II

Annabeth

"Can you believe it?" Percy asked, dazed. "Can you really believe it?"

"Jackson, this is literally the two hundredth and ninety-third time you've said that," Tj sighed. She must've gotten tired because she didn't scold him the first few times he has repeated it.

Percy shrugged. "Hey, you wouldn't understand. You only came this summer before the Titan War and - " He stopped, probably thinking of a word on how to describe last year's events. "The Second Great Prophecy," he settled.

The ever oblivious son of Poseidon didn't notice Tj's blue eyes directed pointedly at him. I could tell she wanted to strangle him until he turned into a kelp.

"Seaweed Brain, just because Gaia's gone doesn't mean there's already World Peace. There may be a Third Great Prophecy," I interjected.

"Stop being such an...Owl Head," he said.

"May. I said may."

We passed by the lake. Nymphs were singing harmoniously and, from what we could make up, we saw Alaine Sawyer and Noah Ellis spying on Travis and Connor Stoll spying on nymphs. Seriously, it's 6 am in the morning. How can a child of Apollo and sons of Hermes wake up so early?

Anyway, I still wasn't used to camp being so peaceful. Not that I wanted any chaos. Camp Jupiter and Half-Blood have finally come to terms, but the former still resides in San Francisco. The gods and goddesses are, well, the same (when I mean the same, I mean same same. Hera still hates me).

But why do I still feel bothered?

I felt Tj suddenly stiffen. "Tom?" she said.

I turned to see her British half-brother sitting under a tree. Tom flipped his black hair and looked at us. He was handsome for a son of Aphrodite, I admit, though Kelp Head will always be good-looking to me (don't you dare tell anyone!).

Tom stood up and wiped the dirt off his jeans. He walked closer to us, and we just stared at him as he approached. He then eyed Tj from her rubber shoes until her brown hair.

"Hullo, Tj," he acknowledged.

"Hey," she replied simply.

Tom smiled and even I could tell Tj was a little smitten since her eyes widened just by a bit. Percy just stared and stared at him. "Well, that's all, actually. Came over to say hi to you."

"Hey, what about me and Annabeth?" Percy whined.

"Hi then," Tom said. He began to yawn. "I'll be going back to the Aphrodite cabin now. Those people by the lake are too noisy."

We watched him go back to where the cabins are. Once he was out of our eyesight and earshot, we all suddenly exhaled.

Tj shivered. "That dude gives me the creeps."

Percy raised his eyebrows, considering. "I don't know. He seems nice."

~0~

Before we could even separate to our own different tables to eat breakfast, Chiron called for all the senior counselors for an important meeting. It wasn't one of those very serious meetings. Nowadays Chiron would call us to talk about logistics or a broken vending machine. I guess he wasn't used to camp being peaceful, too.

We all took our seats around the table. Mr. D looked bummed because he wasn't able to eat his breakfast, so with a wave of his hand, a plate full of waffles and butter and maple syrup appeared on top of his part of the table.

"So what's up, Chiron?" I asked, trying very hard to ignore the other counselors salivating over Mr. D's meal.

Chiron just looked at me. I knew in his face that something was wrong, though there was something uncertain about it. Like he was struggling with his doubts and things he knew.

The centaur cleared his throat. "I will not beat around the bush. Days after our victory last year, I've sensed a strong force penetrating in Camp Half-Blood. Fortunately, it is not stronger than the Titans or Gaia. But sadly, it is as equal as the Olympians themselves."

The room became silent. It was a gesture for Chiron to continue.

"Rachel?" Chiron prompted.

Rachel Elizabeth Dare, the camp's Oracle, stood up. "I've had visions these days. Well, actually more of like flashes. Flashes of battle scenes and..." she trailed off.

"Well?" Clarisse asked impatiently.

"And of people I've never seen before," Rachel continued. She looked as if she thought she was crazy herself.

"It could be my dear aunt Marga," Lou Ellen said.

"No, no, no," Rachel said quickly. "There's something about them. I just can't put my finger on it."

Percy looked furious. "I thought it was all over. Don't tell me my girlfriend's right!"

I would've been pissed if I hadn't realized what Percy said. He was obviously referring to the so-called Third Great Prophecy I predicted.

Within a blink of an eye, before I could even reply, before Mr. D could drink his Diet Coke, before Piper could slap Leo's hands from grabbing Mr. D's extra waffles, Rachel suddenly recoiled. Her back arched and she would have collapsed on the floor if Will hadn't postioned her on her chair.

The room became eerily dark. We watched in horror as green mist circled the Oracle's foot. Once again, we felt that familiar, spine-tingling sensation. It was terror. Mr. D just watched, his mouth gaped open.

When Rachel opened her mouth, the green spew came out as well. Her already emerald eyes shined even brighter than before. Rachel's voice was that unmistakable one. Like a hundred of her were talking at the same time. She said,

Deep in the heart where the giants dwell

Lies the lost instrument needed to quell

The seven of hero's blood shall rise

And retrieve the item before the third sunrise

Beware of the sea's wrath that will be the cause

For Asclepius' stalwart kin's final pause

With that, Rachel slumped back into her seat and finally regained consciousness.

~0~

"There is seriously something wrong with that prophecy," said Felicity Rose. "First of all, what do we need to quell?"

Felicity was pacing back and forth the Athena cabin, her wavy honey blonde hair flowing behind her. She was deep in thought right after I told her the prophecy. Chiron didn't confirm whether it was a Third Great Prophecy, but if it weren't, it was still pretty serious.

"And then the lost instrument. It could be anything," Felicity continued.

"It's the last two lines that are bothering me," I said truthfully. "Somebody's going to...pause." The real word stuck in my throat. If somebody was going to die in the end, then he or she might as well not go.

Felicity stopped pacing abruptly. "Wait. Asclepius' stalwart kin? Asclepius' sibling? Then surely a demigod is not going to die!"

"Either way, nobody deserves to...pause."

The sound of a conch horn being blown filled the whole camp. I immediately stood up from my bed (I was sitting down, you see) and my other siblings woke up from their stupor. We all headed outside Cabin 6.

It was still 8 am in the morning, yet it felt like a day passed by. The sun was blaring and making us all sweat. From the corner of my eye, I saw Percy run towards me, his face urgent. He stood beside me and whispered, "I need to tell you something."

"Mhm," I said, not really paying attention.

A group of teenage girls emerged. They all wore matching silver parkas, and what really took our attention was the unnatural yet healthy glow of their skins. A sign of their immortality.

The girl with black hair stepped forward. A thin diadem circled her head and even if she didn't wear one, she was obviously the leader. "We heard about what's happening and we're here to help," Thalia said.

"You will be escorted to Cabin 8," Chiron said.

"Annabeth," Percy called me. He looked nervous.

"Later."

"It's really important!"

"Okay, fine. What?" I gave up.

"After the meeting, when I want back to - "

"You guys all right?" a voice interrupted.

We whipped our heads to see Thalia right in front of us. We seemed to be too absorbed in what we were talking about that people were already starting to file out for camp activities.

I managed to say something first. "Oh, hey, Thalia! We've missed you."

She narrowed her eyes.

"Seriously, Bird Brain," Percy said.

Thalia gave Percy a menacing glare. "I've been away for months and now you dare make a nickname for me? How would you like it if I called you Merman? Or what about Aqua Man? I've got a list, Fish Poop."

"Hey, I never went as far to call you Bird Dung!"

"Bird Dung?" I raised my eyebrows.

"It was a last minute thing," Percy muttered.

A Hunter of Artemis with blonde hair that was braided and violet eyes approached the Lieutenant of Artemis. "Thalia, the cute Stolls are at it again. They've pranked Phoebe."

"Not again," Thalia sighed. "Wait, cute Stolls? Mac Hadley, you are a Hunter yet you flirt with boys!"

~0~

Percy and I had canoeing together, so we were able to talk about what happened a while ago.

"Somebody will pause!" I gritted my teeth. Percy failed to see what bothered me most. All he kept worrying about was whether Gaia had risen again because of the giants that were mentioned in the prophecy.

We were seated together on a boat on the lake, adjusting the sails and determining the distance. Actually, Seaweed Brain was doing all the work since he was, for the first time, good at a subject (I'm just kidding).

"You don't get it, Annabeth," Percy said. "I mean, listen. Asclepius' sibling will d - " I glared at him. " - er, pause because of the sea's wrath. I think I'm to blame," he said guiltily.

"Sea's wrath could mean Bessie."

"Hey, Bessie is completely harmless!"

I sighed. "My point being there are other sea monsters out there. You couldn't possibly pause a person."

"I don't know..." Percy trailed off.

"Anyway, what's this thing you were going to tell me? The really important one?" I asked.

Percy's eyes lit up. "Oh, that!"

I waited.

Percy continued, "After the meeting, when I went back to my cabin, I decided to take a short nap. You know demigods. They have premonitions. So I started seeing this circular room with tall chairs with teenagers seated on top of it. They were talking about this certain place that was a 'hindrance,'" he quoted.

"Go on," I urged impatiently. The story was getting interesting.

"Okay, okay, chill," he said. "The teenagers started talking about a spy. That they needed to learn more about this 'hindrance.' All of a sudden this loud beast sound filled the whole place. Then the dude with cropped black hair said that he already had a job for - "

Percy wasn't able to finish. A large boulder shot through the sky and hit our boat, thus making us topple over and splash into the water. Luckily Percy made a huge bubble to prevent us from getting wet.

"So who was this job for?" I asked once we raised our heads from the water.

Percy made a weird, choking sound. He inhaled and exhaled before saying, "Cassandra Aporete."


Whaddya guys think of the prophecy? I made it at the last minute. Anyway, I was thinking of alternating characters between Cassandra and another. Like if the first was Cassandra and second was Annabeth, then third would be Cassandra again but the fourth would be somebody else. Get my drift?

How was the chapter? I know it's shorter compared to the first but I really wanted to finish it so you guys could read it immediately. BTW, more characters will appear in the following chapters, don't worry.

Review! Oh, and Merry Christmas! =)