Author's Note at the end.
Chapter Twenty | KITTY ELLIS
NO NEWS IS GOOD NEWS EXCEPT when planning a potentially hopeless quest to find a lost musical instrument that had once belonged to Apollo but also apparently Hermes and now Zeus wanted it? Kitty was a bit fuzzy on the details of that one. But she knew the important things: find the lyre, save like a hundred lives including Leah Kim, don't find the lyre, watch a hundred kids plus probably Ophelia and Alex end up in the Underworld. And not the nice part of the Underworld. The very not nice part.
She didn't know much at all about the Fields of Punishment. Annabeth and Percy didn't want to talk about it, no surprise there. But she did know that the clock kept ticking as they delayed leaving Camp Half-Blood. The Autumn Equinox was less than a month away. Alex had set tomorrow at noon, the day after all the summer-only kids left, as the latest they would wait for news from the satyr scouts before saying to Hades with it.
Kitty laughed at her own joke. It broke the otherwise silent concentration between Connor, Mr. D, and Chiron as they sat around a new poker table on a corner of the Big House deck. They were playing a very intense round of Seven Card Draw. Kitty had already folded. Luck had not been on her side in this third round.
"What?" Mr. D said, startling Connor.
Kitty waved him off, leaning back in the rocking chair and closing here eyes. "Don't worry about it."
"Whenever you laugh, I know my headache's about to get a million times worse," he said.
With a smirk, she just ignored him. Kitty opened her eyes again. She turned to Chiron. "Still no news?"
Chiron held up his hand. Even he got into these poker matches. Especially ones where Kitty wasn't dominating the playing field. So Kitty bit her tongue and bided her time. She started counting the number of ants crawling along the blue painted wooden banister. But she got bored on ant seventeen and switched to birds flying over Long Island Sound. Seagulls and herons could only keep her occupied so long. So she looked back at the group.
Kitty took her celestial bronze coin out of her pocket and began tossing it up and down a few inches over and over. Blindfolded skull or cornucopia. Rinse and repeat.
"Katerina." Chiron said.
Kitty glanced up and realized the other three were glaring at her. Chiron asked her to stop tossing the coin as they couldn't focus on the game. She apologized. But her foot wouldn't stop moving. Her mind raced.
Gripping the coin tight in her palm, she focused on the three people at the table. Mr. D's aura, usually a weird murky grey-ish yellow, looked much brighter than usual. Great. He was probably going to win. She focused on Connor. Still a pale gold, as with many of the Hermes kids, but not as golden as usual, or as Mr. D's. And Chiron, well. He should've folded a round ago.
As Chiron went to raise the bet, Kitty saw Will walking up the path to the Big House. His feet dragged a little more than normal. She waved. He offered a small wave back. Kitty frowned. If anyone had hurt Will Solace, she would end them.
He took the steps one at a time. Kitty gestured for him to join them around the table. Mr. D matched Chiron's raise. Just as Connor went to do the same, to add another five golden drachmas to the pot-way too much, man-Will opened his mouth.
Kitty stopped him. "Hold on, Will. Don't interrupt when Connor's about to match a bet he's definitely going to lose."
Mr. D's eyes narrowed as Connor's hand paused mid air. He glanced at Kitty before putting his money back in his pile. He flipped his cards over. "I fold."
"What's wrong, Will?" Chiron asked, also discreetly turning his cards over in defeat. "Are you all right?"
"Chiron, have you seen Nico?" he said.
Chiron shook his head, then glanced at Mr. D. "He didn't say he was leaving, did he?"
"Not that I know of. But the kid's too much trouble to keep here if you ask me," Mr. D said. He pulled the pile of M&Ms, a handful of golden drachma, one of Kitty's favorite pairs of earrings, and one of the golden watches Connor had stolen from Manhattan towards himself.
"Ophelia saw him last night," Kitty said. She pulled her seat in closer to the table, ready for another round. "She said he left."
"Why?" Will said.
Kitty shrugged. "Don't ask me. He kept to himself, like always."
Will didn't seem eager to argue, so she told him to take a seat at the last chair around the large, circular table. A rule from two years ago meant she couldn't shuffle the deck. Mr. D didn't trust her or something. So she passed it to Will.
"When are you guys leaving," Connor asked her. Leaning back in his own chair, he stretched his arms with a huge yawn. "Quests wait for no one."
"I'll leave whenever Alex leaves," she said.
But the quest had been gnawing at her. She would've liked to get going that morning. The plan, back when that dumb prophecy had been issued, was to leave the first day summer camp ended. As in, this morning. But Chiron still didn't want them rushing off when his scouts hadn't come back. They should've at least sent an Iris message back, surely?
So, one more night. They would stay tonight. If Chiron couldn't get them some results by then, Alex had every intention of walking straight out of the camp against the centaur's advice. Kitty and Ophelia would be right there with him.
"If Alex jumped off a cliff, would you do it too?" Connor said.
Kitty looked up from the third Chiron had dealt her after Will's shuffling. "Without hesitation. He may be an idiot but I trust him. More than anyone."
The table quieted down. She could feel Mr. D, Chiron, and Will all glancing between her and Connor. But she refused to break eye contact with him. She and Connor had arrived at Camp Half-Blood the same year, both 11. Seven beads hung around her neck now. The same seven as him. The same seven as Travis. Sometimes she wondered if she would've been the Cabin 11 counselor if she'd been Hermes' kid.
"I don't really know how to play this," Will said.
The tension broken. Kitty looked away from Connor to Will beside her. All five cards of their game of Five Card Draw had been dealt.
"Here." Kitty tossed two M&Ms into the wooden bowl in the center of the table. "I anted for you. You want to get the best cards in your hand by the end." Kitty explained the rules, that three of a kind beat a pair, a straight beat a three of a kind, etc, while Connor grabbed some M&Ms for him to bet with. "You can get rid of cards only once, right after the first round of betting. You get back however many you get rid of."
She helped Will with his first hand. Only Mr. D complained that she got to see his cards. So to keep everyone happy, the agreed this round wouldn't be for money, and they would all show their cards. He didn't have too bad of a hand. Beginner's Luck and all that. He had a pair nines, which was something at least.
Connor bemoaned his fabulous hand in a game where it didn't matter. He already had three of a kind, three kings at that. Mr. D stopped complaining when he realized he had literally nothing. And Chiron's had a not too shabby pair of fives.
After explaining to Will which cards he should trade in, she turned to her own. She flipped em over, lining them in order of importance. She took a drink of her goblet of Coke. Ten, Jack, Queen, Queen, King. Not bad. One Ace away from a winning hand. If she sacrificed a queen-
Kitty scrambled away from the table, dropping her goblet to the floor. The last few sips of Coke soaked into the wood. Shaking, Kitty checked them again. King of Hearts. Queen of Clubs. Queen of Spades. Jack of Diamonds. Ten of Diamonds.
Again.
"Are you alright?" Chiron said.
Will stood up immediately, grabbing her hand when he saw it shivering. She felt heat drain from her face. Shivers cascaded down her spine as she tried to make sense of it all. What was going on? Prophetic dreams, sure. But three times. Three identical hands...
"Hey! Hey! We need help!" It sounded like Travis, screaming at the top of his lungs. "Border!"
Poker forgotten, everyone scrambled out of their seats. Except Mr. D. He just looked closely at her upturned cards on the table. Kitty didn't know what to say. In the chaos, she couldn't have said anything even if she'd wanted to. So she just shook her head.
Chiron tossed them swords from inside the Big House. Sure, they had Peleus to guard the border. But the dragon was still pretty small. Especially compared to many monsters. Kitty sprinted behind Chiron and Connor, but ahead of Will.
When she crested Half-Blood Hill, she found herself staring at a battle. Travis must've been hanging out with Peleus because he and the dragon stood face to face with two empousai. Behind them, closer up the hill, scrambled a small satyr and a young but well muscled boy with ruddy cheeks, dark hair, and torn street clothes. His eyes widened when he saw Chiron in full centaur form, bow drawn.
Will immediately opened his arms, gesturing for this kid, who looked like a first or second grader, to keep running up the hill. Connor wasted no time in barrel past this kid and the satyr to join his brother. As Peleus sunk his teeth into the closer empousa, the Stoll brothers tried divide an conquer.
It didn't take long between Chiron's archery, the Stoll brothers' swordplay, her own luck manipulation, and a fire breathing dragon. Screaming and screeching in pain and anger, the knock off vampires did their best. But their best wasn't good enough. One died from a celestial bronze arrow. The other from a sword.
They found the boy sobbing near the Golden Fleece. Will hugged him close, trying to calm him down. It never got easier, watching demigod children barely make it inside the borders. No matter how many years she'd watched it, it still left a pit in her stomach.
"You're safe now," said the Satyr... George, if Kitty remembered right. "They can help you!"
Introductions were made. Chiron went first, trying to make himself shorter as best he could as a Centaur. Then Will, then the Stoll brothers who had been searching for any spoils of war the empousai might have dropped. Then Kitty. She shook the boy's shaking hand and offered her best smile.
"What's your name, child?" Chiron asked.
He sniffed back tears and snot. "Harley."
"Well, Harley. You are safe now, as George said." He held out a hand. "You will have many questions, and we will answer them for you as best we can. Come."
A rush of wind shook the branches of Thalia's Tree a few feet away. The sun brightened. Kitty stepped back, shocked. But she couldn't help smiling as a fiery red hammer materialized over Harley's head.
"Welcome," said Chiron, grinning, "Harley, son of Hepheastus."
Kitty trusted Chiron to handle all the boy's questions. She'd never been one to show the kids around, preferring instead of make sure none of the bullies in camp got ahold of them. Better to do that unnoticed. Easier on everyone. What the children of Ares or Aphrodite didn't know wouldn't kill them. Besides, she had another pressing concern.
"Hey, George." Kitty stopped the Satyr with a hand on his shoulder. He was young, horns only a couple inches long and just cresting his sandy brown hair. "Is it bad out there?"
His brown eyes widened and he shuffled where he stood. "Some places. And it's getting harder to send messages back."
Kitty nodded. She let him leave. Alone, standing next to Peleus and Thalia's Tree, she looked out over Long Island. They needed to get moving. They needed to leave.
Movement to her right caught her eye. Kitty glanced over, and found herself staring at a familiar woman in a golden dress covered in diamonds. She had dark brown hair, pale skin, and a particularly sharp nose that made her smirk look almost menacing. Almost.
"Mom!" Kitty said.
Tyche faced her. She placed a hand on Kitty's shouder. Leaning towards her ear, she whispered, "Don't hesitate."
With a bright flash, Kitty found herself alone atop Half-Blood Hill, more questions than answers after the poker match, the battle, and the visit from her mother. But she knew one thing. They'd waited long enough.
END OF PART ONE
Author's Note / July 29 2022:
Time to get this quest underway, huh? Thank you so much to everyone reading and fave/following and commenting. It means the world to me. Hopefully you're as excited as I am for what's to come.
Who's perspective have you enjoyed the most so far? Any favorite moments stand out to you yet? Fears and or predictions for the future?
I'll be taking a brief break, no more than a week, tops. I just finished an elite research fellowship and need to sleep, for like, days. But then we'll be back with our regularly scheduled irregular, unscheduled programming. This will give you all a chance to catch up if you haven't, or reread if you'd like. Please be sure to click that follow button so you can be alerted when I'm back with Part Two (of three).
Quick check-in though - how are you doing? Remember to stay hydrated and eat food and sleep. Take care of yourselves! I'll see you in August.
— J
