Rising Heroes Book Four: The Sands of Ouroboros

Chapter One: The Lost Prophecy

Disclaimer: I don't own HOO or VE

Chapter One: The Lost Prophecy

When Maverick was little, he had heard Rachel Dare give a prophecy for the first time. He had completely freaked, had nightmares for weeks, and still couldn't look her straight in the eyes. The sight of the smoke and green light was too creepy for him to stand.

But he did remember the prophecy:

If wings and swords should collide,

The tears of gods will rain down upon us,

And if a parent is younger than their child,

They will turn back the hands of Kronos.

The river of life will then diverge,

To make the world crumble and burn,

The only path to set it right,

Is when the lives of twins divide.

Maverick, being a twin, felt he had every right to freak out. But when no one understood the prophecy and no big bad guy turned up, it was kind of pushed to the corner.

Maverick had been living in New Rome for two weeks, and he couldn't stop thinking about that prophecy as he sorted through the Sibylline books with his girlfriend, Carmen Vine. Ella the harpy had recreated them, using the fragments of New Rome, her memory, and the Oracle herself. The one he had heard was known as the Lost Prophecy, not because it had been lost, because whoever tried to follow it became lost.

Not a very comforting thought.

Carmen flipped a long, long strand of pale brown hair over one shoulder, her purple eyes flashing. "Look at this," she said, showing him a page of text. "We were looking for the answer to the Lost Prophecy, and we thought it might have to do with twin rivers that divided. But when we went to rendezvous with the rest of our party, they were gone. We never saw them again."

"Interesting," Maverick said. "Does it say what rivers?"

"No," Carmen said. When his shoulders dropped she leaned over to rub them. "Hey. If they're rivers of life, they must provide a life source. So maybe the Nile, or the Mississippi..."

"Maybe," Maverick said, defeated.

Suddenly Dustin burst into the room, wearing a purple New Rome shirt. "They've started," he said. 

For the past two weeks, their parents had been debating, trying to find Rhea, who had escaped her cave, and most importantly, trying to find the lost demigods. Since no one was awake when Rhea had hatched her plan, they had no idea where the demigods had gone. And since the adults were back... the kids were out. So they had taken to hiding and eavesdropping on meetings. 

They snuck into the upper level of the Senate; Dustin, Maverick, and Reid perched on a balcony while Carmen and Evan sat on the lower levels. Carmen was a centurion, and Evan was a praetor, so they at least got to sit in, even if they weren't allowed to do anything. 

"We need to broaden the search," Percy was saying, his black hair tousled and still wet. "The Hunters and Amazons are turning up nothing."

"We've spoken to our contacts," Piper said, her hair now grown out but still braided with feathers. "There's a way to retrieve our memories if Jason and I travel to them."

The Grigori, she meant. They were still tight-lipped about their existence, but something must be happening if they were in contact. Maverick had been trying to send a message out to Lily or Roc, but he had no idea where they were gone.

"There's more the kids aren't telling us," Hazel said, perched on one of the seats. Maverick could see Carmen and Evan give each other worried glances. Reyna cast a look at her son as well, her brows creasing.

"Evan?" she asked.

Evan shook his head. "I don't know, Mom. I'm sorry. I wasn't there for most of the mission and I wasn't there when they disappeared."

That, at least, was true. But there were things they hadn't told them- like how they had contacted the Grigori, and how Maverick remembered a stone being destroyed. It was their only chance to rescue their friends; they couldn't just leave the fight to their parents and sit back. And Maverick was not going to lose his sister.

They crept out of the room slowly, and after a minute Evan and Carmen followed them. "They said they had things to discuss without us in the room," Carmen said.

Maverick kicked at the ground. "This is getting ridiculous," he said.

"They did mention one thing," Evan added. "Piper said one of her 'contacts' could look at other people's memories. They wanted to bring Maverick there since his "state of suspension" was less than our parents."

"So we have to find this contact before they do," Maverick surmised. "We figure out what happened, and we get my sister back."

"I don't know," Evan said, scratching the back of his head. "Look, I know the adults want to help-"

"I know," Dustin interrupted, "But Evan... I have a feeling we were meant to be on this quest. We collected those stones. We're the ones meant to find our friends. Can you say for certain our parents will let us do that?"

"A bit counterproductive after all the work we spent trying to free them," Reid muttered.

"No one has to go," Maverick said, "But I'm getting my sister."

Carmen slipped her hand into his. "We're coming with you," she said. Evan nodded in agreement. 

"I may have an idea on where to start," Reid added. "When we met Lily, I sensed an unnatural plant presence inside her. I don't know how to describe it... but I think I can track her."

"Ok," Evan said. "I can get us a car. But we need to move fast."

It only took a few minutes for them to pack, and then they were on the road. As they drove out of New Rome, they could see their parents running behind them; but it was too late.

"Well," Evan said with a sigh, "I guess it's too late to turn back now."