𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐰, 𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐳

04

The amphitheatre steps were carved into the side of a hill, facing a stone-lined fire pit. Fifty or sixty kids filled the rows, clustered into groups under various banners with a campfire flowing.

Isadora and Arabella had gotten distracted after dinner, causing them to arrive a little late, after the songs had finished.

Isadora didn't know where to sit at first, but she ended up sitting next to Annabeth after the girl had pulled her over.

"Very nice!" a man... horse sad "and a special welcome to our new arrivals. I am Chiron, camp activities director, and I'm happy you have all arrived here alive and with most of your limbs attached. In a moment, I promise we'll get to the s'mores, but first—"

"What about capture the flag?" somebody yelled. Grumbling broke out among some kids in armor, sitting under a red banner with the emblem of a boar's head, where Arabella was sitting.

"Yes," the centaur said "I know the Ares cabin is anxious to return to the woods for our regular games."

"And kill people!" one of them shouted.

"However," Chiron said "until the dragon is brought under control, that won't be possible. Cabin Nine, anything to report on that?"

He turned to Leo's group. Leo winked at Isa and shot her with a finger gun. The girl next to him stood uncomfortably. She wore an army jacket a lot like Leo's, with her hair covered in a red bandanna. "We're working on it."

More grumbling.

"How, Nyssa?" an Ares kid demanded.

"Really hard" the girl said.

Nyssa sat down to a lot of yelling and complaining, which caused the fire to sputter chaotically. Chiron stamped his hoof against the fire pit stones and the campers fell silent.

"We will have to be patient," Chiron said "in the meantime, we have more pressing matters to discuss."

"Percy?" someone asked.

Chiron gestured to Annabeth. She took a deep breath and stood.

"I didn't find Percy," she announced "he wasn't at the Grand Canyon like I thought. But we're not giving up. We've got teams everywhere. Grover, Tyson, Nico, the Hunters of Artemis, everyone's out looking. We will find him. Chiron's talking about something different. A new quest."

"It's the Great Prophecy, isn't it?" a girl called out.

Everyone turned. The voice had come from a group in back, sitting under a rose-colored banner with a dove emblem. They'd been chatting among themselves and not paying much attention until their leader stood up: Drew.

Everyone else looked surprised. Apparently Drew didn't address the crowd very often.

"Drew?" Annabeth said. "What do you mean?"

"Well, come on. Olympus is closed. Percy's disappeared. Hera sends you a vision and you come back with four new demigods in one day. I mean, something weird is going on. The Great Prophecy has started, right?"

Isadora looked around confused, until she saw how everyone else was staring at a girl with red hair, who Isa admitted was pretty.

If it had been any other day, she would have just been looking at her as well.

"Rachel" Annabeth whispered to Isa.

"Well?" Drew called down. "You're the oracle. Has it started or not?"

Rachel's eyes looked scary in the firelight, and she stepped forward calmly and addressed the camp.

"Yes," she said. "The Great Prophecy has begun."