YAY FOR OTHER POVS!

Sooo, this one-shot takes place in the middle of page 69 in the fourth book, when Annabeth goes to retrieve her prophecy and there's a period of time where Percy has no idea what's happening. This is what Annabeth's going through :D

SPOILERS! If you haven't read TBotL yet, don't read this. It gives up the last line of the prophecy!

"Very well," Chiron turned to me. "My dear, it's your time to visit the Oracle. Assuming you return to us in one piece, we shall discuss what to do next."

Oh, thanks Chiron. That? That right there is very cheerful. Thank you for that.

I stood up and glanced at Percy. He tried to give me a reassuring smile, but it seemed like more of a grimace. I remembered that he'd gone to the Oracle before. He knew what it was like. The fact that he thought he had to reassure me didn't make me feel any better.

I walked away from the war council and through a few trees and pavilions to the big house. I pushed open the door and heard Clarisse in the basement, trying to get Chris to cooperate. I hurried up to the attic.

It was extremely gruesome up there, even during the day. There were assorted weapons and magic items strewn everywhere, but one in particular caught my eye.

It was a dragon claw from the beast that gave Luke Castellan his scar. I remembered the day all too well. Luke had been granted a quest, to steal an apple of immortality from the garden of the Hesperides. Ladon, the guard-dragon, had scratched the right side of Luke's face, from his eye to his jaw, in battle. Luke despised that day. I understood why he'd want that claw out of his sight.

I shook my hair out of my face and turned away from the dragon claw. I stepped up to the oracle. I opened my mouth to speak, but didn't know what to say.

"O Oracle, I ask for a quest," I decided to say. The only other prophecy I'd read was the Great Prophecy, and that was in a small pouch connected to one of the Oracle's necklaces. I wondered where I would find my quest, but I didn't have to wonder for long.

The Oracle started moving. Her glassy eyes widened and green smoke billowed from her mouth and ears. Then the scene shifted, and I wasn't looking at a rotting mummy in an attic anymore.

I was on the beach, in California. I didn't' know how I knew that, but I knew it was somewhere close to San Francisco. My dad and my step-mother walked hand-in-hand along the beach as my step brothers, Bobby and Matthew, played in the sand behind them. I looked up into the sky and saw the face of a young girl, who must have been the Oracle from decades ago, because she started speaking.

"You shall delve in the darkness of the endless maze," she hissed. "The dead, the traitor, and the lost one raise."

The lost one! Pan!

"You shall rise or fall by the ghost king's hand,

The child of Athena's final stand."

...Child of Athena's final stand?

"Destroy with a hero's final breath-"

Final breath?

"...And lose a love to worse than death."

The landscape faded as quickly as it had appeared, and I was back in the attic. I staggered back and ran into a table full of magic items. I couldn't breathe. I slid to the floor and covered my mouth, trying not to scream.

It was the most terrifying thing I'd ever heard. It gave me second thoughts about leading a quest, but now that the prophecy had been announced, I would never forget it. I was to lead the quest into the Labyrinth, no doubt about it.

I figured that I should get back to the war council, but I couldn't move. My thoughts were racing. I took a deep, shaky breath and tried to make some sense of my prophecy.

You shall delve in the darkness of the endless maze. Simple. The Labyrinth.

The dead, the traitor, and the lost one raise. We'd be raising the dead. Alright. We'd also be raising a traitor, and the only thing I could think of was Percy telling me that Luke betrayed camp. I didn't want to think about that. It had to be another traitor. We'd be raising the lost one, which had to mean Pan. I knew Grover was meant to go on this quest!

You shall rise or fall by the ghost king's hand. I had no idea who the ghost king was, but he was going to make a decision that would save us or destroy us.

The child of Athena's final stand. This one made me uneasy. Child of Athena? That could mean me. Or any of my siblings. Or- hey, if we're going out on a limb here- Daedalus. But I had a feeling it was me. Which was just a great feeling.

Destroy with a hero's final breath. What hero? Me? Luke? Grover? Tyson? ...Percy?

And lose a love to worse than death. I couldn't breathe again. Something in the back of my mind told me that I should dig deeper to solve this one, but all I could think about was Luke. For the longest time, he'd been the only one who really cared about me. But then he disappeared. I knew he wasn't dead, and apparently he wasn't going to die any time soon. I didn't know whether to be ecstatic or nervous about that.

I shakily got to my feet. Like a zombie, I slowly walked to the attic door. I wasn't really paying attention to anything as I made my way back to the sword arena. I was going to have to explain the prophecy to Chiron, to Percy... to everyone.

It was going to be a long day.

Well, readers, that was fun while it lasted. In the middle of writing this, I realized that I have a paper due in English in 24 hours and I haven't even started my final draft yet. So, wish me luck on that... and I hope you enjoyed my random one-shot that I've been planning on writing for almost a year! :D

Like it? Mind telling me if you did?