Chapter 2

The Oracle

Annabeth and I tore through the mass of cabins to a structure we called the Big House. It's located in the center of camp, and Chiron and Dionysus have rooms there. I was willing to bet a sand dollar that they were sitting inside, playing cards and eating grapes. We reached the door, knocked, and went in without waiting for a response. Chiron and Dionysus were sitting at their table, playing cards. I almost smiled. Almost.

Chiron looked a little surprised. "Percy, Annabeth, what's the matter?"

Annabeth replied swiftly, "We got an Iris-message from Grover. He found another demigod…and the kid might be a son of Gaea."

Dionysus looked up sharply. "A son of Earth?" Then he got his bored look again. "Fantastic." He chewed on a grape.

Chiron frowned. "I haven't ever heard of a demigod son of Earth. We don't have a cabin for them here. Even with the recent, ah…improvements."

The camp had recently had a number of new cabins added for most of the minor gods. However, there weren't many cabins for children of the Titans, and certainly not for the Old Gods, such as Mother Earth or Uranus. But Chiron straightened up.

"No matter." He said. "He can just stay here at the Big House or in the Hermes cabin until we can get something built for him. Regardless of where he stays, getting him here is our number one priority. Go see Rachel for a prophecy."

I nodded and we went upstairs.

Rachel Elizabeth Dare, one of my best friends, volunteered herself to be the new Oracle a couple months before. Apollo put in her the Spirit of Delphi, causing Rachel to have infrequent bursts of foresight, in the form of riddles. She was invaluable in the Kronos crisis, and I hoped she could help us now. We got upstairs, and we went up through the trapdoor to the attic where Rachel kept a small artist studio. Inside, we found her concentrating on a painting of what looked like the former god Pan. It was a very good picture, and I said so. Rachel turned around and smiled at us.

"Hey Percy! Hey Annabeth!"

Annabeth scowled. I got the feeling she didn't like Rachel very much, for some reason. I smiled, though.

"Hi Rachel!" I said. "We're going on a search and rescue mission for Grover and another demigod. Chiron sent us up here for a prophecy."

Rachel frowned and sat down, eyes closed. She remained like that for several minutes, till I thought she had fallen asleep. Then she looked up.

"Sorry Percy." She said. "I'm not getting anything."

This was a little surprising to Annabeth and I, because a mission with this much potential for disaster almost always had a prophecy. I raised an eyebrow.

"Nothing? No hints or anything?"

Rachel shook her head. "Nothing."

Annabeth mused. "That's odd." She said no more, but just sat there, deep in thought.

I couldn't think of a reason why there was no prophecy, but I didn't dwell on it. "Let's go tell Chiron."

Annabeth nodded and stood up. "Yeah."

We told Rachel good-bye and went downstairs. Dionysus was still there drinking a Diet Coke, but Chiron wasn't. Anticipating our question, Dionysus spoke.

"Chiron went outside to the lake. Probably wanted to send an Iris-message. He said to go find him when you came back down." Dionysus looked at his pop can and mumbled something unintelligible. I didn't really want to know what the grumpy camp director had said, so Annabeth and I went outside to find Chiron. He was indeed at the lake sending an Iris-message, but I was too far away to see who it was. He noticed us and ended the message, then trotted over.

"That was Grover. He's doing fine, but he would like you two to come help him. You need to leave very soon. Did you get a message from Rachel?"

I shook my head. "She said she got nothing."

Chiron frowned. "Well, that's unfortunate, because you're figuratively flying blind, but it'll have to do. You still need to leave. Pack your things, and you'll leave with Argus."

I nodded, and in two and a half minutes we were getting into the car we keep at camp. We didn't really have much stuff to pack; food, water, and our individual gifts from our parents. I had Riptide, my celestial bronze sword, and Annabeth had her New York Yankees invisibility cap. We drove away to Washington, and I couldn't shake the feeling we were driving into trouble.