Zahara's POV
A brief moment of silence rings out through the garden. My eyes open and I blink a few times. A gasp exits my mouth as everyone notices that there is one less person in the garden. I look around one last time to see Nico and Christian on the ground.
"W-w-what happened?" Christian asks as he gets up with bruises all over him.
"CARMEN!" I scream sudden tears erupting from my eyes. "NICO! Where do she go?!" I stalk towards Nico and grab him by his collar, lifting him up.
"Why are you asking me?" He stutters and tries to break away his shirt from my grip.
"You're the one who wanted to do this! So I ask again. Where. Is. Carmen?!" I raise my voice higher It cracking with every hurtful vowel.
"I don't know where she is!" Nico yells as my hands let go of his shirt. "But I will find out. Just....just go to the big house...i'll go see dad."
"Why are we going to different places every ten minutes?" Christian yells from across the field.
"Because that's what we do." I croak out no humor in my voice. 'I hope she's ok.'
Time passes
I slam my fist into the walls outside of Rachel's cave, pushing back the curtains and stalking inside, the kid following me. "RACHEL!" I yell as the risky red-head walks out of an alcove.
"Hello?" She says wiping the sleep from her eyes. "Oh. It's you. Zahara what's wrong? I haven't seen you this frazzled sense-" Her words are cut off.
"I need a Prophecy.... Anything." My words are urgent.
"You know that's not how it works...." Her voice trails off.
"Carmen's missing."
"Ah... I don't think I can-" Her words are cut off my a tendril of green smoke floating out of her mouth. Her body floating slightly.
"What the cheeseburger?!?!" Christian sputtered out, falling onto his hands, scuttling to a far wall.
"A jealous dark will take our light
She lies In the place where dead reside.
The girl who is cursed
and the messengers child.
The boy of the shadows cheated by time.
The necklace is cursed to provide the deadly clue,
and the light we have lost will be
restored again soon."
Rachel coughs, green smoke billowing then dissipating out of her mouth and she shakily sits down. "Well..." she laughs. "You better find out where Carmen is..... She cant... you know she can survive in the dark...."
"I guess we need to go see Chiron" My head falls as tears jump into my eyes. "Come on kid."
"Ok let's go!" The kid runs out the door confidently even though he is visibly shaking.
"Do you even know where you're going? No you don't."
"I don't care. Beats being in here."
"Di Immortales...." I walk out the door cursing under my breath, wiping away the tears with the back of my hand.
I sat in silence eating todays dinner, the spaghetti remaining half eaten on my plate, the other half was offered to the gods. I gave a silent prayer to my father and the gods of olympus hoping Carmen is ok. Cabin leaders stand up corralling the younger campers and the elder ones towards the campfire. The noise dissipation ahead of us. The 100 or so campers disappear into the trees as the kid walks up behind me.
"Where is everyone going?" He questions wiping the grease off his chin.
"Campfire." I fire back, the dread of Carmen being away this long hanging over me like a blanket of death.
"I love campfires! Will there be stories?" His innocence is amusing.
"Yeah. War stories. Death, Pink poodles, other things like the battle of New York or the time Gaeia was awaking." The monetising words eat into Zaharas head and she winces. "Sorry." The kid shrugs.
"Seems legit." His eyes follow the shadows of the trees and....other things as we walk towards the campfire. Entering the clearing, the voices surround us, the bright red fire brushing the top of the amphitheater. "Wow."
"Welcome to the back to camp campfire! We welcome all you new campers with-" I cut Chiron's words off.
"CHIRON!" I walk forward approaching the centaur.
"Zahara... I'm delighted for you to join us. It seems you made it back from your 'recruitment' successfully."
"I need a quest." My words escape my mouth in a booming yell that silences the room. Mumbles erupt from the campers. "Carmen's gone..... she's gone missing..." My words tremble out in a whisper before i repeat myself. Chaos ensues as campers throw themselves to their feet. Chiron silences them with a loud ahem.
"C-carmen...... She's gone?" The old man's words shake slightly.
"YES! I went to the oracle.... i need a quest old man."
"Ok then... can we hear the prophecy?" Chiron sits up.
"A jealous dark will take our light, She lies In the place where dead reside.The girl who is cursed and the messengers child. The boy of the shadows cheated by time. The necklace is cursed to provide the deadly clue, and the light we have lost will be restored again soon." My word shake as I force out the words.
"Zahara? Dam. I hate these campfires..." Nico pops out of the shadows behind Chiron.
"Nico?"
"Here..." Nico dangles a necklace in front of me.
"You... she had it.. how did you?" My words are cut off by his somber tone.
"Yeah... Dad had it." His eyes wash over my expression.
"Dad... he....." I fall to my knees. Tears well in my eyes. I look up and shout, "HERMES CABIN!" The group of sharp nosed thieves look up. The stoll twins stand up .
"Yes?"
"Wanna go on a quest?" My tone is serious. Startled by their sudden outburst of laughter i look up. "Why are you laughing?!"
"I guess you already have your Hermes kid." The twins meuse in unisine. They point as silence falls over the campers once again. There above the kid's head was a glowing Caduceus.
"Why is everyone staring at me?" His words are muffled by the immense amount of marshmallows in his mouth.
"Look up idiot." I sigh kneeling slightly.
"What in the world is that?!?!" he screams ducking. Chiron rises to full centar height.
"Welcome. Child of Hermes."
