the warrior of olympus [ the heroes of olympus ]

chapter three

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝚆𝙰𝚁𝚁𝙸𝙾𝚁 𝙾𝙵 𝙾𝙻𝚈𝙼𝙿𝚄𝚂༉‧₊˚.[𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝙷𝙴𝚁𝙾𝙴𝚂 𝙾𝙵 𝙾𝙻𝚈𝙼𝙿𝚄𝚂]

chapter three: with all things i've been right about, i'm considering playing the lottery

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SHOCK DIDN'T even begin to cover it.

her mouth dropped open, and she had no doubt she looked absolutely ridiculous. on a quest? sure, she could've dealt with that, rather easily. she'd had more quest experience than at least half of the demigods that attended – even in the summer time. the first, she hadn't believed she contributed all that much, only finding herself there as a favor to a late friend, and the will of artemis herself. that was a less scary consumption to think about, it had nothing to do with fate, or destiny, just the stubborn will of deities further up on the food chain than she was, it wasn't a gamble with her life, or a tale inscribed into the depths of a stone long before her ancestors had been conceived.

but to lead a quest? she felt bile rising in her throat, her mouth watering with the threat of her projectile vomiting into the gods' brazier, her throw-up would surely put their campfire out. the small, but distinct difference in the sentence was enough to have numerous little alarm bells ringing off simultaneously in her head. she remembered a time where she had become too comfortable in her life as a demigod, two winters ago when her circle of friends had been much smaller, her list of expectancies was much smaller, the amount of people looking to her, much less with an anticipation of her to somehow fix things. all eyes were on her face, some waiting for her to burst into tears that wouldn't come, others waiting for her to protest her destiny, and beg for a way out. she remembered a time where she might've slid further down in her seat, ducking her head a bit to avoid accidental eyecontact. the memory made her stomach burn in disgust, and instead, she did neither. her jaw clenched, and in the firelight, her eyes glowed the color of merlot, "you're right."

ashanti destiny, hera called her fondly, over, and over in their short conversation. not ashanti, nor ashanti destiny prewett. the goddess of marriage seemed to fixate on her first two names alone, ashanti destiny. she gazed upon her as if she were witnessing a flower she had long been cultivating grow into a breathtaking bloom. she remembered the stern, but awaiting the way the deity had been making sure she had been paying attention during the council, but no one else. expecting her to behave much better, as if she were different than the demigods snickering around her. in the labyrinth, as she was favored by hera, much more than the demigods on the quest around her, a slight softness that was much different than a goddess to a demigod, but rather a mother to a child. hera had continuously called ashanti her child, and herself their patron goddess, their special guardian. "hera asked you personally, to save her to prevent a great evil. to prevent a king from rising. for reasons we don't understand yet, it must happen by the winter solstice, only four days from now."

"it's the council day of the gods," annabeth offered the information to rachel, knowing the mortal wasn't as knowledgeable in their world quite yet, after all, it had only been a few months since she'd taken on the spirit of delphi, "if the gods don't already know hera is gone, they will no doubt notice her absence by then. they'll more than likely break out into fights, accusing one another of taking her – that's what they usually do." chiron looked up slowly, adding in his own sprinkle of information, darkly warning them of the evil that surrounded the day, ancient, evil magic that seemed to stir on the darkest day of the year. the athenian appeared unamused by chiron's only attempt at help, "whatever is going on, i agree, shanti. this quest is for you."