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The Call of Phoebe

Tortured screams echoed through the city. The sky was heavy with smoke and fire. All Hick could do was stand and watch helplessly as chaos in its fiery form engulf the city with its licking flames.

"Run, Hick! Run!"

"Mom?" Hick turned and saw her mother running towards her, a drakon fast at her heels. Within a flash, it snapped open its huge jaws and swallowed her mother hold. Grief and fury ceased Hick by her heart, rendering her breathless. Die. The ground cracked open and armies of ghosts emerged, slaying monsters and humans in her stride. She heard them cry for mercy, but she didn't listen.

"Hick!"

It was Ryan's voice. Hick stopped in her tracks and looked around. Piles and piles of skeleton-coloured corpses filled the streets. It was as if the city had worn a blanket of grey. The survivors were screaming, crying. A child's wails of distress pierced through the streets, amidst the chaos and the despair.

What have I done?

"Hick! Wake up!"

Darkness engulfed her and Hick opened her eyes to an extinguished campfire. She gasped and sat up straight. Dang. She had slept through the entire campfire gathering.

"You were trembling," Ryan told her, feeling her forehead. "Is it another nightmare?"
Hick mustered a frail smile. "It's not like I died, Ryan. I'm fine."

"No, you're not. You were crying in your sleep."
"Because you made me play 'Slenderman' last night when I didn't want to! Be ashamed, Swanapoel!" Hick retorted as she stood up to stretch her arms. Hick always called Ryan by his surname whenever she felt like teasing him. And that meant that the conversation would only take a turn down nonsense lane. Which meant that Ryan wasn't going to get any answers that explain Hick's regular disappearances, her numerous scars all over her arms and legs, and quite possibly all over her body. Thankfully, he decided to let it go.

"That game? Gosh, Hick, you are such a chicken," he teased her. Just like how she'd call him 'Swanapoel' to press his buttons, Ryan would call her 'chicken' to press hers. And she hated that nicname.
"Oh, please! Who was the one that kept shoving the controllers into my hands?" she snapped.
"I definitely wouldn't have backed away from the screen and shrieked like a deranged dolphin," said Ryan. "Thanks to you, the house masters almost confiscated my laptop and game controllers."
"The house masters almost confiscated my laptop and game controllers! Boohoo~" Hick echoed him, earning a whack in the head.

They trudged on through the tall grass toward their bunkrooms, continuing their childish banter. As they finally entered their bunkrooms, the shadows hinted to Hick that a demi-god was approaching. It had to be Percy. As Ryan headed off to where José and his laptop were waiting, Hick headed back to the entrance of the bunkroom and stood at the porch. There was Percy, carrying two dirty green haversacks. "We've got to leave. Now. The gods are working on altering everyone's memories. We don't want to be caught as trespassers."

Hick felt her heart sank as she took one last glance Ryan, who had climbed onto one of the upper bunk beds that José was seated on. They were looking over at her.

"Come on, Hick! There's no escaping this! We've got to finish the rest of the episode," Ryan called out. Hick managed to muster a feeble smile, "Got it! I'll be right back in a minute!"
"Well, make it quick!" José whined, hugging tightly onto a bolster.
A pause. A sad smile. "I will."

And she headed out.

It's just going to be a temporary thing, she assured herself. Everything will be back to normal soon. Taking her haversack from Percy, she followed him out of the camp onto the dusty dirt road, where two pegasi waited. "Hick, meet Blackjack and Guido"

Hick waved at the winged horses, "I'm guessing the black one is Blackjack, and the white one's Guido?" Somehow, the black pegasi seemed to be squinting at her.

That's the lone warrior? Looks rather frail to me! Blackjack whinnied. Percy frowned at him.

Hands on the petite girl's shoulders, Percy guided Hick to Guido, "Hop on. We should reach Camp Half-Blood by dawn."

"You sure? Don't Blackjack and Guido need to sleep?" Hick asked, stroking Guido's mane. Pleasant shivers shot down his spine, and Guido let out a whinny. That's nice...

Percy smiled in amusement. "It's fine, Hick. I made sure they rested all day." He was about to hoist Hick up onto Guido but she wriggled out of his grasp. "It's fine, I got this!"

"You sure? Guido's really tall for – "
"Dude! I got this!" she snapped.
"Uh… okay," he shrugged, hands up in mock surrender. "If you say so."

And he watched in awkward silence as the petite girl wheezed and huffed as she tried to hop up and mount the tall pegasi. He couldn't see why she'd rather not depend on him for help to hoist her up. After what seemed like forever, Hick finally scrambled onto Guido.

"Yes! Got it!"

Hick shot Percy a triumphant look, her cheeks flushed from all that exercise. He stared at her undecidedly, not sure whether to laugh or to give an encouraging smile. So he just nodded dumbly.

As soon as Percy mounted Blackjack, the horses started galloping down the road, taking off as soon as they caught the wind in their wings. Hick hung on tight, only letting go when they were up in the air to reach for the shadows and check on Ryan and José. They're safe in the bunkroom, the shadows whispered to her. The storm spirits have left the area.

"Percy?"
"Yep," Percy replied, his head resting on Black Jack for some nap time.
"Has everyone's memory been altered now?"

Percy sat up and looked at Hick. She was avoiding his gaze, wearing a poker face.

"Yeah."

Silence.

"I'm really sorry."

Hick scoffed. "A little break from college won't hurt, Percy. It's for the best…" Leaving it at that, Hick turned her away from Percy and rested her head on Guido, unable to contain her tears. It's for the best, she repeated the sentence in her head over and over again, trying to reassure herself and chant away the tears.

"That's our supposed lone warrior?"

Hick flinched at the sound of a girl's voice. It was a quiet whisper, but still painfully annoying to the ears of anyone in need of slumber. Ugh… shush!

"Percy, how did you convince her to come here?" a girl's voice piped in.
"I just struck a deal with Zeus to have some memories altered, so she'll feel comfortable with her departure."
"She looks rather petite for a hero." It was a male voice this time.
"Okay, this is just wrong, us staring at her like this. Let's leave her alone, guys."

Hick found the last voice rather familiar. Where had she heard it before? Hick's eyes shot open and she sat up.

She immediately regretted it. The stomach-churning sight of a huge room jam-packed with people greeted her. Dozens and dozens of eyes stared back at her, scrutinizing her frizzy red mane down to her purple jogging shorts. She froze, like a flustered squirrel that just got caught sneaking nuts out of the kitchen cabinet.

"Uh… hey, Hick! Welcome to Camp Half-Blood."

Hick turned in the direction of the voice. It was Percy, standing at her bedside. He had on an apologetic smile. She looked around the room and turned to him. "Why are there so many people here?" she whispered, her lavender eyes wide with alarm.

"Yeah… your prophecy is a really big deal… so… I'm really sorry," said Percy apologetically. "They... they followed me in and I just wanted to che - "

"Hi! I'm Annabeth, daughter of Athena," the blonde girl standing behind Percy piped in. Her eyes were a beautiful stormy grey. Judging from how close she stood to Percy, Hick could immediately tell they were dating. She seemed rather nice.

"Oh… cool… the goddess of war and wisdom…" Hick replied lamely.

"Right. I'll be giving you a tour around camp," Annabeth continued. "Just let me clear out the room so you can freshen up." She turned and glared at everyone else, gesturing at them to exit. A whole lot of feet shuffled out, bringing the grumbles along with them.

"Hey, you gonna be okay?" Percy whispered to her.

"Gee, I don't know. Changing in and out of clothes can be really difficult," Hick replied sardonically. "Of course I'll be okay! Get going, your girlfriend's waiting!"

Percy stared at her. "H-How did you…?"

Annabeth cleared her throat, tapping her foot impatiently at Percy, her arms crossed. Percy made his way out of the room before casting a last glance at Hick behind his shoulder.

"Alright! This will be your cabin, Cabin 13, where you'll be staying. I've packed all your clothes in that closet over there," Annabeth said, pointing to a simple wooden wardrobe situated in one corner before proceeding to head out. "I'll just be waiting outside then."

"Wait! Annabeth?"

"Yes?"

"Thanks for… you know… helping me out… I really appreciate it," Hick said nervously, fidgeting with a bolster's strings. The daughter of Athena nodded and smiled kindly at the newcomer, before finally exiting.

Hick looked around the room. The cabin walls were made of solid obsidian with torches that burned green fire lining the wall. It had a depressing feel to it and Hick didn't like it.

After 15 minutes, Hick stepped out of Cabin 13 in her brown skinny jeans, dark brown singlet and army green jacket, frowning at the skull hanging on the door.

"Nico decorated it," Annabeth said, noticing Hick's expression. "You could say his taste is rather… dark. He's a son of Hades, Nico di Angelo. He hardly stays in the camp but he should be here by tonight. You can refurnish the cabin if you like. Come on, let's commence the tour."

They walked past the dining pavilion, an amphitheatre and the archery field, towards the sword-fighting arena. Straw dummies in Greek armour were scattered around the room and training swords.

"Capture the flag will commence tonight. Do you have your own sword and shield?"
"My own-?"
"Oh yeah, you just got here. So I don't suppose you do," Annabeth said, turning to look at Hick and taking a step back to survey her body. "Okay… you're probably a size S. I'll visit the armoury later."

Hick didn't like the idea of going head to head with anybody armed with any kind of weapon, but there was too much else to think about, so the tour continued. They saw the canoeing lake, the stables where Hick greeted Guido, the javelin range and the sing-along amphitheatre.

Finally, they came to the cabins. There were twelve of them, nestled in the woods by the lake. They were arranged in a U, with two at the base and five in a row on either side. And they were without doubt the most bizarre collection of buildings Hick had ever seen.

Except for the fact that each had a large brass number above the door (odds on the left side, evens on the right), they looked absolutely nothing alike. Hephaestus' cabin, cabin 9, looked like a small factory, with brick walls and smokestacks like the forges and lots of gears around the entrance.

Aphrodite's cabin, cabin 10, was what Hick would call a life-size 'Barbie house' that was ridiculously pink, with lace curtains and potted carnations by the window. It practically screamed 'BIMBOTIC!' and smelt heavily of designer perfume.

The goddess Demeter's cabin, cabin 4, was by far Hick's favourite. Flowers blanketed the goddess of harvest's humble abode, and tomato plants grew on the walls and doorway. Wild flowers and roses sprouted on the porch and they had a real grass roof. The cabin was coloured a gentle light shade of brown.

The pair of cabins at the head of the field, numbers one and two, looked like his-and-hers mausoleums, big white marble boxes with heavy columns in front. Cabin one was the biggest and bulkiest of the twelve. Its polished bronze doors shimmered like a hologram, so that from different angles lightning bolts seemed to streak across them. Cabin two was more graceful somehow, with slimmer columns garlanded with pomegranates and flowers. The walls were carved with images of peacocks.

Zeus and Hera, Hick observed. She looked up at the sky. Well, here I am. You got what you wanted, Zeus. Thanks to you, I'm gonna be pulverized by tomorrow night.

The sky rumbled, as Hick had anticipated. She rolled her eyes. Typical. Like she was going to be intimidated by the same loud boom of thunder she's been hearing for eighteen years and counting.

A chorus of giggles came from the distance and Hick saw a group of Aphrodite demi-gods, two boys and three girls, approaching them. One girl stood out as the leader of the pack. She was tall and Asian, with her dark hair worn in ringlets and perfect makeup. She kind of reminded Hick of those tall, slim beautiful K-pop girl band members, with her big pretty eyes, flawless skin and soft feminine facial features. Simply standing next to her made Hick feel like an utter dwarf.

"Hey! You're Hick, right? I'm Drew Tanaka," the pretty girl smiled sweetly. Tanaka, Hick thought. So she's Japanese. Annabeth narrowed her eyes at the daughter of Aphrodite and laid a protective hand on Hick's shoulder.

"What do you want, Drew?" snapped Annabeth. Hick flinched at the hostility in Annabeth's voice. She obviously didn't like this girl very much, and Annabeth didn't seem like the kind of person that hated people randomly. Hick stared at Drew apprehensively, feeling slightly uncomfortable.

"It's nothing. Jason's arrived. He wants to see the newcomer he'll be working with for the quest," Drew shrugged, sizing Hick up and down as the poor girl squirmed under her scrutiny. Drew raised her brows. Painfully plain fashion sense, healthy complexion, luscious auburn locks curling at the shoulders… Hick seemed too sunshine and rainbows to be a child of Hades for Drew.

That was until she settled her sight on Hick's round doe-eyes.

Drew's smirk vanished, and the disconcerted look evident in her eyes was replaced by a sense of uneasiness. Something about those purple eyes made her uneasy as they drew her in, as if it was sucking her soul out of her body. Fear crept in, seizing her by the throat and closing up her air passage. She quickly averted her eyes, trying to control her erratic breathing.

"He's finally arrived? Well, it's almost evening and we have to prepare for the competition. He can meet her then," Annabeth intervened.

"Yeah, he's hanging out with Piper at the amphitheatre now so I don't think he's in a hurry. Anyways, he's brought a prophecy and a gift from the titan, Phoebe, to Hick," one of the Aphrodite girls piped up, snapping noisily away at a mega-huge wad of bubbly gum.

"What?!" Annabeth exclaimed.

"Sorry, what's going on?" Hick piped in, feeling utterly lost and left out. Annabeth had kept on answering in her stead that Hick had not had the chance to ask the Aphrodite kids any questions to clarify what they meant, let alone utter a word. Who's Jason? Who's Phoebe?

"Phoebe, the Titan of Bright Intellect and Prophecy. It's usually the gods that give out personal prophecies. Phoebe has never given out prophecies to demi-gods, let alone interfere in our affairs... No Titan has, until…" Annabeth trailed off, staring at Hick. Hick froze, her eyes wide with fear. "Am... Am I in trouble?"

Annabeth shook her head. "No. I don't think... I don't know."

Hick gulped. Oh damn. If a daughter of Athena has no idea, then I'm royally screwed.

To be continued...