Daughter of Ykaia

5

"You may leave now," Chiron told the boy, and he left quickly.

"Great. Now you're in a quest that prophesies you dying," Percy muttered.

"It just says her so it might mean Gaea dies by Neka's mouth," suggested Will. He then gave me an encouraging smile. "Prophecies are always tricky."

"So, you obviously have to go on a quest." Chiron looked at me. "Where do you think Gaea is rising?"

"Zeus said in the south. So I'm guessing New Orleans, Louisiana because I had a dream," I explained.

"What was the dream?" Annabeth asked. She wasn't surprised or anything because most demigods, or in this case, demititan, have dreams showing the world and what's going on.

"Gaea is telling me to join her, blah blah blah, Gaea threatening me when I say no, blah blah blah, and I saw a beignet. To sum it up, New Orleans has beignets. New Orleans in Louisiana. Go to Louisiana. Blow up Gaea. Come back. Happily ever after."

Percy slowly clapped his hands. "That is an amazing summary. 10 out of 10. Beautiful."

"And who do you propose should go with you?" Chiron asked, and I shrugged.

"Do we have any volunteers?" I asked our table, and when everyone shook their heads vigorously, I shrugged. "I dunno."

"Well, I think I have some ideas," Chiron told me. "And then you can ask the people tomorrow morning, and then go on your quest." Chiron paused. "Everyone else can leave now."

The other demigods left quickly, most of them giving me pitied looks. They probably knew what was coming.

"Yesterday, Leo told me something that didn't make sense then, but it makes sense now," he said once everyone had left. "Leo had a dream of him, you, Clarisse and 2 other people wearing purple fighting off the earth. And then dust came up and seemed to swallow you. Someone started chanting something, and the dust disappeared. You were lying on the ground, and he told me it looked like you were dead."

"Dead by her mouth..." I muttered. "So you think I'll die, and that's the only way to succeed?"

"Yes." Chiron frowned. "And I'm sorry to place this weight on your shoulders, child, but I don't think that there will be a Physician's Cure this time," When he saw my confused face, he explained. "When Leo made Gaea come above the ground, he blasted her with fire, which also killed himself. But on their trip, they had gotten a Cure that could undo death. Leo took that right before he died, and he landed back here, with a girl named Calypso."

I took a minute or so, thinking about what Chiron just told me. Thought were running around my brain like crazy. I was supposed to die? I mean, that's what the prophecy and Leo's dream said. That can't be a coincidence.

If you asked me how I felt about dying, I would tell you nobody wants to die. But.... It's either I die or a lot of other innocent people die.

I'll worry about it later, I decided. So I moved onto the next problem out of many. "The quest will be me, Clarisse, Leo and two other people we don't know, right? Does Leo remember what the Romans looked like?"

"Yes, that's what I think." Chiron sighed. "But with the prophecy, it's so small and doesn't give away a lot-"

"Except for my death," I finished.

"Yes," Chiron said sadly. "And Leo told me that the Romans had their backs to him, but he could tell one was a girl and the other was a boy. And he could see their capes on their backs, which were purple. Reyna, Frank, and Hazel had the same types, so that's how he got that they were Roman."

"Does Clarisse know yet?" I asked.

"No. Since you are the leader of the quest, I think you should tell her. Remember, none of them know that you are Gaea's daughter."

How should I tell them? Should I even tell them? Or should I keep it secret? If I kept it secret, would they find out? These thoughts were running through my mind when Chiron reminded me about my secret.

"Chiron," I said. "Can I tell you something?"

"Of course, child."

"When I fought the Manticore right before I came here, I was able to make him die, even though I didn't have Imperial Gold or whatever it's called. I just had a broken shard of glass and my hands, but he still died. How...?"

"Hmmm," Chiron wondered. "I don't know. Did it have anything to do with chanting or a voice, like Leo's dream?"

"No," I told him. "I just elbowed him in the face and then he disappeared. Has that ever happened before?"

"No, but you are also a daughter of a titan, so that might be normal for you." Chiron looked out the window, where the stars were coming out, and so was the moon. "You should probably go to bed now. Think about what you're going to do tomorrow."

I don't know how Chiron expected me to be able to fall asleep. That night, I spent the entire night thinking about what I should do, and how to tell Clarisse all that I knew. Would she even accept after our sparring thing? She didn't seem like the person to let go of a grudge, or anything for that matter.

I fell asleep at around 2:30 AM, and had another amazing, helpful, calm and awesome dream! (not the sarcasm)

Once again, I was in the courtyard in New Orleans. I was above ground again, and my dreamself looked around warily, remembering what had happened before.

My stomach growled at me, so I walked to the Cafe Beignet. Right before I was about to walk inside, a woman, covered with grass and mud walked over to me.

I couldn't see her face, since grass and other plants were covering it. Everyone else didn't seem to see her.

SIT DOWN WITH ME, her voice said, even though her mouth wasn't moving.

My dream self did as the woman said.

I WILL GIVE YOU ONE LAST CHANCE TO JOIN ME, the woman said, and I gave her a mischievous grin.

"And I will give you one last chance to stop asking me that. You know my answer," I replied, and the woman stood up.

THEN YOU WILL SUFFER, she said, and this time, swarms and swarms of plants and bugs surrounded me, and started eating at me like I was some plants myself.