4 It's a Quest :o
No word from the prophecy.
3 days have gone by with no word from the oracle, or Clovis' dreams, or anything for that matter.
Chiron was starting to get really agitated because he said the god Appalled was getting impatient without his bow.
And luckily, that one day, we had a hand-to-hand combat tournament.
"..next up, we have David against Avery," Chiron said absentmindedly.
"What's the earliest time you can resign again?" I asked.
Chiron, however, didn't even hear my question. He seemed lost in thought.
"Draw your weapon, 3, 2, 1, go," he said before we were even in position with our weapons.
I had decided to take a spear because it had longer reach than a sword, meaning I could play like a coward much easier.
I looked at David when we were ready, who said, "let's start on our own account."
The best part was that the entire camp was participating in this tournament, which meant the entire camp could see me trip on my own spear and impale myself.
Amazing.
"You ready?" David asked. I nodded.
"3, 2, 1, go!" someone from the crowd said.
David was fast. That's all I can say, Flailing my arms wildly, I managed to parry his first charge. I feel like the impact would've broken my spear and probably my arm, but somehow it didn't.
Any hope of David going easy on me was immediately destroyed the second I saw him swing again
And I was there, unable to do anything but block his strikes as the bones in my arms slowly disintegrated.
Get out of the defensive, Avery, Chiron's voice in my head told me.
So I waited. He swung, I blocked.
Swing, block, swing, block, swing, block.
That's when I saw an opening. He swung his sword on the flat side, leaving me open to parry it away and poke at him.
I blocked the swing and pushed his left side, the side of his non-dominant hand. I jabbed my spear at his gut.
But he was anticipating that. He dodged my spear poke and brought his sword onto my right arm, probably expecting me to be able to dodge it.
I didn't.
"I'm so sorry," David apologized again after the nymphs had cleaned and bandaged my arm. "I thought you would-"
"It's ok," I interjected. "It's not your fault I'm completely incapable of dodging."
"I'm glad you're ok, child," Chiron said, but I knew he was thinking about something else. "Next up, we have Amelia against Jacob."
Jeremy nudged me. "I should give you a lesson on how to move."
"I bet you specialize in running from things," I retorted.
"Says the person who ran for 40 minutes from 5 baby bulls."
Amelia drew her hunting knife while Jacob drew his battle axe. Well, this was going to be a very fair fight.
Chiron didn't seem the least amount bothered by this. "Draw your weapons. 3, 2, 1, go!"
Jacob, wielding his massive battle axe, charged poor Amelia holding a 2 inch hunting knife. Amelia had no choice but to dodge the swing. Her weapon was too short for her to even be able to attack him without throwing it. The look in Jacob's eyes was more than crazed; he was attacking with the intent to kill.
The fight went on for a while, Amelia frantically dodging Jacob's swings while she tried to get a jab in. Jacob's attacks were becoming more and more deadly, his every swing wilder than the last.
Suddenly, in the blink of an eye, Jacob had swung his axe right at Amelia. Instinctively, she raised her knife to block. The impact cut the blade cleanly in half, and the force knocked Amelia onto her back.
I somehow knew what was going to happen next. I started running towards them as Jacob raised his axe to deliver the fatal blow.
I would never make it at this rate. I heard Jeremy yelling my name, telling me not to interfere, saying it was going to be ok, that Jacob would hold back on his swing.
But I knew he wasn't going to. I knew it wasn't going to be ok.
I don't recall what happened next. Somehow, I was in front of Jacob, my spear holding his axe firmly in place.
I heard the crowd's whispers.
"Did you see that? It's like he teleported-"
"How did he move so fast-"
I had no idea what they were talking about. I just stood there, barely out of breath, still holding Jacob's axe with my spear. The look in his eyes went from wild to completely mad. The stare he gave me was full of pure hatred.
I knew I shouldn't have interfered with the duel. But I couldn't sit there and watch Amelia get chopped in half.
With a snarl, Jacob pulled his axe back.
"I believe it was a tie," Chiron said simply. "Next up, we have Terrence against Matthew."
Once we were back in the crowd, I noticed Amelia was looking at me with shock. "What was that?" she asked.
"I couldn't let him just do that to-"
"No, I mean, how did you get there so fast?"
I didn't know. There was no way I would've cleared that distance in the time it took for Jacob to lower his axe. What was that?
"Maybe one of your powers awakened," Amelia offered.
"I guess my dad's the god of terrible spear fighting and teleportation."
Jeremy came over to us.
"Where was that teleportation when you were fighting David?" he asked.
I ignored his comment.
Jeremy was a full foot shorter than me, which meant I could rest my head on his. He hated it when I did it.
Which is why I did it.
"Get off me," Jeremy complained.
"That's what she said," I replied.
"Who's she?" Amelia asked.
Oh god.
"Well, my young apprentice, have you ever heard of-"
"Let's not taint this child's innocence," Leo interjected, walking up behind us. "Anyways, I think the duel's almost over."
With a clang, Terrence's sword fell to the ground, and the duel was over.
"I think those were enough duels for now," Chiron announced. "Gather around the pavilion, we have some news regarding an upcoming quest."
When we gathered around the pavilion, we did the usual praying stuff, me once again praying to my unknown dad.
"I assume we have everybody here," Chiron started once everyone calmed down. "We have gathered because we have just received a prophecy from our oracle, Rachel." Chiron motioned to a girl with frizzy red hair, an orange T-shirt (what else would it be at this point?) and heavily doodled jeans.
"What's the prophecy?" someone asked.
"That is the problem. The prophecy states that it cannot be shared with those not directly affected by it."
The mutters indicated that this kind of prophecy has never been made before.
"What would happen if it was shared with others though?" I asked.
"Well, we would all die," Leo said.
"Precisely, Leo," Chiron said, much to my reassurance. "It is vital that nobody affected by this prophecy should tell anybody else. That being said, Leo, come with me."
Leo looked like he won the lottery to hell. With everybody else muttering with their friends, Leo made his way through the crowd to Chiron.
"The rest of you, wait here," Chiron instructed. "You may talk, but please keep it quiet," he said as he led Leo to a building that looked a lot more polished than Cabin Eleven.
The second Chiron closed the door to the building, everybody burst out talking. I just kinda stood there alone.
After what seemed like an hour, Chiron came back, with a nervous looking Leo. When Leo returned to the spot near me, I asked, "What was that all-"
"Avery, please come with me," Chiron said.
Uh oh.
There was even more muttering. Most people at camp didn't even know me. As I was halfway to Chiron, I heard someone yell out, "Hey, it's the new girl!"
There it was again. The "G" word.
I tried my best to ignore that comment, but it wasn't easy. Thankfully, Chiron ushered me to come faster, so I had an excuse to leave the crowd.
When Chiron led me to the same building, he closed the door and sighed.
Inside the building was not what I expected. There was a ping pong table with a can of Cheez Whiz and a box of crackers next to it. To my left, there was a fireplace with a leopard head that was somehow alive.
After all I experienced today, I didn't even react to it. Weird was just everywhere at this point.
"Avery, Avery, Avery, how to start," Chiron sighed again.
I really didn't like the sound of that.
"Am I part of the prophecy?" I blurted out, knowing the answer.
Chiron looked me in the eye and said, "Yes."
"From what the prophecy suggests, we need to bring 3 demigods. You seem to be one of the possible ones who fit the condition. I can't risk telling you the prophecy because we don't know for certain if it is you. As for the others, we believe it is David and Amelia. We also think the prophecy refers to bringing a satyr, and we think it's referring to Jeremy."
"There is one problem, however," he continued. "You're unclaimed."
"How do I get claimed?"
"It is completely dependent on your godly parent. Some demigods just never get claimed, and some, like Leo, get claimed immediately. The one thing that you can do is just wait."
"Because I am the one thing in life I can control."
To my surprise, Chiron nodded. "With that being said, I have a clue as to who your godly parent might be, and I'm sure you have a clue as well."
He nodded towards the door. "You may go now. Could you call Amelia in so I could have a word with her?"
I nodded and showed myself out.
When I walked back to Amelia, Jeremy and Leo, I saw a bunch of fingers pointed towards my direction. I decided to ignore them and walk past them.
"Chiron wants to talk to you next," I told Amelia.
She paled but nodded. She walked towards the building Chiron was in.
"What was that all about?" Jeremy said.
"Not sure, but you're probably next."
"You make that sound like it's an execution."
I shrugged. "It's a killer quest. Don't most questers never come back?"
E/N: grammar keels over and dies
He looked at me.
"Well, I mean, if we have a prophecy on our side, then we should be fine," he said carefully.
"Not really," Leo interjected. "See, I died twice in the last 2 quests even with a prophecy."
"Very comforting," I noted.
We saw Amelia come out of the building, walk over to David and whisper something in his ear. He nodded and went to the building.
When Amelia came back to our group, I saw that she was pale and shaking.
"You good?" I asked.
"Yea, I'm fine," she said, but she wouldn't meet my eyes.
We stood in silence for a while until Leo said, "Man, this is taking forever. Why couldn't he have just talked to us at the same time?"
"Apparently, you can't hear any part of the prophecy that doesn't concern you, at least until a certain time," Amelia said.
"Wait, you guys got your part of the prophecy?" I asked.
They all nodded.
Great. I was left out. Again.
Wait, but, Chiron said I was part of the prophecy. Why hadn't he given me my part yet?
David came back from the building, with Chiron following behind him. "Sorry to keep all of you waiting. But since we are anticipating a quest, we will not be having a campfire tonight."
That night in bed, I couldn't sleep. I didn't have a nightmare. I was just thinking about the prophecy and what it could mean.
Eventually, fatigue won over me and I fell asleep.
Nightmares came to me yet again. I relived the time after I saw my brother die. I saw 7 year old me, frozen in shock, trying to look away from his mangled body but not being able to.
After a while, the medics ushered me into the back of the hospital van and drove me off to the hospital. I was too shocked to even resist.
They placed me on a hospital bed next to my sister, who was thankfully unharmed. They started treating my burns and asking me questions, but I didn't respond.
It would never be ok again.
After some time, my mom came in. She didn't say anything, just sat down on the bed next to me and hugged me.
Then my dream changed. But not to one of my memories.
Around me was complete darkness. At first nothing happened. Just utter darkness.
Then a deep voice spoke out of nowhere.
"Avery…" it said.
"Who are-"
"I don't have much time, Avery. I know I haven't claimed you yet, but rest assured, I will when the time is right."
"Who are you though?" I asked again.
"You'll see, Avery. Make me proud, Avery."
The voice disappeared, and a door materialized out of thin air. Out of curiosity, I opened it.
It brought me to another vision. But it wasn't a memory either.
4 silhouettes. Distinct talking. Then-
The sound of a body hitting the floor. Screams. Metal against metal.
I felt the dream disappearing, so I went closer to the body.
The last thing I saw was a patch of brown hair.
Jeremy...
I woke up and tried to comprehend what I just saw.