Chapter 17

Hippies and Alcatraz

Blade Roberts

After we ran away, we were on a road that looked like all the other ones. A big stone apartment building on each side. "We're on Golden Gate Avenue." Annabeth said.

"We need to get to Oak street" Sapphire said.

"That's not where Alcatraz is, is it?" Percy asked.

"No, we need to get to Hippie Hill." Leo started bouncing. "Oooh, oooh, do we get to smoke their weed?" Leo asked exitedly.

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Leo, I don't think they actually smoke weed." Leo looked at her suspiciously. "We'll see, won't we."

"Besides, It's not like they'll share." Topaz reasoned.

"True." He turned.

"You want to put money on it, Annabeth?"

"No."

"Why? Are you chicken? Or are you broke?" He looked up. "HA! You know that I'm right! All hippies smoke weed!"

He proceeded to do a victory dance that made him look like he had to go to the bathroom.

"We're here." Percy said, anxious to stop Leo's dance.

"Cool, Annabeth, you owe me 20 bucks."

"I didn't agree to put money on it. Besides, we don't even know if you're right yet."

He glared at her.

Nico shook his head. "That's pretty sad. Sapphire, how can you go out with someone who doesn't even know how to glare?"

"You'll have to teach him."

"There is no teaching someone. It has to come from your soul."

"Like you have one." Nico glared at him, a lot more scary than the way Leo had. He yelped and hid behind Sapphire. "Help! Too...Scary..." He fainted. Sapphire rolled her eyes. "Come on, Fire boy, get up."

He didn't move.

Sapphire slapped him hard across the face. "OW! WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO THAT FOR! MY FACE IS BEING BURNED BY ACID! HOW CAN YOU HIT SO FUCKING HARD?" He rubbed his face and moaned. Nico smirked. "She has impecable strength for one so small." Sapphire walked over to him. Snow threw herself in front of him. "No! Leave my teddy bear alone!"

"Move it shorty!"

"Okay, I am NOT short. I am 5'5. That is not short for a girl. Or a guy for that matter."

"Nico is like 5'10. That makes you short."

"No it doesn't! And you're 5'4

"Tinkerbelle!"

"What?"

"You have tiny feet. They're like size 4."

"Nico, do you think my feet are small?"

"No, you're my Cinderella."

"Aww." She hugged him.

"See! And anyway, Leo is less than five feet tall."

"Why you draggin' me down? I didn't do anything!"

"You're short."

"Ha ha." Snow said.

"Quit your bickering. We need to focus. We're kind of lost. Snow, where are we?" Annabeth.

She laughed. "Oh, hippie hill. We just need to go around and take a ferri to the island."

"Not so fast, children." We turned in the direction of the voice. It was a beautiful woman with sleek wavy red hair, green eyes, and a designer dress. Leo blinked. "Who are you?"

She smiled. "I am Pheme, goddess of fame."

"Cool," Blade said. "Are you here to help us with our quest?"

"As a matter of fact, yes. I am here to give you some advice and a gift."

"What's the gift?"

"Oh, you kids these days. It would be better to give you the advice first, then the gift, which will help you in your quest."

"Well, if you're not going to ask, I'll tell you what you need to do. Firstly, you seek out Frank Morris and his cohorts."

"Why?" Blade asked.

"We think that history is repeating itself. The very same thing happened when Alcatraz was formed. The monsters were trying to do the same thing. They were using demigods as their lab rats for their death experiments."

"Death experiments?" Percy asked.

Pheme ignored the question and smiled."I suspect that Alcatraz was used to hold the more violent demigods. Does no one else find it suspicious that they had a prison on an island, isolated, with no contact with the outside world? Al Capone, for instance was the son of Ares."

"Really?" Caspia asked.

"Yes. Why do you think he was so violent?"

"Anyway, the prison was run by monsters, and was created at the request of the gods. But the monsters, unsurprisingly, eventually turned on the demigods and killed them against the gods wishes. They were labeled as "Attacks on the guards" and were permitted to be uncharged. The gods remained oblivious to the turning of the monsters for a time."

"How could they not realize?" Leo asked.

"Please listen dear boy."

"There was one record of an escape from Alcatraz. Frank Morris and his friends Clarance and John Anglin and Allan West. Morris was the son of Poseidon, the Anglin brothers were children of Hermes, and West was the son of Hades."

"Over the course of two years, Morris, West and the Anglin brothers created a raft and constructed lifelike dummies created in their image out of paper mache' and human hair collected from the prison's barbershop to place in their cells, and stole prison tools for digging. So many escape materials had been used by the conspirators that they had created a workshop above their cell row."

"West asked if he could cover the area with blankets, saying that the dust from the workshop was falling into his cell. They proceeded to dig their way out, and on the night of June 11th 1962, they left through the vents in their cells, all but Allan West, who masterminded the whole plot, and was left behind, because he couldn't get the vent open in time. This was obviously no accident, if he was able to come up with all that and they couldn't, surely he could do something as simple as open a vent!"

"Never the less, Morris and the Anglin brothers left, put the dummies in their beds, and fashioned a raft out of their coats. Only a son of Poseidon could pull that off. They left, and bodies were found in the ocean, as well as the bags with their personal belongings, and they were presumed drowned. However, the body found did have the DNA of one of Morris's relatives, but not Morris himself. They are all still alive today," Snow chimed in.

Pheme clapped silently. "Very good, Snow. Though I must say, where is the other half of your skirt?"

"Anyway, you will find Frank Morris is still on Alcatraz, using a work of the gods to stay alive forever."

"A youth fountain?" Topaz guessed.

Pheme nodded. "Yes, indeed, a youth fountain. But, as we all know, eternal youth always has a price to pay for someone. The youth fountain takes human lives to run, and however long that person had to live, is how many years are added to their lifespan. Children are the best to use, because they have the most life left in them, and softer skin to add to the mixture. You should defeat them, but also get information from them about how it happened last time."

"Are they working alone or for the opposing cause?" Nico asked. "Also where is Allan West now?"

"Both very good questions, which I'm afraid you'll have to learn from them. Aulthough, I still have my gift to give."

"What is it already?" Leo demanded.

She smiled at us. "Your friend Snow has been having trouble with some of her visions, correct? I have something I aquired from the god of the prophecy himself."

"Apollo?" Percy guessed.

"Yes. In the seventeenth century, around 42, Apollo's own Oracle of Delphi was having trouble recieving the prophecies, and everyone thought she had broken her vow of maidenhood, and that the spirit had left her. But Apollo had Hephaestus forge a ring, that would mend the spirit of delphi if it was still inside her. He gave it to her, and as soon as she slipped it on her finger, she emmited the green smoke and gave one of the great prophecies."

"But isn't it possible that she had broken her vow of maidenhood and the ring has its own power of prophecy?" Annabeth asked.

"Well yes, but either way it will help your friend. The ring is meant to strengthen the power of prophecy, but its design was not specified for delphi. Anyone with the gift can use it. "

"So where is it?" Caspia asked.

"Oh, silly me!"

She reached into her handbag and brought out a silver engraved ring with a sparkling ruby in the middle. It seemed to radiate different colors, like a combonation rainbow and strobe light. It was beautiful, and still shining, but something about it was ancient, aulthough she said it was made only in 1842.

She handed it gingerly to Snow. She put it on her left hand. "Oh, you look lovely dear! I hope it helps you as much a it looks pretty!"

"Oh, and one more thing, a gift for the daughter of Athena."

She put her whole arm in her purse, like Mary Poppins. "Now where is that wretched thing?...Ah, her it is." She presented it to Annabeth.

"It's...an ear." Annabeth observed.

"A large ear." Sapphire noted.

"Oh, it's not just an ear. It's a magical ear. You hold it over your regular ear and it grafts onto it, and will not fall off, no matter what happens, and it cannot be removed by any hand but yours. It allows you to listen to anyone's conversation, no matter where it is. As long as you know the names of everyone that you want to listen to in the conversation, it will work."

She looked impressed. "Thank you Pheme."

"Oh, it's really no trouble dear. And I have a second piece of advice, for the son off Hades. Remmember the story of the Alcatraz prisoners. It is not uncommon for children of Hades to be slighted. You will always be the most powerful, and most feared, and you are outcasted because of it. But things can turn out brightly for a child of the Underworld. Some can aspire to greatness."

"Good luck, my heros."