I was fully awake at this point and Logan used that as a chance to pull me out of bed and lead me towards the woods where we could see a stone arch below. That's the entrance.

Ashira and Paris were talking to each other, not even bothering to hide themselves.

"I bet they were expecting us," Logan said. "There's no other reason why Ashira and Paris would be talking to each other, so clearly near the entrance, if they weren't expecting us."

I sighed. "Well, you can handle that all on your own, I'm not."

I got up, preparing to walk back to my cabin but Logan pulled me back down.

"Thea," he said before sighing. "I think they might be onto something with the lightning bolt thing."

I scoffed. "Do you really believe that the gods aren't doing this for show?"

"I do," he admitted. "I really do, but if Zeus or the other gods didn't know where we were and just struck randomly, something tells me that this isn't for show. Something is really wrong and we need to intervene."

I shook my head. "They got to you too, I can't believe it."

"Thea–"

"The gods are a bunch of sore losers who can't bear to see the fact that their kids don't want them around. Who cares that this stupid prophecy is going around, all they want is to feel validated and this is how they are going to get it. If we listen to them, we're going to die."

"But if we don't then we're still going to die, Thea," Logan protested.

"Exactly," I said. "Where's the win here? I would rather die not listening to them then die doing so. I'm out."

I got up, not even sparing a glance towards my brother. If he wants to believe that the gods are actually in trouble, I'll let him. I just can't believe that he could be this stupid.

I went back to sleep the moment my head hit my pillows.

Unfortunately, the good dreams didn't greet me as quickly.

⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅

I was in a forest, rain pouring down above me. I saw a blonde-haired boy with pale skin and sea green eyes, soaked by the rain. In front of him was a giant, bull-like creature. The minotaur.

The boy was holding a golden sword with Anaklusmos carved into the blade. Riptide. I learned about that sword. It belonged to Heracles.

The bull grunted before charging at the boy. The boy, who looked physically and emotionally pained, charged at the monster, trying to slice at it, but he kept missing until the minotaur tossed him towards a tree.

I wanted to scream at him to get up, but my voice was nowhere to be found thanks to me being in a dream. The sword was thrown to the tree in front of him, which disappeared a few seconds later.

At this point I was scared for the boy. He didn't stop fighting. He got up and ran towards the Minotaur again, managing to get on top of him. The Minotaur was slamming against trees, trying to get the boy off of him until the boy pulled one of the horns off of its head and stabbed him with it, making it dissolve quickly. The boy, with the help of a brown-haired satyr, walked into an entrance that was very similar to ours, but it had greek words on it that said "CAMP HALF-BLOOD". Once it made it to a small bench he passed out.

And the dream ended just as quickly as it came.

⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅

Once the sun rose I walked towards the beach. I planned to just calm myself down until the time comes for me to train.

Aside from coming from the same womb, my brother and I have another thing in common. That is that we both find the sea calming.

For me it's the smell of the sea salt in the air or the crash of the waves on some morning. It makes me forget all the troubles from the last few days and lets me just sit down and enjoy the peace.

"Nice day, huh?"

And it's ruined. I looked up to see Paris sitting down beside me. I sighed, closing my eyes as I took a breath.

"Only one of many," I said simply.

Paris hummed. "I can understand that."

I just wanted to lay down. If he wanted to, he could join me without bothering me.

"I had a dream."

That son of a– I groaned. "What was it?"

"The gods were talking about someone. They kept calling him "the old one." every time they would mention him, the older six would get uncomfortable. Almost like–"

"Why are you telling me this?" I asked him, standing up? "Do my boundaries mean nothing to you guys? I don't want anything to do with them. Can someone please understand that!"

I groaned, sitting back down. "First Ashira, then you, then Elder Venus, and now Logan. It's like a clock that will never stop ringing no matter how many times I try to shut it off. Does no one understand that I will never do anything for them. So stop! Stop telling me anything about them like I care about what they have to say. Just stop!"

I got back up and headed towards my cabin, ignoring all of the confusion of the faces that stared me down as I passed them.

In a world of people who hate the gods just as much as I do, they sure love to tell me everything about them.

Logan found me in my room under the blankets.

"Leave me alone," I groaned.

Logan said nothing. He just sat down on my bed. "Paris told me what happened."

"What joy," I said sarcastically. "What are you just going to repeat what he said to me?"

"No," he said.

"Good. Because I had enough of that."

We stayed silent. It wasn't as peaceful as the ocean in the slightest but at least he wasn't spouting any god nonsense.

I then sat up for no reason, giving a bored look at my twin brother.

"Did you dream about a blonde boy last night?" Logan asked.

I raised an eyebrow. "Yes. Why?"

"He seems special," Logan said. "Nost special ed, but just...a different kind of special. Like, special like us special. You know?"

He said special five times in the same breath and somehow I still understood him.

We're the only children of the big three gods in Willow, making us pretty unique. It's an unwanted kind of unique but I guess it's there nonetheless.

"There's this place called Camp Half-Blood. I saw it in the dream," I mentioned.

"Me too," Logan said. "You think it's another place for demigods like us?"

"It has half-blood in the name so it wouldn't be too far fetched."

Logan stared at the ground for a minute before getting off the bed and walking out of the room. I followed him, confused.

"Where are you going?" I asked him.

"I'm going to find this camp," he answered.

I pulled on his shirt, stopping him. "Wait, why?"

"Maybe the boy could use some help," he said.

"You want to walk out of Willow and find this random place? You don't even know where it is."

"But I can find out."

"Logan Agulera, you will die!" I pointed out. "Don't do anything stupid."

"I won't die," Logan said like it was obvious. "Because you're coming with me."

"Uh, no I am not."

"Yes, you are."

"And what makes you think I'm going to agree with this?"

"Nothing, which is exactly why I'm not asking you, you're coming with me whether you like it or not."

I said nothing, just slowly moved towards the nearest shadow.

"Thea, come on!" Logan pouted. "Don't shadow travel now!"

"You and I have been in the exact same situation," I told him. "And the fact that you want to risk your life for something as stupid as trying to save the gods, makes me think it is more of a betrayal than anything else."

I closed my eyes as the shadows consumed me again. Next thing I knew I was at the beach again. I sat down, this time determined not to let anyone ruin this for me.

The last thing I felt was something being wrapped around my mouth and nose. The person put me in a headlock for the next three minutes until I passed out. I opened my eyes a bit and saw someone walking in front of me before everything went dark.