Sunburn- phoebus apollo

--x. There's no such thing as bad thoughts

RHEA JACKSON

Spending winter break with Lee Fletcher wasn't something Rhea originally had on her schedule, but when he'd casually brought up the idea during an Iris-message last week, Rhea had found herself saying okay without any of the usual overthinking she did. Maybe it was because she knew he'd be all alone otherwise, or maybe it was because of those dreams she'd had—but she had to admit, all in all, it was kind of an interesting experience.

His place in New York was the very epitome of a bachelor pad. There were guitar magazines scattered everywhere, a miniature town made out of cardboard built on top of the coffee table, and movie posters plastered all over the walls. It only took her a few days to settle in and figure out the way of the land: if she wanted to change the music playing, she had to go into his bedroom and switch his iPod playlist; if she needed to go to a different floor, she had to take the stairs, because the elevator in the apartment complex was always breaking down; and if she wanted to grab a bite to eat somewhere, she had to make sure Lee went with her because he was convinced she'd get mugged or pickpocketed by herself.

But, as a whole, his place wasn't too shabby for a guy that had just moved out to live on his own. Sure, he wasn't the best cook, and sure, it was a little too small, but it had character, and it was in a relatively safe area. There were, however, some odd quirks her friend had that she'd begun to notice now that she'd been stuck in one place with him for so long.

For one thing, Lee had this weird habit of leaving cinnamon canisters all over the kitchen table, and for another, whenever he ran out of money before he got his next paycheck at the music store he worked at, he'd sell his mom's fake jewelry to the pawn shop down several streets—Rhea still wasn't sure how he'd manage to broker those deals, but she had a feeling his patented million-dollar smile had something to do with it.

Admittedly, things were going a lot better than Rhea had thought they would, and when they didn't, Lee was always there to smooth things over. Whenever she'd wake up from a nightmare and couldn't bring herself to go back to sleep, he'd bring her out into the living room with him and turn on the TV, and they'd stare at the too bright screen for hours like they were looking for salvation on Channel 45. In reality, they were just watching cooking competitions or info commercials.

Perhaps it wasn't anything special, but Rhea felt like she was living. After all, before last winter, she didn't really have that many friends. Now, she had people who invited her to stay with them for Christmas.

Truthfully, though, as much as she'd wanted to visit Lee, she'd also had ulterior motives when she'd accepted his offer.

It had to do with a dream she'd had the night before his Iris-message—a vision she'd seen of a sword crafted from Stygian iron and her and her brother being submerged in the River Lethe.

Something would be happening soon, and she wanted to be there when it did. She had to be there when it did, because last night, when she saw a woman who'd appeared in her dream, the woman had looked right at her.

Persephone had looked right at her, and Rhea knew what that meant: she had a summons from the goddess herself, and she knew better than to decline it. She'd heard from Nico how his stepmother had once turned him into a dandelion, and she wasn't keen on experiencing that for herself.

As a result, she figured the best course of action would be to wait around with Lee in New York until the time Persephone had need of her. She just didn't really expect it to happen so out of the blue.

It'd been the hellhound that alerted her.

Lee had been putting in some extra hours at the music store when he'd suggested Carl Schurz Park as a nice place Rhea could hang out while waiting for him to get off his shift. It was pretty cold outside, her breath fogging up the space in front of her, but the virtually empty clearing she'd stumbled upon was a good area for her to get some needed peace and quiet. Staying with Lee was fun for the most part, but he was pretty chatty, so it was nice to finally get some time away from him.