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CHAPTER THREE
new discoveries
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DOROTHY STILL FELT uneasy about approaching the cabin where she now lives. She stood in front of the space where the door disappears at the slightest touch. It was the clearing of someone's throat that startled Dorothy and had her spinning around. Her eyes focused on the blonde kid at the bottom of the steps that lead up to the cabin. Jason had an unreadable expression on his face, Dorothy used to be good at reading people, this new world had her unsure of everything.

"Jason," Dorothy stated more so for herself, committing it to memory. He nodded, his expression changing again. She's lost her touch.

"Dorothy," He replied in the same tone, "D-Do you want to talk?"

Dorothy blinked in surprise at the question, there was something genuine about him, one of the few things she could read about him was how out of place he felt, Dorothy felt the same.

"I'm not sure if I'll ever stop talking if I start," Dorothy answered honestly, a sense of humor laced in her words to keep the conversation light, "And something tells me you're just as confused as I am right now about all of this."

Jason gave her a hint of a smile at that, the scar on his lip disturbing the form, but still a pretty smile. Dorothy wanted to know where he got it but she knew that he didn't remember. She stepped away from the door and drew closer to her.

"Do you know why Hera chose us?" He asked, making Dorothy frown as she pinched her eyebrows together.

"No." Dorothy shook her head, "But I know I have something to learn from her when it comes to making social calls, I was not expecting her outside my door, I can tell you that."

"I'm sorry about your gang, I can tell they were like family to you."

Dorothy looked down at her boots, they were coated in the faintest layer of mud, if she didn't crash into the lake earlier today. Her thoughts trailed to the gang, remembering how her uncle Arthur taught her to shoot, he was the best shooter in the gang, and Dorothy eventually made her way to second in that standing with the group. She could remember the cooking of Mr. James Taylor, his stew was the best she ever had, he would always use the fish she would catch and always made the venison tender while still retaining the flavor. Though nothing could beat the baking of Miss Catherine Robert's pies, in every town they moved to, she would befriend the richest lady in the area to take advantage of their nice kitchens. Dorothy always had a feeling that Miss Roberts was sweet on her father, but she never had enough evidence to prove that theory.

"They were the only thing I ever knew." Dorothy looked back up at Jason.

His eyes were as blue as a clear afternoon sky in the mountains. Though there was so much going on behind them. Dorothy felt like she was understanding him better. She could see the conflict he was facing. Maybe she didn't lose her touch.

"What are we going to do about this goddess?" She asked softly, they were closer than she remembered, only a few feet away from the empty porch.

"Well, if they don't let me leave, I'll be sneaking out." Jason looked around as he said this, unsure if anyone was close enough to hear, "She stole my memories, I want them back."

There was a pause in the air as they sat on those words. Dorothy felt angry, she was robbed of a life with her gang. They had just scored enough money for them to live comfortably away from the law and other civilians, and Hera went and sent her to that cursed building. If helping her got Jason's memories back and the goddess out of everyone's hair, then Dorothy had no qualms about abandoning the camp.

"If you go," Dorothy said, "I'll ride with you."

Jason's eyes widened at her words, shock was on his face. His face changed once more, a look of the silent agreement was shared between the two and as the sun got closer to dipping below the horizon, a horn blew out. Dorothy's eyebrows furrowed together in confusion as the two looked around, soon after, rows of kids left their cabins, the order in how they lined up was unclear to Dorothy. There were a couple of campers that ran to certain lines and Dorothy began to notice the similarities of other campers, Annabeth was leading kids that came out of the Athena cabin, the number of blonde-headed kids with gray eyes looked peculiar to her, they all must have gotten that from their mother.

In fact, Dorothy just realized how similar she looked to her half-siblings in her own cabin. She realized this because a row of them walked out of the cabin that she was going to go in earlier but got distracted. The girl she pushed aside earlier when she was having her meltdown looked her blue eyes onto Dorothy, a warm, yet sympathetic smile spread on her face.

"Dorothy, right?" She asked, stepping over, the rest of her half-siblings remained in their line, standing a few feet away from the cabin but closer to the pavilion, "I'm Lou Ellen, we're all about to head to dinner, we sit by cabin, other cabins normally have a system in place to see who's at the front of the line but we don't do that here, just join in wherever you like."

Dorothy nodded, she looked over at Jason, he had a slight crestfallen look on his face.

"You're Jason, right?" Lou Ellen asked, he silently nodded, "I heard you haven't been claimed yet but don't worry, I know you will be soon, for now, you'll be with the Hermes cabin-" She pointed in the direction of the long line of kids leaving the only cabin that actually looked like a cabin, "-Connor and Travis Stoll will help you."

Jason nodded to Lou Ellen and gave one more look to Dorothy who offered him a small smile and a tip of her hat before she walked over to Josephine, the only other girl she recognized.

"Trelawney!" Josephine beamed her accent thick, Dorothy realized that she recognized it for what it was now, throwing her arm over her shoulder, "How have you been, did you get a tour?"

"I got a tour of sorts," Dorothy shrugged, "I know where the Hypnos cabin is and the prairie house."

They were nearing the pavilion when Josephine furrowed her eyebrows.

"Prairie house?" She asked, "What prairie house?"

Dorothy pointed over at the house that was a few yards away.

"The Prairie house down yonder," She replied.

"We call that the Big House."

"Well it's big alright, I've never seen a House that tall that wasn't on a plantation, and we called those manors," Dorothy replied as they neared the pavilion, what caught her attention was the fissure in the ground that was shared by the earth and the concrete of the pavilion floor. As if the ground was once ripped open.

"Oh yeah," Josephine pulled Dorothy along so as to not hold up the line, "That happened years before I got here and even the battle of New York, but some kid named Nico Di Angelo did that before disappearing, apparently some skeletons came out."

Dorothy just knew that the alarmed look she wore was noticeable. Nico did that? How old was he when he did? She could only remember the young boy from the hotel that clung to his sister, Bianca. Dorothy remembered thinking how cute Bianca was for a girl just a few years her younger.

"Nico did that?" Dorothy asked, furrowing her eyebrows and looking over at her half-sister as they sat down, she was too invested in the conversation to pay attention to what was going on in front of her, "Do you know how old he was when he did that? And why?"

"Did you know him?" A girl piped up, joining the conversation. She looked like she was supposed to be around thirteen, but the look in her eyes told Dorothy that she had earned a few extra years, probably from a battle or two.

"I do, from the Lotus Saloon, at least that's what it was called when I first got there, there are too many machines in there for it to be a saloon now," Dorothy shook her head as she realized she was rambling, "I was there with him and his sister for a while but then they disappeared from the place, where is Bianca anyways?"

A few more of her half-siblings were in the conversation with them now, solemn looks fell on some of their faces, their lips downturned in various stages of a frown. Dorothy's heart sank at their reaction to her question and she wished that she didn't ask, fearing that the answer was something that she wasn't going to like.

"She became a hunter of Artemis and died on this big mission when they were going to a mountain in California," That same girl from before answered, "Nico was nine, and it's how they found out he was the son of Hades."

Dorothy's stomach turned at the news. The Di Angelo siblings were some of the first few kids that she actually became friends with, sure, Jonathon was her age, but he was always more than a friend to her, until the train incident of course. If it wasn't for the fact that Dorothy hadn't truly eaten in 150 years, the news of Bianca's death would have turned her away from the smell of food but when the rows of girls ran past her, handing out plates of it came by, her stomach growled loudly for everyone around her to hear.

The group of them burst into laughter around her as it happened. Dorothy smiled sheepishly, but everyone was startled by the gasp that left one of the few boys that sat with them.

"She's never had soda," He stated, his hair was dark and like Dorothy, he was one of the few of the Hecate kids with brown eyes. His were round even when they weren't widened for effect.

His hair ran down to his chin and had light waves, his jaw was long, similar to Lou Ellens and Josephines and his nose went down in a slope, it was pronounced by the thick eyebrows that sat above his big brown eyes.

"Soda?" Dorothy asked.

The girls around her all seemed to now share the same expression as him, all now interested in what she has.

"Oh my gods you have to have McDonald's sprite," the first girl spoke again, Dorothy needed to learn their names before she went mad.

"I don't know who McDonald is or what sprite is, but it doesn't sound fun." Dorothy's eyes narrowed as she said this, unsure if the people around her were trying to sabotage her.

"No, Mcdonald's is a restaurant that makes the food really fast," Josephine explained. She grabbed Dorothy's goblet that was placed in front of her.

The girl held it to her mouth, her lips were close to the rim, but not enough to touch it. She whispered something to the cup and set it in front of Dorothy, leaving her to watch as the cup magically filled with a clear liquid, bubbles slowly rising to the top.

"It's boiling?" She asked, looking at her siblings, some looked excited, others amused.

"No it's carbonated," The boy answered, "It's just bubbles, try it!"

Dorothy gave him a wary eye as she brought the goblet to her lips and took a drink. She didn't mean to gasp at the feeling of the bubbles on her lips but she did, it only got worse from there as she slammed the goblet on the table, the drink sloshing over the lip of the cup and spilling onto the table. She coughed and wheezed terribly as she accidentally breathed in the drink, her lungs burned and her face scrunched up in both pain and the unfamiliar feeling of the bubbly drink.

"Are you trying to kill her?" Lou Ellen screeched from down the table, Dorothy heard this over her coughs and the laughter of the kids around her.

"Awe come on Lou, they only had like, three drinks back then, she had to have Sprite as her first drink in the twenty-first century!" The boy defended himself.

Dorothy frowned after she calmed down, furrowing her eyebrow.

"That wasn't my first drink, today," Dorothy argued, making the boy look back at her with a confused look on his face, "Annabeth gave me a plastic bottle with this clear, tasteless liquid in it."

"Do you mean water?" He asked, making Dorothy tilt her head in confusion.

"Water isn't that clear, not unless it's from the river."

A round of disgusted groans sounded out, making Dorothy's confusion settle in deeper.

"No wonder the life expectancy was thirty-five back then," Josephine muttered, "gods, how did you survive?"

"Guns."

Dorothy furrowed her eyebrows as everyone around her stood up with their plateful of food, she only noticed hers in front of her at that moment she did the same as Josephine, looking around to see that kids were gathering at the lit brazier in the center of the pavilion, scraping off a portion of their food into the flame.

"What are we doing?" Dorothy asked as she trailed after Josephine.

"We always scrape off a portion of our meal as a thank you to the gods," Josephine spoke like it was obvious, "Your father's gang was all demi-gods, they didn't practice this when you were all out gallivanting and robbing?"

"We never!" Dorothy scoffed, "we all ate what we could, we didn't get the luxury of food every day, especially out in the desert where the only thing you could hunt were tiny jackrabbits and large lizards."

Josephine's face fell at the sobering fact that the gang really was trying to survive every day. Dorothy only shrugged and looked down at her plate as they stood at the brazier. Dorothy tossed a vine full of grapes to the flame, thinking of her mother as she did. She was expecting a thank you, but considering Hera's visit to her earlier, Dorothy didn't mind the silence as she walked back to her seat.

As everyone settled down, a few ate while others talked, some kids did both. Dorothy was glad she wasn't sitting at that table. Those kids looked mean as they sat with weapons strapped to their back and hips.

Dorothy took one bite of the roast and lost her self-control after that, eating in a record time as she couldn't help but clear the plate. Something deep in her stomach settled, she didn't remember what being full felt like, she hadn't felt that for years, even before she stepped into the curse saloon. She was almost disappointed that she gave away the grapes to the flame but settled for the drink in her goblet. This time, she was better prepared for the drink that made her head fuzzy.

After a few gulps, Dorothy had to cover the burp, though that was hard, her father had taught her manners when she was young but she remembered how he felt that it didn't apply to him, especially after a good meal that Mr. Taylor would make when Dorothy brought home a deer fat enough to last the camp weeks.

If Josiah Trelawney heard the burp that came out of Dorothy, she would've been sent to sit in the tent for the night.

"Pardon me," Dorothy spoke sheepishly, her face heating up with embarrassment as her fingers tapped the table erratically. Here, her half-siblings only giggled, Josephine even let out a belch to match Dorothy. It made the girl smile as Josephine nudged her with her elbow.

"Don't be afraid to relax with us, we want you to feel welcome, you're home now," Josephine smiled.

Dorothy's heart warmed at the sentiment. The idea of not having a family was daunting to her, all she knew was her father's love and the things her mother left behind. And even though her father was no longer around, she had a cabin full of people like her. And that was more than enough.

The sentiment was ruined when it looked like Josephine bit her tongue, a gasp came from the girl's lips, and a "сука!" Dorothy only shook her head and chuckled, finding herself picking up conversations with the kids around her.

When Dorothy first arrived, she didn't know how to make heads or tails of her situation, but as she found herself conversing with those around her, she realized that maybe she could handle this new world. At least she hoped so.

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THE CAMPFIRE WAS the first thing today that didn't make Dorothy feel like she was going insane in another one of her bad dreams. Although even then, it wasn't how she traditionally had them with the gang. She remembers the nights when José had his guitar on him and how he and Jonathon sang campfire songs, despite her hatred that burned similarly to the large fire in front of her, Dorothy longed to hear Jonathon and José sing again.

Instead, she settled for the whole of the Apollo cabin singing, harps and guitars blended beautifully to compliment the song that the whole camp sang, Dorothy didn't understand the words, stuff about a grandmother getting ready for war, the Ares cabin was pointing to random armor pieces they wore to go along with the song. Dorothy was by Jason's side after Josephine shoved her over to the boy, insisting that she stay by his side with an obvious wink that made the both of them blush, though Dorothy blamed the heat of the fire instead of the way her heart skipped a beat.

The two made quick conversations, including Annabeth occasionally but it was mainly Dorothy explaining certain dynamics of her old gang. How despite Mr. Taylor and Miss Catherine being the cooks, they absolutely despised each other, and Dorothy went on about how Miss Catherine was a little too sweet on her father to be a good friend like they said they were. That made Jason chuckle. Dorothy wished Jason remembered things about himself, she would love to know about his past. How kids grew up in the 21srt century as her brother stated earlier. She didn't realize that there was a lull in the conversation until Jason cleared his throat, pulling her from her thoughts.

"So, you robbed people," Jason spoke up again, a wave of heat washed over them as the campers sang a joyful verse. The fire before them grew brighter as the colors changed from red to an orange to a beautiful shade of gold.

"Only the rich ones, or the ones that tried to rob me first," Dorothy grinned, her hat waved slightly with the hot air that blew on them. Jason grinned back as he pushed her hat back on her head, making it snugger.

"You should keep a better hold on that," Jason joked, recalling how he caught her hat earlier when they climbed out of the lake.

"Hey! It stayed on the whole time we fell and even in the lake!"

Jason laughed with Dorothy after that, the fire burned a little brighter with that. Annabeth, on the other side of him, smiled gently, Dorothy caught the knowing look in the blonde's eyes. Normally she would feel embarrassed, but she couldn't care less, she was too happy despite everything to worry about how she looked to others. She has robbed and killed at her young age, what would she care about some teenagers who didn't know her?

The amphitheater steps were carved into the side of a hill, facing a stone-lined fire pit. Fifty or sixty kids filled the rows, clustered into groups under various banners.

Finally, the song ended with a lot of rowdy applause. Chiron trotted up to the fire, a grin on his face, now that she was calm about the centaur's appearance, she could fully take in his features. He had dark, curly hair and a well-kept beard. His bottom half was a white stallion, Dorothy smiled at the fact that she knew what the breed of his bottom half looked like. He had a tight grip on a spear impaled with toasted marshmallows. "Very nice! And a special welcome to our new arrivals. I am Chiron, camp activities director, and I'm happy you have all arrived here alive and with most of your limbs attached. In a moment, I promise we'll get to the smores, but first-"

"What about capture the flag?" somebody yelled, Dorothy looked up to see who yelled that out, she was confused about what that even was. The voice came from the group of kids in armor, sitting under a red banner with the emblem of a boar's head. There was a small discourse of grumbling coming from the rest of them, they all seemed to be upset about the same thing.

"Yes," the centaur said. "I know the Ares cabin is anxious to return to the woods for our regular games."

"And kill people!" one of them shouted.

"However," Chiron said, "until the dragon is brought under control, that won't be possible. Cabin Nine, anything to report on that?"

He turned to another group in that very group was Leo, the kid who was alarmed about something called Star Trek earlier that day. Leo winked at someone and shot them with a finger gun. She looked in the direction he shot to see Piper was awake and next to Rachel, Piper was gorgeous in the campfire light, Dorothy couldn't deny it, confusion clouded her mind as she felt her stomach flip when she looked at the Native girl. She looked back at the group of Cabin 9. The girl next to Leo stood uncomfortably. She wore what reminded Dorothy of an army jacket, maybe it was one but just redesigned. Dorothy hadn't seen a member of the army since she and her father shot a couple of them down after they harassed a group of Natives on their own reservation.

She thought more about what Chiron said and frowned as she stared at the fire.

"A dragon?" Dorothy asked as she leaned over at Jason, he only gave her a look that said he would explain later. Dorothy wanted to know now, but she also wanted to know how Cabin 9 would respond.

Like Leo's, the girl's hair was covered in a red bandanna. "We're working on it."

More disgruntled noise came from the Ares group.

"How, Nyssa?" an Ares kid demanded. Dorothy's frown worsened at the kid's rude tone, one look at the girl, Nyssa, and Dorothy could tell she was exhausted to the bone, whatever was going on at Cabin 9, Nyssa seemed to be working herself to her death over it.

"Really hard," the girl said.

Nyssa sat down to a lot of yelling and complaining, which caused the fire to sputter chaotically. Chiron stamped his hoof against the fire pit stones -bang, bang, bang- and the campers fell silent.

"We will have to be patient," Chiron said, his voice firm, "In the meantime, we have more pressing matters to discuss."

"Percy?" someone asked.

There was his name again. Dorothy spared a glance at Annabeth, he was her love, she could tell with how Annabeth spoke about him earlier and how she reacted to the boy's name. The fire dimmed even further, Dorothy realized then that the fire reflected the mood of the campers, so when his name was mentioned it was clear that his absence was unnoticed, though she didn't need the fire to notice that.

Chiron gestured to Annabeth. She took a deep breath and stood.

"I didn't find Percy," she announced. Her voice caught a little when she said his name, Dorothy felt a sympathetic pang rung out in her chest, "He wasn't at the Grand Canyon like I thought. But we're not giving up. We've got teams everywhere. Grover, Tyson, Nico, the Hunters of Artemis - everyone's out looking. We will find him. Chiron's talking about something different. A new quest."

"It's the Great Prophecy, isn't it?" a girl called out. The voice was familiar, Dorothy drew her eyes up, searching for the voice, it was far up in the back towards the top of the hill.

Everyone turned. The voice had come from a group in the back, sitting under a rose-colored banner with a dove emblem, they had to be kids of Aphrodite. They'd been chatting among themselves and not paying much attention until their leader stood up: Drew. Everyone else looked surprised. Dorothy had the feeling that Drew didn't contribute much to matters like this, though with how she treated Piper, a sour taste found its way to her mouth when she laid eyes on Drew again.

"Drew?" Annabeth said. "What do you mean?"

"Well, come on." Drew gestured her hands out, as if this was common knowledge, maybe she was smarter than Dorothy thought. "Olympus is closed. Percy's disappeared. Hera sends you a vision and you come back with four new demigods in one day. I mean, something weird is going on. The Great Prophecy has started, right?"

People around Dorothy turned to look at the redhead, Rachel. Dorothy joined them to look over at Rachel and Piper who were now closer to Dorothy, Jason, and Annabeth. Piper had leaned over to Rachel and whispered something. Dorothy tried to make out what she said but couldn't hear it over the fire.

Piper's eyes widened when she realized that everyone was staring at Rachel. The girl locked eyes with Dorothy. The brunette gave her a weak smile and a small wave, wanting to be friendly with the girl she crashed with. Piper returned the smile and gave her a nod. Dorothy appreciated that notion. Maybe the chariot crash truly was a bonding moment for the four of them, she would have to see if Leo was as friendly as Jason and Piper.

"Well?" Drew called down. "You're the oracle. Has it started or not?'

Dorothy trained her eyes onto Rachel, the firelight complimented her fiery red hair and illuminated her feature to give it a spooky look, when the firelight shined like this, one of the gang members, Mr. Elmer Williams would tell ghost stories to spook Dorothy to behave properly. Well, as properly as a young outlaw could be in the Wild West. Rachel stepped forward, pulling Dorothy from the past and making her focus as she held her head up a bit, as to address the crowd in the amphitheater.

"Yes," she said. "The Great Prophecy has begun."

All hell broke loose at Rachel's announcement, making Dorothy's nerves light up like the fire that turned to shades of green, nervousness billowed over the crowds, it was no doubt something that the fire was echoing but Dorothy could see it on the campers faces, some were nervous but Dorothy could see the absolute terror on some of the older campers who had more beads on their necklaces than others. She assumed those were the kids that fought in the battle of New York that Dorothy heard about earlier.

Dorothy looked back to Rachel, her heart was racing. A nudge in her side had her looking at Jason, concern etched on his face. "You okay?" He muttered for her to hear.

"I'm not sure," She answered truthfully, "So much has happened today, I'm probably going to sleep for ten hours depending on how well this conversation goes." A gesture to the situation around them and Jason understood, whatever Dorothy was about to hear, she wasn't too sure that it was going to be good news, though based on her history, she'd be a damn fool to think that this would end up being good.

When the talking finally quieted, Rachel hesitantly stepped forward again, doing her best to address the whole audience. Just about the whole crowd of demigods leaned away from her as if one skinny redheaded mortal was more intimidating than all of them put together. Considering Rachel's sinister cape, and what Annabeth told her about what happened in the cabin to Hera, Dorothy wouldn't doubt the fear. She couldn't blame the war-damaged kids.

"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:

"Eight half-bloods shall answer the call. To storm or fire the world must fall-

Jason shot to his feet. Dorothy looked up at him, shock falling over her from his abruptness, other campers seemed to be shocked about this as well. His eyes looked wild, like he'd just been bit by a rattlesnake, or had been shot.

Even Rachel seemed caught off guard. "J-Jason?" she said. "What's-"

"Ut cum spiritu postrema sacramentum dejuremus," he chanted. "Et hostes omamenta addent ad ianuam necem."

A disturbing silence fell on the group. Dorothy looked around to see several kids deep in thought, probably trying to decipher what he said. Dorothy was no different, she knew it was Latin, but she didn't know what exactly he said, the gang never bothered to teach her Latin, the language was long dead before she was born anyhow.

"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 winced and put his hands to the sides of his head, concern filled Dorothy as she stood up to put a hand on his shoulder, "I don't know how, but I know that prophecy."

He gave a pleading look and Dorothy squeezed his shoulder, a silent way of trying to comfort him. he seemed to appreciate it, so she didn't move her hand away.

"In Latin, no less," Drew called out. "Handsome and smart."

There was some giggling from the Aphrodite cabin. Dorothy glared up at the group of circus workers and moved to sit with Jason. The campfire roared out a burning chaotic and nervous shade of green, deeper than before. Jason looked embarrassed, but Annabeth leaned over and muttered something reassuring. Dorothy watched as he relaxed under her hand and she finally removed it, giving Jason a gentle smile.

Rachel still looked a little shaken. The redhead glanced back at Chiron for advice, but the centaur stood grim and silent, as if he were watching a town burnt to the ground, a terrible fate for a lot of people as they lose everything they've ever had

"Well," Rachel said, trying to regain 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 said, some weird stuff is happening. The eight demigods, whoever they are, have not been gathered yet. I get the feeling some are here tonight. Some are not here."

Dorothy furrowed her eyebrows, the eight demigods, the prophesied eight, she remembered the conversation she had earlier and she looked over at Rachel and Chiron. Rachel looked back at Dorothy, her eyes widened as if something was revealed to her.

"That's right!" Rachel exclaimed and pointed to Dorothy, "Hecate told her father that Dorothy was one of the eight! So we know at least one is here."

Dorothy widened her eyes at the revelation that she announced. She shifted in her seat and averted her eyes away from the collective gaze that the other campers cast onto her. She could feel Jason's eyes on her and she frowned, turning in on herself and hiding in her hat. The attention of everyone on her made her body run cold despite the fire and her hands went clammy.

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. Dorothy did too due to the comedic timing of his outburst.

"Anyway." Rachel continued, "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."

"Or worse," Chiron murmured.

Maybe he didn't mean everyone to overhear, but they did. The campfire immediately turned dark purple, the color was beautiful, making it ironic that it was associated with such a bad mood. Dorothy's heartbeat picked up at Chiron's words, she didn't like how negative he was about the potential outcome of this Second Great Prophecy, especially since her mother told everyone about Dorothy's fate.

"What we do 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 for the kids to quiet down. She told them about the events from earlier today, and how she was rescued from the Lotus Casino. So that's what it was turned into. Rachel went on about how they stopped at the Grand Canyon and what happened on its "Skywalk".

Was technology really that advanced? Dorothy would have to ask later since Rachel took a darker turn when she talked about how a satyr who goes by the name of Gleeson Hedge had sacrificed himself when storm spirits attacked, and the spirits had warned it was only the beginning. They apparently served some great mistress who would destroy all demigods.

Then Rachel told them about Piper passing out in Hera's cabin. Rachel also explained Dorothy's panic attack and the cause of it, the burning stares intensified. Finally, Rachel told them about Jason's vision in the living room of the Big House. The message Hera gave Dorothy was eerily similar to Jasons, maybe because they were all clearly supposed to save her. It would be weird if Hera told Jason to free her and for Dorothy to get her food supplies from town.

"Jason," Rachel said, pulling both the attention of the blonde boy and Dorothy. "Um, do you remember your last name?"

He looked embarrassed by the way his face flushed in the purple light, but he shook his head.

"We'll just call you Jason, then," Rachel said. "It's clear Hera herself has issued you and Dorothy Trelawney a quest, though it's abnormal for two people to be chosen for the same quest like this."

Rachel paused, as if giving the two a chance to protest their fate. Everyone's eyes were on them; she could feel the pressure. It was like some of the weight had been lifted on her when she felt Jason's hand on her knee. She looked up at him finally to see a reassuring expression. She couldn't help the grim expression on her own. Yet she still nodded. She had told him before that she would ride with him to help Hera even if the camp didn't approve, them being assigned to help Hera only made it easier to get out of the camp. He set his jaw and nodded. "I agree."

"We agree." Dorothy looked out at the anxious crowd before settling her gaze on Rachel.

"You must save Hera to prevent a great evil," Rachel continued. "Some sort of king from rising. For reasons we don't yet understand, it must happen by the winter solstice, only four days from now."

Dorothy and the gang have enacted whole schemes out on unsuspecting towns in a shorter amount of time than that. She could totally handle saving a goddess and stopping a king. At least she'll keep telling herself that until she believes it.

"That's the council day of the gods," Annabeth said. "If the gods don't already 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."

Dorothy recounted Annabeth's warning to not speak ill of the gods, but there was something about the tired girl that told Dorothy that she didn't give a shit about their wrath. Maybe it correlated with the visible years of wear on the girl. She couldn't be much older than Dorothy, biologically at least, she had a feeling that she was the second oldest in the camp compared to Chiron.

"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 in numbers. The solstice is a day when evil magic is strong. Ancient magic, older than the gods. It is a day when things-" He paused, "-stir."

The way he said it, stirring sounded absolutely sinister- like it should be a warning to hide your valuables and you're young because it was a chance that the solstice would take it. None of this helped her nervousness.

"Okay," Annabeth said, glaring at the centaur. "Thank you, Captain Sunshine, Whatever's going on, I agree with Rachel. Jason and Dorothy have been chosen to lead this quest, so-"

"Why hasn't he been claimed?" somebody yelled from the Ares cabin. "Why's he so important-"

"He has been claimed," Chiron announced. "Long ago. Jason, give them a demonstration."

Dorothy could see that Jason was confused but he still stepped forward. He looked beautiful in the purple glow, his features were highlighted perfectly, he glanced at Piper who made a motion with her hand as if she was flipping a coin, whatever that meant, he clearly knew, it must have had to do with the Grand Canyon. Dorothy doesn't remember the last time she was there, she was young and her father was desperate to cross it to avoid the law so they didn't get a chance to admire it like she would've wanted to.

Jason reached into his pocket. His coin flashed in the air, and when he caught it in his hand, he was holding a rod of gold about seven feet long, with a spear tip at one end. The name of the weapon was on the tip of her tongue but she couldn't remember for the life of her. The other demigods gasped. Dorothy, Rachel, and Annabeth stepped back to avoid the point, which looked as sharp as the knife that her father used to carry.

"Wasn't that..." Annabeth hesitated, confused. "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's cabin.

"Better than Clarisse's electric spear, Lamer!" one of his brothers agreed.

"Electric," Jason murmured, like that was a good idea. "Back away."

Dorothy didn't have to be told twice, putting more space between them. Jason raised his javelin, and thunder broke open the sky. If Dorothy had to describe what she felt, she was sure she would bring up the drink she had with her dinner today. The hairs on her arms stood on end and she felt the electricity in the air like it was an object that could be touched.

Lightning arced down through the golden spear point and hit the campfire with the force of a civil war cannon. When the smoke cleared, and the ringing in Dorothy's ears faded, the entire camp sat frozen in 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 kid Clovis, who hadn't even stirred. Dorothy was somehow not surprised about that.

Piper was now next to her, brushing a hand over Dorothy's hat. The girl widened her eyes and removed it from her head and shook it, getting the bits of smoldering pieces off before irreparable damage could be done. Dorothy gave Piper a quick thank you after shaking ash out over her hair and putting the hat back on. To show she was grateful, she brushed a smudge of ash off Piper's cheek.

Dorothy felt Piper's face heat up from the contact under her thumb, which didn't help Dorothy either as she quickly removed her hand from the girl's face and held them stiffly at her sides. The two avoided each other's gaze and opted to look over at Jason.

Jason lowered his weapon. "Um... sorry."

Chiron brushed some burning coals out of his beard. He grimaced as if his darkest thoughts had been made a reality, it was unsettling to see considering how happy he was when he first approached the once happy campers. "A little overkill, perhaps, but you've made your point. And I believe we know who your father is."

"Jupiter," Jason said. "I mean, Zeus. Lord of the Sky."

A grin broke out on Dorothy's face, she couldn't help it, and didn't want to remove it anyway. Zeus was powerful, if Jason had powers like that, their shared quest would be easy. It made perfect sense. Apparently, the rest of the camp wasn't so happy about this, which left Dorothy unsure about if she should be happy for Jason about his heritage. These people knew far more than she did, she trusted their opinions on these matters since she didn't know enough to form an opinion of her own. Everything broke into chaos, with several people asking questions until Annabeth raised her arms.

"Hold it!" she said. "How can he be the son of Zeus? The Big Three... their pact not to have mortal kids... how could we not have known about him sooner?"

Chiron didn't answer, but as Dorothy studied him, she could tell that he knew, and from the dark expression he still held, she wasn't too sure that it was a good thing.

"The important thing." Rachel said, "is that Jason's here now. He has a quest to fulfill, which means he will need his own prophecy."

She closed her eyes and swayed like a lightheaded horse in heat. Two campers rushed forward and caught her. A third ran to the side of the amphitheater and grabbed a bronze three-legged stool, like they'd done this a hundred times before. They eased Rachel onto the stool in front of the ruined hearth. Without the fire, the night was dark, but a familiar green mist started swirling around Rachel's feet. When she opened her eyes, they were glowing, if Dorothy wasn't startled before, she was now. Emerald smoke issued from her mouth. The voice that came out was raspy and ancient - the sound a snake would make if it could talk:

"Child of lightning, beware the earth, The giants' revenge the eight shall birth, Crone's daughter guides the way, For those who will stop the doomsday, The forge and dove shall break the cage, And death unleash through Hera's rage."

On the last word, Rachel collapsed, but the three campers were waiting to catch her like it was a routine. They carried her away from the hearth and laid her in the corner to rest.

"'Is that normal?" Piper asked, Dorothy jumped, Piper's voice had cut through the eerie silence that Rachel's words left them with. "I mean... does she spew green smoke a lot?"

"Gods, you're dense!" Drew sneered. "She just issued a prophecy- Jason's prophecy to save Hera! Why don't you just-"

Before Dorothy could yell at Drew for being so rude, Annabeth spoke up. Piper was giving Dorothy a wary look, like she didn't want Dorothy to say anything. There was something about the look that told Dorothy that she would handle Drew later. A devilish grin spread on Dorothy's face, she could tell that Piper could get up to some trouble if she wanted to.

"Drew," Annabeth snapped. "Piper asked a fair question. Something about that prophecy definitely isn't normal. If breaking Hera's cage unleashes her rage and causes a bunch of death... why would we free her? It might be a trap, or-or maybe Hera will turn on her rescuers. She's never been kind to heroes. And why would the quest call for four people, especially when three's the rule and the last time more than three left..." There was a crestfallen silence that washed over the crowd, Dorothy had a feeling that it had to do with Bianca's death, which made her gut twist.

Jason rose. "I don't have much choice. Hera took my memory. I need it back. Besides, we can't just not help the queen of the heavens if she's in trouble."

A girl from Hephaestus' cabin stood up-Nyssa, the one with the red bandanna. "Maybe. But you should listen to Annabeth. Hera can be vengeful. She threw her own son-our dad--down a mountain just because he was ugly."

"Real ugly," snickered someone from Aphrodite.

"Shut up!" Nyssa growled. "Anyway, we've also got to think -why beware the earth? And what's the giants' revenge? What are we dealing with here that's powerful enough to kidnap the queen of the heavens?"

Dorothy stepped forward this time, doing her best to brush off the nervousness of public speaking. Her father was good at giving the gang speeches, she silently prayed to his spirit to give her the chance to speak now.

"I have only been here for a day and I know I probably don't have a place to speak on this, but," She swallowed, "Hera pushed me into a mind numbing prison for over a hundred years, normally this would make me the most reluctant person on earth to go to her rescue, but I'm going to do it anyways, because whatever is powerful enough to stop a goddess should only be allowed to be good, if they have sinister plans, and it's clear that they do, then they need to be stopped. We need the gods to not be fighting amongst themselves so we at least have a chance at whatever is plotting our demise, and I for one don't feel like dying anytime soon despite my life being over extended."

There were a couple of chuckles among the crowd at her last few words, but what she had to say seemed to get across because the campers who were talking to each other stopped and all looked to her. She wondered if the focused attention she had - had any correlation with the fact that she was a part of a "Great Prophecy".

"It's Jason and Dorothy's quest," Annabeth announced, "so it's their choice. Obviously, he's the child of lightning. According to tradition, the two may choose any two companions."

Someone from the Hermes cabin yelled, "Well, you, obviously, Annabeth. You've got the most experience."

"No, Travis," Annabeth said. "First off, I'm not helping Hera. Every time I've tried, she's deceived me, or it's come back to bite me later. Forget it. No way. Secondly, I'm leaving first thing in the morning to find Percy."

"'It's connected," Piper blurted out, making Dorothy jump again as she looked back at the girl who seemed surprised with herself that she spoke. "You know that's true, don't you? This whole business, your boyfriend's disappearance- it's all connected."

"How?" demanded Drew. "If you're so smart, how?"

"Maybe if you used your brain you'd see the connection!" Dorothy snapped, giving an apologetic look to Piper. A collective gasp was heard from the Aphrodite group, a collective "ooh" spread across a number of kids, surprised at Dorothy's outburst.

Annabeth spoke up, surprisingly not chastising Dorothy's remark to the girl at the top of the Amphitheater. "You may be right, Piper. If this is connected, I'll find out from the other end--by searching for Percy. As I said, I'm not about to rush off to rescue Hera, even if her disappearance sets the rest of the Olympians fighting again. But there's another reason I can't go. The prophecy says otherwise."

"It says who I pick," Jason agreed. "The forge and dove shall break the cage. The forge is the symbol of Vul--Hephaestus."

Under the Cabin Nine banner, Nyssa's shoulders slumped, like one more task would make her fall apart completely. "If you have to beware the earth," she said, "you should avoid traveling over land. You'll need air transport."

Dorothy frowned, she had hoped that she could ride on Prudence for this quest, she missed her horse enough. And the idea of being in the air frightened her, especially since she didn't have a pleasant landing like the last time she was in a chariot.

"The flying chariot's broken," Nyssa continued, "and the pegasi, we're using them to search for Percy. But maybe Hephaestus cabin can help figure out something else to help. With Jake incapacitated, I'm senior camper. I can volunteer for the quest."

She didn't sound happy to do this. Dorothy couldn't blame her, the ominous words of the prophecy didn't make the quest sound fun.

Then Leo stood up. There was a determined look on his face, making him look older than before. Dorothy had the sense that he didn't have the best life before arriving at the camp, though it looked like this was the same for a lot of the campers here.

"'It's me," he said.

His cabin mates swiveled their heads at him in alarm when he spoke. Several tried to pull him back to his seat, but Leo resisted.

"No, it's me. I know it is. I've got an idea for the transportation problem. Let me try. I can fix this!"

Jason studied him for a moment. Jason looked over at Dorothy, a questioning look on his face.

She stepped over to Jason, studying Leo up and down. He was short, it may have to do with the fact that he looked a bit young, he was skinny, a little too skinny.

"Do you want to bring him?" Jason asked, "He was pretty useful on the skywalk, he's good at making things, fast."

"If you vouch for him, I have no objections," Dorothy shrugged, sparing another glance at Leo who now seemed unsure, she locked eyes onto Jason, her jaw setting as she grew more serious, "but he's skinny, he needs to make sure that if things go south, he can pull through, we don't know what we're going to be fighting here."

Jason nodded and the two faced Leo like a united front. If only Miss Catherine and her father could see her now. Dorothy grinned at the imagined reactions of the two, Jason was smiling, but clearly for a different reason.

"We started this together, Leo." Jason said, "Seems only right you come along. You find us a ride, you're in."

"Yes!" Leo punched his fist in the air. Dorothy tilted her head at the peculiar motion, her brows pinching with her confusion.

"I'll be dangerous," Nyssa warned him. "Hardship, monsters, terrible suffering. Possibly none of you will come back alive."

"Oh." Suddenly Leo didn't look so excited. He looked around, his eyes widened slightly when he observed the number of eyes on him. "I mean... Oh, cool! Suffering? I love suffering! Let's do this."

Annabeth nodded. "Then, Jason, Dorothy, you only need to choose the third quest member. The dove-"

"Oh, absolutely!" Drew was on her feet and flashing Jason a smile. "The dove is Aphrodite. Everybody knows that. I am totally yours."

"Absolutely not!" Dorothy yelled out, not caring how rude she looked, there was no way that she was going to deal with the devil that resided in Drew.

"No." Dorothy looked back to see the clenched fists that were attached to Piper and the tick in her tense jaw.

"Oh, please, Dumpster girl." Drew snapped, making Dorothy spin back around at her, shooting another deadly glare at the girl, "Back off."

Dorothy reached for her hips, her grip was tightened around the handle of her gun but Jason shot his hand out with a swiftness, his large hand smothered hers and pulled her hand away from her weapon.

Drew was too focused on arguing with Piper to see what Dorothy did, but the girl next to her watched the whole thing with wide eyes, she scooted a bit a ways from Drew subtly, Dorothy still had another gun on her other side, and she was a good aim with both hands. Drew needs to watch it.

"I had the vision of Hera; not you." Piper spoke up, "I have to do this."

"Anyone can have a vision," Drew said. "You were just at the right place at the right time." She turned to Jason. "Look, fighting is all fine, I suppose. And people who build things, She looked at Leo in disdain she then looked at Dorothy with a disgusted frown, glancing down at the joined hands of the brunette and Jason, "and whatever she does. Well, I suppose someone has to get their hands dirty. But you need charm on your side. I can be very persuasive. I could help a lot."

There was a switch flipped in how Dorothy thought, Drew seemed to make sense, her hand pulled away from Jasons, a flush of cool air graced the palm of her hand as it gently rested at her side, the idea of shooting Drew was discarded to rest in the embers of what used to be a fire behind her.

"Well..." Annabeth said. "Given the wording of the prophecy-

"No!" Piper protested. "I'm supposed to go."

That made more sense to Dorothy, she nodded in agreement to Piper's words. It was obvious to Dorothy that Piper had to go, Drew be damned.

"Get over it!" Drew snapped at the crowd. "What can Piper do?"

Dorothy frowned, pinching her eyebrows at the question, she pondered the question, she did have to admit that she hadn't seen any significant skill that go be offered to the quest, a saddened pit settled in Dorothy's gut, she really would enjoy for Piper to join them, especially if it meant that Drew wasn't coming.

"Well," Drew said smugly, "I guess that settles it."

A red glow made Dorothy cast a faint shadow in front of her. She spun around and the sight in front of her took her breath away.

"What?" Piper demanded. Dorothy opened her mouth to speak, but Piper's beauty had quiet literally left her speechless, she looked up, as if she was expecting something to hover over her but nothing was there.

Then she looked down and yelped.

Her clothes had magically changed like Dorothy's did today. The disgusted face on Piper told Dorothy that she wasn't happy with the attire, it made Dorothy want to hand over her own clothes to let her wear something else, anything to please her. She was adorned in a beautiful white sleeveless gown that went down to her ankles, with a V-neck so low it would've made a number of the women in the Trelawney gasp and clutch their stolen pearls with disdain, but still, Piper was a beauty to behold. Delicate gold armbands circled her biceps. An intricate necklace of amber, coral, and gold flowers glittered on her chest, and her hair was no longer in various lengths with stray braids. It was all one long length, shiny like she used bath oils on the strands, gold ribbons were braided into her hair that fell over her shoulder.

"Oh, god," she said. "What's happened?"

Piper looked down at the golden cord that hung at her side, in it was a dagger she carried, gleaming and oiled to perfection. Piper looked hesitant to draw it. She looked afraid. Still, she unsheathed the weapon and stared at her reflection in the polished metal blade.

She was now seeing what Dorothy saw, with the light reflecting off the blade, it further illuminated Piper's face in the red glow, showing off the hints of makeup that accented her already perfect features. She was... was...

"A vision," Dorothy was louder than she realized. "Piper, you.... you're beautiful."

Piper's expression softened for a moment when she saw the awestruck look on Dorothy's face, but then she looked up and Dorothy could see that she felt embarrassed. Dorothy wondered if it was from the plunging neckline of the dress. She stepped forward, giving Piper an assuring look before spinning around to face the crowd, she straightened up her spine even more, squaring her shoulders to make her look taller and to block everyone's view of Piper's body.

"No!" Drew cried. "Not possible!"

"This isn't me." Piper protested. "I don't understand."

Chiron the centaur folded his front legs and bowed to her, and all the campers followed his example. Dorothy widened her eyes and quickly spun around to bow reverently to Piper.

"Hail, Piper McLean," Chiron announced gravely, as if he were speaking at the girl's burial.

"Daughter of Aphrodite, lady of the doves, goddess of love."

*.·:·.⟐.·:·.*

9.5k words

GLOSSARY:
сука: bitch

oh. my. god (s).

this was all written in a day if you can believe that. the powers of caffeine and the burning desire to procrastinate from your work are strong.

i'm personally a little upset with the pacing of these chapters, but I didn't want to go over 10k words on chapter three, even tho I'm like, 500 words away from that. but cèst la vie !

also, can you guess where josephine is from?? I hope it was subtle enough but we'll see. i CANT wait for you guys to watch Dorothy grow to her full demi-god potential. Hecate may be a minor god, but she was granted domain in the sky, the sea, and the underworld and is the daughter of two titans herself unlike some of the other major gods.

i can't wait to show y'all how powerful hecates kids can be bc they are overlooked WAY TOO MUCH!!!

anyways thank you for reading the update and if you read this rant, double thank you!

see you at the next update!

-greta!