Rachel Elizabeth Dare

"You hit the Lord of the Titans in the eye with a blue plastic hairbrush."

- Percy

Rachel Elizabeth Dare is born of two mortal parents and is thus completely mortal, unlike other prominent members of the series. However, what sets her apart from normal mortals is that she has the ability to see through the Mist, an ability thus far known only to be shared by Ariadne, Sally Jackson, May Castellan, Maria di Angelo, Paul Blofis and a few small children. (However, when the children try to point out the strange things they see to their parents, their parents never listen to them.) Because of this, she can see through any non-mortal disguise and mist shrouded locations, such as the Labyrinth, and is not affected by Morpheus' spell in the war. She and Percy have a close relationship that at one point bordered on romance, but this never amounted to anything more as Rachel received the Oracle's spirit and Percy began a relationship with Annabeth.

History
It is mentioned that Rachel's hamster had died and they called Dr. Arkwright, a therapist, when she was six. It is also inferred that Rachel had a rocky relationship with her father, Mr. Dare, even before Percy met her. Mr. Dare is a highly accomplished business man. Rachel doesn't like her father because he tears down wildlife, effectively helping to kill Pan.

The Titan's Curse
Percy first meets Rachel in The Titan's Curse at the Hoover Dam, where he mistakes the sound of her blowing her nose for a skeleton soldier speaking, and tries to run his sword through her. She sees that Riptide is a sword, and Percy is dumbfounded that a mortal is seeing through the Mist. Rachel then sees the skeleton soldiers, and tells Percy to hide. He runs into a bathroom, and she acts freaked out and tells the skeleton soldiers that 'some guy with a sword' ran in some other direction. They believe her, and Percy tells her to forget what happened. She tells him her name, and asks for his. His answer is 'Percy....gotta go!' Percy does not see Rachel again for some time, and he always assumed she lived near Hoover Dam.

The Battle of the Labyrinth
Percy runs into Rachel at the orientation of his new school, Goode High School. He tries not to run into her again, because that will cause awkward questions, but she instead finds him, and warns him about the two cheerleaders that have been following him.

They hide, and Percy tells Rachel that the Greek gods are real, and just about when he is going to tell her that he is a demigod, the cheerleaders find them and attack.

After a skirmish with the two empousai, there is an explosion, and Rachel rushes Percy out the back exit, and they run into Annabeth. Rachel tells Percy to run, and that she will make up some story. She writes her phone number on his hand with a permanent marker, telling him to call her, because he owes her an explanation, much to Annabeth's dismay.

Later, after wandering through the Labyrinth for a while, Percy goes to her for help in navigating Daedalus' Labyrinth in order to locate Daedalus. She sets off with Percy and Annabeth through the maze because they need her help. The demigods are worried someone will try to find her, but she explains that no one would care if she were gone and leaves it at that. After finding that Daedalus has struck a bargain with Kronos, she escapes with Percy and Annabeth and Nico di Angelo whom the the empousa captured. Eventually they find Kronos's headquarters. Kronos has, however, inhabited Luke and attempts to chase Percy down. Rachel appears with Annabeth and Nico and throws her blue hairbrush at Luke's face, which momentarily confuses Kronos. She also mysteriously manages to convince a limousine driver to ditch his client and take her and the others around to look for an entrance into the Labyrinth. She also assists in finding the lost god Pan and is present for his death. Later she parts ways with Percy, Annabeth, Nico, Grover, and Tyson, but not before revealing that her father is a wealthy businessman who buys up land and turns it into malls. Pan's death affects her, mainly because of her father's job. She expresses interest in hanging out with Percy again, once again to Annabeth's dismay. Percy promises to call her and mentions that he has memorized her number, much to Rachel's delight. Later, during his birthday party, Percy laments not thinking of inviting her over, but was too afraid to try.

Rachel grows more and more fond of Percy throughout The Battle of the Labyrinth, just as Annabeth grows very jealous of her. Rachel sees that Percy and Annabeth seem to have a lot more feelings for each other then they will admit. She can also see that Annabeth is jealous of her hanging out with Percy, and tries to give him the hint that Annabeth likes him too, but Percy doesn't seem to get it and she calls him "blind" because he is a boy. It is, however, made clear that Percy does have some feelings towards Annabeth, though he is oblivious that she returns them.

The Last Olympian
Rachel and Percy are on the beach, driving Percy's stepdad's car around when Beckendorf comes on Blackjack, the pegasus, to take Percy away so they can bomb the Princess Andromeda with Greek fire. Before he leaves, Rachel kisses him. However, Beckendorf interrupts on Blackjack. Beckendorf later makes a joke about not telling Annabeth about it, and Percy responds by saying, "Oh gods, don't even think about it." Rachel later must go with her parents on a vacation, but she soon realizes something is wrong. She begins painting things she had never seen, such as Luke as a young boy. She also wrote Percy's name, Perseus, in Ancient Greek on the beach in the sand. She heads to New York to find out what is happening with Percy, and when the battle is over and she returns to Camp Half-Blood, she realizes that she can take in the Spirit of the Oracle, and becomes the Oracle of Delphi. Since being an Oracle needs to be a maiden, she tells Percy that he is a distraction to her.

She was born with the gift, and with the curse of Hades lifted, successfully becomes the new Oracle. She decides to still go to school, but shortly before she leaves she recites a prophecy, which is assumed to be the next Great Prophecy. She is also shown to be worried about going to school while being the Oracle's host, since she might suddenly speak a prophecy in the middle of class.

The Lost Hero
Piper meets Rachel in the Hera Cabin when she goes to Camp Half-Blood. While at the Campfire, Rachel gives out the quest prophecy in The Lost Hero.

Powers/Abilities

 * Has the ability to see through the Mist so she can navigate through the Labyrinth and foresee its various traps.
 * Can use the influence and wealth of her father to arrange services.
 * Took on the soul of the Oracle, so she can see the past, future, and makes prophecies.
 * Pan gave her some of his knowledge when she encountered him in the Labyrinth. (Unknown what it is yet.)

Appearance
Rachel wears over-large shirts, doodles on her jeans, and seems to poke holes in them when she is bored. She is described a as being a tall, slim girl with frizzy red hair, freckles face, green eyes and is noticed as attractive by a seemingly jealous Annabeth Chase. In The Battle of the Labyrinth, Rachel is seen dressed in gold, for an art project. "We found Rachel Elizabeth Dare in front of Marriott Marquis, and she was completely painted gold. I mean her face, her hair, her clothes, everything. She looked like she'd been touched by King Midas." Percy describes Rachel in gold. He also says ''"Only her eyes were normal green." Percy also states that Rachel looked "like a million golden drachmas" in The Last Olympian''. In The Lost Hero, she is wearing her Clarion Ladies Academy uniform at Camp Half-Blood while giving out the prophecy. Rachel is also one of the few mortals that can see through the Mist - a mythological substance that hides monsters from the eyes of humans, even though she's not a demigod. She is mostly a positive person.

Family
Her father is a land developer and her mom is apparently a social worker. She came from a rich and well-known family, although she does not feel very comfortable around them. It is said that her parents hate the beach, yet, they are too stubborn to admit it.

Trivia

 * Her name, Rachel Elizabeth Dare, can be abbreviated to spell "RED," the same color as her hair. Her hair color was her only defining feature in her first appearance in the series.
 * As part of a deal with her father she attends Clarion Ladies Academy
 * Can paint with her feet as well as her hands
 * Can stand still for extended periods of time while painted gold as a living statue


 * In the books, Rachel's full name is almost always used, even if she is not around. Only a few characters have called her Rachel instead of Rachel Elizabeth Dare
 * Being a clear-sighted mortal, she can see through the Mist better than demigods. Other mortals that bestow this power: Sally Jackson (Percy's mother), and May Castellan (Luke's mother).