Disclaimer: Percy Jackson belongs to Rick Riordan, etc, etc.
A/N: Hello people! Sorry to my many *ahem* many reviewers for the long wait! :)) Anyway, please, please, read and review. You know you want to!
Chapter Six
There's one thing I ask, hope and pray,
it's that these nightmares will finally go away
and leave me be so I can sleep in peace,
but for now I'll not rest until they cease
All was quiet and calm. The girl was sound asleep in bed, contently dreaming of faraway lands and magical creatures. But suddenly she woke. Irrationally scared, she pulled her knees to her chest and tightly closed her eyes. For several long minutes, all was silent, but it definitely did not feel calm. Heart pounding, the girl peeped between her eyelashes. It was pitch black, but she thought she saw something move. It could have been her imagination. For a moment she felt something like a cold hand against hers, but only for a moment. Was that real? She didn't know. But a minute later, she was grabbed from behind.
"AAH!! AAH!" she screamed with all her might, but nobody woke. It was as if no one could hear her. Ice-cold fingers brushed against her face. They held her shoulders firmly and dragged her across the ground. "Leave me alone! Help me, somebody! Help!!" Her shrieks seemed to make no difference at all. Those cold hands pulled her through the moonlight to a forest. It was so dark, so freezing, so terrifying. But then she saw the face of her captive, lit up by the moonlight. "AAAH!!"
Rachel Elizabeth Dare sat straight up in bed, shaking. Something was wrong, she knew it. Quickly she pulled on some jeans, a t-shirt and a pair of trainers. Grabbing a jacket, Rachel noticed the time: 4.35 am.
"Oh well," she muttered, creeping down through the big house and making her way outside. The wind blew at her tangled hair, but she continued to hurry towards the cabins. Pushing her hair out her eyes, she knocked on the cabin door. There was no reply, as she expected. Taking a deep breath she shoved the door open.
"Percy!" she called. There was a pause. Rachel looked around the Poseidon cabin in surprise. It had changed so much it was barely recognizable – in the year Rachel had been at school three new campers had arrived, so now the little hut held five people. Rachel recognized the large shape of Tyson in the nearest bunk. Above him there was a girl she hadn't met and in the next bed she noticed the sandy hair of Kai, whom Rachel had met when she arrived. There was one more bunk at the back beside a small water fountain where she knew Percy must be.
"Percy?" There was a small rustle, and then a muffled voice asked, "What do you want?" Before Rachel could reply, she heard a girl say, "Go back to sleep."
Rachel sighed. "Percy, get up. It's me, Rachel! I need to talk to you." She strolled over to Percy's bunk and pulled the covers off both beds.
"Oy!" cried out the boy on the bottom. "Annabeth?" mumbled the other.
Rachel rolled her eyes. "Get out of bed, Seaweed Brain."
Percy rolled over and climbed down, yawning. "What do you want?"
"Just come outside," she ordered. They stood outside in silence as Rachel looked uncomfortably at Percy in his pyjamas.
"Er, Percy," Rachel began after a moment. "We need to talk. I've been having these dreams; they're the real reason I'm here. I think the great prophecy, you know, the one from last year, I think it's started."
Percy hid a yawn behind his hand. "How do you know?"
"I just do!" she said, shivering slightly in the cold. "And the seven from the prophecy, I don't know who they are, but it's not you or Annabeth. You've had your time, and your time will come again, but not now. It's someone else. And, well, out of the seven –"
"Did you wake me so early just to say this?" Percy interrupted grumpily.
"No! It's because I had this dream, and... Well, something bad's happening, I'm sure of it. I just have this feeling. But Percy, there's something else–" Rachel was cut off by the sound of a door slamming. She and Percy turned in surprise and saw one of the new campers, Helen, standing outside her cabin worriedly.
The girl looked uncertainly at them.
"Hello," said Percy sleepily, suppressing another yawn.
Helen looked around nervously. "Um, have either of you seen my little sister Lucy?" she asked, jumbling her words out in a rush. Percy and Rachel shook their heads apologetically. "I-I don't know where she is! I woke up, and, and she's not in the cabin. I checked everywhere, and I know she wouldn't go out alone because she hates being on her own."
Rachel and Percy looked at each other. "Uh, don't worry. We'll take you to Chiron and he'll know what to do," Percy said helpfully. He looked at Rachel, who shrugged and started walking in the direction of the Big House.
On the way Helen hesitantly explained how Hestia was her mother and how she and Lucy had just arrived at Camp Half Blood. Rachel barely listened, though, because she was preoccupied with her thoughts. Percy tried his best to concentrate, but he had only had about 5 hours sleep and was struggling to keep his eyes open. As they passed the lake Helen glimpsed merpeople and nymphs splashing quietly at the other bank. A bird sang gently above them while they made their way to the House. Everything was calm and serene, but Rachel was still convinced something was wrong.
They reached the porch of the Big House. Helen hesitated. "What do we say?"
"I'll do the talking," Rachel assured her, opening the front door which she'd accidentally left unlocked. Percy and Helen followed her through the dark house. When they were upstairs, Rachel turned to Helen. "You're absolutely sure she's not just gone for a morning walk or something?"
Helen nodded. "She hates going anywhere on her own."
"Okay," Rachel said. She cleared her throat, and shouted, "Chiron!"
Everything went silent, and Rachel thought about shouting again, but then she heard the clip-clops of Chiron's hooves crossing the floor in a room close by.
"Who's there?" he asked.
"It's Rachel," Rachel replied. Helen worriedly twirled her hair in her fingers and glanced at her watch, hoping Lucy was just being silly or was with their mum Hestia.
A big oak door to their right creaked open and Chiron trotted out towards them. "What's wrong?" he asked, his eyes on Helen.
They all went silent. Helen blushed. "I-I'm a bit worried about my sister!" she said, her eyes fixed on the floor. She was shy at the best of times, and right then she was so nervous thinking about her little sister. Being a protective sister might be nice for the protected sibling, but it was not any fun for Helen. "She's gone missing."
Chiron stretched his arms and kicked each leg out, obviously stiff from the previous day. "Do you know any where she would have gone?" he asked when he had finished.
"Lucy hates going anywhere alone, especially when it's dark," Helen answered quietly, wishing with all her heart she was sound asleep in front of the fire place, with Lucy curled up beside her.
Chiron nodded. "And just say someone had kidnapped her – not that they have, but imagine it for a moment – someone kidnaps her, but she manages to escape, run away and hide somewhere. Is there anywhere here at Camp Half Blood she would be likely to hide?"
Frowning, Helen thought about it. "In the cabins, or near the buildings, probably." She sighed. "I'm not sure really."
"Okay..." murmured Chiron, after a pause. "You go back to your cabin," he said to Helen. "You need to sleep. We'll sort this out – don't worry." Helen nodded and left, the floorboards creaking gently beneath her. The centaur watched her with concern. Rachel and Percy had listened to all this with interest.
"What about us? We're tired!" complained Percy when she had gone, rubbing sleep from his eyes as if to prove his point.
"Helen looked as if she was going to collapse from tiredness. Anyway, I have a feeling tomorrow will be a long day for her." Chiron answered. "We had better check around the camp in case Lucy has just wandered off in her sleep." Rachel could tell from his voice he did not think it was very likely. Perhaps he has another reason, she thought.
The three set off around Camp Half Blood. It was nearly deserted; only the very early risers were up at this time. Most campers stayed in the cabins until breakfast.
At the lake Chiron, Percy and Rachel paused to watch the merpeople, nymphs and naiads splashing around. The sun began to rise, making the water shine and silhouetting the creatures of the lake. Again Rachel noticed how peaceful and serene everything seemed, but she knew very well it was not. The sky had turned a beautiful shade of amber, with few pale yellow clouds obscuring the dawn sky. She gazed into the glow, calm even when she thought of the dreams she had been having lately.
"Let's go," Chiron spoke gently as if he did not want to disturb the tranquillity of the morning. They passed the fighting arena, where Josh and Clarisse were furiously fighting each other. Rachel saw the hatred on each face; these were not just friends practising sword play, they were enemies trying to prove something to each other.
They walked on to the edge of the forest, where the woodland and mythical creatures were just waking up. A thrush flapped its wings in the branches of a nearby tree. Percy yawned.
"Chiron, you know the great prophecy," said Rachel, breaking the silence. None of them had spoken as they circulated the camp; Rachel and Chiron had lots going through their minds, while Percy was still struggling to stay awake. "Well, it's about to happen, I know it is. I've been having bad dreams all year – dreams about what happened with Kronos, dreams about Prometheus, and lots of dreams about this prophecy. I know it's happening now." Chiron nodded wearily. He did not seem surprised. In the year since his father Kronos' attempt at rising, there had been a lot of tension among the other titan gods, and there were rumours that many were planning revenge on the Olympian Gods. As if Kronos inspired them to overthrow us, Chiron thought, closing his eyes in an effort to clear his headache.
Rachel spoke, distracting the centaur from his thoughts. "I was having a dream where this girl was screaming. She screamed and screamed, but no one heard. This being, I don't know what it was, but it dragged her to the forest. It looked a bit like the forest here, but somehow it seemed different. I don't know, it was only a dream. But then I woke up, and I was really scared. I felt like something bad was happening, so I woke Percy. Then Helen came out."Chiron frowned.
"Have you ever met Lucy?" asked Percy. Rachel turned round, surprised – she had not thought Percy was paying any attention.
"Um, no. I know what you're thinking – it could have been Lucy. Well, maybe it was. I really don't know."
They continued walking – or trotting in Chiron's case – back to the cabins. Percy seemed to have woken up, and started filling Rachel in with some of the things that had happened while she spent a year at finishing school.
"I've been anticipating something like this," said Chiron when Percy paused for breath. "Since last summer all the Titan gods have been gathering power. I think Lucy could be part of some bigger plan. Not that I know anything for sure, but it's possible. Maybe you're right and the prophecy will soon come true. What was it - the seven half bloods answering a call? Maybe that will happen."
"Oh, and Chiron, there's something important I forgot to tell you." Rachel looked up at him nervously. Chiron glanced down at her.
"Well, there's seven half-bloods going, but-" Rachel was interrupted by the blast of a horn coming from the direction of the forest. "What's that?"
They watched as the red Aphrodite cabin door was pushed gently open, and out came Susie, her eyes wide but unseeing. Shoulders slumped, she walked in jagged steps to the centre of the circle of cabins. The horn sounded again, and the Hermes door opened. Jonathon emerged, saliva dripping from his chin. And then another cabin door opened; the Poseidon cabin. Kai stepped out. Percy watched in bewilderment.
"One, two, three, four, five, six," Rachel counted under her breath. "Where's the seventh?" The Hestia cabin door creaked loudly, and Helen sleepily walked to the others. "Seven." They heard the horn one last time, and then the seven campers standing together seemed to wake up. By this time everybody else had gathered round, staring as if in a trance.
"Oh my gods, what's happening?" Annabeth asked, running over to where Percy, Rachel and Chiron were standing. Suddenly it was as though the spell was broken, and everything was really noisy as the campers began talking loudly, asking each other if they knew what had happened.
"Oh, just be quiet!" yelled Mr D. At his voice the din suddenly died down. Rachel had not even noticed him arrive.
Chiron smiled slightly at Mr D, then turned back to the campers. "Everyone go back to your cabins – breakfast will be a bit late this morning. I think you seven ought to come in the Big House. We have some things to talk about."
A/N: Ooh... what do you think? Do you like it? Do you hate it? Tell me!
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