VII: Rey

Dream On

I dream of the stars.

I'm not very happy about it – I was having a pretty damn good dream that happened to involve Isaiah Mustafa and a hot tub – but my irritation quickly fades into curiosity. I stand alone in a room; the only furniture is a desk in the corner with a globe on top of it. On every imaginable surface there are cheap glow in the dark stars pasted into constellations; I look down to find that I'm standing right in the center of Cepheus. On the ceiling above me glows Delphinus, and on the wall next to me is Corvus. I stumble out of my constellation only to find myself inside another; I am completely surrounded.

I'm 100% sure that it's a dream when the patterns start to come to life.

They glow brighter before peeling off of their place, and suddenly the room is filled with chatter and movement; Aries and Taurus butt heads; Orion and Hercules have a serious discussion while they polish their weapons; and Gemini flirts with Virgo while Perseus slays Medusa again. I find myself turning everywhere, trying my best to take it all in while I have the opportunity. This isn't the first time I've had a dream like this, but it's been a few years.

"You there!" a voice snaps, and I turn to find a teenage girl shoving her way through the crowd. She's about my height, with black hair and a pretty face and a bow strapped to her back, but she isn't any constellation that I recognize – and even if she was, I really don't enjoy talking to people who look like they want to stab me in the gut. "Boy! Get over here!"

"Um," I say, because I've only had this dream once before and nobody talked to me that time, but she must lack patience because she marches right up and stares me full on in the face with no regard for my personal bubble. My heart beats a little faster at the close proximity. I don't want to admit it, but I'm afraid. "Um," I repeat. "Hi?"

She sighs disgustedly and gives me a once over, mouth twisted downwards. I feel unreasonably self-conscious. "Well, I suppose thou art the one," she frowns, looking thoroughly disgruntled and more than a little angry. "Yer the only mortal here."

I can't help but feel a little fascinated with this girl who hates me but knows so little about me. "And which constellation are you?"

"The Huntress," she snaps, tapping her foot impatiently. "However, you may address me as Zoe. Zoe Nightshade, in full. I was once a Huntress of milady Artemis, but I serve a different goddess since I've been sown into the stars."

"Sown into the stars?" Her scowl deepens with every word I say. "What, did the goddess of the night just take a stitching needle and – "

"'Tis not important!" she insists, face flushing. "I have been sent to deliver a message. Your patron has told me to direct you and yer party to Portland, Oregon. She said…" Her stormy expression turns into a wry smile. "She said that 'tis where thou might best see the stars."

I stare blankly. "Why would I need to – "

"You can ask her when you arrive. Portland, Oregon. Do not fail, Rey Cabrera. The metic is counting on you."

"The metic?" The dream shimmers and begins to dissolve, people and animals and instruments falling through the floor. "Wait! What does that mea – "

I shoot upwards in the warehouse. "Gods damn it!"

Leo jumps next to me, cursing when he spills a hot drink on his wrist. "Shit, Rey, could you warn me before you decide to Andrew Jackson your wake-up call?"

I rub my head and scowl at him. Technically, it's midafternoon, and I was only asleep for half an hour to an hour at most, but the fact remains that I'm not a morning person. "Sorry, next time I'll sound a fire alarm for you and you'll have plenty of time to vacate the premises."

"Somebody woke up on the wrong side of the auto parts," he sings before returning to…whatever it is he's tinkering with. I sigh and rub my head, wincing as I feel a twinge of pain. Dios mio, I hate cluster headaches. Leo's good-natured smile fades. "But seriously," he says, "did you have a prophetic dream? Normally it's just demigods, but since you can see through the Mist, I guess you should be able to have them, too."

I take a shaky breath. "Yeah," I croak. "There's – Portland. A goddess sent a constellation to tell me to go to Portland."

He stares at me for a moment, but I guess he's seen his fair share of weird things because he just shrugs it off. For the first time since I wake up, I look at him again – he has a grease stain on his face, and his arms are completely black with soot, his sleeves rolled up. "What have you been doing while I was taking a nap?"

"Huh? Oh." He glances down at his project as if he'd barely noticed it. "I dunno. Working without thinking, I guess." He gives me a look, like what can you do, and then stands and offers a dirty hand. "Frank's probably cooled off enough by now that we can talk to him about getting a ride. Think you're ready to meet him?"

I hesitate for a moment before taking his hand and standing. And when we start to walk up the stairs, I don't look back.

+x+

Leo showed me how to Iris Message a few hours ago, but the process kind of amazes me anyway. I watch with complete concentration as he connects the old hose he found to the wall, turns the gear, and shines a flashlight to make a rainbow. It's a shockingly helpful set up, enough so that it makes Leo – and me – suspicious. Despite our uneasiness, he takes out a golden coin (drachma, I remind myself) and tosses it in, saying "Oh Iris, goddess of the rainbow, accept my offering."

The image of a woman shimmers in front of us – one of those protest-heavy college kids, with peace signs and smiley faces hanging from every hole in her ears and a graphic tee loudly proclaiming facts about transsexuals and acceptance thereof. Behind her is a counter stacked with enough healthy food to give any self-respecting child a heart attack at the mere sight of. "Iris," Leo says next to me without bothering to hide his surprise. "You got younger."

She frowns at him. "I'm a goddess; I can look however I want," she points out, eyebrows raised. "This better be a call to fix things with Frank, or – oh! A mortal."

"Yeah, this is Rey," Leo introduces, gesturing vaguely to me. "He's…" he scrutinizes me as if searching for words; I glower at him and his eyes crinkle at the edges. "He's special."

My face heats up and I find myself staring at the floor, avoiding either of their eyes. I don't get compliments very often. The woman – Iris – chuckles before turning back to the older of us; her voice turns stiff and formal. "Now, if you're trying to make me give in again – "

"I learned my lesson the first time," Leo says quickly, and in my peripheral vision I can see him put his hands above his head in a gesture of innocence. "I am actually attempting to make up with Frank this time. Like, we will be done with the argument and you can go back to…boating us, whatever that means."

"Shipping you," Iris corrects, and I decide purely from the happiness in her voice that I don't particularly want to know what that word means. "Alright! I'll put you through to him." Her eyes narrow. "Don't mess this up, or I will hurt you."

Before Leo can respond, the scene changes and I'm watching two people in purple robes in a regal throne room made of some precious looking metals.

Also, the two of them are making out.

"Ay," Leo says; he has the decency to at least sound embarrassed, but I just stand there and gape like a fish out of water. It's not like I've never seen anybody kiss before – I'm a 16-year-old at a boarding school, it's actually a pretty common thing – but these two are going at it with a lot more passion than I saw on the people at my old school. They make an attractive couple; they're both black-haired and tall, but the boy is broad-shoulder and definitely Asian and the girl is petite and probably Cuban or Puerto Rican. They're both about Leo's age, which is making me wonder just what they planned on doing in this giant room, alone. "Um. Bad time?"

The two teenagers shoot apart as if they've been burned, eyes wide and cheeks flushed as they're caught in the act. "Leo!" the guy blurts out while the girl hastily straightens her toga, face burning as she refuses to look up at us. The man looks even more mortified, if that's possible, stuttering over his words and desperately tries to flatten his ruffled hair. "And – other guy! Do you – I mean – um – state your business?"

Though it's one of the hardest things I've ever done, I resist the urge to burst into laughter and mange to keep my grumpy expression intact. "Semi-public affection," I scoff. "Nice." I don't miss the amused look that Leo sends me at my impatient tone.

If possible, the boy blushes harder. "Erm. I'm…sorry about that." He and his girlfriend exchange looks, and it's pretty obvious from the beginning who's the superior; he gives up almost immediately, and she chooses to take over the conversation from there. "So," she says calmly, eyeing me like I'm an interesting experiment rather than a human being, "care to introduce us?"

"Are you sure you don't want some alone time?" Leo asks, fighting to keep the giggles out of his voice. "I don't really want to interrupt anything big, especially if you were finally going to – "

"Leo!" They're not even making eye contact with each other anymore. This is so much fun.

He laughs, a deep, booming sound that makes me smile with it's pure sincerity. "Si, si," he hums, gesturing to me. "Guys, this is Rey Cabrera. He's 16. He's mortal, but he can see through the Mist and supposedly he can tell the future sometimes – like Rachel, but less vague and more in the immediate future than the 100-years-away future."

"A seer?" The man's eyes spark with interest. "Like Phineas?"

"Um. Sure." Leo turns to introduce the other two to me, which is marginally terrifying because despite their embarrassment they both look like they can be pretty gods damn imposing if they want and I have to get to know them. "Rey, these are Frank and Reyna, praetors of Camp Jupiter. They've been dating for two years. They still haven't had sex."

"Leo!"

He laughs and waves off her protest – which is a bad idea, because if it's possible she looks even angrier. "I don't think I explained this, but praetors are like the leaders of the Roman camp – they can get appointed at any point in service, but they have to be good leaders that can control their people. Reyna's been one for…six years, is it? And Frank's been one for three."

"So…" I eye them speculatively; Reyna is watching me coldly while Frank gives me a sheepish smile. "Are you two always…?"

"We're usually a lot more professional than this," Frank reassures me, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. "You just happened to catch us at a bad time. Speaking of, why did you all decide to – " he suddenly cuts himself off, eyes narrowing. "Wait. I'm angry at you."

Leo smiles nervously. "Anyway! Just wanted to know if you could send Lupa's pack to pick us up. With a few stops along the way, of course."

"Lupa?" I ask curiously.

His eyes light up and he grins at me. "Yeah, Lupa," he says with a smirk. "Say, have you ever travelled with a wolf pack before?"

+x+

sing with me, sing for the years
sing for the laughter and sing for the tears
sing with me, if it's just for today
maybe tomorrow the good Lord will take you away
dream on, dream on, dream on,

dream yourself a dream come true

+x+

headcanon is that iris ships only the crackiest of pairings and nobody will change my mind on this

jsyk there was, at one point, frazel. but this is kind of supposed to be a more realistic take on how the heroes might act later in life? and first love doesn't always last. thisll get addressed in story, but I just wanted to give the excuse before people started hating

also HOLY SHIT 2 REVIEWS I AM ACTUALLY NOT BEING SARCASTIC ABOUT BEING EXCITED?