OKAY. I finished the lost hero a few days ago and now imma rant about it (NO SPOILERS DON'T WORRY): OMFG HOW CAN YOU, RICK RIORDAN, BE SO EVIL TO LEAVE US ON SUCH A BIG EFFING CLIFFHANGER AND THEN SAY ON THE NEXT PAGE THE NEXT BOOK IS COMING OUT A YEAR FROM NOW?

Okay, rant done. x.x GO AND READ IT... if you trust my judgement. :)

And without further ado - no wait, i dont own percy jackson - here's the next chapter.

The Prophecy Really Sucks

Though the Olympians had decided to go outside and dance to whatever tunes the Muses were playing, I was busy blowing my top. Not that I screamed or anything – if my voice wasn't so sore from talking so much I would've – but I did go from white to red to every other possible colour in the spectrum.

"A quest," I finally said after I calmed down enough to stop acting like a chameleon.

"Yes," Chiron confirmed.

I stared at the fountain outside so hard the water pressure increased and the unlucky few who were close enough got sprayed by an angry fish. "Why me? I had my quest last summer."

"You know why…"

I took a few breaths and stomped off to a corner of the throne room. Most campers had gone outside to join the fun but I walked straight to the cow fish.

"Life sucks," I told it.

It mooed reproachfully.

"I'm talking to a freaking cow… My mind's going insane. You know that?"

She mooed again.

"Can I call you Bessie?"

Unfortunately, I didn't get much time with Bessie because Cailey had to be the good friend and tried to get me to forget all about what Chiron told me by dragging me outside into the courtyard and pushing me right into the wrath of the dancing crowds. Zeus and Hera were dancing together though neither looked to happy and it was probably more of an appearance thing. Apollo had finally taken off his earphones and was demonstrating a dance move so ancient my grandparents probably watched their grandparents use it. Hermes was hovering at the edge with his cell phone at his ear, yakking away about how the warranty only lasted two thousand years and no more. I stood still and watched Percy painfully lead the dance although all he was doing was stepping on Annabeth's toes. Katie and Travis were sitting on the bench, talking shyly.

I looked around for refreshments and bumped straight into my dad.

"Lena," he said.

"Hi pops," I replied, and immediately regretted it because Poseidon was looking a little offended. "So, feeling productive? You gods made all the decisions… now all you have to do is watch us demigods do the rest."

He frowned at my bitter tone. "Elena, I know you are upset on having to go on another quest. But if this is something you really want –"

"I'm thirsty, are you?" I asked and grabbed two drinks from the nearest guy. He protested. "I know it's like… for the greater good but I think I've already had my fair share of adventure."

The guy tapped me on the shoulder. "These are my drinks."

I poured it on his head. "Yes they are!" Then I slipped away before Poseidon could reprimand me or the demigod could maul me into pieces.

Poseidon, being the god he was caught up anyway. "Elena," he said sternly. "If you are not careful about the way you act or what you say, you will end up getting shocked by your uncle's lightning bolt. Grow up."

The words stung me. "I am. Okay?" I said. "I'm trying. But when there are people in this world who don't –"

"Your actions have caused your problems." His hand closed around my wrist. Oh crap, here was the parental speech.

"You have no right to lecture me," I managed. "I only met you half a year ago. You never visited… remind me why you fell in love with mom only to have dumped her and then stayed away for thirteen years?"

"My duties as a god –"

I broke down and starting sobbing. "Nothing is fair. You know I still have nightmares about Procrustes? And the Cyclopes? Now I have to go through all that all over again." It wasn't in my plan to start crying, but the frustration had been building up so long.

Poseidon awkwardly patted my head and went into all that 'hurrah, you're a hero' kind of speech. I hung my head limply as Camp Half-Blood campers stared at me, probably thinking, That's LENA? Getting lectured by her dad? And she's listening? I wanted them to look away. Their glares were like piercing me, full of jealousy. Why can't Apollo/Hermes/Ares act like that once in a while? They didn't know how awkward it was for me.

"You're helping someone," he said, sneaking a glance at Diana, who was sitting on a bench alone, watching Nico pour his drink into the fountain. "That girl…"

"Thanks for boosting my self-esteem," I sighed. "I'm going to go dance now. My favourite song's playing." Not that he knew what my favourite song was. The Muses were playing whatever music the listeners wanted to listen to, and right now, a bunch of guitars were blaring loudly, which was far from my music taste. I cringed at the shouting and made sure my eyes didn't look too puffy. The emotional roller coaster I was riding was more than I could take.

"You okay?" Brenton asked and offered me a drink that looked like fruit punch. I took it. "You were pretty upset back there."

"I have to go on another quest," I said. "The last one only lasted for like… two days. This one's official, how long will I be gone?"

"You all better?"

"I'm fine." The Muses switched to a familiar tune and my cheeks turned red.

He noticed it. "What?"

"This song… my parents always danced to it on their anniversary," I muttered. "I always thought it was stupid and cheesy, because they were the only people dancing in the living room, but… But things haven't been going well at home recently."

"No?" he raised an eyebrow.

"To put it short, marriage counselling didn't work. I think they might be getting a divorce… I don't know. My mom's a wreck." I left out the details of the night of their fifteenth anniversary.

"Things happen," he said. "Your mom will be fine." I shook my head but I couldn't help feeling hopeful, and sipped on the fruit punch. The song changed into another instrumental piece. It sounded a bit hopeful. I cocked an ear to the Muses. "You know what's weird?" he asked.

"What?"

"We're in the middle of the courtyard, but we're the only ones not dancing." He grinned. I was about to tell him there was no way I was going to boogie down or anything when he offered a hand.

I bit down a grin. "I'm a safety hazard when it comes to dancing. Just a warning."

"Great. I'll make you look skilful."

And then after a rough start where I nearly crashed into a minor goddess, we settled for a simple swaying back and forth.

~0~

When my legs stopped working, I headed to Nico at the fountain. He looked uncomfortable and a bit lonely, counting the number of drachma coins the fountain was filled with. "Hey," I said and pulled my boots off though it was a bit cold. "My feet hurt like hell," I moaned. "Have you danced yet?"

He reached for a coin and flicked it in the air, and then caught it. "Tails," he said to himself. "No."

"Why not?"

"I don't dance. Can you see me dancing?" he snorted. I gave up trying to persuade him. "Besides, I'm not feeling lonely. I've got Diana staring at me." He subtly nodded to the corner.

"She's lonely," I said. "Why don't you dance with her?"

"She freaks me out."

I hit him with a boot. "Nico diAngelo, you are the most cold-hearted boy I know. A dance won't hurt."

"When I'm dancing… wait, that doesn't make sense. I don't dance." He dodged my next boot. "Fine! Fine!" And then I kept a close eye on him as he asked Diana if she wanted to dance. And then came back with red face. "She doesn't want to dance."

"Okay, maybe I was wrong," I grumbled. "Why so red? Can't take being turned down?"

"Shut up," he said. "I'm going back to the bus. This party's lame."

I wondered if I should follow him. Hades watched with disapproval written all over his face. I turned my head back to the mass and watched Percy's lame attempts to dance. It was enough entertainment to last me quite a long time.

Finally, Chiron rounded all the remaining campers when all the Olympians stumbled back to the palace. Maybe my eyes weren't working, but they seemed a bit rowdy, and maybe a little drunk on nectar.

The Muses finished for the night and got applauded by all the minor goddesses and gods.

"Night's over," Chiron yawned. "Let's get back on the bus."

We obediently trudged back to the elevator, past flirting minor gods and goddesses, and ducking snowballs along the way. I felt like collapsing. It had been hours since I last got sleep. I almost dozed off in the elevator if Brenton hadn't tapped my head and said I was drooling all over his coat.

Although Nico had left hours ago, he was the last one to board the bus. He looked like he'd been jogging for some time, and was wide awake.

"Where've you been?" I asked through half-closed eyes as he plopped down on a seat opposite of mine.

"Central park," he said.

"Why so late? You could've been mugged," I said.

His mouth twisted into a wry smile. "Funny you should say that. This gang came up to me and told me to give them all their money or they'd shred me into pieces. That knife he was holding was big too."

I sat up straighter in my seat. "No way. Well? How come you're not in pieces. Did you give the money?"

He scowled. "Of course not. I took out my own blade." He patted the Stygian Iron blade at his side. "Whatever they saw through the Mist, they didn't like it. Got the hell out of there rather quickly."

"Isn't that nice," I said, settling against the back of the seat. "Wake me up when we're there."

"I'm not an alarm clock."

"Shh."

~0~

Things settled back to normal pretty quickly, except everyone had this sort of Christmas cheer and Diana was out of the Big House. She got put with Cabin Eleven because there wasn't a cabin for Phoebe… hopefully, yet.

Travis and Connor didn't say anything when she first moved in, and acted like she was just some other unclaimed demititan, but I overheard Chris Rodriguez telling Clarisse in javelin practice that Diana didn't do anything, didn't train, or participate, no matter what Travis and Connor threatened to pull on her if she remained stubborn. I sighed and must've not been looking properly because Clarisse fell to the ground after a pinging sound from her helmet.

"Not even armour works around her," Clarisse said, a bit dazed, but lost none of her hostile attitude as she commanded me to do ten push ups as a punishment.

I ended up coughing out snow from my mouth.

Wednesday, December the 23rd, I was summoned to the Big House to talk to Chiron about when I should leave for the quest.

"Not before Christmas," I pleaded. "I don't want to spend it in an alleyway."

He frowned. "As Greeks, we don't celebrate Christmas."

"What about Yule?"

"Germanic."

"Damn." I ignored the look he gave me for swearing. "But sir, Christmas is about spending the day with friends and families, not eating food in a fast food restaurant with only the server for company." I tried giving him a pleading look, and he relented.

"I suppose we can push the date to the 26th," he said. "Have you thought about where you're going to find the demititans?"

"I haven't got a clue," I admitted. "Maybe I can look through newspaper articles for freaks of nature. That'll totally work."

Chiron frowned again. "There must be an easier way. Perhaps you should find that demititan you met last summer. He may know of others if he is unwilling to come to camp."

"But…" I sighed. "How many demititans do we need?"

"Three is enough. Diana, that boy, and another demititan."

"But if Alec doesn't come… I'll have to find another demititan." I realized that despite all the months, I still knew his name. I mean, you do remember names of the guys who tried to kill you, right? "And what if he's uncooperative?"

Chiron shrugged. "I believe he will be. This is a chance to help other like him. Surely he will do a favour for you for that."

~0~

The truth was, nothing special happened on Christmas day. We woke up, got ready for cabin inspection –

Actually, I think I left out one detail.

We woke up to a freak of a winter storm. Snowflakes rained down on Percy and I, settling in our dark hair and between the folds of my blanket. I looked up.

"TRAVIS AND CONNOR STOLL. OUR ROOF." Or maybe it was like 'Travis and Connor stole our roof' but the point was, the roof of our cabin was gone. It simply dissolved into the still dark sky.

The brothers themselves appeared in our doorway. "Gods, we're needed everywhere today," Connor Stoll yawned. "I can't believe you slept through Cabin Ten's complaints about dandruff."

Percy looked seriously pissed to have woken up at five a.m. "Come on guys, I actually wanted to sleep late for once," he complained and rubbed his eyes. "Get rid of the snow and give back our roof."

I held out a hand to catch a drifting snowflake. "What…" Either my temperature was below freezing or this snow was… "Fake," I said flatly.

Travis snickered and snapped his fingers. The roof solidified. "What you fell for was invisible powder and a fan blowing down bits of white confetti."

My ears heated up. One thing I can't stand is getting tricked. I grabbed the sword on the table and chased them out of our cabin in my pyjamas and negative something degrees weather.

~0~

Although Chiron refused to celebrate Christmas before the 25th, he emerged from the Big House with one lone curler in his tail and a Santa's hat. I gawked in archery practice and the arrow landed a centimetre away from my foot. "Is that really Chiron?"

"No wonder his tail's so curly," muttered some guy next to me. Chiron turned and quickly got rid of the curler, embarrassed.

It was probably because of that incident that he was a little easier on us for the rest of the day. Dinner was delicious as always (maybe even more so) and by the end of it, I stayed slumped at the table wondering how in Hades I was going to get up and participate in Capture the Flag with a stomach so full.

I wasn't the only one. Capture the Flag on Christmas Day wasn't as competitive and ended with everyone clutching their stomachs by the river, laughing and no one paying attention to the flags.

The flames at the campfire that night were crackling merrily. It wasn't very high, because the campers' spirits were content rather than spirited. Somehow, we ended up trading Christmas stories.

"Christmas equals food," said Nico and everyone but Cabin Ten campers agreed.

"I remember when I was small… Christmas was only between my dad and I. It was really quiet at the dinner table," recounted Annabeth.

"We ate blue Christmas turkey once," Percy said dreamily. "Or was that Thanksgiving? What about you, Lena?"

"Christmas? Me?" I looked up at the stars. "I don't know. My dad always spends Christmas away from us. Business trip or something. My mom got the cook to make something. Once, the cook was on vacation so we ate microwavable pizza."

"Yum," Brenton said seriously.

We laughed. Dionysus said something about 'seeing happy brats is too much' and went back to the Big House.

Exchanging gifts happened at Cabin Three.

"For you," Percy said, "And you, and you." He tossed little bundles to every person.

"A snow globe," I said, shaking off the wrapping from the glass ball. "Is that a palace?" I shook it and glitter slowly fell on top of the small piece of perfection. "It's so pretty… what's the shark doing there?"

Percy laughed. "It's a model of Poseidon's palace underwater. I didn't know if you'd like it…"

"I hate it," I said and then waited. "You are so gullible you idiot!" Then I hugged him. Am I going to survive this quest?

Annabeth was examining hers. "Mount Olympus?" she guessed. "That's… my architecture." She put it down looking very happy when something else fell out of the wrapping paper. "Gods!" she shrieked. "Is that –"

"An engagement ring?" Rachel asked eagerly. Everyone gave her weird looks. She shrugged. "Hey, they're perfect together."

Annabeth held up a ring. It wasn't an engagement ring or anything like that. It was a college ring. "Where did you find this? I swear I lost it months ago."

Percy shrugged. "I just found it by the archery range. Thought you should have it back."

Atalanta squealed, "Ew!" when Annabeth gave Percy a kiss.

Rachel took out a few large rectangular packages of her own. I eyed her uneasily. She would give me the prophecy tomorrow. Wonder what my prophecy is… "Okay, you'll have to forgive me, but these paintings –"

That was when her eyes started glowing green and mist spilled out of her mouth. I scrambled back, confused. It's too early, I thought, but the Oracle hijacked Rachel's body whenever it wanted to.

I am the spirit of Delphi, speaker of the prophecies on Phoebus Apollo, slayer of the mighty Python. Approach, seeker, and ask. The connection was made in my mind. I immediately began wondering if the Oracle could read my thoughts but then felt the gazes of everyone around me. They seemed calm enough to wonder why I wasn't speaking. Yeah, they probably were thinking, Rachel spews out this junk every time.

"What will… er… happen on my quest?" I squeaked. Rachel adjusted herself and pierced me with those freaky eyes.

Take two others but four the sum – by now I was feeling a bit dizzy and quite violated.

Hide if you can the fear shall come – Hades, that didn't sound good.

Success will come from one's last breath – One's last breath… Did that mean – and what could possibly rhyme with breath?

The journey's end in internal death.

My stomach lurched. Everyone felt silent. I was hoping for no death, but hearing that confirmed made me run out the cabin and sick the dinner feast onto the white and clean snow. Cailey patted my back – she must've followed me out the door – her hands shaking as she tried to support my shoulders.

"Death," I said to her, not looking her in the eye. "One of us is going to die."

ok, just to clear things up, yes, someone will die. No its not that old granny randomly sitting on a chair miles away that i've never mentioned before.. now we all unconfuzzled?

please review!