Fire and Water 1)The Darkness Within

Presenting the Past

Rays Pov

I steadied myself, and let go of Leo before looking around and taking in our surroundings .

I'm sure New York is beautiful, but we had landed in possibly the most unflattering place.

We were in an alley with a dumpster right behind us. We really splurged on the view .

There were dumpster bags everywhere , and I was sure they belonged in the actual dumpster. The name Meg Mcafferey was crudely engraved on one of the walls, possibly with a sharp stone. I saw a little girl with a green dress skip out of the alley with an apple in her right hand.

All of us looked like utter cacaseca. Only Piper looked great which I will never understand . Her hair was windswept , all in crazy direction , but her eyes gleamed.

Girl ,give me your secrets.

A lady with chocolate brown skin and pin straight black hair walked into the alley. She narrowed her eyes at us. She was probably thinking, what in tarnation are these homeless children doing here?

She looked so familiar, like I had met her before.

She studied our clothes and raised an eyebrow."You children", she said, her accent French and  posh. "Come with me. I'll give you new clothes. You can't possibly walk around New York like that! I run a boutique just around the corner ,yes? I can't bear the state you are in now. Come follow me , Oui"

I couldn't pinpoint where I had seen her before, but i was sure of it. Her eye colour seemed to keep changing, like she wanted to change herself, but couldn't.

Nico raised an eyebrow at her,sceptical . But she was right, our clothes were in shreds and we desperately needed new ones, otherwise they wouldn't let us into the Empire State Building.

We'd be chased out by the security.

So we made the most rational and safe decision which we used our obvious intellect to come to.

We followed her into a quaint boutique.

Reckless? Whoever said that?

She handed each of us some clothes and ushered us into the dressing rooms.

I wore a black T-shirt,ripped black skinny jeans and a slightly oversized blue flannel. My shoes were high heel ankle boots that were also black. Honestly, it was quite my style and I was a little shocked that she had grasped it so quickly.

I walked out and saw everyone in their new outfits. Percy was wearing a ocean blue hoodie and black jeans. Leo was wearing a white button up and jeans. Nico had a new aviator jacket, exactly like his old one, just in better condition.Frank had a green polo T-Shirt on and blue jeans and Magnus was wearing a baggy t shirt and sweats. Alex was still with her whole pink and green aesthetic just boosted up a little.

Annabeth wore an oversized Harvard sweatshirt and leggings. Piper wore leggings and a mini skirt , an tucked in T shirt and knee high boots. Jason was wearing jeans and a blue shirt with the superman emblem on it.

But it was Hazels outfit that stood out. It was a regular shirt, but she was wearing jodhpurs ,riding boots and other assorted riding gear. She looked in the mirror in confusion .

"Oh you look lovely children ,yes", the lady purred . She looked slightly different now. She was taller and her straight black hair was in luscious brown curls.

She smirked slightly at Hazel who was visibly flustered with her outfit.
"Um, why do I have to wear riding gear?", Hazel asked, bewildered and that's when hit me.