AN: Heyo. Thank you to The-All-Mighty for giving me my first good review and being the first to add this story to Favorites, and joesalzer for adding this story to his Favorites. Thanx a lot, guys! This chapter is dedicated to you. Sorry about how short this one is.

The Oracle of Delphi, A.K.A. Rachel Elizabeth Dare, lived in an artist studio in Manhattan. So all I have to do is go through Long Island, cross a bridge, and there I am, right? Wrong. First I have to get out of camp. Damn.

Now, if the Labyrinth had still been around, I would have had no problem. But since that no-problem-entrance-and-exit-to-camp posed a tiny security issue, down it came. Leaving me with a dilemma. Maybe Mom could help. So I, dutiful little daughter that I am (not), I forget all about giving a sacrifice. But it didn't actually matter. She needed me, so she would do whatever I needed to help me reach her. "O great goddess of heroes, aid me in my hour of need," I chanted like the older (and wiser) campers always tell you to do when you need a godly hand. I would've asked them, but I couldn't tell anyone where Almighty Zeus might overhear. That would be bad.

I guess Athena was busy planning for the hopefully-not-a-war, because it wasn't her that came, but her winged sidekick- Nike, goddess of victory. "Your mother wishes me to convey her gratitude that you are coming, and she also wishes to bestow a gift upon her favorite daughter and hero." She held out a big, silvery cape, fastened with a pin in the shape of an owl's head. It was a barn owl, tyto alba. What can I say? I like birds. "Press the owl's beak when you need to become invisible." Invisible?! Sweet. With that, Nike turned on her heel and flew off. I put on the cape, which blurred slightly into a gray sweatshirt with an owl pin from the Mist. Well, that solves that problem.

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A little bit later, I was sitting inside Ms. Dare's apartment, sipping lemonade and surrounded by paintings of things to come. "Now, let's get to business. Why are you here?" she asked, shaking her red curls. "It'd better be important."

"Um... well, I'd like a prophecy, please."

She muttered to herself, "Great. Another half-blood on her stupid quest. And the answer to the 'Next Great Prophecy'." She turned to me. "Well, the Great Prophecy's in the drawer by the sink, and then you can ask your stupid question." She seemed to almost spit out the words. I hurried to the drawer, and found... five wallets.

"Uh, why are there five? Are there, like, five Great Prophecies?"

"They're all the same. I'll explain once you've read it. After all, it must be too complicated for a mighty hero to understand." I understood what Percy meant when he said she would punch people with words.

"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."

"I get it. The extra copies are for each of the seven half-bloods, and two have already taken theirs," I announced, triumphant. But who were they...

"Amazing," she said dryly. "Now what did you want to ask me? Come on, ask me. That's my job. I am the Oracle."

"Okay, well, what do I need to do?" I asked hesitantly. She stiffened up and her fingers curled into claws. Her green eyes glowed brighter, and her breathing rasped. In a hoarse voice she prophesied:

On a mission of good, you'll only bring bad,

Your presence will dash any hopes being had,

Unable to stop bloodshed, arriving too late,

You'll deliver your friend to the cruel jaws of Fate.

I slammed my fist down on the table, blinking back tears. Damn. Should I not go on the quest? But Mother, Lady Artemis, and the others, they were counting on me. I couldn't let them down. And so I managed to convince myself to undertake what, according to the Oracle, was a hopeless quest, doomed from the start. I started to leave, then remembered something. "Wait, Ms. Dare? Who were the other two half-bloods that came?"

"Why would I tell you that? You heroes, thinking you're so important, barging in and expecting everyone to do what they want. No." I hoisted my backpack and left before it could escalate into a full-fledged fight.

By then it was mid-morning, around ten if my ancient, screwed up, and ridiculously slow watch was to be trusted. I needed to get as far away from Camp Half-Blood as possible to avoid being brought back in chains. And I'm not over-exaggerating anything. Cathy and our real head counselor, Nate, are rule-freaks. So I took the first bus out of New York that I could find. By that night, I ended up somewhere in northeast Pennsylvania.

I was hiking out in some little patch of trees (that part of Pennsylvania's full of 'em) when I found a camp. Like, a camp as in a place that some half-bloods were sleeping for the night, not a commercial, pay to get in, campground. It had all the right things: sleeping bags, knives, gold drachmas, and baggies of nectar and ambrosia. Only one thing missing- the people. I realized how stupid I had been, wandering totally unaware into what was sure to be a trap. Real *Pretty moment there. But before I could do anything but curse at myself, I felt a blade on my neck.

"You're surrounded. Don't move, or I'll kill you."

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*Pretty moment: From Scott Westerfeld's Uglies books. (Pretty- person who, along with physical beauty, is shallow, spaced-out, doesn't remember what happened before they were Pretty, only interested in partying, acts popular) Pretty moments are when you space out and/or act like a Pretty. Hermione spaced and forgot to be aware of possible danger.

AN: Yeah, cliffhanger! So ends the third chapter. I congratulate you for making it this far, so yeah.

Another AN: And if you make it this far, you're obligated to REVIEW if you want. Reviews and fan-fiction go together like yin and yang, like day and night, sun and moon, boy and girl, Jasper and Alice, Max and Fang. And a fan-fic without reviews is like a hot summer day, like the one I just had, without air conditioning and ice cream, neither of which I had. It sucked. And so will you if you don't REVIEW.