I had missed supper. I wasn't hungry. My stomach was twisting and my heart was pounding. I knew something was up, and it hurt that Annabeth would ask if Percy would give me up. How was I supposed to go into this death trap and find my way around? I was glad she still lent me the book, it was fascinating, and her hand written notes of everything she had read before or thought was quite helpful. And kept my mind sort of busy.

I read late into the night. I had discovered this a long time ago, that I didn't actually need light to see the pages. It was great when I was supposed to be sleeping but reading late into the night.

Sometime after the sun set and the moon was out I closed the book and walked back to my cabin and sat on my bed staring at the far wall, trying not to throw up. It was a long night. I hardly slept.

Whatever Annabeth didn't want to say was bothering me, my over active imagination was making up all kinds of scenarios and bad situations and with zero idea with what actually happened up in the Attic I had no no idea what I was panicking about.

And when I finally heard what was bothering her, it was even worse than I thought.

I had finally dozed off, after I had packed my bag, double checked everything. I woke with a start when the cabin door quietly closed. I lay in bed for a moment, I was leading a quest today, I was probably going to die in the next day or two. I groaned quietly and got up. Dressing quickly I left the cabin, had I been paying attention, I'd have noticed Will's bed was empty, and made, and his stuff gone.

I was going to go talk to Annabeth before we left, Malcolm said she had gone to the big house. I thanked him and headed there. I noticed the front door was already adjar, standing on the porch, my hand hardly on the door handle when I heard Percy's voice.

"...Annabeth, you said yesterday prophecies aren't always what they seem!"

"He's right, and we need to proceed with caution on this. The wording is very important."

Chiron? Why would Chiron be having a secret meeting with Percy and Annabeth. I frowned.

"Yeah...but...!" She insisted.

"Speak child." Chiron said. I could hear his hooves clip clopping on the hardwood.

"It's...it's not good. And once you hear it you'll understand too! Maybe...maybe someone else should be leading that quest."

"Annabeth. Just tell us, and we can make our own judgment."

"Daughter of the Light, ne'er she be.
The lost child of Ally, Foe an' Rivalry.
Free she must the one to rise,
To conquer Heavenly Light and Splendour Sight.
Seven journey home while light walks alone.
The ancient rival rises in the west,
Unlikely allies keep hope safe before strife becomes thy biggest defeat."

There was silence inside. My heart had stopped, and my lungs restricted.

"How do you know it's actually about her?" Percy stammered.

"This is quite troublesome." Chiron said. I could hear his tails swishing and a hoof hitting the floor. My legs felt shaky. I gripped the door frame trying to stay upright

"I know it is. It has to be. Her prophecy calls her the daught of light. So...the first line of this one? Daught of light... ne'er she be? Who else could it be Percy?"

"But..."

Will? Will was here? They had a full meeting about me without me here? My legs finally gave out and I sunk to the ground. I felt the rising sun on my back. It felt like it was mocking me.

"She's dangerous and we must be careful!" Annabeth tried again.

I felt the tears prickling in my eyes. Could I? Could I be dangerous or evil or something? I didn't even know who I was! I could feel the sob trying to escape.

"She's no dangerous then you." A deep voice rumbled, it made a shiver run down my back.

"How do you know Raph? You just met her!"

I couldn't hold the sob back any longer. I tried to get up quietly, but my legs were so shaky I stumbled, my knees hit the wood porch making a thud.

"Oh Styx." I heard Annabeth cursed.

There was a lot of shushing and panicked movement. I heard footsteps. I scrambled up and spun on my heel and fled down the steps. The door behind me flung open and a voice called me back. But I ran. And thanks to Apollo, I could run like a deer, light and fast. I flew through the strawberry fields and ducked under the volley ball nets, passed the campers stumbling to breakfast and into the forest.

What I hadn't counted on was how fast Raph was. And Will also having the ability to run like a deer. With tears running down my face now, I ducked under a branch, and my arm was finally grabbed. I stumbled backwards with a cry. I gave up the fight quite quickly. Will pulled me backwards and into a tight hug.

"I'm not bad! I promise! I promise I'm not!" I cried.

Will shushed me and held me tighter.

"I know Nora. I know." His voice was gentle and kind. He rubbed my back. I placed my head on his shoulders, and bit my bottom lip to keep from crying. But the tears slid out anyways.

"Prophecies have a terrible way of having double meanings and not meaning what it says."

"It makes me sound like some monster who's going to betray you or something. I won't do it!"

"You only meet us two days ago." Raph said. "That's a big promise."

I pulled away from Will and glared at Raph, "you only met me two days ago! And agreed to come on a quest!"

He smirked slightly. "True."

I glared at him for a moment longer and then turned and paced a few steps.

"Guys, I don't even know who I am... what I am. How...how am I supposed to fulfil this...this..."

I didn't want to say prophecy, it felt more like a curse then anything.

"What do I do?" I cried turning back to them.

Raph was leaning a shoulder on a tree, his huge tattooed arms crossed across his broad chest. His ankles crossed and his dark eyes fixed on me. The way his jaw clenched and the way the early morning sun trickled through the leaves it cast shadows across his face, his jaw line was sharp with the shadows and my stomach did a weird twist and drop.

Will had his hands shoved into his cargo shorts, his laid back easy look on his face made my wild racing heart slow down. He smiled at me.

"We go on our quest, find Helios and Pan. Worry about that first. Ya?"

"I agree. Worry about our first problem. Worry about our dangerous little beam of sunshine later."

"You guys still going to come?" I asked, shocked they still want to.

"Of course!" Will nodded. He stepped closer and wiped my tears, "Helios is kinda like...Grandpa to us. If he needs help, I'm in. You need help. I'm in. Just because we only just met, doesn't really mean much. I knew Luke for years and he betrayed us. So familiarity doesn't mean much. Also we're demi gods."

"It's what we do." Raph nodded in agreement.

"So you're still going to come with me even if I have no idea what I'm doing, who I am and have a prophecy pretty much, probably, most likely calls me some evil monster who's gonna betray everyone?"

"About summs it up." Raph said

"Can't mess with fait." Will reasoned.

I opened and closed my mouth a few times not really knowing what to say. I felt a little better. But then I felt the anger rises inside. Annabeth was never going to tell me what she has heard. She told everyone else. I was furious. My hands felt tingly, my chest felt heavy and hot, the burning in my guy grew stronger.

I spun around and stormed out of the forest. I knew Raph and Will were behind me.

"Wait Nora!" Will cried hurrying after me.

"Where are you going?" Raph asked, like he didn't already know.

"Breakfast."

"Really?" Raph asked, even without looking I knew his eyebrow was raised.

"Ya." I snapped.

I knew he knew I was angry and I also suspected that he knew where I was actually going, but he matched my speed, but didn't say anything or try to stop me.

I stormed into the pavilion and stopped. Will slipped over to the Apollo cabin. Tyson gave me a big lopsided smile and waved. Percy turned on the bench. I couldn't detect what he was thinking, he looked pale and tired and we hadn't even started our quests. But my anger filled eyes flicked to the Athena table. Annabeth sat hunched at the end. I glared at her for a minute. Raph stayed just behind me, a quite and broody presence, but I was glad he had my back.

I stormed over to the table and tossed the book down onto the table.

"We're you ever going to tell me?" I demanded.

The table all looked up. Annabeth didn't say anything at first. I stood motionless, waiting.

"I needed advice first." She said.

"Didn't sound like it. You mind is made up. And I'm pretty sure you said yesterday prophecies aren't always what they seem. But in your brainiac mind it's set in stone."

"Don't insult my intelligence!"

"What intelligence? You know nothing about me!"

I could see her anger bubbling up, her eyes flashed dangerously. "All the more reason to be leery.

"You didn't even give me a chance! You had made up your mind even before this, you hated me right from the start!"

"No! That's...that's not true!"

"Lier. Apollo is my father, I know when in being lied to."

She opened her mouth but I cut her off.

"Don't bother, I don't want to hear it. Don't judge me before you know me." I tossed the book onto the table. "Thanks for the book, but keep it, I've read it."

"Don't you need -"

"No."

I stormed out of the pavilion to wait for everyone by the Labyrinth entrance.

🔆

It was a clear morning. The fog had burned off and the sky was blue. Campers would be having their lessons today, flying pegasi and practicing archery and scaling the lava wall. Meanwhile, two quests would be heading underground.

Chiron, Quintus, and Mrs. O’Leary stood with the other campers who’d come to wish us well, but there was too much activity for it to feel like a happy send-off. A couple of tents had been set up by the rocks for guard duty. Beckendorf and his siblings were working on a line of defensive spikes and trenches. Chiron had decided we needed to guard the Labyrinth exit at all times, just in case.

Annabeth was doing one last check on her supply pack. Will was repacking his extensive first aid kit and Raph was strapping his belt with his sword around his waist. I was leaning on one of the rocks, my arms folded tight, my fingers drumming restlessly. When Tyson and Percy walked over towards me, Annabeth  looked up and frowned, watching us.

"Percy, you look terrible." I said searching his face. I finally saw him up close.

"He killed the water fountain last night," Tyson confided. I frowned, having no idea what Tyson was talking about.

"What" Annabeth asked.

Before he could explain, Chiron trotted over. "Well, it appears you are ready!"

Everyone stood up, and shouldered their bags. Percy fidgeted with his pen, spinning it in his fingers, like he was debating something internally.

"Hey, uh, Chiron," he finally said, making up his mind. "Can n I ask you a favor while I’m gone?”

"Of course, my boy." He nodded.

"Be right back, guys." He nodded toward the woods. Chiron arched an eyebrow, but he followed me out of earshot of everyone. Everyone but me. I shoved my hands in my pockets and lowered my head. Not that I wanted to, but after the awful things I heard about me this morning, it was hard not to eavesdrop, wondering what other awful things they were going to say about me.

"Last night," Percy said, "I dreamed about Luke and Kronos."

He told him the details, it did not sound like good news. Apparently Luke knew about the quests. And apparently there was a bargain in place, and something about his true form was almost complete, camp would be destroy before they moved to Mount Olympus. While I wasn't overly upset about Mount Olympus being toppled, I was quite upset to hear about how Luke wanted to destroy camp. From what I had heard, Luke used to call this place home. If it was home, why would he want to burn it to the ground? I hadn't heard all the details or background on this Luke and why he hated camp and the gods so much.

"I feared this," Chiron said. "Against my father, Kronos, we would stand no chance in a fight."

That was jarring- I had forgot that Kronos was Chiron's actual father. But everyone in the Greek world was related somehow- god, titan or monster. It didn't seem like something Chiron bragged about.

"Do you know what he meant about a bargain?" He asked.

"I am not sure, but I fear they seek to make a deal with Daedalus. If the old inventor is truly alive, if he has not been driven insane by millennia in the Labyrinth…well, Kronos can find ways to twist anyone to his will."

"Not anyone," Percy promised.

"No." I heard Chiron say with a gentleness that made me think he was smiling. "Perhaps not anyone. But, Percy, you must beware. I have worried for some time that Kronos may be looking for Daedalus for a different reason, not just passage through the maze."

"What else would he want?"

"Something Annabeth and I were discussing. Do you remember what you told me about your first trip to the Princess Andromeda, the first time you saw the golden coffin?"

There was a pause in the conversation in which I assumed Percy was either nodding or shaking his head.

"Luke was talking about raising Kronos, little pieces of him appearing in the coffin every time someone new joined his cause. And what did Luke say they would do when Kronos had risen completely?"

A chill went down my spine. What could they possibly do after this titan rose back from Tartarus?

"He said they would make Kronos a new body, worthy of the forges of Hephaestus."

"Indeed," Chiron said. "Daedalus was the world’s greatest inventor. He created the Labyrinth, but much more. Automatons, thinking machines…What if Kronos wishes Daedalus to make him a new form?"

That was a really pleasant thought. And I shuttered.

"We’ve got to get to Daedalus first," he said, "and convince him not to."

There was another long pause, I could hear his tail swish and his hooves paw the ground. "One other thing I do not understand…this talk of a last soul joining their cause. That does not bode well. As well as a third prophecy circling around your sister."

"She'll be fine. We'll watch out for her."

"I know, dear boy. But I still can't help but worry. Tensions are high."

"I know."

I heard Chiron sigh.

"Percy. One last thing. For Kronos to rise, there is old dark...magic, for lack of a better word, that is used to raise him. Souls that have pledge him to himself...but there is another...darker ingredient."

"Which is?"

"Unwilling blood."

"Like a sacrifice?" Percy blanched.

"Yes."

My face went pale. These quests really were going to be a death sentence.

🔆

Ooo another prophecy! A dark one!
Any guesses what it means?!?

Quest Prophecy

The Daughter of the Light, The Healer and son of War. Must journey deep through twist and turn. To find the sputtering flame who has fallen asleep. Awake the blaze within before the earth is dead and cold.

Dark Prophecy

Daughter of the Light, ne'er she be.
The lost child of Ally, Foe an' Rivalry.
Free she must the one to rise,
To conquer Heavenly Light and Splendour Sight.
Seven journey home while light walks alone.
The ancient rival rises in the west,
Unlikely allies keep hope safe before strife becomes thy biggest defeat.