That night Seulgi found herself once again in the middle of a dream so real she could have sworn she was there. Only this time she wasn’t inhabiting her own body.

She was chained to a rock by her wrists, the metal searing into her skin and making her eyes well up with unshed tears. Seulgi tried to wrench herself free but whatever metal the chains were made up of was too strong for her to break.

She could tell she was deep in some type of cave, the only light came from the two dozen or so pairs of glowing red eyes that stalked around her prison. Unintelligible grunts and growls could occasionally be heard, as if whatever creatures were around her were communicating with each other.

“The Sons of Lycaon are hungry,” The voice Seulgi heard appeared to come from everywhere and nowhere at once, seeping into her skull and almost driving her mad with fear. “It’s a shame I have bigger plans for you.”

“I look forward to watching my husband tear you to pieces,” Seulgi spat.

The voice inched closer, “How naïve of you to think that he’ll come save the day. Even now the only reinforcements I see coming are three. Little. Girls.”

Seulgi screamed and struggled against the chains until the pain became too much to bear and she slumped down on the cave floor, utterly exhausted.

“Your husband will do what we want. Especially if he wants to see you alive,” the voice taunted. “To think. All it took was for us to take you.”

“You’ve heard the prophecy,” Seulgi panted. Golden ichor began to run down her arms. “You won’t succeed.”

The voice ignored her comment with a scoff. “You see this is why most gods choose not to form bonds with other immortals. It gives them a weakness.”

There was a single sharp whistle and the Sons of Lycaon who had been prowling around Seulgi’s prison suddenly leaped forward, wolfish jaws opened wide.

As the wolf hybrids began tearing into Seulgi’s flesh, she heard “Don’t cry, Persephone. It will all be over soon.”

The last thing she saw was a tiny speck of blue light before succumbing to unconsciousness.

XXX

Seulgi ran as fast as she could to the Hermes cabin, skidding to a stop by their front door with a wheeze. Thankfully nobody heard her stumbling up the steps in the pitch dark. She still didn’t know how exactly she managed to have a vision of Persephone but after waking Somi up in a panic to ask her she found out about one of Apollo’s lesser-known abilities.

Somi explained that their father was also the god of Prophecy and told her the tales about the Oracle of Delphi. And how that Oracle was now a shriveled-up mummy living in the attic of the Big House but that was a story for another time. Demigods in general are prone to having prophetic dreams, the younger girl said. Occasionally a child of Apollo would be born with the ability to actually witness past, present and future events in time as if they were there. Which explained the visions.

But it didn’t explain the urges Seulgi felt to track the three girls down. It also didn’t explain why she knew deep down that she needed the help of one specific person.

Seulgi tiptoed around the front porch of the cabin and peered through one of the windows. It was a good thing Seungwan took the cot closest to the window. Seungwan said it was because nobody would take the floor space closest to the window and besides, she liked falling asleep under the moonlight.

Praying to whatever gods would hear her call, Seulgi tapped once on the glass. No response. She tried again, this time whispering “Seungwan!”

Seungwan turned over in her bed, muttering “Not right now Mr. Apollo sir, it’s too bright outside…”

Seulgi rolled her eyes and pitched her voice a little louder. “Seungwan!”

“Do you like jazz music, Olaf? I think Let it Go would have been so much better with a jazz arrangement.”

Okay, now her friend was just talking nonsense. What kind of dreams was she having?

“WENDY!” Seulgi hissed, and this time it seemed to get through. Seungwan shot up in bed, eyes darting around in the darkness until she spotted Seulgi’s face on the other side of the window. Her eyes widened and she pulled back her covers.

“Seulgi? What are you doing here, you’re gonna get in trouble!”

Seulgi jerked her head in the direction of the door, silently mouthing for Seungwan to join her outside. To which Seungwan vehemently shook her head and it wasn’t until Seulgi tried to climb into the cabin via the window that she reluctantly agreed to step outside and meet her.

Seungwan wrapped her robe around her body and expertly tiptoed past her fellow campers to slip outside.

“Seungwan, I need you to come with me,” Seulgi blurted out as soon as they were out of earshot of the cabin.

Her friend looked confused. “Come with you where exactly? Detention? We’re out here way past the curfew, Seulgi.”

Seulgi took a deep breath. There was no turning back from this now. “I need to follow Joohyun on the quest she was assigned to.”

“The one she just left on? Is that even allowed?”

Seulgi hurriedly told Seungwan about her dreams, including the feeling she had about finding Joohyun and the others.

“If my dream was true that means someone out there has managed to capture a literal goddess. And if it really is Persephone that means someone out there is going to have the god of the Underworld in their pocket.” Seulgi paced around Seungwan in a figure eight pattern while she talked.

“That makes no sense, Seulgi. They’re gods. Who would be powerful enough and stupid enough to kidnap a god?”

“I don’t know! But don’t you find it odd that Joohyun, the daughter of Hades, is sent out on a quest the night before I get this dream? Joohyun’s been trying to get her father’s attention for years now, this is the perfect way to go about that.”

Seungwan tilted her head and nodded reluctantly. “Okay that sort of makes sense but—” she scowled. “We’re basing a lot of this off a prophetic dream you had. What if it was just a dream?”

Seulgi