The Legacy of the Sky, Book 1: Chapter 9

Chapter 9: We’re Tested for our Lives
We were escorted out into the entrance hall and through a door directly to the right of the command center. It opened to a hallway much like a hotel hallway; beige walls with cream coloured doors with brass name plaques on them ran all the way down the hallway, and we were led to the one on the left at the very end. It contained two beds, a couch, an HD television, a bathroom, and a small kitchen.

“This is where you will stay for the night. If you survive tomorrow’s tests, you will be assigned your own personal rooms,” Carly said as she practically shoved us over the threshold.

“We’re supposed to share the same room?” Lily asked in disbelief.

“Yes. Is there something wrong with that arrangement?” Carly asked with a smirk. Lily hesitated for a second.

“No, it’s fine,” she said, still sounding apprehensive.

“We’ll come get you at 8:30 tomorrow morning. We will begin testing early,” Carly smirked again as she closed the door behind her. We looked around the room and dumped our backpacks onto the floor.

“What’s up?” I asked Lily.

“It’s nothing, really. Just, there are two beds, and three of us. That means two of us have to share,” she said.

“But there’s a couch,” Elissa pointed out.

“I can take the couch,” I said, having nothing personal against couches, except that they kept stealing my loose change, and the occasional pretzel.

“Yeah, ok,” she said and slumped down onto one of the beds. I sifted through the contents of my backpack and withdrew my knife and some snacks. I unsheathed my dagger and examined the blade. I found some Greek lettering on the blade guard that I had not noticed before: Κουράγιοπλευράτου. Still not knowing how I could read Ancient Greek, I was able to translate it: Courage’s Side. I took a few tissues from the nightstand and started to polish it up; wiping away smudges and such. I looked behind me to find Lily out cold on one of the beds, and Elissa was sitting up on hers, staring off into nothingness. I pulled out a small blanket and my windbreaker from my backpack, then rolled up the windbreaker and wrapped it in my jacket for a pillow. I replaced my orange camp T-shirt with an ordinary one I had picked up at the camp store, and then laid back to rest on the couch, and sleep some took hold of me.

I dreamt of battles. It took place in a giant throne room with twelve unique oversized thrones, around twenty feet tall. I saw Percy fighting with a tall blonde guy with solid gold eyes and a white scar running across the left side of his face, while Annabeth was being protected by a satyr. Annabeth managed to get up and lock blades with the golden eyed person when Percy’s sword was sent into a fissure in the floor, but something happened to the tall guy and he stumbled, and after Annabeth was disarmed, Percy took the blonde guy’s sword and sent it into the oversized hearth. Percy then took Annabeth’s knife, and after considering attacking him, he gave it to the guy instead. He took it and stabbed himself in the armpit, and the entire hall went nuclear.

Suddenly, I was in a different hall. This one was made of entirely black stone, and battles were going on everywhere. Teenagers fought against snake monsters, sea lion like monsters, even hellhounds, but the one battle that stood out was on a raised alter where a black throne sat. A teenager, maybe a couple years older than me who had blonde hair a little lighter in colour than mine and sky blue eyes the exact same shade as mine. He was battling a giant in black armour, studded so that it looked like it had stars on it, and his big helmet was mounted with oversized ram’s horns. They were locked in heavy combat, swords whirling around each other. Finally, the boy somehow got the upper hand, and he drove his golden sword into the giants back, and he raised his sword in triumph as the giant dissolved into black smoke, leaving the pieces of armour behind. He moved back, and knocked the black throne onto its side on the floor, and then proceeded to slice it in half.

My dream shifted to the command center at Camp Othrys. Nathan and Kelsey were watching the battles in shimmering rainbows in the fountain at the end of the table. Nathan watched as the blond guy in the black hall pushed over the throne and sliced it in half, and then his attention was caught by the golden eyed guy in the other hall stumble, and after a few sequences, he saw him stab himself, and the image dissipated from the explosion. Nathan flashed a silver dagger from his sleeve and swiped it through the other image. He stormed over to a map of Mount Othrys, and sliced his dagger across it. Kelsey was saying things to calm him down, and it seemed to be working pretty well surprisingly fast. He turned around and walked slowly toward the table, sliding his dagger back up his sleeve. I made a mental note to remember where he kept that thing. He slammed his fists down onto the central table, making several holographic images flicker violently. He slowly turned his head with a hungry look on his face to look at two battle maps at the end of the room; one of them was of Camp Half-Blood.

I awoke suddenly. Light was starting to pierce the windows and shine into the room. Lily and Elissa were still out cold on their beds, and I decided not to wake them. I knew first hand not to wake a sleeping teenager. I sat up and grabbed my backpack as silently as I could, withdrawing a few snacks. I took a look at the watch I always had attached to my belt loop. 8:03 am. It would be about a half an hour until we were called for testing. I made an executive decision and gently shook Elissa’s shoulder, to which her eyes fluttered open.

“Hey, there’s half an hour until testing. Thought I should wake you up,” I whispered to her, and she yawned and nodded, and then propped herself up on her shoulders. I moved around her bed and gently shook Lily awake.

“What’s up? Is anyone dying?” she asked, still half asleep.

“No,” I stifled a laugh. “Half an hour until testing,” I corrected her. She swung her legs off the bed and rubbed her eyes. They each took snacks and juice boxes from their backpacks while I took a five minute shower. I came out still rubbing my wet hair with a towel when a knock came at the door. Lily got up to answer it, knife in hand.

She opened the door about an inch. “Who is it?” she asked with her knife at the ready.

“Emily Parker, daughter of Eos, coming to get you for testing,” said the person on the other side of the door. Lily opened the door another foot, just enough to reveal a slender girl, maybe a year older than me. She had red-orange hair and orange-pink eyes, like a sunrise.

“Why did they send you to get us?” Elissa asked casually.

“My mother is the Titaness of Dawn, so I’ve always been a bit of an early bird,” she explained.

“Can you wait outside a moment so we can get dressed?” I asked, and she nodded solemnly as Lily slid the door shut. I took my backpack into the bathroom to change, and give the girls some privacy. I put on my only non Camp Half-Blood shirt and an extra pair of jeans. I pulled on and laced up my sneakers, slipped on my ring and shield bracelet, strapped my dagger to my belt, then exited the bathroom. The girls were dressed and ready for battle too. They both had daggers strapped to their belts, and Elissa had her bow and a quiver of arrows slung on her back, while Lily only had a small leather bag. We opened the door to find Emily with her back to us. I tapped her on the shoulder and she jumped, turning around in midair.

“Sorry, but we’re ready to be taken down,” I told her, and she silently led us down the hallway and through the door back into the main entrance hall. She led us to a door opposite of the door we had just exited. It opened to a room about the size of a living room. Not the size for the kind of testing I thought we were going to be doing. I thought it was going to be some big life-threatening scenario. This looked more like we were going to have to take a written exam like in school. I hated those.

“Sit down. The testers will be along shortly. In the mean time, relax as much as you can. This won’t be the most comfortable thing ever,” she said with a hint of sympathy, then closed the door behind her. I found that I wasn’t able to ‘sit down and relax.’ That’s kinda hard when you’re about to be tested for something that may get yourself killed. We didn’t have to wait long when Nathan and Kelsey came in, and they were accompanied by two teenagers. They were both dressed in jeans, black shirts and leather jackets. They looked like they could have been twins, but one had a more brutal face than the other, as it was covered with various scars, new and old. They didn’t speak, but their mere presence filled me with dread. I got the feeling these were the testers, and that I wasn’t going to like the testing.

“If you will please sit down. The testing will be as quick as possible with your cooperation,” Nathan instructed. We took our seats, and the two testers strolled in behind us.

“We will be testing you in a way you have never heard of before. Do not be alarmed at how it is played out. This will work better if you don’t struggle,” Kelsey said, and the testers remained freakishly silent as they tilted our heads back, and then placed a hand on our foreheads. My eyes felt surprisingly heavy as I drifted off with one of the testers looking straight into them.

I was suddenly in another place, like in a dream, which led me to the conclusion that the testing was taking place inside my own head. I was taking a stroll through some rolling hills when my attention was grabbed by some screaming. I drew my spear and shield and ran to the source of the yelling. As I drew nearer, I realised someone was pleading for help. I came into a dip in the valley and found a small group of demigods or demi-titans screaming for help, surrounded by a several rings of monsters. One of them spotted me on my hilltop and signalled for my assistance. The monsters’ ring was gradually becoming smaller, closing in on the people. I knew if I ran through the monsters to join them, I would be killed, but I also knew that if I tried to take out the monsters, the ones I couldn’t get to would just close in and kill those innocent people before I could help, and then I would probably get killed. I knew I had to make a choice, but either one resulted in everybody’s death. I had a hard enough time trying to think about what I wanted for breakfast, let alone trying to decide how to die. With that thought, two lines from the prophecy rang in my ears.

''“Son of Lightning, know your flaw, ''

''Or risk flying into Terror’s claw.” ''

My fatal flaw. Terror’s claw. An idea brewed in my mind, but I had no time to focus on it right now. I was facing about a hundred monsters.

I tried to think of a scenario in which only one person died, probably me, but either choice I made, everybody but the monsters would die. It was a no-win scenario. I didn’t often believe in scenarios like this, but then again, you don’t often run into a situation like this. I racked my brain, asking myself one question, looking for any kind of answer.

How do you win a no-win scenario?

You cheat.

I knew this was all in my own mind, so I knew I must be able to manipulate it some how, but I could feel that the tester had a good control. I concentrated hard, using all of my willpower, trying to do something to gain the upper hand. Somewhere, I knew the tester was struggling to keep me contained, to keep control, but something was happening to the monsters. Their forms were starting to flicker. I ran down the hill into the clearing, my spear raised toward the sky, my shield in front of me. Lightning crackled and thunder rumbled as the sky darkened with storm clouds. I bolt streaked down and collided with the tip of my spear, then split into four dozen arcs, vaporizing most of the monsters. The tester was struggling more then ever to regain more of his control, but I tried something different. I stretched my willpower, reached out, trying to infiltrate his mind, and the tester was severely taken aback. He pulled away, but I went through his mind, and before I knew it, both Lily and Elissa were standing next to me.

“Are you guys real?” I asked.

“I don’t know, but I think so. One minute I was sniping a bunch of monsters with arrows, and then I was here,” Elissa said.

“I was tying them up with plants and such, and then I was here with you guys,” Lily added. Fairly convinced that my friends were actually with me, I turned around to face the remaining monsters. Together, my friends and I charged the thirty some that were left, and about five fled to save themselves, and even the group of trapped fighters came to help out. Within ten minutes (or maybe longer or shorter. It’s hard to keep track of time inside your own head) the monsters were wiped out, nothing but mounds of yellow dust. The forms of Elissa and Lily dissipated, and I was pulled out of the dream test.

Chapter 8: We Play Pretend

Chapter 10: We Make an Escape