Apollo Cabin 7, Camp Half-Blood
Long Island Sound, New York.
December 18
Theo fingered the gauzy curtains of Cabin 7, gazing out into the darkness. The runes on the twentieth cabin - Trivia - glowed iridescent colors against the stones, Apollo, for once, was dim and not too bright to look at. Their twin cabin was giving off an eerie silver glow. At the right angle, Arcus - Iris - gleamed the colors of the rainbow, though not as bright as the others. The underworld cabin blended in with the night. The hearth in the middle of the circle of cabins flickered at times and sent sparks up into the air, reminding Theo of fireflies.
Theo bit harshly on her lip. She could feel the previous scars from all the times she had tore at the skin. Looking around the cabin, she could see that every last Apollo camper was passed out on their bunks. Not exactly night owls, now are they, Theo smirked. Perhaps being a child of the sun does that to you, I suppose. Will's leg was hanging off of the upper bunk; Austin Collins, below him, was missing a pillow and spread out along his bunk like a starfish. She couldn't even start to describe Kayla's strange sleeping position. She wondered if the human body could be that flexible. The room smelled of cinnamon and vanilla, and a faint sound of music drafted through the air was cold and thick in her lungs. The nearest beside clock said it was well after midnight. That meant it had to be somewhere near nine back at Camp Jupiter.
Her backpack for the quest was nestled between her stomach and drawn up legs. The main zipper was down, so she cold make out the packets of ambrosia, canteen of nectar, two bags - one filled with drachmas and the other denarii - and the extra sets of clothing. And then there was her grandmother's letter. The sanguineous inked words confused her, and she often read it repeatedly, always flipping over the paper when done, hoping for the red words to continue on. But, in the end, she always found nothing more.
Beware, Theodora: to understand the significance, the importance, of Orpheus' lyre has proven to have its consequences...
...do not know the true measure of his talents with the lyre...
...reputed to have multiple pairs of parents - Apollo and Calliope; Oeagrus and Calliope; Apollo and an unnamed daughter of Pierus...
Did he really invent medicine, writing, and agriculture? Was he truly an augur and seer? Did he practice the magical arts of Hecate and astrology? Did he perfect the lyre for Hermes?...
...by sixth century B.C. he was widely known as the master of music...
...is the lyre a constellation as said...
...the lyre charm the birds, the fish, the wild beasts? Coax the trees and rocks into dance? Divert the course of rivers?
...next Orpheus incarnated...
Theo shook her head and stuffed the letter back into the envelope. Rosmerta Grigori was always the strange one.
She swung her legs off of the chair. She stretched until she heard a satisfying pop of her arms and prowled to the end of the cabin. She had to pause a few times everytime a camper shifted their position, or when one of them suddenly stopped snoring. She heard the sharp sound of her combat boots leaving the long rug and meeting the tile of the bathroom. Clicking the door shut, she scuffled for a towel to stuff along the crack between the door and the floor. Flicking on only one of the lights, she stood in front one of the various sinks, plugged it with one of the warm yellow and cream hand towels, and filled it to the brim with water.
Theo rolled the drachma across her knuckles as the water gushed. It was strange, alien, for her to be using a Grecian method to contact Romans. She was so used to using denarii and for Arcus to be only a mere messenger for the gods only, not demigods also.
Iris-messaging, Annabeth had called it.
The coin was heavy and crudely round, chipped around the edges and dented in others. Obscuring the golden coin was the face of a woman with scarily large eyes and curly hair pulled back with a headband. She compared it to a denarii, which, by contrast, was thin, silver, and contained the faint image of a woman seated upon a throne with a staff. It was bordered with a ring of small circles and numbers.
She turned off the faucet.
She held the drachma over the pool of water. Her reflection stared up back at her, bags under jewel eyes, shining with anxiety. "Oh Iris, goddess of the Rainbow, please accept my offering." She dropped the coin in. The water rippled a variety of colors, the same as the cabin she had seen just moments before. "Show me..." Who should I call? Reyna? Hazel? Strange pale kid? "Show me Gwen, Camp Jupiter, please."
Images shimmered along the water. Eventually, the slideshow stopped, and the person reflected among the water wasn't Gwen. A familiar gangly boy appeared, waving his arms frantically as he stepped bravely in front of the rearing elephant, Hannibal. He was yelling at someone Theo couldn't see, his brown hair flopping down into his angular face. She clenched her hands and looked back and forth between the Iris-Message and the door, hoping no one would wake up.
"Bobby," she said clearly.
He jumped. Whirling around, his hooded hazel eyes widened at the sight of her, staring down a him disapprovingly in the middle of a rainbow. Probably not the best way to great him, but she didn't have any other way to send a progress report without an eagle.
"Theo?" he exclaimed. He turned back around. "Frank! Help Gwen calm Hannibal down! Yes, you can help!"
"Shut up!" Theo hissed. "I don't need anymore people suspecting me."
"What's...?" He waved his hand to the Iris-Message.
Theo cringed. "It's called an Iris-Message, or IM. Grecian way to contact others. Like our eagles."
He nodded, confusion still on his face. Sighing, he ran a hand down his face. "I still can't believe Juno sent to you to the Greeks," Bobby mumbled.
"We all have to make sacrifices."
"Like what?"
"Sanity."
Bobby chuckled. "Are they really that bad?"
"No." Theo pursed her lips in thought. "Most of them are annoying. They're more laid-back, artistic. Lack in the militaristic skills, and no orderly fashion. But...some of them are fun to be around."
He gasped dramatically. He gazed at her in horror and stumbled back, a hand placed over his heart. "Who are you and what have you done with our Theodora?" He kept up with his damsel in distress act and fell down to his knees, cradling his head in his hands.
Maybe there isn't that much of a difference between us, Theo mused, thinking about the two full-blooded Stoll brothers who thrived to prank the other campers. "Get up, Prewett. You're a Roman; not a distressed Disney princess."
"They don't all need a man to save them. Most Disney princesses are exceptionally sassy," Bobby stated. "And have unbelievable hair." He flipped his hair in what he obviously thought was a flirtatious way and put his hands on his hips.
Theo ran a hand through her ebony curls ruefully. My little Renaissance princess, her mother would purr as she ran the silver-backed brush through the locks. They were like that one Disney princess', Merida. Only black, shorter, and thicker curls.
"You're stupid, Prewett," she mumbled fondly. She ignored his choked protests. "So what's happened?"
"Nothing much," he said, looking disappointed at the lack of action. "Creepy Death Boy still hanging around with Hazel. Dakota's still obsessing over Kool-Aid. Everyone's still talking about Jason being missing. A new kid, Frank Zhang, unclaimed, still on Probatio since November. There?"
"I found Jason."
Bobby's eyes lit up considerably. They glittered as gold as the cabin in the light. "Really?" he enthused. "How is he? Does he remember any of us? How's he coping?"
"He had his memories take away," Theo said bluntly. "By Juno. We're leading for a quest tomorrow to save Hera with two other demigods: a charmspeaker daughter of Aphrodite and a son of Hephaestus."
"Venus and Vulcan." Bobby rubbed his sharp chin in amusing thoughtfulness. "Well that's a pleasant combination. Have they realized yet that they're technically step-siblings?"
"And that Piper - the charmspeaker - is my Greek aunt?" Theo cocked an eyebrow at him. "No. But the two act like siblings. From what I gathered, they were best friends at their school before Jason came along. Still are, actually. Only Piper was fooled by the Mist that she and Jason have been dating."
Bobby winced in sympathy. "Ouch. I'm not telling Reyna."
Theo rolled her eyes. "The Camp here is missing their leader, too. Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon. He disappeared the same night I arrived here. The thirteenth. I don't understand how Jason could leave in October and Percy in December, but I know that Camp is going into a frenzy and some suspect me."
"Why?"
She huffed, annoyed. "Well, I arrived on the same day he disappeared. They know about the SPQR tattoo, now. I'm not the same as them, Bobby. I read and write Latin fluidly as they struggle with it. I hardly know Ancient Greek. And the fighting styles are different; they slash as I stab."
There was a rustling outside the door.
"Bye, Bobby."
Before he could say anything, she dunked her hand into the water and pulled out the sodden hand towel. The door swung open with difficulty, considering the towels were still stuffed beneath it. One of the younger campers - a little girl with a mop of curly red hair and dimpled face - looked up at her with accusing cerulean eyes.
"What're you doing?" she inquired.
Theo flashed her a smile as she wrung out the hand towel and threw it into the laundry basket near the door. "I was messaging my step-brother," she lied. "He's a mortal in Greenwich. And he's up so late because he's an night owl," she added when she saw the ten year old about to ask another question.
Althea furrowed her brows. "Alright," she said slowly after an uncomfortable pause.
Theo gave her another smile and ruffled the messy black waves. Althea giggled adorably and grinned, revealing a toothy Colgate white grin.
Theo notched an arrow into her bow. It was lighter than her other pair, which had been unfortunately damaged earlier that morning. She had been more than surprised when a Hecate child had decided to give her one of their own personal bows.
It's made of Goblin silver, Annabel Entwhistle had explained to her.
Goblin's silver repels dirt, her brother, Kevin, carried on, so any weapons or armor made out of it doesn't require cleaning. Goblin's silver is also indestructible, and any weapon made from it would absorb the target's powers, making the weapon in question more powerful.
The quiver will also never run out of arrows, Annabel added. The arrows will return back to the quiver, so you'll have even more powerful arrows if you manage to hit something with incredible abilities, like a Basilisk.
Theo also had a set of Imperial Gold javelins, disguised as a wrap-around cream bracelet with spikes. All she had to do was pull one out by the tip of the spike, and another would immediately take its place.
Now, she aimed for the immense bronze dragon that had landed in the middle of the clearing. The conch horn still blew, satyrs were acting more like fauns running around screeching "Don't kill me!". The demigods surrounding her wore combinations of pajamas and armor. Atop of the mechanical creation, Leo himself was grinning maniacally, yelling, "It's cool! Don't shoot!"
"Leo?" Piper pushed her way through the loose ring of demigods and stared up at him and the dragon incredulously.
The dragon was about sixty feet of of pure metal, creaking everytime it moved its jaw, as if it were trying to speak. Theo tensed and added another arrow to the bow as she spotted the cruel steel talons and unfurled bats wings. It spotted her movement, and dark smoke curled out what Theo thought stood for its nostrils as it stared her down with ruby eyes that could rival her father's.
"It's beautiful," Piper said quietly, ignoring the looks being sent her way.
The great metal beast threw back its head as Bobby did mere hours before and shot a column of fire into the sky. Leo slid down its long neck as the campers scrambled, walking slowly forward and raising his hands up in surrender. "People of Earth," he shouted, "I come in peace! Festus is just saying hello!"
"Qual è quella cosa, Leo?" Theo shouted. Really, Leo? Happy the dragon...
Now Piper looked her her strangely. "What?"
"What is that thing, Leo?" Theo corrected.
"That thing is dangerous!" Clarisse la Rue, daughter of Ares shouted. "Kill it now!"
A familiar voice rang out that caused Theo's muscles to loose some of its tightness. Only Praetor for a few weeks and he knows how to be a good leader. "Stand down!"
Jason strided up with Annabeth and Nyssa until he was standing between her and Piper. He motioned for Theo to lower her bow, and she did so, rather reluctantly. He then looked up at the dragon and shook his head in amazement. "Leo, what have you done?"
"Found a ride!" Leo grinned, ecstatic. His curly hair was slicked with oil so it was just as glossy as her own, and he reeked of Tabasco sauce. "You said I could go on the quest if I got you a ride. Well, I got you a class-A metallic flying bad boy! Festus can take us anywhere!"
Nyssa gaped like a fish, her mouth forming unspoken words. "It - has wings," she stammered.
"Yeah! I found them and reattached them!" Theo didn't know it was possible, but Leo looked even more positively gleeful at his victory.
"But it never had wings. Where did you find them?"
Leo faltered. "In...the woods," he said hesitantly. "Repaired his circuits, too, mostly, so no more problems with him going haywire."
"Maybe?" Nyssa looked skeptical, just as everyone else was.
As if to prove a point, the head twitched. It tilted to the side, and something Theo hoped desperately was oil spluttered out of its ear, drenching Leo.
He shrugged. "Just a few kinks to work out," he said, shoving his dripping curls back.
"But how did you survive..." Nyssa looked up at the creature, amazement glittering her eyes. "I mean, the fire breath..."
"I'm quick," Leo said, just as quickly as his words. "And lucky. Now, am I on this quest or not?"
Jason scratched at his blond hair. He leaned over to Theo. "He does realize what he named his dragon, right?"
Theo shrugged a shoulder. "Well, you know how Pluto named the Cerberus Spot." Judging from the look he was giving her, he didn't. "From the root indo-european word ḱerberos, which evolved into Greek kerberos, and then Cerberus when it finally changed to Latin. Ḱerberos means spotted."
Jason turned back to Leo. "You named him Festus? You know that in Latin Festus means happy? You want us to ride off to save the world on Happy the Dragon?"
Leo looked up to Festus, as if he were looking for a conformation. The dragon creaked and shuddered, unfurling its wings to its full length. "That's a yes, bro!" Leo cheered. "Now, um, I'd really suggest we get going, guys. I already picked up some supplies in the, um - in the woods. And all these people with weapons are making Festus nervous."
"But we haven't planned anything yet," Jason protested. "We can't just -"
"Go," Annabeth persisted. "Jason, you've only got three days until the solstice now, and you should never keep a nervous dragon waiting. This is certainly a good omen. Go!"
Jason nodded, then smiled at Piper. "You ready partner?" He turned to Theo, raising an eyebrow in silent challenge, as they had for years.
"You bet," Piper confirmed firmly.
Theo nodded, a smile coming to her lips. "Definitely."