Sylvia didn't really remember falling asleep the night before, but she did remember her dreams.

"Ceol, I want to hear no more of this matter. If it reaches my ears again, I will leave thou alone, and thy father will kill you." Heracles's voice sounded dangerous now.

"I--okay, Heracles," Ceol said, though still sounding perplexed. "If I may, can I go check on something? I think I heard a noise over there. But it's just a lowly monster sound, nothing a great hero like thee will have to worry about."

"Hurry, then, Heracles said, annoyed.

There was a sound of rustling, then walking. A few minutes later, Ceol's voice rang out.

"I can see you, girl. Are you the one Heracles was talking about? If you are, I may have a solution for thee."

A voice Sylvia definitely recognized replied, "What is it?" Her voice was sharp, dangerous, and guarded.

"Seek out Lady Artemis. She'll always help a maiden in need."

"Thank you."

"Just--don't let Heracles see you again," Ceol warned.

"I won't," the voice promised.

* * *

Sylvia sat up in her bed. That voice...it couldn't be her, right? Yeah, she was old, but not that old. Right?

And why was she having the same dream twice? Was it important?

She looked around the room for a while, letting eyes adjust to the darkness. When they did, her gaze fell on Lux's sleeping form. She felt a pang of worry. She'd talked to them about the quest, and they said they'd go on it. No way were they ready! But she had to hold to her end of the deal with her questmates, so she took Lux out to the archery shed and got them to choose a bow. Nico had joined them for a bit until the Stoll brothers found him and took him to Monster Class. After what seemed like forever, Lux tried out a crossbow, and was much better at that than anything else. The crossbow and arrows accompanying it were currently under Lux's bed. Lux's arm was hanging off their bunk, ready to grab it at any time.

Sylvia shook Fawkes awake.

Fawkes? Sorry for waking you up, but I have a question.

No worries. The phoenix yawned. What is it?

Do you know what brought Zoe to join the Hunters?

That story is not mine to tell, Fawkes replied. But I believe you already know it. Now get some sleep, hero. You'll need it.

Sylvia nodded, closed her eyes, and drifted off into Dreamland again. Or maybe calling it Nightmareland would be more appropriate, because her dreams were anything but pleasant.

* * *

Sylvia was back in that barren cave, the ceiling heavy and low above her. Annabeth was kneeling under the weight of a dark mass that looked like a pile of boulders. She was too tired to even cry out. Her legs trembled. Any second, Sylvia knew she would run out of strength and the cavern ceiling would collapse on top of her. Sylvia felt her arms hurt and her heart ache just looking at the scene.

"How is our mortal guest?" a voice boomed.

The voice was like a low C chord played on a bass guitar. Sylvia would know---Kayla started playing the instrument recently. Its force made the ground vibrate.

Luke emerged from the shadows. He ran to Annabeth, knelt beside her, then looked back at the unseen man. "She's fading. We must hurry."

The hypocrite. Sylvia wanted to tear his eyes out with her bare hands. Like he really cared about what happened to her.

The guitar-voice chuckled. It belonged to someone in the shadows, at the edge of Sylvia's dream. Then a meaty hand thrust someone forward into the light--Artemis--her hands and feet bound in celestial bronze chains.

Sylvia gasped. Her silvery dress was torn and tattered. Her face and arms were cut in several places, and she was bleeding ichor, the golden blood of the gods.

"You heard the boy," said the man in the shadows. "Decide!"

Artemis's eyes flashed with anger. The chains seemed to be preventing her from willing the voice to crumble into dust. Most likely the magic of the dark, horrible place.

The goddess looked at Annabeth and her expression changed to outrage and concern. "How dare you torture a maiden like this!"

"She will die soon," Luke said. "You can save her."

Annabeth made a weak sound of protest. Sylvia's heart felt like it was being twisted into a knot. She wanted to run to the child of the Athena, but her legs wouldn't move.

"Free my hands," Artemis said.

Luke brought his evil sword, Backbiter. With one expert strike, he broke the goddess's handcuffs.

Artemis ran to Annabeth and took the burden from her shoulders. Annabeth collapsed on the ground and lay there shivering. Artemis staggered, trying to support the weight of the black rocks.

The man with the C chord voice chuckled. "You are as predictable as you were easy to beat, Artemis."

"You surprised me," the goddess said, straining under her burden. "It will not happen again."

"Indeed it will not," the man agreed. "Now you are out of the way for good! I knew you could not resist helping a young maiden. That is, after all, your specialty, my dear."

Artemis groaned. "You know nothing of mercy, you ass."

"On that," the man said, "we can agree. Luke, you may kill the girl now."

Sylvia began shouting as many French and Ancient Greek and a bit of Latin curses as she knew. How she wished they could hear her threats.

"No!" Artemis yelled.

Luke hesitated. "She--she may yet be usedul, sir. Further bait."

"Bah! You truly believe that?"

"Yes, General. They will come for her. I'm sure.

The man considered. "Then the dracaenae can guard her from here. Assuming she does not die from her injuries, you may keep her alive until winter solstice. After that, if our sacrifice goes as planned, her life will be meaningless."

Luke gathered up Annabeth's listless body and carried her away from the goddess.

"You will never find the monster you seek," Artemis said. "Your plan will fail."

"How little you know, my young goddess," Guitar-man said. "Even now, your darling attendants begin their quest to find you. They shall play directly into my hands. Now, if you'll excuse us, we have a long journey to make. We must greet your Hunters and make sure their quest is...challenging."

The man's laughter echoed in the darkness, shaking the ground until it seemed the whole ceiling would collapse.

* * *

Lux studied Sylvia. It was time to wake her up, but they weren't sure what the best way to do that was. Was she one of the people who shot straight up in her bed when she woke up? Leo was like that for a bit. Of course, neither of them ever got to sleep in actual beds, but he still woke up like that. They missed Leo. He was their best friend, but then that vampire monster chased them away from him after they accidentally used their what they now knew as photokinesis on him and the foster care people.

Speaking of photokinesis, it was crazy. Lux had no idea how they of all people got it. It was, to put it in Kayla's words, "Really, really, really, really rare! Not to mention powerful!" 

Lux wasn't powerful. Heck, they weren't even important. Their dad and stepdad probably didn't even look for them when they ran away. They were mostly likely too busy yelling at each other about the house smelling like alcohol and weed and how bills were going up to realize they left.

Lux shook their head. They shouldn't be thinking about their dads. That was behind them. Their dads were all the way in Quebec, too far away to do them any harm.

One shall perish by a parent's hand.

Lux thought about that for a moment. Was it possible to be them? According to Sylvia, Apollo would never do that, but what about their other parents? Did Dad really hate them that much? Did Tony?

Sylvia suddenly sat up straight in her bed. It was probably the straightest thing about her.

Well, that answers my earlier question about how she gets up, Lux thought. Wait, is this creepy? I'm just standing by her bed, staring at her and Fawkes. What if she thinks I'm weird? What if she hates me now? I should probably talk to make it less stalker-ish.

"U-um, I was jus-just about to get you-you up," they said quietly. "It-it's time to go-go on the quest."

"Last chance to back out," Sylvia warned. "It's only a few minutes to first light, then we have to be in the van, leaving camp."

"I'm-I'm going," Lux said. They really hoped they wouldn't regret this later on, although, knowing them, they most likely would.

A bit more about Lux's backstory. What do y'all think of more Lux POVs?

Sory, unedited again.

Anyways, Sylvia figured out what happened to Zoe! I was considering making it later that she realized, then decided that isn't very true to her personality and smartness and stuff.

QOTD: Favourite song?

A: All of them, basically. There are way too many to count. But I'm currently listening to Thumbs by Sabrina Carpenter, and that's def on the list.

See y'all later

-Eevee