𝑷𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒚 𝑰𝒏 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑫𝒂𝒓𝒌 ꨄ

T w o

Luna paced her room, full or nerves and anxiety. She didn't know what to do. A more betraying part of her whispered that her father would understand, but she wasn't crazy enough to believe that. What would she even say? Yes dad, I need to get to camp half blood immediately because I had a dream that was so horrifyingly realistic I couldn't close and eye the rest of the night? He'd say she needed to go and catch that sleep she'd missed because she sounded insane. 

Now, Luna didn't know an awful lot about dreams. The only truly significant one she'd ever had had been when she'd visited Nyx's mansion of nightmares, and even then that had probably only been because another had god had accidentally invoked her. But having dreams that could be prophetic? That could potentially be real? That had never happened before. 

She knew Percy had a lot of dreams, dreams that sometimes turned out to be true. She wished she could just call and ask if he'd had any similar ones recently, but as demigods, they didn't have a lot ways to communicate. All she knew was that he lived in New York, but apart from that, she hadn't heard from him in almost a year.  

She groaned and stopped pacing, plopping down on her bed instead. In an hour, she'd promised to meet Mira at the Arcade, meaning that by that time she'd have to be done with her little existential crisis so that she wouldn't act like someone off their meds. She kept telling herself that in two weeks she'd be going back to camp anyway, that it didn't matter if it was now or then. 

But what if they need me now? The betraying voice in the back of her head definitely didn't help. 

At least they had Friday off, because she didn't think she could handle going to school like this. Nerves still sizzling and head still raging, Luna decided that changing into something more appropriate would do great for a distraction. She settled for a simple summer dress - it was plain black, above the knee length, and cinched around the waist. She accessorized with her moon earrings, a heart shaped necklace, and her handbag. Lastly, she spun her dark hair into two messy buns on her head and finally deemed herself ready.

"I like your hair," Was the first thing her dad said when she came downstairs.

Luna smiled a real smile as she went to put on her black converse. "Thank you. Gods know I spent some time doing it."

He laughed. Then his face sobered up a fraction as he watched. "You leaving already?"

"Well yeah...I told Mira I'd meet her at two thirty," She said casually, trying to avoid how nervous she was. It didn't help that suddenly her dad was in a disagreeable mood. 

"Luna come on," Her father said in that disappointed but not quite angry voice. It made her want to rip her hair out. "I barely see you anymore. I feel like we haven't talked in ages. What happened last summer - I barely know anything about it."

"I've just got a lot going on," Was her frilly defense. She already had so much on her plate. She could not be dealing with this right now. 

"Like what?" He challenged.

She sighed in exasperation, thumbing the strap of her bag. "Like school? And friends, and my dance classes?"

"You're avoiding the real question here,"

"I'm avoiding it because I don't want to talk about it!" She exploded, feeling cornered. "Has it ever occurred to you that teenage girls might not want to tell their dads everything? I'm not ten anymore - you don't have to know every aspect of my life!"

Her dad frowned, annoyed, but still stayed infuriatingly calm. "Don't over simplify the situation. This isn't just a matter of me wanting to know everything you do - its me worrying about you because you seem affected by something but won't tell me what it is."