City of Dreams

I Am Hallucinating

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or places or pretty much anything from the Percy Jackson world that are mentioned in this book. The credit for that goes to Rick Riordan. Unfortunately.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Raven? Are you okay?"

I jolted at the sound of my best friend's voice. Evelyn Hollows peered at me from under her thick, dark lashes.

"Raven? You were zoning out...again."

I looked at her, coming out of my reverie. "Sorry, Evy. I just have a lot on my mind."

Evy looked suspicious but let it drop. It was lunch, and I had zoned out with my fork halfway to my mouth while Evy was saying something. In an effort to redeem myself, I spoke to her. "Well, what about you? You keep missing school. You weren't here for all of last week. Who else am I supposed to sit with at lunch? Who else will listen to me?"

I nudged her playfully but there was truth behind my joke. Evy was my only friend. Without her, I had no one...except my mom.

I was five when I started reading. Kindergarten was great. I played with everyone and had so much fun. But while everyone got smarter and started to learn how to read, I just wanted to roll around in the grass and play with the kids in my class. There was also the fact that I had a terrible temper and short patience. 

When I turned six, my dad left my mom. She was heartbroken and had no one but me and my ten-year-old brother, Aron. We tried to make her feel better but it took her a while to heal. Every little thing reminded her of him and the waterworks started again. But then my mom pulled herself together for her children's sake and decided that she would make us into people that nobody would want to leave.

Mom worked Aron in every way to make him fitter, smarter, and drilled into his mind the qualities that made a good person. She did it for me, too but I just wasn't as charismatic as Aron. I didn't make  as many friends, and when my mom finally got me to start reading, I never stopped.

As I buried myself more and more into the dreamland of stories that I read, my friends lost interest in me. I wouldn't talk about boys or gossip about other girls and wouldn't wear the same kinds of clothes as them. This bothered them and they saw me as a threat. I never tried to be beautiful because that never mattered to me. But the girls started to whisper that guys had started taking interest in me and tried to make me feel like trash, but I remained oblivious and didn't care. I got good grades and was pretty athletic when I wanted to be. Mom was proud of me and that was all that mattered.

Then I got to middle school where I met Evelyn. She was mysterious and wasn't like the other girls. She was absolutely gorgeous and everyone knew it. With emerald green eyes, super-long lashes, naturally highlighted brown hair, and a slim, willowy body, the male population was all but lining up to go out with her. I wouldn't have noticed a thing, except that Evy shot down every boy who dared to talk to her and was strong enough that nobody messed with her. No one knew anything about her and, on her first day, Evelyn came over and was the first one to sit next to me despite the recruitment of the popular girls.

She listened to me and got me to open up about things that I had never told anyone. She loved books almost as much as I did and was incredibly loyal. I was pleasantly surprised at first but quickly realized that she wasn't going away. Evelyn became my best friend and then I had everything that I ever needed; my mom, Aron, and Evelyn, and I loved them more than anyone else in my life. Not that there were many people in my life to begin with.

But then Aron disappeared...

And that brings us up to the present where Evy was getting defensive about my question. "Well, I—I've been busy and last week I was sick and—"

"Busy with what, exactly?" I raised my eyebrows at her, enjoying making her uncomfortable.

"Busy with...things." she said vaguely. The thing about Evelyn was that no one could read her. But, being her best friend, I had learned how. Clearly, she was worried about something. And hiding it.

"Evy, what's wrong. What were you doing?"

"Nothing, Raven. It's no big deal, really." Evelyn closed her eyes.

"Evy, you can tell me—

"Just drop it, Raven, all right?" Evy breathed heavily. Then sighed. She opened her eyes and fixed me with a stare. "I'm sorry, but I'm just...preoccupied right now. I just got some confidential news that wasn't the best kind."

"Oh. Okay." I looked down. Yes, I was hurt. Evy never yelled at me. And she told me everything. Then why did she start hiding things now? I knew it was probably nothing, but I couldn't help looking over my shoulder at the popular table where the girls were flipping their hair and batting their eyelashes at the boys and dressed in designer clothes.

I turned back, feeling ashamed and guilty. Evy would never do that. Who was I to doubt her loyalty?

Someone who knows that she has every reason to walk away from me.

I shook my head, clearing the thoughts from my mind. "Um, Evy? I wanted to talk to you actually. It's about something I saw."

Evy's eyes widened. "Yeah?"

"Well, it was...okay you've never thought I was completely wacko crazy before right?" I asked her.

"Well..."

"Evy!"

She laughed. "Okay fine. Go on."

I took a deep breath. "Well, keep that in mind when you hear what I have to say." And with that, I told her everything about what happened that afternoon with Aegis.

By the time I was done, Evy's jaw was hanging open. "You're crazy," she told me.

"Hey, I did say to keep in mind that you never thought I was completely crazy until now." I watched her, weighing her judgement.

"Raven, this is—this is not normal."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, I know it's not normal, Evy."

"Raven, I—I don't know what to say to you." But as freaked out as Evy sounded, I got the weirdest feeling that she knew exactly what to say to me but was holding back.

Evy was muttering aimlessly, nonetheless. "This is crazy. I mean, people would pay to see this. But you said he was gone, though, didn't you. Can you remember—Raven? Raven are you listening? Raven—what—where are you going?"

I was walking trance-like to the double doors of the cafeteria, ignoring Evy calling after me. Did I just see what I thought I just saw? Black hair, sea green eyes...

I broke into a run and followed the boy that I saw outside and saw the head of black hair disappear around the corner. I raced to where I'd seen him and a glint of metal but there was nothing. I looked around the whole hallway but he was gone. The whispers I had heard that evening when I encountered Aegis resurfaced from the back of my mind.

Traveler...Astoria...City of Dreams...

I closed my eyes and put my hands over my ears.

Greatest wish...duties...Darian...

Wait, what? My eyes flew open. I was pretty sure Darian had never been mentioned by the strange female whispering voice.

I closed my eyes again, tuning out the world. It could not have been possible, but for a moment there I thought...I thought I had seen Percy Jackson.