The Abduction of the Poppy
Percy Jackson and the Olympians fanfiction by Tohkalia and Miss-Li-ding
DISCLAIMER: We own PJO... My sarcasm detector is pinging. I wonder why...
Chapter 2 - A Dying Tree, A Prophecy and the Call of Nature
"Can all heads and deputies of cabins please meet immediately at the Big House?"
Viv was unhappily pulled from her sleep by the message blaring through the intercom that was handily connected in each cabin.
With a groan she opened her eyes and leaned over the ledge of her bunk and peered down at Jacob's bunk below her. It was empty. Oh... right. He had gotten a minor concussion protecting some Aphrodite-spawn. Vivian sighed at her brother's folly. Now she was obliged to go and see whatever Chiron had intercommed for. Being a representative of a group wasn't her best strength, which was why she was deputy.
Sliding down the ladder, she chose her sister Jane to be the acting deputy whilst assuring the rest of her siblings that she would go instead of Jacob. She hastily changed into a camp T-shirt and a pair of board-shorts. She quickly brushed her hair, pulled it back into a messy ponytail and ran over to the big house, Jane doing likewise and following her.
They were one of the last to arrive which meant that she was already scowling when she got to the meeting. Nathan was there. She walked up to him, cross.
"What are you doing here, isn't Patricia the head and Oliver the deputy?"
Nathan shrugged, "They aren't here. So it's just me and my new sister Eliza." He motioned to a young girl who stood shyly behind him. "Eliza, this is Vivian. Remember what I said about her?"
The girl proceeded to speak in a strong British accent. "That she's a daughter of Nemesis, your adoptive sister and is also a great huge smarta-"
"What?" Nathan cut her off as his cheeks coloured. "I didn't tell you that, did I?"
Vivian wasn't fooled. "Very funny Nathan." There were no more chances of retorts from either party as the Nyx cabin head and deputy, who happened to be Angeline, arrived, and Chiron started the meeting.
"All right now campers, the Demeter cabin has something to say." The head girl of Demeter, Julian or Jules or something, stepped forward. She was pale and her eyes were red-rimmed.
"As you all know, in the middle of the Demeter cabin is a tree, planted there by mother and sustained with her power. But when Alexis woke up in the middle of the night, the tree had died, which probably means- means-" she took a shaky breath, "Demeter- There's something wrong with Demeter."
Most of the gathering erupted into chatter except for Viv and a few others. There was no one near her who she would normally talk to. As per usual for some strange reason, the Aphrodite-spawn were to her right, while Nathan and his sister were to her left. She and Jane weren't that close and both weren't the type to prolong a meeting. However much she didn't want to hear it, the Aphrodite gossip was still better than the sound of silence, to a certain extent.
"Like, oh my gods, I can't, like, believe that this is happened. Poor Demeter..." Then they both were silent as they stopped to reapply their makeup. Chiron stomped one of his hooves, a call for silence. Gradually the room became silent and Chiron began again.
"We are here to organise a party to go and see Demeter and to ascertain what is wrong. Are there any volunteers?" Of course, the head of the Demeter cabin raised her hand. The head of Dionysus also raised his. That left space for one more. Viv looked towards the Athena cabin, sure that one of them would decide to go too but was surprised to find that the last volunteer was Angeline.
Chiron nodded. "Very well. You three shall set off first thing in the morning. You may go back to your cabins now."
The noise level rose again, until someone shouted out, "Don't they need to visit the Oracle?"
Viv glared at him. She wanted to go back to sleep, curse him.
Chiron cleared his throat. "This is only a reconnaissance mission. They are not expected to search for Demeter. Once they come back with a report, we will then consult the Oracle if need be." Chiron stamped his hoof to show he needed no extra decision on the matter. "Now, I think the rest of you can go back to your cabins. As for transport, Argus will take you there in the van. Now, shoo, all of you."
Viv didn't bother to look back as she hurried to her cabin. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Nathan moving in to talk with Angeline with Eliza tagging behind him. She was in half a mind to walk back and see what they were talking about, but a wave of drowsiness washed through her. Oh well. She could always interrogate Nathan tomorrow.
Angeline was going to go on the recon trip? Nathan raised an eyebrow. Huh. Interesting... Man, was he sleepy... He had foolishly played a game on his Mimtemdo SD late into the night and only got a few hours' sleep before he was woken up by Chiron and the meeting. He laid his head down on the ping-pong table and closed his eyes.
THUMP! A loud bang jolted him up again. He stirred only to catch the last few words. "...you...van...shoo, all of you." Grumbling to himself, he got up, and, after spotting Angeline in the group of people, pushed through the crowd towards her. "Angeline!"
She turned around. "Buttface! Good to see you."
"I feel so loved..."
"You must be Angeline..." Nathan turned around to see Eliza behind him. Ever since he had saved her from Viv's wrath she had ghosted him. She also possessed the ability to know people's names from vague descriptions.
Nathan sighed. "Yes, that's Angeline."
The three of them started walking slowly towards the cabins. "Just curious, but why did you volunteer for the recon mission?" asked Nathan.
"Yeah, aren't you a daughter of...uh...Nixon or something?" chimed Eliza.
Angeline shrugged. "Why not? And it's Nyx, not Nixon. Geez. I haven't been on a mission forever either..."
Nathan mock-pouted. "Come on Angieeeeeeee..."
Angeline stiffened. "Don't call me Angie, Nathaniel." she snapped.
"My name's not Nathaniel." Don't ask him how he knew, but he was sure there was another reason why she wanted to go.
There was silence for a moment. Eliza seemed to be looking funnily at Angeline.
Angeline suddenly huffed. "My grandmother Miranda was a daughter of Demeter. So I suppose I should, for Nana." Nathan smiled inwardly. So that'swhat Eliza was doing. If she didn't end up as a reasonably powerful daughter of Tyche, he would eat his hat.
Eliza frowned. "But, that's like, ages ago!"
Nathan nodded. "Wasn't Miranda Gardiner around in the Second Titan War and the Second Giant War? As a fighter?"
"Yeah, she used to rave about it all the time..."
Wow. That would have been so cool! "I wish I knew your Nana..." he said wistfully. "Percy Jackson's one of my favourite heroes."
Angeline nodded. They didn't speak until they got to the Nyx cabin, where Eliza and Nathan wished her good night.
"Second Titan and Giant Wars, huh?" said Eliza.
"Yep, they were epic, apparently."
Eliza was unusually quiet for a moment. "Uh...so who's Percy Jackson? What's the Second Titan War? And the Second Giant War as well."
Needless to say, neither of them got much sleep that night.
Nathan was, coincidentally on the patrol when it happened. The dragon that had guarded the Golden Fleece that protected the camp had in the last few years… Well, he was responsible for a couple of the satyrs reincarnating into flowers. Until the vacancy was filled, there had to be border patrols to protect them from any Cyclopes that might want to take it.
It had been three days since Eye-guy had taken away the recon team, and things had deteriorated. The strawberry fields had turned yellow as well as the grass and most of the trees. They were only barely clinging to life because of the Demeter children, and even that was hard for them to do. It wasn't so bad in the other places in the world- it seemed that the effects of Demeter's absence were spreading out slowly.
He was just about to swap over guard when suddenly the familiar battle call of Ares was played out on the trumpet. It came from the direction of Thalia's tree. Maybe Angeline was back! But why would the war call be played? Looking out towards Thalia's tree, Nathan saw the reason. The recon team hadreturned, but Nathan felt his stomach drop. Shadowy, dark canine shapes started loping up half-blood hill.
"Hell-hounds!" The shout was carried down to him by a helpful wind. Nathan was already running, activating his keychain. He didn't look to see what it said, just kept running. The keychain turned from the shape of a ball to a spear. Oh well, it would have to do. Others on patrol closer to the tree than Nathan had already begun to charge at the hell-hounds, they were holding back two of the three but, the third one ran by unchallenged.
Nathan was close to Angeline now; she was just around ten, twenty metres in front of him. But, he could see that the hell-hound would get to Angeline before he did.
Nathan closed his eyes, drew his arm back and, using more luck than he had ever tried before, with an additional prayer to his mother, he threw the spear at the hell-hound, hoping his aim would be good enough to stop it in its tracks.
His mother must have been in a really good mood, for the spear flew unhindered through the air and struck the hell-hound straight in its chest, though, because of the celestial bronze tip Nathan didn't see much of the gore before the hell-hound dissipated into smoke. Nathan skidded to a halt besides Angeline and shook her.
"Angeline? Angeline!"
She was silent.
Knowing she would hate him for it but not caring anyway, Nathan slung her over across his shoulders and raced back with her across the border. He put her down next to the tree and shook her again, albeit a bit gentler than before. "Angeline?"
No reaction. Her eyes were open but they seemed to be focusing on something far away. Nathan picked her up under her arms and placed her in the shadowy side of the tree. Her eyes started to focus a bit. That had to be better than before, Nathan mused.
A deep growl brought his thoughts back to the present. The others who had been on patrol were still fighting the remaining hell-hounds. Nathan went to reach inside his pocket for his keychain… except that he had no pocket. He cursed under his breath. Stupid shorts. His weapon would now be safely inside his Camp Half-Blood endorsed hoodie, hanging on his peg in the Tyche cabin.
So, being unable to help his comrades by fighting, he lucked them on. By the time reinforcements arrived the other hell-hounds were all sent back to Tartarus.
Nathan unstrapped his helmet as the last of the hell-hounds was finished off. When the Apollo medics came around, Nathan called one over. He stepped out of the way as the Apollo kid checked Angeline over. She opened her eyelids, flashed a light in them, felt her pulse on her neck and checked her temperature, along with a variety of other tests which Nathan lost count of. When she had finished checking Angeline, she turned and looked at Nathan.
"Are you her friend?" Nathan gulped. Could something be seriously wrong with her? Nervously he nodded. "Good then. I need you to slap her."
"Why can't you do it?" Nathan didn't really want to die right then and there.
The medic girl seemed to have the same thought process. "I prefer life." She shrugged. "She'll probably be less inclined to kill you." Nathan gruffly nodded, gulped nervously and tried his version at slapping her, which was more of a tap.
The Apollo medic snorted. "Come on now; imagine she's someone you hate."
Nathan squeezed his eyes shut and imagined Viv's smug face after taking revenge on him. He slapped Angeline. When he opened his eyes the Apollo medic was nodding approvingly. "Remind me not to get on your bad side."
Angeline seemed to come around, glaring at Nathan while rubbing her cheek.
"Hey, I was just acting on directions of a medic." He grumbled, before remembering that he was worried about her. "Are you ok? What happened out there, you kind of spaced out…"
Angeline looked away and was silent for a few seconds, but then abruptly snorted.
"I don't know, idiot, probably the result of being near you again or of doing physical exercise in daylight." She shuddered at the thought, but to Nathan, it seemed forced. "How'd I get here anyway?"
A call from another medic caused the Apollo girl to get to her feet. "I think I'll trust you in making sure she gets to the infirmary." The medic excused herself and rushed over to her brother.
When everyone was out of earshot he sheepishly mumbled, "I kind of carried you."
"I hate being man-handled, Nathan."
"Hey, it was either let you be eaten by hell-hounds or carry you." Angeline was silent for a moment and then sighed.
"Fine." Suddenly, the Demeter girl, Julian, and the Dionysus boy, Kevin, who had also been on the recon team, walked up to Angeline.
"Angeline, we need to go to the big house and report back to Chiron." Angeline nodded at the Julian's order and got to her feet, but not for long.
"Whoa!" Angeline lost her balance and braced herself against the tree for support.
"Hey, let me help you." Nathan stood up and offered his shoulder. After a second's hesitation Angeline accepted his help and put her right arm around his left shoulder.
Nathan awkwardly let his left arm hang until Angeline snapped and said, "For Olympus' sake Nate, just put your hand around my waist." Nathan did as she said. Julian giggled in amusement as he slowly made their way towards the Big House.
"So what happened at Olympus?" Nathan asked. The fact that hell-hounds had been chasing them wasn't the best indication.
"Let's just say that what we found at Demeter's temple wasn't the most promising."
Vivian wiped her hands on her apron once she had finally finished glitterfying (note to self: make that a word) a junior camper's ukulele. Those muse kids had nothing on her skills. The junior camper, a ten year old child of Apollo, grinned happily up at Viv. She replied with an equally happy smile before resuming her usual blank face when the junior camper ran over to her friends.
She glared at all the other senior campers with a look that said, 'ruin-her-ukelele-and-there-will-be-Hades-to-suffer'. They nodded, somewhat hesitant, in response. Pleased they had got the message, Viv hung her apron on the hook and walked out of the arts and crafts hut. She really needed to go to the bathroom.
A moment later, Viv nearly jumped out of her skin as a nearby intercom buzzed to life.
"Attention all heads and deputies of cabins, please meet at The Big House ASAP." the message repeated again, and again, and again.
"I get the message Chiron, so shut up." Sadly, the intercom was a one-way device. With a sigh Viv jogged over to the head house, curious if the meeting had to do anything with the recon team. She had a gut feeling that they were back, and from the look of the strawberry fields she had a feeling there wasn't going to be good news.
Within a reasonable amount of time Viv had reached The Big House. She turned the handle and walked into the main room to find most of the other heads and deputies had already arrived. The back of the room was breezy so she pushed her way through until she was at the front. Nathan was sitting on a chair, armour on, head in hands. An Apollo kid gave him a cup of nectar which he sipped at gratefully. So Nathan had been lucking, Viv guessed. Not much reason to keep observing him. Angeline, the Demeter-girl and the Dionysus-boy were all standing at full alert.
Chiron entered the room with the new Oracle, Jenny. The old Oracle, Miss Thomson, retired from the job after breaking her hip. Her niece Jenny took up the position. Even though she was thirteen, visions flowed through her easily.
Finally, the last cabin to arrive (Hypnos, what a surprise), burst through the door then settled meekly among the back row.
"Now that we have all gathered," Chiron's voice carried through the air, "we shall consult the Oracle, for we do not have much time to lose. The recon team has returned, but with sad news; Demeter is gone. Hell-hounds and other creatures have been chasing them non-stop the moment they left Olympus, so, if any of you not chosen by the prophecy get any brave ideas, I hope you won't underestimate what you'll be up against. Jenny, if you will."
Chiron helped her get onto her Oracle chair- a tripod-like stool. Jenny took a shaky breath and closed her eyes. The green smoke that came out of her mouth always creeped out Viv. She instantly regretted being in the front row.
The tripled, reptilian voice of the Oracle echoed around the room.
"Brother born of luck and fortune
Seek the path that turns to ruin.
Sister born of justice spurned
Find the lady who has turned.
Daughter born of dark and night
Find the poppy, protect the light.
Three shall go and four shall come
But beware the plants that grow as one."
Viv shuddered as the green mist slithered back into Jenny's mouth. How could she lower herself to allow that parasite to infect her body? Thoughts on her opinions of the Oracle Spirit aside; the prophecy had struck a chord in Viv. She had heard prophecies before, and they were never this specific on details like who would go. Probably to make it all vague and mysterious. And they were never this cheerful.
The room burst into chattering. Chiron turned and talked to Jenny for a bit before looking deep in thought. It looked like pretty fake thoughtfulness to Viv. He was probably just trying to keep up the whole 'thoughtful and wise' mentor thing alive.
"You have heard all of the prophecy." Chiron stamped his hoof to gain attention. "All of you may leave except Nyx, Tyche and Nemesis cabins." He twisted around and reached into his saddlebag, drawing out the conch shell. "Can I have all of Nyx, Tyche and Nemesis cabins in The Big House immediately." He spoke into it and soon the intercoms blared into life, repeating his message two times.
The rest of the gathering sullenly slunk outside, trickling like a small stream. All the others except the Demeter-girl left. She wouldn't move an inch, but no-one really expected her to leave.
While waiting for the others to arrive Viv decided that socialising was the best way to pass the time. Temporary insanity was what she called it. She walked further into the room, not towards Nathan, who was still nursing a headache, but to Angeline. "Hey, how was the recon mission?"
Angeline looked at her strangely. "You... concerned? With me?"
Viv gave her a look.
Angeline shrugged. "I guess it was ok, minus the hell-hounds."
"What's so bad about them? It's not like they're drakons or something right? Ah... good times."
"What are you talking about? Drakons. I've never seen a drakon in my life thank-you-very-much. And I'm pretty sure you've never seen one either."
"That's what they want you to think..." Angeline rolled her eyes. Their attention was drawn to Chiron stamping his hoof... again. Didn't he know of another way of getting people's attention? He was going to break a hole in the floor if he kept it up.
"Now that we have all gathered, I shall repeat the prophecy and we will figure out who are the chosen ones."
Viv half-listened as Chiron repeated the prophecy. She had a few theories, none of the particularly appealing to her and thus didn't voice them. Unfortunately her brother Jacob had other plans.
"The first person to go is easy. It should be Nathan." he said.
The idiot himself, still with a headache, briefly straightened up at the mention of his name, but soon huddled down again from pain.
"Do you need more nectar, Nathan?" asked Chiron, immediately launching into his role as the concerned mother-figure.
"Nectar... not work... not physical pain." he muttered to his lap.
"You think he's one of the ones who's going to find Demeter?" said one of the Nyx cabin, half sneering. Most of the room chuckled in mutual agreement. Tristram Stewart was pretty persuasive, with his deep blue eyes and black hair. Apparently, he was the camp's closest definition to 'tall, dark and handsome'. Not that Viv paid any special attention to him... It was just that the Aphrodite-spawn always squealed over him and his 'stats'. In fact, she ignored him as most she could as whenever she talked to him, it turned into an argument.
"Hey, it's just like the stomach ache you get after making lights dimmer."
Like now. Viv clamped her mouth shut. Had she just defended Nathan? Was she going insane? First, wanting to talk and secondly, defending Nate! What next, seeing flying pigs and having sleep-overs with Aphrodite-spawn?
"Hey, he's the one not making grammatical sense."
"So grammar skills are what we need to find Demeter?" she mocked. The impending argument was put on hold by Jacob.
"I think Vivian is the second one." Vivian whipped around to face her traitorous brother.
"What did you say, Jacob?" She raised a single eyebrow.
Jacob quailed for a moment, looking sheepishly at Viv. "Well, you are his adoptive sister... and the wording in prophecies always matter. I mean, if it were 'cousins', then it would have been open to anyone in either cabin. But it was sister and brother."
"I agree." Chiron said. "Jacob's reasonings are sound. Vivian is the only one who could be considered a 'sister' to Nathan."
Viv frowned "Hold on, I am not going on a quest with that idiot."
"Demeter needs your help, Vivian, you don't have a choice. Oh, how horrible is it for you to have been chosen by the prophecy." sneered the Demeter-girl.
Viv glared hard at her. I owe you one annoying remark she mentally noted, upset that her aptly named 'Notebook of Debts' was in her cabin.
"Vivian, I know that even as siblings-"
"Adopted siblings." Both she and Nathan cut Chiron off. Viv glared at Nathan, who slunk back into his headache recovery position. If it was anyone else he probably would have said piase kokkino then touched something red, the superstitious idiot. But as they were bound to get into an argument sooner or later, he didn't even bother. (1)
"For adopted siblings," Chiron sighed, "you don't get on that well. But you must put your differences aside and work together for the greater good."
Viv gritted her teeth. She really hated it when any one brought out the 'greater good' card. Nonetheless she remained silent. It was better to let Chiron think he had made a good point than get into an argument with him.
"Now that we have sorted that out," Chiron turned away from Viv and towards the group of Nyx-children, "all we need to do now is find the 'Daughter of darkness and night'."
Simultaneously all of the male children of Nyx stepped back. Nyx didn't have that many demigod children, so there were about three candidates for the position.
There was Jess Rover, but she was thirteen and had only been claimed at the start of camp that year. From what Angeline said of her, she could be compared to an electrical dimmer. Not enough experience. Then there was Jazz Cook. She was noted for being a powerful offspring of Nyx. The other candidate was Angeline. They all stood in a line and faced Chiron.
A pause just long enough to be acknowledged as 'awkward' followed as they waited for Chiron to choose the other member of the team. He gave a horse-like nickering sound while shrugging his shoulders. "It's not up to me to choose the members of the team." He motioned to Viv and to Nathan, who had gotten up and was standing next to Viv, albeit leaning against the table.
They both looked at each other, and with a rare moment of telepathy that people gained after having lived in the same house for seven or so years, simultaneously said the same name.
"Angeline Lim." It was an easy choice for Viv. Jazz was probably more powerful, but Viv didn't know her enough to trust her with her life, which they might be forced to do. Angeline was a mace wielding maniac, but she was a mace wielding maniac that she trusted... well, at least to a higher degree than she did Jazz. Angeline briefly looked surprised, accepting praises from her siblings modestly before joining Nathan and Viv.
"Now it is settled, Argus will take you to New York tomorrow morning. From there, you will be on your own. I suggest you start preparing."
Viv sighed. Packing again? She was about to raise her voice to complain, but an uncomfortable feeling in her abdomen reminded her of the reason why she was out of the Arts and Crafts hut in the first place.
"Now that's all sorted, I hope no one will mind if I excuse myself to the bathroom."
(1) When 2 people say the same thing together they immediately say "piase kokkino" which means 'red touch', both must touch any red item they can find around. This happens because Greeks believe that saying the same thing is an omen and that the 2 persons will get into a fight or an argument if they don't touch a red thing.
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