be. - J.G.

i - dakota sees a familiar face.

I. DAKOTA !
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dakota sees a familar face

The strawberry fields were the only thing keeping Dakota sane in these times. Her first time spending winter at camp and it wasn't the way she wanted it to go. All of her friends were supposed to be there with her, and her father was supposed to be happily married to his fiancé ( as much as she despised her ) and moved in together so he wouldn't be fully alone on Christmas. Now, he was still on their farm without his fiancée or daughter there to spend time with. But she had worse problems to deal with than to feel guilty for not spending one holiday at home. Even if Dakota found it important to go out and search for what was missing, she found it even harder to go out and do it. She flew all the way from Texas to be a coward in the strawberry fields. Dakota survived four quests and a war, but that was six months ago. Six months ago it was summer and she was prepared for anything. Now, it was winter, where she was supposed to be exchanging secret santa gifts with her friends at the academy. Not at Camp Half-blood. So to ignore the dying feeling of fear and regret in the pit of her stomach, she picked strawberries.

Dakota held the basket of strawberries in her hand, regrowing each one she picked so the field would never be empty. Most of the kids who tended to the field were her siblings, satyrs, even the occasional child of Apollo. She always enjoyed just walking around the huge fields of strawberries, and she was eternally grateful they were strawberries. Her father's apple farm wouldn't have stood a chance against what the camp had created if they sold the same thing.

A shadow covered Dakota's view as she was kneeled down picking fruits. Looking up, she caught sight of a familiar dark-skinned girl she had grown up with. Annabeth Chase, dressed in her camp shirt and jeans, with a sad smile on her face as she looked at her friend. Dakota stood up from the ground, dusting off her hands as she waited for her to speak. The girls had been through a lot together. From enduring annoying boys on quests to clinging onto each other in their most dire moments. Yet the words 'best friend' sounded wrong in Dakota's mouth. Annabeth had her own best friend. And it certainly wasn't the daughter of Demeter who preferred to use her magic than her weapon.

"Can we talk away from everyone, Dakota? Please?" asked a paranoid Annabeth. A few people were already looking the girls's way, hoping to catch the latest news on their missing companion. Dakota placed down the basket of strawberries to link her arm with Annabeth's.

"I'll lead our way through the forest. The fields are crowded with gossipy siblings," Dakota whispered. She led her friend out of the fields and to the forest. Any usual camper could easily get lost in the forest and eaten by the monsters who lurked inside, but Dakota and her siblings knew their way around anywhere green. "So what's going on? Any news?"

"I had a dream last night, one weirder than usual," Annabeth faltered while she spoke. It was clear she hadn't slept these past three nights. She jumped at the smallest bunny breaking a branch - Dakota had never seen her so jumpy before. She couldn't exactly blame her friend, especially after everything she had been through. "Hera came to me in a dream."

"Hera," Dakota grumbled. Neither of the girls were big fans of the queen of Olympus seeing as Hera tried to run Annabeth over with cows and she tried to feed Dakota a piece of cow. She scrunched up her nose, feeling as if she could smell something awful: the lingering sound of the name Hera.

"I know," Annabeth agreed. "But she told me something that has stayed with me. Look, I wrote it down to make sure I wouldn't forget it."