JADE’S POV
Two days after she decided to stay, and settled into the Poseidon cabin, jade was rushed into the big house for a meeting. Jade, of course, had gotten the bigger bed, the bigger closet, and the wall with the window facing the ocean. It hadn’t taken much to convince/threaten, the good stuff out of Percy. He wasn’t the violent type, or the type who wanted to fight back.
The meeting was only supposed to be for cabin counselors, but since there was only two in the Poseidon, and none currently in the Zeus, jade was allowed to go. Also due to the fact that there was no way in hell she would let Percy be in charge, and she was personally asked to come.
She took a seat next to Percy and Chris around the ping pong table. Mr. D. had graciously made diet Pepsis appear, even though they were all empty. The disappointed faces of the other head counselors faces while they tried to take a sip was sort of amusing, and jade could sort of see why he would do it.
“Thank you all for coming today” Chiron says, quieting the room down. All in all, she counted 12 kids, two from Poseidon, none from Zeus, and one from hades. Nico stood by the door, hands in his jeans, studying the floor as he always did, he seemed to not be paying any attention but jade could tell by the tenseness of his shoulders, and the way he tilted his head one way, that he was listening to every breath in the room.
“You have all been summoned to discuss the prophecy. Jade” he says turning to me, “I know you’ve heard bits and pieces, but here with us we have our very own oracle of Delphi to recite it once more for us” he says, pointing to a red head who just stepped into eh room. I felt both Percy and Annabeth light up when she walked in, and I figured they knew each other.
“Hey guys, it’s been a while huh, anyways, I’m here for the rest of the summer. Just got here today, thought we should get this over with. A few more pieces of the puzzle have fallen in lately, and I know a few of you have probably been trying to do it in your head, but Chiron thought it would be better to refresh our memories, catch jade up, and figure out a plan for right now.” She says, everyone mutters in agreement and settles into their chairs, as if they had seen her speak a prophecy a million times.
Even if she had, I don’t see how in the world they wouldn’t be even a little disturbed by it every time she did. A green curling smoke wrapped around her body, and her eyes rolled into the back of her head, the whites turning a translucent green.

Seven half-bloods shall answer the call.
Four be the ones of the tall.
Each must reach their true power
Only then will they close the tower.
She who sleeps must not be awaken
And they who fall must not be forsaken
For they will be the one to challenge the oldest
While the others must challenge the coldest.
To rain or death all will answer
Or evil will cancer

Everyone was silent for a while, taking in the information once again. Jade felt a little lost, but slowly digested the lines one by one. “So the first one is pretty obvious” Chiron states.
“Yea seven we get that, but that’s a lot don’t you think?” Clarisse, a child of Ares asks. Rachel shrugs, as if hey, I don’t make them up, I just recite them.
“Well, what about the second line?” Kelly, a child of Aphrodite asks.
“Well at first glance, you can think that the tall might be the if three, you know, Zeus Poseidon and hades” Annabeth says logically.
“but they could also be the children of giants” Percy adds, a proud smile on his face as if he thought of it himself, but the way Annabeth rolled her eyes lead me to believe it was her idea.
“Question” I say to Rachel, her head perks up, as if she wasn’t used to saying anything after the prophecy. The reaction of the others seemed to be like this was strange as well, or maybe just because I was new and anything I said was weird. “When you, receive, prophecies, are the words like, written, or I don’t know, voices in your head” the whole sentence was so weird, but apparently it was a valuable question by the way everyone turned to Rachel for an answer.
“Um, sometimes one, sometimes the other. This one specifically, I don’t how to explain it, it sort of just popped into my head, in a voice sort of.”
“So you never actually saw the words written in their true form” I say, sitting up a little. I feel everyone falling a little behind.
“No, no I guess not” she says, not sure where I was going.
“So, what if instead of four children of the big three or of giants or whatever it’s for. As in one tall for every half-blood, I’m guessing. I don’t know how many giants there are” I say looking to Chiron.
“Seven” he mutters, everyone muttered along with him, and looked at me slightly impressed. I hide my smile.
“Or, going along the same lines as jade, for, as in we fight for the tall ones, meaning all the gods” Nico adds, making half of them jump. He was so silent, everyone just forgot he was there.
“That could be very true, Nico” Chiron adds. The group takes a minute to let that sink in. “but we cannot know for certain yet, not until the actual call is made, which, what we know of, has not.” Chiron adds. People sink down in their seat a little, relieved. This prophecy did not seem very nice at all.
“Ok, the next couple. Each one must reach their true power. That’s pretty self-explanatory, every one of the seven half-blood has a special power that other people in the same cabin probably wouldn’t, or along those same lines. And it takes all those powers together to close the tower” Annabeth says.
“But, what’s the tower?” Chris, a child of Apollo asks.
“If we’re going along the first couple, the tower could either be the place of the giants, or maybe Olympus itself” Annabeth repeats. That makes everyone uneasy, no one wanted to go against mount Olympus.
“Or” Nico says, spooking everyone again, “the tower is a codename sort of for the door of death, since they tower over Tartarus.” Everyone stays quiet.
“What are the doors of death” jade voices, she felt dumb asking the question but she had to know.
“The doors of death are a number of secret passageways between hades and the mortal world. Mostly used by hades, or other gods in the underworld, but sometimes the monsters or giants get through them” he says, not in a demining way as if jade wasn’t stupid, “ there’s the actual doors of death, the tower, the hole, the crypt, the fistula, anything like that” he says.
“And so there’s a problem with the tower?” Clarisse asks. Nico nods, as if everything was starting to make sense now in his head. He finally takes his rightful seat between jade and Chris, and starts rubbing his hands, his eyes deep in concentration. The skull ring on his hand almost seemed to glow, or maybe it was just t jade. Everyone was holding their breath, waiting for the son of hades to speak.
“Lately” he begins slowly, as if trying to pick the right words, “monsters have been taking shorter and shorter times to reappear. Most of you guys wouldn’t notice, since you’ve been stuck in her, Chiron and Mr. D. might though” he says, everyone turns their head to them. They were both tight lipped and pale, as if this was something they were wishing they were not discussing. “Anyways, this could potentially be problematic” he says, I hold back a snort, but he doesn’t seem to notice. “Not only because the monsters will be down for shorter times, but because something worse may come out form the pits of Tartarus. Something we do not want getting out.” he says.
Everyone turns dead silent, the air around us almost seems to become more dense and cold. “Like what?” I manage to whisper out, my curiosity getting the better of me once more. Nico doesn’t seem to mind again.
“Like the gods” he says, looking at Chiron. The centaur only nods, as if this is was what he feared the most.
“Wait, the gods? But the gods are good right?” Kelly asks. I resist the urge to roll my eyes.
Nico does roll his eyes, “the Olympians, debatable. No, different gods. Older gods. Actually the oldest gods in existence, the ones who have been there since the start. The ones who were the start. Gaea, Tartarus, chaos, Chrono’s, Erebus, Nyx, Uranus, Moros, they're bad, all of them. They were sent into Tartarus to hopefully never be emerged again, but Tartarus himself seems to be growing stronger, and as he grows stronger, the monsters he heals grow stronger, and if the tower, or any other door is left open, it’s going to be bad news.” He says simply. Too simply, this was potentially the end of the world we were talking about.
“that leads pretty directly to the next couple, she who sleeps must not be waken, Gaea, we have to figure out a way from waking up and destroying the world, even though she is the world” even Annabeth seemed unsure of herself, and that’s when you knew something was wrong. “And they who fall must not be forsaken, fall… forsaken” she thinks, the lines on her forehead creasing like she did when she concentrated really hard. “He who falls must not be forgotten? I don’t.. I don’t” she seemed to be really struggling. Percy laid a gentle hand on her shoulders, and she visibly relaxed and gained confidence. “They who fall, well, if it fits along with the rest of the prophecy, it’s a god. Probably Tartarus, since he's practically the god in a pit that never ends. He mustn’t be forgotten. As if, he should not be looked over, even if he's Tartarus, and in Tartarus, we cannot just think he's not a threat” she says. Everyone nods, and Chiron looks proud.
“All right, I wasn’t about to forget about Tartarus, but glad that’s a direct point” Chris says, which gets a small chuckle out of everyone. Well everyone except for Nico, he was still staring directly at his hands, specifically the ring on his finger as if that had the answer.
“But it doesn’t meet up with the next two” Rachel says. We all think back, going over the words in our heads. “For they will be the one to challenge the oldest, while the others challenge the coldest” she repeats but without he creepy voice.
“So the fallen are some of the seven half-blood” I state, the others nod.
“And they have to against the oldest, alone?” Nico asks no one in particular, “would that be chaos?” he says to Chiron, not much of a question. But the centaur nods anyway.
“I pity the fool who has to challenge chaos alone” Chris says, and everyone chuckles again. Well everyone except for nico again, who has just turned even paler than usual.
“Well, since we do not even know who’s going on the quest, we can’t begin to guess who’s the one who’s to going to challenge him-“ Chiron was interrupted.
“But whoever it is falls into Tartarus” everyone looks at nico once again, “that’s where chaos is, in Tartarus.” Nico shrugs, and bends his shoulders, hiding his head again, as if he hated the attention he was getting just because the son of the god of death, which was true.
“Anyway, let’s look at the last two couplet. To rain or death all will answer. Well, that could be a possibility of many different things, just like the whole prophecy. To rain or death, that could either be Pontus and Thantos, the ancient gods of the sea and death. Or Oceanus and moentinues, the titans of the sea and mortality. Or-“
“The half-bloods themselves” I whisper quietly. I don’t know why the idea popped into my head, they just did, and now it wrapped its arms around my mind so hard it gave me a headache. Everyone turned to stare at me, completely terrified at the thought. “I mean, it doesn’t have to be bad, it could be that they answer to the camp or something, not the whole world, I mean, no offense Mr. D. or Chiron, but maybe rain or death will become a leader in the camp or something like that.” I mutter, everyone relaxes a little, and falls into the idea. “whatever it is, the prophecy clearly hopes that it will be rain or death to control instead of evil, so the half-bloods control must be better” I muse, hoping to muster something besides dread.
“And those two candidates would either be Percy or nico, to rule whatever it is” mark, a son of Hephaestus says. Everyone nod in agreement.
“Why Percy and nico?” Kelly asks.
“Rain or death” nico answers, sitting back as if he had given up on the problem for now to catch up his fellow somewhat stupid half-bloods. “Rain equals water equals Percy. Death equals me. makes sense” he says shrugging, then he sits up a little straighter, and turns his head slightly till looking straight at me, a spark of amusement in his eyes, as if he had just realize an answer. “Or it could be you and me” he says to me. I raise an eyebrow.
“Me?” I ask, “why me?”
“Well, you're a daughter of Poseidon, you control water too” Annabeth sates simple, as if it made perfect sense. To me, it didn’t. I didn’t think I could be in this prophecy, it seemed to important and too great for me. Had just joined the camp, now I was supposed to save it and the world?
“ok guys, this has been a good meeting, how about we all call it a night, sleep on it, and come back tomorrow and see if anyone’s thought of anything new” Chiron says, clapping his hands, dismissing us.
But as soon as he claps his hands, almost as on cue, Rachel is wrapped into green mist again. But this time, you could tell she hadn’t planned it by the confused look in her eyes right before they rolled into her head. This time, everyone stopped dead, and watched her, eagerly hoping they would get a prophecy to get them out of this place. I decided I didn’t want one, I wanted to settle down and fit in, not be sent away, of course, that’s the exact opposite of what would happen.

The daughter of water
Along with the son of death
Must walk together
To the feast of plenty
One returns to their land
The other breaks
Both lose what they desire most
Face their demons
And the gods
Only to convince
Is to allow the great prophecy
To take root

Everyone sighed loudly and sat back down. “At least this one is much more straightforward” Annabeth says perkily. “Jade and nico will go together to Mt. Olympus and tell slash convince the gods of the prophecy and to help” she says. Of course, easier said than done.
“It’s a prophecy, even though this one didn’t rhyme. Why do they need to be convinced or told of it” I ask. The others feel a little uneasy.
“The gods believe the more hands of they are with prophecies and mortals, even their own children, the better. That’s why they had the agreement between the big three, to keep from having kids, but here we are. So there is hope” Percy says, squeezing her hand. Even with the calming hand of her brother, she felt a deep sense of doom starting in her stomach. Why did she have to do it? Why with nico? We were probably the worst people to do it. Neither one of us were charming, or convincing like the Aphrodite or Athena children. In fact, we looked god damn hostile. What’s the point in having us go? All the Olympic gods hate us, we were illegal pretty much.
But instead of voicing all these concerns, I questioned another. “Where exactly is Mt. Olympus?” I ask, half raising my hand.
“Well, that’s some good news at last, on the top of the empire state building, like a twenty minute drive. You’ll be fine” Kelly says.
“Actually Kelly” Chiron adds in, and the sense of doom deepens. “The prophecy says the feast, which probably means the feast of plenty, which will be at the end of the week, since she just got the prophecy now. And the feast of plenty always takes place west.” He says. I felt something inside me deflate. A whole week stuck with nico, going all the way to California. Exactly where I just came from. It was not a good idea.
“Where west exactly” I ask, but fear built into my stomach, holding so hard making me about ready to throw up.
“San Diego” Chiron blinked.
I lost it, I stood up and ran for it, running full sprint until I got the beach, and falling to my knees in the waves. The water circled around me, welcoming me, calming me. My lungs hurt to breathe, and my brain was so full that I couldn't think. I threw of my shoes with a fuss, and waddled deeper into the water. Fish and other sea animals moved around me, sensing my distress, talking to me, trying to comfort me. It brought little.
But still I stayed in the waves, feeling the salt become one in my skin, and my blood pulse with the same beat as the tides. I was one with the ocean, the ocean was me. Not that long afterwards, felt someone waddle in after me. By the distraction of the animals around me, I could tell it was my brother. He swam out to where I was and floated on his back as well. The waves dispersed around us so we wouldn’t move, almost as if we were in a peaceful riptide.
“What happened” he said after a while. I don’t say anything. Just keep looking up at the sky, where I could almost feel Zeus glaring at me. My entire existence was just a sore. I was not made for anything besides suffering, and that the only thing I’ve done.
“San Diego is where I ran away from” I say finally, my voice catching. He says nothing for a while, just grabs my hand.
“Prophecies and quests are made to challenge and rock us to our very cores, and trust me, I don’t like the thought of you going with nico, but if you get into trouble, he would be the o to get you of it”
“Why don’t you like the idea of me going with nico?” I ask. He sighs loudly, and sinks a little, but then is pushed right back up.
“Don’t get me wrong, nico is a great guy, when he wants to be. But, he’s been alone his life, he doesn’t know how to play with people, and, if he had to choose, he would save his ass over anyone else’s. Even if that means putting them in danger” he says darkly.
“What did he do to you?” I ask, putting two and two together. Percy had told me everything about everyone in camp, but he always steered clear from nico.
“Nothing, it doesn’t matter now, he more then made it up for it. And he's saved my ass a million times, probably out of guilt, but still. I volunteered to go on the quest, and Rachel didn't think there would anything wrong with it. I just want to make sure nothing happens to you” he says. I nod, the thought of Percy coming along gave me so much relief I thought I would float right out of the water. I couldn’t have heard better news.
“Thank you” is all I can mutter, but apparently, it was enough. We made our way lazily back to the water, and hugged it out before walking back to the cabin, both of us completely dry. Sometimes, it isn’t such a bad thing to be a kid of Poseidon.

Notes