DISCLAIMER: All the characters except the OC's, belong to Rick Riordan.
Chapter 13: I tour Olympus on a stormy night.
DING!
The doors to the lift shuddered before opening, cutting off all the conversations inside. A group of ten kids filed out and stared at the sight before them, mouths agape.
Their ages vary with the youngest at twelve and the oldest at nineteen years old. Annabeth stared at the towering structure before her. She couldn't tear her eyes off of the mountain in front of her, though the last thing she wanted was to gape like a country girl who'd barely seen a city in her life.
Even after reassuring herself that the Empire State Building was the gateway to God's abode, she still couldn't believe that she was picked as one of the lucky few to go on this field trip to visit the holy domain of the Olympian gods. She wondered if she'd finally get the chance to meet her mother.
Now, you're probably confused about the last sentence. Let's take a step back for introductions.
Annabeth, A.K.A, Annabeth Chase was a twelve-year demigod daughter of Athena, goddess of wisdom and battle strategy. She, like most of the demigods, had never met her godly parent, let alone visited their abode. She had been dropped at her father's doorstep in a golden cradle as a baby, which kind of turned his world upside down.
For the last five years, she had been a resident at Camp Half-Blood, the only safe place for young demigods. Without proper training, it's hard for them to survive in the outside world filled with ancient Greek monsters. Most campers spend their summers there, training for the real world, while she was one of the few who stayed all year round.
The year-rounders at camp get to go on field trips during the term, but the chance to visit Mount Olympus was incredibly rare. According to the records, they had been only given permission every decade or so, and a chosen few of the year-rounders were picked for the trip.
Mount Olympus lay before them, a snow-capped mountain peak in all its heavenly glory. The city of Manhattan lay below them while the ancient city hovered above it as though floating on clouds. A narrow path of marble steps wound up the clouds into the sky and led from the elevator.
"Sheesh, Annabeth!" Clarisse, a fellow camper, nudged her. "Are you just gonna stand here staring at it?" her eyes darted everywhere, like preparing to pick a fight. As the daughter of Ares, Clarisse was always hungry for a battle. Annabeth couldn't blame her though. All the half-bloods ever wanted was to prove their worth to their godly parents and obtain their recognition.
"Come on, guys," Luke said and led everyone. He was the oldest of the group—and one of the oldest at camp too—and officially their chaperone, though he acted easy around everyone. Annabeth had known Luke for five years—practically forever for a demigod—and she used to think of him as an awesome big brother. But since he got back from a quest two years ago, things had changed. He'd come back more beat-up, more grown-up and detached, and with a jagged scar ruining his handsome face. He'd become the head counselor for his cabin and although he didn't treat her like she was a kid—which he used to—they didn't really hang out anymore.
"Six hundredth floor," Charles Beckendorf gulped. He's a son of Hephaestus, muscular and sturdily built, but he looked green watching the city underneath. Then again, some of the phobias got passed down the godly lines, and Annabeth could relate. Hephaestus had been flung from the mountain as a baby. An inherited fear of heights seemed pretty reasonable, given those circumstances.
He swallowed hard and grabbed her arm tightly. Annabeth winced, but one look at him made her retort die down in her throat. She patted his hand reassuringly.
Luke led them to the top of the mountain, passing through small villages of minor gods and goddesses and other immortals. Some gawked at them, greeted them enthusiastically, and hawked their wares while the others went on with their businesses.
"Concert tickets, special Sunday rates!" a cloud nymph shouted. "The Muses' first group tour in the quarter—you can't miss it!"
"Phoenix robe, limited edition price," A woman with short horns called. "Offers vitality to heal injuries and damaged organs!"
"Going cheap! Sky breaking shuttle!" a man offered, with a dazzling grin. "Must have for tomb raiders. Special offer, only fifty drachmas!"
The palace of Olympia stood on top of the snow-covered peak. An assortment of temples and palaces sprung on the mountainside. Each one of them had white-columned porticos, gilded terraces, and bronze braziers glowing with a thousand fires, cushioned by fluffy clouds. Precariously perched gardens with olive trees and rosebushes, pristine sculptors of divine animals and maidens made of marbles greeted them.
Each structure was unique in its intricate design and it was all breathtakingly gorgeous. They crossed a big archway into a courtyard, which led to the throne room.
"Excited, Annabeth?" Luke asked.
"Yes!" she said excitedly. "It'll be worthwhile, to watch the god's council. That's not something you see every day, isn't it?"
Luke's face fell briefly. "That's not what I meant," he said. "I thought you'd be more interested in the buildings around. Aren't you into all that stuff?"
Annabeth tensed for a moment. The Luke she used to know had always had a bitter expression on his face but was always kind to her. But ever since his quest, he's made a conscious effort to pull her attention to him. Annabeth believed Luke was the kindest person she'd ever known, but such actions made her fidgety.
"Yeah," she smiled to cover her nervousness. "I am. I bet it's more magnificent in person than the pictures in the book—" she stopped once they entered the throne room.
The ceiling of the room itself was a dome of moving constellations; Andromeda, Orion, Ursa Major, and the Pegasus. Below, amidst the massive columns that held up the ceiling, thirteen gigantic thrones were around in an omega-shape around a glowing central hearth.
Annabeth felt a moment of confusion, staring at the last throne. Then she realized the throne was a bit smaller, less ornately-designed than the others. At the feet of it lay a metal helmet, which seemed to radiate menace. Of course, the lord of the Underworld, Hades would have a temporary seat for his Winter Solstice visit.
"What's the meaning of this?" a commanding voice boomed from another pathway leading to the throne room on their right. Even if it hadn't come from one of the thrones, it's impossible not to recognize the rolling thunder in that voice. Who else could be so intimidating in the throne room other than the king of Olympus?
All the demigods dropped to their knees and no one dared to answer.
"Answer me! Who invited you here?" the central hearth crackled and rose to a height of several meters. It lit up the whole throne room along with the bronze braziers. The throne room was empty, save for Zeus and a few individuals in the connecting courtyard on the left.
"We thank you for your generosity in granting this visit, lord Zeus," Luke said hastily. The demigods glanced at him in surprise for his bravery in addressing the king of the gods directly.
"When did I do that?" the booming voice sounded pensive.
"Last month," a familiar, bored voice came from the last passageway. In the adjacent courtyard to their left, stood a lazy, middle-aged man with a beautiful young lady. Annabeth still couldn't see him clearly, but she thought he might look a bit different on Olympus. Normally, Mr. D was a pudgy, pot-bellied man with watery eyes and a permanent scowl. Currently, he was more dignified and aristocratic-looking.
"I wouldn't have bothered, but Chiron was being annoyingly persistent. I suppose it's that time again." Dionysus drawled.
"We encourage our children to gain experiences." another goddess beside Mr. D agreed. "Isn't that why we send them into the mortal world?" She came to stand before the demigods and got incongruently smaller with every step, probably because she was twenty feet tall, and had to shrink to reach their level. She was still tall and regal, with a noble air to her appearance. She had dark hair and sharp, calculating gray eyes.
"Mother!" Annabeth gasped.
"Ah," the goddess turned to her. "Here's one of mine. How fares your father, Annabeth?"
"I—um..." she said, tongue-tied. "I don't know." Of all the questions she had to ask! It had been two years since she had seen her dad. Annabeth cleared her throat and tried again. "He's still lecturing at West Point," she offered lamely. She knew at least that much from his last letter.
Athena observed her sternly, her eyes piercing straight into the depths of Annabeth's brain. She felt like everything about her life was laid bare before the goddess: her refusal of any of her dad's letters, the anger and hurt she has for him to choose his new family over her.
But Athena didn't address any of it. "I hope your birthday present has served you well," she said.
Annabeth smiled giddily and reached into her pocket to pull out a New York Yankees cap. It had magically appeared on her bunk last summer, but to hear it coming from her mother held a whole different meaning.
So Athena had been the sender of the invisibility cap.
She handed the cap to Athena. "I always keep it close." Next to her, Luke looked over in surprise and narrowed his eyes for a moment.
Another goddess arrived before them and Athena chose silence over greeting. This one was, breathtakingly beautiful. However, the expression she wore was that of utmost disdain. Everyone cringed at that. Hera, the Queen Mother, bore down upon them and eyed her with distaste as one would a dirty sock.
"There's nothing as a free meal. Gifts are meant to come at a price," she said with a scowl.
"Mostly, yes," Athena acknowledged. "But birthdays are an exception, though."
"Annabeth Chase," Hera regarded her dismissively. "I suppose I should thank you for your hand in the fate of that misbegotten spawn of my husband's five years ago." Annabeth's face turned pale. Five years ago, her friend Thalia, the daughter of Zeus, had single-handedly fought off the Furies and an army of hellhounds so that Luke, Grover, and she could get to safety. It was not an exaggeration to say that most of it was because of her.
All that was left of Thalia was a pine tree guarding Camp Half-Blood, emitting a forcefield to ward off the monsters. Hera's remainder cut her like a sharp blade, spilling hot, heavy guilt—which she unsuccessfully tried to force down—into her gut. Beside her, Luke took her hand and gave it a comforting squeeze. It sent another bout of guilt down her throat.
"And Luke Castellan, of the failed quest," Hera continued. "How proud your father must be, to have a coward for a son."
Luke dropped her hands immediately. A faint red flush flared across his face, making the thin, jagged scar stand out more prominently. Luke had been the last camper to receive a quest, two years ago. It was to retrieve a golden apple from the Garden of Hesperides. He alone had returned alive from it, sans companions, and golden apple.
He ground his teeth at Hera's taunt but was wise enough not to retort. Annabeth looked over at Hermes, a handsome middle-aged man in an expensive suit, scrolling through a blackberry on a throne. Then her eyes darted over to Luke's clenched fist.
Did she dare to return the comforting gesture?
With Thalia, it was different though. Luke had been there with her for Thalia. They were a family and it was something they shared. But she hadn't been on a quest with him—he didn't pick her, whatever—and he'd never spoken of it to her. He'd been closed off and distant since returning, making it clear that he didn't want to share it with anyone.
Before she could decide on her course of action, Hera moved on.
"Lee Fletcher, son of Apollo. Not much to show-off, eh!" she nodded dismissively and looked around for someone. Annabeth had to agree that despite Apollo's known fame for his self-centered showiness, Lee was rather plain and average.
"More sons of Hermes," Hera said scathingly, looking over at Travis and Connor Stoll. "What a family reunion this must be for you." She cast a look at Hermes, who glanced up from his Blackberry.
"Lighten up, Hera," he said. "Others might think that you're raring for demigods yourself." he rolled his eyes. The temperature around the demigods dropped to a chilling degree making them shiver a little. Hera's face contorted and filled with frostbite, but she didn't retort.
"Charles Beckendorf, son of Hephaestus." she wrinkled her nose and moved on, choosing not to comment on the fact that he was technically her grandson. Beckendorf cowed under her gaze and sighed when she left.
Annabeth scowled. She was liking Hera less and less. She finally settled her gaze on Clarisse.
"And Clarisse La Rue, daughter of Ares." she then glanced at Pollux and Castor Gable at the end, who were still staring at Mr. D in amazement. "Ten young heroes, none with a successful quest to their name." she sighed. "Not that I have any great love for heroes," she added hastily. "But what a ragtag bunch you have here, Dionysus!"
Mr. D refused to answer her and immersed himself with a beautiful young lady. He snapped a Coke and took a sip from it.
"Send them off, Dionysus." Zeus' booming voice came again. "We've been delayed long enough. Where has Poseidon run off to, at this time? We still have many items on the agenda." he complained. "I don't want to be here all Solstice."
The gods and goddess made their way back to their thrones as a lovely young lady—goddess—approached the kneeling demigods.
"I'm Ariadne, Dionysus's spouse." Mr. D's wife said. The demigods looked at her in surprise. Most of the time, Annabeth didn't think about the fact that their grouchy camp director was—in fact—married. "I'll lead you out. Follow me."
The demigods followed her out of the throne room. Annabeth could hear Zeus starting to heckle about Poseidon's absence from the meeting.
Ariadne led them into a garden where another young goddess greeted them. The new goddess introduced herself as Hebe, goddess of youth. She was appointed as their tour guide and led them away from the council, out into the city.
At the back, Connor Stoll muttered to his brother, still looking in the direction Ariadne left. "Man, how'd Mr. D manage to score her anyway? She's super hot."
"I wouldn't say that out loud, dude," Travis warned. Hebe pretended to not hear anything and proceeded with her tour right away.
Annabeth listened in fascination when the goddess told them a bit about the temples and altars in the city. Ever since their activities director, Chiron, had announced their field trip, she had spent all her time reading up. Annabeth was especially interested to see which of the ancient monuments might have migrated West and whether they'd look anything like the originals.
Hebe proved out to be a good tour guide—probably since she'd stayed on Olympus all her life. She toured them around the temples, explaining the design concepts and history behind each one and relaying more of the gory parts surrounding each monument as they went along.
She led them through the open market with colorful tents, an ancient Amphitheatre, entirely made up of stone, on one side of the mountain, and a Coliseum on the other. On an unrelated note, Hebe started advertising her spa and the beauty treatments provided to the girls in the group. She went into the details of the services provided, the appointments, and the benefits of long-term services.
At the end of her sales pitch, she handed the girls a couple of coupons and winked at them. "As goodwill for Chiron, special discount coupons."
"Herbal treatment. Spa?" Clarisse snorted. "She'd get along with Aphrodite kids, alright."
Annabeth blinked. "Why not sell these to the residents of Aphrodite cabin? I bet they'd fetch a good price." Clarisse's eyes shined. The rest snorted and pocket their coupons. Obviously, they wouldn't give them away, even if you beat them up.
They stopped at Athena's virgin temple where Hebe announced its history as the place where the sea god has desecrated her honor with Athena's priestess. The temple was held up by a neat row of pillars, in an articulate design. While Annabeth was captivated by the temple style and sacred air, the other demigods snickered about the dishonorable deed.
"I heard they had gone on it like bunnies?" Connor Stoll snickered.
Hebe pretended not to hear it and continued. "In retribution, Athena cursed Medusa by stripping her of her beauty, snakes for hairs, and sentenced her to a fate of monster. She lived on ever after as a gorgon with a powerful petrifying gaze."
Travis whistled under his breath. "A bit harsh, I guess."
The girls rolled their eyes. Annabeth believed the punishment was strict enough but thought Poseidon really ought to have taken some penalty. Her eyes landed on the pillar engravings. They were etched onto the pillars in ancient Greek markings. It read: Let your head guide your path forward instead of your heart. There's no room for fickle emotion in search of truth.
Annabeth nodded. It was so like her mother to spread wisdom to everyone unrestricted.
"Alright. On to the next one." Hebe led them out of the temple. It was starting to get dark outside. Luke appeared at the entrance, rubbing his eyes tiredly.
"We gotta go," he said hurriedly and turned to Hebe. "Thank you, m'lady. We're ordered to return to camp immediately."
Though Hebe was hesitant, she nodded and walked away to the Palace of Olympia.
"We gotta go, hurry," he said again. "You've—We've been here for a while."
"Huh?" Everyone was doubtful. Chiron had told them the duration of the trip and permission to stay overnight. But they followed him onto the road anyway.
"The Solstice is almost over. The council has already broken up, and Mr. D's pretty ticked off that we've been here the whole time. We gotta go, hurry." he led them down the city to the elevator.
There were fewer residents of Olympus out in the open. The nymphs and the satyrs whispered among themselves while pointing at them.
"Shouldn't we say goodbye or something?" Lee Fletcher asked, glancing at the palace.
Luke shook his head. "They've already scattered. We should just go. Come on." He reached out to press the elevator button, but it blinked first.
DING!
The doors opened and a large, beefy man with greasy dark hair and shades stepped out with a sneer.
"Still here, eh?"
"Father!" Clarisse's eyes widened and bowed low. The rest of them followed suit. It's not a good idea to anger the god of War by failing to show proper respect.
"One of my girls, huh?" he scratched his oily hair. "Don't get too many of 'em. Slew anything good?" he raised a brow. "Won any battles?"
"Umm," Clarisse sounded nervous and failed to respond immediately. "We won capture the flag last month." she offered.
"Bah," Ares sneered. "Camp games, training. Boring," he said. "You need a real quest, girl. Bloodshed and destruction are in the real world. You're not worth a dime unless you step into it." He glared around at the rest of them. "No quest heroes among you?"
They all stayed silent, as Are's fiery eyes bore into them. They grew slightly misty as they passed over Luke, though Annabeth couldn't be sure. Maybe actually attempting a quest had gained a modicum of respect for Luke. Her blood began to boil.
"Get going, then. Come back when you've actually done something worth bragging about." He gave Clarisse a mean look before he stalked off.
They hurriedly stepped into the elevator and began their descent back to the mortal world.
"That was..." Beckendorf started.
"Intense," Lee said. Everyone nodded.
Luke tapped her shoulder. "Here, you dropped this in the garden," he said, holding up her Yankees cap.
"What!" she checked her pocket and blushed. She would've been done for had Athena come across it on Olympus. "Thanks." she grabbed it gratefully.
He shrugged and looked away while she studied him. His look far away, his expression brooding.
"Luke, are you okay?" she said quietly. Athena had been right when she said 'pave your path with your head and not your heart' back in her temple engravings. She couldn't let her past crush and confusion get in the way of being a good friend.
Luke looked down at her in surprise. "Yeah?"
"You know Hera's wrong, right? You're not a coward." a faint pink flushed her cheeks, but she forced herself to keep going. It was what both of them had to hear and what she should've told him a long time ago. "You're the bravest one I know."
"You think so?"
"I know so."
Luke smiled faintly. "Thanks, Annabeth. I needed that. She's right, though. I...failed a lot." His face darkened. "But I won't this time." His voice took on a hard edge that made her shiver. "Ares wasn't kidding, you know. You'll only know if you're good enough in the real world. Everything at camp—that's just training." He shook his head to discard his moodiness.
"I want to go out too. I've got to get a quest."
"You won't need to worry about any of that for a while. You're still young." Luke gave her a knowing look. "Well, you know, quests aren't all they're made out to be, anyway," he said offhandedly.
"Just because you f—" she began hotly, but stopped quickly, wishing she could bite her tongue off. "I mean, at least you've had the chance. That's all I want. To know if I'm any good." she muttered lamely.
Luke's eyes were unfathomable and she cursed inwardly. Here they were, talking as they hadn't done in ages, and she had to walk straight into the touchiest subject there was for him.
"I'm sorry," she said in a small voice. "I didn't mean to remind you."
"No, Annabeth, I am. It's okay—I'm over it now. I've got more important things to focus on." His elvish eyes crinkled in a smile and he patted her shoulder. "I know how important a quest is to you."
They stood in silence for a little while longer, and the elevator let them out on the ground floor. They filed out and trooped past disgruntled security.
The demigods stepped onto Fifth Avenue in the chilly night. The pavement turned powder-white under a light snowfall.
"How will we get back to camp?" Beckendorf said, shivering. "Are there even trains running this late?"
"I've informed Chiron early. Argus should arrive soon." Luke told them.
Clarisse muttered something incoherently and tapped her foot impatiently. Ten half-bloods in the middle of New York City were bound to attract monster attention sooner or later.
Argus arrived soon and they got into the van and drove to camp silently. Argus was the security in charge of the camp and he was created by Hera, as her masterpiece. This masterpiece was a tall sandy-haired man, who had eyes all over his body. Rumor has it that he had an eye on his tongue, preventing him from speaking.
Despite the late hour, the camp director was waiting for them at the top of camp Half-Blood hill, next to Thalia's tree.
"Chiron," Luke called.
"Welcome back," Chiron said. "I was getting worried. You had all better come quickly and tell me about everything."
"What's wrong?" Annabeth couldn't help but ask.
"Nothing at the moment," he said. He then pointed across Long Island Sound. The clouds over Manhattan were thickening over in a storm.
"Something on Olympus has gone awry."
oOo
A week after the Olympus field trip, Annabeth had one of her bizarre nightmares. She didn't mean some prophetic dreams, although those are pretty common too. This was a series of recurring she'd had since she was seven.
In her dream, Annabeth was surrounded by darkness, her body felt like it was floating. She felt both rising and falling, completely trapped in the darkness.
"You must wake up. You have far too many things waiting for you to finish." a hazy voice warned. Those sounds seemed human, similar to a woman, but Annabeth couldn't be sure.
"You must become stronger. It's starting sooner than you'd expect. You have to quickly find him. He has far too many enemies waiting to destroy him."
"Your destiny is to find him before it's too late. Don't repeat the same mistakes as last time. Annabeth, quickly wake up."
Within that endless darkness, Annabeth could hear a voice repeatedly speaking. That was a call that came from the deepest depths of her soul. Annabeth heard it and wanted to reply. However, she was unable to open her mouth. She wanted to open her eyes, but she was completely powerless.
That voice didn't seem to be of this world. Could it be that it was part of the past or future? She was unable to touch it.
Once Annabeth memorized those three lines, she completely lost any sense of herself. Sinking into complete unconsciousness, she faintly felt a pair of hands gently shaking her body.
She sat bolt upright in her bed. One of her half-sisters, Noelle Hensley, was shaking her. Annabeth shivered, the sheets on her bed felt icy. The dream felt vivid and gave her a premonition of something. Then she realized the air inside the cabin was frosty. Little white puffs came out of her breath.
"What's happening?" she asked.
"I don't know," Noelle said. She was wrapped around in a bundle of quilts, teeth chattering. All her siblings were awake and bundled up in blankets. "It's snowing outside, look." she drew a window curtain.
Annabeth was dumbfounded. They occasionally got snow at the camp, but this was preposterous. The icy whirlwinds outside might cause some serious frostbite. Bad weather tended to get repelled by the magic boundaries, same as monsters. Unless...
"The gods are pissed off about something," Elliot Blanchard said nervously. He was the oldest among the boys in her cabin.
The blizzard made everyone stay inside their cabins all day. The Hermes cabin made a killing in trading snacks from the store until the Ares cabin threatened them to bash their heads unless they share.
Fortunately, the blizzard didn't last long, and the only good thing that came out of it was that it left the entire canoe lake frozen over for several days. The Hephaestus kids forged ice skates for a price for everyone and they played tag on the ice until it melted, to the relief of the naiads.
The freak weather show continued with blistering winds and scorching currents in the middle of winter and everyone languished at night in sweltering cabins. Only the Apollo and Hephaestus' kids withstood the heat because of their partial resistance to it but no one got much sleep, and many of the other residents ended up in the infirmary with heatstroke. The Apollo kids begged Mr. D for a quick remedy and he ordered the wind nymphs to flutter around the cabin windows to let out some breeze.
Either Mr. D got tired of dealing with complaints from the nymphs or he too wasn't fond of the weather changes himself, the crazy stuff had come to an end quickly. The camp returned to normal, but the mainland was still bombarded by storms and searing heat spells. Trips to the beaches were forbidden in the camp; not that any of them was keen on visiting in mid-winter.
Standing on the shoreline, gazing at the Long Island Sound, Annabeth wondered how Grover was dealing with all of it over on the mainland. She thought about IM'ing him, but they weren't supposed to contact the satyrs during missions. If Grover was hanging around with a half-blood, a rainbow surrounding a face might be a shock for the poor kid.
That evening, when Chiron stood up to announce dinner, she thought he was finally breaking the restriction on the no-quest rule and allowing them to help the gods sort out the situation. She hoped the gods had persuaded him to call for a quest.
That's why his announcement came as a surprise; Chiron was actually leaving the camp for several months.
It wasn't uncommon for Chiron to leave the camp now and then. He usually took a week's vacation to visit his relative down south to relieve his stress. Though he always returned even more worn out than before he'd left. But for him to leave for a prolonged period, not to mention, without any details of his destination, threw the mess hall into nervous bouts.
Chiron placated the demigods by pulling Mr. D under the bus. "Don't worry, kids, Mr. D will have someone coming in to help out."
Mr. D threw a sour look at Chiron, annoyed by the trouble this would make for him. To confirm her growing suspicions, Annabeth slipped over to the Big House once the dinner was finished and everyone went to the sing-along. She knocked on the door to Chiron's office.
The office room was bare save for the coffee table and a couple of armchairs and cushions neatly arranged. A stack of neatly folded, long-sleeved dress shirts was laid on the coffee table with a couple of tweed sweaters on top of them. Chiron packed a bunch of books into a saddlebag and turned to her.
"Annabeth, do you want a drink?"
"No, thanks. Are you really going to be gone for months?" she asked pensively.
"Yes, I'm afraid so." his face held a thoughtful expression.
"Is it related to a quest? Does it have anything to do with the weird stuff on Olympus?" she couldn't hold back anymore and blurted out.
"No, Annabeth. It isn't. This is more like a...let's call it a scouting mission. I can't divulge any more. As for Olympus, I hope it won't be connected, but I have a few misgivings about the whole matter. The gods can be..." he paused. Annabeth waited for him to continue, but he didn't offer any information. He continued to pull books off the shelves and shoved them into a saddlebag.
"Chiron, are the gods fighting?" she asked.
"What makes you say that?" he paused, fingers lingering over a volume.
"Last week, when we returned from Olympus, you said about something happening there. Now, the weather's all messed up. It's all related."
Chiron nodded a bit and seemed to be considering something. He pulled the volume from the shelf and held it out to her.
"I think this will be useful to you," he said once she took it. It was a thick book, with a hardcover made of tree bark. The papers were made of a hard material to withstand erosion. The title read: The Iliad, in ancient Greek.
It was a volume she had read when she was nine, fully interested in quests and Greek adventures. In her thirst for knowledge regarding battles of ancient history, she'd swallowed the history books with gusto but mostly forgot the things she didn't understand at that time.
The cover page held a picture of a lean, broad-shouldered man emerging from the sea, watching the battle under a thunder cloud. Observing the cover page, Annabeth was reminded of something; the real intention behind her visit. "Chiron, will you still be able to issue a quest when you're away?"
"Why do you ask that?" Chiron looked at her in surprise.
"Well, if the gods wanted us to help them, and if Mr. D never took the initiative to inform us about it, then..." she looked at him hopefully.
He nodded and sighed at her hope-filled gaze, "My dear, I don't issue the quests. Surely, you must know that." he went on. "Personally, I was never a fan of having my campers go questing. You're all very young. The heroes of the past used to be much older, with much more resources at their disposal. And they had trained for longer, far longer before they ventured into the world to gain fame. So many of you die young to the monsters just to prove yourself..." he lamented.
"But on Olympus, the gods wanted to know if any of us had completed a quest. They sort of implied we weren't worth much if we didn't." she cried indignantly. Chiron looked pensive for a moment.
"I'm sure they do not realize how old you are. When you're an immortal, the concept of time becomes incomprehensible. And you should know this, not every demigod undertakes a quest. They live a long, happy life. There's nothing wrong in wanting peace and safety." he advised.
"But I want to have a quest!" she complained.
"We've already talked about this, Annabeth." Chiron smiled wryly.
Annabeth clenched her fists in frustration. She knew what Chiron was implying. Two years ago, she'd run off to the Oracle for a quest, only to get recycled Great Prophecy instead of a proper one to prove herself. Chiron had caught her in the middle of it, making her miss two of the lines and her efforts down the drain. Worst still, he had decreed that if she was supposed to be involved in the Great prophecy, then she had been contaminated with a heavy seed of karma with her action.
He had also made clear that Olympus has no pressing issues to be resolved, and they probably wouldn't until the Great Prophecy came around to fulfillment, which it wouldn't until the 'half-blood of the Eldest gods' showed up. Given that it had been over fifty years and the only known Big Three kid was now a tree, things weren't looking promising.
She'd read up lots on the Olympians since she had talked about the prophecy with Chiron, and she had a lot of doubts on the subject. She felt it was a bit hasty and dubious to conclude that a 'Child of the Eldest gods' must be sired by Zeus, Poseidon, or Hades. There were originally six first-generation Olympians—to begin with—and depending on how one looked at it, the youngest of them was coronated the oldest.
Three of them sworn to never have children, while another two were unable to have demigods because of circumstances (Hestia had sworn to remain a maiden and tend to the Hearth, and Hera, being the goddess of marriage, couldn't even think about breaching her marital relation).
The only one left in the equation, Demeter, had a bunch of children, but none of the cabin-four residents seemed remotely interested in taking up a quest. Annabeth had enthusiastically scouted them out and they'd all just looked at her like she was crazy. They were all interested in tending the strawberry fields and doing everything farm-related. A rumor about the Demeter cabin petitioning to start a grain field had taken traction in the camp. Unfortunate.
"Chiron, it's already been two years with no headway." she pleaded. "I'm ready. I can handle a quest."
Chiron sighed and patted her shoulders. "If you really want to be out in the world, you have other options too. I'm technically unable to forbid you to leave camp during school terms. If you want to go home to your father, you certainly may."
Annabeth scowled, a harsh retort at the tip of her tongue, but she swallowed it with a bitter taste. For Chiron to advise her to go back home, though he knew how she felt about living with her dad, missed the whole point. A quest wasn't about roaming the world and slaying monsters. Sure, defeating noteworthy monsters get you plenty of bragging rights in the camp, but being a hero wasn't just slaying monsters—that just came with the territory.
You need wits and brains to succeed. The best of the heroes were smart; they didn't charge the monsters blindly. There were ancient archetypes among the monsters that need careful observation and understanding. You have to recognize what you're facing, identify its weakness, weave a strategy and deal a severe blow.
"Here," Chiron handed her another book—a thin one, in English—with the cover page showing an assortment of monuments. "I imagine you'll enjoy this." It was a book on modern monuments around the world.
Annabeth smiled a little. It would be worth learning all about the world's greatest monuments. She hugged him around the waist, her frustration slowly melting away. Chiron patted her head kindly.
"I'm going to miss you, Chiron. It's not the same without you here," she said.
"Don't worry." he consoled. "It'll be summer before you know it. I want you to promise me that you won't run off rashly. Be patient and your time will come."
Annabeth sighed and promised. It wasn't the first time she'd heard the speech; it seemed all she did was train and wait. She absentmindedly wondered if Chiron would keep promising that her chance would arrive until she turned eighteen. But she trusted him, and in his refusal to allow her on a quest.
"Run along now, it's almost curfew." he patted her head and lead her to the office door. She took the two books he'd given her and left him to finish packing.
oOo
It had been a month since Chiron left for the outside world, and Annabeth made it her business to learn everything she could; particularly the events curtaining Olympus. Several of the satyrs who had been out scouting returned with the demigods they'd found—the few who had attracted too much monster attention to wait until summer. The camp took care of their grades for the term.
Annabeth scrutinized each one eagerly, hoping to find the prophesied hero she was waiting for early on. Naturally, the unclaimed kids all went to the Hermes cabin first, which wasn't as crowded as it typically was during the summer session. She hung around the area too much, hoping to get a scoop on the latest events outside.
Finally, her older half-brother, Elliot pulled her aside after a cleaning duty to remind her that she was breaking rules.
"What's your problem, Elliot?" Annabeth demanded, tapping her feet impatiently.
"Look, I appreciate you looking out for the new kids, I really do." he went on. "But they still belong to cabin Eleven for now. Why don't you look at the new kid, Malcolm, in our cabin to see if he needs anything?" he asked with a wry smile.
"What? No, it's not...I'm not, really, well...it's not like that, exactly.." she was a bit embarrassed to admit to her half-brother, who was also one of the senior residents and has such a high opinion of her, that she wasn't exactly hanging around out of concern for the new kids' wellbeing.
"Until we know who their parents are, they're cabin Eleven, and you're not. You're getting in their work and they're a bit intimidated to even reprimand you. And Luke's not at the camp, you know." he said.
"What? What do you mean, Luke's not here? Where did he go?" she asked, a little surprised.
"No one knows. Apparently, he had gone off just before Chiron has left. Chris said Hermes got some lucrative job for him and he'd be on it for a while. Lucky guy." he said wistfully.
Annabeth was a little uncertain about it. Luke wouldn't run off without at least informing her and his relationship with his godly parent was rocky, putting it mildly. It was flaky even. Ever since he had walked out on Hermes five years, Luke had never spoken one word about his father. For him to suddenly issue work to Luke...
She shook her head. On their last visit, the two might have salvaged their relationship back on Olympus. If they could put away their differences and make amends—in her opinion—that was a good thing for Luke. He'd have one less person to hate, at least.
"What exactly are you doing around the new kids, anyway?" Elliot's words brought her back to the present. "Don't tell me you like someone?" he winked at her. "Which one is it, then? Probably not Maia, though, hey, it's totally cool, if that's your taste. I suppose Cedric is a little old... though he's only a year older, isn't he?" he gave her a knowing look.
Her cheeks burned. "No! It's not like that!" she was mortified to see her half-brother tease her like that. "Whatever, it's not like that. I wanted to see if they're worth something, you know." she skirted around the topic of Olympians wanting them to go questing. She made it as though the Olympians had refused to accept them unless they complete a quest.
She had promised Chiron before that she wouldn't tell anybody about the Great Prophecy; it involves heavy karma to learn what you aren't supposed to know. It sounded lame, to wait for someone to fulfill her destiny, like one of the fairytales Aphrodite girls always tell at the campfire where a brave prince-charming rescues the helpless, weak princess from the iron castle.
After a lot of snooping around, she finally decided that none of the new campers were prophecy material. The eleven-year-old, Malcolm Pace, got claimed soon enough by Athena and Annabeth had helped him settle into the cabin. She felt a little guilty about shadowing him, so she took the initiative to settle him at camp. The other two, with undetermined status, remained with cabin Eleven.
Fourteen-year-old, Maia Reyes, had elvish features and chestnut brown hair. She was very cheerful and talked a lot. Most of the residents of cabin Eleven believe she was going to be one of them. She would've survived on the outside for longer if the monsters in New York hadn't suddenly decided to make it a hub and search for demigods hungrily.
Cedric Blank was thirteen, and unlike Maia, he didn't appreciate her company much and tended to avoid her, giving suspicious glances whenever she passed. He had stringy brown hair and narrow eyes. Either he always wore a vicious scowl or a taunting sneer and was very arrogant to others. Annabeth decided he was a muscle head; average to look at but nothing upstairs. Most of the campers thought along the lines that he'd end up in Ares' cabin if the war god ever got round to claim him.
Speaking of Ares, ever since their return, Clarisse had been living off on the arena, fighting dummies, and training her siblings in the woods. She grilled her cabinmates on battle formations and attack patterns, despite the short-term substitute activities director, Eurymanthus' protests. Annabeth had no idea what had possessed Clarisse to train till she fell unconscious.
So it was a pleasant surprise to find Clarisse not clobbering someone in the arena when Annabeth stepped into it. She was listening to one of the satyrs at camp, Perry Barkwell, who was talking animatedly about the situation back on the mainland. That piqued Annabeth's interest and joined in. He told them about the increased monster activity on the mainland as if they were searching for something.
"What do you mean searching? What did you notice exactly?" she asked.
He told them a disturbing rumor about a monster-hunter from their generation on the mainland. "It's possible that the monsters are on red alert because of him. It's also possible that it's about something different. They're acting peculiar." Annabeth noticed the difference in his tone and pressed.
"What's peculiar about it?"
Perry chewed nervously on the edge of a cardboard box. He shook his head. "I really shouldn't..."
"My friend, Grover's out there. I'm worried. If monsters in the state are getting more active..."
"I'm sure he's fine. Chiron's with him, isn't he?" he said.
"He is?" it was Annabeth's turn to be surprised.
"Yeah, apparently he thinks he's found someone powerful..." Annabeth's eyes widened. Perry seemed to realize he'd said too much and clammed up before she could pester him for more details. No matter, she wasn't able to get more out of him.
That night, standing under the huge pine tree, Annabeth looked into the dark forest stretching onto the horizon. The endless starry sky loomed over her like a dark blanket. She stared up at the twinkling stars for a long time. Somewhere out there, under the same night sky, was a kid waiting for his destiny—a chance to prove—just like her. All she has to do was find him.
xXx
A/N: Annabeth meets her fated half-blood in the next chapter, and he's a lot more than she'd bargained for. As always, reviews are appreciated.
