Chapter10

Emma POV

"It's her 18th birthday." Percy said. Just then I felt pain and everything went black. I really hate the color black now.

Blackout

I looked around and saw Shadow and realized we were back in Tartarus but she looked scared even though this was the oldest I had seen her but then again she only looked around 18. Anyways she was facing a huge monster. It looked like a full sized male dragon but the scales looked like Chaos silver which is the strongest material in the universe. The dragon was 40 feet tall and it looked mad. I realized that Shadow and the dragon weren't fighting, they were talking so I listened in. "There will be a prophecy you will come back but be warned the gods will not trust you. Only Poseidon, Hades, and Hestia shall trust you, Shadow. The other gods will be scared and will send you back. Hecate can not save you this time demigod." The dragon said, "they won't need to!" Shadow shouted back, "I can take care of myself down here and I have been for the past 200 years (Tartarus years. on Earth it had only been 20 years. Tartarus makes her age differently though.) Just then something came up behind Shadow and all of a sudden there was a sword sticking out of her stomach. Shadow collapsed and with her final breaths she prayed to her mother, " I won't need your help."

Blackout switches to olympian throne room

There was a change of scenery and I saw all the olympians and hades sitting on their thrones. As I watched. Hecate only spoke when asked a question. Her eyes looked empty. All of a sudden I heard Shadow's voice say "I won't need your help." Hecate gasped and shot up into a standing position at the same time as Hades. Everyone stopped talking and looked at them "Hecate, Hades what are you-" "You felt it didn't you?" Hecate interrupted as she looked at Hades. He just nodded. " and you heard her didn't you."

" Yes. This is not good. I thought she had already died and I just didn't sense it since she was down there but I guess I was wrong." Hades said sadly. "Brother, Hecate what is going on?" Zeus asked. "Nothing." They said in unison as they sat back down.

Blackout over

Will's POV

As I watched Percy come running in with Nico in tow and started talking to Emma I noticed something was wrong. I started to make my way over but she collapsed and Nico caught her. He put her down on her bed and pulled Percy to a corner as I started checking on her. They whispered in hushed tones until Nico shadow traveled away. Percy walked over and looked down at Emma lying on the bed. "Percy there's nothing wrong with her physically I can't really do anything. This goes deeper." I said as I looked up at him. " I know." He said. "Percy if you want me to help her I need to know what happened to make this kind of effect on her." Percy looked up at me and I could tell he was trying to figure out what to do. He sighed "fine I'll tell you but you can't tell anyone she doesn't want this getting around." I smiled internally " thank you. And I swear on the river Styx that I won't tell anyone about this." I said, thunder booming to seal the deal. " so when we were kids we were a trio of best friends with each other and a girl named Emily we did everything together." He said smiling. " we always had the best of luck until one day when she was 11. It was a day before Emma's birthday and we had a fight. You should know we were always told not to go into the woods, that it had evil things in it, bad things." He said . "Emily was in France that day and since me and her were fighting Emma had no one to go to because we were her only friends. After the fight she was sobbing and ran away. After a couple of minutes I felt bad and went to apologize to her. I looked everywhere but I couldn't find her. I asked everyone but no one knew where she was. Finally she was declared missing. I was a wreck. I knew it was my fault she ran off and I couldn't eat, sleep, or drink. I had to find her. After 14 days of searching she just appeared at the edge of the woods. We brought her to the hospital and she was unconscious for days. By then Emily had come back and she was the only person I told that it was my fault Emma went missing." He pauses as a tear slowly slid down his cheek. "When she woke up she wouldn't tell anyone what happened, where she was or why she had so many new scars. She told us it was fine, that she was fine, and that we needed to let it go. Eventually we did and everything went back to normal but with our luck it didn't last. Soon she started shutting everybody out. The gates to her castle were closed,servants were let go, and she started pushing me and Emily away. Finally Emily stopped going to see her but I kept going back. Eventually I had to threaten guards so that they would let me in. Then when she was 17 her parents had to go to a neighboring kingdom. On the way there their boat sank. Killing the two people she loved. She was devastated and needed a shoulder to cry on. I was that shoulder. A week after her parents died Emma started feeling worse because her supposedly best friend,Emily hadn't come check up on her. You see when we were little Emily's dad died and Em comforted her. So she expected Emily to do the same. Especially because this was BOTH her parents not just one, but she never came. A year later, or this year I was in the hallway at school when Emily came up to me and said she was going to visit Emma. Emily didn't know I see her all the time and asked if I wanted to come. I said no thinking that this was not going to go well so I should beat her there and tell Emma she was coming but I got held back. When I finally got to the castle all the servants were just standing in silence all throughout the castle. That's when I realized I could hear yelling. I realized Emma was yelling at Emily and I ran through the castle to Emma's room. When I got there Emma had just finished her rant and told Emily to leave. She did and after I sat down next to Emma and told her to let it all out, she did, saying that she missed her parents, that she missed the time when me, her and Emily would hang out. A couple days later Chiron IM me saying the Argo was gonna pick me up. When they did I was about to clean the outside of the ship when Jason called everyone over. I wanted to finish cleaning so I did. When I went over Jason was finishing the introductions and the girl's back was facing me so I couldn't see her face but I could see her hair and I knew that it was Emma she turned around and hugged me and we were on our way." During his story Percy had been smiling but now the smile was replaced with a look of seriousness, "when we got back with Emma Nico came to me and said we needed to talk. He pulled me to the side and he told me about a girl that left the underworld just over 18 years ago. Apparently Hades didn't notice until there was a prophecy mentioning it. When he checked the underworld there was indeed a soul missing. I asked Nico what that has to do with me and do you know what he said?" He asked. I shook my head. `` he said 'her name is Emma.' I was worried and he said that she was a demigod but that they didn't know who her parent is. I know though. It would be obvious if you only knew. Anyways he said that on her 18th birthday she would get her memories back. I think that's what these blackouts are. The girl in the prophecy is Emma and she is slowly getting her memories back." I stared at him, shocked. That was not what I had been expecting. I don't know what I was expecting but I wasn't expecting her to have a worse life than mine and with Percy saying if you only knew makes it seem like there's something else that makes her life even worse. Just then Emma started to stir.

Emma's POV

As I woke up I heard Percy say, "The girl in the prophecy is Emma and she is slowly getting her memories back." What? I thought what in the Hades does that mean. I decided to show that I was awake but act like I hadn't heard anything. As I sat up Will handed me a piece of ambrosia while I looked around the room. "Where's Nico?" I asked, realizing he wasn't here anymore. " he had to go but he should be back soon." Percy said. I looked up at him smirking and just punched his arm then hugged him. "Yes he should be back soon." I heard a voice say right behind me. I shrieked and punched the person behind me. "Again ow." "Oh sorry Nico but you should know not to sneak up on me after last time." I said. Percy held out his hand for Nico and Nico took it hauling himself up. When he was up he looked at me then looked at Percy then looked back at me. " The Olympians want to talk to her Perce." He said while looking at me. "What no! They will send her back!" Percy yelled "Percy what's going on?" I asked but they ignored me. "Percy we can't keep her hidden any longer they know where she is and if we don't bring her it is a one hundred percent chance they will send her back!" Nico yelled. "Ugh fine!!" Percy yelled. Then they finally turned back to me. "Em come on we have to go see the gods." " what why? And why are you trying to hide me and why are you saying they will send me back? Back where?" I asked. "So full of questions aren't you?" Nico said and with those words all my trust for him flew out of the window. "Don't say that." I whispered. Nico took a step towards me "what?" "I said don't say that and stay away from me!" I practically screamed. "Woah Em calm down what's wrong?" Percy asked. I just shook my head and started sobbing into my hands. He sat down on the bed next to me and put his arms around me. "Emma what's wrong?" He asked "Nyx….Nyx said that to me." I whispered into his shirt. "What?" "When I was….gone.. Nyx said that to me." "E-Emma I'm sorry I didn't know, but what do you mean gone?" I looked at Percy and saw he was looking at me. I knew he was asking whether he could tell Nico and I nodded. "We'll tell you tonight." He said, "okay but for now Emma you should take a shower and freshen up before we go." Nico said. I nodded, got up and went to the Hermes cabin to take a shower. After my quick shower I put on a purple shirt with the shoulders open along with light blue ripped jeans and brown slightly heeled boots, I grabbed a sweatshirt and tied it around my waist. Then I put my hair in a half up half down with the top braided and left the cabin to go find the boys. When I found them they were sparing in the arena. "Hey guys you done yet?" I said after watching for 5 minutes. "Oh hey Em." Percy said. "Yea we're ready." Nico said "are you sure?" I asked. "You're both super sweaty." "Yea your right we should probably go take a shower." Percy said. As he and Nico went to take a shower I walked down to the beach and saw Annabeth sitting there.

Annabeth pov

After Emma had screamed during the fight Percy had Nico Shadow travel her to the infirmary and once she was gone we charged. I was fighting a hellhound when I heard "Annabeth behind you!" I ducked a swipe from the hellhoud and In the process I also dodged a stab from a cyclops. I stabbed the cyclops and it burst into dust. Then I turned back to the hellhound but it wasn't focused on me anymore. It was sneaking up behind another camper who was fighting an empousa. I killed the hellhound and kept fighting. Finally the battle was over. The gods flashed to Olympus as they needed to rest after fighting Gaei Kronos and Nyx. I found Percy in the infirmary sitting next to Emma. "Hey seaweed brain. You okay?" I asked as I walked up behind him. "Yea I am but Emma's not." He said as he stood up and turned to look at me. I pulled him into a hug. When we separated I asked "what's wrong with her? And what did Nyx mean when she said nice to see you again?" He sighed, " I wish I could tell you wisegirl but all I can tell you is that she has had a really hard life. Harder than ours." He said. "Percy what happened to her?" I asked surprised that anyone could have a harder life than us. "When we were younger she went missing. After 2 weeks she appeared on the edge of the woods. We brought her to the hospital and she had a lot of scars. They hadn't been there before." He said "apparently Nyx has something to do with that, and I intend to find out what." A few days later I was walking to the beach from lunch and heard someone shriek. "THREE DAYS!!" I walked over to the infirmary window and crouched down beneath it. I listened to what they were saying. Then Percy ran out and came back with Nico a few minutes later I heard Will say "Percy there's nothing wrong with her physically I can't really do anything. This goes deeper" "I know." I heard Percy say. "Percy if you want me to help her I need to know what happened to make this kind of effect on her." Will answered. Percy sighed and told him her story. By the time he reached the part where her parents died I was silently sobbing. As he continued I cried. When he was done with her story I got back up and walked down to the beach. A couple minutes later I had calmed down and Emma walked over "hey" she said. " hi Emma." I replied she sat down and we both sat there staring at the water. "How did you and Percy meet?" I asked. She chuckled. " now that is an interesting story." She said "so before I met Percy I only had one other friend. Her name was Emily. We loved pranking the teachers and the kids at our school. So one day we rigged a trap and set it up for one girl in particular. We were setting up the prank when the principal's door opened. We rushed to get out of view. We did and saw a boy with raven black hair and sea green eyes, walked out followed by the principal. "I don't want to see you in here again Perseus." The boy cringed when the principal said Perseus, but he rolled his eyes. The principal walked back into the office closing the door and the boy turned around saying, "you can come out now." Apparently when he walked out he had seen us. We walked over to him and he stuck his hand out, "Hi I'm Percy Jackson." I shook his hand "Emma Baker." He turned to Emily with his hand still out. "Emily granger." She said shaking his hand. "Say do you like pranks?" I asked as I watched him a grin slowly slid onto his face. "I have been waiting my whole life to hear those words!" She paused "we pranked the girl and became best friends ever since. It's been a while since we pulled a prank though." Just then Percy and Nico ran up. "Okay now we're ready." Nico said.

Emma's pov

"Okay now we're ready." Nico said. I sighed and got up. "Where are you going?" Annabeth asked. " The Olympians want to see us." Percy answered. "What did you do now, seaweed brain?" He chuckled. "Nothing wise girl. We'll be back soon." He said pecking her on the lips. "K bye." We decided to take 3 Pegasi to get to Olympus then take a taxi back. When we got to the Empire State Building we walked inside, "600th floor." Percy said to the receptionist. "Sorry kid there isn't any 600th floor." He said not looking up. "Are you really going to tell 2 kids of the big three, plus the survivor of Tartarus and two time savior of Olympus there isn't a 600th floor when the gods are waiting for them?" Nico said, stalking up to the desk. The man looked up. " oh I'm so sorry I didn't realize it was you. Here's the key: just make sure the elevator is empty." Percy took the key and we got in the elevator. "Who picks the music?" I asked. Percy looked at me. "Apollo. And if I were you I would follow Nicos example." I looked at Nico and saw him watching the ground with his fingers in his ears. "Yea your right." I plugged my ears and waited till the elevator stopped. When we stepped out my jaw hit the ground. It was beautiful. Percy looked at me and chuckled. "Annabeth designed it ya know." "Wow" Was all I could say. Finally I got over the shock and we walked to the throne room. As we stood outside the doors I could hear arguing. "She can be trusted!" I heard a woman say. "Hecate" Percy said. "You are just saying that because she is your daughter!" A man's voice said. "Zeus." Nico said A different man spoke up, "I agree with Hecate she can be trusted." "Poiseidon" Percy said "I also agree with Hecate." "Hades." Nico said. "I do too. I have watched her struggles in both of her lives and she is trustworthy. Although she will probably be mad when she gets her full memories back." A different woman's voice said "Iris? What is she doing here?" Percy said. "Guys, I'm just gonna knock." I said. "NO DON'T-'' But I already knocked. After I knocked the door swung open to see most of the gods staring at us from their seats but Hecate and Zeus were both standing and glaring at each other. "Brother sit down they are here." Poseidon said. Hecate and Zeus both sat but kept glaring at each other. When they had both sat we walked in and stood there. "Bow to us you puny mortals!" Ares bellowed. "Eh, I'm good." Percy said. Persassy strikes again! I thought. "We demand respect!" Ares yelled again. "Respect is earned not freely given." I said stepping out from behind Percy and Nico who had created a wall with their bodies in front of me for some reason. At the sound of my voice Hecate and Zeus stopped their glaring match and looked at me. I looked around the room at all the gods and each and everyone was staring at me as I looked at them though they looked away but when I looked at Hecate she just stared at me tears filling her eyes with a smile on her face. All of a sudden she snapped her head to look at Zeus, rage filling her face. "NO! WE ARE NOT SENDING HER BACK!!!" She yelled. Just then I collapsed again but I had enough warning so I fell towards Percy. I felt him catch me and lay me down.

Blackout

This time I saw flashes. A baby Shadow crying as her mom says goodbye. A 8 year old shadow running away from home. A 9 year old shadow being chased by a monster with a satyr. A 10 year old shadow getting claimed by Hecate. A 11 year old shadow climbing the lava wall at camp. A 15 year old shadow eating alone at the Hecate table practicing magic. A 16 year old Shadow beating Zeus in a fight, and a 16 year old shadow being thrown into Tartarus. A 17 year old Shadow being chased by 10 monsters and defeating them all. An 18 year old Shadow being killed and praying to her mom saying she doesn't need her help. That's when I remembered. Shadow is me. I remember dying and going to the underworld. I remember being in the hall of judgment. And I remember looking for a friend and finding the doors to the real world. I remember going through and not remembering anything.

Hecate's pov

When I heard my daughter's voice I stopped glaring at Zeus and looked at her. She looked around and saw everybody watching her. I'm so happy though. Emma is back. We must send her back to Tartarus. She is too powerful. She can not stay. Zeus said in my head. That made me mad. Very mad. "NO! WE ARE NOT SENDING HER BACK!!!" Just then she collapsed and Percy caught her. Apollo jumped out of his seat at the same time I did. We both rushed towards Emma but something stopped us. I looked down and saw shadows holding me back. "Hades…." I growled. "It's not me I swear." He said. I looked up at Nico and saw him concentrating. "Nico let us go now! We need to help her!" "No you don't this happens all the time she just needs a minute." Percy said. Now i was confused. "What do you mean all the time?" Apollo asked. This time Iris answered. "I have been watching the girl as you all know and I have seen that this does indeed happen a lot. I have realized that she is having flashbacks to her life as Shadow. It has been happening since she was 12 but it has only changed to flashbacks about her past life the past week." Wait you mean she was having flashbacks before?" Percy asked. "Yes but it was about her time with Nyx. Then when her parents died she started having flashbacks to when they were a happy family, before she discovered her powers. Plus every once in a while she would have flashbacks about you, her and Emily." "Who's Emily?" I asked, "It was our other best friend.��� Percy answered. "Wait what do you mean her time with Nyx?" Nico asked. "Iris, can't you just show them her life? Including the Nyx part because i don't even know what happened then." Percy said. "Sure" She answered. Iris made an iris message sort of thing and played Emma's life. By the end most of us were crying. As we calmed down and stopped crying Emma started to stir. We all looked at her and saw she looked more like Shadow then Emma. "You good Em?" Percy asked as he handed her a piece of ambrosia. "NO! NO I'M NOT GOOD! THESE FREAKS THREW ME INTO TARTARUS BECAUSE I WAS POWERFUL AND NOW THEY ARE GOING TO DO IT AGAIN!! Emma shouted while glaring at all of us. Just then Apollo's eyes went green and a green mist surrounded him.

A half-blood of the eldest four

A soul missing shall rise once more

Will gain her memory

And decide to whom

She will bring demise

History will be repeated

But this time with help

They will decide who they will destroy

But two will die

The mist disappeared and Apollo went back to normal. "We will figure that out when we are done with the matter at hand. We will take a vote. Those in favor of sending Shadow back to Tartarus?" Zeus, Hera,Ares,Apollo,Artemis,Aphrodite,Hermes,Hephaestus,Dionysus, and Athena all raised their hands. "Those not in favor of sending her to Tartarus?" Poseidon, Hades, Iris, and me raised our hand. "Well 10 to 4. Say goodbye." Zeus raised his lightning bolt to send her to Tartarus. Just as he threw it Percy and Nico both yelled. "NO!" and grabbed onto her. As the lighting bolt struck it created a bright light and we all had to close our eyes. When the light faded all three of them were gone. I was outraged. I looked at Hades and Poseidon and saw that they were too. Then I looked at Zeus. He had realized how mad we were and what had just happened and actually looked scared. All of the gods in the room looked scared. "WHAT DID YOU JUST DO!!" Poseidon yelled. "It wasn't my fault they grabbed onto her." "YOU SENT OUR CHILDREN TO TARTARUS!!! NONE OF THEM DESERVED IT AND YOU SENT ALL THREE!!" I yelled. "NOT YOUR FAULT?!" Hades shouted. "YOU JUST SENT THE 2 TIME SAVIOR OF OLYMPUS TO HIS DEATH." Poseidon yelled "PLUS MY SON AND HECATE'S DAUGHTER!!" Hades shouted "Well they are all Tartarus survivors." "NOT ALL OF THEM! THE BOYS MIGHT BE BUT EMMA ISN'T! JUST CAUSE SHE IS ALIVE NOW AND GOT THE NICKNAME SHADOW DOESN'T MEAN SHE IS A SURVIVOR!!" I yelled. "Well i'm sorry but i can't do anything to bring them back. They will have to find a way to escape." Zeus said. "Um guys what are those?" Hermes asked. I switched my glare from Zeus to Hermes. He flinched when he saw us glaring at him. "Whats what?" Hades asked. Hermes pointed at a spot on the ground. I looked and saw he was pointing at the spot where Emma had been standing. There was a sea green ball, a black ball and a purple ball. I got up and walked over to the balls. "There's a note." I said. "Read it out loud." Poseidon said. "These will break when we escape. You can not help us. Know that if you ever need our help we will not help you. -Percy, Nico, and Emma. Like I said we don't need or want your help. I was a fool to trust you gods a second time. It won't happen again -Emma Dad, tell Mom what happened. Also someone tell Annabeth not to worry. -Percy At least if I die I will be with Bianca. I never trusted most of you and now I realize I was right. You are all selfish.- Nico One more thing. Our loyalties only lie with Hecate, poseidon, hades, and Iris. -all three of us." I looked up from the note with tears in my eyes to see all the gods except for Zeus and Hera were crying silently. "Hate to break up this moment but we need to decipher the prophecy." Zeus said. "I already know what most of it means." Athena said through tears. I'm guessing she was crying because she knew how much this would affect Annabeth and that she would be mad at her for voting to send Emma away. "Then what does it mean, Athena." Zeus asked. "A half-blood of the eldest four is obvious. It's either Emma Percy Nico or the other two." A faint smile appeared on my face. At least Athena was mad at Zeus. "A soul missing shall rise once more means that a soul is going to leave the underworld. Hades anyone missing?" We all looked at Hades. "Umm actually I was told this prophecy 18 years ago." "WHAT!" Zeus yelled. "Yeah and I know who the prophecy is talking about." He said. "Who?" Athena asked. "Emily." All the color drained out of Zeus' face. "That's not good." Hermes whispered. "Whats next?" I asked. "Will gain her memory. That part already happened then if it's Emily." Athena said. "Ok…. next?" I said "And decide to whom she will bring demise means there is probably going to be a war and whoevers side they choose will win and the other side will be destroyed." "Again not good." Hermes whispered. "History will be repeated just means that we would send her into Tartarus again." "And this time with help?" I asked "I'm guessing that means Percy and Nico" She answered. "They will decide who they will destroy means one side of the war will be destroyed." "That's probably going to be us isn't it." Apollo said. Artemis answered this time "Yes brother, I'm afraid it is." "But there's one more line." I said. "Yes two will die." Athena answered. "Which means….." Ares prompted. Athena looked at me. "Two of them will die.