Elora Stone and The Box of Punishments: The Cage of Strife

Chapter Ⅳ

Elora and Leo found Chiron playing Pinochle with Mr. D. Leo set Sasha down and they walked up the porch stairs.

"Hey Chiron." Leo said happily.

"Leo, Elora, is there something going on?" The centaur asked.

"Haven't you noticed by now?" Mr. D remarked. "The constant arguing of campers."

"I'm afraid I haven't." Chiron frowned.

"It's not just happening here, Percy said that many people in Manhattan have been having conflicts." Elora said glumly.

"You saw Percy?" Chiron perked up.

"That's not all. On our way back, we found a demigod." Leo cut in. He pushed Sasha in front of him so the centaur could see her.

"My gods, how on earth did you find her." Chiron had stopped his game with Mr. D.

"Not find, we saved her from getting killed by a bus. Her name is Sasha, she's four years old. She has no other family, scars and bruises all over her body." Elora frowned. "We were closer to Percy, I cleaned her up the best I could with Sally's help of course. Percy said that we should take her to you, she's undetermined."

Chiron stroked his beard, "Well she seems to have an attachment to you two, I don't think cabin 11 is a good place for her. Maybe one of your cabins."

"I think we also know why everyone is turning against each other." Leo said, his fingers tapping on the railing.

"Percy said that he had a dream that could be connected to all this." Elora continued. She resumed to tell them the same thing Percy had told them.

"It's Pandora's box, isn't it?" Elora asked when she finished.

"Box? My dear girl, Pandora never opened a box. She opened a vase. Pandora's Pithos." Mr. D sneered.

"Yeah, but later on it turned into a wooden box that had engravings on it." Elora scoffed.

"Listen girl, I don't know where you heard that from but that is not the story." Mr. D glared at her, Elora glared twice as hard. Out of all the gods, Dionysus was her least favorite.

"Elora is right Mr. D. The Pithos was later turned into a box so it would be easier to hide, it constantly changes form." Chiron said suddenly.

"My father told me the story." Elora smiled.

"Back when Pandora did open the jar, all the evils escaped into mankind. They later found items to be their ah, anchor, you could say. To keep them from running loose." Chiron explained.

"So if something were to happen to these anchors, does that mean it would affect everything else in the process?" Leo asked.

"I'm not sure, it has never happened before. But I would guess that would be the cause, yes." The centaur sat back in his wheelchair.

"Then we must go on a quest, we might lose more campers to Luke if we don't." Elora suggested and Leo nodded.

"Luke isn't targeting us anyway, he won't notice us leaving." Leo added.

Chiron stroked his beard, "Maybe you two should consult the oracle, I will watch young Sasha."

Leo and Elora nodded and told the young girl they would be back soon, they made their way to the attic, and climbed up the ladder. Elora grabbed Leo's hand, their fingers interlacing one another's. They walked up to the mummy of the oracle. Elora thought about turning back but before she could decide, a voice called out around them. I am the spirit of Delphi, speaker of prophecies of Phoebus Apollo, slayer of the mighty Python. Approach, seeker, and ask.

Leo took a deep breath, "What is our destiny?"

A green mist had surrounded them when suddenly the voice spoke again.

Children of fire must find each curse

Through the land of dead, strife is first

The ones you trust are not who they say

One wrong move and the cage will fray

Elora took a shaky breath as the mist subsided, she held onto Leo tightly. "Remind me again why we volunteered to come up here?" They both chuckled softly.

"It was your idea." Leo looked at her.

"You still could've stopped me." she smiled slightly.

"Let's just get out of here before the mummy talks again." Leo said, tugging Elora's hand slightly. They made their way down to the porch where Sasha and Chiron were. Mr. D was nowhere in sight, thankfully.

"There you two are, I was starting to worry." Chiron smiled.

"Well we got our prophecy." Elora sat down.

"What did the oracle say?"

"Uhm, well, it started with 'Children of fire must find each curse. Through the land of dead, strife is first.'" Elora frowned.

"Strife. Isn't that like, another word for conflict?" Leo leaned against the railing.

"Angry or bitter disagreement, yes." Chiron stroked his beard.

"That's the reason why everyone has been acting so strange." Elora nodded. "But 'Through the land of dead.' Where would that be?"

"What was the rest of the prophecy?" Chiron looked at Elora.

"The ones you trust are not who they say." Elora started.

"One wrong move and the cage will fray." Leo finished.

"Hmm. Elora, I think it's best if you contact Annabeth. She may know what to do." Chiron ordered, Elora nodded. "I expect the deadline for this quest to be soon. As stated in the first line, you two may have to save more than one curse." Chiron frowned. "Nevertheless, I want you two to report to me as soon as you know where you're going."

"Got it Chiron." Leo nodded. He picked up Sasha, Elora stood and followed him to the Apollo cabin.

"I'll be right back. I'm going to go see if Malcolm has a map we can use." Elora started for the Athena cabin.

She knocked on the door, after a moment, Lindsey opened the door. "Oh, hey Elora. What's up?"

"Hey Lindsey. Is Malcolm in there by chance?"

"Yeah, come in." She opened the door wider for Elora to enter.

Malcolm was reading on his bed, he looked up and smiled. "Hey El. Do you need something?"

"Actually yeah. Do you have a map I can borrow?" Elora played with her fingers.

"Yeah." He stood up and walked over to a shelf. "Were you looking for a world map? Or is there like a certain place?"

"Just North America."

Malcolm grabbed a roll and handed it to Elora. "Here you go. May I ask why you need it?"

"Leo and I were issued a quest. We are just trying to figure out where we need to go." Elora smiled.

"A quest? For what?"

Elora shrugged, "Something to do with Pandora's Box."

"Ah, I see." Malcolm nodded.

"Well I better hurry before Leo comes searching." Elora walked towards the door.

"Right, see you later."

"Bye." Elora shut the door behind her.