My life is a mess and the visions aren't helping that fact
ANNABETH:
My day was strange, though I guess compared to Hazel's, I don't have room to complain.
My day started when I fell out of bed. Normally, this wouldn't have been a big deal. Falling a few feet on to the floor was no big deal. The only reason it was such a big deal was because of the dream I had prior to the falling. It felt so real, too real.
I dreamt I was lying on a web of sorts, thin strings held me up, I think. I couldn't see, but that's what it felt like. Voices rung around me. I heard names that I didn't recognize. Reyna, Grover, Thalia, Rachel. The names repeated on a loop in the back of my mind. I looked down, and saw what I believed to be my own personal hell.
A few more names passed trough my mind. Bianca, Luke, Zoe, Charles, Silena. Who were these people? Why did my heart feel like it was breaking?
So many things were happening at once, I couldn't keep up.
For a moment, I wasn't dangling off of the cliff's edge. I was having a nightmare within a nightmare, and I saw his face. His soft, scarred face.
"Just let go, Annabeth. You've done what you can for the gods." He scoffed. "Now, just look where that's gotten you. Dangling off a cliff, having only one reason to hold on. Look at him, just look at him. Do you think he'd do this for you? Would he dangle off of a cliff for you? Given the option, he would let go."
"Luke, you're wrong. He's held the sky for me." I argued. "He's turned down immortality for me. He would do it again."
I opened my eyes, I was back on the cliff. I felt my hand slipping more every second. I was inches away from falling into nothingness.
"ANNABETH, JUST HANG ON. WE'LL THINK OF SOMETHING."
"DON'T LET GO!"
"DON'T MOVE!"
One voice rung out above all.
"ANNABETH!" Someone shouted, so loud it sounded like his vocal chords would tear.
"ANNABETH, YOU CAN'T LET GO!"
As I fell, he fell in after me. I couldn't see him, who was he? I didn't care. I trusted him.
He hugged me and held me close as we fell. I sobbed, screamed, and tried to shout back to the people above, who were shouting to me.
"I love you." He whispered through all of the chaos.
"Y-You're an i-idiot!" I sobbed. "You should've left me--you shouldn't have-"
"Shhhh." He said, holding me close. "It's going to be okay."
"W-We're falling to hell! It's my fault, and we're f-falling to hell! It's n-not going t-to be okay!"
"Shhh." He repeated. "We're going to be okay."
The voice above grew too distant now. The last I heard from the people above were their sobs as we fell to nothingness.
As I landed, a pain shot up my foot. It felt so real, it had to be.
"Agh!" I shouted.
His voice rung through my head.
"Annabeth, you're going to be okay. It'll be fine--hold still--hold still Annabeth!"
His voice changed, now sounding like a familiar friend. I woke up, realizing the pain in my ankle was real. That familiar friend was Cho, sat beside me on the ground.
I had fallen out of bed, landing on the ankle I had injured at the start of the week.
"It's fine, I'll help you to the hospital wing. You'll be fine!" Cho assured. I let her help me, leaning on her to take the weight off of my bad ankle.
"Ouch." Was all could manage to say.
Cho laughed.
"You'll be fine."
I could still hear the boy's voice in my head.
***
"Woah, what happened?" Will Solace was sat in the infirmary. He had been the person who'd helped me with my ankle at the start of the week.
"It's my ankle again, I fell on it." I explained.
"Thanks, Cho. You can head back to the house if you want."
She wished me well and left. To think, it was barely nine o'clock in the morning and I'd already embarrassed myself by falling out of bed.
There were a few moments of awkward silence as Will examined my ankle.
"It's like I told you last time. You've broken your ankle before, all of the signs are there. Why else would it sprain so easily?"
"Maybe I just have weak bones." I suggested.
Will shook his head.
At the start of the week, Percy dropped me off in the hospital wing, Will had been the person to take care of me since he was basically shadowing Madam Pomfrey. Will had insisted that my ankle had been broken before, because the sprain had occurred so easily.
"I'm telling you. It had to have been injured before," Will continued. "It never properly healed. Thanks to me, you won't have to worry about that much anymore."
He poked around at my ankle a bit more, it was now swollen.
"Chase, you're smart, right?" He asked. Maybe he was changing the subject because I had stopped replying to him, or maybe he was just trying to distract me from the pain. Whatever the reason, it worked.
"I guess so. Why do you ask?"
"What do you know about visions?" He spat. This seemed to be something that had bothered him for awhile. It looked like he had been waiting ages to ask somebody about it.
"Visions?" I thought for a moment. All of the strange dreams I'd had this week were bothering me a lot, but I don't know if I'd go as far as to call them visions. "Uh, not much." I lied.
"Visions can be from the past, present, or future. They can happen because of certain things that set them off, certain memories--"
"You seem to know an awful lot about them, why are you asking me?" I interrupted.
He sighed.
"I hardly know you. You're a muggleborn like me, so I can trust that you won't try to kill me for that reason. I feel like I can trust you." He mumbled to himself.
"Uh, you hardly know me but you feel like you can trust me. Seems logical." I said, sarcastically of course.
"I've been having visions, I think." He said, disregarding my comment. "At first they were just random, but now it's every time I go to sleep. Sometimes I think I get them when I'm awake as well, it's strange. Each night I remember more and more from them, just bits and pieces. Words. Strange words and varying phrases. I haven't slept in three days." He sighed.
"Uh, what is it that you remember from them? From that visions, that is." asked.
Will handed me a notebook, like he had been waiting to do that just as much as he'd been waiting to blurt out the whole having visions thing.
The notebook had an assortment of scattered words on every page. The entire notebook was almost completely filled out. Unfortunately, Will didn't have the best penmanship. It was funny he wanted to be a doctor, or a healer of sorts, he definitely had he handwriting for it.
"Jason, sunshine, healer, water, camp, centaur," I read the words he'd written. "...what does this one say?" I asked.
"Tartarus." He mumbled. "I've heard that word a lot in my visions, every time I heard that one I woke up nauseous. I don't think that one is a good one."
I continued reading the words, which didn't make much sense at all. Still, the boy looked close to breaking. I would be nearly broken too if I hadn't slept for three days.
"Here's my advise. You need rest, you can't fall asleep in the middle of tending to a patient, that wouldn't be good on your résumé." He didn't seem to appreciate that advise.
"Look, I know your house has been through a lot in this past year. I believe that your mind could be playing tricks on you from the stress, but if these really are visions then you can still talk to me about them. I'll be here to listen either way."
Maybe he'd feel better if I told him about my strange dreams, I thought. It was just like he said. Though I didn't know him very well, I felt like I could trust him.
"I'll keep a dream journal. If anything peculiar happens, I'll write it down and we can exchange notes." I suggested.
He nodded.
"I like that idea."
My foot felt completely better, it was odd. I hadn't seen him pick up a wand at all, nor had he given me any sort of medication to reduce the pain.
"How did you do that?" I asked. "Seriously, I've never seen someone heal like that."
I was alarmed to realize that his hands were glowing. Even at a place like the school I went to, that was considered an odd thing. He quickly locked his hands together behind his back so I couldn't see them.
"Heal like what?" He was nervous now, I had caught him.
"Wand-less magic as a fifth year, Will Solace, that's impressive."
He gulped.
"Of course, that was wand-less magic. Or, was it something else?"
He was blushing like mad now. It seemed I had discovered another little secret of his.
"Look, Chase, I don't know why or how but one day I woke up with the urge to heal. It happened sometime in the summer, around the time my visions started. Since then, I discovered it was more than an urge. Uh, how do I say this--I can sort of--well...."
"Heal people with your hands? Bloody hell." I finished for him. He shrugged, sheepishly.
"I guess so."
We stared at each other for a moment.
"That's peculiar." I said, breaking the silence.
He sighed.
"Yep." He agreed. "Rather strange, isn't it? Well, you better head off to your house. I'd imagine your roommate is concerned."
I scoffed. "Only one of my roommates acknowledges my existence, and that's Cho. She's already got enough people bothering her this year without me asking her to hang out."
"You have to have other friends," he said desperately. "Not that I don't enjoy your company, but I hardly know you and I think I've made things awkward by accidentally showing you the whole healing thing. The only reason I brought up the vision thing was to distract you from it while I healed you. Now you know both of my secrets---guess my plan wasn't well thought out."
"Other friends, please! My best friend Hazel Levesque is ignoring me because we got into some argument at the start of the week. All of the other Ravenclaws I just don't fit in with! It's awful. Now, I guess I've got no one."
It was my stupid pride that prevented me from having more friends. Because I saw myself as higher above so many of the students at Hogwarts, I prevented myself from making new friends. God, I thought of my encounter with Hermione Granger at the start of the week. Maybe we could have gotten along, before that situation I had always admired her for her hard work in class. The only real difference between us was that she had friends in her house that she could relate to. We could have been friends, I thought.
"You and I could be friends, I suppose." He offered.
"Wow, such a Hufflepuff thing to say."
He rolled his eyes and stuck out his hand.
"Hey, either you accept my offer or you wind up being one of the Hogwarts loner losers."
I shook his hand.
"Excellent. Since you obviously have nowhere to go, you can hang around the hospital wing for a bit while I study."
"Okay, great. This is what my life has come to."
He laughed and took out a huge stack of books. I found it impressive that he could even lift so many. The stack was almost half as tall as him.
***
It wasn't until about twenty minutes into his studying that I began to wonder what it was he was so interested in. In only a few minutes I had gone over notes from all of my classes, and I considered my studying session finished. Will, on the other hand, was still hitting the books. He'd been reading, taking in every word without so much as blinking.
"What is it that you're studying?" I asked.
"History of healers. It's all about healers from St. Mungos, and their stories. Why they started healing, when they got all training for it and whatnot. Nowhere in this book does it mention anything about waking up one day with glowing hands." He closed the books and buried his head in his hands. "Ugh, I just want to sleep. I just want to sleep without a stupid vision, and I want to heal without turning yellow. I look like a yellow Oompa Loompa. I'm a sleep deprived Oompa Loompa and I hate it."
"I wish I could help, unfortunately I don't know much about healing." I felt awful for what Will was going through. I guess it was similar to me, feeling like I was losing my mind.
Wait, I may not know much about healing, but I knew someone who did...
"That's brilliant!" I thought aloud.
"It's brilliant that I feel like a sleep deprived Oompa Loompa? Man, Annabeth. I get that you may be struggling with the whole maintaining friendships thing and I'm not one to talk since I've got only about two friends in my house, but I think you should wait a bit longer into the friendship before referring to a friend as an Oompa Loompa."
"No, I mean what I just thought of is brilliant! I have a friend, a relative actually. His father was a healer for St. Mungos, I could ask him any question you'd like me to without giving away your secret."
Will shrugged.
"Hey, what have I got to lose? Thank you, Annabeth. But wait...how could he be of wizarding descent if you're a muggleborn?"
"Both of my parents are muggles," I explained. "Magnus' mum is my father's sister. It was pure coincidence that she fell in love with a man who later revealed to her the fact that he was a wizard. He's a healer at St. Mungo's, Magnus is training beneath him."
Magnus and I had been close when we were kids. I hadn't been in contact with him for quite some time. He'd surely be surprised to receive a letter from me.
"Magnus,
How are you? How is your family? I haven't seen either of you in quite sometime. Since I've gone off to Hogwarts, I've hardly had time to write to you. Things have changed so much since I last saw you.
Have you gotten your hair cut yet? I know my father always teased you about it. I used to call you Rapunzel. You would call me Aurora-Beth because of my blonde hair. I know my hair's still the same, I could only imagine yours is quite longer since back then.
How are things at home? Things for me are the same as ever. Dad's the same as ever, he's always working. Since Mom left, he's been a bit of a mess. It's been years since she moved out, but he still insists that she'll be home tomorrow. Tomorrow never happens, of course.
Are you doing alright in school? It will be a short while before you graduate, do you have and college plans? I'm sort of interested in architecture. I doubt that surprised you, even back then I was obsessed with buildings, blueprints and whatnot.
I do wish you could visit at Christmas break. I think seeing you would help my father a lot. I miss you and your parents, it would be amazing to see you all!
I was reminded of you because of a friend I've made recently at school is an aspiring healer. I thought maybe you could tell me a bit about healers and the training they have to go through so I could help him out. Also, this is a bit of a random question. But can someone heal using wand-less magic? It was a topic that this friend and I were discussing. Please, if you could, tell me everything you know about healers! My friend needs as much help as he can get so he can get into St. Mungo's, just like your dad did.
Sending you love, Annabeth."
"Olive?" I stepped into the owelry. Usually my owl flew straight to me on command. I waited a moment, searched around the room, but she was nowhere to be found.
"Probably out for a fly." I mumbled.
I looked through the school owls and chose the one who looked the least diseased. All of the school birds had a wild look in their eyes, probably going mental from staying in this school for all of those years.
"Okay, girl." I looked at the plaque below her cage. "Millie, that's your name. Can you deliver something for me?"
Millie peeked her head up hopefully. She seemed pleased. I wondered how long it had been since she last delivered something.
"Alright, girl. Easy does it."
She hopped into my arm with more eagerness than I'd assumed she could muster at such an old age.
"This is going to my cousin, Magnus Chase. Reckon you could find him?"
She nipped at my finger affectionately.
I didn't have an address that could help to find him, which was unfortunately.
I found a pulled out an old picture of him, I didn't know how much it'd help since he was quite a bit older now. Still, the owl seemed determined to find him.
"Alright, love. Go ahead now!" She grasped the letter and took flight. I watched as she became a distant dot in the sky over the forest.
For a moment, I wished that I was an owl. I wish that I could take a moment away from all of the stupid distractions and just fly. Millie, though old as she was, looked completely at peace and free when she took off. All day she got to lie around, eat some owl treats, and soar. In a way, I envied her.
I hoped Magnus would receive my letter soon. I missed him dearly, and I couldn't help but wonder why I hadn't tried to write to him before. We were so close as kids.
"Merlin, I'm so sorry!"
I hadn't been paying attention, which lead me to crashing directly into a fellow student. This sent our belongings everywhere, unfortunately.
"Hah don't sweat it, Chase. Little distracted, are we?"
Great, exactly who I didn't want to see.
"How's that ankle holding up? I saw you and Cho heading to the hospital wing earlier. She told me you fell on it again. I've depicted you as many things, clumsy not being one of them. Perhaps my assumptions were wrong?"
I rolled my eyes and picked up my bag.
"I don't have time for pathetic small talk, Jackson. Haven't you got anything better to do?" I asked. He gathered his things and stood up as I did.
"Honestly, no. I've already served my detention today and Quidditch try-outs are done. I haven't anything to do!" He shrugged.
"Honestly, pathetic." I repeated. I turned towards the direction of the hospital wing.
"Chase, wait! Hold up a sec."
"What is it, Jackson?" I asked.
When I turned around, he was blushing. It could have been the lighting of the room, but he looked older since I'd last seen him. Something was off about him--it was his hair. It appeared that a chunk of it had gone grey, how had I not noticed that before?
"Can I talk to you a sec?" He asked.
I stared at the grey streak in his hair. Seriously, how long had that been there? How could I not have seen it before, I wondered.
"You're smart," he said. "So if I described an odd event to you, could you explain what it could possibly mean?"
What was it about me that made everyone seek my guidance with their problems? First Will Solace, and now Percy Jackson.
"Knock yourself out." I had given in.
"Okay. So, let's say that there was something, something right in front of your face. You can see it clearly, but the person beside you can't, they deny it's there. What do you reckon could cause that?"
I wasn't quite following what he was saying.
"Uh, rephrase."
He thought for a moment.
"Let's say there was a bug, crawling on the floor. There was something about the situation that made only me able to see it, and you don't. In other words, the bug is only visible to some people. Would you say it had something to do with the bug, or something to do with the person?" Percy asked. "Just a rhetorical question, of course."
Rhetorical, right. That's oddly specific to be rhetorical. I didn't want to ask any questions though, I didn't want to have to talk to him longer than I had to.
"That depends. In a situation where it depended on the person, maybe it depends on what they can comprehend. That's what it's like with some muggles, if they see a witch on a broom flying over their town some may say it was a shooting star, a plane, a spaceship, or that nothing was there at all. Very few would actually admit what they saw because they may be denying it, or their mind may not be expanded enough to accept the unlikely situation. On the other hand, it could very well depend on the object. Maybe the object is set to only be comprehended by certain people, and overlooked by others. It's a debatable topic. Why do you ask?"
Percy ran his fingers through his hair, I hated when he did that. Why did boys purposely mess up their hair? Did they honestly think it made them look more attractive? I thought it made them look a bit ridiculous.
"Like I said, only rhetorical."
"Right."
I turned away, in hope of avoiding more conversation with Jackson. He called my name one last time.
"What is it that you want exactly?" I shot. He held up his hands in defense.
"You never answered me, how is your ankle?"
Great, now I was the jerk.
"Honestly, it's fine. Um--" I thought back to what I had realized earlier: I pushed people away in this school. That's why Will was now the only person I could consider a friend. "Thanks."
For a second, I thought that Percy was someone I didn't have to push away...
But that's the thing about seconds, they're gone in an instant.
"No problem!" He beamed.
For another second, he didn't seem so annoying to me. He actually seemed sort of sweet.
Again, it was only a second, and I was gone.
***
A huge crowd surrounded the infirmary, mainly those students from the Gryffindor house.
"I heard there was some sort of duel, and somebody knocked the socks right off of those Weasley twins." I heard a student say.
"Really? I heard they were fighting each other!" Someone else said.
"I heard they were poisoned." Another student said.
"Excuse me," I pushed through the crowd towards Will Solace, who was being bombarded by the crowd. They all threw their questions at him, with no regard for how uncomfortable he looked.
"Look, guys--I wish I could give you information, but--ugh," he looked at me, relieved I was here. "Nobody is listening to me."
"Oi! SHUT IT!" Ginny Weasley shouted from the back of the crowd. They made a path for her to the front of the crowd, beside Will and I. Finally, they were silent.
"There's someone else." Ginny told Will. "Hazel Levesque is unconscious in the common room, we didn't want to move her. Madam Pomfrey said that she didn't think she was poisoned, she may have passed out for a different reason. Could you please get her? You know more, medically, than any of us." Ginny explained. My heart dropped as I heard her name, Hazel Levesque. What had happened to her? What had happened to the Weasley twins?
"I'll stay here and manage the crowd." Ginny insisted, "Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley are back in the house watching over Hazel. We didn't want to leave her alone."
"It was good that you have someone watching her." Will pushed through the crowd. Before he could get too far, I grabbed his arm and followed him.
"Hazel, she's my best friend--Oh no, oh no. Please, let me help you."
Will nodded, hardly paying attention to what I was saying. He was on a mission, hardly present.
When we got to the common room my heart shattered as I saw Hazel lying on the floor. Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley were hovering over her, just as Ginny had said.
"Oh no, Merlin--what's happened?" I exclaimed.
"Move, I said move! Give her some space!" Will commanded. Hermione and Ron stepped aside. Will knelt beside her his eyes widened when he looked at me. He was trying to tell me something, he needed a distraction, I realized. While he healed Hazel from whatever it was that had happened to her, he needed me to distance Ron and Hermione so they wouldn't question his peculiar healing technique.
"What's happened to her?" I asked Hermione and Ron. Despite Hermione and I's rude encounter last week, she answered me with no rudeness whatsoever.
"I walked into the common room and I saw Ginny evacuating everyone. Ron was running out of the room, yelling for Madam Pomfrey. Fred and George were lying on the ground, and Hazel was watching over them. I tried to talk to her, to calm her down, but she started hyperventilating and collapsed. I didn't know what to do, I tried to keep her warm at least."
Hermione gestured towards the blanket she had lain over her.
I continued talking so Hermione wouldn't watch Will heal her.
"What happened to the twins?" I asked.
Ron shook his head in anger.
"Somebody bloody poisoned them. They found these chunks of gold in the house. One moment they were celebrating like baboons, the next they were both having seizures in the ground. Now, nobody can even find the gold that had done it to them. It's like it vanished." Ron explained.
"I don't think Hazel touched the gold," Hermione tried to reassure me. "She may have just been overwhelmed. I'm not a doctor, but I think she'll be okay."
I did all I could think to do, and I hugged Hermione.
"Thank you for watching over her."
We released the hug.
"It was no problem, honestly. I just hope the three of them will be okay."
Will cleared his throat.
"She'll be fine. She only collapsed. She's slightly malnourished, and could probably use a few more hours of sleep at night. I'll bring her to the infirmary to rest."
I helped Will lift Hazel and carry her gently. I wasn't about to let him carry my best friend like a sack of potatoes.
The door to the common room swung open.
McGonagall stepped in.
"Ron Weasley, your mother and father are waiting in Dumbledore's office. They are quite distraught over what's happened and they have many questions. I believe it would be best if you stayed with them until we get some news on your brothers." She turned to Will and Hazel. "Mr. Solace, Madam Pomfrey asked me to request that you helped out Ms. Levesque. I see you have received the message."
Will nodded, repeating the information about Hazel that he had previously stated.
"She'll be okay, that's good. Take her to the infirmary for some rest. Ginny said that thanks to Hazel, the twins may have more of a chance. Hazel Levesque presented quick action in this situation, she deserves to rest up. 50 points to Hufflepuff."
Ron left with McGonagall. I started to follow Will, but he held up a hand to stop me.
"You heard McGonagall and I, she needs rest. You do too. Come back to the imfirmary in an hour, I'd imagine you and Hazel need to talk." Will left without turning back. The nerve of him, not allowing me to be with Hazel for another hour. I didn't want her to wake up alone in the hospital wing. She needed a friend, and I needed one too. I needed to beg her forgiveness for my stubbornness, I missed my best friend.
"It's my fault." I took a seat and stared ahead at the crackling fire. "If her and I hadn't gotten into that stupid argument at the start of the week then she wouldn't have even been in the Gryffindor house. She would have been in my house with me, and we would have been sat around the fire studying together or complaining about classes. It's my fault."
Hermione sat beside me and placed a hand on my shoulder.
"It's alright, friends argue. Ron and I argue nearly ten times a day. Even Harry is angry with Ron and I right now, but I don't doubt that if something would happen that he wouldn't blame us. This isn't your fault. Sometimes even the best of friends just need time apart from each other. It's like siblings, no matter how much they fight they still love each other, and they'll always forgive one another in the end. She'll forgive you, just talk with her."
I'd been nothing but unpleasant to Hermione in our last encounter and she was treating me with nothing but respect right now. She was definitely the bigger person here, I wondered just how she did it. My stupid pride always got in the way of being the bigger person. It seemed that Hermione and I should have been in each other's houses instead of our own. Hermione was the wise one, I was too prideful.
"I think I'll start with asking for your forgiveness. I was awful to you during corridor patrol. You're being nothing but kind to me now. I promise I'm not always like that, this week has just been a lot. I'll try not to let that stupid stress get to me."
Hermione smiled.
"I understand, really. And I'll forgive you if you forgive me. I said and did some unpleasant things, like giving your friend detention. I feel just awful about the whole thing." She stuck out a hand. "Perhaps we could restart. I'm Hermione Granger, and you are?"
"Annabeth Chase." I shook her hand.
"Pleasure." She said. We both laughed.
At least one thing had worked out today.
After awhile, Hermione and I actually started to get to know each other. I learned all of her favorite books, classes, hobbies, and she told me many stories about her, Harry, and Ron. I told her the same in return, except for I told her stories of Hazel and I's adventures over the years. Though they didn't compare to the adventures Hermione's trio had been through, Hazel and I's stories were still great memories all the same. At one point or another, Hermione Granger and I became decent friends, and I was pleased.
"You know, it's been over an hour. Maybe you can visit Hazel now." Hermione reminded me after awhile.
"Ah, you're right. I'll see you, maybe sometime we could study together."
Hermione seemed to like that idea.
***
"She talks in her sleep."
That was the first thing Will greeted me with. I noticed a pile of candy and cards beside Hazel's bed. I felt guilty for not having gotten her anything. Word had spread of Hazel's bravery. She'd out braved the Gryffindors in this situation by keeping her head on straight.
"She drools in her sleep as well." I pointed out. Will chuckled.
"What she said in her sleep was odd. She said your name a few times, along with a few others I didn't recognize. She mumbled a list of names: Rachel, Bianca, Octavian, Sammy...she mumbled that last one a few times."
"Did you say she mumbled Bianca?" I asked. I thought back to the dream I'd had this morning. A list of names had gone through my head. "You said she mumbled Rachel as well?"
"Why, people she knows?"
I shook my head.
"I'm not sure. I--It's nothing."
Will tapped his pen to his chin.
"It's obviously not nothing. Your eyes widened to the size of bowls when I said those names. Recognize them?" He asked.
Will trusted me. I guess I could trust him. I could tell him.
"I don't think you're the only one around Hogwarts who's been having visions. I've been having odd dreams of people I've never met, people who's faces I couldn't make out. They've been strange, and they've been happening more often. Worst of all, they're becoming more distinct. Now I can hear the voices almost clearly, and their faces are beginning to show." I told it all like I was ripping off a bandage. Explaining it in great detail would've worried Will more than he already was.
"Great. Honestly, this whole situation is just peachy!"
He sighed and looked back down at Hazel.
"The whole reason I trust you is because you were in one of my visions."
He said that statement just like I'd said mine, like he was ripping off a bandage. Instead, it felt like he was punching an open wound.
"You have broken your ankle before. I know you're denying it, but you have! I had a vision of the past, I think it was. You looked younger. You came to me for a checkup for an ankle you'd injured doing something you didn't want to talk about."
I thought back to the vision I'd had at the start of the week. I found myself standing back on the bridge, pain shooting up my spine as I was stabbed.
"We need a healer!" A voice called.
A man ran towards me, lifting me up. I opened my eyes and his face began to un-blur. It was the stern, yet warm eyes of Will Solace that stared to give me a headache.
"Annabeth, still with me here?"
I looked at Will. It was the same Will I'd dreamt about a week ago, but this one seemed to have something missing. He seemed less powerful.
"I had a vision about you too," I admitted. "I was on a--"
"Bridge." Will finished my statement. "And you were stabbed. I remember."
He shuddered.
"I found a scar on my back last week, a scar that hadn't been there before."
He shook his head.
"This is mental. All I wanted this year at school was to shadow Madam Pomfrey and hopefully pass all of my OWLs. The next day I wake up with glowing hands and I start losing basic knowledge about spells that I've known since first year. I'm muggleborn, I can't be losing it like this. I can't give them any reason to believe that I'm weaker than they are." Will complained.
"Prejudice sucks, I get it. But honestly, it's the least of your worries at the moment. You and I are both seeing things. Seeing things isn't good, even in this place where weirdness is a common trait."
Will shook his head.
"Prejudice is more of a problem for me than you think." Before I could say anything more, he held up a hand to silence me. "Shush. We need to focus on the problem at hand. You and I are both having visions about each other and possibly other people. We need to figure out what this means, I need you to tell me everything you remember."
So we exchanged information. Neither of us had much, unfortunately. Both of us only remembered bits and pieces, mostly people's names. We made a list of the names we didn't recognize.
Thalia, Rachel, Chiron, Octavian, and Bianca. We decided to add Sammy to the list as well because Hazel continued to mumble it in her sleep.
"You, me, and possibly Hazel are having visions about people we've never met. Okay, this is normal. Completely normal!" Will sighed. "This day couldn't possibly be worse."
Thankfully, it didn't get worse after that. Something good actually happened, which was a pleasant surprise. Hazel woke up.
"What happened?" It was a very understandable question to have in a situation like this. Will filled her in while I awkwardly sat in the corner. It took a few minutes of conversation with Will before Hazel noticed me.
"Annabeth, what are you doing here?"
Will stood.
"This is my cue to leave. I'll be back in the house if you need me."
Wow, helpful he was.
Hazel spoke first.
"Annabeth, I--"
"Hazel, let me stop you there. I'm sorry about our stupid fight. I'm sorry I put my problems before yours, I'm sorry I never listen--wow, I literally just interrupted you that sort of counteracted the apology but still, I--"
"Annabeth," Hazel interrupted me now. "Shut up. I forgive you! But I have a problem that I have to tell you about."
She told me everything, starting with the niffler and ending with the mind control. That's a sentence I thought I'd never hear.
I told her everything as well, including the visions Will and I had been having. We stared at each other in silence for a solid five minutes before I spoke.
"Okay. Let me just talk this through before my mind scatters it about. You've been feeling strangely this weak and suddenly this creature shows up. The creature seems to like you because precious metals seem to like you?" Hazel nodded. I continued. "You've been feeling out of place at school and have found yourself experiencing strange omens like the grim. Worst of all, you think that Fred and George's poison rocks were your fault because you think you summoned them? Wait, not worst of all. The worst of all of that you think you can suddenly somehow manipulate people's minds?"
Hazel shrugged.
"What can I say? I've had a long week."
Hazel thought for a moment, then closed her eyes and concentrated.
"You said that you and Will have been having visions about each other as well as other people. Well, I have too. I can hardly remember them just like you guys said, only names and brief images. However, I do keep on having a reoccurring dream. There's a women in a cage who keeps calling my name. I recognize her, almost like I've seen her in a distant past. It's odd. She's in trouble."
"Welcome to Hogwarts! School of witchcraft and wizardry, visions and misery!" I exclaimed.
Hazel snorted.
"Stepping aside from the visions and misery for a moment, let's have a talk about our normal problems. You mentioned that you've been feeling distracted lately?"
I nodded. Aside from all of the visions and misery, I was distracted. I'd found myself having trouble paying attention in class, staying organized, and even managing my thoughts.
"I don't know. It's probably nothing."
"Talk to Will about it," Hazel assured. "You said he blurted out his visions to you, I'm sure you can blurt out your other problems to him. Who knows, maybe you, Will, and I can be quite a trio!"
Hazel and I laughed, paused, then laughed some more. Man, had I missed her?