Heliophile - Apollo

1.6| We Get Offered A Quest

The following day, Chiron moved Percy to cabin three. He didn't have to share with anybody. He had plenty of room for all his stuff: the Minotaur's horn, one set of spare clothes, and a toiletry bag. He got to sit at his dinner table along with Ana mainly because Phanes didn't have a cabin and there was no one else in the Poseidon cabin, pick all his activities, call "lights out" whenever he felt like it, and not listen to anybody else. And Ana knew that he was miserable.

Ana and Luke watched Percy over the next couple of days and knew that just when he'd started to feel accepted, to feel he had a home in cabin eleven, he might be a normal kid—or as normal as you can be when you're a half-blood—he'd been separated as if he had some rare disease.

Nobody mentioned the hellhound, but all three of us got the feeling they were all talking about it behind his back. The attack had scared everybody except Ana and Luke. It sent two messages: one, that Percy was the son of the Sea God; and two, monsters would stop at nothing to kill him. They could even invade a camp that had always been considered safe.

Ana noticed that the other campers steered clear of him as much as possible. Cabin Eleven was too nervous to have sword class with him after what he'd done to the Ares folks in the woods, so Percy's lessons became only with Luke and Ana. Luke pushed him harder than ever and wasn't afraid to bruise us both up in the process. "You're going to need all the training you can get," he promised, as we were working with swords and flaming torches. "Now let's try that viper-beheading strike again. Fifty more repetitions."

Ana was as good as Luke at sword-fighting so she was mainly practicing adding energy to it and using her powers while fighting. Annabeth still taught Percy Greek in the mornings, but according to him, she seemed distracted. Every time he said something, she scowled at him, as if he had just poked her between the eyes. After the lessons, she would walk away muttering to herself: "Quest ... Poseidon? ... Dirty rotten ... Got to make a plan ..." Ana didn't trust Annabeth very much so she wasn't all that surprised and just told Percy to keep his distance and focus on her and Luke.

Even Clarisse kept her distance, though her venomous looks made it clear she wanted to kill him for breaking her magic spear. Ana knew that Percy wished she would just yell or punch him or something. He'd rather get into fights every day than be ignored.

That night, Ana had one of her worst dreams yet. She appeared along the beach in a storm.  About a hundred yards down the surf, animals were fighting. A horse, an eagle, and a snake seemed to be helping out the horse.

The god's sacred animals she had immediately realized. The horse was Poseidon, the eagle Zeus, and the snake was her father. Poseidon and Zeus grappled with each other, wrestled, kicked, and head-butted, and every time they connected, lightning flashed, the sky grew darker, and the wind rose.

Ana looked over and realized that Percy was there. Over the storm's roar, she could hear the eagle yelling at the horse, Give it back! Give it back! Like a kindergartner fighting over a toy.

The waves got bigger, crashing into the beach, and spraying Ana with salt. Percy and Ana yelled, Stop it! Stop fighting! The ground shook. Laughter came from somewhere under the earth, and a voice so deep and evil it turned the daughter of Phanes's blood to ice and her heart dropped. Come down, little heroes, the voice crooned. Come down!

The sand split beneath her, opening up a crevice straight down to the center of the earth. Ana's feet slipped, and darkness swallowed her. She woke up, stunned and panting in Cabin Eleven hoping that the voice she heard was wrong. Her heart calmed down and she looked outside noticing that it was still night time.

She heard a clopping sound at the door, a hoof knocking on the threshold. "Come in?"

Grover trotted inside, looking worried. "Mr. D wants to see you and Percy."