I looked up at the clock on the wall. We'd been there for one and a half hours, about half an hour after Luke and Thalia should have turned up. "They should be here by now. Where could they be?"

I felt a sword against my neck. "If I were a monster you'd be dead by now." I grinned, hearing Luke's voice behind me.

"It's about time you turned up," I joked as Luke let me go and I span round to face him. "We've been waiting for half an hour. Where've you been?"

"Sorry, got caught up. Found a couple of dracaena on our bus and had to jump off about half an hour's walk away from here. However, Percy, I know I trained you better than that. You should have heard me coming, or at least seen me when you happened to look round to make sure no monsters were sneaking up on you."

"Well, excuse me for being a tad distracted. We had to fight off an empousa without you and Dionysus gave us a quest." I heard thunder from outside the building.

He was silent for a second, wide eyed, before saying, "Are you serious?"

"Yeah," Annabeth answered.

"A quest?"

"Yes."

Thalia and Tyson came to stand next to Luke. "What's going on?" she asked.

"They've got a quest," Luke told them.

Thalia stared, dumbstruck, while Tyson just looked questioningly at us.

"What was your prophecy?" she asked.

I stared at her, confused. "Prophecy?"

"You're supposed to get a prophecy to guide you on your journey," Luke explained.

I shook my head. "No, no prophecy."

"Maybe it will come to you tonight. We should really find a place to sleep, though." Luke led us away from the cafe and onto the streets. We walked round for a short while, keeping an eye out for any monsters. Eventually, we reached an abandoned shop and Luke magicked the door open. We all crept inside and I found some supplies scattered around the room. The extent of these guys' secret hideouts never ceased to amaze me. We laid out our sleeping bags and Annabeth and I got a fire started.

"Hey, Percy. Got a moment?" I looked over to where Luke was standing. He was gesturing for me to follow him. I looked to Annabeth and she nodded so I stood up and walked after him. He led me into a back room of the shop.

"Listen, Percy, I've been given a quest once before and it gave me this." he said, gesturing to his scar. "I wouldn't trust gods if I were you."

"Are you saying I shouldn't go on this quest?"

"No, you'll have to go on the quest. Whether or not Dionysus is telling the truth, you'll have to go or they'll kill you. And if he is telling the truth, well, you'll definitely have to go. But just, be careful. Don't trust them and no matter how safe you feel, always keep a lookout. Never. Trust. A god." I nodded. "Come on, let's go back."

"Luke, wait." He looked at me confused. "Have you ever met your father?"

His face morphed into a scowl. I'd never seen him do anything except smile. "Yeah, once."

I waited to see if he was going to continue the story, but he didn't. He walked back into the main room without another word. I sighed and followed.

That night, I had a strange dream. I was stood outside a cave in the side of a looming cliff. The cave had a red curtain covering it with two torches blazing either side, casting an orange light around me. Next to me was stood a 16-year old boy with golden hair and stylish sunglasses. He had a tight white shirt that showed off his eight pack. He grinned at me with pearly white teeth. I had to look away because it was blindingly bright.

"Another Hero,

Comes for a prophecy,

From Apollo"

I stared at him, dumbstruck.

"I know, the awesomeness of my haiku has rendered you speechless."

"If I remember my poetry correctly the second line is supposed to have seven syllables and the third should have five."

He counted on his fingers while muttering under his breath. "Comes for a prophecy, yay!

From me, Apollo

There, perfect. Right?"

"Anyway," I said hesitantly, "why am I here?"

His grin spread wider. "To get a prophecy, of course!" He gestured towards the cave. "In there you will find the Oracle of Delphi, my favourite Oracle, by the way. You are going to walk in there and hear the prophecy for your quest. This prophecy will give you guidance on what you must do." He gestured towards the cave. I stared at the curtain and wondered what I would find behind it. "Go on," Apollo prompted.

I walked forward cautiously and pulled back the curtain. There was a long passage in front of me, lined with torches. Despite this, it was rather dim and several times I stubbed my toes on a rock as I walked. The path winded downwards for about 500 feet before opening up into a large cavern. More torches lined the walls and in the centre was a tall podium with a single, three-legged stool on it. Sat on the stool was the creepiest thing I'd ever seen. It appeared to be a mummified corpse of a hippie. Tentatively, I walked towards the mummy, climbing up the steps to the podium.

"Hello? Ms Oracle? I'm here to receive a prophecy?" The corpse didn't move. I'm honestly not sure what I expected. I remembered what Luke had told me, 'Never trust a god.' I laughed. "Ok, Apollo! Very funny!" I shouted while spinning round slowly. "Very funny prank! I'm going to-"

I was interrupted from what I was about to say by a reptilian hissing. I span round to face the mummy and saw green smoke coming from its mouth. It condensed into three snake-like forms and slithered round me. I heard a strange, snake-like voice in my ear. "I am the spirit of Delphi, speaker of the prophecies of Phoebus Apollo, slayer of the mighty Python. Approach, seeker, and ask." It sounded like three voices superimposed over each other.

"Uhm, I've come for a prophecy."

The rasping voice filled my head again.

"You shall go west and face the god who has turned,

You shall find what was stolen and see it safely returned,

Shall be betrayed by one who calls you a friend,

And you shall fail to save what matters most, in the end."

I stared at the mummy, trying to comprehend what I had just heard, but the world around me quickly began to disintegrate. The cave turned sideways as it vanished into smoke and I suddenly became very dizzy.

I woke. I tried to sit up but I was still disoriented from the sudden end of the dream. Lying on my back, I began to think about what I'd just heard.

'You will go west and face the god that has turned.' That was pretty self explanatory, I was going to go west and face Hades.

'Find what was stolen and see it safely returned.' Again, self explanatory, I was going to find the Bolt and return it to Zeus.

'Betrayed by one you call a friend.' Now, this was where I was getting worried. Who would betray me? I only had about five friends and I know none of those would betray me. But what if they did?

'And fail to save what matters most in the end.' What kind of prophecy was that? That's like saying, 'Go on this quest, you're going to fail anyway.'

"You ok, Perc?" I heard Annabeth's voice in the dark. I tried to sit up again with more luck this time. Annabeth was sat on the other side of the fire, keeping watch.

"Yeah, just fine."

"Prophecies can be quite disconcerting," she told me.

'Understatement of the century,' I thought.

She came over and sat next to me. "We should probably wait until the morning to talk about this, but do you want to tell me what the Oracle said?"

I shook my head. Saying it aloud would mean it actually happened, and I don't think I could handle that. I still didn't know what it meant.

"Do you want to talk?" She offered.

I shook my head again.

Irritated, she asked, "Do you want me to sit in a brooding silence with you?"

I nodded and she huffed in exasperation. We sat in silence for a bit and she shuffled closer before resting her head on my shoulder. I listened to her breathing slowly become more steady as she fell asleep. 'I don't think I'm going to get any sleep after this so I may as well keep her watch.'