Quest for Madelia's Pearl

Rivers Takes Charge

Richard POV

I think we were all a bit shocked by the events that just took place. 

"What just happened?" My question was overshadowed by Hazel River's voice. 

Rivers had started going off on a rant- half of which was purely swears. Man, that girl could cuss like a sailor. Ashley looked ready to faint after meeting her dad. I wondered who my mom was if we each had a godly parent. 

"Did you know she had all this in her?" Lenny joked. Rivers wasn't slowing down. 

"We should start moving before we have to build camp." I decreed, interrupting the girl's rant. Hazel nodded like it was a sound plan. It surprised us when she started to lead the way. 

"We'll have to move deeper into the woods. Keep your wits about you. We'll probably come across a couple of monsters." I didn't fully trust Rivers, but I couldn't argue with her suggestion.

"We don't know how to fight." Lenny reminded her flatly. She pursed her lips.

"I'll give you a crash course once we set up camp. We can talk about all this then too." Hazel decided for the group. For once in my life, I was okay with following Weird Rivers. 

We trekked on for about an hour before Hazel decided we were far enough away from civilization. Our camp was set up within ten minutes. Apollo had given us two tents, so the girls were in one and Lenny and I were in the other. She wanted to train us a little before night fell. 

We practiced for almost an hour before we had to call it quits. I didn't enjoy having Rivers boss me around, but Ashley reminded me that she was a lot more experienced in demigod things than we were. Ashley and I had made significant progress, while Lenny still struggled. We sat down in front of the fire we started and ate dinner. As she tended the fire, Hazel told us stories of the gods and a couple recent demigod heroes. Percy, Annabeth, Thalia, Luke. She told us about the two camps and all the people there. I only half listened. It all sounded like absolute trash. Everything coming out of her mouth had to be a lie. There was just no way all of that could happen. 

Rivers kept bossing us around too. I frowned. I didn't like being bossed around by that girl. I'd followed her this far, but now I somewhat regretted it. She was nervous about leading- I could tell. Even with the little experience and knowledge of this that I had, I was still a better choice. 

Ashley POV

Our lecture about modern demigods started after Lenny asked why Mr. Davies hadn't known many things. 

"Things can change in twenty years," Hazel said, "He couldn't possibly have thought nothing would change."

"What has changed? You mentioned a war earlier." I asked. 

"I did. Our world has changed significantly in the last ten years- especially the last five. We've fought two wars, made strong alliances with four other religions, gotten multiple significant parts of our histories restored, and had several great prophecies come to pass." She took a sip of water. "Great heroes have risen and fallen. The Children of the Big Three- some of the most powerful demigods in history. Half of them help make up the Seven. Percy, the son of Poseidon, was big in both Great Prophecies. He has toppled entire armies like dominoes and taken down Titans. His power is unmatched. He is incredibly loyal though, so..."

"He's on our side?" Lenny asked nervously. 

"Of course." Hazel seemed entirely sure. 

"And you trust him?" Richard challenged her, but she didn't seem bothered by it. 

"With my life. We're cousins, you know." She paused for a second before adding, "He's a good person, Richard. I don't know why you're so against him." 

"He's your cousin?" She broke for a second, like she'd let something slip. 

 "Yes." She left no room for further questioning. 

"Who were the other six?" I asked, changing the topic back.

"Annabeth, a daughter of Athena who's Percy's fiancée now, Jason, his cousin, the son of your Zeus, Piper, his girlfriend, who's also the daughter of Aphrodite, Frank, a son of Mars- your Ares, and Leo, the son of Hephaestus. Oh, and Nicolas, the son of Hades- also a cousin of Jason and Percy." 

"Where are they now?" I asked. 

"Percy and Annabeth have a house in New Rome, but practically live in New York too, since that's where his mom lives. Jason travels between the camps. Piper and Leo live at Camp Half Blood. Frank lives at Camp Jupiter. Nicolas lives between his father's palace and Camp Half Blood." A thought occurred to me. 

"You said half of the Children of the Big Three are part of that group- who are the others?"

"Thalia, daughter of Zeus, is Lieutenant Artemis. Bianca was a hunter too, but-"  Hazel teared up a bit, "She and her sister- both daughters of Hades died several years ago." My mind went to Hazel's sister- the one she'd mentioned on the bus. In thought her name was Bianca too. Maybe I'd misheard. Might have been Brianna. Yeah. That sounded right. But, she'd died years ago too. 

"What-"

"The hunters are a group of all girls who follow the goddess Artemis." Lenny made an 'O' with his mouth.

"So two wars-"

"Yes." 

"The first-"

"The Second Titan war."

"Percy fought in that one-"

"And Annabeth, Thalia, Selena, Charles, Luke..." She trailed off. "At least on the Greek side."

"I know Annabeth and Thalia, but who are the others?" Hazel smiled wistfully. 

"Heroes. They all died. Charles and Selena were a legendary couple- the son and daughter of Hephaestus and Aphrodite respectively. Charles died blowing up the Princess Andromeda- the enemy ship. Selena died leading the Ares cabin into the Battle of Manhattan. Luke was the one who killed the host of the enemy."

"And the heroes of the second war-"

"The Third Giant War."

"Yeah."

"The greeks and romans present, more specifically, the Seven, the hunters, Nicolas, Reyna, and Will Solace."

"Anything else we should know?"

"No." Hazel lied. I could tell.