Rogue Demigods Book 1: Daughter of the Earth

Amethyst Greece: We start out on the road trip to death

Hey guys I'm really sorry that I'm putting an author's note but I just wanted to say that I'm really, really sorry about not updating sooner. Also, I'm really sorry for making Josh's dad abusive without him telling anyone. I've seen lots of rants about the whole 'abusive parents' thing and how it's been done way too much or taken too lightly. I won't go and change but I probably won't mention it for the rest of the book. So I apologize for those mistakes, I probably lost a lot of readers for that. For those of you who stayed, thank you!!! And sorry about the incredibly long A/N. On with the story!

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The next day, I visited Silvia in the Minor Gods Cabin. We talked for a while as if we were back at school, and our biggest worries were what we would get on our next test and whether the cafeteria would serve coleslaw as a side again. I didn't mention the events of the previous day, or the fact that she looked as though she'd cried for a long time last night. Then Treanne came in, and we got up immediately.

"You guys?" Everyone looked up. "I need everyone to come to the firepit. Now."

"Why?" Someone asked.

"The prophecy," Treanne replied, as if that cleared everything up.

Silvia looked just as confused as I felt, but we decided we might as well follow Treanne anyway. So we did. Everyone else was at the firepit already and they all looked very confused, and very tired.

"Hey," said Treanne. "Um, sorry about this, but, everyone knows that we have to do something about the prophecy, so we need a quest."

"Not everyone knows," An Ares kid said.

"Well, alright then," said a girl who I believe was called Aliah Sunray. "A quest to save the world, Destiny unfurled, Defeat Gaea while she is frail, and war unleash if thy quest fail. Ta-da. The famous prophecy."

She seemed really grumpy. I distinctly saw her shoot Tréa a dirty look before returning to the crowd. Even then, she seemed to be trying very hard not to get noticed.

"Um, yeah," Tréa said. "That's the prophecy. Thanks, Aliah."

Aliah glared at her lap.

"Well, I needed you to come because we need a quest. And we need it to be led by someone who knows Gaea and-"

I stood up. "No. You are not going to force this on Silvia. I am not letting you do that. I won't-"

Silvia cut me off. "Thanks, Amy. But I can speak for myself." She took a deep breath. "I'll do it."

I gawked at her, and so did Tréa.

"You- You will?" we both said at the same time.

Silvia nodded. "I will. Do I get to have people come along with me?"

Tréa nodded, still dumbfounded.

"All right, then." Silvia said. " I choose... Amy, Josh, Nhalia, Alex, Kristoffer, Chris, Tréa and Aliah. If that's okay with all of you?"

Josh, Nhalia, Alex, Kristoffer, Chris, Tréa and I all nodded, but Aliah stared at Silvia, her face pale. Finally, she said, "No."

Getting up, she turned to leave but was stopped by Tréa.

"Aliah-" she began.

"No." Aliah repeated at once. "I will not do it. You know what happened last time, I won't let that happen again! The answer is no, Tréa and you can't make me do it!"

"That was last time! It wasn't your fault! And it won't happen again!"

"That's right," Aliah said. "It won't. Because this time I won't be there."

"So you don't want to get attached to anyone just because you're scared something might happen?"

Tréa was shouting now, and so was Aliah.

"I won't let what happened to Jacob happen to anyone else! I won't, even if it means that I never go on a quest again!" Aliah was hysterical now, sobbing and wiping her tears on her face. I didn't know her well, but I had never seen her lose control like this. Luckily, Silvia stepped in then.

"That's enough," she said, as if she were reprimanding small children. "I gave you all a choice and Aliah said no. It's fine."

Reluctantly, Tréa backed off, fuming, and stormed off toward the Athena cabin. Josh glanced at her, then looked pityingly at Aliah, who was being comforted by other children of Apollo.

Silvia was back by my side now.

"Hey," I said.

"Hey," she replied.

"Why'd you choose Alex?"

She stared at me. "Why, aren't you happy he's on our team? Aren't you two, like, dating?"

I blushed. "We're not dating!" I protested.

"Oh right, because you like Kristoffer and Alex and Alex and Kristoffer both like you and hate each other because they see each other as obstacles in their path towards their goal of being your girlfriend or whatever."

"You make it sound so complicated!"

"Obviously! It is complicated!"

I laughed. "So why'd you choose him? Don't you hate him?"

"Yeah, but he's good at fighting and he has that sword and all..."

I nodded. "Let's check on Tréa."

We were heading toward the Athena cabin, when Silvia stopped, and squinted at a shadow on the side of a black cabin wall.

"We're being watched."