When Sun Meets the Sea ~ PJO 1

~15~

        ~Percy's POV

        The second Percy fell asleep, he began to dream. 

        He stood in a dark cavern before a gaping pit. Gray mist creatures churned all around him, whispering rags of smoke that he somehow knew were the spirits of the dead. They tugged at his clothes, trying to pull me back, but he felt compelled to walk forward to the very edge of the pit.

        Percy looked down into the pit and he immediately got dizzy. The pit was so wide and was so completely back, he knew it must be bottomless. But there was a feeling that something was trying to rise from the abyss, something huge and evil. 

        The little hero, an amused voice echoed far down in the darkness. Too weak, too young, but perhaps you'll do.

        The voice felt ancient to Percy, very cold and heavy and it wrapped around him like sheets of lead.

        They have misled you, boy, it said. Barter with me. I will give you what you want.

        A shimmering image hovered over the vast void: Percy's mother, frozen at the moment she'd dissolved in a shower of gold. Her face was distorted with pain, as if the Minotaur were still squeezing her. Her eyes looked directly at him, pleading: Go!

        Percy tried to cry out to her, but his voice wouldn't work. It was as if his vocal cords had been completely ripped out. 

        The void echoed a crewed laughter from within. 

       An invisible force began to pull Peryc forward and it would drag him into the pit unless he stood firm. 

        Help me rise, boy. The voice became hungrier. Angrier. Bring me the bolt. Strike a blow against the treacherous gods!

        The spirits of the dead that surround Percy whispered around him, No! Wake!

        The image of Percy's mother began to fade as the thing in the pit tightened its unseen grip around him. Percy soon realized it wasn't interested in pulling him in.

        It was interested in using him to pull itself out.

        Good, it murmured. Good. 

        Wake! the dead shouted though it still came out as whispers. Wake!

        Percy snapped his eyes open as someone shook him. 

        "Well," Annabeth said, "the zombie lives."

        Percy was trembling from the dream; he could still feel the grip of the void monster around his chest. "How long was I out for?" 

        "Long enough for me to cook breakfast." Annabeth answered as she tossed Percy a bag of nacho-flavored corn chips from Medusa's house. "And Grover went exploring. Look, he found a friend." 

        When Percy looked, Grover was sitting cross-legged on a blanket with something fuzzy in his lap, a dirty, unnaturally pink stuffed animal. But as Percy looked closer, he realized it wasn't a stuffed animal. It was a pink poodle. 

        The poodle yapped at Percy suspiciously. Grover said, "No he's not." 

        "Are you-are you talking to that thing?" Percy asked very confused as the poodle growled. 

        Andie gasped at Grover's side. "Percy! Have some class!" 

        "That thing" Grover warned, "is our ticket west. Be nice to him." 

        "You can talk to animals?" Percy asked him but Grover ignored his question and Percy figured he deemed it a stupid one to answer. 

        "Percy, meet Gladiola. Gladiola, Percy." 

        Percy stared at Annabeth, figuring she'd crack up at the practical joke they were playing on him, but she looked deadly serious which meant that everything that was happening right now wasn't some weird part of his dream. 

        "I'm not saying hello to a pink poodle," Percy stated, crossing his arms. "Forget it." 

        "Percy, "Annabeth said. "Andie said hello the poodle-

        "Andie would say hello to a killer whale-

        "I said hello to the poodle. You say hello the poodle." Annabeth continued on, ignoring Percy's comment.

        Percy stared at her, his mouth dropping slightly as he was about to protest but she glared at him, and he rolled his eyes with a sigh. 

        He said hello the poodle.

        Grover explained that he'd come across Gladiola in the woods, and they'd struck up a conversation. The poodle had run away from a rich local family, who'd posted a $200 reward for his return. Gladiola didn't really want to go back to his family, but he was willing to if it meant helping Grover.

        "How does Gladiola know about the reward?" Percy asked.

        "He read the posted signs, obviously." Andie answered as if it were the simplest thing in the world for someone to understand. 

        "Oh, obviously." Percy said as he raised his hands in defense. "Silly little me." 

        "So, we turn in Gladiola," Annabeth explained in her 'planning' voice, "we get money, and we buy tickets to Los Angeles. Simple."

        Percy thought about his dream, everything he saw would be waiting for him in the West. He then looked down at Andie who was petting Gladiola the poodle affectionately, cooing to him at how handsome he was. Her nightmare may also be waiting for her in the West. Percy didn't know if her nightmare was a prophecy or not or if it was just some trick her mind was playing on her to scare her, but he didn't want to put her at risk of dying because of a fight with something that was apparently huge. And Percy figured that the monster in his dreams was the same monster in her dream. 

        "Not another bus," Percy said instead, he didn't want to worry the group with his things that may or may not happen.

        "No," Annabeth agreed as she then pointed downhill, towards train tracks that Percy hadn't been able to see last night in the dark. "There's an Amtrack station half a mile that way. According to Gladiola, the westbound train leaves at noon."