warrior ( RACHEL ELIZABETH DARE. )

iii. THE CAMPFIRE

Ingrid swallowed hard at the mention of the girl's name. She watched intently as Rachel smoothly stepped forward to address the camp.

"Yes. The Great Prophecy has begun." She said, making the whispers go wild. Ingrid looked to Casey, who was just as stricken as she was.

   Rachel took another step forward, making the crowd back up. That is, except for Ingrid. She hung on the edge of her seat, waiting for what Rachel would say. Casey gave her a look, as if to say 'Are you insane?' but she just brushed it off.

   "For those of you who have not heard it," Rachel said. "The Great Prophecy was my first prediction. It arrived in August. It goes like this: Seven half bloods shall answer the call, to storm or fire the world must fall —"

   Rachel was interrupted when Jason stood up, a wild look in his eyes, as if he'd been tasered. "J-Jason? What —"

   Ingrid watched with confusion, shock, and disbelief as Jason began chanting out in Latin. When he finished, there was an uneasy silence among the campers.

   "You just ... finished the prophecy," Rachel stammered. "An oath to keep with a final breath, and foes bear arms to the doors of death. How did you —"

   "I know those lines," Jason said, pressing the temples on his head. "I don't know how, but I know that prophecy."

"In Latin no less," Drew called out. "Handsome and smart." At that, Ingrid scoffed at the girl's behavior. The poor guy practically had an aneurysm and Drew was already hitting on him.

Ingrid glanced around the arena seeing the same expression on everyone's faces, but the biggest being on Rachel's. "So, yeah, that's the Great Prophecy. We hoped it might not happen for years, but I fear it's starting now. I can't give you proof. It's just a feeling. And like Drew said, some weird stuff is happening. The seven demigods, whoever they are, have not been gathered yet. I get the feeling some are here tonight. Some are not here."

The mutters grew louder once again, until a voice in the crowd called out. "I'm here! Oh ... were you calling roll?"

"Go back to sleep, Clovis!" Casey yelled, Ingrid reluctantly laughing.

"Anyway," Rachel said. "We don't know what the Great Prophecy means. We don't know what challenge the demigods will face, but since the first Great Prophecy predicted the Titan War, we can guess the second Great Prophecy will predict something at least that bad."

Ingrid glanced over at Clarisse, noticing her fearful eyes giving away her inner scaredy-cat. Her siblings all looked the same way — tough on the outside, scared on the inside, Ingrid being the front runner.

"What we do know," Rachel continued. "Is that the first phase has begun. A major problem has arisen, and we need a quest to solve it. Hera, the queen of the gods, has been taken."

Rachel then began to tell everyone everything from the beginning, Ingrid hanging onto every word. It was as if anything that came out of her mouth made her stomach erupt into butterflies. She tried to shake the feeling away, but that only made them grow worse.

When Rachel finished, she turned to Jason. "Um ... do you remember your last name?" He shook his head.

"We'll just call you Jason then," Rachel said. "It's clear Hera herself has issued you a quest." Jason nodded. "You must save Hera to prevent a great evil. Some sort of king from rising. For reasons we don't understand yet, it must happen by the winter solstice, only four days from now."