Rick Riordan Percy Jackson and the Olympians
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Chiron closed his eyes as if he were saying a prayer . In horse form , his head almost brushed the lights in the rec room . " You see now , Percy , why we thought it best not to tell you the whole prophecy . You ' ve had enough on your shoulders —" " Without realizing I was going to die in the end anyway ?" I said . " Yeah , I get it ." Chiron gazed at me sadly . The guy was three thousand years old . He ' d seen hundreds of heroes die . He might not like it , but he was used to it . He probably knew better than to try to reassure me .
" Percy ," Annabeth said . " You know prophecies always have double meanings . It might not literally mean you die ." " Sure ," I said . " A single choice shall end his days . That has tons of meanings , right ?" " Maybe we can stop it ," Jake Mason offered . " The hero ' s soul , cursed blade shall reap .
Maybe we could find this cursed blade and destroy it . Sounds like Kronos ' s scythe , right ?"
I hadn ' t thought about that , but it didn ' t matter if the cursed blade was Riptide or Kronos ' s scythe . Either way , I doubted we could stop the prophecy . A blade was supposed to reap my soul . As a general rule , I preferred not to have my soul reaped . " Perhaps we should let Percy think about these lines ," Chiron said . " He needs time —" " No ." I folded up the prophecy and shoved it into my pocket . I felt defiant and angry , though I wasn ' t sure who I was angry with . " I don ' t need time . If I die , I die . I can ' t worry about that , right ?" Annabeth ' s hands were shaking a little . She wouldn ' t meet my eyes . " Let ' s move on ," I said . " We ' ve got other problems . We ' ve got a spy ."
Michael Yew scowled . " A spy ?"
I told them what had happened on the Princess Andromeda — how Kronos had known we were coming , how he ' d shown me the silver scythe pendant he ' d used to communicate with someone at camp . Silena started to cry again , and Annabeth put an arm around her shoulders . " Well ," Connor Stoll said uncomfortably , " we ' ve suspected there might a spy for years , right ? Somebody kept passing information to Luke — like the location of the Golden Fleece a couple of years ago . It must be somebody who knew him well ."
Maybe subconsciously , he glanced at Annabeth . She ' d known Luke better than anyone , of course , but Connor looked away quickly . " Um , I mean , it could be anybody ."
" Yes ." Katie Gardner frowned at the Stoll brothers . She ' d disliked them ever since they ' d decorated the grass roof of the Demeter cabin with chocolate Easter bunnies . " Like one of Luke ' s siblings ."
Travis and Connor both started arguing with her . " Stop !" Silena banged the table so hard her hot chocolate spilled . " Charlie ' s dead and . . . and you ' re all arguing like little kids !" She put her head down and began to sob . Hot chocolate trickled off the Ping-Pong table . Everybody looked ashamed . " She ' s right ," Pollux said at last . " Accusing each other doesn ' t help . We need to keep our eyes open for a silver necklace with a scythe charm . If Kronos had one , the spy probably does too ." Michael Yew grunted . " We need to find this spy before we plan our next operation . Blowing up the Princess Andromeda won ' t stop Kronos forever ." " No indeed ," Chiron said . " In fact his next assault is already on the way ." I scowled . " You mean the ' bigger threat ' Poseidon mentioned ?" He and Annabeth looked at each other like , It ' s time . Did I mention I hate it when they do that ? " Percy ," Chiron said , " we didn ' t want to tell you until you returned to camp . You needed a break with your . . . mortal friends ."
Annabeth blushed . It dawned on me that she knew I ' d been hanging out with Rachel , and I felt guilty . Then I felt angry that I felt guilty . I was allowed to have friends outside camp , right ? It wasn ' t like . . .
" Tell me what ' s happened ," I said .
Chiron picked up a bronze goblet from the snack table . He tossed water onto the hot plate where we usually melted nacho cheese . Steam billowed up , making a rainbow in the fluorescent lights . Chiron fished a golden drachma out of his pouch , tossed it through the mist , and muttered , " O Iris , Goddess of the Rainbow , show us the threat ."