The Grandson

The Other Camp Pt. 1

I wake up in the infirmary.

"You've been out for a day," I hear a familiar voice say. I sit up and see Chiron standing in the corner. I grunt in pain.

"Lay down. You've been through enough," Chiron says.

"No. Actually, we need to talk," I say, "about a lot." Chiron gives me a quizzical look.

"I ...had a dream about two nights ago," I say carefully, "It kind of got to me."

"What? What was this dream about?"

"Well... I was a baby in the dream. And there were people in the dream... a man and a woman I recognized from somewhere," I explain.

"Tell me about this man and woman," he says a little demanding, though, I guess he has the right to be demanding.

I tell Chiron about the dream, giving him the details. That run down the hallway, being held, the things in the hallway, the explosion, the scream. It flows through me and out of me as easily as water might flow through a stream.

"Oh... I see," Chiron says grimly, "I will talk to Argus about this later. For now, go to eat. It's around dinner time, I'll guess." He's right. As he finishes saying this, a horn sounds off in the distance, calling the campers for dinner.

"Talk to me tomorrow morning, and we will certainly talk more, Christopher," Chiron says with some finality to his tone.

I stare down at the white sheets that cover me on this cot that I'm laying on. No one has called me Christopher since I was young.

I get up and leave the room to go to dinner, thinking about Chiron's words to me. I think of the words the guy named Percy said to me. "Dammit, Grace!" Who's Grace. That is a name I don't recognize.

When I reach the Dining Pavilion, by the beach, all the way across the valley from the Big House. And Chiron is standing at the main table by the time I reach my seat at the Hermes table. That's weird. Maybe it's my ADHD kicking in. Oh, right. I forgot to mention. I have ADHD. Most demigods do. I guess it's a demigod thing. Most demigods also have dyslexia, but not me.

I eat dinner. I go to the hearth in the middle of the pavilion and deposit a piece of steak into it. The smell coming from the hearth should smell really gross, but somehow it doesn't. It smells of a strangely good combination of steak, cheese, bread, carrots, apples, and crackers.

Chiron makes no announcements to the rest of the camp. In fact, he doesn't even signal the campers to the amphitheater to go to the campfire tonight. He just gets up and leaves. Funny. I bet the campers are completely oblivious to the strangeness of the matter.

After the campfire, made fun with sing-alongs, s'mores and more, it's curfew, so I go to bed.

*                  *                  *

I'm running down a long pathway. It's made of dirt and enclosed in a tunnel. I'm next to a boy. He looks as tall as sixteen, but his face seems younger. He looks like a chinese toddler on steroids. He wields a bow with a quiver filled with arrows.

I hear an explosion. I turn around, but keep running. The tunnel fills with dust. I hear footsteps and a girl emerges from the dust. She looks about thirteen, and wears a cavalry helmet. The boy and girl are both wearing purple T-shirts. The shirts have golden writing on them, but whenever I try to read them, the writing blurs out and I can't read it.

We exit the tunnel, and sunlight momentarily blinds me. I manage to focus my eyes and see hills in all directions.

"I slowed them down," the girl says, "but they'll be here any second."

The boy curses, "We have to get across the river."

Suddenly, I feel something squeezing my neck. I look down and realize I'm carrying someone. A woman who looks like a hag with purple feet.

"Oh yes, please. I can't get my dress wet," says the hag. For some reason, I feel a bit of hatred toward this hag.

"Go, Hazel," the boy says, nocking two arrows at once into his bow, "escort Percy so the sentries don't shoot him It's my turn to hold off the baddies."

The girl who must be Hazel nods and we run to the stream.

I realize the boy called me Percy. But my name isn't Percy. Then I realize that I must be inside of Percy right now.

I can see the stream ahead of us.

I hesitate, wanting to go, only, my body won't agree to it.

"The Little Tiber," the hag says, "it flows with the power of the original Tiber,  river of the empire. This is your last chance to back out child. The mark of Achilles is a Greek blessing. You can't retain it if you cross into Roman territory. The Tiber will wash it away.

The world around me fades into darkness and I wake from the dream.

I remember from my dream a few nights ago that the woman carrying baby me called the other man Percy too. There has to be a connection.

I get up and look around. Sunlight filters through the windows. No one except for me is awake yet. I silently get out of bed and change into a Camp Half-Blood T-shirt and some shorts. I begin to walk toward the Big House, a gigantic four-story, baby-blue house with a white roof. 

I knock on the door and hear footsteps. The door opens and Chiron steps out.

"Yes?" says Chiron sleepily, "oh, come on inside then."

I'm inside. I look around. It's a big room with purple carpeting and a fireplace made of stone. It has a wooden interior and there is a leopard's head on the wall. There are stairs in the far corner leading off to the basement. I sigh.

"I know, it's refreshing," Chiron says, "Here, have some hot chocolate and take a seat." I sit on the couch and take a sip of hot chocolate. On the side of the mug it says, "No. 1 Centaur."

"Alright," Chiron says soothingly, "let's talk about what you've seen in your dreams and what they might mean."

"Okay," I say and I tell Chiron the dream again.

"Hm," Chiron murmurs, "interesting. Is this all?"

"No, I-I had a dream last night too. That's why I came here," I say

"Percy," Chiron murmurs, "where have you gone?"

"Um... Who's Percy?" I ask.

"Percy," Chiron says, "he was a hero who defeated Kronos and one of the seven of the second great prophecy and he... left a while back."