Forgotten prophecy

Chapter 20

Percy knew that they would be facing several obstacles on their quest. It was an unavoidable part of being a demigod. He was, however, unaware that their first hurdle would arise so soon. He had thought it might be due to Ryker in some way shape or form, but not in the manner they were facing. "Come on man." Percy said tiredly for the seventh time in minutes. "We have to go."

"I'll walk." Ryker answered, glaring warily at the van. "Just give me directions and I will meet you there."

"If you showed up by yourself they would probably kill you." Piper told him. Again.

When the van that they were taking to the Amazons had pulled up Ryker had freaked out like a cat that someone had just attempted to baptize. Percy, and the others in the group, had originally found this absolutely hilarious. But it was now going on an hour and they had not managed to move Ryker a step closer to the vans. They were growing impatient at the exact same rate it seemed that Ryker was growing stubborn. While Nico and Will attempted to reassure Ryker that the trip was necessary and that he could not in fact walk to the amazons, Percy, Annabeth, Hazel and Piper stepped away and convened for an emergency meeting.

"Tell me you have some sort of idea." Percy pleaded. "Because I don't. And we need to get moving."

"I would say that we should try to overpower him and drag him to the van but I'm not entirely sure that would be advisable." Annabeth blew out an annoyed sigh. "We should have waited to give him back his claws."

"At least he doesn't have a bow." Hazel said optimistically. "If he did I doubt we could even get as close to him as we could have."

"Score one for the Roman armory." Percy said gloomily. He glanced at Piper, who had gone suspiciously quiet, and a hopeful smile spread across his face. He knew that look. That was Piper's 'I have a plan you might not enjoy' look. "Let's hear it." Percy said immediately.

"Well... We still have charmspeak." Piper offered. "I'm sure that it would work."

"I sensed a 'but' in there somewhere." Annabeth noted. Percy knew that she would not be opposed to the idea. Being the daughter of Athena allowed her a better look into what was necessary than most people had.

"I really don't know how he will react once it wears off." Piper said in a small voice.

That put somewhat of a damper on the idea. Percy had seen what happened when animals were unwillingly put into cages. The outcome was almost never favorable. It then occurred to Percy that he really had to stop thinking of Ryker as an animal. Wild or not, he was still a demigod. A very stubborn demigod, but then again what room did he have to talk? "Could you possibly keep charmspeaking him every time that it's about to wear off?" Annabeth asked. "You did with those snake people."

"They were more susceptible to it I guess." Piper ran a hand through her hair and sighed. "The effects of charmspeak are different on everyone. Some people are only affected for a short amount of time. Others are affected until I snap them out of it. You saw what happened to Will. I really don't want to be on the receiving end of that."

"We could always handcuff him." Hazel joked. When Percy and Annabeth exchanged triumphant looks she immediately shook her head. "That was a joke." She said immediately.

"We'll have to be fast." Percy told Annabeth. "Just in case it does wear off fast. Piper?"

"Ready whenever you are." She told them. A growl turned their attention back to the arguing trio of Ryker, Will, and Nico. Apparently Nico had attempted to reassure Ryker with a hand on his shoulder. The son of Cybele now stood a dozen feet away from the two and was glaring at them murderously. "I need to be somewhat close though." She warned.