Disclaimer: Cora Jackson is my beloved girl, the rest well, not.
Author's Notes: I'm still sad that the views hasn't picked up, well, whatever, I am not doing this for the fame or glory but because I enjoy doing it. I hope you like the new update on Mondays and Tuesdays!
4. Cora
After seeing Thalia sleeping in the cabin at our first night at Camp, I couldn't sleep. I really tried. I just felt wired so I went outside. I wanted to see my dad's cabin. My hunter sisters told me it still remained empty. I walked slowly and carefully. I knew for my parents' story. It was forbidden to be outside late at night. I was almost there when I ran into a red-haired woman.
"Nice to meet you, I'm Rachel Elizabeth Dare" said the woman shaking me hand. I was so perplexed that I just stared at her. She was just like the pictures, the great Oracle of Delphi.
"I say the same. My name is Cora Piper Jackson" I said once I made my brain working again.
"I can see you are blessed by Artemis. You glow" said Rachel pointing to my skin and I stared at my arm. It was true I had the same glow as Thalia's. How come I hadn't notice it before?
"Yes, I am. I was blessed even before I was born too" Rachel narrowed her eyes at me analyzing me. Her eyes were searching for something in me in complete silence making a little edgy.
"You have another blessing too, your dreams…" her eyes narrowed harder at me concentrating her thoughts "but I can't put my finger who was the God, maybe Hypnos, maybe Apollo, maybe even Koios or Delphi herself without my knowledge" said Rachel making me gasp in surprise.
"Really? I thought it was part of Artemis's blessing" I said weakly and confused.
"Your power to dream and see the future is growing at a dangerous speed. I can sense it. Whoever blessed you has unknown and dangerous reasons"
"What can I do?" I said feeling somehow hopeless. I was worried of seeing my family's deaths, of not being able to protect them.
"It's for you to decide" said Rachel leaving me alone as fast as she came in the first place. For a second, I thought I might imagine meeting her.
As I walked inside the cabin 3, I could totally picture my dad being here. It smelled like him, even with the thick layer of dust on top of the furniture, just 16 years of solitude. I saw some pictures of my parents in the wall next to a bed. I supposed it was my dad's bed. I jumped at the dusty mattress making me cough by the amount of dust around me. I saw the pictures and stared at the ceiling thinking in what my dad thought during his nights here.
Then I felt lonely like I hadn't in days. I wondered if my dad felt the same solitude as he lived here several summers. The silence was just deafening, enough to drive everyone crazy.
Before I really noticed, my dreams found me. I was on a luxurious room, maybe in a mansion. I could see a modest bed and desk but the wall had a rich and expensive, but torn and faded, wallpaper. There were two armchairs by the roaring fire in the fireplace. It's a pleasant fire making the room warmer.
In an armchair by the fire, I saw an old man wearing strange green snake-skin clothes. He seemed nice and once handsome. He stared at me then he moved his hand for me to sit down on the other armchair.
"Who are you?" I said as I sat down. He stared at me with his green eyes, so unlike mine.
"I'm a dream seer like you" he said with a sad smile. His hand moved to support his head and a cup of coffee appeared in front of me just like magic.
"Drink" he said as another cup appeared in his hand. He took a sip gasping at the hot beverage. I did the same. It tasted as plain normal coffee, nothing really remarkable or different.
"What's your name?" I said.
"It's not important. We must move along. Come one" said the old man staring at the clock above the fireplace, and the whole scene changed. We were back in Alaska now. I could see the house we lived when I was younger, years before we bought the farm. It was exactly as I remembered it from the soft blue color at the walls to the green grass at bright morning daylight. I grabbed a piece of grass with my left hand. It felt real just like I remembered.
"Why are we here? This was my old house. Those are Derek's toys in the front yard. Is this the past?" I said pointing to several wooden swords and bows on the ground.
"This is the moment you became like me. Look" said the old man in the exact moment when Derek and I came outside. He was probably 5 years old making me 2. I was so little. I sighed as I saw myself taking a sword in my tiny chubby hands.
Suddenly, a snake appeared crawling to us. It was huge python. The animal moved toward me. Probably, my demigod's instincts kicked in because I tried to slash it with my wooden sword hurting it nothing at all.
"Mom, come here. A big snake!" yelled Derek scared.
The snake raised her head meeting my eyes at my height. It made hissing soothing sounds at me. I saw myself staring at the animal for a couple of seconds before I passed out and mom ran outside with a kitchen knife in her hand. Mom looked at the younger version of me and ran at me checking my vitals. The snake disappeared also everything around us.
"Why did you show me this?" I said looking that we were back in the luxurious mansion room sitting in the same armchairs. The old man stared at me for a second before shrugging.
"No reason at all. Sometimes we don't choose the dreams, the things or the futures we see"
"The futures?" I said really surprised. He nodded and looked to the empty space thinking his words.
"Every single decision can change what lies ahead. Most decisions may change just small brushes in the overall painted picture, but some… well, change everything. I saved a girl destined of dying once" said the old man with a sad smile.
I sank on my armchair thinking the ideas of futures. Maybe there was a way around. Maybe I could save everybody.
"Don't try to look into the future" said the old man suddenly making jump in my seat. He seemed to be knew exactly what I was thinking. Was he also a mind-reader?
"Why?" I said confused. The old man leaned closer to me. His green eyes sparkled in the fire as he stared at me. Then he sat back in his armchair sinking in the furniture.
"I will bring nothing but trouble. I was punished once by the Gods" he said insightfully looking at the fire. His whole voice had a rich sadness, a longing of once a happy life.
"I don't choose to see this or anything at all" I spatted angrily. I felt upset since it was never my choice.
"It's better for you to keep thinking that" he said making me gasp in surprise.
"Can I control it, then?" I said leaning to him. He shook his head but his eyes nodded at me with fear.
"Don't try to do it if you want Apollo on your good side. He won't hesitate to harm you even if you are a hunter of Artemis. I don't know why my father curse you" said the old man.
"So this is a curse?" I asked.
The old man pursed his lips and breathed out a loud sigh as he said torment sad "For me… it was"
I looked at him, really at him. He was an old man full of regret. Was he here to warn me of myself? I stared at my cup of coffee which miraculously it was still on my hand.
"I… Will I see you again?" I said almost stammering. He shrugged.
"I don't know. I'm death by the time you were born" he said.
"But how are you talking to me?" I said looking at him. He seemed to be alive to me.
"Dreams and the future are like water… fluid and moving in every direction: future, past and present doesn't really mean anything… Don't worry about me; I died by saving your godmother when she was young, well, younger. We saved each other. Express my gratitude to her, please" said the old man.
"I will. I hope to see you again. I like you, you are nice" I said and his liver spotted hand touched mine.
"I really hope the same. I always wanted someone to talk using my own voice. Long story… Someone just like me" said the old man and I woke up as the raising sunlight hit my eyes.
I looked at my surroundings really confused by everything. I was still in my dad's old bed in Cabin 3. That dream felt so real and then I opened my left hand. There were green stains on my palm.