"Sorry about that," I apologize to Luke after I watch Mabel nearly behead him. "It's okay. Let's see, a nice celestial bronze knife. Grab the hilt right there and point the tip to the chest. I aim at the straw dummy and glance at Luke. "Be careful. You must formulate a plan so the opponent can't counter-strike so easily." I nod and smile. Mabel always lot tells me my plans are why I failed with Wendy. I could pull this off. Luke tries to take me by surprise, but while he thought I was daydreaming, I was solving the probability of Luke trying to take me by surprise. It was an 87% chance. Luke looked at me, and I told him about my probability thing. "Being a nerd is better than being a cool jock in the demigod world." I blush, but hey, I am a nerd. Luke tells me that they haven't had a demigod in a long time that nearly doesn't have dyslexia. Luke yells, "Class dismissed!" and everyone worms out of the arena. Mabel goes off to Annabeth, probably to ramble on about her sword. "Dipper, how did you already have some combat skill?" Luke sits down next to me. "Well, last summer our parents shipped us off to Gravity Falls, Oregon. There were a bunch of creepy things like evil wax sculptures and gnome armies. I trained myself when I had nothing to do." Luke stares off into space, but he shakes his head. "Oh, that's a big advantage." I say bye and leave him to think.
"Dipper! Chiron wants you to come to the meeting of the cabin counselors!" Annabeth runs up to me. I just nod and try to keep up with her. I walk into the room, and almost everyone is sitting around the ping pong table. "Annabeth, tell us the dream you had that might call for a new quest," Chiron silences everyone. Everyone is murmuring, so I guess there hasn't been a quest in a while.
"Lord Apollo has spoke to me, not using the Oracle. Apparently, he couldn't make the Oracle recite a limerick, but I remember what he told me:
This is a quest for the handsome me
I would do it but I'm too lazy
I must fix my hair
So speak to me then
And find the sun at the large pine tree.
So I realized two things: Apollo forgot how to rhyme, and he has a quest. It's probably a minor one, but you never ignore a god's orders," Annabeth eyes Chiron as if she's been bugging him about this. Chiron sighs and says, "Alright Annabeth. Everyone will meet at Half Blood Hill ten minutes before dinner. And I agree, the Oracle would have made a more sensible limerick, even though she's decaying." Everyone else nods and begins filing out.
Mabel finishes her can of sparkly cheese (I'm guessing the kitchen harpies liked her) and burps. "Dipper! We get to see another god!" Mabel twirls around. Personally, I didn't want anything to do with the gods, but I'm stuck with it. Mabel stops twirling and turns green. "Chiron!" she gags before she vomits. "Blarrrrrf!" Wait, that isn't what barfing sounds like. I open my eyes and see an upset centaur covered in pink silly string. Classic Mabel. Chiron tells us he needs to wash up and escorts us outside. I spot Annabeth mumbling to herself by the side of the Big House. I shush Mabel and tip toe over to Annabeth. "Hey Annabeth! Dipper's trying to spy on you!" Mabel shouts, giggling. Annabeth turns around and tackles me to the ground. Curse my noodle arms. "What. Are. You. Doing. HERE!" she yells. "Annabeth, we were also walking out of the Big House," my throat is starting to close. She takes a deep breath and pulls me up. "Sorry, it's just that, well, there's this other huge prophecy about a kid that should never have been born, and well..." she stops talking. Mabel changes the subject by saying, "Annabeth, who's Apollo? The cool ice skater dude?" "No Mabel, the god of poetry, prophecy, the sun, some other things," I correct her. Although by Annabeth's dream, I'm questioning the first two.
"I've never met him, but Mr. D says he's a player," Annabeth comments. Mr. D gossips? Weird. "Well, now that I know who he is, he enjoys ladies, hates being forbidden from the Hunters, and his 8:27 is different because he's a god," Mabel blurts out. Does she even know who the Hunters are? Judging by her confused face, I guess not.
