Artemis' Apprentice - The End of Olympus - Inspired By Rick Riordan - Book 1 - Chapter 8

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Chapter 8

Perseus Jackson

It was all so scary, I didn’t know what to do.

I awoke in the middle of the night from a blood curdling scream. Me, being the good boyfriend, recognized it was Annabeth. I charged out of bed and dashed into her room. Piper was opening her bedroom door just as I was opening Annabeth’s.

“What happened?!”

I didn’t have time to tell her, and I didn’t know either. I was so scared that something happened to her I grabbed Riptide and thrusted open her bedroom door.

Annabeth was laying in bed, her whole face clenched, tears streaming down her face.

“Annabeth-” I called, but Piper put her hand over my mouth.

“She’s having a dream,” she whispered, “Don’t wake her, maybe she has some new information for Poseidon.”

I clenched my teeth as I stared at my broken girlfriend. She was shivering now, her whole face crumbling in grief and pain.

“Please, Piper,” I begged, “She’s suffering! Let me wake her!”

Piper looked at Annabeth sadly, then shook her head. “Don’t wake her. That's an order.”

I felt her powers of charmspeak roll over me, and I tried not to listen.

“You can sit in here,” Piper continued, “But no matter what happens, don't wake her. We could find out who the enemy is here.”

So Piper guarded the door while I sat over Annabeth next to her bed. She screamed a few more times and I plugged my ears and resisted the urge to beg her to stop. Her screams were so broken, so sad, I wanted to hug her, to comfort her.

I am being a horrible boyfriend.

Tears streamed down her face, and I was dying to wipe them away. A few times, I heard the footsteps of dryads running down the hallway to see what was wrong. Piper stopped them easily.

“HOW COULD YOU!?” Annabeth screamed. It broke my heart. “HOW COULD YOU DO THIS SELENE!?”

The name sent chills down my spine.

Annabeth cried for a few more minutes, with no more screaming. I stroked her beautiful blonde hair, and a few tears slid down my face as well.

I laid my head down on her bedsheet and tried to let the warmth of the mattress soothe me.

“P-percy?!”

I looked up to see Annabeth, awake, her gray eyes red and scared. I smiled through tears.

“PERCY!” She tackled me onto the bed so fast I could have sworn she didn’t move at all. She hugged me tight and cried into my neck as I cradled her.

“I saw you die,” she cried, “You were resting in a coffin, just like Jason-” her voice cracked and she choked as more tears spilled. My heartbeat quickened as I realized what she had just said. She had a dream of me, where I was dead. I inhaled sharply. How could this be possible unless she saw-.

I wrapped my arms around her protectively and rested my face on her head. Her hair smelled damp and cold.

She cried into me for a few minutes and I comforted her. Piper came in once, and I sent her a look, telling her to leave. She nodded glumly and walked away.

Finally, when Annabeth was done crying, I laid her back down.

“How about I sleep with you for the rest of the night,” I asked. She was too tired to protest, so I laid down next to her. I felt myself, slowly, drifting off to sleep as the moon’s light fell upon us.

 

Morning came quickly, and my sleep was eerie without haunting dreams. Annabeth was still shaken as I woke her up, but she held her head high. She was looking in her dresser drawers, which I saw were packed with clothing.

Something was bothering me, “Annabeth.”

She turned to face me, “Yes?”

“How did, I well, die,” I mumbled. Annabeth’s eyes got dark and dim.

“In my dream, I found a coffin outside this weird building,” she confessed, “I never have been to this building, but when I read the coffin, I found out it was yours.” Her voice cracked again. I could tell she was on the verge of tears.

“It said,” he stammered, “You were killed by your sister.” I let the words sink in, but they felt like knives.

“Selene,” we both said in sync. We both sat in silence for the next few minutes. I finally left to get changed.

After I properly dressed and showered, I met Annabeth and Piper in the hallway.

Piper was talking with Annabeth as I came out, with one hand on her shoulder calmly.

“It was the worst one I have ever-” Annabeth turned to see me, her eyes lighting at my appearance. I couldn’t blame her. I would do the same thing if I had seen her after she had died.

“I need to tell you all something at breakfast,” Annabeth said quickly, “Something’s very wrong, and we need to discuss it with Poseidon.”

We all nodded, and Lily suddenly appeared from another room.

“Good morning,” she said cheerfully, “I will escort you to breakfast, Lord Poseidon is waiting to discuss matters.”

I nodded, but a sudden thought struck me.

How does my dad eat?

I don't know why it hit me, but I had never seen my dad eat. I felt myself get pail.

Does he only eat seafood? I gulped. No calamari for breakfast please dad.

We followed Lily down the hall, and turned right. We let our eyes feast, (pun intended), on the dining room.

It was tall, huge, with high ceilings and skylights. Murals hung on the walls that showed images of the sea. A huge portrait of Poseidon hung on the wall. In front of us, a long wooden dining table, with matching wooden dining chairs. At the far end, Poseidon was sitting, his face pale and worried, his sea green eyes wide. His wet hair hung from the sides of his face. Selene sat on his left, not looking amused.

At the sight of me, my father smiled sadly, “Good morning,” he stiffened, “We have much to discuss.”

 The news was bad.

I sat next to my father on his right side. Annabeth sat next to me, and Piper sat next to her. No one dared to sit by Selene, who was biting into a pancake.

“My son, Triton, has disappeared,” Poseidon seethed. Selene spit her pancake out all over me.

Gross!

Before it could hit me, I commanded the water in my glass to block it. The water snaked up and captured the pancakes in mid flight threw them into the nearest trash can, which happened to be quite far away.

My father eyed me, impressed. Selene looked stared at my father, her eyes wild.

“You have another son?!”

“Selene,” my father sighed, “We have discussed this.”

I looked at Annabeth who had gone ghostly pail. “Poseidon,” she spoke.

Poseidon fixed his sea green eyes on her, “Yes Ms. Chase?”

“I had a dream last night.”

Poseidon resting his elbows on the table, and cradled his head in his clenched fists, “And?”

Annabeth gulped, “I saw you're son.”

Poseidon immediately became more alert, “Tell me everything.”

Annabeth told us about her dream, the first part, where Nyx had taken Momus, and Triton captive by a goddess named Astraea. She confessed on how she was torturing them, and was planning to wipe Triton's memory.

Poseidon’s skin got paler as Annabeth continued, saying Nyx was sending Momus to Long Island to fulfill some kind of plan.

“Wait,” I asked, “Long Island is where Camp Half Blood is.”

Annabeth’s eyes widened in horror, “We have to warn Chiron.”

“Nyx,” Poseidon seethed through clenched teeth, “I haven’t heard that name in decades. She’s my,” he paused, “My great aunt, I believe.” He turned back to Annabeth, “Any other details?”

“Well,” Annabeth continued, “Both Astraea, you're son, and Momus, had red streaks from their eyes, it was sort of jagged like a-”

“A lightning bolt,” Poseidon finished.

He got up abruptly, “I will send you all to Camp Half Blood to inform Chiron. I must go discuss with Zeus to see if he has anything to do with this.”

With the snap of his fingers, another whirlpool enveloped us. Piper gave us another lovely demonstration of her Elvis Presley scream.

I felt myself drop though the floor again, and into the darkness.

 

What I saw surprised me the most of all. We reappeared right on the edge of camp half blood, surprising a camp on guard duty.

As the whirlpool dissolved, I looked down to see Clarisse, the Ares Cabin commander. She scowled as she saw us. I suddenly realized that we had scared her.

“Hello,” I helped her up. I realized in horror that she was taller than me now. Clarisse smiled grimly.

“What brings you back here after all these years?” Clarisse asked as she looked at us.

“We need to talk to Chiron,” Annabeth said firmly.

Clarisse's nodded. “He’s at the big house, talking with Will right now.” Annabeth and I exchanged glances.

“Will Solace is still here?” I asked.

“Why of course. He’s the head healer,” Clarisse said this like it was no big deal. “Now come on.”

We followed Clarisse past the borders of camp half blood. From the outside, it looked like a strawberry field, but on the inside, it was probably the coolest camp you could ever see.

As we stepped inside the barrier, Camp Half Bloods beauty dawned over me. We had cabins representing the twelve olympians and even some minor gods like Hypno’s were welcome here.

The Big House hadn’t changed a bit. Clarisse lead us down there. Clarisse was about to open the door, but instead she turned and faced us.

“I want to let you know,” she confessed, “That Chiron isn’t acting like himself lately.”

Annabeth raised her eyebrow, “What do you mean?”

Clarisse sighed, “Nobody knows what happened, but we all can tell that, well, it's something.” She opened the door, “I just wanted to let you know.”

The inside of the big house surprised me as well. The floor was littered, and dirty, with grime and dust on every surface. Annabeth cringed as Clarisse lead us inside.

“Chiron!” she hollered, “We have guests!”

I heard a muffled grumbling from the other room, and the creak of wheels. I watched as Chiron rounded the corner. His hair was unkempt and darker, his eyes were dull and sunken, and his beard was messy and unshaven.

He smiled sadly at the sight of us.

“Hello Mr. Jackson, Ms. Chase, and Ms. Mclean.”

We all nodded at the sound of are names. “Come,” Chiron lead us into the main room, which was also dirty, with books scattered everywhere on the floor.

“Excuse the mess,” Chiron said, “I'm just looking for something.”

He rolled his wheelchair into the corner and sat down boredly. “Now, what did you need?”

“Well,” I began, “The camp is in danger.”

“Yes, yes, I know that,” Chiron scoffed, “Anything else?”

Annabeth and I exchanged another glance

“One of the Olympians are going to betray Olympus-”

“Can you please tell me something I don't know?!” Chiron snapped. Annabeth stepped back, looking hurt.

“I know that a god is betraying Olympus, and that the camp is in great danger,” Chiron huffed. “I know they are coming. But they won’t get past the barrier. We have strengthened our barriers so no monsters will get in at all.”

I glanced at Chiron worriedly. For once, Clarisse was right. Something was up with Chiron.

“How do you know all of this,” I asked.

“Rachel spit out a prophecy,” he sighed, “i'll go get her.”

Chiron wheeled back into the front hall, and opened the door.

“RACHEL!”

I turned towards Annabeth and Piper and we all exchanged worried glances.

“Somethings wrong with Chiron,” Annabeth mumbled, “We need to help him.”

“But how can we help him if we don't know what’s wrong?” I asked.

Piper sighed, “For now, let's help as much as we can.”

Chiron rolled back in with Rachel on his heels. Rachel hadn’t changed a bit, with her frizzy red hair and freckled face. She had grown taller, about my height now.

“Hi,” she waved, “Nice to see you all again.”

We all nodded, but the air shifted awkwardly at the sound of small talk.

“We heard there's a new prophecy,” I said finally, “Can you tell us what it is?”

Rachel nodded, “It's a longer prophecy, so we must be careful;”

She cited the prophecy, “Children on Sea, One white; one green, Despite they’re parents, they shall be: Demolisher of Olympus, Destroyer of Fates. Twelve tattered thrones, and the end of all space.”

She paused to catch her breath, then continued, “When the blood moon is high, Thy power shall rise’, Seize the earth, Rule the skies. A warning to who bore this fate: You're offspring shall turn; Join the betrayer; And watch Olympus burn. The world must end: With one to rule thy; With someone loved dead, Or with none left to cry.”

A cold wind shook the Big House. Everyone was silent.

“We’ve heard that before,” I said, remembering the prophecy my father had told me, “Poseidon received the prophecy years ago.”

Chiron raised his eyebrow, “What do you mean?”

“One of Poseidon’s other children, her name is Selene,” I tried not to cringe at the name, but my jealousy got the best of me, “She’s different than most demigods. She’s been locked up away from society.”

“Different, how?” Rachel questioned.

“She can control more than the sea,” Annabeth breathed, “She harness earth power as well, and all her powers are stronger than most demigods.”

Rachel still looked quite confused, “How could that even be possible?”

“Well,” Annabeth chimed in, “Perhaps it's like a rare genetic disorder.”

Rachel didn’t look convinced. Chiron spoke again, “So, how did this all start?”

I explained to Chiron what happened at New Rome, how Selene escaped because she wanted more freedom. I told them how we encountered Poseidon, Artemis and Lupa in the clearing, and also the empousa attack. The whole time, Chiron was smoothing his crazy beard.

“The children of sea reminded me of you, Percy,” Rachel said after I finished telling the story. “I was about to contact you when you arrived.”

I nodded, “I don't think the prophecy is about me, or me in general.” I turned and looked out the window, “The weirdest thing about Selene, is she looks like my mom.”

“She does?” Rachel asked.

“Yes, I even called her ‘mom’ and she punched me,” my nose felt a wave of soreness remembering the moment.

“Well,” Rachel said, changing the subject, “Anyone else have any ideas for the prophecy?”

No one spoke.

“Well,” Chiron sighed, “Will Solace has been having dreams too,” he seethed, “And they’re bad news.”