152 Crossroads(Riordan)-2

"So, this is the new kid?" I asked as I looked down at the energetic little boy who would not stop changing the direction he was looking every three seconds. He looked like someone gave him fat too much sugar and caffeine, which was a very distinct possibility considering the children of Hermes.

"Hi!" Nico di Angelo, the secret son of Hades and recently abandoned by his sister so that she could join a forever 'boys have cooties' gang, chirped with a smile. "Are you a demigod too?"

"It is kind of a requirement to be here." I said with a smile, rather impressed by the fact that this kid could still act with such a childish joy after the shit he had been through before coming here. Childlike wonder was kind of impressive.

"Cool! Who's your parent? Are they a god or a goddess? Do you know if they have a Mythomagic figure?" And the questions went on and on. Till I finally had to put my hands on Nico's shoulders and shook him.

"Slow down kid, I don't even know that game." I said as I kept shaking him till I finally decided that he was shaken enough.

"How do you not know Mythomagic?!" Only to realize that, in fact, he hadn't been shaken enough as he went on talking about his favorite game. A talk that included, but was not limited to, the game's lore; the rules of its first edition, the rarity of the figure and the way some of the characters abilities worked, which had something to do with prime numbers, square roots and even trigonometry! How did a kid with ADHD and Dyslexia learnt all of these at the age of ten?! And why would anyone want to ever play a game that involved this much math?!

"Let me tell you something kid." I said with a smile, stopping Nico's tirade about how the nineteen ninety two edition of the game was banned for legit reasons. "People don't really do magic card games around here. After all, why play with make believe magic..." Then I snapped my fingers, creating a small ball of fire above my palm.

"When you can play with the real deal?" And then the fire turned into the shape of a lion, let out a small roar and started to run around Nico in the air before snuffing out.

"That is so cool!" Nico declared and despite my desire to stay as far away from the canon cast as possible, I couldn't help but smile down at the young boy who was going to suffer so much and wonder what the future would bring.

...oh what the hell? I already failed the whole 'stay away from canon cast' deal anyway, what was one more.

"If you behave yourself, I just might teach you some as well." I said with a smile as I ruffled his hair, making him beam with joy as he looked up at me.

"Dude, what the hell?!" Though our little bonding moment was kinda ruined by one of the Stoll brothers, not sure which one, gasped and pouted towards me. "You never offered to teach us any magic!"

"Cause I don't want to deal with Chiron bemoaning about whatever stupid shit you and your brother would get up to with magic." I said with a roll of my eyes and Nico gasped as I said 'shit'. Guess he was a little young, not to mention raised somewhere around in nineteen forties, to be as nonchalant as anyone else in the camp would be about some bad language.

This did make me wonder how exactly any child of big three other than Jackson could actually be considered a candidate for the prophecy. Age should be about chronology, cause if we went by biological age then we would have to think when exactly was a demigod biologically sixteen years old. There were forty year old people who were considered to be biologically in their thirties. So by that logic, neither Thalia or Bianca or Nico could actually be a candidate for the prophecy.

"Hey Al!" My thoughts about the ridiculous notions the gods had were interrupted by one of the sons of Ares, probably Mark, calling out to me. "The preparations for Capture the Flag is beginning, get your ass here and help us out!"

"Coming!" Might as well see what the others were preparing for the Hunters to demolish and act like it was because they were just better than us rather than a case of decades of experience they had over campers who didn't even have the life expectancy of more than three decades.

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"So... that seems like a very bad idea." I said with a sigh as we looked at the steadily shrinking back of Jackson who had just decided two leave his post with us guarding the flag in order to go after enemy flag. Typical protagonist 'save the day even though there is no actual danger' thing.

"You gonna stop him?" Beckendorf, a rather strongly built son of Hephaestus, asked with a grunt as he looked around.

"Nah, I think we're about to have bigger problems." I said as I spun my spear as I looked down at the lake, where the Hunters were coming towards us.

"Take their flag!" The head hunter, Zoe Nightshade, cried out as she jumped high with two daggers in her hands.

The ensuing battle was... short. As in they pretty much surrounded us, beat us up and left with the flag; a look of elation on their faces as they saw their victory getting closer the closer they got to the river. Until they finally crossed the river and started to celebrate, making Jackson who had been very near to the river and all the other campers slump down with disappointment. The son of Poseidon even threw the flag over the river with a scowl as Chiron galloped towards us with a disappointed expression.

"And the winner of the game is, the Hunters... for the fifty sixth time in a row." The number made the Hunters grin with a great aura of smug around them. It almost made me feel bad about what I was about to do.

"I have an objection." I raised my hand with a smile as I walked down and picked the flag that Jackson threw away, making everyone look at me with frowns. Hunters were actually glaring though, but at least I had gotten everyone's attention. Including Thalia's who had been just walking towards Jackson with a scowl.

"And what objection is that Al?" Chiron asked with a tired expression, somebody probably should give this centaur a real vacation one of these days.

"Our flag is not captured." I said with a smile, making everyone look confused, before I snapped my fingers and suddenly; the flag pole in Nightshade lost it's flag and became jus a pole, much to the hunter's shock. "See?" And I pointed back where the flag was still in it's place.

"Then that means." Chiron began to smile.

"No." Much to the Hunters' growing horror.

"The Camp has won!" And then people started to celebrate, throwing their helmets in the air and hugging each other. I on the other hand immediately went between Jackson and Thalia before they could start an argument, ignoring all the campers that were trying to throw their arms on my shoulder. Not like such a thing would matter, since a certain someone would make their appearance known right about...

"Impossible." Now.

Chiron's words made everyone look at where he was looking and their eyes widened as well as they saw a mummy in a tie down dress walking towards them with green smoke escaping it's mouth every now and then.

"She never moved from her spot, not for fifty years." Chiron claimed as the Oracle kept getting closer and closer, likely giving more than a few campers enough trauma to last a lifetime.

Still, it was nice to see that things hadn't changed. The Oracle would now walk closer to Jackson, completely ignore him and then go to Nightshade and then people would go to a quest to save Artemis. Pretty standard stuff that was gonna happen as Nightshade took to one knee as the Oracle kept getting closer and... walked past her?

Okay, that was wrong. The stupid Oracle was supposed to give the prophecy to Nightshade so that stuck up girl could go save Artemis all the while getting herself killed in the process. Leading to a very sad moment for everyone around.

So why the hell was the damn mummy standing in front of me?!

"I am the spirit of Delphi, speaker of the prophecies of Phoebus Apollo, slayer of the mighty Python. Approach, seeker, and ask." The Oracle's voice echoed throughout the forest and the words slipped out of my mouth without my control.

"The hell?" And then more smoke came out of the mummy's mouth, gathering in front of me before it started to take shape.

"Six shall go West to the goddess in chains." First it took the form of miss Lorenzo, the matron from the orphanage who thought me to be the child of a demon.

"The Truth shall be revealed in the land without rain." And then it turned into Bobby, a kid I knew from the streets once.

"The bane of Olympus shows the trail."

"Campers and Hunters, combined prevail." Then it turned into the some man that looked... familiar in a strange way.

"The Titan's curse must one withstand."

"And a choice shall be make, by the Wrathful One's hand."

Finally the smoke went back inside the Oracle's mouth after the last words and the walking dead sat down on a rock, uncaring of the wide eyed looks everyone around us were giving it. I, on the other hand, had only one thing to say.

"Oh, hell no!"

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