The Second Jackson- Piper McLean book 1

Dreams and Crazy Statues

Percy

I slept like a Medusa victim- which is to say, like a rock.

Lani and I hadn't slept in a safe, comfortable bed since... well, I couldn't even remember. Despite our insane day and the million thoughts running through my head, my body took over and said: you will sleep now.

I had dreams of course. I always had dreams, but they passed like blurred images from the window of a train. I saw a curly-haired faun in ragged clothes running to catch up with me. Lani was standing at my side as always. It was nice knowing I could depend on someone throughout all of this.

"I don't have any spare change" I called.

"What?" the faun said. "No, Percy, Lani. It's me, Grover! Stay put! We're on our way to find you. Tyson is close- at least we think he's the closest. We're trying to get a lock on your position."

"What?" Lani called, but the faun disappeared in the fog.

Then Annabeth was running along beside me, on the opposite side as Lani, reaching out her hand. "Thank the gods!" she called, "For months and months we couldn't see you! Are you all right?"

I remembered what Juno had said- for months they have been slumbering, but now they are awake. The goddess had intentionally kept us hidden, but why?

"Are you real?" I asked.

I wanted so much to believe it I felt like Hannibal the elephant was standing on my chest. But her face began to dissolve. She cried, "Stay put! It'll be easier for Tyson to find you! Stay where you are!"

Then she was gone. The images accelerated and I felt Lani grab my hand. I gripped her hand tightly. We saw a huge shup in a dry dock, workers scrambling to finish the hull, a guy with a blowtorch welding a bronze dragon figurehead to the prow. I saw the war god stalking toward us in the surf, a sword in his hands.

Lani's hand slipped from mine and I was about to call out for her when she reappeared. Both of us standing on the Field of Mars, looking up at the Berkeley Hills. Golden grass rippled, and a face appeared in the landscape- a sleeping woman, her features formed from shadows and folds in the terrain. Her eyes remained closed, but I could hear her in my mind.

"So these are the demigods who defeated my son Kronos. You don't look like much Percy Jackson, of course next to you Lani Jackson is nothing but your sister. But you're valuable to me Percy Jackson, and your sister is good bait. Come North. Meet Alcyoneus. Juno can play her little game with Greeks and Romans, but in the end, you will be my pawn. You will be the key to the gods' defeat."

My vision turned dark. I stood in a theater-sized version of the camp's headquarters- a principia with walls of ice and freezing mist hanging in the air. The floor was littered with skeletons in Roman armor and Imperial gold weapons encrusted with frost. In the back of the room sat an enormous shadowy figure. His skin glinted of gold and silver, as if he were an automaton like Reyna's dogs. Behind him stood a collection of ruined emblems, tattered banners, and a large golden eagle on a staff of iron.

The giants voice boomed in the fast chamber, "This will be fun son of Neptune. It's been eons since I broke a demigod of your caliber. Of course, contrary to popular belief I believe you, daughter of Neptune, will be slightly more challenging, or perhaps rumors will prove to be correct. We'll find out. I await you both atop the ice"

I woke, shivering. For a moment I didn't know where I was. Then I remembered: Camp Jupiter, the Fifth Cohort barracks. I lay in my bunk, staring at the ceiling and trying to control my racing heartbeat.

A golden giant was waiting to break me, and my sister. Wonderful. But what unnerved me more was that sleeping woman's face in the hills. You will be my pawn. I didn't play chess, but I was pretty sure being a pawn was bad, they died a lot.