¹Pocket Full of Posies, p. jackson

𝐈𝐗. (dreaming) to start and end

pocket full of posies
❛ ix. to start and end ❜

━━━━━ ANOTHER NIGHTMARE; Posie shouldn't expect any different. That was, after all, her specialty. Well, beyond ... plagues. The only thing different, Liviana, the girl with glowing green eyes, spoke.

              During another one of her dreams, Posie had seen Liviana last summer as she, Percy, and Annabeth sailed through the Sea of Monsters hoping to find Grover and the Golden Fleece. Truth be told, since the end of summer, she hadn't thought too much about Liviana—the occasional thought would slip across her mind, but then the remembrance of that dream would bring back the subject of the missing Onesimus, who had first witnessed the dream with Posie. Posie didn't like thinking of Onesimus; it was like a slap to the face, and then a uppercut to the already sore jaw.

              That dream, which she witnessed about six months ago, had been one of her strangest dreams at the time. Sure, Posie knew nightmares—she saw the withered version of her father two summers ago when Zeus's master bolt was stolen, and she saw glimpses of Thalia's last moments of life before her father turned her into a pine tree ( before she was resurrected back to life by the Golden Fleece and all ), she even saw old memories of her miserable life with Beau as he was possessed during the night, as he rocked back and forth and whispered things about the Earth, madness, and plagues. So much for foresight; Posie didn't know she had the "gift" of plagues until six months ago, even though her mortal father had whispered it to her years earlier.

              She had the occasional dream like that, but not so abundantly as they had once been. Posie wasn't so sure when the shift started, but she had a pretty idea as to why; Hades. Or, the Underworld. She spent so much of her time there—so much time honing her "powers"—that she had no time to focus on dreams. She also knew that Hades had been pulling the strings to some of the dreams. He never claimed his due in the process, but Posie had come to the conclusion—the Lord of the Underworld had curated certain dreams ( old memories of her father, Beau ) to send messages to her. Now, Hades didn't have to hide who he was to her; no more "the man", no more using Beau Easton to speak with Posie, and even no more Onesimus who had been listening to Hades and speaking with Posie.

              But that dream—the dream she had witnessed before she threw herself into the ocean to try and reach the Sirens ( not her proudest moment )—had left her pretty muddied. She didn't know what to make of it; people on a ship filled with shields, swords, and spears, and all weapons made out of this golden metal that didn't look like Celestial bronze. Not only that, the ship was filled with people who had been speaking in Latin; they even used names like Mercury and Janus, names like Cassius, Fabricius, and Sulla. They were also talking about the battles they would win, the towns they would take over, and about conquering new lands.

              They spoke of sieging Athens.

              This dream seemed to be a continuation of that old dream, but far later. Liviana's blonde hair was bluntly cut to her shoulders now; the hair was ratted, and it framed her face with frizziness. The blonde looked like she was barely aware. She looked only half-conscious as her green eyes looked out before her. They, she and Posie, were on a beach, and the sun was starting to set. As the orange sun disappeared into the endless sea, the sun's rays created this halo effect around Liviana. It would've been pretty if it wasn't for the green tears that leaked from her eyes, or the gaunt look that haunted Liviana.

              Posie swallowed. "Liviana?" she asked, her voice wavering. It was always a pretty bad idea to speak in dreams, if you could speak at all.