Dreams of Demigods

Chapter 21

Allison's POV 21

I really don't know how it got here. A monster, 5:04 pm, the edge of the forest. Let me backtrack about half an hour. Cherry and I had just finished all our activities for the day, and we were walking by the cabins.

"So, how does it feel to be able to charmspeak?" Cherry asked me.

"Umm, it's kinda weird. I'm not that good at it yet, but I'm trying to practice so I can get better." I responded.

"When you master it, you can pretty much get anyone to do anything you want, right?"

"More or less." I got an idea. "Ooh, Cherry, can I try to charmspeak you? It'll help me get better."

"Sure, why not," Cherry said, shrugging. "Just don't have me tell Malcolm that he's the best at everything." Cherry shuddered at the thought. "His ego is big enough already."

"Okay, here we go." I took a deep breath and concentrated on what I was about to say. "Cherry, do a handstand." Nothing happened. "Um, raise your hand." Cherry didn't move. "Ugh! Why isn't it working?"

"Maybe if you focused on something you really wanted the other person to do, and concentrated on that, it would work," Cherry offered. "For example, if you told Connor to confess his love for you, he'd do it!" Cherry laughed and elbowed me.

"Oh my gods Cherry, why are you so obsessed with Connor liking me?" I asked, exasperated.

"Aha!" Cherry exclaimed. "You finally admit to knowing that he likes you," she said with a smug look on her face.

"Well, it's kind of obvious," I said. "I'm a daughter of Aphrodite, I'd be blind not to see it. He gave me a nickname, and made me a friendship bracelet on our first day here," I showed Cherry the bracelet, and my voice dropped down to a whisper. "He's not the best at hiding his feelings."

"Well, that's an understatement. He's terrible at hiding his feelings, or maybe he just wants you to know," Cherry said with a sly smile. "Earlier, when you got claimed, and your clothes changed into that dress, Connor was looking at you like you were $1,000,000. And you know how much he loves money." It was true, Connor did love money, he probably had a huge stash of bills in his trunk from all those times he'd broken into the camp store. Travis too. "But in all seriousness," Cherry continued, "at least you have a cool power, a bigger purpose in life. You'll probably get a quest and save the world with your charmspeak someday, while I'll be powerless, and stuck in the Hermes cabin listening to Connor rant about how he's in love with you."

"Okay, two things wrong with that. One, I'm sure you'll get claimed soon and have super cool powers," I comforted Cherry. "Two, does Connor actually do that?"

"No," Cherry laughed. "But he'll probably start soon. Just walk by him and wave or something. His heart will explode."

"Ugh," I said, trying to run my hands through my hair, but couldn't because of that stupid makeover. At least I had been able to change into my camp shirt and shorts. "Anyways, I'm sure you'll get a quest someday. What do you think would be the scariest part?"

Cherry thought about it for a minute. "Probably the monsters. We haven't really encountered that many here at camp, and who knows what's out there in the real world?"

"Yeah, the monsters would probably be pretty scary," I agreed. "I don't know if this technically counts as part of the quest, but I think the scariest part would be visiting the Oracle. I heard that its voice is really creepy and mysterious, and that some people go insane after hearing the prophecy they're given. That's enough to give me nightmares."