Skyler's POV
Demigod dreams suck. Especially as a child of Apollo.
Every child of Apollo had a faint kind of Precognition. Apollo being the god of prophecy and all meant it sucked a little more than usual.
I dreamed I was in the dark palace on Mount Othrys. The main pavilion was open to the night, ringed with black Greek columns and statues of the Titans. Torchlight glowed against the black marble floor. In the center of the room, an armored giant struggled under the weight of a swirling funnel cloud...Atlas, holding up the sky.
Two other giant men stood nearby over a bronze brazier, studying images in the flames.
"Quite an explosion," one said. He wore black armor studded with silver dots like a starry night. His face was covered in a war helm with a ram's horn curling on either side.
"It doesn't matter," the other said. This Titan was dressed in gold robes, with golden eyes like Kronos. His entire body glowed. He reminded me of my father, except the Titan's light was harsher, and his expression crueler. "The gods have answered the challenge. Soon they will be destroyed."
The images in the fire were hard to make out: storms, buildings crumbling, mortals screaming in terror.
"I will go east to marshal our forces," the golden Titan said. "Krios, you shall remain and guard Mount Othrys."
The other grunted in annoyance. "I always get the stupid jobs. Lord of the South. Lord of Constellations. Now I get to babysit Atlas while you have all the fun."
Under the whirlwind of clouds, Atlas bellowed in agony, "Let me out, curse you! I am your greatest warrior. Take my burden so I may fight!"
"Quiet!" the golden Titan roared. "You had your chance, Atlas. You failed. Kronos likes you just where you are. As for you, Krios, do your duty."
"And if you need more warriors?" Krios asked. "Our treacherous nephew in the tuxedo will not do you much good in a fight."
The golden Titan laughed. "Don't worry about him. Besides, the gods can barely handle our first little challenge. They have no idea how many others we have in store. Mark my words, in a few days' time, Olympus will be in ruins, and we will meet here again to celebrate the dawn of the Sixth Age!"
The golden Titan erupted into flames and disappeared.
"Oh, sure," Krios grumbled. "He gets to erupt into flames. I get to wear these stupid ram's horns."
The scene shifted. Now I was outside the pavilion, hiding in the shadows of a Greek column. A boy stood next to me, eavesdropping on the Titans. He had dark silky hair, pale skin, and dark clothes. Nico di Angelo, the son of Hades.
He looked straight at me, his expression was grim. "You see," he whispered. "You're running out of time. Do you really think you two can beat them without my plan?"
His words washed over me as cold as ice, and my dreams went black.
My body felt heavy and my mind felt like it was on fire. I remembered plummeting towards the ocean in Percy's arms. Was I dead? Did we survive?
"Yay! Your brain works!"
The voice boomed in my ears and my eyes shot open. I wanted to scream at what I saw but my mouth was filled with the intense taste of saltwater.
I quickly closed my mouth. My eyes were burning at the salty substance that covered them.
"Skye!" Percy's voice was muffled and drowned out under the water that surrounded me. The water pressure was slowly beginning to burdon me, crushing any air still in my lungs, threatening to take me to a watery grave.
This wasn't how I wanted to go out.
My vision was blackening, like curtains being slowly closed on any life left in me. I could make out a form of someone moving closer to me in the water with ease. The next thing I knew my lungs ached for the sudden burst of air that filled them. I squeezed my eyes shut, gasping for the oxygen around me.
I wasn't actually fully sure if I was alive or not. My body felt weightless and cold. The only thing that was grounding me to reality was the familiar sensation of arms wrapped protectively around me and the searing pain in my shoulder.
"I've got you," Percy whispered into my drenched hair.
My arms and hands tingled with the lingering feeling of the water's pressure. I slowly opened my eyes. It took a moment for them to adjust, but once they were acclimated I wish I had kept them shut when I saw a hammerhead shark drift through the bedroom window and then swim calmly out the opposite side of the room.
I didn't know if it was decompression sickness or just pure shock of being so far underwater but I passed out.
...
The next time I woke up my body was warming under the burning August sun. I squinted when I opened my eyes, looking up at the bright blue summer sky. My ears could make out the pounding of feet on the sand around me.
"Skye!"
My body ached and tingled, my ears felt like I'd been in a swimming pool all day. I sputtered out a bit of water as I sat up, holding my head.
"Skye!" Once again my name was shouted. But this time they were closer.
Will and Conner Stoll slid onto their knees at my side. Will dropped his messenger bag of herbs, and his hands quickly shot to my face. He cupped my cheeks and inspected me for any sign of injury. His hands felt like pure fire against my cold skin.
"I...I'm okay," I coughed, seawater and stale air accompanied it. "Where," I coughed again. "Where's Percy?"
"Percy? He hasn't come back." Will said slowly, trying to imply he didn't know if Percy was even alive.
"I'll keep an eye out," Conner said, patting Will on the back and standing.
"He's alive.. He-" Cough, "Underwater-" Cough, "Shark!" I screeched when Will's fingers gingerly touched the open cut on my shoulder. I had almost forgotten about it. It was now caked in sand and flecks of broken seaweed.
"Okay okay, I believe you. Let's get you warmed up and that shoulder taken care of then we'll talk about it." Will slung my other arm over his shoulder, helping me stand which didn't work so well the first two times. I wobbled like a newborn fawn. Will had shoved his bag of herbs into my arms saying: "Just keep this safe okay? And stay awake."
We slowly hobbled towards the infirmary, Will trying his best to keep me awake. He had me name the herbs in his satchel and asked how to properly fix a poor fletching job on an arrow. Soon enough he sat me down on one of the canvas cots.
I was brought blankets and nectar and more modern things like an oxygen mask. Even though I insisted I didn't need it.
...
I'd been in the infirmary for hours. Will refused to leave my side, making sure I drank something every half hour.
"I'm fine," I said as he shoved the cup of water into my hands.
"Drink." He instructed for the third time already.
"I-"
"Skyler Elizabeth Cross drink the damn water."
"Dam water..." I whispered with a small smile.
I drank the water without another peep.
"Do you think he's okay?" I asked softly when I pulled the empty cup from my lips.
"I'm sure your idiot of a boyfriend will be just fine," Will said with a chuckle as he wrote something down on a clipboard.
I opened my mouth to say something but was cut off by the guard duty conch being blown down by the beach.
"Percy," I slid to the edge of my cot, trying to stand but wobbling back to the canvas.
"You're in no place to be running down there."
"Will please!" I looked at him with pleading eyes.
He sighed and for the second time slung my arm over his shoulder, pulling me to my feet.
Will helped me down to the dining pavilion, other campers, naiads, and satyrs streamed to see what the commotion was.
I could make out two figures climbing the sand dunes. Chiron galloped past us, bow slung over his shoulder. "Percy!" I heard him say.
Annabeth jogged up next to me and Will, looking at me and my half-brother. We hadn't talked much since last year and the silence was foreign. Annabeth and I had been close as sisters for years and now it felt like I hardly knew her at times.
Will helped me through the group of people in front of us. Percy was saying something to Chiron but when his eyes stopped on me he quickly rushed towards us, wrapping his arms around me. "You're safe," He breathed in relief. "He said you'd be safe but I had to see it for myself."
I held tightly onto him, my mind swimming with a million thoughts.
"What happened?" Annabeth asked from behind us, standing beside Will. "Is Luke-"
"The ship blew up," Percy said, "He wasn't destroyed. I don't know where..."
Percy's arm fell to my waist and I stood beside him. Murmurs filled the crowd before us and I could tell what they wanted to ask.
Silena Beauregard pushed through the crowd. Her hair wasn't combed and she wasn't even wearing makeup, which wasn't like her.
"Where's Charlie?" she demanded, looking around like he might be hiding.
Percy and I glanced at Chiron helplessly.
The old centaur cleared his throat. "Silena, my dear, let's talk about this at the Big House-"
"No," she muttered. "No. No."
It was no secret the daughter of Aphrodite liked Beckendorf. There had even been talk that the two were dating...
She burst into tears, and the rest of us stood around, too stunned to speak. We'd already lost so many people over the summer, but this was the worst. With Beckendorf gone, it felt like someone had stolen the anchor for the entire camp.
Finally, Clarisse came forward. She put her arm around Silena. They had one of the strangest friendships I think I've ever seen...a daughter of the war god and a daughter of the love goddess...but ever since Silena had given Clarisse advice last summer about her first boyfriend, Clarisse had decided she was Silena's personal bodyguard.
Clarisse was dressed in her blood-red combat armor, her brown hair tucked into a bandana. Her permanent scowl rested on her face, but she spoke gently to Silena.
"Come on, girl," she said. "Let's get to the Big House. I'll make you some hot chocolate."
Everyone turned and wandered off in twos and threes, heading back to the cabins. Will handed me a water bottle and said something to Percy along the lines of "Your turn to carry her," with a smile, and walked off with one of our younger Apollo siblings, a girl named Lea.
Only Annabeth and Chiron stayed behind with us.
Annabeth wiped a tear from her cheek. "I'm glad you're both not dead..."
Chiron put a hand on Percy's shoulder. "I'm sure you both did everything you could. Will you tell us what happened?"
I could tell Percy didn't want to go through it again, but we told them the story, I even told them about my dream about the Titans. I left out the detail about Nico. Nico had made us promise not to tell anybody about his plan until had we made up our mind, and the plan was so scary I didn't mind keeping it a secret.
Chiron gazed down at the valley. "We must call a war council immediately, to discuss this spy and other matters."
"Poseidon mentioned another threat," Percy said. "Something even bigger than the Princess Andromeda. It might be the Titan mentioned in your dream." He said, looking down at me.
Chiron and Annabeth exchanged looks like they knew something we didn't. I hated when they did that.
"We will discuss that also," Chiron promised. "It's time the others know the full prophecy..."
...
"You know where it is," Chiron told Annabeth. "Bring it down, please."
Annabeth nodded. "Come on, Percy."
I stayed with Chiron as Percy and Annabeth climbed into the attic. Michael Yew my half-brother had come on behalf of Will who was apparently busy doing something that he refused to tell me.
Weird.
I followed Michael, standing next to him by the ping pong table. We didn't talk much...He was nice I guess and I saw him every day and night but we just never talked. He was shorter than me but had about two feet of attitude over his head which may explain why I rarely talk to him. The boy always had a comeback for something.
Clarisse was still in full battle gear. Her electric spear was strapped to her back. She had her boar-shaped helmet under one arm and a knife at her belt. I hadn't been really paying attention to the conversation at hand but when Michael walked around the ping pong table and pointed his finger into Clarisse's breastplate I snapped out of my thoughts.
"It's our loot!" he yelled, standing on his tiptoes so he could get in Clarisse's face. "If you don't like it, you can kiss my quiver!"
Around the table, people were trying not to laugh, the Stoll brothers, Pollux from the Dionysus cabin, Katie Gardner from Demeter. Even Jake Mason, the hastily appointed new counselor from Hephaestus, managed a faint smile. Only Silena Beauregard didn't pay attention. She sat beside Clarisse and stared vacantly at the Ping-Pong net. Her eyes were red and puffy. A cup of hot chocolate sat untouched in front of her. It seemed unfair that she had to be here.
I grabbed Michael by the arm, pulling him backward. "Enough, leave it. This isn't the time."
"I'll leave it when this bi-"
"STOP IT!" Percy yelled from the doorway. "What are you guys doing?"
Apparently the shouting had been loud enough to hear from upstairs.
Clarisse glowered. "Tell Michael not to be a selfish jerk."
"Oh, that's perfect, coming from you," Michael said.
"The only reason I'm here is to support Silena!" Clarisse shouted. "Otherwise I'd be back in my cabin."
"You're welcome to leave," Michael sneered.
"Drop it." I hissed at him.
"What are you talking about?" Percy demanded.
Pollux cleared his throat. "Clarisse has refused to speak to any of us, until her, um, issue is resolved. She hasn't spoken for three days."
"It's been wonderful," Travis Stoll said wistfully.
"What issue?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.
Clarisse turned to Chiron. "You're in charge, right? Does my cabin get what we want or not?"
Chiron shuffled his hooves. "My dear, as I've already explained, Michael is correct. Apollo's cabin has the best claim. Besides, we have more important matters-"
"Sure," Clarisse snapped. "Always more important matters than what Ares needs. We're just supposed to show up and fight when you need us, and not complain!"
"That would be nice," Connor Stoll muttered.
Clarisse gripped her knife. "Maybe I should ask Mr. D-"
"As you know," Chiron interrupted, his tone slightly angry now, "our director, Dionysus, is busy with the war. He can't be bothered with this."
"I see," Clarisse said. "And the senior counselors? Are any of you going to side with me?"
Nobody was smiling now. Not one of us met Clarisse's eyes.
"Fine." Clarisse turned to Silena. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get into this when you've just lost... Anyway, I apologize. To you. Nobody else."
Silena didn't seem to register her words.
Clarisse threw her knife on the Ping-Pong table. "All of you can fight this war without Ares. Until I get satisfaction, no one in my cabin is lifting a finger to help. Have fun dying."
The counselors were all too stunned to say anything as Clarisse stormed out of the room.
Finally, Michael spoke up, "Good riddance."
"Are you kidding?" Katie Gardner protested. "This is a disaster!"
"She can't be serious," Travis said. "Can she?"
Chiron sighed. "Her pride has been wounded. She'll calm down eventually." But he didn't sound convinced.
I wanted to ask what in Hades Clarisse was so mad about... but I refrained. I'd ask Will later.
"Now," Chiron continued, "if you please, counselors. Percy has brought something I think you should hear. Percy, the Great Prophecy."
Annabeth handed him the parchment. Percy fumbled with the string. He uncurled the paper, trying not to rip it, and began to read:
"A half-blood of the eldest dogs..."
"Er, Percy?" Annabeth interrupted. "That's gods. Not dogs."
"Oh, right," He said, his cheeks tinted pink as he cleared his throat and tried again. "A half-blood of the eldest gods... shall reach twenty against all odds..."
He hesitated, staring at the paper.
"And see the world in endless sleep. The hero's soul, cursed blade shall reap..."
"Percy," Chiron urged. "Read the rest."
He hesitated again.
"A single choice shall... shall end his days. Olympus to per...pursue..."
"Preserve," I said gently. I remembered Percy's second summer when I'd heard it before.
"It means save," Annabeth added.
"I know what it means," Percy grumbled. "Olympus to preserve or raze."
The room was silent. Finally, Connor Stoll said, "Raise is good, isn't it?"
"Not raise," Silena said. Her voice was hollow, but I was startled to hear her speak at all. "R-a-z-e means destroy."
"Obliterate," Annabeth said. "Annihilate. Turn to rubble."
"Got it...Thanks." Percy mumbled.
Everybody's faces were contorted with concern, or pity, or maybe a little fear.
"Well...now everyone knows I'm gonna die in the end..." Percy muttered.
"We know prophecies always have double meanings... It might not literally mean you die." Annabeth tried to say, looking at Percy.
"Sure," He said. "A single choice shall end his days. That has tons of meanings, right?"
"Maybe we can stop it," Jake Mason offered. "The hero's soul, cursed blade shall reap. Maybe we could find this cursed blade and destroy it. Sounds like Kronos's scythe, right?"
I hadn't thought about that, but it didn't matter if the cursed blade was Riptide or Kronos's scythe. Either way, I doubted we could stop the prophecy. A blade was supposed to reap his soul. As a general rule, I'd prefer my boyfriends to have a soul.
"Perhaps we should let everyone think about these lines..." Chiron said.
"No." Percy folded up the prophecy and shoved it into his pocket. "If I die, I die. I can't worry about that, right now..."
He looked me dead in the eyes. He was trying to cover it but I could tell that the prophecy even now still scared him.
"Let's move on," I said slowly. "We've got other problems. We've got a spy."
Michael Yew scowled. "A spy?"
I told them what had happened on the Princess Andromeda. How Kronos had known we were coming, how he'd shown us the silver scythe pendant he'd used to communicate with someone at camp.
Silena started to cry again, and Annabeth put an arm around her shoulders.
"Well," Connor Stoll said uncomfortably. He glanced at me, "we've suspected there might a spy for years, right? Somebody kept passing information to Luke... It must be somebody who knew him well."
Eyes either turned to Annabeth or myself. It was no secret of my past choices, but I regretted them. It was reasonable to assume I could have been the spy beforehand but not this time.
Connor looked away quickly. "Um, I mean, it could be anybody."
"Yes." Katie Gardner frowned at the Stoll brothers. She'd disliked them ever since they'd decorated the grass roof of the Demeter cabin with chocolate Easter bunnies. "Like one of Luke's siblings."
Travis and Connor both started arguing with her.
"Stop!" Silena banged the table so hard her hot chocolate spilled. "Charlie's dead and...and you're all arguing like little kids!" She put her head down and began to sob.
Hot chocolate trickled off the Ping-Pong table. Everybody looked ashamed.
"She's right," Pollux said at last. "Accusing each other doesn't help. We need to keep our eyes open for a silver necklace with a scythe charm. If Kronos had one, the spy probably does too."
Michael Yew grunted. "We need to find this spy before we plan our next operation. Blowing up the Princess Andromeda won't stop Kronos forever."
"No indeed," Chiron said. "In fact, his next assault is already on the way."
I scowled. "You mean the 'bigger threat' Poseidon mentioned?"
He and Annabeth looked at each other like, It's time. Did I mention I hate it when they do that?
Chiron sighed, "We didn't want to tell you until you returned to camp. You both needed a break..."
"Tell us what's happened," Percy said.
Chiron picked up a bronze goblet from the snack table. He tossed water onto the hot plate where we usually melted nacho cheese. Steam billowed up, making a rainbow in the fluorescent lights. Chiron fished a golden drachma out of his pouch, tossed it through the mist, and muttered, "O Iris, Goddess of the Rainbow, show us the threat."
The mist shimmered. I saw the familiar image of a smoldering volcano, Mount St. Helens. As I watched, the side of the mountain exploded. Fire, ash, and lava rolled out. A newscaster's voice was saying "-even larger than last year's eruption, and geologists warn that the mountain may not be done."
I knew all about last year's eruption. Percy'd caused it. But this explosion was much worse. The mountain tore itself apart, collapsing inward, and an enormous form rose out of the smoke and lava, like it was emerging from a manhole. I hoped the Mist would keep the humans from seeing it clearly because what I saw would've caused panic and riots across the entire United States.
The giant was bigger than anything I'd ever encountered. Even my demigod eyes couldn't make out its exact form through the ash and fire, but it was vaguely humanoid and so huge it could've used the Chrysler Building as a baseball bat. The mountain shook with a horrible rumbling, as if the monster were laughing.
"Typhon," I said softly.
Chiron simply nodded. "The most horrible monster of all, the biggest single threat the gods ever faced. He has been freed from under the mountain at last. But this scene is from two days ago. Here is what is happening today."
Chiron waved his hand and the image changed. I saw a bank of storm clouds rolling across the Midwest plains. Lightning flickered. Lines of tornadoes destroyed everything in their path, ripping up houses and trailers, and tossing cars around like Matchbox toys.
"Monumental floods," an announcer was saying. "Five states declared disaster areas as the freak storm system sweeps east, continuing its path of destruction." The cameras zoomed in on a column of storms bearing down on some Midwest city. I couldn't tell which one. Inside the storm, I could see the giant, just small glimpses of his true form: a smoky arm, a dark clawed hand the size of a city block. His angry roar rolled across the plains like a nuclear blast. Other smaller forms darted through the clouds, circling the monster. I squinted and thought I saw a golden chariot flying into the blackness. Then some kind of huge bird, a monstrous owl, dived in to attack the giant.
"The gods?" Percy asked.
"Yes," Chiron said. "They have been fighting him for days now, trying to slow him down. But Typhon is marching forward...toward New York. Toward Olympus."
I let that sink in. "How long until he gets here?"
"Unless the gods can stop him? Perhaps five days. Most of the Olympians are there... except your father, who has a war of his own to fight."
"But then who's guarding Olympus?"
Connor Stoll shook his head. "If Typhon gets to New York, it won't matter who's guarding Olympus."
I thought about Kronos's words on the ship... I would love to see the terror in your eyes when you realize how I will destroy Olympus.
Was this what he was talking about: an attack by Typhon? It was sure terrifying enough. But Kronos was always fooling us, misdirecting our attention. This seemed too obvious for him. And in my dream, the golden Titan had talked about several more challenges to come, as if Typhon were only the first.
"It's a trick," I said. "We have to warn the gods. Something else is going to happen."
Chiron looked at me gravely. "Something worse than Typhon? I hope not."
"We have to defend Olympus," I insisted. "Kronos has another attack planned."
"He did," Travis Stoll reminded me. "But you sunk his ship."
They wanted some good news. They wanted to believe that at least we'd given them a little bit of hope.
I glanced at the window behind me. I could see Long Island Sound in the distance. I hesitated for a moment, I could make out Silena's hunched form in the reflection of the window. What if the Princess Andromeda was a ploy? What if Kronos let us blow up that ship so we'd lower our guard?
Beckendorf had sacrificed himself for that mission...I couldn't say this in front of her now.. I'd have to tell Chiron my fears later.
I tried to imagine how things could get much worse. The gods were in the Midwest fighting a huge monster that had almost defeated them once before. Poseidon was under siege and losing a war against the sea Titan Oceanus. Kronos was still out there somewhere. Olympus was virtually undefended. The demigods of Camp Half-Blood were on our own with a spy in our midst. And according to an ancient prophecy, my boyfriend was going to die when he turned twenty...which happened to be in five days, the exact same time Typhon was supposed to hit New York.
What could be worse huh?