Rising Heroes Book Four: The Sands of Ouroboros

Chapter Five: Our Past and Future Selves

Disclaimer: I don't own HOO or VE

Chapter Five: Our Past and Future Selves

As Jason steered the ship into the Colchis Port, Addie wanted to scream.

She hated ships. She hated being on boats; like her mom, she got sea-sick; and she hated constantly listening to the crew speak in Ancient Greek when she had no idea what they were saying.

She had been the best in her class at Latin. Her parents had been so proud of how she could speak, read, and write such a difficult language. Why couldn't they have gotten stuck in Rome? She would've fit right in.

She loved Camp Half-Blood, and she loved her Greek friends. But she was Roman, through and through. Her parents had both been praetors in their time, and with the elections coming up next year she had been a front runner. She had just finished up her two-year shift as centurion, and hadn't reapplied so that she could run for praetor.

Not that any of it would matter if they couldn't get out of here.

Skye had explained their plan, how they wanted to try and find the Kronos Immortie- if it even existed. But Addie was more worried about surviving the horrors of the Golden Fleece and Medea.

They pulled into port, the crew disembarking. As Jason started talking about greeting the king, the three demigods slipped off into the village. In their old-times getups, Skye and Adrian fit right in. But Addie, being half black and half Asian, stood out a little more.

She had tried to get used to it by now; she was proud of her heritage. But sometimes... sometimes it was hard. Her long black hair was straight and smooth, like her dad's, but she had her mom's bright golden eyes and her complexion was somewhere between the two, a medium brown like roasted cinnamon. Skye, being only a quarter Cherokee, and Adrian, with his classic Greek looks, blended in much more.

One of the villagers tried to touch her cheek, and Skye told them off in Greek. "Thanks," Addie muttered. She glared at the villager until they stopped staring at her. She glanced at Adrian's invisibility cap, which now hung from Skye's waist as a blue scarf, then shook her head. She wouldn't hide.

When they reached a high stone wall they stopped. "The fleece should be behind here," Adrian said. "But it's guarded by a dragon."

"It's gold, right?" Addie flexed her fingers. "Give me a second."

"Are we such this is the best course of action?" Skye asked. "Jason will get in trouble. And we're disrupting history!"

"Jason won't find out," Adrian argued. "Addie can put it back after we sacrifice some to the gods. That's got to get their attention."

Addie stretched out her hands, and there was the sound of tinkling pennies as the gold, shiny mass slid over the wall. There was a roar as flames shot over the stone, and Addie panted as she caught the heavy fleece.

"Hurry!" Skye said.

Adrian pulled out his sword, Tsunami, his now normal lion pelt shifting around his waist as he swung. The fleece didn't so much as budge. "It won't move!" Adrian said, panicked. He kept swinging, but the fleece only gave slightly.

The dragon roared again, and the wall began to shake. "Stand back," Skye said. Holding up her hands, the sky darkened and a bolt of lightning broke through the clouds to hit the fleece. But instead of shaving off a corner, the fabric sizzled and broke in half.

"Oops," Skye said.

Choosing the larger of the halves, Addie threw it over the wall. Adrian grabbed the other half and they began to run, Skye putting on her scarf and disappearing. She ran ahead of them, clearing the way until they reached the water.

Adrian threw the fleece in. "Grandparents," he said, "we could really use some help right now. Like maybe the location of the Kronos Immortie..." he trailed off, but nothing happened. "Please," he said.

They were silent for a minute, and when nothing happened Skye threw her hands in the air. "This is ridiculous," she said, but she was interrupted by a crack of thunder in the sky. A rift of light opened in the sky, and four bodies fell to the ground.

The first was a teenage girl about thirteen years old with blonde hair and the same sea-green eyes as Adrian. She dusted her jeans and orange Camp Half-Blood shirt off, adjusting the Yankees cap attached at her waist. "Gabrielle?" Adrian asked, open-mouthed.

The boy beside her stood up- he was the same age, with brown hair and sky-blue eyes, also wearing a Camp t-shirt. "G-Gale?" Skye stuttered.

The two looked at each other, then at the demigods. "You're older," Addie said, amazed.

Just then the two other teenagers stood. They were slightly older than the demigods- the first was a boy with blonde hair and color-changing eyes that seemed to prefer the green of the sea and the gray of the sky. The other was a girl with pale brown skin the same shade as Addie's and long, caramel colored hair wound in tight curls with golden eyes. "I saw you two in my dreams," Skye said.

The pair stood, both wearing purple t-shirts. The boy had a sword at his side that Adrian recognized. "How did you get that?" He asked, gesturing to Riptide.

"It worked," the girl said, looking at the four demigods and their two siblings all staring at them.

"Who are you?" Addie asked again, a sinking feeling in her chest. When they had asked for help, this wasn't what they had meant.

"My name is Calypso Mariel Levesque-Valdez," the girl said. "This is Chase Perseus Jackson."

Adrian's mouth dropped open. "You're related to us?"

Calypso nodded. "Not just related," she said. "We're your children."

Argo I with new demigods; future and younger siblings appear at end