It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.
Annabeth knew the quote from some stupid book called something like A Tale of Two Cities. So boring. She was dyslexic but went to abnormal lengths to get novels in Ancient Greek. Connor had complained to her that his English teacher had tried to make him read that for school, while Annabeth read it for fun.
Aurora knew the line from the song "Getaway Car." (Technically, it was the best of times, the worst of crimes, but who cares, it was close enough). If there was one thing that could bring all the girls at Camp Half Blood—plus a bunch of the Apollo boys—together, it was blasting Taylor Swift at the loudest possible volume. It annoyed the hell out of the Ares kids, but no one really minded.
As she stared at the hard ground with patchy grass and sad looking dirt before her, Aurora really wished for that at that moment. She was always at camp, all year round. It was her home, her safety net. She missed sitting around with Connor all day, eating Sour Patch Kids and laughing at Annabeth who was attempting to gain Luke's attention.
And although Camp Half Blood was a camp, she was never one for camping. Well, she never really tried, but as she stared at the ground littered with flattened soda cans and fast-food wrappers, she grimaced even more.
Her mother, and her grandmother, were huge environmentalists. Plants were their thing. Aurora loved nature. She loved seeing all the different types of flowers sprouting in their environments, she loved the little animals that were home in their ecosystem, she loved the smell of grass and the sight of a clear blue sky.
The pollution of their sacred earth hurt Aurora's heart, and by the way that Grover's mouth was downturned, it hurt him even more, being a satyr and all.
In the midst of the two nature-driven friends having heartache, Percy and Annabeth decided that they would sleep in shifts.
Aurora was insomniac since she could remember, always tense and prepared for a fight, for a monster attack. She only fell asleep at the craziest hours of the night once Gracie was next to her. Since her sister wasn't on the quest, she doubted she would get any sleep that night, thus volunteering for first watch.
However, Percy refused to let it go. "You need sleep, Flower Face. Be one with nature or whatever. I'll take first watch."
"No, you're not." Aurora's eyes flared. "Do you understand how many monsters will be after you tomorrow? I'll take first watch."
"No—"
"I don't understand why you guys are arguing over who gets to sleep first. Just take it together, di immortales. You are an insufferable duo." Annabeth grumbled loudly from where she lay, curled up on blankets. her head hit the ground, and she quickly started snoring before either of them could respond.
Grover landed on the ground, stared at the night sky sadly, and lay next to Annabeth. He joined her in a soft snore that sounded like reed pipes.
Aurora watched as her two closest friends slept soundly, in a safe slumber as if they weren't out in the wilderness on a life-threatening quest.
"Grover is sad." Percy spoke up after a beat of silence. He was frowning, touching his heart concerningly. "I don't know how I feel it, but... he is. He's sad."
Aurora sighed, sitting down on a fallen tree trunk. At camp, you could see the stars shining brightly, winking down from Olympus as if to make fun of them. "The sky is polluted, Jackson. It's a terrible time to be a satyr. Grover's goal in life is to find Pan, the god of the wild. He wants a searcher's license to find him." She hesitated, fiddling with a water lily that grew from her index finger and thumb. "He disappeared two thousand years ago. I honestly don't know if he still exists, but almost all satyrs want to find him. The bravest ones search the entire earth. Grover wants to be the first to succeed."
Percy didn't know what to say as he sat down next to her, so close that their knees were touching. Her skin prickled at the contact, but was slightly grateful for the warmth he provided in the cold night. "Wow. I didn't know that. I feel like a bad friend."
Aurora shrugged plainly, as if to say, what if you are? But her words were different. "You can't blame yourself, Shark Boy. There's no way you would've known. He never told you. I'm sure he would've, but never got the opportunity."
"And Annabeth?" Percy asked, gesturing his chin towards the sleeping blonde. Her gray eyes were shut closed, her ringlets of hair sticking to her cheek as she let out a deep sigh of slumber. "She's kind of mean."
"Maybe you're kind of annoying." Aurora snapped, almost automatically. She recentered herself, quickly reminding her that Percy was just curious, not sending a personal attack. "I mean, don't be so hard on her. She's had a tough life, but she's an amazing person. She's my best friend. We've been at camp together since we were kids. She doesn't mean to be rude, but she just likes to be prepared. Always six steps ahead of everyone else, you know?"
Percy nodded solemnly, despite his eyebrows being crinkled in confusion. However, he brushed off Annabeth's story like he was eager to get to someone else's. "And you?"
"Me? What about me?" Aurora countered with a raise of her eyebrows.
"Tell me your story." He responded. It was dark, but Percy's eyes seemed to light up between them, an ethereal aquamarine glow that shone just for her. "I want to know everything."
Aurora looked away. "Why don't you go to sleep, and I'll tell you once we survive?" She expected him to back down, to nod along like he usually did, but he grabbed her elbow and ticked his jaw.
"No." Percy was harsh like she'd never seen him before, but as quickly as he toughened up, he softened, his tense muscles deflating. "I don't want to go to sleep. I've been having... weird dreams."
The daughter of Persephone knew what that felt like. For her entire sixth year on the planet, Aurora had the most unsettling dreams about things she didn't want to talk about.
"Okay," Aurora conceded, turning towards Percy. He watched as red roses sprouted at her feet, just two inches away from her beat up Converse, but Aurora ignored it. "Okay. What do you want to know?"
"Everything."
"Well, you kind of have to be a little more specific here, genius."
Percy paused for a moment to think. He rested his chin on his hand, so he was staring up at her through his heavy eyelids and thick eyelashes.
He could be beautiful if he wasn't so damn irritating. The back of Aurora's mind said. Aurora told it to shut up and never come back. Luckily for her, it didn't.
"What's your favorite color?" was the first thing out of Percy's mouth.
"Seriously?" Aurora snorted, her eyes widening when there wasn't a trace of laughter on Percy's lips. He was dead serious. "Jeez, okay. Pink. Like, a soft pink, the color of a hibiscus. Or the color in between blue and green. The color of sea glass."
"I like blue." Percy supplied, but Aurora really didn't have to ask. It was pretty obvious. "And gold."
"Like I couldn't have guessed that." Aurora deadpanned.
They talked until they couldn't talk any longer, with dry mouths and dry eyes.
They argued and Aurora hit Percy numerous times while still trying to be quiet and not disturb any nearby monsters and their slumbering friends.
And they fell asleep right next to each other, her head against his shoulder, with Percy asking the most senseless questions and Aurora answering them with disdain dripping from her mouth.
"Wake up, bitches." Annabeth smacked Percy's shoulder hard, causing his body to shake, waking up Aurora from where she lay.
Groggily, Aurora's hazel eyes blinked open to be blinded by Apollo, the sun's bright rays greeting her with a wink. Silena would be disappointed to note that Aurora wasn't wearing SPF.
"Did we fall asleep?" Aurora asked at the same time Percy wondered "How long were we asleep?"
Annabeth shrugged with an obnoxious smirk. "Long enough for me to cook breakfast." She tossed a bag of nacho-flavored corn chips over to Aurora, but Percy caught it faster. The girl glared at the boy until he gave up and handed her the bag.
Aurora frowned, confused as she stuffed a triangle of cheese powder into her mouth.
There were very few people she could talk to until she fell asleep. Gracie, Annabeth, Connor, and apparently the boy she hated most in the world: Percy Jackson. Which made no sense, because she hated him.
I was insanely tired, Aurora justified. I'm on a quest. I still hate him.
A loud yap cut off all of Aurora's thoughts. Grover sat cross-legged on a blanket with something fuzzy in his lap. A dirty, unnaturally pink stuffed animal.
No. It wasn't a stuffed animal. It was a pink poodle.
"Oh my god, he's adorable!" Aurora jumped up, abandoning her chips, which Percy swiftly stole. She sat next to Grover, quickly taking the dog in her hands. "He's so coquette pink poodle core."
Grover nodded along, though he probably had no idea what Aurora was saying. The poodle yapped at Percy suspiciously. Grover said, "No, he's not."
Percy blinked. "Are you... talking to that thing?"
The poodle growled. Aurora pet his back, nodding her head sympathetically. "I know, right?"
"You're talking to it too?" Percy asked incredulously. Aurora just winked and mouthed the words you never know.
"This thing is our ticket west. Be nice to him." Grover warned. "Percy, Rory, meet Gladiola. Gladiola, Percy and Rory."
"Hi, beautiful!" Aurora cooed, stroking his fur. "I love your color."
Percy shook his head aggressively, eyeing Aurora weirdly. "Ro, you're hella weird. I am not saying hello to a pink poodle. Forget it."
"Percy," Annabeth said slowly, danger creeping into her voice. "I said hello to the poodle. You say hello to the poodle."
Gladiola growled again.
Percy said hello to the pink poodle.
"You're such a smart boy!" Aurora complimented in the same voice she had used to talk to the dog. Percy scowled at her mock.
Grover explained how he'd come across Gladiola in the woods and they'd struck up a conversation. The poodle had run away from a rich local family, who'd post a $200 reward for his return. Gladiola didn't really want to go back to his family, but he was willing to if it meant helping Grover.
Aurora zoned out, because she wasn't really one for planning. That's what Annabeth was for. She never really intended on leaving Annabeth's side.
However, disassociating wasn't really useful in a situation like theirs, because Annabeth and Percy were looking at her like she was the one settling for a tie.
In most instances, Aurora would have sided with Annabeth immediately. But, there was a pink poodle involved now.
"I say we do whatever my beautiful majestic pink poodle Gladiola says." Aurora quipped. Annabeth smiled like she had won the argument, and Percy sighed.
"Fine." He groaned.
Annabeth smirked smugly. She glanced at Percy, then at Aurora with a look that indicated that they'd be talking later. What about, Aurora had no idea, but she didn't like the scheming expression on her best friend's face.
"According to Gladiola, the westbound train leaves at noon." Grover explained.
"Taylor Swift, Fearless, Speak now, Red, 1989..." Aurora sang as she skipped towards the train tracks, without any excitement for their next cruel adventure.
ೀ⋆｡🌷 notes ...
word count: 2025
date published: february 28, 2024
thoughts: i read a tale of two cities for my english class earlier this year and let's just saw im not a fan but i had to include it in the story ykyk. also happy 4k reads guys u have no idea how happy this makes me i published this like two weeks ago i will cry. anyways surprise update bc i love u guys
also i love the next chapter sm