The Twins Of Poseidon

Can't I Get A Good Nights Sleep?

Just when I thought I would get a good nights sleep, I had a nightmare. Surprising.  Anyway it started like this.

I was with my brother Percy and we were standing on a deserted street in some little beach town. It was the middle of the night. A storm was blowing. Wind and rain ripped at the palm trees along the sidewalk. Pink and yellow stucco buildings lined the street, their windows boarded up. A block away, past a line of hibiscus bushes, the ocean churned. 

Florida, I thought. Though I wasn't sure how I knew that. I'd never been to Florida. 

Then I heard hooves clattering against the pavement. I turned and saw one of my best friends, Grover running for his life. Yeah, I said hooves. Grover is a satyr. From the waist up, he looks like a typical gangly teenager with a peach-fuzz goatee and a bad case of acne. He walks with a strange limp, but unless you happen to catch him without his pants on (which I don't recommend), you'd never know there was anything un-human about him. Baggy jeans and fake feet hide the fact that he's got furry hindquarters and hooves. Grover has been one of my best friends since when I first got to Camp Half Blood because he was my protector. He'd gone on this adventure with me, my brother and my other best friend, Annabeth to save the world, but I hadn't seen him since last July, when he set off alone on a dangerous quest—a quest no satyr had ever returned from. 

Anyway, in my dream, Grover was hauling goat tail, holding his human shoes in his hands the way he does when he needs to move fast. He clopped past the little tourist shops and surfboard rental places. The wind bent the palm trees almost to the ground. Grover was terrified of something behind him. He must've just come from the beach. Wet sand was caked in his fur. He'd escaped from somewhere. He was trying to get away from ... something. A bone-rattling growl cut through the storm. Behind Grover, at the far end of the block, a shadowy figure loomed. It swatted aside a street lamp, which burst in a shower of sparks. Grover stumbled, whimpering in fear. 

He muttered to himself, Have to get away. Have to warn them! 

I couldn't see what was chasing him, but I could hear it muttering and cursing. The ground shook as it got closer. Grover dashed around a street corner and faltered. He'd run into a dead-end courtyard full of shops. No time to back up. The nearest door had been blown open by the storm. The sign above the darkened display window read: ST. AUGUSTINE BRIDAL BOUTIQUE. Grover dashed inside. He dove behind a rack of wedding dresses. The monster's shadow passed in front of the shop. I could smell the thing—a sickening combination of wet sheep wool and rotten meat and that weird sour body odor only monsters have, like a skunk that's been living off Mexican food. 

Grover trembled behind the wedding dresses. The monster's shadow passed on. Silence except for the rain. Grover took a deep breath. Maybe the thing was gone. Then lightning flashed. The entire front of the store exploded, and a monstrous voice bellowed: "MIIIIINE!" 

I sat bolt upright, shivering in my bed. There was no storm. No monster. Morning sunlight filtered through my bedroom window. 

Oh yeah, I forgot to say but after the whole world almost ending thing last year, I moved into Percy and our Mom's apartment. I got Smelly Gabe's old room after MAJOR disinfecting and now it's actually pretty nice. I've gotten used to, school, the city, bullies and mortal friends. 

Percy has apparently been bullied for practically his whole life for 'seeing' things, and I offered to unclip my bracelet and threaten to drown them all but our mom forbid threatening, hurting and killing. So for the past year I've had to suffer with bullies too, which has been kind of hard since it reminded me so much of Ashley and the girls at the orphanage. At least we managed to make one friend, Tyson. 

Anyway, I quickly put on a pair on jeans shorts, plain black oversized t-shirt, a pair of black converse, tied my hair in a high pony tail, and went into Percy's and he was sat up right sweating too and I already knew why.