Ciara's POV[]
"Annabeth!" Percy knelt beside his unconscious wife. Then suddenly the same thing happened to Percy - his eyes rolled back in his head and he fainted.
"Dad!" Mikaela rushed over to her unconscious parents. Everyone was so focused on Percy and Annabeth they didn't notice Jason and Piper collapsing until Devon cried out.
"The Seven!" I realized. "Hazel, Leo, Frank-"
But Frank had already gone down before I finished my statement, Hazel shortly following. Calypso embraced Leo, anticipating what would happen next. He fell limp in her arms.
For a moment, everyone was still. Then they realized no one else was going to faint, so they started to bring the fallen heroes to the big house.
"What happened? What's wrong with them?" Mikaela asked once all of the Seven were in sick bay. She, Devon, Amaranta, Sammy, Alice, Calypso, Thalia, my parents, and Chiron were all in the room.
"I'm not sure. Clarisse, would you go get the ambrosia?" Chiron asked. My mom nodded and went to get the divine food.
"Oh, their hearts are barely beating." Thalia said worriedly, checking the pulses of her younger brother and her best friend.
Chiron spent about hours trying various methods of nature healing. Eventually my parents went back out to the party to assure everyone everything was fine, but I stayed.
Finally, Chiron sighed. "I don't know what's happened. It seems they've been put into some kind of magic-induced coma, but that's all I can tell."
"Oh, let me see." Calypso pushed through the group of people crowded up to Leo's bedside. Then she began singing.
I froze in place at the sound, and out of the corner of my eye I saw the others in the room do the same. This was not like the other times I'd heard Calypso or Amaranta use magical song. I felt as if she was analyzing my entire soul with her words.
When the song ended, I gasped and stumbled back. The same thing happened to every other (conscious) person in the room, causing a sort of domino effect. I got back on my feet and looked at Calypso. Her almond eyes were getting puffy, like she was about to start crying.
"This- this wasn't an accident. It's a sleeping curse."
I had disturbing flashback to 'Sleeping Beauty'.
"I can't break it. Whoever did this has put up barriers even I can't breach." Considering Calypso was one of the Divine Sorceresses (along with Medea and Circe), this person must be extremely powerful.
"I'd have to find the person. This kind of spell would require an up-close reversal."
"So you just go and find them. Simple enough." Mikaela said.
"No. I'll go. I can do it." Amaranta, who'd been silent up until then, said suddenly.
"Amaranta-"
"Mom, if you go out into the mortal world and the gods find out they'll send you back to Ogygia. But I'm technically allowed to go wherever I want."
"You've never been on a quest. Heck, you've never even been in the mortal world! You're in no position to go on a solo quest." Mikaela argued.
"So she won't go alone." Devon said, stepping up beside Amaranta.
"And then I suppose you intend on leading this quest? You have no more experience than her!"
"Well no one had experience they're first time, Mikaela. And you go out all the time! It's time to give someone else a chance!"
The grandson of Jupiter and the granddaughter of Poseidon continued to argue until the screaming became too much for me.
"I'll do it!"
Devon and Mikaela stopped yelling at eachother. Everyone looked at me.
"I have experience. In the real world and in questing. But I've never actually lead a quest before. Happy?"
They didn't answer. They didn't argue either, though, so I took that as a green light.
"So.... We have a quest?" I asked.
Chiron nodded. "You may go consult the Oracle."
So I climbed the hill up to the Oracle's cave. I pushed back the purple curtains to reveal the magically expanded gameroom space that was totally unfair. The Oracle's apartments almost reminded me of Percy and Annabeth's description of the Lotus Casino. Except, you know, without the time-freezing or the memory clouding charms.
"Uh, Rachel?" I called.
I heard footsteps, and then someone turned the corner of one of the halls.
"Oh, hey, Ciara." the redhead smiled. She wore her usual jeans and paint-splattered sweatshirt. Rachel still enjoyed painting and other arts, even after all this time.
"What's the occasion?" she asked me.
"I, um.. I got a quest."
"Ah." she smiled a bit wider. She pulled a three-legged stool of a closet and sat. "Well, then. Approach, Seeker, and ask."
I took a deep breath. "How do I wake up the seven heroes?"
Rachel's eyes glowed brighter green. Mist swirled around the room. Then, in a voice that sounded like three of her were talking at once, she recited:
Six shall journey to the land of the dead in the west,
Face the lost and betrayed, and end endless rest,
But fall at the hands of endless hate,
And one shall succumb to an unthinkable fate
She started to fall backward, but I caught her. She blinked, then sat up and looked at me.
"That bad?" she asked, noticing my grimace.
The words of the prophecy rolled through my head Lost, betrayed, fall, unthinkable fate..
"No, not to bad. Thanks, Rachel." I turned and practically ran back down to the big house.