Chapter Text
Prophecies have more or less much untrue truth in them, and that is not a good thing:
Travis pov:
The day was boring. It was oppressively warm, no wind blew and somehow it was pretty empty in the camp. The summer holidays would only start in a week and until then only about one-fifth of all demigods were present here.
I sat with my brother Connor on one of the low walls that surrounded the strawberry fields. We half-heartedly threw ideas at each other, hoping that there would be one that could help us with our boredom. So far, nothing particularly exciting has come out of it. Well, at least nothing where I also had the energy to do it in the heat. How did it come that in some summers it almost didn't get warm at all and in others it swings from one day to the next into an absolute heat wave? That couldn't be normal. Well, maybe it had something to do with global warming. I could ask Butch. His mother was Iris, so his cabin got sent these eco- and environmental magazines weekly.
From the corner of my eye, I saw campers running past again and again, until one suddenly headed directly towards us. With a nod of my head, I drew Connor's attention to her. Miranda Gardiner, Demeter daughter and the current head counselor in the cabin of the cereal-crazies. She is also the second-most annoying of her kind. Her older sister Katie, who is still at school, is and remains at number one. Connor and I looked at each other briefly in suspicion and then devoted ourselves to the approaching Demeter daughter.
„Hi Miranda. What’s up?“, asked Connor.
"Okay, that might sound like a stupid question, but if you could only choose one, who of you would get the title 'King of Pranks'?" she asked with her arms crossed.
She got the answer pretty much at the same time: "Me." "Travis." She looked at us briefly perplexed and then asked, "Really? No dispute over the title?" "Miranda, I wouldn't get this title now, I already have for a long time," I replied with a grin on my face.
Connor nodded and then added: "The Hermes cabin has a permanent competition for the title. Travis has had it for a year now. Before that, I had it for the proudest two weeks of my life. And before that it was Travis again." Miranda then nodded carefully. She sighed and said, "Then you should come with you to the big house. There is a prophecy about you."
A little frightened I flinched back. A prophecy? About me? I hadn't imagined breaking my boredom like this, that’s for sure.
Hesitantly, I slipped down from the wall and looked at Connor. My brother had also lost his smile and he looked a bit pale all of a sudden. I could understand him, I would feel the same if there was a prophecy about him. Especially since all possible communication did not work at the moment. That means, if I'm somewhere in the middle of nowhere on a quest I wouldn't even be able to send him an iris message.
"Are you sure?" I asked softly. The Demeter daughter just nodded. A devoted sigh escaped me. "Okay. I’ll come to the big house. Connor, I’ll be back as soon as possible."
He nodded an I brushed the dust off my pants. Miranda turned around and ran off; I trotted after her without thinking too much about it.
Quests were not such a big deal in and of themselves. Lately, we demigods have often been sent on small quests, especially since the communication is down. Instead of contacting the Romans in this way, one had to send a demigod there. It became quite normal. However, a mission with a prophecy was of a very different calibre. I got a little sick in my stomach. After all, we are living in a time where the dangerous prophecies were practically piling up. I had been lucky enough to have been a minor character in most of these things. Only the guy who had led the Hermes cabin through two wars. No life-threatening orders here.
Oh yes, the life of a demigod.
Before I could think about it, I was standing in front of the big house. On the table of the veranda lay an abandoned pinokel set, which made me suspicious. When both Chiron and Mr.D left their long-established post, it had to be something worrying.
I entered the meeting room. The ping-pong table, as always, was in the middle of the room, which would probably never change. On the walls, however, there were now some folding tables for the large gatherings. After all, more cabins meant more head counselors who had a say at how camp matters where handled. That meant the meetings generally became bigger and more chaotic. I couldn't explain to myself how the Romans did things like that in a civilized manner without the pure chaos that ensures here. Well, they are disciplined puppets I suppose. At one end of the table, Chiron sat in his enchanted wheelchair, and in one corner of the room, Mr.D sat with a bag of chips. However, not the brand chips. Cheap no-name chips.
Shit, it had to be really bad.
There was only Miranda and I in the room. The daughter of Demeter looked at me and explained, "I was there when Rachel spoke this prophecy. We have a little clue who is meant, so now she’s getting Will. In general, we believe that it is meant to be a Demeter child, an Apollo child and you."
"And me."
"It was pretty clear," she said, shrugging her shoulders.
Great. When I was clear, it usually meant that it wouldn't work without me. I dropped on one of the folding chairs and waited. A short time later, Will Solace strolled through the door. Behind him, Rachel appeared. Will looked at me and raised an eyebrow. I answered his mute question: "Supposedly the prophecy means me very clearly." Will just nodded and sat on the chair opposite me. Miranda stayed to lean against one of the walls. She had her arms crossed and looked at Chiron waiting for him to speak. I did the same as her, and soon the centaur moved and looked at everybody in the round.
"As you have already heard, there is a new prophecy. Rachel said it was a little different than usual?" We turned towards the oracle, which nodded. She looked at us darkly and said, "Something is wrong with my powers. It's weird. As if my prophetic abilities had a loose contact and it gets worse and worse. This prophecy came only very fragmented, but I think I have everything together. But I am concerned. Especially since Apollo doesn't answer me anymore."
Meanwhile, I was sitting straight on my chair. I might not be the brightest at times, but even I understood that these were definitely not good signs. Rachel then shook her head and continued: "But this is a concern for someone else. I really hope i have all parts of the prophecy together, but I think the chances are good."
Then she got up and put her drawing pad on the table. She scrolled through a few sketches and pictures until she stopped on one page. The writing was the wrong way around for me, so I couldn't read what was on it, but Rachel did so for me:
"King of pranks,
Healer of a dark soul,
Child of plants,
achieving the goal
husband of flowers,
red romances,
Scale, Eye and Feathers
the truth advances"
For a moment there was a depressing silence in the room, and I didn't quite know what to do or think. Then my brain started to slowly restart again. The King of Pranks. Yes, I was fairly sure that’s me. Now I understood why Miranda had asked us that. Why had I insisted on this title so much? But the rest of the prophecy? What should that mean? I mean, it was to a hundred percent nothing good, but a bit more accurate would have been nice. But one could not negotiate with a prophecy. You had to work with what you got.
So I broke the silence first: "Okay. King of pranks, that's me. Clearly, after all, I have the title in the Hermescabin for ages now. The “achieving the goal”? I mean, that could mean anything actually, but I feel like it means my special ability." "Your ability?" "I am a son of Hermes. I always have an idea in which direction I have to travel to get to my destination, even if I don't know said destination yet. So maybe it’s that?" The others just nodded, but probably because they couldn't think of anything better.
The Will said: "I have the feeling with healer of a dark soul I am meant. Because... Well." I saw a slight glimmer of red on his cheeks and suddenly understood what he meant. Healer of a dark soul, so reworded: a private doctor of a certain shadow king named Nico di'Angelo? Yep, that made sense. At least for me. Moreover, one should take every demigod seriously who thought he had the feeling of a prophecy referring to him. Most of the time we felt that way for a reason.
"And I think I'm the plant child. I mean, it's very vaguely worded, but..." again she just shrugged her shoulders. I nodded to her. If she thought that was true, then I accepted it. Besides, there weren't many other options. Katie was still at school and all of Demeter's younger children were either way too young or not quite like that... planty. It was hard to describe. Katie and Miranda were always the ones who could make all the plants grow. The two younger ones were more responsible for harvests. It was these small, subtle differences about which only one child of Demeter could talk your ears off for hours. So I looked at my two future travel companions again and then turned to Rachel. "Are you sure you have all the parts of the prophecy?" "No. But it doesn't get any better, believe me." She looked at me apologetically and I covered my face with my hands. Well, seems like we were off to a great start.
"Does anyone have an idea of what the rest might mean?" asked Will. I shook my head. For me, most prophecies always sounded more like nonsense than anything else. I had never been the best person for historical analysis or poetry interpretations. No chance, even without dyslexia I was a hopeless case.
Again, Miranda said, "Well, most prophecies always just make sense afterwards. Let us just hope that we understand it at the latest when we need it. How about we go packing and leave tomorrow morning? If Travis is right, his instinct shows us in which direction we need to start, right?" That was not a bad idea, I had to admit. Sighing, I got up and said, "Sounds good. I’ll tell Connor that he has to cover me as head counselor as long as I'm gone. We all meet tomorrow after breakfast at the golden fleece?" The others confirmed to me that they would be there and then stayed behind to discuss with Chiron who would represent them as head counselors. Luckily that was an easy task for me. In front of the big house I breathed in deeply. I really didn't want this when I complained about my boredom. On the way to the Hermes cabin, the sun burned on my skin and I really hoped that this quest would lead us into air-conditioned buildings.
Happy over the shade on the veranda I opened the door to cabin 11 and immediately a little goblin came to meet me. Séan came running towards me and clung to my leg. The boy was now 6 and thus the youngest in my cabin. With big eyes, he looked up at me and asked, "Travis, do you have to die now?" This question, coupled with the serious fear in the boy's eyes, made me laugh.
"No, of course not. Why would you think such a thing?" I asked. I knew that the little one had seen more of death than was supposed to at that age, but I didn't want to worry him anyway. To be precise, I didn't really want to worry any of my siblings. But especially not the little ones. Relieved, Séan left and dragged me into the cabin. "You were right, Connor! He says he doesn't have to die," he shouted into the room. I just looked at Connor amused, then I shook my head. "Well, Connor. Looks like you're now a temporary head counselor. Until I come back, of course. The prophecy is quite vague as far as our goal is concerned, so unfortunately I can't tell you how long it will take. I can't even send you a message." I shook my head and sat down next to Connor on one of the empty beds. Séan also crawled up next to us and throned on the pillow.
Connor looked at me anxiously and asked, "Is there anything worrying mentioned in the prophecy?" "No more than usual, I think. A lot of confusing phrases and slight hints at who is meant. Except for me. 'The King of Pranks' was pretty clear."
Connor didn't look relieved at all, but then he sighed. "Well, there is nothing I can do, I suppose. When are you going to set out?" "Tomorrow after breakfast." "Okay. I'm still coming with you to the camp border, yes?" I smiled at him. I didn't expect anything other than a proper farewell from him. Distracted by a pillow that so slowly but surely made its way to the floor (with the Hermes child on it), I got up. I caught the six-year-old mid-fall and put him back on the bed. Then I decided to go packing.
I had learned early on not to do something like this at the very last minute, I would still need my sleep. Was the plan for tomorrow just archery with Chiron, ancient Greek lessons or canoeing? Stay as long as you want. Sleep is something for noobs. Would you face monsters, gods or maybe Clarisse tomorrow? Go to bed early!
And I had a quiet feeling that there would be no shortage of monsters on this mission.