Chapter 7:

Dylan and I sat in the living room listening to the bustling in the Jackson household. The three children kept running around screaming about how excited they were to go to this camp. A few times Silena and Ethan came and talked to Dylan and me, but their sister, Bianca, never came close to us, instead, she stood at the edge of the room watching her siblings and us.

Around noon the Jackson family was ready to go. As Percy made a few trips to the van parked downstairs he grumbled about how much stuff they were taking with them even though they had plenty at camp. The kids ran around laughing at their father.

I turned towards Annabeth and asked her, "What is this camp exactly?"

"Besides my family's actual home, it's a safe place for you and your friends," she said it gently as if she didn't want to scare me away. Her eyes were puffy and red like she had been crying, and with how long Percy and her were in their room together I'm guessing she had been.

I sat back down near Dylan and he asked me, "How do you think Liam is doing right now?" I had completely forgotten that Liam had stayed outside the small apartment. I looked outside the window behind us and saw Liam sitting on the safety railing. It probably wasn't the smartest thing to do considering that we were on the third story of this apartment complex but I figured he had already been through a lot today so there was no point in telling him to do something that he probably wouldn't do anyway.

"I don't know he seems… off," I told him. He nodded in agreement but didn't say anything further.

"You two ready?" Percy asked us, "Because if you are why don't you get your friend and we can go."

Dylan and I walked out of the apartment together and walked towards Liam.

"How are you doing buddy?" Dylan asked him.

"There's been a few monsters that have come and gone, but none of them seemed like they wanted to bother us. I had a good chat with one of the telekhine but he didn't say anything about what he was doing here," he spoke to Dylan calmly but continued to look at the ground below.

"How about we go and get in Jackson's car so we can get to this camp and see what the kids are so excited about?" I told both Liam and Dylan.

"Ok yeah let's go," Liam responded. Then he jumped off the small ledge on the other side of the safety railing and fell to the ground below. Once he hit the ground he rolled saving himself from any injures that he might've gotten if he had landed on his feet. He yelled up at us, "You guys coming?"

"Did he just jump?" Percy sounded alarmed and rushed outside the apartment.

"Yeah but he's fine," Dylan responded but he sounded unsure with his answer.

"Awesome!" Percy whispered in awe.

While the three of us decided to take the stairs down we met the rest of the group at the van. It was a red van that could hold eight people. The Jackson's things were already in the trunk and the three kids were situated in the back row. Liam, Dylan, and I all squeezed into the middle row, while Percy got in the driver seat, and Annabeth got into the passenger seat. With that, we were off.

It was the middle of the day so Annabeth said it would probably be a few hours before we got there because of the traffic, so I decided to take a nap. Both Percy and Annabeth had said something about how our dreams would be more vivid and show us more things since our 'half-god side had woken up' whatever that meant. I thought they were joking but I was so wrong!

I opened my eyes and I was standing next to a pit. When I tried to look and see if I could see the bottom of it I only saw complete darkness. There was this heavy presence that surrounded me. There was so much terror, pain, misery, and just so many other raw emotions that I couldn't explain that surrounded me. On the other side of the pit, a man kneeled. When he stood up he saw me and walked straight across the open space in between us.

I was going to take a step out just like him and try and meet him in the middle, but when I tried to walk forward he spoke, "I wouldn't do that foolish demigod. It's a long way down and only one person has made it out of there by themselves alive." his voice was cold and before I could speak to him I noticed something. He looked just like Dylan! The only difference was that he was a little bit older than Dylan and he had a nasty scar that jutted across his face. There was only one name that came to my mind when I saw him.

"Luke?" I whispered the question.

"Yes, Mya. At least Annabeth has enough strength to tell you my name." he laughed after he finished talking.

"But I thought you were a hero?" I was confused. Both Annabeth and Percy had said he was a hero so why was he in such a cruel place and why was he laughing at Annabeth's pain?

"I suppose in the end I was a hero, but that doesn't stop my spirit from sometimes appearing here. Down there is Tartarus and even if you fell in there in a dream-like what you're in now you would wake up there. And considering what happened last time a… well it doesn't matter because you're smarter than the others. Hopefully, you'll never have to experience what the others had to experience but with your parentage, I wouldn't be so sure." he didn't even seem to be talking to me instead he seemed to be talking to himself.

"What about my parentage? Are you talking about my father? Because if you are I'd rather not talk about him!" I asked him coldly.

"You're lucky you didn't have to walk Percy's path in the second Titan War because I'm afraid you would've been turned more easily. I understand Mya, I really do, but just wait things will change. Trust the dead guy." he spoke gently and with passion, "Be careful Mya! Keep an eye on your friends you may trust them now but just be careful. I'm afraid our meeting is being cut short not only because you're nearing camp, but also because He senses us near His realm. Goodbye for now Mya, but I'm sure we'll see each other very soon." With that, he faded. I looked at the pit again but this time it was different. The air within it shifted in and out almost like the pit was… breathing! Then, my ears started ringing with laughter. A dark cold laughter.

I woke with a start to hear the three Jackson kids laughing in the back of the van.

I'm sorry I didn't update as much as I wanted to this week. I wanted to get one really long chapter in this week but that wasn't going to happen with how much school work I had this week. Also, on top of all of that homework swim practice, this week sucked it was just terrible. I hope you all enjoyed the story! Please review it would mean a lot!

~Emily