"In Latin my name, Aurelia, basically means 'the golden one.' My mother literally named me her golden light through the storm that was her life. That is my job. To be everyone's light at the end of the tunnel. And I got stuck worrying so much about...
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Aurelia hated Octavian with everything in her.
The battle was mayhem. She waded through the enemy with Frank, Percy and Hazel, plowing down anyone who stood in their way. The First and Second Cohorts—pride of Camp Jupiter, a well-oiled, highly disciplined war machine—fell apart under the assault and the sheer novelty of being on the losing side.
Part of the problem was Percy and Aurelia. Although the two were both still wary of each other, they understood each other. They had moved together, like a team—like they were both used to having their own partners already.
Percy fought like a demon, whirling through the defenders' ranks in a completely unorthodox style, rolling under their feet, slashing with sword instead of stabbing like a Roman would, whacking campers with the flat side of his blade, and generally thriving off the mass panic.
Aurelia created mass panic. Once again her eyes were fully pitch black, and shadows danced around her, whispering to her where they wanted to go and who they wanted to ruin. Everyone who wasn't stumbling around blind with fear, was at the mercy of her gladius, and with each stab into them, they got added to the collection of screaming defenders.
Percy had been kind enough to Aurelia. He had reached Octavian first—it was easy to find him, considering he screamed in a shrill voice, ordering the First Cohort to stand their ground or trying to sing soprano (it was hard to tell). Percy somersaulted over a line of shield and kicked Octavian through the line, towards Aurelia who stared at the augur coldly.
The image in front of him was Octavian's biggest fear. When Aurelia fought, there was never a smile on her face that indicated she enjoyed herself or the chaos she created. Even her eyes, which often harbored a tiny gateway into her emotions, were concealed by sheer darkness. And Aurelia was directing a lot of that darkness into Octavian as she hit him straight into his helmet while he stood on his knees, frozen in absolute terror at the sight of her. The centurion collapsed like a sock puppet, and the tiniest of a smile appeared at the corner of Aurelia's lips as she continued to fight beside Percy through the next line of defenders.
Nearby, Frank had been shooting arrows until his quiver was empty, using blunt tipped missiles that wouldn't kill but left some nasty bruises on his victims. He broke his pilum over a defender's head, then reluctantly drew his gladius.
Aurelia snapped out of her attacking frenzy when she heard Hazel's voice. "Let's go, slowpokes!"
Hazel had climbed onto Hannibal the elephant and was charging toward the center of the fort, grinning down at her friends. Frank radiated a miniscule amount of affection as he looked at Hazel.
Aurelia caught Percy's eyes as they surveyed the damage they had caused.
"I can see where you got the name from," Percy said. Shadows were still dancing around Aurelia's neck and her fingertips as she gave a small nod at Percy.
