It wasn't like a trust fund. Just because Lyra'd inherited a little extra luck? It was still her luck, and casinos were giant scams, and she deserved the money just as much as Rosario and Jocelyn and Ma and Abuela. So what if she hadn't had to work for it? She shouldn't have to work so hard for everything, was the point.
But that was Lyra's point as well: Rosario shouldn't have to work so hard and Jocelyn shouldn't have to work so hard and Ma and Abuela and even Chicky shouldn't have to work so damn hard without catching a break, and sure she wasn't wrong, but this was more cash than Rosario had ever held in her life.
And she was holding it right out in the open air. On an empty roof, and under a dark sky, but the awareness of it still prickled uncomfortably on the back of her neck, and of course Lyra had hidden her hands away so she couldn't take it back, so that the only practical thing for Rosario to do was stow the wad of bills in her own pocket. Rosario shook her head fondly. "You're impossible. I love you." She could feel the bulk of it resting against her thigh, and it didn't feel right, but— maybe that was a conversation for later. Maybe they could... decide what to spend it on together. Like doing something with Chicky or... something. Though if she could convince Ma to go see a doctor...
"A story. Okay..." Rosario grabbed the vodka and took a small swig to steel her nerves. She'd thought about this, about how she could best explain it. Probably overthought it. She'd run through it again and again in her mind, till she thought she knew the words to say. They still didn't come easy.
"You know... that night in the mountains? How I found Artemis cuz of the arrow in the side of the tree? And I thought at the time it was because the moon was reflecting off it, and it just happened to be at the right angle..." She was rolling the bottle between her hands as she spoke, eyes downcast, focussing on the faint play of light across the glass. "Well, um. There was no moon. I checked, it didn't rise till way later that night. But I still saw the arrow, even though it shoulda been impossible. There was no light to reflect, and anyway, the trees were crazy thick, everything woulda had to line up just perfectly to see a reflection at that distance."
It was the first time Rosario had actually admitted it, the whole thing, out loud, and despite the blanket and her coat and Lyra's coat pressing against her, a cold shiver stole down her spine. "So... I saw this thing I physically shouldn'ta seen. And right before that, I saw something else. Orion, the constellation, that's the guy with the belt, right? He's actually from Greek mythology, he's a hunter, he had this whole complicated thing with Artemis. And it was like— I was almost asleep, and this meteor goes through Orion's bow and it looks like a silver arrow and I see it land in the forest—"
Rosario pressed her lips shut, stole a sideways glance at Lyra and just as quickly looked away. Her hands were white-knuckled gripping the neck of the bottle.
"Apollo's the god of prophecy. He said I get it from him. And I'm gonna keep seeing shit."