The Prophecy

As soon as I stepped back onto the ground of Camp Half-Blood, I bolted straight towards the big house. If anyone knew how to solve this problem, it was Chiron.

I was about to knock on the door, but before I could, the doorknob twisted and Chiron stepped out onto the porch. He was standing in full centaur form, a sleek white stallion standing underneath a middle aged guy with brown hair and a scruffy beard the same color. His eyes were trained directly on me.

"Chiron," I said, "Hi."

"Hello Percy." He said, "I suppose you are here to talk about Annabeth?"

"How did you know?" I asked. "Was she here?"

Chiron nodded, "She left about five minutes before you arrived, to talk about the issue involving Athena."

I stared at him, "How did you know?" I asked.

"Athena is my niece Percy." Chiron said.

I thought about it, tracing the family tree of the gods in my mind. He was right; being a son of the evil Titan Lord Kronos made him Zeus' brother, and Athena's uncle. I traced in even farther; Chiron was my uncle too. Weird.

"Oh," I said, "Yeah."

"Percy," Chiron said, changing the subject, "Annabeth said she came to you with the issue first."

He sounded jealous, which was sort of funny if you looked at it from the right perspective. "Yeah," I said, "But I don't know why, I mean, sure I was the closest to her at the time, but why me?"

Chiron stared at me with his ancient eyes, which made me nervous, "I think you know why Percy." He said.

Despite the fact that he probably didn't mean it that way, I couldn't help but blush in spite of my self. "Not really."

Chiron's gaze met mine, "It's because she trusts you Percy."

"So out of all the people in the entire world, she could tell, Annabeth chose to tell me, because she trusts me?" I asked.

Chiron nodded.

"I knew I was awesome."

"Percy," Chiron said, "Annabeth and I both think it's best for you to consult the Oracle."

"Why not Annabeth?" I asked, "Athena is her mom."

"She doesn't want to bear what it might tell her."

I thought about it for a second, "Wait," I said, "The Oracle isn't a mummy in the attic anymore, it's in Rachel."

Rachel Elizabeth Dare had been my friend since I'd tried to kill her with a sword, all the way up until she accepted the role as the Oracle of Delphi, the prophetess we use at camp to get prophecies for quests. As far as I knew, she was back home in New York.

"Which leaves you only one choice." Chiron determined.

"Find Rachel?" I guessed.

Again, Chiron nodded.

"Alright, fine."

Later in the day, (actually, right after I darted away from Chiron) I found Annabeth in her cabin reading some architectural book I wouldn't have been able to make sense of in a million years.

"Hey, Annabeth." I said.

She looked up, not seeming to be angry or upset with me anymore, a big relief, seeing as if she wanted to, she could slice me up into a nice Percy-pie. "Hmm?"

"Chiron said you wanted me to consult the Oracle," I said, "We have to go find Rachel."

Annabeth nodded and put down her book, "Alright, let's go."

That struck me as a little bit weird. See, Annabeth and Rachel, when they'd first met two years ago, had been at each others' throats until they found similar interests and then, just like that, they became friends.

We found Rachel where we did last time; posing for some hippie body art show with a bunch of her fellow artists. She noticed us immediately, and ordered someone on the ground to take her place.

Rachel got down from the lifted tarp she was posing on, and came over to us.

"Hey guys." She said with a smile.

"Hi Rachel." Annabeth said.

I turned my face away, Rachel had been something of a girlfriend, I guess that's what you would call it, and now that she was the Oracle, she isn't allowed to have any relationships with guys.

She saw me, "Percy, are you okay?"

"Yeah," I lied, "Listen, Rachel—"

"—stop there, and let me do the math," she said, "Half-bloods plus me equals you want a prophecy, right."

I stared at her.

"Yeah." Annabeth said.

"Alright," Rachel said, "Come with me."

Rachel led us to an alley between two red brick buildings. She told us that mortals couldn't see the prophecies being told out, or else they'd die of sanity on the spot.

Rachel turned toward us and stood still as stone. Then the awkward part: green mist started to pour from her mouth. I don't know how that felt to Rachel, but staring at it right now made my stomach do summersaults. Rachel spoke, but it sounded like her voice was multiplied by three.

"Rescue the goddess or suffer her fall.

Regret of Olympus, plagues wisdom of all.

Mind over matter, no blade shall be pulled.

Chaos sprung forth from the cracks in the skull.

Silence the deafness of extrovert parade.

To listen to reason or end the fifth age."

I wanted to give up all hope of doing this after hearing the last two lines; like anyone on Olympus would shut up long enough to listen to anyone else get a word in. And the fifth age thing; that's Zeus' reign, who knows what's going down after that.

Rachel's mouth cleared up and she turned back to normal.

Both Annabeth and I stood still for the longest time.

"We'd better get going," I said after we'd snapped out of it. "Thanks Rachel."

Rachel nodded, but was otherwise emotionless. She walked out of the alley, and went back to her work.

Annabeth nudged me, "C'mon, Seaweed Brain, let's move."

We turned the corner back into the street.

I stopped and stared at Rachel; I wondered what was going on between us.

I was about to go and talk to her, but just then, Annabeth grabbed me by the back of my shirt, whistled for a taxi, and threw me in.