"In Latin my name, Aurelia, basically means 'the golden one.' My mother literally named me her golden light through the storm that was her life. That is my job. To be everyone's light at the end of the tunnel. And I got stuck worrying so much about...
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Aurelia didn't hate the rain. Not completely.
As a kid in Puerto Rico, she loved listening to the pitter-patter of rain against her family's hacienda. The gray clouds always casted a dark daylight inside her mother's room, but it was always just enough to keep Martina sane. The lightning that often accompanied the rain would scare the ghosts that scoured the shadows of the room. The way people saw a sunny day as a beautiful opportunity to enjoy themselves was the way she saw the rain.
Now the smell of rain was bittersweet. One, it reminded her of the small moments of peace from her childhood, and it reminded her of Jason—who always smelled like a storm. But it was bitter for those same reasons because as soon as the rain cleared from the skies in Puerto Rico, the ghosts came back to play and it was the constant reminder that Jason wasn't physically with her.
But at least you know he's alive, Aurelia reminded herself. He is alive.
So as Aurelia lifted her head to feel the light drops of rain against her face, she allowed the scent of rain to fill her and place her at ease.
She definitely didn't hate the rain.
"I thought I slept heavily," Hazel commented as she finally managed to wake Percy. His small rush of confused emotions made Aurelia believe that he had been dreaming.
The Pax floated on an iron-black river through the middle of a city. Heavy clouds hung overhead. The cold rain was so light it seemed suspended in the air. On the left there were industrial buildings and railroad tracks. On the right was a small downtown area—an almost cozy looking cluster of towers between the banks of the river and a line of misty forested hills.
Percy rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. "How did we get here?" He noticed the way Aurelia closed her eyes and faced the sky was a certain air of peace.
Frank gave him a look like, You won't believe this. "The killer whale took us as far as the Columbia River. Then he passed the harness to a couple of twelve foot sturgeons. Anyway the sturgeons pulled us for a long time. You and Aurelia slept the entirety of it, but Hazel and I were taking turns napping. Then we hit this river—"
"The Willamette," Hazel offered.
"Right," Frank said. "After that, the boat kind of took over and navigated us here all by itself. You sleep okay?"
As the Pax gilded south, Percy began to tell them about his dreams: the warship that might be on the way to help Camp Jupiter and a friendly Cyclops and a giant dog that were looking for him. Aurelia noticed how his emotions were changing ever so slightly. She could tell there was something he wasn't saying about his dreams. And she decided not to chime in with the fact that she saw the giant warship as well.
