Percy Jackson--The Blazing Trident

Chapter 3: I Have a Lovely Nightmare Before I Journey

Great. Not only has the sea somehow turned into fire, I've blown up Paul's school twice now, and Rachel has officially begun showing her similarities to the old oracle mummy. To sum it up, it could not get worse, huh?

I cannot believe how many times I ask that to myself and ironically, it does. That day was full of apologizing. I apologized to Paul for destroying everything, to Annabeth for ruining our school life together, to Chiron for not listening, to Rachel for telling her she was slowly turning into a dusty mummified dead oracle in the attic (although it was partly true), but she kicked me anyway.

Least I got a good sleep right? Wow, another question I ask a lot that never works out. Deja vu. Yup, this night was no exception because I just love being plagued with freaky dreams and threats. Right.

I got into bed and tried to forget, at least until I fell asleep. When I finally did, I dreamt that I was swimming in the sea. Then the sea erupted into flames. I flailed desperately to avoid getting burned.

I dragged myself out of the sea and a tear traced from my eye. I looked down. Wait a second...it wasn't me. I was just like a conscious observer. The person who was at the sea muttered to herself. She had blond hair, looked like a young mom. She touched the fiery water, and recoiled, shrieking. In her hand, the fire was still there in her hand, like it was devouring her thoughts, taking over. I noticed the flame was dark and strange, in the sea too. That was odd. At any rate, the woman turned and looked at me. Then, I realized I wasn't an invisible bystander. I was living in someone's point of view.

Still, I felt like a faded watcher, with no actual body, how I usually do if I'm just observing. The lady widened her eyes as one hand reached out, desperately. I noticed she wasn't exactly a young mom. She had a lot of white streaks and her clear eyes had wrinkle lines underneath. Her eyes looked like they just gained the ability to see truly. Like she was woken from a trance that made her go crazy or something.

She whispered but before I could make it out, she stopped. The fire dimmed, then disappeared inside her. Her clear eyes turned misty again.

Before the dream ended, I had to at least know who I was in it. I peered at myself through the reflecting fire right when the dream finished, so I remembered only one feature.

I woke up in cold sweat.

A scar on my face.

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I took a bite of breakfast, but my stomach was uneasy. It was the morning of the day when we'd depart for the quest. See, I had a hunch.

There wasn't enought time for me to see what anything really looked like. The fire in the the water had been too blurred and colored, so I couldn't even make out the hair color. But one prominent thing I knew--the scar. Definitely.

I did have a theory. But it was very unlikely, or maybe it's just that I hoped desperately I'd be wrong. After all, I wanted to believe, as much as I liked this person, the whole incident was gone and over.

The lady....I'd seen her before. I didn't know when or where exactly, and I couldn't place my finger on it. But I swear, that face was familiar. So were, and especially, the eyes she bore.

"Percy!" I was jolted back in reality. "Percy, our you okay?!"

I blinked. "Hah?" Annabeth stared at me with a worried face.

"You've been acting kinda......weird. Since this morning." She said.

I knitted my brow. How could she tell? Was I being too obvious? No one else has said anything, and even if she knew me well, I don't think she'd tell so quickly.

"You usually talk a lot more. Also, you're easygoing and fun, yet you look so serious and quiet today. You hate to think too much into something, being the Seaweed Brain you are, but you're completely lost in thought. I don't get it, so I know something suspicious is going on." She reasoned.

I scratched my head. She could tell by that much!

"But the real clincher is that you despise raisin bread." She pointed.

I looked down and immediately realized the foul taste in my mouth was spreading. I dumped the stuff on the table and drank a lot of Blue Cherry Coke. It wasn't as bad as regular raisin bread, which I apologize to raisin bread fans because I just don't like it, but even magic can't get rid of the terrible flavor.

I held up my hands and resigned myself. "Okay, you win. But it's nothing really." I didn't want to lie, but I didn't want her to know either. She would be much too affected if she thought there was a possibility of that person being....

Annabeth frowned a little but brightened in a moment. "Alright...but hey! Quest is today! I'm so happy that I can do a quest with you and Thalia; it's been ages!"

I forced myself to laugh cheerfully. "Yup! Let's get ready!" She stuck out her tongue and held up two traveling bags.

"You think I would come unprepared? I knew you would forget and try to rush in the morning, so I got yours too!" She handed me one.

I grinned. "Sure thing, Wise Girl." Thalia was running up to us, and it was almost time to depart for our quest. Annabeth put her hands on her hips.

"Hey, what's up with Wise Girl? It's not even an insult, Seaweed Brain." She teased. Thalia arrived and beckoned us to follow.

"Chiron wants to send us off now!" Thalia called. Annabeth and I began to run after her.

I tried to think of a nickname to retort. "Uh, how about Owl Head?"

"Eew. What the heck?" We caught up to Thalia.

"Hmm. I like it." Annabeth smacked me playfully when I said that.

"Thalia! Tell Percy to stop calling me Owl Head! It's so dumb!"

"Catchy." Was Thalia's only response.

I turned to Annabeth. "See?"

"You're impossible. Let's hurry, Chiron is standing at the tree."

"Sure thing, Owl Head."

"Don't call me that."

I smiled. It was so nice, I wanted to stay in these happy smiles forever. But in the back of my head, it kept nagging on me, the dream, the situation, everything. I pushed it away, but then something hit me. I figured it out. But it left as fast as it came, and no matter how hard I tried to remember, I couldn't. It was in fact, like actually the more I thought the more it blanked out.

I was nearly at the tree now, but all that spacing out had slowed me down. My friends were already much ahead of me, getting more distant as they approached our meeting place. But I couldn't help hesitating, and looking back one more time.

A storm is coming, a voice whispered menacingly in my ear. And when it rains blood, know that it is you who is responsible for their deaths. I started, but there was no one there. Shivers ran down my spine.

I had a bad feeling about this quest.