Ahh, the good old penultimate chapter. Yes, this story is drawing to a close, one way or another! *Laughs evilly* *coughs* Oh, did I do that out loud? My bad. ;-) I'm just happy I remembered to upload this.
Caroline's POV
Since I woke up before the rest of the cabin, I got some time to think about my dream. The guy gave me until the end of the week. Today was Thursday. That wasn't a lot of time to trick Annabeth, Percy and Grover into going somewhere outside of camp with me.
I must've been thinking a while, despite my ADHD, given to me mostly by my German grandmother. Before long, the rest of the cabin was up and we went to the dining pavilion for breakfast.
I didn't eat much; I kept pushing around my blueberry pancakes, worrying about the dream. Surely they would never go with me, and I wasn't about to tell anyone about my dream.
Someone tapped my shoulder.
"Caroline?" Piper asked, her eyes filled with concern. "Can I borrow you for a second?"
I looked at Butch, who nodded. "Okay."
I got up and we went down by the canoe lake. We sat with our backs to everyone, staring at the horizon.
"What's going on, Caroline?" Piper asked, her multicolored eyes seemingly looking into my soul.
"You mean other than my sister going missing?" I asked sarcastically.
"Come on. Something else is going on. I can tell. Trust me; I'm good with emotions. Just ask Annabeth." A soft wind blew some hair into her face, and she reached up and brushed it away.
"Fine," I sighed. "I may have had a dream last night about where Autumn is."
"Why didn't you tell anyone, Caroline?"
"The man holding her captive...he said that I had to trick a few people so he could take out his revenge on them. If not...he'll kill her." Tears started forming in my eyes. I angrily brushed them away. I couldn't afford to look weak.
"You know," Piper said, "I once had a dream that I had to lure two of my friends to a mountain for a giant to kill them. If I didn't, the giant said he would eat my dad."
"What did you do?"
"I kept it to myself for the longest time, but eventually I told my friends. They helped me save my dad," she said, looking back out at the ocean.
"So...I should tell them?" I asked, my voice sounding small.
"I would. You never know; you might be able to save both your sister and the people the guy wants to get."
I got up. "Thanks, Piper. For everything."
"You're welcome. And hey, anytime you need to talk, I'll be here."
X-X-X
Chiron allowed one more full day of camp to look for Autumn. If we didn't find her today, we would only allow small groups to go looking at a time, so as to keep training.
I made sure to be put in a group with Percy, Annabeth, and Grover so I could tell them about my dream. Now I just had to work up the courage to do it.
We were looking around the strawberry fields for some reason. I don't know why she would be in the strawberry fields, but whatever.
"Um, guys?" I said. They turned.
"Yeah?" Annabeth asked. "What is it?"
I told them about my dream, and their faces darkened.
"Who would want revenge on us?" Grover wondered.
"Uh, how about half of the monsters in the world?" Percy said.
"Wait." Annabeth held up a hand. "How many empty beds were there?"
"Three," I said. "Why?"
"Revenge on us three." She looked at Percy and Grover. "That narrows it down a lot. Then the beds..."
Percy swore. "Not him," he groaned. "He shouldn't have reformed so soon!"
"Actually, it's been more than five years," Grover said.
"Who?" I asked. "Who stole my sister?"
"Crusty," Annabeth said. "His full name is Procrustes. He almost killed me and Grover when we were on our first quest together. We were twelve. Thankfully, Percy was enough of an idiot to try talking to him, and used his beds against him."
"I'm not sure if that was a compliment," Percy said, "But thanks anyway."
"What's with the beds?" I asked.
"They're all exactly six feet long. He traps you on them with magic lashes. If you aren't long enough to fit exactly right on the bed, he stretches you. Usually, you'd die from the separated vertebrae. If you were too long...he leveled you off, usually from the top first," Annabeth explained. "Percy killed him by trapping him on a bed and leveling him off."
"So this is the guy who has Autumn captive?"
"It appears that way."
"So we have to go to him?" Grover asked nervously.
"It's the only way to save her," I pleaded.
They looked at each other.
"Alright," Percy said. "Let's go find Crusty and save Autumn."
That's right, folks, I brought back Crusty! He's been in Tartarus for a while, stirring in resentment. Will they be able to pull this rescue mission off? Will Autumn be left for the dead? Will Grover ever make another actual appearance in Rick Riordan's books? (I sure hope so!) Find out the answer to (most) of these questions tomorrow! (And yes, I realize this made me sound like a cross between a newscaster and a soap opera narrator. But whatever.)
