The Titan's Curse [Book Three]

Annabeth's Future.

If Percy felt miserable at dinner that night, Reagan looked and felt like hell. Talking with Nico Di Angelo about his card game was distraction enough for a few hours, but she couldn't stand the times when she wasn't busy and her mind was free to wander. At the Ares table, once everyone paid their respects to the gods, Reagan just played with her food absently. Pushing the food around on the plate with her fork, her other hand propping up her head tiredly.

Nighttime was worse for her thoughts. Ever since running away from Luke and his army and returning to camp, she had been plagued with terrible nightmares about monsters and Kronos ripping her to shreds. The Titan's cold laughter reverberating in her chest, propelling her to run forward, away from the sound just as she was cut down by some weapon. The nightmares were a curse, nothing like the dreams she had of her step-father beating her to a pulp. Yet this time the nightmare was like nothing else she had ever experienced.

Reagan stood there in the darkness with Annabeth standing at least ten feet in front of her, a spotlight giving away her position. Annabeth looked beaten down and tired, but her eyes widened as she gazed in Reagan's direction. She moved forward once, slowly stumbling forward into a momentum of a steady jog. Reagan thought that Annabeth would get to her, and they'd embrace passionately. But as she opened her arms invitingly, Annabeth ran straight through her like a spirit. Gripping her stomach like she had been stabbed, Reagan twisted around to see where the other had ran off to. And crouching there and looking like he was struggling was Luke.

His arms were raised up like they were helping to hold up whatever invisible force was bracing itself against him, beads of sweat appeared and rolled down his face and neck. His arms shook periodically, an indication that he was beginning to lose his strength.

"Help me," he pleaded, voice weak. "Annabeth, please."

She stopped a few feet in front of him. "And why should I trust you?" she demanded, voice raw with hurt.

"You shouldn't," Luke said earnestly. "I've been terrible to you, but if you don't help me I'll die."

Reagan opened her mouth, but found that no sound came out. Her warnings went unheard as Annabeth reached down to Luke. Before she was able to witness what happened next, the dream blurred and changed to something else. She was standing in the presidential suite of The Princess Andromeda, and on the other side was Kronos' coffin. It was so cold now that puffs of her breath could be seen.

"Now how will you save her, young hero?" a deep voice mocked, causing the room to shake like there was an earthquake.

This wasn't Kronos. The laughter swelled, and she clenched her jaw as she covered her ears.

Reagan awoke, her dreams shattering as she screamed. Unfortunately waking up her half-siblings in the meantime. After several insults, shouting and throwing things, Reagan left her cabin right as the sun could be seen rising above the tree tops of the forest. She slowly walked to the dining pavilion and sat down at the Ares table. Reagan thought of Annabeth in her dream and bowed her head forward, fingers gripping her black hair and pulled on it gently. She wore a pair of dark purple basketball shorts with a black tank top, yet her body didn't seem to register the cold just yet. It was too early and she probably shouldn't even be out of her cabin yet.

But Reagan felt herself get up and travel back to the cabins, not to her own cabin, to Cabin Three. Her knuckles rapped against the door, repeating the pattern several times desperately to get Percy to wake up. Eventually a confused Percy Jackson answered, his hair ruffled and sticking up in odd directions.

"Reagan?" he rasped.

She blushed, not completely sure why she had even gone to him. "Percy. I-I had this dream I need to talk about." She hurried on quickly. "I can go. Sorry I woke you up, man."

He shook his head vaguely. "No. Hold on."

An hour later they sat together on a hill near the Big House watching the strawberry fields. Grover met up with them and was absently twirling his finger around a strand of fur on his shaggy legs. Reagan explained her dream to them, because without even noticing it she had grown very close to both of them throughout the years. Then Percy talked about his dream, and Reagan couldn't help but to panic at the thought of Annabeth being in any danger. Her heart raced erratically within her chest, and Reagan felt like it would burst right out. Then Grover's voice drifted into her thoughts, disrupting the panic.

"Zoe had a dream too," the Satyr piped up after a few moments of silence once Percy finished talking about his dream. "She went to go see Chiron at three in the morning."

"Okay, wait, how did you know about this dream?" Reagan asked.

Grover blushed. "I was asleep outside her cabin when I heard her leaving to see Chiron. I followed her and hid in some bushes," he explained. "Chiron told her they should wait for Artemis' to give them orders, but Zoe said, 'how can Artemis tell us what to do if she's lost?'"

Reagan stared at the strawberry field, twirling a blade of grass around her finger. Her eyebrows knitted together thoughtfully and she pushed herself up suddenly.

"Okay," she said drily. "Thanks for talking. It felt....good," she confessed.

Percy and Grover watched as she made her way back to the cabins. Reagan spent most of the day avoiding doing anything. She avoided her archery class and she even avoided the opportunity to teach sparring lessons to new camp arrivals. Her face was buried in the pillows on her bed, lips parted slightly as she slept. The cabin was empty so far. Except for when the door opened, and a tiny body slipped inside and closed the door behind him. The boy's eyes scanned the room and widened upon spotting Reagan.

"Reagan," he whispered, nudging her awake repeatedly. "Reagan!"

She stirred slightly. "N-Nico?" she muttered, voice gruff.

"Yeah! What are you doing cooped up in here?" he asked. "You should come outside. I can teach you more about Mythomagic!"

Reagan turned slightly to look at him, ready to turn him down. "Nico, I-" but she saw his face. The excitement and hopefulness in his eyes at the thought of having someone else to spend time with. She sighed. "Sure."

She sat up and made Nico leave the cabin so that she could change in peace. Dressing into a pair of jeans and an orange Camp Half-Blood shirt, Reagan brushed her wavy black hair to get the knots out and walked back into the sunlight. She shielded her eyes and searched for Nico, watching him standing there in the shade of a tree shuffling through his deck of cards. When he looked up, Reagan smiled and walked towards him. This was good for her right now, she needed this.

>....<

Reagan was undoubtedly getting her butt kicked in Mythomagic, and Nico was loving it. He was grinning from ear to ear, bouncing up and down slightly on his side of the table as he waited patiently for Reagan to make her turn. However, before the game could continue, Percy walked over and put something on the table next to Reagan.

"Grover showed me this. I thought you might want to look at it," said Percy.

Reagan set her cards face down and hesitantly picked up the pamphlet. Her eyes skimmed the Hunters of Artemis information. "A WISE CHOICE FOR YOUR FUTURE" was scrawled out on the front. Her green orbs widened considerably at the sight of the world "immortality." Reagan grit her teeth, suddenly balling up the pamphlet and throwing it on the ground angrily. She stood up and began to storm off, but not before making her complaints obvious.

"This is bullshit, Percy."