「005. cherry can talk to plants and uncle val is forgotten 」

BARBIE WAS kind of worried when she was called to the war council. usually, it was just cabin leaders who were called, but silena always seemed to drag along barbie, and she always listened because this was silena and if you made silena upset it was like you kicked a puppy. and also she usually came to beg chiron to go on a quest. but after being on a quest, she didn't see the point of going.

but, what surprised her most about this time was that she wasn't just dragged along to the council meeting, but she was actually requested by chiron to come. which was kind of worrying. because this had never really happened before and she had no idea if it was a good thing or not, but she did assume it was probably not a good thing.

oooo, look at you, spoke jerald in her mind, you're in the big leagues now.

jerald, not to sound rude or anything but why the fuck do i see a barbie dreamhouse playset in my mind?

oh, d'ya like it? i thought it be a cool thing to add to my place!

jerald this is my damn body, why are you making your own house in my imagination?

uh... because i can?

she let out a frustrated huff before walking towards silena so they could both go to the meeting.

"i didn't have to force you to come this time," she spoke in amusement.

"yeah," barbie spoke lightly, "this time i had chiron force me to come... fun."

the two girls walked in some kind of silence to the big house where the war council would take place. barbie had been before so she wasn't that scared of everybody. but sometimes when your a child of aphrodite people don't give you enough credit. and sometimes they underestimate you.

but as barbie had already proven: don't fuck with the aphrodite cabin. they may look like models straight out of vogue, but they pack a hell of a punch and were pretty fierce. they also knew how to tell if a diamond was fake or not. but that's beside the point.

"sup barbie doll," spoke percy as she entered.

"lay off, water boy," she snapped, clearly not in the mood this morning.

"she's crabby in the mornings," spoke silena as they both sat down next to each other.

you don't know the half of it, spoke jerald out loud.

a few of the cabin leaders looked to her and she realised not everybody knew about her weird situation with jerald.

"uh... gift from aphrodite," she spoke, "it talks-"

what have i told you about calling me an 'it'? i'm a 'she'! spoke jerald before she muttered, insensitive demigod.

the demigods around her seemed to have a lot of questions until chiron walked in and cleared his throat and barbie stared intently at him. the war council had begun.

"luke must have known about the labyrinth entrance," announced annabeth, "he knew everything about camp."

it wasn't a surprise that clarisse and annabeth where the ones leading the war council meeting. after all, they were the ones who were putting so much time and effort into the whole idea of the labyrinth and whilst barbie had helped only at the start, the two of them had been the ones who really came through.

"that's what i was trying to tell you last night," spoke juniper the wood nymph (who had somehow come along to the meeting but barbie wasn't going to judge), "the cave entrance had been there for a long time, luke used it."

"you knew about the entrance and didn't say anything?" spoke silena with a furrowed brow.

"i didn't think it was important," spoke juniper in defence, "it's a cave. i don't like yucky old caves."

"she has good taste," spoke grover who grinned at his girlfriend.

barbie did try very hard to contain herself. acts of love just seemed to get her hyped and she couldn't help it. and grover and juniper where just such a cute couple that she couldn't help be let out a quiet squeal. thankfully, nobody heard her.

"i wouldn't have paid attention except.... well, it's luke," spoke juniper with a blush.

ooo he's the spicy man, spoke jerald out loud, the spicy bad boy with daddy issues, and jerald proceeded to giggle.

the councillors looked at barbie and she was bright red with embarrassment. seriously, did jerald have to say that right now?

"i-" spoke barbie, embarrassed for jerald, "shut up."

"forget what i said about good taste," mumbled grover bitterly looking away with an agitated glare.

"interesting," quintus polished his sword as he spoke, "and you believe this young man, luke, would dare use the labyrinth as an invasion route?"

"definitely," clarisse said, "if he could get an army of monsters inside camp half-blood to just pop up in the middle of the woods without having to worry about our magical boundaries, we wouldn't stand a chance. he could wipe us out easy. he must've been planning this for months."

"he's been sending scouts into the maze," annabeth said, "we know because...because we found one."

"chris rodriguez," chiron said.

he gave quintus a meaningful look.

"ah," quintus said, "the one in the...yes. i understand."

"the one in the what?" asked percy in confusion.

clarisse glared at percy, "the point is, luke has been looking for a way to navigate the maze. he's searching for daedalus's workshop."

"yeah," mumbled barbie, "if luke found him he'd be unbeatable."

"the guy who created the maze," spoke percy.

"yes," said annabeth, "the greatest architect, the greatest investor of all time. if the legends are true, his workshop is in the centre of the labyrinth. he's the only one who knew how to navigate the maze perfectly. if luke managed to find the workshop and convince daedalus to help him, luke wouldn't have to fumble around searching for paths, or risk losing his army in the maze's traps. he could navigate anywhere he wanted – quickly and safely. first to camp half-blood to wipe us out. then... to olympus."

"so we can't let him find a perfect way to navigate the maze," spoke barbie.

the half-bloods around her nodded in agreement along with a few murmurs as well.

"wait," spoke charles beckendorf, "back up a sec annabeth. you said 'convince him' isn't daedelus dead?"

"i would hope so. he lived, what, three thousand years ago? and, even if he were alive, don't the old stories say he fled from the labyrinth?" spoke quintus with a huff.

chiron clopped restlessly on his hooves, "that's the problem, my dear quintus. no one knows. there are rumours... well, there are many disturbing rumours about daedalus, but one is that he disappeared back into the labyrinth towards the end of his life. he might still be down there."

"but the labyrinth can't make you immortal, so he has to be dead!" spoke barbie, "unless he somehow got a blessing from the gods to stay alive forever."

they all looked at her weirdly before she went back into her seat, choosing to be a bit quiet and shut up.

"we need to go in," annabeth announced, "we have to find the workshop before luke does. if daedalus is alive, we convince him to help us, not luke. if ariadne's string still exists, we make sure it never falls into luke's hands."

"wait a second," percy said, "if we're worried about an attack, why not just blow up the entrance? close the tunnel?"

"great idea!" grover said, "i'll get the dynamite!"

"it's not so easy, stupid," clarisse growled, "we tried that at the entrance we found in phoenix. it didn't go well"

annabeth nodded, "the labyrinth is magical architecture, percy. it would take huge power to seal even one of its entrances. in phoenix, clarisse demolished a whole building with a wrecking ball, and the maze entrance just shifted a few metres. the best we can do is prevent luke from learning to navigate the labyrinth."

"we could fight," lee fletcher said, "we know where the entrance is now. we can set up a defensive line and wait for them. if an army tries to come through, they'll find us waiting with our bows."

"we will certainly set up defences," chiron agreed, "but i fear clarisse is right. the magical borders have kept this camp safe for hundreds of years. if luke manages to get a large army of monsters into the centre of camp, bypassing our boundaries...we may not have the strength to defeat them."

"we have to get to daedalus's workshop first," annabeth insisted, "find ariadne's string and prevent luke from using it."

"but if nobody can navigate in there," percy said, "what chance do we have?"

"annabeth knows the maze better than anybody," spoke barbie," except for daedelus... but since he's kinda dead annabeth is our best hope."

"she read the study from books," pointed out percy.

"yeah, but this is annabeth."

"yeah, but are books going to help us?"

"shut up!"

"make me, barbie doll."

"shut up, annabeth is smart."

"so am i-"

"arguable."

"i-"

"are you two going to help or not?" annabeth said, cutting in between their weird argument.

"so?" spoke cherry, waiting outside the big house for barbie.

barbie screeched slightly, throwing her hands up in the air in surprise. she looked back to cherry and let out a few curse words before readjusting the two dutch braids in her hair and straightening the camp shirt.

"oh my god," she huffed, "you are great at scaring people."

"that, i am," grinned cherry, "anyway, what was up with the meeting? and why did you go?"

"i'm not really meant to tell anybody, soda pop," she said with a smile as the two walked around, "but i will have to meet up with the rest of them soon after annabeth comes back-"

"yes?"

"i- nope, cherry you are not getting information out of me," she said sternly, "nope. not again. hu, uh."

"oh come on!" whined cherry, "i know something is up! all the dryads and the nymphs are getting agitated by zeus' fist! something is up! val is bad at keeping secrets, i'm pretty sure i could bribe him!"

"cherry," gasped barbie, trying to look stern, "how dare you! you can't use our weakest link!"

"why am i the weakest link?" screeched val, walking behind them and scaring barbie, making her screech.

"you see!" protested cherry, "just tell me! don't lie! i heard some of the conversations you guys had. something about that weird luke guy and the laby-"

barbie slapped her hand on cherry's mouth, muffling what she was going to say, "cherry!" spoke barbie seriously, "you can't go around saying that! we don't even know if that's what's happening."

cherry nodded before apologizing, "sorry."

"and how did you hear? the room isn't even near the front."

"the plants," spoke cheer simply, "they told me."

"huh? not this weird shit again? please don't tell me this is the plant talk thing," groaned barbie.

"it's not that weird," said val, trying to be the voice of reason, which never worked.

"you say that until you've heard her have a full ass conversation with a patch of daisies," responded barbie, staring at her slightly taller brother with a frown on her face and her arms crossed.

"it's a weird demeter thing," spoke cherry waving her hand slightly, "i can like...communicate with some plants."

"that's so cool," spoke barbie with a grin, hugging the short thirteen-year-old, "very cool."

"thanks!" she spoke brightly, "but... i heard about a...quest. does that mean you're going on another dangerous thing again?"

"i might," spoke barbie, "it depends on what happens."

"well, don't die," spoke cherry with a 'menacing' glare, "i'd like that you stay alive. i want moma barb to be ok."

"and what about me, hm?" protested val, "am i just the uncle who nobody appreciates?"

"essentially," responded barbie with a grin as she saw val's neutral stay into a playful glare, "ah shit. cherry, run. r- ahh!"

"i got the prophecy, i will lead a quest to find daedelus' workshop."

barbie's brows furrowed, this was a really dangerous quest. people got lost in the maze and never returned. and even if they did they usually went insane. chiron scraped a hoof on the dirt floor, "what did the prophecy say exactly, my dear? the wording is important."

annabeth took a deep breath, "i, ah...well, it said, you shall delve in the darkness of the endless maze...."

they waited.

"the dead, the traitor and the lost one raise."

grover perked up, "the lost one! that must mean pan! that's great!"

"yeah," spoke barbie with an eye roll ( she was cranky ok? she wanted to spend more time with her semi-adopted child) "along with the dead and the traitor, real nice combo. just what we all want."

"shut up," responded percy, "le't's be positiv-"

"since when have you been positive, you asshat?" responded barbie, glaring at percy, "hm? when, bitch tell me when?"

"i-"

"-and?" chiron asked, "what is the rest?"

"you shall rise or fall by the ghost king's hand" annabeth said, "the child of athena's final stand!"

everyone looked around uncomfortably. annabeth was a daughter of athena, and a final stand didn't sound good. and barbie was worried as hell. annabeth was her first real friend at camp. and if this was her final stand, she really didn't think it was a good idea annabeth was going. barbie began to play with a loose string on her shirt and looked down to her shoes. silena gave her a comforting look.

"hey...we shouldn't jump to conclusions," silena said, "annabeth isn't the only child of athena, right?"

"but who's this ghost king?" beckendorf asked.

no one answered. barbie looked across to percy who seemed to be telling her something, and she had a feeling it had to do with nico.

"are there more lines?" chiron asked, "the prophecy does not sound complete."

annabeth hesitated, "i don't remember exactly."

chiron raised an eyebrow. annabeth was known for her memory. she never forgot something she had heard. annabeth shifted on her bench, "something about...destroy with a hero's final breath."

"and?" chiron asked.

she stood, "look, the point is, i have to go in. i'll find the workshop and stop luke. and...i need help."

she turned to percy, "will you come?"

percy didn't even hesitate, "i'm in."

she turned to barbie and said, "even if jerald is kind of unhelpful at times, i think i need both of you. will you come?"

barbie had to think about it for a moment because the words cherry had said rang in her mind. but then she remembered she was annabeth's best friend and she really wasn't going to leave percy alone to meddle with his hero-complex and especially when the weird warm feeling was washing over her, "the more the merrier," she grinned, "i'm in. i'm not about to let you dumbasses die."

"grover, you too? the wild god is waiting."

grover seemed to forget how much he hated the underground. the line about the 'lost one' had completely energized him, "i'll pack extra recyclables for snacks!"

"and tyson," annabeth said, "i'll need you, too."

"yay! blow-things-up time!"

"wait, annabeth," chiron said, "this goes against the ancient laws. a hero is allowed only two companions."

"i need them all," she insisted, "chiron, it's important."

barbie felt something settle at the bottom of her stomach, as much as she loved the fact she got to prove her worth and make aphrodite cabin proud, she was also going on a quest that could make her turn insane, as well as make her best friend die. but if it meant she could have an easy life after the war, she was all in.

she just hoped that cherry wouldn't be too mad at her. val would probably be fine with the whole quest situation. she just was still unsure how cherry would react.

rosie speaks!

hello kids so i love val. val would be
my husband if annabeth won't take him.

he is husband material.

word count: 2,685 words