The Demi Games

Terribly-Written Prophecies

(Will)

I lean against Nico, staring at the fire silently. Nobody speaks as we watch the white shroud that has been decorated with flowers get consumed by the flames. There was no body to burn, but Calypso still gets a traditional Camp Half-Blood funeral.

When we'd told Chiron the news, he'd been shocked. After all, while it had been three months to us, we'd only been away from Camp for five minutes. So when we came back with the news that Calypso was dead, Percy, Leo, Jason, and I didn't have our memories, and that I had Empathy Healed myself to near death, it was understandable that our camp director was a little taken aback.

For the past three days, I had been in the infirmary. My strength has finally started to return, and everyone keeps saying how lucky it was that I hadn't suffered any of the mental effects of the disease I'd taken from someone else, though I don't feel very lucky. 

I feel like shit. 

Everything seemed to have fallen apart since the moment I took the Flare. I'd passed out, and a lot of what had happened after was a blur. I hadn't even known that Calypso had died until on the second day, when Nico told me that nobody was handling it well.

And I discovered that I absolutely hated being the patient. 

I hated laying around, not having the strength to do anything except stare at the ceiling and talk to Nico. I understand a lot better why he's always sneaking out of the infirmary whenever he gets injured.

Chiron had said that he would look into what had happened in the first place, at Percy's demanding. It had obviously been some sort of godly influence. The words on the pages felt awfully like the prophecies that Rachel Elizabeth Dare, our oracle, would spout out at random, and it certainly had given us the perilous quest that went with it.

Eventually, the flames die down, and people start leaving. Nico stands up and helps me to my feet, and together we start walking toward the cabins.

The camp is quieter than I've ever heard it. The sudden death of Calypso had obviously shocked everyone. Everything had been normal, then bam! The twelve of us came out of the Athena Cabin missing one and with a three-month-long story.

"I visited her," Nico says. Even though his voice is quiet, it sounds like a thundercrack in the late-night silence.

I look at him. "What?"

"In the Underworld," he replies with the same hushed tone. "I visited her in Elysium yesterday."

"What did she say?"

"That she was sorry. But she's glad we made it out. That it's over. And she said that she's glad that she did it when she did - she didn't want to become one of those things."

I nod, remembering how crazed Calypso had been. The disease had made her and everyone else who caught it completely insane - to the point of basically being living zombies. Calypso had shot herself before she'd reached the not-even-human-anymore point, so that she wouldn't hurt her friends.

"Have you guys figured out a way to get rid of the memory block yet?" I ask, wanting to change the subject. I've been stuck in the infirmary, so I'm not exactly caught up with what's happening.

"No." We reach Cabin Thirteen, and Nico sits down on the front steps. I lean against the wall, glad I can at least stand upright. "Chiron's gone to talk to the gods about what the Dad happened, and Annabeth, Malcolm, and a few other kids are trying to crack it, but nothing so far."

I sigh, knowing that I really hadn't expected any giant breakthrough. "Come on." I nod toward the door. "Let's go to bed. I could use a few hours of it."

(Annabeth)

Shit shit shit shit fuck fuck fuck shit.

This can't be happening. Not again. We just got out of The Maze Runner. We've risked their lives enough times for one week. 

But the pages of yet another one of my books have handwritten Greek words scrawled along the top.

I snap the book shut and stuff it in my bottom drawer, underneath everything else filling the cluttered space. I know it probably won't do anything, but I just can't deal with it right now. My head pounds from searching for answers all day, and my heart aches for Calypso - even if I hadn't known the titan that well, and our main interaction had been after Calypso cursed me and I wound up blind in Tartarus, we'd moved past that and had actually started to build a kind-of friendship.

I force myself to lie down and try to fall asleep, hoping that the 'out of sight, out of mind' mentality will work.

Especially since that book is The Hunger Games, and if there's a dystopian book more deadly than The Maze Runner to be in, it's that.

The next morning, I completely forget about the book. I manage to make it almost the entire day without a single thought of it, and I go about how I normally do, leading my cabin in the typical activities - archery, climbing wall, pottery. That night we have Capture the Flag.

After the game (Athena's cabin won, of course), I walk along the beach with Percy, talking to him, explaining Capture the Flag deeper than the quick summary I'd given him before we'd started, since this had been his first since before WICKED took his memories. It's weird, the way he'd look around camp with the same wonder he did when we were twelve. I'm doing my best to catch him up, telling him about all the quests we've gone on, re-introducing him to some of the other campers, like Rachel and Clarisse.

Percy sits down and gazes at the water, and I sit next to him. For a second he doesn't say anything, then he says, "Hopefully we'll find a way to get rid of this stupid memory block." He gives me a sideways smile. "At least it's over."

That reminds me of the book, sitting at the bottom of my drawer. I nod and clear my throat, about to tell him about it, when I hear footsteps. I look over and see all of the demigods who'd been in The Maze Runner coming to join us, except for Hazel and Frank (they'd gone back to Camp Jupiter). For some reason, Clarisse and Rachel are with them, too, and the former doesn't look happy about it.

Kayla's in the lead, looking happy. "Come to the Big House," she says, smiling widely. "Chiron's back!"

Immediately, I stand up, brushing sand off the back of my pants. "Really? Does he know why ... that whole thing happened?"

Kayla shrugs. "I don't know; he just told Piper and me to get you guys. Whatever it is has to do with us, Rachel, and all Cabin Councilors."

"Let's go, then," Percy says. "The sooner this entire thing is over, the better."

They're just about to go to leave when Rachel points at something at my feet. "What's that?"

I bend down and pick it up, using the back of my hand to wipe sand off of it. It's a book, and when I read the title, I immediately drop it.

"What's wrong?" Rachel picks the book up. "It's just a book."

"Don't open it," I warn. My throat feels dry. How did I think I'd be able to escape it? "It's happening again."

"What's happening again?" Clarisse demands, scowling.

Before anyone can say anything, Rachel suddenly drops the book, her gaze staring straight ahead at nothing. Her eyes glow green and then she speaks. 

"While you find your fantasy dreams less fun,
We disagree, for the death games have only just begun.
May the odds be ever in your favor."

The book had fallen open, face-up to the first page. I look down, see the words that had scared me so bad yesterday, word-for-word to what Rachel just said. It starts glowing.

Last time, it seemed to have taken forever. I remember just wondering what was going on, not being able to see anything. But this time, it's quicker. The light brightens, so quick it's just a flash, and then all goes dark.

Ignore the prophecy, IK it's terrible.

Here's the first chapter tho! I'm so excited for this. I've got a few ideas already.

-Moony