Chapter two: Camp
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"Alli…? Alli? Allison!?"
My eyes flew open, and Chiron was leaning over me.
"How many times, Allison," Chiron looked disappointed. "How many times must I tell you that, just because you can sneak out of your cabin without being seen, you do not have to?"
"I had a dream," I said sleepily. "So I came out here. I thought the woods might help."
That was a lie. It was actually the woolen blanket that provoked me to come out here every night. Of course, I wasn't going to say that. Sleeping with a blanky just wasn't what most heroes did… or at least they never admitted it.
"One day, the Harpies are going to get you." Chiron warned. "They aren't very kind to campers that stay up past bedtime."
I didn't answer. I had gotten in trouble WAY too many times already for back talking both Chiron and Dionysus.
After a short pause, Chiron asked me what I had dreamed about. He was the only person that ever actually asked.
I had not told Chiron about the boy in my dreams. Something in the back of my head told me not to. So I simply said, "I was being chased by a hellhound. It was about to get to the bloody part when one of the Stoll brothers woke me up."
"Which one?" He asked.
I shrugged. "I think it was Connor."
"Well, you must get to your first class," Chiron turned around, not awaiting my response. Not that I would argue. Archery was my first class on Sundays.
After I had gotten my bow out of its hiding place, (Chiron knew about that, too) Chiron led me to the arena, outside of which we practiced archery. When he made sure I was settle and shooting at the little targets (getting a bull's eye every time, I might add) he walked off towards the Big House.
After a while, I decided that I couldn't possibly get any better. I gathered the arrows that I had shot, placed them back in the quiver, and placed the quiver neatly with the rest of them. I stalked off back towards the woods. I knew that I wasn't supposed to, but no one had to know. No one ever even noticed me, anyway. They wouldn't miss me.
I wandered around until I saw the familiar branches of Juniper. Juniper was my best friend at camp. My only friend, actually. We had met the first day I came out in the woods. I was just wandering along, when this girls appears in front of me. The girl started to yell at me, telling me to go away. I had thought that she thought that I was going to hurt her tree.
But when I got closer, I heard talking. One was the voice of a male. He sounded hoarse, as if he had just woken up. He probably had, being that sun had risen about two hours ago. He was saying something like, "But I can't do it!"
"Of course you can, Grover." A female voice replied. Juniper.
I thought hard. I had heard the name Grover before. He was a satyr, I knew that. There were no campers named Grover.
"No, I can't." Grover replied. He sounded depressed.
"I believe in you," Juniper tried to comfort the satyr.
There was short pause, as if something was happening, and I would only know what if I looked. So I did. I peeked around the bush that was my cover. The two people were kissing. I held back a gasp of surprise and slowly retreated. I would come see Juniper a little later. Maybe she wouldn't be… as busy.
I decided to go back to archery, though it didn't matter. Class was almost over, so I would have to go to breakfast. I went back to my haven and re-hid my bow. I headed to the mess hall—pavilion.
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The rest of my day was boring and just the same as it always was. The real action happened while I was asleep, or supposed to be asleep.
I dreamt about the boy again. This time, we were eating around a campfire. We were sitting there, talking, when he turned abruptly to some bushes and put a finger to his lips. He cocked his head toward the bush and listened. Suddenly, a lion pounced out of it and onto the boy. I screamed and shot an arrow at it, but my arrow bounced off of its pelt. The Nemean lion.
The boy pushed the lion off of him. It landed with a thud on the ground a few yards away. The lion was stunned, giving me a moment to think. Okay. The Nemean lion had an impenetrable hide. Our weapons were out of the picture.
If I remembered correctly, Hercules had strangled it to death. That's what we had to do. I was sure neither of us was strong enough to do that.
The boy appeared beside me. "We'll have to strangle it. It's the only way."
The lion got on its paws. He looked mad. We met eyes for a moment, his cruel brown with my bright green. I had an epiphany. "Maybe not…"
I readied my bow, but before I could aim it, something hit me. My body hit the ground, hard. The lion was on top of me. My hands were frantically feeling the ground for a weapon, my bow, a stick. Something. Ha! My had curled around a rock. Not hesitating, I banged the lion in the nose with it as hard as I possible could.
Green liquid poured onto my chest. The lion snarled at me. All that I had managed was to anger it.
It had opened it's huge mouth and was about to close it around my neck, when it's eyes widened and it roared. It was angrier. It glared at me as if to say I'll be back for you later. It ran off. I was shocked. I sat up and saw the boy, wielding a rock. The boy must have been throwing those at it.
The boy was an idiot. He should have run when he had the chance. The lion bit into his leg immediately, and blood seeped out of the wound…
I woke up in a cold sweat. Somehow, I always woke up before the end came. Right before me and the boy died.
The boy. I had had dreams about this boy for about three months now. Every night. It was a little freaky. It almost felt as if I were stalking the boy—if the boy was real, that is. He might be something that my demented mind came up with, or maybe he was real, and he was trying to contact me. Probably not. He was most likely just someone that I would run into next time I left camp. If I ever left camp. I had been at this camp for thirteen years, and I had only left a few times for field trips.
I sighed and sat up in my bed. I was tired of being trapped in here. Following all of the rules. Everyone said that this was the only safe place for demigods. Maybe there were other safe places, if the demigod was well-trained and strong enough.
I thought about the boy. He was obviously a half blood, yet he lived outside of camp. I had never seen him inside the borders, anyway.
I was suddenly overwhelmed with the urge to leave camp and go find the boy, ask him why he doesn't live in camp. Ask him if he was contacting me, or if I was having visions of him. I wanted to find out what he knew.
My mind wandered. One half of me wanted to leave the nest and learn how to fly, but the other half of me wanted to stay and be safe.
In the end, I chose to leave. I was glad that Chiron had brought me up and taught me everything I knew, but there was nothing for me at Camp Half-Blood.
Tomorrow, I decided, Tomorrow night, I will sneak away. As soon as everyone in cabin eleven is asleep, I make my move.
The words of Chiron invaded my mind: How many times must I tell you that, just because you can sneak out of your cabin without being seen, you do not have to?...
I fell asleep.
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JJ: Happy Valentines, everyone. 3 SF isn't with me right now. She went to our school dance. So I am all alone. **Tears**
Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed chapter two of The Dreamer! Actually, my brother helped me come up with that title, and he wrote the summary. He does FF, too, but he said I couldn't tell you guys his penname. I think he's embarrassed that he's my brother… Oh well! I'm used to that. xD Oh! Only one person guessed who the boy is! I think I made it obvious in this chapter that it isn't Percy, and the only other boy mentioned was… NICO! Congrats, A. Thorn! And no one got Alli's parents right. Her special parent person is not an Olympian, and it isn't female! Good luck guessing who it is. This author's note was too long… oops… Bye people.
