'Journey to the place in which the gods rein
Seek out the deity who shares in the blame
With a mother's safety, you'll find the island of Rhodos
Go there to cleanse the evil of the cavern below us
Learn from the past to deceive the last three
It's the body of two who will set the souls free'
The words ran through Annabeth's brain like a rampant venti spirit, spiraling a giant tornado in her head and leaving all thought into a careening mess. Her brain, despite the sudden mess of thoughts, instantly straightened itself out and set itself to start dissecting every syllable and word spoken, and mull over meanings and possible explanation that she could come up with. As her brain worked on overdrive, she attempted to mask the flurry of her mind with a small frown and the simple task of retrieving a cup of water from the kitchen inside Rachel's cave for the pale, red-headed girl slumped on the bed.
Once the cup received and filled, she went back to the bed room and walked to Rachel, who was laying on the blanket, sprawled out, with her eyes closed. Annabeth softly sat on the edge of the bed, just enough that Rachel knew she was back. The wince on Rachel's face had her asking, "That much of a doozy huh?"
Rachel snorted. "That's the dooziest of the dooziest. I know spewing prophecies can get uncomfortable sometimes, but that was probably the worst on by far," she opened her eyes, quickly catching sight of the plastic cup in Annabeth's hands. She supported herself on wobbly elbows and made grabby hands for the water. Annabeth passed it to her with no resistance.
Spewing green smoke would leave anyone with a dry throat.
Rachel downed the cup and sighed deeply when it was all gone. She tossed the empty plastic dish up by her pillow and flopped back down, on her back this time, and looked up at the ceiling. "So...what'd I say anyway? I'm just the messenger for these things, I don't actually hear them," she paused and scowled. "Actually, I usually just faint when it's over."
"Oh, you did faint," Annabeth reminded her. "Outside. I carried you in here,"
Rachels scowl deepened, not to Annabeth in particular. It looked more like the scowl of knowing something unpleasant and being unable to stop it. "Right," she said. "Anyway, what was the prophecy,"
Annabeth repeated back, slowly, not wanting to miss any details. "Journey to the place in which the gods out the deity who shares in the blame. With a mother's safety, you'll find the Island of Rhodos. Go there to cleanse the evil of the cavern below us. Learn from the past to deceive the last three. It's the body of two who shall set the souls free." she looked back up at Rachel, hoping that her friend might have some clue as to what it meant.
Instead, she got, "Wow, it is a doozy. Have fun figuring that out,"
She frowned and deadpanned, "Thanks," then paused and added, "Any ideas what it could mean?"
Rachel shrugged. "I don't know. Unfortunately, having the Spirit of Delphi inside me doesn't give me many insights. Well, that's a lie actually. I get plenty of vision and stuff. But I haven't felt the need to draw any prophecy-worthy sketches, and I haven't had any weird dreams. Honestly, this kind of came on a little sudden. I definitely wasn't expecting to prophesize today," she seemed to reflect for a second. "But then again, do I ever get a choice?"
Annabeth sighed. Yep, that's the half-blood luck for ya. Both the lack of information and lack of choice. She could sympathize with Rachel. "Thank anyway, I guess,"
"Don't mention," Rachel rolled on to her stomach and looked up at Annabeth. Her thoughtful express suddenly dropped and was replaced by something serious. "How's Percy doing by the way? I was going to go see him before you showed up. Is he any better?"
Annabeth looked down, searching for the answer woven in with the fabric of her jeans. "Still sick," she muttered, "but not as bad as he could be, I suppose," Rachel looked down solemnly, scratching at the sheets with her finger in thought.
"Sorry about not being much of a help," she whispered. "Sometimes I wish I could just tell you guys what a prophecy means. It would probably save you all a lot of pain and trouble," Annabeth glanced over, her troubled gaze softening as she noticed the guilty look in Rachel's eyes.
She wanted to pat her friend on the back or give her a high five or something to make her feel better. But she doubted a high five would do much. "Hey, don't worry about it," she settled on instead, "As much of a pain the arse the prophecies can be, they're still helpful in one way or the other. I mean, it could be worse,"
"I don't hate being the Oracle or anything, but I'm genuinely curious. How worst do you think it could get?" Rachel snorted.
Annabeth thought for a moment. "How about teddy-bear sacrificing worse? C'mon, Percy told me the stories,"
Rachel choked on a laugh. "Oh yeah, definitely worse. I'd think I'd rather barf green smoke rather than tear the stuffing out of some poor teddy. What kind of monster would do that anyway?"
"I think we both know the answer to that,"
They tapered off into silence. Octavian died in the Giant War and as humorous as it was that he sacrificed cotton fluff on an altar, the thought of him, or any demigod, dying kind of sucked any humor from a situation. Octavian might've been a conniving, twisted little twerp, but he was still considered one of them, despite what he'd done.
Annabeth quickly changed the subject. "Well, I should probably get going," she said. "Chiron's gonna want to know about this,"
Rachel nodded in agreement. "Kay, I'll meet back up with you once the cabin leaders are assembled. He's probably going to want to have a meeting about it,"
"He's definitely going to want a meeting about it." Annabeth pushed herself up and went to the exit. She glanced back and gave Rachel a quick wave, who was grimacing so bad Annabeth thought she might start belching smoke again, before walking past the beads and back outside. She sprinted to the Big House, the prophecy still fresh on her mind.
