The next two days were spent at and around the Mythos cabin, bandying ideas about possible solutions for the coming quest.

"Hey, about this clock thing in the dream," Jordan proposed, "Do you think it's a countdown to when we're supposed to begin the quest?"

"More than likely it's a final countdown," Annabeth noted solemnly.

Percy nodded. "I saw the end once; the clock ran to zero, and just like it said in my prophecy, heaven burned and everyone on earth died."

"Okay, so what do we have to do to stop that from happening?" Sonia asked.

"It would help if we knew who was the one behind all this," Annabeth said drily.

"Okay, so what about the shield idea?" Jordan tried again. "We identify the Betrayer, get him to raise Arete's Shield..."

"We've been over that already," Percy sighed, running his hands through his hair. "The shield, according to the most current records, dated around the first century, is on the other side of the globe, and might be buried under millennia of coral growth."

"But the Betrayer could do it," Jordan insisted. "He has to; the prophecy says so!"

"What I'd like to know," Sonia interrupted, "is what's all this talk about voices and faces? Am I supposed to confront this Hemitholos person with my stunning beauty and charmspeak?"

"Who says it's talking about you, doll-face?" Jordan teased. "Don't you remember? The last prophecy specifically mentions a man."

Percy nudged Annabeth and pointed to Jordan's prophecy. "I can think of a Voiceless One," he murmured.

She shot him a dirty look. "Leave her out of this, Seaweed Brain. What about the Faceless One? Is there another demi-sprite who steals people's appearances?"

"Pretty much all supernaturals can appear as someone else," Joanna moaned.

"Okay, then," Athena's daughter huffed. "Let's move on to something else. Are we any closer to figuring out what the master's second face is supposed to be?"

Joanna shrugged. "We've been combing every context we can find, and there aren't any second faces that we can see."

"Isn't there a god with two faces?" Sonia offered brightly.

"A Roman one, yes," Joanna sniffed. "I hardly think that applies in this circumstance."

Percy let his head fall into his hands as he rested his elbows on the table. "Well, we've spent two days on this and gotten nowhere closer. I vote we give it a rest and see what happens when we all just try to think separately."

The others nodded. "I'll keep working on it," Joanna promised, shuffling some parchments and scrolls around. "If I find anything I'll let you all know."

As he neared the Poseidon cabins, Percy happened to catch a glance of Aurelia coming from the direction of the Morpheus cabins. Part of him wondered what she could be doing there, but then again... She did help with housekeeping, so that could constitute a reason for her to enter the cabin. He trudged up the steps. Joanna's comment when he first came to her with his prophecy nagged at him. "Ares and Aphrodite were lovers once..."

The god of war and the goddess of love; was it possible? Percy thumbed through the books on the shelf at the front of the cabin. He pulled out the book that contained the tale and began to read.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the pavilion, Aurelia stepped into the courtyard in front of the larger cabin where Chiron resided. Percy Jackson's suggestion had been nagging at her all day, and she had finally reached the conclusion that she should tell Chiron and face one of the two outcomes: either he could help her, or she would be sent back home.

As she neared the large doors that led directly to the centaur's study, she recalled what the others had been saying about Master Chiron's strange behavior in the last couple weeks: he'd been standoffish and scattered—and jumpy. He'd never been jumpy before... But if anyone had the capacity to decide Aurelia's fate, it was Chiron. She took a deep breath and pushed the door open.

"Hello?"
Oh gods! She still had Percy's voice! What would he think? She did have a choice, at least out of the voices she'd heard in the last week, but right now, she didn't feel like choosing. "Master Chiron?"

"Jackson?" Chiron's thready voice emanated from the curtains behind his desk. "What are you doing here? I am unwell; didn't I tell you I did not want to be disturbed?"

Aurelia sighed; here was the moment of truth. "It's not Percy, sir," she entered the study and stood before his desk. "It's Aurelia Wilson." She counted at least three seconds of tense silence, then the curtain jerked as if someone stabbed the centaur.

"Aurelia?" Chiron squawked.

She bit her lip at the strength of his reaction; of course it was to be expected for someone of her condition. "Yes, sir." She noticed that she'd picked up his voice; she could practically feel her vocal cords morphing and widening. "I've come to talk to you about something."

"Aurelia, I'm not well," Chiron insisted from behind the curtain. "Come back another time."

"Please!" Aurelia stepped forward alongside the desk. "I've been carrying this around for so long, I need to talk to someone wiser about it, and you promised I could come any time!" She stood before the curtain now. She heard something like a hand slapping the heavy fabric.

"Any time but today!" he insisted.

Aurelia gripped the edge of the curtain. "No, this has to be done; I'm sorry, but I can't wa—"

She flung back the curtain, intending to charge into his "stall" with force— But what she saw was not a centaur; she saw a man—a man she knew only from photographs—a man who covered his face with his arms for shame—a man she never expected ever to see within two miles of Camp Half-Blood.

"DAD?" She shrieked. "How did—wh-what are—You're—"

Cliff Wilson stood and looked up at his daughter sheepishly. "Hi, sweetie."

Aurelia jumped back three paces and scowled. "I'm not your sweetie! You'd better have a damn good reason for this!"

Cliff moved closer to his daughter, "I swear, there is a very good reason-"

Aurelia was still trying to put back together the shattered pieces of her mind. She came in expecting the wise, kind camp leader, and she found only her sniveling, idiot father! "Oh my gods!" she gasped as the first conclusion hit. "You're Half-blood too?" The condition had never seemed more horrific.

Cliff gave up chasing his daughter and leaned back against the desk. "Nothing as glamorous as a demigod, I promise."

"I know what that's like!" Aurelia growled.

Cliff winced and continued, "My father was a shape-shifting sprite named Metamorphos. He could shift into anything he wanted on sight, so all he had to do was shift into my mother's ideal man and she fell for him." Cliff shook his head. "He gave her everything she wanted: nights on the town with her favorite celebrity, special dates from the crushes in her life; she gave him everything he asked in return. Then one day, she found out she was pregnant. He took her to the Great Mall, shifted into a random passerby-and she never saw him again."

Aurelia's chin trembled. "So you grew up raised by only one parent-"

Cliff moved closer, encouraged. "Yes, so, see? I understand, honey-"

"No!" Aurelia snapped, "You have no idea the hell my life has been! You had one parent-and it hurt you so bad you didn't think twice about abandoning your own child for bragging rights!" She hung her head and cried. She had imagined the moment when she could finally confront her father for what he had done-but reality was so much more painful than she planned!

"Aurelia, honey, I didn't abandon you."

"What do you call it, then?" she retorted. "Leaving your child behind, one photo, no letters, for two whole decades? You call that good parenting?"

"I knew you would be safe here, because I knew Chiron back in the day. The mutation of my father's power I inherited was that my shifting abilities were based on physical touch-"

Aurelia saw his hand snaking toward hers and jerked it away with a snarl, "Touch me and die! You might be a half-blood but you're not my father!"

Cliff backed away. He noticed the suit of armor on one side of the office. "Watch," he said. Cliff touched the breastplate, and suddenly he was wearing an exact replica of the entire suit. He turned back to his daughter. "I can take on a person's appearance in kind of the same way. It lasts about a fortnight. Chiron helped me learn how to control it so I wouldn't shift just walking through a crowd at the mall. I can't imagine how crazy your life must be, having other people's voices instead of your own, but trust me, I know a little." He lifted off the helmet and laid it on the desk. "To be honest, as much as I didn't want anyone to know I was here, I'm kind of glad my daughter was the one to come. Aurelia, I know-gods!" he hung his head in shame. "I know I don't deserve it, but sweetie, I need your help."

Aurelia folded her arms, "I'm still waiting for the part when you tell me what the heck you're doing here. Why on earth would I help you?"

There was no guile in Cliff's face as he replied, "Because of what might happen if you don't."

"Are you threatening me?" Aurelia seethed. "Is Chiron hiding you? Where is he?"

Cliff rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, that's kind of why I need your help."

Aurelia's purple eyes flashed venomously. "What. Did. You. DO?"

"It wasn't supposed to be like this. He said it would be a quick trip and he could be back before anyone noticed he was gone."

"What do you mean, gone? What did you do, Dad?"

"Remember how I just told you I could only hold another shape for about a fortnight?"

Aurelia's head spun. "I-wait, fortnight? You mean Master Chiron has been gone-No, that's not possible! I saw him last night!" She stared, open-mouthed at her father.

"Yeah..." he was growing more nervous by the minute. "That was actually me."

"YOU?"

"Last night, the shift dropped and I couldn't get it back. I've been hiding back here ever since." He grabbed her hands, and briefly she saw his face flicker into hers and back again. The agitation made his ability harder to control. "Please, Aurelia-you have to help me figure out where to find him before the whole camp finds out!"

Aurelia saw the despair in his eyes, and she knew something must be done. "Fine," she spat. "But I can't do it on my own. I'm going to tell a friend-" She turned to leave, but her father retained her hand.

"No wait! The more people you tell, the greater the risk!"

Aurelia jerked her hand away. "Then that's a risk you're going to have to be wiling to take to get what you want, because there's no other way!" She marched out of the room before he could say another word.