The Real World || Percy Jackson Olympians Fanfiction (2)

Chapter 8

I walked into the rec room, head down, Leo to my side. The rec room was the basement of the big house, and was basically a ping pong table covered in various snacks, surrounded by chairs. The people who had been called here to discuss the prophecy was: me, Leo, Nico, and all the head counsellors from each cabin. I was the only camper who wasn't a counsellor. I recognized Annabeth, Travis and Connor, Jason, Percy, Clarisse (a mean looking girl, head counsellor for Ares's cabin) and Piper. Annabeth gestured for me to sit next to her (we had introduced ourselves when I had a lesson with her, and we were now friends). Everyone else also sat, and soon after, Chiron entered the room.

The centaur laid out a piece of paper on the table, the prophecy scribbled on to it. Each camper took a turn reading it, before we started discussing the lines and tried to decipher it.

"'Three must journey to Iceland's twin'" Chiron read. "Any ideas of where that could be?"

"Well, most people get confused between Iceland and Greenland, as Greenland is icy and Iceland is full of fields. The twin could be Greenland," Annabeth suggested.

"Yes that is a good interpretation," Chrion agreed. "Anybody have any other suggestions?" No one did.

"'Find the goddess who makes couples grin'"

"That's obviously Aphrodite," Piper stated, blushing slightly. "And she must be losing her mind or something, because of 'deranged'."

"The next line is uninterpretable, as there are a thousand guesses we could make in reference to this 'thing' the heroes will find," sighed Chiron.

"'Death and fire, who will fall?'" Leo spoke up for the first time. "Obviously me and Nico."

"And fall could either mean a literal fall or death," Nico added.

I whispered the line that had been bugging me the most, but I was still heard in the small, quiet room we were in. "'The daughter of Zeus will decided it all'."

"That obviously means you, Libellus. And the deciding... That seems to be referring to the 'fall'," Annabeth put a hand on my arm comfortingly as she spoke.

"'Find the trouble maker in an icy tomb'."

"Aphrodite, presumably," Piper said again. "And tomb might suggest that someone will/has died there, helping the suggestion of 'fall'"

"Yes, and the ice would support the idea of Greenland. 'More than one shall fall into the gloom," read Chiron.

There was silence for a minute before Clarisse, who had been silently thinking up until now, pounded her large fist on the table.

"There's that mention of a 'fall' again! And gloom, that could mean anything! Gloomy water, gloomy depression, etc etc."

"I think we have deciphered as much of the prophecy as we can," Chiron concluded. "Libellus, Nico and Leo will be the three heroes to travel to Greenland in search of helping Aphrodite. Is that decided? And more importantly, do you three accept?"

No one raised their hands to object, and Chiron received grumpy nods from the three "heroes".

"Good, you'll be setting off at sunrise tomorrow. I shall pack each of you a bag with the necessities and we shall provide you with transport to the nearest airport, but the rest is up to you. Might I suggest some sword practice and a good nights sleep before you go?"

The meeting ended.

An hour later and I was alone in the arena, hacking away at dummy after dummy. Jason and Percy had both offered to keep me company, but I had declined both offers, proceeding to be alone with my thoughts. I had skipped dinner that day, but I was too anxious to be hungry. It was too late to get food after the meeting anyway, as the sun had already started to set and curfew would have been up in a little while.

Across the camp, hundreds of kids were sitting around a campfire, eating marshmallows and singing silly songs. Then here I was, sweating like a pig, my hair sticking up everywhere, hacking away at wood and straw. This was not the life someone my age should have.

My sword sliced through the air, whistling on it's way to the target. My aim was horrifying, but I didn't care. In only a matter of minutes, I was both mentally and physically exhausted. My movements were fueled purely by the emotions built up over the past few days. Anger. Guilt. Frustration. Unfairness. Hatred. Loss. Loneliness.

I miss Newt, stab. I want to go home, stab. My life is so unfair, stab. Why me? Stab.

"Where did you learn that technique?" Nico called from the arena entrance.

The boy startled me, making me miss the dummy and instead fall to the floor. I groaned, rolling over. Nico had jogged over to me by then, and as I rolled, my feet accidentally kicked out and tripped him over, making him fall on top of me for the second time.

"We have got to stop ending up like this!" I sighed, breathless from my workout.

"You have got to stop being so clumsy!" Nico mocked, grinning sarcastically at me.

My hands came up and shoved at Nico's chest, pushing his heavy body off of mine. I jumped up, retrieving my sword, and stormed off to another dummy. Moments later, Nico was bedside me again.

"Look, I'm sorry, solitario. But seriously, you won't kill anything but yourself with those hits. Let me show you."

Nico took off his army jacket so he was just wearing his jeans and T-shirt. I refused to make eye contact with him, and instead focused my glare on the dummy.

"First of all, you're standing wrong. Here, like this..." Nico walked behind my, placed his hands on my hips and turned them so I was looking at the dummy a little more sideways. "Then, hold your arm here..."

Nico took hold of my right wrist (as I was right handed) and positioned it so that it was stretching away from my body. The end of my sword pointed directly at the dummy's chest, preparing to hit it's heart.

"Then, you swing your arm back," Nico pulled my arm back, so it was held to the side of my body, still in mid air. "And then swing it forward, like so."

He slowly pushed my arm forward so it sliced through the dummies chest, leaving a decent sized cut. Nico moved his body away from me, making me feel a little bit less awkward. I glanced at him and saw that death boy had a small blush on his cheeks as well.

"Try it on your own, faster this time."

I practiced the manouver several times, each time getting small tips about my technique. By the end, I could easily cut up the dummy expertly.

"Now, what about that duel you promised me?" Nico asked, his usual cockiness back in place.

I swung my sword towards Nico's face, but he easily lifted his sword and blocked it, seemingly with no effort.

"Bring it on, sparkles."

Nico growled and spun to my side, making a move to cut me in the stomach, but I had already moved back out of his reach. Now, I was standing a few steps up into the stands, above the arena floor. I faced Nico, who was standing directly below me, and hurled myself over his head. He was surprised with how high I just jumped, as was I, but I didn't dwell on it. I had a fight to win.

The element of surprise worked well in my favour, allowing me to slice at Nico's heels. I managed to hit them, but before I could draw any blood, he had jumped and spun in the air, kicking me in the gut on the way down. My bruised body fell to the floor, and I kicked Nico down as well... Again.

This time, he landed on his side near my feet. I scrambled over to him on my hands and knees, about to raise my sword as if to deliver the finishing blow. However, Di Angelo's sword was still in his hand, so he managed to block my blade and twist it out of my hand. I had lost.

"I have to give you credit, you put up a fair fight. Still no match for me, but decent enough."

Nico's sword was still positioned just a little bit away from my neck, his hand on the hilt. In one swift motion, I leaned down and bit into his hand as hard as I could. He swore quietly in Italian and yanked his hand away. But before he could retaliate, I was already running back to my cabin, laughing all the way. Little did I know, Nico was staring after me, a genuine smile plastered on his face.