My confusion and doubts were immortalized by my dreams. My limited memories and thoughts spun in a pool of blackness. They swirled around to no point at all. Embers of fire started to appear from the pool. It dispersed through the dark like burning coal. It kept burning, bringing a sharp pain on my head once again. I waited for it to go away; for me to rise up and return to my much clueless state. It did not. A voice boomed inside my head. It was heavy and full of authority. My unseen spirit trembled upon its wake. The line of flames burned brighter and crackled.
"It seems you have not lost your touch, Zagreus. That anger still boils within you. Whatever they have placed over you will soon wane out," the voice said, making my heart thump even faster.
"What do you mean?" my mind shouted. He answered with a chuckle.
"Your spirit is very different, child. Much different and stronger than your father. Turning that anguish into something powerful may not be so hard after all. Even before, you don't know a lot of what you can do."
That hit a mark, anger was rising over me once more. "Quit stalling around! Who are you?! And how are you so sure you know a lot about me?!" I shouted. That familiar pang of pain on my eye shot through. I might have winced.
"You are amusing, aren't you? I am sure you will know a lot about me soon. Though, you do know a lot about me more than you can fathom. I myself know every detail about you, Zagreus. Your fears, regrets, sorrows, happiness, anything you can imagine. I can say that I know more about you than even yourself!" he laughed again. A cruel and evil sound that reverberated across the dark expanse.
"That's a lie!" I said weakly. I could not think of any response. It was true, I barely knew myself. My will to fight soon vanished.
"I sense fear and confusion within you. You are right, the gods will not reach their hands to help and welcome you back. Such a silly thought it is boy."
"I…" my voice faded. The crackling of the flames overpowered it. He was true, I felt too confused that I fear what was to come. I let my anger fester me. I wondered even more about my past.
"I can help you. I have cared for you in the past. Your life burns within me like the flames of my embers. You might unlock your past, get your answers. I know that lock will break soon enough in your memories. You will come back running into my arms again. Just you wait…"
The flames started to lose its gleam. The rumbling of the voice became distant.
"This will definitely not be our last meeting. You will know of me more once you get into that camp. Do not trust everyone in that camp, you can take my word for it. They are now in some kind of grace from the gods, especially that boy, Perseus Jackson," the name left his mouth with so much distaste that it angered me as well. "For all you know, they may cause your ultimate demise."
He said those loud words with thundering power. The darkness swirled, engulfing the flames. My head pounded and the pain sharpened. I thought my eye was ablaze again.
My senses came back. I winced at the receding pain. My eyes dilated as I opened them to a blurry vision. I was stowed aside like a sack of meat in between some racks. I could see feet below the line clothing. The voices were like distant echoes then my ears adjusted. There were two female voices conversing. I could recognize their voices; it was Celine and her friend.
"Are you crazy? He's one of them," Celine's friend said, panic rising from her voice.
"I know, but we got to help him. He got out of his way to help us, did he not?"
"Yes, he did yet how can we completely trust him? The boy looked like he was about to burst into flames when he darted towards that monster. He can kill anyone right off."
I was hurt and irritated by her words. I came all here just to be doubted by a demigod whom I saved from a man-eating monster. On that thought, I noticed my sword was far away from me, propped on boxes of shoes. She was truly letting a point to cross.
"You must have figured that we cannot go off like this. Monsters are bound to follow us. They were right. We have a mark that can't be simply erased. Maybe we should head back to Long Island, to Camp Half-Blood," Celine said. That might be the camp I was looking for because I could feel pendant glow faintly. At least I knew it was finally working.
"Urgh," the other girl said, stomping her foot in frustration. "I'm so sick of this whole thing. It is not fair. Why can't we live a normal life huh? Not all of us are bound to fight off monsters for the entirety of our lives."
Celine sighed. She might have understood her friend's point. "Just calm down alright. We'll get through this. Let's check on the boy."
I instantly closed my eyes when their feet shuffled towards me. I could feel someone scooting close. I felt a hand on my head. The gesture of concern shocked me for a bit, I decided to quit faking my sleep. I opened my eyes.
The olive-skinned girl, Celine, was right next to me. Up close she had green eyes, much like Hecate's but not much malevolent, and a pointed nose. Her brown her was tied into a loose ponytail, evidently disarrayed by the attack. She raised her eyebrows upon seeing me awake, then her lips cracked into a smile.
"Glad to know you're awake, I thought we needed that ambrosia thing," she helped me prop myself forward. I could see her friend on the farther end of the rack. Her arms crossed, giving me a suspicious stare.
"Thank you for saving me back there, I really thought I was a goner," Celine said. Her clothes were a mess, monster dust all over them.
"Uhhh… no problem," I said because I could not really think of anymore articulate to say.
"I'm Celine… Marceline," she reached out a hand. I was hesitant to give her a handshake. I did not want to appear rude, so I shook her hand anyway.
"That's my friend, Sabrina," she pointed at the turquoise highlight girl. Sabrina was still shooting daggers at me. I did not intend it to be literal.
"My name's Zagreus," I said. Celine's expression changed; she might have found my name to be weird.
"So you're a demigod too?" she asked. Sabrina formed a curious expression. I did not let her take my word for an accurate answer. I vaguely said, "I am a child of a god." I took one advice from the voice in my dreams. I should not trust anyone yet. They might use it against me. I thought that answer might have addressed her question in some way or another.
Sabrina's expression changed again into a sour one. "You do know your parent, huh?" she asked. I was fumbling my thoughts on what to answer when Celine saved me from such.
"Err… please excuse Sabrina. She's been having a hard time accepting these gods. It was such as wild place where we came from"
Pretending I had not heard their conversation, I asked "You are demigods… the place, are you referring to Camp Half-Blood?" The name left a nasty ring on my tongue.
Sabrina let out an exasperated sigh. Celine nodded meekly, "Yes, we travelled from Long Island. We thought we could get away from the monsters, from all that fighting, apparently, we did not. We're barely out of New York and here we are," she motioned towards the mess.
I thought it was time to ask them about it. I was not keen to letting other people know my story but what choice do I have now? Following Hecate's advice was the only thing I got other than the sentiments the voice in my dreams said, which still made my hair stand up. If going to that camp was the only thing to bring any answers about my past, I was ready to risk it – not too much though.
"Well… if it'll be alright, maybe you can bring me there," I said. Both of them looked uneasy. "Is there something wrong?"
"Well, Sabrina and I decided to leave Camp-Half Blood. The whole monsters and gods idea keeps baffling us. To be frank, we haven't been claimed. We don't really know who our parents really are," she said sadly. I could see the disappointment in her gaze. Despite my present dilemma, at least I knew who my parents were.
"Maybe… maybe you have to give it another try," I said, trying to be helpful. Sabrina let a "Pfft" out. How respectful.
"Well… we've only stayed there for a couple of weeks. But still…"
"Hey, I know that feeling. But for now, it's the only place you can go; where we can go"
"How do you know?" Sabrina asked.
"My dreams… they said it'll be the way. I can't remember much, but going to the camp might enlighten me," I disguised my encounter with Hecate as a dream. I did not want them to fret too much, especially when mentioning a god. Seeing their situation, they might not help me if I did so.
"Well, demigod dreams are truly weird…" Celine looked up towards Sabrina. They appeared to be having a silent conversation with just their eyes. They might have had those kinds of visions too. A staple to semi-divine people.
Sabrina exhaled. "Fine, we'll show you the way just to make it even between you and us. We do owe you Celine's life. Just don't step on my line of trust," she trudged and exited the door.
"It'll take a while for you to get the hang of her. I think that's our cue," Celine said as she helped me stand up. A bit unbalanced, I followed, picking my sword up and placing it into my scabbard before I left the blighted boutique.
The road we followed was not showing signs of any monsters at the moment. We swerved a couple of streets as people continued to pass by us like we did not exist. That sort of helped, though, we were distracted several times by car horns and incessant shouting. Killing the dracanae still unnerved me, I kept shifting the weight on my feet. It was also evident in my companions' faces.
Sabrina had a permanent frown whenever she addressed me. I was not inclined to pay much attention to her because she kept walking a few meters in front of us, uninterested to make any conversations. When we were walking from New Haven (they told me about the place) I finally had a look on her features, at least as far as I could see from the frown. She had porcelain skin. Loose curls fell below her shoulders, the highlights became harsher against the sunlight. Light freckles were strewn sparsely on her short and dainty nose. She was a bit taller than Celine, but her upright stance made her appear to be taller. Her eyes were light blue, and it gleamed brightly and cruelly. She managed to pick up a baby pink jacket from the clothing shop, though, it did not go well with her black high tops and loose red shirt that had a skull print on it. She looked like an assortment of color, all mismatched.
I really did not know why she kept glaring at me, she made it clear not to step on her line of trust before we left that shop. Well, I guess I have a line of my own that I'm bound to impose. It was difficult for me to imagine her ungratefulness towards me despite rescuing them from that man-eating monster. That made me much suspicious and distant from her. She probably had something in mind.
Dark clouds blanketed the night sky. They told me it wouldn't take long before we reached Camp Half-Blood. Celine was nice enough to enlighten about what the camp looked like. She told me It was surrounded by forests located at the North shore of Long Island. Before I can even raise the question, she said that it was protected by magical borders, both from mortals and monsters alike. She said this border was reinforced by the 'Golden Fleece' (I hope somewhere in my head it will ring) placed on a pine tree, that was once a child of Zeus. Hearing Zeus' name did not sit well within me. Hecate did mention him a couple of times, but after that strange dream, everything gets heavier and heavier to hear.
She must have sensed my worry because she said, "Oh don't think about it too much, I'm told that the girl was finally set free from the tree. I also felt weary staring at it the first time I was there..." she trailed off. I knew she had something bothering her, every time the story veers towards something about her family or the first time she arrived at camp, she lost the will to continue. I understood, I too had a lot to hold back. I was not willing to trust her with what I knew at the moment.
"The camp has a lot of awesome things in it, as much as I'd like to admit. It has an amphitheater where demigods could sit and enjoy the campfire at night. There are also arenas and a challenging lava wall, which Sabrina tried the first time we were there… it wasn't a good start though," she glanced at Sabrina, who decided to ignore the comment.
"If you haven't been in camp, how did you get that weapon," she pointed at the sword, "As far as I know, it's the only haven for demigods. Do you know who your parents are? You've been unclear about that when we were at the boutique."
Her questions made me anxious. I thought of numerous answers inside my head, but I went with the best and probable for the situation, "Uhh… I think it's not safe to go talk about them in such a crowded place. Monsters might sense our presence even more. It's best to address these monsters at camp," I whispered.
Celine seemed to be disappointed that I did not answered her question, but she understood it well, nodding at my response. I could sense that she was doubting me, then again, accompanying a stranger who just made a dracanae explode was not the brightest of ideas. She did thank me a couple of times for doing that.
Half-way into our travels, my stomach grumbled. Do deities get that hungry? Celine stared at me as if she too felt the grumble. "We've been walking for hours now, we should eat and take a break," she suggested.
Sabrina stopped on her tracks and looked back. "The usual place then?" she asked lifting an eyebrow. Celine nodded. I just stared at them, wondering what place that was. We walked a few more blocks until we found a small eatery that had a face of a man with a mustache as a sign. That was not convincing for me, but Celine motioned for me to go inside.
It was a small eatery. It had low hanging domed lights that made the entire place yellow. Red seats and round tables lined the right side while a counter and a kitchen occupied the remaining space. Sabrina took the lead and sat on a seat near the entrance. We followed as a young man approached us from the kitchen. He was presumably the waiter (as they call it). The young man was lanky and possessed a seemingly permanent look of dismay behind her thick rimmed glasses. He held a yellow notepad and said, "What's your order?" like it was already the last of his shift so we better hurry. Frankly, his yellow shirt had much personality than him. Coming from me, that was saying a lot.
Celine did not mind his low energy. "Regular, pepperoni, three sodas," was all she said. The waiter scribbled it up and disappeared again into the kitchen. There was silence between the three of us. Sabrina tapped her fingertips against the table, choosing to ignore us.
"So you have been to this place," I asked an irrelevant question to break the silence. I was never good at conversations, but it was best to work on it at such a time.
"Yes," Celine answered. "We've ate here a few times when we were wondering around town."
Wondering around town did not fit the picture. Nonetheless, I nodded with interest as our conversation died off. The pizza arrived just in time. We ate a scrumptious meal. Before I lack the time to say this, pizza is the most awesome thing I have ever eaten. Chronos was indeed right, pizza is magical. I was lost in the trance that I did not realize that I ate almost half of the entire thing. Celine and Sabrina just stared at me, wide-eyed.
When we finished our meals, Sabrina looked around, as if searching for something. She then slipped a green bill, a dollar, under the platter.
"That's the last of what's left. It may not be much but it's enough to pay. A deal's a deal," she remarked vaguely. "Let's go quickly before he notices," she muttered. Before we knew it, we were out on the streets, our stomachs quite full.
A strange feeling clouded my thoughts the moment we left. It made the food churn in my stomach, was I nervous? A dark foreboding feeling made my skin tingle. It must have been my thoughts because I saw a shadow fleeting quickly from the corner of my eye, right at the alley beside the eatery. I chose to ignore it and bury the foreboding feeling. It must have been my mind playing tricks on me after my long sleep. But the feeling kept coming back every time we crossed a new route, it was like we were being followed. I took a deep breath and concentrated. I could not let the pizza lose its magic.