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Rachel hadn't realised how much she would miss her powers until they were gone.
A week ago, visions and intuition were flowing through her like running water, and then one day it… stopped. Blurry vague images would trickle through, but nothing that was easy to interpret even by Oracle of Delphi standards. It was like someone had closed off a faucet in her head, effectively cutting off her ability to receive prophecies. It was strangely isolating.
Her powers were her connection to the demigod world. They were her gateway into a life filled with magic and monsters, excitement and adrenaline, a burst of colour in the grey of her childhood. They gave her friends she would have never met otherwise, and a place that felt more like home than the empty mansion she slept in. They gave her purpose, a reason to live in a world mortals typically did not belong in.
Who was Rachel Dare if not the oracle? The disappointing daughter of a real estate mogul? She couldn't go back to that life, not after everything she'd seen, both real and prophetic. How could she ever be satisfied with mortal life when she knew this world existed? She needed to figure out what was going on with her and fix it before everyone realised she didn’t belong.
Camp was hectic following the battle of Gaia. With the Romans visiting, the population had doubled and the grounds were swarmed with teenagers. The wounded were transported to the infirmary, the dead were being prepared for funeral rites, and anybody healthy enough to help was put to work cleaning up the camp's outskirts. Even Rachel herself aided in the rebuilding efforts and was sent on supply runs all around camp (at least she was getting her steps in, she supposed).
It was a full twenty four hours before things calmed down enough for her to catch Percy and Annabeth at a free moment. They were sitting at the edge of the dining pavilion, heads bowed together in silent conversation, matching lovestruck smiles on their faces. She hated to interrupt such a tender moment - especially considering the last time she saw Annabeth, she was still stressing over Percy's disappearance, and the last time she heard from her, they were both in Tartarus - but this was important and she didn't know how soon she would catch them alone again.
Before Rachel had a chance to greet them, Percy noticed her approaching and lit up. “Rachel! You're here!” He hopped to his feet and pulled her into a hug.
Rachel hadn't seen Percy since Juno had whisked him away to gods knows where, but it was nice to see him doing well. He carried the same exhaustion and grief they all held after a potentially world ending event (and the fact that was a pattern she could observe said a lot about their lives as of late), but he looked relieved and relaxed too as if he was glad that chapter of his life was closed.
“I'm here! And you are too! It's great to have you back, Percy.” Rachel gave him a gentle squeeze as she hugged him back. She didn’t like being touched usually, but this was Percy, and she missed him.
“It's great to be back. The past few months have been… something, but I'm ready for things to go back to normal.” He paused as he pulled away. “Well, as normal as things ever get around here.”
“We’re both looking forward to a break,” Annabeth added with a tired smile. Fatigue aside, she looked better too now that she had Percy back, the Athena Parthenos stood tall on Half-blood Hill, and the prophecy of the seven had officially been fulfilled. Rachel supposed if any good came from her powers being cut off, it’s that their lives couldn’t get derailed by any more prophecies.
“I hope so. You both deserve one.” She returned the smile, though her heart wasn’t in it.
Annabeth must have caught the apprehension in her face and realised that Rachel hadn’t approached them to simply catch up as her smile immediately dropped. “Oh no. What did you see?”
Never far behind, Percy’s face fell too as his attention snapped towards Rachel. “Please don’t tell me you received another prophecy.”
Rachel laughed bitterly. “No, no prophecies, but that’s exactly the problem,” she said with a sigh, dropping onto the bench next to Annabeth. “I haven’t received any visions at all in weeks. I mean, some weeks are calmer than others, but I haven't heard a peep from Apollo and neither has anyone in cabin seven, and I can’t shake the feeling that something’s wrong.”
Percy and Annabeth shared a look, and Rachel's stomach filled with dread. Oh no. Something bad was happening.
“Rachel, there is something we should probably tell you about,” Percy said after a silent conversation with Annabeth, and he sat down on Rachel's other side. “While we were on our quest, a few of us visited Apollo in Delos.”
“Leo, Hazel, and Frank,” Annabeth added solemnly, the shadow of Leo's death hanging over them.
“Right.” Percy nodded, equally grim, but continued on. “I'm still not sure exactly what happened on that island, but Hazel filled us in on some stuff that Apollo told them, and apparently he's lost control of Delphi. With everything going on, I forgot about it until now, but Annabeth and I had been wondering if that affected you.”
“Yeah, it affected me,” Rachel replied in a small voice as she struggled to wrap her mind around what that actually meant. “What do you mean he lost control of Delphi? How does that even happen?”
Percy shrugged. “All Hazel told us was that Gaia had raised Python, and that it was blocking prophecies from coming out of Delphi.”
Rachel’s heart dropped.
Python had regained control of Delphi. That was definitely not good.
When Rachel became the new Oracle of Delphi, she made a point to learn everything she could about the role to better understand who she was now and what that meant for her and the rest of camp. She had read the stories about Python. It did not bode well that he was back.
“That’s definitely the reason you’re not receiving prophecies,” Annabeth said as if she was thinking aloud, brow furrowed as she stared off into space. “I hoped that defeating Gaia would have fixed that problem, but it looks like we’re not that lucky.”
“When are we ever?” Percy scoffed.
“Can we fix that problem though?” Rachel asked, afraid of the answer. “I mean, we would need a quest to do that, right? But we can’t go on quests unless we receive a prophecy, and we can’t get a prophecy because Python is in control of Delphi, but we can’t defeat Python without a quest….”
It was one hell of a catch-22, and it gave her a headache just thinking about it.
“Even with a quest, I don’t know if a demigod alone could defeat Python. It was Apollo who defeated him originally, so I’m worried Apollo might be the only one who could defeat him,” Annabeth explained, wearing an expression that Rachel couldn’t quite read.
“Okay, so… now that Gaia’s defeated, he can do that, right? Are the gods still stuck on Olympus?”
Now that Rachel thought about it, Mr. D hadn’t returned to camp yet. They had all assumed that once the war was over, Zeus would send him back. It was strange that they still hadn’t heard from him (or any of the other Olympians for that matter).
Percy and Annabeth shared a look.
Great. Something was going on with Olympus. As if she didn’t have enough to deal with.
“About that,” Percy began, rubbing the back of his neck. “After we defeated the giants, we had an audience with the Olympians, and Zeus was pretty pissed about everything that happened. He said he was going to punish Apollo for the Octavian thing, and just sort of… poofed him away. We have no idea what happened to him, but I don’t think we can count on him for help right now.”
Rachel had never met Zeus, and the more she heard about him, the more she hoped it stayed that way. Aside from Mr. D, Apollo was the only Olympian she had ever really interacted with, but he had always been kind to her. He could be overdramatic at times, and she felt guilty that she received more face-to-face interaction from him than any of his kids, but he was kind beneath the ego and vanity.
The Octavian thing, as Percy put it, was concerning. She had heard speculation that Gaia had manipulated Apollo into putting so much trust and faith into Octavian, but she didn’t know how true that was. She wanted to believe it because Apollo was her patron and that rumour was easier to swallow than the alternative, but she knew better than to expect a god to always make the right choices. Apollo was kind, but he was also selfish and prideful and just as capable of wrath as any other god. Could she be confident that he wouldn’t make a grab for power if the opportunity arose? She’d like to think he wouldn’t, but she didn’t know him well enough to be sure.
Still. Regardless of what happened, he was her patron, and she didn’t want anything bad to happen to him.
“So there's nothing anyone can do?” Rachel asked, her shoulders slumping in dejection.
“Until we figure out what’s going on with Apollo? I don’t think so,” Annabeth said gently, and laid a comforting hand on her shoulder. “I’m sorry we couldn’t be more helpful.”
“It’s okay,” Rachel sighed, “you helped me figure out what was going on, and that was helpful at least.”
Annabeth gave her shoulder a squeeze.
A moment of silence passed as they stewed in the realisation that they would be without prophecies for the foreseeable future. Rachel really hoped that didn’t mean she wouldn’t be allowed at camp anymore.
“Maybe Will knows something?” Percy suggested. “I know it’s not like the gods to talk to their kids, but he is Apollo’s eldest at camp. Maybe he knows something we don’t.”
Rachel wasn’t so sure. The last time she talked to Will, he was just as clueless about their sudden lack of prophecy powers as she was, but a lot had happened since then. Maybe something changed. “I don’t know about that, but I’ll try. He’ll want to know what’s up with my oracle powers, so I should tell him about Apollo and Python at least.”
Percy winced. “Right. Poor kid.”
“We’ll keep an ear out for any news, and let you know if we find out anything else.” Annabeth smiled reassuringly. “One way or another, we’ll get you your powers back.”
The worst part about her powers dampening was that Rachel no longer had the intuition to know if Annabeth was right or not, but she was inclined to believe her anyway. Percy and Annabeth were the type of people that she honestly believed could achieve anything. If they said it was possible, then it was possible, end of discussion. It was almost as comforting as knowing the predestined outcome. (Almost.)
“Thanks, guys. I don’t know what I would do without you.”
“Live a safe and normal life?” Percy suggested, sounding oddly wistful.
“Sounds boring,” Rachel joked, though they didn’t crack so much as a smile.
Ooof. That quest must have really taken a lot out of them if they disagreed with that point this much. (Not that she could blame them. She knew very little about Tartarus, but it was enough to know that the fact they came back was nothing short of a miracle. She wasn’t sure she wanted to know what they experienced down there. She was less sure they would be willing to tell her.)
Regardless of how Percy and Annabeth felt about demigod life, Rachel very much wanted to be here. She just needed to make sure she got back her justification for staying.
The infirmary was the busiest Rachel had seen it in a long time. Greeks and Romans alike were sprawled out on the cots, being attended to with nectar, ambrosia, and some Roman methods she wasn't familiar with. She spotted Kayla tending to one of the Hephaestus kids in the back, and Austin explaining the storage closet organisation to one of the Romans (not for the first time, judging by his polite yet exasperated tone).
Will himself was not difficult to find as he happened to be taking care of Sherman at the cot closest to the door. His head snapped up when he heard her enter, but his face was quick to fall when he saw who it was. Huh. That was new.
“Expecting someone else?” Rachel asked as she quietly shut the door behind her.
“No. Yes. Kind of,” Will replied and returned to bandaging Sherman's leg. The poor kid was out cold, though whether that was from his injuries or something Will did, she couldn't tell. “It's fine. I'll hunt him down later. How are you though? Did you get hurt?” He gave her a quick once-over, assessing for injuries. “We're pretty swamped here, but I can be with you as soon as I'm done with Sherman.”
Rachel shook her head. “No, no. I’m good. I just came to talk to you about something - something important.”
“Can it wait? I have a lot I need to do today.” Will furrowed his brow as if he was running through his to-do list in his head.
“I mean… it’s not urgent, but I think you’ll want to hear this. It’s about your Dad.”
Will almost dropped the bandages, and there was a flicker of worry across his face before he schooled it back into something neutral. “Let me finish here, and then we’ll talk.”
It didn’t take long for Will to finish bandaging Sherman’s leg, and once he was sure Sherman was stable, he waved for Rachel to follow him. They took a slight detour to the storage closet so that Will could inform Austin what they were doing, and then he led Rachel into the adjoined admin room.
Rachel had only been in here a handful of times - mostly to look for Will - and there was a reason for that. The room was lined with wall-to-wall filing cabinets filled to the brim with files on every demigod that had stepped foot into Camp Half-Blood since at least the late 1800s, but she wouldn’t be surprised if there were documents here even older than that. The filing system could be best described as organised chaos, and Rachel was scared to touch anything lest she mess it up.
Will swept some loose files off of the heavy mahogany desk, and flitted around the room to put them away, incapable of being idle. “Did you figure out what’s going on with our prophecy powers then?”
“Yeah, and it’s not good news,” Rachel sighed, and hopped up on the unused half of the desk to watch Will work. (She would help, but she assumed she would be more of a hindrance as organisation had never been her strong suit, and Will could be particular about this sort of thing.) “I talked to Percy and Annabeth about it. Apparently, they ran into Apollo in Delos-”
“They saw Dad?!” Will exclaimed, eyes wide.
It was always so uncomfortable telling someone that another demigod met their godly parent when they never have, but Will and his siblings always took it better than most (and certainly better than she would have). He seemed more desperate to hear any information about his father than anything else.
“Leo and those Romans they were with - Hazel and Frank I think?” Rachel clarified. “Anyway, Apollo told them that as part of her whole scheme, Gaia raised Python back, and seized control of Delphi. It’s blocking all prophecies from coming out which is why we haven’t been able to see anything lately.”
Will grimaced, seemingly coming to the same conclusion that they did. We can’t defeat Python on our own. “Okay. That’s… not good….”
“No, it is not.”
“But Dad beat him once before, he can do it again. We have nothing to worry about.” Will shut the door to one of the filing cabinets a little harder than necessary, giving away the fact that despite his words, he was worrying at least a little.
Rachel hated dashing whatever slim hope he had, but…. “About that. Percy and Annabeth also told me that they had council with the Olympians after Gaia’s defeat. Zeus is really mad at Apollo for everything that’s happened recently, and…. Well, Percy said Zeus ‘poofed him away’, and they have no idea where he is or what Zeus is going to do to him, but they seem to think he’s going to be out of commission for a while.”
Will stopped walking the room, and was quiet for a long moment. “...Shit.” His grip tightened on the file in his hand to the point it crumpled and bent beneath his fingertips.
Rachel frowned. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” Will breathed in the least convincing tone possible, “I guess that explains why none of us have heard from him in a few days, huh?” He forced a smile.
“I guess so.” Rachel patted the empty desk next to her. “Come sit.”
Rachel couldn’t help but feel a little protective over Will. When she first came to camp last year, he had made a point to help her settle in and learn everything she needed to know about being an oracle. As far as he was concerned, she was an honorary member of cabin seven and treated her no differently than any of his actual sisters. She realised now it was because his sudden promotion to counsellor and head medic at such a young age had given him an inflated sense of responsibility that he had never been able to shake, but she appreciated it all the same (even if it made her want to force him to ditch his duties and splash some paint onto a canvas and be a teenager for once). She hated seeing him stressed, and hated it even more when he pretended he wasn’t.
Rachel shifted a little to make room on the desk as Will obediently sat down next to her. “He’s a god, and an Olympian at that. I don’t think Zeus can do anything drastic to him without risking unbalancing the council. Whatever is going on, I’m sure it’s only temporary and he’ll be back to recite haikus in our dreams before you know it.” (At least, she hoped.)
Will let out a weak chuckle at that. “Yeah, I didn’t think I would miss those as much as I do.” He stared down at the tiled floor, idly kicking his feet. “I’m just worried about him. I don’t think he deserves to get punished for any of this.”
“You don’t?” Rachel asked carefully. “He did manipulate Octavian-”
“According to Octavian,” Will snapped defensively, “and he was clearly lying. None of us were receiving prophecies. There’s no way Dad told him to do any of that stuff. He was just abusing his role as augury to convince everyone else to do what he wanted, and that’s not Dad’s fault.”
Rachel wasn’t sure how true any of that was (surely Octavian had to get his ambition from somewhere), but she simply didn’t know enough to argue with him. Besides, it didn’t matter how truly guilty Apollo was at this point; Zeus still saw fit to punish him, and now they were all in trouble.
“I’m sorry. I don’t want him to get hurt either,” she said gently.
The tension lingered in Will’s shoulders for another moment, but he soon deflated as the quick burst of anger left him. “This is so messed up.” He rubbed his face. “Did Percy and Annabeth have any ideas on how to fix this?”
Rachel shook her head. “None, but they told me they would let me know if they hear anything more about Apollo’s punishment.”
“Well, I guess that’s something.” Will sighed. “How do you feel though? It sounds like you’re not going to receive any prophecies for a while.”
Rachel looked away, and tugged on a loose thread on her jeans. “I’m okay. I just hate feeling so… useless, for lack of better word.”
Will frowned, and shuffled a little closer to her. “Rachel, you’re not useless.”
“Useless is maybe too harsh of a word, but… my whole reason for being here is that I’m the Oracle of Delphi. If I can’t receive prophecies, then I’m just… some random mortal girl that happened to befriend Percy Jackson. What help am I to any of you if I can’t send you on quests? You’re all sitting ducks here, and there’s nothing I can do about it.”
“That’s not your fault,” Will was quick to stress, “that’s Zeus’s, if anyone’s.”
“I know, but still. I just hate that I can’t help you guys, and… I don’t know. Maybe I don’t belong here.” She pulled her legs up onto the edge of the desk and hugged her knees to her chest.
“Why do people keep telling me that?” Will grumbled to himself, but quickly shook the thought away. “Rachel, you know we’re not going to kick you out of camp just because your powers aren’t working right now, right? Dad picked you to be our oracle. You have just as much of a right to be here as anyone else.”
“What if I never get my powers back?”
“You will. You said it yourself: whatever is going on is only temporary. Dad will deal with whatever Zeus throws at him, and then he’ll come back and defeat Python, and everything will go back to normal. We just have to wait it out. You’ll see.”
Rachel knew Will was right, but it didn’t make her feel any better about not having her powers. She likely wouldn’t feel better until she got them back.
Will watched her for a moment, and then sighed. “Look. I don’t think you need to be helpful to stay, but if you need something to do… Tyson and Ella could use your help reconstructing the Sibylline books.”
Rachel frowned. “But I don’t know anything about them.”
“No, but you’re smart and creative, and have more experience dealing with deciphering prophecies than most people I know. I think you could do it.”
Rachel considered that for a moment. She was pretty sure Tyson and Ella were going back to Camp Jupiter with the Romans, but maybe that could be a fun change of pace (at least until her father shipped her back to school). It would at least give her something to do to help out, and right now, that’s what she really needed.
“You know what? I’ll think about it. Thanks, Will.”
Rachel wrapped an arm around his shoulders to pull him into a side hug, and Will being Will, pulled her into a real hug. “I’m glad I could help.”
“You always do.” Rachel gently nudged him away. Will was smiling now which was nice to see, but there was a slight edge to it that she didn’t like. He was always pretending. “Apollo will be okay. He’s resilient. He’ll bounce back.”
“I know. He’s the best.” Will’s smile grew a little brighter. “Anyway, I should get back to work,” he hopped off the desk, “the Romans don’t know where anything is, and they’re messing up my infirmary.”
Rachel had to laugh. “Oh no, how awful. I can’t believe you have to share a space with people who want to help you instead of doing everything by yourself.”
“I’d be more efficient by myself. Then I wouldn’t need to keep rearranging the shelves because they put everything back in the wrong place.”
Rachel followed him out of the admin office feeling lighter than she had when she went in. Her problems were far from solved, but she had a plan of action now at least, and reassurance that her place in camp was safe. (Will wanted her here at least, and he was not one to take no for an answer.)
In the meantime, they just had to wait for Apollo to deal with his punishment, and then everything would be fine. With a bit of luck, she would only be out of commission for a couple weeks at most, and then she’d be begging for a break from visions and prophecies.
(But maybe she would sacrifice a little bit of her dinner tonight to the gods, just to be safe.)