GREEK TRAGEDY [PERCY JACKSON A.U] ✓

TWO: THE FIRST CLUE

Although she fell asleep the second her head hit the pillow, Althea slept fitfully that night, her slumber wracked with nightmares.

    She saw a cup, or, more specifically, a goblet, resting on an altar and absolutely overflowing with blood. A car, flipped over and on fire, with blood splattered on the pavement around it. A bloody knife.

    Blood. Blood. Blood. So much blood.

    The girl woke with a start, biting back a scream. Her hair was stuck to her neck, forehead, and back with sweat, and her legs were tangled in the sheets. She pressed a hand to her chest and felt her heart beating erratically in her chest.

    She glanced at the table next to her bed and sighed when she saw that the alarm clock read 6:24. Sunrise wasn't for another hour, and there was no way she'd be able to get even another minute of sleep.

    With an annoyed groan, Althea yanked the covers off of her and began to get ready for the long day ahead of her. She put on her favorite pair of jeans, a NYU hoodie over a Camp Half Blood t-shirt, and a pair of high-top Vans.

    In her backpack, she shoved a phone charger, a pouch of golden drachmas, a large water bottle full of nectar, a baggie of ambrosia, her wallet full of mortal money, a few spare changes of clothes, and enough handheld weapons to provide for a small army. She made sure her sword was sheathed in her belt and her phone was in her pocket.

    When everything was packed, she stood in the doorway of the cabin, fiddling with the beaded necklace around her neck as she watched her siblings sleep. One bead for every year at camp. Ten in total, signifying ten years of training and ten years of surviving the dangerous life of a demigod. Ten years of people dying in a lifelong war that they would never win.

    Althea gave the sleeping half-bloods a final glance before closing the door behind her as quietly as possible.

    She wouldn't be meeting Lizzie and Percy for another twenty-five minutes, so Althea decided to head to the beach to clear her head and think.

    It was strange but not unusual to see the camp so deserted. As she walked past the rows of cabins, she envisioned the people she knew and cared for sleeping within. She paused slightly while passing the Poseidon cabin, wondering for a moment if Percy was awake, but shook her head at the thought. She'd see him at dawn.

    When she neared the beach, she noticed a figure sitting in the sand, staring at the waves as they crested on the shore.

    Althea realized upon getting closer that the person on the beach was Lizzie Sloan herself, the moonlight washing out her dark hair.

    Lizzie didn't look up when Althea sat down next to her. She kept her eyes trained on the water.

    "Are you nervous?" Lizzie, three years younger than the blonde, asked, voice sounding deafening against the otherwise quiet night.

    Althea shook her head. "After everything we've gone through in the past two years, this should be a piece of cake." She said, choosing to leave out the dream she'd had and the shaky feeling it had left her with.

    Lizzie sighed. "I know we fought Kronos and won, but this is my first quest. I won't have an army of my friends behind me. All I'll have is you and Percy. If I mess up... it'll be my fault if the quest fails."

    The older girl wrapped an arm around the younger's shoulders. "Hey, I chose you for this quest for a reason. Me and Percy will have your back. We'll protect you. I promise." Althea reassured her, squeezing her shoulder.

    Lizzie looked at her with admiration "I don't know how you do it."

    "Do what?"

    "Be so brave all the time. It's like nothing phases you." The daughter of Hecate swallowed thickly, turning her gaze back to the water. "During the battle, on the Williamsburg Bridge, you saved my life. You took a hit that was meant for me. You did it without thinking. You saw that knife flying at me and you just... you just jumped in front of it."