My Never Ending Visions

**My Never Ending Visions** is the twenty-sixth chapter of The Gift of a Best Friend. It was first published on October 7, 2016.

## Chapter

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**Annabeth's POV**
We’ve been at camp for a month now, and I’ve learned a lot.
Cassandra and Luke stayed near us, protecting and watching us from the bigger kids. Especially from the Ares cabin. Cassandra would teach me and Jasmine how to use certain weapons, and our own, and how to be better with them.
Well, actually, Luke would teach us most of the time with our weapons, but Cassandra didn’t really like that. She wanted to train her brothers and sisters on her own through everything. So they decided which of them would teach me and Jasmine combat by having a sword fight in the arena.
They both used the same kind of sword. They fought for a while with Jasmine, Toothless, and I watching them. At the end of their sword fight, Luke won. So he taught us combat with Cassandra watching. But she taught us in everything else, except archery. Chiron taught us that.
Jasmine would have Toothless practice his fire by shooting at the targets like we would with a bow and arrow. Every day he gets better and better at aiming just like we do.
On Friday nights, after dinner, we would play Capture the Flag. But Jasmine and I were only allowed to guard our team’s flag while the rest of them went to get the other team’s flag. Jasmine had Toothless help them. We hated it, but we couldn’t do anything about it until we were older. But we did win most of the time.
When Luke was on the other team sometimes, and when he got close to our flag, Jasmine and I would take care of him since he wouldn’t hurt us, but we did hurt him, and we did like it since it was fun.
Right now, Cassandra was teaching us—Jasmine, Luke, Toothless, and I—about past history, starting with the gods. First one, my mother, obviously.
“The first lesson that every child of Athena needs to know is that Mom is the best at everything,” Cassandra told me. “Never, *ever*, suggest otherwise.”
“Or what?” Luke asked.
She glared at him. “You don’t want to know what.”
“How can someone be the best at everything?” Jasmine asked.
“No human can be the best at everything,” Cassandra replied. “But a god is different. You can never be sure of what they’re capable of. Remember that about our mother, Annabeth. And *never* forget it.”
I nodded.
“Also, most of the demigods here are going to ask you some questions since you’re a daughter of Athena. One question in particular: Do you have a belly button?”
“Why would they ask me that?” I asked.
“Well, children of Athena are brain children. Or, in other words, we were born from Athena’s brain, just like Athena was born from Zeus’s brain.”
“Uh, how does that work, exactly?” Luke asked.
“It’s difficult to explain. But, Annabeth, you’re going to be asked those questions, and that’s your warning.”
“But why wouldn’t I have a belly button?” I asked.
“Do you have one?” Jasmine asked.
“I think so.” I lifted my shirt up a little bit and saw my belly button. “Yeah. Do you have one, Cassandra?”
“Yes, but I’m not showing you it,” she replied. “Though I bet you want me to.” She said that last line to Luke, who smirked at it. “Yeah, that’s not going to happen.”
Luke held up his hands. “Hey, I respect that.”
“Sure you do.”
“Cassandra,” I said. “Why wouldn’t I have a belly button?”
Luke was shaking his head at her.
“Relax,” she told him. “I’m not going to tell her.”
“Can you tell me?” Jasmine asked.
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Look, you’ll learn more when you’re older, and I’ll tell you more about that. Until then, you two need to be extra careful now since you’re the youngest ones here, and most of the other demigods are twice your age, alright?”
“Ok.”
“Good. And also know that any enemy of our mother is an enemy of her children as well. Us.”
She told me about some of Athena’s enemies, and why they’re her enemies. Then she told me about Arachne.
“Spiders?” I asked, starting to shake.
Cassandra nodded. “Yes. They hate us for what our mother did to their mother, and we fear them very much because of how creepy and extremely unattractive they are. Unfortunately, everyone here knows that and uses it to their advantage.” She was glaring at Luke.
“What?” he asked.
“Nothing.”
“Do you hate Hermes kids?” I asked her.
“I don’t hate anybody,” Cassandra replied. “I just dislike *them* because they’re quite the pranksters.”
Luke held his hands up. “Hey, I promise not to do any kind of prank to you with spiders.”
“You better not unless you want to know how dangerous a daughter of Athena can really be.”
“Really? That makes me want to do it now.”
She rolled her eyes at him.
“Cassandra,” I said.
She looked at me. “Yes?”
I told her about the two nights before I ran away from my dad about the spiders.
She was confused. “They talked to you?”
I nodded.
“Spiders don’t usually talk. Especially not to us.”
“They talked to me,” I insisted.
“Yeah,” Jasmine agreed. “I heard them too.”
“What did they say?” Cassandra asked.
“They said something about their mother,” I replied. “How I won’t save a statue and my life. They also said that I was the chosen one.”
“The chosen one . . . Statue . . .”
“Do you know what statue they’re talking about?” Luke asked her.
She nodded. “I think so. There’s a statue dedicated to our mother in Greece, the Athena Parthenos, but . . . I don’t know. . . . Let’s not worry about it right now. You guys still have a lot to learn. Let’s start learning, ok?”
I nodded. “Ok.”
So that’s what we did. But when Cassandra began telling us about the Olympian gods, that’s when I started to have visions again. A lot of them. And they were all painful to have.
I had visions about half of the gods—Ares; Hera; Hephaestus; Zeus; my mother, Athena;—even the two gods who use to be Olympians, Hades and Hestia. I looked to be different ages in each of them from about twelve-years-old to about sixteen. Jasmine was with me in all of them, and the boy with the sea-green eyes was too.
Who is he?
Grover and Toothless was with us in a couple of them, and a Cyclops too, which was weird and scary. We didn’t seem to be having a good talk with any of these gods.
“I think we need to stop,” Cassandra said after the last vision I had.
“Why?” I asked, rubbing my throbbing head.
“Why? Annabeth, you keep screaming in pain and clutching your head because it hurts. I really don’t like seeing that happen to you.”
“I don’t either,” Jasmine agreed, holding me in her arms.
“Same here,” Luke said. “I think that’s enough learning for today.”
“But my head doesn’t hurt anymore,” I said.
“Right now, no,” Cassandra said. “But I don’t want to risk you having another vision. I can tell you more about the gods history tomorrow. Hopefully, you won’t have anymore visions.”
“Why am I having them?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never heard or seen anyone have visions without it being total gibberish. But you’re having them, and the only thing that each of them have in common is that Jasmine is with you and that other boy too.”
“Who is he? And why isn’t Luke with us too?”
“I don’t know about any of this, Annabeth. You say that you look older in those visions than you are now. So I suggest that shouldn’t worry about it until the moment that those visions come true. Until then, focus on the present now, and you and Jasmine go have your lessons with Luke. We’ll continue our lessons tomorrow.”
“But, Cassandra—”
“Annabeth,” Luke interrupted. “I’m with her on this. You need to take a break and focus on your life right now.”
“Yeah,” Jasmine agreed. “You’re worrying me.”
I sighed. “Ok.”
I trained with my knife for the rest of the day.

Later that night in our cabin, Cassandra placed a large notepad and a pencil on my bed in front of me.
“Write down all of the visions you’ve had, starting with the first one to the latest,” she told me. “Label each one with the name you heard, causing you to have that vision of that person, or god, then describe what happened in the visions, how old you look, giving your best estimate, and anyone else who is in the vision with you. If you don’t know who they are, describe them.”
I nodded.
I took the notepad and started writing. I remembered all of my visions, what and who everything and everyone looked like. Even what was said in them. I never forgot a single one of them.
Over the next month, I continued to have visions. But not just about the gods.
I would have visions about the enemies of the gods, some of the minor gods, some heroes from Greek mythology, even monsters. And I was a different age in each of them. Jasmine was with me in most of them, Grover and Toothless in some. I even saw Thalia in one of them, which didn’t make any sense to me since she was dead.
But that boy with the sea-green eyes was with me in all of them. But why?
And I hated that Luke wasn’t in any of them for some reason. Where will he be when these visions happen? *If* they happen.
Then I had the worst vision of all: Tartarus.
I looked to be about sixteen, and the only person that was with me was the boy with the sea-green eyes. We both looked tired, hungry, and scared. And I could see why.
Everything down there looked scary from the vision. And all of the worst monsters were there. But me and the boy stayed together and helped each other. Then I saw a big scary man, and my vision ended.
I couldn’t tell Cassandra, Luke, or Jasmine about it, because it really scared me.
But I did write it in my notepad and I let them read it.
“Wow, Annabeth,” Cassandra said. “That’s rough.”
“Why are you down there?” Jasmine asked.
I shook my head. “I don’t know.”
“Did you see yourself get out?” Luke asked.
Cassandra snorted. “Are your kidding? There is no way that you would even get out of that place alive, unless you were a monster and got regenerated.”
“Why?” I asked.
“Because no demigod could ever get out of that place alive. It’s impossible.”
“But what about that boy that’s with me? Why is he the only one with me in all of them?”
“Umm, I have a hunch about that. But I don’t think you’re going to like it.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s not usually something that girls your age like to hear.”
“What?” Jasmine asked.
Cassandra shook her head. “Nothing. It’s just a hunch.”
“Oh,” Luke said, I guess just realizing what she means. “You think it’s because of *that* that she’s having those visions?”
“Possibly,” she said. “What do you think?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. Your guess as good as mine.”
“What?” I asked. “Who is that boy in my visions?”
“We’re not sure, Annabeth,” Cassandra said. “But it’s pretty obvious that you’ll be fighting a lot of monsters with that boy. Whoever he is.”
*Whoever he is*.
That’s what I want to know. But that vision of us in Tartarus . . .
“You said it will be impossible for us to survive Tartarus?” I asked Cassandra.
She nodded. “Yes. Any monster down there would kill you as soon as they catch your scent.”
“Then I want to learn everything I can about Tartarus so that I can survive it.”
“And that boy too?” Jasmine asked.
“Yes.”
“But, Annabeth,” Cassandra said. “There’s no way you could—”
“I want to,” I interrupted her. “Please, Cassandra.”
“She looks determined,” Luke said.
“Yes, she does,” Cassandra agreed. She sighed. “Ok. If you want to learn all about Tartarus, I’ll teach you.”
I smiled. “Thank you, Cassandra.”
“You’re welcome. Now, I don’t know that much about Tartarus, but I do know a place where you can get information about pretty much anything.”
“What?”
“Why the library, of course.”
Jasmine’s eyes widened. “There’s a library here?”
“In camp? No. But there is one in Long Island.”
“There is?”
“Yes.”
“Can we go?”
“We have to get Chiron’s permission first.”
“Then let’s go.”
She ran out of the cabin with Toothless on her shoulders.
“Well, she’s excited,” Cassandra said.
“She likes reading,” I said.
“That’s good. I like reading too.
“Well, you heard Jasmine,” Luke said. “Let’s go.”

Chiron gave us permission to leave camp for a while, and we headed to the library.
When we got there, Jasmine and I went to the kids section and read books there while Cassandra looked for books about Tartarus online. Luke kept an eye out for monsters since they could smell us, especially when we used electronics.
I was afraid of what the people around us would think of us carrying weapons, but I guess the Mist hid what they really were to them, like it’s suppose to.
Cassandra got all the books she could find about Tartarus, and we all sat at a table and read them. I had more visions about it while reading the books. I saw me and that boy at most of the five rivers of the Underworld, and at a couple of other places too.
There’s a lot of scary things in Tartarus. But I learned them all, what could be good and bad, and I never forgot about any of it. But I was afraid of the day when that will happen, and I showed it.
“Hey, don’t be afraid,” Cassandra told me. “I know it’s scary, but you should never be afraid. The only thing we should fear is fear itself . . . and spiders.”
“Agreed,” I said.
“Yeah,” Jasmine agreed.
“I don’t know about spiders,” Luke said. “But she’s right, Annabeth. Don’t be afraid. I know that if anyone can beat and survive Tartarus, it’s you.”
“Yeah,” Jasmine agreed. “I know my best friend can do it.”
I smiled at them both. They believed in me, even though I didn’t believe in myself.
Let’s just hope that, when I somehow am in Tartarus someday with that boy with the sea-green eyes, I’ll remember everything I learned about it to survive.

And you will, girl. Lol. I get goosebumps every time the "boy with the sea-green eyes" is mentioned. I can't wait until he shows up. But patience is the key.
Well, I've been a little pissed for the past few days. As most, if not all, of you probably know, The Hammer of Thor came out this past Tuesday, and I still don't have the damn book. My library just hasn't gotten it in yet, and that's probably because they ordered them too late. Ugh. It's so frustrating. I think this happened with The Sword of Summer, and I ended up screwing the library and buying the book because of how long it was taking. If it doesn't become available by today or tomorrow, I'm not going to be able to read it for over a week later, and I'm already so mad by trying to avoid spoilers, which hasn't been too easy. But, please, do tell me if you've been able to read it yet or not.
I may not be able to update next Friday, but I'll try to.
Please review **here**.

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## Character Appearances

### Main Characters

* Annabeth Chase
* Jasmine Saturday

### Minor Characters

* Luke Castellan
* Cassandra
* Thalia (mentioned)
* Sea-Green Eyed boy
* Grover Underwood
* Athena (mentioned)
* Ares (mentioned)
* Hera (mentioned)
* Hephaestus (mentioned)
* Zeus (mentioned)
* Hades (mentioned)
* Hestia (mentioned)