Rick Riordan The Last Olympian - 05
" Are you still having bad dreams ?" he asked . " Headaches ?"
Rachel threw her darts on the floor . " I should never have told you about that ." " I ' m your father ," he said . " I ' m worried about you ." " Worried about the family ' s reputation ," Rachel muttered .
Her father didn ' t react — maybe because he ' d heard that comment before , or maybe because it was true .
" We could call Dr . Arkwright ," he suggested . " He helped you get through the death of your hamster ."
" I was six then ," she said . " And no , Dad , I don ' t need a therapist . I just . . ." She shook her head helplessly .
Her father stopped in front of the windows . He gazed at the New York skyline as if he owned it — which wasn ' t true . He only owned part of it . " It will be good for you to get away ," he decided . " You ' ve had some unhealthy influences ." " I ' m not going to Clarion Ladies Academy ," Rachel said . " And my friends are none of your business ." Mr . Dare smiled , but it wasn ' t a warm smile . It was more like , Someday you ' ll realize how silly you sound . " Try to get some sleep ," he urged . " We ' ll be at the beach by tomorrow night . It will be fun ."
" Fun ," Rachel repeated . " Lots of fun ." Her father exited the room . He left the door open behind him . Rachel stared at the portrait of me . Then she walked to the easel next to it , which was covered in a sheet . " I hope they ' re dreams ," she said .
She uncovered the easel . On it was a hastily sketched charcoal , but Rachel was a good artist . The picture was definitely Luke as a young boy . He was about nine years old , with a wide grin and no scar on his face . I had no idea how Rachel could ' ve known what he looked like back then , but the portrait was so good I had a feeling she wasn ' t guessing . From what I knew about Luke ' s life ( which wasn ' t much ), the picture showed him just before he ' d found out he was a half-blood and had run away from home .
Rachel stared at the portrait . Then she uncovered the next easel . This picture was even more disturbing . It showed the Empire State Building with lightning all around it . In the distance a dark storm was brewing , with a huge hand coming out of the clouds . At the base of the building a crowd had gathered . . . but it wasn ' t a normal crowd of tourists and pedestrians . I saw spears , javelins , and banners — the trappings of an army . " Percy ," Rachel muttered , as if she knew I was listening , " what is going on ?" The dream faded , and the last thing I remember was wishing I could answer her question .
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The next morning , I wanted to call her , but there were no phones at camp . Dionysus and Chiron didn ' t need a landline . They just called Olympus with an Iris-message whenever they needed something . And when demigods use cell phones , the signals agitate every monster within a hundred miles . It ' s like sending up a flare : Here I am ! Please rearrange my face ! Even within the safe borders of camp , that ' s not the kind of advertising we wanted to do .
Most demigods ( except for Annabeth and a few others ) don ' t even own cell phones . And I definitely couldn ' t tell Annabeth , " Hey , let me borrow your phone so I can call Rachel !" To make the call , I would ' ve had to leave camp and walk several miles to the nearest convenience store . Even if Chiron let me go , by the time I got there , Rachel would ' ve been on the plane to St . Thomas .
I ate a depressing breakfast by myself at the Poseidon table . I kept staring at the fissure in the marble floor where two years ago Nico had banished a bunch of bloodthirsty skeletons to the Underworld . The memory didn ' t exactly improve my appetite .
After breakfast , Annabeth and I walked down to inspect the cabins . Actually , it was Annabeth ' s turn for inspection . My morning chore was to sort through reports for Chiron . But since we both hated our jobs , we decided to do them together so it wouldn ' t be so heinous .
We started at the Poseidon cabin , which was basically just me . I ' d made my bunk bed that morning ( well , sort of ) and straightened the Minotaur horn on the wall , so I gave myself a four out of