Book 1: Pursuing Lena

Zephyrus’ POV

I went inside Annabeth’s house, hoping to get some lead on Lena’s whereabouts. Annabeth gestured for me to sit on a couch while she sat opposite. Under the dim light, I saw the bright, highly reflective crystal ball on the table, the size of a grapefruit. I sat down, watching her work on the crystal ball. She lighted two candles on either side of the obsidian crystal ball. With her half-closed eyes, Annabeth placed her hands on the orb, muttering some chants to create a perfect scrying spell.

“Follow me,” she whispered, and I did. Soon my mind relaxed, and I entered a spiritually relaxed state. She released the ball and guided me to focus all my energy on the ball.

“Who do you want to see?” she whispered, as if in a trance.

“Lena.”

She breathed deeply and gazed into the crystal ball for minutes, chanting some obscure things to herself. I watched hazy black smoke forming inside the crystal ball. Soon it filled up the entire