Daughter of Mother Earth

Chapter Sixty-Five

"Hey, amor," Leo's voice cut into Crystal's internal conflict. 

Oh, sweet Zeus, why is he so perfect?

"Oh, hey!" Crystal squeaked, trying to act like she was cool and not in fact thinking about him.

Leo offered his arm, grinning widely. "You hungry?"

Crystal returned the smile, forgetting about every worry and linking her arm with his. "Famished. Let's eat!"

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So maybe Crystal wasn't as hungry as she thought she was. Usually, a warm slice of banana bread was one of Crystal's comfort foods. The subtle banana flavor along with the sweetness of the chocolate chips always made her worries melt away, but sitting around the table, with all of the seven demigods, made her lose her appetite. Crystal quietly sat in her seat, listening as the group compared notes about their experience getting the supplies. Beside Crystal sat Leo, nearly inhaling his slices of pizza. 

"So where are we heading now?" Leo asked, mouth full. 

Crystal shifted in her chair and set down her fork, the half-eaten food long forgotten. "Well, what we did was a quick repair. If we don't land again soon for full repairs, we won't make it over the Atlantic."

"I saw some eagles over the city," Frank said. "The Romans aren't far behind."

Percy swallowed his blue pie. "Which means we need as much distance as possible."

"Is it possible to go back and reason with them?" Piper's face was riddled with guilt. "Maybe I didn't try hard enough with the charmspeaking."

Jason grabbed her hand. "It wasn't any of our faults."

Crystal nodded. "What happened was a way to drive the camps to war. If anyone is to blame, it's Gaea."

Even the name left a bitter taste in Crystal's mouth. She desperately wanted to scream 'Hey everyone! My mother is the woman who's hellbent on raising the giants and overthrowing the gods. Also, did I mentioned I've known for a while? Surprise!'

Yeah, no. 

Crystal chewed in inside of her cheek. She had no idea when the time was right. Crystal worried about what Nemesis said to her. 

"... pay the ultimate price..."

"I've been seeing things in my knife."

Piper's sentence caught Crystal's attention. Has she been seeing visions too? Crystal's mind flashed to the two visions she saw. Maybe Piper had seen them as well. 

"Like what?" Crystal asked.

"They are kind of confusing, you know? They don't make much sense," Piper said. "The images are fuzzy but I think I saw two giants, possibly twins."

Okay, so maybe Piper's visions were slightly different. 

Annabeth set down her fork. "Ella's prophecy mentioned twins."

"Wisdom's daughter walks alone, the Mark of Athena burns through Rome," Percy recited. "Annabeth, that has to be you."

Crystal let out a long breath. "I suppose now is a good time to mention that I've been seeing things too?"

All seven demigods turned their attention onto her. Annabeth raised an eyebrow. 

"It's not often," Crystal explained. "It only happened twice, but they were pretty intense."

"What happened?" Percy asked before taking another bite of pie.

Crystal tugged at a curl, leaning back in her chair. "A war. Demigods and monsters fighting each other. I can't exactly remember everything, but there was a giant explosion in the sky. After that, it went black."