AN: Remember to review and give me some new ideas for my story. I really don't think I should keep writing if I don't get more reviews than just twelve. I'm going for another five and I you don't like that complain, by reviewing.
Alex had put me on the offense because she had seen me running earlier in the day. I was being led by a kid from Apollo who had been going to the camp for a few years already and another kid from the Athena cabin who had come only a few weeks earlier. Chiron blew the horn and we were off racing through the trees.
"Split up!" the Apollo kid yelled and I branched off to the left.
I wasn't paying attention, so I almost ran into a group of Ares kids that were sneaking in the bushes. They hadn't seen me yet so I decided to take out one of the blunt arrows that the camp had supplied and aim it at them.
"Get up very slowly and I won't knock you out," I threatened and they wheeled around to look at me and to my surprise one of them was Morgan.
"With that puny arrow?" One of them asked. I simply let the arrow fly and it hit him square in the helmet, knocking him out cold. They all stared at him in horror and did as I said. I felt like one of those bank robbers who take everyone hostage as a bargaining tool, it was kind of fun.
"Now shout, We are all little pansies and we want everyone to meet up at the edge of the woods," I ordered, immensely enjoying this.
"We are all little pansies and we want everyone to meet up at the edge of the woods!" Morgan shouted.
"Now go," I demanded and they all sprinted off. With most of the team heading for the edge of the woods I ran for the flag.
I began to sneak through the woods toward the flags. I came into a clearing and I saw a blood red flag with a boar's head on it and a guard in front of it. I put my bow away and I sprinted for the flag. I quickly grabbed it and I used it to knock down the guard, before he could shout for help. Sprinting through the forest with enemies close behind was the most exhilarating feeling in the world and it really got my adrenaline pumping.
I was almost to the creek when I saw a barricade of Ares kids blocking my way onto my side. I was about to take a sharp turn when two bucks appeared at my side, running with me. They seemed to give me extra strength and I ran straight at the blockade. Most of them scattered when the buck lowered their heads, aiming their antlers at the Ares kids, but Morgan stayed where she was.
I ran straight at her and I bashed into her and she fell down as the two bucks rammed into the other kids. With a loud sound of cheering I jumped over the creek, winning the game. Suddenly the boar's head and the red slowly began fading and the flag turned into a silver flag with a quarter moon on it. My whole team surrounded me and lifted me up into the air on their shoulders and brought me to Chiron.
"The winner is the Artemis cabi- camper!" Chiron announced, loudly.
I turned bright red when Chiron changed cabin to camper because it's pretty embarrassing to be a son of a supposed 'virgin', if you don't know what that feels like, just imagine that you were the son of Britney Spears. Yeah, it's kind of like that. I was brought over to Chiron and he put a laurel on my head and everyone cheered, well except for the kids that I decked. Suddenly a big bolt of lightning cut through the sky, lighting up the forest, follow by the biggest clap of thunder that I had ever heard in my entire life. Chiron looked up at the sky, worried, and then a look of comprehension dawned on his face.
"Everyone back into their cabins, the Hermes cabin who is in the outside pavilion will be bunking with Jon in the Artemis Cabin! Get there as fast as you can!" Chiron ordered and everyone went scrambling back to their cabins.
"Alex, do you know what's happening?" I asked, catching up to her.
"No, but we can find out. When everybody falls asleep we can sneak out of the cabin and go to the Big House. Chiron and Mr. D may be talking about it there," Alex replied, a mischievous glint in her eyes.
The rest of the camp herded us towards the cabins and we finally got out right outside the Artemis cabin. I walked in and I saw that instead of my one bed now there was ten bunk beds all surrounding the walls and some Hermes kids had already claimed them. I fought with one of them for my bed and won when I took my dagger out and said there was a harpy behind him.
The seconds slowly ticked by and the snoring of a few of the kids was unbearable. Others kept whispering to each other and laughing really loudly, but slowly things began to quiet down. Finally when I thought that everyone was asleep I got up from my bed and Alex followed my lead as we tip-toed our way out of the cabin. Finally we had gotten out of the cabin and we made it into the fire-pit area where we would be out of hearing distance.
"Come on, Jon, what are you waiting for?" Alex beckoned and she began sprinting up the hill towards the Big House. I followed her and when we reached the porch we slowly walked up onto it. Suddenly a light turned on and we saw Chiron in front of twelve gods and goddesses.
"I told you it would be them, Chiron."
"Well Apollo, you said it in a Haiku so I wasn't really listening to you," Chiron replied.
"You knew we would be coming?" I asked, puzzled.
"We knew that somebody was coming, we weren't sure that it was you," my mother explained.
"So why are you all here, waiting for us?" Alex inquired.
"Because the oracle prophesized that the two heroes that came here when the lightning strikes would be the ones that take Ouranos down," Chiron explained.
"I haven't even been here a week and you want me to go and take down your grandfather?" I asked and they all nodded, "Yeah, sorry to break it to you, but I'm not going to be killing any immortals anytime soon, so you should just wait a little longer for your hero."
"No. The oracle prophesized about you two taking down Ouranos so you will take down Ouranos," Artemis chided, sternly.
"The future is not written in stone!" I retorted and they all looked like that was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Yeah, we know that, we kind of are gods if you weren't paying attention when Chiron explained this to you earlier. It's written in cloth," one of them replied.
"Do you need me to spell this out for you? The future is not pre-ordained. Our choices shape the future, not some little creature deciding what we are going to do with our lives!" I yelled at them. One of the gods that was just oozing power stood up angrily.
"YOU WILL NOT CONTRADICT US! WE DECIDE WHAT YOU WILL DO ABOUT THIS PROPHECY NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND!" he screamed, with veins popping out of his neck. I shrunk back a little, but my fury was still raging inside of me.
"Fine I'll go on this little quest and when I die you will all figure out that the future is not written in stone, or cloth, or whatever you think," I replied.
"Then you and Alex must go up to the attic and speak to the oracle," Chiron explained, in the calmest voice he could manage.
I followed Alex up the stairs until we reached a room cluttered with things. I think they were all different trophies from quests that other heroes had gone on in the past. One trophy that caught my attention was a shimmering pink scarf and when I went up to touch it Alex pulled me away and pointed toward the ugliest thing that I had seen in my life. It was a shriveled up mummy that looked to be about a thousand years old. I was about to move back, but Alex pushed me forward.
"Go on, Jon, ask it what we must do," she urged and I stepped up.
"What must we do to complete this quest?" I asked, feeling stupid talking to a thousand year old mummy.
Suddenly green smoke began to seep out of the mummy's mouth and it formed a picture of Artemis surrounded by the other gods and goddesses. She opened her mouth and a metallic sounding voice came out:
You must go west to her place of birth
Where love first stepped on earth
There you will find his old doom
And the place of his new womb
You must cast your mother's arrow
And heal the cut with the poisoned aloe
The smoke slowly disappeared and I stood there staring in amazement at the little mummy who had just spoken. Then I turned around to Alex, hoping that she had figured out anything that the mummy had just said.
"So, where are we going?" I questioned.
"Miami, the birth place of Aphrodite…. and love," Alex answered in a daze.
AN: Remember to review and give me ideas!