The Legacies: The Next Generation - A Percy Jackson Fanfc

Chapter 27: Marie

ALRIIIIIGHT WHO'S READY FOR AN EXPLANATION????(Sry for the small chapter)

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 After that, everything was a daze. Marie stared at Zoe, utterly shocked.

Zoe shook her head frantically. "LIsten. You guys have to listen. It makes so much sense. Too much sense. In the call–in the call I saw—-I saw Rachel Dare,"

Marie felt numb with shock, but Bianca stomped her foot. "I knew it! I did too! None of you believed me!"

"I know," Zoe said. "And I'm sorry. But this whole quest is fake, because Rachel Dare is back at Camp."

"Wait, Zoe, you aren't saying that the prophecy is fake?" Marie asked.

Zoe said nothing.

"Zoe?"

"No, it isn't. Listen," She took a deep breath. ""5, the children if the seven, Shall journey across the path woven, To find the object of the oracle,With the aid of only a couple.The path splits, Seven becomes six, One must perish, The Oracle or the beast,"

Marie had no idea how she'd memorized that, but Zoe didn't leave her any time to think. "Five, the children of the seven. That's us,"

"Shall journey across the path woven." Bianca recited.

"To find the object of the oracle," Marie said. "But I thought Rachel Dare—"

"Isn't the oracle. Cora Dare is," Zoe said.

Marie and Bianca looked at each other.

"Zoe—" Marie said gently.

"No. No, listen. The real Cora Dare is who we're after. The actual oracle. She was the one who was captured!!"

Marie's mind felt like it was thrown into the microwave then into the freezer. "Wh–what?"

Zoe growled impatiently. "The Cora who just left with Rose and Silena isn't the real Cora! She's the beast! The best is impersonating Cora Dare! She tricked us all this whole time! The real Cora is captured, being the object of the oracle! The prophecy was never fake!"

"But—it said the five of us with the aid of a couple," Bianca said. She looks paler than usual. "IF Laura--Laura is one of them, and Cora isn't the other, then who is?"

Zoe paused, her chest heaving. "Nella." She stated. "Nella was right the whole time. She was part of the quest. That's why she joined us. ANd of course the beast captured Nella, she was afraid we would figure it out. You saw her expression when she saw Nella. It must have been the same with Laura." Zoe began pacing back and forth. MArie could almost see the pieces of the puzzle clicking together in her mind. "Laura must have seen something, something the beast didn't want her to see. That's why the beast didn't want Laura to come on the quest. She was afraid she would suspect. And that's why Laura volunteered. Despite being so shy, she wanted to know who Cora really was. She wanted to make sure that she really was Cora. Teh beats noticed this and tried to turn us against Laura. It worked, didn't it? We all believed her. Until you figured something out," Zoe tilted her chin at Bianca. "And then Silena saw Laura. She started growing suspicious too. It all makes sense. Remember our old backpacks? When I was possessed, she mentioned poison that Bianca cured. Remember when Rose ate those doritos and she got a high fever? That must have been it. When she possessed me–"
"Hold on!" Marie didn't want to interrupt, but she felt like she had to cling on to the only thing that might oppose this horrid truth. "When you were controlled, the beast said she wanted to kill us all but failed. If Cora was really the beast, then why hasn't she killed us yet?"

For the first time, Zoe hesitated. "That–I don't know," She said finally. "Maybe she doesn't want to kill us. Maybe she has other plans. Or maybe she wants to kill us once we get down there. It doesn't matter."

"But why did she leave in the middle of the quest?" Bianca asked. "Zoe, I don't mean to oppose your idea—I believe you fully—but there's so much that I don't understand. She said she left to find her mother. And what did the 'path splits' mean?"

Zoe shook her head again. "Guys, I don't have all the answers. My guess is that she left because she might have wanted to regroup her allies or something. I don't know. And I hate that, but all the clues point to this. Remember Las Vegas? The pony said that the beast would be in the park. Instead we found Cora, because she was the beast. Remember that ring? Laura found it at our campsite after the beast left. She obviously suspected Cora so she kept it close to her. When Cora saw that Laura was wearing it, she knew that Laura had to go away or else she would tell us all. So she captured Laura. Then Laura found a way to come back. She tried to tell us, but Cora stopped her again. Cora shouldn't have that sort of magic, being mortal. We should have known about it. Seven becomes six. It was either Nella or Laura,"

"Zoe—" MArie didn't know what to say. Part of her wanted to sit down and cry. Part of her didn't want to believe what Zoe was saying, even though it was definitely the truth.

Finally, Bianca said, "That's what Apollo meant. 'You should ask your satyr-dryad friend'. My fathers said that there was still no word about Rachel's daughter. That has to be the real Cora, the one who's captured." She looked at Zoe in half shock, half amazement. "How did you put all of that together?"

Zoe sat down hard on the bench. She looked pale and clammy. "We should have figured it out sooner. Much sooner. Now we don't know what happened to Laura or Nella—"

Marie felt as if a brick had fallen on her heart. She'd completely forgotten about their poor harpy friend. How could she have let that happen? And Laura . . . No, she refused to think like that. Laura had to be ok.

Part of her still wanted to run away. Part of her still didn't want to believe all those things Zoe said. She wanted to think that everything was ok. But that wasn't true. If they had any chance at winning, they had to move now.

"Alright then," MArie straightened up, pulling at her backpack. It transformed into a bow. "We better get going."

Zoe looked up. "The next boat won't be here in time. Even if it does, we don't know where our friends are. It's hopeless. We've lost."

"You can't say that," Marie insisted. "We have to keep fighting. Besides, it was you who said we had to go now. The last line of the prophecy: One must perish, the oracle or the beast. It's up to us to make sure it's the beast."

"But–"

"I'll make sure we find a way to get to the Underworld," Bianca pulled out her sword. In the dim light, Marie could have mistaken her for one of the ghosts. "I still have a few tricks up my sleeve."

The next chapter will be out super soon!!!!