I know, it's been too long. Go ahead, yell at me. Beat me up. But read it first. And then review. And then remember, if you hurt me too much, I won't be able to keep writing.

Dawn: The Oracle of Delphi Immediately Hates Me

I arrived to pick up Mary-Ann from her cabin just as the door opened. I had expected her to have showered by then, but instead I found her just as dirty as when we got back to the camp, only now her hand was over her nose and mouth, and there was blood dripping.

"What happened?" I asked loudly. And then I noticed the large guy behind her. I pulled Mary-Ann behind me and pulled my bow out, aiming an arrow at him. "Who are you and what did you do to Mary-Ann?"

He threw his hands up in innocence. "I didn't do anything," he said. "I'm her brother and she... well..."

"I wab clumbly," Mary-Ann said, grimacing in pain.

"Clumbly?" I asked, eyeing her as best I could while still keeping my arrow trained on the guy.

"Look, we should get her to the Big House so Chiron can set her nose and get her some Ambrosia," the guy said. He was definitely too old to be considered a boy. "Our dad would be pissed and immediately assume someone punched her. He'd turn half the camp into Dolphins or something."

"Then you shouldn't have punched her," I said, drawing the string of my bow taut.

"I didn't punch her," he said, his hands still in the air.

Mary-Ann began walking without me. She didn't bother to glance in my direction even. I watched her from the corner of my eye, backing away from the guy that was claiming to be her brother.

"Oh my gods! Dawn," the annoying blonde girl from the Athena cabin came at me yelling at the top of her lungs. "We do not point our weapons at other campers. Apologize to Pollux this instant! And put down your arrow. This isn't the battle arena."

I glared at her as I lowered my arrow. So apparently the guy wasn't someone that broke into camp. I had no intentions of apologizing to him, as I was sure he had done something to Mary-Ann. However, when I turned to where she had been walking off to, she was gone.

"Dawn, where do you think you're going?" the blonde girl questioned me as I began going in the direction my best friend had disappeared to. "There are a lot of camp rules, and just because your mother is now a counselor here does not mean that you are exempt from following them."

"Whatever," I said, and began walking off anyway.

"Dawn, get back here and apologize!"

"It's okay, Annabeth, she was just being protective of her Mary-Ann," I heard Pollux say to her.

People were looking at me as I walked through the camp looking for Mary-Ann. I knew they were whispering behind my back, which wasn't something new to me, being the daughter of a criminal and all. However, their words weren't as much about my mother as I would have liked. I kept hearing people bring up 'red-head' and other words to suggest they were talking about Mary-Ann as well. That was something new, and something I didn't like. And a lot of the talk suggested that Mary-Ann had something to do with Ariadne's sickness, which was absolutely ridiculous. Aside from the fact that Mary-Ann knew so little about gods that she wouldn't be able to find a way to make the woman sick, Mary-Ann felt more affection toward the goddess than she did her own mother and would never do something to harm the woman.

I finally found Mary-Ann at the Big House. She had managed to find it, with the help of Braxton apparently. Chiron had set her nose, but rather than giving her anymore Ambrosia, he had an Apollo camper there, chanting a hymn, his hands emitting a slight glow. Mary-Ann looked entirely uncomfortable with the situation, but sat still, apparently afraid to move.

"Wouldn't Ambrosia work faster?" I asked, sitting down in one of the chairs at the infirmary. Braxton was leaning against the wall, next to the door.

"One would assume," he said. "But seeing as she had some a little over two hours ago, too much more would be bad. Demigods are able to eat it, but only a little bit. So, if there's a way to heal a wound that doesn't involve Ambrosia, Chiron prefers we not try to burn out our humanity."

I looked at Braxton, wondering why he was still there, but didn't question. Instead, I walked up to Mary-Ann and took one of her hands. in both of mine. "What happened, Mary-Ann?" I asked. Her nose wasn't bleeding anymore, and some swelling that I had seen when I first walked in had gone down.

"I was clumsy," Mary-Ann said. Ah, the answer to the 'clumbly' word from earlier. "I spun around into a doorframe."

"Oh, well, I guess I really should apologize to your brother for aiming an arrow at his face," I said with a shrug, releasing her hands. After another few minutes, where her nose looked almost completely back to normal, just a little blue, the son of Apollo left.

Mary-Ann's hazel eyes were glued to the floor. "Lady Ariadne has grown sicker," Mary-Ann said. "Chiron says she may not last much longer than a week."

I frowned just a bit. "That's sad, I guess," I said.

"Yeah, you seem really sympathetic," Braxton said.

"I hardly know the lady, so sorry for not sobbing," I said, rolling my eyes.

"That is no way to speak of any of the gods or goddesses." I heard a voice snap behind me. If it hadn't been for the fact that I knew it wasn't the annoying blonde's voice, I would have thought it was her again. I turned around, and saw what appeared to be Mary-Ann's doppelganger, only a few years older.

"Do I care what you think?" I questioned. Braxton mumbled something that sounded like 'idiot,' but I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of getting to me.

"Who do you think you are?" the girl asked, clearly offended.

"Excuse me?" I questioned. "Who are you to be questioning that?"

"She's the Oracle," Braxton said. I turned to him, a surprise in my eyes. "Of Delphi." He smiled. "Rachel, meet Dawn Westbrook."

"Hermione's daughter?" the Oracle, or Rachel as was her name, asked. She put her hands on her hips. "Personally, I thought you'd be a bit brighter. That you'd be decent, with some respect." She shook her head. "I guess I was wrong."

"But you're the Oracle," Mary-Ann said, her eyes widening.

"Even I can be wrong," Rachel said. She smiled at Mary-Ann and then approached her, placing a hand on my friend's shoulder. They nearly looked like sisters. "Don't worry, Mary-Ann, right? I have a feeling that Lady Ariadne is going to be okay." Suddenly her eyes widened. "Oh dear..." She staggered backwards into a wall, and then her eyes were glowing green, much greener than could be normal, not to mention glowing.

"Chiron!" Braxton called out, then grabbed the nearest piece of paper and writing tool, which happened to be a crayon.

"Four unlikely shall travel out west
All but one shall fail this test
On a volcano, one shall seek her prize
Agate and a feather, or a goddess shall die."

And just like that, Rachel slumped forward, only to be caught by Chiron, who had entered without me even realizing.

"What was that?" Mary-Ann asked, springing off the bed she was still sitting on. Chiron quickly put Rachel in the vacated bed. "She looks sick. Is she going to be alright?"

"She'll be fine," Chiron said. "That was just a prophecy. Happens to her... now and then. But, what's more important..."

"That was a quest," Braxton said. His eyes were shining with excitement.

"And I believe, Mary-Ann, it was for you," Chiron said. "Choose your quest partners well."

Mary-Ann's eyes traveled to meet mine. "Dawn," she said. "Will you come?"

"Of course," I said. I was a little excited. My life before living with my grandmother had been adventurous, but I knew what a quest meant. It had purpose.

"Well, I think I should go as well," Braxton said. He looked at Mary-Ann and she nodded.

"Chiron, who else should I bring then?" she asked him.

"Well, that is not my decision," Chiron said. "But, allow me to ask you this... who do you trust?"

She looked down. "I kind of trust Troy," she said. "I mean..." her eyes traveled to Braxton, and I knew what was going through her head. The other person she could have mentioned would have been Mercy, but Braxton and Mercy pretty much hated one another, and bringing both on a quest would probably be more dangerous to us than whatever dangers we'd run into.

"Then it is settled," Chiron said. "We'll make arrangements for you to leave tomorrow morning."

As soon as my mom heard I was going on a quest, she came by the climbing wall, where I was with the rest of the Hermes cabin, to congratulate me. She pulled me away to help me figure out what to pack.

"I've asked Jake to make you a new quiver," she said. "I know you are adept with all weapons, but the arrow really is your best." She pulled a small leather pouch from her jacket pocket. "It's got a few extra bow strings and some drachmas. I know you'll do great."

I nodded. "Thanks, Mom," I said, hugging her. We had arrived at Cabin Eleven.

"Now, where's your backpack?" she asked. I looked around and finally found it under a blanket. She dumped everything out of it. "I'll keep your stuff in my room until you get back, so my siblings don't try to divide it up amongst themselves." She looked at my things. "You'll need a change of clothes... wear jeans, by the way. A few extra daggers are good." She began putting things into my bag. "I'll get you a canteen of nectar and you'll probably be provided with a bit of ambrosia as well. Cash..." she reached into her pocket and pulled out a small wad of twenties, stuffing that into a side pocket. "You'll want a bottle for water as well. Don't forget to drink plenty of water."

"Yes, Mom," I said, smiling a little. This was the kind of mother-daughter relationships that most girls I knew hated, but the one I had always wanted.

"Let's see... which bow should you take...?" She looked between my two bows.

"My short one fits in my bag," I said.

"Yes, but the long one has better range and power," she said. She then nodded. "It's decided. You'll take the long one."

"Where will I put it?" I asked.

"Why, in your new quiver, of course," she said. She smiled, and I realized it wasn't unique to her. All of Hermes's children had that same smile. "He's making it very tiny, but able to hold countless arrows. Your bow will fit."

"He can do that?" I asked.

"So he claims," Mom said. She began going through my things again. "You'll need a map. Or maps, I suppose."

I smiled a little brighter. "Mom, I'll be fine," I said. I'm experienced... to a certain degree. I mean, I had been training for my first several years. "I was trained by the best, after all."

The biggest difficulty would be keeping the others safe. I knew, that with my group, it would be my responsibility.

"Be safe," she said, and kissed the top of my head.

Yay! Finally, the quest. Let's see where it will take our four brave heroes.