CHAPTER XCII:The Report

Apollo led me down lines of books on mahogany shelves, each with spruce or oak decorations highlighting them. Each different book was another prophecy that was complete or untouched, some of the books were small, probably only a few pages thick, while the rest looked like Russian novels. Apollo grabbed a book that had a silver stag painted on the cover.

"Here," Apollo said handing me the book.

I took it and read the title aloud, "Those who fell at the solstice massacre."

Apollo's turned and took the book quickly, "Wrong book, very wrong book." Apollo put the book back and getting another book with the same painting on the cover, "Here, this should be the right one."

I took the book and, again, read the cover aloud, "The Khaos Report, written by Xavier Robles."

"That journal was written in 1919, it's a fully detailed report of our secret war against Khaos," Apollo said.

"I know it wasn't written by some lost son of Artemis, so what's with the symbol?" I asked looking at the silver paint.

Apollo smiled, "My Sister and I constantly write yearly reports on our domains, that's actually why we have the library. The rest of the council hardly bothers with them, so we thought it smart to hide the report here. As for the writer, Xavier was a Son of Iris, he was favored by Artemis for his accuracy."

"Was he a Greek adventurer or a Roman legionnaire?" I question, puzzled about Apollo's statement, since I knew kids of Iris don't fight under Olympus' banner in wars.

"No, Xavier was a message runner during World War One. He fought for the French army during the war, and ran into a cult meeting. Xavier took it upon himself to help us in our war, he was a great shot with a surprisingly high pain tolerance," Apollo explained.

I flipped through the book and read what little I could in a hurry, "Why are you giving me this?"

Apollo's facial expression went dark as he spoke, "The whole council has constantly sealed the most destructive side of Khaos in Tartarus over and over. However, she's to strong for us to hold forever. The markings of Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Hera, Hestia, and Demeter all cover her prison to no avail. Soon after The First Khaos Crisis we sealed her away with more markings. The prison bore my marker as well as the markers of Artemis, Ares, Athena, and Dionysus. The more Khaos escaped, the more markings we added, the stronger she got. It took everyone on the Olympian council, and a Titan, to seal Khaos away the first time. Then when we thought it was done, Kori gave herself to Khaos because of The Olympians. Maybe it truly is fate that the gods die at the hands of Khaos, maybe it's happened before and we just don't know it."

I listened to Apollo's rant carefully, "So this is for me? I assume I'll actually have it when I wake up."

Apollo nodded, "It will be in your bag where you can read it at your earliest convenience."

"Did Xavier defeat her?" I asked.

"No, but he did take out a lot of her allies. He was also one of the first demigods to use guns, he was the one who actually had Hephaestus put in the vote to modernize adventuring. That event also helped push the drive for steel, and regular bronze, weapons with celestial bronze lining. Eventually the mortal realm, which we swore to protect, started to turn against us. Hired mercenaries, World War Two, demigod soldiers in mortal armies being hunted by monsters, and mortal demigods retiring and returning their legionnaire standards all pushed us to make weapons that could harm mortals and monsters alike," Apollo explained.

I looked down at the book and then was suddenly blinded by a white light. I sat up, taking deep and rapid breaths. My throat was dry, and my whole body ached. My nervous system was shot to high hell, and it felt like I was sunburned on every part of my body. I sat up slowly and saw Penny's gear, and Olivia's sword on the dresser. I got up and felt my belt was still on me, yet I couldn't find my weapons.

I looked around the room, inspecting every corner, and found my sword behind the curtains to the room. I had no idea why my sword was there, instead of being next to Penny's gear and Olivia's sword. I sheathed my sword and immediately heard an alarm blare in my ears.

A loud voice came over the intercom saying, "NO WEAPONS, WITH BLADES THAT EXCEED EIGHT INCHES, ARE ALLOWED IN THE DINING AREA!"

I unsheathed my sword and tossed it to the side quickly covering my ears. When I uncovered my ears they were ringing. I stood up slowly, slightly disoriented, and leaned forward against a table.

"Holy fuck," I said to myself, probably yelling since I couldn't hear well.

I was gonna give this store a poor review on Yelp, if demigods had Yelp for these stores. I rummaged through my nightstand and found my dagger. I sheathed it quickly, and walked out of the room. To my left was a few more rooms, and a dead end with a window. To my right was more rooms, and an intersection of hallways. I went to the small intersection and to my right I saw a large mirror and a side hallway, but to my left I saw a large dining area with all of my quest mates.

"Mary! We're over here!" A familiar voice called out, I looked around and saw Penny waving me over.

I walked over to the table and sat down, "What happened last night?"

"You blacked out after drinking that potion, for quite awhile if you just woke up," Mino answered through bites of an omelet.

"By the way, did anyone else hear that alarm?" I asked.

Adam smiled victoriously, "Alright! Pay up!"

Everyone groaned and paid him ten drachmas each. "Ok, seriously, how did he outsmart all of us with that bet?!" Seth yelled out.

"Yeah! We even hid her sword!" Olivia said.

Penny groaned and put her face in her hands, "We should've left a note."

"You didn't leave a note! I just got out of Tartarus and I had to pay a Son of Apollo!" Mino yelled at Penny.

"Ok, ok, shut the fuck up and pause! What the hell happened here?" I asked, confused as all hell.

"Snake Bite told us the weapons rule, which is no weapons with blades longer than eight inches and no more than five arrows. After Snake Bite told us this, I made a bet with everyone here that you'd grab your sword and sheath it tripping the in room alarm," Adam answered.

"You should've left a note Owl Eyes," I joked through a smile.

Penny put her head on the table and groaned, "I knoooow!"

"I mean…we can easily put everything on Adam's tab," Seth stated.

"Like hell you will Seth," Adam snapped back.

"Let him have this, gods know he isn't gonna outsmart all of us again," Olivia said.

Everyone laughed and enjoyed a nice quiet morning, it felt like all of the times we had lunch at school together. I ordered breakfast the next time a server came around, all I was in the mood for was two egg and chorizo tacos, and a coffee for the adventure to come. As I sat there waiting for my order I couldn't help but think that our quest was finally coming to and end. After the cruise through the Bermuda, the trip to The Underworld, the exploration through the Labyrinth, and the battle in San Francisco I was ready for it to be over. But something tore at my hopes, a small little whisper telling me that this was just the beginning.