Author's Note:
Quick note that I finished Chapter 12 last week...and then just forgot to post it, so I literally have no idea what happened. Anyway, here's last weeks update and this weeks. Whoops.
Chapter 12
Caleb had the unenviable job of keeping track of his half-dead sister and his crush who had fainted out of nowhere. Ian was still offering things to Apollo outside in a desperate hope that Jess and Jo would get better.
As it was, both were unconscious. Jess slept fitfully, as if dreaming something unpleasant. Jo's almost comatose state was even more troubling. She sometimes twitched in her sleep, but that was the most she ever did.
"No!" Jess snapped up, her eyes wide open. She seemed to realize that she wasn't in a dream anymore. "What-OH MY GODS, Caleb, is Jo okay?"
"Still unconscious. Are you okay?"
"Of course." she started to stand up, but dropped back to a sitting position. "Whoa." she put her hands to her temples. "Okay, maybe a little dizzy, but otherwise fine. Where's Ian?"
"Still trying to get Apollo's attention. I'll let him know you're awake."
"I think he heard. Apollo, I mean. A swan told me that they were sending help."
"A swan?"
"Well, when you say it like that, it sounds ridiculous. Go ahead. I'll be fine. I can watch Jo while you too figure out what to do."
Caleb hesitated. "If anything happens with her, yell for me right away."
"Duh."
Caleb was about to leave when they heard a sudden commotion outside.
"You're one of them!" a woman's voice said. "I told you, Travis!"
"I never said you were wrong."
"What the-who are you people?" That was Ian's voice.
"We're here to help you." The woman's voice again.
"Stay here, stay quiet." Caleb whispered. "I'm going to help Ian, if anything goes wrong, try and help Jo."
Jess nodded silently. The look on her face made it clear she didn't like being the damsel in distress, but she had accepted it for the time being.
Caleb stepped out of the tent. The scene in front of him wasn't particularly threatening. There were two people, a man and a woman as the voices had indicated, maybe a few years younger than Percy and Annabeth, standing with Ian, who looked as though he were trying very hard not to appear nervous. It wasn't working.
"Ian. What's….going on?"
The woman turned on him, a look of fury on her face. "Are you more reasonable? We want to help you. We were told to help you. You are demigods, aren't you?"
The man put a hand on her shoulder. "Katie."
She shrugged it off. "You heard Lucia. It means the other two are in the tent. Including the one who went into shock, can we please help you?"
"Katie. You might be scaring them." he looked at Caleb and Ian. "First quest?"
Neither answered.
"See? That's what I thought. We're friends. We went to camp with Percy and Annabeth. You know them? I'm a son of Hermes, this is my wife. She's a daughter of Demeter. We can help heal your friend."
Caleb relaxed slightly. "How do we know you are who you say you are?"
Katie huffed, but pointed at a plant. It started growing at a rapid rate. "Ivy. Child's play. Believe I'm a daughter of Demeter now?"
"I do." Jess said, from the opening of the tent. "Did Apollo ever have a companion who was a child of Demeter?"
"Of course. Meg McCaffrey." Travis offered.
"They're not lying. In my dream, the swan told me that he was sending help: the sister of his companion. And the swan is Apollo's sacred animal."
"Finally, someone with a little common sense." Katie muttered. "You don't look so good. What happened?"
Jess just shook her head. "Not me. It's Jo who needs help."
"Show me."
…
"What happened to you guys?" Travis asked. They had been taken to an old farmhouse. Katie and Jo were in one of the bedrooms with another young girl, Lucia. She had actually woken up in the few hours they were there, and was able to eat some soup. Katie, as a daughter of the plant goddess, was easily able to use plants as salves and tonics to help Jo's body heal itself.
Caleb and Ian had made it out of the encounter relatively unscathed. Ian had a large bruise on his cheek from when he and Jo were captured, but nothing broken at all. Caleb's damage was mostly psychological. Jess, meanwhile, has a system of cuts and bruises that were slowly appearing along her arms as the blessing of Nemesis wore off and the damage she had taken in the fight caught up with her. The initial wave of fatigue, apparently, wasn't the only drawback to such a fight-ender.
"Karpoi." Ian answered.
"Karpoi, huh? They're a right nuisance. So they got to you after something else beat you up?"
"No." Jess said, her voice hollow.
"Karpoi did all of this to you?"
They nodded solemnly. They were saved from another question by Katie's reappearance.
"Lucia is going to keep working some healing magic. Your friend will heal."
Travis handed her a steaming mug of tea. She gave him a peck on the cheek as she took it with grateful hands. "Thanks, babe. Now." she looked at the three demigods seated around her kitchen table. All of them had hot chocolate in front of them, but it didn't stop them from looking defeated. "What are we going to do with you?"
"We'll be out of your hair as soon as Jo is healed, ma'am." Caleb said. "We're trying to get to Oklahoma City. Lady Hestia said we would find our friend there."
The two glanced at each other, in a silent conversation.
"What exactly is your quest?"
Both Jess and Caleb deferred to Ian to answer the question.
"We're supposed to stop Chaos from destroying the four pillars of creation, because if he does, then he'll wipe out the world we know and start new."
Travis's eyebrow shot up. "Since when are there pillars of creation?"
"We don't know. We're new to demigodding in general, and almost no one at camp knew about them either."
"How did you lose your friend?"
"She's...abrasive. She wants to be the leader, but none of us trust her enough for her to lead us. She got mad, and left. But she's part of the prophecy. If we don't want the world to fall, we need her back."
Katie rolled her eyes. "Bri?"
"Yeah-wait, how do you know?"
"We visit camp often enough. She's never had much in the way of social skills because as a daughter of Zeus, she's always been at the top of the food chain without trying. She's really the only demigod I know who would put her own ambitions above the saving of the world." Travis said, equally frustrated. "Tell you what - you stay here tonight and rest. Tomorrow, we'll drive you to Oklahoma City."
The three faces in front of them melted into relief. "Thank you. Thank you so much."
They exchanged another look. Travis stood up. "Ian, Caleb, come with me. I'll show you where you can sleep tonight. We'll have lunch in a little bit, okay? Katie is going to check on Jess's injuries."
The three boys left the room.
"How did you manage to get so banged up? Most of them look like you got them after we found you."
"I don't really understand it, ma'am. I remember getting angry that the karpoi had hurt Jo so badly, and then I took them all down. Ian thinks that it's something called the blessing of Nemesis, that my fight for vengeance was something she'd be proud of, so I became stronger and faster than my opponents. But after it faded, I fell over and fell asleep for a while. And since then, all of these-" she gestured to the injuries all over her, "-started appearing. It's like my body is catching up to what I did while I was fighting."
Katie hummed in thought. "None of your injuries are too major. A swig of nectar should take care of most of them. Lucia probably won't even need to do any healing magic for you."
"Lucia is your daughter?"
She laughed. "No. Lucia is a daughter of Apollo. We work as a safe house for Chiron. Satyrs often stop here while bringing a half-blood to camp, but Lucia found us on her own, and decided to stay with us. She's a pretty good medic anyway."
But her expression had turned sad.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to-"
"You didn't do anything wrong, dear. It's just that my daughter died years ago. It's still hard to think about her."
"That's awful. Was it a monster?"
She shook her head. "It might as well have been. Her brother, Alder, died to a monster. She didn't take it well. Fern...she wasn't doing well even before he died, it was the final straw...I'm sorry. I'll go get you some nectar."
As she turned away, a single solitary tear traced its way down her cheek.
Author's Note:
Whew! I'm sorry Katie. I love you, but demigods don't have good lives in general.
Shout-out time!
Nymph of Faeryland - this is true.
Until next time!
Have a lovely day!
justapercyjacksonfan
