No, this wasn’t her mom. At least Piper was sure of that. She hadn’t come in here because she felt a good connection, but because her sense of dread was stronger here. Her dream—that horrible ultimatum she’d been handed—had something to do with this cabin.
She froze. They weren’t alone. Behind the statue, at a little altar in the back, stood a figure covered in a black shawl. Only her hands were visible, palms up. She seemed to be chanting something like a spell or a prayer.
Annabeth gasped. “Rachel?”
The other girl turned. She dropped her shawl, revealing a mane of curly red hair and a freckled face that didn’t go with the seriousness of the cabin or the black shawl at all. She looked about seventeen, a totally normal teen in a green blouse and tattered jeans covered with marker doodles. Despite the cold floor, she was barefoot.
“Hey!” She ran to give Annabeth a hug. “I’m so sorry! I came as fast as I could. ”
They talked for a few minutes about Annabeth’s boyfriend and how there was no news, et cetera, until finally Annabeth remembered Piper, who was standing there feeling uncomfortable.
“I’m being rude,” Annabeth apologized. “Rachel, this is Piper, one of the half-bloods we rescued today. Piper, this is Rachel Elizabeth Dare, our oracle. ”
“The friend who lives in the cave,” Piper guessed.
Rachel grinned. “That’s me. ”
“So you’re an oracle?” Piper asked. “You can tell the future?”
“More like the future mugs me from time to time,” Rachel said. “I speak prophecies. The oracle’s spirit kind of hijacks me every once in a while and speaks important stuff that doesn’t make any sense to anybody. But yeah, the prophecies tell the future. ”
“Oh. ” Piper shifted from foot to foot. “That’s cool. ”
Rachel laughed. “Don’t worry. Everybody finds it a little creepy. Even me. But usually I’m harmless. ”
“You’re a demigod?”
“Nope,” Rachel said. “Just mortal. ”
“Then what are you …” Piper waved her hand around the room.
Rachel’s smile faded. She glanced at Annabeth, then back at Piper. “Just a hunch. Something about this cabin and P
ercy’s disappearance. They’re connected somehow. I’ve learned to follow my hunches, especially the last month, since the gods went silent. ”
“Went silent?” Piper asked.
Rachel frowned at Annabeth. “You haven’t told her yet?”
“I was getting to that,” Annabeth said. “Piper, for the last month … well, it’s normal for the gods not to talk to their children very much, but usually we can count on some messages now and then. Some of us can even visit Olympus. I spent practically all semester at the Empire State Building. ”
“Excuse me?”
“The entrance to Mount Olympus these days. ”
“Oh,” Piper said. “Sure, why not?”
“Annabeth was redesigning Olympus after it was damaged in the Titan War,” Rachel explained. “She’s an amazing architect. You should see the salad bar—”
“Anyway,” Annabeth said, “starting about a month ago, Olympus fell silent. The entrance closed, and no one could get in. Nobody knows why. It’s like the gods have sealed themselves off. Even my mom won’t answer my prayers, and our camp director, Dionysus, was recalled. ”
“Your camp director was the god of … wine?”
“Yeah, it’s a—”
“Long story,” Piper guessed. “Right. Go on. ”
“That’s it, really,” Annabeth said. “Demigods still get claimed, but nothing else. No messages. No visits. No sign the gods are even listening. It’s like something has happened —something really bad. Then Percy disappeared. ”
“And Jason showed up on our field trip,” Piper supplied. “With no memory. ”
“Who’s Jason?” Rachel asked.
“My—” Piper stopped herself before she could say “boyfriend,” but the effort made her chest hurt. “My friend. But Annabeth, you said Hera sent you a dream vision. ”
“Right,” Annabeth said. “The first communication from a god in a month, and it’s Hera, the least helpful goddess, and she contacts me, her least favorite demigod. She tells me I’ll find out what happened to Percy if I go to the Grand Canyon skywalk and look for a guy with one shoe. Instead, I find you guys, and the guy with one shoe is Jason. It doesn’t make sense. ”
“Something bad is happening,” Rachel agreed. She looked at Piper, and Piper felt an overwhelming desire to tell them about her dream, to confess that she knew what was happening—at least part of the story. And the bad stuff was only beginning.
“Guys,” she said. “I—I need to—”
Before she could continue, Rachel’s body stiffened. Her eyes began to glow with a greenish light, and she grabbed Piper by the shoulders.
Piper tried to back away, but Rachel’s hands were like steel clamps.
Free me, she said. But it wasn’t Rachel’s voice. It sounded like an older woman, speaking from somewhere far away, down a long, echoing pipe. Free me, Piper McLean, or the earth shall swallow us. It must be by the solstice.