Hello, my little sushi rolls! I'm sorry that I haven't posted any chapters lately! My friends and I have exams tomorrow and on Monday, so we're pretty busy. Over the summer, we should be posting more. We get off June 8th!
Inside the big house, two men were playing pinochle. One was in a wheelchair. The other was dressed in a loud, purple, leopard print shirt. As they walked in, the one dressed in leopard-print threw down his hand of cards and said "You win again Chiron. It's a wonder I haven't blasted you to cinders yet." He noticed Annabeth. "What is it, Annabel?"
"Her name is Annabeth," Saya said, annoyed. "The camp may have changed, but it looks like your petulant personality hasn't."
"Who are you, and why do I care?" The obnoxious God, who was obviously Dionysus, droned lazily.
"This is Saya, Allison-"
"And Peggy!" Jasmine muttered, smirking. When she was met with glares from Allison and Saya and blank stares from everyone else, she continued "Jasmine. Annabeth thinks we might be the demigods in the new prophecy."
"Prophecies," Dionysus grumbled and stood up to get himself another can of Diet Coke. They all knew he could have just godded one into existence, he was just slacking off and hated them.
Chiron studied them, still stuck in his magic wheelchair. "Do you know your godly parents?"
"Mine is Hecate," Jasmine offered. "I can manipulate the Mist, and I made this." She showed him the weapon she had named Meteorite in its bismuth form and then turned it into the gun.
"And the rest of you?"
"Unclaimed, as of yet," Annabeth confirmed.
"We need to know the prophecy," Saya told him.
"I suppose you do." Chiron sighed. "'Oceans turn to hurricanes and the wind turns to a storm. The world will die in cyclones, unless the three are found and known. Friendship dies and a deity lies, night will fall and the sun won't rise, on the seventh day of grain,'" the centaur stated.
"It doesn't all rhyme," Jasmine noticed.
"Poetry doesn't need to rhyme!" Saya flared.
"It sounds kind of similar to the Demon's Run prophecy in Doctor Who," Allison pointed out. "'Friendship dies and true love lies, night will fall and the dark will rise when a good man goes to war,'" she quoted. "Do you think the spirit of Delphi is running out of ideas?" Meanwhile, Saya was staring off into space.
"Or maybe she's just a fellow Whovian giving it credit," Jasmine mused. "It is a cool prophecy, and she's had to make originals for years. Why not?"
"Isn't there some festival in Rome coming soon?" Saya suddenly pondered.
Chiron looked surprised. "Yes, in fact, there is."
"Ludi Ceriales, right? Festival for Ceres?" Saya said confidently.
"Holy Hephaestus, you're a nerd," Allison muttered.
"No, I'm a geek," She corrected sarcastically. "Get it right, Allison."
"No, you're a Greek." Allison shot back.
"So," Jasmine got back on topic. "What about Ludi Ceriales is important? Is it our unreasonably close deadline?"
"I think it started two days ago. So, the seventh day would be April 18th. We have 4 days." Saya estimated.
Chiron looked impressed. "You know your Roman."
"And also my Greek, Egyptian, and Norse. I read a lot." Saya remarked confidently.
"We all do," Jasmine agreed. "Because of the books you wrote, we learned all we could about all kinds of mythology. Useful, now that we know they're not myths."
"Yeah," Allison nodded. "What do think the prophecy means?" She reminded them of their goal.
"A chaos storm is a term used in some book I read," Jasmine offered. "It makes everything really crazy and nobody is safe from it. It steals the main character's lungs in the beginning, but he doesn't die."
"Just because these books are real doesn't mean that those are," Saya reminded her. "And also, what book is that? I want to read it."
"Hmm… Storm Thief, I think. Green cover with a creepy partly obscured face on it. Not the point. What does it mean in real life?"
"The Senate believes that the first two lines are talking about venti. The Three most likely refer to you. We do not know what the next lines mean except for the last line, which hints at April 18th," Chiron explained.
"Fabulous," Jasmine said. "Let's go get some food." No prophecies of doom could steal her appetite.
Right on cue, the dinner bell rang. Saya turned and ran out the door.
"Come on." Jasmine followed before they could lose her.
Thankfully, the three girls didn't have to sit at separate tables, because they were new. Instead, they sat at a fold-out table that Chiron set up for them. Dionysus had mysteriously disappeared again just in time for him to talk to the new campers. Saya was sure that the stupid old god was just trying to avoid them. She didn't mind. She didn't want to deal with his disgusting personality. Saya grabbed some chopsticks and picked up some salmon and tuna nigiri, pouring some soy sauce into a tiny saucer. Her Japanese roots were excited. She walked up to the brazier to give an offering to the gods. She scraped some sushi into the fire, a little sorry to see it burn.
Whoever my godly mother is, please claim me, she prayed. Unless you're Aphrodite. Then don't. I don't need you in my life. No glitz and glam for me. No, ma'am. I'm good. She decided to stop disrespecting a goddess before she got blasted to smithereens or worse, beautified. She didn't want to wake up in a sparkly pink prom dress with beautiful glittery makeup on right before a big quest.
Saya walked back over to her friends and sat down. She noticed many glances going her way and whispers just barely out of earshot. They were the buzz of the entire camp. Saya and her friends ate the delicious food gladly and talked between bites.
Jasmine had gotten the most amazing vinegar barbeque and collard greens, maybe just to show that she was not British, despite her random accent. Allison got pizza and a few packets of fruit snacks, because Allison.
Saya took a bite of her sushi. Yum. It tasted as pure awesomeness and glory should. Sushi. The answer to all problems, even six times seven: the problem of life, the universe, and everything.
"Remember that creepy video?" Jasmine recalled, plucking a piece of salmon off Saya's plate. Saya responded by taking some of Jasmine's barbeque and eating it with chopsticks.
"How could anyone forget it? That thing was scary." Allison shuddered.
Saya suddenly had the biggest conspiracy theory of all time. "What if the video was connected to the prophecy? Maybe the venti took over that plane that disappeared! Malaysia Flight 370?"
Just like old times, they started jumping to conclusions like fricken maniacs. "But why would they do that?" Jasmine thought out loud.
"They need it for something." Saya decided. "But for what?"
"Something big," Allison predicted. "Big and not good for our health."
"But why is it good for theirs?" Saya questioned.
"Venti enjoy being free," Jasmine pointed out.
"How would a plane help venti be free? They can fly already, that's sort of the point of wind spirits," Saya countered.
"Think conspiracy theory. What conspiracy theory involves a plane?" Allison said inattentively.
"Twin towers?" Saya ventured.
"They crashed a plane into them to break them. The venti want to break anything that holds them. Aeolus has a prison for venti," Jasmine whispered.
"Are we seriously thinking that some venti are pulling a 9/11 on Aeolus's palace? We need mental help," Allison said.
We really do need mental help. It's a fangirl condition, Saya thought, chuckling at the thought. "It's possible."
"About as possible as a butterfly with broken wings escaping Tartarus," Allison countered. "First of all, conspiracy theories are almost always dead wrong. Second, it's on the internet and YouTube, so it must be true, right? Third, we just assumed so many things that we have to be wrong."
Jasmine sighed. "Well, it may be the wrong path, but it is a path. I think that when we go on the quest tomorrow, we should go to Chicago. It's a lead."
"Actually," Saya corrected, "Key West in Florida is windier than Chicago. Also, they went to Chicago in the Lost Hero, so the venti there might be too cautious."
"Did you know that the name Key West was taken from the Spanish name Caya Hueso, meaning Bone Island because the bones of long-dead pirates were everywhere?" Allison always remembered morbid facts like that.
"How nice," Jasmine said. "Why did I need to know that again?"
Allison shrugged. "Why did you not need to know that?"
"Fair." Saya appreciated when her friends found their inner sassy.
"But how are we going to get there?" Jasmine asked. "Transportation is hard."
"Buses are out of the question," Saya said firmly. "So are trains."
"Agreed," Allison nodded. "We don't need another cyclops ruining our day."
"What about a car?" Saya asked.
"None of us can drive. Even though I could fake a license with the Mist, we can't get in a wreck," Jasmine objected.
"I bet one of us could learn. You're good at learning random stuff, Saya." Allison told Saya.
"Yes, I am very good at learning random stuff," Saya laughed.
"So that's decided then. We use a car," Jasmine gave in. "But are we going to steal one or something? I could do it, but it seems a little wrong."
"Let's go with the Magnus Chase morals: steal from people who deserve to be stolen from," Saya reasoned. Allison and Jasmine nodded in agreement.
Then, straight out of the blue, a giant bird appeared right in front of Saya. It seemed panicked. It was white, squirming and flapping, obscuring her vision. Saya stumbled out of her seat. Pain exploded in her left arm and she felt warm blood trickling quickly down to her wrist and dripped faster with every one of her heartbeats. She guessed that one of the bird's claws had severed her ulnar artery as it flapped around- bad news. People could die from that.
Jasmine and Allison pulled the gigantic creature off of her. She spat white feathers out of her mouth and her eyes focused on... an enormous snowy owl. It was huge! Its wingspan could have been almost longer than she was tall. She noticed that it looked similar to the owl charm on her necklace hanging on her neck. She raised her uninjured arm, attempting to touch her sterling silver jewelry. It wasn't there. Her necklace had transformed.
"Any Apollo healers here?" Jasmine called. "A lot of blood being casually lost!"
"Pretty violent way to get claimed, your necklace turning into a real owl." Allison commented, "I wonder if Athena was in a bad mood today. Oh, you're going unconscious. See you in a few minutes." Allison smiled at Saya. She didn't look at all worried.
Saya viewed the world through an intimidating dark tunnel, with no light at the end of it. It was most likely because of all the blood she had lost. The tunnel's mouth kept getting smaller and smaller until no light came in.
I hope y'all enjoyed! I don't have much to say, so, goodbye, my little sushi rolls!