Heir of a Titan - Book 2 PJO

Chapter 22: Dreams Are So Eye Opening

I dreamed I was on the porch of Rachel's beach house in St. Thomas. The sun was rising over the Caribbean. Dozens of wooded islands dotted the sea, and white sails cut across the water. Rachel's parents sat at the patio table while a personal chef fixed them omelets. Mr. Dare was dressed in a white linen suit. It was weird now knowing he was my actual uncle. He seemed very different from the picture everyone painted of my mother. He was reading The Wall Street Journal. The lady across the table was probably Mrs. Dare, though all I could see of her were hot pink fingernails and the cover of Condé Nast Traveler. Why she'd be reading about vacations while she was on vacation, I wasn't sure.

Rachel stood at the porch railing and sighed. She wore Bermuda shorts and her van Gogh T-shirt. Now that I knew we were cousins, I studied her; we had the same shaped eyes, red hair and freckles. We were both on the shorter side, same athletic build, and love for art- maybe that was the Apollo/Delphi influence. 

Then the scene changed abruptly. I was in St. Louis, standing downtown under the Arch. Over the city, a thunderstorm boiled; a wall of absolute black with lightning streaking across the sky. A few blocks away, swarms of emergency vehicles gathered with their lights flashing. A column of dust rose from a mound of rubble, which I realized was a collapsed skyscraper.

A nearby reporter was yelling into her microphone: "Officials are describing this as a structural failure, Dan, though no one seems to know if it is related to the storm conditions."

Wind whipped her hair. The temperature was dropping rapidly, like ten degrees just since I'd been standing there.

"Thankfully, the building had been abandoned for demolition," she said. "But police have evacuated all nearby buildings for fear the collapse might trigger-"

She faltered as a mighty groan cut through the dark sky. A blast of lightning hit the center of the darkness. The entire city shook. The air glowed, and every hair on my body stood up. The blast was so powerful I knew it could only be one thing: Zeus's master bolt. It should have vaporized its target, but the dark cloud only staggered backward. A smoky fist appeared out of the clouds. It smashed another tower, and the whole thing collapsed like children's blocks.

The reporter screamed. People ran through the streets. Emergency lights flashed. I saw a streak of silver in the sky; a chariot pulled by reindeer, but it wasn't Santa Claus driving. It was Artemis, riding the storm, shooting shafts of moonlight into the darkness. A fiery golden comet crossed her path... maybe Apollo, but then the golden flash flew away from the fight.

One thing was clear: Typhon had made it to the Mississippi River. He was halfway across the U.S., leaving destruction in his wake, and the gods were barely slowing him down. There was another smokey fist that swung it was coming my way and I yelped. I turned to run but plopped down in soft chair, it was covered in dark leather. I blinked a few times, it was incredibly bright, so bright my eyes watered, it took me a second to adjust. 

A tanned hand waved in front of my face. I looked around confused. I was sitting in the passenger seat of the Sun Car with Apollo. 

"Dad!" I yelped.

"Hello Ellie, my little ray of sunlight! How ya doing?" He flashed me his normal dazzling smile, but I could see how tiered he looked. He was dressed in his full battle gear, his helmet sat discarded at my feet and he had a streak of soot on his face. I didn't care we were in the car, I leaned over and gave him a hug. He threw an arm around me and gave me an awkward side hug. 

"We don't have much time. Zeus has let me come to bring the sun into the sky, but I must get back to the fight." He had one hand on the wheel and kept one hand clamped tightly around mine, like he was just as desperate to hold my hand as I was his. Like he had to remind himself his children where still there.