Chapter four.
A few weeks after T. found me singing in the forest, the gang and I were hanging out at Zeus's fist, and Nate and Bobby were messing around and were seeing who could burp out the alphabet the loudest. In short, it seemed like an ordinary, lazy day. Boy was I wrong.
" A! B!" Burped out Nate loudly in an attempt to beat Bobby at the alphabet-burping contest. Yuck, that is really gross. I cannot believe that this burping buffoon in front of me is my brother. Another burp. Scratch that, I can't believe he is related to me at all! And he's my twin! Bonnie and I sighed rolled my eyes at our brothers. Us girls can't get any peace around here! While we were fooling around, nobody noticed that a little girl around the age of three was waddling on her wobbly legs to camp........
A yell snapped us out of our fun and we all ran over to the border to see what was happening. We only had a second to grab our weapons before the minotaur appeared. It seemed to be chasing the little red-headed girl. The monster roared, and the frightened girl screamed even louder. "Help! Mama!" she screamed. I put on a burst of speed that made me seem to be a blur, and managed to push the girl out of the way and into camp borders before the ugly brute could do any harm to her.
" Hey, ugly!" I yelled, figuring this would get his attention. I got it from a book somewhere. He turned around, his nostrils flaring. Snot was coming out of it. Ew, I really didn't need to see that. "Pick on someone your own size!" This time he roared even louder. I guess he remembered that my father had beaten him twice before. I charged at him and he swung his sword at me. I managed to jump away, but he had sliced my shoulder; blood was coming out of it. We backed away about six feet from each other. He snorted and charged straight at me. I acted on pure instinct and charged at him with my sword. He surprised me at the last moment: he grabbed my hair. He pressed his huge sword to my throat. I struggled as he lowered the sword, I wasn't going to survive..... I felt a sudden tug at my gut and then water shot out of the ground and got him in the face. With my heart beating at a furious pace with adrenaline, I stuck my sword into the chink in in armor in his armpit while he was still distracted and he turned into dust. I stumbled back into camp borders. Nate and the rest of the camp gawked at me in awe. The little girl stumbled over to me.
" You hurt?" She asked. I smiled and shook my head. I stroked her hair.
"What's your name little girl?" I asked her. "My name is Maybelline Lucinda Dare." She said in her cute little three-year-old voice. My father cut in. "Dare?" He asked her, his tone incredulous. She nodded. Then she suddenly gasped. Her eyes turned green.
"Maybelline?" I asked her worriedly. She opened her mouth to speak. Except it wasn't her voice. It was the voice of the Oracle.
"It is time!" the Oracle announced in her raspy voice. "The great prophecy shall be fulfilled!" She turned to face me. Then she pointed a bandaged finger. "You shall lead." With a gasp, Maybelline fell into my arms, unconscious. Everybody rushed over to take the little girl to the infirmary.
In the confusion of it all, Chiron grabbed my arm and led me to the bighouse. I looked at his face. It was stressed and he looked like the weight of the world had been dumped upon his shoulders. Of course, it's not easy being him. When we arrived at the bighouse, I sat down in a purple leather seat. He sat across the table from me in a big red armchair. Mom, dad, Nate, Bobby, Bonnie, and the cabin leaders took their seats. Everyone was staring at me, It felt sort of uncomfortable.
"Ah hem." Chiron said, clearing his throat. Everyone was silent, waiting for him to continue. I squirmed in my seat a little bit. "It seems that Maybelline is the new Oracle." He said. My father interrupted. "Maybelline's last name is dare, which means that Rachel is her mother." Chiron nodded. "But there is more. She walked past the camp borders, which means that not only is she the new Oracle, but also a halfblood." Suddenly, a bright light appeared. Everyone averted their eyes. Standing in the middle of the room was Hermes. He grinned.
"Hello, halfbloods." He said. Then he turned to Chiron. "Apollo sent some mail for you." He looked in his bag and started searching for something. After a few minutes he found it. "Ah..here it is." He handed Chiron the small white envelope and waved goodbye. We averted our eyes instinctively as he disappeared in a great flash of bright light.
Chiron opened the envelope hesitantly and started to read out loud for us. "Dear camp halfblood, Maybelline is my daughter. Yes, Rachel Elizabeth Dare is her mother. The spirit of Delphi has entered her. Rachel is no longer the oracle. Signed, Apollo."
Chiron looked up from the letter. "Now that we got that out of the way, we have an even more urgent matter to discuss." He looked at me. "The great prophecy. Obviously, Nikki here has been chosen to lead." Everyone turned to stare at me. I would have given all of my allowance for the next seven months just have an invisibility hat and become invisible right on the spot."The great prophecy will happen soon, according to the Maybelline the Oracle. Everybody, there is something that I have to discuss with Nikki in person, so I would like all to go back to your cabins." Everybody got to their feet and walked back to their cabins.
As soon as the last person was out of sight, Chiron took a deep breath and said to me "Niikki, this might shock you, but last week, the mist was beginning to get thin. It's never been this thin before, since we created it." I stared at him in disbelief. "No way! How could nobody have noticed this?" I yelled, this was very bad news. Chiron nodded gravely. "But there is more." "How could there be more? As if this isn't bad enough!" Chiron looked grave. "Zeus's master lightning bolt has been stolen, along with Poseidon's Trident, and Hades's helm of darkness." I gaped at him in shock. This was terrible. "What are we suppossed to do?" I said, fighting to keep my voice calm. An astonishing feat, considering that I had just learned that the weapons of the big three had been stolen and the mist was thinning. Chiron sighed. "Nikki, as much as I don't like this, it is your duty to fulfill the great prophecy and get back the weapons of the big three. The quest will begin tomorrow at noon. Six people of your choice shall accompany you on this quest." I frowned. "Chiron, does the mist thinning have anything to do with the stolen weapons?" "The big three combined their power to make the mist, using their weapons. So yes, the person who stole the weapons can control the mist. At this rate, the mist will disappear in about a month." He said, his voice so grave it was depressing to watch. I nodded. "Who do you think stole it?" "Ah. Of that I cannot be sure." I nodded. He sighed. "Go now." I got out of the couch and walked toward the door. As I was about to turn the doorknob, he spoke. "Nikki..." I turned around expectantly. "Be careful." He said, his brown eyes sad. I nodded and walked out the door.
