Chapter Text
It had only been a week or so since we had defeated Gaea. Tension was still high at Camp Half-Blood, which was pretty understandable—who wouldn’t still be on edge after a fight like that? The ones who had taken the worst of it were still recovering in the infirmary. I visited Will every now and then to check in, help out where I could. Nico was there most of the time too.
Hazel, though—she had been acting strangely ever since the battle. At first, I thought it was just nerves, but lately, she had started talking about something being off with the Mist. The first few times, I brushed it off, thinking nothing of it, but now… it’s starting to feel like there might actually be something wrong. Still, I didn’t want to jinx it.
I was helping Will and Nico with some supplies when Rachel suddenly rushed into the infirmary. She startled all of us—even a few of the wounded sat up.
“Percy, I need you right now!” she said, breathless. It looked like she had been sprinting across the entirety of Camp to find me. Sweat was rolling down her head as her chest rose and fell while she tried to catch her breath. She must’ve been searching for me for a long time.
I said a quick goodbye to Will and followed her out. “What’s going on?” I asked, noticing how anxious she seemed.
“Hazel was right; there’s something wrong with the Mist,” she answered quickly. “I just received another prophecy about it and as soon as I told Chiron, I came to find you.”
I guess she saw the look on my face because she added, “But don’t worry! This prophecy didn’t mention any fighting. And it doesn’t necessarily say you’re needed for the quest, only… well, your presence is needed.”
I let out a sigh of relief. The last thing we needed was to dive straight into another massive battle. Gods, the thought alone made my skin crawl. Hazel on the other hand was busy fixing her hair and wiping the sweat off her face.
We reached the Big House soon after, where Chiron and Hazel were waiting. “Hey, Hazel!” I called to get her attention. She was already seated at the table, her shoulders tense as she traced patterns on the wood. When she looked up at me I noticed that worry was written all over her face, it sent a chill down my spine. She looked awful, whatever she discovered must’ve taken a toll on her…
“Ah, Percy, you’re here,” Chiron greeted us and led us inside.
We sat around the table, and Chiron gestured for Rachel to speak. She took a deep breath, then recited:
“
When the stars align in twilight’s veil,
And shadows stretch where light grows frail,
Four brave heroes must tread the dark,
To seek the children of ancient marks.
In Sanctuary’s hidden light, they’ll find,
The primordial’s progeny entwined.
A choice must be made, a pact or strife,
To secure the balance of eternal life
.”
As Rachel finished reciting, I felt a knot tighten in my stomach. That was a long one. And a heavy one, too.
“Children of Ancient Marks,” What did that even mean? I glanced over at Rachel, whose face was set in a worried frown. If there really was something wrong with the mist… Well, that isn’t a prophecy you could simply ignore.
I thought about the last time we had faced a prophecy this cryptic. The battle with Gaea was too fresh, I could still feel the exhaustion from it. I hadn’t exactly signed up for another big, unknown prophecy yet. But then again, prophecies have never really cared about timing, have they?
Hazel spoke up as soon as Rachel was done. “The ‘twilight’s veil’ isn’t a common term,” she began, “but I’ve heard it be used to describe the Mist itself—the veil that keeps the mortal world and the world of gods and monsters apart.” She bit her lip. “I’ve felt something was wrong with the Mist ever since we fought Gaea. But now… this prophecy seems to confirm it.”
She exhaled, and I could see just how much this was eating at her.
“Weaker, huh?” I said, crossing my arms. The line from the prophecy came back to me: “‘And shadows stretch where light grows frail.’ The shadows could easily be a symbolism for monsters or the forces we face daily. And the ‘light’—maybe that’s the mortal world?” I paused, trying to fit it together in my head, but Hazel’s voice broke through my thoughts.
“We need to act quickly, if the mist weakens to a point that it can no longer hold up the barrier both worlds will be in huge trouble.” Chiron nodded at the statement. “Indeed, time is ticking” he seemed deep in his thoughts as always. I couldn’t blame him though my thoughts were wandering each direction too, where could this prophecy possibly lead us too?
“Right, the quicker we start the better” Rachel suggested. “The four demigods who will go on the quest shall be determined now. Any suggestions?” Chiron questioned and looked around while waiting for someone to speak up.
Rachel spoke up after a little while of silence. “Hazel perhaps? Her mastery of the mist had foretold that something was wrong with the mist even before it was prophesied.”
Hazel appeared quite pleased with Rachel’s suggestion and smiled softly yet the worryness on her face was still as clear as day.
“The prophecy also speaks of shadows and darkness so Nico would come of handy too right..?” Hazel proposed. “But I’m not sure if that’s a good idea after everything that has already happened…” she added afterwards.
I could tell that she didn’t want to involve Nico this quickly into another quest but we didn’t necessarily have any other choice…
“Well if we’re bringing Nico then I suggest we bring Solace” I added, that way we would have a healer with us and someone to look out for Nico.
Hazel seemed hesitant yet okay with that suggestion, Rachel and Chiron agreed that it would be the best course of action if we did that.
“Alright so now we have Hazel, Nico and Will. We need one more person that fits into the quest criteria.” Rachel said. The room fell silent as everyone thought about the fourth person to add.
“I’ll go.” I said, the words coming out more confidently than I felt.
“Perseus, are you certain of your decision? You have just come out of a prophecy we wouldn’t want to throw you into another one this quickly.” Chiron asked, clearly worried about my wellbeing, but I couldn’t blame him. The last quest still had me waking up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night.
“Yes, I’m sure.” I confirmed, trying to convince myself as much as everyone else. “The prophecy speaks of other children that we will for sure meet, someone needs to take on the responsibility of being able to ensure that no conflicts break out between us and whoever they are.”
I looked at Hazel before I continued speaking. “I’m not saying that I’m the only one that could do that, It’s just a precaution I’m willing to take.” Hazel smiled slightly and I smiled in return.
“I agree,” she added. Chiron thought about it for a bit before he let out a sigh and finally agreed.
“Well then, I wish you and the rest all of the luck you can get on this journey.” Chiron finished off the conversation and smiled.
Hazel and I got up to head back to the infirmary to get Nico and Solace so we could start deciphering the prophecy and find out where we should begin.
As the two of us walked into the infirmary, the familiar scent of herbal poultices hit us right in the face. The air was cool and still, carrying a faint whiff of freshly laundered clothing that smelled like fabric softener.
It was the usual infirmary smell, but ever since the last prophecy it seemed… different. The place felt almost too still, as if even shadows were holding their breaths.
Will was probably at the back stocking up on medicine so we needed to walk past the beds. I could see all kinds of horrible injuries on young demigods. It made my heart ache. They were only children yet were forced to fight in wars.
Sometimes i wonder if there was something I could do to change this, to ensure the safety of all the demigods, make sure we weren’t used as pawns -
Oh.
I forced myself to think of something else and ignored the pained cries of those around me, some calling for their mother’s while others were silently sobbing, having probably lost faith.
Hazel pushed the door open and just as expected Will was there alongside Nico stocking up on medicine to bring to the main part of the infirmary.
Nico looked at me, I could see his expression drop when the realization hit him that another prophecy must’ve arrived.
“Already…?” he asked, to which I simply nodded. Hazel looked guilty, probably hating that she had suggested bringing Nico with us in the first place even more now, I put a hand on her shoulder in hopes of comforting her slightly.
Will turned to look at us after putting the stuff he had in his hands back down. “Is Nico going on another quest?” he asked, a frown on his face.
“both of you” I answered, Nico shot me a quick look–a mix of worry and something else, perhaps relief? after hearing my answer.
Will gave a small nod, like he was already preparing himself. I had to hand it to him–guy didn’t even flinch.
Nico and Will got up soon after and the four of us started to walk to an open area to discuss the prophecy. We sat by the benches and Hazel took out a scroll where she had written the prophecy on and handed it to Will.
Will read it and sighed as he handed it to Nico. Nico, clearly confused, began to read the scroll before putting it down on the table. “How are we supposed to know where we need to go?” he questioned.
“I'm not sure myself either” Hazel replied as she fidgeted with her hair. “maybe it’s geographically spread?” Will chimed in with a suggestion. “What is that supposed to mean?” Nico asked as he raised his eyebrow and looked at Will.
“Well camp half-blood is located on the east coast and camp Jupiter is on the west coast so maybe it is somewhere north? to perhaps balance the spread?” He added.
Hazel nodded as she took the information in. “The line in the prophecy ‘in Sanctuary’s hidden light’ could point to a mystical and hidden place. If what Will said is right there should be a place north which is hidden from the mortal eye where people could reside.”
I could tell a lightbulb went on in Nico’s head when Hazel said that. “it’s not necessarily North but there’s a mountain range northwest from here which is known for its mystical reputation and rugged terrain”
“We should start there then. The area’s natural beauty and the sense of ancient power could perhaps align with the prophecy.” I suggested, having already known what Nico was describing. I was going off the information I learned during geography. I wasn’t so sure as to why I still remembered that but guess it comes in handy during times like this.
“So we're heading to The Cascade Range?” Hazel asked, I'm assuming to confirm where we’re heading to. “precisely” Will answered and smiled.
Soon after all of us said our goodbyes and went to pack in our cabins. It was going to be a long way there so I needed to pack as much as I could without causing myself any annoyance. As I packed my mind kept drifting off to Annabeth.
We’d barely had any time to rest since Gaea and here I was jumping into another prophecy already. Will she say anything if she heard about it? Maybe she will be mad… I wouldn't blame her though we were finally going to have some time for ourselves but noooo. I promptly shoved a shirt in my bag before looking at the small first aid kit I always kept on my bedside table. Why? I don't know. I just did it for reassurance I guess. I was debating on whether to bring it with me or not. Will would probably bring some medicine and things like that but it never hurts to bring some extra, right?
I finished packing up my bag and went to the entrance of the camp after paying a quick Annabeth. I guess she had expected my visit as she was already waiting in front of the Athena cabin. Her expression was calm and stoic. I couldn't read her emotions at all which worried me. What was she thinking? Did I disappoint her?
“i-...” before i could even start talking i was pulled into a tight hug. Her head rested on my shoulder while I leaned my head against hers, melting into her touch. Her hair smelled like lemons, like it always did and for just a moment I regretted my decision, I would need to leave her again. It had been so long since I had last seen Annabeth and when we finally found each other– correction when she finally found me again we were thrust into another war. I could basically hear the gears turning in her head as she tried to find something to say to me, but I couldn't blame her, my thoughts were all over the place too.
We stood in silence for a few moments before she finally began to speak, “What were you thinking? I just lost you for six months and here you are leaving for another quest!” Annabeth exclaimed before she sighed, trying to calm herself down, I think? She clearly didn’t want to explode on me but I could tell that her tone had an angry edge to it. I stayed silent. I know that she’s right, but I couldn't hold myself back. Someone needs to make sure they return safely, I'm not saying that they can't protect themselves; I just want to be sure.
“You think so lowly of yourself.” her words caught me off guard– she chuckled when she saw my reaction, a gentle smile forming on her face. “it’s true, you put others before yourself. You think I haven’t noticed that already, Percy?” she asked and raised an eyebrow. I sighed and shook my head, “it’s not that, it’s just… i wasn’t prepared to be confronted about it like that” i scratched the back of my neck while she laughed again and soon enough i started laughing too. Her laugh is contagious in a good way, one of the many things I absolutely adore about her.
“Promise me that you won’t do anything dumb, will you?” She took my hands into hers and looked me in the eyes. I took a step back, raised my head slightly and looked back at her with a feigned offended face before speaking. “I would never,” I said before being put embarrassingly back into my place by one of her siblings who yelled from inside the cabin, “you would!”
I crossed my arms, trying not to laugh while Annabeth was quite literally snickering at her sibling’s comment! The mood did lighten up afterwards, we went on to have a long chat and walked through camp for hours. It had been evening when I had gone to her cabin and it was currently night already. We would leave tomorrow at the earliest hour we could so I still had time with Annabeth and I was going to make sure I would use that time, doesn’t matter if it’s late or not.
We took a seat up on a small hill right underneath the moonlight. It was very calming especially while Annabeth was leaning against me. We stayed there for a while– Annabeth was ranting about what she had been doing during my six month absence while I listened quietly, however as much as I tried to ignore it I couldn't shake off the nagging feeling that someone was watching the two of us deep in the shadows.
I assumed I was being paranoid, most campers were already asleep and there was no way a monster had snuck into Camp but the energy I was feeling wasn’t anything like the two i mentioned. It was… otherworldly? I’m not sure how to explain it but it felt so unfamiliar and familiar at the same time.
Time seemed to blur together as the two of us sat there. Annabeth had noticed that I was seemingly staring at something so she of course asked about it. I shrugged it off, saying it was nothing, still believing that it was me being paranoid.
I couldn’t deny that it hurt to let go of her when it got a little too late and we needed to return back to our cabins, who knew when we would return. I truly hoped this wouldn’t end up being a gods awful long quest but we’ll see.
…
“THREE DAYS?!” I exclaimed, we had already arrived at the train station to begin our journey just to be told the way to The Cascade Range from New York City would take three whole days to complete by train.
“Well, it is on the complete other side of America. There was no way that this would’ve been a short journey.” Hazel shrugged yet looked like she was holding in her laugh.
Chiron had told us it would’ve been better to go by train to ‘shake things up–his words not mine, but right now I was truly debating on marching back and getting the Hephaestus cabin to craft us a vehicle or something to make our journey faster. Leo would’ve already thought of something by now without me even needing to ask him a favor, if only he was still here.
Just to explain the route that we will be taking. We stepped into the Long island Rail Road to go from Long island to New York City. From here we would step onto Amtrak's Lake Shore Limited to go to Chicago before stepping onto Amtrak's Empire builder to go to Portland. From Portland we would go to the Cascades with the bus and this entire journey would take us an entire THREE DAYS if we get lucky and have no delays but luck and I don't go that well together.
“Well, we could always fly?” Hazel suggested, reminding me of the fact that she hadn’t experienced Zeus’s wrath yet. Now that we’re on that topic of what Hazel does and does not know, who introduced her to planes? Just as I was about to question it both Nico and Hazel went eerily still before turning around in unison.
Me and Will were obviously left confused and followed their line of sight to see what had caused them to go so eerily still– it landed on two girls? Weird but okay. One of them had wavy, voluminous light golden blonde hair that reached past shoulder length. She was wearing a chic off-shoulder cream sweater with a ribbon fold-over neckline, it was paired with a high-waisted cream skater skirt that matched the sweater and to top it off she was wearing satin wrist length gloves.
I don’t think I've ever been that descriptive, but if you couldn’t tell she looked fancy. Extremely fancy. She was facing away from me so I couldn't see her face, however the girl next to her was standing just right so that we could see her face. Her hair fell over her shoulders in soft, flowing waves. Her hair was pitch black at the roots that melted seemingly into white icy strands the closer you got to the tips–like frost overtaking shadows starting from the bottom and slowly moving up. Her eyes were blood red that were accentuated by the brown smokey and glittery eyeshadow.
How do I know of those terms? Let’s just say my judgement of the Aphrodite kids was VERY wrong. I decided to give them another chance after meeting Piper and they’re quite nice, give good advice and in general aren’t how I envisioned them to be – not all of them are like that though. There’s a minority that does genuinely act like how I imagined all of them to act at first.
When focusing more on the line of sight I noticed that Nico and Hazel were specifically looking at the girl with the darker hair. When I looked back at the two I could clearly tell that they were tense, as if they had sensed something. After a beat of silence had passed Hazel finally spoke up again: “she’s from the underworld.” she stated matter of factly.
When Hazel spoke up I turned my gaze back to the black haired girl– they were right, there was something ominous about her that I couldn't really place. Nico and Hazel probably sensed that ominous feeling without needing to look at her directly; it made sense. If that girl was truly a child of the underworld then it was quite logical for Hazel and Nico to be the ones who sensed it the quickest.
However that wasn’t the case for the blonde girl. The moment I turned my gaze to her and truly focused I felt shivers creep through my body. She had a certain impression on her that made her feel– otherworldly ?
I froze when I recognized the feeling. It was almost the same feeling that I felt the night before while I was alone with Annabeth. It hadn’t been paranoia– I had been correct to assume that someone had been watching us. Hers for some reason did feel slightly weaker than the one I felt yesterday– in no way did that make it less intimidating to feel though, but that does mean that there’s a chance that the blonde girl knows or is familiar with the one who was spying on me and Annabeth yesterday.
That also meant this walk in wasn’t a coincidence; it must’ve been planned. However my thoughts were short lived as I had been snapped back into reality by Will who had started to talk.
“a child of the underworld?” Will questioned drawing the attention of Nico and Hazel back to him. "Yes." Nico replied and crossed his arms. “I can sense it,” he added before turning his gaze back to the girl. “she can’t be a child of Hades. He would’ve told you for surely” Will said clearly speaking directly to Nico. All four of us agreed on that, if she had been a child of Hades she would’ve long been brought to Camp Half-Blood too and not to forget Nico would’ve been told about her.
“Maybe a child of Hecate?” Hazel suggested but Will shook his head. “same issue as before, she would’ve surely been brought to Camp Half-Blood already if that was true. She looks 16– she’s old enough to have figured out that she’s a demigod by now.”
“So a minor god/ goddess from the underworld that doesn’t have a cabin in Camp Half-Blood…” I thought out loud. “or Camp Jupiter. She could very well be Roman too.” Hazel added, making my thoughts even more complicated. However, by the time I had managed to organize them as much as I could, I noticed that the two girls were looking at us.
Now that the blonde girl was facing us I could see that she had brown eyes– like a chestnut color, a soft natural blush and freckles scattered on her nose and cheeks; they were really light though so you could barely see them. That intimidating feeling suddenly got ten times worse when we stood eye to eye, it was as if she was staring right into my so- no my– heart…? I don’t even know why it felt like that. Has anyone even felt like that before?
However– why were they looking at us? That just raised more suspicions in me, what if this was truly planned? If so, what was their motive?
I nudged Will who was standing next to me, he looked puzzled before finally noticing that we were basically being stared at. Nico and Hazel turned around when they noticed that we were looking at the same place and not even a second later the two girls started sprinting away.
“After them!” Nico exclaimed and started sprinting with Hazel right behind him. Will joined in soon after; it took me a little while to get out of my shock but I quickly joined in.
And before I even knew it we were chasing right after them.