"Get out! OUT!"

The dark-haired girl went even paler than usual, her big blue eyes filled with tears. She bit her pink lower lip, mascara running down her face. Even when she was broken, she was beautiful. And that enraged me even more.

"I hate you!" I screamed. "Get away from me!"

"What did I do?" she whispered. "Please, I'm sorry!"

"I never want to see you again!" I turned before she could see the tears filling my eyes.

Sobbing, she turned and fled the cabin, over Half-Blood Hill, and out of sight.

All of a sudden, she was back, lying on the ground, her once-beautiful face twisted and mangled. Her eyes, the same ones that had flowed with tears the night so many months before, were glazed, seeing nothing. A few tears of my own leaked out, but my helmet concealed them. In her hand was a silver bracelet adorned with a scythe charm.

Silena Beauregard was dead.

I jerked awake, drenched in sweat. My oversized t-shirt clung to my body. For a few awful seconds, her dead eyes swam in front of me. Slowly, the Aphrodite cabin came into focus: the pink walls, lace curtains, my brothers and sisters sleeping in their beds. The clock read 6:45. Ripping away my tangled sheets, I stumbled into the bathroom to get ready before the other campers. They certainly couldn't see me like this.

After a hot shower, the sounds of the others beginning to wake up drifted under the bathroom door. Quickly styling my hair and makeup, I burst out of the bathroom, hoping I looked composed and not still terrified from my dream. Seeing Silena's old bunk, a tornado of guilt and tears rose up and constricted my throat, but I shoved it down and put on my most powerful charmspeaking voice.

"Remember to get your chores done before breakfast," I singsonged. "Today's assignments are on the board. If you fail to complete your tasks, you will get to wear the Shoes until lunch."

Gasps and muttering filled the room, and gave me the sense of power that fueled me. "Ta-ta, darlings, I should go eat!" I breezed out the door, knocking over a pink trash can on my way. "Oops! Lacy, make sure you get that, sweetie."

Finally escaping to the strawberry fields, I stood for a few minutes, not crying, taking yoga fire breaths and trying to calm down, reminding myself that it was just a dream.

But it wasn't just a dream, I think. It was real, and it was your fault. But then I hear the conch shell signaling breakfast, and march towards the pavilion, pushing all thoughts of Silena out of my mind.

For now.