Chapter 11: Internal Conflict…sort of
[David's Pov]
So, the oracle was located at the Big House's attic.
That was a major downgrade from an entire shrine dedicated to it in my opinion, but at least the attic of the Big House was the coolest attic I've ever seen. And I was locked up in quite a lot of those as a punishment.
…Let's not talk about that.
Of course, ma never did that. She never even raised her voice at me. Not even once.
The attic was filled with Greek hero's treasure: armor stands with shields, an empty smoothie bottle with a guinea pig drawn on it labeled [CIRCE'S ISLE] (Annabeth stifled a snigger), and a belt with a sticker attached saying [SUVANIOR FROM LAND OF THE AMAZONS].
"Outrageous! What is that doing here?!"
Zoë exclaimed out in fury. She reached out for the belt, but the belt hummed a little and she quickly redrew her hand, then glared at Percy and me. We both raised our hands.
"I don't know anything about anything."
"Ditto."
Zoë snorted out through her nose.
"Typical heroes. I'll be reclaiming that when we win Capture the Flag."
"If you win, that is." Annabeth pointed out.
We went deeper inside.
There was a long table was stacked with glass jars filled with pickled body parts; severed hairy claws, huge yellow eyes (reminded me of Dr. Thorn, which made my stomach churn), and various other parts of monsters.
"Wow!"
Then I spotted a dusty mounted trophy on the wall that looked like a giant snake's head, but with horns and a full set of shark's teeth. The plaque read, [HYDRA HEAD #1, WOODSTOCK, N.Y., 1969]
"You guys ever fought one?"
"Yes. I cut off its head too."
Percy said with a grin, but before I can ask more about that in detail Annabeth interrupted us.
"Clarisse blew it to bits with a cannon."
"Hey, I was getting to that!"
"Of course you were, seaweed brain."
Annabeth rolled her eyes but a smile grew on her face as she saw Percy grumble to himself. I didn't think Percy was any lower for that. If he'd really cut off a head from a Hydra, I'd say he had a right to brag about it to anyone. It's not like Hydra was a weed in your garden.
Zoë was looking at both of them from behind. She was…not frowning, or scowling, for once. She almost looked nostalgic, as if a fine memory of her past was scrolling past her mind. It dawned on me that she scowled and sneered a lot because when she didn't she looked nice...as a person.
Then she realized I was staring at her, which made her hiss like an angry cat and look away.
I was about to ask where the oracle was, and why would he/she live up in an attic of all places, but then another item caught my eye: a pink silk scarf with a label on it.
SCARF OF THE GODDESS APHRODITE
Waterland, Denver, Co.,
by Annabeth Chase and Percy Jackson
It had a faint smell of something…but I really couldn't determine what it was. Something cold, and yet refreshing, like a moon? Maybe if I took a better waft of it…
Then someone grabbed my wrist. It was Annabeth.
"Don't do that! Do you have any idea what Aphrodite's love magic can do?"
"Uhh, no? Please enlighten me?"
Annabeth sighed, snatched the scarf away, and threw it back on the table.
"That thing would lure you into an endless hallucination of your loved ones. Very intoxicating for your brain. I barely managed to pull myself out when I tried it."
"Why did you try it?"
"None of your business."
She gave me a hiss like an angry cat as well. Percy also looked curious about that, but he didn't ask her.
Finally, we stopped in front of a mummy that looked 3000 years old. Just looking at it gave me a chill down my spine.
"Who is that?"
I whispered to Percy. He looked uncomfortable himself.
"That's the oracle."
"What?"
I looked back at the mummy. I now saw the tripod stool it was sitting on, which was one of the key features of the Oracle of Delphi. But that can't be the oracle; in every version of any myth, the oracle was very much alive.
"Why is it, um, you know…"
"Dead?"
Annabeth asked, not looking back. She was staring at the oracle as if expecting it to do something. Maybe start tap-dancing, I don't know.
Then, Zoë suddenly spoke up.
"I heard it had to do something with the great prophecy." Zoë glanced at Percy for a second. "Some god has cursed the oracle, and the spirit of the Oracle is bound to the body, with it unable to be passed on."
"That's horrible!"
I looked at the mummy again. It didn't move, but the shadow made it look like the skull of it sagged down just a bit, as if it was woeful at her tale.
"It's what happens when you challenge the gods. Many mortals do that, and they all pay a terrible price for it. I've seen that happen for nearly 3 millennials. Over and over again. They never learn."
"…"
I remembered the Greek Myths of Arachne, Niobe, Phaethon, Bellerophon, and many more mortals, humans who had challenged the gods. As Zoë said, they all met horrible ends, and those stories were supposed to teach us not to be arrogant.
But looking at this shriveled up girl, and rethinking about the stories…well, it made me feel uncomfortable. I called back what Percy said, right after he stood up against Mr. D at the Big House.
Was it fair for gods, who had as many, or dare I say more flaws than any man has, to punish humans for trying to compete against them? To try to reach the very top, the highest of their limits?
It made my heart feel heavy. The faces of the 'unclaimed' children from cabin 11 came back to me as well.
Were…gods the good guys?
I pushed that thought to the back of my head. For now, at least.
We needed a prophecy to start on a quest according to what Chiron (he told me to just call him 'Chiron', or I won't get his autograph) said, and we all waited with bated breaths, but nothing happened.
"Oracle. We need a prophecy. How do we save Thalia?"
"How do we save Lady Artemis?"
Annabeth and Zoë asked in turns, but the oracle still stayed silent.
After several minutes of waiting, Annabeth bit on her lips.
"O, Oracle of Delphi; please hear my plead! Give us guidance on a way to save Olympus!"
It was a nice quote, I'd imagine she would be a kicker of a poet. But the oracle didn't seem impressed or even care about it.
After several additional minutes of waiting Percy suggested that we go down, and I was agreeing with him; At this point, I was certain that the oracle won't speak for us, but Annabeth and Zoë persisted in waiting on longer, so we went down with just the two of us.
Chiron was waiting at the entrance in his wheelchair. I could see the dawn of the sun from the window.
"Well?"
"No luck. The oracle won't speak. Annabeth and Zoë are still waiting though. And we can go without a prophecy, right?"
"I'm afraid not."
We both looked at Chiron. Percy was staring at him as if he had gone mad, and if I weren't wondering about Greek gods being a hypocrite I would've protested about that.
"Chiron, Thalia is in danger. Maybe Artemis is too. Just because we don't have a prophecy can't stop─"
But Chiron shook his head.
"Percy, a quest without an oracle is a sail without a map. A chariot without a rein."
A chill ran down my back. That line sounded familiar. I've heard it before.
Then I remembered. It was what the old lady's voices said in my nightmare.
"Without guidance, a quest is destined to fail. And it is most rare for heroes on a failed quest to return alive, so much to say for safe and sound. I am afraid I cannot allow a quest when the oracle is silent."
Percy looked like he wanted to protest, but Chiron was firm on the matter. Finally, Percy gave in.
He walked out of the Big House, very tired and not happy. Chiron sighed and got a white conch shell from the upper display shelf.
"A hero with a loyal heart. Percy is. I would go far to say that he might be the most loyal one I've ever taught since Achilles."
"Yeah. He jumped back into The Trojan War after his friend Patroclus died. Even when the war was prophesied to be his doom."
Chiron nodded. He looked slightly impressed on my knowledge of Greek Myths once more, but at the moment I didn't feel the shoulder boost. I was tired too, and well, felt miserable as well.
[Line Break]
The thought about the Greek god's morality was quickly driven out of my head after breakfast. It is really hard to think about stuff like that when you get dunked onto the mat for the fortieth time in a row.
With Clarisse gone, Sherman was the leader of our cabin. And he was just as ruthless as her during activities. The only reason I won't say 'more' is because the idea that someone could be more ruthless than Clarisse scared me.
After lunch, it was better. Namely, because we were back at the sword fight arena, and Sherman was called by Annabeth (who had no luck on the oracle. She told me with a scowl just like Zoë's) to prepare for 'Capture the Flag'.
"What is 'Capture the Flag', exactly?"
"Oh, right. I guess you wouldn't know."
Marcus said half-heartedly while blocking my strike.
Not to boast or anything, but he'd already deemed me a worthy enough opponent for sparring. But then, he had also said most Ares kids became excellent fighters from day to a week at most, so I guess it was not that out of ordinary.
We exchanged a couple of more strikes before he called a break. Talking while sparring never works out, not with all the clanging of metal and dispersed concentration.
"Capture the Flag," Marcus said. "Is a miniature war activity."
"Oh."
Marcus snickered and slammed on my back. My armor rattled loudly.
"Real swords, real arms. Technically we aren't supposed to maim, but no one cares about that rule."
"Right."
Do you know that odd feeling of excitement and worry mixed by 50:50? I was getting those a lot from hearing about Capture the Flag.
Marcus went on to explain the simple rules: The entire forest was fair game, all magic items allowed, carrying the flag over to the other side of the field, over the creek, wins.
"Those hunters had won for the last 55th games in a row."
"Are they really that good in combat?"
"Combat? Ha!"
Marcus laughed out loud and threw a small dagger at a lone dummy about 30 feet away. It sank in right at the head, knocking the entire stand over in the process.
"No one is better at combat than the Ares cabin. No, they are sneaky and fast. They always slip through our defenses, like a bunch of rabbits."
"Which is why─"
A pair of hands landed on each of our shoulders from behind. Sherman was back, and he had one of those wicked grins on his face.
"─You two would be taking guard duty at Zeus's fist."
That night after dinner, the participants all assembled at the edge of the forest. Campers all huddled to one side, while the hunters gathered around themselves 50ft away from us.
Annabeth was looking troubled and was discussing with her fellow cabin mate, rearranging some small figurines of soldiers on a map. These brothers respectively named 'Travis Stoll' and 'Conner Stoll' from the Hermes cabin was laughing about blocking up the Apollo cabin's toilet.
That explains why they didn't show up.
I took the delay to take a look at the hunters.
Zoë Nightshade looked pretty upset. She kept glancing resentfully at the Big House like she couldn't believe Chiron was making her do this.
The other Hunters didn't look too happy either. Unlike last night, they weren't laughing or joking around. They were whispering nervously to each other as they strapped on their armor. Some of them even looked like they'd been crying. I guess Zoë had told them about her nightmare.
Luna was doing surprisingly well. She looked confused as the older hunters whispered among themselves. I heard her voice ask out loud "But Lady Artemis is a god. She'll be fine no matter what, right?" and then Zoë hugged her without a word.
Finally, the plan was set.
Annabeth gathered all 18-or-so people around in a huddle. All 7 of Ares cabin, 3 from the Hephaestus cabin, 2 from Athena counting Annabeth, 2 from Aphrodite cabin (who were pumped to kick some hunter's ass), last-minute recruit of 3 from Hermes cabin, and of course, Percy.
"Since Ares cabin is the majority, they'll be our main force."
"Naturally."
Sherman answered in a smug voice and everyone from Ares cabin cheered except for me. Annabeth and her cabin-mate gave us a dirty look but continued as nothing happened.
"Sherman would take direct offense to the flag. I'll send Malcolm as support. Try to disrupt the hunters as much as you can."
Her cabinmate—Malcolm was not all thrilled, but Sherman raised both of his arms.
"With pleasure. Ares for victory!"
We all cheered again. This time I joined in until Annabeth gave us another dirty look.
She went on to explain that Hephaestus and Hermes kids would be a defense in the woods. They'll set up traps and be ready to ambush the attacking force of the hunters. Aphrodite cabins would be look-outs and counter the hunter's 'fart arrows', whatever those were.
I was a guard at Zeus's fist with Marcus as a final defense line, which would've made me nervous if Marcus hadn't been complaining all afternoon that guards usually spent most time waiting out, away from the action and fun. That's a bummer.
That left Annabeth and Percy.
"We'll be a sort of a special force. We'll take the flag if Ares cabin takes more than 5 minutes after their first engagement."
"Just the two of you? Quite bold of you, Annabeth."
A girl named Selena…bow-regard? I think? from Aphrodite cabin called out with a large smile. Her tone made it clear that she wasn't teasing her, but Annabeth's face went scarlet right to her ear anyway. The rest of our team roared out in laughter. Even Annabeth's cabin mate Malcolm stifled a snigger.
I didn't get the joke myself, but I laughed anyway.
"Guys lay off. It's not like that."
Percy tried to soothe the commotion, but that only made people laugh louder.
"Don't get too close in the woods!"
"Or don't get seen!"
"At the very least, wash up at the creek after you're done!"
"Hey!"
Now Percy had his face red from either anger or embarrassment. I still had no idea what on earth the joke was about, but Chiron's hoof thundered on the pavilion floor and everyone went silent.
"Heroes!" He called. "You know the rules! The creek is the boundary line. Blue team—Camp Half-Blood—shall take the west woods. Hunters of Artemis—red team—shall take the east woods. I will serve as referee and battlefield medic. No intentional maiming, please! All magic items are allowed. To your positions!"
And, the game began.
Ah yes, another fine chapter is done. But I couldn't help but notice the certain lack of reviews.
Now, I'm not forcing any of you to do something you don't want to do. It's just that reviews are a great source of dopamine and they'd help me urge to pump out more stories from my cobwebbed brain.
So...yeah. Have fun reading~!