Chapter Sixteen - Divine Accusation
The next day, Percy was moved from Cabin Eleven to Cabin Three. He seemed kind of down, so I decided to go pay him a visit. I knocked on the door and walked in to find him face down on his bunk with a wadded up newspaper on the floor.
"Hey," I said.
He sat up and looked over at me, "At least one person's still willing to talk to me."
"What do you mean?"
"It's nothing," He said, only to sigh and run his hand through his already messy hair when I just stared at him. "Everyone's been treating me differently since I got claimed. Most of them wont even look at me. Not that it stops them from talking behind my back. I guess I figured you'd judge me too. You know, for not having the same dad as you?"
"Percy," I said. "I'm your sister. Regardless of godly parentage. Hell, you're the only family outside of our mixed godly heritage I've got left. Even if I didn't like you, I still wouldn't give you up. Face the facts, Jackson. You're stuck with me."
"Gee," he said, sarcastically. "Thanks"
"Anytime," I grinned, sitting down on the bed and making him sit up. "So, what's this?"
I reached down and picked up the wadded up newspaper, smoothing it out to have a look. It was the Metro page of the New York Daily News. It didn't take me long to find the offending article in question.
BOY AND MOTHER STILL MISSING AFTER FREAK CAR ACCIDENT
Sally Jackson and son Percy are still missing one week after their mysterious disappearance. The family's badly burned '78 Camaro was discovered last Saturday on a north Long Island road with the roof ripped off and the front axle broken. The car had flipped and skidded for several hundred feet before exploding.
Mother and son had gone for a weekend vacation to Montauk, but left hastily, under mysterious circumstances. Small traces of blood were found in the car and near the scene of the wreck, but there were no other signs of the missing Jacksons. Residents in the rural area reported seeing nothing unusual around the time of the accident.
Ms. Jackson's husband, Gabe Ugliano, claims that his stepson, Percy Jackson, is a troubled child who has been kicked out of numerous boarding schools and has expressed violent tendencies in the past.
Police would not say whether son Percy is a suspect in his mother's disappearance, but they have not ruled out foul play. Below are recent pictures of Sally Jackson and Percy. Police urge anyone with information to call the following toll-free crime-stoppers hotline.
I glared at the offending article and the paper burst into flames in my hands, causing Percy to jump slightly. Once it had burned away completely, I let out a sigh.
"Sorry," I said.
"No, it's alright," Percy said. "You saved me the trouble of throwing it away."
"Percy...?" I asked.
"What's up?"
"The paper said mom's husband was..." I hesitated. "Is that true?"
"Smelly Gabe? Yeah," Percy said. "Sorry... Mr. Ugliano." He said, making a face of disgust. "Mom kept her name though. I think it bothered him a bit."
"Oh, oh hell no," I said, abruptly standing up.
"Wha-?"
"Percy, there is absolutely no way in Hades you are going back there to live with that... Stronzo malcagato!"
Percy looked confused, "What are you talking about?"
"I've had the distinct displeasure of meeting him once before," I said. "He only stayed a few hours but it took weeks to get the smell out. I won't have my brother living with that walking, talking pile of anthropomorphized human excrement. I'm going to go up to the Big House and ask Chiron to make a call. I'm sure uncle Joe will be happy to let you stay after the Summer."
"Penny, wait."
I stopped halfway to the door and turned back to face my brother.
"Let's... Let's just focus on the funeral right now," he said. "One thing at a time, yeah? I'll... I'll think about other stuff later. I promise."
"Yeah," I sighed, feeling my shoulders slump; "Yeah, alright. But, I mean what I said. I won't let you go live with that... I won't allow it."
"You're pretty scrappy for being so tiny," Percy chuckled.
"I'll show you scrappy!" I growled.
That night everybody gathered in the amphitheatre where a large bonfire had been lit. Silena, as oldest daughter and head counselor of Cabin Ten, had been chosen to speak for the funeral. Percy and I stood beside her, holding onto the rolled up shroud. It weighed heavily in my hands.
"We are gathered tonight to pay respects to our fallen sister," Silena said, her voice easily carrying over the crackle of the fire without shouting. "A woman who, through a cruel twist of fate, we never got the chance to meet. But one that has given the gift of life and light to two who stand with us now. Sally Jackson, unsung daughter of Aphrodite, we lift your name to Olympus tonight in their honor. May you find peace ever after."
Percy and I stepped forward and presented her with the shroud. She unrolled it, holding it up for all to see. It was beautifully woven in different shades of blues and white. A large stylized white dove, the symbol of Aphrodite, was emblazoned in the center with dozens of seashells in a circle around it - representative of Percy, no doubt. Along the edges, a pattern of blue and white flames caught the flickering of the bonfire and seemed to burn with a life of their own. I could see why they had spent so much time making it. Silena turned to face the fire and, with one fluid motion, cast the shroud into the flames.
The flames engulfed the shroud, and then rose until they towered twenty feet high. Thunder cracked the sky directly overhead, sending everybody to their knees as the towering form of a very muscular god, with shoulder-length black hair and a neatly trimmed beard stood illuminated inside the fire.
"Jacksons!" The god thundered. "Thieves! You stand accused of crimes against Olympus, for the theft of my divine symbol! How do you plead?"
"Whoa, whoa," I said. "Back the fuck up. Who the fuck are you and what the fuck are you talking about? You crash our mom's funeral and start throwing around baseless accusations and then expect what? That we bow down and grovel before you?"
"Miss Jackson, that is certainly enough of that," Chiron said, trotting over and placing a hand on my shoulder. "Brother, to what do we owe the pleasure of your presence?"
The god glared at me as if willing me to combust into flames on the spot. I almost felt like obliging him, but held back for Chiron's sake. I didn't actually want to hurt him.
"My symbol was stolen from me last Winter Solstice," the god said. "I had wondered who on the council would have done such a thing. After all, it should be impossible for a god to steal another god's item of power. That is unless they choose to have one of their children act in their place. Imagine my surprise to discover that our own brother, Poseidon, broke our oath and sired a child in secret."
"I've never been to Olympus," Percy said, speaking up. "I've never even met my dad. I didn't even know he was alive, let alone a god, until yesterday!"
"Perhaps not," Zeus conceded. "However, your twin sister has been to Olympus. Many times, in fact. She was even spotted in the courtyard of my palace around the time the theft had been discovered."
"I didn't steal anything!" I shouted.
"So you continue to feign innocence?" Zeus demanded.
I raised my hand to flip him off, but Chiron stopped me.
"Perhaps the children truly are innocent," he said.
"We are!" Percy and I both said.
"In that case, you will have the chance to prove it. If you do not have my symbol, then you must find it and return it to me before the Summer Solstice ends. However, know that if you fail, it will mean your lives are forfeit."
The god and I shared one final glare before he vanished from the flames. For a moment, nobody even moved.
"Well," Chiron said, breaking the stunned silence. "It appears a quest has been issued. Which of you will take responsibility?"
"I will," Percy and I both said.
"Percy," I said. "No. You can't."
"Why not?" He demanded.
"It's... It isn't safe out there. Your scent would attract too much attention," I said. "And as much as I don't want to bring it up, you're untrained. Even if you're a super powerful son of one of the Big Three, you don't actually know how to use your powers yet. I do. I've travelled with and trained alongside the Hunters of Artemis. I've had a goddess and a former hunter as a magic tutor. Of the two of us, I'm probably the best equipped right now to handle this task."
"So, what? I'm just supposed to stay here and do nothing while you risk your life?"
"No," I shook my head. "Stay here and get stronger."
He looked like he wanted to argue, then looked past me at the smoldering bonfire and seemed to deflate. "Yeah, you're probably right."
I put a hand on his shoulder and he looked up. I smiled and pulled him into a hug and let him go. Turning to Chiron, I asked; "So, what do I do now?"
"I suppose it's time you consulted the Oracle," Chiron said. "Come with me to the Big House. The oracle resides upstairs, in the attic. We will speak more when you return."
The attic was filled with the remnants of the lives of campers long forgotten: Scattered here and there were broken swords or snapped arrows, armor stands stood covered in cobwebs and once bright shields now pitted with rust were stacked haphazardly on top of old leather steamer trunks that had been pushed against one wall. The sides were plastered with stickers saying things like ITHAKA - N.Y. TO GREECE, CIRCE'S RESORT AND DAY SPA, and COME VISIT THE LAND OF THE AMAZONS.
One long table was stacked with glass jars filled with pickled things - severed hairy claws, huge yellow eyes, various other parts of monsters. A dusty mounted trophy on the wall looked like a giant snake's head, but with horns and a full set of shark's teeth. The plaque read, HYDRA HEAD #1, WOODSTOCK, N.Y., 1969. I shivered despite myself.
Next to the window, sitting on a wooden tripod stool, was the most gruesome memento of all: a mummy. Not the wrapped-in-cloth kind, but a human female body shriveled to a husk. Looking at her sent a chill down my spine. She wore a sun bleached and dusty tie-dyed sundress, lots of beaded necklaces, and a headband over long black hair. The skin of her face was thin and leathery over her skull, and her eyes were glassy white slits, as if the real eyes had been replaced by marbles; she'd clearly been dead for a long, long time.
Suddenly, she sat up on her stool and a green mist poured from the mummy's mouth, coiling over the floor in thick tendrils, hissing like twenty thousand snakes. I stumbled backward trying to get to avoid the mist, but ended up tripping on an old broken sword and falling to the floor. Inside my head, I heard a voice, slithering into one ear and coiling around my brain: I am the spirit of Delphi, speaker of the prophecies of Phoebus Apollo, slayer of the mighty Python. Approach, seeker, and ask.
I forced myself to stand, taking a deep breath to calm my racing pulse. I knew the mummy wasn't alive. She was just the receptacle for something else, the power that was now swirling around me in the green mist. But its presence didn't feel evil. It felt ancient. Powerful, even. And definitely not human. I got the impression that the force inside her could have obliterated me where I stood, and the only thing that saved me was that I wasn't worth the minimal effort it would take. I was less than a bug.
I took another steadying breath and asked, "What is my destiny?"
The swirling mist rose, taking on the shape of Zoë Nightshade, her face a mask of cold indifference. She opened her mouth and spoke in the Oracle's rasping voice inside my head; Child of Fire, time is not on your side
Zoë's form twisted and Ari's vaporous form appeared, her usually cheerful demeanor replaced with a thoughtful frown; A warning for another, now no longer applies
"A warning?" I asked, "What warning, and for who?"
The oracle ignored my questions as the mists shifted again. I wanted to tear my gaze away as Ari's form shifted to become Andromeda, but found I couldn't move. She stared at me, eyes unblinking and said; Travel West and face the god who has turned
The mist twisted into the speedster girl who I'd chased all over the city last April; Find what was stolen and see them returned
The girl's form shifted and grew until Uncle Joe stood towering before me, his face twisted uncharacteristically in a mix of rage and sorrow as the oracle's voice boomed inside my skull; A new legend forged and stories told shall begin an Age of Gold
My knees gave out as soon as the mist faded, and I fell to the ground once more. The words of the oracle echoing in my mind on repeat. I couldn't tell you how long I knelt on the dusty floor before I was able to make myself move again. I stood, dusting myself off and made my way down the ladder and out of the attic without sparing the mummy a second glance.