The Shadow Summoner | Book Three - PJO Universe

nine

RAIN, RAIN AND MORE RAIN.

"Four other Oracles." Rachel said. "You mean you have four other Pythias -"

"No, my dear. There is only one Pythia - you. Delphi is absolutely unique."

Rachel still looked like she wanted to jam a number ten bristle paintbrush up his nose. "So these other four non-unique Oracles ..."

"Well, one was the Sybil of Cumae." Apollo wiped the sweat off his palms. "You know, she wrote the Sibylline Books- those prophecies that Ella the harpy memorized."

Meg looked back and forth between them. "A harpy ... like those chicken ladies who clean up after lunch?"

Chiron smiled. "Ella is a very special harpy, Meg. Years ago, she somehow came across a copy of the prophetic books, which we thought were burned before the Fall of Rome. Right now, our friends at Camp Jupiter are frying to reconstruct them based on Ella's recollections."

Rachel crossed her arms. "And the other three Oracles? I'm sure none of them was a beautiful young priestess whom you praised for her ... what was it? ... 'scintillating conversation'?"

"Ah .. Well, according to my extensive research -"

"Some books he flipped through last night." Ariana clarified.

"Ahem! There was an Oracle at Erythaed and another at the Cave of Trophonius."

"Goodness." Chiron said. "I'd forgotten about those two."

Apollo shrugged. "And the fifth," He said, "was the Grove of Dodona."

"A grove." Meg said. "Like trees."

"Yes, Meg, like trees. Groves are typically composed of trees, rather than, say, Fudgsicles. Dodona was a stand of sacred oaks planted by the Mother Goddess in the first days of the world. They were ancient even when the Olympians were born."

"The Mother Goddess?" Rachel shivered in her patina jacket.

"Please tell me you don't mean Gaia." Ariana added.

She did not want a repeat of a war they had just ended six months ago. Truthfully, if there was another war in her lifetime, Ariana did not think she'd be coming out of it alive.

"No, thankfully. I mean Rhea, Queen of the Titans, the mother of the first generation of Olympian gods. Her sacred trees could actually speak. Sometimes they issued prophecies."

"The voices in the woods." Meg guessed.

"Exactly. I believe the Grove of Dodona has regrown itself here in the woods at camp. In my dreams, I saw a crowned woman imploring me to find her Oracle. I believe it was Rhea, though I still dont understand why she was wearing a peace symbol or using the term dig it."

"A peace symbol?" Chiron asked.

"A large brass one." He confirmed.

Rachel drummed her fingers on the couch's armrest. "If Rhea is a Titan, isn't she evil?"

"Not all Titans were bad." Ariana said.

She remembered, when she and Percy had found themselves on Calypsos island. At first, she seemed nice then she remembered that the Titan had cursed Annabeth down in Tartarus and had captured Leo's heart.

Then there was Bob - a Titan her, Percy, Thalia and Nico had met on a quest. Long story short, they had accidentally wiped away his memory.

Then the Titan helped Ariana, Percy and Annabeth when they were travelling through the greatest depths of hell. He ended up sacrificing and served as an example of a good Titan.