Chapter 20: Dream, dream, such a delightful dream


[David's Pov]

We were lost.

The entire reason why Annabeth brought us here was that there was an express passenger train that would've taken us to New Mexico over the night, which would've meant that we'd make across a good chunk of America in the smallest time possible.

What she didn't-or couldn't have possibly foreseen was that the mountain of snow made it impossible for a train to move.

So, we were stuck on an industrial site with no money, and no way out.

After another half an hour of searching, we managed to break into an empty warehouse with a fireplace and decided to take refuge for a night. It's not like we had an any better choice. No one wanted to walk our way across the fields and fields upon broken cars and abandoned railway tracks.

Zoë and Luna produced five sleeping bags and foam mattresses out of their backpacks. I don't know how they did it, because the packs were tiny. I guess those were magic. I wonder how the weight of the stuff inside is handled.

Percy and I scrambled up some old cardboard from the hut and Zoë started up a fire with a match, also conveniently held inside her backpack. Soon enough we were as comfortable as you can get in an empty warehouse in a middle of a snow storm.

We all huddled in silence. I never notice how tired I was until I was given a proper chance to rest. My head kept nodding downwards. I had to be extra careful so my blanket won't accidentally catch fire.

"We'll recap," Zoë muttered. Everyone turned their head to her.

"Why would we do that?" Percy asked indifferently. Zoë frowned at him.

"It helps organize our current situation, what we know, and the path onward."

And she started to draw on the floor with a burnt stick.

The drawings were surprisingly good, even more, if you consider the tool. The style reminded me of the ancient relics displayed in museums and such; the ones from ancient Greek or Roman. If she was 2000 years old, I guess it won't be a stretch for her to say that she lived through those times.

That was such a bizarre concept to wrap my head around; that I was sitting a foot across from what is quite literally a walking history. Then again, the entire Greek Mythology was real. Anything in those myths can-in theory-work.

Does that mean all the nymphs at Camp Half-Blood are also several hundred years old?

"Hey." Annabeth poked me in the ribs with her elbow. I was startled out of my train of thoughts. Everyone was staring at me.

"Uh, sorry. Got distracted."

Zoë raised her eyebrow. "We were deciding upon the night watch cycle."

"Night watch?"

"Because of the Spartoi. Remember?" Luna said.

She was fiddling with her miniature metal horse, but her usual cheery vibes were nowhere to be seen.

I volunteered for the first watch. Thankfully the snowstorm had died out by that time, so I didn't have to stay inside for the duty. My thoughts tend to gather better when I was alone.

The entire industrial area was covered with layers of white snow, in contrast with the dark sky. It was a dreamlike scenery; would've been better if stars were visible over the sky, but you can't wish for everything in life. I learned that the hard way.

I poked at the snow with the edge of my sword-I never given it much thought, but this thing had just 'appeared' out of thin air during the fight. I racked my brains in case there was a myth about a black sword, but nothing came to me.

Chiron, Annabeth, and Clarisse seemed to know what this meant, for better or worse. Maybe I should ask Annabeth about it. She was the smartest of the group. Not that Zoë was dumber than her-you know what I mean.

Suddenly, the sound of scuffling feet came from behind. I whipped around, swinging my blade in a wide arc. Annabeth ducked under the swing without letting a single yelp and spared me a snarl.

"What was that for?" She demanded.

"Heard something sneak up; I'm supposed to be on guard."

Annabeth grumbled something under her breath out of my earshot before slumping down next to me on the snow-covered porch.

"Uh. I thought the next was Zoë."

"She is." Annabeth bluntly said. "I just wanted to ask you about something."

"About what?"

I didn't have a single clue what she would want to ask about me, but the following question still took me by a surprise.

"What is your background?"

"Background?"

Annabeth rolled her eyes.

"Where do you come from? Who is your parent?-or I guess I should ask who are your family."

"I-"

I struggled to form words in my mouth. Not because it was hard to answer, but I couldn't understand why would she want to know about my background now of all times.

"The only family I have left is my mother. We live in San Francisco, she works as a contract nurse and was the literal embodiment of the angel."

Annabeth looked at me impatiently as if expecting more. Now, this was getting uncomfortable; I never told anyone about what happened to the machete. Not even-or especially not to ma.

She used to teach me over and over again that violence is not something to be wielded without thought, and she'd probably faint from shock if she ever learned that I smashed open his skull with a beer bottle and fled the scene.

"You, don't have any other family? Like a sister?"

That question took me by surprise even more.

"No? Why would I have…"

…a sister…

Something tingled at the back of my brain. There was something...uh…

….

"Hey!"

A loud snap happened right under my nose. My vision focused again. Annabeth was staring at me irritated.

"…No, I don't think I had a sister. Not that I remember. Why?"

"Well," Annabeth's mouth hung open for a split second. She shook her head, then sighed deeply.

"Never mind. I guess."

"Alright…"

For some reason, Annabeth was distressed. She didn't seem to like me by default, so I didn't want to push her too far.

"Speaking of questions," I hefted up the black sword. "You know what this is, don't you?"

Annabeth's jawline stiffened. Her expression reminded me of a kindergarten teacher with a stern face when you did something foreboding. They'd waggle your finger at your face and say "Now, David; curiosity is what kills the cats."

Yeah, I was a troubled kid. Not too surprising now, huh?

Annabeth was silent for a long time as if I would get bored and ask something else. Now, the ADHD part of my brain was already peeking over the other side of the container, picking up half-formed words from the gusts of wind, but I forced myself to focus.

Finally, she gave in.

"I don't know much." She admitted. "Chiron is the one who knows all about it; I just know that Ares came by the camp some years ago that his most endangered child would have a black weapon."

"Oh."

I looked down at the sword. It suddenly felt way much heavier than before.

"What did he mean by 'the most endangered'?"

Annabeth was piling up snow into a miniature statue of a woman in full Greek battle armor. An impressive feat. I could nearly make out the face of the statue. It was probably Athena.

"I don't know, but you are not like any other children of Ares I've ever met."

"How so?"

Annabeth observed the snow statue from several angles. I couldn't find anything wrong, but she must've found something that bothered her because she waved off the entire thing.

"You are nicer than most of them. You aren't cruel, or crave for blood."

"Hey, they aren't all bad."

She let out a snort.

"I think your cabin mates won't like that description."

"Well…"

I wanted to say otherwise, but really, even in my head I don't think Clarisse, Sherman, or Marcus would like being called anything but 'violent'. Everyone in Cabin 5 was a league above Westover Hall, and that place was a prison for juvenile delinquents.

Still, they weren't entirely heartless…I'd refrain from saying that they're misunderstood, but still.

"They have some nice aspects as well."

Annabeth shrugged. "I guess. At least Clarisse has a soft spot for…"

Her voice trailed off into a sour note. I would've asked what she meant, but someone else interrupted without any warning.

"What are you two doing?" Zoë said in a stern voice.

We both jumped up from the porch. Zoë was standing with her arms crossed and a face that would scare off a tiger.

Annabeth quickly scrambled up the stairs with some hasty excuses, leaving me alone with Zoë. For some reason, she glared at me as if I was the cause of…whatever the problem was.

"Uh…" I struggled to find any conversation subject that won't get me killed.

"Nice, weather?"

That didn't amuse her.

"Very funny," Zoë said coldly. "Go inside and sleep. We have a long way to go."

I didn't argue.

The last thing I heard before leaving Zoë outside was her muttering something about how much of an idiot she was.

Yeah, I don't get it.

And to ride alongside that confusion, I had my weirdest dream yet, which was saying a lot.

Inside the dream, I stood in a dark cavern widening into a pit. Everything was getting pulled towards the gaping mouth of it. If I had known less, I'd say the pit had a black hole at the bottom. But somehow I could decrypt the identity of the pit.

"Tartarus."

As soon as I said the name, the pit trembled.

Something was trying to rise from the bottom, but that was impossible. As far as I knew, Tartarus was the ultimate prison for bad guys who cannot be killed such as Titans and Gigantes. Both of them were the biggest threat to the gods of Olympus, and even they couldn't escape from there.

A burst of old, chilling laughter came out from the depths.

Ah, this one is something even I didn't expect, the amused voice echoed far down in the darkness of the pit. It was far, far away from where I stood, but the echoing voice alone was enough to make me shudder.

That thing, whatever it was, was something powerful and evil. And those two letters did better when separated.

A trump card to turn all odds, the voice rasped on. Your father keeps being useful even after I'm done meddling with his tiny head.

I wanted to retaliate, but I had no idea what the voice was talking about. Then I remembered what Clarisse has said about Ares playing into the enemy's plan. This must be the enemy she mentioned.

The pit voice laughed again.

Such ignorance. I can sense your lack of faith in the gods, it said. Do you really think that pesky goddess deserves to be saved?

The voice laughed out loud, shaking the entire cavern until the scenery changed.

A thick gray mist churned around me. I couldn't see an inch forward until two figures started to form; a hulking twin with bear-like features.

It was the bear twins.

They didn't acknowledge me, their eyes were glassy and staring afar, but their mouth chanted "Deserved…Deserved…Deserved…" over and over again as they swooped over my head with their owl wings.

The mist thickened even harder. There was someone else. This time, a total of 7 women morphed into beings, all of them were wearing an Ancient Greek dress.

At the very front was a ghostly woman with a lopsided crown on her head. Her body was fragile and dried up like a mummy, and her whitened eyes were pouring down tears non-stop.

The other 6 spirits were much younger. They stood from oldest to youngest, and they all had a huge silver arrow stuck inside on their head, chest, waist, et cetera.

"My child…she took my child…" The ghastly woman gasped. Her shriveled-up finger inched towards my eyes as if to claw them out. 6 spirits started to wail.

"My child…my youngest, daughter…she took her…"

The woman's hands clenched over my face. For a split second, thousands of memories flashed across my eyes.

Flaming arrows raining down from the sky itself, snuffing out 7 boys out for hunting. A man wailed in agony before throwing himself off a cliff. Silver arrows following suit, taking out 6 girls.

A woman, desperately holding on to a young child crying in her arms. The girl looked up, her grey eyes brimming with tears.

"My child…not my youngest daughter…Please, spare her…"

And then a silver arrow came down.

The vision faded. The ghost lady was still staring at me. The same lady, who held her youngest daughter in desperation.

I knew the story. She was-

The woman slowly slid away, her eyes still streaming down tears. Her form started to fade back into the mist with her daughters.

"I will get my child back." She hissed. "I'll free her from her clutches."

The fog thickened, swirling around faster and faster, until all I could see were layers and layers of fog.

My eyes snapped open. A grim light shone through the small window of the hut. Of all people, Luna was shaking my arm.

"David," She said. "You've got to see this. We have a major problem."

I tried my best to bring myself to reality. I doubted any 'major problem' would even begin to compare to my dream.

I was proven wrong as soon as I stepped out.

When the door of the hut swung open, a snow-covered industrial site was nowhere to be seen. Instead, we were in a middle of an ancient themed city, with a tall palace looming over us from afar.

The rest of the crew was already outside. Percy was repeatedly rubbing his eyes and reopening them every three seconds as if to make sure that he was seeing correctly. Honestly, I couldn't blame him.

Zoë and Annabeth were having a heated discussion a few feet away, just out of earshot. They glanced at me from time to time, to which I had no idea why.

"They said we're in a trap. Illusion magic or something similar." Luna said. "Annabeth is suggesting that we take some time to find a way to break the spell, but Zoë says that we can't waste time. Better if we take the problem head-on."

Her grey eyes were bloodshot and slightly sunken, she spent the entire night awake.

But at the same time, looking at her slid a slab of ice slid down my back.

Because she had a striking resemblance to someone else.

Someone else, whom I just saw from my dream.

A young girl clutched in her mother's arms as a silver arrow came down from the moon to claim her life.

"Luna, how old are you?" I asked, trying to keep my voice shaking to a minimum.

Luna yawned and looked up; her eyes were the same shade of grey.

"I'm…" She frowned as if the details were hard to remember. "…13? I think?"

"You think."

She was 13. I vaguely recalled her saying that she was a hunter for 5 years.

She can't be someone from thousands of years ago.

But I knew that won't matter to a grieving mother. Besides, rebirth was a thing in Greek Mythology. It was a very slim chance, but it may be just that that slim chance had struck.

Zoë and Annabeth's discussion ended. Well, it was less of 'end' and more Zoë unilaterally cutting off Annabeth in the middle of her talk, but that's not the point.

"We're moving to the castle. Someone has cast a spell, and he/she wants us to go there."

Percy frowned. "Wait, we're doing what someone who trapped us wants to do?" He turned to Annabeth, noticed that she was looking rather grumpy, and quickly averted his eyes.

"Isn't that a bad idea?"

"Normally, yes." Zoë, for once, agreed. "However, we are on a very tight time limit. Sometimes brawn can be a faster way out than brilliance. Any more things to add?"

"Yes." I raised my hand. Zoë slightly frowned but nodded at me to go on.

"The one waiting for us at the castle. I think I have an idea of who it might be. I had a dream."

I fully expected Zoë, or at least Annabeth to call me off on my claims. I was reasoning off of a dream, literally the most unreliable thing to base anything upon, but in contrast, everyone (except for Luna) frowned deeper out of concern.

"What dream? How do you know?" Annabeth urged on. But I was more inclined on Zoë because this story was the showcase of one of, if not the cruelest part of Artemis.

"It's Queen Niobe," I said. "This is Queen Niobe's castle.

And I think she wants revenge."


Confession time; I had a different plan for Luna the hunter at the beginning. Henceforth, this might feel more like an a $pull rather than a proper shock reveal, and I do take full blame for that on my part.

The idea that I originally had was that she was a descendant of Erichthonius.

He is a dude born Hephaestus's jizz(...) after he 'let loose' on Athena's leg from being unable to keep control of his 'urges'. Athena, obviously disgusted, wiped off with a wool fur and threw it off to the earth from Olympus, somehow that knocked the earth(A.k.a Gaia) and voila!

By this horrendous birth story, Erichthonius is considered to have one father(Hephaestus) and two mothers(Gaia and Athena), and his descendant would sort of inheriting both traits from Hephaestus and Athena-albeit weakly compared to a proper child of either two, which was the reason for Luna's grey eyes and her skills with tools.

But you know, my brain just had to change it up because that won't be as much as interesting because that doesn't have any bearing over the story!

So, this last-minute fixup happened.

Also, this is the reason why I was late for posting. I'll take full blame for that as well.

And now I get to scrap all the saved chapters I've written! Hooray!

I hate my brain sometimes.

Please tell me how this chapter went, I am open to criticism.

Buh-bye!