Child of Artemis

Chapter 10

 Aurora stepped forwards and introduced herself. "I'm Aurora, and this is Ivan, Avalon, and Taylor," she said, gesturing to each of them in turn. Reyna looked them over once, them fixed her gaze on Taylor and frowned. Taylor returned the stare. Then Reyna snapped away and beckoned them into the camp.

Avalon figured that Taylor and Reyna knew each other. That much was obvious. But why they didn't say anything, she could only guess. Reyna turned and led them towards the closest building, the one that looked like a military encampment. "There is a Greek camp, but if you do not know about us, we are the Roman camp," Reyna said.

The crowd started to dissipate when someone exclaimed, "Percy!" Avalon turned. Sure enough, Percy was there, sneaking down the ramp, Annabeth behind him, Blackjack, Flame and a trail of pegasi following.

"WHAT are you doing here?!" Taylor asked angrily. "This isn't your quest!" Percy glanced downwards. "Well, Flame wanted to come, and then Blackjack wanted to come as well, and Percy didn't want Blackjack to go with just Flame, and I couldn't leave Percy to get killed," Annabeth said. "And the pegasi need fresh air."

The horses grazed around the ship while Avalon investigated the forest on both sides of the camp entrance.

She examined a tall tree growing by the entrance. It was a rowan tree, which had special magical properties. Avalon drew her dagger and lopped off a small stub of a branch, about the size of her hand.

She climbed up the tree and sat down on a thick limb and cut the piece of wood into four pieces. From each she fastened a wooden whistle. Then, climbing down, she traveled over to the Argo II.

Taylor, Ivan, Aurora, Percy, and Annabeth were climbing up a hill in the distance with a Roman camper. Avalon warned all the horses, 'This might hurt.' She pierced Kria's skin with her dagger, and a drop of blood welled up. Avalon caught it on her dagger and wiped it on one of the whistles. The drop of blood spread, then the stain faded.

She did the same with the other pegasi. As the Tiger's blood fell on another whistle, the bloodstain faded, and the whistle turned light gray. Another whistle turned a color a little darker than copper when Ejema's blood spattered.

She pocketed the remaining whistle and jogged over to where Aurora, Ivan, and Taylor were being shown around by Percy, Annabeth, and the Roman.

"Use these to summon the pegasi," Avalon whispered to each one of them, pressing Tiger's whistle into Taylor's palm, giving Ejema's whistle to Aurora, and handing Ivan Kria's whistle.

They climbed down the temple hill. The Roman guide left them. "Well, that's the end of the tour," he said before disappearing. 

 "So where could the clue be?" Ivan asked, leaning against a tree. "I don't know," Aurora answered. Ivan settled into the tree some more, when he suddenly yelped and leaped up.

On the trunk of the tree, a button was visible. Taylor walked over to it. "Well, why not?" she asked. As she pressed it, a section of the ground opened up, and a blue vortex was visible.

Taylor pushed Ivan in and then jumped in herself, followed by Aurora and Avalon. There was a meadow with flowers budding up through the short grass. A shimmering blue ghost lounged on a lawn chair, taking solid food and putting it into himself, which shouldn't have been possible, considering he was a ghost.

He sat up and took off his sunglasses. His eyes were a pearly white. He had a few gray hairs on his head, and wore a grubby grey suit that barely fit over his potbelly.

"Oh, hello!" he said. "Ummmmm............. Hi." The ghost added, "I'm Phineas. Son of Neptune, with the gift of prophecy! I drank the wrong bottle of Gorgon blood a couple years ago, but Gaea was able to bring me back! I'm not flesh and blood, but I can visit the mortal world for short periods of time."