FLOWER POWER ─ percy jackson

viii. st. louis

Aster spun around, horrified at the sight before her. Camp Half-Blood was in ruins; every building was on fire, and the strawberry fields had shriveled up to nothing. The cabin fire spread to the woods, and Aster could't stand what she saw. The voice laughed again, amused at the destruction it caused. Overjoyed at the decimation of her home.

A hand landed on Aster's shoulder, and she turned to see Thalia, her electric blue eyes narrowed in determination. "Aster Reed, you cannot listen to him. He will not win. You will have to stop him." Although the daughter of Zeus's voice was not her own, Aster focused on her former friend. Tears pricked at her eyes.

"I– How–" Aster tried, but she couldn't find the right words.

The girl grabbed her by both shoulders now. "Wake up, Aster. Wake up!"

Aster shot up, nearly colliding with Annabeth. She thrashed for a moment, but calmed when she saw her surroundings. She was not at Camp Half-Blood, it was not burning to the ground; Aster was on a quest with Percy, Annabeth, and Grover. She rested against the tree trunk, breathing heavily. Aster tried to think through the dream, but none of it made sense. She had a budding headache just thinking about it.

"You alright, Aster?" Annabeth asked. She eyed her with concern, edged with suspicion. "Bad dream?"

"Yeah," Aster breathed, sitting up. The sun was rising, and Aster turned back to Grover, eyebrows furrowed. "Guys!"

Annabeth looked back at Grover, who looked up at her confused.

"What?" he replied, confused, swiveling his head around to see if there was any immediate danger.

"Did you guys let me sleep all night?" Aster asked, crossing her arms over her chest. "We were supposed to split the watch."

"Maybe..." Grover's voice was an octave higher than usual. "In my defense, I let all of you sleep. Annabeth only got up like ten minutes ago."

Aster glanced over to her left, and sure enough, Percy was snoring away. He was drooling onto the blanket he had rolled up into a pillow. It must've been a usual thing for him, then.

"That's not any better!"

"You do need to sleep, Grover," Annabeth added.

"Nah, the environment fuels me," Grover joked, his eyes dancing with amusement.

Aster rolled her eyes. "You get some rest. We can watch until this kelp head wakes up."

"I don't need sleep. I was going to go explore the woods a bit. See if I can find any animals who could point us in the right direction."

Before Aster or Annabeth could protest, Grover had set off into the thicker part of the forest, and she and Annabeth sat in silence. She thought about the voice in her dream; it could have been Hades. He was ancient, and his voice could have been coming from the Underworld, which was underground. But the more she thought about it, the less sense it made. Why would Hades talk about the fall of the gods? He was a god. He could have meant the fall of his brothers, or the Olympian Gods. He wasn't one of those, after all, and he was bitter about it. But it sounded more sinister than Hades had ever been portrayed. Aster shook off her thoughts, but still felt deeply unsettled. Whoever—or whatever—the voice had been, it knew who she was, and supposedly about her destiny. I've been watching you. It was enough to send a chill down her spine, glancing around nervously. The tree branches gathered closer to her, in comfort.

To distract herself, Aster returned to Medusa's snack bar and found a couple bags of nacho-flavored corn chips for them to eat for breakfast. When she got back to their camp, she rested against the same tree trunk while they waited for Grover to come back.