The Wings of Olympus

Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride or Percy Jackson

Chapter 16

Drenched and unable to decide whether she was glaring at her half-sister or Percy, Max stood with her arms wrapped as tight around her chest as possible to keep from pouncing on the whatever dared make a sudden movement. Fang glanced at her out of the corner of his eye with just a shadow of concern tinged with humor.

He would find this funny, Max thought to herself. It was only fitting, if she really thought about it and was able to admit it to herself, that her sister was just as hard headed and stubborn as she was.

Chiron had handed the girls a towel each when the group of demi-gods arrived at the porch and led them to the recreation room dubbed meeting room. They stood on both sides of a ping-pong table as Annabeth glanced between Chiron, Thalia, and Max. The feathered half-bloods stood as close to max as the space would allow with Max in the middle and Iggy and Fang on her left and right respectively. On the other side of the table, Chiron stood on the left, followed by Percy and Annabeth, then Thalia on the right, towel draped around her shoulders, her expression almost the same as Max's.

"Let us lay out the information between us, shall we?" Chiron suggested, and Annabeth proceeded to explain the prophecy they received the day before meeting Max and co.

"When storm and shadow come together

The Wings of Olympus's first endeavor

The one who in his eyes sees forever

Should you fail, and they be lost,

Be warned – here, your mighty cost.

The lord of wolves from darkness sent

To Six children to torture and torment.

Should he prevail, the darkness spread

And out of the depths, a war is ahead," she recited, then took a breath.

"Storm and Shadow could represent children of Hades and Zeus," Percy supplied. "We don't know what the Wings of Olympus part is referring too, yet…"

Max gripped her sides a little tighter at each mention of the appendages that, unknown to the Centaur and the Lieutenant, were on the backs of each of the newcomers.

"In his eyes sees forever," Thalia said, "That should be talking about Apollo if I'm not mistaken. And then it says they be lost, so that's got to mean he's in grave danger, though I knew that already." She rolled her eyes.

"We ran into werewolf-like-men yesterday when we were en-route to find you guys," Percy continued, "so that's gotta be talking about their master, who –"

"Who's got to be the one we're after in this," Annabeth said. "The one who captured Apollo and perhaps knows that you 6 are more powerful than you know."

Max took a breath. "We're the 6. Aren't we? They're mission is to capture us for torture and what-not, right? Like hell I'll let that happen. We'll never go b-" she cut herself off quickly as soon as she realized she was about to say go back, but the other 5 instinctively moved closer to her. Thalia cocked her head to the side at that. But Nico nodded, certain they were the 6, as did Percy and Annabeth.

"Out of the depths," Annabeth recited once more, moving away from Max's outburst much to the latter's appreciation, and looked at Chiron. "It's him isn't it?" Chiron nodded solemnly.

"I'm afraid so, child," he said. "It is imperative this mission succeed should he awaken any sooner."

Percy and Annabeth shared a glance, their silver streaks shimmering in the light and they both shivered as they shared a memory of a golden coffin.

"So that's our information," Percy said, coming back to the present. "Nico? Care to share?"

Nico turned still as stone as all eyes turned on him. "The underground is thriving with monsters, lots of activity," he said quietly. "Father is … unhappy." Max noticed Fang's expression harden slightly as Nico met his gaze. "He is concerned and I was told about Ni-Fang. It seems he's been working on more than anyone knows in the Underworld." He shrugged and stared at the floor, falling silent.

Thalia straightened up, her silver circlet glittering in the light as she prepared to give her story.

"As I've discussed with Chiron this morning," she began, "I've been tasked with the locating and rescuing of my Lady Artemis's idiot brother Apollo as she received a cryptic message from him several days ago that he was afraid he was in danger." She did her best to refrain from rolling her eyes as she thought about the message her wolves retrieved. Golden envelope smelling heavily of cologne and fire simultaneously. "My Lady sent me here with thoughts of consulting Chiron," she added with an air of finality and turned her piercing, sparking blue eyes onto Max.

"What do you want me to tell you?" Max said standing straighter peeling her gaze quickly off of Thalia and switching between Nico, Percy, Annabeth, and Chiron, unsure of who she should be asking.

"How did you end up in Norfolk?" Nico asked. Percy nodded and Annabeth's grey eyes sparkled with curiosity.

A safe enough question… Max thought for a second about what to say before answering.

"Fang and I had been having odd dreams lately, and somehow we figured Norfolk was the place to go," she said with a slight shrug, it was the truth and that's all that mattered.

"What kind of dreams?" Annabeth asked next. "Dreams are often more than just imagination, do you remember what you saw?"

"For example," Percy said, "Last night I had a dream," Percy. "I was in a cage, and there were all sorts of animals and cries for help. A light was taken away in a cage, and I think that might've been Apollo."

As Max tried to remind herself it was only Percy's dream, that was more than likely not related to the School, Fang huffed a breath of his nose signaling for Max to tell them what he saw.

"Something about a sphynx… on the hill with the blanket on the Pine tree… and then darkness. I also remember seeing her once in a dream, now that I think about it. With a bow." Max shrugged. "The last couple dreams were mostly filled with urgency and feeling like I should go north east. Now I guess I know why."

"Max!" Angel piped up gripping Max's shirt. "Remember? On the fl-way up here yesterday?" her eyes matched Max's gaze with urgency. "I saw the guy!"

"Oh! Right, Angel blacked out as we were on our way, and she said some one important was taken."

Chiron looked taken aback by that. The youngest looked him square in the eyes. "I don't know" she answered evenly and he blinked.

"Much to consider. Much to know." He cast his eyes upward for a good 15 seconds before he lowered them and addressed the children in front of him. "It is clear to me that of the 10 of you gathered here, half of you are children of the Big Three. The prophecy concerns those related to storm-makers, while it is likely to be Zeus, there is a good chance it could be Poseidon as well." Percy blinked at this, as if it never occurred to him that he would be part of this as well. "The Wings portion of the prophecy concerns me the most." There were 9 kids who refused to make eye contact with anyone. "There seems to be something you're not telling me, as we've received at least a couple feather related clues before you children arrived, I'm inclined to make my own assumptions, but I would rather here the truth from you." Chiron rested his gentle gaze on Max.

Max felt the slightly older centaur's gaze and looked at first Fang, then to each of her family members. Ending lastly on her recently acquired half-sister. Percy, Annabeth, and Nico shared a glance, then turned to Chiron.

"Chiron, if I may," Nico said quietly. "This is sensitive information that is needs to be dealt with carefully. From what I've learned, it's not an easy discussion and N-Fang or Max should be the ones to decide when to share their past."

Thalia bristled. Not liking that she was obviously the one making Max the most uncomfortable.

The three oldest Flock members nodded in unison. "No. It's okay," Max said, and she shrugged out of her windbreaker. The younger one's stepped closer to the table and Chiron and Thalia looked on in confusion. "Remember your dream, Percy? About the cages? And the children, and the animals? And the cries? I think I might now something about where this Apollo guy might be." It was rather comical, actually, how everyone opposite the flock, minus Nico, tilted their heads to the side in unison.

With a shrug of her shoulders, Max unfurled her wings. "Turns out I'm not just a demi-god, or whatever you call it. I'm 2% bird as well. We all are, actually." With a shaky laugh she added, "I hope you'll forgive me for not letting them all the way out, and for wanting to keep this a secret. They're rather big."

"I think I heard them drop their jaws," Iggy said. "It's a good thing there aren't any flying bugs in here."

Gasman laughed.

Max chuckled. "I'm not going to discuss the details of our past. But I will tell you we were rescued 2 years ago. The prophecy said the lord of the wolves or whoever was sending their minions after us to torture and torment, right? I have a good idea of who our enemy is. They've been after us all our lives, and we finally had 2 years of somewhat peace. Please. Teach me how to fight so that we don't end up like that again."

Chiron nodded solemnly and made eye contact with each of his charges on his side of the ping-pong table.

"I must think this over. Percy, Thalia, Nico, I leave you to your cousins. Annabeth, I believe your research skills are needed. If I may have a word?" The blonde nodded and the two bid goodbye.

"So much power, so little room," Iggy muttered. "At least, that's what I hear."

Nudge looked at Max and whispered, "can I talk to your sister or are you still fighting?"

Thalia glanced at Max with a slightly sheepish look. "Hey, look," she said, a smirk on her face, "why don't we start over?"

"I don't want your pity," Max said. "I want to be strong. If you can help me be that, then fine."

As the girls shook hands, eyes sparking a little, Iggy made a retching sound. "The feelings, they're so gross," he said. Nudge smacked his hand.

"It's great! Isn't it great? Max has a sister! I've always wanted a sister! Not that Angel and Max aren't my sisters, but ugh, Max I'm so happy for you!" Nudge gave Max a side hug.

Nico and Fang shared a look and Percy looked on awkwardly.

"Well, we've got about 3 hours before dinner," Percy said. "How about a little training? I know a thing or two about swordplay." Max looked at him.

"Are you actually offering to be helpful, Jackson?" both daughters of Zeus said, causing the majority of the room to laugh.

AN:

For those that remember me mentioning studying Japanese, I just thought I'd give you a brief little study progress update: Currently updating this story from Japan. 大変だよ。可愛いほしいものが多すぎて、ついに買っちゃって、お金が無くなる！でも、日本は本当に最高だよ！

Thank you for reading this story! Please review. I do read them. And it's because of those that leave reviews that I'm reminded of why I write and that I do have stories to tell.

I've been given more ideas for this story, so I'll try to write during my down time.

Until Next Time,

~Jezi Raewin