A Demigod's Shield: Ch. 6

THE CONFUSED DEMIGOD
"Traditionally," Chiron said. "You are to choose two other campers to participate in the quest."

"Only two?" I asked. But there was really no choice. There were only two here that I could name. "I choose Thomas Garcia, daughter of Aphrodite-" A few kids snickered at that. "-and Miracle Hill, daughter of H... of an unknown god or goddess."

Thomas and Miracle stepped forward and stood beside me. "Where is Camp Jupiter, exactly?" Miracle asked.

"California," Chiron said.

"Ooh," I groaned. That was far. "In that case, I call fourth member! Blackjack!"

Blackjack looked at me like I was crazy - well, crazier - and walked up to us.

"Well... if three demigods can take a bronze dragon to Mount Diablo, I see no reason why you can't take a pegasus," Chiron said.

Blackjack got down. Thomas, Miracle, and I climbed onto his back. He started running out of camp before taking off into the air.

"Why do the new campers always get to lead the quests?" one camper complained as we left.

"Are you sure this is safe?" Miracle asked, for some reason waiting until we were a hundred feet up before saying anything.

"Positive," I said. "Blackjack rules. There's a reason he appeared on my shield." I showed them the shield and the picture of Blackjack in the corner.

"Do you think this is the shield in the prophecy?" Thomas asked.

"No, I think that's a different shield wielded by the girl who's going to save the camp. Keep up, sis."

By the time the sky got dark, Blackjack brought us back to the ground.

"That was fast," Thomas said. "Only one day and we're already at Salt Lake City."

I rubbed the top of Blackjack's head. "Good boy."

Blackjack stretched his legs and wings for a second before going down and closing his eyes. Beside him, Thomas also dozed off. Miracle and I sat down next to them in silence. An hour later, I was still awake.

"You can't sleep either, can you?" Miracle asked.

"Actually I'm asleep right now. So are you. Thomas and Blackjack are awake though, so you can talk to them."

She smiled despite herself. "Sarcasm, right? Come on, we're not doing anything right now. Want to talk about the prophecy... and your shield?"

"Sure. What's buggin' you?"

"From many locations as powerful as this," Miracle said. "Many. Camp Jupiter is only one place. There's gotta be more places than that."

"Well..." I looked at the shield. "The picture of Blackjack didn't show up until after I was in Camp Half-Blood. I guess another picture will come up at Camp Jupiter... Maybe while we're there we can find another location. I mean, New York and California can't be the only places in the world where stuff happens, can they?"

"Fair enough," she said. "What about those last lines? The ones about ice being also great for destruction? Was it just me, or did those lines sound... familiar?"

"Never heard 'em. Sorry. Did..." I decided not to use Hera's name. "You-know-who give you any idea what the shield does?"

"My immortal parent's never actually spoken to me... Why? Did Dionysus give you anything?"

"Nope. Say, have you noticed that for a 'quest', nothing really questy has happened?"

And, right on cue, flames started shooting up around us.

LINKS
The Seven Tales of Morgan Knight

A Demigod's Shield

~Back To Chapter Five~Chapter Seven This Way~