Saving a Hero

CHAPTER 11

On a quest one shall not see

To rescue a friend from familiarity

One shall fall and have until dusk

To bring back a sense of such great lust 

Two sides shall battle

A battle of heartbreak and woe

Until one shall oppose the son of Apollo

A battle of wits, water and the bringer of death

Only won by the sun

Four shall battle one shall die

Two must make it back to camp alive 

The son of Poseidon shall bring only one 

Adorned son at deaths door 

Shall make or break the world forever more

Misery shall met you in the dark 

You mustn't listen to her for she bares untrue narcs 

Not in your favor the gods shall be

There will be one to help you along said quest 

Find her in the forest where she shall rest 

The summer solstice is the deadline

A date of which you will be dead by

We ran to the big house and told Chiron that Will was missing. He nodded and sighed. He waved us on to go to our cabins and pack, so we did. An hour later Nico and I met up at the brim of the woods by the arena. It was about 7 pm, it was pretty dark and I had no clue what we were going to find, and hardly what we were even looking for. I had no clue what would happen to Nico or Will, but I would try to keep them as safe as possible during this quest. Nico and I walked into the forest holding hands. He jumped at every sound but he was on high alert for any monsters. His other hand was holding onto his Stygian sword's hilt. What in the world were we even looking for? A little girl sleeping in the woods or something. The goddess was probably Artemis. She was always in the woods. Nico pulled me out of my thoughts, his hand tightened, somewhat crushing my hand. I pulled my hand out of his and massaged it while trying to see what he was seeing. A twig snapped, my head whipped around to the sound. 

"Do you see that?" 

Nico asked me. I studied the area as fast as I could. My eyes landed on a white dove on a tree branch. It looked so pure. It was staring straight at us. It flicked its head and soared to another branch farther away from us. It turned and looked at us again. 

"Um... So should we follow it or something?" 

Nico asked me again. I shook my head, what the hell?

"Yeah, let's go." 

We ran to the tree the dove was under. It picked at its feathers and flew to another tree branch. We followed. After following it to another three branches we saw a giant golden tent. It had lanterns illuminating it in the dark forest. Nico and I looked at each other. We looked to the dove, and saw it was perched on top of the tent. Cautiously we walked quietly over to the golden tent. 

"Hello demigods!" 

A cheery female voice greeted us from inside the tent. I uncapped my pen and turned it into my sword. 

"Oh! No need for that my darlings!" 

The voice said again. The golden tent's flap flipped over. A woman wearing a white with golden laced dress walked out smoothly. Her hair was changing colors, it turned to blonde, brown, and finally decided to stay on black. Her eyes were like Piper's, also constantly changing colors. Her skin stayed a tanned tone. She was very beautiful, she was most defiantly a goddess. I capped my pen and put it into my pocket while Nico and I kneeled to her. 

"No no! Get up, get up! You'll ruin your lovely jeans!" 

She said to us playfully, she was smiling and laughing. We got up and Nico began, 

"Goddess Aphrodite, were on a quest, you wouldn't happen to be the goddess in the forest were looking for, would you?" 

Nico was trying to be polite, Aphrodite was one of the meaner gods when you were rude to her. So I knew to try to follow suite. 

"I'm not the goddess your looking for Nico, I just wanted to check on you two! You might be one of my best works in this camp! Of course Annabeth was a good match for you Perseus but she was far too mean! I thought Nico was a better match!"

She was beaming at us. Nico and I both looked at each other,

"Uh thanks."

I said to her awkwardly. Nico was slightly blushing, my cheeks became warm so I was guessing I was too. I had no idea why we were stopping to have conversation about love with Aphrodite in the forrest, we were sort of on a quest. 

"Don't worry dear Perseus! I just wanted to give Nico something and I'll send you two lovebirds right over to who your looking for!"

Aphrodite answered my question like she was reading my mind. Nico inhaled sharply and glanced at me, obviously worried. Aphrodite walked into her tent. 

"I don't like this..." 

Nico whispered to me before following behind her to the inside of the tent. I was left outside, there were absolutely no sounds coming from the tent. I observed the nearby woods. A minute later Nico got pushed out of the tent with a black book bag and a white liquid in a golden tinted mason jar. 

"Goodbye boys!" 

Aphrodite called to us before snapping her fingers. I closed my eyes for a second and felt a breeze. When I opened my eyes and we were in a whole different place.
 

"What just happened?"

Nico asked me. I shrugged.

"I have no clue, what did Aphrodite give you?"

I questioned Nico, he was still holding the mason jar in his hands. He fidgeted and put the mason jar in the book bag. 

"I don't know, she said it will help us when we need it most."

Nico said as he slung the black book bag over his shoulder. I raised my eyebrows. Before I could say anything else Nico shushed me. I started to look around at where Aphrodite snapped us to. It was a cave, but it was like someone lived in it. It has torches on the walls. The ground was tiled instead of being dirt. Up ahead I could see a beige colored double door. 

"Do you hear the ocean?"