I lay shivering in my bed. It was thundering outside, and the Athena cabin felt like it was going to collapse. It couldn't, I thought. The architecture is perfectly stable.

I knew it was against the rules, but I crept out of bed and walked in the rain towards the Big House. It was strange that it was raining, since we never got bad weather inside the borders of camp unless we wanted…or, if the gods were especially angry.

We had gotten some rain and snow since the winter solstice. As far as I could tell, something had been stolen. But it was raining harder now, and outside the borders, I could see heavy rain, lightning, and thunder. This was big. I wish Chiron would tell me what was going on. He had been out on a "house call" since the beginning of the school year. Apparently Grover had found a powerful demigod and had alerted Chiron. Chiron came back recently, and said the demigod would be coming soon. He didn't emphasize.

Through the heavy storm, I saw something. A monster? I wasn't sure. It sure looked like one. It was wearing bright white underwear, and was heading straight toward camp!

I squinted to get a better look at it. Yup, it was a monster, all right. The Minotaur. It didn't matter that I was breaking the rules anymore; I had to tell Chiron! I ran into the Big House, and found Chiron still awake.

"Annabeth!" he said in surprise. "What are you -?"

" A monster!" I gasped. "Coming towards camp!"

He galloped (did I mention Chiron is a centaur?) out of the Big House and I followed. There was a boy fighting the monster, obviously a demigod. It looked like he was- piggyback riding it? Grover the satyr, probably his protector, was lying in the grass next to him, moaning, "Food!"

Before long, he had ripped the Minotaur's horn off. The monster screamed in pain and threw him off. The boy got up as the monster charged, and started fighting. I stared in awe. He had amazing reflexes! Soon, he had killed the Minotaur with its own horn.

Then, I realized the rain had stopped. The boy picked up Grover, and started crying as he stumbled toward the Big House. When he got there he collapsed on the porch where Chiron and I were standing. He had dark hair and sea-green eyes. They drifted to Chiron, then to me, and I knew. He was the child of the prophecy. Which also meant…he was going to get me my quest, the quest I had been begging Chiron for since I was seven years old. He radiated an aura of power I had only seen on a demigod a couple of times before. He was a child of the Big Three. That was why Chiron had been away the whole year.

"He's the one. He must be," I breathed. Then I blushed, realizing he could hear me.

"Silence, Annabeth," Said Chiron. "He's still conscious. Bring him inside."