The Spirits of the Universe (PJO)

Chapter 21--We Disrespect the Prophecy

When Ananke said she was going to give us the best guest rooms, she wasn't joking. It wasn't even appropriate to call our quarters the size of a mansion. Rather, it was a . . . tower.

Our "guest area" was completely separate from the castle, connected by an impressive drawbridge. Each room was furnished so well that it put my bedroom in Esterhaven to shame. We had our own industrial-size kitchen downstairs, complete with seven round-the-clock gourmet chefs. Fifty guards patrolled the premises, while an armada of maids would come running from the servant quarters upstairs at the ring of a bell. 

"This is awesome!" Liam exclaimed as he looked around his room. 

Aridne rolled her eyes, sitting on a couch. "Don't act like you're poor."

"Hey, I'm not comparing! Just . . . I was expecting to stay in the barn or something before that happened. Did you see her face? Percy, that was amazing!"

"If you're that happy, I'll do it every day," I said honestly, leaning on the wall. I'd never seen Liam so animated before.  While others would worry about pissing off a primordial, Liam looked like a kid who'd been in an amusement park. 

"You can take Ananke, the primordial of fate, every day?" Aridne asked suspiciously. "Just who gave you this much confidence?"

I froze. "I-It's my dreams. They told me how to overpower Ananke."

You call me a figment of your imagination one more time, and look what I'll do to you, End threatened.

And then what, you'll faint beside a squadron of Ananke's soldiers again? I asked. I was surprised that they let me leave without taking my kidneys.

"Those demigod dreams of yours seem like a blessing in disguise," Aridne said.

"Yeah, almost as if someone's helping him," Liam said, hiding a smirk. "Maybe even two."

Aridne looked at him in confusion. Behind her back, I mouthed, Stop it!

Liam took pity on me, and threw a brown square at me. "So what are we going to do with this?"

"What is it?" Aridne asked, peering over my shoulder as I unfolded the piece of paper. It was browned and crinkled, as if it hadn't been touched for centuries—no, millennia. It looked ready to fall apart. 

"It's the Prophecy of Chaos that Ananke gave us," I said, then looked at Liam incredulously. "You had it folded up in your pocket?" 

"A secret that the primordials were protecting?" Aridne added.

He shrugged innocently. "It's comfier in my pocket than it ever was with my mother. Just read it."

I rolled my eyes. Given the circumstances, Liam could be pettier than me, which was saying something. I began to read:

The broken hero, swallowed by grief—

"Who's the broken hero?" I wondered. 

Liam and Aridne share a glance. Then Liam said, "I'm not going to lie, Percy, but I've seen you shed more tears than anyone else—and my cousin cries every time she sees a dead plant."

I shut up and kept reading.

—Shall go to a new world, accused as a thief—

"There's only one thief here," Liam commented. "Told you!"

"Alleged thief," I corrected.

—The broken hero, cracked but healing

Finds the truth, sound and sealing—