Nothing is mine.

It's time for another prophecy...

A Child Born of the Greatest Three

Chiron's hooves clopped across the floor as he circled the table, running his hand over the backs of the chairs as he stared off into the distance. Mr D leant back on his chair at the head of the table and admired the ceiling, spinning a silver Diet Coke can off a slim vine like a yo-yo.

'Here.' Mr D tossed the can through the air. 'A gift. Well done on making sure I'm still stuck here babysitting you brats.'

'Thanks?' Percy opened the silver can and peered in. 'Is this raki again, Mr D?' He sniffed and blinked as the sharp smell of alcohol stung his nose. 'Yeah, that's definitely raki.'

Remorse flooded his heart. I'm sorry, Calypso. I'm so sorry. And I'm sorry I'll never be sorry enough. He breathed in the scent of the raki, the guilt churning like a whirlpool in his belly. But I gave you my word. I'll get you set free. I promise.

Mr D rolled his eyes. 'If you can try and kill another brat, you can drink raki, Perry.'

'It's not the same, Mr D,' Percy whispered. 'But thanks, I guess.'

A strange gleam shone in Mr D's purple eyes. 'Do what you want with it, Percy, but don't pour it in the fire until you've heard what Chiron's working up the nerve to tell you. You might want to drink it afterward.' He glowered at the centaur. 'Your pacing is giving me an awful headache, you old pony, just get on with it.'

Percy watched Chiron's grimace circle the table once more. 'What did you want to tell me?'

Chiron sighed, his steps slowing to a halt as he passed the far side of the table. 'That there is a prophecy.'

'There usually is,' Percy said. 'That's good. We can go after Luke.'

'No.' Chiron shook his head. 'This is not the same as the words of Apollo's oracle. Prophecies bring change. Prophecies given to mortals mean something significant in the mortal world will change. There are many such events. Prophecies given to the Gods mean the nature of the world itself will change. They are few and far between, and increasingly so. Long long ago, Kronos was given such a prophecy and to avoid it he swallowed his children.'

'And that went really well for him.' Somewhere in the pit of Percy's stomach unease swirled into a tight cold ball of churning choppy water. 'I'm not going to like this, am I?'

'Nobody likes it, Percy.' Mr D's purple eyes glowed like burning neon lights. 'If the world changes, we change.'

'Hasn't it happened before?' Percy asked.

'It has,' Chiron said. 'But this one makes the Gods particularly uneasy, for it is… hard to read.'

Percy glanced up and grinned. 'Like the sea.'

Mr D snorted. 'Brat.'

Chiron's expression sombred. 'I have been given permission for you to hear its words. I was not told why, only that Zeus decreed it so.'

Percy gulped. 'What is it?'

Mr D crumpled his can in his hand and tossed it across the room to thud into the bin. 'A child born of the greatest three, sworn to stars but ever free; shall reach sixteen despite great woe, and stand alone against their foe. A final choice will seal their fate, to stand or fall, beneath world's weight.'

'World's weight…' Percy murmured.

It will change you forever. Artemis's silver eyes shone amongst his thoughts, brimming with terrible sadness. She knew. She knew what it meant if I took the sky. She tried to warn me.

'I already survived the weight,' he said. 'Are you sure it's an important prophecy?'

'It was made some time before you were born, Percy,' Chiron said. 'Bianca, Nico, and Thalia were all considered possible choices, but none will see sixteen before you now, and you chose to take the sky…'

'Why is it always me?' Cold waves heaved and surged and churned in the pit of his gut. 'What did I do?'

Chiron's eyes softened. 'I'm sorry, Percy, but that I don't know. All I can tell you is that it is you. And whatever it is you are fated to do or be involved with will change the nature of the world and the Gods themselves.'

'I don't understand. I barely scratched Ares.' His rage swelled, a towering ice-cold black wave rising up and up, and the Big House trembled, its windows rattling. 'I couldn't touch Atlas. I can't change the world. It's not possible.'

Impossible is a word for those who've given up. Zoë's whisper smoothed the great dark wave back into still seas and the house stilled. Don't give up hope. Percy stared into the raki in the silver can and clutched Anaklusmos tight in his pocket. Be brave, right Zoë?

'What am I meant to do?' he whispered.

Mr D rested his feet on the edge of the table. 'Who knows.'

'Some fear that in releasing Typhon you have already fulfilled your role in this prophecy,' Chiron said. 'Others fear that you will facilitate Kronos's attempt to turn back the world to a more primitive era by joining him.'

'I won't ever join Luke.' Percy balled his fist around Anaklusmos. 'He's selfishly getting us killed just because he doesn't like how things are and he isn't even changing things, he's making it all worse.'

'I don't suppose you'd stop Typhon for me too, Perry?' Mr D chuckled. 'Go do whatever unimportant things you were going to do. There's nothing more to be done. As Zeus decreed. You know.'

'I was going to ask the oracle for a prophecy,' Percy said, glancing at Chiron. 'Luke went back into the labyrinth, but he's probably not dead.'

'I think the point at which I told you what to do has come and gone,' Chiron said. 'It seems most of it was at school before you ever came here.'

'They are my choices to make.' Percy stood up. 'My fate. My consequences.'

Mr D sighed. 'Forgetful brat. What part of changing the nature of the world sounded like the consequences only affect you?'

Percy flinched, clenching his fist around Zoë's blade. 'I will do my best,' he whispered, staring into the raki. 'I gave my word I would.'

'To who?' Chiron asked.

'To…' He glanced down at his pocket. 'To Zoë.'

'Makes sense.' Mr D summoned a can of Diet Coke and snapped it open with a soft hiss. 'Keep up, old horse.'

'I suppose it does make sense.' Chiron handed Percy the attic key. 'There you go, Percy.'

'Don't forget to collect those two brats loitering outside first,' Mr D said. 'Annabel and Clara.'

'Right…' Percy grabbed the key and stood up, swiping his can of raki and sticking his head through the door. 'Column-hugger!'

Annabeth poked her head out from behind the door at the end of the hall. 'What squid-breath?'

'Who came with you? Mr D said Clara?'

'He said what?' Clarisse growled, stomping past Annabeth. 'Clara?'

Percy drifted down the corridor, pulling the door shut after him. 'What are you two doing here?'

'Did you get the key, Brine-brain?' Annabeth asked. 'We need to go after Ethan before he can regroup with Luke or do any more damage.'

Percy opened his hand and held the key out. Clarisse snatched it.

Annabeth sighed. 'Clarisse—'

'Shut up, Goldilocks.' Clarisse thrust her finger into Percy's chest. 'You have this curly-haired nerd princess and now you have me. We're going to find that traitor and snap him in half.'

'Luke?' Percy asked.

Annabeth shook her head. 'We have no idea where he is. It would be wiser to pursue Ethan and deal with him while they're separated.'

A ripple of rage washed through him. She's right. Percy smoothed his anger out into calm, clear waters. Ethan has plenty of monsters with him. He could easily come back and attack camp. We should stop him first.

'Then let's go up.' Clarisse stomped up the stairs and shoved the key in the attic door, kicking it open.

The bandaged face of the oracle turned toward them. 'Self-styled Queen of War.'

Clarisse swallowed hard.

Percy rested a hand on her shoulder and she drew herself up, stepping forward with her chin raised high.

'Four will pursue vengeance to faithful roar: cleft guide, chosen-sister, star-sworn, queen of war,' the oracle whispered. 'Lydia's scourge rises to blood in death's spring; defeated, half-blind justice takes wing. In red waters, destined foes heed Fates' call, but from red waters to darkness, two will fall.'

Destined foes. Ice cold waves broke in the pit of Percy's stomach. And stand alone against their foe. A final choice will seal their fate. Is this it? I'm not sixteen for another year.

'Right.' Clarisse pulled the door shut and locked it. 'You heard her. One of the four is me.'

'I am chosen-sister,' Annabeth murmured. 'And Grover is probably cleft guide, but…'

A faint smile crept onto Percy's face. 'I'm star-sworn.'

But ever free. Right, Zoë? They're my choices to make.

'Why?' Annabeth grabbed his shoulder and dragged him down the stairs. 'Why are you star-sworn, Percy?'

'I gave my word that I wouldn't disappoint. To Zoë.' He eased her fingers loose. 'Did you really want to take someone else instead, Crayon-artist? That's just hurtful.'

'No…' Fear loomed in Annabeth's grey eyes, stark as steel. 'Gods above Percy… you really worry me. What goes on inside that ball of kelp you keep in your head?'

'Mostly not much.' Percy mustered a smile. 'I guess you want to go figure out this prophecy?'

Clarisse thudded down the stairs. 'I hate prophecies.' She scowled back up at the attic. 'Two people are going to die and we don't even know if we really win.'

One is probably me. Falling into darkness. Fear trickled down Percy's spine like drops of cold condensation down his bedroom window, pooling in the pit of his stomach. Falling and disappointing? Or just falling and dying? He touched his fingertips to Anaklusmos. Be brave.

'One choice at a time, war-girl,' he said. 'All we need to worry about right now is where we're going and who's going to have to get Juniper's permission to let Grover leave camp. Don't mention girls. Or naiads.'

Clarisse snorted. 'Goat-boy hasn't managed to get a second glance from those naiads in all the time I've been here, that silly dryad has nothing to worry about.' She thrust a finger at Annabeth. 'We'll figure out this thing for you, Percy.'

'And I just… wait?'

'Don't get in the way,' Annabeth said. 'Go get Grover. And talk to Katie before you leave. She's not going to take you disappearing without a goodbye well after your little meet-ups over those flowers.'

'Wait.' Clarisse blinked. 'You came back from Ogygia for the vegetable-swinging psycho that put a dent in my hoplon with a cucumber? Huh. Maybe you aren't a total lost cause, sea-boy.' She glanced at Annabeth. 'No offence, Rapunzel.'

Annabeth glared back. 'This princess has beaten you an awful lot of times.'

'Not one-on-one she hasn't.' Clarisse grinned and cracked her knuckles. 'Want to give it a try? I promise not to pull those pretty curls too hard.'

'You're such a… such a…' Annabeth huffed. 'Such a child of Ares.'

Clarisse nodded. 'Damn right I am.'

Percy rolled his eyes. 'I didn't come back from Ogygia for a girl. Why does everyone keep insisting that?'

'You're gay?' Clarisse groaned. 'Have you any idea how annoying Drew and her gaggle of dolls are going to be now they can fantasise erotic romance stories about you with other hot gay guys?'

'I'm not gay.' Percy scowled. 'And Drew better not be fantasising anything weird like that.'

'I think that ship sailed,' Annabeth muttered. 'Didn't you hear about that Percy and Apollo fantasy they cooked up?'

'I wish I hadn't.' Clarisse screwed her face up. 'Stupid Drew. No fifteen year old girl should know that much about bondage.'

'Great.' Percy glanced between their sheepish expressions. 'Now I feel really violated. I'm going to find Grover—'

'And say goodbye to Katie,' Annabeth said as he pushed open the door. 'Maybe even tell her that you think love is evil? Before you get her hopes up and dash them?'

'It's not evil. You just can't be selfish.'

She rolled her eyes. 'Yes Milady Perseus.'

'I'm going to tell her you said that,' Percy called over his shoulder, striding toward the Demeter cabin. 'I hope she turns you into a guinea pig this time.' He rapped his knuckles on the cabin door.

It swept open.

'No!' Katie glowered at him with fierce green eyes. 'Oh.' She flushed pink. 'I thought you were one of my brothers. Sorry, Percy.'

'You better not have a cucumber hidden on you.'

She turned bright red. 'Oh my gods, how do you know about that Demeter cabin joke?'

'I… don't?' Percy blinked. 'But Clarisse said you dented her hoplon with one once.'

'Ohhhhh.' Katie studied her fingers. 'No. No cucumbers.' She perked up, bouncing on her feet. 'Did you come to see your flowers?'

'And—' Percy took a deep breath, drawing the tide up the beach in slow, calm washes '—maybe to talk.'

Katie gulped. 'Talk…? About…?'

'I'm about to head off on a quest,' he said. 'But flowers first. I want to see them before I go. Look after them for me until I get back, Captain Crunch.'

A cold trickle snaked down his spine. Just in case.

'Of course,' she mumbled, staring at her feet. 'Erm, well, this way, which you already know, of course.'

Percy followed her through the cabin into the small sunlit grotto at the back. Soft white buds hung from the slim green stalks and delicate leaves, the first few small, pale crescent-shaped petals fluttering in the breeze from the door.

The guilt tore at his heart, tossing it around a small ship lost amidst swirling storm winds. More than just a little, Calypso. Percy swallowed the hot little lump in his throat. I'm so sorry.

Katie's warm hand rested on his shoulder. 'You miss her, huh?'

'She begged me to take those seeds, pleaded with me to remember her and to… to love her just a little when I did,' he whispered, watching the blooms flutter.

'Do you regret leaving?'

'Yes. Maybe.' He sighed. 'I don't know. I couldn't stay. I don't regret choosing to leave. But I wish I hadn't had to choose.'

Katie chewed her lip, pulling her hand back. 'Will you tell me what she was like?'

Percy smiled. 'You remember Zoë?'

'The snooty huntress girl with the tiara?'

He laughed. 'Yeah. That was Zoë. Calypso was her sister. And… she was really kind and sweet and gentle and just…' Percy's smile faded. 'You couldn't not love her, but…'

'But?'

'I had to come back. I couldn't leave you all behind.' He tore his eyes away from the white flowers. 'I couldn't disappoint anyone.'

'What would have happened if you'd stayed?' Katie murmured.

'I guess I would've been with her.' Percy let the gentle wash of the tide sweep the memory of waking up beside her away like lines from the beach. 'Married her. Had kids. Looked after her garden together. Forever.'

'She has a garden?'

'Of course that's the bit you get excited about, Cucumber Warrior.'

Katie flushed and wrinkled her nose. 'No cucumber nicknames.'

'No?'

'Definitely not,' she said.

'Okay.' He shrugged. 'Yeah, she had a garden. She had amaranth, the really tall dark red flowers, and moonlace flowers, and fruit trees.'

'Sounds nice.' She dipped her hand in her pocket and lifted out a ripe strawberry. 'Any of these?'

'No.' Percy grinned. 'No strawberries. She had chickens though. They were really loud on that little island.' The grin slipped from his lips. 'It must feel really quiet when you're all alone there.'

'Have a strawberry.' Katie's ears turned pink and she raised the strawberry toward his mouth.

'Katie…' he murmured.

She froze. 'No?' Her voice shook. 'You… you don't like strawberries?'

'I'm probably not coming back from this quest,' Percy said, closing her fingers over the strawberry. 'There's a prophecy. Or two. Two are going to fall into darkness. Destined foes. And I'm pretty sure one of those is me.'

All the colour drained from Katie's face. 'How can you just say that? Like… like it's already happened.'

He glanced up at the sky. 'Whatever I'm going to choose, I was always going to choose. That's how it works.'

'Then choose not to die.'

'But what if I should die?' Percy's gaze drifted back to the soft glow of the moonlace flowers in the sun. 'What if that's the right choice? If it's me or letting Luke keep getting more people killed? I can't choose me just because I'm scared or because something says I'll reach sixteen. Luke has to be stopped. And I have to choose well every time, not just when it's easy.'

'Don't go,' she whispered. 'Let someone else go. You've done loads already, Percy.'

'I can't do that either.' His fingers slipped into his pocket, curling around Anaklusmos. 'No, I choose to be brave. One choice at a time. To… To make them proud. And to live or die without regret.' Percy clutched Zoë's blade tight in his fist. 'I can't leave another Calypso behind or—' he caught her green eyes '—let another Bianca follow me to her death.'

Her gaze fell. 'I guess if Calypso couldn't make you stay, there's no point me even trying, is there?' She stared down at her baggy hoodie and muddy trainers, dashing tears from her face with the back of her hand. 'I'm just Katie Gardener. Heroes don't fall in love with Katie Gardeners. They fall in love with Calypsos and Annabeths and Silenas.'

'I'm not a hero,' Percy said. 'I'm just me. I've not done anything all that special. I just muddle through while everyone else makes things work.'

'You are a hero, even stupid Clarisse says so,' Katie mumbled under her breath, staring at the gleaming red strawberry on her palm. She raised her head. 'What if you do come back? What about then?'

'I don't know,' he said. 'One choice at a time. I have to stop Luke.'

And it's a final choice. So I don't think there's going to be anything after that.

She pressed the strawberry into his hand. 'I'll be here when you get back. I have a garden.' Pink rose on her cheeks. 'And I know I'm not all… all princess-like, but… well…' Katie growled and flushed bright red. 'You know what I'm trying to say!'

'I do.' Percy twisted the stalk off the strawberry and popped it in his mouth, letting the sweet taste wash over his tongue and swallowing. 'I… I don't know how to say sorry well enough to not hurt you, Katie. But I am sorry.' Sharp cold waves churned in his stomach, slapping against one another. 'If you come with me, if you love me, you'll get dragged down with me when I fall.'

Into disappointment. Or just darkness

'So no.' She twisted around and stared at the moonlace flowers, stiff as stone. 'Fine. That's fine. It's like I said. Heroes don't love Katie Gardeners anyways. I understand.'

'I really am sorry,' Percy whispered. 'I really really am.'

'I know you are,' Katie mumbled. 'And it makes it worse because I can't even get angry at you.' She flapped a hand at him. 'I'm going to end up crying now, so please go away.'

It was the right choice. Percy took a step back; the guilt tugged at his heart, dragging it down into deep cold waters, a single speck of sand drifting down to rest beneath all the crushing weight of the seas. She'd just end up like Bianca.

AN: My profile is the place to go to find all the links that take you to fun places! Fun places like Discord and early access to chapters!