Chapter Twenty-Four: Natalie. We Can Only Rent The New Level

We Can Only Rent The New Level
We stopped at Camp Half-Blood first.

Tara was laying beneath a pine tree with what looked like a gold wool blanket over her. I vaguely remembered it from old myths - the Golden Fleece.

"She going to be alright?" Nico asked.

"Her life aura is getting stronger," Hazel confirmed. "But, from what Clarisse has told me, the prophecy said one of you would fall when Xolotl got in there."

"The prophecy..." Tara whispered. "Was right..."

"Don't talk like that," I insisted. "You're going to be okay. You're not going to die here."

"Not what I... meant..." Tara opened her hand, revealing a small metal disc. It looked sort of like a snake, but eating its own tail. "Xolotl... dropped this... it fell when... he got in."

"An Ouroboros," Chiron said. "A Greek symbol of rebirth, life and death."

"Nope," Carter said. "You got the meaning right, but the Ouroboros is Egyptian. I've seen it in Zia's writings."

"Maybe it's just a symbol in all of them?" Eddie suggested. "The Ouroboros could be a good mark of the Merge then, if it appears in all of these mythologies."

"Looks like it," Phoenix agreed. I wasn't even sure why he and Cam were still here. "But how many other mythologies will even use the Ouroboros?"

"I've been thinking about that," I said. "Well, not exactly, just how many mythologies are part of the Merge. Remember that line from the prophecy? Strength is formed from the power of eight? Tara starts with T, Raymond with R, Eddie with E, and I start with N. Those are four of the eight letters of strength. Somewhere, there are four other New Level heroes, S, H, G, and another T. The power of eight. We were just... rent. Eight powerful New Level heroes, godlings, demigods, reps, and who knows what else."

"And we'll know if the Merge is close if we see an Ouroboros," Percy added.

"We'd better start looking for those other four heroes," Annabeth said. "If so many monsters are hunting them down, they'll need all the help they can get."

"And if we happen to see Melanie Daniels along the way, we'll be sure to take her down," Cam added with a grin.

"So what about the other lines?" Jason asked. "The power of eight shall become one - that's good. The gods will fade should the Merge be done - not so good. Strength is formed by the power of eight - we just figured that out. When the ninth who will lead them escapes from his fate - wonder who that is. The deadliest monsters shall merge for the fight - seriously bad news. As eight crossroads, in death, unite. Makes sense, I guess."

"All roads lead to Rome, not to death," Nico pointed out. "We need to find eight roads that cross in death - probably one for each of the eight mythologies."

"And the ninth who will lead us," I felt compelled to point out. "Wonder who that is if he's an even better a leader than Eddie."

Annabeth looked at the horizon. "Yeah, wonder who that is."