JAWBREAKER

𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙛𝙞𝙫𝙚

Warren waited on the porch with Grover and Chiron while Percy ascended to the attic for his consultation with the Oracle.

"You knew Percy and I had the same dream, didn't you?" she accused.

"I had a suspicion," Chiron said.

"Then why didn't you let me see the Oracle?"

"Suspecting and knowing are not the same thing. And just as well, this is not your quest. You may play a role, but it was not yours to take."

"What does that even mean," Warren grumbled to herself, crossing her arms and looking away.

They waited for several long, tense minutes for Percy to return. When he did he looked pale and shaken.

"Well?" Chiron asked him.

Percy slumped into a chair at the pinochle table. "She said that I would retrieve what was stolen."

Grover sat forward excitedly, "That's great!"

"What did the Oracle say exactly?" Chiron pressed. "This is important."

Percy chewed his lip anxiously as he thought over the Oracle's words. "She...she said I would go west and face a god who had turned. I would retrieve what was stolen and see it safely returned."

"I knew it," Grover said.

Chiron didn't look satisfied. "Anything else?"

Percy looked like he really wanted to stop talking. He shot a furtive glance at Warren out of the corner of his eye.

"No," he said, "that's about it."

It was obviously a lie, but Chiron didn't press him any further. Warren wanted to butt in, but Chiron cut her off before she could.

"Very well, Percy. But know this: the Oracle's words often have double meanings. Don't dwell on them too much. The truth is not always clear until events come to pass."

"Okay," Percy said, eager to change topics. "So where do I go? Who's this god in the west?"

"Think, Percy," Chiron said. "If Zeus and Poseidon weaken each other in a war, who stands to gain?"

"Somebody else who wants to take over?" he guessed.

"Yes, quite. Someone who harbors a grudge, who has been unhappy with his lot since the world was divided eons ago, whose kingdom would grow powerful with the deaths of millions. Someone who hates his brothers for forcing him into an oath to have no more children, an oath that both of them have now broken."

"Hades."

Chiron nodded.

"The Lord of the Dead is the only possibility."

Grover, who had been chewing on an aluminum can, nearly choked. "Whoa, wait. Whwhat?" the satyr stammered.

"A Fury came after Percy," Chiron reminded him. "She watched him until she was sure of his identity, then tried to kill him. Furies obey only one lord: Hades."