Light Em Up (oc x oc)

VI - Nova

Will tries to pull me into cheerful conversation at breakfast, but I busy myself inhaling waffles at frightening speed. I don't really want to talk to anyone. Since I shouted at Madison yesterday, I feel guilty, both for shouting, but also for weighing her down with my sins.

She comes running up to me, hair a mess, remnants of yesterday's eyeliner still on her face. Kayla shoots her a dirty look, but Will shoved down the bench to make a space.

"I can't," she says, her hands shaking. "Nova, do you know how to get a quest approved?"

"You have to go see Rachel, I guess," I answer. "What's the rush?"

"I had a dream."

That explains a lot. A lot of us do get these weird dreams about what's going on, but I tend to ignore all of mine. I'd rather pretend nothing is going on than acknowledge that if I have prophetic dreams, it's just another way for my dad to control my life.

"Who's Rachel?" she asks.

"Oh, Rachel Elizabeth Dare is our Oracle. She's still around, right, Will?"

"She's here all summer," he confirms.

When breakfast ends, Madison pretty much drags me away from the tables. I roll my eyes and lead her to the cave near Zeus' fist, where Rachel Elizabeth Dare sits cross-legged on the floor, paintbrush between her teeth, doodling on the wall.

"Rachel?"

"Oh, hi, Nova. What's up? You still trying to get out of here? I told you, it doesn't work like that."

"Not me, her. She had a dream."

"Let me guess, a mysterious note and a bow?"

Madison recounts her dream, and I wish mine were anywhere near as interesting. Mine are always remarkably boring, weird, or otherwise inappropriate, which doesn't make for great prophecies.

"Your wish is my command!" Rachel exclaims, rifling through a stack of paper in a box marked 'dreams'. "I wrote a stanza a while ago and the matching drawing matches your dream perfectly. Here."

"The sun shall travel West with the only the sister of the scorned,
They shall find the answers to the future already mourned;
Swirling desert sands lend themselves to another high score,
And the sun will rise again, but not the way it was before?" Madison frowns. "Is there something wrong with the sun?"

Rachel looks pointedly at us. "It's a metaphor, sweetie. The only thing I can tell you is pick your companions wisely."

We leave, and Rachel waves distractedly as she goes back to her mural.

"This is awful. The sun shall go West? What does that even mean?"

"It would surprise me," I say slowly, "if they meant a person instead of the literal sun. I would stake my life on it meaning Will or Austin - not Kayla because she's a dick. I have no idea who the 'scorned' is, though."

"One of them has to be me, right?"

"Well, you do have quite a sunny disposition. It could mean you."

"We have no clue, do we?"

Madison flips over the sheet of paper, and I hand her the pencil holding my hair up. She scrawls a copy of the note from her dream on the back of the prophecy, presumably so she doesn't forget.

"Who do we even ask?"

We grab a few of the others from their various pursuits, and soon enough the game crowd from yesterday all sit sprawled across the Apollo cabin. I don't think anyone dared to say it, but the dim lighting last night gave us all a raging headache.