Started With A Dare - A POTHENA STORY ✔

We Get Lost But Still Find Something

   It was afternoon when we reached the mainland of the Isthmus of Corinth. Time seemed to fly by so quickly - it took as no time at all to rent the inn. All we had to do was sell some useless parts we found on the ship (which upset the ship even more) to get just enough money for one night. We got a simple room with two single beds and a terrible view of a dark alleyway with gigantic trash bags and bins laying all over the place. Poseidon and I both agreed to find the prophecy as soon as we can, avoid the Pine-bender if possible and get the Hades out of this place, although I knew there was no escaping the Pine-bender if he made it onto our prophecy while Circe nor the sirens had their names mentioned. Even without trying, we ran into enemies we would never have imagined (or wanted) to meet.

  The best time to look for the prophecy was probably the morning or afternoon, but we knew a fight scene was coming up soon and it would be best if the civilians around didn't see it. Besides, we got some pretty powerful flashlights from the ship. I guess we should cut the poor ship some slack.

  I have to admit the night made me slightly apprehensive. Even just the sounds of our feet stepping in the grass made my heart beat faster and faster as I couldn't see the sound's source. The flashlights didn't help much either - although the light was powerful, it could only focus on a small area at a time, so two flashlights barely showed what was ahead of us.

  It felt like we'd been treading in the grass forever, and I felt like telling Poseidon to just give up. "There's no point, we've been here for hours! How are we going to find this prophecy wandering cluelessly in this-"

   "Shh..." Poseidon shined the flashlight around. "Hey, do you hear that?"

  Hear what? I was about to complain when I heard it too. It was soft and sounded like it was from a distance, but there was definitely another pair of feet running on the grass. It sounded like the person was heading our way, too. "Pine-bender," Poseidon muttered, a clear lace of fear in his voice. "I'm not staying here. C'mon, Athena, we're better off-"

  I wanted to yell back, but I knew that was definitely not the time to do so. "You know we can't run, Poseidon," I whispered. "If it is the Pine-bender, the prophecy we got basically tells us to face him head on. Who said we had to fight, anyway? Can't we just sort out matters-"

  There it was again. The famous Poseidon-engineered 'covering-mouth-violently' move. I stumbled back from the shock since I couldn't see it coming in the dark and foggy environment, but immediately clawed onto his shoulder to regain balance. I could tell why he shushed me - the footsteps were getting louder.

  Suddenly, out of nowhere, Poseidon took off. Running in the opposite direction, his footsteps clear against the grass, rivalling the other runner. I hurriedly followed him, a list of words related to 'cowardly' running through my mind. Wasn't he supposed to be the brave one? I stopped complaining in my head when I realised my feet had automatically decided to move faster as well when I heard the other footsteps get louder.

  For some abnormal reason, Poseidon was running especially fast; and for some even stranger reason, I was able to keep up with him without a problem. We soon lost the other person, regardless of whether he or she was following us or not. We probably made a big deal out of all this. Nonetheless, I was glad we ran because something completely expected then happened.

  Poseidon stumbled and came to a halt. I reluctantly followed, making sure my ears weren't failing me as I honestly wasn't about to risk getting attacked in such an embarrassing fashion. In fact, I didn't fancy getting attacked at all in that particular moment. Once I caught my breath and Poseidon caught his, we gave our surroundings a brief scan...and that was when I realised the unfamiliarity of it.

  "Athena..." Poseidon nervously whispered as I felt him turn towards me, "Wh-where are we?"

  I was about to ask the same question. It was honestly all his fault. Running off and evading someone who could potentially be Pine-bender, the very guy we would not be able to escape in the end no matter how hard we tried wasn't the right thing to do, but I had to shamefully admit to myself that I did the same too, and I couldn't blame Poseidon. At least he wasn't here...we could embrace this false sense of security, even for just a short while.

  Rather than trying to add on to that false sense and cause us to be even more danger, I decided to admit to him - and to myself - that I could not answer his question. "I don't know. It seems that we're lost."

  My voice was surprisingly calm. My heart sure wasn't - I could feel it pumping up to 300 bpm as if it was the beat of a speedcore song...or I had gotten an unlucky case of Supraventricular Tachycardia. I could tell Poseidon felt the same, but his voice remained as calm as mine. "I'm not sure we're ready to do this, but we might have to charge straight at Pine-bender."

  I nudged him. "Assuming that we don't find the prophecy first, right?"

  "Athena, you said yourself that we wouldn't be able to avoid him. The prophecy was made to give us a clue, so there's a bigger chance that the prophecy's with him. The best thing to do is find him and deal with it head on."

  I secretly agreed. Alas, every other part of my body didn't. I started backing away slowly as if the Pine-bender was right in front of us. Then, like a true heroic goddess, I slipped.

  I couldn't tell what I slipped on, but whatever it was, it sure was slippery, because my butt and lower back landed on the ground with a thud before I could register what was happening. My flashlight tumbled out of my hand and sat on the grass by my feet.

  Poseidon gasped and exclaimed my name, then rushed to my side and gently pulled me up. As I got onto my feet, I wasn't sure if my eyes were failing me, but my flashlight seemed to shine on some paper-like material...

  "Hold on!" I yanked my hand out of Poseidon's grip, which caused him to grunt irritatedly. It honestly sounded more like a snivel. I secretly celebrated my victory of being physically stronger than him before stretching my hand to touch what was in front of the flashlight.

  I felt a smooth, sandy material at the tip of my fingers - it felt a lot like premium paper. A lot like the pieces of loose-leaf paper Annabeth often handed to me that showed her sketches and notes of ideas for god altar designs she had brainstormed with Jason Grace, her fallen friend...

  I pulled it out of the grass. The paper was folded. I grabbed the flashlight to take a close look. Poseidon seemed to have recovered from my strange reaction and bent down next to me, immediately understanding what I had discovered. "What do you see?"

  The paper was empty on one folded side, but as I flipped it, there was no mistaking Annabeth's neat handwriting. Eight capital letters were hastily scribbled and spelt the word 'PROPHECY'.

(A/N: Hello, folks! It's me again! I've been trying to make a better writing habit and build it so that I can get chapters out faster. I just realised how terrible this story plot is, and I'm sorry! It honestly doesn't make sense at all - how did the campers even lose the prophecy before reading it? And since Annabeth wrote it herself, shouldn't she remember if not every single word, most of what the prophecy said? Nevertheless, I started this story ages ago without plan, so it's pretty understandable for it to turn out like such a disaster. I'm still going to finish it anyway, and to fulfill the wishes of my ego I just may write another fanfiction that actually has a story plot which makes sense after this one...who knows? Anyway, I'll be back with another chapter next week. Peace ✌🏻)