Author's Note: This is what stress does to me. When stressed, I immerse myself in a story I'm writing to help me cope with tough situations. It's kinda like therapy for me. With that in mind, I hope you enjoy.

Chapter Eight: Poisoned Knowledge

Percy Jackson could only gape as the newcomer and his strange friend walked up to the son of Poseidon. Every nerve in the boy pulsed with intent as his sea green eyes scanned the young stranger. Percy's instincts told him the newcomers were dangerous but not necessarily a threat to him or any other demigod. Part of him wanted to kneel in respect to the young man for telling Artemis off, but if he knew the goddess as well as he hoped he did after interacting with her Hunters to rescue their trapped mistress last Summer, Percy knew Artemis was doing one of three things: complaining to Thalia's Dad, plotting the young man's death, or enjoying the satisfaction of his supposed death due to her divine form. Percy blinked when he noticed the young man was talking to him.

"Did you hear me?"

Percy blinked. He could make out a slight glow in the young man's arms that matched the track of veins. Percy jumped back when he saw the boy's eyes turn and move like the shutters of a camera. "Did you have to replace your eyes when you were younger?"

Thalia punched Percy in the arm. "Those questions can wait until later if he wants to answer them, Kelp Head!"

Jack shook his head with a light smile on his face at the exchange. Honestly, they remind me a bit of Mom and Dad. The thought surprised him, and for some reason, Jack thought he could hear Solus' giggle in the back of his mind. What the Pit was that about?

A cold gust of wind blew through the camp at that moment. Out of the corner of his eye, Jack saw the weathervane on the Big House blow in circles before it seemed to point an accusatory finger at him. The young Prime tensed, ready for a fight. Instead of looking at him or towards the direction of the strange wind, everyone stared behind him to something else. Jack felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up and turned as Arcee warmed her blasters.

"Hold," Chiron ordered with a tone that reminded Jack of Optimus. "She will not harm you or young Jack."

Nightmares of the Bots shambling about in a zombified and warped reflection of life flashed into Jack's mind on sight of the shriveled woman in full hippie attire. With some work, Jack could imagine her in life as a bead hawker, a simple woman who could likely tell true fortunes if Apollo was her patron or Dad. The son of Primus briefly questioned what slight caused this gruesome fate. Then, Jack shook his head and pushed thoughts of childish gods away. He knelt and did his best to meet her eyes. After all, she deserved at least a small show of respect.

Green mist billowed out of the mummy in something like an inverted death rattle. "I am the Oracle of Delphi, Speaker of Prophecies and Mouth of Apollo. Approach, Seeker, and ask."

Part of Jack wanted to correct her and explain that he wasn't built as an Energon seeker but also knew formulaic address when he heard it. "How can I save my friends?"

The mist swirled and coiled around him to show a heavily green-tented scene of Omega One with all the Bots there in a row that seemed to reflect rank. Jack felt unease as the entity began to speak with Optimus' voice: "The eldest child of Light shall fall."

Ratchet spoke next: "Power must not be taken by all."

Arcee's voice made Jack want to scream as the serpentine imitation leaked into his audios and burned like poison. In her normal voice, Arcee's tones held a kind of calming resonance, a sort of hum that unified with the rhythmic song of Jack's own Spark, even if he remained consciously unaware of the link. This imitation tortured the boy with the lack of harmony as it spoke: "Sky and Sea shall roar; their parents to tare."

Bulkhead spoke next: "The Five Spheres shall tremble under the might to bare."

Finally, Bumblebee spoke which made Jack chuckle weakly in disbelief at the unlikeliness of the situation: "The king be wary should he snare."

As the mist of the spirit of Delphi withdrew back into its unlucky host, Jack's mind spun with thoughts as bits of The Covenant of Primus floated up from The Key and mingled with the oracle's words. The words moved around and linked themselves together in ways no mortal could predict. The pictures the words gave Jack in his mind scared him far worse than the little tricks of the mist from the spirit of Delphi. Jack shivered and stifled a scream when he left the trance and watched the grotesque mummy amble brokenly back into the Big House. "Primus…" Jack breathed in shock before he turned and made to run like Unicron chased him.

A gentle metal servo on his shoulder stopped Jack and compelled him to turn to the two-wheeler who owned the servo. "Jack, talk to me. What happened?"

Jack looked into her optics and shook his head, "Not here." Then, he turned to Chiron. "Is there a place Arcee and I may talk and not be disturbed?"

The horse-man hybrid nodded and guided Arcee and Jack into the Big House to sit at a table where Dionysus sat and shuffled cards. Jack looked at the god with a hint of nerves. The god only nodded. He seemed to be in a better mood with the High Grade in his system. "I know that look, Mr. Darby," the rotund man said with a nod at him and Arcee in turn. "Call me when you finish, boy." The god then flashed away, leaving a scent of grapes and fresh fruit of the vine in his place.

Jack shook his head. "I'll never get used to this."

"You got used to us," Arcee answered with a shrug and, after Jack sat down, joined him in the seat next to him. Oddly, Jack seemed to blush. Then, the femme smiled. Jack blinked and felt his face grow even hotter. For a moment, he went over the recent past and realized she only genuinely smiled around him. Then, Jack shook his head and saw the smile fade from her faceplate and replace itself with an expression of worry. "Jack, what is it?"

"Th-that thing said I'll fall, told a warning not to take power, and spoke of gods in trouble." Jack whispered, "That fragging ghost stole your voice and twisted it," Jack reached as his hands shook. "I was completely terrified, and I don't know why!"

Arcee met him and enclosed his hand loosely in her servo in a bid to help him ground. She had a sneaking suspicion how the creature in the withered husk could terrify her partner so easily when Airachnid and Megatron couldn't. However, a deeper discussion would have to wait because her theory involved a part of Cybertronian culture only meant to be discussed between Sparkmates. The warmth in her servo seemed to help as Jack stopped vibrating with his hand in hers. Arcee then changed the subject to put some distance between Jack's mind and the terrifying vision or prophecy. "What about the two Humans?"

Jack sighed and looked up past her. The son of Primus couldn't explain how, but he could feel the demigods approaching the Big House while he and Arcee talked. Could it be higher concentrations of The Chaos Bringer's blood in children of "The Big Three"? Then, the young Prime gestured with a neutral expression behind her. "Why don't you ask them yourself?"

Percy sighed and frowned at the pair as he walked up. The son of Poseidon nodded to them with front two pockets of his travel bag stuffed with ambrosia squares while Thalia had her own bag with two water bottles of Nectar in mesh pockets on the sides of her bag. Part of him noted the way the two people seemed to gain strength from each other. The young man felt shocked when he watched Jack's eyes snap up to note them. Then, the strange not-automaton looked at him and Thalia in turn. She nodded at the ready bags he and Thalia gripped in a hand at their sides. Then, she got up and began walking out of the Big House with a silent nod from Jack as the only sign the pair talked at all, along with a nervous glance from Jack at the sports bottles. What in Hades is going on with them?! Percy thought. Normal demigods would be petrified on their first quest! The son of Poseidon shivered as memories of Auntie Em's rolled through his mind. Poor choice of words, Jackson.

Arcee looked back at the demigods out of the corner of an optic before they walked out of the camp and passed the border. She looked down at Jack who surprised her with a grin and a jerked thumb back toward the demigods. Time to find out how they react to me at full size. The Cybertronian's body groaned in relief as the magic of the camp retreated from her chassis and finally allowed the femme to go back to her full size. Her servo motors popped and hissed as built-up pressure over the past few days rushed out of the returned free spaces before various parts and gears shifted to more natural positions inside the femme's body. Arcee stretched her arms high above her helm and moved in ways to loosen stiff plating much like a Human moved to get joints free from a catch after the joint was forced into an awkward position for an extended period of time. "Scrap," she muttered. "I'm glad you didn't find a way to keep me in the garage for two weeks."

Thalia and Percy looked at each other. Percy shivered at the thought of being locked in a small space for two weeks without sight of the sun, but Thalia only narrowed her eyes as she looked at Jack. The young man only blushed as if the situation was a bad prank! Jack rubbed the back of his head, sighed, shook his head, and looked at Arcee who shook her head with the slightest smile on her face.

The demigods were so distracted by Arcee and Jack that they momentarily forgot about transport down to where they needed to go. Percy looked at Thalia and paled when he realized this. Then, to look at the not-automaton, she seemed to not be aware or bothers by their current situation of a lack of transportation.

"You've never been on quest." Thalia asked with a raised eyebrow and a questioning and slightly fearful cadence to her voice as she increased her pace to get between Jack and Arcee. Then, she showed the young Prime their meager stock of supplies. "We only have about forty dollars in mortal money and twenty drachmas."

Percy looked at Thalia and cursed softly. "I'm not taking a bus to wherever we are going!"

Thalia, Jack, and Arcee looked at Percy in a bit of worry. Thalia only nodded and squeezed his shoulder. Her powers were still largely being explored, but recently, she found tactile telepathy when she touched Percy. This time brought up all three Furies and an exploding bus thanks to her dad. Thalia nodded, "I can understand that, but we can't summon vehicles out of thin air." She squeezed his arm and looked at him in earnest. "We don't have a choice."

Jack blushed, "Actually, that's not entirely true." The young Prime then closed his optics and focused on his Cybertronian bodysuit. With some effort, Jack transwarped the mechsuit next to him and grinned at the Greek demigods when said suit appeared in a ball of electric blue energy. Then, Arcee smiled and transformed into her Ninja 400R alt mode. When Percy noticed the bike, he started drooling. As he moved to get on Arcee's back, the two-wheeler summoned Sadie and looked down at him with clear anger even behind the helmet.

"What?"

Jack glared at Percy as he got in his bodysuit, transformed and growled, "You two, get in, now." Jack ordered with distaste in his voice. The anger surprised Jack, but he hid it well. Why did that bother me? Jack asked in confusion. Is it a Cybertronian taboo? Jack thought before he shook his head and focused on the quest ahead. "We're going to the only place I can think of: New Rome."

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