Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Percy walked, or rather half-ran, towards the cave Rachel tended to stay in over the summers. She had arrived about 20 minutes ago, even though it was already halfway through july. It was certainly not the best time for her dad to force her on a vacation. On his way to Rachel, Percy thought about what he should ask her, if she’d seen any visions recently. He almost hoped she had. At least then, everyone might finally get an explanation for everything. For the nightmares. On the other hand, visions almost definitely meant a quest. The thought made his stomach sink.

As he stepped forward he stumbled and almost fell to the ground, foot caught in a tuft of grass. Stress and sleep deprivation was starting to take its toll on him, just as it did for all the other campers. Yet another reason he needed to talk to Rachel. He sighed. At least he wasn’t one of the satyrs sent to take younger kids to camp. If anyone was stressed right now, it was them.

He took a deep breath before walking up to the cave entrance, preparing himself for whatever he was going to find out, if anything, and pushed the heavy velvet curtain aside. Stepping inside he looked around, seeing Rachel in a corner unpacking a few paintbrushes and a canvas.

“Rachel!” he called out, “I know you just came, but I need to talk to you.” Rachel startled a bit, not having noticed him before.

“Don’t I even get a hello?” Her smile fell as she saw Percy’s expression. “What did you want to tell me? If it’s something about some weird blue runes, I had a vision about it last night.”

“Blue runes? Not what I was gonna ask about, but tell me later. I wanted to know if you knew anything about the weird nightmares everyone’s been having the last few weeks.” He still wasn’t entirely sure what he wanted the answer to be.

“Aren’t nightmares really normal for demigods? I’ve heard all of you complain about it for years.” Rachel asked, looking puzzled.

Percy sat down on one of the massive sofas lining the wall. Rachel followed him.
“Yes, but this is different,” he started. “It’s been getting so bad that no one can sleep and it’s a problem. Even the Ares kids aren’t training as much anymore.” Rachel winced.
“But there’s more. All the satyrs are stressed out because the monster count has almost tripled, they’ve counted.” He held his head in his hands as he continued. “So many kids keep dying before they make it to camp. No one knows why, apparently even the gods are confused. So much for ‘incredibly powerful.’” He felt the nausea build as he spoke. Why couldn’t he ever get a break? Being anything but a demigod sounded very nice right now. He instantly felt a bit selfish. He wasn’t the one losing siblings left and right.

“I actually don’t know anything about that either, I’m sorry.” Rachel was a shade paler than when the conversation started, her mouth twisted into a slight scowl. Of course. As soon as it seems like you might find a solution the universe slaps you in the face with a very unwanted reality check. Percy tried to swallow the disappointment, but it caught in his throat. If even Rachel didn’t know anything, who would? He’d already spent every waking moment, which admittedly was more than it should be, horrific nightmares and all, trying to come up with a solution. It never worked.

“What did you say about runes?” Maybe that would at least give them some idea what was going on.

“I don’t actually know a lot,” Rachel admitted. “I tried to paint what I saw but it’s blurry. Mostly just looks like scribbles honestly.” She pulled out a few papers that looked like they’d seen better days out of her pocket.
“This is it.”

“I’ll show them to Annabeth. She and her siblings are spending all their time trying to figure this out. Maybe they know something?” Percy said, trying to sound reassuring. It didn’t exactly work as well as he hoped. To be fair, he wasn’t very sure himself, cabin 6 didn’t know any more than anyone else. He studied the small paintings in his hand. Rachel was right, they were just circles of blue swirls. Not very useful information.

“I’ll talk to Chiron, maybe he’s seen the runes befo-” Rachel started as she stood up, not getting further before slumping back in her seat, unconscious. Percy turned towards her, just as her eyes snapped open again.

Green mist poured out of her mouth in thick tendrils, her eyes glowing bright emerald. Percy’s eyes widened, his heart thumping so hard it seemed like it was trying to escape his chest.

Rachel started speaking, her voice raspy and ancient.

The Iron Witch and her ward, and a dear friend, for they insist, called upon for aid,
the Sea Prince and the Strategist, do not be afraid.

To the white tops up north,
the five shall head forth.

A circle made to crumble,
venom causing the association to crumple.

And while no death shall come to the young heroes so brave,
one shall mourn a child as if at their grave.

Percy’s head was spinning, trying to memorise the prophecy. He wanted answers yes, but not like this. While he knew it was a possibility, he’d tried his best to remain oblivious to that fact. Sadly that never works as long as you want it to. He layed Rachel down on the sofa and got up, running out of the cave entrance. He needed to find Annabeth. Last time he’d seen her she was in cabin 6. Hopefully she hadn’t moved much.

When he returned to the cave with Annabeth they were both panting. Rachel had woken up surprisingly quickly and was sitting up eating a granola bar when they entered.

Percy and Annabeth both sat down next to her, trying to catch their breaths.

“So what exactly did the prophecy say? Who is involved?” Annabeth hurriedly asked. As Percy informed her what they knew she looked down at Rachel's paintings, and picked one of them up. “What’s this?”

“I tried to draw a few runes I saw in a vision. It’s probably related to the prophecy. Or at least it feels like it.”

“Probably. We’ll get to that later.” Annabeth paused for a second, thinking. “First, we should probably figure out who is supposed to be on the quest. It’s not hard to guess who ‘the Sea Prince’ is, but who is everyone else?”

“‘The Strategist’ is you, I think. I mean, you’re the best strategist I know, I’d be surprised if it was anyone else.” Percy said. Annabeth let a small smile escape.
“You haven’t heard about ‘the Iron Witch’ before? I mean, I haven’t, but…” She knew practically every mythological monster and person, this was no different right?

“No. I’ve never heard of someone called that.” Annabeth sighed. Percy’s hope came crashing down again. What was it? The third, fourth? time this hour? Either way he was getting pretty sick of it.
“How about you Rachel?” But as it turned out, she didn’t know anything either.

“How are we supposed to go on a quest when we have no idea who more than half the people in the prophecy are? Not only that, but it seems like this is going to end very badly for someone. ‘One shall mourn the death of a child as if at their grave’ doesn’t bode well.” Annabeth said, deep in thought. Turning to Percy, he saw her eyes dull. He could guess what she was feeling. They’d already lost so many, and neither of them were prepared to lose another friend. But on the other hand, was anyone ever really prepared? The grief didn’t just disappear even if you knew about it beforehand. He silently cursed the gods. This summer was supposed to be peaceful for once. Of course they wouldn’t let him have that.

“Go ask Chiron then. He might not reveal a lot but even a little bit of information would help right now.” Rachel’s words interrupted his thoughts.

“Yes, and we need to tell him about the quest anyways.” Annabeth said as she stood up. Percy and Rachel followed her out towards the big house, the demigods making sure to walk a little slower so Rachel could keep up.

Chiron was already on the porch when they arrived, sitting in the sunlight reading a book that looked about as ancient as he did. He looked up as they walked up the steps, straightening himself a bit.

“You all seem upset. Is there something you need help with?”

“Rachel just gave a prophecy,” Annabeth started, trying to collect herself a bit. “ and we need to talk to you about it. She quickly recited the prophecy for him, and he grew more concerned with every word.
“We wanted to ask if you know who the Iron Witch is. None of us could figure it out.” Rachel said. Chiron paused for a moment before his eyes widened in realisation.

“Right!”

“Is that a good right or a bad right?” Percy asked. “Nevermind. It’s always bad, I don't know why I asked.” But before he could continue Chiron held up a hand.

“Actually, this time it is good. I may not know her very well, but I met her some time ago, and she was perfectly pleasant to work with.” He smiled. “And so was her ward. You’ll be in good company.”

The demigods exchanged glances. Suddenly their odds had gone from ‘terrible’ to ‘a bit less awful’.

“So how do we find her?” Annabeth asked. Hopefully they’d actually get some useful directions and not have to go on a manhunt across the world. But that’s usually how it ended up. Along with the fact the directions were also almost always vague at best.

“That would be a bit more difficult,” Of course it was. Great. Really. “But luckily, I sent her a letter a while ago, and as such I had to find her address. As long as she hasn’t moved, you should be able to locate her quickly.” Nevermind. Sometimes Tyche doesn’t hate you.

“As for where she lives, there is a town in Minnesota called Blackwater. I’m sure you will get where you want if you ask around. Sadly I am unable to tell you more.” Percy sighed. If only Chiron, or anyone else for that matter, could give them more than hints, quests would be a lot easier. At least they knew where to start now.

“Thanks for the help.” Annabeth said, after that turning to Percy. “Come on, we need to get going.” Rachel waved to them as they walked off, staying in the big house to rest.

Annabeth had been very quiet on the way back to the cabins. Percy could practically hear the cogs in her brain turning. Just then she stopped so suddenly he almost walked into her.

“Wise girl? Everything okay?” Annabeth startled a bit, turning to face him.

“I just realized something. About the quest, I mean. A younger camper, who used to be on the titans side during the war, told me something weird a while ago, and I just remembered it. If it’s related to this it would make some of the lines of the prophecy make a lot more sense.” She took out a piece of paper from her pocket and started furiously scribbling on it.
“I don’t have time to tell you about all of it now, besides I’d just have to repeat it to the others later anyways, so I’ll tell you once we meet them.” As much as he hated not fully knowing what was happening, he knew she was right. The faster they got going, the better, and a long explanation would only slow that down.

They didn’t take a lot with them. They were just planning to get the people they were apparently supposed to work with, and go back to camp. There were still details to work out about the quest, and they didn’t even know how much these people knew about their world.
They had decided to take the pegasi. It was the quickest way to get there, not counting shadow travel of course, but the ones capable of that were across the country. After telling the pegasi what was happening, they were off, on their way to meet a few strangers. And to then break the news that they all had to go on a deadly quest, of course.

Chapter Text

The sun was shining brightly when they flew over the forest beneath, trying to find their way to Blackwater. A welcome change from the gray clouds that refused to leave the camp lately. 

“Over there. a little to the left. There’s a town, it should be Blackwater,” Annabeth said. The pegasi slowed down slightly, making sure not to pass the town. They landed at the edge of the forest.

“So what do we do now?” Percy asked. “We didn’t exactly get very helpful instructions.” Then again, did they ever? 

“Chiron said we’d find her if we ask around, so I guess we’ll just do that?” Annabeth looked a bit tense. She usually liked to have a more concrete plan, but that wasn’t really possible when they barely knew who or what they were looking for. 

They walked in silence, looking around them. The town seemed very normal, but Percy knew he couldn’t always trust that. Along the street there was a restaurant, probably not helpful, a hair salon, same there, and several stores with swirly signs he couldn’t read. They turned around a corner, and he realized they’d made it to the edge of town again. S-something Street, a sign read. He wasn’t even going to try reading that. To the right there was a yellow farmhouse, signs pointing to the entrance. Annabeth stopped to try to read them.

“It says something about a witches coven. That’s probably a good place to start.” Percy nodded in agreement. They made their way down the road, debating what they should do once they were inside. Just asking might end well, or very, very, badly. Was it worth the risk? Annabeth slowly pushed the door open, peeking inside. They both walked in.

Inside, a 40-ish year old man stood behind a counter, looking through some drawers. Percy and Annabeth met each other’s eyes. They had to just ask. Whatever happened after that was a problem for the future Percy and Annabeth. They walked up to the man.

“Hi, I’m sorry to interrupt, but do you know anyone who goes by ‘the Iron Witch’?” Annabeth asked. The man looked up and smiled.

“Hello. You’re not interrupting anything important, it’s fine. And yes, I know her. If you need to see her, go to the café on Main Street, she should be working today.” Percy and Annabeth were both taken aback. This seemed way too easy. But they weren’t about to complain just yet. Nothing bad had happened so far, at least. It just had to stay that way too. Percy snapped back to reality when the man started speaking again.

“Is there anything else you need help with?” With the way he looked at them, it felt like he knew more than he should. It was yet another reason Percy had a bad feeling about this whole thing, but there wasn’t anything he could do about it.

“No, but thanks for the directions,” Annabeth said on her way out. 

“Where is Main Street anyways?” Percy asked. 

“Who knows. Let’s just keep walking, we’ll find it at some point.” Neither of them really wanted to ask for directions again. Drawing even more attention to themselves wasn’t a good idea.

They finally came across a sign telling them they were on Main Street. Percy looked around at the brick buildings. A little further forward, on the other side of the road, was the café. 

“It feels weird looking for someone we need for a quest in some random café. Especially since she’s called the Iron Witch. I kinda thought we’d find her somewhere more…creepy?” He hoped Chiron meant what he said about her being friendly, even if her name definitely didn’t make her sound like it. 

“Me too,” Annabeth said, pausing to look at the sign. She sighed.

“Of course it’s written in cursive.” Dyslexia really sucked sometimes. Inside the café was normal, with an employee in a jean jacket standing behind the counter. Percy saw them looking in his direction and quickly turned away.

“It says Cafe Latte.” A bit of a boring name for a café, but sure. “Wait, no, CaFae Latte.” Her expression tensed slightly.

“You just said the same thing twice.”

“No, ca fae , F, A, E, as in fairy.” So that was the catch. They were probably going to have to work with a fairy. Not that all fairies were bad, obviously not, but they were known for cursing people, and they expected to be compensated for any favor. What do you give someone to convince them to risk their life for you? 

They stepped inside the small café. As they walked up to the counter the employee turned to face them. 

“Welcome to CaFae Latte. I thought you’d stand at the window all day. What are we having?” 

“Do you know someone called the Iron Witch?” Annabeth asked. “We were told she’d be here.” The employee paused for a second, a puzzled look on their face. 

“Yeah. wait a sec.” They turned around. “Bob! Someone wants to talk to you!” they shouted towards the back. A woman, clearly a fairy, walked out from around the corner.

“Hello, is there a problem?” she asked. 

Annabeth stepped towards her. 

“Are you the Iron Witch?” Bob’s gaze sharpened. 

“I am, though people usually don’t use that title outside of specific situations.” Percy felt like she was looking straight through him, somehow. It sent chills down his spine. Annabeth spoke again.

“Can we talk? Alone.” Bob didn’t seem surprised by the question. 

“We can talk in the office,” she said, gesturing towards the back of the café. “Jennifer Charles, I know your break is about to start, but do you mind staying out front for a short while?” 

“Yeah, it’s fine. It’s not like there’s a lot of customers right now.” They turned back to whatever they were doing. Percy had thought they’d care a little more about the weird situation going on, but he wasn’t complaining. He and Annabeth followed Bob to the office. 

Bob pulled out a few chairs and sat down. Percy was about to sit down too, but Annabeth grabbed his arm and pulled him back, shaking her head. 

“If I was planning to curse you, I would have done so already. You’re in my domain, whether or not you sit down doesn’t matter,” Bob said. Annabeth blinked, seeming to realize she hadn’t been as subtle as she had thought.

“Do you need help with something?” You know my title, but evidently you didn’t know who I am. Why were you looking for me?” Percy and Annabeth glanced at each other. That was the moment when everything could go wrong. 

“How much do you know about the Greek gods?” Percy asked. Breaking the news that they were real was neer an easy job. He just hoped she’d take it well. A look of realization came across her face.

“You’re demigods.” It wasn’t a question. Nevermind. Maybe they didn’t have that much to explain. 

“I should have guessed. I assume you need my help for a quest?” she continued. They both nodded. “Though I haven’t had any contact with anyone from your world in almost 150 years. If something important has happened since then, I wouldn’t know anything about it. Something did happen in Manhattan about 2 years ago, that I do know, and I’m rather curious as to what it was.” Percy fought the urge to sigh. Proven wrong, again. It seemed they did, in fact, have a lot to explain.

Percy and Annabeth tried to give a brief explanation of the oath, the wars, and all the quests, but it still took a while. That little history lesson was enough to make anyone’s hair go grey, and that’s without details. By the end of it Bob looked both furious and like she was about to be sick. Percy honestly thought it was a pretty reasonable reaction. He wasn’t feeling great himself either. Recounting your trauma to a random stranger does that to you. 

“That’s…horrifying.” At least she was on their side. That was a lot better than others they’d had to ask for help.

“Yeah, but it’s not like there’s anything we could’ve done about it. And the ones who could didn’t.” He glared up at the ceiling. “Either way, we have other problems right now,” Annabeth added.

“Right, the quest. What did the prophecy say?” Bob asked. Percy quickly repeated it. 

“The Sea Prince and the Strategist are us,” Annabeth said, gesturing to herself and Percy. “and the Iron Witch is you, but who are the other two?” Bob paused to think for a second.

“My ward is Cyrus, he’s not working today but I’ll call him. I’m guessing the friend mentioned is Jennifer Charles, you saw them earlier. They have a tendency to, purposefully or not, get involved in situations like this.” And if Percy didn’t relate to that.

“Not that they’re the only one.” he heard her mutter under her breath. She walked back out front to go get Jennifer Charles. 

They both walked through the door a minute later.

“So, what’s going on? You’re all acting like someone’s dying.” They paused. “No one’s dying, right?” Their face dropped even further when they looked at everyone else in the room.

“Not yet,” Bob answered grimly.

“Yeah, that definitely makes me feel better.” 

“Jennifer Charles.” She sighed. "Not right now.” 

“Sorry.” She waved them off. “But really, what’s happening and who are the kids?”

“Can we wait with the explanation until everyone’s here? I don’t want to have to say the same thing 3 times.” Annabeth was right. Once was already more than enough, and twice was pushing it.

Cyrus arrived a while later. They all stood together in the office, Cyrus only looking slightly less confused than Jennifer Charles.

“Cyrus, you know a bit about us right?” Percy assumed if his…mentor? yeah that’s what Annabeth said Bob would be to him if Cyrus was her ward, knew about them, he might too. 

“I know what you are, Boss told me, but that’s it.” Well, better than nothing. 

“Now I’m even more confused,” Jennifer Charles said. Annabeth took a deep breath. Both her and Percy prepared themselves to break the news to them.

“So… Jennifer Charles,” Annabeth started.

“Call me JC.”

“JC, what do you know about Greek myths?”

Percy and Annabeth explained everything once again, but cut the part about the quests and wars short. The fact the Greek gods were real was enough to take in for JC. 

“ What the fuck. What the fuck please tell me this is a joke.” Everyone shook their heads. JC just stood and stared at them for a solid 3 minutes. 

“And you’re all going on some sort of death mission?” they eventually asked. “I mean yeah I’m coming too, but an earlier warning would’ve been nice.” Well, at least they didn’t argue about it. 

“We got the prophecy today. We would have said something before if we could, but prophecies like to take their sweet time .” Percy rolled his eyes. “ But we have to go to camp and start the quest as quickly as possible,” he explained. “Also I kinda expected your reaction to be worse. It usually is.” JC chuckled.

“Spend enough time around those two and you stop asking questions when weird shit happens pretty fast,” they said, nodding towards Bob and Cyrus

“You signed up for this when you started working here, I don’t know what to tell you.” Cyrus grinned as he spoke. Bob clapped her hands together.

“We should all start packing. I’ll tell everyone the café is closed until further notice. Be back in an hour.” She turned to Percy and Annabeth. “You two can stay here if you want, we’ll be back soon.” 

“Sure.”

After bags were packed and friends were said goodbye to, they all went to the edge of the forest where the pegasi were waiting. 

“Horses. Of course we’re riding horses.” JC muttered.

“Is that a problem, or...?” Percy asked. He could hear the pegasi neighing in offense. 

“I really don’t like horses. Or heights. Riding and flying, could this day get any better?” One of the pegasi neighed especially loudly at that.

“He says ‘get over it’.” Percy translated it. While he left out some of the more offensive parts of what he actually said. It was honestly not something he wanted to repeat out loud. 

“Hey!” JC glared at the pegasus. Cyrus snickered, covering his smile with his hand. Bob just pinched the bridge of her nose. Eventually they did get going, JC holding on for dear life. It was time to finally start actually planning the quest. At least they didn’t have a time limit for once, but that didn’t do much to ease Percy’s worries. So far they’d all avoided talking about the last line of the prophecy, but they’d have to get to that at some point. He wasn’t any more excited for that than he imagined the others were.