Lassa
The next morning I get up early and go on a run to burn some nervous energy. Going by the Hermes cabin, I wake Jesse up and we have a quiet time on the beach together and pray again before going to the Hecate cabin. Would invite Percy, but don't even know where he is. He and Annabeth didn't come back to the cabin last night. Walking in, I see some are still sleeping, some are at breakfast and some are getting ready. Looking around I spot Lou Ellen.
"Hey, Lou Ellen!" Jesse says and she looks over at us and smiles.
"Hey guys. What's up?"
"We need to talk. It's about a prophecy and quest." I tell her.
"Okay, you got a quest? When?"
"Last night. The prophecy says
Child of Hecate's magic runs Deep
Invoked by Cain's spirit, a Mother to weep
Does that mean anything to you? We don't even for sure know what the quest is for." I ask. She knits her eyebrows together.
"To be honest with you, I have no idea what that means and I don't think anyone else here does either."
"Would it help if we told you 'Cain's Spirit' means Jealousy and Rage?" Jesse asks. She shakes her head.
"No. But If it's about Jealousy and Rage, I at least can tell you who to ask." She says and writes something on a piece of paper. "This is the address to find our brother, Alabaster. He moved to Brooklyn last year. He's…He's different. Be ready to fight when you get there. Especially if I'm right to assume Percy is going on the quest too."
"Okay. Why?"
"Alabaster was one of the kids who sided with Kronos during the Second Titan War." She says.
"Okay? So is like, a quarter of the kids at camp."
"Yeah, but Alabaster didn't take the Amnesty when it was granted. He still hates the gods and wants no pardon from them. He actually, like, believed in Kronos' cause or whatever. And he pressured our mother not to make peace with the Olympians so quickly. Eventually, they came to an agreement that Alabaster would live in banishment and mother would rejoin Olympus. In exchange the Olympians wouldn't kill him. She was kinda forced into the deal, but it was better this way in the end. All that to say, Alabaster still hates Olympus and especially Percy. Bring by your Armor before you leave and I'll enchant it to protect you from his magic. It won't be fool proof, and will only last a few hours, but it'll help take away the brunt of it. He's handy with a sword but his main weapon is his magic. Tie him up with Celestial bronze and he'll be cut off from his powers. Don't think it'll be easy, though. He's powerful. But he'll probably be able to tell you more about this than the rest of us."
"Okay." I say and take the paper from her. "Thanks, Lou Ellen."
"Don't mention it." She smiles and we head out of the cabin.
"So. We got our starting point." Jesse says.
"Yeah. And it's such a cheerful one." I say sarcastically.
"C'mon." He says and grabs my hand. "Let's go see if we have one or two people joining us."
…
Jesse and I spend the next couple of hours getting everything ready. I get a couple of book bags from the camp's store that have unlimited storage without adding extra weight, then we go and pack everything we might need. I've heard the stories of Percy's quests when he was my age, and there's always a shortage of supplies so I make sure to stock up on toiletries, Baby wipes, and clean clothes. Jesse also goes and steals 4 plates and cups from the dining hall so we'll always have food and water. If Annabeth's not coming we'll put the fourth one back.
At ten o'clock I sling my backpack on and wait for Whoever's coming. Jesse shows up, and so does a frustrated Percy and Annabeth.
"Alright." I say looking at our group. "Let's get moving."
As soon as Lou Ellen finishes enchanting our armor, We go to the stables and get Sunburn, Skyfall and Blackjack ready and lift off. We offered Annabeth her own Pegasus but Percy was insistent she only ride with him.
I start to get the feeling it's a bad idea to have her come since Percy's main focus is going to be on protecting her now, but she wasn't wrong when she said she'd be useful. We don't know what the quest is about yet, we could use her help figuring it out.
The ride to Brooklyn where Alabaster lives doesn't take long. We slide off our Pegasi and look around. It doesn't look like much, just a tudor style house with a yard. To have that in Brooklyn, This kid must have used magic to get money or something.
I sense mist, my lady. Skyfall Tells me. Please be careful. Call for me and I'll be there in an instant.
"Of Course, Sky. Thank you." She nickers, then takes off and the other two follow her. "Skyfall said she senses mist." I tell the others, and take my Xiphie in my hands. "Lou Ellen said to be ready for a fight. Who here knows the most about Magic?" I ask.
"I do. I've learned about it from Chiron, Thalia, and Hazel." Annabeth tells me. "I'm not as skilled as they are, but I can sense the mist traps at least and get us into the house." She says. Percy tightens his grip on the hilt of Riptide.
"Okay. Let's get our armor on and head in." I say, and we all go into our backpacks to get out our gear. All except Percy of course, who's clothes themselves are armor. All he puts on is a pair of forearm guards.
As soon as we're all dressed we head across the yard to the house. Annabeth leads with Percy right behind her, and like she said she's able to sense the traps and guide us around them. Before too long We're on the front porch.
"Should we…knock?" Jesse asks.
"I don't know. He did have an awful lot of magic barriers. It might be better to sneak in and catch him off guard." Annabeth says.
"Except we need his help." I remind them. "Maybe it's better to knock so he knows we're not here to hurt him."
"Tell you what, Annabeth, go hide. You got us past the magic, we've got it from here. I'll knock and if he doesn't answer, then I'll kick the door in." Percy says.
"Hide? You can't be serious, Percy."
"Oh, I'm serious. You're pregnant! I don't want you in the fight!"
"I'll be fine. I'm not going anywhere. So go ahead and knock." She tells him. Percy gets a white knuckle grip on Riptide and bangs on the door three times. I count the seconds, and at 60 I nod at Percy and he kicks the door in. We go into the house, splitting up to search for Alabaster. I don't find him, but I hear noise coming from another part of the house and rush to the source. I get there a second before Percy and Annabeth, finding Jesse and who I guess is Alabaster in a bedroom with their swords drawn. Jesse's smoking hot. Literally, smoke is rising off of his body.
"You're no child of Hecate. How are you resisting my incantations?!"
"Good thing I have a way or I'd be a torch right now! Look, Alabaster, we don't want to hurt you! We just need your help on a quest!"
"Who is we?" He demands, then looks behind Jesse and sees me, Percy and Annabeth in the doorway. His gaze darkens.
"Percy Jackson." He spits, then gets a sly grin on his face. "Incantare: Annabeth Adducere ad me!" He says and the runes on his sword glow, then Annabeth is propelled by some force to him. He wraps one arm around her neck in a headlock, and puts his blade to her stomach, making all of us freeze. "Lucky for me she led you through the defenses outside. It made her protections wear off faster, taking the brunt of it all. I also heard you say on the porch she's pregnant. Personally, I don't think Poseidon and Athena should get another descendent. I wouldn't even lose sleep. So I'll make this simple, I have no interest in helping a bunch of demigods from Camp with their quest. Leave me alone and I won't hurt her or the unborn child!" He demands. Percy moves so fast I almost miss it when I blink. Water starts pouring from nowhere, and he uses it to blast Alabaster away from Annabeth and then picks him up off the floor, grabs his wrist and slams him into the wall.
"Don't. Touch. Her." Percy growls at him. Alabaster has the audacity to smirk at him.
"That's right, I forgot. Nobody Touches Her. How sweet. If it weren't for that damn Pegasus getting her off the bridge Kronos would have won then and there, wouldn't he have?" Percy tightens his grip on Alabaster's wrists. To his credit, or his stupidity, Alabaster doesn't even flinch. "I've waited a long time for this, Jackson. You're not leaving this house alive."
"It doesn't look like you're in any position to be making threats." Jesse says, drawing his sword and putting it against Alabaster's throat. "We didn't come here to hurt you, but if you attack us again we will."
"You will? No, you won't. Otherwise you wouldn't get the information you need."
"You can hurt someone without killing them." I say, my blood still hot from seeing his blade against Annabeth's stomach. If there's ever an appropriate time to use bloodbending, this is it. I focus on his hand. His pinky finger. And Willing the blood there to the side, he screams as his pinky finger is broken. Percy looks over at me, but his expression isn't shocked or repulsed. He nods, approving. I avoid Jesse's gaze, though. I don't want to see what he thinks yet.
"Lassa, give me the cuffs." He says, and I reach into my bag then hand them to him. Percy cuffs him, tightens them enough for him to bleed a little and he groans through gritted teeth as the celestial bronze comes into contact with his blood. It even smokes a little.
"No more magic. No more tricks." Percy says as Jesse lowers his sword and Percy forces him to sit down on his bed. "All we need is you to tell us something."
"Or what?" He spits. "I won't do it, no matter how much you try to get me to."
"Willing to test that theory?" I ask. "I can manipulate the blood in your body however I want. Breaking pinky fingers was a warning." I tell him, still avoiding Jesse's gaze. Percy looks over at me and Annabeth.
"Wise Girl, go." He tells her. "Stay with the Pegasi until I call for you."
"No!" She says and stands firm.
"I'm not asking! Go Now or I'm telling Blackjack to take you back to camp whether you want to or not!" He says. I see in his face he's serious, and I guess so does Annabeth because she glares at him but leaves. Percy turns back to Alabaster.
"What's your deal man? I got you amnesty! You could have put it all behind you, instead you got banished and have to be on your own!"
"I'll never bow to them! How could you be so blind to follow them? You think you're so high and mighty? You massacred us!"
"I did everything I could to spare every demigod life I had the chance to. And you think I follow the Olympians? No, I just fought against Kronos. He would have wiped out humanity. But regardless, that's not why we're here. Lassa?" He says and gestures to me.
Alabaster leans forward and snarls, making Jesse draw his sword again and put it back to his throat. I step forward and clear my throat.
"This is my prophecy:
The Fate of all Half Bloods shall rest in her hands
The Earthshaker's daughter will quest foreign lands
The child of Hecate's magic runs deep
Invoked by Cain's spirit, a Mother to weep
Life is lost to save the rest
Monsters perish at the nest
Cain's spirit is a biblical reference. It means Jealousy and rage. Do you know what the rest means?" I ask. He stops struggling against his cuffs and smiles.
"Changed my mind. I'll help."
"Okay. Not that I'm complaining, but Why?"
"Because it's a win/win. If you succeed, monsters will stop hunting me. If you don't, you die. It sounds like one of you will die anyway. My hope is Jackson." He says,and I tighten my grip on my xiphie and try to stay in control.
"Just tell us what it means."
"A couple years ago before Gaea rose, she brought back one of my siblings from the dead. Her name was Lamia, and when she was alive the first time she was queen of Libya, lover of Zeus, and daughter of Hecate. Because she had two demigod children with Zeus, Hera brutally killed both of them when they were still kids. So to take revenge, Lamia cast a curse upon all half-bloods for all time to attract monsters."
"What?!" Jesse, Percy and I shout all at once. He smirks.
"Messed up, I know, Right? She figured with Hera being the goddess of family and marriage she'd care if half bloods died."
"She was wrong." Percy says. "The Queen of Olympus is also the queen of being a bitch."
"On that, we can agree. So from what I can gather, you have to go to Libya. The ruins of her old castle to be specific, to her lair. A curse that powerful can only be reversed when in the place of its creation."
"How do we reverse it?" I ask.
"First you have to get past a defense enchantment. It's a tile floor mosaic. To get in, you'd need special magic I don't even know about yet. This place is like 4 or 5 thousand years old by now. Because I can't help you there, I'll just tell you to pry up the tiles. It'll have defenses, but if you can get past them you'll find the altar of Hecate where you need to say the reverse incantation. and destroy the cavern. The prophecy said Earthshaker, probably intentionally. Could have said Poseidon's daughter with the same syllables. My guess is you'll have to cause an earthquake in the cavern. And Lucky you,I already have the incantation written down, as well as a map for where you need to go. Once I found out about this a couple years ago, I was planning on taking the quest myself. Who wants to be hunted their whole lives, right?"
"So why Didn't you?" I ask. He smiles that cold smile again.
"Same reason I'm glad Percy's on this quest. It has a Highly Probable chance of failure. As I'm sure you already know, your scent is stronger in the ancient lands. It'll be even worse in Libya, where the curse was created. The closer you get, the more monsters will be on your tail. By the time you get to her lair, you'll be overrun. I'd say there's a chance of actually surviving it."
"Like there was a chance 40 demigods and the Hunters could beat an army of thousands of monsters and traitors led by a titan?" Percy asks. Alabaster's face curls into a snarl and lunges at Percy, just for Jesse to use the flat of his sword to push him back.
"So that's it? We sail to Libya, get to the place the curse originated, say the reverse incantation, and monsters won't hunt us anymore?" I ask. Alabaster shifts his focus from Percy to me.
"Mostly. We're still the offspring of the gods and therefore smell different than mortals, so if one's nearby they can still catch our scent. But it'll be much more faint. They'd have to be really close."
"The Fate of All Half Bloods is right." Jesse mutters.
"Is that everything you know?" I ask. He gives me a closed lip smile.
"Yep."
"Swear it on the Styx?" I ask.
"What? You don't trust me?" He mocks offense.
"No. I don't." He smirks again.
"Fine. Yeah, I swear on the Styx that's all I know. You guys have a nice quest, now. Hope I get invited to the funeral. I'd like to warm my hands by the fire."
"You're an asshole." I say.
"And you're a fool to worship the gods."
"I don't worship them. I'm a Christian." I tell him.
"Really? A Christian? Please tell me more." He says. I open my mouth but Percy steps in front of me.
"Stop. Let's go." Percy says and roughly grabs my arm. Jesse gets the map and incantation and the three of us head out of the house and back to where Annabeth and our Pegasi are waiting.
"Why didn't you let me talk to him? He was asking." I ask Percy.
"No, he wasn't." He says as he mounts Blackjack, Annabeth getting up behind him. "He was baiting you. He wanted to keep us there so he had more time to work his hands out of the cuffs, and for our protections to wear off. Jesus himself said not to cast pearls before swine."