Black Dove: Chapter 1

Chiron's POV

Something is wrong.

I, in my wheelchair, waited at the porch for the demigods I sent for. I watched some of the Apollo children play volleyball against the satyrs, when someone tapped me to attention at the shoulder.

Mao, the daughter of Eris, and Josh Mclean, the son of Hyperion stood solemnly a few inches away from me when I turned. Josh particularly looked worried, because he had recently been cured of his crying curse.

"What is it, Chiron?" Mao spoke up. I nodded and gestured them to sit with me at the pinochle table.

"Oh, gods. Please don't tell me we have to play pinochle with Mr. D!" Mao, as she sat, looked at the closed door of the Big House, as if expecting it to bang open and present Mr. D. I chuckled and shook my head.

"No, child. I am here to talk to you about some...ah, issues." I said. I took the folder from my lap and gave it to them. Mao began leafing through its pages eagerly. Josh inched beside her closely to read also.

"Um, these are all articles on suicides in France, Chiron." Josh said as they finished reading.

I countered. "Why, all of a sudden, will demigods in France start to murder themselves?" I asked.

"You mean...." Mao said. "All of the suicides are not actually suicides?"

I nodded at her. "Yes. Someone murdered them."

"But how can you be so sure?" Josh asked, clearly confused.

"Because they were all stabbed in the heart. Which is strange, don't you think, that fourteen half-bloods in the different corners of France were all stabbed, all in two weeks?"

Mao and Josh nodded.

"So they were murdered." Mao clarified. "By whom?"

I pursed my lips. "That is why you are here." I told them.

"You are to go to France, specifically to Paris, to find out who is the killer. Bring him..or her, to Olympus to be counseled by the gods. Four will go. You, as the leaders of this quest, will choose the other two."

They looked at each other with widened eyes.

"Do you accept this quest?" I asked.

There was a long silence in the porch. Finally, Mao nodded. "I do."

Josh bit his lip and said, "I do too."

I nodded. Tomorrow, Argus will take you to the airport. Choose your companions, prepare your things, and say your farewells. Be careful. And good luck."