lover ≫ percy jackson

vii. a bad night's sleep

Lorelai didn't know where she was, but she was freezing. She looked down, noticing that she was knee deep in cold water. She was grasping Charmolipi in her hands, and she noticed that the blade was covered in blood.

"Lorelai!" A voice called to her. A familiar one.

"Lorelai, put down your sword," said another voice, this one also familiar.

"Come on, you can trust me," the first voice said again.

"No, Lorelai!" The second voice sounded panicked now. "We have to save camp. Think of your siblings. Think of Drew. Think of Chiron."

Lorelai looked around, trying to locate the voices. She realized that she was standing in a lake — a glacial lake, surrounded by mountains. She recognized it from the book Annabeth had been reading. It was Lake McDonald. The lake was shrouded in fog, making it difficult to see anything.

"Lorelai," the second voice called out again. That was when she recognized who it was: Percy.

"Percy?" She called out, narrowing her eyes as she searched the fog for the son of Poseidon.

"Over here!" Percy yelled back.

She finally located him, seeing that he was tied against a tree. Annabeth, Grover, and Esme were nowhere to be seen.

"No, over here, Lorelai! Think of what we could do together!" The first voice yelled again. "Think of the glory you could bring to Aphrodite."

While she couldn't place who it belonged to, something about it made her want to rust them. But Percy ...

"I -- I'm so confused," she said, stumbling backwards as she rubbed her head.

"YOU'VE BETRAYED ME," a third voice, this one louder than all the others, bellowed out from the sky. "YOU LED ME ASTRAY. "

Lorelai stumbled again, this time falling into the water. She looked around her, realizing that the water, which went up to her neck, was stained a deep purple. It looked like blood. Upon closer inspection, she realized it was coming from her.

She fumbled for her sunglasses as she tried to make out the other person, who was standing far away from her, shrouded in fog. She slipped the lenses over her eyes and squinted. The fog turned pink, and she realized that whoever the other person was, they were a demigod.

The traitor.

༺❀༻

The next morning, Lorelai woke up feeling restless. What she remembered of her dream echoed through her mind, sending her heartbeat soaring nervously. That, along with Ares' warning of a traitor, sent her stomach into a pit of nausea and made laying in bed any longer futile. She was also feeling a little suffocated after all the time in the van, and now that they were all crammed together in one room, a stuffy one without air conditioning, at that, she needed some fresh air.

"I'm going to go take a walk," she announced as the others began getting ready for the day. She'd woken up first and already showered, so at least her hair was no longer greasy. "I need some air." She grabbed Charmolipi, tucking the rapier into her waistband.

"You shouldn't go alone," Annabeth said, grabbing her dagger. "I'll come with you. I could use some exercise."

Lorelai gritted her teeth together. After the awkward conversation with Percy, the last thing she wanted was some one-on-one time with Annabeth. However, she didn't protest, and soon enough the daughters of Aphrodite and Athena, respectively, were walking side-by-side down the sidewalk.