Daughter Of Light- Book 1: PJO

Chapter 18: A Quest? I'm already on a Quest!

We all waited for Annabeth to come back. Percy was getting anxious, his pacing around the area came to a sudden halt. He turned and just left. I watched him go. I could feel his anxiety and stress from here.

I found a sunny little patch in the corner of the area and sunk down. I pulled the few yellow wild daisies and started to braid them together. Will came over and sat beside me. He didn't say anything, but sat beside me. He was wrapping his wrist in a tender bandage and then unwrapping it.

I glanced up and watched Mrs. O’Leary ate her lunch, which consisted of a hundred pounds of ground beef and several dog biscuits the size of trash-can lids. I wondered where Quintus got dog biscuits that size. I didn’t figure you could just walk into Pet Zone and put those in your shopping cart.

Chiron was deep in conversation with Quintus and Argus. It looked to me like they were disagreeing about something. Quintus kept shaking his head.

On the other side of the arena, Tyson and the Stoll brothers were racing miniature bronze chariots that Tyson had made out of armor scraps. I saw Selina laughing at something Beckendorf was saying. I smiled watching, their relationship looked so easy.

Something reflected in the sun and I saw Raph. He was swinging his sword around, going through some sword forms Quintus taught us yesterday. It was fascinating watching him. His body twisted and turned with ease, his muscles tensed and flexed. The dark look in his eye was scary when he had a weapon in his hand. I had heard Percy was the best swordsman at camp, it would be an interesting match up.

"Hello...earth to Nora!"

"Huh? What? Yep..." I blinked and looked around. Will was smirking at me.

"Can I help you?"

"Lost you for a minute." He grinned, "view is spectacular." I smacked him, making him yelp and then chuckle. "I asked if you were okay, and ready for this..."

"Oh..." I shrugged, "never done this before it's all new. I'm terrified, Will. I hardly know what I'm doing. I hardly know the legends and who's who and what's going on."

"Well seems like you're doing great, better than most."

"Fake it till ya make." I shrugged.

"You're not alone. That's why you have three people in a quest group. Raph and I won't let you down."

"Will....you and Raph meet me like 48 hours ago." I voiced my fear.

He shrugged and leaned back onto his hands. "You're family."

"My dear,” Chiron called. “You made it."

I looked up and saw Annabeth and Percy walking into the area. Both looked very shaken and upset. We all clumped back together.

Annabeth looked at me first. I couldn’t tell if she was trying to warn me, or if the look in her eyes was just plain fear, but I felt the anxiety in her, it radiated off of her. But she closed her eyes and swallowed,  then she focused on Quintus.

"I got the prophecy. I will lead the quest to find Daedalus’s workshop."

Nobody cheered. I mean, everyone liked Annabeth, and we wanted her to have a quest, but this one seemed insanely dangerous, I mean so was ours.

Chiron scraped a hoof on the dirt floor. "What did the prophecy say exactly, my dear? The wording is important."

Annabeth took a deep breath. "I, ah…well, it said, you shall delve into the darkness of the endless maze..."

We waited.

"Okay...and?" I encouraged.

"The dead, the traitor, and the lost ones raise."