaned. "What was that? An earthquake?"

"An earthquake in Tartarus?" Percy said. "Doesn't make sense"

"Look!" Reyna pointed towards the cave entrance. "It's exactly like the one in my dream"

Reyna started walking towards the entrance. Jason grabbed her hand and pulled her back towards the shrine.

"What're you doing?" Jason whispered.

Reyna shuddered and gasped. "Sorry. Something came over me"

"Leo no!" Percy shouted. Leo was walking towards the cave, slowly but surely. Percy sprinted towards him and tackled him down. Leo tried struggling, but Percy was stronger. He dragged him back to the shrine.

"This isn't good" Percy heaved Leo next to Reyna. "The urge to explore that place is uncontrollable. We might be walking into a trap"

"Is that really the cave from your dream?" Jason asked Reyna.

"Yes!" Reyna urged. "I walked through it!"

"Whatever it is, we have to decide" Hazel said.

"Decide what?" Frank said.

"Decide who's going to go in" Nico said.

"Go in?!" Frank yelped. "You're not serious"

"Friends!" Bob called. "We have to decide quickly. Titans are coming"

Reyna stumbled. "I'll stay here with Bob. You guys go ahead"

"But" Jason stuttered.

A roar shook the air. "I SMELL DEMIGOD BLOOD!"

"Oh that's not good" Nico said. "We have to go!"

"I'll stay with Reyna" Jason said.

"No" Reyna started.

"You can't talk me out of this" Jason interrupted. He glanced at the other demigods. "Go. We'll hold them off"

Percy gestured towards the other demigods. Jason watched them get swallowed by the darkness of the cave entrance. He hoped his friends would be okay, but he had different problems to worry about. A pair of glowing eyes emerged from the fog. Jason raised his sword.

xxx

"Percy?" Chiron said. "Impossible"

Rachel held her chest in exhaustion. "No. It's real. I recognize the ink. It appeared in the sacrificial flame. Just like during the War of Gaia"

"Who's Percy?" Sadie asked.

Rachel frowned. "Who are you?"

"We will explain later" Chiron urged. "Give the note here"

He read it, and his eyes widened. He passed it to Piper. Piper read aloud-

Kronos is back. Annabeth is his hostage. Reyna is safe with us.

We are heading to the Cave of Nyx.

"Cave of Nyx?" Piper said. "What's that?"

Before Chiron could answer, Carter started shaking.

Sadie glanced at him. "What's wrong Carter? This is no time for jokes young man"

A light shone through Carter's shirt. It was a symbol of some sort. A glowing blue eye.

Sadie stumbled backwards and gasped. "How is this possible?"

Piper pointed at Sadie. Her shirt was glowing too. It shot out a hologram. This symbol looked like a golden robot of sorts.

The symbols faded and the two magicians sank to their knees. Piper grabbed Carter's hand and helped him up. Rachel helped Sadie.

"Ok" Rachel said. "They aren't mortals"

Piper gave Rachel the short version of the story. She really didn't have time to discuss this right now. Before Rachel could express her fascination for Egyptian Mythology, Sadie grabbed Piper's hand.

"She's back" Sadie stammered. "She's back"

"Who's back?" Piper asked. "Isis?"

Sadie nodded. Then she slumped into her armchair. Carter fell unconscious too. Piper looked at Chiron. They had a problem on their hands.