I pulled up a chair next to Annabeth, but she beckoned for me to come into the corridor. I followed her wordlessly, pulling the door to.
'It's Percy.' She said, as if that explained everything. I raised my eyebrows quizzically. 'He isn't here, he's with his mom in Manhattan, and I don't know what to think because I wish he was here with me but I don't want Poseidon to find out and punish Percy or tell the other Gods and I don't even know what he would think about this cause that goes against his dad and I would hate to fight against him after all the things we went through together and, and-' She gave a sniff that turned into a gulp that turned into a muted sob. '- and, I, I need you to help. You're a son of Apollo, You have the gift of prophecy, right?'
'Well, sure, but I'm not that great. Why don't you ask Dad?'
Annabeth 'harrumph' 'ed
'Apollo still resents Poseidon for defeating Typhon, instead of letting Apollo have the honour. Seeing as he can't take it out directly on Poseidon, he isn't Percy's hugest fan right now.'
I raised my eyebrows, but the simple action made me feel dizzy and discombobulated. In a voice that sounded like it might have been mine, from far away, through really crappy speakers, I heard this
Your plot is concealed by the depths of Erebos,
yet deterred will some be by immediate loss,
through unwilling betrayal shall you melee,
but in final battle, united shall you affray.
I had to slump against the wall for a second, my breath coming in ragged heaves.
I blacked out.
I woke up sitting in an armchair with Nico and doc. Ascelepius standing over me. I opened my mouth to say something but it was immediatly kissed shut. Nico looked anxiously around the room, but nobody had noticed, or at least were pretending they hadn't. Really, I wasn't sure why nico was so damn self conscious in what was basically just a weird new acronym for rainbow-society kind of convention.
'Okay then, everybody, listen up,' That was Hera. Persephone, wearing a tiny but atrocious hat with multi-coloured chiffon rosettes, green leaf sprays and tulle over one eye, stepped up smartly next to her aunt and sister-in-law. She snapped her fingers and a black board with some sort of intricate flow chart on it, and a long-stemmed michaelmas purple daisy appeared in her hand, which she used like an ineffective pointer like the ones used by elementary school teachers. She wafted it limply around the board, explaining the exact details somniferously, punctuated with little sniffs, like she was in the versailles jardines. it appeared that we were meant to lure Zeus down here, although I think I drifted off on the whole method of that, then explain to him totally peacefully, preferably by someone like Iris, who he generally kind of liked, the terms and conditions of AUFPAGAD. Then we would produce a treaty, that he would sign in front of Olympus, and if he didn't, then we would station troops around his altar and cut off his burnt offerings. He'd be the laughing stock of Olympus, and it might even be enough to start a democracy.
But frankly, I'm not sure if that's all right, because I'm pretty sure I dozed off, and... might... just... do it again... now.
