Chapter 13:
I sat in cabin three sorting through the few things that I had gotten from the camp store. A small sleeping bag, a medkit, and an emergency supply of ambrosia and nectar. I had taken off my necklace and bracelet and put them in the pile of things. The necklace had a silver trident hanging from it. The trident had appeared after I was claimed, but the bracelet was the same as before.
The fountain began to light up the room before I heard a voice, "Incoming Iris message. Please insert one drachma." I rushed over to the fountain and saw a rainbow shimmering brighter than it normally does. I picked up a gold coin from the bottom of the basin and threw it into the mist. It disappeared with a loud 'pop'.
The mist shimmered and I was in the middle of a giant throne room. 'The Olympian throne room!' I thought. A bright light flashed and all of the gods appeared standing in front of their respective thrones. A soft murmur spread across the console.
"Silence!" The largest god shouted. Respectively everyone became silent. "I called this meeting to discuss three issues. One of which I'm sure you all know is Poseidon's newest offspring." Everyone's eyes turned towards a man that sat on a coral throne. He was dressed in a blue and gold toga holding a giant trident.
"Yes, Mya Gethern, she's powerful just like her brother and me!" Poseidon spoke while smiling.
"You have broken the oath for the second time though brother!" the large god shouted with pure rage in his eyes.
Poseidon sighed, "Zeus, I'm sure you have forgotten what Percy made us promise after the second Titan War. The three of us said we wouldn't follow the oath anymore because it caused too much pressure, and we the only one who actually stuck to the oath was Hades. Also if I remember correctly you broke the oath twice with the same mortal in both your Roman and Greek aspect." Zeus' face was overcome with shock and then the rage returned.
"You dare!" he growled. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up and I could smell ozone.
"Father, enough he is right!" A brown-haired goddess spoke up.
"Athena, you wouldn't dare to step out of line to defend him would you?" Zeus glared at her.
"No, but he is right. We shouldn't fight over something that has been resolved." Athena told her father.
"Fine." Zeus grumbled, "The second issue is our Oracle has spoken the next Great Prophecy and a possible prophecy for a quest. Chiron has informed me that there are three demigods willing to rise to accept the quest. The sea spawn, Mya Gethern, the newest child of Hermes, Dylan Matthiou, and an unclaimed demigod, Liam Cirillo." Another soft murmur rose up over the gods. "Enough! I understand the meaning of both of those demigod's last names!" Zeus shouted.
"I would like to speak father." Hermes rose from his throne he was dressed in running clothes with a bronze helmet with wings on his head. "My son, Dylan, I'm sure everyone already knows but he is in fact Luke Castellan's second chance at the Isles of the Blest." He nodded to signal that he was finished and sat back down. Silence fell over the council.
Zeus cleared his throat, "Thank you, Hermes." Everyone continued to stay silent letting the statement flow over them.
"Father would you please state the new prophecies," Athena asked.
"Yes, the new Great Prophecy says, 'When Rome's in ruins, the gods shall lose two sons. The price of their greed, shall spark a hero's need. They will fall, and lose it all.'' Zeus paused allowing the message to sink in. "The second prophecy states, 'There will come a soldier who carries a mighty sword, they will tear your city down. There will come a hero who's weakness is their future, they will fail to save themself. There come a god who faces a threat twice, they will blame themself for the war. There come a hero who's resistance will be said to be pointless, they will determine the future of the war.''
"That is not how normal prophecies are spoken though," Athena said as she glanced at a god that was tan, tall, buff, and gorgeous.
The god shrugged and said, "I can't control what my Oracle says."
"Well, I think we should find this god that the prophecy mentions because we need to figure out what the threat that they are facing twice is because it could possibly be a threat to all of the gods," Athena told the council, "I believe we should allow the three demigods to go on their quest for the god!"
"All in agreement!" Everyone except Zeus raised their hand, and finally, even the king of the gods gave in.
"Father, you spoke of three issues though. What is the last one?" A goddess with auburn hair and a sliver aura asked.
"The prophecy speaks of war and I have felt a new sense of evil stirring from the depths of Tartarus," Zeus said softly.
"With my domain being so close to the pit I have also felt things ancient things stirring." A god appeared from the shadows his robes were pure black, along with his hair, and his eyes. The shadows seemed to stretch towards him.
"But war could this possibly? There is no other war that will be refought! Not in Western history!" Poseidon shouted angrily.
"No, there is not brother," Hades responded, "This war is trying to write itself into Western history." With that, the whole room exploded into shouting and the Iris message faded.
"What? Show me more!" I shouted at the fountain. Nothing happened. I sat down on my bed and thought about what I had just seen. Dylan, Liam, and I were going on a quest to look for a god that we knew nothing about. And we all were a part of this prophecy about a big war.
I heard a soft knocking at the door. I got up and answered it. Outside Dylan and Liam stood in almost complete darkness.
"Chiron wants to see us. There's news about our quest." Dylan told me.
…
I sat at the ping pong table. This time every cabin counselor was there and Dylan, Liam, Rachel, Percy, and Annabeth. It looked like a really sad war committee considering nobody could agree with anybody else. I sat in silence still thinking about the Iris message I had received while the rest of the group excluding Chiron sat and fought with each other. 'We're just like our parents.' I thought, 'We don't take action instead we sit here and fight with each other.'
"Enough all of you!" I shouted taking matters into my own hands. "We're not going to get anywhere by fighting with each other! Don't you guys see this is exactly whatever the is evil wants us to do! We all agree that we need a quest correct?" Everyone nodded.
"Who told newbie she was in charge?" the Apollo counselor whispered to the Nemesis counselor. They both snickered.
I flicked my wrist and my trident appeared at the neck of the Apollo kid's throat. Everyone at the table back up quickly. Nobody pulled out their weapon instead they were all silent and watched me.
"Don't test me." I growled, "I may be the 'new kid' but nobody else decided to take charge. Instead, you all sat here fighting and getting nowhere." Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Percy smirk. Finally, the Apollo kid raised his hands in surrender and retracted my trident.
"Now that's all sorted out we need to decide who's going on the quest," Annabeth spoke up the corner she was standing in. "Rachel do you have any information?"
"No, she probably doesn't, but I know who needs to go on this quest," I answered her. Again everyone turned towards me.
"Who? And how exactly do you know?" Annabeth asked. She looked like she knew what was coming.
"It is my quest!" I told them proudly. After a few moments of silence, the whole room exploded into laughter. I saw Dylan turn towards Chiron and saw the small nod Chiron gave him.
In a flash, Dylan pulled out the knife Annabeth had given him and threw it so it stuck in the ping pong table right in front of the Apollo kid inches away from his fingers. Silence once again came over the room but it was Dylan's turn to talk now.
"You guys are just like our parents!" Dylan shouted, "Can't you see that we're going to be killed if we don't take action now! I've had visions and I've seen things." He looked at me and smile but continued on, "If you want the least amount of damage to come to this camp then listen to what Mya has to say. If you don't care then go ahead and keep talking but next time I won't miss!" He walked over and picked his knife up and returned to his respective seat.
"Thank you, Dylan," I said after a few moments of silence, "Anyway, this is my quest and I know who will be joining me." I turned towards Chiron, "There can only be three participants correct?"
"We've had very few quests with over three people and most of them have ended in tragedy, so unless you have an absolute need for over three people I would prefer you stick to just three." Chiron looked at Percy and Annabeth the whole time he spoke.
"So it is decided," Rachel said, "Mya, who will be joining you on your quest?"
"I need Dylan and Liam to come with me," I told everyone.
…
The meeting adjourned with no more threats and no more weapons needed to be used. Everyone exited the Big House and headed back to their cabins. It had to be at least close to three in the morning. I heard some of the campers grumble that they were probably going to get eaten by the cleaning harpies. I didn't know what they meant but I had to stay back and talk with Chiron, Percy, Annabeth, Dylan, and Liam.
I stood on the wrap-around porch staring at Long Island Sound. The moonlight glinted on the surface and illuminated every ripple.
"A beautiful night isn't it?" I turned around for the second time this week I was faced with the face of the messenger god. He smiled at me.
"Do you have another gift for me?" I asked while rolling my eyes jokingly.
"No, not this time," Hermes said with a laugh. "I wanted to come and wish you luck on your quest."
"Do you do this with every demigod?" I asked him will I raised one of my eyebrows.
"Well, no… but that doesn't mean that I don't mean it," he told me.
"Why are you really here Hermes?" I asked the god.
"I heard that you have some information about Luke." the messenger god said while looking out at the sound. "I've wanted to visit him but every time I try I can never locate his spirit in Elysium."
"Not to be rude but have you ever thought maybe he doesn't want to see because he's afraid he might hurt you?" I asked him. I hadn't known Luke for that long but he seemed to care about others. I also heard that he was able to shut down Kronos in the end because he realized he had hurt Annabeth, and that's how he won the war for the demigods.
"It has slipped through my mind more than once, but he's my son and-" Hermes began to choke on his words, "And I love him. I never got to tell him that, and it has torn me apart." I nodded. "After the whole incident with May and her trying to be the Oracle but the curse…. I asked the Fates if I could raise him on Olympus. Of course, I knew that I couldn't but I couldn't have him live in a house where his mother was constantly screaming at him about his fate. I tried to help whenever I could but… in the end, it was never enough." A single tear rolled down his cheek. I felt terrible for him. He had tried to be a good father from a distance but Luke could never know because it would change the fate of the world, and Hermes had to live through Luke's terrible curses against him.
"If you would like the next time I see him I could say something," I told the god softly.
"That would be nice," Hermes said, "You know when I told your brother that we would learn something from him after the second Titian War I didn't know I would soon learn something else from his sister. Then again none of us expect Poseidon to have another demigod child. Good luck, Mya." I turned away from him and for a second the world lit up and when my eyes readjusted the messenger god was gone.
As soon as I got back to my cabin I realized I hadn't talked to anyone that I wanted to talk to. Not that there was anything wrong with the talk I had with Hermes it just wasn't who I was planning on talking to. At that point, I didn't want to have a run-in with whatever the cleaning harpies were so I went to bed. As soon as my head hit the pillow I was asleep.
…
I opened my eyes and saw that I was on Half-Blood Hill. It was dark but at the bottom of the hill, I could see four silhouettes. I drifted towards them. One was what I learned was a satyr. He did nothing to hide his furry goat legs, he was holding a small blonde girl on his left shoulder. She held a knife in her hand but she didn't look like she could do much because she looked like she was about to pass out. Behind them were two figures one was a girl with short raven-colored hair. She held a shield that had a snake-headed figure on the front and a spear. As I looked at the shield fear rushed through me. When I looked at the last figure I recognized him. Finally, I figured out it was Luke. He didn't have his scar yet.
"Go get Annabeth and Grover up the hill! I'll stay back and hold them off!" the girl shouted. I looked back at the satyr carrying the girl and saw that she was in fact a small Annabeth.
"Thalia! I'm not leaving you! I'll help you hold them back!" Luke shouted at her.
"No, Luke you've done enough! Now go!" Thalia rushed off into the dark and didn't look back.
I could hear the sounds of battle not far away, and when I looked at the sky a bright arch of lightning came down. I looked at Luke's face and saw tears pouring down from his eyes. I wanted to hug him. He slowly turned around and ran towards the struggling satyr carrying Annabeth. I hovered behind them and slowly they made their way up the hill.
Once they reached the top I saw Chiron galloping towards them. As soon as Chiron got to the group of three I felt something behind me. I turned around and that's when a sickening crack echoed from at the bottom of the hill. I felt something fly over me and behind me next to Luke something hit the ground… hard.
I heard a scream and looked and saw it came from Annabeth, "Thalia!"
I saw the small girl run over to where her friend laid, but it was too late. I glanced at Luke's face expecting to see him crying more than before, but instead, he wore a grim look on his face. His cheeks were still streaked with tears but none were coming out of his eyes.
"Annabeth," Luke whispered softly, "She's gone."
"No!" Annabeth screamed, "She can't be!"
The sky suddenly lit up. A light blue column slowly descended from the sky. Luke was able to pull Annabeth away from Thalia's body just before it reached its destination. The blue erupted and as soon as the night became dark again the tree that stands on Half-Blood Hill stood tall in the place where Thalia sacrificed her life for her friends.
The scene shifted and again I stood on Half-Blood Hill but it was different. It was the middle of the day and in the valley below, I could see campers following their schedules. I saw someone walking up the hill. When they got closer I could make out the scar on his face.
"Luke," I whispered softly.
He took his sword out of its scabbard and thrusted it into the ground at the base of the tree. He knelt down and said a silent prayer.
"I'm so sorry Thalia," he whispered, "I promise I'm doing what's right! I'm doing this in your honor!" Luke rose and grabbed his sword. I got a closer look at it and saw that it was half bronze and half steel.
Luke stood there for a few minutes looking at his reflection in the sword before he turned and looked out over the valley below. "I'll make them hear me!" he whispered before turning around and heading outside of the camp borders.
Fairyn- Thank you so much for your support on this story! I know I say this all the time but it truly means so much!
Please review if you enjoyed!