Chapter 2:

I adopt a pet dragon.

I lead Chiron into the other room. He looked at me with disdain. I was going to wonder what was going on in his head, but he immediately told me.

"Percy, what on earth would you not want the others to hear but you want me to know?" He looked puzzled, which was an unfamiliar look for Chiron, usually he knows or expects everything.

"I need to tell you the prophecy without Annabe--I mean everybody knowing about it right away. I need it deciphered before I can say anything to them." I hoped he would buy it. The way he was looking at me, he probably knew what was going on, but he decided to play it safe, thank the gods!

"Alright, tell me the prophecy." He crossed his arms and stood looking at me. I told him the prophecy and he nodded after every other line. I almost choked up with confusion when I recited the last line. He stared at me and then at the floor. He started scratching his chin and humming like he was decoding Morris code. Finally he broke the silence like a vase.

"You don't have to tell anybody else Percy, the choice is totally yours. I would tell those going on the quest with you though. They really disserve to know." I stood there thinking about what he said. I said the only thing I could think of at the time.

"I'll definitely keep that in mind Chiron." We headed back out into the main room and Annabeth, Clarisse, and Nico, were staring at me with anticipating faces. I looked at them and I started the prophecy.

"Descend into the land of doom.

Distort time in the metal room.

Go to where evil rules the land.

Upon return make your stand.

An old friend shall help reveal..." I stopped and started to think. I made a quick decision. I put on my most confused face and acted.

"The last part I couldn't understand. It was something about Olympus and a seal." I looked at their faces to see if they bought it. They all were thinking and nodding there heads when Clarisse had to go and spoil it.

"Wait! We can't know the last part because you had a hearing lapse!" She was red with anger. Luckily Annabeth stood up for me.

"Hay, maybe the Oracle started releasing the connection early. I believe him." Annabeth smiled at me, and that just made me angrier with myself for not telling her. I mean, what if it was Annabeth and Luke the prophecy was talking about. For some reason just the thought of that made my heart drop. I decided to try and get over it. No matter what I felt, if I told Annabeth, she would automatically assume its her and Luke, and every time she thinks about Luke, she gets more distant from me, and I don't think I can handle that.

Wait…do I…oh Crap.

Apparently Annabeth saw the look on my face, which I later was told, was a mix of embarrassment, confusion, and happiness. I heard her voice penetrate my thoughts.

"Percy, are you okay, you don't look so good." I looked up and she had stood up and was standing in front of me. That was the last thing I saw before my vision went black, and I passed out.

I woke up in cabin three. I was in bed and I heard something gurgling. I looked up and I saw the saltwater fountain that I thought I had destroyed a while ago. I looked at it and I knew immediately that it was a birthday present from my dad. I sat up in my bed and immediately felt dizzy. My head pounded, I must have fallen and hit my head when I passed out. I was sitting there and I heard a knocking at the door. I tried to get up but I fell back to the bed, dizzier then ever.

"Come in!" I yelled. Annabeth walked in and closed the door behind her. She came over and sat on the bed next to mine.

"Are you okay?" she had her laptop with her, it was pressed against her chest like she was hugging it.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just a little light headed." I sat up and faced her, I noticed that she was smiling at me for some reason. I automatically smiled back.

"Well that's good, believe it or not the one who was most concerned about you was Nico. He wasn't sure whether or not you were ok, none of us did, except for Chiron, who seemed calm about the whole thing." I thought about what she was saying. Chiron probably wasn't worried because he knew what was going through my head.

"Listen, Annabeth, I was thinking about the prophecy." I said looking strait at her.

"You know what the other part is don't you?" Her smile faded and she was looking at me with a blank expression.

"I want to tell you, but I'm afraid you're going to think about Luke, and I don't want you to get your hopes up if the prophecy never comes true." I know that's not really why I wasn't going to tell her, but I had a feeling she already knew that I knew the last line of the prophecy. So I had to tell her something.

"Percy, no offense but my feelings are my business, and I deserve to know something that could involve me and my future." She finished and glared at me, I knew she was determined so I decided to tell her the truth.

"All right," I said, "lets see, it was "An old friend shall help reveal"" I paused, afraid to continue, but I knew there was no way out of it, "You must save Olympus--,"

All of a sudden, Nico burst in frantically.

"Guys, you have to come see this!" he rushed back out the door, Annabeth and I get up to fallow him out the door. We get outside and everybody wass up by Thalia's tree. We rushed up to join the rest of the campers and managed to squeeze to the front of the crowd. Lying on the ground in front of us was Ladon, the dragon who guards the fleece, with his belly up and his tail rapped around two oval-shaped items. They were eggs. Chiron came bounding up the hill and pushed to the front.

"Everybody back!" Chiron was trying to assess the situation, "Percy, Annabeth, grab these eggs and get them back to the big house, quick." After he was done, Annabeth and I both grabbed an egg and starting running down the hill towards the big house, Chiron right behind us. We got back into the house and were standing there, holding two dragon eggs when Chiron burst in.

"To the basement hurry!" He hurried to the door of the basement and opened it. He stood beside it and ushered us in. I noticed that he didn't fallow.

"Chiron, aren't you coming?" I yelled from the basement.

"I don't fit trough the door lad!" Well that explained it. But now what to do with these eggs?

"Chiron, what do we do?"

"Do you see the large orange machine?" I looked for what he was talking about, and I saw it. It was a big dome, almost like a chicken egg incubator, but bigger, after all it had to fit eggs the size of an over-stuffed backpack.

"I see it!" I yelled back up-stairs.

"Good, now place both eggs inside and push the large red button!" Annabeth and I did as he said and put the eggs in. I found the large red button and pushed it.

"Got it, now what?" I asked

"You'll see!" I didn't like the sounds of that. I watched as the incubator started glowing red. The eggs inside started to wiggle as the machine started humming. I slowly watched as a small object poked its way out of the egg. It was a finger. Slowly and surely two dragons emerged from their shells. They looked just like Ladon, only they were smaller, and weren't as threatening. They were actually kind of cute. I stood there looking at the little dragon, which was about the size of a medium size housecat. Annabeth was just as awestricken as I was.

"Now quick, both of you come back upstairs!" I heard Chiron yelling. I tugged on Annabeth and we both ran back up stairs. Chiron was waiting, anticipating our reaction.

"Well?" he questioned, "Did they hatch?" Annabeth and I nodded and smiled at each other.

"Excellent, now help me get the meat stored in the basement into the incubator. We need to feed them right away, and, don't make eye contact. If you lock eyes with a baby dragon, they will do one of two things. Either tear you to shreds when they get the chance, or immediately attach to you, and follow you around, you'll then be the guardian of the dragon until its older. Got it?"

We both nodded and went downstairs to feed the dragons. It was extremely hard not to look at the dragons while we were unpacking the meat. They were just so cute. Unfortunately my curiosity got the better of me. As we were feeding the last piece into the incubator, I saw the dragon bend down with his head by my hand, and looked me dead in the eyes. I didn't know what to do. I backed up and stood still, but it was to late, the dragon started whimpering and clawing at the glass of the incubator.

"Please don't tell me you looked at it." Chiron wheeled up next to us in wheelchair form.

"How did you get down here Chiron?" I asked very confusedly.

"Same way you did, now did you look it in the eyes?"

Annabeth chimed in hoping to defend me. "sir, he did look it in the eyes, but--" she was cut short by Chiron.

"It doesn't matter how it happened. The point is it did. Percy, this dragon wants to be your friend, you're going to have to take it."

He wheeled up to the glass and raised it just enough so he could reach in and grab the dragon. He held the little creature up and it jumped into my arms. I was almost sent flying the creature was so strong. It immediately crawled up my arm and perched on my shoulder. I looked at Annabeth and she was starring at the dragon, then I saw a green light shine on her, I realized it was coming from the dragon. Right above the dragon's head was a familiar green trident. Then right before our eyes, the dragon changed shape, its wings fused together to make a dorsal fin. Its legs and arms grow wider and the fingers and toes webbed. It was now a water dragon. I was in so much shock I couldn't speak. Then Chiron wheeled up and looked at the dragon, then at me.

"His name," Chiron proclaimed, "will be Katarrachtis."