| The Rising Moon: The Awakening of a Demi-Goddess |

█▓▒­░⡷⠂ᴊᴜꜱᴛ ᴀ Qᴜɪᴄᴋ ꜰʀᴇꜱʜᴇɴ ᴜᴘ⠐⢾░▒▓█

 filipendulous

(adj.) hanging by a thread

——————————————————————————————————————————————————

Celeste shot up, her heard pounding and her fingers trembling. Her world was shaking, her eyes glazed and horrified. The nightmare- it had been so terrifying. What happens if the voice takes over me? She shuddered at the thought of it. Thoughts swirled in her mind as she opened her bag, which was slouched against her bed. She reached for the notebook, took her pen out, and started to write.

-Today... the dreams... they showed me memories of my past. My twin brother; Helios James; and how he left me to die in the fire. Elizabeth and Portia were there too... the voices are saying that I shouldn't trust anyone here. That they'll ditch me just like my own brother did... is that true? Am I being manipulated? Or am I just... hiding from the truth?

She solemnly closed the book and let out a sigh, running her fingers through her hair. Depression and anxiety tugged at the corner of her eyes. She rubbed her wrist, surprised to feel something cool and round on it. She looked down to see the beautiful blue pearls from the bracelet Nico had bought her.

A slight blush lingered on her cheeks by just thinking of him. She never expected him to give her a gift, and the thought of it made her feel different; like her stomach was doing a flip flop. She tiredly picked herself up from her bed and sat herself down in her chair, looking at the messy girl in the mirror.

Her hair was knotted and lopsided, her eyes bleak and her expression wary. She reached for a brush and started to comb her knotted tangles, smoothing them out.

Once she had freshened up, she opened her curtains to the window. It looked like it was roughly 6 AM; too early for her to wake up the others, but to late to go back to sleep. She opened dup her suitcase, trying to see what she could do to entertain herself. She quickly took out her arrow charm and resized it to its origin, twirling one of the arrows. The silver tip gleamed, even though there was no light for it to bounce of off. Huh, that's weird. She put it back to normal and hid it in her necklace, lying on the bed.

A bright orange book had caught her attention. 'Your Guide to International Languages,' it read. She had remembered Kayla putting it in there incase they were in more diverse areas for their trip. She shrugged her shoulders. It wouldn't hurt to try, right? She opened the first page.

English: "Hello, what is your name?"

Russian: "Hello, what is your name?" She frowned, looking at the two words. They were the exact same, no translation at all. She looked at another phrase.

English: "Do you know where the restroom is?"

Chinese:"Do you know where the restroom is?" It repeated again. She looked at it, perplexed. It seemed to be repeating the exact same thing, everything in English. She took another shot, turning to the final page.

English: "Hello, what time is it?"

Italian: "Hello, what time is it?" Her breath hitched. It printed Italian. Her mind trailed over to the conversation the day before, of her understanding Nico in Italian. Were these words all in English; or am I translating it all in my mind? She blinked. No way that was possible, right? What did they call someone who could speak many languages?

Bilingual is two, polygon is 4+, oh Hades, it's multilingual, right? She did the math. There were over hundreds of different languages. Did she really know all of them; without any studying of some sort? Some people dedicated their lives to learn only 5 or so, and it seemed she knew every single one. This was too much for her. She tossed the book on the floor and laid on her bed, making a T- shape and contemplating her life choices, then going under the covers to silently question the gods.

About a good hour had passed before she heard a knock on her door. She dragged herself of bed; her blanket still wrapped around her, and opened it to see Leo staring up and down at her. She realized that contemplating her life choices had completely ruined her hair all over again and made her look like a half awake monster.

"What?" She mumble snapped at him. He gave her a sarcastic look before leaning on the wall with one of her hands.

"For your information, princess, the others want you to get up on deck we can start training to fight these monster things; I suggest you clean yourself up," He added cautiously. She scowled, but before leaving, picked up the 'Your Guide to International Languages,' book.

"What does this say?" She asked, pointing to the Chinese "Do you know where the restroom is?". He squinted his eyes at it, confused.

"How would I know? I don't speak Chinese. Frank knows a bit though, so you can ask him," He supplied. She let out a small groan. So she really was multilingual. She was about to close the door when Leo stuck his foot in the entry way.

"Don't try to close it on me! They all also said I had to supervise you, no offense," He joked, which made her scowl. They really don't trust you, do they? The voice in her mind whispered. She shook it away, not wanting to draw any attention to herself.

"Fine," She grumbled, opening the door to let him in. He glanced at her room with a raised eyebrow.

"How come your room is this nice? Mine has a bunch of oil spills and spare parts lying around," He complained. She returned the gesture.

"Oh, I don't know why, son of Hephaestus," She gave a small scoff as she picked up her brush and quickly combed her hair. Her bracelet had fallen off and onto the bed, so she slid it on, swung her hair into a high ponytail, and clipped on a silver barrette that Kayla had gifted her. It took about 20 seconds to do so, and she slipped on her boots and turned to Leo. He was leaning against the wall, his eyes drifting on her; she couldn't help but notice his cheeks were tinted pink.

"Ready?" She asked, shrugging one of her shoulders. He recollected himself, ran his fingers through his hair, and nodded.

They both walked to the deck, and she was for one surprised he wasn't making any comments about her and Nico. Although she couldn't help but notice was constantly glancing at her. They're all already getting tired of you.. the voice in her mind whispered. She pushed it away, trying to recollect herself. The day Leo see's me talking to myself is the day I die, she gritted her teeth, and walked up the stairs to the main deck.