The Last Boeotian (Percy Jackson)

Chapter 17: A Talk With The Big Man... Well, Horse-Man

I slowly followed the path from the infirmary to the Big House, careful to watch that I was going in the right direction. When I saw a tall centaur in front of a big wooden building, I knew I had gone the right way. I stepped through the narrow gate to slowly approach Chiron as he stared at the ground, tapping his foot- or if you prefer, hoof.

"Calixia," he called in his booming voice, giving me a grand smile. "I wasn't expecting you until later, to be completely honest."

"Are you busy? I can come back whenever," I offered.

"No, I was simply worried you might not be fully recovered yet. I'm aware that you and Percy don't possess the same abilities. I just wanted to speak with you."

I swallowed thickly as anxiety began bubbling in my chest, and I couldn't imagine what he wanted to talk about. "Okay," I nodded up at the curly-haired centaur. "About what?"

"Come inside," Chiron gestured with his head towards the house.

"Okay," I mumbled hesitantly, beginning to follow the centaur inside. He had to duck his head under the doorway to step through, then he stood at the end of the table we had met at before. Mister D was no longer there, most likely elsewhere in the camp.

"Please, have a seat," Chiron used his hand to gesture to the seat near where he stood, then crossed his arms again.

I swallowed thickly and sat up on the tall chair, still feet shorter than Chiron. "First off, how do you think you are adjusting to the camp?"

"Uhm, fine," I replied softly.

"You have no reason to be scared, Calixia, you are in no trouble," he assured me with a smile, shaking his head. "You look to be to be getting along with your brother and his friends. Adelpha, too, it seems, am I right?"

"Well, we've only talked a couple times, but yeah."

Chiron's mouth spread into a small smirk, and he nodded his head, which made his curly hair and beard bounce. "I know it may seem like a lot, the camp. If it doesn't now, then it most likely will later on. But I assure you that this camp is safe, and that if you ever need anything you are always free to come to Mister D or myself."

I replied with a small smile at Chiron. "Thanks.

"Now, what I also wanted to speak to you about," The centaur's face became serious. "Obviously, you are aware of the increasing appearances of mythological beasts, yes?"

I nodded, encouraging Chiron to continue.

"It is to my strong belief that it is no coincidence that you lost your home when this began. Percy told me about a map you were given, yes? It brought you to the Gulf Of Mexico, where you found Scylla?"

"Yes, sir," I nodded. "It's in my bag, Percy brought it back to the cabin when he left from the infirmary.

"Where did you come across this map?"

"A centaur gave it to me, from Euboea. Pholos."

"Pholos? That's interesting," Chiron nodded, gazing down as if in thought. "He probably gave it to you because you were the only child of the Great Three. Demigods of the Great Three are seen as powerful, even dangerous. Especially in the Boeotian branch, am I correct?"

"Yeah," I nodded, "Pretty much the whole reason I didn't exactly have friends there."

Chiron nodded in response. "And this map, it had never showed anything to you before this?"

I shook my head, giving a one-word answer of "No."

Chiron nodded his head. "I understand. Well, it is obvious that the map was leading you to Scylla. Either that, or your brother."

"I'm sorry, sir, I don't understand."

"I believe that this map was given to you and it was controlled in order to help you. There is a very good possibility that your father sent those coordinates to you in order to send you to your brother, and the placement of Scylla and Percy's mission was simply the right time. He may have been trying to help."

I paused before shaking my head. "No, it wasn't that."

"Why do you say that, Calixia?"

"Because he doesn't want anything to do with me," I remarked. "I mean, I can't blame him, but why would he help me? What does he get out of it?"

"Just because you have never met your father, doesn't mean he does not want anything to do with you," Chiron assured me gently, "He may have wanted to save you."

I paused, then an idea popped into my head like a dim lightbulb. "What if he- If it was Aigaios, or Poseidon, or whatever- What if he did it because he needs the demigods' help? Maybe it's a god or something doing this? There's no other reason he would send me to Percy."

Chiron nodded thoughtfully. "That is also a good possibility."

I took a deep breathe as there was a short pause. Chiron looked back down at me where I sat. "On that topic, Calixia, there is something I wish for you to know about one of the demigods here."

"Adrianne?"

Chiron's expression changed to slightly confused. "Yes, how did you guess?" he asked in his deep voice.

"Wild guess," I shrugged, "She seems a bit... I dunno, weird."

"Well, there's something about Adrianne," he stated with another small nod, "She was determined a daughter of Ares, the god of war. Demigods are put into their parent's cabin when they are claimed by their parents. This happened at Euboea, yes?"

"Yeah."

"Well, it didn't exactly happen for Adrianne. When she came here, she was fourteen. She wasn't claimed, and none of the other demigods knew her. But the way she acted, her warfare, she was assumed a daughter of Ares. However, I have personally begun to wonder differently as she has not been wounded in the slightest during these past months of appearing beasts."

"Yeah, I've noticed it," I confirmed, "She didn't even have a scratch when we got back from our mission, but most of the others had concussions and broken bones and all that, I couldn't figure out why."

Chiron nodded, crossing his arms again. "Typically, that only happens when a god is protecting their child. However, many other children of Ares have been hurt, and two were killed in battle. One against a Fury, the other a Chimera."

"Oh my gods," I breathed out. "I'm sorry."

Chiron nodded with an expression of melancholy. "Even if Adrianne was a favorite, then he would not always protect her in battle because he knows the abilities of his children. And if she was a favorite, he would have claimed her. She acts out more than a seventeen-year-old daughter of Ares typically would, her temper seems even worse than the god's himself. I have reason to believe she is the child of another god, but I cannot bring it forward because I do not have physical evidence, and I do not have a suspicion about which god she belongs to."

"Okay," I replied, my voice barely above a whisper. "That's... That's kind of awful, okay. What do you want me to do about it? I-I mean.... no disrespect, and I appreciate you giving me this knowledge, but-"

"It is quite all right, Calixia," Chiron said with a small chuckle. "But as I said before, I do not think it is any coincidence that you are here. And I know it is a lot to put on your shoulders, but I want you to help us. I believe you will be the key to helping save the world of both demigods and mortals."

"All right," I breathed out after a pause. "Do you know what you're wanting me to do?"

"I want you to find Hermes."