Chapter 8: A Conversation With Green Smoke

Chapter 7

Max

Dinner was a muted event. I learned about shoving some of your food into the fire, which smelled like an awesome barbecue. The rest of the campers stayed away from me, a little freaked out by what had happened. I met the Oracle, Rache Elizabeth Dare, who tried to interrogate me about who my Mom was, but I sidestepped her questions. She wasn’t quite on par with a reporter’s interrogation, but she was close.

After dinner there was a rather embarrassing sing along down at the camp campfire, which changed colors and grew higher as people got more excited about the songs. There was a big circle around me though, as if proximity would cause electric shock. Only Julie dared sit next to me, but I think that was because our cabins were situated near each other. After the singing was done, and the smores were roasted, we all went to sleep. I climbed into my alcove to find that it was bigger on the inside than it appeared.

I had a shelf for books, which had been preloaded with some of the books I had forgotten back home, an alarm clock that appeared to be specially insulated against electrical damage, and a view of the stars. Yeah, that's right, a view of the stars. The inside of the cabin itself is cloudy and thunders a lot. The alcove? I got to see the stars in all their glory. It was nice to sleep under. The alcove also had a door installed that blocked out a lot of the thunder sounds, so I could rest in peace.

The other bit of great news? I didn’t have a single dream.

When I woke in the morning the alarm was beeping loudly. It read 7:00 AM. I smacked it, lifted the cover of my alcove, and climbed out of bed. I found the shower and climbed in, turning on the water. It felt nice. When all that was done I pulled some clothing out, got dressed, and put my gloves on. Then I walked outside.

The camp was subdued this morning, like someone important had died. I ran into Julie, who was exiting her cabin at the same time, and we headed off to breakfast. Instead of the dull roar of voices, like yesterday, it was a subdued mumble. I had no idea what was going on. After breakfast I got up and walked over to Chiron.

“Umm, sir?” I asked, brilliantly I might add. “What do I do now?”

“Hmm, oh, Max,” Chiron looked distracted. “Sorry about the way things seem to be since you have arrived, I assure you, it is very unusual that the camp is attacked like this. Or that someone steals something from the trophy room.”

“Steal from the Trophy room?” I asked.

“Ahh, when campers return from quests, special items they find on their travels get stored in the trophy room when they tire of having it displayed in the cabin. During the attack yesterday, it appears that one of the items was stolen. The Helm of Helios.”

“The helm of who?”

“Helios was the titan lord of the sun. He faded away Eons ago, but some artifacts of his remained. The chariot Apollo rides across the sky is one, his battle helm is another.” Chiron explained. Then something strange happened. The campers behind us gasped, and I turned around. Marching towards me was Rachel Elizabeth Dare. She was walking with her mouth wide open, the way children do when their parents tell them they are going to catch flies. Green billowing smoke was flowing out of her mouth in a circle that followed her as she approached.

“Speak your question, prince of the heavens,” she said in a voice that sounded like a snake speaking. I looked around, confused about what was happening.

“What happened to the Helm of Helios?” I asked. I had no idea what was expected of me in this situation. Rachel, or the mist...or both laughed.

“Take heed Child of Lightning For you must bring to us an enlightening You must travel to the monstrous sea And find the whirlpool of CC The scion of Rome’s home is being drawn While she searches for the father of dawn.”

Then Rachel collapsed, but was caught by two campers who reacted as if they had practiced for just this occasion. Creepy demands, check; billowing green smoke, check; creepy riddle that doesn’t make sense, check. Catch the girl and put her on a stool, check.

Everyone looked at me, and I had no idea what to do.

“Who will join Max on his quest?” Chiron asked from behind me.

“Whoa, quest?” I asked.

“The only way were allowed to leave camp is during emergency situations, which we don’t have currently, or quests. Quests are provided prophecies by the Oracle, which you just got. Generally important stuff occurs with quests. They arent always as obvious as they seem.” Annabeth explained

“I’ll go,” Julie fought her way to the front of the crowd.

“Julie O’Mally, daughter of Poseidon. You wish to join this quest?” Chiron asked.

“I do Chiron.”

“Then one more may join, who else wishes to join the son of Zeus and the daughter of Poseidon?” The crowd was silent, just staring at us. Then, from the red clad section of Ares children, there came an “oomph” of someone getting hit unexpectedly. Clarisse, the head of the Ares cabin, came out with glowing red eyes, dragging someone behind her. She tossed the semi conscious figure towards me.

“He volunteers,” she said in a voice that was not quite hers.

“Ares, why go through these steps?” Chiron asked.

“I cannot leave Olympus Chiron, and this brat of mine needs to get off his ass and start proving his worth.” Then the red light left her eyes and she slumped backwards into her siblings. They moved aside and let her hit the floor, and a Hermes kid moved forward and picked her up.

“Very well,” Chiron sighed. “Duke Danford, son of Ares, has been volunteered for this mission.” Before he could continue there came the sound of a horse running, and Josh burst through the crowd.

“Is it true Max, is it true?” He demanded, closing in on me.

“Is what true man?” I asked.

“You have been given a quest?” He looked around and, for the first time, noticed that we were in the middle of a crowd.

“Yea, I have one of these quest thingies. I guess that means that were heading out in the morning?” I asked Julie.

“Ya, according to what I understand of the prophecy, we need to head to the Sea of Monsters, down by Florida. My brother said there were some problems down that way that dad wouldn’t let him or Tyson near.”

“You talked to Percy?” Annabeth asked.

“Hmm, oh right, yea I did. He says hello to you Annabeth, sorry, it was just before the attack so the recent events kida...” Julie trailed off. Annabeth nodded her understanding.

“I’ll go tell Argus to get one of the cars ready to take you to the train station. We’ll get the mortal money and some Drachma’s ready for you kids, you get some gear packed.” Then Annabeth walked away.

“Wait, why train?” I asked. “Why not fly, wouldn’t that be faster?”

“It would be, but let me ask you, can you fly?” I shook my head in the negative. “Well, your dad has a problem with my dads kids. If we get too high up, he likes to toss lightning at us, no matter who gets caught in the crossfire. I do not fancy plummeting to the ground in a fiery wreckage again. We are taking the train.” Then she walked off to her cabin. Right, train it is.

I walked towards my cabin, Josh followed.

“Man, I wish I had gotten here sooner, I might have been able to join you.”

“What do you mean?”

“Camp tradition, unless the Oracle indicates otherwise its three people per quest.”

“Why?”

“3 is a good number. Three sons of Kronos, things like that.”

“Huh. So you can’t come with us?”

“Nope, but when you get back I will have learned more nature magic’s, and I will be useful to you in the future.”

“You are useful now Josh. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.” He smiled at that.

“See you later Max. Good Luck.” Then Josh walked away.

I went inside and found a bag sitting there waiting for me. It was black, with pockets all over. The main pocket had my clothing inside of it, the secondary pocket, smaller and above the main pocket, holding little bottles of some fluid and cubes of something else. Also had a bunch of other snack foods. The front pocket held...pencils?

“I made those,” Mark said from behind me. I got up and turned around.

“The Praetor never let me in here before. This cabin sucks.” He took a few steps inside looking around.

“The Praetor?” I asked.

“Yeah, your brother. He and his sister stayed in this cabin before you. He and I are from the Roman side of the equation. But anyways, to the gear. The bottles and cubes are for medical supplies, use only in times of great need, too much burns you from the inside out. Before you ask, I don’t know how the bag got here. My only addition was the pencils. They are...well...think of them as single fire pistols. But instead of bullets, its daggers. The daggers will return after a few minutes. Use them as necessary.” Then he turned away and left.

Well. Single shot throwing daggers that return after a few minutes. Sounds like I am ready for a quest.

Chapter 9