The Sea of Monsters (Argo III/HBH's Version)

Flashback 1

Anathea's POV: 

April 2nd, Year 2

"Katie, wake up!" I yelled in distress. "Thalia's tree!" 

"Haha, April Fools was yesterday. Now can we please wake up in peace? What were you even doing outside?" Katie groaned.

"No, I'm serious!" I was basically pulling Katie out of her bunk. "Thalia's tree, something's severely wrong with it! I was outside, walking, and then I noticed it!"

Now that I had successfully gained Katie's attention she started to look concerned. 7 minutes later she, and Miranda, who'd woken up as well, were dressed and ready to go. The three of us ran to Half-Blood Hill, a hill where about a week ago I suffered one of the most traumatic events of my life. I shuddered at the thought of it and quickly brushed it off. 

When we arrived at Thalia's tree, my siblings gasped. 

The needles were yellow. The needles that were left on the tree, I mean. A lot of it had fallen on the ground. The wood was dry, and the magical aura it usually spread was way weaker than what it normally was. The grass around it was dry and yellow as well.

"Thalia!" Katie cried. 

"Is she dead?" Miranda asked concerned. Tears shot in her eyes.

"No, that can't be," I said. "The barrier would be completely gone then." I bashed my fist through it. We demigods and gods can always cross it without any resistance. I also didn't feel any resistance, but a hole was created in the air as if I had just punched through an invisible wall.

A/N: casually stealing this from the movie anyway buh bye

"She's poisoned."

April 20th, Year 2 

Ever since that event, which was now 19 days ago, camp got into chaos. The whole nature around it got weaker and weaker as if the poison was affecting the entirety of camp, and not just the tree. Chiron did his best to find a cure, but Zeus noticed it and blamed him. 

And on top of that, my siblings and I got a lovely shared dream. 

We were in the Underworld, witnessing an enraged Persephone. 

"Persephone!" Katie said, trying to get her attention. The goddess turned to us. I was afraid she was going to turn us into sunflowers for a second, but then her expression softened ever so slightly. Yes, she was still clearly angry, but not in the I'm-going-to-do-something-to-you way. 

"Ah, my mortal sisters!" Persephone said. 

"What's going on?" I asked. I immediately regretted it, because Persephone started to look angrier again. I was just curious!

"Someone stole something from my garden while I was on earth! A disgrace! Dishonorful! Whoever pulled this off deserves to burn in Tartarus!" 

If you didn't know by now, now you know: Persephone is very fond of what grows in her garden in the Underworld. That's because they're not just fruits and flowers, no, they're fruits and flowers made of real gemstones. Ruby pomegranates, diamond dahlias the size of my fist, topaz sunflowers, and much, much more. 

"A pomegranate, even!" Persephone continued to rant. "My sacred fruit, stolen from me! Can you believe it?" 

Katie shook her head. "I honestly can't." 

"Mother doesn't want me to go to the Underworld to search for the culprit." Persephone looked at us in expectancy. Ah shit, I can see where this is going. 

Katie turned to us. 

"I can see a quest forming," she muttered. 

"You're not the only one," I said. "What'll we say?"

"If we say yes we could get on our sister's good side. At camp we'll be seen as heroes. Kleos."

"That is lest we fail," I pointed out. 

"Oh come on, don't be so depressing," Katie said. 

"I'm just thinking realistic!" 

"I'm still here, you know," Persephone said in a loud voice. 

"Oh yeah, uhm, yes, we'll do it," Katie said quickly. "We'll do it," she repeated, this time a lot more confident. "When we wake up we'll go to Chiron, request a quest, and then go to the Oracle for a prophecy." 

Persephone smiled, walked to us, and then bowed down a bit to match our height. 

"Words cannot express my gratitude. I would've wanted to do it myself but going to the Underworld when I shouldn't be there would upset Mother in ways that would affect your mortal world. I'm afraid it'll be ungrateful for me to do, but I really need to ask you one more thing." 

"Tell us," Miranda said. 

"Don't tell Mother. If she gets knowledge of this... I'm afraid I don't want to know." 

That part was unclear to me. Why would Demeter think bad of this? Why aren't we supposed to tell her? Yet I just went with it. Persephone's still a goddess. 

"Alright," Katie said. "We'll go to the Underworld, find your pomegranate and the thief, and we'll tell you who did it while giving you back your fruit. You can then choose what to do with them. We'll go to Chiron, request a quest, and hopefully, we'll be traveling by tomorrow. Does that sound good?"

Persephone nodded. "Once more, thank you so much. I love you, my sisters. Now go." 

Before she even finished her last sentence I jolted awake back in the mortal world, back in the Demeter cabin. Katie and Miranda were both awake. 

"Shared dream?" Katie asked. I nodded. "I don't think I need to tell much. A family member needs our help, and we'll grant it." 

Heja's POV: 

June 6th (early morning), Year 2 

I barely slept. I kept having nightmares about Anathea, her spirit wandering around in the underworld. If I tried to call her she'd ran away, and the only words I'd hear would be, "Go away". 

At some point early in the morning I decided I couldn't sleep anymore. I got up, got dressed, and then walked out of the Athena cabin. I looked to my right. There she was, the Demeter cabin. Empty. I decided to enter it. 

As I got inside, the cabin looked quite neat. If you ignore the dying nature. I remembered that Steve and Billie should arrive soon. I wondered how they'd react to their sisters being gone, and the cabin in this state. I walked to Anathea and Katie's bunk. Katie's laptop was still there, open. 

I rummaged through her nightstand until I found what I was searching for. A note with the password. Demigods often forget such things, and having it written down somewhere is always a good thing. Here at camp we always risk a week of no dessert if we cross boundaries. Crossing the boundaries of people who're pronounced dead can't hurt, right? 

I logged into Katie's laptop. All that was open was a single Wikipedia page. 

I mumbled, "Who the fuck is Metinira?" 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metanira

A/N: Short chapter but it contains all the necessities and ends with the cliffhanger I planned on so yea :)