Chapter 04

I didn't think I would start dreaming like a demigod that quickly. I didn't think I would start dreaming like one at all, to be honest. Wherever it was, it was dark. Yet, I was still able to see through the darkness, it was as if everything had been covered in a layer of shadows. I made out a boat at the coast of the lake in front of me. It was obscured by large reed bushes and somehow, I had the feeling that I had to get to it at all costs. I began running over the stony beach, black sand and small rocks seemed to slow me down, running over them was even harder than running over normal sand. The boat began to move slowly. There was no one inside to steer it, it just floated away from the shore on its own. My running became more desperate. The boat was already a decent bit away from the coast when I reached the water. Without hesitation, I jumped into it. First running through the ever deeper water, then starting to swim. As soon as my head went underwater for the first time, my dream shifted. I was standing on an island in the middle of a lake, probably the same lake. Everything was dipped in the same shadowy darkness as before, and I saw a boat that looked just like the one I had been trying to catch gently bump against the shore. There was no reed to hide it here, just the bare stone and sand of the island. I didn't have the feeling I had to get to the boat anymore. Instead, my gaze was drawn towards the center of the island, where the dark mouth of a cave stared back at me. The entrance reminded me – without knowing why – of an empty eye socket. Infinite darkness where I had the feeling that something should be there.

I stepped towards the cave. More carefully this time, anxious. Suddenly, I felt a shaking going through me, the whole island seemed to shake all of the sudden. "Not yet!", I heard myself mumbling, trying to get closer to the cave. "I'm almost there!" A sharp green light tore me out of the dream like a pilot opening a parachute.

I was back at the Hermes cabin, but the green glow was still there. Green eyes were staring at me, and a vaguely familiar voice spoke to me:

The ferryman you have to find,

Two must plea

If your plan to a halt must grind

The poet you shall see

One must pass violent,

Yet, death shan't be silent.

Confused voices started speaking around me and just as the green glow vanished, the lights of cabin 11 were turned on. In front of my face, hanging from the rail of the bunk bed, Rachel was staring at me. She had a somewhat confused look on her face, before it turned to understanding.

"Quick!", she said. "What did I say?"

More shocked than anything, I repeated what she had just said. It dawned on me that I just witnessed a prophecy being made.

"I, I didn't think you would be part of something", Rachel continued after thinking about my words for a second. "I'm sorry."

I watched Rachel stand up and leave, mumbling the words of the prophecy over and over again. I felt how all eyes were turned towards me. It was Connor who broke the silence by saying: "All right, now. This isn't the first prophecy you all witnessed. Jacob, there's still a couple of hours left till dawn, and you have a big day tomorrow. You should try and get some more sleep.

"Yeah...", I replied weakly. As if I would be capable of finding sleep with Rachel's creepily twisted voice still booming through my mind.

I had been right. Well, almost. My body had decided that it was the best time to fall asleep one last time roughly half an hour before Connor woke up and chased me out of cabin 11, right into the arms of Percy and Annabeth.

"Good morning, Jacob!", the daughter of Athena greeted me a little too cheerfully. "How are you feeling?"

"More or less", I answered. "Are you going to be my judges for the last test?"

"Yeah", Percy chimed in. "You see, today's flag day. But we two are apparently too much of legends to take part in the game, and Chiron is the referee, so... We had nothing to do."

"Or rather, people trust our judgment enough to take on testing you", corrected Annabeth with a dignified look towards the son of Poseidon. "Anyway, let's go. Chiron told us to finish the trial before the flag is conquered.", she continued towards me.

I could tell that there was something off in the way they acted. They had probably heard about the prophecy and were told to avoid the topic. "So this last test is going to be parkour?", I asked while we were walking. My gaze was forced to the lava wall in the distance, and I suddenly got a whole lot more uncomfortable.

"Don't worry", smiled Percy. "We won't let you climb the wall. The dryads assembled a little parkour for you, you will also race against one as a little bonus incentive."

"Racing... against a tree?"

"Oh yes. They are faster than you would think, having experience with running from gods for millennia and all", Annabeth commented.

"Okay..." I wasn't a terrible runner, but I certainly wasn't fast either. I doubted my chances against someone with millennia of training if I already couldn't beat people with a few years of it.

If the dryads had really built this just for me, they must have been incredibly fast doing it. They carved out a track with dozens of small obstacles. Anything from small rocks one could just jump over to walls so tall that you would barely be able to grab the top when jumping. At the very end of the parkour was another, even bigger wall. No way up but to climb the thing.

"Hello Newblood!", a teenage girl greeted me. She seemed young, maybe 15 but I could already tell that she wasn't quite what she seemed. Her hair had a light green tint, and I believed to make out small patches of green on her skin as well.

"Nice to meet you,... Dryad", I greeted her. "I'm Jacob Cooper."

The dryad chuckled, hearing me fail at the greeting. "Hi Jacob, I'm Beech. Are you ready to race?"

I shot a quick glance to Annabeth and Percy but the two demigods just nodded to give their OK.

"Just give me a second to warm up", I told Beech and began doing a few exercises to loosen up my leg and arm muscles. Throughout the entire time, Beech looked at me with curiosity, doing exactly nothing to warm up.

"Okay, now I'm ready. Thank you for waiting."

"No problem", she smiled. "Will you two give the signal?"

Percy volunteered, and we got into position. "Set", he started with an enthusiasm that made me think he always wanted to say these words. "Ready... Go!"

Beech shot from her starting position as if she was an arrow and not a tree. I tried my best to keep up, but noticed quickly that I had no chance of winning this. The dryad practically flew over the smaller obstacles and climbed the bigger ones with incredibly few movements. My body wasn't used to the movements, so it took me a few extra steps and a bit of hesitation on every obstacle. Jumping off one of the bigger walls, I saw an obstacle I hadn't seen before. A line of swinging tree trunks blocking my way. There was nothing keeping them swinging, but I had no time to be amazed by magically working obstacles. I sprinted through the obstacle, passing one, two, three and then four trunks before I misstepped. I didn't see the giant piece of wood coming, and it hit me square in the side. I was almost catapulted out of the parkour, but barely managed to keep my feet on the ground, stumbling through the rest of the pendulums.

"That wasn't too bad!", said Percy while stretching his hand out. Somehow, they had managed to end up on the giant rock I had to climb as the last obstacle before me. Ignoring the help, I pushed myself up the last bit. At least I would get points for not cheating on the trial if not for winning, I thought to myself.

"That was really a good race!", chirped Beech. There wasn't a single drop of sweat on her, but then again, my dryads didn't sweat.

"Thank you", I managed to get out through my hurting sides. "You're an amazing runner."

"Thanks!", she smiled. It seemed like she wanted to say more, but another sound interrupted her. Long-drawn, almost howling, the sound of a horn washed over our heads. Annabeth and Percy reacted first: "A council!" Percy continued directed towards me: "Come on, Jacob. Chiron mentioned something like this, I'm pretty sure you're wanted at this council as well."

"See you, Jacob!" I just managed to hear Beech's voice while being dragged down the rock by Annabeth and Percy, past the kanu lake and towards the main house.

"Thank you all for coming so quickly", Chiron opened. The three of us had barely arrived, we were the last ones to do so. At least I wasn't the only one covered in sweat, pretty much everyone else seemed to have come straight from the battlefield. To my surprise, I also managed to make out Jessica among the twelve head counselors of the main cabins. "I gathered you on such short notice because something extraordinary happened", the centaur continued. "Jacob Cooper received a prophecy, one which undoubtedly sends him on a mission."

"Oh great. So the whole farce of the trials was even more useless", Mr D commented from his chair a little bit away from the ping pong table. Chiron shot him a stern look before continuing:

"It seems, only two demigods are meant to embark on this mission. And as happenstance has it, Jessice Yang already volunteered."

"Why her?", Clarisse injected. There seemed to be doubt on other faces too. "If a rookie like him already has to go, why give him someone as inexperienced as a companion? Shouldn't we let one of the legends handle the situation?"

"Few of us have capabilities to heal Jacob. Remember, bringing him to contact with ichor or ambrosia would kill him. But Miss Yang is capable of healing his wounds without such means."

"Are you sure I have to go?", I asked. "I barely arrived at the camp, much less being anywhere as capable as the other demigods."

"Hear hear", I made out Mr D mumbling.

"If the oracle seeks you out specifically to relay her prophecy to you, then yes", Rachel commented. I hadn't noticed her so far, despite her aggressively coloured jeans. But she had been quietly scribbling on them in a corner of the room until now. "There's no doubt the prophecy was specifically meant for you and that you are one of the two people who have to go."

"But not... now, right? I still have time."

"And this is the point where the other message comes in", Chiron said, his tone growing even more serious. "Normally, I would keep you here for at least a month. But I received word yesterday night; Charon went missing. Just minutes before Rachel stormed in and relayed the prophecy to me. There's no doubt about the urgency of this situation."

"But-"

"You will go tomorrow", Chiron interrupted me. "We have already bought flight tickets to Los Angeles and prepared a request with Zeus to let you through his territory, in case he has something against Hecate."

I remained silent. Something in Chiron's voice stopped every objection I might have had.

"I am sorry, Jacob", the centaur continued with a softer voice. "But this is something outside of our control. I recommend you and Miss Yang prepare as much as possible before you embark tomorrow."

"Hey, Jacob! Wait!" While leaving the main house, I heard the familiar voice of Jess behind me. She had brought someone with her, he was a bit older than me and built like a truck. "Hey, my name is Jake Mason. Head Counselor of cabin 9."

"Oh, hi. Nice to meet you."

The young man in front of me tried his best with a warm smile: "Don't worry too much. I'm sure everything will go well on your quest. And I'd like to help you a bit with that. Unfair enough to send you out this early, so I wanted to tune your sword a bit."

"That- That would be amazing", I admitted. "But are you sure you'll have the time?"

"Don't worry about that", the son of Hephaestos grinned, "I'll make sure to have it ready when you leave the camp. Where is it right now?"

I led the two of them back to the Hermes cabin where I had stored my bastard sword. And as soon as Jake went off with it, I heard another voice calling my name.

"There you are, Jacob. Thought I wouldn't find you anymore", said Malcolm. "Just wanted to tell you that you two can feel free to use the strategy room of the Athena cabin as much as you like! I'll chase the others through some exercises so you'll have the table for yourself until the evening."

"I- thank you. Are you sure?"

"Sure! We'll help you as much as possible here", he smiled while already running off again."

"Thought you had to do everything alone, huh?", Jess grinned towards me. "I read a bit into the books this morning and got a feeling you would think that way. But don't worry, the camp normally helps each other out a bit more. And before you can say 'thank you again'", she laughed at my expression, "How about we try out that strategy room of the Athena kids. I have never been there before!"

The next hours flew by like nothing. We checked for our flights, we would make a stop in Washington, and researched the old texts in case we missed anything about Charon that could help us solve this, but nothing turned up. There was painfully little to go on to begin with, even Annabeth's notes, written in clean Ancient Greek, were more insightful. Apparently, he was chronically underpaid working for Hades. He was also very bribable. Good thing we wouldn't only take US dollars but also a host of drachmae with us. We made a short stop to get something to eat, but aside from that talked and planned through the entire day. Jess told me that she wasn't very useful in direct combat, but could hold her own with a spear. She was more of a support at least given a few minutes before the battle started. Finally, tiredness overcame me. The lack of sleep from the last night began really developing its effects now that the adrenaline from the trial and the council was gone. After I had said goodbye to Jess, I barely managed to take a shower before falling into a sleep deep enough that no weird dream would reach me.