~Book Dedication~
For the Black Sheep of the family. Even though you try somehow it's still your fault. You're trying and others see it even if they don't say anything out loud. It's not your fault, don't let them make you believe it too.
Ayden has...
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Ayden looked out the hole in the floor seeing the emergency vehicles everywhere. There were crowds of people covering the grass below that arch, but Ayden couldn't see a body. She couldn't find Percy.
She put a hand to her chest as she paced back and forth. She would have to teleport, but she didn't feel centered enough to teleport at that moment.
She grabbed her knives securing them back in her pockets as she stared at her clothes. She had a cut on her arm and her shirt was burned. A few holes in her pants as well.
She pushed her hair back as she looked through the hole again before teleporting. She hit the ground just behind the group of people. In the distance, she could hear the reporters talking. She even heard Percy's name get mentioned. She was finding it extremely hard to breathe.
Ayden didn't know what she was going to do when she found Annabeth and Grover. She had to tell them she failed at protecting him. She would have to tell Grover that she failed to save his best friend. She stared down at her hands seeing the dark tinge of blood.
"Hey." Someone touched her arm. She smacked their arm back as she barely looked up to them. She froze.
"Percy." She breathed. He smiled at her. "Oh my god, Percy." She hugged him before she could stop herself. To her surprise, he hugged her back.
"I'm glad you're okay," He admitted. "I thought that after I fell Echidna would have killed you. We could hear the screaming from down here." He leaned back his hands linging on her. She looked over seeing Annabeth and Grover come forward. Each of them wanted a hug as well.
"I thought you were toast," Grover muttered. Ayden smiled and looked up. "Literally."
"So what did happen?" Annabeth asked.
"Before I explain," Ayden grabbed Percy's hand and Annabeth's arm. "Let's move from the crowd of people." Ayden looked back at Percy again. She'd down it four times.
"How many more times are you going to look at me?" Percy laughed. Ayden's face burned.
"I'm sorry, but you slipped through my fingers-." She held up her hand. He gripped it pulling it out of his face.
"Yeah, 'cause you were trying to burn yourself to death." He argued.
"That doesn't matter. You fell to your death-well, wait how did you survive?"
"My father. He reached out from the river and brought me to the water," He explained. Ayden looked at his dry clothes and touched his dry hair. "I'm water resistant."
"Nice to know," Ayden nodded.
"How did you survive?" Annabeth asked. "Were they still up there?"
"I honestly can't remember a lot." Ayden looked down at her hands. She wasn't lying either. It was like a complete blackout. "One minute I lost Percy, the next I was freaking out, and then-."
