ACHILLES ( annabeth chase )

thirteen | GREEK PROPHECIES ARE WEIRD

EVERYONE GATHERED AROUND ANNABETH, SOME sitting, some standing. Annabeth looked ... frightened, almost anxious, which Val though was weird. Annabeth wasn't scared of anything.

"My dear," Chiron said. "You made it."

Annabeth was still looking at Val and Percy sat on the grass. Her eyes looked different. Not as in they were a different colour. They looked fearful, which was something Val had never thought she would see in Annabeth's sharp, intimidating eyes. Then Annabeth focused on Quintus. "I got the prophecy. I will lead the quest to find Daedalus's workshop."

Nobody cheered. Val didn't blame them. She'd been in the Labyrinth. It wasn't pleasant. And now Annabeth was going to lead a quest in there, to almost purposely find monsters and to spend who knows how long down there? Val almost felt sick to the stomach.

Chiron scraped a hoof on the dirt floor. "What did the prophecy say exactly, my dear? The wording is important."

Annabeth took a deep breath. "I, ah...well, it said, you shall delve in the darkness of the endless maze..."

Everyone waited. Val was very curious. This process was different to Octavian disembowelling teddies, that's for sure.

"The dead, the traitor, and the lost one raise."

Grover perked up. "The lost one! That must mean Pan! That's great!"

"With the dead and the traitor," Percy added. "Not so great."

"And?" Chiron asked. "What is the rest?"

"You shall rise or fall by the ghost king's hand," Annabeth said, "the child of Athena's final stand."

Everyone looked around uncomfortably. Annabeth was a daughter of Athena, and a final stand didn't sound good.

"Hey...we shouldn't jump to conclusions," Silena said. "Annabeth isn't the only child of Athena, right?"

"But who's this ghost king?" Beckendorf asked.

No one answered. Val had seen ghosts before; there were heaps of Lares at Camp Jupiter. But she'd never met or seen a king.

"The mage's past to be revealed," Annabeth continued. "The pain of the king's loss to be healed."

"Could this "king" be the ghost king still?" Travis asked.

"And who's the mage? We don't have any magicians here." Silena said.

Val felt her blood turn to ice in her veins. She was sure Quintus had glanced at her.

"Are there more lines?" Chiron asked. "The prophecy does not sound complete."

Annabeth hesitated. "I don't remember exactly."

Chiron raised an eyebrow. Val coughed. A few eyes looked at her, but they left just as quickly.

Val was covering her laugh. As new as she was at this camp, she was absolutely certain that Annabeth would not forget something she heard. She was too smart. Annabeth was lying to Chiron, to all of them, with a pretty bad excuse too. Val found the situation quite funny. Annabeth was almost behaving like Val. Except, of course, Val was a better liar. Val must have been rubbing off on her, which wasn't very good, as Val wasn't the best influence.

Annabeth shifted on her bench. "Something about...Destroy with a hero's final breath."

"And?" Chiron asked.

She stood. "Look, the point is, I have to go in. I'll find the workshop and stop Luke. And...I need help." She turned to Percy. "Will you come?"

Percy didn't hesitate. "I'm in."