Riley had trouble sleeping that night. She knew her dreams were prophecies, and that really freaked her out. Who am I, Cinderella? Riley thought jokingly to herself. All my dreams are going to come true. She almost laughed at her terrible pun.
As early morning approached, Riley crept out of her cabin, desperate not to wake her siblings. She didn't need them to be upset with her any more. She started walking towards the lake. It's not like Dad likes me more than all them, she thought. He just wanted to show me off, like a dog at the dog show. I hope they realize that. She kicked a stone and it skittered away.
Riley walked to the lake and sat on the west shore. She watched the eastern sun stretch over the ground and fill the world with gold. That's my father, she thought. He's driving the sun. She shook her head. Too weird.
"Amazing," Nico said in the sand beside her. She jumped a mile. Nico gave her a small smile. "Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you." Riley relaxed and smiled back. "It's alright." She hadn't notice what color his eyes were before. They were the color of hot chocolate, and golden in the sun. For a boy that lived among the shadows, in the sun he looked like a lightbulb.
"What are you doing up so early?" Nico asked. Riley looked at her feet swimming in the sand. "Couldn't sleep," she replied, not wanting to tell him about her fears. She avoided his eyes. They could suck the truth out from between her teeth.
Nico nodded like he understood. Riley wondered how many times he's been kept up from nightmares. He drew in the sand with his finger. "Me either."
The pair sat in silence. "Is it an accurate assumption to say we've spent 85% of our time together in silence so far?" Riley thought. She was listening to the waves drift onto the shoreline when Nico asked, "Why did you come here?"
Riley smiled, like she knew something he didn't. "It makes me feel like I'm in a movie, or book. It makes me feel like. . " She paused. ". . like I'm important to the story." Nico smiled a half smile.
"You're just as important anywhere else." he told her, face blank. Riley's face lit up from underneath, like a candle under a sheet of paper. Nico could tell that was all she needed to hear.
He stared at her oblivious face, which was gazing at the water like it was a book. He wondered how a child of the god of death could form a friendship with a girl as alive as her. Every bit of her was alive. Even knowing her for this little of time, he could tell. Her skin smiled, her freckles leaped, her hair jumped and twirled, her eyes laughed and made the rain pour.
Lost in thought, Nico realized with a start Riley was looking back at him. He felt himself blush at being caught staring at his new friend, but she didn't look away either. He lifted his eyes off her freckles and they locked into hers with bolts of steel. It was like turning a key in a doorknob.
Riley felt like a birthday present after the party was over: ripped open and her inside were exposed. She could barely hear the waves from the lake anymore. Music was playing in her head. She couldn't tell what genre, what song, what instruments. She tried to remember what her name was. Riley, she told herself. Riley Diell. She didn't really know what was happening, but didn't really want to think about it either.
Riley's hair was on fire. Her bones were shrinking into a shrew's. She felt like a lit candle. Her skin was falling off of her bones. She made her hands into fist to keep herself grounded, to keep her skin on. The world was hushed. The music hadn't stopped.
Nico's eyes fluttered away like a startled bird. "Breakfast?" he said. Riley was dimly away of the bell ringing. Her nerves were charged with electricity, like she had just high-fived Jason. She nodded, and they walked there in more silence. They parted ways without a good-bye. Riley had forgotten how to form the words.
"Hey Riley! How'd you sleep in your new cabin?" Annabeth asked, walking up to her and breaking Riley out of her trance with a start. "Oh!- yeah, good." Riley answered distractedly. "Hey, Annabeth?" Annabeth's steel eyes looked over at her. "Hades isn't the god of hynosis is he?"
Annabeth looked at her strangely. "Um, no. That would be Hypnos. What would make you think that?"
Riley shrugged. "Just wondering."