Chapter 5: We receive a prophecy.
I found Chiron in the archery arena on his own. He notched an arrow and I watched it soar through the air and land a bull's eye. He notched another but before he could aim I ran over to him at full speed.
"Chiron," I panted. "Rachel's ready." He nodded once and aimed his arrow and fired. Bull's eye once again. He turned to me and I started sprinting back to the dining pavilion. I heard the sound of his hooves pounding the ground as he caught up with me. I then felt a hand pluck me from the ground and I was thrown onto the centaurs back. We reached the dining area within a matter of minutes, where as it would've taken me at least ten if I were to run on my own. I slid off Chiron's back and jogged back to Annabeth's side as Chiron trotted to Rachel's.
"Are you ready my dear?" He placed his large hand on her shoulder comfortingly. She nodded quickly.
"Let's get this done." She looked straight at me.
"O Oracle of Delphi, what do I need to find for Ares?" Rachel suddenly doubled over, spluttering as the words tried to spill out of her mouth. Her body straightened and went ridged. Her eyes glowing neon green like there was a light bulb inside her skull. The only part of her that moved was her lips.
"Daughter of wisdom, Son of sea,
Search ancient territories to find the key.
Child of Aphrodite help among others,
Children of Gods fight for druthers.
Strive to find the gift in mind,
And lose the love they left behind."
And it was over. Rachel keeled over and was caught by Chiron. Annabeth went over to help her onto his back while I stood shocked. Everything was suddenly moving in fast forward, or I had just zoned out and detached myself. Chiron carried Rachel, slumped over his back, to the infirmary. Annabeth followed nervously nattering about what would happen when Rachel woke. I managed to pull my feet to the nearest table, where I slumped over and slept.
My dreams were filled with images of the quest, the people that would have to go, what we'd have to do. Several times I saw people dying. Annabeth, Rachel, Calypso. Well, Calypso couldn't die. And Rachel was protected by the spirit of the oracle. So I saw Annabeth dying the most, in possibly the most terrible way I could imagine.
"Percy… Percy." An angelic voice stirred me. "Percy!" Hands gripped my shoulders. Shaking me.
"Gahh, what? What do you want?" My eyesight blurred with yellow. I swiped away the hands on my shoulders and saw Annabeth. "Oh. Sorry." I felt the blood fill my cheeks.
"Percy, you were talking in you sleep," she adopted a more thoughtful look, "and, errr, crying." I looked down at the table, Hephaestus, which was spotted with salty, wet tears. Then I noticed the crowd of campers in a ring around the dining pavilion. I blushed right down to my neck. Wiping my cheeks with the sleeve of my shirt I let Annabeth pull me up by my other hand. We walked through the crowd towards the cabins, Annabeth squeezing my hand tighter and tighter all the way there.
I stepped into my cabin, pulling Annabeth in behind me.
"Right, what on earth happened back there?" I couldn't help but look at my feet shamefully. "I'm not angry at you. I just, want to know." She was acting so calm and there I was freaking out, it made me feel even worse if that is possible.
"I was just shocked. I mean, that's the worst prophecy I've heard in a while." And it was true. I didn't really care that I was supposed to die according to the last great prophecy, because it meant that everyone else would live. I sighed and Annabeth frowned.
"It scared me too. But don't think about it too much. You know as well as I that prophecies have double meanings." She stifled a laugh. "Not that you can think with all that kelp in your head." It really wasn't a good time. But I smiled at her effort to cheer me up. Picking her up around the waist I threw her onto the bunk nearest and started to tickle her up and down her sides. Fits of laughter erupted from Annabeth's mouth. Somehow, I managed to resist the urge to kiss her.
"Stop, stop. I can barely breathe." She panted pushing away my hands.
"Oh but my princess, your beauty is rival to Aphrodite's when you smile." I grovelled, bowing low. I'd probably regret saying that later, the goddess of love is very temperamental about her looks.
"How flattering," Annabeth quipped as she pretended to curtsey. "But now it's my turn." Her face adopted a mischievous grin as she pounced on me. Landing the pair of us on the bed, and her lips on mine. And we kissed, for what seemed like hours.
"Aww how cute." A voice squealed from the door way. We both looked up to see which Aphrodite camper it was, but strangely we found Nico. His grin faltered and took on a more serious glare. "Rachel's awake. Chiron asked me to come get you." He was blushing wildly as Annabeth and I brushed out our messy hair and creased clothing.
"Right." I grabbed Annabeth's hand and together the three of us walked to the big house. About half way there the awkward silence had really started to bug me. But before I could do anything about it, Annabeth started talking.
"So since when did you sound like an Aphrodite camper?" she asked Nico with raised eyebrows.
"Well," He coughed deeply. "I tried talking to you normally, but you didn't seem to hear me. So I figured that it was the best way to get your attention." There was obviously something that he wasn't telling us, a deep love for chick-flicks, maybe he was really a girl. My mind drifted to all the different possibilities, each more weird than the last. I was thinking about Nico wearing a bikini and shuddered. Honestly, not a pretty sight. Annabeth looked at me curiously out of the corner of her eye.
"I'll tell you later." I whispered into her hair.
At the big house we met Chiron and Rachel in her living quarters. Rachel smiled weakly at us when we walked in.
"You know we're probably making it out to be worse than it actually is." I never thought I'd see Rachel without the bright gleam in her eyes but there she was, fragile, if anything. I couldn't help but look at Chiron for support.
"She's right. You are probably reading into this too much, like always." He eyed Annabeth and I suspiciously. "And so it would seem, we are in need of a quest." He said as he led us out of the room. "We will talk of this outside. Rachel needs rest." Within minutes we were sat around the Pinochle table on the veranda along with the head of the Aphrodite cabin, Drew. She had only been a counsellor since the previous counsellor, Selena Beauregard passed away during the titan war. Drew was always runner up to Selena. Not as beautiful, never as kind. She immediately put up a cold front.
Arms folded, she gave us only a few seconds after we sat down before she started talking. "I don't want anyone from my cabin going on any quest, anywhere. We're still suffering from Selena's death, we can't lose anymore." Her eyelashes were coated with pink, like usual, and they were extremely distracting. "I need every one of my campers. We need each other. We have to make everything better again." A lone tear dropped off the edge of her lashes and plopped onto the table. Suddenly she was all make up and mirrors, prodding her eyelids with something spongey. Annabeth shuddered knowingly.
"Never do this." I mouthed at her, pointing a thumb at Drew. I noticed Nico perking up out of the corner of my eye.
"What if no one from your cabin had to go? What if," He was pausing for effect, the drama queen. "What if, Selena herself helped you guys?" He looked so proud of himself.
"And how, do you think you can get her to help you?" Drew added sarcastically, still fixing her already perfect makeup. "She's dead remember." Nico looked almost as smug as Apollo after he had made up yet another terrible haiku.
"You underestimate me. All three of us have talked to the dead because of a certain son of Hades."
"Wha… Who?" Drew's sarcastic smile faded from her face.
"Well," I couldn't help but keep this going. Drew was getting seriously annoying. "There's Bianca, King Minos, Achilles. Anyone else you can think of Nico?" His brow furrowed at my mentioning of Bianca and Minos. But he brightened up to torture Drew some more.
"Umm, Beckendorf, Daedalus, Icarus and Perdix. There are heaps. I mean, I live with them." At this, the Aphrodite camper's face was a picture. Her eyes flashed from Nico, to Annabeth, who was chuckling silently at the stand off, to me.
"If you do talk to Selena, I don't want any part of it." And she rushed off back to the cabin area with love struck satyrs and demigods looking on dreamily.
With Drew's exit, the three of us could hardly contain our laughter. Even Chiron had a mischievous smirk on his face. After we had calmed down, the seriousness of the situation dawned on us again. Annabeth spoke before anyone else could.
"So who's going?" Her eyebrows raised. "Nico? If we're going to talk to Selena, we're going to need you." He nodded solemnly. "And I'm definitely going." Chiron placed a large hand on my shoulder.
"So it's settled. I expect you will be going to Greece, Rome, Iran. The Ancient territories. I will IM Olympus immediately and request permission for you three to board a plane, if you feel comfortable with that Percy." His thousand year old eyes stared down at me. A surge of terror welled inside me. I gulped it down.
"Sure thing, I'm the Champion of Olympus. He owes me for saving his civilization." I stood, puffing out my chest a little. "Are we leaving tomorrow?"
Chiron noticed my bluff.
"Yes child, tomorrow. You two should go pack. I need to speak with Percy here." Annabeth tried to use the puppy dog eyes on him, making me wonder if Chiron had fatherly instincts. "Only for a few minutes." And he shooed her away with a wave of his hand. Once they were out of earshot he turned to me, his hooves scraping on the old wood of the veranda. "There is no need to be scared of flying my boy."
"I'm not. I'm just being cautious okay. I'd rather not get blown up along with my best friend and my girlfriend by my uncle, if I can help it." I snapped as I shook off the hand he placed on my shoulder.
"Percy, calm down. It was only a suggestion. You chose however you feel would be the safest way to get to Greece. Flying is only the quickest." He was right, as always. At least this time I'd made a fool of myself there was no one around to witness it.
"Sorry Chiron. We'll fly. I just want things back to normal as quickly as possible." His face softened. "Up by Thalia's tree by nine?"
He nodded. I turned on my heel and started walking to the Cabin area.
"Percy" I heard Chiron call. I looked over my shoulder. "Sleep well." I smiled at him and continued back towards Cabin 3.
A/N: This took me longer than I thought it would. I had writers block. Thank you to those who have reviewed so far, all positive. Hope you have all had a good Christmas and have a happy New Years.