Changing Fate (Book 1: The God and The Titan)

21

I WAS A DRAMATIC GOD.

I thought my last statement was a great line. I expected gasps, perhaps some organ music in the background. Maybe the lights would go out just before I could say more. Moments later, I would be found dead with a knife in my back. That would be exciting!

Wait. I'm mortal. Murder would kill me. Never mind.

At any rate, none of that happened. My three companions just stared at me.

"Four other Oracles," Rachel said. "You mean you have four other Pythias—"

"No, my dear. There is only one Pythia—you. Delphi is absolutely unique."

Rachel still looked like she wanted to jam a number ten bristle paintbrush up my nose. "So these other four non-unique Oracles..."

"Well, one was the Sybil of Cumae." I wiped the sweat off my palms. (Why did mortal palms sweat?) "You know, she wrote the Sibylline Books—those prophecies that Ella the harpy memorized."

Meg looked back and forth between us. "A harpy...like those chicken ladies who clean up after lunch?"

Chiron smiled. "Ella is a very special harpy, Meg. Years ago, she somehow came across a copy of the prophetic books, which we thought were burned before the Fall of Rome. Right now, our friends at Camp Jupiter are trying to reconstruct them based on Ella's recollections."

Rachel crossed her arms. "And the other three Oracles? I'm sure none of them was a beautiful young priestess whom you praised for her...what was it?...'scintillating conversation'?"

"Ah..." I wasn't sure why, but it felt like my acne was turning into live insects and crawling across my face. "Well, according to my extensive research—"

"Some books he flipped through last night," Meg clarified.

"Ahem! There was an Oracle at Erythraea, and another at the Cave of Trophonius which demis like Emma use."

"Goodness," Chiron said. "I'd forgotten about those two."

I shrugged. I remembered almost nothing about them either. They had been some of my less successful prophetic franchises. If Emma was here she'd know.

"And the fifth," I said, "was the Grove of Dodona."

"A grove," Meg said. "Like trees."

"Yes, Meg, like trees. Groves are typically composed of trees, rather than, say, Fudgsicles. Dodona was a stand of sacred oaks planted by the Mother Goddess in the first days of the world. They were ancient even when the Olympians were born."

"The Mother Goddess?" Rachel shivered in her patina jacket. "Please tell me you don't mean Gaea."

"No, thankfully. I mean Rhea, Queen of the Titans, the mother of the first generation of Olympian gods. Her sacred trees could actually speak. Sometimes they issued prophecies."

"The voices in the woods," Meg guessed.

"Exactly. I believe the Grove of Dodona has regrown itself here in the woods at camp. In my dreams, I saw a crowned woman imploring me with Emma to find her Oracle. I believe it was Rhea, though I still don't understand why she was wearing a peace symbol or using the term dig it."

"A peace symbol?" Chiron asked.

"A large brass one," I confirmed.

Rachel drummed her fingers on the couch's armrest. "If Rhea is a Titan, isn't she evil?"

"Not all Titans were bad," I said. "Rhea was a gentle soul. She sided with the gods in their first great war. I think she wants me and Emma to succeed in finding it. She doesn't want her grove in the hands of our enemies."