Chapter Twenty-Nine: Time Turners and TARDISes
Leo's P.O.V.
"And I thought he said he was going to catch up."
After about two minutes of waiting, Percy finally came bounding down the path out of the castle. In his hand he held a scrap of parchment that I recognized as Hecate's note. Despite what we were about to do, I felt some relief that Percy had at least managed to remember to go back for it. If another student or Professor had found it an managed to decipher it that would not look good on our part.
"Sorry!" Percy called. "I kind of got stuck talking with Harry for a minute. When we get out of this one we're going to have to choice but to fill him it."
"We've made it this far," Piper said. "It doesn't really matter if the prophecy is fulfilled, right?"
"The prophecy..." Annabeth pondered.
"What about it?" Nico asked.
"We haven't actually talked about the last lines, have we? All year we've been putting it off until the right time. But if we really are about to plunge into this headfirst...."
I felt sort of stupid standing there, but it had been a while since I had last heard the prophecy. I honestly couldn't remember the lines Annabeth was referring to. "I'm sorry, but what were the last lines again?"
Piper sighed, "The last few lines are more ominous side. As if that wasn't bad enough they probably have a double meaning, which is also the worst kind of prophecy you can get."
"'A set destruction, or your own. The five must choose one to succumb,'" Annabeth supplied.
"Sounds like we're all screwed," said Nico. "Now, are we going to do this or not?"
"Yeah," Piper said. "Despite the fact that we do have all the time in the world, we probably need to get going." She pulled the necklace out of Hecate's package once more, and put it on careful not to accidentally turn it. "I think it should work if we all join hands. That way nobody gets left behind."
I ended up holding hands with Piper and Percy(Did you know it's actually very awkward to hold his hand unless you're Annabeth? Who knew?) before Piper took a shaky breath. "Here goes nothing. You guys help me count."
We watched as Piper turned the hourglass over fifteen times. Once she had attained fifteen, everything happened at once. The terrain surrounding us dissolved into a blur darkness. Now, I have shadow traveled before but this was a little less dark and creepy and a little more violent. I reached the point where I felt as if my stomach was completely turned inside out... and then everything came to a halt. Once again my feet were on solid ground and I found that we were still standing at the base of the forest. Yet now, the sun hung low in the sky, just on the verge of setting.
With my life, I should know now that anything is possible. I died only a few months ago before coming back. And somehow the universe still finds ways to impress me. Here I was, Leo Valdez, and I had just traveled back in time fifteen hours. Who said you need a TARDIS to time travel? You know, come to think of it maybe I could figure out how to replicate the necklace's time magic and- Whoa, one problem at a time Leo. I still need to live through this one.
"I think I'm going to be sick..." Piper muttered.
Even though I thought I felt queasy, Piper appeared to have gotten the worst of it. Since she had actually been the one to wear the necklace, she got the worst blow. Her breathing was ragged and unsteady, her eyes slightly dilated.
"Piper," Annabeth reassured, "just pull through it. We have a quest to carry out, I know you can do this."
"I-I'm okay," Piper looked up. "Now what are we doing standing around? We need to start tailing them to the Ministry." Piper pointed somewhere above me. I turned around and saw six thestrals flying in the distance. Even though they were nearly out of sight, it was clear that each one was carrying a single person.
"I'm on it," Percy said. "I'm trying to call Blackjack right now."
He closed his eyes and concentrated. About thirty seconds later, five silhouettes of flying. horses appeared in front of the setting sun. They began to come closer to the ground, and were easier to make out. Blackjack was in the front, like some kind of V formation.
I heard Nico quietly mutter under his breath, "Gods, why the Hades did I agree to this? Schist."
Finally, the five pegasi had touched the ground, and appeared to be waiting for us to climb on. Percy seemed to be in a brief conversation with Blackjack, filling him in on what the objective was.
"Yes, Blackjack. I'm sure those other horses smell like death, but we have to follow them to get where we're going," Percy made eye contact with the pegasi. "Fine, when I get back to camp you can have all the donuts you want for a week."
Piper gave a light smile. Even though she still looked slightly weak she managed to laugh, "Always donuts."
Meanwhile, Annabeth put a hand on Percy's shoulder. She looked slightly more serious. "Everything has to go exactly right. We have to go by what Harry said happened; if we change the future the consequences could be deadly. For example, if we slip up we could somehow make it to where we never traveled back in time, thus causing none of the events that lead us here to happen and causing a paradox."
"I'm sorry, what?" Percy asked. "You lost me at deadly consequences - blah blah blah."
Nico sighed, "Let me put this in Percy's vocabulary: If we screw up, the laws of time will slap us in the face."
"Oh," Percy said. "That makes sense."
I laughed a bit, "Hey if something goes wrong, we could just call for a Timelord. Am I right? Now, brace yourselves and Alonsy!"
Silence. All four of them stared at me for a good ten seconds before Piper asked, "Since when do you speak French?"
I shrugged. Some things these peeps wouldn't understand.
"It's a Doctor Who thing."
"Well..." Nico gazed at the pegasi, "Better hurry up, 'whoey'."
***
Having a midair argument with Nico wasn't my cup of tea. We were currently flying over London and slowly starting to descend. Bright lights and skyscrapers started to grow within seconds.
"Nobody even watches that weirdo space-time show of yours!" Nico argues.
"Everybody watches it! All the cool people do, unlike you!"
"Oh yeah," Nico raised an eyebrow. "Who?"
"Last summer Malcom and I were going to start a Whovian fanclub at camp!"
"Oh sure."
"We were!" I protest.
"If we weren't on a very important quest right now I'd IM him just to prove you wrong!"
"You know what, Doctor Who is very well known! It's the longest running Sci-Fi show in history. But you, 'Mr. Magic Time Trapping Hotel', wouldn't know that because you missed most of the Twentieth Century!"
"Just stop it!" Piper screamed. She'd completely recovered in the past hour. "I've had enough of both of you! Doilecks and TARDIS - just stop it!"
"Thank you Piper," Nico said.
"Oh you're just as bad! You have no authority to judge Leo's show, especially since you've never heard of it before now! If I've learned one thing, it's not to judge things that people enjoy!"
"Yeah, you gotta respect other people's fandoms, even if they seem ridiculous at first," I said, eyeing the London streets below us.
"I have no clue what you just said," Piper admitted.
"Just... forget it."
Soon enough, the pegasi had come to a halt in a dark alley that opened on to a bustling London street. Halfway down the alley was a sleeping homeless man cradling a bottle of something that was probably a lot stronger than Cherry Coke. Other than that, the alley was completely deserted.
Nico was the last person to get off his pegasi (I was honestly surprised that it hadn't thrown him off at this point) and nearly fell to the ground. The horse broke into a short run and shot into the air leaving the five of us stranded in London.
"Now what?" Percy questioned.
"We find the telephone booth that Harry told us about," Annabeth replied.
"When did he tell us about a phone booth?" Piper looked at me and added, "Leo, if you make one more Doctor Whatever reference I swear to the Gods...."
"What are you gonna do, moisturize me?" I was the only one laughing. I suppose in retrospect it was sort of bad timing....
"I give up," she surrenders.
"Anyway," Annabeth said, completely ignoring Piper and me's spat, "Harry told us everything we'll have to look out for when we were in the Great Hall. Remember? I took some notes... where are they...."
She took out a small napkin from her pocket covered in illegible ink splotches.
"When did you get the time to do that?" Percy asked.
"I make time," she replied shortly. "Now... the entrance to the Ministry should be this way."
She lead us out of the alley and into the street. After about a block or so, we came across a telephone box covered in graffiti.
"Are you telling me that's the entrance to the Ministry of Magic," Nico stared at the box in disbelief. "Wizards are nuts."
"Maybe it's bigger on the inside."
"Leo!"
"I'd say I'm sorry," I said, "but I don't feel like lying."
"Leo, pull yourself together!" this time it was Annabeth. "We are on a quest that could possibly alter history and you're here making cheap sci-fi references! People could die and you're being completely reckless. Right now you're not even apart of the team, you're just slowing us down. So do everyone a favor and just drop it!"
I'd forgotten how terrifying Annabeth could be sometimes. I did my best to look her in the eyes and said, "Er - yes ma'am."
The five of us managed to squash ourselves into the box. It was a tight fit but we managed.
"Can whoever's closest to the phone dial the following numbers: six two four four two," Annabeth read off of the napkin.
"I got it," Percy said, moving a foot or so forward to dial the phone. "Uh... Annabeth there's no buttons, how do I do this?"
"Idiot," Nico said. "It's a rotary phone, you have to literally dial it. Like this."
Nico put in the numbers and the dial whirred back into place. Instantly, a woman's voice came somewhere within the box, "Welcome to the Ministry of Magic. Please state your name and business."
"Annabeth Chase, Percy Jackson, Piper McLean, Nico Di Angelo, and Leo Valdez... we're here to assist Harry Potter."
"Thank you," said voice. "Visitors, please take the badges and attach them to the front of your robes."
Half a dozen badges slid out of the metal chute where returned coins usually appeared. Annabeth's name was on the topmost badge, with the words 'Rescue Mission' inscribed below her name.
"Visitor to the Ministry, you are required to submit to a search and present your wand for registration at the security desk, which is located at the far end of the Atrium."
"Whoops," Percy said, "forgot my wand."
"Seaweed brain!" Annabeth cried. "Please tell me you're joking."
"It's not that big of a deal, I have Riptide."
Suddenly, the floor of the telephone box shuddered and we began to descend to the Ministry below.
Me: I do not own any of the characters. All characters either belong to Rick Riordan or J.K. Rowling.
Leo: Today is the first weekly meeting of Camp Halfblood's Exclusive Mega-Awesome Wibbly-Wobbly Whovian Club.
Malcom: That's not what we're calling it.
Leo: *Addresses Drew, Cecil, Miranda, and Butch* Now, seeing as you're the only people who showed up, I want the four of you to start recruiting as many members as possible.
Drew: Why am I here again? Like, I've never even seen this movie.
Cecil: I only came because I heard there would be fondue.
Leo: Yeah... there's no fondue.
Miranda: Well I've lost interest in this meeting.
Drew: I totally feel you. You know what, let's just turn this into a beauty club.
Leo: Let's set the record straight: who here has actually seen the show?
Butch: I've watched some of the third Doctor's episodes.
Malcom: Jon Pertwee? I haven't even seen any of his episodes.
Butch: Is that the dark-haired dude with the bowtie and custard?
Everyone: *silence*
Malcom: All of you... get out.
12/19/16
I know I always say this, and it makes me sound very repetitive: but it's been too long. Ten months, holy crap. I could go into explicit details about why I haven't updated in forever, but you guys probably wouldn't want to know since it's such a boring excuse. Let's just say that a few months ago I went through a traumatic event which has put a stop to my motivation to write. (No, I'm not fishing for sympathy or anything. Shit happens; that's life and it's normal.) So now I'm just trying to finish this lame book because I'll never forgive myself if I just quit. That's about it.
Also, Cursed Child. Thoughts?
-Europa
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