The Child of the Dead Sea (a Percy Jackson fanfic)

5. Deadly Nightmares

PERCY

Last night was weird. Me and Annabeth had nightmares, but they never left physical scars. I woke up a bit earlier that morning. Truth be told, i couldn't sleep very well.

I sat up in bed and Kate was gone. Now i was awake. I looked out the window and saw her just standing on the porch. Good shes fine. I was about to try and sleep when i saw something peeking out from under her bed. So, naturally i pulled it out and sat on my own bed to see what it was.

I recognized it without having to open it. Piper had one, it was a sketchbook. I didn't know Kate liked drawing. I opened the front cover and let's just say it was weird. She had scribbled random things inside the cover. I couldn't even read them. I ignored them and opened to the first page.

The drawing on the first page was a picture of her, but she was little, with a woman who I assumed is her mom, although the woman was young. They were both happy and running in a yard. I smiled at the picture. Then i skipped ahead to a random page. The first one i came to was a picture of her battling harpies. Then I realized, she drew what happened to her, her experiences.

I knew i shouldn't turn the page, i knew that they would be pictures of the place that i tried so hard to forget. But i did anyway.

The next few pictures were the stuff of nightmares. They were of the pits of Tartarus, places down there that even Annabeth and i didn't see. I could only stand to see the first until i skipped to the last filled page.

She had stuck her pencil there to hold the place. It was a picture of her being attacked by a group of at least fifty hellhounds. The image was so graphic that i had to close the book. It was almost like those pictures moved.

I heard the door to the cabin open and i slid the book under my bed.

Kate walked in and looked at me, "Something wrong?" She asked.

"No just a little tired." I responded yawning and stretching trying to prove my point.

"Yeah, sorry about waking you up." She said looking away.

"No problem. Just another day in the life of a demigod."

She flashed a smile at me and crawled back in bed. I looked out the window and saw it was still dark. So i fell asleep as well.

~~~~~~~

"Wake up, kelp-for-brains! It's breakfast!" I heard Kate yell and i felt a soft weight on my face.

"You hit me with a pillow?" I groaned. I woke up to see what had hit me and her pillow sat on my chest.

"Yep. Now get dressed, the horn will sound for breakfast any minute now." She responded. It seemed like she wouldn't talk about last night as she was happy. But that was fine with me, even though that book still bothered me.

I sat up in bed to see Kate who looked like she just came back from a run around the camp. "Did you leave?" I asked hoping i didn't sound possessive.

"Yeah, i always take a run in the mornings." She shrugged. She pulled off the tank that she had on and grabbed a camp t-shirt for today. In the brief moment that her lower back showed, i saw something i didn't want to think about. Her lower back was laced with scars and burns like she was tortured. She turned around to see me staring and she pulled on and straightened her shirt.

We were dressed quickly and left the cabin as the horn sounded. I had tried to ask her about the scars but she blew it off and avoided my questions. That just made me more concerned.

We sat at our normal table and the rest of the seven soon joined us. Jason looked tired, his glasses perched in his messy hair. Piper shook her head at him, a small smile on her face.