Love the Impossible

Chapter 1 - Rachel's P.O.V.

You know that, sometimes, when you go to bed, you can be staring at the ceiling for hours and hours (or what you think are hours) straight without feeling tired and not going to sleep?

When you want to go to sleep, even when you get attacked by nightmares that, somehow, can turned into reality?

When you want slumber, yet the only thing you managed to do is get up from bed and try every single trick to get yourself to sleep?

When you tried warm milk with honey, a good, yet, heavy philosophical book, counting sheep and stuff, and nothing?

That was my night so far.

You know, I thought that the point of being an Oracle with no Spirit inside of me was gonna work in my favor.

No more demonic prophecies.

No more cryptic messages on my paintings.

No more waking up in the middle of the night because of a warning.

Oh, I was so naïve...

Not able to handle it anymore, I got up from bed, covered myself with a heavy jacket and put on my Uggs before walking out of my cave. That was one of the many benefits/disadvantages of living in a cave, away from the rest of the camp: things weren't near when you needed them.

I had to walk a portion (even if it small) of the woods, where are living monsters there. Campers say I can walk around there safe because I don't smell like demigod. But I never took my chances. I've been sneaking out from the armory hundreds of little daggers and knives that I hide in my clothes, so I never forget it. I guess I owe the Hermes' cabin a thank you for covering-

Snap!

I quickly turned around, from where I think the sound came from. Nothing was there. Weird...

Snap!

I turned to my other side and, this time, I caught a silhouette of a monster. A hellhound, to be precise. But, he wasn't looking for me. His target was yards away from him and me, which lead me into two hypothesis:

1) Monsters do chase each other.

2) A stupid demigod is out in the woods at midnight and he or she is an easy target.

Not wanting to risk option number 2, I followed the hellhound as silently as I could, courtesy of some Hermes' girls, who taught me to walk like this. Everytime the hellhound stopped, I did too. Soon, we were in the deeps of the woods and the noises became more loud.

"Get away from me, monster!!" I perked up. It was the voice of a boy. By the sound of it, he wasn't older than fifteen. He was probably changing his voice... I couldn't see him yet, because I saw that not only the hellhound I followed was attracted to this place, but 2 more. The boy was with his face on the floor, trying to get up, but failing miserably. All I could see in the dark was his blonde hair.

I almost didn't think it. I pulled out a knife from my pocket and threw it to the first hellhound on the way. Luckily for me, the edge that touched the monster was the blade, so it disintegrated in a million golden dust particles. Unluckily for me, the other two hellhounds changed their attention from the boy to me.

"Oh, dam..." I cursed under my breath, before sprinting away from the place. I could feel how the hellhounds were chasing me. I pulled out another dagger, from my shorts this time, and hid behind a tree, waiting for them to pass me. As soon as I saw the first one, I stabbed it on the side, reducing him also into dust. I quickly climbed the tree I was hidden in and waited patiently for the remain hellhound to appear. I could hear his low growling, while he was pacing around, looking for me.

When the hellhound placed right next to my tree, I closed my eyes, prayed to the god/goddess of foolish thoughts, and jumped from the tree and landed on the hellhound's back. Once I was on him, he tried to get rid of me, just like a bull when he's on a rodeo. He was close to knock me off several times, but on my first chance, I stabbed him. He disappeared and I was dropped to the floor.

"Ow..." I complained to myself. Checking I didn't have injuries, I got up and dusted off my clothes before walking to were the guy was. I can't believe I almost forget about him!

When I got there, he was up and leaning against a tree. He was tall and all his body seemed to be skinny. Like I said before, he was blonde, which means that he could be a son of Athena or Apollo. His back was facing me, but I distinguished some white cloth wrapped around his chest. Roman... By the way he couldn't defend himself, I'd dare to say a guy in probatio.

"I know you're staring" he snapped at me, not even turning around.

"I- I just wanted to see if you were OK..." I recognized. Then, I remembered something "And get my knife back"

"Finders keepers, greek" he spatted the last part, as an insult. But what threw me off was that he had my knife.

"Who you think you are?!" I yelled at him. I didn't care we were in the woods, in the middle of the night. I really don't care.

"Someone who could had defeated those monsters alone!" he glanced at me. My curiosity took the best of me, but I still wasn't seen his face.

"Sure... Because, being half pass out is a great strategy..." I rolled my eyes, sarcastically. Suddenly, I was been pinned on a tree, a hand on my throat.

But, what shocked me the most was the face of my attacker.

A face I thought I'd never see again.

Octavian.