CHAPTER 7

PROPHECY TIME

"A quest?" I asked.

Chiron nodded, "Unfortunately, it is our last resort. Personally, I don't think we should send anyone out there because of all the monsters, but…" he grimaced.

"But we have to." Joanna finished. "If we don't, there will be war on Mount Olympus. We have no choice."

It was quiet in the room for the next few minutes. I don't know what everyone else was thinking about, but I thought about how unfair this was. A quest. Another quest. Why us? I knew I was being selfish, but I wanted to have a fun, care-free summer. As in not worrying about wars or the gods. Just have fun. Of course, I knew that's never going to happen.

I looked at Annabeth, who was sitting to my right. She looked like she was thinking about a million things at once. She caught my eye and shrugged, like she was saying, Oh well, there goes our summer.

I knew what she meant. It was obvious. That's why Chiron brought us to discuss this with the Hunters. He wants me to go the quest.

Finally, to break the silence, I say, "Well, what's next?"

Joanna shot me an annoyed look, "What do you mean?" she said harshly.

"I mean exactly what I said." I shot back, "What do we do now?"

"We?" Joanna asked, her eyes wide, "There is no 'we'."

Before I could snap at her, Chiron put his hand up, "Joanna, please stop." He said, "Percy has a very important part to play in this quest, I know it."

I stuck my tongue out to Joanna, who crossed her arms and sunk in her chair.

"Percy," Chiron said, his attention on me now, "Do you know what you have to do?"

I nodded slowly, "Prophecy time?" I guessed. And I was right.

I hate the attic.

It was like a dark, depressing black hole. I don't like coming here, the place creeps me out. The attic is very messy and I kept tripping over stuff because it was really dark, the only light source was the small window on the ceiling.

As I was looking for the Oracle, I thought of Annabeth. She walked me here and was waiting downstairs for me. She wanted to come with me, by I insisted to go up by myself. Right before I started to go up, she grabbed my arm and told me, "Don't worry." In all truthfulness, I was glad to have Annabeth by my side. She was a great friend.

Friend…

I shook that thought out of my head and returned looking for the Oracle.

Finally, I saw a white, frightening-looking skeleton wearing a tye-dye dress sitting on a chest. I gulped and walked forward.

If possible, she looked even more scary than the last time I was here. She always gave me jitters.

I took a shaky breath and stuttered, "Um… 'Sup Oracle. I was a… just wondering if you could give me a, um, prophecy for the quest I'm about to go for." I say, "Oh, I'm Percy Jackson, by the way-"

But before I could go on, green smoke came out of the Oracle's mouth and she began speaking in the ghostly voice that gave me nightmares:

3 shall go to the Land Beyond the Gods

If they shall beat all odds,

Son of Sea God will fail to save

Child of Athena will die but brave,

Many sacrifices shall be made

Though memories will never fade,

They shall receive what they need from the time they spend

But it will not matter at the end

I didn't realize she stopped talking until the green smoke cleared.

I felt like I couldn't breathe. Every line in that prophecy was more terrible than the last. I didn't really understand most of them, but I knew it wasn't good. Especially the line about the Child of Athena.

Annabeth.

I started to breath heavily. I sat down just to make sure I didn't faint. I inhaled, then exhaled. This was too much to take in in. Child of Athena will die but brave, the Oracle had said. That can't be true, I thought. It just can't. Then I thought of the line she said before, Son of Sea God shall fail to save. What did that mean? But I did know. It means I will fail to save Annabeth.

I forced myself to not think about that.

Instead I thought of the other lines. The last 2 seemed strange to me. They shall receive what they need from the time they spend, But it will not matter at the end. I had absolutely no idea what that meant. But I had a feeling that I probably will in the future.

"Percy!"

Annabeth's voice interrupted my thoughts. She was calling me from downstairs. Annabeth sounded concerned and urgent. I just then realized that I've been up in the attic for a long time.

I took a deep breath, got up from the dusty floor I was sitting on, and walked toward the door.

As I got closer down the stairs, I saw Annabeth sitting on one of the lower steps, she was gazing at the view. When she heard my footsteps, she turned around fast, and smiled slowly.

"Percy! Thank gods. You were up there for a while." She said, relieved.

For some reason, I felt guilty just looking at her. I couldn't get the lines out of my head.

Apparently, I still seemed a little shaken up, because Annabeth raised her eyebrows, "What happened?" she asked, "What did the Oracle say? What's the prophecy?"

I wasn't really sure how to answer that, so I just said, "She gave me a prophecy, alright."

"What is it?"

I could see the suspicion in her eyes, but I just couldn't bring myself to say it. Fortunately, I didn't have to right there because Chiron came galloping over.

"Ah, Percy," he said. "I was wondering what took you such a long time."

I stayed silent.

"What's wrong, my boy?" Chiron asked.

"Something is wrong." Annabeth said, "What's the prophecy, Percy?"

I hesitated before I told them. "3 shall go to the Land Beyond the Gods, If they shall beat all odds," I started.

Chiron and Annabeth nodded, as if they understood.

"Ok, that makes sense," Annabeth said, "We have to go to the Bermuda Triangle to stop Luke, and there are going to be some obstacles along the way."

I just nodded.

Chiron was getting impatient, "What was the next line?"

I didn't speak. I couldn't.

"Percy? What is it?"

I knew better than to lie to them, but, I just couldn't get it out of my mouth. So instead, I skipped the next lines about the Child of Athena, and said the other ones. "Many sacrifices shall be made, Though memories will never fade."

"Hmm." Chiron hummed, like he was thinking, "Alright, go on."

I did, "They shall receive what they need from the time they spend, But it will not matter at the end."

Annabeth looked uneven, "Is that all?" She asked.

I hesitated before nodding. I guess Annabeth noticed because she gave me a strange look.

I turned to Chiron, trying to change the subject. He also looked at me, uncertain. "You are sure there is nothing else, my boy?" He asked.

"Um, nope. That's the whole prophecy." I sputtered. I couldn't meet his eyes.

Chiron seemed like he was about to say something, but then decided not to. Instead, he smiled kindly and said, "Well, there you go. The prophecy for this quest. I'm sorry we haven't talked about this much, and this is so sudden, but you do understand why you must go, right?"

"Yeah, I know," I said, "because I'm the kid in the Great Prophecy."

Chiron looked at me sadly, "I'm afraid so." Then he smiles again, "But, I have much trust in you that you will succeed in this quest. I have a lot of faith in you, Perseus, I hope you that."

I smiled back, "I do know, sir."

Chiron nodded, "Good," he says, "I must be going now, though. The gods in Olympus are getting rather fussy and I must sort that out. Since you will be leaving for the quest tomorrow, it will give you tonight to pack. And I'm guessing your companions will be Annabeth and Grover?"

I nodded.

"Ok, I will say goodbye for now." Just as he was about to turn around, he said, "And Percy, please remember that prophecies have double meanings. It's not always what it seems."

And with that, Chiron left.

As me and Annabeth went looking for Grover to tell him about the quest, Annabeth asked, "You sure there isn't anything you're hiding?"

I sighed, "No, Annabeth. I'm not hiding anything."

She raised her eyebrow, "Whatever."

Great, I thought, now she's mad at me. I hate it when Annabeth is mad, especially if she's mad at me. Her death glare can cut through your skull like a chainsaw.

Finally, we found Grover at the strawberry fields. He was sitting down, playing his pipes. I would never say this to his face, but man, he cannot play those pipes! They sound like he's trying to kill a cat.

When he saw us he smiled and got up. "Perce! Annie! Where've you been?"

After I explained to him about the quest to the Bermuda Triangle and the prophecy, he frowned like a little sad goat. Well, half-goat.

"Another quest! You gotta be kidding!" Grover exclaimed.

"Wish I was, G-man." I said.

He sighs, forcefully, "Great, there goes my summer."

I just then realized I was making Grover go, and that wasn't fair. "You don't have to go, man." I say, "It's totally your choice."

Grover glanced at me, "No, no! Of course I wanna go! It's just that I was gonna spend the summer with, um…" he blushed.

Annabeth looked at him curiously, "With who?"

His cheeks turned bright red. "Juniper." He answered.

I raised my eyebrows, "Juniper? Isn't she that tree nymph or something?"

"A beautiful tree nymph." Grover replied dreamily.

I smiled and clapped him on the back, "My boy is growing up!"

Annabeth rolled her eyes and muttered, "Boys."

Grover and I laughed. This was just like old times. Old, happy times. We hung out at the strawberry fields for a while, just talked and caught up with each other. It felt really great. A couple of hours later, we decided it was time to get packed for the big quest tomorrow.

Sometimes I wish, at times like those, we could just freeze and enjoy the moment.

But that's not how life works.