Rachel's mouth fell open, and this raspy, guttural voice poured out — that same haunting tone she got whenever the Oracle took over.
Annabeth and I froze. Every hair on my arms stood up. I'd seen Rachel go all green-smoke-and-doom before, but it never stopped being nightmare fuel, and it also never stopped giving me horrible flashbacks.
Her body went rigid, eyes glowing, and that eerie voice filled the room:
"The Lord of devourers breaks from his chain,
From shattered tombs his legions rise.
Enchanted ruins to thwart his aim,
Six heroes must claim the prize."
I let out a pitiful noise that I really hope didn't count as a whimper. "Just one. ONE trip without this," I muttered, mostly to the universe.
Annabeth's voice sliced through my panic. "Something's wrong. Rachel hasn't snapped out of it yet!"
My stomach twisted. "Wait—what? The prophecy's done, right?"
Apparently not.
Rachel drew a long, shaky breath, like she was fighting something inside her. Her hands trembled. Then, to my growing horror, her voice came again, heavier, stranger:
"Scar of thunder cursed by flame,
Heads of fire see the future's thread.
Born of the sea on daring game,
Seekers of wisdom shall forge what's ahead."
Annabeth frowned, flipping from worried to full-on analysis mode (Typical Wise Girl behaviour). "Is this a Shakespearean sonnet? I've never seen a prophecy like this before!"
"I have," I said grimly. "When Apollo was mortal. His prophecies got all poetic and impossible to understand. Oh gods why is it happening to us. You know, one day I'm going to become Christian or something. At least they only have one god."
Annabeth dove for her suitcase, grabbed a notebook, and started scribbling like her life depended on it. Rachel wasn't done. Her voice deepened, rolling like thunder:
"Amidst the Corvus, hope is not stray,
Blood entwined shall stir the fates.
Hunters of the night below the crescent's light,
The maiden's blade shall flood the gates.
End is near to the pit of death,
Fate it remains to take its breath."
The air went cold. A sickly green smoke curled around her, and I grimaced, glancing at the ceiling like the gods might be listening. "Great. Just what we needed. Another prophecy about death, doom, and mysterious rhyming patterns, I hate poems."
Finally, the smoke started to fade. Rachel's eyes cleared — and then her body just collapsed.
"Rachel!" Annabeth darted forward, catching her before she hit the floor. She eased her down gently, brushing her hair out of her face.
"We have to contact Chiron. Now," she said, her voice shaking. "This could trigger a quest."
I groaned. "Can the gods not give us one semester off?"
Still, I fished a drachma out of my pocket. Annabeth hurried to the window, poured a little water on the sill, and the sunlight shimmered into a rainbow.
"Oh Iris, goddess of the Rainbow, please accept my offering," I said, tossing the coin. It vanished, and an image flickered to life — total chaos on the other end.
We saw Chiron's back, smoke everywhere, and his voice booming, "NO, HARLEY! YOU CAN'T! YOU'LL SET THE WHOLE CAMP ON FIRE!"
I nearly dropped the frame. Annabeth snorted.
Chiron turned around, his face going from furious to startled to worried. "Annabeth? Percy? Shouldn't you be in New Rome? What's going on?"
I gave him the rundown — the study trip to Devon, Rachel's relatives, and before I could explain the whole prohecy thing, his gaze drifted past us, landing on Rachel's limp form. He paled. "Another prophecy?"
Annabeth nodded, summarizing everything in record time.
Chiron rubbed his temples. "O zeu kai alloi theoi..." he muttered in Ancient Greek. "That would explain some of the recent incidents."
"Wait, what incidents—" Annabeth started, but before she could finish, the rainbow shimmered and collapsed.
Just like that, the connection was gone.
We stared at each other in silence for a long moment.
"Well," I said finally, trying to sound casual and failing miserably. "That was also very cheerful."
Behind us, Rachel groaned.
We both spun around as she stirred, blinking groggily. Her face was pale, her voice shaky. "Wh-what happened?"
Annabeth and I exchanged a look.
"Long story," I said. "Short version? We might be doomed. Again."