ROSE

I dreamt I was in the same, creepy cave from my dreams three months ago. All my dreams - except for a rare few - always started here, in this very cave. During the quest to stop Ares, I experienced my first few demigod dreams here, and for the last three months, these dreams have persisted. This cave was Erebos' main spot of activity, and where I suspected this current quest would reach an end. This was likely where the Mist would either be recovered or destroyed permanently.

I was floating above the metal cage that contained the blond woman that had been in all of these visions. She looked worse than ever, with bags under her eyes and a skinny physique, like she hadn't eaten in months, which she probably hadn't. Looking at her sickly face made me feel awful for her and disgusted with Erebos and his worshipper's actions.

The two witches were still performing magic on her cage and the large giant was blocking the exit to said cage. Who that large giant was I still didn't know, but the two witches I easily recognized as Pasiphae and Circe, the former being an enemy Arthur, Kai, and I had fought against on our first quest and the latter being mentioned by name from Erebos in one of my apparitions.

There was a wide array of computer screens that had a bunch of numbers and statistics on it, with people operating on the devices and analyzing the data. Given I had dyslexia and the distance between me and the devices, I couldn't read a single number of what was being displayed on the computer screens.

"What's the status of the prisoner?" the voice of Erebos boomed.

His voice was deep and metallic, almost like a fork grinding against a metal bar, but with less of a metallic tone and more of a deep, raspy timbre.

"Good," Circe answered. "Within eight days, Hecate's power will be completely drained."

Hecate? My mother?

I had a feeling when I agreed to lead this quest that something had gone wrong with my mother. The Mist was her main domain of power and it had been acting up since my first quest and even more so after the incident at Times Square, and she had been gone for a while, but granted, she'd been gone for all fourteen years of my life. Me not seeing her in the slightest was the norm for me, so I had never suspected that she was gone or in trouble until hearing the prophecy.

Now knowing of my mother's involvement in the quest, I felt more anxiety and pressure being placed onto me. If I failed in the quest, I'd be failing her, my friends, and dooming the entire demigod world and Olympus.

I was additionally frustrated that I hadn't recognized that the blond woman was Hecate until just now, when her name was said aloud. Even if she looked different from the pictures the members of the Hecate cabin had shown me, something should've immediately clicked when I saw her in my visions.

Erebos chuckled. "That's good. Those demigods will have an impossible task to face. Within eight days, I'll have fully risen and the Mist will be completely gone. Everyone, dismissed."

Before I could ponder the dream any longer, my vision shifted. I was floating above a large field of flowers where two people were walking across the field.

One was male and had intense golden eyes, curly black hair, and a long pointy beard, which looked like an upside-down triangle. He was about six-feet tall and was wearing a red toga strapped across his right shoulder. On his back was a menacing scythe of about six feet long, the blade being curved like a crescent moon and the thick handle wrapped in leather. The scythe was made of Celestial bronze and some other steel-esque substance, making it able to hit and slay both mortals and demigods. It was truly a terrifying combination of materials, both in appearance and in battle.

To his side was a female with bright green eyes and long ginger hair. She had freckles all over her face and body, and was wearing a white dress with sandals, as well as white glasses. Her skin was also pale like the man's skin.

"What is the meaning of this meeting, Philyra?" the male asked. His voice sounded eerily similar to Erebos', deep, hollow, and menacing.

Where had I heard the name Philyra before?

"I invited you here because… I'm pregnant," the woman said.

She touched her two palms to her midsection, which was very round in shape and ballooned outwards.

The man looked at her, completely stunned. "Ah. Well…"

The man suddenly snapped his fingers and a portal opened up behind him. "Good day, Philyra."

"Wait, Kronos!" Philyra cried.

The man walked through the portal, leaving Philyra all by herself. The vision abruptly ended on that bombshell of a name-drop.

Kronos? Now I definitely had heard that name before. Quite a lot, actually.

I mean, who hadn't? He was the Titan that killed his father, Ouranous, swallowed five of his six godly children, then poetically died by Zeus' hand just like his father. It's been said that after that incident with Zeus, Kronos stirred in his ancient tomb in Tartarus and appeared in different people's dreams, promising revenge against the gods.

Then, a few years ago, Kronos had risen again and declared war on Olympus. While the gods abandoned Olympus to go face the monster Typhon, Kronos had raided New York. Thankfully, Percy Jackson and his friends at Camp Half-Blood were able to stop him, and Kronos now presided in Tartarus once again, his essence scattered across time and space as him rising again is highly unlikely.

Something was so strange about that last dream I'd had. Usually my dreams were terrifying and warned me of future events or present events, but this one wasn't like any of the other ones I'd had.

The only conclusion I had arrived at was that the vision seemed to have taken place way before the gods ruled the world, given Kronos' appearance in it. Outside of that, I knew nothing else, just that the dream mysteriously wasn't about death or a quest, and nothing objectively bad had happened. And given that realization that nothing bad had been said, bar Kronos' name being brought up, I wondered why I had even had the dream, especially if it wasn't prophecy/quest related or warning me of something.

But then a past dream of mine came to mind. Three months ago, during the time of my first quest, I had a dream about Arthur and Geneva, just planning a date. While that dream and the one I had just had were quite distinct, there were a few similarities, with the main one being that neither of them insinuated or forewarned something bad happening.

So, was I supposed to find Philyra and Kronos, just as I did Arthur and Geneva? That wouldn't make sense, right? Kronos is long gone, and I could only assume that Philyra was gone too. But there was a reason - albeit one I don't quite know yet - why I was shown that dream.

After theorizing about what the dream truly meant, I woke up. As much as I wanted to continue to speculate about the dream's significance, I was absolutely starving and also remembered that this was the second day of the quest and we needed to talk to the Muses.

I quickly got changed and exited my cabin, making my way up to the top deck. I entered Oman's cabin, where my friends were waiting for me. They were sitting on a couple couches, eating breakfast and drinking beverages from the minibar on the side.

I made myself some waffles and poured a glass of chocolate milk before sitting down next to them.

"Hey, what's up, Sleepy?" Kai asked.

He had a plate of sizzling hot bacon and jalapenos. Strange breakfast choice, but this is Kai we're talking about.

"Well, I had some strange dreams yesterday," I said.

Alexander nodded in agreement. "Tell me about it. First, there were these strange cotton-"

Geneva glared at him. "Not those kinds of dreams, Alexander. Go on, Rose."

I went ahead and explained my dreams about Erebos, Hecate, and the strange pregnant woman, Philyra.

"I'm not sure who the pregnant woman is, but Hecate is the blond woman that's been in your dreams?" Amethyst asked.

I nodded.

"Wow, you don't even recognize your own mother," Kai grinned. He popped another jalapeno in his mouth. "These are pretty tasty actually. Why do people hate these?"

"Um, because they're super spicy?" I answered, laughing slightly.

"No, they aren't," Kai insisted. He popped another in his mouth. "Delicious. 10/10."

Alexander scoffed. "Yeah, they're not that spicy."

He took one of Kai's jalapenos and put it in his mouth. Three seconds later, he said, "See, they're not that ba- AHHHHHHHH!"

Alexander rushed to the minibar and started chugging a milk carton down his throat, streams of milk pouring down his chin.

Kai chuckled. "Don't worry, Alexander. Keep calm and curry on."

Kai started giggling to himself, but the rest of us just stared at him.

"Really?" Amethyst asked with deadpan.

"Ooh, sounds like someone's a little salty," Kai taunted. "Don't fret. It takes thyme to come up with the perfect spice puns. Just chili a little bit and you'll get there."

I shook my head in disappointment, though I couldn't stop myself from smiling just a little bit. "Anyways, now we know that Erebos is rising seven days from today, the day after we need to free Hecate and restore the Mist."

"That's good to know," Amethyst said. "Here, we'll attend the Muses concert and see if they can tell us a little bit more. Oman, how close are we to Maine?"

"About ten minutes," Oman responded.

We waited for a few minutes, finishing our breakfast meals, before Oman announced from the front, "Hold on. Does anybody hear that rootin-tootin music comin' from below us?"

I began hearing an amazing rock song play from below the ship, even with how far we are. "Amethyst, are the Muses meant to be this loud?"

"Only for demigods and gods, they are, with the exception of a few monsters," Amethyst replied. "Oman, go ahead and drop us off near the city."

Oman landed on a grassy hill, not far away from the city of Augusta, Maine. The city was extremely beautiful, with a gleaming lake and tall buildings. Overall, it looked to be a very peaceful place.

We grabbed our weapons and got off the ship. We followed the music, and within a few minutes, we had arrived at the concert venue the Muses were performing in. The music was even louder now that we were closer.

"Gods, what took a dump on this place? It looks horrible," Kai yelled over the blaring music.

His assessment was correct. There was litter and trash all over the pavement and the building looked like it was a thousand years old. The windows were boarded up and the building was covered with stains, graffiti, and vines.

"It's not your place to judge, Kai," Amethyst chided. "And anyways, it's not about the quality of the place. It's about the quality of the music."

"Whatever you say, Mary Poppins."

Geneva opened the doors up after the two siblings ceased their bickering.

The concert venue was completely empty. There were huge boomboxes and speakers that were projecting the song we had been listening to. There were chairs knocked down and scattered all over the place and the stage had wads of papers and apples laying on the wooden floor.

"Amethyst, I thought you said the Muses were playing here," Geneva said.

"They were," Amethyst told her. "That's what it said in the newspaper."

"Actually, your friend's assessment was correct," a voice said. "The Muses aren't playing here."

We were then surrounded by a large circle of demigods carrying weapons and wearing matching GHOST shirts.

The one who had spoken the first time spoke again. "Let's make this quick then, shall we?"