Chapter 8. Connor: Dreams and Screams

The wind was howling in my ears, blocking out everything else. The gale whipped my hair against my face, making me wince. Looking around, I saw that I was on a huge ship and a carved figure of a dragon's head rose up before me. A figure –a girl- stood beside it, staring out over the side of the ship. At first I thought she was looking at the furrows that ship was leaving behind in the water. Then I saw a rack of clouds before the ship that was building up faster than Travis and I could hotwire a car. Then a gap tore in the great wall of clouds and a yellow sunset poured through it. All the waves behind the ship began to take on unusual shapes that sent chills down my spine and the ocean was a drab color that reminded me of the color of the older parts of our cabin.

While I was staring out at the ocean, the girl had turned around to face me. She had brilliant silver eyes and hair, though they seemed to be changing colors. With a jolt, I realized that this was a dream. I had been dreaming of this girl on and off ever since the war ended, gods' know why. For some reason, my face began to turn red. When the girl spoke, everything around me ceased to matter.

"The storm's getting nearer," she said. I got the feeling that she was referring to something other than obvious. To my surprise, I felt my mouth moving of its own accord.

"Geez, Alva, don't worry. A few monsters aren't going to stop us. We are demigods!" I moved forward to stand beside the girl, Alva. She looked to be around my age. The girl, Alva, looked at me and her eyes the color of obsidian.

"How sure are you, Connor?" Shivers ran down my spine when she said my name. "How sure?"

I bolted upright in my bed. My cabin mates went on snoring, oblivious to the real world. There were only fifteen of us left now. It was a relief to have some space in the cabin. After the war, all the undetermined demigods left and we converted the extra space to a storage room for stuff that were a little sensitive to be revealed to the other campers.

A pale gray light poured through the cabin window, making everything in it a pale shadow of its daylight self. I looked around, relieving the dream. It was so vivid. I had been dreaming of a strange girl with freaky eyes and hair since the war but they always had been disjointed flashes that made no sense. I never mentioned it to Travis since I wasn't sure if it was just a normal dream or the more annoying demigod type. Travis had been preoccupied with ... other stuff anyway.

I looked over at my brother who was sleeping with his mouth wide open in the next bunk. Mumbling something, he turned over and sighed deeply.

"Please, Katie-flower" He said in a pleading tone. I restrained an urge to gag. Travis and Katie had been getting way too close in public for me to bear. I made a mental note to threaten Travis to tone it down a little or I was going to tell his precious 'Katie-flower' about him talking in his sleep. About her. While I was putting the finishing touches on my plan, a stray thought entered my head, surprising me.

I finally knew her name.

In all the months of dreaming about her, I never knew her name. I shook my head in surprise; I was getting worked up over some girl's name. I was almost as bad as Travis. Almost.

I slumped back on the bed. It was two days after Annabeth told us about Percy's disappearance. After the initial waves of shock and fear, the incident had retreated to the back of the campers' minds. Instead, rumors had begun to spread. The Apollo campers say that Percy is on a secret mission for the gods. Some of the more wicked Aphrodite girls say that he had run of with Rachel, which was of course not true. Rachel was right here in Camp. With a prophecy. That she kept a secret. Some campers even went as far as to say that the whole scene was a ruse to test the effectiveness of the new alarm and Percy was just on vacation.

I was torn. I didn't know what and whom to believe. Some of the rumors seemed to be perfectly reasonable. But the memory of Rachel's hidden prophecy and Chiron's face made me think otherwise. Travis wasn't much help either. All he cared about was his 'Katie-flower'. For one irrational second, I almost felt jealous. Then I pushed it out of my mind, telling myself not to be so stupid. It was nothing serious. Heck, they would probably break up in a week!

Right?

Apparently today was my lucky day. The curse Aphrodite cast on Travis and I had finally faded after three agonizing, clothes-ripping weeks. Travis and I had celebrated by chasing our cabin mates around camp and going on a stealing rampage. We were careful to avoid Aphrodite's cabin though.

In the middle of the day, as we were in the middle of archery, Clara, a tiny Apollo girl came running up to Travis and me. Breathless, she began talking in her high pitched voice. She spoke so fast that she stumbled over few words.

"C-Chiron wants all of you in the Rec Room now." Travis and I shared a dark look. I was happy though, missing archery was always good even if it was for a Senior Counsel.

"We'll be there in a bit, Clara. Thanks for the heads up." Travis patted the girl on the head. Turning back to our siblings, he grinned. "All right there mates. Looks like me and my partner here have to leave for a while so do what you want but avoid the Aphrodite cabin okay?" Our half sisters and brothers, nodded. There were so few of us now that the cabin almost felt luxurious. Campers were claimed almost as soon as they arrived at camp, so they only people at our cabin were those who looked exactly like us. We began walking to the Rec Room. I could tell that Travis had an eye out for the Demeter cabin.

"What do you think this is about?" I asked him. He barely glanced at me, preferring to stare hopefully at the Demeter cabin as we passed it.

"I don't know. Percy, maybe?" We shared another look. "Race you to the Rec Room?" He said a gleam in his eyes.

"You're on!" I said. "On three!" We shot off together, laughing. We reached the Rec Room without even breaking a sweat, still laughing hysterically. Unfortunately, 'Katie-flower' was waiting. I felt my smile sliding off my face. With a quick smile at me, she took Travis's hand and they left me alone. I went in after them, muttering under my breath darkly about flowers and poison.

All the head counselors were gathered around the ping pong table, whispering among themselves. Travis sat between me and Katie. I ignored them and looked around the table. I saw Jenna; who was smiling at me strangely and Clarisse who was cleaning her dagger and looking like she didn't care about a thing. She lifted her head and shot me her customary death glare. I ignored it. Travis and I had been teasing Chris and her ever since they become a 'thing' and Clarisse hadn't quite forgiven us about it. Will Solace, Jake Mason, Pollux, and the heads of the all the other cabins were looking at Chiron worriedly. Annabeth came in with Rachel, shot Chiron a glare rival to Clarisse's and sat down beside her. Mr. D was contemplating a glossy magazine, probably the latest edition of 'Wine Today!' looking bored, which, of course, was only to be expected.

Clearing his throat nervously, Chiron faced us. "I know that various rumors had been spreading throughout camp about our little, ah, incident a couple of days back." He ignored Annabeth's look of fury although the campers beside her, including Rachel, squirmed in their chairs nervously.

"It's not my fault. You're the one who insisted on keeping everything from them. Now they don't even believe us!" Annabeth declared hotly. It was obvious that they had had a big row over this.

"Of course, the news would have been taken more seriously if it had been broken calmly in a civilized manner rather than the more dramatic technique some of us though was necessary." Now it was Chiron's turn to shoot a disapproving look at Annabeth. Mr. D snorted. She opened her mouth to protest but Chiron cut her off. "But that can't be helped now." Pandemonium broke out as all the campers hurled questions at Chiron. Annabeth remained silent, a stony look on her face.

Will Solace raised his voice and called out. "So he really is missing then?"

"Kidnapped. He's kidnapped." Annabeth's quiet voice silenced the campers. We sat there uncomfortably, unsure as to what exactly to say. Chiron sighed, looking tired.

"We have received a prophecy." He gestured to Rachel who stood up, looking nervous. Ha! I knew she had a prophecy! Rachel's green eyes looked nervous and even a little scared. A few rebellious strands of her red hair escaped her messy ponytail and framed her face. She cleared her throat and recited, in a sing-song voice.

They shall begin at the lady who watches,
And travel east along Earth's trail,
It shall end at the coil which catches,
There the three are destined to fail.

Mind and heart shall break the cage,
With the ghost king the hero is freed,
With it comes The Mother's rage,
And through the traitor's tale, sorrow shall breed.

"Doesn't make sense." I commented dryly.

"Big surprise." Travis continued. Annabeth looked stricken. I took as a sign that she hadn't heard the prophecy before either. I wonder why. Silence fell as everyone contemplated the prophecy.

"A traitor,' Annabeth whispered. I felt a shiver run down my spine. No one had really gotten over the fact that Silena Beauregard had betrayed us all although Annabeth and Percy insisted that she was a true hero.

Suddenly, a shrill scream broke the silence. It seemed to have come from the volleyball court. Mr. D jumped and cursed as he spilled his Coke. Chiron stood up and glanced around nervously. The head counselors stood up so quickly that some of our chairs fell over. After a pause, we all rushed to the court. Travis and I zipped far ahead of the others.

At first glance, the court seemed to be covered in blood. Then I realized that the blood only covered a brown-haired girl who was the source of the scream. She was clutching another girl on the ground who seemed to be the source of all that blood. I noticed that Nico Di Angelo was standing there looking shocked. The girl went on screaming. The Apollo campers who were at the court stared at the scene stunned.

Then I saw her. The girl on the ground had the same silver hair as the girl in my dreams. I knew that if her eyes were open they would be the same shifting color too.

"She's hurt!" I heard Travis's voice called from somewhere far, far away. The words registered in my mind dimly. The girl's back was ripped open and blood poured freely from it. The sight of it stirred me into action. I rushed up and scooped her into my arms gently. I heard Chiron barking orders but all I saw was her face. It was different from my dream slightly. This girl had a scar along the right side of her face. Nevertheless, I felt my face heat up.

We rushed her to the infirmary and I saw Nico trying to calm the other girl down. All other sight and sounds left my mind as soon I registered them. Only one thought was left in my head.

I found her.

I found Alva.

AN: Ta-da! Prophecy! And finally our wonderful travelling trio arrives at camp! I hope you enjoyed that! Special thanks to Emmarina and everyone else who reviewed or read this story. Review please!