I wrote this chapter.


"Finishing school?" Rapunzel exclaimed. "If she's the oracle, then shouldn't she be here or something?"

"Rachel made a deal with her dad during the Titan War-" Eugene started.

"What's that?"

"Long story. Anyway, in exchange for her coming to help us, she agreed to go to Clarion Ladies Academy. She's usually only here during the summer."

"Of course we could send an Iris Message… but I suppose it is rather late." Rapunzel said, earning no response. Oops. She thought. She looked up.

"Did I uh… speak… Greek again, by any chance…?" she asked.

As if rehearsed, everyone nodded. Then the room seemed to break out into hushed whispers. Rapunzel could barely make out anything in all the chaos.

"Could it be?"

"…curse."

"Is this bad?"

"It has to be bad."

"…No one speaks fluently in Greek!"

Rapunzel dropped her gaze to the table and played with her fingers under it.

"Alright, alright. I think that's enough conversation. You all must be very tired and restless. We'll talk about this tomorrow. You can head off to your cabins." Chiron said.

Immidiatly everyone left.

Except for Rapunzel, Eugene, and Chiron.

Annabeth glanced at Rapunzel with a sympathetic look and stood up then walked off to her cabin.

Rapunzel sighed, her gaze locked on the floor. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to, honest. I never mean to-"

"This has happened before?" Chiron asked.

Rapunzel didn't say anything. "Yeah." she said quietly. "It happens more often than I wish it would… everyone looks at me weirdly at school and my dad doesn't get how I can speak Greek so fluently when I've never…" she stopped herself. If she explained, they were going to think she was crazy. Mad. Off her head. Weird. She couldn't risk that at her new home. She felt a hand slip into her and she glanced up at Eugene before looking down at the floor again.

"When you've never what, Blondie?" he asked quietly.

Rapunzel blinked back tears and swallowed. "When I've never taken any lessons."

Chiron looked troubled. "This can't be good." he muttered in Greek, which was useless because Rapunzel could understand it. If he wanted to keep something from her it would be best to not say it at all or say it in another language. She could speak English, Greek and French, the French being because of her mother.

She should've kept quiet, but being ADHD like most demigods, she tended to say things she probably shouldn't.

"How is it bad?" she said her voice cracking.

"There's no evidence, you need not worry child. I fear if you heard the rumors, it could just be worse." Chiron said.

"Rumors?"

"You don't want to hear it, Rapunzel."

"If it has something to do with me, I believe I have a right to know." she said. She tried to hide the anger in her voice. She hated when adults tried to hide things from her that she would eventually find out anyway.

"It could be a curse. But there isn't any proof. It's just an old prophecy. They often have double meanings so it could mean something else entirely. Actually, now that I think about it…"

"What?" Rapunzel asked, her gaze snapping up to Chiron.

"It is possible we won't need Rachel to come. We could already have the prophecy."

"Let me guess, it has something to do with my 'curse'." she said bitterly and sadly.

"Rapunzel, we don't know if it is a curse…" though Chiron didn't sound so sure. "But it would help if we could know more about this. It is late, but I'm sure it can't take too long-"

Rapunzel blinked back tears and ran out of the Big House. She ran off to her cabin. She was all alone, so now it wouldn't matter. She did the only thing she could do:

She cried.

She hadn't cried about it in so long. She believed it was a curse. Double meaning or not, there was no way she could speak Greek like this and not have taken any lessons at all.

For years she had been speaking Greek in the worst times possible. At school, at home… she had no friends and when she came here it was like she had a fresh start. And she ruined it. Her dad tried not to talk about it, but she could tell it troubled him how she could have this ability with no practice. They tried to make things as normal as possible, and he still didn't understand why she was being kicked out of so many schools. It could be the monster attacks, it could be the speaking Greek. She had scared off plenty of people with it before… without ever meaning to.

She collapsed on her bed and continued crying. She ruined everything. She just knew it. Her life at camp was ruined because she screwed up. It was all her fault. And with that she managed to cry herself to sleep.


Eugene stood in the doorway of the Big House with Chiron.

"She'll calm down. She'll be fine tomorrow. Nothing can keep her down for long. She's the most optimistic person I know." Eugene said, though he sounded like he was trying to convince himself rather than Chiron.

"It would be best if we talked about it tomorrow. Maybe she'll be ready to talk then. You should go and get some sleep, seeing as you'll be going on this quest as soon as it's all sorted out."

Eugene nodded and headed off to his cabin.

Tomorrow would be when everything got sorted out. Rapunzel would be okay tomorrow… wouldn't she?