Act I Chapter XXIX: Percy Rides On a Plane
Percy opened his eyes, and his gaze focused on the puddle below him. He tried to examine his face, but the water was murky, stained with something he couldn't identify. Percy tried to look up, but his head refused to move. A sigh would have left him if he could let one out. The dreams were bad enough by themselves, but it was worse when he had to see things through the eyes of another person.
Percy slowly reached his hand out and placed it into the water. His fingers brushed against it before dipping inside. Percy lifted his hand and studied the red water. That's when he realized what stained the reservoir: blood. Percy stood, and a horrid scene awaited him as he focused forward.
In front of him was a gigantic field. On the outer perimeter were three hills that surrounded the field on each side. If there was a fourth one to his back, he didn't turn to look at it. The sun barely shone down on him as clouds darkened the sky. Closer to him was the field itself.
The first thing he noticed was all of the rubble. Large pieces of marble and concrete were spread over the field as if the gods had dumped their trash into it. Sprinkled on top of that was ash and soot. But, there was more spread through the field: bodies. Or what was left of them.
Most of the bodies wore armor, but not many of them were intact. It looked as if a tornado of death and destruction had torn through the field. Was... was this Camp Half-Blood? Had the Romans done this?
But, this couldn't be Camp Half-Blood. There had been trees everywhere when they visited, and with how destroyed this field was, there wasn't enough time for the trees to grow. Camp Half-Blood only had one hill and an ocean. So...
Could this be the remains of Camp Jupiter?
Percy slowly walked forward, and his boots crunched against the ash and soot from the buildings. He carefully avoided the bodies, but it was a trek for him. Searing pain shot up and down his leg, forcing him to hobble. His arm pressed against his stomach, and pain coursed throughout his body. Only chilled by the cold anger he felt in his core.
Was Percy seeing this through the eyes of a Roman?
Percy made his way towards a group of three people. They were sitting on pieces of rubble and staring down at something. He stopped near them and stared down at what had their attention. A purple sheet, almost like a flag, rested over a body. Percy slowly knelt down, using the rock to keep himself steady, but his arm shook from the effort.
"How many?" Percy asked. His voice was full of pain and agony. But also anger.
"Too many, Praetor," one of the armored figures answered. They shook their heads.
"Did anyone make it out of New Rome?" Percy asked. Another armored figure shook their head as well. "...the children?"
"No, Praetor. No one made it out. We only have half of our army left," the third one said. They looked down, and a choked sob left them as they placed a hand to their face. Percy felt the anger in his chest double. And, he couldn't blame them.
Percy lifted the sheet just enough to see a sword looped onto a belt. His fingers slowly wrapped around the sword and took it off of the belt. He pressed the sword into the ground and used it as a cane to stand. Then, Percy placed the hilt of the sword to his forehead, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
Tears leaked out of his eyes as he lowered the sword. He hobbled his way towards the only untouched thing in the field. It was a patch of grass that looked like it had just been planted. It was only three feet long and wide. Percy made his way towards it.
"I'm sorry I couldn't save you. I'm sorry I let my people down, but I will avenge them. I will avenge you," Percy swore. He spun the sword in his hands, and it turned into a spear. Percy threw it into the patch of grass. "I swear to you and to the gods above that I will avenge my people. Camp Half-Blood will burn."
Percy's eyes snapped open, and a gasp escaped him. He blinked a few times and slowly looked around. Percy realized that he was fine.
Well, other than the fact that he was stuck in a metal death trap. Percy's gaze moved around the plane. It didn't feel like he had been asleep for long. Granted, he was surprised that he had been able to sleep at all. Every bit of turbulence had him jumping, but at some point, his eyes had grown so heavy he struggled to keep them open. Sleep was inevitable at that point.
Percy let out a shaky breath, unsure if he was rattled from the dream or just being on the plane. Maybe he was nervous they would be found out and kicked off. Chiron seemed to have an easy enough time manipulating the Mist to convince the mortals to let them on the plane.
There was another bit of turbulence, and Percy tensed. When the plane first took off, his stomach had been left on the ground and his heart had jumped into his throat. His ears keep popping every two seconds, but Luke gave him the advice to chew on gum to stop his ears from popping so badly. A glance down showed that his gum had fallen out of his mouth and onto his shirt.
Percy tried to peel the gum off. A glance to his right showed that Reyna had her hood up, and her head was resting against the closed window. Her body was relaxed like she was asleep. Luke sat in front of him and seemed to be reading a magazine. To his left was Annabeth, who was looking right at him.
"Another dream?" Annabeth asked gently. Percy nodded. "I've been having some recently too. I don't know what they mean, though."
"Do you want to talk about them?" Percy offered. Annabeth pursed her lips and then nodded.
"I keep seeing these dreams of what I think is... was Camp Half-Blood. Chiron is there, and I've had two dreams so far. One was of me, or whoever I was seeing through the eyes of, being given a tour of Camp Half-Blood. I was shown to the cabin that this demigod would be staying in: Cabin One."
"Do you know who the cabin belonged to?" Percy questioned.
"Zeus. The king of the gods," Annabeth replied. "The second dream is different. It's the same demigod, but she is returning from a quest to retrieve the Golden Fleece. I thought the stories of the fleece were just a myth, but I held it in my hands. Well, her hands. Either way, she recounted the tale of how she faced some of the same trials as Odysseus and fought Polyphemus for the Golden Fleece."
Percy nodded, even though half of those names didn't make sense to him. Annabeth frowned, "I just don't know what happened to the Golden Fleece when Camp Half-Blood was destroyed. Was it also destroyed? Did the Romans steal it? I should talk to Chiron about it."
"You should," Percy agreed. He shifted. "My dream was about a praetor of Camp Jupiter. I think it was the praetor that Terminus spoke of."
"The one who wanted vengeance?" Annabeth asked. Percy nodded his confirmation. "What did you see?"
Percy described his dream the best he could. As she listened, a frown slowly came to life on Annabeth's face. When Percy finished, he sighed, "It sounded like the praetor blamed the Greeks for what happened."
"Chiron would never allow Camp Half-Blood to do anything like that," Annabeth began.
"Chiron said he was away. Is it possible that maybe some Greeks did that?" Percy asked. Annabeth vehemently shook her head. "Maybe whoever did it pretended to be the Greeks."
"Maybe," Annabeth agreed. "Why would Camp Half-Blood even attack Camp Jupiter? That doesn't make any sense. Either the Romans attacked themselves, or someone else did it to get the Romans to attack the Greeks."
"Why would the Romans wipe their camp out like that? The praetor, I could feel that sadness and anger," Percy recalled. Annabeth frowned again and seemed lost in thought. "What did that mean with the spear being thrown into the grass?"
"It's an old Roman tradition. Before they went to war, they would throw the spear into a patch of grass as a symbol and a way to ask for the favor of the gods. It seems like this praetor was trying to muster up any favor they could," Annabeth explained. "I wonder if the praetor survived and has been all this time. That was over fifty years ago, so they would probably be a senior citizen by now."
"Or already dead," Luke chimed in as he turned to look at them through the crack in the seat. "They probably died in the attack on Camp Half-Blood. Really, I think these dreams are nothing more than a waste of time."
"They help us see what happened in the past," Annabeth began.
"And how will staring at the past help us see the future?" Luke questioned with a hint of irritation. "All you learned from your dream is that some child of Zeus went on a quest, and the only thing Percy learned is that some crazy praetor from Camp Jupiter declared war on Camp Half-Blood."
"My other dream helped us find Terminus," Percy defended. Luke remained silent. Percy thought back to his other dreams, but he bit his tongue on saying anything about it. "It might be a warning, Luke. It could help us."
"I'm sorry," Luke exhaled after a moment. He turned his head and rubbed his eyes. "I just have a really bad feeling about all of this. Terminus said something grabbed him and was going to add his body to its collection. But what took him?"
"I'll guess we'll find out when we get there," Annabeth remarked. Percy nodded his agreement. "I also think that we should make a pit stop. To Camp Jupiter."