IV. DAKOTA !
⋆ ★
quest number five.
Cabin Four was a whirlwind of campers getting ready for a simple campfire. Miranda was worried there were not enough flowers in her hair. Douglas was far too concerned about watering the plants to go out for the campfire. Billie was having trouble choosing between his regular white shirt or his white sweater. Dakota hadn't bothered changing her clothes. She had too much on her mind to care. She hadn't even left her cabin at dinner, so she had no idea where Leo was. Was he looking for her? Or did he already forget about her entirely now that he had brand new siblings? Not to mention she was starving from skipping dinner, and her lunch in order to pick up the new half-bloods.
Every summer she was apart of the weekly campfire. It was the same routine. Dakota lined up her campers, called their names for roll call, make sure they were all seated, and then sat back down to enjoy the songs, eat snacks, and listen to whatever announcements Chiron had. She was fine missing a campfire again.
Dakota was still stuck on her experience at Cabin Fifteen with Jason. The omens she saw couldn't be could. Knowing Latin, the idea of a stricter set of Greek Gods, even Jason wanting to defend the Romans, it all couldn't be good. Annabeth wanted her to give her an update; only Dakota's excuse to avoid her was she had a horrible headache and only wanted to lie down. Annabeth didn't bother her after that. She was sure she had a few words to say at Dakota's blatant lie but she didn't pressure it. Annabeth had caused a few problems for Dakota already. Causing a scene in her own cabin was a low blow.
Miranda went up to Dakota, who was reading a book to try and avoid any conversation. But of course her half-sister knew her better than she thought. Miranda saw right through Dakota's act. So . . . Dakota had told everything to Miranda, who felt like the only person who understood her. She too lost family the way Dakota had. Granted, they both lost their sister that time. She took the book from her sister's hands and placed it on the stack of books next to her bed.
"Dakota, seriously? You're not missing the campfire when I know you love it so," Miranda said. "Is this about your cousin coming back? Or the Roman-guy?"
"I just don't want to go, that's all," Dakota dismissed.
"Dakota! Seriously? I'm not having you miss this. Not when there could be a clue to finding Percy."
A few heads turned their way at his name. Great. The last thing Dakota needed was for her two-week crush on Percy to rise up again. Last year, when it was revealed, everyone started whispering about her. "I heard Dakota was going to find a curse to cast on Annabeth." "She had the Aphrodite cabin working on a love potion." Dakota had never heard such ridiculous rumors, but everyone believed them. Everyone but Annabeth, Percy, and Grover. Dakota was only eleven when Percy arrived. She saw the son of Poseidon, a hero of the gods and who was her friend, of course a little girl would like him. Right after their quest, she saw nothing romantic about him. But people still talked.
"You had to say his name?" Dakota muttered. "I—I just don't want to go, Miranda."
"Dakota de Maria Flores Valdez," Miranda pulled out the full name. In mere seconds, Dakota understood she would get a poison ivy rash if she denied Miranda's orders any longer ( why was her younger sister ordering her around? Well, Miranda had her ways. She didn't take any bull half the time, which made her a better counselor than Dakota. But atlas, only one girl was "experienced" enough to be counselor. )
Dakota got up from her bunk to make her way to the bathroom after a lot of push from Miranda. She changed into a pair of gray sweatpants she was sure weren't hers — clothes got lost all over the place in the Demeter cabin — and tied up her hair with a hairband. Dakota didn't always take out her contacts so early, but she deemed it a fit situation to hide as much of her tired face as she could. She put on her golden-rimmed glasses which helped hide a bit of her face alongside her face-framers.
The last thing Dakota wanted to experience was a sing-along. Of course, that was exactly what her and Miranda walked into when they took their spots at the section designated for Cabin Four. The amphitheater steps were carved into the side of a hill, facing a stone-lined fire pit. Fifty or sixty kids filled the rows, clustered into groups under their various banners.
Dakota spotted Jason in the front next to Annabeth. Leo was nearby, sitting with his bunch of burly-looking campers under a steel gray banner emblazoned with a hammer — the symbol of Hephaestus. He noticed her and grinned, waving his hand excitedly. At least she had that. Her cousin was at camp with her and actually noticed her. Standing in front of the fire, half a dozen campers with guitars and strange, and lyres were jumping around, leading a song about pieces of armor, something about how their grandma got dressed for war. Everybody was singing with them and making gestures for the pieces of armor and joking around. Dakota always thought it was one of those campfire songs that would've been completely embarrassing in daylight; but in the dark, with everybody participating, it was kind of corny and fun. As the energy level got higher, the flames did too, turning from red to orange to gold.
Piper walked in with Rachel next to her. She looked better now that she wasn't passed out. When Miranda handed Dakota a cup of Sprite, she motioned her cup toward Piper with a smile. The two girls met eyes, a silent conversation going on between them.
You okay?
Yeah. Finally awake.
Finally the song ended with a lot of rowdy applause. Chiron trotted up and brandished a spear impaled with toasted marshmallows. "Very nice! And a special welcome to our new arrivals. I am Chiron, camp activities director, and I'm happy you have all arrived here alive and with most of your limbs attached. In a moment, I promise we'll get to the s'mores, but first—"
"What about Capture the flag?" somebody yelled. Grumbling broke out among the kids in armor, sitting under a red banner with the emblem of a boar's head which resembled Ares, the god of war.
"Yes," Chiron said. "I know the Ares cabin is anxious to return to the woods for our regular games."
"And kill people!" one of them shouted.
"However," Chiron continued, "until the dragon is brought under control, that won't be possible. Cabin Nine, anything to report on that?"
He turned to Leo's group. Leo grinned at Dakota and shot her with a finger gun. The girl next to him stood uncomfortably — Nyssa.
"We're working on it."
More grumbling.
"How, Nyssa?" an Ares kid demanded.
"Really hard," she said.
Nyssa sat down to a lot of yelling and complaining, which caused the fire to sputter chaotically. Chiron stamped his hoof against the fire pit stones — bang, bang, bang — and the campers fell silent.
"We will have to be patient," Chiron said. "In the meantime, we have more pressing matters to discuss."
"Percy?" someone asked. The fire dimmed even further, but Dakota didn't need the mood flames to sense the crowd's anxiety.
Chiron gestured to Annabeth. She took a deep breath and stood.
"I didn't find Percy," she announced. Her voice caught a little when she said his name. "He wasn't at the Grand Canyon like I thought. But we're not giving up. We've got teams everywhere. Grover, Tyson, Nico, the Hunters of Artemis—everyone's out looking. We will find him. Chiron's talking about something different. A new quest."
"It's the Great Prophecy, isn't it?" a girl called out.
Everyone turned. The voice had come from a group in back, sitting under a rose —colored banner with a dove emblem. Aphrodite's cabin counselor, Drew. They'd been chatting among themselves and not paying much attention until their leader stood up: Drew.
Everyone else looked surprised. Drew didn't address the crowd very often. In fact, Dakota had never heard a peep from the Aphrodite cabin when it came to certain matters.
"Drew?" Annabeth said. "What do you mean?"
"Well, come on." Drew spread her hands like the truth was obvious. "Olympus is closed. Percy's disappeared. Hera sends you a vision and you come back with three new demigods in one day. I mean, something weird is going on. The Great Prophecy has started, right?"
Everyone turned to Rachel, waiting for an answer for the oracle.
"Well?" Drew called down. "You're the oracle. Has it started or not?"
Rachel's eyes looked scary in the firelight. She stepped forward calmly and addressed the camp.
"Yes," she said. "The Great Prophecy has begun."
Pandemonium broke out. It was a struggle trying to get the Demeter cabin to calm down, but growing a few lavender bunches around them helped her campers stop talking. She sat back down in her seat, rubbing her temples as a migraine was starting to form. She caught Leo's eye. He mouthed, You okay? Dakota nodded and managed a smile. She certainly didn't feel okay but Leo didn't need to know that.
When the talking finally subsided, Rachel took another step toward the audience, and fifty-plus demigods leaned away from her, as if one skinny redheaded mortal was more intimidating than all of them put together.
"For those of you who have not heard it," Rachel said, "the Great Prophecy was my first prediction. It arrived in August. It goes like this: "Eight half-bloods shall answer the call. To storm or fire the world must fall—"
Jason shot to his feet. His eyes looked wild, like he'd just been tasered.
Even Rachel seemed caught off guard. "J-Jason?" she said. "What's-"
"Ut cum spiritu postrema sacramentum dejuremus," he chanted. "Et hostes omamenta addent ad ianuam necem."
An uneasy silence settled on the group. Dakota dropped her cup of Sprite on the floor. She could see from their faces that several of them were trying to translate the lines.
"The prophecy," Dakota didn't mean to say it aloud. She didn't even realize she had until all eyes were on her. "An oath to keep with a final breath/And foe bear arms to the Doors of Death. Jason—"
"I know those lines." Jason winced and put his hands to his temples. "I don't know how, but I know that prophecy."
"In Latin, no less," Drew called out. "Handsome and smart."
There was some giggling from the Aphrodite cabin. But it didn't do much to break the tension. The campfire was burning a chaotic, nervous shade of green. Jason sat down, looking embarrassed, but Annabeth put a hand on his shoulder and muttered something reassuring.
Rachel still looked a little shaken. She glanced back at Chiron for guidance, but the centaur stood grim and silent, as if he were watching a play he couldn't interrupt — a tragedy that ended with a lot of people dead onstage.
"Well," Rachel said, trying to regain her composure. "So, yeah, that's the Great Prophecy. We hoped it might not happen for years, but I fear it's starting now. I can't give you proof. It's just a feeling. And like Drew said, some weird stuff is happening. The eight demigods, whoever they are, have not been gathered yet. I get the feeling some are here tonight. Some are not here."
The campers began to stir and mutter, looking at each other nervously, until a drowsy voice in the crowd called out, "I'm here! Oh . . . were you calling roll?"
"Go back to sleep, Clovis," someone yelled, and a lot of people laughed.
"Anyway," Rachel continued, "we don't know what the Great Prophecy means. We don't know what challenge the demigods will face, but since the first Great Prophecy predicted the Titan War, we can guess the second Great Prophecy will predict something at least that bad."
"Or worse," Chiron murmured.
Maybe he didn't mean everyone to overhear, but they did. The campfire immediately turned dark purple. Dakota tapped her foot on the ground, loudly being heard with the silence.
"What we do know," Rachel said, "is that the first phase has begun. A major problem has arisen, and we need a quest to solve it. Hera, the queen of the gods, has been taken."
Shocked silence. Then fifty demigods started talking at once. Chiron pounded his hoof again, but Rachel still had to wait before she could get back their attention. She told them about the incident on the Grand Canyon skywalk — how Gleeson Hedge had sacrificed himself when the storm spirits attacked, and the spirits had warned it was only the beginning. They apparently served some great mistress who would destroy all demigods. Then Rachel told them about Piper passing out in Hera's cabin. Finally Rachel told them about Jason and Dakota's vision in the living room of the Big House.
"Jason," Rachel said. "Um . . . do you remember your last name?"
He looked self-conscious but he shook his head.
"We'll just call you Jason, then," Rachel said. "It's clear Hera herself has issued you a quest."
Rachel paused, as if giving Jason a chance to protest his destiny. Everyone's eyes were on him; there was so much pressure, Dakota thought she would've buckled in his position.
Yet he looked brave and determined. He set his jaw and nodded. "I agree."
"You must save Hera to prevent a great evil," Rachel continued. "Some sort of king from rising. For reasons we don't yet understand, it must happen by the winter solstice, only four days from now."
"That's the council day of the gods," Annabeth said. "If the gods don't already know Hera's gone, they will definitely notice her absence by then. They'll probably break out fighting, accusing each other of taking her. That's what they usually do."
"The winter solstice," Chiron spoke up, "is also the time of greatest darkness. The gods gather that day, as mortals always have, because there is strength in numbers. The solstice is a day when evil magic is strong. Ancient magic, older than the gods. It is a day when things . . . stir."
The way he said it, stirring sounded absolutely sinister — like it should be a first-degree felony, not something you did to cookie dough.
"Okay," Annabeth said, glaring at the centaur. "Thank you, Captain Sunshine. Whatever's going on, I agree with Rachel. Jason has been chosen to lead this quest, so—"
"Why hasn't he been claimed?" somebody yelled from the Ares cabin. "If he's so important?"
"He has been claimed," Chiron announced. "Long ago.
Jason, give them a demonstration."
At first, Jason didn't seem to understand. He stepped forward nervously, there was a certain power in his blond hair glowing in the firelight, his regal features like a Roman statue. He glanced at Dakota, and she nodded encouragingly. She mimicked flipping a coin, the same way he did back at the Big House. Jason reached into his pocket. His coin flashed in the air, and when he caught it in his hand, he was holding a lance— a rod of gold about seven feet long, with a spear tip at one end.
The other demigods gasped. Rachel and Annabeth stepped back to avoid the point, which looked sharp as an ice pick.
"Wasn't that . . ." Annabeth hesitated. "I thought you had a sword."
"Um, it came up tails, I think," Jason said. "Same coin, long-range weapon form."
"Dude, I want one!" yelled somebody from Ares cabin.
"Better than Clarisse's electric spear, Lamer!" one of his brothers agreed.
"Electric," Jason murmured, like that was a good idea.
"Back away."
Annabeth and Rachel got the message. Jason raised his javelin, and thunder broke open the sky. Every hair on Dakota's arms stood straight up. Lightning arced down through the golden spear point and hit the campfire with the force of an artillery shell. When the smoke cleared, and the ringing in her ears subsided, the entire camp sat frozen in shock, half blind, covered in ashes, staring at the place where the fire had been.
Cinders rained down everywhere. A burning log had impaled itself a few inches from the sleeping kid Clovis, who hadn't even stirred.
Jason lowered his lance. "Um . . . sorry."
Chiron brushed some burning coals out of his beard. He grimaced as if his worst fears had been confirmed. "A little overkill, perhaps, but you've made your point. And I believe we know who your father is."
"Jupiter," Jason said. "I mean Zeus. Lord of the Sky." .
Everything broke into chaos, with dozens of people asking questions until Annabeth raised her arms.
"Hold it!" she said. "How can he be the son of Zeus? The Big Three . . . their pact not to have mortal kids . . . how could we not have known about him sooner?"
Chiron didn't answer, but Dakota got the feeling he knew. And the truth was not good.
"The important thing," Rachel said, "is that Jason's here now. And given Hera showed herself to him and Dakota Flores-Valdez, it is clear she will be one of the companions on the quest with him."
All eyes turned to her. Miranda pushed Dakota forward in line with Annabeth and Jason. She was stuck, once again, as an aid in a quest. For years that was all she had been. On her first quest, at only the age of eleven, she guided Percy and the others through the land to retrieve the lightning bolt. The second she helped them find Grover — but she was far from her expertise there. The third quest was helping Zoë Nightshade, Bianca di Angelo, and Thalia Grace find the goddess Artemis and Annabeth. Her fourth she was with her friends helping Annabeth through the Labyrinth. Now she was going to mark down on her fifth quest, once again helping someone else. Dakota started to wonder if it was a joke. She was good enough to help someone on a quest but never good enough to lead one. That really boosted her confidence.
"Dakota? What do you say?" asked Rachel.
She glanced up at Jason. He was silently pleading her to say yes. Why her? Why did Hera have to torture her again? What exactly had she done to that goddess to make her hate her so much? No. She couldn't decide based on a cruel goddess who almost forced steak down her throat. Jason was new, her was vulnerable, and Dakota was chosen to help him. Her dad would never want her to deny a job she had to do.
"I accept," Dakota nodded. She really wished she could hide her face completely now.
"Very well," Rachel turned back to the entire group. "Jason and Dakota have a quest to fulfill, which means they will need their own prophecy."
She closed her eyes and swooned. Two campers rushed forward and caught her. A third ran to the side of the amphitheater and grabbed a bronze three-legged stool, like they'd been trained for this duty. They eased Rachel onto the stool in front of the ruined hearth. Without the fire, the night was dark, but green mist started swirling around Rachel's feet.
When she opened her eyes, they were glowing. Emerald smoke issued from her mouth. The voice that came out was raspy and ancient-the sound a snake would make if it could talk:
"Child of lightning, beware the earth,
The giants' revenge the eight shall birth,
Guided in passage with the child of harvest,
Her goal will only be left unaccomplished.
The forge and dove shall break the cage,
And death unleash through Hera's rage."
On the last word, Rachel collapsed, but her helpers were waiting to catch her. They carried her away from the hearth and laid her in the corner to rest.
"Is that normal?" Piper asked. She seemed to have realized she'd spoken into the silence when everyone turned to look at her. "I mean . . . does she spew green smoke a lot?"
"Gods, you're dense!" Drew sneered. "She just issued a prophecy— Jason's prophecy to save Hera! Why don't you just—"
"Drew," Annabeth snapped. "Piper asked a fair question. Something about that prophecy definitely isn't normal. If breaking Hera's cage unleashes her rage and causes a bunch of death . . . why would we free her? It might be a trap, or-or maybe Hera will turn on her rescuers. She's never been kind to heroes."
Jason rose. "I don't have much choice. Hera took my memory. I need it back. Besides, we can't just not help the queen of the heavens if she's in trouble."
A girl from Hephaestus cabin stood — Nyssa once again. "Maybe. But you should listen to Annabeth. Hera can be vengeful. She threw her own son— our dad— down a mountain just because he was ugly."
"Real ugly," snickered someone from Aphrodite.
"Shut up!" Nyssa growled. "Anyway, we've also got to think— why beware the earth? And what's the giants' revenge? What are we dealing with here that's powerful enough to kidnap the queen of the heavens?"
No one answered, but Dakota knew the answer wasn't good. She remembered Artemis being kidnapped by Atlas, the quest she got put on to save not just her, but Annabeth was well. Meeting Atlas was in her Top Ten Terrifying Moments for Dakota Flores Valdez! list she created after the war.
Dakota thought of the prophecy. It clearly named her and Jason. Child of lightning and child of harvest. But the last lines . . . it mentioned the forge and dove. The limit is usually three for a quest, the most four but only if the prophecy states clearly it is more than three. This prophecy said four half-bloods on a quest.
"This is not a three person quest again," Dakota called out. "There's us two. Then there's the forge and the dove. Another four-person quest, Annabeth."
Annabeth took a deep breath when she noticed Dakota was right. "It's Jason's quest," she announced, "so it's Jason's choice. Obviously, he's the child of lightning. And Dakota the child of harvest. According to tradition, he may choose any other two companions."
Someone from the Hermes cabin yelled, "Well, you, obviously, Annabeth. You've got the most experience."
"No, Travis," said Annabeth. "Every time I've tried, she's deceived me, or it's come back to bite me later. Forget it. No way. Secondly, I'm leaving first thing in the morning to find Percy."
"It's connected," Piper blurted out. "You know that's true, don't you? This whole business, your boyfriend's disappearanceâ€" it's all connected."
"How?" demanded Drew. "If you're so smart, how?"
Piper tried to form an answer, but she couldn't.
Annabeth saved her. "You may be right, Piper. If this is connected, I'll find out from the other endâ€"by searching for Percy. As I said, I'm not about to rush off to rescue Hera, even if her disappearance sets the rest of the Olympians fighting again. But there's another reason I can't go. The prophecy says otherwise."
"It says who I pick," Jason agreed. "The forge and dove shall break the cage. The forge is the symbol of Vulâ€"Hephaestus."
Under the Cabin Nine banner, Nyssa's shoulders slumped, like she'd just been given a heavy anvil to carry. "If you have to beware the earth," she said, "you should avoid traveling overland. You'll need air transport."
"The flying chariot's broken," Nyssa continued, "and the pegasi, we're using them to search for Percy. But maybe Hephaestus cabin can help figure out something else to help. With Jake incapacitated, I'm senior camper. I can volunteer for the quest."
She didn't sound enthusiastic.
Then Leo stood up. He'd been so quiet, Leo had almost forgotten he was there, which was totally not like him.
"It's me," he said. His cabinmates stirred. Several tried to pull him back to his seat, but Leo resisted.
"No, it's me. I know it is. I've got an idea for the transportation problem. Let me try. I can fix this!"
Jason studied him for a moment. Dakota was sure he was going to tell Leo no. He looked right at her, trying to read her face for any doubt Leo should join the quest. Dakota only nodded. She wasn't totally sure, but her instincts were telling her they needed Leo on the quest. Then Jason smiled. "We started this together, Leo. Seems only right you come along. You find us a ride, you're in."
"Yes!" Leo pumped his fist. He slightly shoved Dakota's shoulder with a grin.
"I'll be dangerous," Nyssa warned him. "Hardship, monsters, terrible suffering. Possibly none of you will come back alive."
"Oh," Leo didn't look so excited anymore. Then he remembered everyone was watching. "I mean . . . Oh, cool! Suffering? I love suffering! Let's do this."
"I've got experience, Leo. No worries, okay?" Dakota assured him. She had several worries in her brain.
Annabeth nodded. "Then, Jason, you only need to choose the third quest member. The dove—"
"Oh, absolutely!" Drew was on her feet and flashing Jason a smile. "The dove is Aphrodite. Everybody knows that. I am totally yours."
Piper stepped forward. "No."
Drew rolled her eyes. "Oh, please, Dumpster girl. Back
off."
"I had the vision of Hera; not you. I have to do this."
"Anyone can have a vision," Drew said. "You were just at the right place at the right time." She looked at Jason. "Look, fighting is all fine, I suppose. And Dakota is there for the experience she has. And people who build things . . ." She looked at Leo in disdain. "Well, I suppose someone has to get their hands dirty. But you need charm on your side. I can be very persuasive. I could help a lot."
The campers started murmuring about how Drew was pretty persuasive. It made sense to Dakota. Drew was a convincing person with her charmspeak, and her beauty could lure in people they needed to catch. Even Chiron was scratching his beard, like Drew's participation suddenly made sense to him.
"Well . . ." Annabeth said. "Given the wording of the prophecy—"
"No!" Piper's voice changed — more insistent, richer in tone. "I'm supposed to go."
She was right. At the same time Hera revealed herself to Jason and Dakota, she had shown herself to Piper. Everyone started nodding, muttering that hmm, Piper's point of view made sense too. Drew looked around, incredulous. Even some of her own campers were nodding.
"Get over it!" Drew snapped at the crowd. "What can Piper do?"
Piper's former confidence shrunk. She kept quiet.
"Well," Drew said smugly, "I guess that settles it."
Suddenly there was a collective gasp. Dakota looked right at Piper and lost her breath. There was a reddish glow around her.
"What?" Piper demanded.
She looked above her, but there was no burning symbol like the one that appeared over Leo. Then she looked down and yelped. Piper was adorned in a beautiful white sleeveless gown that went down to her ankles, with a small V-neck. Delicate gold armbands circled her biceps. An intricate necklace of amber, coral, and gold flowers glittered on her chest, and her hair . . .
"Oh, god," Piper said. "What's happened?"
A stunned Annabeth pointed at Piper's dagger, which was now oiled and gleaming, hanging at her side on a golden cord. She unsheathed her dagger and stared at her reflection in the polished metal blade. Her hair was perfect: lush and long and chocolate brown, braided with gold ribbons down one side so it fell across her shoulder. She even wore makeup â€" subtle touches that made her lips cherry red and brought out all the different colors in her eyes.
"This isn't me," Piper protested. Maybe it wasn't, but she looked incredible. "I don't understand."
Chiron the centaur folded his front legs and bowed to her, and all the campers followed his example.
"Hail, Piper McLean," Chiron announced gravely, as if he were speaking at her funeral. "Daughter of Aphrodite, lady of the doves, goddess of love."
\\\ 🪻 /// NO RORY'S NOTE ! <3
@lovieory