THE PROPHECY ² / Percy Jackson !

2

VIVIENE HATED RACHEL ELIZABETU DARE. With her beautiful features and ladylike figure and her beautiful red hair and freckles that decorated her face elegantly. She hated the casual walk of hers and happy, careless smile.

Blake never left Viviene's side after meeting Rachel they spent days talking about.

Percy was clueless, trying to get her to speak to him . But she'd only send him a glare that made him pull back and talk to Annabeth instead.

Jealous Viviene was the worst Viviene you could face. She was even worse than angry Viviene. Jealous Viviene was snappy, always glaring at others, instead of avoiding eye contact staring into the persons soul so intensly they'd get uncomfortable and have the urge to scream as if she pointed her sword at them.

Nothing caps off the perfect morning like a long taxi ride with a girl that acts like that.

"Any word on Luke?" Percy asked.

Annabeth shook her head.

 Viviene knew this was a touchy subject for her. Annabeth had always admired Luke, the former head counselor for Hermes who had betrayed them and joined the evil Titan Lord Kronos. She wouldn't admit it, but Viviene  knew she still liked him. When they'd fought Luke on Mount Tamalpais last winter, he'd somehow survived a fifty-foot fall off a cliff. 

Now, as far as she knew, he was still sailing around on his demon-infested cruise ship while his chopped-up Lord Kronos re-formed, bit by bit, in a golden sarcophagus, biding his time until he had enough power to challenge the Olympian gods. In demigod-speak, they call this a "problem."

"Holden?" Percy asked, turning to look at Viviene.

Viviene glared at him but shook her head and Percy noticed how she tapped her leg with two fingers nervously.

A thing she did whenever she was lying.

"Mount Tam is still overrun with monsters," Annabeth said, interrupting Percy from accusing her friend of lying. "I didn't dare go close, but I don't think Luke is up there. I think I would know if he was."

 "What about Grover?"

"He's at camp," she said. "We'll see him today."

"Did he have any luck? I mean, with the search for Pan?"

Annabeth fingered her bead necklace, the way she does when she's worried.

"You'll see," she said. But she didn't explain.

As we headed through Brooklyn, Percy used Annabeth's phone to call his mom. Half-bloods try not to use cell phones if they can avoid it, because broadcasting their voices is like sending up a flare to the monsters: Here I am! Please eat me now! But Viviene figured this call was important.

They rode in silence after that. The city melted away until we were off the expressway and rolling through the countryside of northern Long Island, past orchards and wineries and fresh produce stands.

The taxi exited on Route 25A. They headed through the woods along theNorth Shore until a low ridge of hills appeared on our left. Annabeth told thedriver to pull over on Farm Road 3.141, at the base of Half-Blood Hill.

The driver frowned. "There ain't nothing here, miss. You sure you wantout?"

"Yes, please," Annabeth handed him a roll of mortal cash, and the driverdecided not to argue.

Annabeth, Percy, Viviene and Blake hiked to the crest of the hill. The young guardian dragonwas dozing, coiled around the pine tree, but he lifted his coppery head as we approached and let Annabeth scratch under his chin. Steam hissed out his nostrils like from a teakettle, and he went cross-eyed with pleasure.

"Hey, Peleus," Annabeth said. "Keeping everything safe?"

Above his head, on the lowest branch of the pine tree, the Golden Fleece shimmered, its magicprotecting the camp's borders from invasion. The dragon seemed relaxed, like everything was okay. Below us, Camp Half-Blood looked peaceful— green fields, forest, shiny white Greek buildings. The four-story farmhouse we called the Big House sat proudly in the midst of the strawberry fields. To the north, past the beach, the Long Island Sound glittered in the sunlight.

Still...something felt wrong. There was tension in the air, as if the hill itself were holding its breath, waiting for something bad to happen.

They walked down into the valley and found the summer session in full swing. 

The satyrs were playing their pipes in the strawberry fields, making the plants grow with woodland magic. Campers were having flying horseback lessons, swooping over the woods on their pegasi.

 Smoke rose from the forges, and hammers rang as kids made their own weapons for Arts & Crafts. The Athena and Demeter teams were having a chariot race around the track, and over at the canoe lake some kids in a Greek trireme were fighting a large orange sea serpent. A typical day at camp.

"Viviene and I need to talk to Clarisse," Annabeth said.

Percy  stared at her as if she'd just said they  need to eat a large, smelly boot."What for?"

Clarisse from the Ares cabin was one of Percy's least favorite people. She wasa mean, ungrateful bully. Her dad, the war god, wanted to kill him. She triedto beat him to a pulp on a regular basis.  She also blamed Viviene for Elodie's death. 

Other than that, she was just great.

"We've been working on something," Annabeth said. "I'll see you later."

"Working on what?"

Annabeth glanced toward the forest.

"I'll tell Chiron you're here," she said. "He'll want to talk to you before the hearing."

"What hearing?"

But she jogged down the path toward the archery field without looking back, Viviene bidding Blake goodbye and following after Annabeth."Yeah," Percy muttered. "Great talking with you, too."