προφητεία

prophecy

• • •

"Obviously, something weird is going on."

Piper snorted, unable to help herself. That was the understatement of the century. Jason glanced at her, offering a half-smile, before continuing.

"Last night, Rachel came to me and told me there had been another prophecy."

All eyes turned to Rachel, who was staring straight ahead at something no one else could see. Piper frowned, clenching her fists beneath the table. Whenever a prophecy was involved, nothing good ever came out of it.

And now, at five in the morning, at another meeting, it seemed that the future was being written out for all of them to read, yet somehow no one knew the language.

"Rachel," Jason prompted softly. "Do you mind reciting it?"

Her sharp green eyes turned to face him, and as usual, Piper was horrified at the emptiness inside of them. Rachel was no longer the lively, vivacious girl that Piper had met so long ago. She was nothing but a hollowed out shell who spoke in half-riddles.

Rachel nodded once, folding her hands out on the table in front of her. Piper found herself glancing at Leo, who looked even more hollow than Rachel, if that were possible. His hands, usually fidgeting beneath the table while creating something, were uncharacteristically dangling over his chair's arms.

"Seven half-bloods have answered the call
Now all the Olympians shall take the fall.
An oath to keep with a final breath
And the fire will fall to his death."

Silence. A shocked, horrified silence filled the room. But Piper could only stare at Jason. Jason, who had taken charge of rescuing every demigod that they could. Jason, who had become the leader here, the sole person everyone looked up to for guidance.

"But that wasn't it," said Rachel, her voice miserable and hoarse. "Last night, I spoke at least a dozen prophecies."

"How is that possible?" asked Frank.

Hazel nodded beside him. "The Oracle was silent for two years, right? So how did you just receive a dozen prophecies in just one night?"

"That's not all that happened last night," interjected Nico. "You all know the voices I can hear, right?" Hazel nodded sympathetically. "Well, I heard one that sounded familiar. And that voice belonged to a demigod named Cameron Skyes. He told me that, along with Clarisse la Rue, Chris Rodriguez, and Drew Tanaka, that they found Annabeth, and that they're protecting her."

Annabeth. Piper missed her more than anything, even more than she missed safety. Annabeth had been the sister Piper never had.

"Annabeth's definitely alive?" she asked, not wanting to get her hopes up.

Nico gave her a small smile. "Yes. And Hazel and Arion are going to Miami to get her in five days."

Five days. Two years without any sign of Annabeth, and Piper was going to see in her five days. Jason squeezed her hand, sensing what she was feeling, and Piper squeezed his hand back.

"But Cameron told me that Annabeth doesn't really remember a lot. And he also said that we should focus our attention on finding Percy."

"What do you think I've been doing?" asked Thalia indignantly from where she was perched on Reyna's armrest. "If the Huntresses and I couldn't find him for two years —"

"He's alive," said Leo suddenly. "And I might know where he is."

Piper gaped at her best friend. At his quiet demeanor and stillness. At the side of Leo she had never before seen until this year, the side that part of her hated. She hadn't been called "Beauty Queen" since Olympus knows when. She'd never admit it to Leo, but she missed it.

"How?" asked Jason.

"I had a dream last night. And I saw Percy on an island."

"It's not like there's more than one island," Piper said softly, praying to the faded gods that would make Leo laugh.

"I know where the island is," Leo responded stonily. "I can go there."

"That's not exactly helpful," said Reyna. "We need to know where it is so that we can send out a search party."

For the first time in long time, Leo cracked a smile. It was small and didn't quite reach his eyes, but it was there. Piper smiled, and she knew that Jason was, too.

"It doesn't quite work like that," Leo said. "It's not a place you find, it's a place that finds you."

"Incredibly helpful, as usual," muttered Thalia as she paced the length of the tent.

"Ogygia," Leo finally said, his voice wistful as he stared down at the table. He lifted his head as he continued. "That's what it's called. But it's near impossible to find. Who even knows if I'd be able to find it again."

"What do you mean?" asked Frank.

"No man finds Ogygia twice. That's how it works."

"So we send someone else," offered Hazel, her gaze incredibly steady.

Leo shook his head. "Trust me, it's incredibly rare to find."

"Wait," said Rachel, her eyes more alive than Piper had seen in the recent years. Finally, Rachel Dare looked more alive than dead. "Percy has already gone to Ogygia before, right? Years ago, when everyone thought he had died because he disappeared for two weeks, but he was just on Ogygia? So if he found it twice, shouldn't Leo be able to, too?"

Now it was Leo's turn to look alive. "You could be right. Percy had been there before, and if he's there again...it could be possible. And this time, I'll be prepared. I can —"

"Before you start planning anything stupid," said Jason, grinning at Leo, who surprisingly smiled back, to Piper's relief, "I think Rachel needs to tell us all the prophecies she delivered. That way, we know all the information."

Piper nodded. "Rachel, do you remember them all?"

The girl nodded. "I always have someone in my room when I'm sleeping in case of something like this. Last night, it was Aliya Mills, the mischievous girl with pigtails? I had her write them all down."

Rachel pulled out a slip of paper and squinted down at it. "This is the first one, I think."

There was a stiff silence, like the calm before the storm. Jason's hand holding her own, Piper felt anything but calm. It was possible that both Percy and Annabeth were alive, and Rachel had an alarming amount of prophecies. It was as if the Fates were pulling the cruelest trick.

"The searchers for the lost
are the ones who pay the cost.
Five becomes three as the world falls
and unite the sides together through it all."

"That's it?" asked Thalia after Rachel finished. "That's barely anything."

"That's only one," Rachel reminded her. "Trust me, there's a lot more to go off of in some of the others."

Thalia looked skeptical, but she sat back down on the arm of Reyna's chair.

"A half-blood whose power cannot be tamed
must decide whom to save or maim.
The hero will barely survive the fall
and only a voice can save them all."

Another long silence followed the conclusion of Rachel's words. Piper's heart was already racing at the mere mention of more prophecies, but now there was a powerful demigod out there that held the fate of the world in their hands.

"This is insane," she managed to say. "There's a demigod out there who single-handedly decides who to kill and who gets to live?"

"Prophecies usually have double meanings," said Hazel, but even she looked doubtful.

Right, because this prophecy was really open up for interpretation, Piper thought to herself. But she stayed silent as Rachel read off another piece of paper.

"The seeker of the isle of the lost
is the one prepared to pay the cost.
To be so close yet destroy it all in the end
and to be betrayed by one he calls friend."

Piper and Jason exchanged a glance, but neither demigod said a word. Suddenly, their world had turned more dangerous than before.

"Child of lightning, beware the earth
Olympus's revenge, you must birth.
The forge and dove locked in a cage
and death unleashed through the ghost's rage."

"Wait," said Jason, almost anxiously. Piper felt cold dread spread in her stomach. "I know that prophecy."

Rachel nodded. "Several of these prophecies include the same structure and phrasing from previous prophecies. I don't know why, but something about this prophecy is unfinished."

"So you're saying that this prophecy is about Jason?" asked Piper, already knowing the answer.

As if in response, Rachel held up another piece of paper and read off it.

"A half-blood of the fallen gods
shall find the lost against all odds.
And forget the promises meant to keep
the hero's soul, cursed blade shall reap.
A single choice shall end his days
Olympus to preserve or raze."

Nico inhaled sharply. "That's the Great Prophecy."

"Percy's prophecy," Thalia agreed with a nod. "Not much has changed, has it?"

"Hardly anything," said Rachel. "But this prophecy could be saying that Percy is still alive."

"And that he still has a role to play in all this," added Frank.

There was yet another solemn silence as all the Olympians stared at the small pile of papers resting in front of Rachel. Piper was afraid to hear anymore, but she was also afraid not to.

She sighed and leaned forwards. "Before we finish hearing the rest of these prophecies, did anything else happen last night that we all should know?" asked Piper in the most commanding tone that she could muster.

She scanned every face in the room, feeling guilty over the looks of hopefulness and sadness alike. Except for Thalia, who smirked at Reyna, who was steadily staring straight ahead. Gods, sometimes Piper hated being the daughter of Aphrodite.

"Alright then," said Jason. "Rachel, continue."

"You shall sail the iron ship with warriors of bone.
You shall find what was lost and return it home.
But despair for a life entombed in stone
as a life is paid for a price that's your own."

Rachel glanced up. "That prophecy was given to Clarisse la Rue years ago, before she recovered the Golden Fleece."

"Cameron mentioned that Clarisse was helping Annabeth," said Nico, the dark circles beneath his eyes more prominent now than ever. "Maybe she has a hand in all this."

"United only to be torn apart,
the daughter of war must trust her heart.
Chaos and ruin must she withstand
before killing the earth with only her hand."

"Killing the earth? That sounds a lot like someone's going to kill Her," said Thalia.

Piper couldn't help but agree, but it still didn't make sense. After all, Olympus had tried to kill Gaea before and nothing worked. How could someone kill her with "only her hand"?

"Huntresses shall search for the marked in chains
and search for the one who makes the rain.
The search ends with no avail
and the savior of Olympus shows the trail.
The goddess' curse must one withstand
and one shall perish by the earth's hand."

"That was my sister's prophecy," Nico said softly, his dark eyes staring at the ground. "Yours too, Thalia. Except this one has a lot less death."

"The Huntresses and I searched for Annabeth and Percy, so they must be the 'marked' and 'the one who makes the rain'," said Thalia, almost ignoring what Nico said. "And our search did end with nothing. But whose the savior of Olympus?"

"And what's the goddess' curse?" asked Hazel.

"There's another prophecy that mentions a curse," said Rachel while digging through the paper scraps.

"Wisdom's daughter walks alone
the mark of Athena burns through stone.
Cursed to always forget the cost
of why she must always remain lost.
Giant's bane stands gold and pale
won through pain from a metal jail."

"That was Annabeth's prophecy," Piper managed to say past the growing lump in her throat. "Before she and Percy fell."

"Well, I'm in support of anything that's the Giant's bane," said Leo.

"These last few prophecies are connected, I think," said Rachel while frowning down at the papers. "They all predict a death."

"Of course they do," muttered Jason.

"Death's daughter shall survive the night
and be the cause of an endless blight.
To find the lost and barely return,
a warrior's life in the end must burn.
Doomed to save the life of a friend
only to lose a love in the end."

Death's daughter. Everyone carefully avoided looking at Hazel.

"A warrior built of ashes makes the final call
whether storm or fire will make the world fall.
An endless fight against the land
or a child of war's final stand."

Rachel glanced up, gripping a final paper. "This is the last one."

"You shall dwell in the darkness of the endless maze
the dead, the traitor, and the lost one raise.
You shall rise or fall by the ghost king's hand
the child of war's final stand.
Destroy with a hero's final breath
and lose a love to worse than death."

The last three prophecies seemingly overlapped each other. A loved one would die, and the child of war would, too.

As Piper scanned the room, she was surprised to see how pale Nico's face was. He looked almost sick as he gripped the arms of his chair too tightly.

"What do all of these mean?" Leo finally asked, interrupting the silence.

"It means we have to find Percy and Annabeth soon," responded Jason grimly. "Before something else does."

• • •