Aven Wilson has never once been happy. Thanks mom.
To this date, she is the only known daughter of Akhlys, goddess of misery and poison, and, oh boy, can you tell. It's hard to stick around her, and Aven doesn't blame the people that avoid her gaze...
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▬▬▬𝖶𝖤 𝖶𝖤𝖱𝖤 𝖯𝖱𝖤𝖳𝖳𝖸 𝖬𝖨𝖲𝖤𝖱𝖠𝖡𝖫𝖤 𝖳𝖧𝖠𝖳 night. We camped out in the woods, 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.
We'd taken some food and blankets from Aunty Em's, but we didn't dare light a fire to dry our damp clothes. The Furies and Medusa had provided enough excitement for one day. We didn't want to attract anything else.
We 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. I laid my sword next to me, and did the same. I was too tired to even consider what my presence would do to Annabeth's dreams. I just passed out like something was dragging me under the cover of sleep.
I hadn't considered what my own dreams would be like, either.
Darkness. That was it. Just endless dark, nothing above or below me. Cold creeped up my limbs. I was floating in the void, eyes wide. I couldn't move. I couldn't speak. This, I thought, must be Hades.
Who else could it be? Who else could create such an eternal feeling of dread? There was nothing left. I was alone. I was gone.
And then I was falling. I couldn't tell you how I knew, because nothing changed. It was still dark and terrible and my limbs didn't shift at all. My stomach rose into my throat like I was on a rollercoaster.
Join me, I heard, a deep voice echoing from somewhere. I couldn't tell who it was, just that it was oddly familiar, and then all I could feel was my stomach dropping, and I was plummeting back into my body.
I jolted awake in time to see Grover and Annabeth switch off on the watch. They were both watching me, nervously, and I thought I might've seen tears pooling in Grover's eyes.
"How long was I asleep?" I asked, sitting up. It comforted me to have my sword so close.
"Not too long," Annabeth replied. She sat against a tree trunk, and Grover started to nap in the branches above. "Grover ended up taking the first watch. I'd say it's about two or three in the morning. Go back to sleep."
