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FIC: The Final Sacrifice, chpt 4
Title: The Final Sacrifice (Daughter of Wisdom 5)
Author: shiiki
Rating: PG-13
Characters/Pairings: Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson, Luke Castellan, Thalia Grace, Charles Beckendorf/Silena Beauregard, Clarisse La Rue, Michael Yew, OCs, multiple others
Fandom: Percy Jackson
Word Count: WIP, estimated 100K+ (33 chapters planned)
Summary: The war on Olympus is heating up, and Annabeth Chase is right in the thick of it. Bad enough that she's gearing up for battle while wrestling with the emotional turmoil over two of her dearest friends that is turning her heart inside out. She doesn't need more mysterious glimpses about the Great Prophecy and how it connects to her own history. But in order to understand what lies in her future, Annabeth has to dig into the past. What she finds will shape her choices … and change the course of the final battle. An alternate PoV retelling of The Last Olympian. Part 5 of the Daughter of Wisdom series.
In this chapter
Chapter Title: Beckendorf Hits The Prophecy Payload
Rating: PG-13
Characters: Annabeth Chase, Charles Beckendorf, Percy Jackson, Silena Beauregard, Chiron, Clarisse La Rue, Travis Stoll, Connor Stoll, Katie Gardner, Pollux, Michael Yew,
Word Count: 3,534
Chapter Summary: It's Beckendorf's turn for a quest … but the circumstances are not exactly normal.
Notes: The permanent make-up reference Travis makes is a nod to the interview in The Demigod Files, where the Stoll brothers mention Aphrodite cabin cursing them that way after a prank involving a golden mango. (A short story I'd love to write if I could find the time and inspiration.)
Back to Fic Content Page
Chiron called a counsellors' meeting right after breakfast. He normally had them before arrivals day, but I guess he was too swamped with work this year. When we trooped into the rec room in the Big House, we found him sorting through a stack of loose-leaf papers-literally large leaves-and muttering to himself under his breath.
'What are those?' I asked.
Chiron sighed and rubbed his eyes. 'Reports. I've been going over them half the night.'
I pulled one over. Scribbled on a large oak leaf was a message from a satyr in Louisiana: Lost my kid, think they ran away from home, no word from G.U., please advise best course of action. -J.W.
'Maybe we could help you,' I suggested. 'We could add it to the list of counsellor duties.'
I expected someone to protest (probably Clarisse, who detested all the administrative duties that came with being a senior counsellor) but the room was quiet. Beckendorf grunted, which might have indicated assent. Percy stifled a yawn. Everyone else stared at me with glazed eyes.
I frowned. Why was everyone so inordinately tired? Sure, I was dragging a little, too, having been up half the night, but ... all of us?
Travis and Connor Stoll were uncharacteristically still. Katie Gardner kept rubbing her eyes. Pollux had his arms on the table, trying to catch a few surreptitious winks. Even Silena, who usually looked fresh as a daisy, had deep bags under her eyes.
'What's going on?' I asked.
'Didn't sleep too well,' Beckendorf said gruffly. 'Nightmares.'
'Same,' Michael agreed.
'Think our whole cabin dreamed badly,' Travis said. 'There was a lot of talking in their sleep.'
'Even when I wasn't dreaming, someone would scream and wake up half the cabin,' Connor complained.
'Wusses.' Clarisse crossed her arms and tried to look like she wasn't fazed by anything as trivial as nightmares, but I didn't think anyone bought it. She looked every bit as worn out as the rest of us.
'I was up all night comforting Lacy,' Silena said. 'She dreamed that she was in a cage, and was about to be fed to a monster.'
Pollux's head jerked up. 'Wait-she dreamed about kids in cages?'
'I dreamed I was in a cage, too,' Katie said. Several of the others nodded.
'I was trying to pick the lock on a cage, but it kept changing so I couldn't get a grip on it,' Travis said.
I looked around the table. 'We all had the same dream?' Or variants of it, anyway.
'There were a bunch of kids trapped and pleading for help.' Percy's expression was pained, like he couldn't stand to think about it.
Clarisse slammed her right hand on the table, making us all jump. 'Kronos must be behind this, then! He's got all these prisoners, and he's gonna-'
Everyone started talking at once.
'Feed them to monsters!'
'Brainwash them into fighting for him!'
'Build his army again!'
Chiron raised his hands for silence. 'This explains much. I have been getting reports from the satyrs on scouting duty that recruitment is drying up.' He held up a few of his messages. 'Some described it as a "mysterious disappearance of half-bloods." If Kronos has indeed been capturing demigods all over the country, it would explain why our satyrs are having a hard time finding them.'
'We should get a message to Grover,' I said. 'He'd want to help.' Especially if they were caging satyrs along with the half-bloods.
Chiron nodded, and made a note on one of his leaves.
'But why does Kronos need to cage the half-bloods up, if they're on his side?' asked Connor.
Katie snorted. 'Isn't it obvious? They aren't there of their own free will.'
'I don't know,' Michael said. 'In my dream, a lot of the demigods were muttering about serving the Titans.'
'Mine were crying for help,' Percy said.
Chiron shuffled his reports. 'It seems you have all received different versions of the same dream. It may be that some of the half-bloods are for Kronos, and some are against. And perhaps some simply do not know anything about the Titans or their war against the gods. In this case, Kronos could easily sway their allegiances. But I worry about the ones who resist him ...'
There was an uncomfortable silence. Several people looked at their feet. I thought of Ethan Nakamura's grim pronouncement that the 'useless' half-bloods would make snacks for the monsters. My blood boiled.
'We need to do something,' Beckendorf said. 'A quest to rescue these kids.'
'Hang on.' Michael held up his hands. 'What if it's a trap? What if we're the next captives they target?'
Clarisse sneered at him. 'You chicken?'
'No, but I'm not stupid.'
'Michael's right,' I said, before this could escalate into another argument between them. 'We need to plan this carefully.'
'We could do it like a stealth raid.' Beckendorf screwed up his face, like he was visualising a tricky puzzle in the air. 'Like, send in a few people as spies, or decoys, so they can get in close and figure out what's going on. But leave an extraction team so that if things go bad, someone can jump in to rescue them.'
We all stared at him. Not that it wasn't a good strategy. It was like something my mom's favourite hero, Odysseus, might have come up with. I just hadn't expected it to come from Beckendorf.
He ducked his head and twiddled his thumbs. 'I've been reading up on strategic warfare. It just seemed like something I oughta know, to programme the automatons to defend camp.'
'It sounds amazing, Charlie,' Silena said, which made his thumbs twitch even faster.
'Very well,' Chiron said. 'We need a quest. And it sounds like Beckendorf has it figured out. Will you lead it?'
Beckendorf ran his hand over his short, crew-cut hair. 'I could-I mean, I've never led one before ...'
'I think you'd do a fantastic job,' Silena assured him. 'You're brave, and strong, and you fixed up all those automatons just to defend camp. No one else has done as much as you this year!'
'Shucks, Silena, they don't all work right yet.'
'But you're good at stuff like that-mechanics, and tools, and-well, if anyone can break a bunch of cages, I bet it'd be you.' She looked at the rest of us as if to say, back me up, guys!
'I think you'd be great,' Percy said quickly.
'Yeah,' Clarisse put in grudgingly. 'Those bronze bulls were pretty awesome.'
I gave him a thumbs-up. Silena was right. Beckendorf was a great guy, and he'd done loads for camp this year. There wasn't a single camper who didn't look up to him.
Chiron nodded. 'All in favour of Beckendorf leading the quest ...?'
A chorus of 'ayes' rang out around the table.
'Then it is time for you to seek your prophecy.'
+++
It had been a while since I'd waited for a quest leader to get their prophecy. Last summer, I'd been the one to go see the Oracle, while my friends waited to hear what I was told. I'd forgotten how much nervous energy could fill the room in anticipation of the Oracle's words.
The issue of a quest seemed to overcome the earlier stupor in the room. Now we were all keyed up, knowing that Beckendorf would soon return with his prophecy and select the other members of his quest team. Silena unbraided her long black hair and redid the braid again. Travis and Connor started up an impromptu doubles game against Katie and Pollux, filling the room with the rhythmic bouncing of ping-pong balls. Clarisse poked her spear at the legs of the ping-pong table. Occasionally, she'd send a jolt of electricity through it, making the entire room crackle and spark. Michael glared at her.
She brandished her spear at him. 'You want a taste of Maimer?'
He shook his head and looked away, though I could swear I heard him muttered, 'Lamer,' under his breath. Fortunately, Clarisse didn't.
Only Chiron remained unperturbed. He returned to sorting his reports. More flew in through the window as he worked through them, a flurry of leaves and paper aeroplanes to increase his pile.
Percy approached me with a guarded expression. Dimly, I remembered I was supposed to be mad at him. After the nightmares and the diary, I'd forgotten what our argument yesterday had been about. When I didn't snap at him, he seemed to relax. He fell into the seat next to me.
'Think Beckendorf'll pick us to go with him?' he said.
I shrugged. 'Could be anyone.'
'I want to go, though.'
'Why?' Beckendorf was probably one of Percy's better friends at camp, but I sensed there was more to it than that.
Percy hunched his shoulders. 'It's gonna sound really stupid. It's just-those cages and everything ... it made me think of the zoo animals. You know, on that illegal transport-'
'To Vegas, yeah.' It seemed so long ago now, that ride out of Denver on our first quest. Yet I still remembered it vividly. Although what stuck in my mind wasn't really the caged animals, or the bumpy ride. That trip to Vegas had been the first time Percy and I had really talked. The first and only time I'd told anyone about my family since Luke and Thalia. It had hit me then how many times he'd saved me on that quest-a quest where I'd thought I'd have to save this annoying little kid's butt. And I'd realised that maybe I did like him a little after all.
But I wasn't about to share that with him now.
'Yeah,' Percy said. 'Luke-I mean, Kronos-can't get away with this. You can't just treat people like that.'
I thought about Luke's eyes flickering as Kronos searched his memories. He would never have done something like this of his own free will. I couldn't believe it of him, even while he was serving Kronos. Not Luke, who'd found me as a little girl hiding in an old iron works scrapyard and taken me under his wing without hesitation. He was trapped as badly as the kids in the cages. Only no one else seemed to realise that.
How well did you really know him? whispered a voice in my head. It was something that had bothered me since Kronos had taken over Luke's body last year. It should have been impossible for Kronos to inhabit a mortal body without burning it to ashes, yet Luke's was obviously still fine. How much of Kronos's soul did Luke have to share to be able to host the evil Titan?
But I couldn't say any of this to Percy either. I hated talking to him about Luke. He was always so insistent that there was nothing of him worth saving, as if he knew anything about Luke at all.
I pursed my lips. 'We'll fix it. Free the kids, I mean.'
I might have said more, but just then, the door to the rec room opened. Beckendorf was back.
Silena sprang to her feet. 'Charlie! What did the Oracle say?'
The ping-pong ball bounced off the table and rolled to a stop at Beckendorf's feet. He picked it up and turned it over in his hands.
'It was ... really weird.'
I nodded in sympathy. Getting a prophecy from the Oracle was always rough. After I'd gotten mine last year, I'd been convinced I would die on my quest. Had Beckendorf received something similar?
'Let's hear it, then,' Chiron said.
Beckendorf studied the ping-pong ball in his hand for a long moment, then said, 'It's-it's really long.'
'What do you mean, long?'
'Like ...' He shook his head. 'I'll tell you, but you guys had better write this down.'
Chiron's brow furrowed. He passed me one of his leafy reports and a pencil. I turned it over and got ready to record the prophecy.
Beckendorf screwed up his face and recited:
'Six commanders on airborne steeds make haste
To a place near where once, flames did lay waste
Wisdom chooses; water remains steadfast
To the warrior and archer, spoils of war amass
Beware, beauty, traps from the land of liberty
By summer's end, a hero's fate shall claim three.
This is the summer that legends are made
A sacrifice to set things right by the blade
The spirit of Delphi shall rest now until
The first prophecy at last the Fates do fulfil.'
There was silence when he finished. Everyone seemed stunned by the length of the prophecy. Chiron's face went stark white, as though this doubly long prophecy meant twice the danger.
'Are you sure this is what you heard?' he said, his voice grave.
Beckendorf scowled. 'Would I make it up?'
'But it's-it's so long,' Michael said. 'Are you remembering it right?'
'Positive. She even repeated it three times, like she wanted to be sure I got it all.'
I smoothed out the oak leaf with the recorded lines on the table. Everyone leaned closer to see.
'Has this ever happened before?' I asked Chiron. 'A prophecy this long, I mean.'
'Not in my memory.' His hind legs scuffed at the linoleum in agitation. There are other Oracles, certainly-the Erythaean, for instance, or even Dodona-who present prophecies in other forms ... and Apollo himself is certainly fond of alternative poetry, but the Oracle of Delphi has always been very consistent with her verses.'
Michael scratched his head. 'Is it just me, or does there seem to be two parts to this one? Like, the second bit, about making legends and the spirit of Delphi resting ... I don't see what it's got to do with the quest.'
'It's possible it is a warning for the future,' Chiron said. He seemed deep in thought. 'Perhaps we should start at the beginning.'
'Six commanders,' Percy said. 'So Beckendorf has to pick five people?'
'And it's obvious who they are,' Katie said. 'Annabeth is wisdom, of course.'
I nodded. 'Sure, I'll go. As for water-that's got to be Percy.'
'And it says I'm fast.' He grinned. 'I like that.'
'Steadfast, Seaweed Brain. It means "loyal."'
'Oh.' For some reason, this made his brow furrow, like loyalty wasn't a good thing. I couldn't imagine why. That line made me feel the most secure out of all the others. If I had to make a choice, I was relieved to know Percy would stand by me whatever it was.
'The warrior and archer must be Clarisse and Michael,' Beckendorf said. 'Ares and Apollo.'
Clarisse raised her spear. 'As long as I get to pulverise some monsters, I'm in.' She glared at Michael, as though daring him to back out.
He crossed his arms. 'Fine. But I told you there'll be traps involved. It's already in the next line-"beware beauty traps in the land of liberty." Man, that could be anywhere in America!'
'What are beauty traps anyway?' asked Travis. 'Are they like that permanent make-up stuff you guys cursed us with last year?'
Silena glared at him. 'You totally deserved that.'
Beckendorf looked around the room. 'I guess that's the team, then.'
'Hang on.' Silena waved her hand at us. 'You've still only got five people.'
'That's because you're the sixth,' Beckendorf said.
Silena looked taken aback. 'Me? I-but I'm from Aphrodite. We never go on quests.'
'That line-I don't think it means "beauty traps" as in traps that are beautiful. The way the Oracle said it, it sounded like a warning for beauty to beware the traps. I mean, beauty as in someone beautiful, who's on the quest. Like, uh-' Beckendorf looked ready to bite his tongue off. His fingers crushed the ping-pong ball flat. The rest of us tried to hide our snickers. It was so obvious that he had a massive crush on Silena.
Silena's left hand touched her cheek, which had gone pink. 'But I'm no good at fighting, not like Annabeth, or Clarisse. And if it's something I'm supposed to be avoiding ... what if I get you guys in trouble?'
'You're the best in your cabin!' Beckendorf protested. 'You are good in a fight. I mean, you were the one who helped Annabeth yesterday.'
'No, that was you.'
Entertaining as it was to watch, this exchange could probably go on for a while. I raised my voice over their compliment war. 'You were both great against the leontes.'
They jumped, as though they'd completely forgotten the rest of us were here. Most of the other counsellors could no longer hide their laughter. Even Chiron looked amused.
'You'll do fine,' Clarisse said. 'You're a better fighter than you think.'
Silena pressed her hands to her flushed cheeks. That was as near a compliment as Clarisse ever gave. And being complimented on your fighting skills by a daughter of the war god was no small matter.
'And,' I added, 'if the prophecy says you should beware the trap, maybe you're the one who will get us out of a trap.'
'Well ...' Silena traced a finger around her wrist, like she was playing with an invisible bracelet. 'I guess I could ... okay. I'll go.'
Chiron clapped his hands together. 'In that case, I believe you must depart soon. As the prophecy says, the six of you must make haste.'
'But we don't even know where to look!' Michael pointed out. 'I mean, "the land of liberty?" Isn't that basically all of America? None of you happened to dream about where these cages were, did you?'
The other counsellors shook their heads.
'I was too bothered by the cages, I didn't look around,' Silena admitted.
'It was really dark,' Percy said. 'I couldn't see any good landmarks.'
'I think I know,' I said. 'I had another dream. I saw L-I mean, Kronos, on this mountain. I'm not sure where it is, but that's not important. He said they were heading to Charleston. That's probably the best place for us to intercept them.'
I didn't mention that Kronos had been looking for something-someone in particular. The girl, he'd said. I thought uneasily of the image of myself and Thalia that he'd slashed through. Was he looking for me? That didn't make sense, though. I'd never been to Charleston.
'Charleston ...' Silena said thoughtfully. 'Didn't half the city get burned down in the Civil War?'
I wouldn't have figured her for a Civil War buff, but I guess she had her hobbies. I nodded. 'That would fit with "where once flames lay waste."'
'That makes sense,' Beckendorf said. 'So ... the question now is how we're going to get there.'
'The prophecy said "airborne,"' Michael said. 'We fly, obviously. Anyone know how much a direct flight to Charleston costs?'
Percy raised his hands. 'Whoa, uh-uh. No planes. Been there, done that, not doing it again.'
'We don't need a plane, morons,' Clarisse said. 'It said airborne steeds. I'm guessing it's, what, a three-hour trip by pegasi?'
'Well then,' I said, 'if we want to get there by tonight, we'd better get packing.'
We adjourned the meeting so the quest team could get our supplies and saddle the pegasi, but I stayed back after the others had left. Chiron was pacing back and forth along the ping-pong table, the scribbled prophecy in his hands.
'Chiron?'
'You want to know what I think of the last few lines of the prophecy.'
'Well ... yes.'
Chiron sighed. 'I don't know, child. It seems to refer to something that I heard many years ago. The line about the spirit of Delphi resting ...' He shook his head, looking weary. 'I need to think about it more.'
'The last line, about the "first prophecy" ... do you think that means the Great Prophecy? You know, the one about-Percy?'
'The one that might be about Percy,' Chiron corrected. 'It is unwise to interpret a prophecy ahead of time. We may prepare for the eventuality that it does refer to him, but to claim it as fact ... Remember, we were mistaken before.'
His words sounded eerily like Kronos's from my dream.
'But you think it is about that prophecy. That it's going to happen this summer.'
'Annabeth, I really don't know. The first Titan war lasted ten years. So did the Trojan war. It is impossible for me to determine if this conflict will last as long.'
I tried to imagine myself still fighting against the Titans in ten years. The idea was depressing.
Chiron put his hands on my shoulders. 'We will talk about this again after you return. For now, you should hurry. Your friends will want to leave soon.'
I thought about what Phoebe had told Kronos: to understand this prophecy, you have to understand its history. Reading in Halcyon Green's diary about how the prophecy had first been delivered still gave me no clues about how it would play out.
But I resolved to pack the green diary. It was a long ride to South Carolina. Surely I'd be able to snatch some time to read further.
Chapter 5
Author: shiiki
Rating: PG-13
Characters/Pairings: Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson, Luke Castellan, Thalia Grace, Charles Beckendorf/Silena Beauregard, Clarisse La Rue, Michael Yew, OCs, multiple others
Fandom: Percy Jackson
Word Count: WIP, estimated 100K+ (33 chapters planned)
Summary: The war on Olympus is heating up, and Annabeth Chase is right in the thick of it. Bad enough that she's gearing up for battle while wrestling with the emotional turmoil over two of her dearest friends that is turning her heart inside out. She doesn't need more mysterious glimpses about the Great Prophecy and how it connects to her own history. But in order to understand what lies in her future, Annabeth has to dig into the past. What she finds will shape her choices … and change the course of the final battle. An alternate PoV retelling of The Last Olympian. Part 5 of the Daughter of Wisdom series.
In this chapter
Chapter Title: Beckendorf Hits The Prophecy Payload
Rating: PG-13
Characters: Annabeth Chase, Charles Beckendorf, Percy Jackson, Silena Beauregard, Chiron, Clarisse La Rue, Travis Stoll, Connor Stoll, Katie Gardner, Pollux, Michael Yew,
Word Count: 3,534
Chapter Summary: It's Beckendorf's turn for a quest … but the circumstances are not exactly normal.
Notes: The permanent make-up reference Travis makes is a nod to the interview in The Demigod Files, where the Stoll brothers mention Aphrodite cabin cursing them that way after a prank involving a golden mango. (A short story I'd love to write if I could find the time and inspiration.)
Back to Fic Content Page
Chiron called a counsellors' meeting right after breakfast. He normally had them before arrivals day, but I guess he was too swamped with work this year. When we trooped into the rec room in the Big House, we found him sorting through a stack of loose-leaf papers-literally large leaves-and muttering to himself under his breath.
'What are those?' I asked.
Chiron sighed and rubbed his eyes. 'Reports. I've been going over them half the night.'
I pulled one over. Scribbled on a large oak leaf was a message from a satyr in Louisiana: Lost my kid, think they ran away from home, no word from G.U., please advise best course of action. -J.W.
'Maybe we could help you,' I suggested. 'We could add it to the list of counsellor duties.'
I expected someone to protest (probably Clarisse, who detested all the administrative duties that came with being a senior counsellor) but the room was quiet. Beckendorf grunted, which might have indicated assent. Percy stifled a yawn. Everyone else stared at me with glazed eyes.
I frowned. Why was everyone so inordinately tired? Sure, I was dragging a little, too, having been up half the night, but ... all of us?
Travis and Connor Stoll were uncharacteristically still. Katie Gardner kept rubbing her eyes. Pollux had his arms on the table, trying to catch a few surreptitious winks. Even Silena, who usually looked fresh as a daisy, had deep bags under her eyes.
'What's going on?' I asked.
'Didn't sleep too well,' Beckendorf said gruffly. 'Nightmares.'
'Same,' Michael agreed.
'Think our whole cabin dreamed badly,' Travis said. 'There was a lot of talking in their sleep.'
'Even when I wasn't dreaming, someone would scream and wake up half the cabin,' Connor complained.
'Wusses.' Clarisse crossed her arms and tried to look like she wasn't fazed by anything as trivial as nightmares, but I didn't think anyone bought it. She looked every bit as worn out as the rest of us.
'I was up all night comforting Lacy,' Silena said. 'She dreamed that she was in a cage, and was about to be fed to a monster.'
Pollux's head jerked up. 'Wait-she dreamed about kids in cages?'
'I dreamed I was in a cage, too,' Katie said. Several of the others nodded.
'I was trying to pick the lock on a cage, but it kept changing so I couldn't get a grip on it,' Travis said.
I looked around the table. 'We all had the same dream?' Or variants of it, anyway.
'There were a bunch of kids trapped and pleading for help.' Percy's expression was pained, like he couldn't stand to think about it.
Clarisse slammed her right hand on the table, making us all jump. 'Kronos must be behind this, then! He's got all these prisoners, and he's gonna-'
Everyone started talking at once.
'Feed them to monsters!'
'Brainwash them into fighting for him!'
'Build his army again!'
Chiron raised his hands for silence. 'This explains much. I have been getting reports from the satyrs on scouting duty that recruitment is drying up.' He held up a few of his messages. 'Some described it as a "mysterious disappearance of half-bloods." If Kronos has indeed been capturing demigods all over the country, it would explain why our satyrs are having a hard time finding them.'
'We should get a message to Grover,' I said. 'He'd want to help.' Especially if they were caging satyrs along with the half-bloods.
Chiron nodded, and made a note on one of his leaves.
'But why does Kronos need to cage the half-bloods up, if they're on his side?' asked Connor.
Katie snorted. 'Isn't it obvious? They aren't there of their own free will.'
'I don't know,' Michael said. 'In my dream, a lot of the demigods were muttering about serving the Titans.'
'Mine were crying for help,' Percy said.
Chiron shuffled his reports. 'It seems you have all received different versions of the same dream. It may be that some of the half-bloods are for Kronos, and some are against. And perhaps some simply do not know anything about the Titans or their war against the gods. In this case, Kronos could easily sway their allegiances. But I worry about the ones who resist him ...'
There was an uncomfortable silence. Several people looked at their feet. I thought of Ethan Nakamura's grim pronouncement that the 'useless' half-bloods would make snacks for the monsters. My blood boiled.
'We need to do something,' Beckendorf said. 'A quest to rescue these kids.'
'Hang on.' Michael held up his hands. 'What if it's a trap? What if we're the next captives they target?'
Clarisse sneered at him. 'You chicken?'
'No, but I'm not stupid.'
'Michael's right,' I said, before this could escalate into another argument between them. 'We need to plan this carefully.'
'We could do it like a stealth raid.' Beckendorf screwed up his face, like he was visualising a tricky puzzle in the air. 'Like, send in a few people as spies, or decoys, so they can get in close and figure out what's going on. But leave an extraction team so that if things go bad, someone can jump in to rescue them.'
We all stared at him. Not that it wasn't a good strategy. It was like something my mom's favourite hero, Odysseus, might have come up with. I just hadn't expected it to come from Beckendorf.
He ducked his head and twiddled his thumbs. 'I've been reading up on strategic warfare. It just seemed like something I oughta know, to programme the automatons to defend camp.'
'It sounds amazing, Charlie,' Silena said, which made his thumbs twitch even faster.
'Very well,' Chiron said. 'We need a quest. And it sounds like Beckendorf has it figured out. Will you lead it?'
Beckendorf ran his hand over his short, crew-cut hair. 'I could-I mean, I've never led one before ...'
'I think you'd do a fantastic job,' Silena assured him. 'You're brave, and strong, and you fixed up all those automatons just to defend camp. No one else has done as much as you this year!'
'Shucks, Silena, they don't all work right yet.'
'But you're good at stuff like that-mechanics, and tools, and-well, if anyone can break a bunch of cages, I bet it'd be you.' She looked at the rest of us as if to say, back me up, guys!
'I think you'd be great,' Percy said quickly.
'Yeah,' Clarisse put in grudgingly. 'Those bronze bulls were pretty awesome.'
I gave him a thumbs-up. Silena was right. Beckendorf was a great guy, and he'd done loads for camp this year. There wasn't a single camper who didn't look up to him.
Chiron nodded. 'All in favour of Beckendorf leading the quest ...?'
A chorus of 'ayes' rang out around the table.
'Then it is time for you to seek your prophecy.'
+++
It had been a while since I'd waited for a quest leader to get their prophecy. Last summer, I'd been the one to go see the Oracle, while my friends waited to hear what I was told. I'd forgotten how much nervous energy could fill the room in anticipation of the Oracle's words.
The issue of a quest seemed to overcome the earlier stupor in the room. Now we were all keyed up, knowing that Beckendorf would soon return with his prophecy and select the other members of his quest team. Silena unbraided her long black hair and redid the braid again. Travis and Connor started up an impromptu doubles game against Katie and Pollux, filling the room with the rhythmic bouncing of ping-pong balls. Clarisse poked her spear at the legs of the ping-pong table. Occasionally, she'd send a jolt of electricity through it, making the entire room crackle and spark. Michael glared at her.
She brandished her spear at him. 'You want a taste of Maimer?'
He shook his head and looked away, though I could swear I heard him muttered, 'Lamer,' under his breath. Fortunately, Clarisse didn't.
Only Chiron remained unperturbed. He returned to sorting his reports. More flew in through the window as he worked through them, a flurry of leaves and paper aeroplanes to increase his pile.
Percy approached me with a guarded expression. Dimly, I remembered I was supposed to be mad at him. After the nightmares and the diary, I'd forgotten what our argument yesterday had been about. When I didn't snap at him, he seemed to relax. He fell into the seat next to me.
'Think Beckendorf'll pick us to go with him?' he said.
I shrugged. 'Could be anyone.'
'I want to go, though.'
'Why?' Beckendorf was probably one of Percy's better friends at camp, but I sensed there was more to it than that.
Percy hunched his shoulders. 'It's gonna sound really stupid. It's just-those cages and everything ... it made me think of the zoo animals. You know, on that illegal transport-'
'To Vegas, yeah.' It seemed so long ago now, that ride out of Denver on our first quest. Yet I still remembered it vividly. Although what stuck in my mind wasn't really the caged animals, or the bumpy ride. That trip to Vegas had been the first time Percy and I had really talked. The first and only time I'd told anyone about my family since Luke and Thalia. It had hit me then how many times he'd saved me on that quest-a quest where I'd thought I'd have to save this annoying little kid's butt. And I'd realised that maybe I did like him a little after all.
But I wasn't about to share that with him now.
'Yeah,' Percy said. 'Luke-I mean, Kronos-can't get away with this. You can't just treat people like that.'
I thought about Luke's eyes flickering as Kronos searched his memories. He would never have done something like this of his own free will. I couldn't believe it of him, even while he was serving Kronos. Not Luke, who'd found me as a little girl hiding in an old iron works scrapyard and taken me under his wing without hesitation. He was trapped as badly as the kids in the cages. Only no one else seemed to realise that.
How well did you really know him? whispered a voice in my head. It was something that had bothered me since Kronos had taken over Luke's body last year. It should have been impossible for Kronos to inhabit a mortal body without burning it to ashes, yet Luke's was obviously still fine. How much of Kronos's soul did Luke have to share to be able to host the evil Titan?
But I couldn't say any of this to Percy either. I hated talking to him about Luke. He was always so insistent that there was nothing of him worth saving, as if he knew anything about Luke at all.
I pursed my lips. 'We'll fix it. Free the kids, I mean.'
I might have said more, but just then, the door to the rec room opened. Beckendorf was back.
Silena sprang to her feet. 'Charlie! What did the Oracle say?'
The ping-pong ball bounced off the table and rolled to a stop at Beckendorf's feet. He picked it up and turned it over in his hands.
'It was ... really weird.'
I nodded in sympathy. Getting a prophecy from the Oracle was always rough. After I'd gotten mine last year, I'd been convinced I would die on my quest. Had Beckendorf received something similar?
'Let's hear it, then,' Chiron said.
Beckendorf studied the ping-pong ball in his hand for a long moment, then said, 'It's-it's really long.'
'What do you mean, long?'
'Like ...' He shook his head. 'I'll tell you, but you guys had better write this down.'
Chiron's brow furrowed. He passed me one of his leafy reports and a pencil. I turned it over and got ready to record the prophecy.
Beckendorf screwed up his face and recited:
'Six commanders on airborne steeds make haste
To a place near where once, flames did lay waste
Wisdom chooses; water remains steadfast
To the warrior and archer, spoils of war amass
Beware, beauty, traps from the land of liberty
By summer's end, a hero's fate shall claim three.
This is the summer that legends are made
A sacrifice to set things right by the blade
The spirit of Delphi shall rest now until
The first prophecy at last the Fates do fulfil.'
There was silence when he finished. Everyone seemed stunned by the length of the prophecy. Chiron's face went stark white, as though this doubly long prophecy meant twice the danger.
'Are you sure this is what you heard?' he said, his voice grave.
Beckendorf scowled. 'Would I make it up?'
'But it's-it's so long,' Michael said. 'Are you remembering it right?'
'Positive. She even repeated it three times, like she wanted to be sure I got it all.'
I smoothed out the oak leaf with the recorded lines on the table. Everyone leaned closer to see.
'Has this ever happened before?' I asked Chiron. 'A prophecy this long, I mean.'
'Not in my memory.' His hind legs scuffed at the linoleum in agitation. There are other Oracles, certainly-the Erythaean, for instance, or even Dodona-who present prophecies in other forms ... and Apollo himself is certainly fond of alternative poetry, but the Oracle of Delphi has always been very consistent with her verses.'
Michael scratched his head. 'Is it just me, or does there seem to be two parts to this one? Like, the second bit, about making legends and the spirit of Delphi resting ... I don't see what it's got to do with the quest.'
'It's possible it is a warning for the future,' Chiron said. He seemed deep in thought. 'Perhaps we should start at the beginning.'
'Six commanders,' Percy said. 'So Beckendorf has to pick five people?'
'And it's obvious who they are,' Katie said. 'Annabeth is wisdom, of course.'
I nodded. 'Sure, I'll go. As for water-that's got to be Percy.'
'And it says I'm fast.' He grinned. 'I like that.'
'Steadfast, Seaweed Brain. It means "loyal."'
'Oh.' For some reason, this made his brow furrow, like loyalty wasn't a good thing. I couldn't imagine why. That line made me feel the most secure out of all the others. If I had to make a choice, I was relieved to know Percy would stand by me whatever it was.
'The warrior and archer must be Clarisse and Michael,' Beckendorf said. 'Ares and Apollo.'
Clarisse raised her spear. 'As long as I get to pulverise some monsters, I'm in.' She glared at Michael, as though daring him to back out.
He crossed his arms. 'Fine. But I told you there'll be traps involved. It's already in the next line-"beware beauty traps in the land of liberty." Man, that could be anywhere in America!'
'What are beauty traps anyway?' asked Travis. 'Are they like that permanent make-up stuff you guys cursed us with last year?'
Silena glared at him. 'You totally deserved that.'
Beckendorf looked around the room. 'I guess that's the team, then.'
'Hang on.' Silena waved her hand at us. 'You've still only got five people.'
'That's because you're the sixth,' Beckendorf said.
Silena looked taken aback. 'Me? I-but I'm from Aphrodite. We never go on quests.'
'That line-I don't think it means "beauty traps" as in traps that are beautiful. The way the Oracle said it, it sounded like a warning for beauty to beware the traps. I mean, beauty as in someone beautiful, who's on the quest. Like, uh-' Beckendorf looked ready to bite his tongue off. His fingers crushed the ping-pong ball flat. The rest of us tried to hide our snickers. It was so obvious that he had a massive crush on Silena.
Silena's left hand touched her cheek, which had gone pink. 'But I'm no good at fighting, not like Annabeth, or Clarisse. And if it's something I'm supposed to be avoiding ... what if I get you guys in trouble?'
'You're the best in your cabin!' Beckendorf protested. 'You are good in a fight. I mean, you were the one who helped Annabeth yesterday.'
'No, that was you.'
Entertaining as it was to watch, this exchange could probably go on for a while. I raised my voice over their compliment war. 'You were both great against the leontes.'
They jumped, as though they'd completely forgotten the rest of us were here. Most of the other counsellors could no longer hide their laughter. Even Chiron looked amused.
'You'll do fine,' Clarisse said. 'You're a better fighter than you think.'
Silena pressed her hands to her flushed cheeks. That was as near a compliment as Clarisse ever gave. And being complimented on your fighting skills by a daughter of the war god was no small matter.
'And,' I added, 'if the prophecy says you should beware the trap, maybe you're the one who will get us out of a trap.'
'Well ...' Silena traced a finger around her wrist, like she was playing with an invisible bracelet. 'I guess I could ... okay. I'll go.'
Chiron clapped his hands together. 'In that case, I believe you must depart soon. As the prophecy says, the six of you must make haste.'
'But we don't even know where to look!' Michael pointed out. 'I mean, "the land of liberty?" Isn't that basically all of America? None of you happened to dream about where these cages were, did you?'
The other counsellors shook their heads.
'I was too bothered by the cages, I didn't look around,' Silena admitted.
'It was really dark,' Percy said. 'I couldn't see any good landmarks.'
'I think I know,' I said. 'I had another dream. I saw L-I mean, Kronos, on this mountain. I'm not sure where it is, but that's not important. He said they were heading to Charleston. That's probably the best place for us to intercept them.'
I didn't mention that Kronos had been looking for something-someone in particular. The girl, he'd said. I thought uneasily of the image of myself and Thalia that he'd slashed through. Was he looking for me? That didn't make sense, though. I'd never been to Charleston.
'Charleston ...' Silena said thoughtfully. 'Didn't half the city get burned down in the Civil War?'
I wouldn't have figured her for a Civil War buff, but I guess she had her hobbies. I nodded. 'That would fit with "where once flames lay waste."'
'That makes sense,' Beckendorf said. 'So ... the question now is how we're going to get there.'
'The prophecy said "airborne,"' Michael said. 'We fly, obviously. Anyone know how much a direct flight to Charleston costs?'
Percy raised his hands. 'Whoa, uh-uh. No planes. Been there, done that, not doing it again.'
'We don't need a plane, morons,' Clarisse said. 'It said airborne steeds. I'm guessing it's, what, a three-hour trip by pegasi?'
'Well then,' I said, 'if we want to get there by tonight, we'd better get packing.'
We adjourned the meeting so the quest team could get our supplies and saddle the pegasi, but I stayed back after the others had left. Chiron was pacing back and forth along the ping-pong table, the scribbled prophecy in his hands.
'Chiron?'
'You want to know what I think of the last few lines of the prophecy.'
'Well ... yes.'
Chiron sighed. 'I don't know, child. It seems to refer to something that I heard many years ago. The line about the spirit of Delphi resting ...' He shook his head, looking weary. 'I need to think about it more.'
'The last line, about the "first prophecy" ... do you think that means the Great Prophecy? You know, the one about-Percy?'
'The one that might be about Percy,' Chiron corrected. 'It is unwise to interpret a prophecy ahead of time. We may prepare for the eventuality that it does refer to him, but to claim it as fact ... Remember, we were mistaken before.'
His words sounded eerily like Kronos's from my dream.
'But you think it is about that prophecy. That it's going to happen this summer.'
'Annabeth, I really don't know. The first Titan war lasted ten years. So did the Trojan war. It is impossible for me to determine if this conflict will last as long.'
I tried to imagine myself still fighting against the Titans in ten years. The idea was depressing.
Chiron put his hands on my shoulders. 'We will talk about this again after you return. For now, you should hurry. Your friends will want to leave soon.'
I thought about what Phoebe had told Kronos: to understand this prophecy, you have to understand its history. Reading in Halcyon Green's diary about how the prophecy had first been delivered still gave me no clues about how it would play out.
But I resolved to pack the green diary. It was a long ride to South Carolina. Surely I'd be able to snatch some time to read further.
Chapter 5