Author's Note:
I don't have anything to say guys, except:
If you haven't read The Dark Prophecy this chapter draws from the canon of that book. You have been warned.
Chapter 13
"Waystation, would you prepare some rooms for our guests?" Calypso called out.
"Sorry, are you talking to the building?" Caleb asked
She shrugged. "Waystation is the house of the goddess Britomartis. It's pretty magical. Leo and I are the current caretakers, but before us, Emmie and Jo ran the place for decades."
The pair led the heroes to the kitchen, where they saw another woman, about ten years younger than Leo and Calypso. She had her back to them, and was taking something out of the oven. Her brown hair was pulled into a braid, and was full of grey streaks. She had on some well-worn jeans and a light blue t-shirt.
"Georgina-niña!" Leo called out. "We have some guests!"
She turned around, her arms encumbered by a pan with a loaf of bread on it, steam still rising from the tray.
"Oh! Why don't we discuss….whatever we need to discuss over some fresh baked bread? It's my mom Emmie's recipe."
"Yes please!" Jo said, and bounded over to the table. Her teammates gave her a look of exasperation, before following her. Georgina began slicing the loaf, and passed around the pieces.
"So." she asked. "What's your quest?"
Ian heaved a sigh. "We don't know."
Leo paused. "Come again?"
"Our prophecy just told us that we needed to go to the House of Nets and that the ones who came before would advise us." Caleb added.
"Perhaps I could help with the whole prophecy." Georgina offered. "I'm a daughter of Apollo, and while I'm not fool proof, I'm pretty good."
Bri recited the prophecy for her. As she spoke, their hosts grew pale.
Siblings opposed as cold and heat
Now join with madness, the rain and the vengeance
Advised by the ones who came before, to beat
The chaos now emergence
Mayhem strikes now at its own toys
The pillars that hold up that very creation
Only stopped by the envoy
But will still reign in consternation
The last prophecy this Oracle will ever know
Unless to the Net's house, these five will go.
"Oh. Oh my. That...that's certainly something. I'd have to assume-"
"It's Instinct. It has to be." Calypso agreed with Georgina
"What instinct?" Jess asked
"Chica, Instinct." Leo said. "One of the spirits of the four pillars of creation. You weren't taught about those?"
"Dude, four of us got to that camp yesterday before we were thrown into this quest thing." she replied
To her surprise, the old man threw his head back and laughed. "Join the club, hermana. Same thing happened to me."
"Okay, but I've been at Camp my whole life, and I've never heard of the pillars of creation, or Instinct or anything." Bri added
"Oh." Leo said, the smile gone from his face. "Oh they don't know."
Calypso turned to him, her face almost panicky. "How could they not know? I thought they were taking care of it?"
Jo made a time-out sign with her hands, stopping the conversation until she could swallow the bread in her mouth. "Que voulez-vous dire qu'ils étaient censés-"
Caleb elbowed her. "You're doing it again." he turned to the others. "I'm just going to assume the rest of you don't speak French. She said 'What do you mean they were supposed-' and I'm guessing she was going to finish it with 'to take care of it?'
Jo nodded vigorously, but kept her mouth shut.
"If Camp doesn't know about the existence of the pillars, then things are worse than we thought." Georgina said gravely.
"Then what are we supposed to do about it?" Ian asked, "And what even are these...pillars?"
Georgina looked at Calypso. "You know better than we do."
She sighed. "Children. What you might not know is that I've been alive for...a very long time. I was alive during the titan golden age. I remember the stories my father told me. I met one of the stories."
"Back when Chaos first created the Earth, and Sky he also created four pillars, to keep the Earth in order. And it is a good thing he did. During the golden age, he decided to destroy the earth he had made, and make something new. But the spirits of the four pillars were able to hold strong, and force him back to sleep."
Calypso closed her eyes and shuddered, as if remembering something awful. She took a deep breath, and her hand stretched out toward Leo, who took it and gave it a reassuring squeeze. It must have helped, because she opened her eyes and kept going.
"I don't even know the names of three of them, but I met one. His name is Instinct. About a year ago, Georgina had a dream of something stirring. The way she described it reminded me of Chaos. The same night, Leo dreamed of someone else, and from what he told me, it was Instinct. We tried to find him, but when we got close, I heard a voice that said he couldn't go any further, that it wasn't our place."
"That's got to be it!" Ian said
"Où se trouve-" Jo stopped herself. "Where is it?"
"Es la problema." Leo replied. "It's a huge maze in the middle of the Bermuda Triangle-the Sea of Monsters."
There was a long and tense silence. Finally, two people vocalized the thoughts of everyone in the room.
Caleb and Jo muttered, "Merde."
Author's Note:
Saturday-update day!
This chapter was kind of exposition heavy. In my defense, I needed to get the plot happening.
Also, disclaimer, there is no mythological precedence for any pillars of creation. I made it up. You'll have to excuse me for that.
Lastly, please review and give me some suggestions! I would love you forever if you did!
Have a lovely day!
justapercyjacksonfan
