Leo Valdez X Reader

Chapter 7 (Y/n)

I woke up to the sound of knocking on my door. Fumbling my way over to the door on my crutches, I nearly fell out of bed, only to open it and find Leo.

"Hey. Chiron sent me to come to get you." I felt my chest tighten.

Great.

We walked through the camp and up a hill past the red dragon before coming to a cave. I could feel everyone's eyes on my back, making my skin squirm. There was this awkward silence between us, and I desperately wanted to fill it.

"Hey, I'm sorry I didn't come to your cabin. I needed to lie down."

Leo shrugged, "It's alright, I was half expecting that to happen," he mumbled.

Standing at its mouth in front of me were Chiron, Nico, and what had to be half the camp. They all looked at me expectantly. I hope they weren't expecting anything because I did not have a speech planned.

"In you go," Chiron said, practically pushing me into the cave. My heart sped up.

"Wait-what-?!" I was cut off as the giant boulder doorway closed behind me. I stood there in the dark, contemplating what to do next when a girl with bright red hair and green eyes met me at the door.

"Hi there." She said and ushered me further in.

"I'm Rachel Elizabeth Dare, host of The Oracle of Delphi." I nodded as if I really knew what that meant.

We entered a sitting room, and I sat at a small stone table while Rachel ran to grab some tea.

The inside of the cave was decorated with mellow lights, and the floor was splattered with paint, not to mention the strong smell of turpentine surrounding and smothering me. The room was full of canvases, each draped with a cloth. I looked around and quietly got up, making my way to an easel. The corner of the fabric slid off the painting and onto the floor as I accidentally bumped into it with my elbow.

I gasped.

In messily etched detail was a painting of my fight with Clarisse.

I stumbled back into a different painting behind me, and the cloth fell.

This one had a picture of my encounter with Nico. My heart beat fast, and I began to pull the clothes off every painting I could find.

There was one of my meetings with Chiron.

The red dome that had appeared during my fight.

The Chimera.

Leo and I walked to the Big house.

Chiron, Leo, and the Black-haired boy's fight.

One of me at the mouth of the cave.

I looked around. The paintings were in a line, all in chronological order. Many had been painted, but a long line of covered ones was near the end.

I went to the one at the end and threw off the cloth.

The painting was blank.

"(Y/n), I have our tea." Rachel came around the corner and looked between me and the paintings.

"Oh, dear-" With that, she crumpled to the ground, the teacups smashing off the stone floor. I did my best to hobble to her side, abandoning my crutches and rushing towards her.

"Rachel?" I slung my arm over her shoulder and carried her to a nearby vanity stool. She didn't even flinch.

"Rachel? Are you okay?" I shook her shoulder hard. What in the gods' names was I supposed to do now? I was contemplating running out to Chiron when she suddenly lifted her head, and I watched green smoke pouring from her mouth and eyes.

"(Y/n) Hale." She spoke in a cryptic voice that wasn't hers, "You've come at last."

"Oracle Delphi?" My voice came out as a whisper. She nodded, closing her mouth, and smiled, turning to look in the mirror. Rachel looked down and grabbed a hairbrush off the counter, running its blue plastic bristles through her hair.

I sucked in a breath.

Okay, just breathe, (Y/n).

"I've come to receive a prophecy."

Her mouth opened again, and green flames erupted in a ring around the cave's outer edge. The room began filling with green smoke.

"Fire or lover, one will fall.

Six, this time, will answer the call.

One of death, two of machines, although one seems too keen.

A healer, a Naiad, and a new arrival will make up the team.

In two weeks, on the 3rd, the hero will turn 18

And will be forced to hear her silent screams.

Father's blessing one must get.

And memories lost one cannot forget.

The tremendous true north is where eight must go.

Beware, it needs one to conquer the foe.

The cursed touch of immeasurable gold

Washed away by a force, flowing cold.

With the dangerous rise of the challenge of ice.

One of the six will make a sacrifice.

Farsight cannot be bested by talent.

A child of Ares may tip the balance.

Shifted perception is bound to befall.

The choice of who stands and who's going to fall.

The missing family will reunite.

The strength and night will join the fight.

When the moment comes, pain shall swallow the earth.

Unless first bested by Bia and Achelois's birth."

With the last words, Rachel chucked the hairbrush at me, and I let out a scream, ducking as it hit the wall behind me; then she slumped back into the chair, her body going limp.

My arm had landed on a few pieces of the broken cup, and blood was slightly trickling down my wrist.

The fire and smoke vanished, and I was terrified and shaking against the Oracle's dark cave wall.

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Any theories on the prophecy Gumdrops? What were the paintings about?

Be sure to comment and vote!

- Thesourgummyworm <3