Warped: Sea of Monsters (A Percy Jackson Fanfic) (Book 7)

Chapter 3: The Visions and Visitor (Isa POV)

A week went by. Ben seemed to be fitting in pretty well.
Then one day, I kept getting plagued with visions. Warnings. I saw somebody. . .Luke. He was poisoning Thalia's tree. That meant Camp was in danger. Camp was supposed to be a sanctuary for demigods from the monsters. The reason monsters couldn't get into Camp was because of the magical border that Thalia's tree created. But if the tree was poisoned, the tree would die, and along with it, the magical border.
Luke had been the Hermes' cabin Camp Counselor last summer. But he was in fact, duplicitous. He gave us some flying shoes, but he had hexed them. Grover, our satyr, had worn the shoes, and the shoes had almost succeeded in dragging him down to Tartarus. The shoes had been meant to drag Percy down there. Luke had stolen the lightning bolt, betrayed the gods, and was now trying to rebel against them once more. He had been trying to bring back Kronos, the one living down in Tartarus, the land of the monsters. Kronos was a titan, the titan famous for eating his kids, in fear that one day they would overthrow him. The one who Zeus famously defeated by making him eat a rock and throw up the rest of his siblings.
I tried to warn people, but unfortunately, nobody believed me, except Ben, of course. I felt like Cassandra. The story of Cassandra is a horrible one. Cassandra, was the daughter of King Priam and Queen Hecuba of Troy. The god Apollo enamored her, and granted her the gift of prophecy, but when she rejected him, he sabotaged the gift, with a curse, that no one would ever believe her. That was how I felt.
So, throughout the day, I was continuously plagued with the visions. Monsters entering the camp, mostly. But then, I got a different vision. It was Annabeth. While invisible, she was spying on Percy. She watched him from his window as he got up and got ready for school. (Public schools were still in school, and I was in a private, which meant I got out earlier). I wanted to yell, "Annabeth, what the f**k?" Because that's just wrong. Whhhhy?
The visions transitioned to scenes I saw from Percy during the school day. I got visions of where the school was, and what it was called. A bully (if you could really call him a bully) ripped one of the postcards I had sent Percy, and then turned it into spitballs. But there was something. . .off about the bully's buddies. Something that made the hairs on my skin stand up. My spider sense. Percy was in danger. I had to go save him. I couldn't just stand around and do nothing. There was more than one of the monsters. And who knew what monsters these guys could be? The bully had threatened to destroy him in P.E. Percy needed help. I couldn't just stand around and do nothing. That went against everything I stood for, and had done over the course of when I had been gone.
    So, what did I do? I went to Chiron, the centaur, the activities director. He was the only one in this Camp with real authority. His backside was a tall brown stallion, while his front was human, with tan skin, long hair and a beard. I told him of the visions I had been getting. I thought he would let me. But to my surprise he said:
    "No. I shall not be letting you go beyond the Camp borders."
    "What? Why not?" I asked, incredulously.
    Chiron was one of the people on this earth who knew about my Multiversal travels. "Because you, over the course of the time you were gone, have gained much more power and abilities. You have grown stronger."
"But shouldn't that be a good reason I can go after them?" I asked.
"It would be for any other camper. But for you, we don't know the full extent of your powers, which means you are more of a danger than a good to yourself and others. I'm sorry, but I just can't let you leave."
That hit me hard. He didn't even say it that gently. It was a nice way of saying that I was no better than a monster. And that hurt.
Tears welled up in my eyes. "So, what you're saying is. . .is that I'm a monster?"
"That's not what I'm saying—"
"Yes, it is very well what you're saying. I've saved people and now you're telling me it was all for nothing? That hurts, Chiron, that really hurts. But now I know that even you, the father figure of Camp, think me a monster. In everyone's eyes I'm just another target. I'm a monstrous abomination of a creature meant to be killed. You all think I'm just evil, that I have no feelings, but I do! I have so many feelings. And I know that saving people felt good. For the first time, I wasn't seen as this abomination of nature. I was adored and respected and loved by the masses. And I didn't save people for the praise. I saved people because it was the right thing to do and I knew I was capable. I have proved myself time and time again that I am good. But now I know that most of your world is corrupted and cruel to what they don't understand. And now, you aren't even letting me save the only people on this earth who don't see me that way. That's just wrong. So you know what? When the monsters invade Camp, don't come to me for help!"
My super speed activated and I raced off with tears streaming down my face.
I passed Ben, who recognized my streak. "Isa? What's wrong?"
But I was too fast. The surroundings blurred around me, and I ended up at Long Island Sound. I finally stopped and sat on a big rock. I took off my flower circlet, and placed it on my lap, continuing to weep and sniffle. I wiped my nose with my arm. I began thinking about all the adventures I had had while I was gone. It had felt so good. It should've cheered me up, but instead it did the exact opposite, making me cry harder.
That's when I suddenly heard a rustling in the bushes behind me.
I looked behind me. "Ben?"
But it wasn't him. If it had been Ben, I would have been able to see his head. But behind the bushes I saw white fur. There was a huffing sound that came from it. It was one of the wolves.
There was one thing I didn't tell you about the Luna wolves before. The main pack, Moon Moon, Everest, Noah, Wink, Addison, Basil, and Tucker could travel the Multiverse freely at will.
Now, it was just a matter of which wolf was here. It was like playing the game, "Who's That Pokémon?", except all the silhouettes are almost entirely the same.
I wiped my eyes and sniffled. "Who's there?"
That's when the white wolf jumped out from out of the bush, feet first, coming straight at me, knocking me over, his paws on my chest. And I was looking straight into the intense blue eyes of. . .
"Noah!" I exclaimed, scratching the messy tuft of fur on his head, and hugging him.
He licked my cheek, licking off my tears. Mother, I love you! Don't be sad. . .
I wiped my tears and sat up. "I'm okay, Noah, I'm okay, boy."
Noah sat and whimpered. You don't look okay, Mother.
I slightly chuckled. "I was called a monster, by Chiron. I want to go save my friends, but he won't let me because of that."
Noah's face turned angry. He growled towards the general direction of the Big House. That idiot doesn't know what he's talking about. You are beautiful. You are good. You are not a monster. And you are Mother.
"Of course you think that," I sighed.
Noah pawed my chest. He was trying to figure out a way to make me happy. That's when he got off me and ran off. Where was he going? Noah wasn't one to abandon me without good reason.
"Noah, where are you going?" I called after him.
I was scared for his safety. Nobody at Camp had ever seen him or his kind before. They didn't even know of his existence. They might think him to be a threat. Noah had super powers and could live as long as I did but he wasn't invincible. None of the wolves were. The incident on my last mission was evidence of that.
    You see, you know how dogs can't live as long as humans can? Well, I made it so my wolves could live as long as I did. If I died, they did too. But like I said, they're not invincible. They can still die on their own, if they get hurt badly enough. And that's one of the instances they turn human. They turn human when they're dying. The last mission had a close call, with Tucker. You see, the last mission was on Earth-26. I had to live in the wilderness, away from the village. And the wolves came along on the mission. They took care of me and eachother. But this earth had dragons. And Vikings. I had to help a Viking named Hiccup prove himself by taming a dragon. I also made friends with a Viking named Astrid. But Astrid and I weren't always on the same page, or on the right foot. The first time I ever encountered her, well, let's just say she made the worst first impression. All of the wolves have their different skills that helped them get food or helped them get out of sticky situations. Moon Moon can shapeshift into any animal he wished. Everest is a hunter and protector. Noah is a fisher, he can breathe under water, see clearly underwater, and swim fast underwater, he has a fishtail whenever he was diving. Addison is the stealthy and intelligent one. Basil is fast, with super speed. And Wink has puppy-dog eyes (yeah, you heard me. That's his skill. He has the ability to act so adorable and silly, that he can get whatever he wants, not even I can resist it.) But Tucker. . .Tucker is an empath. He can communicate with other animals, and pick up the emotions of others. He is compassionate and caring. He didn't have a skill that could get him out of the situation he was put in. At the time, he was too trusting. The day I first got discovered by Hiccup, Tucker had gone out for food that morning and hadn't come back. So I made a bargain with Hiccup. If he swore not to tell his village about me and the wolves living in the forest, and found Tucker, I would let him work with the dragon who guarded our cave. Hiccup immediately accepted the offer. I sent him with Moon Moon to make sure Hiccup didn't go back on it. But the other wolves were doubtful of my decision to entrust Hiccup, and ultimately made me doubt my own decision. So I went to spy on them, while being invisible. And then I heard a wolf cry, when following them. I immediately went to check, and that's when I encountered Astrid for the first time. Tucker had a chicken drumstick in his mouth, and was terrified. Astrid was attacking him with her axe, calling him a pest and a thief. And the one thing I picked up on in his series of whimpers was: I just wanted to be friends. And then Astrid struck a devastating blow. She was about to strike again, when Hiccup stopped her. When Hiccup and Moon Moon got Tucker back to the cave, Tucker turned human. He was weak, and suffering, and in human form for days. He eventually recovered, but the experience had been terrifying. And after that experience, when he was strong again, he was never the same. Then, for the first time in his life, he was growling at people, especially when I went face-to-face with Astrid, in my second close encounter with her. He learned to trust her after she apologized, but. . .to see Tucker, the compassionate, caring, and trusting empath wolf, growl at all was an absolute shocker to not just me, but the rest of the pack.
    I couldn't bear to see Noah go through anything similar. In friendliness, Tucker is the most friendly, and then Wink, then Noah. Noah is the third most friendly out of the entire pack. He isn't the middle ground, so he doesn't always know who to trust and who to avoid. He isn't the best balance of friendly and aggressive. He has a little more weight on the friendly side. So there is still always the possibility of him getting hurt, just a little more stressing than if Everest, who tends to be the most aggressive, is put in a dangerous situation. The wolves are my creation, my babies. I have a responsibility to protect and take care of them when they need it. Noah takes daring risks a lot. He charges into chaos and danger without thinking about the consequences, just like he was doing now. And now, I had to protect Noah from potential attackers. It was not safe for him to go running about Camp without me, because everyone in this camp was armed. And even though the weapons couldn't hurt mortals, Noah could still be hurt by those weapons. Not only that, the Camp was at risk already because of the border being weakened (even though nobody seemed to believe me). The monsters could also hurt Noah. Imagining that, made my heart rate quicken.
    "Noah, wait!" I got up and ran after him.
    I bumped into several campers trying to go after him, and keep up.
"Sorry! Sorry! Excuse me! Excuse me! Pardon me! Sorry!" I called out to anyone I bumped into. I was met with scowls and scorn, but I didn't care. All I cared about was keeping Noah safe.
He narrowly missed a very pissed off Clarisse, by squeezing through under her legs.
Clarisse tried to attack him, but I shoved her away just in time, continuing to run after Noah.
Clarisse screamed. "Gomez-Jeanne, you little—"
"Sorry, Clarisse! I can't let you hurt Noah!" I yelled, as I continued to run after him.
Finally, we slowed down at my cabin. He began climbing up my ladder. I followed him up. He sat down at the door, and gestured at it. I opened it, and he squeezed in, before I completely opened it.
When I got in, he was holding my playbill binder in his teeth, wagging his tail. Open it.
"What do you want me to do with this?" I take it from his mouth and opened it.
    He pawed the Water For Elephants playbill. He grabbed my phone from my pocket and pawed it. Soundtrack.
    I pulled up Spotify, and put the Water for Elephants soundtrack, taking out the playbill from the sheet protector. I started playing the soundtrack, all the way through, (at least the songs that Barry had been in). I hugged onto the playbill, seeking the comfort it gave me, singing along with Jacob's part in the first song, resonating with his sad chorus in the song, singing every part Barry sang in the show. I opened the window, so passerby's could hear.