We wake up and break camp. I check the location, and we are at the right river.
"Okay. This is the River Hebrus, or more commonly known as the River Maritsa." I tell them.
"So, up stream or down stream?" Alex asks as he stretches.
"I would think upstream. Down stream is to the ocean, while upstream is to a forest." Jason reasons.
"Yeah, lets go up stream." I say. We start walking and we just talk about random things.
"So, how did you die?" I ask Alex.
"There was a wolf from Norse stories, and I killed it. I threw my weapon to a man who was a coward, and i died. Wanna know how I met Magnus?" Alex replies.
"Sure. Probably funnier than me and Piper." Jason chuckles.
"I was a cheetah, and I got scared and ran. I stepped on Magnus's foot." Alex laughs.
"Wow. I bet if I ever met my boyfriend, it would be him falling from the sky and I catch him, or I run him over." I joke.
"So, lil sis thinking about boyfriends?" Jason nudges me.
"Real funny Jase." I nudge him back.
"How did you meet Piper?" Alex asks.
"I was an amnesiac. Blame Queen of Olympus. Anyway, I was on this school bus holding Piper's hand. I had no idea who she was, but I ended up saving her from falling to the ground of the Grand Canyon." He replies.
"So, Allagy, how much farther?" Alex changes the subject.
I pull up the map, and I see we are not at the densest part of the forest.
"About 10 minutes until we get to the densest part." I reply.
"Seriously, how do you know all of this without a map?!" Jason asks.
"That AI chip I got from Bucky. I have this little flap of skin behind my right ear that is made for an electronic tracking chip. When I escaped the School, I tore it out. Tony made me a new one that connects directly to Bucky. I can play music, stream movies, use it for navigation, and other things you can use a phone for." I take the chip out and show them.
"Cool. Hey, weren't your eyes purple?" Alex asks.
"Yeah," I slip the chip back in. "I can change my form."
"Cool! You already know that I can do that too." Alex changes into a dog, then back into herself.
"Can you change your human form?" I ask. I change my eye color to electric blue, short blonde hair, and I turn into Jason.
"What?" We say at the same time. I am reading Jason's mind for what he is thinking.
Let's dance around each other.
We start to spin and mix ourselves up.
"Which is which?"
"I'm Jason." We both say.
I start to laugh and I morph into my new favorite body: Olive skin, sharp jaw, steel eyes with a purple ring around the outside, dark blue ponytail that goes down to my thighs, and a black shirt with denim shorts. I have two black dragon ear-cuffs for earrings.
"Wow. Emo much?" Alex jokes.
I crack a smile.
"So, what's your normal form?" Alex asks. Jason starts shaking his head.
"No, it's okay Jason. My hair has grown back some." I tell Jason. I close my eyes and I bring back my original body. Skinny with pale skin, purple eyes, and steel gray fuzz for hair. I am wearing my Camp outfit. I change back into my favorite style and I wait for the reaction.
"What happened?" Alex gasps.
"The School is what gave me my powers after they experiment on me for 14 years." I answer.
"Hey, Feitro, what's the date?" I ask.
"July 1st."
"Who is Feitro?" Jason asks.
"The AI's name. It's July 1st."
"YAY! It's my 23rd birthday!" Jason exclaims.
"Well, I don't have a birthday. Can I have your's too?" I ask.
"Sure. So, you're 15 now?" Jason grins.
"Yup."
"And I feel so left out." Alex throws her hands up in the air.
"When's your birthday?" I ask.
"February 29th." Alex says.
"So, how many years old?"
"Oh, I'm 17."
"But you are really 4 and a half." Jason counts on his fingers.
"Say that one more time." Alex threatens.
"Sorry." Jason puts his hands in the air.
"Hey, we are about to hit the densest part of the forest." I say.
"Yay! It's been quite a long ten minutes." Alex says.
I trip over a rock and I instinctively spread my wings to stop myself. I end up paying on my stomach with my wings in a bush. Juuuuusssst great. I wiggle my wing, but it is stuck. I know this is sacred land, so I don't slice it to bits.
"Jase? Some help?" I ask. He walks over to my wing, and helps guide it out. I fold them up and Jason helps me up.
"Wow, ow." He withdraws his hand.
"What?" I ask in confusion.
"You feel like Leo. Really really hot. Like, death by fever hot." He replies.
"Okay? Wait a minute. Stay here." I use the winds to lift me above the trees since there isn't enough room to fly with my wings. I spread my wings once I get above the trees, and I hold my hand out. I can feel warmth in my chest, almost like a flame. I call upon that feeling, and fire comes to life in my hand. I hear wings flapping, and I turn myself invisible and I see Alex.
"Alex!" I call. The bird turns to me, and I light my wings on fire and I make my hair and clothing red and orange. I fly around her, and she just watches me.
Go down.
I extinguish myself, and I drop into the trees. I land next to Jason, and I light my hand on fire.
"Just when I thought my little sister was special enough." He smirks.
"Wow. If you two weren't half siblings, the OTP charts would be skyrocketing right now." Alex says.
"Oh shut it Fierro." Jason playfully shoves her.
I hear whispering, but Jason and Alex are talking at full volume.
"Wait, did you hear that?" I stop.
"Hear what?" Jason asks.
"You know you have super hearing, right?" Alex says.
"Yeah yeah, but I think we are getting closer." I creep forward. We are getting to the point where the trees are only a foot apart. I change my body size, while Alex is a snake.
"Jase, I feel real sorry for you. You are the only one who can't change shape." I tell him as I grab his arm and break down our molecules and rebuild them a couple feet in the air.
"Woah, what's this for?" He asks.
"Only way around for you is through the trees using thing branches. These branches are sturdy enough, so don't break them." I tell him as I jump in front of him. I see a snake, and I know it's Alex. She makes her way across the branches next to us. Jason is definitely not made for agility. He is carefully treading across the branches behind us. After 10 minutes of struggling through the branches, the trees start to move apart. Jason drops to the ground and walks around under us. I join him, and Alex shapes back into herself. We get to a clearing where there are wind chimes and skeletons. I look at the trees, and they look different. The knots almost form the faces of the Fates.
"Um, anyone notice those tree knots look like Grandmother Willow from that movie?" Jason asks.
"Yup." Alex says. I nod.
"Look." I point to a narrow path inside the trees.
"Okay, singles first." Alex gestures for me to go.
I don't say anything but walk forward. I can hear voices saying things that I don't quite understand. Their words wrap around my brain and make me listen and see things. I put up mental barriers, and I do the same for Jason. Alex should be fine.
"You shall go west and find the god that has turned"
"You shall sail the iron ship with warriors of bone"
"One shall be lost in the land without rain"
"A child of Athena's last stand"
"Free him"
"Won through pain from a woven jail"
"Who plunged in a cave, blue and hollow"
"To find the master of the swift white horse"
"Shall reach sixteen beyond all odds"
"To storm or fire the world must fall"
"A hero Valhalla cannot contain"
"The spawn of the kings"
"So, am I crazy, or did they just repeat a ton of prophecies?" Alex asks.
"You are not crazy. I have been through 5 of them, and I have heard of the other 5." Jason says.
"We must be close." I shake my head and move forward.
After a couple minutes, I see trees that seem to be in the form of huge doors.
"Are we here?" Alex asks.
"I think so. Everyone, stay on alert and keep your mind barriers up. I can block for you Jason, but I can't fight also. Just close your eyes and build a wall using your useless thoughts." I announce.
"Okay." Jason replies. I close my eyes, and build a wall thought by thought. Using the useless thoughts I have collected over my time. I check Jason, and he has a wall consisting of corny jokes. My wall is made of me exploring New York and happy thoughts about flying. I check Alex, and her's is being homeless and dating Magnus outside of Valhalla. We go forward, and just as we pass through the doors, our minds are bombarded with voices. I sense Jason's wall falling, and I reach in and support it.
"Jason," I manage to get out. "Focus!"
His wall starts to rebuild slowly, and I lessen the amount of support from my mind. My walls are still up and strong, and Alex's is doing great. We walk even farther, and I see a boulder of yarn. We follow the yarn to the other end, and I see three old women. One has scissors, another has a ruler, and the last one is making a new ball out of the old boulder. They don't look up, but one snips the yarn. I can almost feel a spirit in trouble. These must be the Fates. I look to their right, and I see another path. I look at their feet, and the cut ends seem to form an arrow. I take Alex and Jason's arms and I tug towards the path. We walk that way, and I see a humongous tree. Like, Avatar huge. [the blue people, not the last airbender] there is no flaws, but one huge knot.
Step forward daughter of Sky and Magic, and ask.
"What do I have to do to prevent the Camps from falling apart?" I ask.
Change, you must stop the dwindling feud. Many are glad, many are sad. Some are revolting. Before you know the path you must journey, you must know the past.
The life of the Greeks and Romans flash before my eyes, and I understand everything.
The 7 of the century
Shall leave to the place of the war
Where they will call upon their powers
And defeat an ancient untold
I am thrown back into my body, and Jason catches me.
"We have to leave. NOW!" I force out as I feel my mental walls breaking. Jason puts me on his back and I work on building my mental barriers. They are falling faster than ever before, and I am running out of memories. Once we get to a place with open sky, I stop trying to build the barriers and I lift the other two into the sky as we find another place to land.
We land ten minutes later at a local temple for Zeus. Alex is very uneasy about being at a Greek Temple, but Zeus would never destroy his own temple with or without Jason and I.
"So, what was that about?" Jason asks.
"I saw the feud between the Romans and the Greeks. I think there is something coming that will break the bond we now have. The Norse too, but it isn't like we had much of a bond anyways."
"So, back to camp to group the 7?" Alex groans.
"Yup, and I think we are getting two each from the Greeks, Romans, and the Norse." I say.