"When you're ready to talk, I'm here." Andromeda said, causing Jakob to give a small smile before they faced the Oracle and the apparitions of people from their pasts. "What is our destiny?"
The man in the middle, who Jakob guessed was the 'Smelly Gabe; Andromeda had mentioned and from the way she had described him, turned towards them and spoke in the raspy voice of the Oracle: You shall go west and face the god who has turned.
The guy on the left threw two poker chips and said, You shall find what is stolen, and see it safely returned.
His buddy on the right looked up and said in the same voice, You shall be betrayed by one who calls you a friend.
The other buddy delivered another message, And you shall fail what to save what matters most in the end.
Thor gave the final line, The son of lightning's path begins.
The figures began to dissolve and as the mist retreated, Andromeda cried out, "Wait! What do you mean? What friend? What will I fail to save?"
The tail of the mist retreated into the mummy's mouth. Then she returned back into her original position, leaving the child of the sea and the child of lightning alone. Their audience with the Oracle was over.
"Well?" Chiron asked them with a raised eyebrow.
Andromeda and Jakob slumped into the chairs. Andromeda responded first. "She said we would retrieve what was stolen."
Grover sat forward, chewing excitedly on the remains of a Diet Coke can. "That's great."
"What did the Oracle say exactly?" Chiron pressed. "This is important."
Andromeda shivered a bit. "She-she said we would go west and face the god who has turned. We would retrieve what was stolen and see it safely returned."
"I knew it," Grover said.
Chiron didn't look satisfied. "Anything else?" he asked sternly.
Andromeda looked between them nervously, not wanting to share the rest of the prophecy. Jakob remained silent, thinking on the last line of the prophecy which he knew concerned him. But what did it mean? What was his path?
"She said that the son of lightning's path begins." Jakob finally said, drawing all eyes to him. "It means me."
"'Son of lightning's path begins...'" Mimir recited in a mummer, trying to figure it out himself. "I'm not sure what it could mean, and I'm the smartest man alive! I could try and piece it together, given time."
Chiron nodded, but still looked troubled.
Then he studied both expressions on the boys. "Very well. But know this: the Oracle's words often have double meanings. Don't dwell on them too much. The truth is not always clear until events come to pass."
Andromeda squirmed a bit, with Jakob looking off, but the words were accepted.
"Okay," Andromeda said, anxious to change the topic. "So where do we go? Who's the god in the west?"
"Ah, think, Andromeda," Chiron said. "If Zeus and Poseidon weaken each other, who stands to gain?"
"Somebody else who wants to take over?" Andromeda guessed.
"Yes, quite. Someone who harbors a grudge, who has been unhappy with his lot since the world was divided eons ago, whose kingdom would grow powerful with the deaths of millions. Someone who hates his brothers for forcing him into an oath to have no more children, an oath that both of them have now broken." Chiron explained.
"Hades." Jakob stated.
"The Lord of the Dead is the only possibility." Chiron nodded.
"How do we know it's Hades?" Jakob asked with a frown. It was so stereotypical to blame Hades, given how he's the God of the Underworld and always made out to be the bad guy. It was like how Hela was depicted as evil because she was the Goddess of Death and rules the realm of Helheim. "We're simply blaming him without proof that he's behind this."
"A Fury came after Andromeda," Chiron said. "She watched the young girl until she was sure of her identity, then tried to kill her. Furies obey only one lord: Hades."
'Why would a Fury be after Andromeda in the first place? It has to be simply more than the fact Poseidon broke the oath.' Jakob thought, feeling ike there was more to this but they weren't seeing it.
"Yes, but-but Hades hates all heroes," Grover protested. "Especially if he found out that Andromeda was the daughter of Poseidon…"
"A Hellhound appeared into the forest," Chiron continued on. "Those can only be summoned from the Fields of Punishment, and it had to be summoned by someone from this camp. Hades must have a spy here. He must suspect Poseidon will try to use Andromeda to clear his name. Hades would very much like to kill this half-blood before she could take on the quest."
"Great," Andromeda muttered tiredly. "There's two major Gods who want to kill me."
"But a quest to…" Grover swallowed. "I mean, couldn't the master bolt have been in some place like Maine? Maine's very nice this time of year?"
"Hades sent a minion to steal the bolt," Chiron insisted. "He hid it in the Underworld, knowing full well that Zeus would blame Poseidon. I don't pretend to understand the Lord of the Dead's motives perfectly, or why he chose this time to start a war, but one thing is certain. Andromeda and Jakob must go into the Underworld, find the master bolt, and reveal the truth."
Jakob exhaled. This had sure been quite a few interesting months in Midgard. First he escapes from Asgard, hides in America for several months, reaches Olympian territory and then finds himself in a camp for Greek demigods, and now he has been accused of stealing a God's symbol of power, and must go to the Greek Underworld to find said symbol simply because everyone believes the God of the Underworld would be behind it.
"Look, if we know it's Hades, why can't we just tell the other gods? Zeus or Poseidon could go down to the Underworld and bust some heads." Andromeda said, seeing that as the safer option, letting Zeus or her father deal with Hades and get the Master Bolt back.
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