TADA! New Chapter!

I woke with a start. It looked like it was before sunrise, but from glancing at a clock I could tell that it should have happened already. So why was it still dark?

It took me a second to remember. The thunderstorm.

The cabin was already empty of people. So I quickly got dressed and went outside to look at the dark clouds heading toward the valley.

I saw Gover making his way over to Percy's cabin, so I decided to head to the big house and get there before him.

I arrived at the Big House and I walked up to the front porch. Then I realized something. How was I going to convince them that I should go on the quest with them?

I didn't really know what to do.

I saw Mr. D, and he looked mad. "What are you doing here?"

I realized he was addressing me, I shrugged, hoping to seem bored, cocky, and a little arrogant about my powers from the future rather than panicked, scared, and terrified. "This is where anything interesting is going on. Besides, I want to play pinochle."

Mr. D rolled his eyes and gestured for me to sit down.

They were in the middle of the round, so I was going to wait for the next one to start. And it took a minute for Percy to arrive, so I was invested in watching when he finally walked up.

" Well, well," Mr. D said without looking up. "Our little celebrity. Come closer, and don't expect me to kowtow to you, mortal, just because old Barnacle–Beard is your father."

I tried not to flinch as Lightning streaked across the sky, but Mr. D wasn't impressed, "Blah, blah, blah."

No one said anything, so he continued with his rant, " if I had my way, I would cause your molecules to erupt in flames. We'd sweep up the ashes and be done with a lot of trouble. But Chiron seems to feel this would be against my mission at this cursed camp: to keep you little brats safe from harm."

"Spontaneous combustion is a form of harm, Mr.D," Chiron cut in.

For some reason, this conversation had always seemed funny to me, so it took all my effort not to show that on my face.

" nonsense, Boy wouldn't feel a thing. Nevertheless, I have agreed to restrain myself. I'm thinking of turning you into a dolphin instead, sending you back to your father."

"Mr. D—" Chiron warned.

"Oh, all right," Dionysus relented. "There's one more option. But it's deadly foolishness." Mr. D stood up, "I am off to Olympus for the emergency meeting. If the boy's still here when I get back, I'll turn them into an Atlantic bottlenose. Do you understand? And Perseus Jackson, if you're at all smart, you'll see that's a much more sensible choice in what Chiron feels you must do."

Dionysus left by turning a playing card into a security card and snapping his fingers.

Chiron tried to smile at Percy and told him and Grover to sit. "Tell me, Percy. what did you make of the Hellhound?"

"Heck, it was nothing. I eat Hellhounds for breakfast." Percy tried to look cocky, but was failing epically.

I was a bit startled when he said that, so I just raised my eyebrows at him.

He sighed and told the truth, "It scared me. If you hadn't shot it, I'd be dead."

Not just you, I thought.

"You'll meet worse, Percy. Far worse, before you're done." Chiron said with a sad look in his eyes.

Percy just looked confused, " done… With what?"

"Your quest, of course. Will you accept it?"

Grover crossed his fingers, but Percy looked a bit more skeptical, and I couldn't blame him. "Um, sir. You haven't told me what it is yet."

Chiron grimaced, "Well, that's the hard part, the details."

Thunder crashed.

Percy started talking, " Poseidon and Zeus, they're fighting over something valuable… Something that was stolen, aren't they?"

Grover and Chiron looked at each other, and they both seemed to be thinking the same thing. " how did you know that?" Chiron finally asked.

Percy looked a bit embarrassed. " The weather since Christmas has been weird, like the sea and the sky are fighting. Then I talked to Annabeth, and she overheard something about a theft. And… I've also been having these dreams."

Thank goodness Percy was also having dreams. There would be nothing I could do if he hadn't been having dreams.

"I knew it," Grover said.

"Hush, satyr." Chiron commanded,

Don't be so rude, Centaur. I wanted to say, he's just excited.

"But it must be his quest! It must be!"

I thought about how that kind of mirrored Annabeth's previous statement, He's the one, he must be.

"Only the Oracle can determine," Chiron glanced at me like he was thinking that I could probably determine that as well. But then he continued, "Nevertheless, Percy, you are correct. Your father and Zeus are having their worst quarrel in centuries. They are fighting over something valuable that was stolen. To be precise: a lightning bolt."

Percy laughed nervously like he wasn't quite sure what to do with that information, "A what?"

"Do not take this lightly," Chiron warned. "I'm not talking about some tinfoil-covered zigzag you'd see you in a second-grade play. I'm talking about a two-foot-long cylinder of high-grade celestial bronze, capped on both ends with god-level explosives."

"Oh," Percy hadn't been taking it lightly before, but he definitely wasn't now.

But Chiron continued, "Zeus's master bolt. The symbol of his power, from which all other lightning bolts are patterned. The first weapon made by the Cyclopes for the war against the Titans, the bolt that sheered the top off of Mount Etna and hurled Kronos from his throne; the master bolt, which packs enough power to make mortal hydrogen bombs look like firecrackers."

Percy looked a little panicked, "And it's missing?"

"Stolen," Chiron said simply.

"By who?"

I decided to intervene, "Whom."

"What?" Percy looked at me.

"It's whom, not who."

He looked like he wanted to ask me, Whom freaking cares? But he refrained from that.

"Stolen by you." Chiron said, trying to bring the conversation back to where it was supposed to go.

Percy's mouth dropped open and he looked like he wanted to argue.

"Relax," I told him, "That's just what Zeus thinks."

Chiron looked a little annoyed at my interruption, but I didn't care much. He cleared his throat, "During the winter solstice, at the last council of the gods, Zeus and Poseidon had an argument. The usual nonsense: 'Mother Rhea always liked you best,' 'air disasters are more spectacular than Sea disasters,' et cetera. Afterward, Zeus realized his master bolt was missing, taken from the throne room under his very nose. He immediately blamed Poseidon. Now, a god cannot usurp another god's symbol of power directly—that is forbidden by the most ancient of divine laws. But Zeus believes your father convinced a human hero to take it."

Percy did start to argue this time, "But I didn't—"

" patience and listen, child," Chiron said. "Zeus has good reason to be suspicious. The forges of the Cyclopes are under the ocean, which gives Poseidon some influence over the makers of his brother's lightning. Zeus believes Poseidon has taken the master bolt, and is now secretly having the Cyclopes build an arsenal of illegal copies, which might be used to topple Zeus from his throne. The only thing Zeus wasn't sure about was which hero Poseidon used to steal the bolt. Now Poseidon has openly claimed you as his son. You were in New York over the winter holidays. You could easily have snuck into Olympus. Zeus believes he has found his thief."

"But, I've never even been to Olympus! Zeus is Crazy!"

I looked over at the storm clouds as they rolled the rest of the way over the valley.

"Er, Percy… ?" Grover said nervously, "We don't use the c-word to describe the Lord of the Sky."

"perhaps paranoid," Chiron suggested. "Then again, Poseidon has tried to unseat Zeus before. I believe that was question thirty-eight on your final exam…"

Did Chiron actually expect Percy to remember that, or was he joking? I couldn't really tell. Percy seemed to know the answer anyway though.

"Something about a golden net? Poseidon and Hera and a few other gods… They, like, trapped Zeus and wouldn't let him out until he promised to be a better ruler, right?"

"Correct." Chiron said, he said something else about how Poseidon denies stealing the master bolt.

I'm not going to lie, I zoned out. Something about one of the nails in the table really had me focusing on that.

Then I heard screaming. And the sound of evil laughter. I tried to look around but I couldn't. Images started to bleed into the edges of my vision. Firey eyes looking over sunglasses. Deep-red blood on a beach. A bloody hand with a pistol in it.

I finally was able to pull myself out of it. And the images and sounds were gone.

"—consulted the Oracle. Go upstairs, Percy Jackson, to the attic. When you come down, assuming you're still sane, we will talk more." Chiron was saying.

What was that? Had I glimpsed the future that would come if I didn't succeed? I shuddered at the thought, but a more pressing question came to mind, How had I done that?

Grover and Chiron talked in hushed tones, but I was just waiting for the moment that Percy would come back downstairs.

Yes, the dialogue is pretty much word for word, but make sure to tell me how I did!