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I 01. I
𝑾𝒂𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑽𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒔
❝ inspection ❞
THE FIRST DREAM THAT ARIADNE HAD IN MONTHS WAS ONE SHE DIDN'T EXPECT. She didn't think that she would be dreaming of Rachel Elizabeth Dare, the girl she didn't particularly like after last summer.
She dreamed Rachel Elizabeth Dare was throwing darts at Percy's picture.
She was standing her room... well, it wasn't exactly a room, but Ariadne didn't know anything about Rachel other than that she was kind of annoying and rich. Her 'room' was a huge loft with industrial lighting and floor-to-ceiling windows. It was about twice as big as Sally's apartment, and a few square feet bigger than Ariadne's old house in Miami.
Son alt rock music was malting from her paint covered Bose docking system. No matter how much she didn't like Rachel, her taste of music was what Ariadne liked.
She wore a kimono, and her hair was frizzy, like she'd been sleeping. Her bed was messed up. Sheets hung over a bunch of artist's easels. Dirty clothes and old energy bar wrappers were strewn around the floor, but when someone had a room that big, the mess didn't look so bad. Out the windows she could see the entire nighttime skyline of Manhattan.
The picture she was attacking was a painting of Ariadne standing over the giant Antaeus. Why Rachel was ripping up her picture, she didn't know until she saw the image of Percy in the far corner. Ariadne's expression in the picture was fierce—disturbing, even—so it was hard to tell if she was or wasn't ready to kill anyone.
"Demigods," Rachel muttered as she threw another dart at the canvas. "And their stupid quests."
"Most of the darts bounced off, but a few stuck. One hung off Percy's chin like a goatee.
Someone pounded on her bedroom door.
"Rachel!" a man shouted. "What in the world are you doing? Turn off that—"
Rachel scooped up her remote control and shut off the music. "Come in!"
Her dad walked in, scowling and blinking from the light. He had rust colored hair a little darker than Rachel's. It was smushed on one side like he'd lost a fight with his pillo. His silk blue pajamas had 'WD' monogrammed on the pocket. She didn't know anyone who had monogrammed pajamas.
"What is going on?" he demanded. "It's three in the morning."
"Couldn't sleep," Rachel said.
On the painting, a dart fell off Percy's face. Rachel hid the rest behind her back, but Mr. Dare noticed. "So... I take it your friend isn't coming to St. Thomas?"
