Percy walk into the clearing and every kind of noise immediately ceased. Every eye in the clearing bore into Percy's, giving him the feeling that everyone was examining his soul. Standing tall and confident, Percy walked over to Lupa and waited for her approval.

"Speak, Perseus Jackson," Lupa commanded as he placed himself in front of her.

"I have gotten a prophecy," Percy said into the silence. "Do you…uh…want me to tell everyone?"

"Yes," Lupa replied in a strained voice. It was evident that Lupa very extremely tense and nervous.

"Right," Percy hastily said, he took a deep breath and began to recite the prophecy he had been given.

"Retreat to the East to the waters with no salt,

the greatest of them all will reveal a hidden vault.

An entrance to seek the one you will find,

a hidden friend to help you out of a bind.

Opposed by she who despises you,

return guiding the lost one with you."

Silence overtook those listening as each person tried to digest what they had just heard. The children of Minerva especially were deep in thought, conversing with one another. The Mercury Cabin was excited by the prospect of getting Cam back, as the last line seemed to imply.

Lupa seemed to think along the same lines as the Mercury children. She breathed a sigh of relief and her stance became a little less tense.

"You will choose your companions for the journey Perseus Jackson," Lupa told him, "look to the sky."

"Um…what? Why?" Percy asked confused. "What will appear in the sky?"

"Birds," Lupa replied.

"Birds?" Percy asked, "I don't understand."

Lupa sighed. "Centuries ago, the very first children of Rome, Romulus and Remus, were deciding who should rule the city that they had founded. Remus saw 7 birds and Romulus saw 5."

"But Romulus was the founder of Rome, right? What happened to Remus?" Percy asked, trying to make sense of why he was told to look for birds.

Lupa paused awkwardly. Lilly interrupted and answered for the she-wolf. "Due to uh…complications and temper issues, an argument broke out, and um…Romulus killed Remus. But anyway, the point is that the birds will give you the number of people that will go on the quest. So forget about the murder and stuff and look up at the sky and tell us how many birds that you see."

"Um…" Percy nodded and looked up to the sky. He waited a few minutes in silence as he scanned the scanned the sky. One minute passed, two minutes.

"Hurry up Mercury," Percy could have sworn he heard Lupa mutter very testily under her breath.

There—finally some birds flew over the clearing. There was one, two, three, four, of them. That meant that there would be four people on the quest. So he must choose three quest members. Percy had a good idea of whom he would choose; but he began to think about it.

"I saw four birds," Percy told Lupa, who furrowed her wolf-eyebrows.

"Most unusual," Lupa commented, "four is not the usual number of people on a quest. But we cannot disagree with the god of bird omens, so Perseus Jackson, you shall choose three other demigods to accompany you on your quest. Think about it and by tomorrow morning I want your answer."

Percy nodded and mumbled, "Yes Lupa."

"At first light," Lupa continued, "everyone shall be dressed and sitting at their tables in the Pavilion. Then Perseus will announce his choice for companions. I expect you all then. You are dismissed. And I order all of you to bed. Now." She practically growled the last word.

"Yes Lupa," some demigods chorused while others nodded. Lupa inclined her head, turned around and sprinted away.

Percy stood staring at the spot Lupa had vacated. He suddenly felt tired and dizzy. The whole night was a whirlwind and was mentally and physically exhausted.

"You should go to bed now," an unusually soft voice told him. He turned and found Lilly staring at him, an expression that could have been sadness on her face. "You'll be tired tomorrow. And it's been a rough night. An you should go now before everyone comes out of their sadness and bombards you with requests to join you on your quest."

Percy offered a slight, grim smile. "I will thanks."

"See you in the morning Percy," Lilly told him as she walked away. He watched as she walked back and over to the Mercury Cabin. A few of the younger ones were still on the ground, a few had passed out from exhaustion in the late night. It was around midnight, after all. Awfully late for a bunch 10 year olds to be up. Lilly went over to a particularly small girl and lifted her up. Around her the older member of the Mercury Cabin were picking up and carrying their younger siblings. As Percy exited the clearing he looked back to see Brian and Lilly each carrying a young kid walking back to the Mercury cabin.

[][][][][][][][]

Percy opened his eyes and all her saw was darkness. He turned and found that he was completely surround and encased by walls of darkness. He reached out his hand and touched damp dirt.

"Hello? Hello?" Percy called out, feeling as if he had been buried alive. Only his echo answered him.

"Ah…so you are the hero? You definitely aren't as impressive as the hero's I used to know," a deep voice taunted Percy; he couldn't tell where it was coming from. "Would you like to test me, Savior of Olympus? I guarantee that you will lose."

Percy was about to retort, but before he could speak the dirt underneath him turned into mud, and he began sinking. He struggled, twisting his body, trying to escape.

"Kronos!" he called, calling upon the name from somewhere deep in his memory, "Stop this! You cannot overtake Olympus! This is a useless fight! Let Cam go!"

A chilling laugh sounded and echoed throughout the dirt room. "Naïve little hero, you are not the Savior I was told you were."

As Percy struggled he was aware of a dog barking and howling. It called his name. He gave one final violent twist of his body in an attempt to get out of the sinking mud. His eyes flew open as he landed with a thunk on the floor.

His eyes flew to the window, where a small twelve year old girl with auburn hair sat on the windowsill. A small hunting dog pup was in her lap, barking. She petted it and looked at Percy. She smiled when she saw that he was awake. Inclining her head, she dropped from the windowsill and back to the ground outside the cabin. Percy leapt up and ran to the window. He saw her run off with the small pup following her. As if sensing him watching her, she waved and made an ancient sign. Percy knew that it meant good luck. He waved in return and watched as she disappeared into the trees.

Percy walked back to his bed and glanced at the clock. It was about 3am. He shook his head, thinking that maybe he had imagined the girl, whoever she was.

As he went to go back to bed his saw a piece of paper on the floor.

"Keep this secret," it read in Greek. Percy knew the child was a goddess and had saved him. He silently sent a prayer of thanks towards the goddess. He went to the fireplace in his room and used a match to make a small fire. He threw in the piece of paper and watched as it burned. He would tell no one of the meeting; he knew that it was suicide to disobey one of the gods.

He put out the fire by bringing the water from the glass by his bed and having it extinguish the fire. He then went back to bed, wanting to sleep before beginning his quest.

[][][][][][][][]

The sunlight streaming into the room caused Percy to awake. He immediately sprang out of bad and got dressed. He put Riptide into his pocket and hurried over to the dining Pavilion. Most cabins were already there, eagerly awaiting Percy's announcement.

Lupa was presiding over them all and motioned Percy over to her when she saw him arrive.

"We are just waiting for a couple cabins," Lupa told him, "then you can proceed. Understood?"

"Yes Lupa," Percy responded. He waited for the last two cabins to fill in. The Mercury cabin came, disgruntled and somber. Lupa tapped her paw as we waited for the children of Mars to arrive. Finally, after what seemed like ages, they Mars Cabin arrived, casting apologetic looks at Lupa and throwing dirty looks at Percy. Percy didn't care.

"Silence," Lupa commanded, although there wasn't much talking going on. "Perseus Jackson, who would you like to accompany you on your quest?"

Percy took a deep breath. "Yes I have." Everyone got so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. Even Lupa was waiting anxiously for Percy to speak.

"I would ask Lilly, Gwendolyn, and Bobby to accompany on my quest."

"I accept!" Bobby yelled.

"I accept as well," Gwen spoke up.

"I would never pass up a chance to destroy some monsters," Lilly commented. "Of course I'm in."

The demigods erupted into cheers; well, the Mars cabin didn't seem to happy to cheer for Percy.

"Since you have chosen you quest members, the quest begins today," Lupa announced. "You will each eat and then get the supplies you need and meet back her as soon as possible."

Percy, Gwen, Bobby, and Lilly scarfed down their food, then ran off to pack. Percy threw an extra t-shirt, ambrosia, nectar, and granola bars into a backpack given to him by Bobby. Then he met the other three back at the Pavilion.

"Good luck heroes," Lupa proclaimed as they four of them stood in front of her. "*Di pervigilant."

And the demigods exited through the Roman gates in into the mortal world.

*May the gods watch over you.

Hermes/Mercury is the god of Bird Omens

Sorry for delay. PLEASE REVIEW! :)