CHAPTER
NINE

I BECOME SILENA'S UNOFFICIAL OFFICIAL PROTEGÉ ?!

        WE ALL WENT FOR OUR weapons and Zoë grabbed another arrow. It shot through the air again, as fast as lightning. Only this time it was and inch away from me.

"Next time I won't miss," She spoke, preparing another arrow.

The brothers exchanged glances, they were currently the only skilled fighters awake right now. "Should we?" Connor murmured. "But she's really scary.. I can't have another arrow in me.. Eh, I could but I'd rather not," Travis muttered.

I was worried, my hand was shaking so the sword in it was aswell. I glanced at Nico and his hands were shaking for another reason. He looked a bit too trigger-happy to be honest.

"Can we fight her?" Nico questioned his hands steadying.

Again, the brothers exchanged glances before looking at Zoë. An arrow had already shot through the air, exploding at all of our feet. A large cloud of yellow erupted, immediately we all began coughing. It was an unbearable smell.

"Fart arrows," Connor coughed, "Good one."

Before we knew it Zoë was already taking the flag, our gazes covered from the could. "Hey!" Nico exclaimed, jumping off the rock. Then went into a coughing frenzy since the yellow cloud was still here. I covered my mouth, carefully jumping off it as-well. We turned to Travis and Connor.

They were too busy trying to collect some of the fart cloud in jars that had been in the tool belt Beckendorf was wearing.

Nico and I began running away, but stopped when we saw a flash of lightning. "Cool! Do you think that was Thalia, or Zeus?" Nico looked at me. I had no idea.

Before I could answer he was already dragging me towards where the lightning struck. "Nico.. Nico I don't think this is a good idea..." I spoke.

He had finally stopped. We were now in a clearing with Chiron, a few campers and hunters, Percy (who for some reason had a burn mark in the middle of his shirt), and Thalia. All of their faces were in shock, including Nico's. At first, I was confused why all of them were like statues. It wasn't a scared shock, more of a surprised one.

Then I saw them.

For the most part everything was quiet, besides the small gasps that escaped some mouths. Some sort of mist was approaching us, and someone was in the middle of it. The mist was a murky green, and it kept getting closer and closer until finally, it reached our feet.

The figure in the mist was a mummy, it looked dry.. withered almost, like if you dared touch it the mummy would completely dissolve.

Suddenly, my hands went to my ears from reflex. Nico had done the same. A voice was in my head, it was scratchy.. somewhat hissy. "I am the spirit of Delphi," It spoke. Another round of gasps were heard, specifically Nico's.

"Speaker of the prophecies of Phoebus Apollo, slayer of the mighty Python," The spirit said. It moved to Zoë, "Approach seeker, ask."

I was still in a state of shock.

"What must I do to help my goddess?" Zoë had asked.

The mummy's mouth opened, the same green mist from before pouring out. Nico and I couldn't exactly see it, but we could hear the prophecy.

"Six shall go west to the goddess in chains,
One shall be lost in the land without rain,
The bane of Olympus shows the trail,
Campers and Hunters combined prevail,
The Titan's curse must one withstand,
And one shall perish by a parent's hand."

By the time I had fully registered the prophecy the Oracle was sitting at the Creek.

Grover and Percy were elected to take her back. Everyone began retreating, going back to their daily business. Nico and I began walking back as-well, behind us Zoë and Bianca were talking.

"Do you think I could go?" Nico questioned, making me look towards him. I smiled, ruffling his hair.

"Nope!"

His face dropped, "Come on 'Ria," He complained.

" 'Ria?" I questioned, that was a new nickname yet it sounded so familiar. Nico shrugged.

I shook my head, dismissing the thought. "Either way," I began, "No quest for you. You're too young, maybe when your thirteen wait no fourteen." Nico groaned, but got interrupted by a certain commanding voice.

"Nico, you should go with Travis and Connor. Talk to them more about poker and stuff, I have to speak to Maria," Silena smoothly said, giving me multiple pointed looks throughout the sentence.

"Sure I guess," He murmured before waving goodbye to me. Once he was clear out of sight Silena turned to me with a sharp stare.

What happened to Silena? Why did she look so annoyed? "Are y—?" I was cut off.

"Maria, you could've just told me you like Percy!" She exclaimed, her stare gone and now she was smiling cheekily.

My face dropped, Percy and I? First of all, I just met him. Yes, he was cute but we were just friends, acquaintances really! "Silen—"

"I saw you guys yesterday. You noticed how upset he was and you asked him how he was feeling, it was so cute!" She exclaimed, "I told majority of my siblings. Don't worry they won't expose your crush, but we will help you get him! I just know it, you guys are fated to be together," She ranted quickly, "I would just use my powers to make him desire you quickly but I feel like maybe your relationship should go slower, and besides love magic is really tricky and i can only do a minor degree of it. Now you must come to the Aphrodite cab—"

"Silena! I don't like Percy," I interrupted.

She didn't seem convinced, "Maria— Ergh, fine, let's say you don't like Percy. Doesn't mean he doesn't like you, either way, I saw some sort of connection. Atleast give it a try! Or maybe you'll meet one of my brothers and hit it off!" She looked at me hopefully, "There's probably going to be a cabin counselor meeting, you're coming plus a Aphrodite cabin makeover before."

"But I'm not a child of Aphrodite, or atleast i don't know it?" I questioned,

"You are my official protegé even if you may or may not be an Aphrodite camper, besides, I can't be in that room with hunters alone," Silena offered. I couldn't help but smile.

Yes she could be pushy, but at the same time she was genuinely nice. Silena was the first person to make me really feel apart of this camp and really wished the best for me. Even if she misunderstood the relationship between Percy and I, it still looked like she actually wanted to be my friend. So I let her do Aphrodite kid magic on me.

My hair was now clean, and curled neatly, similar to how it was at the party. Barely any dirt was on my now "There, now let's go," Silena smiled.

We walked up to the big house, when we entered the rec room she sent everyone glances saying 'don't question it.'

Surprisingly, these very important meetings were held around a ping-pong table. Chiron and Mr. D sat at one side of the table, an assortment of hunters and demigods sat on the other side. "Maria, why are y—" Travis began, not understanding the 'dont question it' glance.

"She's now my official protegé," Silena declared as we sat beside them. Connor and Travis gave me looks of betrayal, Silena who also got them sighed, "You get Nico. I get Maria, fair fair." She waved them off.

Zoë and Bianca crossed their arms, "She could still be a hunter," Bianca murmured under her breath, which (since nobody else was speaking) everyone could hear.

That seemed to struck an argument between the hunters and the demigods. "Well she's going to pick camp! Right?" Silena exclaimed looking at me.

I hated being in this spot again, luckily before I could answer Zoë groaned, "This is pointless."

To be honest I kind of didn't listen to the meeting, I was too busy looking at Bianca. I missed her a lot, I missed all the little things we would do together.

"West!" She'd exclaimed, pulling me out of my daze.

"You heard the prophecy. Six shall go west to the goddess in chains. We can get five hunters and Maria then go," Bianca offered. Zoë nodded in agreement.

"Yes, Artemis is being held hostage! We must find her and free her," She spoke confidently.

"You're missing something, as usual," Thalia mentioned. "Campers and Hunters combined prevail. We're supposed to do this together."

Zoë's face scrunched up in distaste at this, Bianca sighed. "M-A-R-I-A, Maria," She spelled out, pointing at me, "She's basically a camper until she chooses to be a hunter."

"We can get five hunters, plus Maria, then we can go," Bianca offered, looking at Zoë who this time didn't scrunch up her face. She nodded.

Multiple demigods shook their head at this. "She's inexperienced," Percy said, "She's only been at camp for barely two days." Silena nudged me whispering something about him not wanting me to get hurt, I ignored her

"Then we can just get another hunter, we do not need thy help," Zoë crossed her arms, having the same determination in her look as before. She really wasn't fond of demigods.

Chiron sighed, "I fear the prophecy says you do need our help, Campers and Hunters must cooperate."

Bianca had frowned for a second and Zoë didn't look very fond of that statement.

"Or do they?" Mr. D had started, causing the attention to turn to him.  "One shall be lost. One shall perish. That sounds rather nasty, doesn't it? What if you fail because you try to cooperate?"

I hadn't thought about that yet. If Zoë went then Bianca's probably going to go, there was a possibly Bianca could die and that was one of my greatest fears. I had to find a way to get on the quest, there was no way I was letting her go alone.

Thalia sighed, "We're supposed to work together, I don't like it either, Zoe, but you know prophecies. You want to fight against one?" When Zoë didn't respond Thalia had smirked for a second, Zoë, who somehow noticed that glared are her. The two began glaring at each other harshly.

"We must not delay, Today is Sunday. This very Friday, December twenty-first, is the winter solstice."

"Oh, joy," Dionysus muttered. "Another dull annual meeting."

"Artemis must be present at the solstice," Zoe said. "She has been one of the most vocal on the council arguing for action against Kronos's minions. If she is absent, the gods will decide nothing. We will lose another year of war preparations."

"Are you suggesting that the gods have trouble acting together, young lady?" Dionysus asked.

"Yes, Lord Dionysus."

Mr. D nodded. "Just checking. You're right, of course. Carry on."

"I must agree with Zoe," said Chiron. "Artemis's presence at the winter council is critical. We have only a week to find her. And possibly even more important: to locate the monster she was hunting. Now, we must decide who goes on this quest."

"Four and two," Percy said.

"We're supposed to have six," Percy said. "Four Hunters, two from Camp Half-Blood. That's way more than fair." A few people nodded in agreement, including me.

Thalia and Zoe exchanged looks.

"Well," Thalia said. "It does make sense."

NOTE.

i'm sorry this took so long- writers block is eVil.

also-
whaaa
selcouth hit 6k?!?!?

thank you guys so much-
i can't believe this-

<3