Enjoy=)

Annabeth

"What trouble?" Annabeth asked hastily. In her mind she was going over hundreds off worse case scenarios, figuring plans to get out of them, etc. She couldn't help it. It was a side effect of being a child of Athena. Rule #1: always have a plan. "What happened?"

"We were on our way back," Jason said, still trying to catch his breath. He had laid an unconscious Reyna down gently on the deck. "When Reyna suddenly doubled over in pain. i reached out to help her, but... but she raised up and... and started reciting a prophecy. Then she just... passed out."

The news took the whole group by surprise, but Halley was the only one who responded to it. "A prophecy?" her voice was shaky and Annabeth could practically see the gears working in the daughter of mercury's head. "But, Reyna's... she's never spoken one."

Annabeth didn't like the way Halley put emphasis on the fact that REYNA had never spoken a prophecy. "It's extremely... almost unheard of... for demigods to speak prophecies."

"Kinda like... fire users?" Leo asked cautiously.

"Even rarer than that," Annabeth answered.

She noticed that Halley and Jason seemed to be having a silent debate. Annabeth knew the look people got on their faces when they did that. gods knew she did it enough, especially with Chiron. Discussions like that only worked when the two people knew each other so well that they could easily read the other.

"You two know something about this," she said to them," don't you?"

They both looked uncomfortable. Finally Jason spoke up "the only demigods that have ever spoke prophecies were children of Apollo. Just like fire controlling children of Hephaestus/Vulcan," he shot a pointed look at Leo, "the gift of prophecy in demigods is one of those extremely rare- extremely dangerous- powers."

"And you guys think that Reyna has that gift?" Percy asked.

"Well, kinda," Halley said, then quickly asked "Jason... what was the prophecy?"

All the color drained from Jason's face. He hesitated before saying one word "Alley."

Halley gasped. No one else seemed to understand, but Halley had clearly had. "Alley's prophecy... oh gods this is horrible!"

"Who's Alley?" Leo asked what everyone else was wondering was.

"Alley... alley was a daughter of Apollo," Halley said, "She died in the Titan war. Reyna... Reyna was with her when she died, since they were sisters and Reyna's a healer. Alley wouldn't let Reyna heal her. She... she told Reyna that she would play an important role in saving Olympus, and that Jason and I would too." Halley wiped away the few tears that were sliding down her cheek.

"Reyna hadn't understood alley was talking about. She had thought that she was referring to the war. But alley told her that it didn't have anything to do with the war. That's when she made this prophecy." Jason took a deep breath before he started to recite the prophecy (fortunately in English).

"A journey to the Ancient Grounds

That's where the heroes shall be found

When mountains are brought to life

heroes and gods must join in strife

And doom us all

When the earth doth fall

But not until the final war

Just as it was before

Heroes be quick to heed the calling

Before the judgment bell starts tolling."

Halley cut Jason off then. He understood and stepped back as the daughter of mercury continued the prophecy. When Halley spoke, Annabeth found it easier to picture Reyna and this girl, alley, while alley spoke those life-changing words.

"Sea and storm and fire bright

Guide them through the darkest night

The beautiful and the wise

Both shall fight when Earth's children's rise

The swift-footed thief

A promise shall keep,"

Halley's voice caught on that line, and Jason jumped back in.

"Beware the return of the sleeping one

Daughter of the moon and sun."

Halley spoke the next line:

"A rocky fist holds the key"

"Used to set the captives free" Jason put in.

"At the place where roots run deep"

Halley spoke, her voice soft, but confident. Jason joined her on the last line:

"For the heroes of Olympus, history will repeat."

No one spoke for a long time. Annabeth had a thousand thoughts running through her mind. Unfortunately, she hadn't planned for this situation. Finally she said "We need to set sail. We'll talk about this once we've got going again. Leo, you said you were ready to sail?"

"Yep," he responded, "just need Halley and Jason to hang the sail."

"Gee, thanks Valdez," Jason muttered as he grabbed hold of one of the top corners of the sail. Halley grabbed the other and said "volo" and her shoes grew wings. Together she and Jason lifted the sail up to the top of the mast, where Percy and Leo were waiting to help tie it up. In no time the ARGO II was airborne and sailing across the sky.

The group gathered on the steering deck to discuss the prophecy. They had waited till Reyna had woken up, since her viewpoint on it was really important.

"So," Annabeth started, "the prophecy. Well, for one thing, it doesn't sound like any of the prophecies I've heard before. It's longer, and more understandable."

"That's how Alley's prophecies were," Reyna said. "They were different from oracles because they were understandable and clearer."

"Hearing one was more like hearing a set of instructions, instead of riddle," Jason added. Annabeth gathered that he had heard a lot of prophecies.

"Alley also spoke prophecies less often than an oracle would," Reyna said. "Her prophecies usually only came when something big was about to happen."

"Like a war with the titans?" Piper asked. Annabeth noticed a hint of an edge to her voice, and wondered what could be the reason for it.

Apparently, Reyna didn't notice the edge, or she chose to ignore it, because when she spoke her voice was calm and confident. "Yes, something likes that. In fact, the majority of Alley's prophecies came during the years before the war."

"And this one?" Percy asked cautiously. Annabeth knew he was trying to start them on the topic as easily as he knew how.

Reyna took a deep breath. "When Alley spoke this prophecy, I didn't know what to make of it. We were in the middle of a war, and I had to play double duty. I was commanding the archers and at the same time playing field medic. Then my sister gets herself wounded, and she wouldn't let me heal her." Annabeth could tell Reyna was fighting tears. One glance at Halley said the same thing about her. Jason was standing at the wheel right then, giving Leo a break. His face was solemn, like he was remembering the names of his fallen comrades.

Annabeth looked at Percy. His head was lowered, his eyes downcast. His face held a similar expression to Jason's. Annabeth noticed that he was fingering his camp necklace, which he had gotten back somehow. Percy was rolling his last bead, the one with the empire state building on it, through his fingers.

Annabeth reached for her own necklace without even thinking about it. She had nine beads now. All of them held a different meaning to her. Her favorite was the one from Percy's first year, the black bead with the green trident. She found herself touching the last to beads. The labyrinth and the empire state building. Two horrible battles within one year. So many of her friends had died because of them.

Annabeth shook herself out of her pity party. They needed to figure this prophecy out, and Annabeth really didn't like the ideas she was forming on it.

"She probably had a good reason for it Reyna," Annabeth said, trying to comfort her. "Alley sounds like she knew a lot about fates and destinies... she probably knew from the beginning that she wouldn't survive the war."

Reyna nodded and wiped a tear from her eye. "She did. She told me, when she wouldn't let me heal her; that she had completed her destiny, but that mine was tied to a much deeper..." Reyna didn't finish.

"She knew that you would be going on this trip," Percy said, "and from what Jason and Halley told us, I think she knew that they would be on it too."

"She knew we all would," Reyna said, but when she was met with confused looks she added "maybe not by name, but she knew who we would be. She knew who the seven were before the great prophecy was even spoken."

"It's in the prophecy," Annabeth stated, finally figuring it out. "It mentions each of us."

"Sea and storm and fire bright... that's the three guys," Leo said. "Sea is Percy, storm is Jason, and fire... is me."

Leo's confession surprised Halley, Reyna, and Percy. Annabeth had forgotten that they had left that little detail out in the introductions. "Oh hey this is Leo. He's a fire user. He can control fire with his bare hands." Yeah that would settle well.

Halley was the first to speak "You're a fire user?"

Leo nodded, and just for effect he opened up his hand and made fire dance across his palm.

"That is wicked," Percy said.

Leo grinned sheepishly and extinguished the flames. "Just a perk for being a son of Hephaestus, I guess."

"Well that's a useful perk," Halley said, "given the next line guide them through the darkest night. Apparently, you three are going to guide people through a really dark night."

"This is just a hunch," Piper said, "but I think the people they're going to guide are us."

"That makes sense," Annabeth, "I just hope that Leo and Jason are good guides, because I'm not too sure about Percy over here." she jabbed her thumb at her boyfriend.

"Hey!" Percy said, "That's uncalled for!"

"Maybe, Seaweed Brain. But it is funny," Annabeth replied back.

Percy didn't look too happy about Annabeth's comment, but Annabeth knew that he knew she was joking. Besides, she had a right to pick on him. He had been missing for six months.

"Okay," Halley said, "the next line is the beautiful and the wise... that has to be Piper and Annabeth. But what about the next line: both shall fight when earth's children rise? What could..."

"It means that Annabeth and I will fight against the giants," Piper said.

"Which is kind of ironic since that's exactly why we're on this quest," Annabeth added. She was really not liking this prophecy. And the sad thing was, they weren't even talking about the worst part of it. The part that described them wasn't half as scary as the part about them and the gods fighting giants and the world ending.

"The next line is about Halley," Reyna said, "the swift footed thief. She's the daughter of Mercury, the god of thieves, so it's obviously her."

"I'm not a thief!" Halley retorted. "Not like some of my siblings. I usually try to take stuff that's not mine."

Jason gave a fake cough, the kind people give when trying to cover what they were saying, "Liar."

Halley turned to glare at him. "Take it back, Air Head!" She looked like she would eagerly pull her sword on him at any moment. Annabeth took a wild guess that Halley had a bad history with thieving. But she didn't pry information. Halley wasn't giving it, so she didn't need to know.

"Halley!" Reyna said, "Relax. It's just the way prophecy goes. And Jason's right, though. You have been known to steal something on rare occasions." Halley's mouth dropped open, and Reyna quickly added "But that's not we have to worry about, the next line… a promise shall keep… that's so close to the line the Great Prophecy…"

She didn't finish. She didn't need to. Everyone knew which line Reyna was referring to. An oath to keep with a final breath, Annabeth thought. If what Reyna was hinting at was true, then Halley had something to do with that line.

That was enough to quite Halley down. "You don't think…" her voice cracked.

"Halley, we don't know what it means," Reyna consoled.

"Yeah, prophecies almost always have double meanings," Annabeth said.

"Um, I don't want to be the bearer of bad news," Percy said, "But that line doesn't really leave a lot of room for other meanings."

"He's right," Jason said, "That line… it can't have that many meanings. It obviously means that someone will die. And that an oath will have to be kept involving that death."

That news didn't settle well. Annabeth looked at Halley. She looked like she was deep in thought. Annabeth couldn't help but wonder what she was thinking about. "Halley," she said, "don't worry about it. Prophecies are always fulfilled in unexpected ways. Like the last Great Prophecy. Everyone at Camp Half Blood thought that Percy would be the one getting his soul reaped by a cursed blade, but it wasn't him."

"It was Luke," Halley said.

"Right," Percy said, though he still didn't sound completely convinced. "And I hate to say it, but in some ways, I'm glad it was him not me. But in other ways, it really sucks."

There was another awkward pause. Jason finally broke the silence by saying "Maybe we should move onto the next lines. Beware the return of the sleeping one/ daughter of the moon and sun. That's you, Reyna."

"We know who the sleeping one is," Leo said. "It's Gaea."

"Alley was warning you that Gaea coming back," Annabeth said.

"The entire prophecy is a warning," Reyna said. "She gave it to me to warn me about this quest, that the giants were going to rise."

"And that the world will fall?" Piper asked, still with a bit of an edge in her voice. But Annabeth noticed something else, something that sounded like… confusion. She wandered what Piper was thinking about.

Piper

No one needed to answer her question. The answer floated unspoken in the air. Along with Piper's unspoken question.

The line of Alley's prophecy that talked about Reyna… it had called her a daughter of the moon and sun. She was a daughter of Apollo, so calling her daughter of the sun made sense, but why did it call her daughter of the moon?

Then Piper noticed the necklace hanging around Reyna's neck. It was a silver crescent moon. Piper recognized it as the symbol of Artemis, goddess of the moon. Piper didn't understand. Why did Reyna have a necklace with Artemis' symbol?

She didn't get a chance to ask. Without them realizing it, the sun had disappeared from the sky. In its place hung a beautiful full moon. It shone so brightly that it lit up the sky almost as well as the sun had. Piper couldn't help but notice that Reyna seemed to glow along with the moon. Apparently Leo noticed it too, because he said "Hey, uh, Reyna… did you know that you're… uh… glowing."

Reyna looked down at herself. "I… I don't know why…" she paused, "This has never happened before."

"Daughter of the moon…" Annabeth muttered, "I've seen people glow like that before. It's a special aura that the Hunter's of Artemis have."

"The Hunters?" Piper asked skeptically. Her brain was going through possible reasons of why Reyna would have a Hunters aura.

She noticed that Reyna, Jason, and Halley were having a silent conversation. Once again, Piper found herself being able to read their entire conversation from their expressions. She was starting to scare herself when she did that.

Piper figured the conversation went like this:

Reyna: Why should I tell them?

Halley: Because they'll think you're a freak if you don't.

Jason: It won't hurt anything to tell them Reyna.

Reyna: Guys I haven't even officially joined yet. It doesn't explain this.

Jason. Tell. Them.

Reyna: No.

Halley: Do it or I will.

Reyna: Okay! Fine!

Piper didn't know how those guys pulled off that conversation with just looking at each other, but she was pretty sure that's what they had said.

Especially when Reyna spoke up and said "I've promised to join the Hunters. That's the only reason I can think of for why this is happening."

Piper almost choked. Reyna was joining the Hunters! That meant…. Piper looked at Jason. Their eyes met for a second, before he looked away. But that one second was all Piper need to confirm her thoughts. Jason was hers. So far, she had spent this entire trip worrying about whether or not that statement would be true. Now it was. Piper felt happier than she had the night her and Jason had watched the meteor shower at the Wilderness School. A night that had never happened, Piper remembered.

Piper noticed that Annabeth was studying Reyna. The aura around her had faded some, to where it was just a faint silver glow. It reminded Piper of the pink aura that had surrounded her when the night she was claimed by Aphrodite.

That's when it hit Piper. "Oh gods," she muttered.

Apparently she had said it a bit louder than she had intended, because everyone else turned towards her.

"What did you say, Piper?" Annabeth asked.

"I, uh," Piper wasn't quite sure how to get out of this one.

Fortunately, Halley saved her. Sort of.

Yeah I know I'm cutting this off at a really awkward spot, but this chapter is already super long. Well, at least, for me it is. Do you guys like it so far? I know that some of you are probably thinking: Why did you have to have Reyna tell them she was joining the Hunt. Now Piper knows! Well, I didn't really want to, but it was the best way I could incorporate the whole daughter of the moon thing. There will be more dealing with that in the next chapter.

Please Review! I like hearing what you guys think!