Rachel Elizabeth Dare was not someone that you would soon forget. With her firey red hair and permanent smirk, she looked like she was always ready to tell you that you're wrong about something. It was the same look that Annabeth would get on her face when she and Percy would talk about the Gods. Annabeth knew more about the Gods than Percy would ever hope to know, and she loved rubbing it in his face. Percy stood on the front porch of Rachel's charred house, smiling to himself thinking about Annabeth and camp. Rachel snapped him out of it by shoving against his shoulder, nearly sending him backwards off the porch. "Oh, yeah, sorry…" Percy blushed slightly. Rachel had caught him daydreaming, and for some reason this embarrassed him. "What are you doing here Percy?" Rachel crossed her arms, but not in a mean way. She was kind of always crossing her arms at Percy. "I don't really know," he replied. "I got kicked out of camp, and—" "Oh geez, what did you do now?!" Rachel interrupted. She knew all about Percy's history with getting kicked out of just about everywhere he had once called home. "I wasn't actually kicked out. I mean, I was. But something's wrong at camp. I was given a note as I was getting on the bus to leave, and all it had was this address on it. So here I am." Rachel stood leaning against the doorway, but then she began to sway back and forth on her feet. "Oh no, not now…" Rachel said, holding her head in her hands. "Rachel, what's wrong?" Percy stepped towards her and put his hand on her arm, ready to stop her if she fell. "Percy….it's time for a message from the Oracle."

Everything happened so fast, and pretty soon Percy and Rachel were sitting on the living room couch in the charred house. Everything inside was blackened and burnt, but nothing was destroyed. However, it didn't look like a place anyone would want to stay in. Percy didn't have much time to look around, though. Soon Rachel was leaning back on the couch, and the Oracle had taken over. Percy had seen it happen before, but it still kind of creeped him out. He also really disliked the way the Oracle always had to talk in some sort of cryptic rhyme. She couldn't just say, 'here's the bad thing, go take care of it and save the day.' Oh no, that would be too easy, and the Gods wouldn't stand for anything being easy if it could be overcomplicated. Sure enough, the Oracle's (Rachel's) eyes rolled back into her skull and she spoke, smoke wisps escaping her mouth as she did so:

Something amiss past the golden hill
The fallen, frightened, and fake take their fill.
Beyond the shores of familial ties,
The truth is held tangled in lies.
The Wise, the Brave, the Green, and the Blue,
Shall all come together and break this world in two.
Though one will fall and all will fail to save
'Tis that one that will lead all to the grave.

With that, Rachel's body shook and Percy could tell the Oracle was gone. "Well," Rachel shuddered, "that's about as pleasant as I remember it being. What did she mean with all that?" Percy shook his head. He really needed to start writing down the Oracle's messages, and deciphering them ahead of time. It was always so much easier when Annabeth heard them at the same time he did. Her memory was always so much better than his. "So, what now?" Percy asked. He was really hoping that Rachel had an idea of where to go from here, because he sure as hell didn't. "Well," Rachel said, as if the answer was completely obvious. "Didn't you listen to the Oracle? We have to go find the Wise, the Brave, the Green, and the Blue." Percy shook his head and looked at his shoes. He had already forgotten that part of the Oracle's prophecy. He was still focused on the first lines, something about ties and gold. He didn't really know what that part meant either, so he decided he should listen to Rachel. He realized she had been talking this whole time while he was lost in thought, so he just started nodding, hoping that Rachel wouldn't notice he hadn't been listening. "Percy. You weren't even listening to me, were you?" Rachel crossed her arms, and this time Percy knew it meant she was irritated. "Sorry, what were you saying again?" Percy felt his face flush with embarrassment, he didn't like irritating Rachel, especially since she was helping him when she didn't have to. "As I was saying, the Wise probably refers to someone really, well….wise. And what do you think of when you think wise?" Rachel stared at Percy, watching the wheels turn in his head. "Uh, I don't know….fries?" Percy guessed. "They rhyme." Rachel rolled her eyes and slapped her forehead. "No idiot, not fries. You know what I think of?" Rachel had a small smile on her face and a twinkling in her eyes that Percy recognized as the beginnings of an idea. "Owls." Percy smiled and they both said "Annabeth."

Annabeth sat at her kitchen table and stirred a bowl of cereal idly. She wasn't really hungry, but her father had made her a bowl of Cheerios and told her she needed to eat something. Annabeth sighed and looked out the window. Things just didn't feel right, and she couldn't figure out why. Maybe she was just homesick, or maybe campsick. She got up, abandoning the soggy Cheerios and milk. She walked down the hallway of her father's home, her footsteps echoing off the hardwood floors and the clean, white walls. Her father had always kept a clean house, even if his life was a mess. Not that she didn't love him, but Annabeth just wished that he was around more, instead of off being famous all the time.

Annabeth reached the door to her bedroom and smiled. The room was decorated exactly how she liked it, with bookshelves and blueprints lining the walls, a large dark oak desk in the middle of the room covered in even more books and papers that were covered in scribbled out ideas. Her bed was neatly made and a teddy bear dressed like a gladiator sat on top of it. Percy had given her the bear after their last summer at camp, saying that it was a warrior just like she was. Annabeth had laughed and hugged him, saying that he would protect her in battle from now on. Annabeth sighed softly and grabbed her backpack from a hook on the wall. She fished around in the side pocket and pulled out a small leather bag. It clanked softly as she pulled it out, and Annabeth reached inside and pulled out a handful of drachmas. She always kept a few around, just in case. Annabeth slid one into her pocket and put the rest back into the leather bag and put it back into her backpack. She walked out of her room, careful to close the door behind her. It was a habit of hers, something she had done for as long as she could remember. It had started back when her father had started bringing his girlfriends around. Annabeth could never trust any of them completely, and so she started shutting her bedroom door when she left, hoping that whoever was there would get the hint and not go in.

Annabeth stepped out her front door and squinted. The sun was bright and high in the sky, perfect timing for what she planned to do. She went to the front of the house and attached the garden hose to the spigot that was located there. Once it was screwed on tightly, she turned the hose on and watched the water arc into the air and splash on the empty driveway. She put her thumb partly over the opening of the hose, restricting the water flow. After a few minutes of trying, Annabeth finally got what she was looking for: a rainbow. The water shimmered with all of the colors in the bright sunlight, and Annabeth took her chance. She tossed the drachma into the stream and whispered, "Camp Half-Blood." The coin disappeared and the water shimmered for a moment before Chiron's face appeared. He was wearing glasses and a hat, which Annabeth had never seen him wear. "Sorry, but communications with Camp Half-Blood are restricted until further notice. Your drachma will be returned." With that, Chiron's face disappeared and the drachma clinked off the pavement and landed next to Annabeth's foot. Something was definitely wrong. As far as she could remember, communications were never restricted to Camp Half-Blood, or anywhere. Annabeth turned off the water, rolled up the hose, and went back inside.

Percy and Rachel got to Annabeth's house faster than the thought they would. Percy had forgotten that Rachel could call up just about anyone she wanted at any time, so they had travelled in style. The limousine pulled up outside Annabeth's place and Rachel leaned towards the front of the vehicle. "This is the place. Thanks, Todd." The driver, Todd, nodded back. "Anytime, Ms. Dare. Need me to wait for you?" "No, thanks." Rachel and Percy jumped out of the limo and walked up the driveway towards the front door. Percy noticed that the driveway was wet , which he thought was kind of odd. Rachel reached the door first, but waited for Percy. "I thought you should knock. You know, being her boyfriend and all." Percy noted that Rachel almost seemed to gag when she said 'boyfriend,' but he let it go. The last thing he wanted was to go through all of that again. He reached the door and knocked softly. Percy didn't know who was home, and he didn't want to disturb Mr. Chase in case he was busy working. When no one answered the door, Percy and Rachel tried the door handle and found the door to be unlocked. Percy looked at Rachel, who shrugged. They walked into Annabeth's house and found her pacing around the kitchen table. Annabeth looked up and gasped. "Percy!" She ran and wrapped her arms around him, hugging him tightly, which Percy didn't mind at all. Rachel stood next to them, not at all feeling awkward. She was pretty used to this situation, and just waited patiently. "Percy, something's wrong at camp. I tried an Iris message, and I was told it was unavailable." Annabeth was putting her hair up into a ponytail as she talked, which meant she was planning. Her gray eyes were filled with churning storms preparing to release their fury. "Tell me about it." Percy replied. "They kicked me out. But before I left…." Percy explained everything that had happened so far to Annabeth, who just kept pacing the whole time. He finished up by retelling the Oracle's prophecy ,with much assistance from Rachel.

"The Wise, the Brave, the Green, and the Blue. Well, I guess I'm the wise, Rachel would be the Brave, and Percy, you're clearly the Blue." Annabeth looked at Percy as if this was something he should've figured out. It did make sense, he guessed. Blue, water, ocean, all that stuff. And if any one of them was brave when they didn't have to be, it was Rachel Elizabeth Dare. "Okay, yeah, but then who's the Green?" Annabeth glanced at Percy and sighed. "Isn't it obvious? Who do we know who's green?" Percy only had to really think about it for a moment before he exclaimed, "Grover!"

Thanks for reading, sorry about the extreme delay in all of my stories. Working on that right now, I promise. Please feel free to read and respond!

Until next time,

Eridium Blight