𝐒𝐎𝐋𝐄𝐈𝐋¹ || 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐂𝐘 𝐉𝐀𝐂𝐊𝐒𝐎𝐍

𝐋𝐗𝐗𝐈𝐈

✦ 𝐃𝐎𝐍'𝐓 𝐁𝐋𝐀𝐌𝐄 𝐌𝐄 ✦

PERCY WOKE UP FEELING LIKE HE WAS STILL ON FIRE. His skin stung. His throat felt as dry as sand. Percy saw the blue sky and trees above him. He heard a fountain gurgling and smelled juniper and cedar and a bunch of other sweet-scented plants. He heard waves, too, gently lapping on a rocky shore.

Percy wondered if he were dead, but he knew better. He had been to the Land of the Dead, and there was no blue sky. The raven-haired boy tried to sit up. His muscles felt like they were melting.

"Stay still," a girl's voice said, "You're too weak to rise."

Aurora was the first thing Percy thought of.

She laid a cool cloth across his forehead. A bronze spoon hovered over Percy and liquid was dribbled into his mouth. The drink soothed his throat and left a warm chocolatey aftertaste. Nectar of the gods.

Then the girl's face appeared above Percy.

To his disappointment... it was not Aurora.

Instead of Aurora's sharp amber eyes, the mysterious girl had soft almond eyes. And instead of Aurora's silvery-white hair that glistened under the light, the mysterious girl had caramel-color hair, braided over one shoulder. She was... fifteen? Sixteen? It was hard to tell. She had one of those faces that just seemed timeless.

She began singing, and Percy's pain dissolved. She was working magic. He could feel her music sinking into his skin, healing and repairing his burns.

Just like Aurora would.

"Who?" Percy croaked.

"Shhh, brave one," she said, "Rest and heal. No harm will come to you here. I am Calypso."

✦

The hours that turned to days had stretched on and Aurora remained unconscious in the infirmary, worry gripped everyone at Camp. Her siblings, Annabeth, and Chiron stood vigil by her bedside every day, their expressions etched with concern as they watched over her still form.

Outside, the world seemed to mirror their unease. The sun had yet to rise, casting an eerie darkness over the campgrounds. Mortals, unaware of the magical events unfolding, panicked at the phenomenon, with news outlets buzzing with speculation and theories.

The moment Percy woke up was the moment the soulmate mark on Aurora's wrist glowed back to life once more, a glimmer of hope amidst the uncertainty.

But despite the renewed glow of her soulmate mark, Aurora remained unresponsive, her unconscious state unchanged. No amount of healing magic seemed to rouse her from her slumber, leaving her loved ones feeling helpless and frustrated.

As they gathered around her bedside, Chiron, Annabeth, and Aurora's brothers engaged in a solemn conversation, their voices hushed with concern.

"What do you think could be causing this?" Annabeth questioned, her brow furrowed with worry.