In the Beginning

Chapter Eight

This time the nightmare was a million times worse than they had been. In this dream I saw Aphrodite. She handed me a worn, decaying-on-the-edges kind of old scroll. She told me I would have to make a choice, and quickly. When I could no longer see her, I unraveled the scroll. I was horrified at its contents. I knew that Aphrodite's symbol was doves so I was shocked to find that inside the scroll were a few simple lines and below that three doves with arrows through their hearts. Their blood dripped down the page as if they were actually attached to the parchment. The lines were simple, like I said, and when I say simple, I mean scary simple. It said:

The sorceress who is left behind

A child who betrays her ways

The warrior faces the end of her days

I didn't know what this meant and I really didn't want to find out. Although I was terrified of the lines, I couldn't help but question the lack of rhyme in the first sentence. While I had this contemplation with myself, the nightmare was literally crumbling around me. The scroll was ripped from my hands by a large gust of wind and I was knocked from my feet. The last thing I remembered was falling into oblivion.

I opened my eyes to empty, almost dead daylight. I practically jumped out of my bed, hoping this wasn't another nightmare. I walked out the door that was set ajar, in my bare feet. I sighed with relief, I was awake. I could see the other campers tending to their regular activities. Had I really been allowed to sleep this late? I returned into the cabin and got dressed. I rushed out to the archery ranges, I was still getting used to the schedule of training. I met the few Aphrodite campers who were willing to shoot. Luckily, it wasn't just kids from my cabin. Chiron was helping a young camper, a boy about 10, put on his arm guard. "Starr, you're late." I winced, he hadn't even glanced at me.

"I'm really sorry, it won't happen again." I sounded pathetic but Chiron seemed to buy it and nodded. Brittney grinned, shaking her head. I followed her to the patch of grass with the quivers and guards. I strapped the leather guards on.

"What was your dream about?" Brittney asked. I looked at her. I blew my hair out of my face. I should've had the sense to at least put it up. I did so as Britt asked me again.

"Nothing important." I stood straight, hair now in a ponytail and fiddled with the quiver.

"Starr, you can trust me, I promise." I let out an exasperated sigh.

"Okay, okay, I know." I put the quiver strap over my shoulder and held the bow in my other hand as Birtt and I went back to the lesson. "It was about Aphrodite." I told her. Britt's eyes widened. I knocked an arrow, I was still a bit tense from what happened with the bow yesterday. I pulled the string back then released. Well...it wasn't a horrible shot, it was in the blue circle at least. Brittney looked over from her line, she was having trouble pulling back the arrow.

"Have you done this before?" She asked after giving up with string. I shrugged. I knew I had, but I couldn't remember when. In fact, I couldn't even remember learning how to shoot an arrow. Britt raised an eyebrow but went back to her target. I knocked another arrow, pulled back on the string. I was about to release when an arrow was headed straight for me. I side-stepped, dodging the arrow.

"Heads!" Someone from the other side of the field called. I looked at where the voice had come from. It was a guy about a year older than me. His dark hair was matted like he hadn't bothered to comb it, which he probably hadn't. He gave me a devilish grin and I couldn't help but smiling back. Brittney groaned.

"You know, you could try aiming next time, Quinn." Brittney had retrieved the arrow and jogged to the other side of the field to return it. The boy smirked.

"That would be no fun." I heard him say to Britt. I was already suspicious of this guy. but I decided it'd just be better to ignore him and go back to training. I continued to shoot until I finally hit the center of the target. Britt, who had assumed her position next to me, raised her eyebrow.

"So...about this dream...?" I cringed, hoping she would've forgotten. I opened my mouth to speak, but thankfully, Chiron told us the lesson was over and to retrieve our arrows. Brittney looked at me expectantly.

"I'll tell you later." I whispered to her and ran to get my arrows.

Training was over, for today, and I'd already grown tired of it. I had scorch marks along my arms and legs and my hands were scraped and singed. This was all because of a climbing wall. But that was only some of it. At the arena, I'd learned I wasn't the best with a sword. Percy had bested me all the times we'd sparred. I didn't want to get into the rest of the day, it was just downhill from there.

I sat between Piper and Brittney at the Aphrodite table in the dining pavilion. Turns out the girls were better friends then they let on. Piper recounted her quest with Leo and Jason two years ago. Britt told me of all the stupid pranks the Hermes children had pulled on the Aphrodite cabin. Even before the beginning of the meal, my side's were aching from laughing so hard. I finally felt like I belonged. Chiron asked for silence. He announced that a game of capture the flag would take place tomorrow, the campers cheered. He added that the leading teams would be Athena, the blue team, against Ares, the red team. I hadn't officially met anyone from the Ares cabin but from what I'd heard from Brittney, they weren't people you wanted on your bad side. After the long list of announcements, we sacrificed part of our meal to the gods and started our meal.