CH. 9 – Destiny's Children
"Any volunteers?"
The cabin number eleven was deadly silent. Apparently no one wanted to go to the quest. Dexter swallowed, trying to force down his growing panic. What if he had to go alone?
"No one?" Vixen gazed around in the cabin. None of her siblings dared to meet her eyes. They twisted, looked at their shoes and hid behind each other.
"Look" Vixen said and sighed "I don't want to force anyone, but we really need one. And we have to save the god. We have to! Imagine a world without the sun, how fun would that be?"
Another silence followed. Dexter cleared his throat and got Vixen's attention.
"Can't you come with me?" Dexter asked her
"What?"
"You are an experienced demigod, aren't you?" Dexter continued "Can't you come along? That would feel…safest"
Vixen shook her head and looked distantly out one of the small windows "I can't"
"Why?"
Vixen hesitated, but before she could say anything else someone stood up and said with a shaky voice:
"I'll do it!"
Everyone looked at her. It was Terrwyn, the shy and quiet girl and the last one Dexter had imagined joining him on the quest.
"A-are you sure?" Vixen was just as shocked as everyone else in the cabin.
Terrwyn nodded, but her shaky breath and pale face told them the reverse.
Vixen looked at Terrwyn with an unreadable face and then she cracked up in a smile.
"Alright, then" she said and ruffled Terrwyn's hair "I believe you can do it!"
Dexter raised an eyebrow at the short girl. He thought they said something about sending "more experienced" demigods. Not that Dexter knew much about Terrwyn's experiences, but he didn't find her being that kind of person suited for an important and dangerous mission.
"I think it's time for sleep, you two will be off tomorrow" Vixen clapped Dexter on his back "You need as much rest as you can get, quite of an adventure awaits you!"
When mentioning it, Dexter suddenly felt how tired he was. He yawned and followed his cabin mates to do their evening routine. A short while later Dexter crawled into his sleeping bag and stared up at the ceiling. He was really tired, but a worried feeling clenched his insides and left him awake way after the others had fallen asleep. Wishing it all just had been a weird dream, Dexter rolled over to the side, yawning a last time and finally doze off.
He dreamt of falling. Falling downwards with nothing but darkness around him. He could sense the ground far below him, racing closer towards him. Soon he could make out a trail in the ground and something following it, like a snake with glowing yellow eyes slithering down a path. When coming closer, he realized that the snake was a long black train and the path was the tracks.
Dexter shut his eyes before he would hit the ground, but then it was like the world had turned upside-down. He felt like starting to fall upwards, away from the train tracks. Opening his eyes, Dexter saw how the space between him and the ground was enlarging and he was once again surrounded by only darkness.
Then, all of a sudden, the falling feeling disappeared and he was standing up on an invisible floor. Purple and green glowing fog gathered around him and a big shadow arose to hover over him. It was no other that Madame Luck, the old lady Dexter had met right after waking up without memories. After everything that had happen to him, he already had forgotten about her.
Madame Luck leaned down to him, stretching out a giant palm and showed him a tiny object. It was the keychain he had gotten from her.
"You are lucky" it read.
Dexter picked it up, looked at it and felt how anger bubbled up inside him.
"You are lucky"
Clenching his fist around it Dexter glared up at the giant Madame.
"What on earth does that mean?!" He yelled at her "Ever since I got it I have been anything but lucky!"
No answer.
Dexter let out a furious cry and threw the keychain as hard as he could at the Madame. The keychain flew right through her with a "plop". Dexter blinked as rings started to expand from where the keychain pierced through her, like waves on water. Madame Luck was getting blurry, fluid and glittered in the dim light. Too late Dexter realized that the glimmering and fluid look reminded too much of water and Madame Luck fell apart and flooded over him.
After tumbling around underwater for somewhat that had felt like an eternity, Dexter finally broke the surface and was hit by a blinding white light. His shades must have flushed away, because they were not sitting on his nose anymore. Reaching out his hand, Dexter felt a solid surface and he swam closer to it and heaved himself up from the water.
When he had gotten used to the bright light, Dexter could pick up more of his surroundings. He was sitting on white marble floor in a big room with white walls and wide windows showing a starry night sky outside and a big city far down below. The water behind him had disappeared and instead there was a wall. In one of the corners laid a dirty and bloody figure, but Dexter got no time to look closer at it when another figure hovered over him. The last thing he saw was a wide grin and a pair of icy cold eyes staring down at him.
Dexter woke up with a scream and sat up, panting. At first he thought he barely had slept at all, it was just as dark outside as he had gone to bed. Then he remembered that the sun was gone and he was supposed to bring it back. Dexter sighed and rubbed his eyes as he sat up and yawned. Looking around searching for any type of clock, he realized that there was no one in the cabin. From outside he heard shouting and raised voices in wild arguing. Dexter scratched the back of his head, slithered out of his sleeping bag and went out on the porch to see what was going on.
"I've had enough of you, Home!"
Meg and Vixen stood by the campfire. Crowds of demigods stood on each side, forming two opposing teams. Mary, Bliss, Terrwyn and some from the Hermes' cabin stood by Vixen while a large group of the rest of the campers stood on Meg's side. Meg paced back and forward while talking angrily and now and then she stopped to yell Vixen in the face who scowled back at her.
With a slight suspicion about what they were fighting about, Dexter crept closer to hear what they were arguing about.
"We agreed on we choose one hero each suiting for the quest and I chose her!" Vixen spoke with a calm tone to her voice "We've discussed the matter and we both believe she has to go"
"Nonsense!" Meg yelled back at her "You just think it's funny to send away the worst possible demigods on quests, don't you?!"
"Meg, please!"
"You think you're such a freakin' savior!" Meg poked Vixen in the chest "Vixen Home, the nice and friendly. Takes care of all the newcomers and camp's other losers, until she sends them off to die!"
"That's not true". Vixen's face darkened and she shot Meg a dangerous look. Then she took a deep shaken breath and tried to speak with the same calm voice again: "Listen. I and Ter has discussed the matter…"
"I don't care if you and that coward has discussed it or not!" Meg snapped "You're a fool, Home!"
Vixen sighed and pinched her nose bridge. "Why can't you just listen?"
"Because you're insane!" Meg yelled "You are seriously trying to send off camp's worst demigod on a quest to save Apollo!"
"Since when did you start caring about Apollo?" Mary Kidd stepped forward with her one free hand on her hip.
"I don't care about him!" Meg snorted, raising a threatening fist "Shut up, you filthy pirate, and don't interfere!"
"Who you calling filthy?!" Mary clenched her fist, but Bliss held her back.
"Please, we've got no time for fighting…" she pleaded, looking up at Meg with big puppy eyes. She was still pale and her eyes were red from crying.
Hesitation. Meg froze in her pose, looking back and forth between Vixen and Bliss. Then she let out an irritated groan and turned on her heels. "Fine, just fine! Do whatever you want, then!" she yelled before storming off towards cabin number five.
Bliss turned towards Vixen and Mary, giving them a vague smile. Neither of them smiled back to her.
"Now, you're the one she listens to!" Mary snorted and crossed her arms "Tell me your secret"
"Let's not waste more time" Vixen disrupted, meeting Dexter's gaze and nodded to him to come over.
With his confidence even lower than it had been before, Dexter went over to them. Opening his mouth about to say something, but Vixen quieted him with one hand gesture. She turned towards the crowd of demigods that had gathered around the fight.
"Yes, you can go back to your activities now! Nothing more for you to see here" Vixen said with a sharp and commanding tone.
Since nice and friendly was Vixen's main characteristics, Dexter found it scary and odd with her serious look and harsh voice. The other campers must have felt the same way, because they left without any word.
"You slept over breakfast" Vixen turned towards Dexter "We saved some food for you! Come!"
Dexter's appetite hadn't improved since dinner. Worrying too much about the quest, he rather felt like throwing up instead of eating. Vixen, Mary, Bliss and Terrwyn sat with him in the Hermes' cabin and tried to talk him to eat. But it ended up with them forcing a sandwich and a glass of juice down his throat, while Mary repeatedly reminded him that he'd be less than useless if he didn't eat.
"Mary, you're not helping" Vixen sighed
"What? It's true!" Mary held up her palm and raised an eyebrow "Running is the best thing he can do, if he don't eat he won't even be able to do that!"
"You're not helping!"
Mary rolled her eyes and muttered something quietly, but she didn't say anything more.
"Now" Vixen gave Dexter a forced smile. "I think it's time for you to set off"
Dexter took a shaky breath, rested his head in his palms and closed his eyes. It was time. He thought of all the memories he yet had gathered. Waking up without knowing who he was, meeting Chuck, Ray and Ban, running away from dangers and finally end up at Camp Half-Blood. Dexter didn't want to leave. He felt safe and welcome there, but his luck didn't want him to stay safe and happy. Feeling inside his pocket, Dexter found the keychain still being there. You're lucky. Still not sure about what that meant or who Madame Luck was, Dexter was too scared to throw it away. "Don't lose it, it may be of importance in the end" Madame Luck had said. What could it possibly be important for?
"Are you ready?"
Terrwyn's quiet voice shook Dexter out of his thought. He looked up at her and the three elder demigods. They all looked back down at him, quiet, letting him take his time. Nodding thought he wasn't ready at all; Dexter stood up and took a deep breath.
"I'll never be, but let's go anyways!" he said as confidently he could.
Vixen gave him and Terrwyn a backpack each and patted them on their shoulders. "We've packed some ambrosia and nectar for you" she told him "Along with some extra clothes and money –both mortal and mythological"
"Uuh, thanks!" Dexter's voice almost broke. He cleared his throat and hoisted the backpack on his shoulders, took a deep breath and tried to push down his feelings. Looking at Vixen, Bliss and Mary, Dexter couldn't hold back himself anymore. He threw himself forward and wrapped his long arms around them. Mary yelped, Vixen let out a surprised grunt and Bliss laughed.
"I'm sorry !" Dexter cried, hugging them even tighter "But you've been so nice to me!"
"I know I know" Bliss laughed and clapped Dexter on his back "I'm awesome"
"Yeah, you're all awesome!" Dexter sobbed "I'll miss you so much!"
"Ah, we'll miss you too!" Vixen said and grinned widely "But we will meet again!"
"That's right! If you don't survive we'll at least meet in Elysium!" Bliss assured
"You're killing me!" Mary wheezed
Sobbing, Dexter let go of them and wiped his eyes from tears. He looked at them again and gave them a thankful smile. Vixen smiled back at him and laid a hand on his shoulder.
"Good luck!"