RECLUSE - (n) a person who lives a solitary life and tends to avoid other people.
MAISIE ELLIOT WAS ANGRY.
Angry at the world.
Angry at the Gods.
Angry at the demigods who seemed to move on too fast.
And when forced onto a quest with three stranger...
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MAISIE WAS IN SHOCK
A son of Zeus? Gods, she thought they were done with forbidden kids.
The rest of the camp seemed to think the same as Maisie, all shouting out in questions until Annabeth raised her arms. "Hold it!" She called out. "How can he be the son of Zeus? The big three ... their pact to not have mortal kids ... how could we not have known about him sooner?"
Chiron wouldn't answer, but Maisie could tell he knew, and it wasn't good.
"The important thing," Rachel said, "Is that Jason's here now. He has a quest to fulfill, which means he will need his own prophecy."
She closed her eyes and swooned. Two campers rushed forward and caught her. A third ran to the side of the amphitheater and grabbed a bronze three-legged stool, like they were trained for this. They eased Rachel into the stool in front of the ruined hearth. Without the fire, the night was dark, but green mist started swirling around Rachel's feet. When she opened her eyes, they were glowing. Emerald smoke issued from her mouth. The voice that came out was raspy and ancient.
"Child of lightning, beware the earth, The giants' revenge, the eight shall birth, Daughter of retribution shall defend the others, And absorb the power of gods mother. The forge and dove shall break the cage, And death unleash through hera's rage."
On the last word, Rachel collapsed. Helpers were waiting to catch her. They carried her away from the hearth and into a corner to rest.
"Is that normal?" Pipers voice broke the silence, and everyone turned to look at her. Maisie wanted to slap her forehead. "I mean ... does she spew green smoke a lot?"
"Gods you're so dense!" Drew sneered. "She just issued a prophecy — Jason's prophecy to save Hera! What don't you just—"
"Drew," Annabeth snapped. "Piper asked a fair question. Something about that prophecy isn't normal. Why would the prophecy call for four demigods? And if breaking Hera's cage will unleash her rage and causes a bunch of death ... why would we want to free her? It might be a trap, or — or maybe Hera will turn on her rescuers. She's never been kind to heroes."
Jason rose. "I don't have much of a choice. Hera took my memories and I need to get them back. Besides, we can't just not help the queen of the heavens if she's in trouble."
Nyssa stood from the Hephaestus cabin stood, "Maybe. But you should listen to Annabeth. Hera could be vengeful. She threw her own son — our dad — down a mountain just because he was ugly."
"Real ugly," snickered somebody from Aphrodite.
"Shut up!" Nyssa snapped. "Anyway we have to think. Why beware the earth? And what's the giants revenge? What's the power of gods mother? What are we dealing with here that's powerful enough to kidnap the queen of the heavens?"
