A/N: Hey Guys! Here's the next chapter, I hope it doesn't disappoint any of you!

I had this finished a few days ago, but I had promised myself I was going to update every two weeks, provided that people were awesome enough to review so I know what I'm doing right or wrong!

Thanks to Minx The Shadow Thief who beta-ed this for me, and she did a great job in helping me to improve it!

Thanks to lighteningkid333, Wisegirl101, PadmeSkywalkerPercyAnnabeth, Black-Reaper-God, mrpuppy, Veronique Ruthven, Daughter-Of-Poseidon-16 and Riley Coyote for reviewing.

Come one guys, please review? Let's see if we can beat the eight I got for the prologue!

I wasn't in my school dorm, but nor did I seem to be worried about where I was. I was in front of a large pine tree, green and vibrant. A golden fleece was hanging in the tree, and my first thought was that it was an old, ugly, abandoned jacket until the pile of cables in front of the tree moved, and I realized there was a dragon there. I backed away hurriedly, as a voice called softly in my ear.

"Astraea… come home to me…"

It was a nice sounding voice, but I pushed it out of my head and tried to take in the rest of my surroundings.

The sky was a brilliant blue, and everything looked green and alive, apart from the group of cabins that were all decorated in different ways. I liked the look of a mostly grey one with white curtains. It looked like somewhere I could happily curl up, drawing up battle plans. My eyes were also drawn to a cabin that seemed to capture the essence of the sea itself. I started to make my way down to have a closer look. It didn't take long until I was in front of it. My hand reached for the handle and I started to open the door. Suddenly it flew open and-

I opened my eyes and immediately squinted because of the harsh light. My roommate was up earlier than usual, way earlier than usual, and I had to rid myself of the urge to tell her to turn her light off. I didn't need an argument, nor did I need to deal with her crap today. Or any day really, but Carlotta hadn't seemed to get that memo yet.

It felt like I could still hear the voice from my dreams whispering in my ear, but I shook it off. I'd think about it later.

I tried to block the light out and fall asleep again, but my eyelids refused to shut properly, twitching and fluttering against my will. Finally, I gave and snapped them open. I sat up, throwing the covers off me and sliding out of my bed. I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror across the room and winced. My blonde curls looked like a birds nest, and my green eyes were red and puffy from lack of sleep. Again, I fought the urge to snap at Carlotta. I didn't particularly care about looking pretty, but that didn't mean I liked looking like a mess.

I sighed, and grabbed my old, battered, first edition iPod from my bedside table to check the time.

4:57

That was just ridiculous. Why would Carlotta be up this early? Carlotta looked somewhat like a pig with squinty eyes, and short stringy hair - despite her very feminine name - and she mostly acted like one too. I couldn't even remember the last time Carlotta had been on time to first period, let alone awake at five in the morning.

And I'd been up late last night. Later than I'd intended to stay up, anyway. I wasn't planning on staying out till midnight, but I'd seen that star dying and had been completely entranced by the bright glowing. I hadn't been able to tear myself away.

I went over to my wardrobe to grab my uniform for the day, throwing Carlotta a dirty look as I did so. My dirty looks were something I prided myself on, and this one was a fairly decent one as well.

"You want something, Jackson?" she sneered, her face twisting into a scowl. Her scowl was ugly, but it still couldn't rival mine. I really wanted to tell her, 'yeah, your head on a platter' but that probably wouldn't have gone over too well with her. Fights were not a good idea, because one more little dispute would be the last straw and I'd find myself on my arse outside the front doors of the school with my bags thrown out after me, and between my ADHD and dyslexia I already had enough trouble finding a school that would take me, especially with my past history.

So I simply rolled my eyes and get changed, before collapsing back onto my bed. I had two and a half hours left before breakfast, which meant that I could think about the voice I'd heard in my dream. It had been obviously male, yet it sounded so familiar. And the whole dream had been so vivid; I almost could have thought it real. It wasn't surprising that I was attracted towards the cabin that looked like the sea. I always felt at home in water, it was where I could think in peace, with no intruding.

I looked at the time on my iPod again.

5:14

I still had ages… surely I could have a swim and change back before breakfast? I stood up quickly, and grabbed my bathers before exiting my room.

The walk to our pool seemed to take forever, and the darkness was eerie. I jumped at little noises, and I couldn't shake the feeling that someone or something was watching me. Once or twice I could have sworn I heard someone walking with a wooden leg or something, but when I glanced over my shoulder, no one was there.

It was a relief when I reached the pool doors. It was obviously not open, but the lights were on, and the pool cleaners were in the water.

I slipped through the door quietly and Mrs. Walters smiled at me. She was used to seeing me here in the early morning and she didn't have a problem letting me swim with the cleaners in.

"Hello Astraea," she greeted me softly.

"Hey Mrs. Walters," I replied quickly. "All right if I take a swim?"

"Sure," she answered. "Just don't knock the cleaners."

"I won't," I promised, before heading over to the changing rooms.

I quickly pulled my uniform over my head and pulled on my bathers, anxious to get in the water.

I didn't need goggles, I could see fine under water without worrying about it so I left the changing rooms after tying my long hair back and dived straight in.

The water had an effect on me instantaneously. I could almost feel every muscle in my body become stronger, and my mind became sharper, I could think through things so much more clearly.

I floated down till I was sitting on the floor, not caring about breathing. I could stay under water for about 10 minutes without breathing (that was as far as I'd pushed it) so I had plenty of time to think about my dream properly.

I thought back to every second of the dream so I could analyze it. Here under the water the dream seemed so much more important, and I figured that was worthy of consideration, yet it would probably be better to go through my dream in order and things about it as a whole later.

First things first: Why had I not been worried about not being in my dorm or at home? I didn't like the fact that I had felt calm there, almost relaxed. For somewhere I could not remember being I had let my guard fall dramatically.

Second thing: A dragon? That just didn't seem likely, yet the dream had felt so real. There is really not much more to add here, apart from the fact that it had looked like a pile of cables at first before changing into a dragon… yet not changing at the same time.

Third thing: Battle plans? Why on earth would I need to draw up battle plans? Yet in the dream I had stated it so matter-of-factly, as if it was something I did every other day.

And why was this dream so important? It was obvious that it wasn't in any way possible – piles of cables don't turn into dragons, they just don't. The Golden Fleece, wasn't that from Greek mythology? I had read a little of their mythology, but not so much that I should be dreaming about it.

Maybe I was just reading way too much into this, I tried to brush the dream off as I swam to the surface for air (I didn't want to freak Mrs. Walters out) but there was still a gut feeling about the dream which unsettled me.

My head broke the surface, and I pushed stray strands of hair out of my face. I was about to die down again when I heard a voice that was definitely not Mrs. Walters, nor was it Pete who was the only other person who knew that I came down here sometimes.

"Very impressive," sneered a girl who only looked a couple of years older than me, as she started clapping sarcastically. Her hair was bright red; it looked like it was ready to spontaneously burst into flame. "I would have expected better from the daughter of the Tidal God."

I was immediately confused. "Daughter of the who?" I asked her, raising an eyebrow skeptically.

She scowled. "Don't play innocent with me, brat, I know who you are!"

"Great," I called back to her. "Really, that's just fantastic, seeing as I have absolutely no clue!"

"I wouldn't be playing smart with me; you have no idea with whom you are messing with!"

I couldn't help but think to myself, no, I really don't.

I pulled myself out of the water quickly, faster than I would have thought possible.

She snarled at me, before lowering into a semi-crouch. I gulped audibly, looking around for any sort of help possible. I wasn't sure what exactly she was, but it obviously wasn't good.

I was concentrating hard on finding a way out when an arch of water shot out of the pool to form the shape of a pen. As I watched, the water seemed to solidify into black plastic.

"Whoa," I cried. "How the hell did that happen?"

"Your grandfather and his tricks," sneered the girl disdainfully. "No matter, as if you stand a chance against me!"

I still had no clue as to what she was, but I didn't like my chances with the black pen.

She crouched even lower, and my instincts were screaming at me to uncap the pen. I shrugged internally; it couldn't make this situation any worse. I uncapped the pen, and stared in amazement as it expanded to form a bronze sword.

"Whoa," I said again, staring down at it.

I noticed movement in my peripheral vision, and I realized, suddenly the girl had changed. Her red-hair had changed into flickering flames, and her legs… her legs were odd. One seemed to be made out of the same metal as my sword, while the other looked like an animal leg.

I didn't have much time to ponder that though as the creature took my distraction as her chance to leap. I screamed loudly as my sword slashed through the air, hoping against hope that I would be able to protect myself.

A/N: Do you reckon we can beat the eight?