Chapter Three

Disclaimer: Checked my pockets again, and again all I found was my car keys, pocket knife, and another penny… No PJO, and it would just be weird to find the Olympians in there. I do enjoy finding pennies though.

"Sybelle! Where have you been? I've been looking all over for you!" I said, running up to my sister. "Linus? What's going on?" I stopped dead when I saw our big brother with her. They looked about the same age now…

Sybelle opened her mouth, but I couldn't hear what she said. The world went gray and all I could hear was the sound of a wind I couldn't feel rushing by.

Then I was in the throne room again, standing in front of Zeus. "The council has spoken." Someone objected. But they were a moment too late; the flash was already filling my vision.

When I opened my eyes it was dark, but that couldn't be right, my body told me it was around noon. I whimpered a little, much to my embarrassment. Pride is another thing that comes with being a half-blood… Even if we aren't proud of our heritage, we tend to have more than our share of personal pride; which makes whimpering in pain a humiliating experience. I heard a train whistle and a soft chugging sound... It still took me a minute to realize that we were on a train, even with the sensation of moving, but I blamed that on the headache which had made me whimper to begin with.

"Oh thank the gods, you're awake."

I knew that voice… Rachel Elizabeth Dare, the Oracle. Crap, now I remembered what happened. Now I just had to figure out what happened after they put me down for a nap, where we were exactly, and how to get us out... No problem right? Maybe not for a child of Athena, who would probably have had a plan ready in case this ever happened to them. But personally I was better at memorizing poetry than thinking up battle strategies; I'd always left that to the children of the war gods.

"Unfortunately…" I groaned. I tried sitting, only to realize that I was tied up. Great, I was not only in a dark confined space; I was tied up on top of it… Can you say panic? Yes? Good for you!

Okay, so while I was trying not to panic, Rachel decided twenty questions would be a lovely game to play… At least she was asking the questions so I didn't have to worry about her randomly spouting off a prophecy about our impending doom. If she'd started that I probably would have panicked.

"Do you know where we are?"

"No, I just woke up." I was trying to get the ropes off, with no success.

"What do they want with us?"

"They probably don't want us Miss Oracle of Delphi." I thought about the hairpins, and decided that having my hands tied to my feet sucked. If I could have reached the base of my braid I could have just cut the ropes.

Rachel was quiet for what felt like hours but was probably only a few minutes, "They'll send someone after us right?" she asked, "Even without a prophecy?"

I paused, to my knowledge no quest had ever been undertaken without a prophecy… Not since the camp was founded anyway. But I couldn't tell her that. "You're my father's oracle; at the very least someone from my cabin will try to come, with or without permission. You're the best connection we have to him." I told her instead, "The only connection…" I added in a mutter as I went back to trying to get the rope off my wrists, I was sure I had to be giving myself some serious rope burns but that was unavoidable.

"Are you mad about that?"

I sighed, and couldn't suppress the rueful smile. I had sounded bitter, and just like Sybelle. "He is who he is, that's hardly going to change." I said with a shrug that she probably couldn't see. I didn't think it was any of her business what I thought about who he was, no matter that she was his oracle. Maybe that even made it less her business.

After that we fell into an almost comfortable silence, about as comfortable as it could be since we barely knew each other and were both tied up being taken who knew where by someone who probably didn't have our best interests at heart. All in all, it wasn't that comfortable.

I finally felt the ropes loosen ever so slightly, not that I had any idea what I was going to do once I got them off. Usually, I left the planning to the Athena kids, I was happy to just follow orders and stay out of the way of the people who knew what was going on. That worked for me, and was such a simple plan; stay out the way, and don't die. If I had stuck to it last night, I wouldn't be in this mess now; but no, I had to try to help. Stupid sense of duty.

I let out a hissing breath as I tried to loosen the ropes more, it really was getting quite painful.

"Are you okay?" Rachel asked, she actually sounded worried, which surprised me a little. But then again, she was mortal, not a goddess or something. She had every reason to care if I lived; after all, I was her best chance of getting out of this alive. Too bad for her, I wasn't even sure I could get me out of this alive.

"Peachy…" I muttered, "I'd be better if I could get these ropes off though." I added, dropping the sarcasm.

"Yeah…"

At that moment the door to our little prison opened, letting in enough light to effectively blind us. When my eyes adjusted to the light, probably more quickly than Rachel since my father was the god of light, I saw a golden haired girl coming towards us. She was dressed simply, like an average camper out in the world; exactly like we dress at camp only in a different shirt. There may not a whole lot of style in the outfit, but not only do we blend in, it also affords full range of motion. That's something you have to consider when a hellhound could come after you at any moment.

"Oh good, you're both awake!" she said cheerfully. She was very pretty, and there was something sinisterly familiar about the way her eyes flashed… But I shook my head and tried to focus, her eyes didn't matter nearly as much as the dagger at her belt. If I could get my hands on that we'd be out of here in a flash… I just needed a plan. Why couldn't I have been a child of Athena, or even Ares? Anyone except the God of frickin poetry?

Author's Note: Well, that's a fairly short I guess… Sorry. The next one should be longer, and I'll post it as soon as I decide if it should be from her point of view or Apollo's, or maybe even Justin's…