Hey so here is chapter 4! I got a couple of questions about me including Percy, Annabeth, etc. I am planning to but they will be more minor characters or helpers throughout the quest rather than main characters because I think they already had their moment of glory in the titan war lol. It has been a long time since I read the series but I'm going to put the story like they are a year or two older than everyone else rather than the same age so most of them are trying to live normal lives especially since I think they were more traumatized in the titan war. I'm open to opinions if you like this idea or not. But if you don't then give me suggestions about what I should do with them.
Hope you guys like it!
Katie's Pov:
Within like 10 minutes of discussion all of us were in a heated argument. Everyone had their opinions, fears, tactics, and plans. Plenty of people will say that the most dangerous situation to be in is in a natural disaster or an angry mob. I realized that the most dangerous is a crowd of scared people. With fear comes anger, confusion, and frustration. Common logic is thrown out the window as people search for the easiest way to escape their fear no matter the cost.
Malcolm just looked tired as he tried to calm everyone down but failed and now he looked like he was about to give up. Katie(K) suddenly stood on the table and screamed at the top of her lungs. "EVERYONE JUST SHUT UP! WE ARE ALL TRYING TO FIGURE THIS OUT! I KNOW THAT EVERYONE IS SCARED BUT WE NEED TO REMEMBER THAT WE DETERMINE WHETHER OUR FUTURE IS DESTROYED OR NOT AND I DON'T THINK WE ARE GETTING ANYWHERE ARGUING WITH EACH OTHER! JUST SHUT UP AND LISTEN TO MALCOLM!"
Everyone stared at her shocked. I felt like crying but I held it back to not show signs of any weakness. Malcolm gave her a look as in to say 'thank you.' I sat back in my seat, arms folded across my chest, and focused my attention to Malcolm.
"Okay well I think we should focus on the prophecy piece-by-piece so let's start with the first two lines." Malcolm suggested.
"The prophecy said, 'A family from night and darkness shall rise to redeem their power through the Gods demise..." Travis repeated.
"They must mean the goddess Nyx and god Erebus. She is the goddess of the night and he is god of darkness." Jake concluded.
Chris looked confused. "I thought Artemis was goddess of the night?"
"No she is goddess of the moon but she is associated with Nyx but their relationship is more of the 'keep your friends close but keep your enemies' closer' sorta thing. Besides, the prophecy said 'a family' and Artemis is a maiden goddess so that rules her out." Vanessa answered. Everyone nodded in agreement.
"All right well since we all agree to that..." Malcolm whipped out his laptop. "Let's do a bit of research and see what we can find." Everyone gathered around Malcolm; Vanessa and Katie (K) leaning over his shoulders.
"So Nyx and Erebus do have a family...a big family." Katie (K) stated.
"But look, most of them were sent back to Tartarus in the Titan War so those guys aren't reappearing for now so that leaves mostly the immediate family members." Leila pointed out.
"Okay so their family tree goes like this: Nyx (goddess of the night) + Erebus (god of darkness) = four sons who are named Phobetor/Icelus (god of nightmares in dreams in form of animals or monsters), Morpheus (god of dreams), and the two twins, Hypnos (god of sleep) and Thanatos (god of death). Hypnos+ Pasithea (goddess of hallucination) = Phantasos (god of dreams of fantasy; appeared in dreams in form of inanimate objects)." Mary concluded. Everyone thought over about what she said for a few seconds then nodded slowly agreeing.
"So they are going to try to take over Olympus?" I asked.
Malcolm made a face and nodded. "They are like vultures or an opportunistic infection. After destruction has been done by something else and is weakened, they just swoop in and take over and finish you completely."
"What cowards...they can't fight like real enemies." Chris grumbled.
" are like masterminds. They let other people do their dirty work and after that is done then they come in and take over and get the credit. It is just the way our society is." I pointed out.
"Well they think that we are weak enough for them to control so we have to prove them wrong." Katie (K) said.
Travis' Pov:
I honestly tried to pay attention but Katie's legs kept attracting me. I didn't want to look like a creeper and stare at her legs forever but they looked really good. They were long, nice, tan...Stop Travis! Katie already hates you for yesterday. When she was wearing her green sports bra and shorts... Gah! Gods help me...
Katie glanced at me and gave me a small smile and took my hand as in to say 'you're forgiven.' Okay so whether you believe this or not...we started to play thumb-wrestle with our hands under the table while pretending to pay attention to what was being said. I think it's a secretive way for us to hold hands without making it look like we are holding hands.
"So the next line says 'Council Leaders of seven shall step forth'" Jake said.
"Easy enough. Seven out of nine of us are going while two of us stays here. We just have to figure out which two are staying." I finished. Malcolm nodded and continued.
"'Daughter of Harvest and Son of Commerce; Bond of unknowing love will strengthen or decease'" Malcolm repeated.
"Self-Explanatory!" Everyone said at once then laughed while Katie and I blushed.
"Hmm 'All eight will return alive but one is lost forever.' What do you think that means?" Katie (K) asked.
"This is the only part that I'm still trying to figure out..." Malcolm said quietly while thinking.
"Does that mean that one of us won't return?" Vanessa asked, close to tears.
"Wait but remember before... it said seven of us will leave. How will we come back with eight? The two people are already staying here so they will be safe in camp so it can't be them. But then again how can the prophecy say all eight will return safely but one is lost forever? How can you be lost but still return back to camp?" Leila asked.
"You know what... my head hurts from all this thinking and I think we have had enough of today. Lets sleep on it and tomorrow at 10am we come back and discuss our thoughts about it. The last two lines are easy so we don't need to go over them. Sounds good?" Chris suggested. Everyone agreed and left to do their own things.
Katie and I stood up but not before beating her in thumb-wrestle and left out of the Big House. We walked together closely, our arms occasionally brushing against each other. Katie had her 'thinking mask' on which, I hate to admit it, found it cute. "You know," I said, snapping her out of her thoughts, "The way your face is right now I should get a stamp and place is on your forehead so it can read 'processing...'." She slapped my finger away from her face and stuck her tongue out at me.
"Sorry I'm just thinking about the prophecy." She said.
"Really? I thought you were thinking about Connor!" I said, feigning a surprise look. She laughed and playfully shoved me away.
"You know...I think we should Iris Message Annabeth and Percy." Katie said.
"Why?" I asked, actually surprised by her spontaneous idea.
"Maybe they can help us in figuring the proph-"Katie started.
"No." I replied, interrupting her. I stood firmly in front of her, my hands resting on her shoulders. "They did their job already and I don't want to burden them with another prophecy in our hands. They clearly stated that they wanted to live as much of a normal life as possible so I don't want to include them unless we really really have to."
Katie sighed, "You're right. But can we still message them just to say hi?" She looked up at me, hopeful.
I sighed, "Alright."
We entered the Demeter cabin and walked up to their garden fountain. I pulled out a drachma and handed it to Katie. "O Goddess Iris. Please accept this offering. Show me Annabeth Chase, New York City."
A vision appeared of Annabeth apparently working on some blueprints for a building. "Hey Annabeth!" We called out simultaneously. Annabeth jumped then turned with a look of annoyance on her face but when she recognized us she smiled.
"Hey guys! What's up?"She greeted.
"Nothing much. Just wanted to say hi and how's college life." I answered casually.
"Life is good! College is eh but definitely better than high school. I'm just working on one of my many architectural projects for class. Ugh... I waste so much paper that I'm pretty sure that the tree in front of our apartment building wants to grow legs and come up to kill me to avenge its family. Then don't even get me started on Juniper's everyday rant about my waste of paper. I'm starting to prefer the killer-tree theory." Annabeth said as she made a face. We all laughed as Percy came through the door.
"Can you believe Thalia? I have been trying to get her but then it just goes straight to her voicemail!" he complained. "Then her voicemail is 'Hey this is Thalia. I don't feel like picking up the phone so leave a message at the tone. Or I'll strike you.'" Percy imitated Thalia's voice then went deep when he said 'Or I'll strike you' part.
I smirked, Katie giggled, and Annabeth rolled her eyes and muttered 'Seaweed Brain.' Percy looked up and noticed us. "Hey! Travis! Katie! Long time no see." he smiled
"Hey Percy. So hows it going?" Katie asked.
Percy shrugged his shoulders, "Same old, same old. A couple of monsters here and there but nothing big. How is Camp Half-Blood?" Katie and I shared a look.
"Well...it's camp." Katie answered, uncertainly. Now Percy and Annabeth shared a look.
"Really? Anything new popped up?" Percy questioned.
"Sorry but it looks like our time is up! Talk to you guys later!" I said quickly and swiped through the vision.
"Well that was close..." Katie said. I nodded. We remained silent for a minute.
"I'm gonna head to my cabin and call it a night. See you later." I said, walking out and Katie walked me to the door. She gave me a kiss on the cheek.
"Thanks for everything Travis. You really are my best friend." Katie smiled and closed the door.
I smiled and walked back to my cabin and fell asleep.
Katie's Pov:
In the morning...
I woke up at 7:30am so I decided to change into a turquoise tank top with designed lace at the edges, white shorts, and left my hair down in natural waves. It was still early so I turned on the TV, lowering the volume so my siblings wouldn't wake up, and watched the world news. I curled up on the couch and listened intently.
Announcer: "Breaking News! A weird phenomenon is happening to the people Mykonos. Mykonos is off the coast of Greece, one of those many islands. The people are calling it 'Sleeping Beauty Syndrome'. Children, as well as few adults are being affected. They are sleeping for days on end with no apparent symptoms. Adults have to violently shake their kids in order for them to wake up and eat, etc. Unfortunately this is leading to a growing number of brain damage to children particularly infants due to the suffering of 'shaken-baby syndrome'. Scientists and researchers are working hard to find information on this strange occurrence but none has been found so far so until then this is Debby Ferguson reporting. Back to you Dave..."
"Oh my gods..." I whispered. I sprinted out of my cabin and ran to the Athena cabin in order to find Malcolm. I pounded on the door and shouted, "Malcolm! Open up! This is an emergency!" Malcolm opened the door wearing jeans and a Camp Half-Blood shirt.
"Hey Katie. What is- Ahhh!" He yelled, as I grabbed his arm and dragged him to the Big House. I pushed him down on the couch and turned on the TV and made him listen to the news. I was way too upset to say anything and just watched Malcolm's expressions as the news went on. When it was done, I turned off the TV.
He turned to me and seriously said, "We need to get the others now. We don't have much time." Within 5 minutes everyone was here. Most of us were still in our pajamas and sleepy. Malcolm took the remote and showed everyone the news on the TV.
"I realized that we missed one piece of crucial information that the prophecy told us. In the very beginning it said 'Within a year'. That could mean anything between today and the next nine months." Malcolm admitted.
"And apparently it's starting now." Leila added.
"We need to look back over the information that we do have. There is something that we are missing." Jake said, frustrated.
"I don't know about you guys but I call watching the television so see if I see anything out of the ordinary." Chris announced, quickly leaving the room.
"Well he moves fast." Vanessa stated bluntly, arms crossed.
"Whatever. Forget about him. But he may find something, knowing him." Mary said.
"Okay let's review everything that we know." Katie(K) suggested. "We are dealing with gods and goddesses of darkness, night, and objects so I'm guessing generally the mind because of the word 'dream.'
"Good." Malcolm commented. "Okay well if seven of us start off but eight of us returns that could be the possibility that someone is going to join the group of seven during the quest and return with them. The two people here will just be here I guess helping in some way or form and will be out of harm's way."
"Alright," I agreed, "So that leaves the 'one that will be lost forever'... Leila's question before is right on the spot. How can you return to camp but be lost at the same time?" Chris returned to room. His face had the exact expression of undeniable terror.
"I know how," he said. "That one person will return to camp but... only physically. They will be mentally unstable..."
"They will lose their mind forever." Travis announced.
Wow...I hope that was a dramatic ending for you guys! This chapter was long and took me a while to write but you guys are worth it lol. I imagined dark dramatic background music to be playing as they figured it out. Hope you guys liked the chapter! Submissions for a character are still open!
Review plz!
-PhoenicianKnight