Trapped | ✓

Chapter 5

The following day, I arrived at the Big House and stood on the porch steps, waiting for Chiron. He said to be here at 10:15. I was two minutes early. As soon as the second minute passed, Chiron came out from the Big House. He sat at the pinochle table and indicated that I do the same.

"So. Tell me what's going on."

I explained everything that had happened in the infirmary, about the girl, and Phobos and Deimos.

"Alright. I will offer you this quest. Do you believe you are ready?"

"Definitely. I accept the quest."

"Who will you take with you?"

"How many people do I need?"

"As many as you believe necessary. Because you haven't had the longest time to train, I suggest you choose very experienced campers."

"Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase, for definite. How many more? To battle two immortal children of Ares who could make us go practically insane, will we need lots of people?"

"Probably."

"So can I have a lot of people?"

"List everyone you'd like to go on the quest."

"Myself, Emily Jackson. Percy Jackson. Annabeth Chase. Nico Di Angelo. Piper McLean. Jason Grace. Leo Valdez. Hazel Levesque. Frank Zhang."

"If you insist."

"Yes. I do insist."

"Very well. Go and find them. We shall explain quickly, as you need all the possible training you can get. You will begin the quest in two weeks."

"Two weeks?" I asked, surprised.

"Yes. Do you think there is any possible way you might be ready to go before then?" I sighed.

"I guess not."

"Right. Now, go. Fetch the others. I need to speak to them."

"Of course, yeah. Thank you Chiron." I rose from the seat and shot off towards the arena. Frank and Jason were both there.

"Frank! Jason! Go to the Big House please! I'll meet you in, like, five minutes!"

They looked confused, but began to take off their armour. I rushed over to the cabins. I knocked on the door of the Hephaestus cabin first. A boy I didn't know opened the door, but I asked them if Leo was inside. He was, and I told him the same message as I had Jason and Frank.

Next, I visited the Aphrodite cabin. Piper was there, and I sent her off to the Big House.

I knocked on the door of the Athena cabin. An Athena girl opened the door, but told me Annabeth wasn't inside. So I went to the Hades cabin, and found that Nico wasn't there either.

So naturally I decided that Nico would obviously either be somewhere in the woods being all Nico-ish and mysterious and stuff, or be in the Apollo cabin. I checked the Apollo cabin. Will opened the door when I knocked, and I asked if Nico was inside.

"Uh, yeah."

"Well can you tell him to meet me in the Big House? I'll be there in a few minutes," I said, smiling.

"Uh, sure."

I waved and ran over to my own cabin. I opened the door just a crack to check if it was okay for me to go in. I had a feeling Annabeth might be in there, and I didn't want to barge in. I peeked inside and saw Percy and Annabeth inside, playing a card game.

"Uh, guys? You have a sec?" I asked, stepping into the cabin. "Come to the Big House, please."

"Uh, alright?" Percy answered, spotting me by the door.

"Cool, let's go. Know where Hazel is?"
They shook their heads.

When we arrived at the Big House, Hazel was already standing there with Frank. Chiron began to tell them all about the quest.

"We're all going?" Piper asked.

I nodded.

"You will leave in two weeks. For now, you must continue your training," Chiron ordered.

"Yessir," I said with a grin.