Sign of the Times

Golden Toilets and Death Machines

I let Percy say his piece on what happened to Zoe and Bianca, and the entire time he was pretending I didn't exist, which was rather nice. After he explained that Aphrodite told us to be careful in the junkyard we had a decision to make.

Let me walk you through a thought process right now and tell me if it makes sense, alright?

1.) The goddess of love tells us to be careful in her husband's junkyard.

2.) The prophecy said we would lose someone in a desert, and we are currently in the desert.

3.) It is pitch black out and in the middle of the night while most of us are sleep-deprived. 

4.) We have two options:

a.) Wait until morning, go around the junkyard, and make things easier for ourselves. 

b.) Go through the junkyard RIGHT NOW in the middle of the night like fucking idiots!

We chose option B. Does that make sense? No? Alright, I just wanted to make sure I wasn't going crazy.

"Did she say anything about that to you, Em?" Bianca asked me. 

"No, she was mostly blabbing on about how I, er," am basically head over heels in love with a certain boy who is currently ignoring me while standing five feet away! "Shouldn't join the hunters and should follow the path of tragic love story."

Believable? Yes.

Do all of them know I am lying? Also yes.

Maybe not all of them because someone who was very against me joining the hunter's ears perked up. 

"So, you can either join the hunters or be part of a tragic love story?" Percy asked.

"I feel like the choice is obvious then," Zoe added. "Join the hunters, never experience the heartbreak."

If I could pipe in with the truth, I would tell them that neither is going to happen since I will be dead in a hot sec. But instead, I just stay quiet while Percy and Zoe go back and forth about this stupid, useless argument.

"Guys, before you start arguing over Emelia's affections, just know that I already have them!" Thalia yelled, swinging an arm around my shoulder. "Now, we are going to go on a cute little date off into the junkyard. Feel free to tag along, but give us our distance because this is a date."

I shrug and let Thalia lead me on into the junkyard. 

"So, you ready to experience your tragic love story over the next two days, because I don't think that you are about to sign the rest of your two days off to maidenhood," Thalia asked, pulling me closer. 

Huh, two days. Plus or minus a few maybe because I don't really know the details of the prophecy, but still sooner than I thought. I kinda was thinking I still had a week. Huh.

"Come on, we all know it was just Aphrodite being Aphrodite. I'm not gonna go and fall in love with some random, hot lumberjack in the next 48 hours then die to seal the deal. I will only finish the tragic part of that prediction," I told her, wrapping my arm around her and giving her a tight side hug while we walked.

"Emelia," Thalia said, patting my shoulder. "You are so stupid. You don't need some hot lumberjack, and if there is one, I call dibs, because you have a scrawny, annoying son of Poseidon instead!"

I scrunched my nose at her, shaking my head. "Nope. No. Absolutely not."

"Come on, you are as obvious as he is!" To that I furrow my brows in confusion.

"What do you mean as obvious as he is?" I asked and her eyes went wide. 

"I thought you were smarter than this. Kid took a bullet for you. He practically blushes every time you look in his direction! He also has that whole protective thing going on. Carrying you up a mountain to save your life! The whole 'don't touch her!' thing when we first met the hunters!"