Chapter 8: Golden Apple

Luke and Annabeth made their way up a thin white staircase that creaked more loudly with each passing step. The white paint was progressively more chipped as they climbed, with the uppermost step just being a block of light birch wood. Luke superstitiously skipped straight over it, hopping onto the carpeted second floor of the Big House. Annabeth mirrored him, both demigods sharing the same strange feeling about the sequestered staircase.

Instead of the nice main steps that led to the actual second floor of the Big House, Chiron had led them here, to a corner opposite to the infirmary on the first floor. The little staircase was only wide enough for one person to walk up at a time, and its dilapidated state had only made the demigods more nervous to climb it. But the damage didn't look natural; Luke swore he saw nail marks dragged across several chipped steps.

Standing on the dim landing, Annabeth reached for the single light switch next to the stairs. She flicked it, but nothing happened. Shifting uncomfortably, she stared ahead into the dark section of the Big House. There was just one doorway in the area, but it was completely boarded up with rotting planks. Thankfully, that creepy room wasn't where they were supposed to go. Luke reached for the only other thing on the landing; the rope hanging from the ceiling.

When he pulled, the entire room seemed to groan as a foldable staircase descended halfway down before creaking to a stop. Luke had to unfold the rest himself, straining against smooth wood rungs that felt like they were fighting to remain coiled. He sighed when he eventually got them down, and only then did he notice the strange weighty air that'd entered the area.

It was coming from the attic, and the discomfort he'd felt on the stairs had suddenly increased tenfold. But he steeled himself and climbed onto the rungs, Annabeth following right behind him. The creaking resumed immediately and only got worse when Luke's head and chest broke into the dull room.

Looking into the attic, his first thought was that it was filthy. Upturned furniture, crumpled tarps, strewn and torn clothes all over the floor, and all of it caked with dust. The only parts of the room that seemed even slightly organized were tilted shelves that framed the back wall. Jars lined them in rows, but the attic was too dark for Luke to see far enough and make out what was inside.

The only reason he could even see anything was the single circular window in the center of the far wall. Daylight bent through the inscribed glass, but most of it was stifled by the thick something in the room. It wasn't a visible or tangible presence, but it hung over the entire area like heavy fog.

Luke realized, courtesy of a row of knuckles against his butt, that he'd been standing on the same rung for nearly a minute.

"If you're scared, I'll go first," Annabeth teased.

Luke smiled, but he didn't turn back to look at her.

"You sure? I think I see spiders."

He felt the fist again. Much heavier this time.

"Sorry, sorry," he laughed, pulling himself out of a spell and into the attic.

Annabeth followed carefully, taking Luke's place by only climbing halfway into the room. He saw her visibly swallow, her hands tight on the top rung as her eyes nervously searched the floors and walls. Luke immediately regretted bringing up her phobia.

He made a show of kicking around tarps and shoving chairs and clothes among other miscellaneous items around the attic, clearing the proximal area to prove that there weren't any spiders lurking. When Annabeth started pointing out specific places near their floor entrance, Luke ensured to check those even more thoroughly – which meant more dramatically – until her smile returned to her face. Satisfied, she climbed into the attic, and it was the floor's turn to creak.

The room shuddered as they inched forward together, shouldering clutter out of their way. The overbearing presence seemed to bore down when Luke pushed a dresser to the side and they neared the window. He could finally see inside the jars lining the tilted shelves, and his face twisted. They were pickled monster heads just floating around in some weird kind of juice. Who knew a summer camp could be so metal?

Annabeth inhaled sharply before her hand tightly grasped Luke's. He looked away from the walls, following her eyes to a rocking chair leaned against the window. In it was a deteriorated corpse. Nearly half-skeleton, it was a woman with just wisps of hair hanging down her rancid, protruding skull. She wore an open shamanic tunic and an under-robe that were just as grey as the rest of the room. Her mouth was open in a permanent sigh.

Luke's heart was thrumming in his chest, and he could nearly feel Annabeth's beating through her hand gripping his. The pair steadied themselves and stepped over bent swords and dented shields, walking until they were just feet from the woman.

"Oracle," Luke said. His voice came out embarrassingly meek. He cleared his throat. "Hey, Oracle."

Nothing. Luke decided to wait a moment before trying again. And in that brief silence, Annabeth's curiosity got the better of her. She leaned forward into the body's rotted face, whispering aloud as she wondered why it didn't smell terrible. She stopped inches from its caved nose, scrutinizing the mass of dead flesh.

The body suddenly burst to life, its jaw nearly unhinging as Annabeth shrieked and stumbled backwards. Luke grabbed her before she could fall, quickly moving her behind him as the body shoved upright. It clawed from the chair with its bony, withering hands and shuddered forward like a malfunctioning animatronic.

Green smoke began spilling from its mouth, making the room heavier as it billowed and spread faster than wildfire. The whole attic was a funnel of green in seconds, and the reanimated corpse continued to trudge towards a frozen Luke. His heart was in his throat, and the only thing that kept him in place was Annabeth being right behind him.

The corpse went rigid a foot from his face, releasing a wheezing sigh as its jaw returned to its humane position. The soft green smoke stopped spilling, and a brighter green light found lamps in the body's hollow eyes.

"Luke Castellan." The mouth barely moved as the Oracle spoke, its voice belonging in one of those warning-awareness ads for smoking. "Hear a glimpse of your fate."

The sching of a blade being sharpened echoed across the room. The green smoke glowed gold for less than a second. Luke could barely make out the afterimage of a curved silhouette in the smoke, and the thought washed away entirely as the Oracle spoke again.

"Three shall go west in a bird, metal-feathered.

A companion of Love, and the other Untethered."

Luke hated rhymes.

"Through sparks and mists, one may learn,

but a silent voice shall let them burn.

The garden of Hera stands coiled and waiting,

It bears its fruit, whole golden and baiting.

To grant the gift of eternal life,

one risks beginning one's own of strife."

Luke couldn't remember leaving the attic. After the last words of the prophecy were spoken, he must have fallen into some kind of daze. He'd left the Oracle in her den, descended the rungs to the landing, then the stairs to the first floor, and walked back into the living room without so much as a moment of recollection.

Annabeth sat beside him on the leather couch, both of their backs straight and their shoulders rigid. She couldn't remember coming back down here either. Across from them, Chiron sat in his wheelchair with a sympathetic smile. He told them that it was perfectly natural to not have any recollection following the meeting. It was just a standard quirk of dealing with the Oracle of Delphi.

"But," Chiron continued, "with it comes a guarantee that you will never forget the lines of the prophecy. Would you share them with me?"

Annabeth's brows were knitted, and she was staring at the ground. After a sideways glance at her, Luke looked back to Chiron.

"So we're skipping the explanation for why there's a dead and decomposing body in the attic and a bunch of pickle jars with monster heads?"

The centaur smiled, but Luke could see a burdensome weight behind his eyes. Chiron never looked guilty like he did now.

"What would you like to know?"

"Why the Oracle of Delphi is in the state she's in," Luke reiterated more carefully.

The centaur nodded, his smile weary.

"The woman who is host to the Oracle was cursed by a god more than seventy years ago. She is unable to truly pass away and transfer her mantle to the next Oracle, so she is trapped in her withering state until the curse is lifted."

"And there's no way around it? To try and give the Oracle a new body even with the curse?"

"No," Chiron murmured, not meeting Luke's eyes, "it is not possible."

The demigod was made immediately uncomfortable by the shame in his instructor's voice. There were definitely stories there that he'd be intruding if he pried on. He shook his head.

"And the pickle jars?" Luke asked instead.

"Demigods may do whatever they like with their spoils. If they want to collect, they collect," the centaur answered with a small, more genuine smile, "Now, before you may go and return with your own spoils, could you tell me about your prophecy?"

Luke recited it to him, watching his face carefully for hints or revelations or anything that could help him. He had his own guesses about what was in store – all of them terribly dangerous – but he wanted to hear what Chiron had to say first. By the end, the centaur's expression was a mirror of what it was at the beginning. Pure stone. The only face that'd changed was Annabeth's, now visibly fuming.

"Are you alright, my dear?" Chiron asked her.

"No," she snapped, "I didn't hear any of that. The Oracle just looked down at me and said that I 'am not to leave this place until the one arrives. The One of the Prophecy.' Then all the smoke funneled back into her body and she scooted back to her chair."

Chiron fell sheet white. Luke was surprised he couldn't see his beard spontaneously greying. That was twice in one conversation that the collected centaur's emotions had escaped him. Annabeth noticed more quickly.

"What was she talking about?" she pushed before making air quotes, "'the One of the Prophecy.'"

"It is not something I can tell you now, child," Chiron answered after color had returned to his face.

Annabeth crossed her arms over her body, almost pouting.

"So I'm just stuck? I have to stay while Luke leaves on a quest?"

Luke watched her silently, feeling his chest clench at her suddenly desperate tone. She wanted to go with him so badly, and they both knew how much he loved the idea of going on quests together. In a way, that was what they'd been doing side-by-side the entire time before coming to camp. But it wasn't just side-by-side, was it? It wasn't Luke and Annabeth. It was Luke and Annabeth and Thalia and Percy. And where was half of their party now?

Annabeth and Chiron continued a short back and forth while Luke swallowed the lump in his throat. Half the people he considered family were gone. Both 'saved' by their impossibly powerful fathers – elders among even the gods – who couldn't even let them continue their natural lives. Hermes wasn't Zeus, and Athena wasn't Poseidon. If he and Annabeth were in fatal danger, Luke didn't think they'd even be 'saved' by becoming shrubs. All he could see in his head was Annabeth hanging in that cyclops' lair while he laid there powerless to protect her.

"Tell him, Luke! We always go together!"

Annabeth's shaking voice jolted him out of his thoughts. She was leaning forward off the couch, her jaw set as she looked to him to back her up. Luke's tongue felt dry.

"I– I think maybe– maybe it's better that you'll be safe here."

He might as well have slapped her. The abject betrayal etched across her face made Luke feel like he was the worst person alive. But this was for her own good. It had to be.

"And you're not stuck here, Annabeth," he added as convincingly as he could, "Just delayed."

Her pained eyes had already welled, glassy as they stared at Luke. But she didn't cry. She stood without a word and stormed out of the Big House before anyone else could say anything.

Luke felt himself sink into the couch, the only thing keeping him steady that he knew he'd made the right decision. She'd be much safer here than with him. One day, he'd be strong enough to keep her safe anywhere, but that day wasn't today. The demigod sighed as he met Chiron's eyes again.

"I am proud of you, Luke."

He managed a smile in reply. Normally, verbal approval from the immortal centaur was worth more than drachmas to all the campers – Luke included – but right now, it just didn't do much to make him feel better. He needed to get his mind on something else.

"What do you think about the prophecy?" Luke asked.

Chiron clasped his hands in his lap.

"If you perform even half as well in your mythological instruction classes as you do in your training, I believe you know where you are headed. As well as why and your ultimate challenge."

Luke nodded.

"The Garden of the Hesperides. To get a golden apple of immortality." He swallowed. "Guarded by Ladon."

"Your first ever quest, and the Oracle handed you one of the Labors of Hercules," Chiron mused, "The gods must expect much of you."

Luke had to fight back a sneer.

"Guess so. What about the lines of 'sparks and mists' and the silent voice letting us burn? Does that have some kind of meaning that I'm not getting?"

Chiron shook his head.

"It certainly does, but you will not know until it happens. Neither will I." The centaur rolled forward and put a hand on Luke's shoulder. "Men have driven themselves mad for thousands of years trying to decipher prophecies line by line. Many lines are not meant to be thought about, only lived."

Luke didn't answer, but he couldn't just not think about what the lines might mean. They were literally about his life and presumably about getting set on fire. Chiron wore a knowing smile as he moved to the front hallway of the Big House. Luke followed.

"Of this prophecy," Chiron said, "you must focus primarily on the first two lines: your mode of transportation, and your companions. We will have a bonfire tonight to celebrate both Capture the Flag and the deliverance of the prophecy, and you will find your questmates there. Until then, rest."

Luke watched as Chiron wheeled out the front door and climbed to his stallion height. He galloped away towards the climbing wall while the demigod turned around and let his shoulders slump. He quickly found his way back to the couch and sprawled down, exhausted between Capture the Flag, the looming prophecy, and Annabeth. His drooping eyes closed in a matter of moments, compromising to kick the can of his problems down the road by a couple hours.

(Line Break)

The camp amphitheater was an arc of benches that made about two thirds of a circle around a stage. The ten rows of benches, rising behind one another, all held chattering demigods and their sticks of marshmallows, most of the squishy treats toasted but many wholly charred. On the front stage of the amphitheater was a blazing bonfire that seemed to light up the night, surrounded by a queue of campers waiting to roast their own sticks.

Luke walked past them with his stick of marshmallows left fluffy and white, preferring them that way. He climbed five rows of the theater amidst the clamoring of both his Capture teammates and opponents, who all wanted to know what the rewards for this month's game were. He just grinned and shrugged at them, continuing on his way to the person he was looking for.

He found her at the center of a gaggle of her siblings, all of them loudly fawning over something she'd just said. He sat down on an open section of the bench next to the group and waited for a lull in their fervid conversation, which took two entire minutes and half his marshmallows.

"Silena," he called over them, his mouth full.

The daughter of Aphrodite leaned forward, looking past her arc of siblings to find Luke. She smiled brightly, and before she could say anything, the smirking girls on her right all but picked her up to move her next to him. As she sat down again, red-faced, her nearest siblings physically shunned her from their conversation by putting their backs to the pair.

"Sorry about that," she said, laughing as she tucked her hair behind her ear.

She missed a strand, and Luke had to push down the urge to fix it for her.

"Do you want to come on a quest with me?" he blurted out.

The wall of backs behind Silena all stiffened at once. Luke winced at himself, realizing he skipped too far ahead of how he wanted to ask. Silena's mouth was open like a fish. Then it closed. Then opened again. No words came out, and Luke felt his face flush.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to–"

"No, no," Silena interrupted, shaking her head, "I'm not saying no to you. It's just that there's been a prophecy?"

"Oh," Luke chuckled, "Yeah. I talked to the Oracle just a few hours ago. Chiron wants to announce it here, but I wanted to tell you first."

He recited the prophecy to her, seeing her face pale as it went on. 'Anxious' was an understatement by the last line.

"Listen," Luke said, "I'm not asking you to do something you don't want to do. This thing sounds scary. But," he paused, "I just wanted to talk to you first because if one of my questmates is supposed to be a 'child of Love,' you're my first pick."

One of the boys in the Aphrodite cabin, the middle back of the wall, bent into the conversation before Silena could respond. He was almost flat on his back between the pair, smiling up at them with impossibly perfect teeth.

"He fed me the same line an hour ago before I said no."

Silena shoved him away, laughing.

"Shut up, Miles." She leaned close enough to Luke that he could smell her strawberry shampoo, "Did you?"

Luke scoffed before she smiled and straightened her back.

He could see the wave of emotions on her face as she weighed her decision. Fear, of course. Anxiety, discomfort, too. This wasn't some study abroad trip where they'd be learning a little more about Greek Mythology. It was life or death in a world of monsters, and this particular quest meant they were running straight at one of the biggest ones. And, for that reason, excitement was there as well. The taste of the glory that turns demigods into heroes. When her eyes shone, Luke knew she'd made her decision.

"Yes," Silena breathed, seemingly surprised by herself, "I'll come on your quest."

Luke couldn't hold back his smile.

"You're sure?" he asked, "If you're not, it's completely fine. Just don't volunteer when I go down there, and we're good."

She scrunched her nose at him, her contoured brows knitting.

"No take backs," she affirmed, "Who's the third gonna be?"

The other Untethered. It didn't take much thought to know that the third quester would have to be an unclaimed camper. Luke searched the benches around the fire, starting at the lowest level. He was shocked to find Annabeth sitting there, alone with her hands around her knees, staring into the blaze.

She must have felt his eyes, because the daughter of Athena suddenly sat up and looked straight at him, her gaze hard. But the young demigod's anger quickly faltered, and she turned away just as a few of her siblings joined her with freshly toasted marshmallows.

Luke ignored the dryness of his throat and returned to tracing the stands for a particular demigod. It took him a few more rows, but he finally found the huddled batch of unclaimed kids laying stake to one of the far ends of the arc of benches. Luke's ideal quester lounged in the furthest back row occupied by the little faction.

"How about Danny?" Silena asked from beside him as she took one of his marshmallows.

Luke smiled because that was exactly who he was looking at.

Daniel Vargas. Maybe the calmest, most unbothered thirteen-year-old to ever live. It wasn't like Luke had an enormous sample size, but Danny's stolid demeanor was so far above everyone else's. Between his protesting drawl like words were heavy to speak aloud and his tendency to spend as much time as possible doing nothing, it raised eyebrows that he was thirteen and not a veteran retiree. A part of Luke wondered if the kid had a private garden of a certain plant stashed somewhere in the forest, because nobody is supposed to be that mellow all the time.

Yet, despite his propensity for laziness, Danny was one of the quickest swordsmen at camp. Whenever they were in the arena at the same time, Luke watched the slightly younger demigod spar, and he thought his feints were magic. It sometimes looked like he was fighting with two swords, both held in his dominant hand, so you had no idea which way the real slash was coming. Luke still comfortably held himself in higher regard, but he'd be an idiot to slack off for even a second if he ever did get around to sparring with him.

Danny raised his head from his fluffy dessert as if his neck was made of solid rock, lethargically glancing over at the pair of demigods that were looking at him. He gave them a nod hello, which meant he dropped his chin by maybe a centimeter, before returning to his quarry.

Silena opened her mouth to say something but stopped herself as Chiron trotted onto center stage and greeted the gathered campers. His short introduction included a congratulations on the historical tie in Capture the Flag and an announcement that the collective reward was that everyone at camp got double portions in the Pavilion for a week. The deafening cheers that wreaked across the amphitheater would have been over-the-top if he'd announced that everyone was getting a car.

Luke laughed at the echoing shouts as the rows above and behind him raised him on their shoulders. On the bottom row, Annabeth shook with laughter as she got the same treatment. It took the better part of a minute for the campers to settle down, and when they did, Chiron's voice took on more of an ominous tone.

"In other important news, a new prophecy has been delivered."

The few campers that'd still been chattering hushed in an instant. With a raised arm, Chiron beckoned Luke to the stage of the amphitheater. As the demigod descended the stairs that split the rows of benches, he felt every pair of eyes in the vicinity on him. And honestly, it felt pretty good. He held his shoulders back and came to a stop beside Chiron, turning to look out at the silent crowd.

After clearing his throat, he recited the prophecy again, projecting his voice over the crackling fire as best he could. When he was done, the flame felt quieter while the blanket of night weighed more heavily. Everyone knew where the quest was headed. Most specifically what monster it was headed for. Ladon, the hundred-headed dragon. Even in a world where Greek Myths are accepted as fact, it was like telling a normal mortal you were going to go fight General Zod.

"As we heard," Chiron announced, "there will be three questers in this Herculean undertaking. The first is, of course, Luke Castellan. The second and third will be a child of Aphrodite and an unclaimed camper, respectively. For our second quester, do we have any volunteers?"

"Me!" Silena said almost immediately, raising her hand and standing from her seat.

Miles cupped his hands over his mouth, "Oooo–"

Silena was already bent next to his ear. Whatever she whispered couldn't have been more than two words, but they shut him up in an instant and turned him beet red. She straightened herself and descended the steps amidst applause from the campers, a courtesy for the bravery of quest volunteers.

"Our second quester, Silena Beauregard," Chiron heralded, adding his own hands to the applause.

When it died down, all eyes turned to the unclaimed as the centaur asked for a final volunteer. Pure silence. It stretched on for nearly a minute until a hand went up from the back, ascending at a snail's pace with all but the pointer finger still curled at rest.

"Alright, I'll go," a voice drawled.

"Daniel Vargas!" Chiron announced as Luke and Silena shared a smile.

More applause racked the amphitheater, held continuous for Danny's lengthy descent to center stage. The boy was just barely shorter than Luke, with a hooked nose, tanned skin and deep brown eyes. His curly black hair fell almost to his ears.

Chiron addressed the amphitheater of campers regarding their schedules for the following week while Luke thanked Danny for volunteering. The younger boy shrugged.

"Saw you both looking at me earlier. Thought it could be fun."

Luke cocked his head.

"You want to sneak into the Garden of the Hesperides and probably run into a serious problem with Ladon because we looked at you and it could be fun?"

Danny shrugged again.

"You're insane." Silena shook her head. "But it's contagious. This could be fun!"

Luke laughed. It was such a ridiculous reason that he was certain there had to be something personal Danny was keeping for himself. On the other hand, if there was a person this offhanded about something so insane, it'd probably Danny. So, either way, maybe it would be fun.

The campers in the amphitheater began to sing one of the Camp Half-Blood bonfire songs as Chiron turned to the trio.

"Each of you is incredibly brave for going on this quest. I have already looked into your transportation and the most plausible destination you should aim toward. Go back to your cabins and pack what you need into one backpack each, and come see me at the Big House." The centaur took a moment to just look at them. "You will stay there tonight and leave after sunrise tomorrow. May the Gods be with you."

Luke looked away from the centaur to find Annabeth, who was already staring at them and listening intently. Good. That meant she'd be there.

(Line Break)

He almost didn't hear her cresting the hill on near silent feet. The irrational, deep fear that she wasn't coming uncoiled from his chest, and he felt like he could breathe again.

"Not yet, Annabeth," Luke said, not taking his eyes off of the tree, "You still shift your weight a little too loudly."

A quiet sigh came from behind him, quickly followed by the daughter of Athena trudging more forcefully through the darkness before dawn. She plopped down next to Luke and shoved with her shoulder to lean into him. He winced but still smiled as he put an arm around her.

"I'm still mad at you," she announced.

"Really? I wasn't sure after that shove. You're getting too strong already."

Her head slowly fell to his shoulder.

"I'm sorry."

Her voice came out so small, and Luke felt his stomach roil.

"No, I'm sorry, Annabeth. I'm sorry that I can't take you with me."

"Yes, you can," she insisted, "I'm a lot stronger now than before. I can handle it!"

"I believe you." Luke held his jaw tightly for a moment. "It's that I can't handle it. After Thalia and Percy, I can't risk you at all. I don't know if you'll understand–" He exhaled through his nose. "Or, you're smarter than I am so maybe you will. But I can't put myself in a position to ever lose you. I need to get a lot stronger to do that, and that means going out there while you're safe here. Does that make sense?"

Annabeth sat quietly for a while.

"Yes," she finally whispered, "but I don't like it."

Luke wiped her eyes, knowing they were wet.

"I don't either, which is why I'll be fast. We'll kill a bunch of monsters on the way, get stronger, and I'll be in and out of the garden faster than Ladon can turn a single ugly head."

Annabeth breathed a laugh, and Luke pulled her closer.

"And you'll be safe, right?" she asked. "I can't lose you either."

"You'll never lose me, Annabeth. But don't be waiting around by Thalia's tree while I'm out there doing my own thing. I've got a feeling that your much cooler secret prophecy has been spending a lot of time in that big brain."

"Yeah. I want to know what it is and why Chiron's afraid."

"And what are you going to do about that?"

Annabeth lifted her head from Luke's shoulder. Morning's first light arced in from Long Island Sound and illuminated her face. Framed between shining blonde curls, her grey eyes burned with determination as she smiled.

"Pry it out of him."

Luke laughed, preemptively sympathizing with the thousands-of-years-old centaur who'd have to soon bear endless precision bombardment from the adamant bulldog sitting next to him.

Sunlight began to pour over the sea and wash away the night's darkness. It wrapped Thalia's tree, almost making its dark brown trunk glossy, and spread over the strawberry fields before blanketing the Big House. A light came on inside from the main second floor: Chiron's office.

It was almost time to go. Annabeth noticed at the same time and shifted to hug Luke tightly.

"Promise to bring me back something cool," she said into his chest.

He paused for a moment.

"I promise."

There was no way she could know that the golden apple would be for her.