Sea Princess

Chapter 21

I sighed and ran my hands through my hair. I couldn't believe that had happened. I was going to head back to my cabin but of course Mr. D had other plans. I really just wanted to go back to my cabin to think. That prophecy was about Luke. Nothing that ever-concerned Luke was a good thing.

"You girl! Candy!" He said. I rolled my eyes but turned towards him and looked at him with an exhausted look on my face. I had been here so many years and he had yet to get my name right. How hard was it to remember Cassi?

"It's Cassi," I said.

"Whatever! You had a prophecy about you too. I want you in the counselor's meeting." He said. I groaned as he walked away. Blake caught up with me on my way to the recreation building that the camp had. I never was really in there at all. I had other things to keep me busy.

"Where are you going?" He chuckled as he wrapped his arms around my waist. I shook my head and smiled. I could read the tension in his body, but he was trying hard to not let me see it. He was as worried about the prophecy as I was. 

"To a meeting with everyone." I said rolling my eyes. He pulled me a stop with a questioning look on his face.

"Mr. D said because I had a prophecy about me that I have to go...kill me please." I said. He chuckled and pressed a quick kiss to my lips. I just eyed him after pulling away with a knowing glance. He smiled at me.

"I just want to go to sleep." I muttered rolling my eyes. We both then start to walk again, as I swung our joined hands between us. I didn't want to sit in there with Zoe and then Thalia after all the stuff with Percy and the stream and capture the flag. It wasn't going to be a pretty meeting. I got there and sighed looking at Blake. I kissed him lightly.

"I'll be out here waiting for you." He murmured. I nodded and walked into the room where everyone was, waiting on me apparently. I heard Zoe snort and I glared at her as I took a seat next to Percy. I noticed that Bianca was here too next to Zoe. I rolled my eyes noticing there were no Ares kids here to.

"This is pointless." Zoe said. I glared at her.

"By all counts then leave. There's the door." I muttered under my breath. Percy tapped my leg in warning as Grover grabbed some cheese wiz and put it on a Ping-Pong ball earning looks from everyone at the table. I glanced at Percy, and he shrugged at me. 

"There is no time for talk, our goddess needs us! The Hunters must leave immediately." Zoe said. I leaned further back into my chair and started to chew on my lip wanting to scream at her to shut up for a moment. 

"And go where?" Chiron asked.

"West!" Bianca said. I rolled my eyes.

"You heard the prophecy. Five shall go west to the goddess in chains. We can get five hunters and go." Bianca concluded. I wonder if she felt really proud of herself. Percy nudged me and I glanced at him. He rolled his eyes and I shrugged slightly. 

"Yes, Artemis is being held hostage! We must find her and free her." Zoe said. I chuckled and she glared at me.

"Um Ms. let's go now didn't you hear the second part of the prophecy. It also said Campers and Hunters combined prevail. You're supposed to do this with the kids here at camp." I snapped.

"No! The hunters do not need thy help!" She snapped. I rolled my eyes and shrugged. 

"Your. Nobody has said thy in, like, three hundred years, Zoe. Get with the times." Thalia said. Zoe was so steaming as she tried to pronounce the word your which sounded pretty fucking funny. I just smirked at her. 

"Why are you even here?!" She demanded looking at me as I glanced down at my hang nail that I had on my thumb before glancing back at her.

"Because if you didn't notice I also had a prophecy spoken about me tonight too, Zoe." I said. Chiron glanced between me and her before looking back at Zoe. 

"I fear the prophecy says you do need our help. Campers and hunters must cooperate." Chiron said. I nodded smirking at her and then Mr. D spoke up. Nothing really good ever came from Mr. D... ever.

"Or Do they? One shall be lost. One shall perish. That sounds rather nasty, doesn't it? What if you fail because you try to cooperate?" Mr. D asked. I groaned and shook my head.

"Mr. D, with all due respect, whose side are you on?" Chiron asked. I slapped a hand to my forehead shaking my head slightly before glancing over at Percy knowing how this was going to end up.

"Sorry, my dear centaur just trying to be helpful." Mr. D said. I just shook my head as I tried to rip the hangnail off my thumb. 

"We're supposed to work together. I don't like it either; Zoe, but you know prophecies. You want to fight against one?" Thalia said looking at Zoe with her head tilted slightly off to the side. I sighed and started to chew on my lip as I glanced back and forth between Zoe and then Thalia. I saw Zoe grimace and I smirked.

"We must not delay. Today is Sunday. This very Friday, December twenty-first is the winter solstice." Chiron warned and I held back a very big groan. It was the time of the year when the gods got together and talked about different things and this year was going to be big because of Kronos coming back. I looked over at Percy who looked at me.

"Artemis must be present at the solstice. She has been one of the most vocal on the council arguing for action against Kronos's minions. If she is absent, the gods will decide nothing. We will lose another year of war preparations." Zoe argued. As much as I hated to agree with Zoe...about freaking anything, she was right. We needed to do something about Kronos's and his freaking cronies that were popping up all over the place. I glanced over at Mr. D in thought because she had just technically questioned the gods and their ways of getting shit done.

"Are you suggesting that the gods have trouble acting together, young lady?" Mr. D asked. Zoe, I had to admit was very brave when facing the gods and speaking her mind.

"Yes, Lord Dionysus." Zoe said. I looked over at Mr. D who just nodded.

"Just checking. You're right of course. Carry on." He said. I looked over at him with my eyes narrowed slightly before shaking my head and leaning back once more.

"I must agree with Zoe. Artemis's presence at the winter council is critical. We have only a week to find her. And possibly even more important: to locate the monster she was hunting. Now, we must decide who goes on the quest." Chiron said. I nodded.

"And don't forget my quest too." I said. He glanced over at me with a grim look on his face but nodded. He didn't like the idea of me going anywhere just like Percy. I could take care of my fucking self you know guys.

"Three and Two...and as for Cassi she just needs to pick two others." Percy said as he glanced over at me. I smiled at him.

"We're supposed to have five. Three hunters, two from Camp Half-blood. That's more than fair." Percy said as everyone looked over at him.

"Well, it does make sense." Thalia murmured. I saw Zoe and her look at each other.

"I would prefer to take all the Hunters. We will need strength of numbers." Zoe said. She always thought strategically even when I had been a hunter.

"You'll be retracing the goddess's path moving quickly. No doubt Artemis tracked the scent of this rare monster, whatever it is, as she moved west. You will have to do the same. The prophecy was clear: the bane of Olympus shows the trail. What would your mistress say? 'Too many Hunters spoil the scent.' A small group is best." Chiron reminded. Zoe picked up a Ping-Pong ball and looked over it.

"This monster- the bane of Olympus. I have hunted at Lady Artemis's side for many years, yet I have no idea what this beast might be." She said. Then that's when we all looked over at Mr. D. He was a god so he had to know what Artemis must be hunting. He was flipping through a wine magazine when it got quiet, and he looked over at us.

"Well, don't look at me. I'm a young god, remember? I don't keep track of all those ancient monsters and dusty titans. They make for terrible party conversation." Mr. D said. I sighed and then looked over at Chiron hoping he would have the answer.

"Chiron you don't have any ideas about the monster?" Percy asked.

"I have several ideas, none of them good. And none of them quite make sense. Typhon, for stance, could fit this description. He was truly a bane of Olympus. Or the sea monster Keto. But if either of these were stirring, we would know it. They are ocean monsters the size of skyscrapers. Your father, Poseidon, would already have sounded the alarm. I fear this monster may be more elusive. Perhaps even more powerful." Chiron sighed. That sent a shiver down my back. I didn't even want to think something worse than some of the monsters I had known that my father watched over.

"That's some serious danger you're facing, it sounds like at least two of the five are going to die." Connor Stoll said. I glanced over at him out of the corner of my eye and shook my head. Thanks for the support there Stoll, real nice of you.

"And the Titan's curse must one withstand. What could that mean?" Silena asked. I glanced over at Chiron who seemed nervous as he looked over at Zoe. Okay, so there was something we didn't know going on. I guess since Annabeth isn't here, I'll have to read it on my own. Damn it.

"One shall perish by a parent's hand..." Grover murmured as he shoved another cheese wiz covered golf ball into his mouth. I stared at him shaking my head ever so slightly.

"How is that possible? Whose parent would kill them?" Grover asked and then every eye in the room with to Percy, Thalia, and I. We were the ones having the big prophecy hanging over our heads. I was already 16 so everyone had already held their breath for me, but nothing happened. Luke, they knew, still wanted me. We also had to wait till Thalia and Percy turned 16 to see if all hell broke loose or not. I guess I better break them to what I was going to go alone.

"I'm going to go alone." I said and I got two gaped looks from Percy and Thalia. Grover hand had frozen midair halfway between his mouth and the table with a cheese wiz covered Ping-Pong ball in it. I stared at them, and Zoe stared at me with a glare.

"No!" Percy said quickly. I glared over at him. Okay, I loved Percy but dude you are my little brother you have no say in what I do. It's the charge of the older sister to tell you what to do but not the other way around.

"That's very dangerous to do Cassi...and your prophecy didn't exactly say that you had to leave camp. It is more of a prolonged prophecy." Chiron said. I grew red in the cheeks as I slammed my teeth together. My hands clenched as I leaned forward on the table.

"But it says he's in the west like their prophecy! Why shouldn't I go now?! I could...perhaps persuade him! Stop him from-" I said. Percy snorted and I was about to tackle that little bitch. I whipped my head over at him and glared at him. Percy who had grown used to my glares from living together now, just met my glare head on with his own stare.

"We've talked about this; Luke will not change Cassi. He's not the same guy you dated a year ago..." Percy murmured as my chest constricted making it seem like the air had been filled with lead. Chiron nodded sadly and I glanced down at the ground eyes tearing up. I knew Luke wasn't the same as when we dated but I would never believe that he was completely gone. The Luke I had known growing up was in there still, someone just had to slam sense into him, and I was that girl.

"But that doesn't mean I can't do something-" I protested.

"We have more important matters than your prophecy!" Zoe snapped. I glared at her.

"Oh yes, Artemis is important forgive me, oh mother." I sneered. She glared at me and stood up and so did I. I was giving her this challenging look and I thought she was about to burst at the seams which I wanted to, but I didn't care honestly about her.

"I'm leaving. I'll talk about this with Chiron and Mr. D in private." I snapped as I pushed away from the table. I walked out of the building and Blake looked up at me from the stairs.

"What's wrong?" He asked instantly as he jumped up and followed me. He pulled me to a stop once we were a good way away and pulled me to look at him.

"I want to go on this quest alone. The more people I have with me the more they are in danger. If I go alone Luke won't see me much as a threat because he never has and never will. I always have the upper hand on Luke." I said. Blake blew out a surprised breath up towards his forehead that made his bangs lift up.

"That doesn't sound like a good idea for you to go into something blind without anyone having your back, you know that right? I'm not saying your reasons aren't good for wanting to go alone but I mean you need at least someone to have your back in case you get into some real trouble." Blake murmured as he captured my hand in his giving it a light squeeze. I sighed knowing that of course he was right, but I still felt like if I brought anyone that they would end up dead by the hands of Luke or one of his monsters or cronies. I wasn't going to be the blame for anyone dying either.

"Come on let's get back to my cabin." I said. He nodded. I sighed. I felt like this day was going on forever and ever. Blake and I got back to the cabin and just relaxed. He was trying to help me pick someone to go on the quest with me because he hated the idea of me going alone. I didn't want him to go because of obvious reasons and I told him I didn't want to lose him. I couldn't. I leaned against him closing my eyes.

"Let's just sleep and not think about it right now, deal?" I asked. He nodded and leaned his head against mine. I heard the bubbling of the fountain which sent me into a more peaceful mood. I guess I ended up falling asleep with Blake because when we woke up, I heard Percy moving stuff around. I opened my eyes to see that I was leaning against a pillow, not my boyfriend. I saw the note he left on the pillow saying he had gone to dinner to get something to eat. I looked at Percy who was sitting down.

"You alright?" I asked sitting up. He nodded as he turned Annabeth's hat over in his hands. He shrugged not looking up at me. 

"They didn't let me do the quest." He said. My eyes widened in shock.

"Seriously? Wow, you want to come with me on mine?" I asked. He shrugged and then started to think it over and I heard hooves on the floor, and I looked up to see Chiron and then Grover appear, and I knew this was going to be a conversation that I didn't need to hear.

"Okay, well I'm going to see if I can still get something to eat. I'll see y'all later." I said waving to them as I passed them by and went out the door. When I got to the dining pavilion, I quickly scrambled some food up before anyone could do anything else with it. I didn't get much but enough to fill me up. I was heading back to the cabin when Percy ran up to me with my bag packed.

"Ready to go on a quest?" He asked. I blinked a few times and then reached up for my necklace which wasn't there. He held it up in my hands with all of my weapons on it and then I ran my fingers over my bracelet which was secure against my wrist.

"Um I thought you couldn't go?" I asked.

"Well, get this. I called mom and then I told her I was going to come home with you because they weren't going to let you go on this quest or yours anytime soon and I told her what happened with Annabeth, and she said do whatever I thought was right so let's go on your quest." He said in one breath. I stared at him shaking my head ever so slightly.

"Your mom said that to you?" I asked. He nodded urgently as he looped my necklace around my neck and then clasping it for me before slipping my backpack up onto my shoulders.

"Wait hold up a minute champ." I said grabbing him.

"Why?" He said.

"Because I need to tell Blake one, so he doesn't have a cow for me leaving and not saying anything to him and we need rest if we're going to be traveling, running from monsters, you know the usual quest stuff. We'll leave in the morning, Percy, promise." I said. He sighed but nodded knowing I was right. I patted him on the head which I had to reach up to do now instead of reaching down and that made him chuckle.

"Go tell Blake and I'm going to get some sleep." He said. I nodded and headed over to Hermes cabin. I looked inside to see Blake talking to the same girl I had seen him with before. She was standing in front of him with her arms crossed.

"She's not over Luke and you know it, Blake. You won't admit it." She huffed as I came closer to them. She hadn't noticed and I knew Blake hadn't. They both were standing at an angle.

"She's over Luke! God why can't you just see that already! We've been together for a while now, Claire!" Blake snapped standing up. He towered over her. She put her hands on her hips now and I realized how I recognized her. She was from Aphrodite, and we had never gotten along.

"No, she's not; she keeps a photo of them kissing in her journal. She has frames of them together to. I know you've seen those!" She snapped. Blake was red in the face but had no come back for that because I did in fact have photos of Luke and I still framed but that was from after I had come back from the Hunters. We hadn't dated yet and we were friends. It was before he had gone wrong, or so I thought, but I knew that photo of us kissing was a lie. I had burned that one night when I had been alone after I had gotten back. Well, I had had Jake with me so not totally alone. Why was this girl so bent on trying to get Blake to break up with me?

"Claire leave." He snapped.

"She's like everyone else. She's like all of these people here. She uses you for her purposes and then throws you away when she's done...She's going to leave you broken and in pieces." She muttered angrily to Blake. I heard the lines reverberate in the back of my mind and I felt this conversation take a dark turn as I replayed the words again each one. She was trying to steal him away from me, but there was an ulterior motive lying in those words to. Blake just shook his head.

"You're so jealous and I don't know why. We've been friends forever and the sudden shift from you liking Cassi to not just hit. Why!?" He demanded. She had no answer for this but just stared at him and then I walked up to the two.

"Well look who's here." She said.

"Blake, can I talk to you in private." I murmured glaring at Claire. She glared at me with daggers and before he could say anything she turned on her heel and walked out of the room. We watched her go and I glanced over at Blake with a questioning look.

"How much did you hear?" He asked. I chewed on the side of my cheek on the inside.

"I came in when she said I wasn't over Luke and wanted you to admit it...she's lying about the photo of Luke and I kissing in my journal. I burned it after I came back from the cruise ship. Jake and I burned it with a lot of other photos, if you want to ask him you can." I murmured. He nodded.

"I trust you...and I know about the other photos. I mean you two were friends and you can't forget those types of memories. You two were close. He saved your life I know." Blake murmured putting his hands into his pockets. I nodded and looked at the ground and sighed. That was also something I didn't like to remember.

"So, what did you want to talk to me about?" He asked. I dug the heel of my DC shoe into the floorboards of the cabin.

"Well, Percy and I are going to go tomorrow morning on our own quest...well really my quest but still same thing." I said. His head shot up from staring at the ground, so he was looking at me with wide eyes. I glanced up and he glanced around to make sure no one had heard me. He took my hand and we walked outside the cabin.

"You and Percy? Just the two of you?" He asked. I nodded and he let out a long sigh blowing it up into his bangs messing them up. I carefully pulled them out of his green eyes smiling up at him. He curled his hand around my cheek.

"Be careful please. I don't know what I would do with myself if anything happened to you, and I knew I could've helped you out." He said. I nodded and wrapped my arms around his waist hugging me tightly to him.

"I'll have Percy, so we'll be fine." I murmured. I felt him nod and then he pulled back away from me and pulled my face up to his. He kissed me lightly and then sighed.

"Alright, well, I'll try to act as innocent as possible when you're gone and pretend, I don't know anything." He murmured cracking that smile at the corners of his lips that I loved. I nodded and then pecked his lips again and smiled up at him as I pulled back.

"I'm going to get some sleep. We're getting up early." I whispered. He nodded and squeezed my hands.

"Be careful, no close calls." He said. I nodded and then headed back to the cabin where I got changed and then got into bed across from Percy before falling asleep. I was awoken by the banging of the door. I sat up and saw Percy was already moving. I rubbed my eyes and shook my head.

"Who is at the door?" I whispered. He shrugged holding Riptide carefully before yanking the door open to see a black Pegasus. Percy had saved him from Luke back on the boat; I think his name was Blackjack. Percy stood there for a moment while the two talked and I was about to go back to sleep when Percy came over to me.

"Wanna help save some animals in the water?" He asked. I shrugged and threw the covers off grabbing my necklaces and a dagger. I nodded and quickly changed before following him to the beach. When we got there, we dived, well he dived, I walked into the water. The temperature didn't bother us, and we both could see under the water even in the dark. It was hard to explain how we could do the things we could do but it was because of our dad. I followed Percy to where a few hippocampi were swirling around some animal trapped in a net that some fisherman had left in the freaking sound. I was trying to get the hippocampus to calm down when Percy called me.

"Cassi, do you know this is?" He asked. I looked over at him and then squinted at him through the murky water. That's another thing we could talk to each other underwater to. It was fun. I swam over to him to see a cow thing stuck in the net. I swam closer to it before stopping. It had the front end of a baby calf and the back end of a serpent. I shook my head.

"Nah, I don't know what this is." I said.

We don't know what it is, lord and lady, many strange things are stirring one of the hippocampi said. I looked over at Percy and shrugged as the animal mooed.

"Yeah, we've heard that." Percy murmured looking at it before looking at me. Percy pulled out Riptide and the cow thing started to freak out. I put my hands up and carefully went over to it as it thrashed about. I saw the boat start to stir slightly and the hippocampus were going in circles around us.

"Percy put it away the boat's going to topple over onto it!" I said quickly. He nodded and then carefully put it away putting his hands up.

"Okay, okay! It's cool. No sword. See? No sword. Calm thoughts. Sea grass. Mama cows. Vegetarianism." Percy said out loud. I looked at him with this look.

"You're an idiot." I muttered shaking my head. I sighed and then looked over at the cow. It had calmed with Percy talking and it glanced over at me as I held my hands up showing I meant no harm to it. The hippocampi were saying free it and I was trying to come up with something to free the cow.

"Cassi help the hippocampus shift the boat alright?" Percy asked. I nodded and together the hippocampus and I managed to move the boat wreckage so it wouldn't fall onto the baby cow. Then Percy and I set to work on the net. While we were doing this Percy talked to the cow. I shook my head and sighed.

"Fisherman shouldn't be allowed to do this crap." I muttered. Percy nodded in agreement.

"It's okay Bessie. Good cow. Nice cow." Percy said.

"Bessie?" I asked looking over at him as I threaded a lead weight through a hole in the net. He shrugged at me and then we managed to get the net off the cow, and it went zipping out of it doing a somersault. I smiled at it.

"Moooo!" The cow said. It came back over to Percy and I and nuzzled us. I gave it a rub on the side of the nuzzle smiling.

"Stay out of trouble now and don't get tangled up anymore." I said. Percy glanced over at me and then looked at me biting his lip.

"We better get back." He said. I nodded and we both shot to the surface and Blackjack came and got us. Percy was telling Blackjack about our little underwater adventure while I latched onto Percy's waist. We were almost back to the cabin when Percy told Blackjack to set him down by the dining pavilion.

"Tell me what you hear my little spy." I whispered. He gave me a thumb up before Blackjack took me back to the cabin. I quickly snuck back inside and yawned. I heard the thump and pulled the door back open and saw Blackjack.

"Yes?" I asked looking at it.

The Boss needs a getaway horse for the quest! You coming or not shorty? Blackjack asked. I pursed my lips at the nickname shorty but nodded. We were supposed to do this together. He was going to go with the Hunters and Thalia and Grover, and I was going to split with them when they all got together. I needed to get to Luke before they did if he was involved. I grabbed my small bag that I had packed and a jacket for Percy because if we were flying, I knew it was going to be cold. I ran back out to Blackjack and then when we took off, he landed again at the boarders of camp where Percy was. I smiled at him and threw him the jacket.

If I was guessing, boss, I'd say you need a getaway horse, and getaway sister. You interested? Blackjack said as he jerked his head back at me. I smiled at Percy giving him a thumb up.

"Yeah, let's fly. Thanks for the jacket." Percy said as I let him jump on in front of me. I latched my arms around Percy's waist smiling.

"No problem, bro, now let's go find and save Annabeth and Artemis." I smiled. I felt Percy nod and Blackjack lifted back up into the air and we flew after the white van that held the people going on the quest. I bit my lip knowing within days I would be seeing Luke again...and this time it was personal.