beware my brother and his minions, young demigod.
i shoot to my feet; i hadn't even realized i'd collapsed in the zeta tube. i instantly IM annabeth and tell her about what i just saw.
mgann intercepts me in the mountain and immediately notices my puzzlement. "are you okay?"
i nod. "yeah, i think so. but i has this weird vision. this lady told me to beware her brother." i say. immediately after i say this, everything goes white again. i hear the same feminine voice as before. "theia," she tells me.
i suddenly open my eyes, not realizing i closed them in the first place. i do realize that m'gann is shaking me. "holy cow, percy! you passed out!"
"i had another vision. the only word she said was Theia. is that her name?" i ask, mainly questioning myself. i IM annabeth once again and explain the situation.
"theia's a daughter of gaea. the fact that she said to beware her brother is not good at all," she says. i sigh.
"thanks anyway. gotta go, see you later." m'gann leaves, and i decide to blow off some steam. i change into my signature gym look—a sports bra and spandex. i head to the cave's gym and go straight for the jump rope. i work out for a while before jaime and bart come in. they don't notice me.
"did you hear what happened to hotshot?" jaime asks.
"i heard he left. no one knows where he is, but cassie found a note saying he'd be november oscar romeo tango hotel. that's the weirdest hotel name i've ever heard," bart comments. i quickly put two and two together, and i shoot to my feet.
"that's it! north!" i shout. both boys jump at my sudden outburst, confusion clouding their faces.
"how do you know he's up north?" jaime asks, skeptical.
"it's the military alphabet. he quite literally spelled it out for us. well, he didn't do anything, cause he's dead. i gotta go tell annabeth," i explain before running to find annabeth. she shows up just in time. "annabeth! i got a lead!" i run up to her.
"hold on, we need to discuss this in private." we walk back to my old room. "what is it?" she asks.
"apparently someone left a note with 'november oscar romeo tango hotel'. he's somewhere up north!" i say, excited that i finally got the lead.
"so theia, galea's daughter, wants us to beware her brother but go north? it's a trap, but i think i know who we're going to."
"do you know who it is?"
"yes, and it's not good."
i look at annabeth with surprise. "well, who?"
she rolls her eyes. "come on, percy. think. he has to be the titan of the north: coeus."
"bob's brother?" i ask. she nods solemnly. "we're gonna need a lot of help. where do you think he's at?"
"probably canada or something," a voice says. artemis walks in and sits next to me on the bed. "you okay?" i nod. she looks at annabeth. "exactly how far north do you assume he is?"
"as far north and as far from civilization as possible," she says. "percy, we might need to get the others in here, even if it means exposing the cave. we have to use the cave's tech."
"that's fine by me, we just have to ask batman." the three of us zeta to the manor. i walk into bruce's office to find him sitting at his desk. "hey, bruce, i have a favor to ask," i say. he motions for me to continue. "well, annabeth and i know of what could be a huge threat to the world, but to stop it, we need some of our friends to help us out. is that fine if we tell them the batcave's location?"
he surprises me with a yes.
i look at him with wide eyes. "seriously?"
bruce shrugs. "well, you're responsible, and i trust you girls won't do anything reckless." i thank him and hurry to the zeta tube. annabeth and i zeta to the camp. we round up the rest of the seven plus nico and will before heading back to the cave via the zeta tubes.
"dam, percy. this is so cool!" leo exclaims, examining the cave. "where'd they get this kind of tech?"
"batman's loaded," i say, shrugging. annabeth and i lead them to training room. i then call the team into the room through the intercom. the group of young heroes rushes to attention. "everyone, meet leo, piper, jason, frank, hazel, nico, and will. they're here to help solve our little deity problem."
"and how exactly are they supposed to do that?" superboy asks warily.
"listen, tough guy. this is a family issue. you're lucky you're even included in this conversation, so i recommend you shut your mouth before i—mpph!" piper covers leo's mouth while giving and apologetic smile. sb rolls his eyes, and i continue talking.
"we already know who he's with and in what general direction he's in. we just need to know exactly where he is," i explain.
"but we have to be cautious. coeus wouldn't let theia just give away their location," annabeth adds. i nod in agreement.
"i can run a scan and see if the satellites pick up any unusual activity up north," dick says. he strides over to the computer and rapidly types for a few seconds before straightening. "there! i've got his location."
"nice. now, we can't go in cold. we have to train, even if it's just for a little while. a good majority of the people in here have never gone up against someone like this," jason comments.
"good point. everyone, follow me. the team will be divided into groups. each group will be lead in training by two or three demigods." as soon as i give the word, we split up. annabeth and i are training sb, m'gann, dick, tim, artemis, and wally.
training takes several hours. we teach them all about their competition. let me tell you, we did not go easy on them. by the time we're done, even the supers are on the floor wheezing. "good work. now, get some sleep. tomorrow's even harder," annabeth says. the team heads to their rooms, leaving me, the demigods, dick, artemis, and wally.
"guys, we all know this isn't going to be easy. but is it that hard of an enemy that we need to work them to the bone?" wally asks.
jason stares at him. "wally, this guy isn't gonna go easy. we can't rely on other heroes to help us out." he then turns to the rest of us. "we also can't beat him by force. we need someone who can lie easily, someone who would be expected to rebel from their parent. someone who can travel from place to place quickly." everyone turns and looks to me. "what do you say, percy?"
i sigh. "i'm in."
