Camp Hermit-Blood: The Titan's Curse

Bdubs

Bdubs woke up in a cold sweat from the latest nightmare.

They had been getting steadily worse over the last few months, but Bdubs hadn't told anyone. If course he hadn't. He would handle this on his own. He was fourteen now! He could do it.

Bdubs shook off the thoughts and tried not to think about the newest dream; however, it still lingered in his mind. It had been short, but still just as terrifying as his longer ones: Gem, backed against the railing of a ship, a pirate pointing a sword at her. The sea had churned below the vessel, and Bdubs had caught glimpses of sea monster scales.

It was almost time to wake up anyway, so Bdubs changed and got ready for breakfast. He was alone in the Hermes cabin now. Or, the only Hermit. He was far from alone.

The dream hadn't been real, had it? It was just a dream. But Connor and Travis Stoll had mentioned something in his first year, about how dreams for demigods were never just dreams, and Bdubs still felt a sense of danger.

It was still dark outside, and the snow was glimmering in the moonlight. Bdubs was still amazed by this concept of seasons, of the weather changing depending on the time of year.

A conch horn rang across the camp. It flitted through Bdubs' mind how much this camp liked conch horns.

"You’re up early," Connor said to Bdubs.

"I've been up early the past several weeks," Bdubs snapped.

"I know you're worried, but the counselors have been trying to get Chiron to let us start a quest. The thing is-"

"Annabeth thinks Grian joined Luke's army," Bdubs grumbled. "And Chiron is starting to believe her. I know."

"Yeah... but Annabeth's not here right now," Travis said, pulling on a snow boot with a mischievous grin. "With the voice of reason on a quest, we have new hope."

Bdubs snorted.

Annabeth, Percy, and Thalia were all off on a quest to bring a couple of demigods that Grover had found back to camp. They must have been powerful, or Chiron wouldn't have sent the two children of the Big Three plus the smartest daughter of Athena in the camp to find them.

Bdubs started getting his area ready for inspection - he was pretty sure a daughter of Aphrodite was doing it today. That was bad. Hermes cabin was so messy that it nearly always got a bad score.

The conch horn rang before he could finish. The Hermes campers filed out of their cabins and joined the string of demigods, nymphs, and satyr headed for the dining pavilion.

Bdubs shivered and wrapped himself tighter in his jacket. Today was one of the colder days. He probably should have layered more.

Bdubs actually had room on the table. Winter was a much less popular time to go to a summer camp, so there were a lot less demigods. The Hermits were staying year-round this time though, for multiple reasons.

First and foremost, Tango had lost his communicator. The son of Hepheastus was sure someone had stolen it, but Connor and Travis had not been lying when they pleaded innocent. Bdubs was worried it had been taken by the same person who stole the Fleece, and possibly kidnapped Grian as well. And Tango and Zedaph were both out of redstone.

The second and third reasons were Gem and Grian. Both of them were missing. And probably in danger. The Hermits at Camp Half-Blood had discussed the matter and agreed that they could not build and prank and do normal Hermitcraft things while two of them were trapped in another world.

Zedaph had said several times that Xisuma could teleport them all back easily. But Tango had pointed back to the missing communicator.

It had all made Bdubs want to scream.

So he had. Very loudly. A dryad had yelled at him. It was fun.

The campers ate, and by the time they had finished, the sun had risen and bathed Camp Half-Blood in golden light.

The Hermes cabin spent the morning in the arena, hitting scarecrows. They didn't really have an instructor anymore, since Luke had kind of stabbed them in the back and disappeared. Half the campers wanted to nominate Percy. Percy had blinked and loudly declined when he first heard the offer.

After sword fighting, the rest of the cabin went to archery. Bdubs announced that he was going to take a nap.

The yelling of angry Ares campers on the basketball court by the hearth was muffled once Bdubs closed the cabin door.

He let out a sigh of relief. The only time he had mentioned how frequent his dreams were, Zedaph had told him to keep a dream diary. Bdubs did not want to keep a dream diary. That sounded like something a teenage girl who was obsessed with astrology would do. And Bdubs was not a teenage girl. Or obsessed with astrology.

He lied in his sleeping bag for a while, finding it hard to fall asleep for the first time since Grian and Scar had repeatedly broke his bed in season 7. He frowned up at the ceiling.

Eventually, he drifted off, knowing exactly what was going to happen once he did but having no way to stop it.