Chapter Seventeen: Tara. I Guess Monsters Can Tell The Truth Sometimes

Here's chapter seventeen of Heroes: The New Level.

I Guess Monsters Can Tell The Truth Sometimes
We got out of the boat and continued to walk along Manuel Avila Camacho.

After maybe an hour Nico looked at me. "Think we should try shadows yet?"

I looked around. "No chance. There aren't any shadows big enough for all of us. Once we find something, sure."

"It's gettin' dark," Raymond announced. "Anyone feel like stopping for the night?"

Phoenix shrugged. "Sure."

We settled down as the sky darkened so much that Raymond's pendant was the only light around.

"Does this darkness count as shadows?" I whispered to Nico. Before he could answer a sweeping sound pierced the air. "What was that?"

Talons scratched upon my face, accompanied by a voice. "I told you I'd be back." I recognized the voice. Clearly Nico did too.

"Griffin!" he shouted. Suddenly, weapons turned everywhere - Zia's wand, Annabeth's knife, Reyna's staff, Cam's sword, Carter's curved sword, Jason's coin, Nico's sword, Phoenix's sword, Vicis Tincidunt Vivamus, Re Khet, and Maldito.

"It told the truth," I realized. "The Merge made it recover in less than a day."

The griffin seemed to have gotten stronger since last time. Its claws struck at each of us. If only I had a weapon... I had to do something! I couldn't just sit back and watch my brother and the others get hurt...

I ran right at the griffin and swung a fist. It bit my hand. The pain swept through me as I screamed.

Suddenly it was gone. I looked around... it looked sort of familiar...

It was Camp Half-Blood.

"What happened?" Annabeth asked. "Why are we at camp?"

"Congrats, little sis," Nico said. "You just shadow traveled."

"But I don't feel all tired and stuff like you did whenever you used the shadows. Why does... Of course. The griffin said I was more powerful than you were back at the Empire State Building."

"Yeah," Nico realized. "You can take the shadows from Mexico to New York without any exhaustion. Think you can get us to the temple at Tenochtitlan?"

I tried to flash there like I did here. "No luck. Maybe there are no shadows there?"

"No, there are," Natalie said right before a symbol flashed over her head. A golden lightning bolt. At the same time, two more symbols - a brown owl and a white lyre - over Eddie's and Raymond's heads.

"The symbol of Zeus," Annabeth breathed. "And Athena... and Apollo. You three are demigods."

"What?" Raymond and Natalie chorused. Eddie, of course, already knew he was a demigod from what Dakota told him.

"Maybe that's why we're so powerful," I thought aloud. "Maybe all four of us are demigods and hosts and reps. Is that possible?"

"It has never happened before," Reyna admitted. "But it is possible. It may be important to know that Zeus and Tlaloc are both storm gods. Apollo and Ra are both sun gods. Athena and Minerva are both wisdom goddesses."

"So then that means Raymond's a Huitzilopochtli rep," Cam said. "And Eddie's a Quetzalcoatl rep. And Tara must be an Acolnahuacatl rep."

"Zia, who's the Egyptian death god?" I asked.

"Try Anubis," she said.

Anubis? I asked in my mind. You in there?

Yes, Tara, Anubis said. Nice to finally chat.

"Yeah, I'm hosting Anubis. So Natalie and Eddie must be hosting...?"

"The wisdom god Thoth," Carter supplied. "And the storm god Set. Tara, I will tell you right now that Sadie is going to be so jealous when she hears you've got Anubis in your head."

"Who's there?" a voice asked. A boy with a flashlight walked out toward us. Percy. He took a look at the group and paled. "You're ... you're back... How...?"

Annabeth interrupted. "This is my brother Eddie. These three are Carter, Zia, and Raymond - they're with the Egyptian gods. And this is Natalie, Cam, and Phoenix from Aztec territory. And, of course, you've met Jason and Reyna."

The color returned to his face. "Oh... nice to meet you, Phoenix, Natalie, Zia, Carter, Eddie, Cam, and Raymond. Praetors, I hope everything's going well."

"It's great," Jason said. "And just so you know, Eddie, Natalie, and Raymond are demigods too."

"We may need to talk," Percy finished.

Additive Words
Some questions to ponder after reading this chapter: Why did Percy say "You're back" after seeing the group? How can Eddie be both a Roman son of Minerva and a Greek son of Athena? Why can Tara shadow travel to Camp Half-Blood but not to the Tenochtitlan temple? How can they possibly defeat the griffin now? What will happen in the next chapter?

Here are your links:

Heroes: The New Level

Prologue: Lan. It May Start Soon

Chapter One: Tara. Some Weird Kid Fights Something

Wait for ch. 18.