Logan
Logan was pretty used to the messed up stuff his mind imagined when he was asleep. Sometimes he saw visions in his dreams, sometimes he saw places around the world as if he were there, and once he had seen Santa Claus singing Poker Face with Abraham Lincoln.
This time he was at a cemetery. He saw a woman holding a baby kneeling at a gravestone. He wore a black shawl and veil, preventing Logan from seeing her face. The grave she knelt at read "Evan Davis: Tamer of the Wild." The woman whispered something. Logan didn't know the words in English, but somehow he knew the language she spoke them in.
Ancient Greek.
The gravestone shimmered and then, in the night sky above, Logan saw a new constellation form. It showed a man with a handsome face, long dark hair, and a strong jaw wearing nothing but a loincloth holding a hunting rifle. Then the image vanished among the stars.
"In time you will speak the same blessing." The woman said soothingly to the sleeping baby she cradled. "The man I loved above every other, even my dear old friend who I knew many centuries ago, has passed on. But you can carry on his, and my legacy," She turned to face Logan, "my son."
Logan was shocked. How could that woman see him if this was a dream? This was a dream, wasn't it? The woman continued. "You must wake soon my boy. Be strong on your quest." She handed Logan an arrow. It didn't look like anything special. Just a simple arrow made from pine wood. Logan didn't know how he knew that, but he did. "When the time comes you will know how to use this." The woman said as the dream descended into darkness.
In the physical world Logan was being shook awake by Thalia. At first he didn't know where he was, then he remembered: Camp Half-blood, Cabin 11.
Thalia stared at him and said one thing: "Big House. 10 minutes. Chiron wants to see you there for the counselors' meeting." Logan moaned and groggily pulled on his pants and a new camp t-shirt and headed to the big blue mansion near the front gate of the camp.
Logan didn't know what he had expected the counselors' meeting to look like. Maybe he thought it would be in this big room with a stage and two podiums like a debate. Maybe even he thought it would take place in a secret underground war-room with a giant holographic map of the world against a wall. But he certainly didn't expect it to take place around a ping-pong table where a bunch of goat-men, Satyrs, served crackers and Cheese-whiz.
Logan recognized a few people from the funeral the other night. The blonde girl who had broken down during her speech, the kid in the army jacket who had supplied the fake bomb for Capture the Flag, and the girl who could change wills with her words.
Chiron, for some reason, was sitting in a wheelchair and started the meeting once Logan walked in. "Ah, Logan," he said, "glad you could join us. I wanted to congratulate you on your victory in Capture the Flag. You brought Camp Half-Blood our first victory against the hunters in 57 years!" All the counselors cheered, but the hunters in the room just glared and grumbled. Logan noticed the red-headed hunter he had incapacitated in the game was there, staring at him with intense hatred.
"Campers, hunters," Chiron continued, regarding both groups, "a quest has been ordered. Annabeth," he gestured to the blonde girl, "please tell them your dream."
Annabeth stood up, and Logan noticed firsthand how old she looked. Her blonde hair was so pale it looked almost gray, her intimidating gray eyes looked faded like she was almost blind, and her face was covered in worry lines and wrinkles. She couldn't have been more than 18, but she looked almost like she was 50 years old.
"Thank you Chiron," she said, "last night I had a very disturbing dream. I dreamt that I was in a throne room. There, sitting on the throne was a boy, about 13-16 years old. He wore all black and had bright golden eyes." She looked ready to either cry or collapse, like the thought of seeing this boy absolutely terrified her. She continued. "And, chained at his feet, was..." She stifled a sob. "Percy."
Logan had never seen any group of people more surprised or confused as the group sitting around the ping-pong table right now. Everyone started yelling at once. It took Chiron 10 whole minutes to restore order. Annabeth continued. "If there's even the slightest chance that Percy's alive..." She paused and cried for a few minutes. "We need to have a quest to find him at any cost."
It was Chiron who spoke first. "I agree. A quest is needed." He turned to a girl sitting silently on a stool in the back of the room. Logan hadn't noticed her at first. She looked about 18 and had frizzy red hair, and was wearing an orange camp t-shirt and jeans with doodles all over them. "Rachel," Chiron said to her, "do you have anything to say?" Everyone leaned forward like they were expecting something awesome to happen.
Then it did.
Rachel's eyes glowed serpent green, and out of her mouth came mist of the same color. When she spoke her voice sounded unearthly.
"A child of the hunt shall lead the quest
The journey will take you deep to the west
Hunters and heroes, together succeed
The curse of the winter the party must heed
A broken oath will cause great pain
And siblings stop Time's eternal reign"
Rachel then collapsed on the spot. Two of the other campers ran to help her immediately. Chiron and Annabeth both looked extremely concerned. "Child of the hunt," Chiron mused, "who could that be?"
Annabeth started to say "Chiron, could this be about the-" but Chiron gave her a look saying Not now. We'll discuss it later.
Then Thalia spoke up. "Well, a child of the hunt is clearly a hunter, so it looks like I'll-" She stopped mid-sentence. Everyone in the room was looking straight at Logan. No, not at Logan, above Logan. Logan realized that light was coming from right above his head. He looked up and saw a silver holographic image of a crescent moon with an arrow through it
"No," Thalia uttered, barely audible, "it's- it's..."
"Impossible." Annabeth finished.
"Hail Logan." Bellowed Chiron with concern in his voice. "Son of Artemis!"