Percy's POV
I sat silently on the beach of Camp Half-Blood, exhausted, but glad I had managed to get away from my friends and their chaos. Even without my magical destiny, my birthday had been too demanding for any sixteen year-old to handle. I almost felt like he could sleep for most of a year and not be bothered by it. My closest friend, Diana, a daughter of Apollo, had made my life more unsettling than any immortal by confronting me at the lake and confessing her romantic feelings for me. I could somewhat understand where she was coming from, seeing as we had gone on most of our quests together and I had gone to save her from Atlas a few years ago. And I suppose that, me not accepting Zeus's offer for immortality, may have given her the wrong idea, but Diana and I are just friends. It's normal for a guy to have female friends and not be into them, right? Who would have thought that an ADHD, dyslexic mess would be able to get so philosophical (I think I used that word right). Not to mention Rachel's new Great Prophecy. I hoped it wouldn't happen in my lifetime, but with my luck, I could never be sure. Suddenly I heard a conch shell and realized how late it had gotten. I would continue to think about my train wreck life in the morning.
Diana's POV
Of course Percy would skip dinner to mull things over. I did drop an atomic bomb on him and received from him a deer-in-the-headlights look. I finished changing into my pajamas and flopped onto my bed as the lights slowly went out. Didn't Percy like me back, as more than a friend? Surely Aphrodite herself wouldn't be so cruel, would she? Who am I kidding, of course she would be? I considered sneaking over to Percy's cabin to see if he was still awake, and wanted to talk about it, but I ultimately decided to not go and give him space to think. Dejected, I closed my eyes and tried to go to sleep.
Lucky me. My dreams weren't as relaxing as I would have hoped, as usual. I was a girl around seven, except my tanned skin looked like it had flecks of gold in it and my usually short black hair with yellow streaks framing the right side of my face were replaced with sandy gold locks tumbling down my back and around my shoulders in a high ponytail. I was surrounded by a thick forest and lots of wolves, and yet, I wasn't afraid of them. I was holding a small gold dagger, but from the way I held it, it almost looked like I knew how to use it, which I didn't at her age. The scene changed and I was now watching as the same girl crossed a river and entered what looked like an ancient town. I was starting to question who this girl was or where they were when suddenly the scene changed again. This time I was holding an ornate mirror and I was watching Percy talk to a much older version of the same girl, who was now around Percy's age, laughing at something he had said. I felt a pang of jealousy. Who was this girl and why did she get Percy's attention the way I had wanted it for years. I watched as pink mist started swirling around the scene and blocking my view of Percy and the wolf girl, until I couldn't see anything but the mirror still in my hand. In the mirror, I saw the most beautiful face I had ever seen and instantly became even more jealous than I already was. The woman in the mirror spoke gently as if knowing the right tone to take to match my emotions.
"Very soon, Diana. I assure you that your life will become much more interesting."
My dream ended and I woke up with a start, sunlight pouring into the cabin's windows and onto my bunk. I silently cursed Aphrodite and quickly changed, while waiting for my cabin to be ready for breakfast, in the hopes of seeing Percy one last time before he went home for the summer until next year. Will made a shrewd comment on how I wasn't usually ready this early and as usual, I rolled my eyes. Percy had mentioned coming back in the winter to hang out with friends, but after what I pulled last night, I didn't think it was likely. We went to the pavilion and I was saddened to see that Percy had indeed left for the year. After breakfast, all of my siblings who were leaving for the school year, including me going to Vermont, began repacking. As I finished, I got the strange feeling that something big was going to happen, if not soon, then before the next summer. I grew nervous because my intuitions were often correct.