Percy:

Talking with my old friends and the new one about this past week and finalizing plans

Just after my leg had recovered enough for me to be able to walk long distances again, I got a report that Annabeth and Gabriel had returned from their mission. Chiron and Mr. D wanted me present for the elaboration that my girlfriend and our new friend had to give us. "Annabeth Chase and Gabriel Johnson had risked life and limb to present us with this completed investigation of the activities of the Titans, will one of you begin?" Chiron said, opening up the meeting that featured every Cabin leader possible, including Nico and Thalia.

"I will start since I was probably the one who caused it by failing to stop Prometheus first," Gabriel said. Annabeth assured him he had not caused the events of their trip to happen the way they did. Still, he insisted on being the one to tell since he could explain it better and understood more about what went on then she did. She agreed to that since, as I would later find out, she really did not understand as much as he did on what happen.

"After an investigation in the Underworld, we have at last found out what keeps the Titans going even with the death of Kronos. Prometheus, benefactor of mankind and the giver of fire, has succeeded Kronos as leader of the Titans and awakened a power more ancient and more threatening to us than Kronos. He has revived the sky god Ouranos using the powers of Nyx's Black Sword of the Night and with it, plunging the soul of Ouranos back into the god's body. This wouldn't be bad if in addition to Ouranos revived at the cost of the powers of the Black Sword of the Night, Ouranos also has agreed to locate and recover the Sky Sword for the cause of Prometheus and the remaining Titans.

"For those of you who do not know, the Sky Sword is the sword that embodies all of the powers of the skies and gives the one who wields it power to manipulate the winds, lightning, thunder, and other related elements. The worst thing is, this manipulation of the sky would render Zeus powerless to help us if the wielder wished it so. Prometheus has told him to start his campaign of revenge by destroying the demigods of Camp Half-Blood and there is no doubt in mind that no matter what Ouranos thinks, Prometheus is the one truly in charge of all this," Gabriel explained.

"May I interject by saying that we only survived because Erebus, god of darkness came to our rescue before the enemy could have their way with us? We must gather every demigod we have, every weapon we have, every asset we have, and prepare to wage war with Ouranos and his Titan 'allies' as soon as possible," Annabeth said. "I agree, we must be ready to fight for the Camp as soon as possible," Nico said. Chiron stopped us all before we got too far into our chats on how to prepare for war.

"I admire the excitement everyone has about this idea however, we must see if we can move against them first rather than let them come to us," Chiron said. "How do you know we won't be walking into a trap?" I asked. "That's what we have Nico's ability to summon the souls of the dead for. And that's what we also have Briares for," Chiron answered.

"So what would be the strategy then?" Nico asked. Chiron made to speak but because Annabeth was a child of Athena and figured it out faster than Chiron did, she spoke for him. "The strategy is to see if we can destroy Ouranos and steal away the Sky Sword first. Destroy Ouranos then sit back and wait to see if Prometheus will proceed with retaliation against the camp, right Chiron?" Annabeth said. Chiron nodded and added that the sooner we could remove Ouranos and hopefully obtain the Sky Sword, the better the chance we could stand against Prometheus' hordes when and if they decided to show to Camp Half-Blood.

"I would like four demigods to lead this attack and because we need Nico to get our army, he is already signed up. Who will go with him and who will stay here to help prepare for the battle that is sure to come in the event of their failure?" Chiron asked. I immediately jumped at this and said that I would since I knew my leg would be ready in time to join them for the travel to wherever we needed to go. "That's one who else will join?" Chiron asked.

Gabriel answered since he knew that in order for us to defeat Ouranos, we would need the best of Camp Half-Blood. And as if agreeing with him, Thalia also volunteered to go on board for the joyride of going on a quest to destroy Ouranos. "In their absence, I will stay and help Chiron and Mr. D prepare the rest of us for the battle that is sure to come whether they succeed or not," Annabeth added. "Then it is decided, Annabeth will stay here and draw battle plans while our four most powerful demigods go to aid in buying us time to prepare for Prometheus' attack.

"Now they just need the prophecy from the Oracle before they make their next move," Mr. D said. Now that was the part I did not like the most about any of these quests, usually. You see, before the crisis with Gabriel's dad Kronos ended, our Oracle was an undead zombie who sometimes came to life and uttered prophesies. Now, that zombie was replaced by the living, beautiful Rachel Elizabeth Dare who took on the spirit of the Oracle after Hades lifted the curse that kept the zombie going.

There was only the fact that the attic was still creepy for the most part, at least, when I last checked. To my surprise and utter delight, it was amazing what she had done with the place in her spare time from uttering incantations and she had even organized all the artifacts we had from A to Z. "Hey Rachel, how are you doing?" I asked. She answered that she was doing very well and asked to know who Gabriel was.

"This is Gabriel Johnson, demigod son of Kronos and a former servant of the gods of Olympus before coming here," Annabeth answered. Rachel took a moment to see if she felt anything since the Oracle's spirit came and went in her. We knew that she connected when her eyes began to change and she looked like she was experiencing a seizure. Wisely, we stood our ground as she uttered the number one prophecy of the day and probably the best one we had had since she uttered the new Great Prophecy three weeks ago.

"Four demigods must travel to the ruins of the Old Titan's rule

Consult with darkness or be forever destroyed on that day

When the son of Kronos charges in to face the wrath

Of the Sky King or himself!"

I grabbed her and kept her from hitting her head on the ground until she was all right again. "Thank you Percy, I'm still having trouble getting used to the spirit of the Oracle residing in my body," Rachel said. I told her she was welcome and Gabriel suggested that we leave now. Since we had gotten our prophecy, we agreed to discuss it over dinner before making a move since it was almost time to have dinner at the dining pavilion.

Chiron gave us permission to use Zeus' table for business since this was important and we gathered after making our offers to the gods. My first guess was immediately the same as everybody everyone else's about the last line. "So the last line of the prophecy means that Gabriel is destined to duel with Ouranos unless Prometheus shows up and chooses to fight him instead, right?" I asked. Everyone agreed about that and said that it sounded reasonable considering that it did say that the son of Kronos must face either Ouranos' wrath or himself.

"But that line: Consult with darkness or be forever destroyed. That's the one that gets me the most," Nico said. "If I am not mistaken, we are to consult Erebus the god of darkness itself about something. As to what we're to consult him about, I truly don't know," Thalia said.

"Does the first line come to mind for anybody at this point? We know the rest but here's my suggestion: why not consult Erebus about an answer to the first line?" Gabriel suggested. "We already know that we are supposed to go to the 'Old Titan's ruin' but that could mean a lot of things," Nico agreed. "Perhaps an Iris message to Erebus would work?" I asked.

"Erebus only answers those if he wants to and he seldom ever answers the messages of anyone living above his realm. But there is a chance he will listen to me this time like he has before," Gabriel answered. "So how about we wait until the sun sets then move out of all possible light and use an Iris message to bring him up from his palace?" Thalia asked. "That's a risky move but my father would agree that it would be a necessary one," Nico answered.

"Let's meet at Zeus' Fist as soon as the sun sets then call him over. One of us has to remember to take a portable source of light with us until he agrees to come up and speak to us so we can make the Iris message possible," Gabriel said. We all nodded and agreed to do it with Thalia volunteering to make some lightning happen long enough for the Iris message to be sent. Then, to break the tension, I asked what everyone thought of this past week.

"Let me put it this way: it was mild before the rumors of Gabriel's existent really took form and substance," Thalia said. "I was having fun playing Pente with my dad when I was called into action," Nico said with some witty humor. We all had a good laugh out of that even Gabriel smiled, which was a sight I had never seen before. "A smile, we've never seen that on you since you've been here," Thalia said.

"Until I was absolved of my crime against Hera and released from her service, I had not smiled in at least a year. This is the second time in a year that I've smiled had a reason to smile and the first time in year to even chuckle," Gabriel replied. That was something I never heard of: how could you not have a reason to smile for almost a year at all? I had to put that question aside as sunset was coming fast and I had to get the water gun I had been given for Iris messages out.

Nico had a golden coin to throw in and Gabriel would deliver the message so we all played a part in deliver the message to Erebus. "Oh rainbow goddess, accept our offering. Show us Erebus, god of darkness itself," Gabriel said after taking Nico's coin and tossed it into the rainbow. At first, it looked as though nothing was happening but then we made contact with Erebus.

"Ah Gabriel, what can I do for you?" Erebus asked when he saw Gabriel's face. "I need some help from you, hopefully something you know is what we need to know before Ouranos and Prometheus attack," Gabriel answered. "Why not just ask me the question over the Iris message?" Erebus inquired. "So you know that I would like you to come to Camp Half-Blood for a bit?" Gabriel asked, surprised by Erebus' awareness of what he wanted.

"Yes I know and that's why I asked why you want me to talk to you in person if you're already talking to me in an Iris message," Erebus told him. "Well, we are not exactly sure we can trust the Iris message to not be intercepted by Prometheus. That's the only reason, otherwise I would ask my question over this," Gabriel said. "Please wait a moment until you're surrounded by blue fire, when that happens then you'll know I'm here," Erebus replied.

We nodded and made sure to take have Thalia turn off the lightning she had been using to light up the Iris message and I stopped the squirt gun. We waited a little bit then, as promised, we were surrounded by blue fire and Erebus stepped in right in front of us. Now I have to admit, he came across as probably the most intimidating sight to look at that I had ever seen. Imagine the devil with skin black as night from head to toe with equally black horns, no wings, and massive horns because that's when you have Erebus.

Oh and might I add that you could see his entire skeleton from head to toe? That's right, he barely had enough skin to cover his bones whose shapes were already exposed to us. He looked so fragile and yet he was so tall that even Gabriel (who is the tallest by a few inches at 6'1) had to look up to him. "Now that we are out of the untrustworthy system of the Iris message, what is your question my friend?" Erebus asked.

"We have consulted the Oracle for our prophecy and we have already figured out all but the first line to it. It goes like this: Four demigods must travel to the ruins of the Old Titan's rule. We were wondering what that could mean and were wondering if you knew," Gabriel explained. "Tell me the rest of the prophecy so that I may know how best to help you," Erebus said.

Gabriel did and then Erebus asked us a relatively simple question. "Tell me, what is the name of your father's realm? It was the place where the Titans ruled mankind from high above before Olympus was formed," he asked. Then we knew we had it: Orthys, the Black Throne of Mount Orthys.

The prophecy said to go to the ruins of the Kronos' throne on Mount Orthys! We thanked him because we knew at once where to go to fight Ouranos and Prometheus. He disappeared and took the blue fire with him without even damaging a single speck of land around the Zeus' Fist and we went to find Chiron. "What are you children doing up past the curfew, I know you're the leaders of the war against Prometheus and Ouranos after me but even you need rest?" Chiron asked, grouchy as can be.

"Chiron, my dear brother, we don't care about that right because guess what? We have our heading to where we're supposed to go and launch the attack," Gabriel answered. Chiron asked where and we watched as he reacted to the name Gabriel uttered from his mouth. "Mount Orthys!" he proudly declared to his three thousand year old half-brother.

To Be Continued…