give the matter more thought."

 

"I'm thinking a cave in the hills," Apollo mused. "With torches and a big purple

curtain over the entrance . . . really mysterious. But inside, a totally

decked-out pad with a game room and one of those home theater systems."

 

Chiron cleared his throat loudly.

 

"What?" Apollo demanded.

 

Rachel kissed me on the cheek. "Good-bye, Percy," she whispered. "And I don't

have to see the future to tell you what to do now, do I?"

 

Her eyes seemed more piercing than before.

 

I blushed. "No."

 

"Good," she said. Then she turned and followed Apollo into the Big House.

 

The rest of the day was as strange as the beginning. Campers trickled in from

New York by car, pegasus, and chariot. The wounded were cared for. The dead were

given proper funeral rites at the campfire.

 

Silena's shroud was hot pink, but embroidered with an electric spear. The Ares

and Aphrodite cabins both claimed her as a hero, and lit the shroud together. No