I was settled down in the Hera Cabin for the night, but I felt uneasy.
Why had my mother waited this long to claim me? Why now? After thirteen, almost fourteen hard, long years, she decided to claim me? Why?
I rolled over in my bed, groaning as I listened to the crickets chirping outside my window.
I woke up to find myself enrolled in a quest. Percy and Aaron had received a prophecy from the Oracle of Delphi the previous night. They had picked me as the third member of their quest. For some reason, the Ares Cabin was angry at Percy and I, which I didn't know why they were.
I stood outside of the border of camp, staring at the place I might never return to. Sighing, I moved after Percie and Aaron. Aaron had a magical, Celestial bronze dagger, while Percy and I had our swords. In addition, I had gotten the Hephaestus Cabin's Head Counsellor, Charlie Beckendorf, to forge for me a Celestial bronze aegis–the shield of Athena. Several of the Aphrodite and Athena campers knew a little magic, so I asked them to enchant it. They did so gleefully.
I found myself outside of the border of camp, staring at the mortal world. I was still uneasy from my battle with the Minotaur, and my ribs were still healing. So I would have to let Aaron and Percie take control for now.
"Where do we go?" I asked.
Percie frowned. "Mom's in the Underworld, so…we need to go there."
"And where, pray tell, O Great Quest Leader, is this entrance to the Underworld?"
Aaron stared at me. "Since when did you get so sassy?"
I frowned at him. "I've always been a sassy person, Wise Girl."
Percie snickers. "Stop laughing, Perce," I said. "You can go and stuff a walrus up your nose."
That shut her up.
Aaron drew a Celestial bronze dagger from his belt, and pointed into the distance. "Well," he said. "Let's get going."