The Fourth Chance (book 1)

Chapter III

        After my dream, I decided to walk around the camp. It was almost 12:35 and I was restless. As I walked I thought. What should I do? Do I have to go somewhere? If I did, I wasn't getting anywhere by staying in camp.
        Because my mind was occupied with questions, I wasn't watching where I was going. I accidentally bumped into someone and we both fell.
        "I'm sorry," I said and looked up. I found myself face-to-face with a pale girl. She had lots of freckles and bright red hair.
        "Don't worry about it," she said. She stood up, then helped me, being careful not to fall again. "I haven't seen you around before," she stated. "You must be new. I'm Rachel. I'm the oracle."
        "I'm Grace," I said, trying to match her politeness. "And yes, I am new."
        She studied me carefully. "You look troubled. What's on your mind?" she asked.
        As soon as she said it, I realized how much I needed to talk to someone, so I opened up my mind to her and told her everything. She was very understanding and listened without interrupting. After I told her everything, she tried to give me advise.
        "Wow!" she exclaimed. "That's a lot for one person to go through. But remember, you-." She suddenly stopped short and fainted. I caught her at the last second. When her eyes opened, they were glowing green and her voice came out in a rasp: "Nine in all, two shall fall, a terrible fate besets us all. Seven shall stand, westward they go to discover the terrible armies that grow. At death, all shall stand and two shall stray to be stranded at the final day." Her eyes returned to blue.
        "What was that?" I asked, bewildered.
        "Probably a prophesy," she replied casually, as though it was entirely normal to start blurting prophesies randomly. "We should probably go tell Chiron."
        "At 1:00 in the morning?"
        She laughed. "You've got a point, but yes." With that, we headed off to the Big House.

        As soon as we reached the front door, we were stopped by Argus. He wouldn't let us in or tell us why, so we just waited on the front porch for whatever meeting to disperse. It didn't take long and we soon rushed in.
        We found Chiron in a small room with a ping-pong table in the center. He looked surprised as Rachel and I enter. We explained that Rachel had given me a prophesy telling me to go west. Chiron didn't seem surprised and told me I would have to go on a quest heading west just like the prophesy said to.

        That night, sleep was hard to come by, though that's no surprise. By morning, the little rest I'd gotten was put to my reserves. I took a small backpack filled with a few clothes, a map, some weapons, and a sleeping bag. Argus drove me to the southwestern border of New York and I was left there to find my way west.