The Forgotten Daughter

Back at Camp

"Of all the irresponsible, bullheaded!!!" Chiron yelled at the top of his lungs as Aliana stood like a soldier at attention, taking the heat. "Aliana Breck, what were you thinking?!"

Finally, she snapped. "I was protecting fellow campers and helping them complete their quest. How can you be mad at me for that?!"

"You weren't ready!!" He exclaimed.

"I can handle myself!" She shouted back. "You trained me. Remember? I'm as skilled with a blade as you are. The only reason you still beat me in a fight is because your torso is connected to a horse's..."

"Don't." He warned.

Aliana threw her hands up. "I was going to say butt."

He sighed his signature Chiron sigh. "You were not allowed to go on that quest. You did not have consent."

"Would you have given it to me if I had asked?" She challenged.

He didn't answer.

"That's what I thought." She glared at him. "The reason I ran from the military camp was because I knew what I was and I knew that if they put me in foster care I would have to hide. I thought it would be different here. But it's not. I may not have to hide who I am, but I can't leave. This place is just as much of a prison as a mortal family would be." She turned and started towards the door.

"Aliana, wait." He called after her.

She turned, shooting him a death glare.

He sighed. "There's something I need to show you." He clopped over to a desk and opened the top drawer, digging out a small piece of yellowed paper wrapped in a tight roll. "I received this from the oracle a few years before you arrived. I wrote it down so that, when the time came, I could remember it word-for-word."

"A prophecy." Aliana took a step towards him. "Does it involve me?"

Chiron held the paper out. "It's... about you."

She met his worried gaze and slowly took the scroll from him. She broke the wax seal and unwound the paper. She scanned the parchment, each line of text making her heart beat faster.

Two fates intertwined
The forgotten daughter will walk the line
Good and bad fight a war
For the power hidden in her soul

To greatest heights and deepest depths
Her destiny will guide her steps
To navigate through dark and dreams
Everything is not as it seems

With ebbing tide and fading knowledge
She struggles on to find her courage
But as she learns to unlock her cage
A war beneath will surely wage

A friend rejected another betrayed
The Fates are singing the end of days
As the time of Half-Bloods comes to an end
The Abandoned Son will rise again.

"The Forgotten Daughter." Aliana commented. "That's definitely me."

Chiron met her gaze, ashamed. "I kept you here because I was trying to protect the camp and its occupants."

Aliana stared at the third line of the fourth verse. "You were afraid that if you let me go on a quest, it would trigger this prophecy."

He nodded. "I never meant to make you feel trapped." He heaved a long sigh. "Now, I fear that my actions have done the very thing I was trying to avoid."

Aliana stared at the haunting words. "You think the prophecy has started."

He nodded and pointed at the first line of the second verse. "You both traveled to the entrance of Tartarus and accompanied Percy to Olympus."

"To greatest heights and deepest depths." She mumbled. Her eyes settled on the third line of the same verse. Dark and dreams. That was very accurate. Maybe the prophecy really had begun. She shivered involuntarily. "Chiron? What do we do now?"

He sighed and ran his hands through his hair. "I don't know. You could attempt to decipher it, but it's one of the vaguest prophecies I have ever seen."

She nodded. "Thank you Chiron, for helping me understand." She reached for the scroll, but hesitated.

"Take it." Chiron prompted. "It is your prophecy."

Aliana slowly wrapped her fingers around the paper, feeling the weight of its words in her hand as she walked out, the paper held close to her chest.
* * *
Aliana held her bow aloft, eyeing the target several hundred feet away. Her mind was buzzing, swirling with a million thoughts and questions. She released the arrow.

It thunked solidly into the bullseye.

She lifted another arrow. What if the half-bloods were wiped out? She released a second arrow and drew back another. It would be all her fault. She let the string slip through her fingers. Who was the Abandoned Son? Why was he important? Rise from where? She knocked a fourth arrow. Who had been rejected? Who was betrayed? Her hands were shaking now. She couldn't see anything around her. Her mind was honed in on the prophecy and what it meant for everyone at camp. A vision of terror and suffering flashed into her mind. She gasped, dropping her bow and panting. She stared wide-eyed at the grass.

"Aliana?" Percy sounded winded like he had been running or sword fighting with Luke. "How did you do that?"

She looked up at the target. She found five arrows stabbed into the exact same spot on the bullseye of the concentric circles, four of them split down the middle. "I... I don't know."

A crowd of people had gathered around her, staring in awe at the target.

Aliana stared in wonder at the splintered shafts. A spike of fear lurched through her. She turned and dashed away.

"Aliana?" Percy called. He darted after her.

She ran into the woods, bounding between trees and over fallen logs. Her heart pounded so hard it made her ears throb. With one misstep, her foot caught on a log and she fell face forward onto the hard ground. She slowly pushed herself onto her hands, breathing hard.

"There you are." Percy trotted over, heaving long breaths. "What's going on?"

Aliana forced herself to her feet, her whole body shaking.

"Woah." Percy took a step forward. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." She wouldn't face him.

"Aliana," he pleaded, "you're shaking. I've never seen anything freak you out like this. What is it?"

"I said it's nothing." She snapped. "Just leave me alone." She raced farther into the woods. This time Percy didn't follow her. She felt bad for pushing him away like that, but she didn't want to put him in danger. Not again.

A/N
What's this? I managed to update twice in one day. Amazing!
Also, this is my first prophecy. What do you think? We're getting into my plot line now. Yay!
Hope you enjoyed the chapter.
-Cheshire