'•' The Titan's Curse '•' [In Progress]

6 :: The Walking Dead

Published: September 14, 2022
Edited: N/A
'•'

I was pretty miserable at dinner that night. I mean, the food was excellent as usual. You can't go wrong with barbecue, pizza, and never-empty soda goblets. And it was great watching Will walk in with his cabinmates, he was beaming ear to ear and they all looked happy for him.

Silena had gone all out. Will was wearing a clear, shiny lipgloss that Silena just had in her vanity (for some reason). His blonde hair was clipped with two adorable butterfly hairclips and he was rocking ripped jean-shorts. Silena had wanted to put him in short-shorts but I put my foot down, the boy's eleven for gods' sakes.

But other than that, dinner sucked. The torches and braziers kept the outdoor pavilion warm, but we
all had to sit with our cabin mates, which meant Percy and I were alone together at the Poseidon table. Thalia sat alone at the Zeus table, but we couldn't sit together.

Camp rules.

At least the Hephaestus, Ares, and Hermes cabins had a few people each. Nico sat with the Stoll brothers, since new campers always got stuck in the Hermes cabin if their Olympian parent was unknown. The Stoll brothers seemed to be trying to convince Nico that poker was a much better game than Mythomagic. I hoped Nico didn't have any money to lose. I was decently happy until Percy told me about his iris-message to Tyson, and how war was brewing under the sea. Then I just felt depressed.

The only table that really seemed to be having a good time was the Artemis table. The Hunters drank and ate and laughed like one big happy family. Zoe sat at the head like she was the mama. She didn't laugh as much as the others, but she did smile from time to time. Her silver lieutenant's band glittered in the dark braids of her hair and her eyes seemed to sparkle like stars. I thought she looked a lot nicer when she smiled.

Bianca di Angelo seemed to be having a great time. She was trying to learn
how to arm wrestle from the big girl who'd picked a fight with the Ares kid on the basketball court. The bigger girl was beating her every time, but Bianca didn't seem to mind.

When we'd finished eating, Chiron made the customary toast to the gods and formally welcomed the Hunters of Artemis. The clapping was pretty halfhearted. Then he announced
the "good will" capture-the-flag game for tomorrow night, which got a lot better reception.

Afterward, we all trailed back to our cabins for an early, winter lights out. I was exhausted, which meant I fell asleep easily. That was the good part. The bad part was, I had a nightmare, and even by my standards it was a whopper.

Annabeth was on a dark hillside, shrouded in fog. It almost seemed like the Underworld, because I immediately felt claustrophobic and I couldn't see the sky above—just a close, heavy darkness, as if I were in a cave.

Annabeth struggled up the hill. Old broken Greek columns of black marble were scattered around, as though something had blasted a huge building to rums.

"Thorn!" Annabeth cried. "Where are you? Why did you bring me here?"

She scrambled over a section of broken wall and came to the crest of the hill.

She gasped. I gasped. From beside me Percy growled.

There was Luke. And he was in pain.
He was crumpled on the rocky ground, trying to rise. The blackness seemed to be thicker around him, fog swirling hungrily. His clothes were in tatters and his face was scratched and drenched with sweat.