If you want to be popular at Camp Half-Blood, don't come back from a mission
with bad news.
Word of my arrival spread as soon as I walked out of the ocean. Our beach is
on the North Shore of Long Island, and it's enchanted so most people can't even
see it. People don't just appear on the beach unless they're demigods or gods or
really, really lost pizza delivery guys. (It's happened – but that's another story.)
Anyway, that afternoon the lookout on duty was Connor Stoll from Hermes
cabin. When he spotted me, he got so excited he fell out of his tree. Then he
blew the conch horn to signal the camp and ran to greet me.
Connor had a crooked smile that matched his crooked sense of humour. He's a
pretty nice guy, but you should always keep one hand on your wallet when he's
around and do not, under any circumstances, give him access to shaving cream
unless you want to find your sleeping bag full of it. He's got curly brown hair
and is a little shorter than his brother Travis, which is the only way I can tell
them apart. They are both so unlike my old enemy Luke it's hard to believe
they're all sons of Hermes.
'Percy!' he yelled. 'What happened? Where's Beckendorf?'
Then he saw my expression, and his smile melted. 'Oh no. Poor Silena. Holy
Zeus, when she finds out …'
Together we climbed the sand dunes. A few hundred metres away, people
were already streaming towards us, smiling and excited. Percy's back, they were
probably thinking. He's saved the day! Maybe he brought souvenirs!
I stopped at the dining pavilion and waited for them. No sense rushing down
there to tell them what a loser I was.
I gazed across the valley and tried to remember how Camp Half-Blood looked
the first time I saw it. That seemed like a bajillion years ago.
From the dining pavilion, you could see pretty much everything. Hills ringed
the valley. On the tallest, Half-Blood Hill, Thalia's pine tree stood with the
Golden Fleece hanging from its branches, magically protecting the camp from its
enemies. The guard dragon Peleus was so big now I could see him from here –
curled around the tree trunk, sending up smoke signals as he snored.
To my right spread the woods. To my left, the canoe lake glittered and the
climbing wall glowed from the lava pouring down its side. Twelve cabins – one
for each Olympian god – made a horseshoe pattern around the commons area.
Further south were the strawberry fields, the armoury and the four-storey Big
House with its sky-blue paint job and its bronze-eagle weathervane.
In some ways, the camp hadn't changed. But you couldn't see the war by
looking at the buildings or the fields. You could see it in the faces of the
demigods and satyrs and naiads coming up the hill.
There weren't as many at camp as four summers ago. Some had left and never
come back. Some had died fighting. Others – we tried not to talk about them –
had gone over to the enemy.
The ones who were still here were battle-hardened and weary. There was little
laughter at camp these days. Even the Hermes cabin didn't play so many pranks.
It's hard to enjoy practical jokes when your whole life feels like one.
Chiron galloped into the pavilion first, which was easy for him since he's a
white stallion from the waist down. His beard had grown wilder over the
summer. He wore a green T-shirt that said MY OTHER CAR IS A CENTAUR
and a bow slung over his back.
'Percy!' he said. 'Thank the gods. But where …'
Annabeth ran in right behind him, and I'll admit my heart did a little relay
race in my chest when I saw her. It's not that she tried to look good. We'd been
doing so many combat missions lately she hardly brushed her curly blonde hair
any more and she didn't care what clothes she was wearing – usually the same
old orange camp T-shirt and jeans and once in a while her bronze armour. Her
eyes were stormy grey. Most of the time, we couldn't get through a conversation
without trying to strangle each other. Still, just seeing her made me feel fuzzy in
the head. Last summer, before Luke had turned into Kronos and everything went
sour, there had been a few times when I thought maybe … well, we might get
past the strangle-each-other phase.
'What happened?' She grabbed my arm. 'Is Luke –'
'The ship blew up,' I said. 'He wasn't destroyed. I don't know where –'
Silena Beauregard pushed through the crowd. Her hair wasn't combed and she
wasn't even wearing makeup, which wasn't like her.
'Where's Charlie?'she demanded, looking around like he might be hiding.
I glanced at Chiron helplessly.
The old centaur cleared his throat. 'Silena, my dear, let's talk about this at the
Big House –'
'No,'she muttered. 'No. No.'
She started to cry, and the rest of us stood around, too stunned to speak. We'd
already lost so many people over the summer, but this was the worst. With
Beckendorf gone, it felt like someone had stolen the anchor for the entire camp.
Finally Clarisse from the Ares cabin came forward. She put her arm around
Silena. They had one of the strangest friendships ever – a daughter of the war
god and a daughter of the love goddess – but ever since Silena had given
Clarisse advice last summer about her first boyfriend, Clarisse had decided she
was Silena's personal bodyguard.
Clarisse was dressed in her blood-red combat armour, her brown hair tucked
into a bandanna. She was as big and beefy as a rugby player, with a permanent
scowl on her face, but she spoke gently to Silena.
'Come on, girl,' she said. 'Let's get to the Big House. I'll make you some hot
chocolate.'
Everyone turned and wandered off in twos and threes, heading back to the
cabins. Nobody was excited to see me now. Nobody wanted to hear about the
blown-up ship.
Only Annabeth and Chiron stayed behind.
Annabeth wiped a tear from her cheek. 'I'm glad you're not dead, Seaweed
Brain.'
'Thanks,' I said. 'Me too.'
Chiron put a hand on my shoulder. 'I'm sure you did everything you could,
Percy. Will you tell us what happened?'
I didn't want to go through it again, but I told them the story, including my
dream about the Titans. I left out the detail about Nico. Nico had made me
promise not to tell anybody about his plan until I made up my mind, and the plan
was so scary I didn't mind keeping it a secret.
Chiron gazed down at the valley. 'We must call a war council immediately to
discuss this spy, and other matters.'
'Poseidon mentioned another threat,' I said, 'something even bigger than the
Princess Andromeda. I thought it might be that challenge the Titan mentioned in
my dream.'
Chiron and Annabeth exchanged looks, like they knew something I didn't. I
hated it when they did that.
'We will discuss that also,' Chiron promised.
'One more thing.' I took a deep breath. 'When I talked to my father, he said to
tell you it's time. I need to know the full prophecy.'
Chiron's shoulders sagged, but he didn't look surprised. 'I've dreaded this
day. Very well. Annabeth, we will show Percy the truth – all of it. Let's go to the
attic.'
I'd been to the Big House attic three times before, which was three times more
than I wanted to.
A ladder led up from the top of the staircase. I wondered how Chiron was
going to get up there, being half horse and all, but he didn't try.
'You know where it is,' he told Annabeth. 'Bring it down, please.'
Annabeth nodded. 'Come on, Percy.'
The sun was setting outside, so the attic was even darker and creepier than
usual. Old hero trophies were stacked everywhere – dented shields, pickled
heads in jars from various monsters, a pair of fuzzy dice on a bronze plaque that
read: STOLEN FROM CHRYSAOR'S HONDA CIVIC, BY GUS, SON OF HERMES, 1988.
I picked up a curved bronze sword so badly bent it looked like a letter M. I
could still see green stains on the metal from the magical poison that used to
cover it. The tag was dated last summer. It read: SCIMITAR OF KAMPÊ, DESTROYED
IN THE BATTLE OF THE LABYRINTH.
'You remember Briares throwing those boulders?' I asked.
Annabeth gave me a grudging smile. 'And Grover causing a Panic?'
We locked eyes. I thought of a different time last summer, under Mount St
Helens, when Annabeth thought I was going to die, and she kissed me.
She cleared her throat and looked away. 'Prophecy.'
'Right.' I put down the scimitar. 'Prophecy.'
We walked over to the window. On a three-legged stool sat the Oracle – a
shrivelled female mummy in a tie-dyed dress. Tufts of black hair clung to her
skull. Glassy eyes stared out of her leathery face. Just looking at her made my
skin crawl.
If you wanted to leave camp during the summer, it used to be you had to come
up here to get a quest. This summer, that rule had been tossed. Campers left all
the time on combat missions. We had no choice if we wanted to stop Kronos.
Still, I remembered too well the strange green mist – the spirit of the Oracle –
that lived inside the mummy. She looked lifeless now, but whenever she spoke a
prophecy she moved. Sometimes fog gushed out of her mouth and created
strange shapes. Once, she'd even left the attic and taken a little zombie stroll into
the woods to deliver a message. I wasn't sure what she'd do for the 'Great
Prophecy'. I half expected her to start tap dancing or something.
But she just sat there like she was dead – which she was.
'I never understood this,' I whispered.
'What?' Annabeth asked.
'Why it's a mummy.'
'Percy, she wasn't always a mummy. For thousands of years the spirit of the
Oracle lived inside a beautiful maiden. The spirit would be passed on from
generation to generation. Chiron told me she was like that fifty years ago.'
Annabeth pointed at the mummy. 'But she was the last.'
'What happened?'
Annabeth stared to say something then apparently changed her mind. 'Let's
just do our job and get out of here.'
I looked nervously at the Oracle's withered face. 'So what now?'
Annabeth approached the mummy and held out her palms. 'O Oracle, the time
is at hand. I ask for the Great Prophecy.'
I braced myself, but the mummy didn't move. Instead, Annabeth approached
and unclasped one of its necklaces. I'd never paid too much attention to its
jewellery before. I figured it was just hippie love beads and stuff. But when
Annabeth turned towards me, she was holding a leather pouch – like a Native
American medicine pouch – on a cord braided with feathers. She opened the bag
and took out a roll of parchment no bigger than her pinky.
'No way,' I said. 'You mean all these years I've been asking about this stupid
prophecy, and it's been right there around her neck?'
'The time wasn't right,' Annabeth said. 'Believe me, Percy, I read this when I
was ten years old, and I still have nightmares about it.'
'Great,' I said. 'Can I read it now?'
'Downstairs at the war council,' Annabeth said. 'Not in front of … you know.'
I looked at the glassy eyes of the Oracle, and I decided not to argue. We
headed downstairs to join the others. I didn't know it then, but it would be the
last time I ever visited the attic.
The senior counsellors had gathered around the ping-pong table. Don't ask me
why, but the rec room had become the camp's informal headquarters for war
councils. When Annabeth, Chiron and I came in, though, it looked more like a
shouting match.
Clarisse was still in full battle gear. Her electric spear was strapped to her
back. (Actually her second electric spear, since I'd broken the first one. She
called the spear 'Maimer'. Behind her back, everybody else called it 'Lamer'.)
She had her boar-shaped helmet under one arm and a knife at her belt.
She was in the midst of yelling at Michael Yew, the new head counsellor for
Apollo, which looked kind of funny since Clarisse was so much taller. Michael
had taken over the Apollo cabin after Lee Fletcher died in battle last summer.
Michael stood a little over a metre tall with another half metre of attitude. He
reminded me of a ferret, with a pointy nose and scrunched-up features – either
because he scowled so much or because he spent too much time looking down
the shaft of an arrow.
'It's our loot!' he yelled, standing on his tiptoes so he could get in Clarisse's
face. 'If you don't like it, you can kiss my quiver!'
Around the table, people were trying not to laugh – the Stoll brothers, Pollux
from the Dionysus cabin, Katie Gardner from Demeter. Even Jake Mason, the
hastily appointed new counsellor from Hephaestus, managed a faint smile. Only
Silena Beauregard didn't pay any attention. She sat beside Clarisse and stared
vacantly at the ping-pong net. Her eyes were red and puffy. A cup of hot
chocolate sat untouched in front of her. It seemed unfair that she had to be here. I
couldn't believe Clarisse and Michael standing over her, arguing about
something as stupid as loot when she'd just lost Beckendorf.
'STOP IT!' I yelled. 'What are you guys doing?'
Clarisse glowered at me. 'Tell Michael not to be a selfish jerk.'
'Oh, that's perfect, coming from you,' Michael said.
'The only reason I'm here is to support Silena!' Clarisse shouted. 'Otherwise
I'd be back in my cabin.'
'What are you talking about?' I demanded.
Pollux cleared his throat. 'Clarisse has refused to speak to any us, until her,
um, issue is resolved. She hasn't spoken for three days.'
'It's been wonderful,' Travis Stoll said wistfully.
'What issue?' I asked.
Clarisse turned to Chiron. 'You're in charge, right? Does my cabin get what
we want or not?'
Chiron shuffled his hooves. 'My dear, as I've already explained, Michael is
correct. Apollo's cabin has the best claim. Besides, we have more important
matters –'
'Sure,' Clarisse snapped. 'Always more important matters than what Ares
needs. We're just supposed to show up and fight when you need us and not
complain!'
'That would be nice,' Connor Stoll muttered.
Clarisse gripped her knife. 'Maybe I should ask Mr D –'
'As you know,' Chiron interrupted, his tone slightly angry now, 'our director
Dionysus is busy with the war. He can't be bothered with this.'
'I see,' Clarisse said. 'And the senior counsellors? Are any of you going to
side with me?'
Nobody was smiling now. None of them met Clarisse's eyes.
'Fine.' Clarisse turned to Silena. 'I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get into this when
you've just lost … anyway, I apologize. To you. Nobody else.'
Silena didn't seem to register her words.
Clarisse threw her knife on the ping-pong table. 'All of you can fight this war
without Ares. Until I get satisfaction, no one in my cabin is lifting a finger to
help. Have fun dying.'
The counsellors were all too stunned to say anything as Clarisse stormed out
of the room.
Finally Michael Yew said, 'Good riddance.'
'Are you kidding?' Katie Gardner protested. 'This is a disaster!'
'She can't be serious,' Travis said. 'Can she?'
Chiron sighed. 'Her pride has been wounded. She'll calm down eventually.'
But he didn't sound convinced.
I wanted to ask what the heck Clarisse was so mad about, but I looked at
Annabeth and she mouthed the words, I'll tell you later.
'Now,' Chiron continued, 'if you please, counsellors. Percy has brought
something I think you should hear. Percy – the Great Prophecy.'
Annabeth handed me the parchment. It felt dry and old, and my fingers
fumbled with the string. I uncurled the paper, trying not to rip it, and began to
read:
'A half-blood of the eldest dogs …'
'Er, Percy?' Annabeth interrupted. 'That's gods. Not dogs.'
'Oh, right,' I said. Being dyslexic is one mark of a demigod, but sometimes I
really hate it. The more nervous I am, the worse my reading gets.
'A half-blood of the eldest gods
Shall reach sixteen against all odds …'
I hesitated, staring at the next lines. A cold feeling started in my fingers as if the
paper were freezing.
'And see the world in endless sleep,
The hero's soul, cursed blade shall reap.'
Suddenly Riptide seemed heavier in my pocket. A cursed blade? Chiron once
told me Riptide had brought many people sorrow. Was it possible my own sword
could get me killed? And how could the world fall into endless sleep, unless that
meant death?
'Percy,' Chiron urged. 'Read the rest.'
My mouth felt like it was full of sand, but I spoke the last two lines.
'A single choice shall … shall end his days.
Olympus to per – pursue –'
'Preserve,' Annabeth said gently. 'It means "to save".'
'I know what it means,' I grumbled.
'Olympus to preserve or raze.'
The room was silent. Finally Connor Stoll said, 'Raise is good, isn't it?'
'Not raise,' Silena said. Her voice was hollow, but I was startled to hear her
speak at all. 'R-a-z-e means "destroy".'
'Obliterate,' Annabeth said. 'Annihilate. Turn to rubble.'
'Got it.' My heart felt like lead. 'Thanks.'
Everybody was looking at me – with concern, or pity, or maybe a little fear.
Chiron closed his eyes as if he were saying a prayer. In horse form, his head
almost brushed the lights in the rec room. 'You see now, Percy, why we thought
it best not to tell you the whole prophecy. You've had enough on your shoulders
–'
'Without realizing I was going to die in the end anyway?' I said. 'Yeah, I get
it.'
Chiron gazed at me sadly. The guy was three thousand years old. He'd seen
hundreds of heroes die. He might not like it, but he was used to it. He probably
knew better than to try reassuring me.
'Percy,' Annabeth said. 'You know prophecies always have double meanings.
It might not literally mean you die.'
'Sure,' I said. 'A single choice shall end his days. That has tons of meanings,
right?'
'Maybe we can stop it,' Jake Mason offered. 'The hero's soul, cursed blade
shall reap. Maybe we could find this cursed blade and destroy it. Sounds like
Kronos's scythe, right?'
I hadn't thought about that, but it didn't matter if the cursed blade was Riptide
or Kronos's scythe. Either way, I doubted we could stop the prophecy. A blade
was supposed to reap my soul. As a general rule, I preferred not to have my soul
reaped.
'Perhaps we should let Percy think about these lines,' Chiron said. 'He needs
time –'
'No.' I folded up the prophecy and shoved it in my pocket. I felt defiant and
angry, though I wasn't sure who I was angry with. 'I don't need time. If I die, I
die. I can't worry about that, right?'
Annabeth's hands were shaking a little. She wouldn't meet my eyes.
'Let's move on,' I said. 'We've got other problems. We've got a spy.'
Michael Yew scowled. 'A spy?'
I told them what had happened on the Princess Andromeda – how Kronos had
known we were coming, how he'd shown me the silver scythe pendant he'd used
to communicate with someone at camp.
Silena started to cry again and Annabeth put her arm around her shoulders.
'Well,' Connor Stoll said uncomfortably, 'we've suspected there might be a
spy for years, right? Somebody kept passing information to Luke – like the
location of the Golden Fleece a couple of years ago. It must be somebody who
knew him well.'
He glanced at Annabeth. She'd known Luke better than anyone, of course, but
Connor looked away quickly. 'Um, I mean, it could be anybody.'
'Yes.' Katie Gardner frowned at the Stoll brothers. She'd disliked them ever
since they'd decorated the grass roof of the Demeter cabin with chocolate Easter
bunnies. 'Like one of Luke's siblings.'
Travis and Connor both started arguing with her.
'Stop!' Silena banged the table so hard her hot chocolate spilled. 'Charlie's
dead and … and you're all arguing like little kids!' She put her head down and
began to sob.
Hot chocolate trickled off the ping-pong table. Everybody looked ashamed.
'She's right,' Pollux said at last. 'Accusing each other doesn't help. We need
to keep our eyes open for a silver necklace with a scythe charm. If Kronos had
one, the spy probably does too.'
Michael Yew grunted. 'We need to find this spy before we plan our next
operation. Blowing up the Princess Andromeda won't stop Kronos forever.'
'No, indeed,' Chiron said. 'In fact his next assault is already on the way.'
I scowled. 'You mean the "bigger threat" Poseidon mentioned?'
He and Annabeth looked at each other like: It's time. Did I mention I hate it
when they do that?
'Percy,' Chiron said, 'we didn't want to tell you until you returned to camp.
You needed a break with your … mortal friends.'
Annabeth blushed. It dawned on me that she knew I'd been hanging out with
Rachel, and I felt guilty. Then I felt angry that I felt guilty. I was allowed to have
friends outside camp, right? It wasn't like …
'Tell me what's happened,' I said.
Chiron picked up a bronze goblet from the snack table. He tossed water onto
the hot plate where we usually melted nacho cheese. Steam billowed up, making
a rainbow in the fluorescent lights. Chiron fished a golden drachma out of his
pouch, tossed it through the mist and muttered, 'O Iris, Goddess of the Rainbow,
show us the threat.'
The mist shimmered. I saw the familiar image of a smouldering volcano –
Mount St Helens. As I watched, the side of the mountain exploded. Fire, ash and
lava rolled out. A newscaster's voice was saying: – even larger than last year's
eruption, and geologists warn that the mountain may not be done.
I knew all about last year's eruption. I'd caused it. But this explosion was
much worse. The mountain tore itself apart, collapsing inward, and an enormous
form rose out of the smoke and lava like it was emerging from a manhole cover.
I hoped the Mist would keep the humans from seeing it clearly, because what I
saw would've caused panic and riots across the entire United States.
The giant was bigger than anything I'd ever encountered. Even my demigod
eyes couldn't make out its exact form through the ash and fire, but it was
vaguely humanoid and so huge it could've used the Chrysler Building as a
baseball bat. The mountain shook with a horrible rumbling, as if the monster
were laughing.
'It's him,' I said. 'Typhon.'
I was seriously hoping Chiron would say something good, like No, that's our
huge friend Leroy! He's going to help us! But no such luck. He simply nodded.
'The most horrible monster of all, the biggest single threat the gods ever faced.
He has been freed from under the mountain at last. But this scene is from two
days ago. Here is what is happening today.'
Chiron waved his hand and the image changed. I saw a bank of storm clouds
rolling across the Midwest plains. Lightning flickered. Lines of tornadoes
destroyed everything in their path – ripping up houses and trailers, tossing cars
around like Matchbox toys.
Monumental floods, an announcer was saying. Five states declared disaster
areas as the freak storm system sweeps east, continuing its path of destruction.
The cameras zoomed in on a column of storm bearing down on some Midwest
city. I couldn't tell which one. Inside the storm I could see the giant – just small
glimpses of his true form: a smoky arm, a dark clawed hand the size of a city
block. His angry roar rolled across the plains like a nuclear blast. Other smaller
forms darted through the clouds, circling the monster. I saw flashes of light, and
I realized the giant was trying to swat them. I squinted and thought I saw a
golden chariot flying into the blackness. Then some kind of huge bird – a
monstrous owl – dived in to attack the giant.
'Are those … the gods?' I said.
'Yes, Percy,' Chiron said. 'They have been fighting him for days now, trying
to slow him down. But Typhon is marching forward – towards New York.
Towards Olympus.'
I let that sink in. 'How long until he gets here?'
'Unless the gods can stop him? Perhaps five days. Most of the Olympians are
there … except your father, who has a war of his own to fight.'
'But then who's guarding Olympus?'
Connor Stoll shook his head. 'If Typhon gets to New York, it won't matter
who's guarding Olympus.'
I thought about Kronos's words on the ship: I would love to see the terror in
your eyes when you realize how I will destroy Olympus.
Was this what he was talking about: an attack by Typhon? It sure was
terrifying enough. But Kronos was always fooling us, misdirecting our attention.
This seemed too obvious for him. And in my dream the golden Titan had talked
about several more challenges to come, like Typhon was only the first.
'It's a trick,' I said. 'We have to warn the gods. Something else is going to
happen.'
Chiron looked at me gravely. 'Something worse than Typhon? I hope not.'
'We have to defend Olympus,' I insisted. 'Kronos has another attack planned.'
'He did,' Travis Stoll reminded me. 'But you sank his ship.'
Everyone was looking at me. They wanted some good news. They wanted to
believe that at least I'd given them a little bit of hope.
I glanced at Annabeth. I could tell we were thinking the same thing: what if
the Princess Andromeda was a ploy? What if Kronos let us blow up that ship so
we'd lower our guard?
But I wasn't going to say that in front of Silena. Her boyfriend had sacrificed
himself for that mission.
'Maybe you're right,' I said, though I didn't believe a word of it.
I tried to imagine how things could get much worse. The gods were in the
Midwest fighting a huge monster that had almost defeated them once before.
Poseidon was under siege and losing a war against the sea Titan Oceanus.
Kronos was still out there somewhere. Olympus was virtually undefended. The
demigods of Camp Half-Blood were on our own with a spy in our midst.
Oh, and according to the ancient prophecy, I was going to die when I turned
sixteen – which happened to be in five days, the exact same time Typhon was
supposed to hit New York. Almost forgot that.
'Well,' Chiron said, 'I think that's enough for one night.'
He waved his hand and the steam dissipated. The stormy battle of Typhon and
the gods disappeared.
'That's an understatement,' I muttered.
And the war council adjourned.