CHAPTER THREE
( NIGHTMARES FOLLOWED BY
A SHOCKING REVELATION )
THERE WAS A STORM. A hurricane with winds that howled and sheets of rain that beat down onto the ground. Kali was soaked from head to toe – her hair was matted to her head and face, and her clothes, her pajamas, stuck uncomfortably to her skin, and water dripped off of her steadily. The clouds were dark, ominous. Lightning struck every so often, putting what she began to realize was a beach in false daylight. Swells of large waves crashed against the shore at an unsteady rhythm against the booms of thunder.
Through the rain Kali saw two animals, beautiful and powerful: a white horse, and a golden eagle. They fought each other violently. She could hear a voice below the earth urging them on as it chuckled, the ground rumbling along with it. A boy was there too, no more than year older than herself but otherwise too covered by the rain to tell anything else about him. He began to run towards the animals. The only problem was that it was happening in slow motion. She started forward, wanting to help somehow.
"Kalliroi..."
She froze, then whipped around. It was a whisper so quiet she shouldn't have been able to hear it over the storm, but she did. Clear as day. She looked until she spotted the person.
Behind her stood...someone. They were a good distance away from her, and they stood on more solid ground than the shifting, wet sands of the beach. Kali couldn't tell if it was a man or a woman or something else, but either way the sight made her uneasy. She took a step back nervously. At that same moment, the boy shouted, "No!" and Kali turned once again to see what happened only for the scenery to shift.
Suddenly she no longer stood on the beach, but on a familiar cliff formation. It looked different than what she remembered, though. Everything looked and felt darker; the storm still raged on, but rather off in the distance with a sense of foreboding. As she looked out, she could they were taller than they were supposed to be. More jagged in areas. Waters rougher than ever before at the bottom.
"Help!"
Kali's stomach dropped. She knew that voice. In an instant, she moved closer to the edge and got on her hands and knees to peer down. Lana, her first ever best friend, clutched a protruding rock with a death grip not too far down the cliff. Kali laid down on her stomach and stretched her arm and hand down. It wasn't too far of a reach at all.
"Grab my hand!" Kali shouted. "Please, Lana!"
Lana shook her head. "I can't!"
"Yes you can, come on!" Kali stretched further. The rock Lana held onto began to crack, and the distance between them seemed to gradually grow inch by inch as the seconds went by. "Lana, please," she begged and it was then she realized she was crying.
She shook her head again and repeated, "I can't! I'm already gone, Kali."
Before Kali could even respond, the rock broke off. Lana fell with an ear piercing scream, and Kali shouted her name, ready to jump after her. But she was stuck. She looked over her shoulder to see that her feet were being sucked into the ground by quicksand. She stood as struggled to get out, which only made it pull her in faster. The Kindly One appeared, then, holding a crying Naia and Makoa. It kept asking her were it was, threatening her brother and sister's lives so she would give an answer quicker, but Kali didn't have one.
She wanted to get out of the quicksand just as much as she wanted to wake up from the nightmare, but neither were happening. Just as the Kindly One – no, it wasn't the Kindly One, it was Ralph with it's voice – screeched, "Time's up," and just as he made a move to hurt Naia and Makoa, the quicksand covered her completely.
In the suffocating darkness, a gravely voice hissed out, "You will never save them."
Kali woke up with a choked gasp.
+++
Kali was tired. Part of it was physically; the nightmare woke her up in the middle of the night, and she had been unable to go back to sleep afterwards. She had accidentally flooded her cabin in her sleep because of the amount of distress it gave her. Two or three inches of water covered the entire floor, so she had to figure out how to make it go away all by herself. It took a few hours. It hadn't been fun at all, and the use of her powers drained her even more.
Another part of it was mentally and emotionally, again because of the nightmare. Seeing her best friend fall again put a toll on her, even if it hadn't been real and different from what actually happened. She thought she was getting better, moving past it, because she hadn't dreamed or had a nightmare about it in over a year. Apparently she was wrong.
And the Kindly One turning into Ralph? While she was too stuck to do anything? It terrified her the more she thought about it.
She did her best not to as the day went on, and it worked for the most part. It helped that apparently a new kid stumbled into camp last night with one of the satyrs – Grover, she overheard someone say. The camp was filled with excitement and even a few rumors went around. Something about the Minotaur and the new kid killing it. Kali didn't know whether she believed it or not. If it was true though, it was insanely impressive.
The flat of someone's sword gently whacking her bicep caused her to jump in surprise, and she looked up to see Beckendorf standing there. He couldn't be any older than 14, but he was a large and imposing kid. Being Hephaestus' son, he spent a lot of time with machines rather than people and was generally quiet, but he had taken up the offer to help Kali train in sword fighting last summer when Luke couldn't. The two rotated the job quite a lot, actually. Both of them were good teachers, even though Beckendorf wasn't as good as Luke. No one ever seemed to be as good as him.
"Focus, Kali," Beckendorf said. "Capture the Flag is coming up. Your swordsmanship is rusty and you need to get familiar with a sword again by then."
"My swordsmanship is terrible and I suck at it," she whined. "It's not like I don't have my dagger! I can use it during the game." Kali lifted her right foot. There her dagger was in a holster made to fit her lower calf and ankle. She wiggled it for emphasis.
"That's why you need to practice," Beckendorf said. "But Kali, not even Annabeth relies only on her dagger. She's focusing on hand-to-hand, too. It's smart for you to do something similar."
She frowned a little. He had a point.
Beckendorf must have read something on her face, because he went on to say, "How about this: you practice with a sword for half the summer, and if you don't show any signs of getting better, or if you end up absolutely hate fighting with one, we'll figure something else out during the second half. Sound good? I'm sure Luke would agree with that deal."
Kali thought about it for a second, and then nodded. "Okay," she agreed. That didn't sound too bad. Plus, she didn't want to let down either Beckendorf or Luke, or even somehow fail in some way. Agreeing seemed like a smart choice. When Beckendorf sent her a proud grin for it, she felt a bit better about it.
The rest of the hour and a half, Beckendorf took things slow with sword training. Both to help her memorize them and to accommodate her obvious tiredness. It went move by move, step by step, until she didn't fumble through every single thing. Near the end, they weren't going at a tortoise's pace anymore, but rather a steady rhythm where Kali almost felt okay wielding the long weapon. Though she still fumbled and dropped the sword and made mistakes, by the end of it she didn't feel too bad about herself.
She went on about the day – training, arts and crafts, winged horse back riding, strawberry picking – and spent time with her friends when she could. Occasionally she would listen to the older campers talk about what they thought of the new kid; the talk only grew when a few Apollo kids spread word that he finally woke up. (It was soon followed by a story of the toilets blowing up because of said new kid, and Clarisse and a few of her siblings getting soaked in toilet water – Adelaide told her that story. She was angry on her sister's behalf.) Mostly though, Kali did her best to stay awake. By the time free time came around, she was exhausted and ready to fall asleep somewhere – and she did.
The hour before dinner she went to the lake where some naiads resided. At first they had her full attention. They wanted to teach her underwater basket weaving, and Kali was honestly a bit interested. But the water was soothing. The under currents of the lake were calm, and language of whatever the naiads spoke was nice to just listen to. It was all so comforting.
Five minutes later, she was asleep on the lake's seabed. If she dreamed of anything Kali didn't remember it.
It felt like too soon when the naiads woke her up. One of them gently shook her shoulder. Kali groaned in response.
"It is dinner time, young Princess," a feminine, accented voice spoke. Elidy, if she remembered right.
Kali peaked one eye open. The lake naiad stared kindly at her. "How long have I been sleeping?" she asked, and pushed herself to sit up.
"Forty or so minutes, I believe," Elidy said. "One of your friends is waiting up there." She pointed up to the surface.
Kali looked up at the pier, and sure enough she saw the familiar, watery outline of a blonde. Annabeth made a waving motion. Kali nodded and gave a thumbs up, and turned back to the naiad.
"I'm sorry for falling asleep on you guys. I promise, I really am interested in the basket weaving," Kali told her, feeling a bit guilty about it all.
She smiled and laughed lightly. Kali momentarily got distracted by the few bubbles that escaped and rose to the surface. "No need for apologies. Go on and get ready dinner. We will see each other tomorrow, yes?"
Kali nodded, smiling as well. "Yes, for sure. Goodbye!"
Elidy and the few other naiads who were also around chorused their own goodbyes as Kali swam up to the pier. She broke the surface, and pulled herself out as Annabeth took a step back as to not get splashed. Kali flicked her arms and hands a few times, and within moments she was completely dried off.
"I thought I was never going to get your attention," said Annabeth.
"Sorry," Kali said. "I was taking a nap. Is it dinner time?"
"Yeah, I noticed. I think you freaked out Percy some when he saw you. And yeah, almost."
Kali blinked and looked up at her, confused. "Who's Percy?"
Annabeth pointed with her thumb in the direction he must have gone in. "Percy Jackson. The new kid." She rolled her eyes. "He doesn't know anything, I swear."
"Well, I mean... He is new," Kali said with a slight shrug. "We're all a bit clueless when we first get here." Annabeth made a face – one that said she knew Kali had a point but didn't want to admit it. Instead of saying anything about that though, Kali asked, "Hey, is it true he blew up the toilets?"
At that, she scowled. "Yes. Completely soaked me, too! Definitely want him on my side of Capture the Flag, though."
Kali's brows rose. "I thought that was just a rumor! Do you know how he did it?"
Annabeth visibly hesitated. That intrigued Kali immediately. She looked around as if making sure no one was around, and her brows furrowed as she thought. After a second or two, a determined expression covered her face and she stepped closer, lowering her voice when she spoke next. "I have a theory, but I'm only telling you this because of your parents."
Confused, Kali frowned. "What?"
"I think he might be a Big Three kid. Chiron definitely thinks so, too, he just won't admit it to me."
"What?" Kali repeated, this time at much more shock than confusion, and hissed the word out rather than shouted it as to not alert anyone. Behind her, the surface of the lake stilled completely. "But the pact! Is that why my dad and uncle are fighting?"
Kali honestly found it weird referring to Zeus as her uncle, but it was the only way to mention him without catching his attention. If Annabeth found it weird too, she didn't show it.
"Possibly, but from what we know, um, he," she pointed to the ground, "isn't in this fight. And I overheard some satyrs a few times, and they said something was missing – stolen – ever since some of us went to Olympus to visit on the winter solstice. Whatever it was, it's important."
And then, like an idiot, Kali blurted, "Yeah, I know," before she could even think about it. Her eyes widened, and Annabeth gasped quietly. Kali held her hands up and tried to backtrack. "I mean–."
"How did you know that?" Annabeth demanded. "Has your dad talked to you – your mom? What's happening, do you know? Is... Is there going to be a war?"
She stuttered nervously and shook her head. "I– I, no, I don't know. They haven't told me anything! I just... I got attacked. By a monster," Kali began to explain when Annabeth's expression turned doubtful. "It said... It asked me if I had something – an 'it', that's all. I swear."
She didn't look pleased, but she accepted the answer anyway. "What kind of monster? That may tell how serious this actually is."
Kali didn't want to answer. "Um. A bad one." The look Annabeth gave her caused her to smile sheepishly.
"No duh, Kali. What was it?"
They had a mini stare down. Unfortunately it didn't last long at all, because the breeze caused a strand of hair to uncomfortably land in her eye. Kali blinked rapidly and shoved her hair out of her face, only to look back at Annabeth to see the blonde's smug smile. She half heartedly rolled her eyes.
"Fine," Kali grumbled. She began to walk away to make her escape easier. "It was a Kindly One, alright?"
Annabeth's breath hitched; Kali walked faster, but Annabeth had longer legs and caught up in no time. "A what?! How are you alive? You told Chiron, right? Please tell me you did." Silence. "Kali! You have to. This is even more serious that we thought! And I mean, assuming they don't already know, if your parents find out a certain someone sent a freakin' Kindly One after you... This is bad, I mean, there could be a war–."
"Gods, Annabeth, shut up!" Kali abruptly shouted and spun around to face her. "Shut up, I know! I'm not stupid. I know what it could mean and what could happen."
The stunned look on the other's face was almost comical. Annabeth started to say something when someone walked up. When Kali cut her eyes to the side, she saw Grant.
"Everything alright?" he asked, hazel eyes moving from one girl to the other cautiously. There were a few streaks of dirt on his face and arms and hands. There was a small twig sticking out of the side of his head of hair. Arianna must have dragged him into helping the Demeter cabin with gardening again, as if they even needed it.
"It's, um, fine," Kali said. The conch shell blew in the distance – dinner time. "See you guys at the campfire."
Across the camp, everyone got ready to head to the mess hall for dinner. As she walked, Kali spotted Silena Beauregard leading the Aphrodite cabin, Oliver and his other half-sister Drew Takana arguing about something directly behind her. Then there was Lee with the Apollo cabin, Katie Gardner as she got together the other Demeter kids, and somewhere off in the distance Clarisse La Rue shouted at her half-siblings that it was dinner time. Luke soon trailed out of the Hermes cabin with the biggest bunch of all – twenty campers, either children of Hermes or undetermined. Grant raced to catch up with them, meanwhile Annabeth hurried to her own cabin and half-siblings of Athena. Mr. D's two sons took their time as they walked and they politely waved at Kali when they noticed her, and Beckendorf led the Hephaestus kids who all looked reluctant to stop their work at the forge.
Satyrs came from the meadow, and the dryads exited the woods to join as well. The naiads left the lake. The two from earlier caught up to her, Elidy and Thyia. They mocked a gasp and hurriedly curtsied despite not having to – it was a joke, more than anything. Where they lived, Poseidon and Amphitrite had no control over them and their domain. Other than finding it a bit funny, Kali was pretty sure that they mock curtsied and bowed to make things less weird for her. They've been doing it since last summer. Kali appreciated it a lot, more so of the fact that naiads' actions made everyone much more lax about the whole 'Princess of the Oceans' thing.
She grinned and mimed a curtsey back. She wasn't as enthusiastic as usual and she hoped neither of them noticed. "Hi, again."
Thyia stuck out her arm. "My Lady," she said. Kali looped her arm with Thyia's, and Elidy walked on her other side.
"Are you all right? You seem more down than earlier and it hasn't even been that long," Elidy questioned.
"Oh. I'm fine," Kali insisted, and gave her what was hopefully a reassuring smile. "Just hungry. That's all."
"Well, then let's hurry! Come on, now, young one. Dinner awaits!" Thyia exclaimed. Kali couldn't help but to laugh at her theatrics as Thyia partially began to drag her to the mess hall. Behind them, Elidy giggled.
In the end, dinner wasn't anything special. Once they got there, Elidy and Thyia went to gather with their sisters and the wood nymphs. The wood nymphs brought platters of food, the naiads set out some pitchers of water despite everyone having magical cups, and the satyrs all sat at table twelve. Hermes' table was over crowded as usual; Kali sat by herself as usual. Her friends occasionally caught her attention and they waved or even shouted at each other from across the pavilion. She spotted Luke helping out the new kid, Percy Jackson, but didn't really pay much attention to either of them. They all sacrificed part of their food to the gods – Kali did her sacrifice to her mom, since the day before she did it for Poseidon; she alternated daily. Mr. D said hello, relunctantly congratulated cabin five for currently holding the laurels for Capture the Flag, and introduced the new camper to everyone in his own personal way by getting his name wrong. Then, finally, after everyone had eaten, it was time for the campfire at the amphitheater.
Kali thought she might have escaped being interrogated by Annabeth by that time. And she did, amazingly. She got through all of the sing-along songs the Apollo cabin led without even being ambushed by the older girl. As everyone settled down to make s'mores, she thought she got away scot-free. Kali was about to search for Arianna or one of the others when the new kid walked over and sat down, a foot or so between them.
"Annabeth's so pushy," he immediately complained.
Kali raised an eyebrow. "Yeah," she hesitantly agreed, and eyed him carefully. He couldn't be any older than twelve, and he had messy black hair and eyes she couldn't tell the color of because of the reflection of the multicolored fire nearby.
He sighed. "Look, just to get to the point, she wants me to talk to you about the Fur... uh, the Kindly One. I guess because I fought one too. But between you and me I don't want to talk about it, so I kinda doubt you would, so..." He trailed off with an awkward shrug.
Kali latched onto the 'I fought one too' but didn't question it after everything else he had said. It was a relief, despite how annoyed she was with Annabeth now. Deciding to think about that later, she picked up the tied package of marshmallows she had set down seconds earlier. "Cool. Wanna make more s'mores? I got graham crackers and chocolate too."
He looked at the bag of marshmallows and then at the other s'mores ingredients resting by her feet. "You have all of that to yourself?" he asked. It almost sounded like awed jealousy. That made sense; the Hermes cabin always ran out of everything way too quickly because there were so many of them.
Kali subconscious straightened, and smirked. "Being the only cabin member for my godly parent has it's perks," she said. Then she shook the bag. "So?"
"Are you kidding? Absolutely!"
Kali untied the bag as fast as she could, and after passing the bag to him – Percy, she remembered his name – she picked up the Hershey's chocolate and the box of graham crackers and set them between them both. "I'm Kali, by the way," she introduced herself as she picked out her own marshmallow and stabbed it with the stick she had been using. Percy still had his own, too.
"Yeah, I know. Annabeth told me back at the lake. I'm Percy." Then he added, "So, you're not a naiad?"
"Thought it was Peter," Kali immediately joked while they moved closer to the fire to cook the marshmallows some. He scowled, and she grinned. "But no, I'm a demigod. Sorry if I freaked you out earlier."
"Nah, it's fine. Today's just been a lot," Percy admitted.
Kali nodded. She eyed her marshmallow and twisted the stick so one side wouldn't get too hot. She learned to do that the hard way last summer. "Not surprised. Last summer when I got here, it was such a shock. It made things finally make sense–," like why she could breathe underwater, why she understood marine animals when they spoke to her, and those blurry memories of what she now knows was Atlantis, "–but it was still a lot."
Percy chuckled sarcastically. "Lucky you. I'm even more confused."
"It'll get better." At his look of disbelief, she shrugged and, deeming her marshmallow in perfect condition for a s'more, removed it from the fire and stick, and put it between the readied pieces of graham crackers and chocolate. "I'm trying to be optimistic, here."
"Well thanks, I guess."
"No problem. Thanks for not forcing me to talk about the monster."
Percy turned and sent her a small smile. "No problem," he echoed.
Kali smiled back and went to take a bite of her s'more, but froze when she saw the color of his eyes.
The first four years of her life were blurry, like she said earlier. They were so blurry that as time went on, before she made it to camp, she thought they were just dreams or her wild imagination from early childhood. Now she knew better. Atlantis, an underwater realm where her parents and biological brother resided, was real. She had vague memories of her parents and brother, but certain things have always stuck out: Triton's two fish tails, the fact Amphitrite wore a lot of green, and Poseidon's sea green eyes that had crows feet beside them.
For a split second that was what Kali saw: her dad's eyes. They were the same shade, just younger; no wrinkles beside them or anything. But then Percy shifted again as he struggled to get the marshmallow off of the stick to make his s'more complete, and the bright fire went back to distorting the color. Even still, Kali knew what she saw, and knew immediately why two of the Big Three gods must be fighting.
Poseidon broke the Big Three's pact.
Percy Jackson was her half-brother.