aces: leo valdez¹

002

in which; prophecies are mean, green
and don't mix well with others

ON THE LAST WORD, RACHEL COLLAPSED, but her helpers were waiting to catch her. They carried her away from the hearth and laid her in the corner to rest.

"Is that normal?" Piper asked. Then she realized she'd spoken into the silence, and everyone was looking at her. "I mean... does she spew green smoke a lot?"

"Gods, you're dense!" Drew sneered. "She just issued a prophecy- Jason's prophecy to save Hera! Why don't you just-"

"Drew," Annabeth snapped. "Piper asked a fair question. Something about that prophecy definitely isn't normal. If breaking Hera's cage unleashes her rage and causes a bunch of death... why would we free her? It might be a trap, or- or maybe Hera will turn on her rescuers. She's never been kind to heroes."

Jason rose. "I don't have much choice. Hera took my memory. I need it back. Besides, we can't just not help the queen of the heavens if she's in trouble."

Nyssa stood slowly, drawing attention to herself. "Maybe. But you should listen to Annabeth. Hera can be vengeful. She threw her own son, our dad, down a mountain just because he was ugly."

"Real ugly," snickered someone from Aphrodite cabin.

"Shut up!" Nyssa growled. "Anyway, we've also got to think -why beware the earth? And what's the giants' revenge? What are we dealing with here that's powerful enough to kidnap the queen of the heavens?"

No one answered, but Hana watched the silent exchange between Annabeth and Chiron, A conversation that was above words because they both knew exactly what was happening. In all of her experience, that meant things were evidently worse than they appeared, knowing what was going to happen despite a twisted prophecy could only mean one thing; history was repeating itself.

Annabeth took a deep breath.

"It's Jason's quest," she announced, "so it's Jason's choice. Obviously, he's the child of lightning. According to tradition, he may choose any two companions."

Someone rose, another child of Athena- Malcolm, "But the quest calls for three companions!"

Silence. Annabeth looked to Chiron. He sighed. "It appears so."

He turns to Jason, "A quest of four is difficult but not impossible, are you prepared to lead it?"

Jason nodded firmly, turning back to the campers who watch him with full attention, which in Hana's opinion was pretty impressive for a bunch of ADHD kids.

Someone from the Hypnos cabin, George, yelled, "Well, you, obviously Annabeth. You've got the most experience."

"No, George," Annabeth said. "First off, I'm not helping Hera. Every time I've tried, she's deceived me, or it's come back to bite me later. Forget it. No way. Secondly, I'm leaving first thing in the morning to find Percy."

"It's connected," Piper blurted out, not sure how she got the courage. "You know that's true, don't you? This whole business, your friend's disappearance -it's all connected."

"How?" demanded Drew. "If you're so smart, how?"

Hana watched the girl try to form an answer, but she couldn't, and she pitied her because being a demigod was 80% gut feelings and 20% bad luck. Thankfully, Annabeth saved her. "You may be right, Piper. If this is connected, I'll find out from the other end-by searching for Percy. As I said, I'm not about to rush off to rescue Hera, even if her disappearance sets the rest of the Olympians fighting again. But there's another reason I can't go. The prophecy says otherwise."