Icy Heart: An Alex Greyson Story

“That’s amazing. I think ...”
Just then the door to cabin burst open. In the doorway was Miranda Gardiner from Demeter cabin panting and out of breath. “Grace come quick. There’s an emergency cabin council meeting in the big house”
“Relax Miranda. I’ll come right away.” She turned back to face me. “Alex you wanna come to this meeting? I have a feeling you won’t be in the Hermes cabin forever.”
I shrugged my shoulders and followed her out the door to cabin 14, shutting it behind. Miranda started into a jog to the Big House while Grace and I continued at a brisk pace, walking in silence. I took the time to try and make sense of Grace’s incredible story. I couldn’t help but be caught on how cruel some of the gods were, Hermes abandoning Grace’s grandma and Zeus trying to smite her dad. Maybe they weren’t as wonderful and gracious sometimes as I had imagined.
We entered the basement/council room in the Big House to find nearly everyone else already there. Two ping pong tables were pushed together surrounded by folding chairs. Most of the chairs were occupied by the head counselors of all the cabins; Nico, Piper, Jake Mason, Miranda, Connor, Travis, Lou Ellen, Clovis, Will, Malcolm, Clarisse, and many others. I’ll be the first to admit, I didn’t remember all of their names at the time. I took a seat in between Grace and Miranda at the end of the tables. No one seemed to mind, Connor and Travis even waved at me. Chiron entered the room in his wheelchair form and gestured for everyone to sit down. “I suppose you’re all wondering why I called this emergency meeting today. I would’ve told you all about it earlier but someone didn’t tell me when she was coming. Ladies and gentleman, I would like to formally welcome back our Oracle, our own Rachel Elizabeth Dare.”
Everyone around the room applauded as a girl with bright red hair and freckles stepped into the room. Chiron wheeled to his place at the head of the table and Piper and Nico got up to hug Rachel. After all the tearful reunions, Rachel stepped to the head of the table and cleared her throat to address the council. “Hi everyone, it’s been too long and I miss all of you but we need to get down to business. I have good news and I have bad news. First off, the bad news, Ella and the Romans haven’t finished reconstructing the Syllabine books. They’re making progress but it’s hard work. Tyson and Ella are staying at Camp Jupiter for the rest of this summer at least. But now the good news, the power of prophecy is back. I haven’t heard anything from Apollo or had any visions but I can just feel it in my bones. Some kind of prophecy is coming and I wanted to be here when it came out.” She started scanning the eyes of everyone in the room. “I know what you’re thinking...” Her eyes locked with mine. Her pupils dilated before glowing a bright green. Her jaw dropped open in an inhuman way and green smoke poured out to fill the room. Her mouth didn’t move but we all heard her voice in our heads. It sounded like there were 5 of her speaking at once.
Far to the North, the uncatchable prize
Always watched by red greedy eyes
But Canis Minor can be caught
By icy hearth it will be brought
And when the camp is most in need
Only a son of wind may intercede.
She collapsed to the floor and the room broke into chaos.
…
Everyone was talking to everyone else all at the same time. I could only watch. Will Solace jumped up from his chair and took Rachel’s limp body into his arms. He carried her outside where I assume some other Apollo campers took her away for healing. Will returned just as Chiron started banging his fist on the ping pong table nearest to him. “EVERYBODY CALM DOWN!”He shouted at the top of his lungs.
His tone of voice came back to normal. “Alright, lets work through this one piece at a time. Yes I know it’s wonderful Rachel got her prophecy back but we need to interpret this one. It seems fairly important. Now only one person may speak. Please raise your hands first. So what do we think?”
The room seemed like it was calm again. “Well at least we know where to start,” Travis said. “In the North.”
“The uncatchable prize seems to be a main focus,” said Clarisse.
“It appears as though the camp will be danger,” said Lou Ellen.
“Ah but which camp?” queried Nico.
“Who had red eyes?” said Miranda.
“And where is the icy hearth?” said Frida, head counselor of the Nike cabin.
“Canis Minor is a constellation of stars,” said Malcolm. “Not an actual dog. How can it be caught?”
I was considering the words of the prophecy carefully. I wanted to find an answer before I said anything. “Well we only know one son of wind,” said Piper, “and he’s at Camp Jupiter, doing his duty as pontifex maximus.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure of that,” said Chiron.
He pointed directly at me. Everyone around the table stared at me, their faces frozen in awe. “What? What’s up?” I demanded.
Piper handed me her dagger from across the table. I used the smooth bronze blade to look at my own reflection. I was shocked by what I saw too. Two angelic deep purple wings sprouted from my back. They were folded in but they still extended 3 feet in either direction. Miranda plucked a purple feather and I winced in pain. Chiron got out of his wheel chair into centaur form. “May I introduce you to Alex Greyson, son of Boreas.”
It was Jake Mason who first said what we all were thinking.
“What in the name of the gods...”

Notes

Sorry about the sometimes weird formatting. I know it can be hard to read but I write my story in Word and it doesn't transfer well.