A/N Thank you to Damsel and C00kiegirl for your nice reviews! Sorry for the kind of slow update people. Anyway please R&R!! :D

Chapter Seven

Whispered warnings, valued verses

Unanswerable, strange, a riddle

What are those words, those spells, those curses?

But all we can do is wait and watch,

Wait and watch for the prophecy.

Alex felt disorientated. She was not sure what was happening at all when she woke up, standing outside amongst what seemed like a huge crowd, and everyone around her started shouting. Someone, she was not sure who, had led her into the Big House, and now she was sitting at a large table she had never seen before, trying to listen to what was being said.

"-prophecy. It was:

Seven half-bloods shall answer the call

To storm or fire the world must fall

An oath to keep with a final breath

And foes bear arms to the doors of death. So we think-" A cup of coffee was plonked in front of Alex. She smiled gratefully. Taking a sip, she looked around her. Nico – Helen – Jonathon – Kate – Susie – Kai – and herself. That made seven, like in the prophecy.

"But Chiron, what about the sleep walking? How did that happen?" That was Kai's voice, from the other side of the table where Percy was sitting. Suddenly he noticed Alex's stare. She blushed bright red.

"Oh, I expect that was Morpheus, god of dreams. He could easily manage something like that." Chiron replied in a matter-of-fact voice.

Percy, in his seat beside Kai and Chiron, frowned. "But I thought Morpheus was an Olympian God!"

"Well yes," Chiron nodded. "But for years now he has seemed to favour the Titans. I'm afraid he would happily work for any of them." For a while nobody spoke. Percy, Annabeth and Rachel watched Chiron as his eyes went from one of the seven to the next. Mr D leaned backwards in his chair, drinking coffee as though nothing had happened.

"So, do we have to go on a quest?" asked Susie from the Aphrodite cabin. She was still wearing pyjamas, but her blonde hair was neatly plaited and clipped perfectly in place.

"Yes, the-" Chiron began to answer, but suddenly the room had gone cold. A thin green mist filled the room, and all eyes were on Rachel. She rose from her seat, her own eyes like dark, ancient pits. The green fog swirled around her. It seemed to come from her mouth.

"When the call has happened," she rasped, the sound like a thousand voices, hoarse but loud and clear. The words echoed around the room. "The seven are here,

A captive will be taken,

Then the dead we shall fear."

The room cleared and Rachel collapsed onto the table. Alex heard a gasp from Susie beside her.

"What happened?" Rachel asked groggily, lifting her head.

"You went all oracle-y again," Percy explained. He told her the prophecy; apparently Rachel did not remember anything that happened when the spirit of Delphi possessed her.

"I think Lucy going missing was part of an even bigger plan," said Chiron, when Rachel and Percy had quietened down. "The fact that Kronos got so close to over throwing us seems to have encouraged the other Titan gods. You see, Poseidon has been trying to rebuild his underwater palace, but Aegean, Titan God of sea storms, keeps sending terrible storms. Prometheus has continually set the entrance to the Empire State building on fire, so Zeus is having a hard time controlling that. I think the titans are trying to keep them occupied. Aegean and Prometheus seem to be the overall leaders just now, but they are rivals. They each want Olympia for themselves."

"Chiron, are we going on a quest?" Susie repeated her question from earlier.

He nodded. "You have been called," he said solemnly. "You should go soon; Lucy could be any where and the longer we wait the less likely it is we can find her. Iris-messaging doesn't work – someone must be shielding her from the Goddess Iris."

"When you leave, go to Manhattan. That's where my dream was. I think once you're there you'll know where to go," Rachel told them. Alex listened to her voice in fascination; it was normal now – like any ordinary teenage girl's voice, but when the Oracle had spoken through her the voice had sounded captivating, if unnerving.

"Can we eat breakfast?" asked Jonathon. Alex thought he sounded like a petulant child, bossing people about. "I'm starving, and I bet everyone else is too."

As if on cue, Alex's stomach rumbled. Until then she had not realized how famished she was, but she had been up for at least an hour now.

Chiron nodded. "You're right, everyone probably is hungry. Let's eat breakfast now and afterwards you can pack and prepare for the quest. Then we'll have lunch, and when we've eaten you should be ready to leave. Annabeth, can you go and tell the other campers to prepare breakfast?"

----

The Hestia cabin was varnished wood, with square windows all round the walls and a painted red door. Inside it was warm; a fire burned on each wall. In front of the main fireplace there was a homely, comfortable looking sofa covered with gold blankets. The two beds were at the back, along with all the sisters' things and the bathroom. Altogether the little hut was cosy and inviting – Alex thought she would much rather sleep there than in her own, sometimes noisy cabin. I suppose I just have to get used to it, she thought.

Alex followed Helen to a small water fountain at the side of the cabin. "I'm going to give IMing a try, whatever Chiron says," Helen murmured, producing a small Greek coin from her pocket.

"IMing? Instant-messaging?"

Helen smiled. "Iris-messaging." Despite the smile, Alex could tell Helen was far from happy. Having lived most of her life in a quiet English town with her sister, dad and occasionally her mum, Helen was not used to unhappiness or fear.

"Oh yes, and I really know what that means," Alex said sarcastically.

"Iris is the goddess of rainbows," Helen explained. "If you can make a rainbow, offer her a drachma – a Greek coin – and ask her to show you someone. You can see, hear and talk to them, and they see you, wherever they are. I think Chiron said he already tried to find Lucy that way. He couldn't, but I'm going to try anyway." Alex nodded and Helen threw the gold coin into the fountain. With a splash the coin disappeared. "Please show me Lucy." Nothing happened. They waited around half a minute, staring expectantly at the water fountain, then Helen looked helplessly at Alex. "Chiron's right. Someone must be shielding her." Another thought had occurred to Alex, and she knew it had occurred to Helen and Chiron too: either someone was shielding Lucy, or she had died.

-----

Alex looked down at her plate. She had barely touched her food and she knew why – nerves. Stories of Percy, Annabeth and the rest of them doing heroic deeds were exciting and amazing, but surely it was stupid for her, Alex, to go on a quest. She had no experience, and besides, all they were doing was setting out to Manhattan, and hoping that by some freak chance they would find Lucy – and how likely was that? The only reason anyone thought they might find her was because of a prophecy, and prophecies are not definite, are they? Everything depends on the choices people make, surely?

Suddenly Alex heard a raucous laugh, snapping her out of her reverie. Her whole table had been talking about something that had happened at camp once, but Alex had lost interest right at the beginning.

"You okay, Alex?" asked Kate, tapping her on the shoulder. She gave Alex a reproachful look. "You're really quiet and you haven't eaten a bite."

Alex forced a mouthful of baked potato into her mouth, and then smiled at Kate. "Happy now?"

"We're going as soon as everyone's eaten, and I don't know how long we'll be. We may as well make the most of this, now." Kate mumbled, her mouth full. "And you really should eat all that. You'll probably need it." Alex shrugged, and started cutting up her baked potato.

"So, what happened next?" A boy was nudging Kate with his elbow. Alex felt sure she had seen him before but could not remember his name. "What did they say?"

Kate continued her talk and Alex watched, not taking any of it in. After a while she remembered she should be eating, and began shovelling more of the potato into her mouth. She was just doing this when a deep, irritating voice sounded behind her, making her jump. Turning round she faced Greg. To her surprise he was by himself – no cronies today or any back up in case Kai came to protect her again. Not that she minded. "Yes?"

Greg giggled, as if simply hearing her voice was funny. Maybe it is, Alex thought grumpily, watching as the boy controlled himself, then looked her in the eye.

"You were very rude to me last week. I don't like it. Acting like a right British idiot, you was. And you know what? I really don't like it."

Alex sighed. "Leave me alone, Greg. There's no point. I'm going in about ten minutes."

Greg scowled at her. "That's another thing. You think you're–" He broke off mid-sentence, as a dryad with brown skin and leaf-green eyes was hovering at his shoulder, smiling slightly.

"Can I take your plates?" she asked politely, her voice like the breeze through the trees on a sunny afternoon. With another smile she accepted Alex's plate and walked away. A small blue bird flew after her, tweeting. Alex watched in wonder; the girl was so much like a tree, but still she spoke and laughed and walked like any other person. She knew the dryad's name was Autumn, and they had spoken a little bit when Alex arrived at Camp Half Blood, but that was the only time. She was really fascinating to be around.

Looking back at her table Alex saw Chiron trotting towards them. Greg muttered something under his breath and left the table, giving her a dark glance.

"Alex, you know it's getting on for 2 o clock. If you've eaten I suggest you get a move on and take your belongings up to the minibus – it's just over the hill." Alex nodded, and looked around for Autumn but the dryad had disappeared. Probably turned back into a tree, Alex thought, disappointed because she had wanted to say goodbye before she left. After all I've got no idea how long this thing will take. With a sigh she got up and walked back to her cabin to collect her packed bags.

-----

"Chiron!" Rachel ran up the hill, and joined the centaur beside Argus' minibus. Argus was tall and tanned with blonde hair flopping over his face, but the most noticeable thing about his appearance was the amount of eyes he had – there were bright blue eyes on his forehead, his cheeks, the back of his neck, and according to Kate right across his body. This made him a great guard, and also quite intimidating. When they had loaded their belongings into the van, the "hundred-eye guy" had shown Alex and Kate one of his less-used eyes, which to Kate's amusement and Alex's shock was in the middle of his tongue. "I don't want to imagine what you see while you eat, or worse, when you're sick!" Kate had laughed, making Argus grin and Alex even more horrified.

Inside the rusty minibus, Kate, Alex, Jonathon, Kai, Nico and Helen were all ready to leave, just waiting for Susan to turn up. "She's probably looking for her hair straighteners," as Kate had remarked.

"Chiron!" Rachel repeated, catching her breath. He turned to look at her.

"Yes? Oh look, here comes Susan at last." The camper was walking carefully up the hill, her eyelids heavy with mascara and her blonde hair in pristine condition. She opened the minibus doors and clambered inside with a wide smile.

"Oh, so you decided to turn up?" grumbled Nico quietly. Luckily Susan didn't hear; she was busy putting her bag to one side and settling down in a seat beside Jonathon. Jon blushed when he realized where she had chosen to sit.

Chiron cantered towards the minibus door. "Good luck everyone," he whinnied, handing Argus a folded piece of paper and giving the seven half bloods in the back a wrinkly smile. Alex tried to smile back but she was not sure she was very successful. "No doubt we shall speak soon."

Rachel and Chiron waved them off and watched as the white minibus started down the road. Kate gave Chiron and Rachel a big smile.

"Chiron, I tried to tell you before," said Rachel quietly. Chiron turned to look at her. "Out of those seven half bloods, only six will be coming back alive." Chiron's face darkened but he said nothing, and the two of them watched the Camp minibus disappear down the quiet lane, until nothing but its exhaust could be seen in the distance.

-----

Trees rushed by as the old minibus bumped its way along a country road. Alex stared out of the window, her hands under her chin, and dreamily thought of home. She imagined herself in a normal family, with her mum and dad, a big brother and maybe a baby sister too. In her fantasy she had three best friends and was really popular at school. She was naturally talented at nearly everything and her boyfriend was everything she had ever dreamed of... But Alex knew none of this was true; she had never been particularly popular and the only things she did well in were poetry and PE. Her thoughts turned back to the quest she was embarking on, and the days that were to come. With a sigh she looked round at Helen beside her.

"How are you, Helen?" she murmured, and Helen smiled weakly.

"Worried," she answered. "What about you?"

Alex stretched restlessly. "I don't really know." Yawning she rolled down the window beside her, and stuck out her head into the wind. Her red hair whipped across her face but she welcomed the breeze, and she felt truly excited for the first time since the idea of a quest had come up. After all she had wanted to get away from camp and Greg, and go somewhere exciting like Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase. Alex let a smile light up her tired but rosy face.

The minibus was still in the country, and so far in the journey they had only rumbled past one or two other cars. Everything had been almost boring for the past hour; Alex presumed Argus had taken a scenic route to Manhattan, maybe to avoid busy places with lots of people, because the way Hestia had taken her had been very different.

"Why don't we sing a song to cheer ourselves up?" Kate suggested with a laugh, and Susie rolled her eyes. An eye on the back of Argus' neck watched in amusement, and winked at Alex when he saw her watching him.

"Everywhere we go-o, people always..." Alex, Kai, Helen, Nico and Jonathon all joined in the song, and soon the noise of the van's engine was drowned out by the sound of their almost-in-tune voices.

A/N Please review!!!!! :)