Hidden Half-Bloods

Chapter Four: Point Break

"Scatter!" Gabi shrieked as a massive scorpion lunged at her. She rolled out of the way, it's stinger hitting the ground where she had been standing. She saw her friends run, dashing towards the four tunnels on the other side of the scorpion. Megan tugged Redd along one, while Riley and Nolan sprinted for another. Gabi stabbed at the scorpion's stinger with her knife, spraying poison that just barely missed her before she sprinted for the third and nearest tunnel as James fired an arrow at the strong hide of the scorpion from the entrance of the fourth.

Eventually, after too many twists and turns to count, Gabi flopped down against a wall, breathing hard. She had lost the scorpion, but she also had no idea where she was. She was hopelessly lost, with none of her friends to help her.

"Aw, don't cry, dear!" Gabi looked up through her tears to find herself in a room with a beautiful fountain that sprayed clear water high into the air. There were archaic paintings along the walls, depicting the age of the Titans. Sitting at a marble table was a woman with light, honey-toned brown skin and beautiful dark hair that was piled atop her head. Her eyes seemed to shimmer with an iridescence that made Gabi never want to look away. Gabi wasn't at all ashamed to say that she would've married that woman right then and there.

"Who are you?" Gabi stood up, shaking from her crying. The woman's eyes turned sad and Gabi immediately felt guilty. She didn't want to cause this beautiful woman any sadness.

"I'm Rhea, the Titaness who allowed you to live sixteen years as a mortal with a normal life, Gabriela Fortes." Gabi usually would've winced at the use of her full name, but when Rhea said it, she loved it. "Come sit, my dear." Gabi plopped down at the table and Rhea snapped her fingers, magically cleaning Gabi's face and hair before she spoke again. "Ganymede pretends that he is your patron, but I have veiled your presence as a demigod since you were born. Due to my age, I have only short windows of sanity, and I have used all of them to guide and protect the six of you. Your actions will determine whether or not your world remains safe. That being said, your role to play is one of the most important." Rhea opened her hand, palm up, and an image appeared of a glowing golden spear. "This is the spear of Hyperion, another Titan. In order to survive, James must hold this spear when Echidna launches her forces upon Camp Half-Blood. Currently it resides in Echidna's camp at its Titan's side, but you will steal it along with the daughter of Aphrodite." If it had been any of the other demigods, it would've taken them a lot longer than seven seconds to process that information.

"Why not Redd? He's a son of Hermes, the thief god, right?" Gabi huffed as she scrunched her nose at the projection. Why couldn't James just get the spear himself? Gabi had more important things to do—like help Camp Half-Blood to prepare for Echidna's attack.

Instead of snippy answer like Gabi was expecting, Rhea's expression grew sad. Gabi's heart dropped. What was going to happen to Redd?

"Take care, daughter of Athena." Gabi blinked, and the Titaness was gone.

~

Just because his asthma was gone didn't mean that James was in shape. He ran about five minutes before collapsing, wheezing and rolling around as he struggled to pry his water bottle out of his backpack. He had stopped at the end of a corridor in front of a very strange door made of pure ice. It was so thick that he couldn't make out anything on the other side, but it seemed to call to him for some strange reason. James knew that Percy hadn't had any ice powers, so he shouldn't either. Poseidon's realm only covered water and the ocean.

"I wouldn't go in there, if I were you." James was knocked out his thoughts when a nasally voice whispered through his ears. He jolted upright, looking around for whoever was speaking to him, only to find the corridor empty. "I am Lelantos, Titan of things unseen, and it is not your time to enter that door." James touched his fingers to the freezing surface of the door, feeling the patterns inscribed beneath. The coldness seeped through his hand and began worming up his arm, drawing him in. "You must get away from here. Do not give in." He yanked his hand away from the door and stood up, retrieving his bow from where it was still lying on the dirt floor. He was going to come back and find out what was inside, eventually. As he walked away, he felt a sigh of relief come from the invisible Titan.