Chapter 4 I chat with a mummy
Percy POV
Initially I was too stunned by the appearance of the massive hound to do anything. The giant dog growled and I began to back up, not taking my eyes off the beast. My back hit into the trunk of a tree behind me and the monster leaped off the rock flying through the air.
"Percy!" Annabeth yelled, out of the corner of my eye I could see her run towards me but she was too far away to reach me.
The monstrous dog opened its vast jaw as it approached. It should have taken a chunk out of my shoulder but instead its jaw seemed to pass through me and it latched onto the tree behind me. Before the monster (or I) could understand what had happened an arrow sprouted from the beast's neck, blood started to leak from the wound and the monster crumbled into the same fine golden dust as the minotaur had. I was left seriously shaken and covered in gold dust standing in the shadow of the tree.
"Percy!" Annabeth said once again wrapping me in a brief hug. "You're ok?" she asked confused, letting me go and looking me over.
"Y-yeah, somehow," I told her.
"Di immortales," Chiron cursed trotting over to us with his bow in hand.
"That was a hellhound," Annabeth said in disbelief. "How did it get into camp?"
"Someone must've summoned it," Chiron said darkly. "Someone inside of camp."
"What happened?" Luke asked, running over seeing me covered in monster dust, his moment of glory forgotten.
"Percy was attacked by a hellhound," Chiron explained. "Come children, let's get out of the forest." He cantered off leaving the three of us to hastily follow him.
The sun was setting as Annabeth and I sat at the edge of the canoe lake. Annabeth hadn't let me leave her sight since the attack. It was nice to know she cared but it was a bit annoying when she wouldn't even let me go to the men's room, eventually she relented when I told her it was either in there or in my pants.
"So what exactly is a hellhound?" I asked as I looked around for any stones to skip across the lake.
"They're a race of monsters," Annabeth began explaining, "Most myths say they were created by the primordial Nyx as a gift to her brother Tartarus as one of the first inhabitants of his domain." The names seemed to spark something in my head, especially Nyx.
"Nyx is the goddess of night and Tartarus is hell, right?" I asked her although I felt strangely confident in my words, Annabeth nodded.
"Yeah, they're primordial gods, the first beings created by Chaos," the blonde said as I finally found a decent rock to skip on the water. "They're beings of immense power, literal embodiments of universal constants."
"Less fancy words please," I asked her despite understanding what she was saying. "So these hellhounds, can they talk?"
"No, why?" Annabeth looked at me strangely.
I'm sure I heard it speak, I thought to myself, And it called me 'spawn of night' whatever that means. I debated whether I should explain to her what I'd heard; I felt like it was something I should keep to myself but at the same time Annabeth might be able to help me understand. Or she'd just think I'm crazy. I was saved from making a decision by Chiron who trotted over to us with a grave expression on his face.
"Percy, there you are. Would you come to the big house please?" He asked. Despite it being a question I felt like I couldn't refuse.
"Alright," I said wondering what the centaur wanted. Annabeth got up and followed us, curiosity evidently getting the better of the daughter of Athena. Chiron remained silent as we walked towards the big house, I was getting the impression that something serious was wrong. What the hell's going on? I thought listening to the gravel crunch under my feet. Do they think I summoned the hellhound? Do they want to know why it tried to kill me? Do they want to know how I survived? A thousand thoughts raced through my head as we walked, none of them good. By the time we had arrived in front of the farmhouse dark storm clouds filled the sky as far as the eye could see, blocking the little remaining sunlight.
"Inside, please," Chiron said as he folded his lower half into his wheelchair that had been waiting for him on the porch, in his true form he'd have been too tall to fit through the door. Lightning crackled across the sky as it began to violently storm above us, no rain made it through the camp's magical barrier but New York must've been being battered by a record breaking storm.
Annabeth and I followed Chiron into a gaudily decorated living room. Mr D was sat in a leopard print armchair drinking yet another can of diet coke, he hardly looked up as we entered. Annabeth and I sat on a sofa that matched Mr D's chair as Chiron stopped in front of us, he sighed before speaking.
"Percy," he paused, seemingly unsure as to how to express whatever he had to say. "Something valuable has been stolen." Does he think I took it? I panicked internally. "Lord Zeus's master bolt, his symbol of power from which all other lightning bolts are patterned has been taken." Annabeth seemed to understand the significance of this more than me.
"How do you steal a lightning bolt?" I asked.
"This is not a lightning bolt as you would think of one," Chiron explained, "It's two feet of celestial bronze with the power to level a small town. The first weapon made by the cyclopes for the gods in their war against the Titans."
"Do you think I took it?" I voiced my concerns causing Chiron to sigh yet again. Why else would he be telling me this?
"No my boy, I don't." I let out a sigh of relief. "However, Lord Zeus believes you may have." Great, that's even worse. The king of the gods thinks I've stolen his superpowered firecracker.
"Why does he think Percy has it?" Annabeth asked the question I'd been thinking for me.
"He believes the boy is colluding with his father, who may be working for Hades," Mr D spoke for the first time. "Father's missing bolt would most likely cause a war between the gods, very beneficial for the gods of death."
"Is Zeus stupid?" I asked. "I've never met my dad, hell I didn't even know I was a half-blood this time last week." My defense was drowned out by an extremely loud rumble of thunder, Annabeth and Chiron looked nervous.
"I would recommend not calling Lord Zeus that," Chiron told me. "Paranoid may be a more appropriate word, he and Lord Hades haven't always seen eye to eye to say the least. However, in regards to your other point, in the time you've been at camp you've killed the minotaur while unarmed, shown exceptional skills with a sword defeating five more experienced children of Ares and interacted with a hellhound within camp borders."
"A hellhound that tried to kill me," I defended myself.
"Which is one of the reasons I don't believe you summoned it," Chiron reassured me.
"And it's not my fault I'm apparently good with a sword," I continued to try and fight my case.
"You need not try and convince me Percy," Chiron said reassuringly. "I don't believe you have the bolt. However, Zeus sees you and thinks you're a more experienced demi-god pretending to be new to the Greek world."
"You do know a lot more about the gods than your average camper," Annabeth said unhelpfully, I looked at her next to me with shock.
"You don't think I took it do you?" I asked her hurt, she laughed.
"No, while you do have moments of intelligence no one could fake the stupid questions you ask," she said smirking.
"Like what?"
"Can hellhounds talk for one," she said like it was obvious. "They're giant dogs for the gods sake!"
"Annie-bell's right," Mr D said. "You knew who I am just from a vision of some dolphins." The pudgy god glared at me suspiciously with his beady little eyes. "Most of you brats need it spelt out for you."
"It's not my fault I can remember things about Greece more easily than I can remember my own mom's name!" I immediately wished I hadn't opened my big mouth. Chiron and Annabeth looked at me weirdly but Mr D didn't seem to care.
"Anyway," Chiron began changing the subject. "A quest to find the missing bolt and thereby prove your innocence has been issued to you. Go upstairs to the attic and consult the oracle and we'll talk some more."
Four flights of stairs and a ladder through a trapdoor later I was standing in a dusty attic. The smell of dust, mold and something else filled my nose. Light streamed through a circular window and reflected off various pieces of armor scattered about the room. Shelves lined the sloped walls and were stacked with random items, various jars filled with pickled things were covered in a layer of grime. There were several old trunks with labels such as Ithaka, Circe's island and Labyrinth.
Sat on a three legged stool in front of the window was a gruesome shriveled husk of a woman in a tie-dyed sundress. Her skin was leathery and her eyes were white and glassy; it was obvious she'd been dead a long, long time. I hadn't finished feeling repulsed by the corpse when her jaw opened slightly and thick green smoke poured out of her mouth with the sound of a hissing snake.
I am the spirit of Delphi. I heard a hissing voice say in my mind. Speaker of the prophecies of Phoebus Apollo, approach seeker and ask. Fighting all my natural instincts that were telling me to run away I stepped forwards and said,
"How do I find the master bolt?" More smoke poured from the mummy who was now barely visible there was that much in the room.
Go to the west coast and face the god who has turned
You shall find what is stolen and see it safely returned
You shall be betrayed by the one you call friend
And remember who you really are in the end
The smoke retreated back into the mouth of the mummy before it closed tightly shut as if it had never opened and I was left standing there more confused than I had been before it spoke. That didn't answer my question at all. Who's going to betray me? What does it mean 'who I really am'?
I remained standing, thinking about what the oracle had said for a few minutes when I noticed a regular ball point pen sitting at the back of a shelf in front of me. I don't know why but I felt like there was something strange about the pen, it seemed out of place in the attic filled with mythological items. I walked over and picked it up, it looked like any other cheap disposable ballpoint with a removable cap. Automatically I uncapped the pen, I don't know what I was expecting from the regular looking pen but I certainly wasn't expecting it to elongate into a double edged bronze sword. Thankful that I hadn't been pointing it at my face when I uncapped it I gave the sword a few practice swings, unlike any of the camp swords I'd used this one actually felt balanced in my hands, it felt just like an extension of my arm. I looked more closely at the sword that felt like it was made for me and noticed the word Anaklusmos engraved in it. Riptide I automatically translated the ancient text. I touched the cap to the end of the sword hoping to turn it back to a pen and sure enough I was now holding what looked like any old pen. I pocketed the pen and made my way back down the ladder.
"So," Chiron said as I walked back into the living room, everyone was still sat in the same places. "What did the oracle say?"
I told him what the mummy had said, he seemed to ponder on the prophecy.
"The oracle is often hard to interpret," he said. "I wouldn't worry about it, everything will reveal itself with time."
"There was something else," I said taking riptide out of my pocket. Chiron raised his eyebrows when he saw the pen/sword. "I don't know why but this seemed to call to me, it feels better than any of the camp swords," I said feeling stupid talking about a pen calling to me.
"So it's finally chosen a new master," Chiron said cryptically. "That sword has a tragic past but that doesn't matter. Keep it, you'll need a weapon and riptide will serve you well."
"Thanks," I said pocketing the sword again I was curious about what he meant about it having a tragic past.
"It's enchanted to always return to your pocket, it's yours now, you can never lose it." Chiron told me. Sweet, I thought. "Although for future reference it's best if you leave the items in the attic undisturbed, not all of them will take kindly to being touched," he said, talking about the items like they were alive. "Now onto the quest. Quests always have three members, as leader of the quest it's up to you to pick your two companions."
I glanced at Annabeth who was looking at me with hopeful eyes, she'd told me how desperate she is to go on a quest and get out of camp.
"I'll take Annabeth," I said causing the daughter of Athena to smile brightly at me, her knowledge and level head could only be useful. "And…" I thought about who else I wanted. "Grover." I decided on my other best friend at camp. I'd thought about bringing Luke as he was probably my third best friend here and would definitely be better in a fight than Grover but there was something about him that made me feel unable to fully trust the guy. It might have been how he would smile without his eyes or how he'd get a dark look whenever someone brought up how many undetermined kids there are in the Hermes cabin.
"Very well," Chiron said. "You'll leave in the morning so I'd recommend going and getting a good night's sleep." Annabeth and I left the big house, we'd just gone down the porch steps when she wrapped me in a hug.
"Thank you for choosing me," she said before letting me go. "I'd better go and get ready," she said before hurrying off.
I was once again looking up at the moon this time through the branches of a tree. I'd snuck out of the Hermes cabin and was sitting on the branch of a tree with my back leant up against the trunk. It was one of the trees on the edge of the forest -I didn't dare go deeper in after the events earlier in the day- but I wasn't worried about being spotted by a harpy, I figured I was high enough up. I couldn't decide whether today was more eventful than being attacked by the minotaur and finding out I'm a half-blood or just a close second.
There were numerous things from today that troubled me and were still playing on my mind, strangely being accused of theft by the king of the gods barely made the list. How come I could hear the hellhound talking? Annabeth said they were unable to but I'm sure I heard it speak. That tied into troubling thing number two; why did it call me spawn of night? If it'd said spawn of death I'd have understood but it definitely said night. The third thing on my mind was how come the hellhound's jaw went through me? It definitely didn't miss, I should be missing half my torso, which thankfully I'm not. The last thing on my mind was what did the oracle mean when it said 'remember who I really am'? It must have something to do with why my memories only seem to be surface level. I know Chiron said not to worry about the prophecy but that's easier said than done. I remained looking up at the stars with thoughts still swarming through my mind until I fell asleep right there in the tree.
My dream self materialized in a large extravagant living room. I could tell it was dark but I was able to see perfectly fine. Everything in the room from the walls and the large mirror over the fireplace to the couches and unlit chandelier matched the black and silver color scheme. It was safe to say I much preferred the decor here than in the living room of the big house and its assorted animal prints and bright paint, I felt like I was at home here. Pacing in the center of the room was a tall black haired woman wearing jeans and a black leather jacket. She was muttering under her breath as she paced something about 'stupid dog… never should… made…' and 'moronic god… exactly what I wanted to avoid by…'. The woman seemed familiar but before I could remember where I'd seen her before she surprised me by looking up, directly at me, and smiling.
"There you are!" she said in a much happier tone than she had been talking to herself in.
"Wait, you can see me?" I asked the woman, still unsure where I recognized her from.
"Of course, I was starting to wonder if you'd ever fall asleep," she said, freaking me out a bit. It's just a dream, I told myself. Then it hit me, she was the woman I saw after fighting the minotaur!
"Who are you?" I asked the woman. The same woman appearing in my dreams twice in one week, both times after I had a near death experience, that couldn't be a coincidence. The woman's smile seemed to falter for a second.
"You'll find out with time," she answered cryptically, "For now you can just think of me as an interested party." I just stood there unsure what to make of her answer. "Sit," she told me, gesturing to the couch behind me, so I did. The woman sat on a couch that only had half a back and one arm. "This quest you're about to go on will be dangerous, trust your instincts, your powers will re-ma-," she cut herself off as she seemed to misspeak, "your powers will manifest over the course of the quest, in fact they've already started." I was unsure what she meant, I hadn't noticed anything manifesting other than my frustration at having so many unanswered questions.
"Okay?" I half confirmed, unsure as to what she wanted me to say.
"Don't worry," she reassured me, "Things will only start making more sense," she promised as if she could tell how confused I was with my entire life at the moment. "We'll speak again soon," she promised before the dream faded to black.
"Keep your guard up!" the man in front of me shouted.
Now I was in a large courtyard with glowing silver flowers lining the walls and a fountain in the center. In front of me was a man with huge black wings that matched the color of his hair. He was lean and muscular with dark skin and wore a vest, jeans and boots which were all also black. In his hand he had a black sword, so dark it looked like it was made from shadows themselves. I'm sensing a color scheme here. Either the man in front of me was giant or I was smaller than usual as I probably only came up to his bellybutton. In my hand was a sword that matched the man in front of me but was scaled down to match my smaller size
With a single flap of his wings the man flew across the courtyard with his sword held high, I raised my own and parried. Unlike my last dream I wasn't in control, I was merely a passenger along for the ride. The man and I continued battling back and forth reminding me of when I sparred with Luke, we weren't trying to seriously hurt each other but he wasn't afraid of giving me a few bumps and bruises as we went. The much larger man in front of me was obviously a far better swordsman than I was but my dream self still fought with practiced skill -much more than my real self had ever done at camp- and was able to defend nearly all of my opponents' attacks. Eventually however the man flicked his sword sending mine clattering across the courtyard as he disarmed me in the same way I had against Luke and the Ares camper, the man then used the flat of his blade to sweep my legs out from underneath me, causing me to join my sword on the floor.
"Not bad," the man commented, offering me his free hand.
"You have to teach me how to do that," I said, accepting his help up.
"In time," he told me, patting me on the shoulder.
"How are you two getting on?" A new yet familiar voice asked from behind me. It sounded like the woman earlier in my dreams -the 'interested party'- but before I could turn around and check I woke up with a start.
It was quite an achievement that I somehow hadn't fallen out of the tree as I slept, I was still exactly where I was before I fell asleep (not that there was anywhere else to go other than down). From what I could tell the sun was already part of the way across the early morning sky which was still filled with dark storm clouds and I was very aware of something pulling my hair -which was probably what woke me up. I reached up with my right hand to move whatever was trying to rip my hair out and a bird flew away from on top of my head. My mom always said my hair looked like a bird's nest but that's the first time a bird tried to use it as one, I thought as I yawned. I tried to flatten down my messy black hair as much as I could before climbing back down the tree, which was much harder than getting up it, especially with a buttcheek that had fallen asleep from spending all night sitting on a branch. I wasn't worried about the harpies, looking at the sun I guessed it was just late enough to be up and about.
As I wandered back to the Hermes cabin I thought about my strange dreams, Annabeth had told me that it's normal for demigods to have weird almost prophetic dreams often about things that are currently happening or even rarely about things in the future. Neither dream seemed like it was in the future but the second one felt almost like a memory yet I had no idea who the man I had been fighting with was. I had been hoping that no one in the Hermes cabin was up yet so I could avoid any questions about why I was up so early but I wasn't that lucky.
"Where have you been?" Luke asked quietly as I entered the cabin. The son of Hermes was sitting shirtless in his top bunk and from the looks of it was trimming his nails with a bronze knife. Trimming your nails in bed? That's grim, I thought before coming up with an excuse as to where I'd been.
"I woke up early," I lied, "So I decided to get some fresh air."
"Pre quest nerves huh?" Luke said, seeming to buy my excuse. "Don't blame you. I remember my first quest, I was shitting myself pretty much the entire time."
"Yeah, I'm pretty nervous," I said honestly, while it wasn't why I was up this early I was stressed about this quest. I'm supposed to go to the west coast, face a 'turned' god and be betrayed all while hunting a stolen superpowered weapon to prove I'm not a traitor, yeah it was safe to say I was nervous.
"Well hopefully some grub will help settle your nerves," Luke said swinging his legs out of bed and dropping down, not bothering with the ladder.
A couple hours later Grover, Annabeth and I were standing by Thalia's pine tree, apparently Thalia was a daughter of Zeus who was turned into a tree as she died defending her friends. Chiron and Luke had come to see us off. At our feet were 3 backpacks, mine had a spare change of clothes, my toothbrush, $100 and 20 golden drachma, a map of the US as well as an emergency supply of ambrosia and nectar -food of the gods that would heal most injuries but burn us up if we ate too much.
Annabeth's pack had the same as mine but with her magic Yankees cap that was a present from her mom and a large book on classical architecture written in ancient greek for if she got bored. She had her bronze knife stuffed up her sleeve which seemed dangerous to me but when I asked her if it was safe she just said, 'We can't all turn our weapons into stationary'.
The bulk of Grover's bag was taken up with tin cans and apples (his two favorite snacks) and he had a set of reed pipes stuffed in a side pocket. He was in his mortal disguise which was a pair of converse stuffed with newspaper with enough room for his hooves and a pair of baggy sweatpants. He had a beanie stuffed in the top of his bag in case it rained as when his hair was wet you could see the tips of his horns peaking through.
Chiron believed that we should aim for LA, apparently that's where Hades lives. He said he hoped that we'd find the bolt without having to confront the god of the dead but I doubted that. Luke handed me a pair of sneakers.
"A gift from my dad," he told me. "Well he didn't know he gave me them," he said with the signature son of Hermes grin and a wink. Once a son of the god of thieves, always a son of the god of thieves. "Just say m-a-i-a and wings will come out, could be useful," he explained.
"Thanks man!" I put the coolest gift I'd ever gotten in the top of my backpack.
"I wish I could have trained you longer," Chiron told me as I slung the bag over my shoulder. "But I have faith the three of you will succeed, there's something special about you," he said looking at me. "Good luck."
We said our farewells and got into the back of the white camp van that had the cover business's logo on the side. Argus, the camp's head of security who had eyes on every square inch of his body was going to drive us into the city, from then on we were on our own.