"As much as I hate to admit it," Grover said "Chiron is right. This will end in a sacrifice of a son of Rome to 'the void' whatever that means"
When Frank emerged from the bottom of the Big House, he clearly realized that he'd interrupted a heated argument. Everyone stopped and stared at him
"Anything wrong with the vault, my boy?" Chiron, the centaur, asked him
"No" Frank blurted "Everything is fine"
He hated that he had to lie to his closest friends, but from the looks of their faces, they were already freaked out enough.
"Then?" Annabeth asked
"I think..." He muttered "I think we misunderstood the prophecy all along"
Frank was not prepared by the surprise godly visits today.
His day had started out pretty okay. He had to resolve a conflict between the second and fourth cohorts. For some reason, those two did not stand each other. Frank tried to make peace between the two for the longest time, and with Reyna gone on Apollo's quest, it became an even harder task.
The fight started in the morning, when the fourth cohort supposedly stole three Imperial gold gladii and two spathas. They were on the verge of cutting each other's throats when Frank tried to intervene.
"They are disgraceful" screamed Marcus from the second cohort "First our Denarii, then our badges and now our weapons!"
"We didn't steal anything from you, Marcus" screamed Leila from the fourth
Before Frank could say anything to stop Marcus from slashing Leila's throat, a massive chariot pulled by four Hippocampi descended from above. Both the second and fourth dropped their weapons and bowed in honor to their guest.
"Lord Neptune" Frank finally addressed their visitor "We are, er, humbled by your visit to Camp Jupiter"
"Percy Jackson!" Neptune's voice rumbled through the entire Oakland Hills
Boy, Frank though, what did Percy do now?
After a few minutes, Percy and Annabeth came running. Frank was sure no one needed to go and get them. Neptune's cry was so loud, all Percy Jacksons in the California state would come running here
"Dad" Percy said, trying to catch his breath
Neptune tapped his trident on his chariot floor, and quickly materialized as a regular fisherman in front of Percy. His eyes, though, were still full of anger.
"Why didn't you tell me you fought Tartarus?" Neptune grabbed Percy by his shirt, threatening him
"I thought you knew" Percy answered
"Tell me," Neptune gripped Percy's shirt tighter "What did you do to anger the fates?!"
Normally, Frank would think this was a rhetorical question, but somehow, Neptune looked like he was expecting some sort of answer. Percy looked confused and very frightened by the sight of his father. He didn't know how to reply
"Dad," Percy finally answered "What are you talking about?"
"You cannot marry this girl!" Neptune pointed at Annabeth, letting go of Percy's shirt
"What?" Annabeth cried
"It's the only way to save you, my boy" Neptune said, immediately followed by a massive thunder that shook the entire valley
"Lord Poseidon," Annabeth said "What is going on?"
"Zeus is getting angry" Neptune said anxiously "I must go, but Percy, I will save you"
Neptune/Poseidon flicked his wrist and disappeared, leaving a group of very confused demigods.
"Uhh" Frank finally broke the silence "Any idea what that was about?"
Just before anyone could process things, There was a sudden burst of light and a huge blast of warmth that encircled Frank
"Don't look," Percy said "Not until he parks."
Frank averted his eyes. The light and warmth intensified to the point where Frank's armor burned his skin. Then suddenly the light died. Frank looked and before him was a red Maserati was parked in the middle of the Via Praetoria, with metal so hot, it glowed.
Then, from the mini van emerged a girl with curly red hair: Rachel Dare
"We need to talk" she said urgently
Frank led his friends to the senate house. It wasn't being used, so Frank thought that was the best spot to hold a last minute emergency meeting.
From the sun chariot sprang Apollo, Rachel, Leo and Piper. Hazel, Jason had also joined Percy, Frank and Annabeth inside. They all looked shaken up, but Frank was still super confused as to why.
"Um," Percy finally said "Can anyone please explain to me what that was all about?"
"My powers of prophecy are back" Rachel replied
"That's great!" Annabeth said
"No," Rachel said "It's not. I received the third great prophecy"
Rachel went on to explain how Apollo had managed to defeat Python, restoring the Oracle of Delphi's powers to Rachel. Apparently, the moment he'd done so, Rachel received a pretty intense prophecy. She repeated it to everyone.
"The cursed destroyer sails the angry seas" Jason repeated the line "I don't understand. Is the destroyer a ship?"
"Yeah, I mean check out the second line" Leo said "The wife holds the treasure with unease. Treasure and sea. It sounds like a bad pirate movie
"The abyss marches to the demigods' home" Annabeth said uneasily "Poseidon asked Percy about Tartarus. I would assume The Abyss means him"
"And what's all that about the void eating a son of Rome?" Hazel asked "A Roman is gonna be sacrificed to Tartarus?"
"But only then can the curse be defeated and Poseidon's descendant is happily greeted" Frank repeated the lines "I mean it sounds like it has a happy ending, right?"
"Poseidon's descendant," Piper said "That could mean Percy or Frank?"
All eyes darted at Apollo. He sat at the front, playing with a strange device that almost looked like Frank's grandmother's old gramophone.
"Don't look at me" Apollo quickly said "I barely got my godhood back, remember?"
"Yeah," Piper said "But aren't you the god of prophecies?"
"This is like asking an artist to explain his art" He explained "What's the point of the art then?"
"So, you don't know..." Hazel concluded
Frank thought about the lines. Poseidon's descendant could mean him, but where would he be greeted? Maybe he would lead the Twelfth legion to a successful fight and return with glory? That sounded like a plausible explanation, but could there be a Poseidon's descendant other than him or Percy? And why would Poseidon tell Percy not to get married? He knew from his ancient Greek lessons that Athena and Poseidon never got along cause of the whole Athens thing, but could that really be it?
"We can't dwell on prophecies" Jason said "You know how it goes. Some demigods go crazy because they want to understand them"
"Yeah and great prophecies could take years to come true" Rachel added, though not sounding very convinced
"Yeah... years" Percy said sarcastically
He stood alone at the back of the room. He didn't speak the whole time, nor make any noise. Frank couldn't blame him. His own dad had threatened him this morning. It could shake any guy up, but when your dad is a god, it's usually ten times more dangerous.
"Percy..." Annabeth said sympathetically
"I have to go" Percy said, opening the door to the senate meeting room
"Percy, don't do anything stupid" Annabeth said, sounding more serious now
Percy paused for a second, then left the room.
"Where is he going?" Piper asked
"I know Percy," Annabeth admitted "He's going to see his dad"