Disclaimer: I only own the plot and my OCs. Anything you recognize as not mine belongs to Rick Riordan, Greco-Roman mythology, and/or their otherwise respective owners.
Author's Notes: Hi, everyone! Long chapter today. I hope you enjoy it.
Until the next one,
~TGWSI/Selene Borealis
~The Finding Home Saga~
~Finding Home~
~Chapter 58: I'm Given Conflicting Pieces of Advice~
The least the Oracle could've done was walk back to the attic by herself.
Instead, Katie and I were elected to carry her. I didn't figure that was because we were the most popular.
"Watch her head!" Katie warned as we went up the stairs. But it was too late.
Bonk! I whacked her mummified face against the trapdoor frame and dust flew.
"Ah, man." I set her down and checked for damage. "Did I break anything."
"...Not that I can tell," Katie answered after a moment.
We hauled her up and set her on her tripod stool, both of us huffing and sweating. Who knew a mummy could weigh so much?
I assumed she wouldn't talk to me, and I was right. I was relieved when we finally got out of there and slammed the attic door shut.
"Well," Katie said, shuddering. "That was gross."
I knew she was trying to keep things light for my sake, but I still felt really down. The whole camp was undoubtedly going to be mad at me for losing the game to the Hunters, and then there was the new prophecy from the Oracle. It was like the spirit of Delphi had gone out of her way to exclude me. She'd ignored my question and walked half a mile to talk to Zoë. And she'd said nothing, not even a hint, about Silena. Or even the Koskinen siblings, although they weren't really a concern of mine anymore, as horrible as it sounded.
"What will Chiron do?" I asked Katie.
"I don't know." She looked out of the second-floor window at the rolling hills in the distance, covered in snow. "I hope he lets us go on that quest."
Despite my downbeat attitude, I felt one of the corners of my mouth twitch. "I don't think Zoë's going to let me go on that quest, Katie. I'm a boy, remember?"
"Chiron has a way of persuasion," she replied, almost as airily as Silena would. "But even if he doesn't, we'll get out there and find her. One way or another."
I grinned. "Glad to know we're still on the same page."
She held out her fist for me to bump with my own. "It's what step-sisters and best friends are for."
When we got downstairs, it was just in the nick of time – Dionysus had called a meeting of the camp counselors. The council was held around a Ping-Pong table in the rec room. Dionysus waved his hand supplied the snacks: Cheez Whiz, crackers, and several bottles of red wine. Then Chiron reminded him that wine was against his restrictions and all of us were under the legal age for drinking besides them. Mr. D sighed. With a snap of his fingers, the wine turned into Diet Coke. Nobody drank that either.
Mr. D and Chiron (in wheelchair form) sat at one end of the table. Zoë Nightshade took the other end. Thalia (who wasn't speaking to me now), Katie, and I sat along the right, and the other head counselors – Beckendorf, Lee Fletcher, and the Stoll brothers – sat on the left. The Ares kids were supposed to have sent a representative, too, since Clarisse was missing and couldn't attend herself, but all of them had gotten broken limbs (accidentally) during capture the flag, courtesy of the Hunters. They were resting up in the infirmary.
Zoë started off the meeting on a positive note. "This is pointless."
"Cheez Whiz!" Travis Stoll gasped. He began scooping up crackers and even a Ping-Pong ball and spraying them with topping. Honestly, I didn't even know why he was here. He'd gotten a concussion pretty bad.
To my right, I heard a snort. But when I looked, Katie's expression was perfectly calm and serene.
Zoë paid no attention to me nor the son of Hermes. "There is no time for talk," she continued. "My goddess needs her attendants. The Hunters must leave immediately."
"And go where?" Chiron asked.
"Well, the Oracle did say west," Lee Fletcher said, tapping his fingers against his eyepatch – because apparently that didn't hurt – and looking bored, which I could kind of get. He obviously didn't want to go on a quest with the Hunters. "We all heard the prophecy. 'Five shall go west to the goddess in chains.'"
"Yes," Zoë agreed. "Five Hunters can go. Artemis is being held hostage! We must find her and free her."
"You're missing something, as usual," Thalia said. "'Campers and Hunters combined prevail.' We're supposed to do this together."
"No!" Zoë protested. "The Hunters do not need thy help."
"Your," Thalia grumbled. "Nobody has said 'thy' in, like, three hundred years, Zoë. Get with the times."
Zoë hesitated, like she was trying to form the word correctly. "Yerrr. We do not need yerrr help."
Thalia rolled her eyes. "Forget it."
"I fear that the prophecy says you do need our help," Chiron spoke. "Campers and Hunters must cooperate."
"Or do they?" Mr. D mused, swirling his Diet Coke under his nose and sniffing it like it had a fine bouquet. "'One shall be lost.' 'One shall perish.' That sounds rather nasty, doesn't it? What if you fail because you try to cooperate?"
"Mr. D," Chiron sighed, "with all due respect, whose side are you on?"
The god raised his eyebrows. "Sorry, my dear centaur. Just trying to be helpful."
"We're supposed to work together," Thalia said stubbornly. "I don't like it either, Zoë, but you know prophecies. You want to fight against one?"
Zoë grimaced, but I could tell that Thalia had scored a point.
"We must not delay," Chiron warned. "Today is Sunday. This very Friday, December twenty-first, is the winter solstice."
"Oh, joy," Dionysus muttered. "Another dull annual meeting."
"Artemis must be present at the winter solstice," Zoë said. "She has been one of the most vocal on the council arguing for action against Kronos' minions. If she is absent, the gods will decide nothing. We will lose another year of war preparations."
"Are you suggesting that the gods have trouble acting together, young lady?" Dionysus asked.
"Yes, Lord Dionysus."
Mr. D nodded. "Just checking. You're right, of course. Carry on."
"I must agree with Zoë," said Chiron. "Artemis' presence at the winter council is critical. We have only a week to find her. And possibly even more important: to locate the monster she was hunting. Now, we must decide who goes on this quest."
"Three and two," I said.
Everybody looked at me. Thalia even forgot to ignore me.
"We're supposed to have five," I said, feeling self-conscious. "Three Hunters, two campers. That's more than fair."
Thalia and Zoë exchanged looks.
"Well," the daughter of Zeus went. "It does make sense."
Zoë grunted. "I would prefer to take all the Hunters. We will need strength of numbers."
"You'll be retracing the goddess' path," Chiron reminded her. "Moving quickly. No doubt Artemis tracked the scent of this rare monster, whatever it is, as she moved west. You will have to do the same. The prophecy was clear: 'The bane of Olympus shows the trail.' What would your mistress say? 'Too many Hunters spoil the scent.' A small group will be best."
Zoë picked up a Ping-Pong paddle and studied it like she was deciding who she wanted to whack with it first. "The monster – the bane of Olympus. I have hunted at Lady Artemis' side for many years, yet I have no idea what this beast might be."
Everybody looked at Dionysus, I guess because he was the only god present and gods are supposed to know things. He was flipping through a wine magazine, but when everyone got silent he looked up. "Well, don't look at me! I'm a younggod, remember? And I don't keep track of all those ancient monsters and dusty titans. They make for terrible party conversation."
"Chiron," I said, "do you have any idea what this monster could be?"
The centaur pursed his lips. "I have several ideas, none of them good. And none of them quite make sense. Typhon, for instance, could fit this description. He was truly a bane of Olympus. Or the sea monster Keto. But if either of them were stirring, we would know it. They are ocean monsters the size of skyscrapers. Your father, Poseidon, would already have sounded the alarm. I fear this monster might be more elusive. Perhaps even more powerful."
I tried to imagine a monster more dangerous than even Typhon and Keto. It was hard for me to do. I'd never done my best at paying attention to Annabeth's genealogy lessons outside of the really core shit, but I didn't think there was anything on the family tree that was deadlier than them. Well, besides the Giants, but –
"That's some serious danger you're facing," Connor Stoll said. Like Lee Fletcher, he didn't seem interested in the least on going on this quest. "It sounds like at least two of the five are going to die."
"'One shall be lost in the land without rain,'" Beckendorf quoted. "If I were you, I'd stay out of the desert."
There was a muttering of agreement.
"And 'The Titan's curse must one withstand,'" Katie pitched in. "What could that mean?"
I saw Chiron and Zoë exchange a nervous look, but whatever they were thinking, they didn't share it.
Nobody dared to mention, either, the one part of the prophecy we hadn't talked about yet: "And one shall perish by a parent's hand." I could tell we were all thinking about it – Thalia, perhaps, most of all.
It was hard for me to imagine a godly parent killing one of their own children, and maybe that was just because of whomy godly parent was, or parents if you included Demeter. I knew that neither of them would kill me. Poseidon was known for being a protective father. And even if he wasn't, I had protections as the champion of Demeter, even against him.
But Thalia didn't have those. And according to Apollo, she was older than I was, and thus the prime candidate for the Great Prophecy – if she lived that long. Because maybe...as much as I hated to think about it, because she was kind of a bitch, but I didn't wish any harm on her...maybe Zeus would decide that he didn't want her to be the child of the Great Prophecy, that he couldn't trust her not to make the right choice. Maybe he would kill her. He'd let her die before, the ancient laws be damned, because those were his laws. He'd been the one to come up with them.
"There will be deaths," Chiron said at last, after silence had fallen over the table. "That much we know."
"Oh, goodie!" Dionysus exclaimed. When everyone looked at him, he looked up innocently from the pages of Wine Connoisseur magazine. "Ah, pinot noir is making a comeback. Don't mind me."
"Percy is right," Lee Fletcher said. "Two campers should go."
"First, let's decide on the Hunters," Chiron suggested. I was presuming it was because of the way that Zoë was bristling, ready to open her mouth. "Zoë?"
His diversion worked. Zoë stood. "I shall go, of course, and I will take Phoebe. She is our best tracker."
"The big girl who likes to hit people on the head?" Connor Stoll asked cautiously. His brother, Travis, perked up as well in spite of his concussion, his focus leaving his Cheez Whiz and crackers.
She nodded.
"The one who gave my brother a concussion?" Connor asked again for clarification.
"Yes," Zoë snapped. "Why?"
"Oh, nothing," Connor said. I saw him make a movement against Travis that was almost like elbowing when his older brother looked like he wanted to speak. "Just that we got her a t-shirt from the camp store for kicking our asses." He held up a big silver t-shirt that said ARTEMIS THE MOON GODDESS, FALL HUNTING TOUR 2002, with a huge list of national parks and stuff underneath. "It's a collector's item. She was admiring it. You wanna give it to her?"
I knew Connor, at least, had to be up to something, potentially making up for his brother's incapacitated state. The Stolls always were in general. But I guess Zoë didn't known them as well as I did. She just sighed and took the t-shirt. "As I was saying, I will take Phoebe and additionally Iphigenia to go."
I thought the name Iphigenia sounded familiar, but I didn't comment on it.
There were no objections to Zoë's choices for the Hunters. "And for campers?" Chiron asked. His eyes met mine, but I couldn't tell what he was thinking.
"I'll go," Katie offered. She looked around the room but she didn't stand up, merely looking to see if anybody disagreed that she should.
Nobody did. Even Zoë seemed accepting of her. "A half-sister of milady may be beneficial on this quest."
Thalia looked primed and ready to offer herself up next, but 1) I was still pissed at her for what she'd done at the creek (conveniently ignoring my own responsibility in the matter) and everything else on top of that, and 2) I thought Bianca was right. Artemis' and Silena's disappearances were connected, and I'd made a promise that I was going to save my other best friend. I wasn't going to let her down.
So, I stood up so fast I almost knocked over my chair and said, "I'll go, too."
Since Katie had been accepted so easily, I was expecting the same to happen for me, too.
That wasn't the case.
"You cannot," Zoë said. "You are a boy. I won't have Hunters traveling with a boy."
"You traveled here with me," I reminded her.
"That was a short-term emergency, and it was ordered by the goddess. I will not go across country and fight many dangers with a boy."
"But I am a half-sibling of Artemis, just like Katie! And I'm the champion of Demeter!" I protested. All of the other cabin counselors besides Katie and Thalia gasped at that. Again, not exactly an open secret that I was. "Believe me, if milady had been taken just like Artemis and this was my quest, I would have no qualms about you coming with me."
Zoë's eyes were shrewd. "But it is not thy quest," she said. "It is mine. And I do not wish for thee to go."
I wasn't done with her yet. Damn my sexuality being a secret, I was ready to tell her that I was gay, so me going with the Hunt wasn't going to be a problem.
But before I could, Chiron sighed. "The quest is for Artemis. The Hunters should be allowed to approve their companions."
Nobody rose to my defense in spite of him and Zoë. Mr. D looked bored, still reading his magazine. Lee, both of the Stoll brothers now, and Beckendorf were staring at the table. Thalia gave me a look of pity.
"I'll go," she said. "If that's alright with you, Zoë."
Zoë nodded, but said nothing.
My ears were ringing as I sat down. Katie grabbed my hand underneath the table, but I couldn't meet her eyes or the eyes of the other counselors who were gazing at me in sympathy. I just sat there as Chiron concluded the council.
"So be it," he said. "Katie and Thalia will accompany Zoë, Phoebe, and Iphigenia. You shall leave at first light. And may the gods – " here, he glanced at Dionysus " – present company included, we hope – be with you."
I didn't show up for dinner that night, which was a mistake, because Chiron and Katie came looking for me.
"Percy, I'm so sorry," she said, sitting next to me on the bunk. "I should've said something, but I was afraid that if I did – "
"Zoë wouldn't let you go at all," I said glumly. I'd figured as much. "It's okay. Really. It's fine."
She didn't hesitate in calling me out on my lie. "No, it's not. I should've said something. I told you that I would help you find Silena, and now I'm going off without you. That's not fair."
I couldn't bring myself to respond verbally to that. I nodded and tried to ignore the big crater that was opening in my chest.
"Katie," Chiron said, "perhaps you'd let me have a word with Percy?"
She knew that meant just me and him in the cabin, and she didn't look like she liked that, but she acquiesced to his request. For now. "We can talk more about it later, okay?" she asked, patting my shoulder, before she went out the door, reaching a hand up towards her face, presumably to wipe at her eyes. I had a feeling, though, that what she'd said wouldn't be happening.
When she was gone, Chiron sighed and knelt on his horse legs. "Percy, I don't pretend to understand prophecies."
"Yeah," I said. "Well, maybe that's because they don't make any sense."
Chiron gazed at the saltwater spring gurgling in the corner of the room. "Thalia would not have been my first choice to go on this quest. She's too impetuous. She acts without thinking. She is too sure of herself."
"Would you have chosen me?"
"Frankly, no," he said. "You and Thalia are much alike."
"Gee, thanks a lot."
He smiled. "There are differences between you two, don't worry. You are less sure of yourself than Thalia, which could be both good or bad. Because you've known the entire extent of the Great Prophecy – " I nearly jerked back at this. Did that mean that Thalia didn't know exactly what it said? " – for over two years now, you've been imbued with a sense of responsibility that she does not have. But, one thing I can say: it is good that you are not going on this quest together because of your similarities. Both of you together would be a dangerous thing."
"We could handle it."
"The way you handled it at the creek tonight?"
I didn't answer. He'd nailed me.
"Perhaps it is for the best," Chiron mused. "You can go home to your mother for the holidays. If we need you, we can call."
"Yeah," I said. "Maybe."
I didn't ask him for advice on how to break the news to my mom or Silena's dad about her. Instead, I pulled Riptide out of my pocket and set it on my nightstand. It didn't seem that I'd be using it for anything but writing Christmas cards.
When he saw the pen, Chiron grimaced. "It's no wonder that Zoë does not want you along, I suppose. Not while you're carrying that particular weapon."
I didn't understand what he meant. Then I remembered what he'd told me before I'd gone off on my first quest with the sword: "It does have a long and tragic history, one that we do not need to go into at this point in time."
I wanted to ask him about that, but then he pulled a golden drachma from his saddlebag and tossed it to me. "Call your mother, Percy. Let her know you're coming home in the morning. And, ah, for what it's worth...I almost volunteered for this quest myself. I would have gone, if not for the last line."
"'One shall perish by a parent's hand.' Yeah."
I didn't need to ask, because I knew that the line would make perfect sense if Chiron went on this quest as a son of Kronos.
But I did ask something else, "Chiron, you know what this Titan's curse is, don't you?"
His face darkened. He made a claw over his heart and pushed outwards. "Let us hope that the prophecy does not mean what I think. Now, good night, Percy. And your time will come. I'm convinced of that. There's no need to rush."
After Chiron left, I stood at the saltwater spring and rubbed the coin he'd given me in my hand, trying to figure out what all I was going to tell my mom. Once again, I didn't think I could handle telling her about Silena right now. But if I didn't tell her now, then how could I tell her about everything else that had happened since then? Would her advice change if I told her what had happened to my best friend versus if I didn't? Or would she be the same as Chiron, an adult telling me that doing nothing was the greatest thing that I could do? I wasn't in the mood for that.
Whatever. At long last, I took in a deep breath and threw in the coin. "O' goddess Iris, accept my offering."
The mist shimmered. The light from the bathroom – just a toilet and a sink, so only a water closet, really – was just enough to make a faint rainbow.
"Show me Sally Jackson," I said. "Upper East Side, Manhattan."
And there in the mist was a scene that I did not expect. My mom was sitting at our kitchen table with...Silena's dad, Jean Beauregard, just the very person who I'd been trying to avoid more than anything else. What was worse, they were laughing hysterically. They were having a fun time, so much of one that neither of them noticed my Iris-message. I was too stunned to say anything.
"Ah, Sally, you're too clever," Mr. Beauregard said. He had an accent like Alan's from that dream I'd had of him and Thalia – French, but not in the stereotypical way. More regional. "You want some more wine?"
"Ah, I shouldn't. You go ahead if you want."
"Actually, I'd better use your bathroom. May I?"
"Down the hall," my mom directed him, trying not to laugh.
Mr. Beauregard smiled and got up and left.
That made my life a little easier, at least.
"Mom!" I said.
She jumped so hard she almost knocked her books off of the table. She caught them at the last second, and then her eyes landed on me. "Percy!" she exclaimed. "Oh, honey! Is everything okay?"
"What are you doing?" I demanded, already fearing the worst. I mean, she'd never said anything about hanging out with Mr. Beauregard like this before. But Silena hadn't mentioned to me anything before about our parents being –
My mom blinked. "Homework." Then she seemed to understand the look on my face. "Oh, um. You know I've been taking that year-long Art History course, sweetie, and since Jean's a painter, I thought – never mind. What's wrong?"
I told her everything that I could, making sure I was careful to leave out anything about Silena. She and Silena's dad would absolutely skin me alive later for it, but right now, I didn't care.
"Yeah. So they tell me there's nothing I can do. I guess I'll be coming home."
She turned her pencil around in her fingers. "Percy, as much as I want you to come home – " she sighed here like she was mad at herself " – as much as I want you to be safe, I want you to understand something. You need to do whatever you think you have to do."
I stared at her. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, do you really, deep down, think that you'll be able to help save Artemis? Do you think it's the right thing to do? Because I know one thing about you, Percy. Your heart is always in the right place. Listen to it."
I couldn't believe what she was telling me. "You're telling me to go?"
My mother steeled her breath. "I'm telling you that...you're sixteen, Percy. You're getting too old for me to tell you what to do. I know you know the risks. So I'm telling you that I'll support you, even if what you decide to do is dangerous. I can't believe I'm saying this."
"Mom – "
The toilet flushed down the hall in our apartment.
"Percy – " my mom began to say.
But just the reminder that Mr. Beauregard was there was enough to send me into action. I swallowed. "Thanks, Mom," I said. "You've given me a lot to think about. I love you."
Her eyes softened. "I love you too, Percy. And tell Silena and Katie – !"
I cut my hand through the mist and dissolved the image just as soon as Jean Beauregard had come back into the room, looking entirely confused at why I was Iris-messaging his mom and why his daughter had been mentioned.
I don't remember falling asleep, but I remember the dream.
I was back in that barren cave, the ceiling heavy and low above me. Silena was kneeling under the weight of a dark mass that looked like a pile of boulders. She was too tired to even cry out. Her legs trembled. Any second, I knew she would run out of strength and the cavern ceiling would collapse on top of her.
"How is our mortal guest?" a male voice boomed.
It wasn't Kronos. I knew Kronos' voice well by now, the raspy and metallic quality that there was to it, like a knife scraped across stone. But this voice was deeper and lower, like a bass guitar. Its force made the ground vibrate.
Luke emerged from the shadows. I was so thankful and furious to see him, all at once. It did help with the former that the first thing he did was run to Silena, kneel beside her, and then look back at the unseen man. "She's fading. We have to hurry."
The deep voice chuckled. It belonged to someone in the shadows, just at thee edge of my dream. Then a meaty hand pushed someone forward into the light – Artemis, with her hands and feet bound in celestial bronze chains.
I gasped. Her silvery dress was torn and tattered. Her face and arms were cut in several places, and she was bleeding ichor, the golden blood of the gods.
"You heard the boy," said the man in the shadows. "Decide!"
Artemis' eyes flashed with anger. I didn't know why she just didn't will the chains to burst, or make herself disappear, but she didn't seem to be able to. Maybe the chains prevented her, or some magic about this dark, horrible place.
The goddess looked at Silena and her expression changed to concern and outrage. "How dare you torture a young woman like this!"
"She will die soon," Luke said. "You can save her."
Silena made a weak sound of protest. My heart felt like it was being twisted into a knot. I wanted to run to her, but I couldn't move.
"Free my hands," Artemis said.
Luke brought out his sword, Backbiter. With one expert strike, he broke the goddess' handcuffs.
Artemis ran to Silena and took the burden from her shoulders. Silena collapsed to the ground and stayed there, shivering. Artemis staggered, trying to support the weight of the black rocks.
The man in the shadows chuckled. "You are as predictable as you were easy to beat, Artemis."
"You surprised me," the goddess said, straining under her burden. "It will not happen again."
"Indeed, it will not," the man replied. "Now, you are out of the way for good! I knew you could not resist helping a young girl, maiden or not. That is, after all, your specialty, my dear."
Artemis groaned. "You know nothing of mercy, you swine."
"On that, we can agree," the man said. "Luke, you may kill the girl now."
"No!" Artemis and I shouted at the same time, even though I knew none of them could hear me.
Luke, too, hesitated. It was clear that he didn't want to do that. "She – she may be useful yet, sir...further bait."
Yes, I thought. Yes, Luke! Convince him!
"Bah! You truly believe that?"
"Yes, General. They will come for her. I'm sure."
The man considered. "Then the dracaenae can guard her here. Assuming she does not die from her injuries, you may keep her alive until the winter solstice. After that, if our sacrifice goes as planned, her life will be meaningless. The lives of allmortals will be meaningless."
Luke gathered up Silena's listless body and carried her away from the goddess.
"You will never find the monster you seek," Artemis said. "Your plan will fail."
"How little you know me, my young goddess," the man in the shadows spoke. "Even now, your darling attendants begin their quest to find you. They shall play directly into my hands. Now, if you will excuse us, we have a long journey to make. We must greet your Hunters and make sure that this quest is...challenging."
The man's laughter echoed in the darkness, shaking the ground until it seemed the whole cavern would collapse.
Word Count: 4,806
Next Chapter Title: I Get A Lift From A Horse (Twice)
