Spies-in-Training: A Royal Problem | Percabeth AU

Chapter 7: Dreams

Percy's POV:
Everyone was sitting in their seats except me. They had a range of expressions on their faces. Some shocked, some were horrified, others were confused, and the guests (let's call them 'the gang' now) were even stifling laughs.

"Um..." I rubbed the back of my neck nervously. My mother had her eyebrow raised at me.

"What did you do, Percy?" She asked me.

"I... may have pranked her... and it may have involved some water..." I stammered sheepishly. My mom simply shook her head at me disapprovingly.

"Well, I think you must have learned your lesson by now," she said, with a glance at Annabeth, "I don't think I need to punish you any more, do I?"

I blushed and shook my head sheepishly, then took my seat and we all started eating, everyone spiraling off into their own conversations.

Zoë, who was sitting next to me, turned towards me as we were eating. I had enough time to think, Uh-oh, before she started berating me.

"Why did you prank her?" She asked me. "That was really dumb."

"I'm sorry, okay? I didn't know she would be so mad about it."

"Wouldn't you be mad if someone spilled water all over you as a prank?"

She had a point. But she wasn't done yet.

"You spilled water on me earlier today, and I was mad, too, remember? Hey wait, I just noticed something. Why do all of your pranks involve water?"

I froze. Oh, no. If she found out my secret...

"Seriously, I can't think of one prank you've made that doesn't involve water. It's like you have this special connection with it!" she laughed.

My hands turned clammy. I hid them under the table, desperately trying to hide the fact that she had struck a nerve there.

"Now that I come to think of it, you're always at the beach, too. And you love to swim. Strange, huh?" Zoë turned to me, waiting for a reply.

"Uh... Y-yeah... I mean, it's cool if you think about it that way, but really, it's nothing special, I just really like the water. Makes for a really good prank!" I stammered nervously.

"A really annoying prank," she corrected me. "But yeah."

I almost blew it when I audibly sighed in relief and slumped my shoulders, but I managed to convince her that I was just tired.

Phew... close one.

After we had all finished our dinner—during which Annabeth kept glaring at me, by the way—my mom stood up.

"Paul and I have decided to hold a ball to officially welcome our guests here to the castle. The ball will be held tomorrow night," she announced.

"Mom!" Zoë complained. Tyson, Zoë, and I all hated balls. We always had to dress in itchy, uncomfortable clothes and 'mingle', apparently since we were the Princes and Princess, and 'must learn how to act like a Royal'. Paul's words, not mine.

I was about to speak up myself, but Mom shot us a quelling look.

"Our guests must be officially welcomed to our castle," she insisted.

"Okay..." Zoë sighed, accepting defeat.

"Um... what should we wear?" Jason asked, looking confused and a bit nervous.

"The girls can wear any dress, as long as it isn't too casual or too fancy. The boys can wear a suit or tuxedo," she replied.

"Okay, thank you Sally," Piper said politely.

"No problem, my dear."

Mom and Paul explained the rest of the details. The gang, Tyson, Zoë, and I would get ready for the ball and meet at the bottom of the staircase at 9 o'clock. We would then head to the ball together and stay there until midnight. But of course, if the gang felt any need to leave early—I could have sworn Mom sent them a swift glance at them when she said this—they could feel free to leave. I thought this was totally unfair, but I had no choice but to agree with Mom.

After finalizing the details, we were dismissed from dinner and we all headed to our rooms to get some sleep.

***

I was standing in a dark, freezing cold cave. I squinted into the darkness, but I couldn't make out anything. I tried to stumble forwards, but I couldn't move. My feet were rooted to the spot...

Suddenly, I heard a voice come up from the depths of the cave, the darkest corners. The voice was deep and menacing. The very ground seemed to shake with the force of it.

"You will fall," the voice rumbled. "I will come for you. I will not stop until I find you and your pathetic family."

I shivered, whether from the cold or the voice, I didn't know.

"Yes, Perseus Jackson," the voice chuckled, but it didn't sound happy. It sounded cold, and dark, and evil. "And when I find you, I will tear you all to shreds! I will rule over the world, and you cannot stop me!"

The earth shook and rumbled from his terrible laugh. "No!" I wanted to shout. "No, you won't, you psychopath!"

But my voice wouldn't work. I could only watch in horror as the little light that had been coming from the cave's entrance faded away, and shadows replaced it. The shadows stretched farther and farther, almost as if they were trying to grab me. They crept forwards.

Closer... closer...

The shadows radiated fear and darkness. They kept coming, replacing the light. They were coming for me.

Closer... closer...

They were at the tips of my shoes now. I tried to scream, run, fight, anything, but nothing would work. I could only watch as the shadows came up my body, steadily wrapping themselves all around me.

Closer... closer...

I could only see a sliver of light now. The shadows had blocked everything else. They had covered most of my body by now. They started to cover up that last sliver of light, my last hope.

Closer... closer...

I woke up with a start, sweating and shivering.

I sometimes had dreams like this, warning me about something dark and terrible, but they were never this vivid. This time it was more clear, almost as if it was happening in real life... or was going to happen.

But I shook off those thoughts. I caught my breath and stopped shivering and sweating. After all, it was just a dream. Nothing special. People got nightmares all the time. It was no big deal.

But what Percy didn't know was, elsewhere, 9 other people were having the same dream. [And no, I didn't count wrong. Try and guess who these 9 are ;)]

Just a dream... right?

A/N: Eek! Two updates in one day!! (At least it's one day where I am) I am so proud of myself! I hope you guys loved this chapter as much as I did. And I really hope this pays my debts to you guys (and gals) for not updating for so long.