𝑷𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒚 𝑰𝒏 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑫𝒂𝒓𝒌 ꨄ

E i g h t

The middle of the night if not a good time to be awake, especially not in their small, damp room beneath the deck. Luna groaned, sleep ridden and disoriented, but unfortunately awake. She carded a hand through her sweat licked hair, then scrubbed a hand across her eyes as though she could wipe the sleep away. 

A trembling sigh broke the silence and efficiently wiped any drowsiness she'd been holding on to before. Luna stilled, eyes adjusting in the darkness, and managed to see Clarisse sitting on the edge of the bed. She was wearing her off shoulder band tee, - the ratty shirt she always slept in - and was holding all of her hair in one hand, as though the weight of it suffocated her. 

"'Larisse?" Luna mumbled, rubbing her eyes. 

The other girl turned her head, eyes accusatory, as though Luna had no right to be awake. "Go back to sleep" she snapped. 

She sat up straighter, a tinge of worry spreading through her. "What's wrong?" 

"Nothing," Clarisse said, trying to sound angry, but the baritone of her voice came out tired. "Go back to bed and leave me alone," 

Luna debated doing that, then quickly dismissed the thought. She sat up and shifted closer to the Ares girl, the bed creaking under her weight, the sheets sticking to her calves. "No," She said at length.

When Clarisse turned her head to snap at her again, Luna spoke before she could. "Tell me," 

The Ares girl was quiet, and the only sound caught between them was the puff of their breaths. Luna slowly reached forward and caught the hand Clarisse was holding her hair in, gently pulling it free from its iron grip, and letting the whorl of curls caught there fall free. 

"La Rue," She said softly. 

Clarisse looked at her. There was a fire in her eyes that in the past had made Luna believe she was irritated; but now she recognized the look as fear. It was there for a second, and then all that remained was an unsettling amount of apathy. 

"I had a dream," The Ares girl said, but before she could elaborate or Luna could ask, she stood from the bed. "Do you know how important it is that we don't mess up this quest?" 

"Of course I do," Luna told her. "If we don't, the camp will be left defenseless-"  

"No," Clarisse said with such vigor that she stopped dead. "No. My father - he-" She stopped, then tried again, slower, as though the words were chocking her. "He hates Jackson for what he did to him last summer. I know he chose me for this quest because he wants me to win the glory instead of Percy. If we fail..." 

"What?" Luna stood as well, and crossed her arms, brows furrowing. 

"My dad's the god of war and bloodshed," Clarisse said, and her words felt like she was reading them off a pamphlet. Her next ones however, we're entirely sincere. "He's not a nice man." 

It was twisted, and horrid, but through Clarisse's blurry explanation, Luna finally understood. 

"What is he going to do?" She asked sharply, angrily, a crappy shield to hide the fear festering inside of her. 

"Nothing to you," 

"I don't care about that," Luna pressed on, suddenly panicked. "I mean what is he going to do to you?" 

Clarisse absentmindedly ran her hand down the length of her arm and gave her a morose smile. "Nothing nice," 

Luna's blood turned to ice. She looked at the Ares girl, hoping she'd elaborate and negate what they were both thinking about. But she knew she wouldn't. Ares was the most violent god there was. He gorged on bloodshed and pain, gloried in others suffering. It should have made him hesitate, the fact that Clarisse was his daughter, but Luna wasn't surprised that it didn't.