Chapter Two THALIA GRACE As we jogged into the forest, Luna and I noticed that the whisperings got louder. Luna could almost hear what they were saying. But the voice was hard to understand, so we had to be quiet. Katherine got bored and started reading a book while jogging. That is one of the new skills she has learned. Because of her great obsession with books, she simply cannot scout without them. Just last week she enchanted her books so that they would always return to her backpack when she dropped them to fight. Last April she enchanted the book so that it would always have a magical bookmark made of fog. I love books too, but even Amanda, who is like Katherine’s best friend, admitted maybe Katherine was taking it ‘a bit too far’. Seriously, when it comes to Katherine, that girl cannot tell the difference between falcons and wolves. A comment from Luna zapped me out of my thoughts. “I can hear what it’s saying,” she said, then repeated the lines. “Offspring of Artemis brings me here Five venture up in the zone of fear Ouranos risen, yearning for Gaea Blessing of Kymopoleia The son of Hades summons the dead Titaness Who alone can lead to Atlas.” “Does that make sense to you?” Luna asked after she finished repeating the prophecy. I smacked my forehead, then forgot that Luna had never heard a prophecy before and it was my job to explain it to her. “First, yes and no. I know what it is; it’s a prophecy. But, like all people, I don’t know what it means. What I do know is that five people have to go up into the ‘zone of fear’ and request the blessing of Kymopoleia. After that, a son of Hades summons a dead Titaness, who can lead to Atlas? My best guess is that Ouranos is getting closer to Gaea and we need to go to Atlas to ensure that he is still holding the sky up.” I said. Luna opened her mouth to respond when we heard a voice. “Who’s there?” Our Hunter comrade Reyna Ramirez-Arellano knelt on the grass in a forest clearing. “What are you doing here?” Amanda backtracked. “I felt a weird presence here.” Reyna said. She was a powerful former Roman praetor, and was even better than Luna at sensing things. “Thalia and Luna heard a voice here. Eventually, it turned into a prophecy. Did you hear a voice?” Katherine asked. Reyna shook her head. “What was the prophecy?” “Offspring of Artemis brings me here Five venture up in the zone of fear Ouranos risen, yearning for Gaea Require the blessing of Kymopoleia The son of Hades summons the dead Titaness Who alone can lead to Atlas.” Amanda repeated. “Never heard of that one before,” Reyna said. “What I do know is who Kymopoleia is. She’s the goddess of, well, I guess you could say aqua storms? Jason made a truce with her during the fight with Gaea.” I cringed at the sound of the name. Jason had been my brother. He died while accompanying Apollo on his quest to defeat three ancient Roman emperors who were trying to control the United States. Reyna noticed me, her look softening. “I’m sorry about Jason, Thalia. I know he was your brother. Maybe someday you’ll see him at Elysium.” Gosh, this girl needed lessons on how to help people with mental distress. By mentioning that, she had unintentionally triggered a death alert inside me, which suggested that I either broke the vow of the Hunters and died,broke the vow of the Hunters and get killed by Artemis, or get killed in battle. “So, does anybody have an idea who the ‘dead Titaness’ is?” Amanda asked, hastily trying to change the subject. Blank looks from Luna, Reyna, and Katherine. I sighed. “Long ago, during the Battle of Manhattan, Reyna, you would know it as when the Twelfth Legion stormed Mount Othrys, me, the newbie Hunter Bianca di Angelo, Percy Jackson, the satyr Grover, and Zoe Nightshade went on a quest to save Artemis. I wasn’t a Hunter back then. Anyway, Zoe is the daughter of Atlas and the sea nymph Pleione. Maybe that counts as a Titaness? Technically, she was the fifth of the Hesperides, but she is the daughter of a Titan. Also, she died. My best guess on the son of Hades is Nico di Angelo, younger brother of Bianca di Angelo, who also died on that quest.” My comrades stared at me for a moment before shaking themselves out of the shock that came from my story about two Hunters dying. “Okay,” Luna said. “Well, we should probably get back to Artemis. The moon is starting to rise.”
