A Demigod Tale

Chapter 5: A Friend

Jordan didn't get anymore sleep that night. He was still trying to decide whether or not to tell someone about his dreams. What if they were just that, dreams? He stumbled sleepily to the dining pavilion. He was early, and no one else was there. Well, almost no one.

At the Athena table sat a girl. She had light brown hair with blonde highlights and slightly silvery blue-gray eyes. She smiled at Jordan, then walked over to him.

"Hi! My name's Jade. I know who you are. My sister watches your videos all the time! She's a mortal," the girl said in introduction.

"Um, hi. It's nice to meet you, Jade. So, I take it your a daughter of Athena?" Jordan said, mispronouncing Athena as A-then-a.

Jade chuckled. "No, I'm a daughter of Athena. Pronounced A-thee-na," she said with a smile. Then she frowned. "Are you okay? You look tired."

Jordan hesitated. He still wasn't sure he should tell anyone about his dreams. Then again, this girl was the daughter of the goddess of wisdom, so maybe she could help. Plus, it would be nice to just explain the weirdness to someone. He decided to tell her.

"Honestly, not really. I've been having some weird dreams," he said. He told her all about his dreams. Jade listened intently, a look of contemplation on her face. When he finished telling her she stayed silent for awhile. Just as Jordan began to think she had fallen standing up with her eyes open, she spoke.

"Well, dreams are never just dreams for demigods. It's likely that the dreams of the Big House are visions of what is actually occurring at the time. As for the dream about the star, you might need to talk to Chiron about that. Perhaps you could go see Rachel, the Oracle," Jade said. She looked at Jordan in a way that made him think she was scanning him.

"Um, how old are you?" Jordan asked, trying to steer the conversation towards friendlier waters. Jade was starting to creep him out a bit.

"Hm? Oh, fourteen," Jade responded absent-mindedly. Her gaze shifted so she was staring at the knife on Jordan's belt. "May I see that knife?"

Jordan pulled the knife out of it's scabbard and handed it to Jade. She examined it closely. Her eyes grew wide and she threw the knife to the ground.

"What is it? Why did you do that?" Jordan asked, worried about the amount of fear in her eyes. She took a deep, shaky breath.

"A few months ago, I was given a quest. I was supposed to investigate and ancient Greek library of sorts. With me I brought my friends April, from the Demeter cabin, and Earl, from the Hermes cabin. We went all the way to where ancient Greece once stood. We found the library, and inside was information dating all the way back to the first Titan War.

I found a scroll. It wasn't the oldest thing there, but it was very, very old. Inside the scroll was a story. It told of an Olympian more powerful than even Zeus. He wanted to be the King of the Gods, but Zeus would not give him the crown. The Olympian became angry, and fought Zeus and the other Olympians. He almost defeated them,  but all the heroes of the world came to help. Together they banished the Olympian. The scroll never said what he was the god of, but it did say he could destroy even the closest of bonds.

When he was banished he dropped his weapon. The Olympians took it and hid it, but it was enchanted. It would always seek out those who brought light to the world and destroy them. Most of the time it would drive them insane, or turn them into bringers of darkness. There was a picture of the weapon. It was that knife."

Jordan stared at her, then at the knife on the ground. He backed away from it. "Can't I just get rid of it? Like, thrown it away?" he asked.

"No. It is bound to you now. It will be until the end of your days," Jade said solemnly. "You can't tell anyone about this, not yet. It must remain a secret!"

Jordan gulped and nodded. He picked up the knife, though almost not by his own will, and put it back in his scabbard. The other campers began to file into the pavilion, completely unaware of what had just happened. Jordan didn't speak for the rest of the morning, now determined to find out just who that Olympian was.