the Doors of Death. How did you—”
“I know those lines.” Jason winced and put his hands to his
temples. “I don’t know how, but I know that prophecy.”
“In Latin, no less,” Drew called out. “Handsome and
smart.”
There was some giggling from the Aphrodite cabin. God,
what a bunch of losers, Pip er thought. But it didn’t do much to
break the tension. The campfire was burning a chaotic,
nervous shade of green.
Jason sat down, looking embarrassed, but Annabeth put a
hand on his shoulder and muttered something reassuring.
Piper felt a pang of jealousy. It should have been her next to
him, comforting him.
Rachel Dare still looked a little shaken. She glanced back
at Chiron for guidance, but the centaur stood grim and silent,
as if he were watching a play he couldn’t interrupt—a tragedy
that ended with a lot of people dead onstage.
“Well,” Rachel said, trying to regai n her composure. “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 sai d, some weird stuff is
happening. The seven demigo ds, whoever they are, have not
been gathered yet. I get the feeling some a re here tonight.
Some are not here.”
The campers began to stir and mutter, looking at each
other nervously, until a drowsy voice in the crowd called out,
“I’m here! Oh … were you calling roll?”
“Go back to sleep, Clovis,” someone yelled, and a lot of
people laughed.
“Anyway,” Rachel co ntinued, “we don’t know what the
Great Prophecy means. We don’t know what challenge the
demigods will face, but si nce the fi rst Great Prophecy
predicted the Titan War, we can guess the secon d Great
Prophecy will predict something at least that bad.”
“Or worse,” Chiron murmured.
Maybe he didn’t mean everyone to overhear, but they did.
The campfire immediately turned dark purple, the same color
as Piper’s dream.
“What we d o know,” Rachel said, “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.”
Shocked silence. Then fifty demigods started talking at
once.
Chiron pounded his hoof again, but Rachel still had to wait
before she could get back thei r attention.
She told them about the incident on the Grand Canyon
skywalk—how Gleeson Hedge had sacrificed himself when the
storm spirits attacked, and the spirits had warned it was only
the begi nning. They apparently served some great mistress
who would destroy all demigods.
Then Rachel told them about Piper passing out in Hera’s
cabin. Piper tried to ke ep a calm expression, even when she
noticed D rew i n the back row, pantomiming a faint, and her
friends giggling. Finally Rachel told them about Jason’s vision
in the living room of the Big House. The message Hera had
delivered there was so similar that Piper got a chill. The only
difference: Hera had warned Piper not to betray her: Bow to
his will, and their king shall rise, dooming us all. Hera knew
about the giant’s threat. But if that was true, why hadn’t she
warned Jason, and exposed Piper as an enemy agent?
“Jason,” Rachel said. “Um … do you remember your last
name?”
He looked self-conscious, but he shook his head.
“We’ll just call you Jason, then,” Rachel said. “It’s clear
Hera herself has issued you a quest.”
Rachel paused, as if giving Jaso n a chance to protest his
destiny. Everyone’s eyes were on him; there was so much
pressure, Piper thought she would’ve buckled i n his posi tion.
Yet he looked brave and determined. He set his jaw and
nodded. “I agree.”
“You must save Hera to prevent a great evil,” Rachel
continued. “Some sort o f king from rising. For reasons we
don’t yet understand, it must happen by the winter solstice, only
four days from now.”
“That’s the council day of the gods,” Annabeth said. “If the
gods don’t alrea dy know Hera’s gone, they will definitely
notice her absence by then. They’ll probably break out fighting,
accusing each other of taking her. That’s what they usually do.”
“The winter solstice,” Chiron spoke up, “is also the time of
greatest darkness. The gods gather that day, as mortals
always have, because there is strength i n numbers. The
solstice is a day when evil magi c is strong. Anci ent magic,
older than the gods. It is a day when things … stir.”
The way he said it, stirring sounded ab solutely sinister
—like it should be a first-degree felony, not something you did
to cookie dough.
“Okay,” Annabeth said, glaring at the centaur. “Thank you,
Captain Sunshine. Whatever’ s going on, I agree with Rachel.
Jason has been chosen to lead this quest, so—”
“Why hasn’t he been claimed?” somebody yelled from the
Ares cabin. “If he’s so important—”
“He has been claimed,” Chiron announced. “Long ago.
Jason, give them a demonstration.”
At first, Jason didn’t seem to understand. He stepped
forward nervously, but P iper couldn’t help thinking how
amazing he looked with his blond hair glowing in the firelight,
his regal features like a Roman statue’s. He g lanced at Piper,
and she nodded encouragingly. She mimicked flipping a coin.
Jason reached into his pocket. His coin flashed in the air,
and when he caught it in his hand, he was holding a lance—a
rod of gold about seven feet long, with a spear tip at one end.
The other demigods gasped. Rachel and Annabeth
stepped back to avoid the point, which looked sharp as an ice
pick.
“Wasn’t that …” Annabeth hesitated. “I thought you had a
sword.”
“Um, it came up tails, I think,” Jason said . “Same coin,
long-range weapon form.”
“Dude, I want one!” yelled somebody from Ares cabin.
“Better than Clarisse’s electric spear, Lamer!” one of his
brothers agreed.
“Electric,” Jaso n murmured, like that was a good idea.
“Back away.”
Annabeth and Rachel got the message. Jason raised his
javelin, and thunder broke open the sky. E very hair on Piper’ s
arms stood straight up. Lightning arced down through the
golden spear point and hit the campfire with the force of an
artillery shell.
When the smoke cleared, and the ringing in Piper’ s ears
subsided, the entire ca mp sat frozen i n shock, half blind,
covered in ashes, staring at the place where the fire had been.
Cinders rained down everywhere. A burning log had impaled
itself a few inches from the sleeping ki d Clovis, who hadn’t
even stirred.
Jason lowered his lance. “Um … sorry.”
Chiron brushed some burning coals out of his beard. He