Chapter 4

Chapter 4:

Andrew tried his best to meet the intent gaze Chiron was giving him from across the desk.

“So,” Chiron uttered, “Why don’t you tell me exactly what happened. From the beginning? Then perhaps we can better understand our situation.”

Andrew didn’t particularly want to tell the whole story. He knew he would probably be haunted for the rest of his life because of some of it, but he knew Chiron was always right. He was his teacher after all. Andrew sighed as he began to recount his story.

“Well,” he began, “I had the most terrible dreams last night. I saw an owl. It was soaring above, keeping an eye out for a serpent that was slithering across the ground. I’m not sure why, but the owl never attacked and never strayed from following the snake. Then I saw my parents,” Andrew took a deep breath, making sure to keep his composure, “they were trapped inside some six sided star thing, I’m not sure how it worked or what it was, or where they were exactly. They looked, frozen in time almost…” his voice trailed off.

“I know some dreams may be frightening, even disturbing at times, but it is best for you tell me all you know so we may be better prepared for the future.”

Andrew nodded, took a deep breath, and continued, “Then the dream changed, I was in a fire and there was a snake which was – talking to me. It kept saying something, but I couldn’t quite make it out. They were all hissing and then they changed into ghosts who all talked in these raspy, haunting voices…” Andrew shuddered and he could feel the hairs on the back of his head stand up at the recollection of the haunting dream. “I caught lines of the prophesy, about the two halves, you know…” Andrew couldn’t bring himself to recite the rest of the prophesy, not now. “And then I saw something chasing a girl, I think it was aunt piper, when she was young. There was a woman, with steaming nails and...” his voice faded once again, but he shook himself out of it, and forced his voice to cooperate. “Then I saw another girl being chased by a dragon, the same I saw with the woman before. She looked scared out of her mind, and really familiar for some reason. She was being chased by this dragon through the woods, and then everything went all dark and misty, like something was preventing me from seeing what happened. Then the mist cleared slowly and I saw a girl lying on the ground for a second, but the scene changed so quickly I couldn’t make out if it was the same one, or what. Then I was standing somewhere really dark when someone, or something,” he amended, “thrust a torch at me. I could only see this intense flame coming towards me, and then I woke up.” Andrew looked up at Chiron at this point, hoping he could just leave it at that, but Chiron nodded encouragingly for more. An exasperated sigh escaped Andrew, and he continued.

“So, I woke up and tried to clear my head or make sense of what I saw. It was too late to go back to bed, so I decided to go for a walk,” Andrew hesitated, glancing up at Chiron with a guilty expression, “through the woods, but I was following the stream,” he added hastily. “I saw a trail of blood and followed it to find a girl lying on the floor. She was bleeding bad, so I tried to stanch the bleeding the best I could before taking her back to camp to get help. I got Alex to come help stabilize her somewhat, and kept an eye on her,” he felt his cheeks burning a little and hastily added, “you know, just to make sure she was alright. Lauren came and she’s the one attending to her now. She told Alex and me to come see you, so that’s when you told Alex to go back to his cabin and…”

“My dear boy,” Chiron insisted, “I do not think you have told me everything. Is there not something else; another crucial piece of information?”

Like always, Chiron knew Andrew too well. Chiron never kept any information from Andrew, and Andrew knew it was only fair that he should share all with his teacher.

“It’s just, “ Andrew hesitated, fumbling for the right words, “She looks so... familiar. I know I’ve seen her face somewhere before, I just can’t quite pinpoint where exactly. “ He looked helplessly up at Chiron. “It’s just been so much happening in so little time. I mean, most demigods come here with satyrs, other demigods, and usually via the hills or Thalia's tree, not the forest  and almost never alone AND rarely this old. She looks to be fifteen or sixteen maybe.  I just can’t figure out...” Andrew’s gaze turned distant , staring at something no one could see. Chiron could almost hear the gears in his head spinning, trying to put the puzzle pieces together.

“Thank you my boy.” Chiron announced, “I suggest you go off to your activities for the day now.”

The way Chiron said this made it clear Andrew was dismissed. Obediently, Andrew snapped back to reality, got up and started towards the door, pausing for only a moment, then heading down the hallway to where the girl lay, attended by one of his best friends: Lauren.

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