Stories from Camp Halfblood: Legends of the Heroes
Page 24
I snuck upstairs, my feet climbing silent as a cat. I sat down on my bed and thought about that wonderful day. I wouldn’t trade it for anything on heaven or earth.
The Curse of the Blue Drachma
Pop quiz- how many of you know what Annabeth and I did in our ‘Underwater Kiss?’ Okay, well duh yeah, of course we kissed- I mean, I did mention that before. But what exactly went on down there? We didn’t come up for like maybe a couple hours, being the son of the sea god I have that kind of power.
When we were all done kissing and stuff (us guys tend not to think about it too much, and actually I enjoyed it very much) we decided to explore the bottom of the lake.
Annabeth was totally engrossed with every little detail of the underwater realm, but really I was just bored. I’d been in this lake so many times I could have my hands tied behind my back, a blindfold over my eyes, and spun a couple times and still know which way the dock was.
I’ll admit it was pretty sweet though. The water was shimmering around us, because of the sun. Have you ever looked underwater in a pool and seen all the light bouncing around the bottom? Well imagine that times ten. You’ll get what it looked like. Then add fish, plants and rocks all different colors to the equation.
“Oh!” Annabeth breathed in for the millionth time, reaching her fingers out to touch a shiny round drachma on the floor. I frowned- this lake was almost one of the cleanest I knew. There shouldn’t be any extra drachmas lying around. Then I noticed it was glowing bright blue.
“DON’T TOUCH THAT!” I used the water to my advantage and propelled myself to Annabeth at the speed of light, and knocked her away. “Ow!” She sat up (swam up?) and smacked me. “Gods, Percy!!! What was that for?” She rubbed her head indignantly.
I was too busy to answer. I swam closer to the coin. It radiated power and heat. Being a demigod and all that wasn’t uncommon, to have things weird like that happen to you. But like I said, I’d never seen this coin before, and I spent probably ½ or more of my time down here then on land. I didn’t know what it was, but another part of being all Poseidonish was that I could tell when there was danger in the water. This reached maybe 9 out of 10 on my DANGER DON’T DO ANYTHING STUPID OR YOU MIGHT GET KILLED scale.
Annabeth seemed to know something was wrong instantly. That’s one of the amazing things about her. “What’s going on?” She asked eyeing the drachma cautiously. She looked like it might bite her. (And knowing our luck, it very well could.)
“I don’t know.” It was still glowing and every time I edged closer it started glowing even brighter blue like I was interrogating it and it was getting uncomfortable. “I’ve never even seen this down here before. This definitely is not a regular Greek coin.” Way to go me- state the obvious. Hey- there should always be a place to start.
Annabeth nodded, her silky golden curls bouncing on her head. “You’re right about one thing for once. I’ve never even heard of a blue drachma. Maybe it’s an illusion?”
I waved my hand over it and immediately felt a surge of heat, like you would feel if Zeus zapped you with a mini lightning bolt, or you put your hand on the stove when it was warmed up to HIGH.
“Gods!” I cursed willing the water to cool off my hand. My hand felt like a dozen fire ants were crawling over it and searing little razors into my skin. “An illusion that gives off dangerous heat? Yeah, that one is crossed off our list. Other ideas?”
Annabeth frowned. “Maybe the gods are tricking us? Or- wait!” She snapped her fingers. “The Curse of the Blue Drachma!”
I stared at her blankly. “The Curse of the what?”
“The Blue Drachma.”
“That makes tons of sense.”
Annabeth rolled her eyes. “Of course you wouldn’t know. It’s a really old legend- it goes far beyond the reign of the gods- even past the Titans Age! Something about a naiad being jealous of Gaea so she created a blue coin that brought horrible fate to a person, or great wisdom, depending on the type of person. In this case, Gaea was... you know not that nice. She did kill her own husband.”
I nodded, hoping Annabeth couldn’t tell my eyelids were getting heavy. That rock looked like a nice pillow. Maybe she wouldn’t notice...
“Percy!” She growled and I jerked my head back up. “Sorry…uh just taking in the view…” I winced, “Of the floor.” I finished lamely.
Annabeth glared at me before continuing but still making sure I was listening. “So the legend goes that whoever withholds the Blue Drachma becomes wiser and can gain extraordinary knowledge from it.”
“Awesome.” I nodded.
Annabeth sighed. “If they can figure out how to tap it.”