Icy Heart: An Alex Greyson Story

“Welcome students to Questing for Beginners. You may call me Professor Martin Strait,” said Marty from a makeshift podium at the front of the craft center.
I rolled my eyes. “Marty, I’m the only one here.”
“Shut up and pay attention, Mr. Greyson.”
Yesterday after the council, Chiron led me off to the side after everyone else was dismissed. I quickly explained that I had absolutely no idea what I was doing or even what a quest really was. Chiron explained the barebones basics and he promised to hook me up with a seasoned questing pro. I had no idea it would be Marty.
“Well every quest has three basic parts that you need to figure out,” explained Marty. “There’s the people, the artifact, and the location. The artifact is usually fairly simple, it’s the item one is set to go retrieve. According to Jake Mason, yours is an “uncatchable prize” sounds simple enough.”
“What have you ever brought back?”
“Well most of my quests have been to quarantine my dad’s confounded contraptions, however I did once need to acquire a single hair from a Lastrygonian queen for Ares’ toothbrush. Anyway, back to business, another major part of the quest is the people, usually demigod heroes who go on the quest. You’re definitely one of them as you were chosen to be leader.”
“Lucky me” I muttered under my breath.
“But you’re going to need to find two more to join you. A quest always has three people. Any other number and things get weird.”
So I asked the obvious question, “Why three people?”
“Three is the number on Apollo’s lucky baseball jersey,” Marty responded without missing a beat, “So who do you want to come with you on this venture?”
I had two very specific people in mind. “Well umm how do I get them to come?”
“You just ask them. Chances are they’ll say yes. Quests are a pretty big deal around here.”
“And what is the third big thing again?” I asked, dodging the previous subject.
“Ah yes,” said Marty, “the location, the place that you’ll find what you’re looking for. This is usually the last part of the quest to be discovered. Most demigods don’t even know where they’re headed when they leave for a quest.”
“Well the green smoking girl said it was in the North.”
“And there’s a good start. I think that’s enough instruction for the day class. You are dismissed.”
Marty turned on his heel and walked out the door, leaving me sitting alone in the craft center.

I started towards the canoe lake along the gravel path and I nearly tripped over a younger boy laying on the path. I knelt down beside him, “Are you ok?”
His eyes fluttered open. “I’m absolutely fine, it just seemed like a good time for a nap.”
I stared at him, perplexed. “Did you dream about anything?”
“If I told you, you wouldn’t believe me,” he replied.

When I got to the lake, I pulled a smaller canoe from the rack and a paddle. After kicking off my shoes, I pushed the canoe into the lake and hopped inside. The center of the lake was calm and serene. Most of the others campers were already heading in for dinner. I reached down to touch the water, but ice began to spread on the lake. I pulled my hand back in surprise but the frozen spot continued to get bigger until it was about 3 feet in diameter. I stared dumbfounded. A series of rapid images were reflected in the frozen lake that I could barely make out; a sign that read “Welcome to Scranton”, a business card for Dr. E Lame, Pediatrician, a dusty, discarded, Greek helm. It was all over in less than a few seconds and the ice began to drift away from me. I could tell that was all it would reveal to me. I paddled back to shore and returned to the dining pavilion where everyone was already offering sacrifices to the pyres.

Chiron went through his evening announcements and everyone began to go back to their cabins. I quickly caught up to Jake as he was leaving. “Hey satyr buddy, what’s the skinny?”
“Oh hey Alex. I’ve been looking for you all day. I heard they putting you in charge of a quest.”
“Yeah. I wanted to talk to you about that. Do you want to come with? I kinda need someone experienced to help me.”
“I knew you would ask me.”
“And...?” I asked.
“Alex, I can’t go.”
“What? Why not?”
“Another protector is in danger. Cheesy was trying to bring a daughter of Demeter here when they were ambushed by a manticore. They’re ok, but they can’t make it all the way here alone. They’ve asked me to organize a rescue party.”
“But dude, this is the most dangerous thing I’ve ever done and I have no idea what I’m doing. I need my best friend along.”
“This is a test. The Council of Cloven Elders wants to see if I can be a bonafide protector. I need to do this. I may never get the opportunity again.”
My expression turned dark. I began to walk away, back to Hermes cabin.
“Alex. Wait...”Jake voice trailed off, but I was already gone.

Notes

Serious brownie points to whomever can tell me what the chapter title is referencing.