The Vanishing Hero

chapter 18

I plunged Polybotes' knife through his eye and into his brain in hopes to slow him down. My pens appeared in my pockets after I snapped the chains and I found my katana in ring form shortly after along with my necklace with my armor and trident. I limped and hobbled my way out of wherever they were holding me and concealed my presence to not attract any attention. 'It's only a matter of time before Tartarus himself catches on though,' I thought and wandered aimlessly through the wasteland a second time.

ARTEMIS POV

As I fell into the realm of unconsciousness, I expected to dream about Percy again during his time with the Hunt. Lately, I've been dreaming about all the times we've had together, the bonfire where he sang for us, even the sparring sessions we had. 'I still can't believe I kissed him during one of those,' I thought giddily as the dream came into view.

I was in a swamp somewhere and it appeared to be nighttime because it was so dark. I wandered around through it, not knowing where it was or why I was there, when a hair raising roar pierced the otherwise quiet night.

I sprinted toward the source of the roar and came to a clearing where I found the largest drakon I have even seen. Easily as long as a subway train and its scales reminded me of the sunlight through a forest. It roared again and seemed to be fighting something. I saw a blur flip out of the way and summon a bow and release five arrows into its eye before he hit the ground.

"Percy!" I tried to yell, but my voice wouldn't work so I could only watch. Percy looked like he was tired and his clothes were tattered, but he summoned large spikes of ice that pierced the drakon's limbs. As it roared again, Percy set his trident ablaze with Greek fire and threw it into the beast's throat. The drakon made choking sounds before it exploded into gold dust.

I got closer to Percy and gasped. His body was riddled with scars. They were everywhere on his person and I felt myself starting to cry. I watched as he hobbled back to a little hut and collapsed onto the giant bed. "Thanks, Damasen. Even though you're gone, you're still taking care of me," I heard him say and my dream faded out.

I awoke with a jolt and realized it was still too early to do anything about the dream but I couldn't sleep, so I went to the beach to gather my thoughts. 'Are all those scars real? Where is he?,' I thought. I couldn't locate him anywhere, so I assumed he's still in Tartarus, but I've never heard of a swamp there.

I was broken out of my musings when the daughter of Athena approached.

ANNABETH POV

I had another nightmare of Tartarus with Percy and I couldn't sleep. I felt so guilty after the meeting with what Lady Artemis said and I hated myself for it. Trying to clear my mind, I headed to the beach like I always do and found the Moon Goddess there as well.

"Bad dreams?" she asked without turning around as I got closer. "Yeah... Nightmares from that place," I said softly and she nodded. "Perseus would tell me about those sometimes," she said with an almost wistful expression, which I found curious.

"What about you?" I asked and she stayed quiet as if contemplating sharing. "I had a dream about Perseus," she whispered. If I wasn't so worried about Percy, I would've paid more attention to Lady Artemis' nervousness and borderline embarrassment about having a dream of her Guardian, but I couldn't afford to care at the time.

"Is he okay?! What happened? Where is he?" I let out rapid fire and she glared at me. She sighed after a while and said, "He was fighting a drakon, bigger than any I've ever seen, in a swamp. He beat it and then went back to a hut of sorts." I went wide-eyed. "Was there a red giant there?" I asked and she looked at me confused. "No, just Perseus," she said and it was my turn to be confused.