Heroes with Wands

Chapter 23

Ginny

I noticed the firey owl first. 

It appeared flickering in the flames. "Guys!" Everyone stopped laughing and looked at me. Annabeth followed my eyes to the fire.

 Gaea's sleeping imaged appeared, too. She had black hair and her eyes were closed, but she looked bloody scary.

"Hurry, child," she said. "You are running out of time. Three will be lost in the land without rain. Avenge her. Or be mine."

 The fire died out. We all sat in the common room, dead quiet, with no lights. Even Nico looked frightened. Then Leo broke the silence by saying, "Jeez, Dirt Face, someone's feisty!"

Annabeth slapped his arm. "Cut it out, Leo!" He grinned sheepishly. "Okay, I think I'm going to bed now. You guys coming?"

I could tell the seven of them, plus Thalia and Nico, weren't just going to bed. The tension was too strong. They nodded and faked yawns. We said our goodnights and went to bed.

Hermione whispered to me, "Something's wrong. They're acting completely different. What did she say that startled them so much?"

"Three will be lost in the land without rain, " I repeated. "Maybe something to do with that? Nico, Thalia, and Percy especially seemed startled."

Lavender rolled over beside me. I pressed my fingers to my lips. "Tomorrow," I said in a hushed voice. Hermione nodded. She turned over, her back facing me, and sighed.

I lay thinking about what I would do if I were in her place—I had to retrieve a statue that's been missing for centuries for my mother, and none of my siblings before me survived the quest. And none of my friends could help me. And I don't know what could be guarding it.

I couldn't sleep. It'd been five minutes and I couldn't sleep. Quietly, I stood up, and creeped out of the girl's dormitry. The entrance to the Argo was charmed so only Harry, Hermione, Ron, myself, McGonagall, and Dumbledore could get inside.

My hand clutched the knob. As I turned it, a hand touched my shoulder. I jumped. Hermione gave me a look and nodded her head towards the door.

We pushed through and stepped down. The door was in the air, and by stepping down you appeared on the deck.

I heard rumaging below. We snuck down into the mess hall, where the seven , Thalia, Nico, and Hedge just seemed to be gathering. I didn't know what they'd been doing, but blueprints, maps, and parchment papers were scattered on the table.

All ten of them sat anxiously. Hermione and I peared through a crack in the door.

"That's our prophecy, Percy," Thalia said. "Except ours went like, One shall be lost in the land without rain. That was...sorry, Nico—Bianca. What does she mean now?"

"Maybe she means Tartarus," said Nico darkly. "Tartarus doesn't have rain. A desert, maybe, but anually there's some amount of rainfall."

"Agreed," Percy said. "Guys, we have three prophecies to worry about in general—the Prophecy of Seven, the Wizard Prophecy, and the Mark of Athena. I'm most worried about the first and last."

"Percy," Annabeth took his hand. "You don't need to be worried. I'll be fine. But I've noticed something. Athena repeating our first Great Prophecy, Gaea repeating mine...."

Piper's eyes widened. "I see what you're getting at," she said. "Gaea's recreating all of our prophecies. Percy, all of your prophecies added up to the war with Kronos—now all of those prophecies plus ours as well add up to the war with Gaea. If that makes any rational sense."