We Are The Archangels

Chapter IV - Midnight

<>------<> Midnight <>------<>

Nero didn’t sleep that night.

I only knew because his footsteps sounded from the room next to mine. They padded lightly in circles for hours on end, until the repetitive rhythm finally drifted me off to an uneasy sleep.

Our home in Moonhaven was heavily enchanted to ward out dreams and nightmares that usually haunted a demigod’s sleep. I visioned it like a giant dream catcher surrounding the city; a spider web like net that trapped the dreams before they reached the desired person. But on the rare occasion, a dream would slip through ward to torment us.

I dreamt of my old home; Camp Half-Blood. In the years since we’d been gone, it had grown in size. All the old buildings were exactly how we left them, but a whole new wing had been added to the cabins. As the dream moved closer, I could see Romans symbols above the doorways.

The Big Three cabins were completely empty with dust coating the window frames and spider webs growing in the corners. The enchanted torches still flamed high in front of the Hades cabin. All three were silent and felt lonely.

At camp, it was late night. A few satyr guards roamed through the fields, around the Big House, near the cabins, but the campers were all sound asleep. Overhead, the full moon glistened nearly as bright as the sun, casting hallow shadows across the camp.

The dream blew me into the Big House where seven people sat around a table clustered with war maps, notes and diagrams. The room was dimly lit with one hanging light, leaving the people in shadow.

‘We don’t know what we’re up against,’ a girl announced. In the dim light, her blonde hair lost its entire colour, but I recognized her condescending tone.

Annabeth continued, ‘We don’t have enough campers.’

A man in a wheel chair lowered his head, ‘I know that, my dear. But what other choice do we have.’

I recognized Chiron’s voice immediately. I studied each of the others carefully; Piper, Frank Leo and Reyna. The final girl was a mystery to me, with cinnamon coloured hair, soft brown eyes and an aura of sadness.

‘When we spoke with the gods,’ the girl piped up. ‘They told us reinforcements are on their way.’

‘Reinforcements?’ Reyna asked, her tone questioning and distrustful. ‘All the Greeks and Romans are here. What reinforcements are there?’

The girl shrugged helplessly and leaned into Leo who put a comforting arm around her.

‘Will these reinforcements really help us, though?’ Piper asked, frowning at a map of camp. ‘I mean, what if they turn on us?’

‘Is that likely?’ Frank said cautiously. ‘We don’t need any more traitors.’

Unbeknown to the seven talking around the table, I bit my lip. I listened in on their conversation, gathering any information I could before my subconsciousness swept me away.

‘I don’t know any more than what I’m told,’ Chiron admitted wearily. ‘All that I do know for sure is that the gods are losing power. They are getting weaker by the day, brought down by an unknown force that we must conquer before it conquers us. The enemy is strong, and we don’t have enough campers to overtake it. I have been assured that these reinforcements are of high standard and are protectors of the universe.’

‘Protects of the universe,’ Leo repeated in a kind of trance. ‘So they won’t harm us.’

‘I didn’t say that,’ Chiron said.