Percy Jackson, Son of Olympus, The Titan's Curse

| Chapter XVI || One Down and Haven't Even Started Yet |

*December 18 XXXX*

*Percy's Point of View*

***

The next morning was an early one, so of course, Zoë had to wake me up. And what a way, too! Somehow during the night, I'd managed to wrap myself up like a burrito in my blanket, so to wake me up, she used her superhuman strength, grabbed one end of the blanket, and pulled. I smacked nose-first into the – thankfully not coral – wood floor. After sending a quick prayer to my father for putting shag carpets under each of the bunks, I pushed myself up to glare at Zoë, who was still holding the blanket but also whistling innocently.

"What the Hades was that about?" I shrieked.

"Thou art late," she said, tossing my blanket back on my bed. "We are leaving in ten minutes." Then, she left. Perhaps she was getting into character – hating me, that is, or at least being barely tolerant of me. The other Hunters would appreciate that better, seeing as they were less than pleased that I was going along in the first place.

I was already dressed, having anticipated sleeping in, and grabbed my backpack, in which I had two spare sets of clothes, a couple of water bottles, and some snacks. The shield Tyson gifted me found its way onto my wrist and Riptide in my pocket. Though it still had a large dent in it, it would work for now. A hunting knife – gifted to me by Artemis as an early Solstice present, sat snuggly in a sheath on my belt.

When I joined the others on the hill, Chiron was there, but Phoebe was not.

"Where's our tracker?" I asked, looking around anxiously, expecting her to jump out of a tree and shoot me.

Zoë's already present frown deepened. "Phoebe, unfortunately, will not be joining us. Those two tricksters from the cabin of Hermes saw to that by lacing the shirt with centaur blood. She will survive, but I'm afraid we have already lost one of our companions. I suppose that the satyr and I will have to suffice as our trackers."

"Will someone else be taking her place? Another hunter?"

Zoë shook her head. "No. We will be treating this as 'one lost to a land without rain', as the prophecy said. I consider our quest has already begun, from the moment we chose our group. We will continue from here and hope for the best."

That made sense, I guess.

"Percy," Chiron said, trotting toward me, "May I borrow you for a moment?" He glanced at the others, who were making their way over to where the camp van was parked at the street beyond the border.

Zoë shrugged.

"Sure," I replied, following him to the base of Thalia's tree. After the situation from the night before, I felt a bit awkward standing here, but then Chiron started talking. He sighed and knelt on his horse legs. "Percy, I don't pretend to understand prophecies."

Oh. He was talking about Phoebe, or maybe Artemis, or maybe Zoë. Any of those things were plausible. "Yeah," I said. "Well, maybe that's because they don't make any sense."

"I must say that I'm glad Thalia will not be going on this quest. She's too impetuous. She acts without thinking. She is too sure of herself"

I agreed on all points, but that didn't mean that Chiron's confession didn't surprise me. Since returning from the tree, she'd become Chiron's star student, and maybe that was because she was probably going to be the child of the prophecy – what, with her turning sixteen in only a few days – or just because she was the daughter of Zeus. Either way, I couldn't see Chiron withholding this opportunity from her, and yet, here he was. "Any other reason?" I prompted.