I climbed out of Paul's Prius, the one he had before was totaled last summer so he had gotten a newer model. I had my duffle in one hand, my backpack over my shoulder, and Seymour wedged under my arm. My mom gave me a quick hug that I awkwardly tried to return without dropping everything.

"If you need anything," My mom said as she held my shoulders. "I mean it, Percy. If you need anything, no matter how big or small, you tell me. Okay?" I nodded and she pulled me in for another hug. "I love you. No matter what happens that will never change."

"I love you too, mom," I said before breaking the hug. "Thanks for being so cool about everything."

"Oh Percy," my mom had a small smile on her face. "I love you so much, please take care of yourself."

"I will mom."

I had told her and Paul the majority of what had happened since my summer began. I told them about Ares attacking me, and Dionysus saving my life (I did not give them any details of how he saved my life). I left out the whole Eris disaster, too, but I told them about Ares punishment in Hades, Paul seemed relieved that he'd been punished at all and mom was annoyed that he'd gotten only 50 years. I told them about moving in with Pollux, and that Poseidon won't talk to me. When mom heard that last part she almost ordered an impromptu trip to the beach so she could scold Poseidon in person. Frankly, I would have liked to see that, but Paul managed to calm her down.

I ended by telling them that I was immortal now. They both got really quiet for a few minutes while they tried to work their minds around the fact that I would now live forever. Mom seem to go back and forth from confused, to relieved, to concerned, and in the end she seemed a little sad. Later she asked me if this is what I wanted. I lied and said yes.

After that the rest of the week went by pretty quickly. I was all healed up by the third day and the rest of the week was uneventful. My mom seemed to get along with Seymour really well, so well that when I was packing up last night she asked how I'd feel if I came home to a new kitten. I told her that might be nice, but in truth, I was planning on staying at Camp Half-Blood full time. She seemed downhearted with the news but said that given what I'd told her, she understood.

I made my way up to the Big House, passing a few campers as I did. Some whispered as I passed, others looked confused, the Stoll brothers waved up at me from the lakeside as they stepped out of a canoe, and a son of Demeter asked why he hadn't seen me at meals lately, then he handed me a Ziploc bag of Corn Pops.

I stepped through the front door of the Big House only to find that the main room was empty. I did find a note on the coffee table folded in half with my name written on the outside.

"Pick whatever room you want.

You can leave Seymour in the main room."

I put Seymour down on the coffee table and gave him a pat on the head. He pushed his head into my hand and let out a small mewl, which made me smile. What can I say? The little guy had grown on me.

"I'll see you later, Okay?"

I decide to head up stairs to find a room. As I got to the foot of the stairs I looked up and was so startled I almost dropped my Corn Pops. At the top of the stairs was someone's silhouette. The sun was so bright through the widow behind it that I had to squint to make out any features. I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw that it was just Rachel.

"Oh man, you startled me," I said with a laugh, as I began to climb the stairs.

Rachel began to descend the stairs. She stared straight ahead like she didn't see me. Her movements seemed awkward, but I couldn't put my finger on it. They just seemed stiff and distinctly un-Rachel. Maybe she was mad that I hadn't sad good bye? That was probably it.

"Hey, listen," I started awkwardly as I came to a stop in front of her. "I'm sorry I didn't come to see you before I left. Everything just happened so fast and this summer's been crazy. I just-"

Her shoulder hit mine as she walked past me and I probably would have been knocked down the stairs if I hadn't grabbed the banister. Rachel didn't even seem to care. She just kept going down the stairs.

"I said I was sorry!" I yelled after her, but she just ignored me and turned the corner towards the kitchen.

"What was that about?" I grumbled under my breath as I adjusted my backpack and continued. 'She's probably just having a bad day or something,' I thought.

As I got to the second floor and looked down the hall. In one direction was Rachel's room, if she was angry at me perhaps it was best to keep my distance. Down that why was also the attic, and even though it was now empty it still really creeped me out.

I walked down to the other end of the hall way and pushed open the door at the end. The second I saw the room I knew it was mine. It was literally my room! Same posters, same desk, same hoodie hanging over the back of a chair; the only differences were an extra door off to the side, a large window that faced out towards the lake, and a huge four post king sized bed.

I put my bags down on the bed and looked around. I opened the door to the closet to find that it was already full of my clothes. It even had that old ratty gym bag that I kept in the back corner and stuffed my bad test scores into so my mom won't see them. I guess I could get rid of that now.

I opened the extra door and found that it lead to a bathroom. A really nice bathroom. A toilet was in a smaller closet-like room, and a mirror that took up the whole wall behind the sink. There was a huge whirlpool tub in the center of the room, and an alcove off to the side that looked like a shower, but showerhead look like a big square directly overhead. I turned it on to see how it worked and it poured out like rain instead of the usual stream of water.

"Cool," I said to myself as I turned it off.

I went back to my room and started to unpack my bags. Maybe things wouldn't be so bad after all.

And that's when the earthquake hit.

Actually, it didn't feel like an earthquake, and I should know, I've caused an earthquake. Just the one time but it kind of leaves an impression. Whatever was happening, the whole house was shaking. After a few seconds it seemed to stop, but without the quake to distract me I noticed that the tattoo on my thigh was burning. It didn't hurt but I did sense some anger seeping through it. That couldn't be a good thing.

I raced out of my room and down the hall. I made it to the top of the stairs in time to see Dionysus storming through the main room and out the front door. I stood there frozen for a second trying to figure out what was happening. An angry Dionysus was never a good thing, especially for me, but for once it looked like I wasn't the one he was mad at. Which meant he was angry at someone else, maybe even a camper… shit.

I took the stairs two at a time and ran through the main room to the front door. I rushed out on the porch to see that Dionysus had made it half way to the lake but it looks like he's aiming for the picnic tables. There are only two people sitting there right now though, Travis and Connor Stoll.

They barely had time to look up before the table exploded, sending bits of wood everywhere. They hit the ground hard but managed to shake it off. Travis ran to Connor, pulling him to his feet, but by the time they had gotten their sense back enough to try to run vines had begun to wrap around their ankles, causing both of them to fall back to the ground.

"Dionysus!" I called out pushing myself to run faster. "Stop!"

He didn't seem to hear me and continued advance towards them, the vines kept them pined, but it looked like Travis was trying to move himself in front of his younger brother. Despite the increased burning from the tattoo on my thigh, I managed to get a good burst of speed that put me between Dionysus and the Stolls.

"Stop," I put my hands up in front of me hoping to calm him down. "Please, just calm down and we can all talk about this."

A crowd began to from around the four of us but I was too busy trying to concentrate on keeping Dionysus away from the Stolls.

"Move," Dionysus said, through clenched teeth. I heard Connor scream as the vines tightened around them. The campers from Hermes cabin, who were gathered in the crowd, were trying to move forward to help their brothers, but the other campers from other cabins held them back.

"No," I yelled back. "Just take a deep breath and we'll talk about it. Whatever you think they did, we can make it right. Just stop."

His eyes began to glow purple and he took a step closer. I stepped back, only to trip over a bit of exploded table, and landed on my butt. Dionysus was still moving towards the Stolls so I scrabbled back up to my knees and threw myself practically on top of the two boys. I looked back at Dionysus, ready to try and get him to calm down, but my view was obstructed when someone else stood between us and the enraged god.

"Stop!" That was Pollux's voice. "Father, please stop this."

The vines vanished in an instant.

"Pollux, you and Percy need to get out of the way," Dionysus's voice was still tense with anger but at least he had stopped. "They need to be dealt with."

"We're not going anywhere," Pollux said. "We're going to talk this out before this gets out of hand."

Dionysus seemed to study Pollux for a moment, and Pollux held his ground. I couldn't help but respect the guy a little more because of it. He was still a crappy roommate, but his intervention may have just saved Travis and Connor.

"Fine," Dionysus relented. "Someone," he said, glaring at the Stolls, "has stolen something from me and I demand that it be returned, immediately."

"We didn't take anything," Travis said. "We were canoeing all morning. We only just got done and were taking a break."

"Lies," Dionysus seethed.

"No, it's the truth," I said. "When I was walking up, I saw them getting out of the canoes. Whatever happened, whatever was taken, they didn't do it."

"They are thieves and cannot be trusted. They are not the first sons of Hermes to steal from a god, but if I have anything to say about it, they will be the last."

"WE DIDN'T TAKE ANYTHING!" Connor screamed.

"It's true," chimed a voice from the crowd. It sounded like Katie Gardner. "I've been with them since breakfast. They haven't been anywhere near the Big House."

"See," Pollux said. "It wasn't them."

I got to my feet and helped Travis and Connor up. Travis's knees almost buckled but he caught himself. Connor took a few seconds before even trying. They were both really shaken.

"What was taken anyway?" I asked. It had to be something important to get Dionysus so worked up.

Dionysus took a few deep breaths before he looked at me and simply said, "Thyrsus."

"What?"

"It's one of his symbols," Pollux explained. "It's a staff made of giant fennel with ivy vines and leaves all over it, and at the top is a pine cone. Followers of Dionysus would make replicas for their rituals and celebrations."

"Oh," I said. "So just make another one."

"It's not that simple," Dionysus said with a sigh as he rubbed his temples. "The Thyrsus is my symbol of power. In the wrong hands it could cause a lot of damage."

"It's a symbol of power? Like Zeus's master bolt?" I asked. I was starting to see why Dionysus was so angry. "Well, we should probably start looking for it. Maybe inspect every cabin from top to bottom? It has to be around here somewhere."

"It isn't." I turned to see Rachel. "It's not within the borders of camp anymore."

"And how would you know that?" Dionysus asked, his voice taking on a dangerous edge that made me uneasy. I saw Pollux move closer to Rachel, in case Dionysus got angry again. That's when Rachel's eyes began to glow green.

"The one to go must go alone

In the cave of the bell

To face the a hero of stone

Betrayal comes from one you trust

And save the Easy city from the Cetus"

Rachel's eyes went back to normal and her knees gave out. Pollux caught her and managed to steady her, keeping her from crumbling into the dirt.

"Well," Dionysus said. "Gather the counselors. They have a quest to plan."

Alright! We have a new prophecy and pretty soon we'll have ourselves a good ol' fashioned quest. It's been great to be writing again. It's been too, too, long (as I know many of you agree). But I've got things planned out now and I should be able to get some good chapters out if it.

Oh and if Rachel seemed a little off (it wasn't subtle so everyone should have caught that) I promise that's going somewhere.

See you in chapter 18! Looking forward to your feedback!