Abandoned- a pertemis story Ψ ☑️

Clairvoyance. Chapter 16

Alright. Here we go again...- Internet Head

ΨPercyΨ
"Alright. They're off doing... whatever." I said, upon finding that Thalia and Nico had already left. We had woken up to their departure, no note, no explanation, no warning.
They just left. Which I guess is a lot faster than what we had planned.
Anyway, we got back in the car and drove to LA. It was an, uh, interesting drive.
And by interesting I mean several things attacked us along the way and I had to kill them.
So, yeah, it was fun.
We did make it to LA though, which was really the point. Upon arrival we had Carmen direct us to where this Dakota could possibly be.
Carmen searched a lot of places before it 'clicked' for him.
"I'm stupid..." he sighed.
"Yeah, but why right now?" I asked, ever encouraging.
"Well. Dakota has a lot of, uh, efficient works but he also has pretty expensive tastes." He explained, rubbing a hand on the nape of his neck "so basically all I've got to do is find the most secure, coolest, biggest house I can find."
I nodded "of course." I was pretty tired of secure and cool and expensive.
Artemis looked around "there." She said, pointing to a very tall and White House just over the first street of houses.
"Expensive taste..." Alexus shook her head, disapproving.
Carmen grabbed a map and led us to the house. We were blocked by a thick golden gate with the initials DR written into it.
"Do we... knock?" I asked.
Carmen shook his head. He reached into his pocket and withdrew some industrial bolt cutters.
"Why do you have that!?" Alexus said, staring at it.
"Because I don't like cutting locks with a sword." He said and cut the chains holding the lock in place. He reached forward and pushed the gate open. He smiled "he won't mind. Let's go."
He jogged up the long winding driveway and to the front door.
"Didn't you say this place was secure-?" I asked as he put one foot on the welcome mat and it swung down into a pit of water. He started to fall but I lurched forward and grabbed him by his coat collar. I yanked him back and set him on the pavement.
"Calm down... gods..." I said with a huff and he nodded.
He got up and brushed off his pants before stepping around the trap door and going up to the door.
"What now?" Alexus asked just as Carmen flicked his hand and drew his sword.
"Carmen, no!" Artemis said, taking out her spear.
Carmen didn't listen. He cut apart the door and stepped inside.
We all groaned and sighed together before following him in.
I gasped at the fancy interior. Okay... I've seen fancy but this is excessive. The walls were marble and gold and everything was made of something that really shouldn't be there.
I peeked into the bathroom under the stairs and found that the ceiling of it was plated with diamonds. I looked at the Golden toilet.
"... what?" I asked myself and promptly left.
"Percy! C'mon!" Alexus said and I followed her up the stairs, taking them two at a time.
Carmen was standing in front of an ornately decorated door while Artemis leaned against the wall, picking at her nails.
"Right. You guys ready?" Carmen asked and Artemis stopped leaning on the wall, standing up straight.
"Ready?" Alexus questioned under her breath.
Carmen kicked open the door and we all instinctively grit our teeth and huffed.
He strode into the room which was... downgraded from the rest of the house.
This was the highest floor yet the fanciest thing was the desk in the room. It was beautiful but also hidden under papers and expensive pens, an ink well turned over and dripping black ink onto the floor. The walls were white, not marble, and the back wall was a large window of which a teenager was staring out of, holding a glass of something.
Carmen spread out his arms "hey! Dakota!" He said in a friendly voice.
Dakota turned and let out a breath "hey." He said simply, not bothering to wave.
"Oh come on DJ! Put some oomph into it!" Carmen said, walking over and slapping him on the back.
Dakota blinked in surprise "uh. What's...up?" He said slowly.
Carmen sighed "you still haven't gotten very good at this whole talking thing have you?" He asked.
Dakota shrugged "I spend most of my time inside..." he explained.
"You should really get some sun." Carmen observed, looking at his pale skin.
"I burn easy." He tan one hand, with a gold band on his index finger, through his hair.
I noticed that it was faded blue, the tips the most blue and it faded the further down you went until you could see almost white blonde hair.
"Bull." Carmen joked as his warm eyes met Dakota's stormy grey.
"It's-its not." Dakota sighed "what do you want?" He asked.
I decided that this conversation wasn't for me and I started looking around.
There was a sword, displayed in the wall, that glowed with low light. Celestial Bronze.
I touched it "this is weird." I said aloud and the two rouge demigods looked at me.
"What's weird about it?" Carmen asked.
"Well-well... it's a katana!" I'd never seen a celestial bronze katana before. It wasn't a Greek weapon.
"Don't blame me. He gave it to me." Dakota said, not even looking over as he pointed to Carmen.
"Still your fault for using it so much..." Carmen muttered as he and Dakota started looking through papers on his desk.
I nodded and moved away from the sword. Artemis looked at me and Alexus raised an eyebrow. I shrugged. Don't judge me.
"Aha! DJ!" Carmen waved Dakota closer and showed him a scroll.
Dakota nodded "yeah. That's the one..." he confirmed.
"Okay cool. So where exactly...?" Carmen spread it out on the table and Dakota pointed out a place on the scroll.
"It's there. Not to far..." he muttered.
"Oh wow. This shouldn't be too long of a day then..." Carmen nodded and pumped up a fist "hell yeah!"
"What's so 'hell yeah' about this?" Alexus walked over, looking down at the scroll.
I walked over and stared down at the scroll as well "what the-?" I said.
The scroll was a bunch of circles, connected by patterns and symbols. I recognized very few of them.
"How can you read this?" Alexus said incredulously.
Dakota looked at us "what do you mean? It's Rouge Code. Everyone can read it..."
Carmen smacked the back of his head "they're not Rouge Demigods, dude." He said
Dakota blinked slowly "oh... that explains a lot."
Carmen nodded "yeah. So why don't you explain what we see here?"
Dakota pointed to the middle of a circle and traced the symbol of the sun that connected to it "Rouge Code are maps and information simultaneously. The circles are words that describe a place and the symbols help detail it. Once you know the code it looks like a map and key." He explained, looking around at us "the symbols and lines that connect the circles are words that tell us things like this one is a report of Apollo moving into the Roman camp."
Carmen nodded along "even that has code within it. The code tells us about an oracle unrelated to Apollo, Menestheus."
"Seriously? No joke?" I asked, glad something was going right for once.
"No. It's true and the map labels it..." Dakota traced some lines "about a block away."
Artemis and I shared a look.
"Let's get going." Artemis said, moving away.
Carmen nodded and started towards the door as Alexus and and I looked at the map once more before turning to leave.
"Wolf." Dakota called, sounding a bit nervous.
Carmen turned "DJ?" He seemed unconcerned about anything.
"Be careful. Don't-." He took a deep breath and stared Carmen in the eye "don't disappear again..."
Carmen's gaze softened a little "you know why I left... but it won't ever happen again." He said before nodding to him and leaving.
Dakota looked worried, he turned his gaze to meet mine.
"Percy Jackson." His eyes were like Annabeths, grey and stormy "don't let another hero fall."
And with that I turned and left. I swallowed hard as I closed the door.
Don't let another hero fall? I can certainly try my best. But things were never that simple. Sometimes there are fates and destinies you can't weave yourself out of.

The walk down the road was eerily silent. There was nobody outside and oddly not much noise.
"Does... anything seem wrong to you guys?" I said, my hand going into my pocket and fingering Riptide.
"It's quiet... not supposed to be quiet." Carmen muttered, drawing his sword.
"Stay close." Alexus muttered back, taking out her bow.
"Don't stray." Artemis said aat the same time, also getting out her weapon.
I uncapped Riptide and led them forwards.
We stalked forward and approached a building that looked pretty beat up.
"Nice place for a haunted house?" I said, walking over to the porch.
The house looked out of place, very out of place. Everywhere else looked rich but this house was shorter and more dilapidated.
I cautiously stepped forward onto the porch, the floorboards creaking as I did, and poked the door with my sword.
It creaked open and I stepped inside, blinking in the darkness.
Carmen let small tongues of fire curl off his fingers.
"So we can see." He explained and I nodded.
I moved past old rickety desks and shelves covered in dust. I moved aside some broken chairs with my sword just before Carmen tapped my shoulder with the flat of his blade.
I looked at him and he pointed with his sword.
I frowned. Of course. The basement.
I went down first, walking lightly on the stairs because they felt ready to break at any moment.
I tripped on the final stair and fell into absolute darkness. I yelled as the air around me seemed to solidify into cold icy black water.
It filled my lungs and clouded my eyes further, the cold feeling almost like fingers.
The water felt so evil, so horrific, that the very lapping of the waves against a far distant shore could be mistaken for cruel dark laughter.
I thrust my hand up and grasped onto a hand that felt like fire and frostbite at the same time.
I was yanked up and suddenly I was in a dark desert.
The very sand glittered black and shine under the hidden moon. The sky was filled with the stars, almost no blackness to separate them, yet somehow everything was still mostly pitch black.
I couldn't see anybody, nobody that had saved me nor anybody who would be my enemy.
I gasped and hacked for breath.
"What in the Gods names!" I howled into the darkness, my throat raw. I tried to stand up but my vision flipped and instead of a desert or a sea I was now in a bent and twisted version of New York.
I turned around and I found myself in Alaska once more before the very ground shifted and became the Kansas wheat fields I'd been in before. Every single place was dark and shadowy somehow. No light, only dark.
Carmen was there, torn up and looking terrified.
"Oracle?" He questioned, standing up as the cuts in his clothes started fusing back together.
I could only shrug as I searched for Riptide but the pen was nowhere to be found.
The sky rumbled and a voice seemed to speak in our minds.
The Future is a fickle thing. It said Sometimes to divine it, there are prices to pay. Are you willing to pay such a price?
Carmen and I looked at one another. What prices? No other oracle really asked much. Delphi just needed a host, nothing too bad. Rachel seemed okay with it.
Carmen looked at me, shocked and scared, and dissolved into shadows. I lunged forward, as if I was going to grab him, but my hands only swiped at emptiness.
I felt anger building up inside of me and I screamed up at the heavens.
"Is this funny to you!?" I yelled. Why is this happening? Why am I always in the middle?
My vision swam and I saw the faces of my friends and companions.
Alexus looking stern and alert.
Carmen looking blank.
Artemis looking absolutely terrified for the first time.
What prices do I have to pay? What else do I have...?