I tried to get some sleep that night, and if you really think about it, it should have been easy; I had worn myself ragged the whole day, and had gone from hiking my feet sore to fighting off evil bloodthirsty snake-monsters. You'd think that after all that, I'd be able to just tank out and sleep the whole night away. Unfortunately, even the glorious act of sleeping sucks for demigods; apparently another 'perk' of being the son of a goddess is that I'm prone to weird and often violent nightmares. For a while, I totally blacked out, and wasn't dreaming of anything in particular, but soon a landscape began forming in my mind. The first thing that popped up was a golden brown wheat field, stretching as far as the eye could see, with the exception of the large, sharp gray mountains I could see in the background. The sky was an ominous gray colour, dark thunderheads clouds looming in the distance and slowly drifting towards me. A chilling wind whipped all around, blowing and bending the wheat charts sideways. For a moment, I was just trying to figure out where I was, still more than a little bit dazed. I couldn't tell if I were dreaming or if I had somehow been teleported in my sleep. My thoughts were interrupted when I noticed her; a lady in an all white dress suit, sitting behind a large, wooden desk in the middle of the field, typing away on her laptop. After that, it didn't take me very long to figure out this was a dream; I mean, come on. There's no way she was getting ANY wifi reception way out there. I slowly inched my way towards her, curiosity getting the best of me. After all, this was MY dream, so I should be able to recognize anyone in it, right? Apparently not, because as soon as I was close enough to make out the details of her face, I instantly knew we had never met before. She was an older lady, maybe in her mid-50s just based on looks. Her long, golden hair had strands of grey and white sprinkled in, and was pinned in a tight bun on the back of her head. She was typing like a complete machine, her fingers looking like they had a mind of their own as they danced across the keyboard with an elegance an precision that can only come from having typed for quite a long time. I felt like I was interrupting her, which sound hilarious considering this was my dream, but I still decided it may be best to try and sneak away; something about this whole situation didn't sit right. Before I could even make an attempt, the lady spoke up.

"Dakota. I've been expecting you. Sit." She said. Her voice was calm, smooth, and in control; it had an air about it that made me feel like she was in charge even inside my own dream. She snapped her fingers, the sound reverberating through the entire area. A chair appeared in front of her desk, and after hesitating for a moment, I finally sat down. As I waited for her to finish typing, I couldn't help but feel like I was back in the principal's office yet again. I tried my best to wait patiently, but that's like saying 'I tried my best to gouge my eyeball out with a needle quietly'. She didn't say a word for the longest time, simply gazing over at me and eyeing me up and down as her fingers typed away, examining me like she was trying to make a decision before her gaze shifted back to the screen once more. If you're anything like me, or if you have ADHD, when you're curious about something and trying to stay quiet, you get antsy. REALLY antsy; you can feel this knot forming in your stomach and you feel literally uncomfortable. Finally, after what felt like eternity but was in reality no more that a couple of minutes, I broke.

"I'm sorry, who are you?" I asked as politely as I could. Again she looked up from her screen, a blank, calculative expression etched onto her face as she glared into my very soul. I felt about a ton and a half lifted off of me when she finally looked away.

"That's none of your concern, Dakota Lilienthal. You aren't here to ask questions." She stated, again ignoring me and turning her attention to her computer screen. Another long silence followed, making me feel every bit as fidgety as before.

"Then, why am I here?" I whispered, trying not to be annoying but obviously failing as she rolled her eyes, this time not even bothering to look up.

"I brought you here so that I could determine whether or not you could be of any use to me." She explained, the fine in her voice making it clear that she felt this explained everything.

"So... you brought me to my dream so that you could see if I was useful or not?"

"Precisely."

"...And am I?" I questioned, really not wanting to get on the lady's nerves. She gave a small half-shrug nonchalantly.

"I haven't made up my mind yet; it depends on how I want the story to pan out." She admitted, and for some reason, even though I didn't have the slightest clue what she meant, I felt as though I had swallowed a bowling ball.

"How you want the... what does that even mean? What story?" I asked, and for a second I could have sworn I saw the tiniest pull of a smile teasing the corner of her mouth. She looked back up at me from her screen, again looking at me like I was some kind of exhibit, before finally nodding her head, her fingers picking up speed.

"That, Mr. Lilienthal, was the right question." She whispered ominously. It took me until then to work up the courage that this was MY dream, and I wasn't gonna sit there being afraid of some 50 year old school principal who wasn't even real. I stood up and sped around to the other side of the desk, trying to see what in the world it was that she was typing. That's when the nightmare part started. I was moving at super speeds, but the lady in the chair moved just as quickly, looking over at me and shaking her head.

"I don't think you want to do that, Dakota." She warned, and to be honest, for some reason my whole body seemed to be screaming for me to get away from her, frozen in a perpetual flinch. Before I could even try to turn around, my eyes landed on her computer screen, and I felt as though my brain had been grated and melted all at once as I read.

I felt like I had been shocked by one of Thalia's lightning bolts as I jerked up out of bed, slowing down my breathing and trying to ignore the strong sense of Deja-Vu -

That's about as far as I could get before my eyes began to feel like they were literally being pulled out of their sockets with a pair of red-hit tweezers. I jerked away as quickly as possible, falling to my knees and grabbing at my eyes. It was the worst pain I had ever felt; it was like I had wrapped my brain in tin foil and shoved it in a microwave. Finally, after what felt like eternity, the pain started to fade away some and I was able to open my eyes. The old lady didn't move to try and help me, instead choosing to simply sit there and watch m struggle to my feet like she was trying to figure out the best way to detail this scene on paper.

"Wh-what the heck was that?" I screamed, still rubbing my sore, burning eyes. It felt like I had poured hot sauce into my eye sockets. She turned back to her screen, resuming her typing frenzy but maintaining eye contact with me the whole time.

"I tried to warn you, Mr. Lilienthal; mortals aren't meant to know their destiny." She explained, turning her eyes back to the screen and typing twice as fast, her fingers blurring as she went. I shook my head, trying to wrap my Kentucky-fried brain around what she had just said, but apparently I had overstayed my welcome.

"Well, I've gotten all I need from you for now, Dakota. You're free to go." She stated firmly, never breaking her gaze from the screen. Before I could even try and protest, she flicked her wrist towards me, and I suddenly felt the entire world around me begin to fade, until everything turned black.