The Lost Heroine (Heroes of Olympus/Kane Chronicles crossover) [2016]

Chapter 16: Jason

THE MOMENT I WOKE UP, I KNEW SOMETHING WAS WRONG. I was lying in a bed. The room was filled with people. I saw Leo, Calypso, Annabeth, Percy, Frank, Hazel, Will, Nico, Zia, Carter, Walt, Sadie, and Jaz. Piper was gone.

"Where's Piper?" I said instantly, sitting up.

Leo opened his eyes as soon as I said that. "Piper?" he repeated. "She's not here?"

"She's gone!" I yelled. By this time, everyone in the room was awake.

"She's not in here," Annabeth said.

"She could be getting a drink or something," Hazel suggested, but I knew it was more than that.

I swore in Latin at the top of my lungs.

Chiron came wheeling down the hallway in his wheelchair. "Jason Grace, what do you think you're doing?"

"Looking for Piper! She's gone!" I yelled. I couldn't believe it. Piper McLean had simply vanished, and I was right there to protect her. It was my fault.

Annabeth immediately shook her head. "Jason, it's not your fault. You were asleep!"

"I was there to protect her!" I snapped.

"The camp border prevents monsters from getting in," Chiron said. "This shouldn't have happened."

"What if it wasn't a monster?" I said. "What if it was a god, or another demigod?"

"You have a point," Chiron said. "We should ask Rachel."

Annabeth shot up. "That's it!" she said suddenly. "An upcoming quest!"

I barely heard their conversation. I put my head in my hands and sat down on the bed. Piper was missing. Piper was missing. Piper was missing. My brain refused to think anything else.

Leo sat down next to me. "Hey," he said. "You have thirteen friends in this room alone, just waiting to help you. Piper's gonna be fine. We'll find her." I was grateful that he didn't crack any jokes.

"Will we, though?" I said quietly. "What if we don't? What if..." I didn't dare finish the thought.

"She won't," Leo assured me. "She's one of the strongest girls I've ever met. She won't give up easily. She can hold on until we're there to help, and we'll take it from there."

I took a deep breath. "You're right. Thanks, Leo."

Leo flashed a grin. "I got your back, Superman. We're gonna find Beauty Queen and get her back home safely."

Chiron Iris-messaged Rachel Elizabeth Dare and told her to come to the Big House. She appeared a few minutes later.

"Hello, Chiron," she said. "So, Piper's gone missing?"

"Yes," Chiron replied. "We need a quest."

"I see," said Rachel. Then she fell backwards. Annabeth caught her and set her down on her stool. Rachel's eyes glowed green, and she spoke in the voice of the Oracle of Delphi:

"Fourteen shall go south to the desert of ice,

To battle an old foe defeated twice,

Together the magic of three ancient worlds

Can silence the wrath of a jealous girl,

A heart of ice mus Isis bear,

And lose the one that she holds dear,

Twelve shall return from the voyage home,

And three left behind, forever alone."

She blinked, and her eyes were back to their normal color. "You have a quest," she said simply, then walked away.

Annabeth instantly grabbed a piece of paper. "Percy, pen!" she said urgently. Percy handed her Riptide. She uncapped it and stuck the cap on the end of the hilt. It shrunk back into a pen, with the cap on the opposite end. She scribbled down the prophecy lines.

Sadie's face was pale. "A heart of ice must Isis bear?" Walt put his arm around her shoulder.

"That last line scares me," said Leo. "Three left behind, forever alone?"

"Me too," I said. "Does that mean that three of us are going to die?"

"Prophecies often have double meanings," Annabeth said. "Possibly it doesn't mean that."

"What else could it mean?" Jaz asked. "Why would we go on a quest if we know that three of us aren't going to come back alive?"

I knew the answer. "To save Piper. We can't just leave her there!"

"If we don't go on the quest," Jaz reasoned, "it's possible one person will die. If we do, it's guaranteed that three people will die. Which one sounds like the better option?"

I wanted to scream. "We are going to save Piper," I growled. "I'll go alone if you guys are going to chicken out. Piper is going to be rescued, and I will save her if it's the last thing I do. I swear on the river Styx."

Annabeth punched me. "You idiot!"

"What?"

"Swearing on the river Styx? That's a serious thing! You saw what happened to Leo!"

"That worked out, didn't it?" I snapped.

"Hey, whoa!" Leo yelled. "Leave me out of this."

"Thalia nearly died because of an oath your dad made!" Annabeth snapped. "She was turned into a tree for seven years!"

"A tree?" Zia repeated. Carter shushed her.

"It's too late to do anything now," Annabeth sighed. "About your oath, I mean."

"There are fourteen people here," I pointed out.

"Wait, all of us are supposed to go on this suicide mission?" Jaz protested.

I turned on her. "You got a problem?"

She quaked under my glare. "N-no," she squeaked.

"Good. Any idea what the prophecy means?"

Annabeth raised her hand. "The desert of ice," she explained. "A desert is a really dry place. Antarctica is sometimes called an ice desert."

"Whoa! Antarctica?" Leo yelped. "We're going to Antarctica?"

"The old foe, I don't know. Three ancient worlds-- Greece, Rome, and Egypt."

"That makes sense. This is why we were brought together!" Hazel realized.

"I'm the Eye of Isis," Sadie said shakily. "That's what the fifth line means. A heart of ice... I'm guessing they're not talking about a frozen heart, like from Frozen. I don't want to know what they are talking about."

"The one that she holds dear..." Zia piped up. "That must mean either Walt or Carter."

"Maybe," Walt said, looking uneasy.

"The last two lines are pretty self-explanatory," Annabeth reasoned. "Anyone know what the second line means? 'To battle an old foe defeated twice'?"

Leo's face paled. "I think I know."

I froze. "Oh, gods."

"What? What is it?" Percy demanded.

"It all makes sense," Leo said. "A heart of ice. An old foe..."

"Defeated twice. The ice desert... Gods. I... I think I know what we're dealing with. Or rather, who we're dealing with."

Leo and I looked at each other and said together, "Khione."

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I literally thought of that prophecy at 10:30 pm while lying in bed. That's pretty much the best poem I've ever written, which is kind of sad. What do you think the prophecy means?Who do you think will get "left behind?"