Rising Heroes Book Four: The Sands of Ouroboros

Chapter Forty: Until Next Time

Disclaimer: I don't own HOO or VE

Chapter Forty: Until Next Time

At the moment of their demise, Andi, Roc, and Skye were literally racing against time.

Roc and Andi snuck into the attic of the Big House just as they heard shouts from the shore. Andi clutched at her chest. "They're gone, aren't they?"

Roc nodded. "I could feel their emotions as they died," he sucked in a sharp breath.

Andi put a hand on his arm. "We will get them back," she said.

They moved up to the attic. They had managed to get into the giant blue building by sneaking through the back door, and Roc send Chiron to sleep as Andi turned them invisible and then led up the stairs. When they got to the top, they found a room covered in dust and shaded up curtains. In the corner was a petrified, mummy-like woman wearing hippie clothing.

"Creepy," Roc commented.

They searched the attic, taking care with the more dangerous-looking artifacts. Finally Andi got up the courage to search the Oracle herself. But as soon as she approached, green smoke started spewing out in the shape of a giant snake which encircled her.

"Andi!" Roc yelled.

Andi saw a vision of her and her friends- and then another one of the demigods. The two images separated.

A voice started to speak:

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.

Then the smoke disappeared, and Andi was left alone in the attic. "Roc?" she asked, looking around. But as she watched, the shimmering image of Roc disappeared.

Andi bit her lip. The images and the prophecy- they had to be connected. Maybe... maybe...

Taking a deep breath, she reached towards the Oracle. Rummaging around in her pouch, she came up with the Immortie. Focusing all of her power- including the borrowed ones- she channeled them into the clock until it was glowing and humming. Then she took the vial of Lily's blood out of her pocket, and poured it over the clock.

She could feel herself disappearing. Sneaking back down the stairs, she sprinted towards the tree. Lily had described where she was supposed to go and where in the tree she should hide it. But she knew she had one last message to leave behind if she wanted their future children to succeed.

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Meanwhile, Skye was hurling through the brush, struggling to stay on her feet. She could feel the other's powers pushing at her skin, itching to be let out. She knew she wasn't meant to hold in this much power. But she swallowed down the bitter feeling and pushed herself forward.

When she finally reached the tree, it was exactly as she remembered. The blackened limbs, the twisted branches and peeling bark. When she rapped on one of the knots, a ghastly figure appeared.

"What?" the tree dryad asked.

"I need your help," Skye said. "You don't know me, but I know you. You see, I'm from the future,"

The dryad waved her hands impatiently. "Yes, yes, yes. Your friend explained all of this, right up until she disappeared into thin air."

Skye sighed in relief. "So you have it then?"

"Yes," the dryad said. "But I must ask you a question first, to prove you are not someone who this could fall into the wrongs hands."

"Ok," Skye said, squaring her shoulders.

"What is the significance of this place?" the dryad asked.

Skye opened her mouth to answer, but stopped. She wanted to say, this is where I spent time with my friends, but something felt off about that. She watched the dryad's face and finally said, "It isn't this place that's important, but the people I was with."

The dryad sighed and rolled her eyes. "So cliche," she said, "but correct."

Two sections of her bark peeled away, revealing a ticking mass of cold and somehow, dark black blood that seemed to have powered itself and was now intertwined with the metal. When Skye touched it, the blood remained intact.

"So what now?" Skye asked. "How I transfer the powers?"

The dryad shrugged. "Don't asked me," she said, and then she was gone.

Closing her eyes, Skye focused on channeling her essence, her strength, and also her memories into the device. As it whirred beneath her fingertips, she opened her eyes to see the device glowing brighter.

As the bark closed back over the Immortie, Skye stared at her disappearing hands. "Just in time," she muttered.

"Go," the tree whispered. Skye didn't hesitate and launched herself back into the forest. If she could distract Rhea and Leviathan's minions and keep them from figuring out where the Immortie was, she was going to do exactly that.

But then the invisible caught up to her, and before she knew it she was falling to the ground.

And then she was gone.

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New York, twenty years later

Bia was the first to fall to the ground.

Pulling herself to her feet, she watched as her friends fell one by one around her. "Where are we?" Chase asked.

Bia glanced around her; at the charred remains of wood, the remnants of what looked like cabins and even a training ground.

"I think..." Bia swallowed roughly. "I think we're at Camp Half Blood. Or... what's left of it."