MONSTERS :: PERCY J

two

[2] dinner pavilion

         When the dead and the unwanted became homeless, hope no longer ceased to be.

         Aurora longed to go back to Nebraska; she wanted to dump all the knowledge she'd obtain and run back home. When she was younger, her dream was to become a historian. Momentarily, she no longer liked the idea of going back in time to relive history because the Greek section had crawled to life and Aurora was not at all amused.

        In fact, she was miserable.

         "She's Nyx's daughter." A girl hissed from a few tables ahead, causing Aurora's head to twist towards the origin. The group of teens suddenly seemed more interested in their empty dinner plates when her eyes locked on them.

        Another propped her head against her hands before scowling, "Pipe down; she might call her mother to kill us or curse us with eternal darkness."

        "Gods, Percy almost died."

         The last remark made her scoff. The boy was nowhere near dying, in fact, he was so neutral to the situation that it scared her. Percy was, quite frankly, the only one who looked at her as a human, not as some hideous, dangerous beast.

          Her gaze tumbled to his side of the Pavilion. A smile flaunted his face as he tossed his silverware to the side and took a swig at his enchanted goblet. The table he sat at was a ghost town, but his personality was enough to scare off any phantoms.

          "I'm afraid the assumptions are correct, she is a child of the night. She bears the symbol, and if Percy is correct, Nyx did refer to her as 'my child.'"

        A cold wave of air plagued over camp as the words tumbled out of Chiron's mouth. Annabeth, nodded in agreement, intelligence flashing in her eyes as she peered at Aurora solemnly.

        Sympathy was the last thing she wanted.

         "Travis, what are you doing here?" Chiron's voice boomed as a scrawny boy surfaced at a window, a mischevious grin tugging at his lips.

          After that, the news flew through the camp like a wildfire. Every single camper knew by the time she'd left the big house. Now, under the blazing fire that danced from the torches, the mark felt heavy on her wrist. It's inky coloring seeping into her skin as it glowed unnaturally. Not only did it ward off monsters, but it also warded off potential friends. Aurora dug her sharp nails into her skin in a failed attempt to rid of the symbol.

        "It's not a bad thing if you ask me." She heard a voice slide into the vacant seat next to her, "I think it's kinda cool that your mom's Nyx, makes you unique." Aurora studied a pair of ocean eyes, contemplating whether sarcasm was intended or not.

         Finally, she cracked into a smile; her mouth felt dry from words, and all she could muster was a crooked 'Thank you' to the boy. He reflected the gesture, his grin stretching longer.

        Percy shrugged, "Hey, we have her children's children here too. The cabin you woke up in, it's Hypnos's- son of Nyx. Cabin 16: Nemesis- daughter of Nyx." Her head bobbed up and down as his words filled her ears in a reassuring way, "If you think about you're like our Great Aunt."

        Aurora snorted before her eyes spun 360 degrees, "Yeah. Not helping."

        "I meant you could like boss people around." He chuckled, his eyes snapping shut momentarily.

        Her mark seemed to draw more weight to itself as it rested on her lap, her other hand shielding the tattoo, "Right. If anyone would talk to me. Those girls believe I summoned my mom to kill you."

         She sat oblivious to the scorching white symbol manifested above her. A fluorescent mirage of a flaming rod. Curled around it was a mobile snake. It resembled the bracelet she had obtained at a young age, a gift from a stranger- delivered to her foster home on Christmas Day. The jeweled accessory along with a midnight colored ring. The ring was peculiar- she could see it but no one else could. Her attempts to flaunt her new jewelry in first grade had failed and the girls in her class made a joke out of her snake bracelet.

        There was a sudden epidemic of silence that blanketed the inhabitants of the camp. Then Annabeth abruptly shot up from the table she'd been perched at.

        "Percy was wrong," Annabeth muttered in disbelief, her mouth barely moved, and the words were barely audible as she gawked at the gleaming symbol atop the brunette's head.

         "Aurora Black, Daughter of Asclepius."