Roman Chronicles: Book 1, Apollo: Chapter 15, The Big Dog

I sponged Rachel's head again. She smiled weakly. "The after-pain has never been this powerful. S-something is happening. The prophecy... i-i-is... not being...." She collapsed onto the bed again. I pulled up her covers and left the wet cloth on her head. Then I walked out of the aide room. Chiron was waiting for me. "How is she doing? Is our oracle OK?" I waved my hand in a cutting motion. "She said the prophecy is not being- something. That was her 11th time collapsing, wasn't it?" I asked. Chiron nodded and said, "Let's go eat lunch. I'll fetch a bottle of nectar and a tin of Ambrosia for her." I stared at him. "Won't that kill her?" Chiron shook his head. "The power of the Delphi protects her. Bye."

I smash the imperial gold goblet down. "That was the last straw." A drop of strawberry soda drips out. Ian looks up from his spaghetti and meatballs. "Mm? What was?" He shovels another bite into his mouth. "Rachel! If i'm the hero in the prophecy, I die! What if I am the hero?" Ian swallowed. "Simple. If you're the hero, you do a go-go to Elysium. Just a little something called rebirth." I sipped my soda. "Hmm. Never thought of that." He wiped a napkin on his mouth. "There's a lot of things people don't think. But you'll also do a go-go to the Lethe. That's a baddy." I stared at him. "Will you speak English?" Ian grinned as he chewed his fifth cookie. "No hablo Ingles." He chewed the rest of the cookie. I looked at him in disgust. "Your stomach is a bottomless pit." I said. Ian shook his head. "Not a bottomless pit. A black hole," He said as he chomped a brownie in two. I shook my head and did a face-palm. "You are so absoulutely stupid. Come on." I grab him by the wrist. "Hey- ow! Cut it out! I haven't finished my brownie!" I pulled him to the cabin and opened the door. I pushed him in and slammed the door shut. Ishtar, give me that power. I twirled my hand and Ian turned around and sat. Hephaestus, now. A metal belt went around him. "Gaea! C'mon! Nyx? Icarus? Daedalus? Prometheus? Nobody's helping! My brownie is only half a foot away!" He flailed around, calling for his dogs, and shouting mumbo jumbo about brownies and cookies.  "You are having a time out." Ian said something about revenge upon me with all the force of Gaea, but I didn't listen. I walked out and went back to the lunch hall to finish the sandwich. Chelsea came to me and said, "Uh, seen Ian?" I stood up and walked away. Oh, Chelsea was yet another Ian fan... There were too many. I went back to the cabin and unlocked Ian. He shook his hands and sighed. "Ugh. People these days..." He walked out with his dogs. 

"RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR" I heard a loud, menacing growl. I went outside and one of Ian's dogs was sitting there, growling at a jewel. I went over and picked it up. It was a black diamond, about the size of my thumb. There was a tiny droplet of something encased in the center. I was examining it when Ian came. "OH, HOLY GODS! DROP IT DROP IT DROP IT!" He screamed. He dropped his brownie. Out of pure shock, it fell from my hands. He took two of his knives and pinched the jewel between them. He slipped it into a tiny case that was the exact size of the gem. "Don't touch that thing. It's an immortality stone! If you squeeze it in the center of your palm, you turn into a god." I stared at my hand and rubbed it on my jeans. "Where did you even get that thing?!" I asked\shouted. He scratched his head. "Well............................. Uh. You could say 'Under the World'. Heh heh." I rolled my eyes. "You got it in the Underworld? Seriously? Where?" He rolled his eyes. "That was three questions. But i'll answer. Yes. Yes. Cerberus's collar." I stared at him. "ARE YOU CRAZY?! YOU'RE GOING TO GET US KILLED!" Ian waved his hand at me. "Pshaw. Relax! I don't think they can come in here." I stare at Ian more. "What if they can? Hades is a god!" Ian Pshaw-d again. "Well, then obviously----" He looked at something above me with a look of terror. I looked behind me. A black paw the size of 4 trucks was rising from the ground. Each toe of the paw was topped with a sword-sized obsidian-colored claw that was curved at the tips. He continued quietly. "----Cerberus would come..."