CHAPTER
TEN
I SNEAK ONTO A DANGEROUS POTENTIALLY LIFE THREATENING QUEST... WITH PERCY!
ZOË GRUNTED, "I WOULD PREFER TO TAKE ALL THE HUNTERS. We will need strength of numbers."
"You'll be retracing the goddess's path," Chiron reminded her. "Moving quickly. No doubt Artemis tracked the scent of this rare monster, whatever it is, as she moved west. You will have to do the same. The prophecy was clear: The bane of Olympus shows the trail. What would your mistress say? 'Too many Hunters spoil the scent.' A small group is best."
I didn't know whether or not if I should be worried that Zoë picked up a Ping-Pong paddle as if she was about to whack someone with it. She sighed, "This monster—the bane of Olympus. I have hunted at Lady Artemis's side for many years, yet I have no idea what this beast might be."
Surprisingly, everybody got silent, I mean, when talking about a life-threatening quest I would think everybody would be talking. At the same time, I can't judge because I've barely said anything. I guess everybody (besides me because I was too busy thinking over the possibility of Bianca's death, which was higher than I'd liked) was looking at Mr. D because he said, "Well don't look at me. I'm a young god, remember? I don't keep track of all those ancient monsters and dusty titans. They make for terrible party conversation."
Percy and Chiron exchanged a few words but I was distracted because now I was thinking of gods at a party awkwardly trying to make small talk. I was torn away from my thoughts when Silena said, "And the Titan's curse must one withstand, what could that mean?"
"One shall perish by a parent's hand," Grover said, "How's that possible? Whose parent would kill them?"
Almost instantly the table got quiet and Grover realized what he had said and who he had said it to, causing him to mutter a quiet 'oh.'
Now I really wanted to know who my godly parent was and who my other parent was. From the looks everybody was sharing at the table it seemed like the 'god killing their half-blood child' idea wasn't not possible. The majority of the looks were at Percy and Thalia, I didn't know much about the whole child of the big three prophecies or the big three taking an oath thing, Silena had mentioned it once or twice but never really went into detail.
To be honest, I felt quite bad for them, I couldn't have imagined being a child of one of the big three. Basically having a whole group of gods wanting to kill you, plus probably having to be constantly reminded that you weren't meant to be born. For some reason Zoë was taking a few glances towards me, raising her eyebrows. But Bianca and I were looking at each other so I only caught a few of them.
We both had no idea who our parents were, and she was most likely going on the quest, for all we know our mortal parent could be crazy and try to kill us. I just needed a way to find out who our parents were, at least then we'll know the people who could kill us. My thoughts wandered back to the dream, gain strength, prove myself? What do they mean by proving myself and how do I prove myself in the first place?
"There will be deaths."
My attention shifted to Chiron. "That much we know," He finished. The mood in the room was much more gloomy besides a certain god.
"Oh goody!" Mr. D had exclaimed a bit too excitedly. This had reminded me of before when Nico had asked Percy a bit too happy if they could kill the hunters. We all looked at him, a few people had offended looks on their faces.
"Ah, pinot noir is making a comeback. Don't mind me," He said looking at a wine magazine, Chiron sighed at this.
Beside me, Silena spoke up," Percy is right, two campers should go." I nodded in agreement.
"Oh, I see, and I suppose you wish to volunteer?" Zoë had said, her voice laced with sarcasm.
"I'm not going anywhere with the Hunters. Don't look at me!"
"A daughter of Aphrodite does not wish to be looked at, what would thy mother say?"
By now the hunter and camper feud was getting kind of annoying. You'll still be able to spend time with Nico, they said, but it wouldn't be much fun if campers and hunters were always fighting in the background. If I were to become a hunter, I would probably only see Nico like once every six months at the least. But if I were to become a camper, I would probably only see Bianca once every six months. I couldn't choose one over the other.
Silena started to get out of her seat so I had to pull her back into her seat with the Stoll brothers. She glared at us for a second before looking at Zoë with a much larger glare.
"Let's start with the Hunters. Which four of you will go?" Beckendorf said, I had missed what he said before that but I assumed it was something like 'stop that,' or 'stop it.' Zoë had ignored Silena's deathly glare at her and stood up.
"I shall go, of course, and I will take Phoebe and Olivia. Thy are our best trackers," Zoë announced confidently.
"The big girl who likes to hit people on the head?" Travis began, "And the one who put the arrows in my helmet?" Connor finished. It was kind of cool how they would finish each other's sentences.
One time when I tried to do that with Nico I had started with, "My favorite thing is..." and he finished with, "giving my brother his twenty dollars that I bet on while playing mythomagic but for some reason, I constantly pretend I can't hear him when he mentions it." After that, I finally paid him back.
Zoë had nodded and the brothers exchanged glances. Zoë who saw this, narrowed her eyes, "Why?"
"Oh, nothing," Travis said, "Just that we have T-shirts for them from the camp store." He held up two T-shirts that said 'ARTEMIS THE MOON GODDESS, FALL HUNTING TOUR 2002.' Is that why Connor had said something about the camp store before? At first, I thought it was just them doing something nice but that didn't make much sense, it didn't seem like the hunters and campers didn't really want to be 'nice' to each other.
"It's a collector's item. They were admiring it. You want to give it to them?" Travis offered, even I knew this was a bit suspicious. The hunters and campers suddenly being nice to each other? Not getting any of the suspicion looming in the room Zoë snatched it, sighing, she turned back to the front.
"As I was saying, I will take Phoebe and Olivia, And I wish Bianca to go." Of course, I had a feeling about it but actually hearing it was different. I was in complete shock, I wanted to protest it but I couldn't quite get the words out.
"And for campers," Chiron said pulling out of my trance. I bit my lip harshly out of frustration, of course, I couldn't volunteer I was inexperienced and I'm not even claimed yet. But I couldn't not be there for Bianca, there's an actual chance she could die and she doesn't know her parents either. Grover, Thalia, and Percy had volunteered but I wasn't listening.
Seeing my dazed and out of focus look Silena nudged me and whispered, "Grover and Thalia were chosen." I nodded slightly.
I was stuck in my own little world, a place I did not want to be in. There were too many things in my mind, from the dream to Bianca going on that quest.
Soon enough the council had ended, while after was dinner.
It was the usual, next to two people I didn't know, struggled to make conversation, decided to just focus on my food. I was getting a few weird looks because I was taking my frustration out of my food, I had stabbed my piece of brisket about five times before angrily cutting it and then stabbing my grapes viciously. It was just annoying, there were so many unanswered questions, and nobody to answer them. People began inching away from me, a few even shivered which was weird.
I had left early, gave the rest of my food to Nico who happily took it. He hadn't noticed my brisket and grape murders.
I had gone to the Hermes cabins day in my corner, immediately I had taken a nap. Maybe I would get a dream that would help
me answer my questions.
This time I hadn't had another dream which only annoyed me slightly. I wanted answers and nobody was giving them to me.
A Hermes camper had jumped down from their bunk bed, shivering, "Hey, who turned down the temperature on the thermostat," They called.
A few others nodded. "And when did we get a thermostat?" Another added, murmurs of confusion and shivers began to spread the rooms. I didn't feel cold at all, which only confused me further which caused me to groan.
Hermes and undetermined campers began shutting the windows, which only seemed to make them even colder. "Maybe it's just really cold?" One of them proposed, wrapping themself around a blanket. They got murmurs of agreement
A few minutes later Nico had come in, "Hey Mia. Sorry, I'm late, I tripped over a rock, " He asked. I nodded, understanding. The boy did his usual Nico smile before slumping beside me, yawning before drifting off to sleep. I sighed, ruffling his hair.
Though I couldn't sleep at all, so for about one hour I sat in that spot, shifting through my cards, reviewing old school work in my backpack, drawing random doodles in my notebook. Soon enough Nico had stirred awake, it seemed like both of us were having seeing trouble.
"Maria... It's basically the middle of the night, why are you awake?" Nico asked, his face scrunching up from confusion. Realizing the boy was awake my head turned to him, and I shrugged. "Not really tired."
He didn't believe it for a second.
"Sure—, now what's wrong?" Nico asked.
"It's just, a lot. Biancas going on that quest," I could tell Nico was holding back a groan at the name 'Bianca' , "And I don't want to have her go through that by herself. I mean yeah we'll have feuds and our grudges but we're siblings, and for all, we could remember we were all we had. I just want to be there but I can't—"
"Then go, I mean your a bada— you're very cool with your pocket knife, and your amazing a scaring people," I raised an eyebrow at him and he chuckled nervously, "Anyway, I'm sure we can find a way to get you on that quest."
"But what about you-" Nico shushed me, "Nope! I'll be fine, maybe prank one of the hunters with the Stolls, while you're gone," He'd muttered the last part but his face went pale when he realized I heard it. "Joke!" He said, "Yeah that was a joke."
I raised an eyebrow, "First-"
"Ah shoot she's using the mother voice I'm in trouble," Nico had murmured to himself. My eyes widened and his face paled even more, "I said that out loud. Oh my gods I said that out loud. I—" We both shut up almost instantly when we soft steps past the Hermes cabin.
We exchanged glances, getting up and tip-toeing to the door. By now the rest of the Hermes cabin had gotten back and were all sleeping. When we saw the footsteps from before was from Zoë and Bianca's we shared a glance again before nodding. We continued spying on them before stopping at a greek pillar.
Usually, I wouldn't eavesdrop on my sister's conversations but we definitely weren't in a usual situation. They spoke about Phoebe and Olivia and how they had gotten sick. Zoë was sounding kind of desperate, she really didn't want another camper especially not a boy one. The looks on Nico's face showed he was offended by a few of Zoë's comments. Then Bianca had mentioned something about a dream. Soon enough the two began to leave, Nico and I swiftly moved from their vision.
They ran down the steps, for some reason Zoë had stopped? "The lights of the Big House are on. Hurry!" Bianca told her, the two began to run away. Nico and I exchanged glances, we were going to run after Bianca.
"Wait," A voice said behind us.
My eyes widened nervously, who'd caught us? A hunter? Camper? Chiron? My face paled as I thought of the many people who could've seen us. Nico turned around, almost slipping which made my heart skip a beat from worry. I also turned around, cautiously.
"Where did you come from?" Nico questioned. "And how did we not notice you till now?" I added. The voice had come from Percy, only this time a cap was in his hand. I think it was the other girl's, Annabeth I think her name was.
"I've been here the whole time. Invisible."
I only thought of two questions in my head wait, how was that possible and how do I get one? "Wow. Cool," Nico and I had said in unison.
"How did you know Zoe and your sister were here?"
"Erm," I began. How could I tell him without letting out that I was having trouble sleeping? "We heard them walk by the Hermes cabin and... I guess we followed. I have trouble sleeping at new places ." That was an obvious lie. The camp was just different, and the dreams were annoying. Luckily, Percy believed me.
"And now you two thinking about following them on the quest."
No?
"How did you know that?"
My head whipped towards Nico, who had said that. That was not the plan I was thinking of.
"What?" I interrupted, "I thought we were going to go tell Percy or Thalia about this?" Our eyebrows furrowed.
"No? You looked at me! I thought you understood?" He said
"No, you looked at me. I thought we had a mutual understanding, we were going to go tell Percy and Thalia, maybe Grover about Bianca and Zoë's chat."
His face scrunched up before he said in a 'what the Hades, Maria are you dumb' tone, "But we talked about sneaking onto the quest right before following them?"
"No, we talked about me sneaking onto the quest. You're way too young and you could die!" I said, throwing my hands up in an exasperated way. Neither of us could survive on that quest, we were both inexperienced and we weren't even claimed yet!
"I'm only four years younger than you. Besides, I can defend myself," He argued, crossing his arms.
"Only four! Ni-""Quiet down both of you! Someone's going to hear us if you guys continue arguing any longer," Percy cut me off. Nico and I both shut up.
"Either way, neither of you can go on that quest. They'll catch you and send you back, and Nico, you are technically too young," Nico had sighed a bit disappointedly, "And Maria is inexperienced. Do you remember the manticore? There will be lots more like that. More dangerous. Some of the heroes will die."
Nico had thought for a second before saying, "Then, well then Maria has to go! And you can go with her, for me!"
Percy and I were not expecting that. "I can't- remember, the hunters don't like boys. Besides, Maria's only been at camp a few days, she needs more training," Percy explained but Nico would budge.
"Percy, you're planning to go anyway aren't you, just take Maria, please! She may be inexperienced from your view but she's really strong! Like if she was a mythomagic card she would have hundreds of attack points."
That touched my heart slightly, I knew in Nico's eyes that was around one of the highest compliments you could give a person.
"She took down like three of the boys at our old school in under ten minutes!"
That was a nice moment, but besides that, Nico was missing an important part of the information. I sighed, "Nico, that was because I showed them a knife-"
His face fell for a second, "Oh."
Nico had stopped for a second, probably trying to think up another example. Why was he so adamant about this anyway? He glanced toward the east, before sighing exasperatedly,
"She just has to okay, it's- it's made to be! Originally it was supposed to be four hunters and two heroes, right? Well, two hunters can't come, and six people have to go on the quest. You and Maria are supposed to substitute for them. Nobody else knows that those two hunters can't go, and I can't go on the quest for obvious reasons. Maria meets the age limit, she can defend herself and if not she's going to find a way on that quest anyway," Nico ranted, he bit his lip contemplating on whether or not he should contribute before sighing.
"Something is bothering her-" I was about to say something but he cut me off with a pointed look, "Don't deny it! Basically, everyone at dinner could sense it, and you murdered your food," He pointed his finger at me accusingly. Percy's eyebrows furrowed and I averted my gaze from Nico.
"and... I think it had something to do with a dream and our godly parent," Wait, how does he know? As if he read my mind Nico answered, "She mumbles and moves around in her sleep. Ever since then she's been a bit more in a daze, looking like she had a lot of stuff in her mind. It was kind of obvious, besides that, just believe me. Take her!"
To be honest, I was shocked. I didn't think he noticed it, but then again, if anyone were to notice, it would've been Nico.
Percy took a deep breath before glancing east a few times. Nico looked at him with the best puppy dog eyes he could do, which were actually pretty good. Finally, Percy nodded, "Maria?" He looked at me.
"Uh, I mean-" Nico looked at me, his eyes full of hope, "I was planning to go anyway.. so yeah. Will you be okay here?" I had slightly frowned. I can't remember the last time I was miles away, let alone states, from Nico.
"I'll be fine Mia. I won't tell in either of you as long as you promise me something, Percy.." Nico trailed off. Percy nodded.
"You have to keep Maria and Bianca safe," he said.
My eyes widened. "Nico you can't have him promise that," I said but Nico ignored it.
"I... that's a big thing to promise, Nico, on a trip like this. Besides, they have Zoe, Grover, and Thalia—" Percy began but Nico cut him off.
"Promise."
My head turned towards Percy, "You don't have to promise th-"
"I'll do my best, I'll promise that," He said. Nico seemed to be fine with that so he smiled.
"You're going to be super cool Maria! Now go! Good luck!" He exclaimed, ushering me away.
"Tell Chiron—"
"I'll make something up," Nico told Percy. "I'm good at that. Go on!"
I sighed, "I'll only condone lying this time." I ruffled his hair (which I was praying wasn't the last time) before running away.
When the sun came up Percy became invisible and I, well, I just had to be very careful. "So.. uh, what are we going to do?" I asked as the van, which the quest members were supposed to be in, drove away. I looked at Percy and his face was scrunched up from thinking, probably trying to figure out it in his own mind.
Then I almost tripped and fell off the hill when I heard a loud sound. When I looked up I saw this majestical horse-type thing, only it had wings. Immediately it registered to me that it was a pegasus. I was in complete awe as Percy said, "Yeah. Let's fly."
NOTE.
so uh sorry for the super long unofficial hiatus
BUT IM BACK
AND I ALSO SAW THAT SELCOUTH IS CLOSE TO 9k READS
I CANT BELIEVE IT
i am grateful for each and every one of you!
as a little thank you gift (as well as a sorry gift for the long unofficial hiatus) i give you this extra long chapter!
words: 3471 (i really can't believe i wrote this many)
also this is unedited- sorry!