𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍
𝒑𝒖𝒓𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒊𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒆𝒔
❛ the flowers were beautiful,
but they symbolized gold ❜
𝐏𝐔𝐑𝐏𝐋𝐄 𝐈𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐄𝐒, 𝕬urora held many complaints throughout their journey. One, the mosquito bites on her arm were tormenting the young girl, causing her to scratch to the point where her arm was now bright red burning with ache. Two, the further they ventured through the forest, the more she was disgusted with her own species. Cans, Plastic bottles, Paper, etc were littered everywhere. How they got so far in the forest, she had no clue but in order to keep a calm mind she'd tried not to make her eyes land on any piece of garbage . . . and that small task proved itself incredibly difficult.
I'm going to change the world, she thought as her foot landed on a can causing her to bite her lip in frustration. One way or another.
It's why she'd strive to follow the career path of a scientist, hoping that one day the change she so desperately wanted to create for the world around her would blossom far beyond her expectations.
Grover didn't look any better. He tried but ultimately failed to cover the small quiver of his chin as he took in the atrocity around them. The sight of his distraught made Auroras frown deepen and before she knew it, she began to quietly pick up as many cans as she could carry.
"Hey, grooves!"
The horn haired individual turned, "Yeah?"
"Here," she tried to smile. "You'll need to rinse them out before you can ea—"
CRUNCH!
Aurora and the rest of the group stared wide-eyed as Grover began to munch on the cans given to him. His ears perking up at the thought of finally eating.
He muttered a thanks followed by a burp before rushing off to side up next to Annabeth who continued to venture throughout the terrain to find a suitable place to camp.
"Hey," a voice spoke to her right. Percy, she deemed. "I just wanted to say thank you for saving my life back there."
Aurora shrugged a sad smile on her lips as she saw his frown, "You're not your father, ocean eyes," she tried to assure. "I've only known you for a couple of weeks now and I know that you'll be far greater than he is."
This caused him to stop and stare at her. Noticing this, her eyebrows furrowed and she too halted.
She didn't know what the hurricane in his eyes signified, but she desperately wanted to know. She desperately wanted to be uncover his emotions, to understand his deepest turmoils.
"How do you know?"
She lifted a shoulder in a half-hearted shrug, "Call it a hunch."
"I thought no good scientist would make an assumption without reliable proof."
She rolled her eyes and began following the group, "Haven't you realized yet, ocean eyes?" She asked over her shoulder. "I'm no good scientist, I'm a great one."
Before they knew it, they'd found a secluded spot to camp, a hundred yards from the main road, in a marshy clearing that local kids had obviously been using for parties.
The ground was littered with flattened soda cans and fast-food wrappers not as worse as before, but still upsetting. They'd taken some food and blankets from Aunty Em's, but they didn't dare light a fire to dry their damp clothes. The Furies and Medusa had provided enough excitement for one day. They didn't want to attract anything else.
They decided to sleep in shifts. Percy volunteered to take first watch. Annabeth curled up on the blankets and was snoring as soon as her head hit the ground. For the Daughter of Aphrodite, it worked a little differently. The phone in her back pocket felt heavy, like a mantle she was never meant to carry . . . especially when it buzzed.
Goodnight, kid. call me when you can, pepper misses you . . . so does happy but you know how he is, he's hard to pry, The text read.
A smile grew on her face and soon after another text followed.
I miss you too.
It took a lot for the Tony Stark to ever reveal how he was feeling. Something his own father had, yet no matter how hard it was to spew whatever energy he held . . . It came out much more easier with his daughter.
Aurora pondered over the text and ran her thumb across her phone wanting nothing more than to hear her father say those exact words to her, wishing she was there with her family entirely and not stuck saving the world.
The thought was one invading her mind, doubting every step she took the further she ventured on this knot-twisting path forcing her into a sense of realization that worrying for her father while the worlds at stake was only a distraction that could possibly result in the loss of lives.
So, with a small sigh and big frown, she dismantled the phone, took the battery, and snapped it in half.
Not wanting to contemplate whether her decision was a good one, she immediately closed her eyes hoping her sleep came sooner than it usually did.
Oh, how she wished she hadn't.
Her body tingled with uncertainty, every atom in her body firing deep into her heart increasing its thumping as it echoed in her ears. Yet, she wasn't focused on that — on her body desperately telling her to turn and run, instead she focused on the scenery in front of her.
She was at the edge of a cliff looking up at the breathtaking array of stars that seem to twinkle down at her with the same amount of curiosity. It was a sight she was never able to see due to the amount of air pollution clouding New York City skies, but it was one she'd never forget . . .
Until her eyes shifted down, and the contrasting sight from the stars to utter darkness caused her stomach to drop.
There about a hundred or so feet below her was the perfect epitome of darkness. A whole about the size Manhattan, seemed to have no end. It being pitch-black allowed no sight or color beyond its own.
Her body begged her to pinch herself, anything to wake her up from this doom.
"Careful, little one," a deep voice spoke from behind her. "You might fall in."
Her body tensed some more and out of instinct she summoned her sword and shield gauntlet, and with a tight grip that forced her knuckles white she turned and pointed.
But her fierceness almost faltered.
A cave the same color as the bottomless pit stood before her, grandiose than anything she had ever seen and all that more menacing. Yet, that didn't grab her attention -- nor was her attention caught by the beautiful purple flowers that draped down and around the foreboding darkness along with beautiful luminouscent vines covering her landscape, no, it was the burning bright lights emitting from the darkness.
"Who are you?"
She took a hesitant step forward, unknowingly crushing a beautiful purple flower with her foot. She tried to take a closer look at the light only to realize that they weren't lights, they were eyes. Eyes lit up a fire blazing gold and from where they were positioned about three hundred feet in the air and both the size of her entire head, she knew the being in front of her was gargantuan.
"Beautiful aren't they?" The creature ignored her, flickering their eyes towards the beautiful flowers she didn't have time to examine. Her eyes were solely locked on the being in front of her.
"Each Iris holds a significant meaning to them, their meaning varies by its color," he hummed. "White signifies purity. Yellow signifies passion, but purple?" The deep baritone of their voice ended with a scoff, "Purple signifies royalty, wisdom, and admiration"
Aurora scoffed and narrowed her eyes, "Look, buddy. I don't know who the hell you are or what the hell you want from me with that excessive monologue but I don't scare easily. Now, I won't ask again," she gritted her teeth. "Who the hell are you?"
"You're just like the one before you," they huffed out a small chuckle. "However, little dove, Keep in mind that answers come to those who are patient, but I have to admit I'm rather surprised you don't know who I am"
Aurora tilted her head, "Am I supposed to know who you are?"
"Yes. It's part of your destiny, dove"
Aurora's head tilted in confusion, her sword still pointed in front of her, "My destiny?" she looked up with eyebrows furrowed. "How do you know my destiny?"
"Why wouldn't I? I'm here destined to meet you."
Before Aurora could question the creature more, the dream grew hazy. Everything turned blurry, as if she never belonged to this reality, but she desperately tried to stay in order to garner the answers she so desperately wanted.
"We'll meet again, Aurora"
With those final words she woke up with sunlight blaring right down at her causing her to turn away and rub the sleep out of her eyes. With a groan, she stood and dusted off her clothing, cringing at her appearance and wishing for nothing more than to change into a new pair. However, with the way the quest was going . . . she knew it would be a long shot before she got what she wanted.
Annabeth and Grover had both woken up too and were having a conversation. They were both sitting on the blanket with Annabeth sitting in front of Grover completely blocking him from where she laid.
"Good morning," Aurora yawned while running her fingers through her hair in order to tame as much as she could and rid herself of tangles. Her two braids were long gone since she lost her hair ties back at the emporium. Her brown locks fell in waves underneath her shoulder blades, undoubtedly frizzy with her baby hairs sticking in all directions.
"Good morning, Aurora" They replied.
Aurora approached the duo but halted when she saw the pink poodle in Grover's lap.
"Okay," she turned on her heel. "Time to go back to sleep"
She went to walk towards her makeshift sleeping bag only for Annabeth to grip her wrist and yank her down to sit next to her, right beside Grover and the poodle.
"Say hello to the poodle," Anabbeth nudged her best friend.
Aurora forced a smile on her face and took a hold of the poodles dirty paw and gave a little shake, "Hello, poodle"
"Her name is Gladiola and she's here to help" Grover stated.
They began to go into detail on how Grover came across the pink poodle and how the pink poodle will give them the opportunity to turn herself in for a cash reward which will let them buy tickets to Los Angeles.
Aurora was beginning to feel the consequences to her own actions by destroying the only form of communication she had with her billionaire of a father.
Oh, how his help would have been handy.
"Well someone should wake up ocean eyes so we can get this show on the road," Aurora stated while pointed at the sleeping boy. Annabeth shook her head and tugged her architecture book in her hands. Grover gestured to the poodle in his lap as if saying he was too occupied at the moment.
Aurora rolled her eyes, "Don't worry guys, I'll do it. Wouldn't want to make either of you uncomfortable"
She walked towards the ocean eyed boy and crouched down to get closer. His face was sickly pale and his body would twitch every second or so.
"Percy," she shook his shoulder gently.
No response.
She sighed and placed both of her hands on each of his shoulders and began to shake a little more viciously, "Percy!"
In less than a second the boy's eyes shot open. It took him a minute to blink the haze out of his eyes to reveal the beyond pretty girl in front of him.
"Hey, ocean eyes," she smiled. "Good to see you're up"
Her hair had leaves and twigs in it, making her look like an earth princess. It made Percy a little envious, how was it that she still looked so pretty?
Percy's trembling continued. Aurora furrowed her eyebrows and frowned. She placed her palm on his forehead at which he flinched away, "Are you alright? You look sick"
"How long was I asleep?" He shook his head and unconsciously leaned into her cool hand.
"Long enough for Chef Annabeth to cook breakfast." Aurora handed the dark haired boy a bag of nacho-flavored cornchips from Aunty Em's snack bar, "And Grover went exploring. Look, he found a friend."
The poodle yapped at Percy suspiciously when the young boy stared at it in shock.
Grover said, "No, he's not."
Percy blinked wondering if he was still dreaming, "Are you . . . talking to that thing?"
The poodle growled, he looked ready to bite Percy and Aurora honestly knew she would've cracked up if it were to actually happen.
"This thing," Grover warned, "is our ticket west. Be nice to him."
"You can talk to animals?"
Grover ignored the question.
"Percy, meet Gladiola. Gladiola, Percy."
Percy raised his eyebrows.
"I'm not saying hello to a pink poodle," Percy said. "Forget it."
"Percy," Annabeth said. "I said hello to the poodle. Aurora said hello to the poodle. You say hello to the poodle."
Percy whirled around to Aurora with eyebrows raised, "You said hello to a poodle?"
Aurora rolled her eyes, "Yes, I did. He's our only shot at getting the bolt before we're out of time," she took a step towards him and dropped her voice to a whisper. "Now, go say hello to the poodle."
Percy didn't argue anymore. Without a second thought and ignoring the growling from the poodle, he crouched down and finally said hello to the poodle. It wasn't until the poodle growled a bit louder that he snapped out of his daze.
"You know," he turned to Aurora. "I'm not your biggest fan when you do that."
Aurora tilted her head innocently, "Do what?"
"That!" he pointed at her. "That right there."
"Well, maybe if you followed directions the first time. I wouldn't have to use it."
Percy looked at both Annabeth and Grover for help but they both shrugged.
Grover coughed, "She isn't wrong, Percy."
"She never is," Percy said. "is she?"
Aurora rose an eyebrow and crossed her arms over her chest, "I'm hardly ever wrong, ocean eyes, but be my guest," she rose her eyebrows. "Prove me wrong."
Who was Percy to deny such challenge.
Grover soon explained to Percy what they had previously told Aurora about the reward. Aurora could only hope that the Son of Poseidon would finally follow listen and keep quiet.
Obviously, she was wrong.
"How does Gladiola know about the reward?" Percy asked.
"He read the signs," Grover said. "Duh."
"Of course," Percy said. "Silly me."
Aurora was beginning to think that if Percy Jackson and Gladiola entered a sass competition, Percy'll win.
"So we turn in Gladiola," Annabeth explained in her best strategy voice, "we get money, and we buy tickets to Los Angeles. Simple."
"Not another bus," Percy said warily.
"Oh, gods no" Aurora blew a breath out.
"No," Annabeth agreed. She pointed downhill, toward train tracks Aurora hadn't been able to see last night in the dark. "There's an Amtrak station half a mile that way. According to Gladiola, the westbound train leaves at noon."
❛ allure me. ❜ ༢ ͎۪۫ ༊*·˚ ╱
❪ the prodigy, 𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒂𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒅 book. ❫
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