𝐇𝐀𝐕𝐄𝐍° ! percy jackson

𝐢.𝐱𝐱𝐢𝐢 - 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐰 𝐮𝐩 (𝐚)

Aurora sat, elbow to elbow with Connor, watching the sunset over the lake, the calmest she'd ever felt since the quest. The air was cool but not chilly, and the Apollo kids were humming the faint chorus of People Watching by Conan Gray. She was enjoying an ice cold strawberry lemonade from her goblet that Connor had stolen from the dining hall when she felt something shift in her stomach. A slight pang, an uneasiness that indicated something was wrong. Worry crept into her heart, and she immediately jumped up.

"Percy."

She didn't know why or how she knew, or why she even uttered his name, but there was something. There was something there. She could feel it, like she could feel the Furies' presence and power in the Underworld.

That was the only word she uttered before she sprinted towards the creek. Something—someone—was drawing her there, and this time, she listened to her gut without any second thought, without any worry about repercussions.

Aurora let out a scream of terror as Connor followed her to find a green-and-gray Percy, laying unconscious with Riptide limp in his hand. His face was pale and his eyes—his beautiful, sea green eyes—were rolled to the back of his head. Connor sprinted towards Chiron to get help, while Aurora, through her midst of panic, spotted something.

A leather necklace with five round clay beads, two short sandy blond strands of hair stuck in the clasp. No one had that many beads, except for...

"Luke." Aurora croaked, cupping Percy's face in her hands. She felt her vision go blurry as tears welled up in her hazel eyes, the warmth of Percy's skin that she was so familiar with slipping away slowly, his body going colder by the second. Percy was ripped out of Aurora's grasp as two nymphs lifted him up and handed him to Chiron, carrying him towards the infirmary. Annabeth held Aurora back from running after him, but soon, she had a different boy in mind.

Luke.

She needed to find him. She was going to kill him. Well, if what her gut was telling her was true. She really hoped she was wrong.

Her feet slapped the rocky dirt of a path that only the four of them—Luke, Aurora, Annabeth, Gracie, their make-shift family—knew about. It used to be their sacred place, their escape. It used to be Aurora's haven. And now, seeing Luke's scarred face and sandy hair and no remorse on his jagged lips, it was tainted with the unshed blood of betrayal.

"Where do you think you're going?" Aurora's voice shook when she met the blue eyes of someone she thought she knew so well. Luke was in the midst of packing all of his life's belongings into a raggedy old backpack when the daughter of Persephone approached him with heavy accusations to lay at his feet. "I know what you did to Percy. You can't think you're gonna get away with that, okay? A scorpion?" 

She hadn't stayed long enough for Percy to wake up, but the carcass of the insect laying in the dirt was enough information for Aurora to learn how the deed that had been done occurred. Scorpions were one of the most poisonous creatures alive, and they could cause death within sixty seconds.

Against Aurora's good will, she was starting to like the son of Poseidon. But Luke was her oldest and best friend. She didn't understand. She didn't want to believe it. She was fully prepared to her gut to be wrong, for it to have taken a wild turn and for her and Luke to laugh about her crazy suspicions for the next five years. But no. Aurora's worst fears had come true.

And at that moment, her loyalties lay with Percy Jackson.

"Tell me you didn't do it." Aurora choked out. "Look me in my eyes and tell me you didn't do it."

As she predicted, Luke stayed silent, unable to deny his actions. His azure gaze cast on the trees behind her, not even meeting her face, his only defense being him saying her name slowly and cautiously, as if attempting to calm a wild animal. The worst part was, he didn't say no. "Rory—"