Chapter Five: Tara. You Know It's A Bad Sign When Death Claims You

This is the fifth chapter of Heroes: The New Level, book one of the new fanfic series Heroes by DarkCyberWolf.

You Know It's A Bad Sign When Death Claims You
Nico had summoned a skeletal horse and rode just barely out of New York. Along the way, he explained some stuff I needed to know, starting with why no one noticed the two people riding a skeleton horse through New York.

"It's a substance called the Mist," Nico said. "Mortals can't usually see stuff like this. You and I, by the way, aren't really mortal. Sure, we can die, but we're way more powerful. All the Greek gods you may have seen in movies and stuff - yeah, they're real. My dad is one of them. So is one of your parents. Any idea which?"

I didn't have to think too hard. "My dad. My mom lives here in New York."

Nico nodded. "Yeah, that's how most of us knew before the Gift of Perseus. Oh, um, Perseus, or Percy, rather, is a camper over at Camp Half-Blood. A few years ago, he convinced the gods to pay more attention to their kids. A few of the campers who got stuff out of it - like me - started calling it the Gift of Perseus a little while back. How old are you?"

"Fourteen," I answered.

"Hmm. According to the Gift, the satyrs - those are goat-people by the way - should have brought you to camp years ago. We haven't had new campers that old since Leo and Piper showed up."

"Maybe at camp my dad will find me?"

"Maybe. Piper had to wait until the night after she arrived before she got claimed by Aphrodite. Until you're claimed, I'm afraid you'll have to stay in the Hermes cabin. Oh, um, that's the cabin for people who aren't sure who their immortal parent is."

We'd arrived at the borders of Camp Half-Blood on top of a hill, next to a tree and a dragon. I decided it was probably better not to ask about the dragon.

"Guys," Nico called. "I found a new demigod."

A few people came out of cabins - a girl with blonde hair and stormy gray eyes, a big guy with a wide smile and one eye, a Hispanic guy wearing dirty overalls and a toolbelt, and a middle-aged man who was a stallion from the waist down.

"Annabeth, Tyson, Leo, and Chiron," Nico introduced quickly. "This is Tara. Fourteen years old and still unclaimed. She was attacked by a griffin when I found her. Tara, this is our smartest camper, Annabeth, daughter of Athena, Tyson, cyclops son of Poseidon, Leo, son of Hephaestus, and the famous centaur Chiron, immortal trainer of all the greatest heroes."

Some more people came out and introduced themselves. I struggled to keep up with all the names. Piper, Juniper, Travis, Connor, Percy, Butch...

"Another one," Piper murmured. "The gods haven't left any unclaimed that long since Leo and I came right before Gaea's giants attacked. Does Tara being here mean...?"

"No," Chiron said with certainty. "The giants could not possibly have been freed from Tartarus this quickly. Nevertheless... you say she was attacked by a griffin?"

"Yeah, and it said something about the Merge. Any idea what that is?"

Chiron paled. "It - it can't be. There was an agreement... this was never supposed to happen again..."

"What? Are the Greeks and Romans merging again?" Percy asked. "We got along with them well enough last time... ignoring the fact that they wanted to open fire on us on day one."

"No. The Greeks and Romans... at least they shared a root. They were at least capable of mixing smoothly."

Suddenly the campers gasped and looked right above my head. I glanced up and saw a black symbol - a circle inside a letter U with a plus sign attached at the bottom.

"The symbol of Hades," Nico said with awe. "The god of the dead. Now we know who your father is."

"My dad's the god of the dead?"

"Yeah. That makes two of us," Nico said. "Welcome to Camp Half-Blood, sis."

Additive Words
Ahh, back to Tara. Guess this means these four narrators are the only ones in this story (or are they?!) So, looks like Tara is a daughter of Hades, and so Nico's half-sister. Plus, seems Chiron knows what the Merge is - and it scares the Tartarus out of him! Tara may well be ready to embark on a quest - how long were Percy and Jason there before they got their first quests? So, you've gotten all of this.

Here's the links you might want.

Chapter One: Tara. Some Weird Kid Fights Something

Chapter Six: Raymond. And Here I Thought Zia Was Scary

Heroes: The New Level