Starting Over

Fiona went on about her judo class for a good ten minuets before I told her we should go and practice archery. "Race ya!" and she took off, Sunny close on her heels. When I caught up to her, I picked her up from behind and swung her around. She broke free and raced off again. She got to the shooting range first. "I win!" "Bet you can't get me in archery." "Bring it on big bro!" She had her special bow and quiver on her back and I already had mines with me. We set up and began firing away. We shot about fifteen bulls eyes a piece before I started singing.

Well you're the real tough cookie
With the long history
Of breaking little hearts
Like the one in me
That's OK,
Lets see how you do it
Put up your dukes,
Lets get down to it
Hit me with your best shot
Why don't you hit me
With your best shot
Hit me with your best shot
Fire Away
You come on with a "come on"
You don't fight fair
But that's OK, see if I care
Knock me down, it's all in vain
I'll get right back on my feet again
Hit me with your best shot
Why don't you hit me
With your best shot
Hit me with your best shot
Fire Away

"Tyler!" I turned around to see Fiona was shooting an arrow at...Nico? He had his sword drawn and looked as if he had already swung. Damn. I forgot about Apollo's warning. He said that with my trance, whatever I said the listener would take it literally. Nico seemed to snap out of his trance. "Nico!" Fiona ran up and hugged him, regardless to the fact that he just tried to slice me a minuet ago. He shot me a look with a mixture of confusion and 'Help. Me.' I just chuckled. Nico wasn't the hugging type and Fiona knew that, but she hugged him regardless. When she stepped back and Sunny jumped on him. Nico shot me a murderous look. "Sunny, down." Sunny came to me and Fiona started jumping up and down asking questions. "Nico! I thought you were with Bianca and Hazel? How's Bianca? What does Hazel look like? Does Hazel have hazel eyes? Does she know you know two people with Hazel eyes?"

"Hi Fiona. I was with them, but Bianca had to go back to the hunters and Hazel had to finish with New Rome. Bianca said hi. Hazel does not have hazel eyes. Yes, she does know about you two having hazel colored eyes" Nico looked at me slightly confused. "Um, I didn't mean to attack you by the way." "It's cool. Come on, lets go to lunch." On the way there I explained to Nico about my trance. "Oh. That's cool. Sorry about attacking you though." "It's cool Nico." "So, you don't have an affect on Apollo kids?" "Actually I do, I just have an opposite affect. Like earlier: you wanted to attack me, but Fiona wanted to protect me." "She wanted to protect you because you're the only family she has." We walked the rest of the in silence.

All throughout lunch Nico's words rang through my head. Fiona was my only family. My mom was an only child and our grandpa died when mom was a baby and our grandma died when I was ten. If anything happened to me, what would happen to Fiona? I guess camp would take care of her, but still. Lunch was over when Chiron came up to Fiona. "Fiona, can I have a word with you?" She hid behind me. She does that when she's nervous of scared. I pulled her around and told her to go with Chiron. She crossed her arms and ran behind me again. I was use to this, I went through this everyday I told her to go to school. Chiron just looked at us. This went on for about five minuets before I gave up and picked her up and carried her to the Big House.

When we got there; Percy and Annabeth where there. "Um, is everything okay?" Percy was pointing at Fiona. She was squirming around trying to get down. "Yeah, you should see what I go through when I had to get her to go to school." "PUT ME DOWN!" She was kicking and punching me. Everyone had one eyebrow raised and looked at me like a stranger would when a child was having a melt down in church. I just sat down and waited for Fiona to calm down. She finally gave up and calmed down. She huffed, crossed her arms, and sat on the floor. It's kind of amazing on how Fiona could go from a happy camper to acting like a little baby. Chiron was about to say something, but I signaled for him to wait for Fiona to calm finish with her melt down.

After about five minuets, Fiona striated up and apologized. "It's okay Fiona. You know your not in trouble, right?" She was still on the floor. "Why am I here?" Annabeth said anything before anyone could. "You have a quest." "I thought oracles could only give quest? And isn't your oracle with her dad?" "That's what we thought. She sent us an Iris Message, and we could tell she was in trouble. She only had enough time to give us your prophecy." Fiona still sat on the floor, she was petting Sunny. She just nodded. "It went like this:
The youngest of the sun shall lead-The quest to find the Oracle in need-To a place weighed down by grief-And to hear a song of bitter release" Fiona faced Annabeth for the first time since she spoke. Annabeth started again. "You are the youngest child of Apollo, God of the Sun, so this is your quest." Chiron cut in. "On a quest you can bring two people with you. The people who come with you are completely up to you."

At this point Fiona stood up but her arms were still crossed. "I'm not going anywhere without Tyler, so that's one person down." I was taken back by the force in her voice. Like damn, if this is what hormones are like in a girl, I might be dead by the time Fiona hits puberty. "Sure Fiona, I would love to go on your quest. Thanks for the invitation." She just giggled, like the old Fiona, before we were demigods. "You still need another person on your quest." Chiron pointed out. Fiona gave a pleading look towards Annabeth, the only girl she really connected to. "Annabeth, do you think you would want to come with me?" Percy's face went sour, but I couldn't blame him. He went through so much and, according to him, quest were dangerous and the idea of Annabeth being gone for who knows how long must kill him.

Annabeth smiled. "Of course I would. Well, that makes three. We can discuss the details later. Why don't we go pack some bags?" she shot Percy a look before taking Fiona away. He walked up to me and we walked out to the porch. "Let me guess, take care of her?" Percy crossed his arms and looked at me with the same murderous look Nico once gave me. Hell. "Annabeth is my life. Make sure she gets back okay. I know she can take care of herself, but still." I patted his back. "We're talking about the same girl who threatened to personally drag me to Tartarus when she first met me. I know that you know she'll be fine. I'll still make sure she gets back okay." He looked grateful. "Thanks man. You should probably go pack."

I went over to my cabin. When I got in, some girls were helping Fiona pack. I packed a bag with a few shirts, a few pants, and a searched for the little present he gave me a month ago. It was a small scroll with an ancient Greek text. I don't know what(not all demigods can read ancient Greek!) it says but I decided to bring it any way, maybe Annabeth can decode it for me. I finished packing and saw Fiona was putting a leash on Sunny, I guess that she wasn't leaving him at camp either. "Ready to go?" "Yeah." We said goodbye to our brothers and sisters and we walked over to the camp's borders. Annabeth was there with Percy and they were having a moment. To avoid any awkward situations, we stood and waited far enough so we couldn't be herd or seen by them.

"Tyler?" "Yes Fiona?" "Sorry about earlier. I didn't mean to act out like that." "It's okay. Are you excited about leading your quest?" "No. I don't want to." "Why not?" "It's scary." I hugged my little sister. "Your going to do great. I'm proud of you." "Thanks Tyler." Sunny came over and slobbered over both of us. Fiona giggled and began to play with him. A few moments later, Percy came walking by us. He gave me a friendly smile. "Good luck guys." "Thanks Percy!" I smiled. "Thanks Percy. I'll keep my promise." We exchanged goodbyes for the last time and we stared off towards Annabeth. "Ready?" "Lets go." We got into a van where Argus was waiting for us. Even though the guy was covered in eyes, he was pretty cool.

"So, any idea where we need to go?" "I clueless may-" "Tyler, we need to go home." Fiona interrupted. "Look, Fiona I know your nervous-" "No, I don't mean back to camp, I mean to Delaware." Annabeth had a scrunched forehead. "Why would we go to Delaware?" I had a not in my stomach. F@#$%! Of all of the damn places, we had to go there. I spoke up. "A place weighed down by grief, Annabeth, we have to our home." Annabeth, since she actually talked to Fiona, knew what we meant. That place caused so much pain, so much grief, for Fiona and me, we never wanted to go back. "Argus can take us to a train station that can get us to Delaware." For the next hour, Argus drove us around to where we needed to go. Unlike most kids who have been away from home for over four months, I wasn't excited to head back to North Star, Delaware.

Notes

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