Annabeth could confidently say that on her top ten list of things she wasn't expecting, getting a quest at the end of summer was definitely number one.
What she was expecting was to finish packing up her stuff, go through the final day of camp's summer activities, go swimming in the lake with Percy, and grab her stuff and wait by Thalia's tree for her father to pick her up.
What she wasn't expecting was to be called to the big house half-way through arts and crafts, where she was hammering an owl insignia into her breastplate.
Annabeth walked up the steps onto the big house porch. She didn't know what this was about, but she was sure she hadn't done anything wrong, and last she checked, Percy and Piper hadn't destroyed anything major, so her being called to the big house could only mean one thing; something happened.
As Annabeth neared the front door, she could tell something was off. There was a presence inside, something powerful, and it felt different from Mr. D. so there was another god inside. Maybe Mr. D was there, too, but there was someone else too.
Steeling herself for whatever madness was about to occur, Annabeth opened the door and walked inside.
She was right; there was a goddess inside, sitting on the couch and warily sipping from a coffee mug. She was pale as paper, with long platinum blond hair tied into a high ponytail. She was wearing a sleeveless black gown that seemed to flow from her shoulders like water. Mist clung to the bottom of her skirt. By her feet rested a black lab and curling around her shoulder was what looked like a ferret.
Chiron sat across from her in his wheelchair, holding his own mug and looking stressed.
Mr. D. was absent as expected, though the room smelled like wine and grapevines clung to every surface.
"Annabeth," Chiron said, looking up.
The goddess looked up too, setting her mug aside on the coffee table. Her eyes were dark as ink, swirling with something... more. Judging by that, the mist swirling around her, and the dog and what she now recognized as the polecat who had followed Hazel around the Argo II, the one who farted all the time, Annabeth knew who this was.
"Hecate," Annabeth said warily. Whatever a goddess was doing here, it couldn't be good.
"Hello," Hecate said.
"What's going on?"
"I have a quest for you."
Ah. No preamble at all. Also, what?
"Excuse me?"
"Annabeth," Chiron said again. "This quest is different. It requires you to go to a different— ah, special, school."
"Percy has more experience with that than I do."
"Not that kind of special school," Hecate snapped. "It is a magical school. For magical people."
"So, camp half-blood but in school form."
"No!" the goddess yelled. She stood up, her skirts poofing around her. Annebeth tensed. Her hand found the hilt of her dagger. "This is a school I helped create, for a race of people I created, and it is in peril."
Annabeth internally raised an eyebrow at the goddess's temper, but she could tell Hecate was passionate about this school. Also, she was pretty sure she would be incinerated if she made another comment in bad taste. But what was she supposed to do? She just had a quest shoved in her face, and she had no idea what it was about.
"This school has thrived for centuries, and now it is at risk!"
Chiron could probably tell that this wasn't helping to convince Annabeth, because he jumped in, leaning forward in his chair.
"This isn't a usual quest, Annabeth, aside from the obvious reasons. It will require you to go into the past, and it will require you to age down three years."
Annabeth raised an eyebrow. "So, to sum it up," she said, "you want me to go save a magic school in the past, and I need to be fourteen again to even go there."
She had learned long ago not to let things surprise her anymore, but this was beyond anything she had ever heard.
"That's the gist of it, yes."
"And you want me to go alone."
"For now, yes."
Annabeth suddenly felt too light headed to stand. Too reluctant to sit next to the goddess on the couch, she opted to sit cross legged on the floor.
Hecate gave a little scoff, but she didn't say anything.
"Say I agree, how is this going to work?"
"I would grant you the power of a witch," Hecate said. "I would provide you with wizarding currency, a room at an inn until the school year starts, and send you to the school in the same year as Harry Potter."
"And Harry Potter is...?"
Hecate rolled her eyes, as if what she was saying made total sense. "The boy who lived," she said. At Annabeth's raised eyebrow, she continued. "When Harry Potter was one year old, a dark wizard named Voldemort tried to kill him. Voldemort is what you would call wizard hitler, I assume. He used the killing curse, a spell that cannot be blocked by anything. No one had ever survived it, including Harry's parents, who were killed that night."
"And Harry survived?" Annabeth guessed.
"Yes. and Voldemort was killed. In the timeline you will be going to, Harry is fourteen."
"Okay, yeah, back up." Annabeth said, leaning back. "You keep saying that this is in the past."
"Yes." Hecate said it like it was the most normal thing in the world.
"Then it already happened."
"It did not! Time runs in a linear fashion, Annabeth Chase, every moment playing out at every moment. You could be walking in through this door as we speak, and I could send you there. I could send you to any point in the past with the snap of a finger."
"It still already happened, though"
Hecate sighed, pressing a hand to her eyes. "Not this one. Something is happening that is not supposed to be happening. Voldemort is planning a return. He is not supposed to be. I am sending you to Hogwarts to protect Harry Potter. His survival is vital to the wizarding world."
Annabeth snickered at the name 'Hogwarts', but she didn't comment on it. She assumed that was the name of the school.
"And I have to be fourteen to do it."
"Yes!"
"Why me?" Annabeth asked. "Why not get a fourteen year old demigod? Chrys is fourteen. Why not send her?"
Chiron smirked slightly. Chrysanthemum Tesling, daughter of Demeter, would absolutely hate being sent alone to a strange school.
Chiron's smile vanished. Annabeth studied his face. He had a crease between his eyebrows, and his lips were pinched. Annabeth felt a cold dread build up in her stomach.
"You got a prophecy," she said matter of factly.
"Yes."
"And you didn't think to lead with that? Unless— of course. Does it predict my painful death? Someone else's?"
Annabeth said the words with humor, but that ball of dread was growing by the second.
"Tell me what it said."
Chiron sighed. He did seem upset, and Annabeth could tell it was nothing good. Still, he opened his mouth and recited the prophecy.
"Athena's pride shall turn back the clock
To attend the school that starts with a hog
She shall protect the boy from a sabotage spree
And compete in the tournament with tasks of three
Danger is faced with valor hard earned
And death defied with the Dark Lord's return."
Annabeth's mind whizzed through all the possibilities of what this could mean. Athena's pride had to be her, being the only child of Athena to successfully follow the mark. Shall turn back the clock was uncharacteristically clear, since it seemed she would be traveling back in time for this quest.
To attend the school that starts with a hog— Hecate had said that the school was named Hogwarts, so that at least made sense.
She shall protect the boy was clear, this entire quest was centered around protecting Harry Potter. From a sabotage spree could be a few things— whether actual sabotage, pranks, or something more sinister, the possibilities all sped around Annabeth's head.
And compete in the tournament with tasks of three— maybe Hogwarts had some sort of annual game with three parts to it that she would have to play. It could be anything from board games, or, knowing Delphi, probably something involving high risk of death.
That lined up with the next line, danger is faced with valor hard earned. Annabeth had definitely earned her valor, and danger was something she was used to, whether from whatever tournament was supposed to happen to actual attacks, Annabeth knew to expect everything.
And death defied with the Dark Lord's return— now that one was a bit tricky. It could mean that death would be defied because Voldemort would come back from the dead, or it could mean that someone would make an attempt on a person's life and fail, maybe both. What Annabeth could take away from this for sure was that Voldemort was coming back, no matter what she did.
Annabeth didn't have even the slightest grasp on who he was or what he'd done, but Hecate had said that he was basically wizard hitler, and Annabeth knew that was horribly bad.
This was when she knew that she would have to take the quest. She considered ignoring it, but ignoring prophecies never went well and usually ended up with a gory death. She didn't know how she would manage to be away from her friends for that long, let alone Percy, but it seemed she would have to.
Hecate made a little sound in the back of her throat.
"You have accepted the quest. Good," she said. "You shall leave immediately."
Annabeth jerked up, scrambling to her feet.
"Excuse me?" she said. "Now? I can't even explain to Percy what's happening?"
"I will tell him," Hecate said. "You will appear at the entrance to the Leaky Cauldron. Ask for Tom to show you to your room under Miss Chase."
"Wait just a second—"
"Your trunk will be next to you with your Hogwarts acceptance letter, train ticket, and wizard money to buy your supplies."
"You can't just—"
"Your cover is that you are transferring from Hecate's Academy for Magic, a prestigious school so exclusive that not many who didn't go there have heard of it."
"Let me speak—"
"The headmaster believes that the curriculum is very advanced, so you should have no trouble entering the tournament."
"Hello—"
"I will allow you to write letters to your friends at camp, but for every two weeks that pass in your time, a day will pass here, so you can only write to them once every two weeks."
"I'm not—"
"Good luck."
Annabeth opened her mouth to continue her fruitless protests, rage bubbling in her stomach, but then she blinked, and the world was gone, replaced with an empty darkness that crushed in on all sides, pressing in on her.
She blinked again, and the world she knew was gone.