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CHAPTER FOUR

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STRANGE, TERRIBLE DREAMS plagued Dorothy every night for as long as she could remember, but this had to be one of the worst ones she's ever had. It had started well, she was back in her time, for a second she thought that she was sent back, but when the eyes of her father went right through her, she knew it to not be true. She watched on and realized what day she was reliving. The day of the train robbery, the day that her old flame betrayed her and the gang for the hard-earned money they stole. She knew this as she watched herself leave her father's tent and trip over the persistent root that left a cut on her hand when she had tried stopping her fall. Dorothy could still feel the burn of the cut now.

The familiar sound of Miss Catherine giggling pulled Dorothy's attention to the other side of camp where the woman and Josiah Trelawney spoke softly to each other in the safe shade of the tree over their heads. Now that Dorothy knew who her grandfather was and what her father's half brothers look like, she could clearly see that her father was a son of Hermes, he had that same mischievous glint that the Stoll brothers wore at the campfire tonight, one look and she knows that he's up to no good.

Dorothy knew what happened next, a shuffle in Jonathon's tent and the sound of a guitar string snapping, followed by a pained yelp at such a high pitch, that only Jonathon could manage. Dorothy could help the way her face twisted in disgust as her fists clenched at her sides. Her dream state had her stomping towards Jonathon's tent, she tried pushing the flap aside to glare at his face but her hand passed through it. She gasped as she stepped in, shock flashed through her system before it was replaced by something Dorothy dreaded. She hoped it wouldn't happen but one look at Jonathon's face as he softly sucked on his throbbing hand only pulled all the happy memories the two of them shared.

Dorothy sat down next to him on his cot, a frown settled on her face, not one of anger, no, that was stomped out of her by something new: disappointment. One look at the boy in front of her and all she could do was wonder what would compel him to betray her like that? She looked down at the discarded guitar and found papers strewn about next to it. What she read brought back her initial emotion, a burning, intense anger.

He planned how he was going to betray her, he had been planning for months. More and more paragraphs of it confirmed this. Her heartbeat was going at the pace of a galloping horse and she couldn't help the angered roar that escaped her throat. Her hands shook and her eyes burned as she squeezed them tight.

Her eyes were forced open and the scenery was changed, she was back in her room but it was a mess, her trunk was open and on its side, its contents were strewn on the floor similar to the papers in Jonathon's tent. Her desk was similarly on its side, her photographs and satchel were now on the floor as well the contents of her satchel were spilled onto the floor as well, memories of the day in that old ghost town were leering at the back of her mind, threatening her with the truth it held.

But the most confusing thing she noticed was the purple haze over everything in her vision, and the dumbstruck look on Josephine and Lou Ellen's faces.

"Ебена мать!" Josephine exclaimed, "Your powers are strong!"

"What?" Dorothy stupidly asked, she was still focused on her destroyed room, confused as to why it looked like a twister blasted through, until she slowly woke up more and the purple haze made her realize, "oh, oh my, did I do this?"

Lou Ellen, who was still silent as a cemetery, slowly nodded.

"Yeah," She spoke softly, "a maiden hasn't lived in Camp Half-Blood for years, of course, it's you!"

"A maiden?" Dorothy asked, "did you just call me a maiden?"

"Yeah, mother, maiden, crone, the three most common names for mom," Lou explained, "they're all reincarnations of the same soul, of Hecate's first demigod daughter, they all alternate in roles in each lifetime, the daughter of Hecate that died the same day you were born had the role of mother, which is similar to the role I have now as head of the cabin, just an overall leadership role among the kids of Hecate, but when she died and you were born, the life of the maiden started, and you've been the maiden ever since because you haven't died the cycle stopped with you, whatever you dreamt about stirred the role of maiden within you."

Josephine made a noise, which pulled the attention of both girls to her before she looked at Lou Ellen, her wide eyes had indicated that she just thought of something important.

"Do you think that Avatar show was inspired by us Hecate kids?" Josephine asked, making Lou roll her eyes.

"Slow your horses," Dorothy responded, "What's all this Mother, Maiden, Crone business?"

Lou walked over to Dorothy's desk and got started on setting it upright and fixing her belongings that used to sit on the furniture piece.

"It means that after you get dressed and Josephine packs your satchel for your first quest, I have thirty minutes to teach as much magic as I can," Lou looked over at her, "You have a great power, the first demi-god daughter of Hecate was the most powerful out of any of us, you are more powerful than any one of us, so if I can teach you as much as I can, than we can all prove that Hecate is much more powerful than the other campers believe her to be like her-" Lou scoffed "-Minor goddess status."

Lou spat her words out at the end, Dorothy understood, it seemed that a lot of campers underestimated the power of Hecate but that was going to be put to an end soon.
And with that, Dorothy was up and oddly rushed into the bathroom.

"Trust me, this is the last time you'll be able to bathe for a while, might as well get one last good one in," Josephine explained.

Dorothy recognized the toilet, but looked around, the devices confused her. Josephine noticed this and opened up a glass door to a spot on the floor that was interrupted with dark purple tile.

"This is a shower, you turn this handle-" Josephine pointed to the shiny metal handle that Dorothy could see her distorted reflection in, "-and clean water comes out, do you know what shampoo is?"

Dorothy shook her head no, leaving the young girl to sigh, she walked out of the bathroom for a moment before coming back with strange bottles and an odd, puffy object in her arms.

"This is shampoo, conditioner, and soap to wash your body," Josephine explained, "You soak your hair, scrub this-" she held up the darker bottle, "- into your scalp and lather your hair in it, and you want to rinse it all out."

Josephine continued to explain the purpose of the contents in her arms and made Dorothy repeat it until she knew that she would be okay on her own. She even explained to Dorothy the modern wonders of the toothbrush and its common companion, toothpaste. Dorothy didn't realize the state of her teeth was a tragedy until Josephine muttered a few words under her breath and suddenly, Dorothy's jaw didn have an ache anymore, and her breath was fresh on her tongue.

Dorothy spun to look in the mirror and moved her lips to show her teeth. They were no longer crooked and were perfectly white, beyond that, the rotten tooth she had in the back of her mouth was magically fixed. Dorothy was too lost in thought as she admired her pearly whites.

"I'm going to pack some stuff for you while you're doing this, I should be done before your shower is over but just in case, knock on the door, if I'm still in the room, I'll respond," Josephine spoke before spinning on her heel and walking out.

Dorothy looked back to watch the door close and immediately, she was removing her slip and stepped into the shower with the supplies that Josephine provided. The water was cold at first but it slowly warmed on Dorothy's skin, making her muscles relax. She didn't realize how wonderful this felt until it was on her skin. She could've stayed like this for years but she had a quest to complete or else in four days she wouldn't have the luxury of a shower, or the luxury of living and breathing above ground.

When Dorothy finished, she felt like she was a new woman. A towel had appeared on the rack that was bolted to the wall. She made quick work of drying off and even brushing her teeth just to get started on making a habit of it. The toothpaste tasted absolutely disgusting and Dorothy gagged three times when she brushed over her tongue as Josephine instructed.

When all was done, Dorothy gave a quick knock on the door with her one free hand as the other held the towel up around her. When she got no response, she stepped into her room once more and made her way to the closet, quickly dressing herself and once more, going back to her room. Her satchel and gun holsters hung off the back of the chair and she made quick work of putting them on, finally going for her hat that sat on her desk, there was no way she would be away from it for four days.

Dorothy was almost out of the cabin when she heard her name being called, she spun around to see Lou Ellen standing by a wall lined with books. Dorothy stepped over to the older girl and tilted her head, curious about what she wanted.

"I realize that you may have to leave sooner than expected, so I wrote down the basics for you two to learn and gave you exercises to practice while you're out there so if-" Lou cleared her throat and frowned, shaking her head slightly, "- When you come back, I can teach you more."

Dorothy smiled at Lou as she gently took the journal and put it in her satchel. "Oh, we enchanted that for you, you can fit anything in there now, just think of what you want while your hand is in it and you'll find it, but it'll only pull things that you already put in there."

Dorothy nodded and didn't even think before wrapping her arms around Lou.

"Thank you for all this, you've been mighty kind to me even though I showed you yesterday," Dorothy said, pulling away after she spoke to look her half-sister in the eyes.

"You seemed upset, you're okay, I'm just glad that you've sorted through everything," Lou smiled, "You should probably go say your goodbyes to everyone before you leave though, don't know what'll happen out there."

Dorothy took that as her sign to leave the cabin, tilting her hat to Lou before stepping out. She looked around, wanting to find her way to the stables, looking at the nearby signs, she eventually found the correct path.

The camp's stables could be considered a fancy hotel for horses, at least Dorothy thought so as she stepped in, looking around she noticed that the stables weren't really designed for a horse like Prudence and more so for a pegasus, which Prudence was not.

Dorothy found that she was quickening her pace, looking down every stall until the familiar pinto patterned fur fell into her line of sight, making her heart skip a beat. "Oh, Pru!"

The horse whinnied at the name as Dorothy all but cleared the stall door, finding her arms around Prudence's neck, giving the animal a big hug, stroking her mane as she did so.

"I missed you so much," Dorothy sighed, "I'm so sorry that I led us into that dreadful saloon," Dorothy spoke softly, smiling as she heard the horse huffing its response. Prudence was always more... aware of people and conversations, "I'm afraid you won't see me for a few more days-" Prudence seemed a bit alarmed at this, but Dorothy was quick to clear her throat, "-Don't worry, you'll be well taken care of, this is our new home."

Once Prudence settled down a bit more, Dorothy sat back and leaned against a bale of hay in the corner, rambling on to her about everything that happened and explaining to the horse everything about the gods and monsters that roamed the land. Dorothy was even about to get into the mission she was being set on when yells of alarm sounded out, a great shadow passed over the stables and Dorothy knew that something was up.

With one gun drawn, Dorothy left the stall and the stables altogether, running out to the big clearing where the twelve cabins of the major gods sat. What she saw before she made her want to pass out as she raised a gun to the eye of the bronze dragon before her. Though when she saw a figure riding atop of the dragon, she squinted beyond the bronze gleam and frowned, her brows furrowing with slight alarm.

"LEO?" Piper yelled, she was only a few feet away from the Aphrodite cabin, she looked like she was upset, whether it was from the dragon or something that happened in the cabin, Dorothy wouldn't know.

Dorothy looked back up at the dragon

Sure enough, there he was, sitting atop a giant bronze death machine and grinning like a lunatic. Even before he landed, the camp alarm went up. A horn blew. All the satyrs started screaming, "Don't kill me!" Half the camp ran outside in a mixture of pajamas and armor. In a more calm situation, Dorothy would have laughed, but judged by some of their faces, she bit her tongue.

The dragon set down right in the middle of the green, and Leo yelled, "It's cool! Don't shoot!"

Dorothy fully lowered her gun and holstered it, that's when she decided to get closer.

"Well I'll be," Dorothy called out, pulling Leo's attention to her, he grinned again, "How'd you manage this Leo?"

Dorothy hoped her calm nature about the beast would reverberate on the other campers, some of them seem to have a haunted look in their eye when it comes to looking at the thing. The archers lowered their bows. The warriors backed away, keeping their spears and swords ready. They made a loose wide ring around the metal monster. Other demigods hid behind their cabin doors or peeped out the windows. Nobody seemed anxious to get close.

It was understandable. The dragon was huge. It glistened in the morning sun as Dorothy had never seen before. It was a sea of copper and bronze all glistening in different shades like the small ripples of water. It was a sixty-foot-long serpent with steel talons and sharp teeth and glowing ruby eyes. It had bat-shaped wings twice its length that unfurled like metallic sails, making a sound like coins falling out of a pouch and onto a metal table.

"It's beautiful," Piper muttered. Dorothy made a hum of agreement as she got closer.

"It is," She agreed.

The other demigods stared at the girls like they were insane. The dragon reared its head and shot a column of fire into the sky. Dorothy jumped back, startled by the flames, but she quickly regained her steps. Campers scrambled away and hefted their weapons, but Leo slid calmly off the dragon's back. He held up his hands like he was surrendering, except he still had that crazy grin on his face.

Dorothy didn't realize she had one of her own until she caught her reaction, she couldn't help it, the new world was proving to be fantastic. Leo seemed to be excited by her look before he looked out at the ring of scared campers.

"People of Earth, I come in peace!" he shouted. He looked like he had spent a day in some coal mines. His coat and his face were smeared with soot. His hands were grease-stained, and he wore a strange orange belt around his waist. His eyes were bloodshot. His curly hair was so oily it stuck up in porcupine quills, and he smelled strangely of spices. But he looked like the happiest guy in the world. Just the sight made Dorothy want to smile even more.

"Festus is just saying hello!"

"That thing is dangerous!" a girl shouted, brandishing her spear. "Kill it now!"

Dorothy spun around and once again had her gun in her hand, looking for the girl who she assumed was an Ares girl. The ring of campers stepped back when Dorothy did this as she scanned the crowd, it seems even in this day and age they know how good and quick of a shot she is.

As her ego was inflating, a voice cut through the anxiety of the camp.

"Stand down!" someone ordered.

Dorothy narrowed her eyes but felt herself physically relax when she saw that it was Jason. He pushed through the crowd, flanked by Annabeth and that girl from the Hephaestus cabin, Nyssa. Jason gazed up at the dragon and shook his head in amazement. "Leo, what have you done?"

"Found a ride!" Leo beamed from behind Dorothy, she had stood in front of him without even thinking when she pulled her gun. "You said I could go on the quest if I got you a ride. Well, I got you a class-A metallic flying bad boy! Festus can take us anywhere!"

"It- has wings," Nyssa stammered. Her jaw looked like it might start petting the grass at her feet.

"Yeah!" Leo said. "I found them and reattached them."

"But it never had wings. Where did you find them?"

Leo hesitated, and Dorothy looked back, she saw his expression falter as he looked to be thinking up an excuse. She knew at that moment that he was hiding something.

"In... the woods," he said. "Repaired his circuits, too, mostly, so no more problems with him going haywire."

Dorothy pretended to know what he was talking about when she turned to face the crowd once more. Some of them were watching her with slight unease. She realized that she still had her gun in hand and she was quick to put it back in her holster, even Jason who was mostly occupied with the dragon noticed that she had her gun out.

"Mostly?" Nyssa asked.

The dragon's head twitched. It tilted to one side and a stream of black liquid -maybe oil, hopefully just oil-poured out of its ear, all over Leo. Dorothy jumped away from the mess, looking over her shoulder and down her backside to see that none of it got on her, making her sigh in relief.

"Just a few kinks to work out," Leo said.

"But how did you survive...?" Nyssa was still staring at the creature in awe. "I mean, the fire breath."

Dorothy looked back at Leo, it would explain his charred clothes, or how they looked charred before the oil hid the evidence.

'I'm quick," Leo said. "And lucky. Now, am I on this quest, or what?"

Leo was definitely hiding something. She narrowed her eyes at the boy who didn't miss the look, he shifted his weight on his feet and redirected his focus on his half-sister.

Jason scratched his head. "You named him Festus? You know that in Latin, 'Festus' means 'happy'? You want us to ride off to save the world on Happy the Dragon?"

The dragon twitched and shuddered and flapped his wings.

"That's a yes, bro!" Leo said. "Now, um, I'd really suggest we get going, guys. I already picked up some supplies in the- um, in the woods. And all these people with weapons are making Festus nervous."

Dorothy looked up at the dragon, if it was capable of expressions, Dorothy wouldn't know, she was unable to even look at the creature without feeling like her eyes would burn out of her skull, so she opted to look at Leo. He seemed to be eyeing her gun holsters warily.

Jason frowned. "But we haven't planned anything yet. We can't