I may or may not be copying these notes from where the chapters are published on Ao3 and I hate editing them so i guess uh... POV its January 1st 2021, you follow this story on Ao3 and I haven't updated for five months.

Oh wow oh my god. It has been a long time, hasn't it. Happy New Year! As I write this, it's January 1st, just over five months since my last update. Life's been a bit crazy recently (hence my lack of updates) and several interesting things have happened. Before we get there, though, I want to get on with my fanfic recommendation, since I promised ollietwist (the author) that I would recommend their fic for chapter ten all the way back in the beginning of the summer, when I thought that ch10 would come out some time around september. A very big apology to ollietwist, whose fic is awesome and deserves attention.

The fic is called "do you know the muffin man" by ollietwist (link: /works/25236694) and it centers around Tommy and his addiction to muffins (and maybe the cute girl who works in the bakery). Lovely tomsalind. Ollietwist has written several lovely Penderwick one shots as well as "do you know the muffin man" and another of my favourites is "too early for this," a sisterly bonding fic about skye and jane (which you should all also read). so yeah go check out ollietwist and their fics, especially "do you know the muffin man."

Ok as for stuff that happened since my last update, here we go:

1) I learned how to get ao3 to accept italics and stuff (after over a year and a half of using this site) so you should be getting those

2) I got tumblr (yayyy) so if you want, you can follow me a-hundred-jewels

3) the tower of nero came out, which i read a few days ago. cruel summer is meant to take place a year after the tower of nero, but obviously things aren't completely canon complient. However, since I did read it, i tried to make this chapter at the very least be mostly canon compliant, so SPOILER WARNING FOR THE TOWER OF NERO EVERYONE!

4) also I started figuring out how to use my account, so the first five chapters of cruel summer are up on there (with the rest to come!)

Okay, I think that's all then! I hope everyone enjoys this chapter! Please let me know what you think in the comments!

Disclaimer: I do not own these characters. They belong to Rick Riordan and Jeanne Birdsall (lucky buggers). This chapter's title comes from "betty" by Taylor Swift

~~~~~~From the POV of Rachel Elizabeth Dare~~~~~~

"Hey, Rachel? Are you up?"

I'm dozing, my Wonder Woman blanket pushed to the side, when I hear Annabeth calling my name from the other side of my door.

"Rachel?"

I grumble and roll off my bed, almost landing on a stack of paint palettes which, in my sleepy haze, I dimly notice are both covered in wet paint and not where I think I left them. But, before I can do anything about it, Annabeth calls my name again. "Come in," I say, and stand up, rubbing the sleep from my eyes.

Annabeth pulls the curtain aside and walks in, her face flushed and her hair in a very messy bun on the top of her head.

"Hey," she says, squinting in the dark. I fumble for the switch on my bedside light and soon the room is bathed in a warm yellow glow.

Annabeth studies my new Apollo-in-a-dumpster painting then turns to me. "Sorry I know it's early but-" she freezes and her eyebrows climb up her forehead like they're being pulled. "Oh my gods! What happened to you?!" She hurries over, kneeling in front of me. "Is that blood?"

I frown. "Wh-what?" Annabeth licks her finger and scrubs at one of my cheekbones.

"Pff-EW! Gross!" I wipe my face where her spit touched me, but startle as my hand comes away red.

"What the fuck?" I whisper.

Annabeth wipes her finger on her shorts. "I think it's paint, but I'm not sure. Do you have a mirror? Or a better light?"

"We can just go outside?" Sunlight streams in a thin line through the gap in my curtains that Annabeth left. I wonder vaguely why on Earth there'd be paint on my face, but before I can actually try to think about it, Annabeth responds incredulously.

"What? No. You're not moving. We still don't know you're not bleeding. I'll open the curtains though."

"Annabeth, I think I'd know if I were bleeding." I idly reach up to my forehead.

Annabeth swats my hand away, then pulls open my curtains, ignoring what I'd just said. She starts rummaging through the clutter on my desk, forehead creased as she shoves aside face cream, my copy of "The Second-Hand Parrot," and a set of highlighters with ancient runes on them. "Where do you even get all this stuff?" she exclaims, holding up one of the highlighters. I sigh. "Annie, I've been to some dark places, the likes of which you wouldn't be able to comprehend. Also, I think there's a hand-mirror in the top dresser drawer."

"Ha okay. Remind me of the last time you went to Tartarus," Annabeth says, while making her way over to the dresser, the highlighter still in her hand.

"Fine, weird places then."

"Is this what you meant?" Annabeth asks. The light escaping between my curtains lights her golden-blonde hair, creating a sort of halo, and she holds up a purple hand-mirror.

"Yeah, that's it." She hands it to me and narrows her eyes again at my face. "Gods, you really look awful."

"Wow thanks, AnnAAAA HOLY FUCK!" There's a huge splotch on my face and my neck, violently red. Redder than blood, and shinier. Annabeth looks closer now, frowning. "Yeah I think it's just paint."

"WELL THEN WHY THE FUCK DO I HAVE PAINT ALL OVER MY FACE?"

Annabeth is staring at my collarbone, eyes narrowed. It's covered in paint, like something's emerging from under my shirt, creeping across my skin.

"Wh-what are you looking at?" Her stare is so intense it's almost scary.

"Take off your shirt," Annabeth says quietly.

"Excuse me?"

"Rachel, take off your shirt."

"Um… why?"

Annabeth sighs and rocks back onto her heels. "Didn't you tell me you'd been dreaming again recently? You never dream unless something's about to happen."

"I know. I'm the oracle. I get dreams and then, after a while, I go into a trance and paint something…" I trail off and turn around, gazing again at the wet paint palettes next to my bed and then down at my stomach. "Oh gods," I say.

As if on cue, a drop of paint falls from the edge of one of the palettes onto the floor, a tiny red splat. I turn to Annabeth. "This has never happened before, I swear. I mean yeah, I've painted on myself, but never unconsciously. I don't know what's going on."

"I believe you," she says, resting her cheek in her hand. "Here, I'll go check that no one's around. You see what you've painted."

I nod, timidly, and stand up. I walk over to the mirror hanging above my dresser trying to distract myself with the intricate details carved into the gold-painted frame. In the mirror's reflection, I can see Annabeth searching around outside.

I don't really know why I'm so nervous. I've had hundreds of prophetic dreams before. I've blacked out while my eyes turned green and I spoke dangerous prophecies in someone else's raspy voice. Why is this so scary?

Because it's about you, something inside me says. I shut it out. It's not about me. It can't be. I'm not a hero. I could never be Percy or Annabeth or Piper. My job is just to show them where to go. Even when I helped out Apollo last summer, it was just that. Helping. I might have been mentioned in the prophecy but I wasn't the center.

I shut my eyes and pull my tee shirt over my head, then drop it at my side. I hear the soft thud on the floor and the grass rustling outside where Annabeth is, but I don't open my eyes. I can't-not yet. It's too… much. I've predicted horrible things before, had terrible dreams. And now… well now this one might be about me. What if I open my eyes and see my head rolling across a marble floor or my arm hanging from the rafters of a dining hall, like in Beowulf ?

"Annabeth?" I call out nervously.

"Yeah? What do you see?"

"I-I didn't look yet. Can you come in?"

"Aren't you topless?"

"I sincerely don't care, can you just come in? This is freaking me out."

"Okay, okay. Coming." I hear the curtain slide open, then closed again. Annabeth gasps. "Holy Hera," she mutters.

I start to panic. "On a scale of one to ten, how dismembered am I?"

"No, it's nothing like that. Well, there's a lot of red, but, uh, no that's not the weirdest part."

"What?"

"Yeah, no. I-well." Annabeth sighs and I can tell she's nervous too. "Just open your eyes Rachel. I think you need to see this for yourself."

By now, my eyes are squeezed shut and I'm tense all over. My hands are twisted together. I take a deep breath. "Okay," I say softly. I open my eyes.

My face pales in the mirror and my freckles stand out like tiny cardinals in a snowstorm. "The Grove of Dodona," I whisper.

There's a circle of trees on my stomach, green and tall, one of them with a set of wind chimes hanging from a branch. It would be a perfectly normal and lovely painting if it weren't for a) the fact that it was on my stomach, circling my belly button, and b) the giant trail of red leading from the left side of my face to the tops of the trees, layering their peaks like snow. Red, bloody snow.

"What do you think it means?" I ask. "I mean. It's got something to do with the Grove, I know that much. But what-" my breath catches as horrible, horrible puzzle-pieces start to click together in my mind. "What about the blood?" I say quietly.

Annabeth is frozen in place and she won't look at me. "This must have been what Chiron meant," she said. She straightens. "Rachel we have to go."

"Wait what? Chiron? What does he want?"

Annabeth tosses me a tee shirt. She's still turned away from me, but I see her face flush. "I saw Chiron this morning and he asked me to tell you to go see him this morning. He said it was urgent." She grimaces. "We should probably go. He might know something about this prophecy."

I really, really don't want to deal with this, but I know she's right. I hook on my bra and pull on the tee shirt Annabeth threw me, feeling a little better now that I at least can't see the painting. "Ah so you weren't just struck with an immovable desire to see your dear friend at eight in the morning," I say. "You had ulterior motives."

Annabeth rolls her eyes. "He caught me running back to the Athena cabin at like six in the morning, what was I supposed to do?"

"Oh so you were with Percy. Spicy."

Annabeth snorts and throws a hair tie at me, which I promptly catch and pull onto my wrist.

"Actually we got into the 'is water wet' argument until we fell asleep on the floor."

"Aww you're such dumbasses." I nervously turn back to the mirror. "How obvious is the enormous red patch?" The last thing I need this morning is having to explain whatever this is to random campers.

Annabeth frowns, turning her head to the side. "Where in this gigantic mess do you keep sweaters?" She gestures around the room. "It won't be perfect, but at least it might sort of cover stuff up."

I rummage through a dresser drawer and pull out a red hoodie. "How's this?"

Annabeth frowns again. "Not too bad. We can just walk really fast."

Walking through the hot sunlight a minute later, I begin to deeply regret the sweater. Sweat runs in rivers down my skin and I begin to worry that the paint is going to smudge or run off entirely. I should have taken a picture. I should have forgone this whole mess and taken a shower when I woke up, or at least had the courtesy to paint on something that wasn't me. Nevertheless, any sense of calm I had been feeling is pretty much gone by the time we get to the Big House.

Annabeth yanks the door open and I follow her in a sort of haze. That is, until I hear someone call my name behind me.

"Rachel?" I look over my shoulder and see Jane Penderwick standing near the bottom of the steps. Her curly hair is pulled back in that same Paw Patrol bandana as it was a few days ago and it clashes horribly with her new orange Camp Half-Blood tee shirt. And yet, she looks… pretty, I find myself thinking. My face flush a little, though I'm sweating so much I doubt anyone would be able to tell the difference.

"Hi," I say, and gesture vaguely toward the door and Annabeth. "I'm just - I just, uh, have to talk to Chiron."

"Oh. Are you, are you alright?"

"Yeah! Yeah I'm fine. I think I'm fine." I trail off a little, thinking again of the "blood" trailing down my chest.

"Rachel," Annabeth tugs on my sleeve. "Chiron's waiting."

"Yeah. Yeah, okay." I nod, probably too many times. "I'll see you later," I say to a visibly concerned Jane. I feel bad. I shouldn't just… leave her like this. But Annabeth's pulling me into the cool dark hallway and I follow, shutting the screen door behind me.

Annabeth doesn't say anything as we walk to Chiron's office, but I've known her long enough that I can almost feel her mind whirring, her thoughts palpable like avocados. She pulls me along by the sleeve and I recognize that we're taking the long way though the house. Chiron's office has three entrances and this way, we're least likely to run into anyone, which does nothing to ease any of my fear. I guess it's good that Annabeth's holding onto me because all I want to do is shrink into a tiny ball and get out of this ridiculous situation I've somehow gotten myself in. All because of a stupid dream that I don't even remember. A dream and a painting on my stomach.

We turn down another corridor and Annabeth speeds up until we're almost running. Her knuckles are white where she grips my sleeve and she's pressing her lips tight together like she does when she's scared. She's scared. Why should she be scared? For once, we're dealing with a prophecy that has nothing to do with her!

We stop in front of the plain wooden door, covered in chipped green paint. Somewhat timidly, I knock, and immediately hear Chiron shout "You may enter!" from somewhere inside.

I push the door open and see Chiron in his wheelchair, rearranging some papers on his desk.

"Well hello ladies. Thank you Annabeth, for getting Rachel so early on this lovely summer morning."

"Not a problem," Annabeth mumbles, looking a little embarrassed. I remember what she told me earlier, about being caught sneaking out of Percy's cabin this morning, and I have to make a conscious effort not to laugh, feeling a little more like myself.

"Have a seat Rachel," Chiron says, motioning to the worn maroon couch beneath the office window. "Annabeth, I won't keep you from your day any longer. You're probably anxious to get to breakfast."

Annabeth looks up at him, distracted. I want to ask what she's thinking but Chiron looks urgent and I just want to get all this over with. Find out what the hell is going on and then-well I guess I don't know what will happen next. Still, though.

Annabeth leaves without a goodbye, trapped in her thoughts it seems.

"So Rachel," Chiron says, and I force my attention back to him. "You're probably wondering why I had Annabeth bring you here-"

"Actually sir," I interrupt, "I think I might have an idea." He frowns, not because I interrupted I don't think, but in confusion. I push onwards.

"I woke up this morning and found something on my stomach. A-a painting, sir." I take a breath. "I've painted in my sleep countless times before. I get visions in my dreams and paint them-"

"But never on yourself," Chiron finishes. I nod. "I see," he says. "What was it you painted?"

I sigh. "That's the other thing. I think-well I think the prophecy might be about me. I don't remember any of the dream but I almost never do, so that's pretty normal. It's just that…" Here I stop and pull down my hood, so that Chiron can see the swath of red paint down the side of my neck.

The flicker of fear that crosses Chiron's face does nothing for my nerves. "There's more," I say. "The red goes all the way down to my stomach and there's still something else. On my stomach, there's a painting of what I think is the Grove of Dodona." I stare at the worn carpet and pick at my jean shorts. I can tell that Chiron is worried by now and I don't know how to react, so I refuse to look up. "The red goes all the way down to the tops of the trees in the Grove. It kind of… coats the tops of them."

Chiron speaks and his voice is deadly serious. "You're positive that it's the Grove, Rachel?"

"There's a set of wind-chimes hanging from one of the branches, sir."

Chiron nods, calmly it seems, but I can tell there's more coming. "This is a bit more grave than I thought, Rachel, but it does fit with what I saw in my own vision."

"So there's no chance that this is just a side-effect of the fact that my powers came back recently after being away for a while when Apollo was on Earth? It's not just a fluke of some sort?" I know I must sound desperate, because Chiron looks at me sympathetically.

"I'm sorry, Rachel, but I don't think so. The best we can hope for is that we're misreading it and it actually indicates nothing dangerous. We've had situations like that before."

I sigh. "Okay tell me what you saw in your vision then. If this is really happening, I might as well be well-informed."

Chiron nods and taps his fingers on his wheelchair arm. "It was short," he says, "but it definitely meant something." He squints off into space, recalling. "You were walking into the woods, towards the Grove. It was like you were in a trance. I couldn't see your face really"

"Just me?"

He hesitates. "No, not just you." Chiron turns and gives me a funny look. "Not just you," he says again. "One of the new girls was walking with you."

"One of the Penderwicks," I say. Chiron nods. It's not a question, really. I should have known. Everything's been different since they showed up. Since Jane showed up.

"Which one?" I ask, though I'm sure I know the answer.

At that moment, Chiron stiffens. "Someone's outside the door," he says.

"What? Who?"

Instead of answering, Chiron shouts, "Come in!"

Silence. Chiron shouts again, louder this time.

Suddenly, the door opens and, in some wicked twist of fate, an extremely confused Jane Penderwick walks into the room. She looks at Chiron and her eyes widen. "I'm so sorry for bothering you, I wasn't trying to listen in, honest, but um, did you mean me? I couldn't help but hear you, um, shout 'Come in' and um,"

She stops, looking between us and for a moment everything is silent and awkward. Then Chiron looks back at me.

"Her," he says. I knew it.

Jane looks back and forth between us. "I-what? Sorry?"

I sigh again. This appears to be a day of sighing. "Jane, I think you'd better sit down."

~~~~~~From the POV of Jane Penderwick~~~~~~

"You have what?"

Rosalind looks distressed on the other side of our sacrificial circle. Her hands in her lap, she looks down at them like they hold great strangeness. Great power.

I guess they do.

We're the only people in the cabin. Everyone else is still at breakfast, but Rosy had insisted that we follow her back early for a MOPS. She'd even pulled a protesting Jeffrey from the Apollo table.

"Hold on, let me get this straight," Skye says. "You have superpowers . Like, yeah it's plants, but superpowers. Are you sure?"

"What - of course she's sure!" Batty folds her arms. "Right?" She looks at Rosalind a bit nervously.

Rosy nods. "Yeah I'm sure."

"Wicked. How'd you find out?" Jeffrey asks. He looks excited.

Rosalind sighs and tucks her hands under her legs. "A few days ago, when you guys were out exploring and I was here packing, Miranda said she'd show me how to, uh, make a flower crown." She looks up for a second and I nod for her to keep going. "Of course, she used magic to make it. And, well, she just thought that I could do magic too. And I said I was sure I couldn't, but she seemed so sure. It didn't work the first time, but then we were working in the little garden out back and it was different. I did it without realizing it."

Rosalind sits up a little straighter. "I grew a cranium lily," she says with a hint of pride.

"A what?" Skye squints at her.

"A cranium lily. Grows from a bulb, red and white striped, you know?"

"I have literally never heard of it."

"Okay, doesn't matter then. But seriously, none of you are, I don't know, upset? Scared? Mad?"

"Scared of what?" I lean back onto my hands. "Rosy, don't you realize how cool this is?"

"Yeah!" Batty looks up at Rosy from where she sits next to her. "This is amazing! Does this mean you can help that baby tree in the yard at home that Ben crashed into with his bike?"

Rosalind laughs. "Maybe? I'm not really sure how powerful I am yet. So far, all I've done is grow a couple flowers."

"This is so weird," Skye says, but she looks enthralled as much as any of us.

Batty puts her arms around Rosalind's waist. "Can you show us?" she asks.

The morning goes on and it's one of the best we've had here yet. No more Tommy or worries, just for a little while. About an hour before breakfast ends (and following Rosy's growing of two crocuses and a strange looking rose), Jeffrey announces that he's going to get another piece of toast from the dining pavilion, as despite the food he just ate, he thinks he can feel his stomach digesting itself.

Everyone else follows suit and forms a parade back to the dining pavilion, declaring their love for cereal and scrambled eggs. I stay behind though; there's something on my mind.

After they leave, I pull my notebook out from under my pillow and sit on the floor, leaning against the tree. I open to where I'd been making notes about the Sabrina Starr book-I do that now. Take notes before I write things. Whether it's born growth or fear that I'll forget stuff, it's a habit now.

I flip through the pages.

Sabrina Starr rescues a god

What kind of god?

How many kinds of gods are there?

Is it a good god, or morally gray?

Despite multiple different mythology phases, being the granddaughter of Demeter, and whatever Sisters & Sacrifice was, I'm at a bit of a loss. Logically, I know I should just ask someone. Depending on how I phrase my questions, I'm sure I could ask basically anyone at Camp about gods.

There's something else on my mind, though. My sister has powers. Powers.

Does that mean I do too?

I flip through the pages of my notebook again, letting them fan my face with a breeze that sounds like zippers. The cabin is hot with summer air, though the branches of the giant tree sway slightly with faint winds carried through the open windows. Even in here, surrounded by bunks and wearing my new Camp Half-Blood tee shirt, I can feel the magic.

I imagine myself racing through the streets of Cameron, dandelions sprouting in my path and flowers in my hair.

I need to talk to someone. Not just about Sabrina Starr, but about these powers too. I need an outside source.

The camp is fairly quiet, with everyone still being at breakfast. At the edge of a nearby pond, I see Nico from our first tour sitting next to a blond guy who Jeffrey pointed out to me as Will, his Head Counselor and Nico's boyfriend. They seem nice enough from what Jeffrey's told me, but I've never actually talked to either of them, and I'm not sure I can quite find the courage to go ask people I've never talked to about random gods (or plant powers), so I keep walking.

I wander over to the porch of the Big House, sweat pooling beside my notebook, which is stuck in the back of my skirt. I wring my hands, wondering if I have the courage to ask Chiron about deities for the purpose of a Sabrina Starr book (not that he'd have to know that). I remember the way to his office, I think. He took us there on our first day for some sort of registration process and I'm pretty sure I could find my way there again. Just as I feel like I might possibly have the courage to go in, though, two figues walk hurriedly past me. The first, I recognize as Annabeth, a blond Athena camper who's apparently been here for like ten years, according to my cabin mates. At first, I can't see the face of the person next to her, only a red hoodie and pale, freckled hands, poking out the edges of the sleeves. Then, the hoodie slips slightly and-

"Rachel?" I say. She turns around, looking nervous. "Hi," she says, friendly, while also sounding like she'd rather be literally anywhere else. She has to go talk to Chiron, she says.

"Oh. Are you, are you alright?" I try to keep the disappointment out of my voice since she obviously can't stay to talk, but part of my brain is screaming RACHEL RACHEL and another, more reasonable part is starting to realize that actually Rachel would be a perfect person to ask about the god stuff, and maybe the powers too. She clearly knows a lot about all this and, as an added bonus, has an appreciation for the arts. Someday, I bet I could even tell her about Sabrina Starr. Someday.

"Yeah! Yeah I'm fine. I think I'm fine." Rachel says, trailing off in a way that is not at all reassuring.

"Rachel, Chiron's waiting," Annabeth says. She sounds impatient and, well, scared. I notice how her leg bounces as she opens the screen door and I worry about what they have to talk to Chiron about. The door screeches as it shuts and the house swallows them.

I know I shouldn't, but the air conditioning and curiosity calls me into the Big House. I open the squeaky screen door and follow them.

I don't intend to eavesdrop-I'm too honorable, naturally. It occurred to me, though, that waiting inside a cool, dim building for Rachel to be out of her meeting with Chiron would be more comfortable than outside in the sun.

It's quiet inside, except for the distant footsteps of Annabeth and Rachel. They aren't going at all near where Chiron led us to a few days ago and I begin to worry about whether I actually know the way to Chiron's office. Also, what if this means that there are exits that I don't know about? What if Rachel leaves through a back door or a side door or a ladder and I've been sitting inside the front of the house this whole time, waiting for her?

So it seems only natural that I should follow her, just to see where she's going. I walk down the main corridor, making a mental note to remember which halls I take in case this turns out to be a "the house is bigger on the inside than the outside" situation. (In a camp specifically for children of Greek gods that's disguised as a strawberry farm and also happens to be run by a guy who's part horse, never assume you know everything).

Just as I'm about to turn right at the end of the hallway (sure that it's the way Annabeth and Rachel went), Annabeth bursts out of the left side, nearly crashing into me.

I may or may not shriek.

"Woah, woah," Annabeth holds up her hands. "Jane, right?"

"Yeah," I nod. "And you're Annabeth." She nods.

"What are you doing here?" She asks me.

Great question.

"I-uh. I have to talk to Rachel, and uh, she went this way. I know she has something with Chiron but I thought I could wait and ask her after but I don't know where anything is at this place-camp is LOVELY though, don't get me wrong-"

"You weren't sure you'd be able to find her after, so you followed her here."

"Well, yeah but you know, I can just go… find her later, you know-" Annabeth cuts me off with a wave of her hand.

"She's single," Annabeth says.

"What? No, not what I say going to ask her, I mean like, good for her, wait really? How! Not that I care, I respect that, like, I just got here, probably not that interesting."

Annabeth raises an eyebrow, looking amused. "Are you sure you don't care?"

I can feel my face getting redder by the minute. Luckily, Annabeth saves me from further embarrassment.

"Look," she says, "the thing she's in there talking about is potentially pretty important. It could also potentially be mush, but still potentially important. Judging by the fact that you've been here for about four days, I think I can safely assume that your question is either camp or mythology related, and also not dire."

I nod, my thoughts of powers and Sabrina Starr sifting away as I realize I might be crashing something way out of my league.

Then, to my extreme surprise, Annabeth sighs and says, "Chiron's office is down the left hall. Take the first left, then turn right. It's the last door and it's green."

"I-what? Didn't you just say-"

"I know." She sighs. "Look, I have a gut feeling about this. Also I haven't eaten yet. Go do your thing. If she can't talk, find someone else." With that, Annabeth turns away, grumbling about how she's probably missed all the waffles.

"Left, right, left," I mutter to myself, and hurry down the hall.

I find the door on my third try. Despite Annabeth's directions, the halls of the Big House are complicated and I got lost a few times. Finally, though, I arrive at an unmarked green door. Though I hear voices on the inside, I told myself I wouldn't eavesdrop, so I back up a few paces and sit on the floor, my back against the wall.

My notebook is still stuck in the back of my skirt, poking me uncomfortably. I pull it out and unclip my pen from my shirt. I might be here a while.

I'm part way through listing some potential gods for Sabrina to rescue when I notice that the voices inside have stopped. I stand up, tucking my notebook back into my skirt. What if Rachel's left out another door and I've lost her? What if-

"Come in!" I hear Chiron shout. I wait a beat. Does he mean me?

"COME IN," he shouts again. Cautiously, I twist the bronze doorknob and open the door.

Inside, Rachel is sitting on a small couch in front of a window that had been covered the last time I was in here. Looking out now, it leads to… the front porch? I walked all this way to get like, ten feet from where I started?

Before I have time to focus on the injustice of that, though, I notice that Chiron is staring at me, like he's sizing me up. I feel my nerves rise. Maybe he didn't mean me? Oh crap.

"I'm so sorry for bothering you," I say. "I wasn't trying to listen in, honest, but um, did you mean me? I couldn't help but hear you, um, shout 'Come in' and um." I stop and everything is silent for a few awful seconds. Until…

"Her," Chiron says.

"I-what? Sorry?" Am I going to be murdered? Is that what this is?

Rachel sighs. "Jane, I think you'd better sit down."

"I'm part of a prophecy ?"

" Potentially, " Rachel says. "You're part of a vision that, for some reason, both Chiron and I had. I get visions all the time, and sometimes they're part of proper prophecies. Sometimes they're just scenes from life. Either way, though, they always come true. One time, I thought my friend Piper was going to get murdered in a Dairy Queen because I had a vision of her covered in blood in the restaurant, getting approached by someone with a knife. It turned out that she was present at a ketchup explosion and the cook was waving a knife at her because they thought she'd caused the explosion and they happened to be holding a knife when they ran out of the kitchen. Still a creepy experience, but less life-threatening."

"What's the vision that I'm in?"

Rachel reddens a little. "Well, as Chiron tells it, it's just you and me walking into the woods towards the Grove of Dodona, and it seems like we're in a sort of trance."

" Cool. Wait, what's the Grove of Dodona?" I frown. It sounds kind of familiar, but I can't place it.

Rachel wrinkles her nose. "It's another oracle. Like me, except it's a bunch of trees."

"Really? That's so cool!" I lean forward and feel the edge of my notebook dig further into my back.

"It would be if it ever actually worked," Rachel says. I get the feeling that she doesn't like the Grove.

"Rachel," Chiron says calmly. Rachel rolls her eyes.

"I know, I know. I don't hate the Grove or anything. It's just that it caused so much trouble last year with Apollo. Remember everyone who was pulled into the forest?"

"Wait is this the thing where Apollo fell to the earth as a human?" I ask, slightly lost. Rachel turns to me sharply, like she'd forgotten where she was.

"Yeah. Yeah, that's it. It was… a lot. Basically, this undead Roman Emperor called Nero and a giant snake god called Python wanted to get control over all these oracles so Python could manipulate the future. Since Apollo is the god of prophecy, Zeus sent him to earth as a "punishment" for something so he would solve the whole Python problem. Anyway, he did. Last summer. And now he shows up every so often to hang out and say hi, so you might meet him."

"Wait, really?" After Chiron said specifically in his letter not to expect anything from the gods, I figured that they would remain just a weird dot in the distance, but I guess not? "But what happened with the Grove of Dodona? Who were the people it pulled in?"

Rachel sighs again. "The Grove was one of the first oracles that Python took over. And, one of the things it did was get into people's heads and cause them to go to the Grove, where they were captured and nearly burnt to death by Nero. And I know it wasn't the Grove's fault, exactly. It's just that it was right here. Basically on my front lawn. It's why we have such strict rules about the woods even now. So, I guess I'm wary."

"Yeah, that makes sense." I try to imagine something like that happening in Cameron. It would be awful! Images of classmates walking stiffly down Gardam street into Quigley Woods flash through my mind and I quickly shove them away.

"So, what do we do?" I ask. "It's going to come true no matter what, right? You both saw it and Rachel painted it, so it's going to happen. Should I prepare?"

Rachel and Chiron look at each other. "We don't know enough yet," Chiron says. "I'm going to look into this further, if I can. I'll try to see what the Grove has been up to lately. I have a meeting soon with, ah, some friends and I'll ask around there."

Rachel nods. "In the meantime, I think there's really nothing to do but focus on camp. Learn what you can and enjoy yourself, Jane. It might be nothing, or it might not be. Either way, though, I don't think there's much we can do now."

I nod. "Okay," I say.

"Okay?" Chiron leans forward in his wheelchair. "Jane, this has to be a lot to process."

"No, really. This is the coolest thing that's happened to me all year." I take a breath. "And, yeah, it might be scary, or it might not be. Either way, though, I want to be a part of it, of all of this." I think of the Demeter cabin with the big tree inside and Rosalind's powers and the stone tables in the dining pavilion. I've only been here a few days, but I can tell there's something special about this place (beyond the fact that I'm sitting in front of a centaur and an oracle). It's special and interesting and unlike anywhere I've been before.

And I can't wait to see what happens next.

Breakfast is nearly over by the time Rachel and I walk down the front steps of the Big House together. We hurry over to the dining pavilion together, where Rachel grabs three plain bagels, telling me that they're always the last to go when there's a breakfast buffet. The pavilion's nearly empty. My siblings have all left by now. I know I should probably go find them, but there's something about Rachel that makes me want to stay.

"Have you seen the beach yet?" she asks me, biting into one of her bagels. She seems looser, easier, than she did when I first saw her this morning and she rubbed off most of the red paint on her face before we reached the dining pavilion.

"Only once, when I played volleyball earlier this week."

Rachel grins. "Oh, you have to see it in the mornings! It's beautiful." I nod eagerly and follow her through camp. She looks so confident, eating bagels as she walks, waving to half the people we pass. It's clear that she's a common fixture at this place and I love it.

Down at the beach, Rachel kicks off her shoes and shrugs off her red hoodie. I follow her lead, taking off my sandals and laying my notebook on top of them. We walk into the shallow edges of the water, her pale, freckled feet next to my smooth, tan ones.

Rachel shuts her eyes, breathing in the salty air. I look at her in the morning sunshine and at the sparkling (freezing) water rushing over my feet and it's all so beautiful.

The beach is nearly empty, aside from a group of girls swimming much farther out ("dryads," Rachel tells me). After a few minutes, we wade in farther, until I no longer bother to try hiking up my short skirt and just accept that I'm going to get soaked. I don't mind though. I'm having a lovely time.

"How come you were there?" Rachel asks me suddenly.

"Where?"

"Outside the office. Chiron said he could tell you were there, but he never said why." Rachel pushes a strand of red hair behind her ear.

"Ah. I, uh, I'd been coming to find you. There were some things I wanted to ask you and since I don't know this place well enough to be good at finding people in it, I thought I'd wait for you to come out while I already knew where you were. Annabeth told me the way. I didn't know that Chiron would notice me and I swear I wasn't trying to eavesdrop or anything." I hold up my hands. "And my questions weren't really important anyway. I just didn't know who to ask, since I've hardly spoken to anyone aside from you and my cabinmates."

Rachel nods. "That makes sense. Did Annabeth say anything else?"

I blush. "Not much, no. Just that your meeting was about something potentially important and, um, that you're, uh, single"

"That I'm single!" Rachel bursts out laughing.

"Uh, yeah. I think she thought I wanted to ask you out." I start to smile a little.

Rachel keeps laughing, then stops abruptly. "Wait that's not what you were going to ask, right?"

"No! No, not that. Not that I don't like you, though, I just-"

"We don't really know each other," Rachel finishes for me. I nod.

"I would like to, though," I say, looking at her lovely, freckled face. "I'd like to know you."

She smiles back at me. "And I you, Jane." We stand there for a few seconds, and it's almost awkward until Rachel says, "What were you going to ask me? What were your questions?"

"Oh, those. Well, the first one was less of a specific question and more just that I was wondering if you could help me learn a bit more about some of the gods."

"I can do that, yeah."

I smile. "Awesome. The other thing was about demigod powers."

Rachel nods. "I know a bit about those, but honestly you should probably talk to your cabin mates if you want actual answers. Though, I guess that depends on what your questions are."

I take a deep breath. "Okay, you can't tell anyone yet, but my sister Rosalind found out she has some Demeter powers, which none of us thought would happen since we're second generation."

"So you're wondering if you might."

"You've been here so long, I just thought you might know something."

Rachel frowns. "I'd say it's definitely not impossible. You absolutely could have powers. I don't think it means you definitely do, though."

I nod. "But I could."

"You could," Rachel agrees. "And you're at the place to find out. Ultimately, though, I think you should talk to your cabin mates."

"Yeah, I know."

"I can help you with the other thing, though. And, since we're apparently meant to do something together in the future, I think we should get to know each other."

I grin at her. "Sounds like a plan."

~~~~~~From the POV of Rosalind Penderwick~~~~~~

No matter what kind of day you've had, I've found, a campfire with marshmallows and silly songs can pretty much always cheer you up. Sitting next to Batty on a wooden bench with Jane's arms around my neck from behind me and a long stick in my hand holding a marshmallow at one end-this is what I needed.

Nearby, Rachel stands at the "head" of the fire, leading everyone in songs. I'll admit that it took me a couple nights to master "The Wheels on the Chariot Go Round and Round," but now I can sing along just as loudly (and badly) as everyone else. Rachel raises her hands like the conductor of an orchestra, the fire flailing wildly at her feet, and I notice her look over at Jane with a grin. I hear Skye snort and I smile at her before following Rachel's lead into the first verse of the song.

The brightness of the fire and sweetness of the marshmallows draws me in and I forget everything else. For the first time in days, I am content to let go of my worries and simply sit among my sisters. It's lovely.

Twenty minutes later, and we're singing "Old MacDonald" (at one of the younger campers' requests), when someone lets out a scream. The singing dies out as more people try to figure out what's going on and I notice Rachel and Jane look nervously at each other. Jane told us earlier about some vision with the two of them and I imagine they're worrying about that now. That this is what the vision was talking about. Before I can think about this further, though, I hear someone shout, "We have a body!"

I'm out of my seat in a flash, holding Batty close to me. Together we fight our way through the crowd to see, when I hear Jane cry out. "It's Nick!" she says. "I know him, Rachel, oh my god."

I stand there, stunned. Nick. It's Nick. Then that must mean-

"We have another body!" A few more yards away, one of Jeffrey's cabin mates has a flashlight pointing down at someone else lying in the grass. I run over, pushing past everyone in my way.

His eyes are closed and there's a wide gash on his forehead, but I can see that he's breathing slightly. Just when I thought I was gone, that we were done, here he is.

" Tommy, " I say. " TOMMY." I want to grab onto something, anything, but I find myself falling.

"Whatthefuckisgoingon," I whisper, then pass out cold on the grass.