Demigod of Prophecy

I spent most of the day with Will. Thalia and Percy didn’t show up until dinnertime and she brought me to sit with her at cabin eight’s table. Chiron introduced me to the camp and explained I would be staying in cabin eight with Thalia. Then she told me how things just appeared by thinking about the food and drinks you really wanted and then mentioned that before we ate, all campers got up and made an offering to the gods. I followed her to the fire and did as I was told, thinking about my conflict between Artemis and Poseidon. Should I join the Hunt or should I stay here and get to know my brother and more about my dad? Just as everyone was about to start eating I got into trouble.

One of the boys from the Ares cabin came over to Thalia and me. I could tell she was ready to pounce, but I was closer. He was taller than my five foot three and built like a linebacker. Grabbing my arm he made me stand up, away from the table. Thalia was on her feet almost as fast.

“Thalia, no. I can handle my own battles,” I told her, not wanting anyone to fight my fights for me.

“Really?” asked the son of Ares.

“Yeah. I’ve dealt with worse than you. Now, put me down or I’ll make you.”

“No. We’ve got a real problem with you bringing a Hunter into this camp. One comes, the others follow. They cause problems around here.”

By this point I could see out of the corner of my eye that Percy was standing next to Thalia, his pen drawn. I knew his pen was his sword, Riptide, and he was waiting for me to let him and Thalia know I needed help. He wasn’t gonna get that out of me.

“I’m sure you have a lot of problems. Like counting to five. Or tying your shoes. Now, let me go.”

The rage was building in him and I could see it. Percy’s finger was lingering on the cap of his pen. Thalia’s bow and arrows had appeared on her back. I still wasn’t going to let them help me.

“You little brat. I’ll teach you to insult the children of the god of war.”

“Really? What are you gonna do? Hit me?”

He went to hit me, but I was faster. I ducked so he missed me, but he still had hold of my arm, which he started to twist behind my back. That pissed me off. My body temperature rose faster than I’d ever felt it. Before I knew it, I was engulfed in flames. He let go of me, cradling his burnt hand.

“Anyone else want to start with me?” I asked the rest of the pavilion, looking around.

Apparently, there hadn’t been someone in the camp who could do what I had just done in years. Everyone started talking amongst themselves, pointing at me, calling me things like a freak. I didn’t care.

“Who the hell is your godly parent?” asked Clarisse, the head counselor for the Ares cabin.

“She has yet to be claimed,” Chiron said before I could speak up. “Selene, will you come here for a moment, alone?”

The noise level in the pavilion went up again. Percy and Thalia went back to their respective tables. I walked up to Chiron, worried he was going to be pissed that I lied to him.

“Why did you hide your fire ability? This means you are more than likely not a child of Poseidon. In fact, if you are a child of one of the Big Three, it will most likely be Hades. Neither Zeus nor Poseidon has dominion over fire. Even still it is more likely you are a child of Hephaestus.”

“I’ve only known about all of this, including the fire thing, for two months. I’m learning who to trust and how much to say. But that guy was a moron and it was either burn him or beat him to death. I didn’t think it would be smiled upon for campers to kill other campers at dinner.”

“I understand your hesitation, but if you choose to stay at camp, we will have to put you in cabin eleven, with the children of Hermes, until we know who your godly parent is for sure. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Chiron.”

“Now, are there any other secrets the three of you have withheld?”

“No. This was the only thing.”

“Good. Now return to your dinner. You will need your strength. Tonight is capture the flag.”

I went back to Thalia and explained what happened with Chiron. My mood had really just changed. I had a good time with Will, even though I didn’t like that Thalia and Percy were gonna be talking about me behind my back, and even though my mother had just kicked me out earlier that day after everything else I’d been through. Now to find out she may have been lying to me, it just hurt.

All of a sudden, a cool sea breeze swept into the pavilion and a man appeared next to Percy. He looked like the kind of guy who hung around fishing all the time. He had deep tan, wore shorts and a Bermuda shirt, but he radiated power. He patted Percy on his shoulder and Percy looked up at him and smiled. The last thing I wanted was happening. The man my mother claimed was my father was standing fifteen feet away from me. Chiron stood quickly.

“All hail Poseidon, god of the seas!” he said.

The campers got up from their tables and knelt down to him. Even Thalia did. I wouldn’t. If he was my father, than why had he left me to deal with the Furies alone? Why had I never seen him before in my life? I stood up, but I wouldn’t kneel to him.

“Ah, Selene, as stubborn as the ocean tides, I see,” he said walking over to me.

“Why are you here?” I asked defiantly. I didn’t care if he destroyed me, I had nothing left.

His eyes, the same as mine and Percy’s, which had laugh lines around them, flashed with sadness.

“I came to see my children. Both of you. You are as much my child as Percy, Selene. And I came to see you, though I don’t have a lot of time.”

Percy walked over to me, and with a nudge from him, we walked out of the dining pavilion. We walked down where we knew nobody could hear us before he looked at us.

“Selene, you look just like your mother. I am glad you made it here safely. How did you get here?”

“Percy and Thalia. The Hunters rescued me from Luke and his army and when I told Artemis I couldn’t make a decision to join the hunt so quickly, she asked Thalia to bring me to Percy and for them to watch me for a week. We were supposed to be in the city, but mom kicked me out because she found out Hades sent the Furies after me and Luke’s army was after me. She said I wasn’t safe. So Sally brought us here a little while ago.”

“I’m sorry about your mother’s actions. They surprise me. But, is it true? Do you possess the ability to wield fire?”

“Yes, but I don’t know how to control water.”

“Percy can teach you. That is part of why I am here.”

“What’s wrong, Dad?” Percy asked.

“Things with the war are getting bad. Percy, you will end up on a quest again soon. But before you do, I need you to teach everything you can teach Selene about the abilities of my children. She, too, is destined to go on her own quest very soon. I’m sorry, Selene, this quest you will be given will be dangerous and deadly, but finding out about your abilities with fire even though you are my child show the prophecy is about you. I can’t say more, I am doing more than Zeus would care for me to do just by warning the two of you so you have time to prepare, but I do not relish the idea of losing any of my children. Even those who don’t think they want to know me.”

“Don’t read my mind,” I said.

“It’s in your eyes. You despise my absence in your life. Maybe one day you will learn more about me, let me get to know you, and you will understand. But until then, I do love all of my children regardless.”

“How long do I have to teach her?” Percy asked.

“I’m not sure. Time is relative to us, I just know it is not long. Do your best, and hopefully, she will pick up the rest on instinct,” he said to Percy. Then he turned to me, “you are a warrior who picks up how to use weapons quickly. I have left you a special gift in cabin three. Use it well, and I hope it helps you come home safely.”

“What is it?” I asked.

“Every hero needs a weapon. Now, we should return to the pavilion. You both need to eat, I need to formally claim you, Selene, and then, as much as I would like to stay, I must go.”

We walked back to the pavilion in silence. I was in shock. A dangerous quest? A gift from my father? There was so much running through my mind when we walked back to the main table in the pavilion and my father called the camp to order. As he did, I noticed a glowing trident over my head. Chiron came and stood next to us.

“Children of Camp Half-Blood, I introduce to you my daughter, Selene Adams!” Poseidon exclaimed.

“All hail Selene Adams, daughter of the god of the sea!” Chiron exclaimed.

The campers all bowed to me as they had my father. He hugged Percy and I, whispering in my ear to train hard, trust my instincts, and ask for help if necessary, because he would try in any way he was allowed. Then he disappeared in a swirl of water, leaving just a breeze of ocean air behind.

Percy went back to his table and I went back to Thalia. At least for the time being, I knew what my choice had to be.

“What did Poseidon want?”

“Other than to formally claim me? He wanted to find out if I held power over fire. He’s asked Percy to train me to use my water abilities and warned me that I have dangerous roads ahead of me. Then he told me that he left me a gift in cabin three.”

“What did he say to you before he left?”

“He told me to train hard, trust my instincts, and to ask for help if I need it.”

“What do you think about this?”

“I’m still confused, but Thalia, he’s told me there’s a prophecy about me. He said I’m gonna have my own quest soon, a dangerous one. He wanted to warn me and Percy that we were both gonna have quests soon.”

“There are ways of avoiding having to be a child of prophecy, you know.”

“What do you mean?”

“About six months ago, Percy, Annabeth, and I went on a rescue mission to get to half-bloods from a school in Maine. Things didn’t go well. Annabeth got kidnapped. But it was that day that Apollo told me that I would turn sixteen in five days. The Hunters and demigods had to unite to go find Artemis who also went missing, and in the process her former lieutenant was killed. The night before I would have turned sixteen I took my vow to become a Hunter, Artemis had asked me to replace her former lieutenant, Zoe Nightshade, who she made into the constellation the Huntress. It stopped me from aging, which meant the prophecy could no longer be about me. Because Hades hid his children in a hotel in Vegas where time is essentially frozen inside, Bianca and Nico stopped aging and couldn’t be the children of the prophecy otherwise the prophecy would’ve happened decades ago. Even still, like we told you, Nico is only eleven now, so the army would have to get through Percy AND you in order to make Nico the child of prophecy.”

“What about Bianca?”

“She went on the quest to find Artemis. She had become a Hunter the night we found them in Maine. But, she died in battle, one of the only ways a Hunter loses their immortality and can die.”

“And where’s Nico now? I haven’t seen him around here?”

“He ran off. He blames Percy for the death of Bianca because he asked Percy to protect her. We haven’t seen him since.”

“Do you think he died, too?”

“Doubtful. Children of Hades are resourceful and can hold a grudge. I don’t think he’d let himself die until he resolves his issues with Percy.”

“I don’t understand how any of this applies to me. The Great Prophecy is about a child of the Big Three making it to their sixteenth birthday and having to make a choice to save or destroy Olympus, right?”

“Yes. Why?”

“Because from what my father said, this prophecy is about a child of his who wields both water and fire. Even if I joined the Hunters and walked away from my mortal life, I’d still be his daughter and I would still be the daughter who wields both water and fire. I think the prophecy would follow me anywhere I go.”

“Possibly, but I’m not sure. We become each other’s family. I don’t know if it would affect the prophecy.”

“Thalia, I can’t join the Hunt. Not right now. I need to learn what I can from Percy and go on this quest. Maybe, if Artemis will allow it, I can reconsider another time. But right now, I think I need to be here.”

“I get it. I will tell her of your choice. If you are meant to be one of us, it will happen sooner or later. When they first asked me, I all but told them to go to Hades. Look at me now.”

“You’re not mad at me? You’ve been away from them for over a day.”

“No. You need to do what you feel you are meant to do, not what anyone else thinks you should do. Besides, you’re still my cousin. I don’t get a lot of them and I definitely don’t get a lot of time to see them. I’ll stay until after dinner. Then we’ll move you to cabin three and I’ll go find my sisters-in-arms.”

We finished dinner and Percy walked us to cabin eight, where he waited outside. Quicker than I thought possible, Thalia packed up her things, ready to return to Artemis and the Hunters. I grabbed my duffle, which was still fully packed, and followed her outside. We walked to cabin three together. Percy and Thalia said their good-byes. Then Thalia came and hugged me.

“Be careful on this quest, Selene. Our quests tend to be extreme.”

“Stay safe, Thalia. No matter what I choose, I hope to be able to see you again someday.”

Notes