The Dark Side of the Moon
Chapter Five
Chiron entered his office with Annabeth, Grover, and Percy. The three of them sit down in chairs in the center, around a whiteboard. They noticed Hazel, the woman they met before writing on the whiteboard. Dionysus and Celeste walked in and sat down just as Hazel finished writing.
"Everyone, this is Hazel Williams. She is our camp's scientist." Chiron said.
Hazel smiled, bowing to everyone. She looked at Annabeth with a big smile, which surprised her at first until she felt it too.
"Athenian?" Annabeth asked.
"Yes, it's good to see another child of Athena," Hazel said. "My father is a scientist, so I have become one as well."
Annabeth smiled as Percy looked at the whiteboard. He tilted his head as he continued staring at the formula Hazel wrote.
"What does this formula mean?" Percy asked.
"Ah," Hazel said, turning back to the whiteboard. "This is the formula for the dark side of the moon."
Everyone nodded as Hazel continued.
"When Chaos energy is harvested and siphoned, it can be absorbed by any being on earth." Hazel said, pointing to the image of chaos energy and the one of the globe of the world on the whiteboard.
"So, where does Selene fit in?" Percy asked.
"As you know, Selene is a descendant of Chaos. Hence, when chaos energy is absorbed by her, the prophesied dark side of the moon becomes reality.
"We were told Selene can cause the world to go dark," Annabeth said.
"Yes, the world going dark is one thing, the encounter of demon fiends is another. Hazel said, pointing to a percentage symbol. "With each increase in percentage, the stronger the chaos energy will become."
"But why here? Why is Camp Half Blood a target for these attacks?" Chiron asked.
"That's easy. Selene is still thinking about you," Celeste said.
"True, since her mind isn't fully controlled yet, it will focus on her last thoughts," Hazel explained.
Chiron looked away while Dionysus spoke up.
"So, we have some time."
"Correct. From what I have been told, she's using 50% of the chaos energy," Hazel said.
"How do you know this? And who is this "she" you are referring to?" Grover asked.
Hazel took a deep breath. "I and another studied chaos energy in college. Her name is Catherine Miller." Hazel paused. "She became obsessed with chaos energy and vowed one day to obtain it."
"Now she has," Percy said. "So how do we stop her and this chaos energy?"
"By locating her lab and destroying it," Hazel said. "Knowing her, it's someplace out of the public eye."
"Why not follow some of the energy back to the source?" Celeste asked.
Everyone looked at Celeste, who placed a small jar on the table filled with a black liquid bouncing around inside.
"I snagged some during our fight with the beast we fought," Celeste said.
"Once we release it, everyone needs to be ready, so gear up," Chiron said.
Percy, Annabeth, and Grover stood up and left the office while Dionysus stared at the small jar.
"Where did you hide that?" Dionysus asked.
"Do you really want to know?" Celeste asked, leaning in close to Dionysus' face.
Dionysus backed up and scoffed while Celeste chuckled. Chiron smiled as Celeste and Dionysus left the room.
Erasing the white board, Hazel began putting up another formula. Chiron looked at it, seeing the "L" at the end, he grew curious.
"The weakness of chaos is light, for it always banishes darkness," Chiron said.
"Correct, but chaos is not true darkness. Anger, fury, hated, along with all other negative emotions, creates chaos." Hazel said.
"So, what's the "L" at the end for ? Chiron asked, but then his eyes widen when a word came to mind. "Love"
"Yes, its warmth and ability to dissolve negativity is Chaos' true weakness. "That is the reason all the monsters keep coming here and not around the world. Selene's love for you is strong and unwavering. While she cannot dissolve the chaos energy that is being pumped through her body, she knows that deep down you can help stop all of this.
Tears filled Chiron's eyes as he cleared his throat. "What if I am too late and chaos consumes her?"
"Help her remember your love, for that is stronger than any light in this world."
"Thank you."
Hazel nodded before leaving the office. Chiron placed the small jar of chaos in a case while he prepares for the long journey ahead.
A yawn escaped Catherine as she walked back into her lab. Sleeping for a few days did her some good, while she felt a little groggy. She was ready to work.
Looking around the dark lab, Catherine rubs her eyes when she noticed the lights and humming of her machines welcome her. But it was when she saw a red light flashing in an odd location that got her attention.
Flipping on the lights, Catherine moved over toward the flashing red light. When she got there, she noticed it was coming from the chaos lever. It was the 75% symbol that was flashing red.
Catherine stood there, looking at the flashing red light. Red usually means bad news for a scientist. If she pushed the lever, there could be explosions, alarms, fires and who knows what else could happen.
Shaking her head, Catherine took a deep breath. There she goes, letting her mind get carried away again. She forgot that Mr. X wants wanted her to be at 75% before his next visit. Yeah, like it or not, she had to do this.
Running over to her cabinet, Catherine opened it and put on her hard hat, hard plastic armor, chest plate, leg guards and slipped on heavy duty gloves. Picking up her shield, Catherine swallowed hard as she walked over to the lever. Her nerves were on fire as sweat pour off her brow.
"Okay, I can do this," Catherine told herself.
Taking another deep breath, she put her hand on the lever and pushed it up to 75%. Looking around, nothing happened. Before Catherine could let out a breath, the machines all over the lab hummed loudly.
Scratching and cracking noises followed as tubes shot of machines left and right. Catherine ran over to the main chamber, trying to reattach the tubes, but they kept flying off faster than she could fix them. A tube smacked her in the head, but luckily, she was protected.
Looking at the main chamber, Catherine watched Selene's closed eyes moved rapidly. Within moments, they snapped open, and she screamed. The monitors were going haywire as alarms blared. With more tubes shooting off machines and wires crackled, fires quickly emerged.
Catherine's eyes widen as she pulled out the fire extinguisher. Everything she imagine that would happen came true, but it was much worse.
Soon the sprinklers from the ceiling opened up, but not before a few explosions followed. Catherine dropped the fire extinguisher and took off running as more explosions erupted behind her. Tripping over a chair, she tumbled to the ground, but an explosion behind her sent her flying in to the air. Screaming Catherine smack the wall at the back of the lab.
Sliding down the wall, Catherine winced as she turned around. Her eyes widen as a huge table flew in the air right for her. She tried to move, but it was too late for the table smacked her hard in the face and flatten her body. Catherine couldn't move. Could this be it? She thought she tried moving again, but the overwhelming pain was too much for her as she passed out.
"Look around," a muffle voice said.
Catherine slowly opened her eyes; darkness and a bit of light through a small hole welcomed her. A lot of pain also welcomed her. Note to self, she thought. Add more padding. That's when she thought about something did, she just hear a voice?
"Anything?" "I am going to look over here," a voice said.
Catherine did hear a voice a female one. It couldn't be Betsy because after her encounter with Mr. X, she left, vowing never to return. So, what was that out there? And who was she talking to?
Catherine tried to move, but only wiggled under the table and whatever else was on top of her.
"Hang on, I hear something," the female voice said.
"Here!" Catherine screamed.
What little light Catherine had gone dark, but a rustling sound reached her ears. Moments later, piece after piece of debris was removed. The moment the table was pulled off her, Catherine looked into the eyes of a woman with dark violet hair with matching eyes. The woman helped Catherine sit up and pull off her hard hat, shield and even the heavy plastic armor chest plate that a huge dent in it.
After taking a few deep breaths, Catherine stood up, but she held her head as a wave of dizziness followed. The woman caught Catherine before she fell and helped her to a chair.
"Easy, you were under a lot of debris and an enormous table," the woman said.
"Thank you, but who are you?" Catherine asked.
"I don't understand," the woman replied.
"What's your name?" Catherine asked.
"Oh, I don't have one," the woman said. "You created us, right? So you have to give us names."
"Us?"
The woman step aside. Catherine looked at the other beings behind her. From four large beef up demon fiends with two swords on their backs to a massive clay beast.
Soon their bodies lit up as they floated in the air along with the woman.
"Whoa…. what's going on?" The woman asked.
"You being teleported to Camp Half Blood, if you return, I will give you a name.
The woman nodded and smiled.
"Then I will make sure to return," the woman said before she disappeared.
Catherine watched the others disappear as well.
"Round three, I hope I don't strike out this time," Catherine said, followed with a sigh.