TIME'S SHADOWS

A SEQUEL TO TIME BOMB

Chapter 1- Inception got NUTHING on you.

There are some people in this world, who you believe, are just created to make life harder for you. They seem to deliberately sabotage everything you do, set out a vengeful quest to ruin your life as much as possible. Everybody experiences these people once in their lifetime. Some grin and bear it, ignoring the malice and turning a blind eye to the problems created. Some people let it all out on dear Mr. Fuzzly propped up on their pillow. Some carefully, quietly, try to have a nice, polite, mature word, dealing with it like the sensible adults they are.

Some people bottle it up until they spill right over, brimming with pure fury. Then they let it out in one massive explosion of emotion, almost setting fire to things, scattering people around them, instantly becoming the latest camp gossip, and freaking the Hades out of their boyfriend.

I guess I fit into that category.

I suppose I should start from the beginning. A few of you out there today might be wondering if I am a complete psycho, writing my memoirs from the lovely padded room I now live in. No to that question, before you ask me. Read your mind? I'm psychic like that. And the number you're thinking of right now is 7. Damn straight.

It began with a sleepy Thursday morning, the morning sun weaving patterns with the shade on the canvas of the dewy grass. As the last of the night rolled away over the horizon, I sat on the mismatched verandah of my cabin, hugging my knees to my chest. Well, knee, really. As I watched nymphs and dryads sleepily emerge from their trees, rubbing their chlorophyll- stained eyes with their hands and yawning as dramatically as possible, I saw a sudden burst of movement out of the corner of my eye. A whoosh of air and a quiet thump alerted me to a shadowy presence behind me. I turned, sleepy smile present on my face.

Nico. Always, always, always Nico. He always tried to perfect his landings to surprise me, but he could never quite get the finishing touch. He was crouched behind me, kneeling with his hand planted firmly against the ground, hiding in the barely visible early morning shadow. I raised an eyebrow. "Good morning. Why do you keep doing that? I can see you coming a mile away."

He smiled; a stunning thing to see. When Nico smiles, his eyes sparkle with pure happiness, and his open, joyful smile spreads slowly across his face. When he laughs, it's a bubbling chuckle that you can't help but laugh along with, even if it's the stupidest of jokes. "Because I love you, why else?"

I sighed dramatically. "That was very irrelevant."

"But it's true."

I couldn't help but smile at his goofiness, and leaned backwards into his lap. My head rested against his chest, and his long, clever fingers began playing with my hair. We sat there for a few minutes, soaking up the morning sun, till I interrupted the comfortable silence. "I had that dream again, Nico. It's stupid, but I'm getting worried about it. It's certainly not quest-worthy, but it must mean something."

As I leant up to see his eyes, they had dimmed a little. "It means something, Jade, for sure. We'll just have to wait and see. It doesn't say anything specifically, just a girl having some kind of sleep-fit. If it comes up with anything more, we contact Chiron. Simple."

"I like that you said "we"."

"I'm with you for this, J, forever. You know that, don't you?"

I smiled, concerns brushed aside by Nico's hopeless romanticism. I'd been having a recurring dream for about a week. It was like when you mortals watch a really bad YouTube video. Like, when the camera throws itself in and out of focus, and the cameraman's hands are shaking. The thing they're videoing moves around too much, so half of the video's shot at a blank wall.

The only thing I could make out was the slight figure of a girl, slumped against the trash can of an alleyway. She wore a school uniform that looked like it cost a lot, but had undertaken one too many homeless nights. It was streaked with general grime, ripped in some areas, stained in others. She was sleeping, but not well. Her hands waved around in her sleep. She moaned; as if in terrible pain, as her hands lashed out at an invisible enemy. I couldn't see her face- she was hunched away from me, and most of her face was hidden by her long black hair. Then the camera blurred, spun away.

As the wake-up trumpet echoed across the peaceful valley, Nico tapped my head. "Time to get up!"

I groaned, pretending to be asleep, as I struggled upwards. As I rolled to a sitting position, I tried to pull myself upwards. Again, and again. Nico's hands hooked under my arms, and pulled me gently upwards. I smiled. "Thanks. It's still a big thing to get used to."

A big thing. Yep, that was one way of putting it. After I lost control of time in my last quest, crashing onto the sand, I fell unconscious. In a way, that was a good thing. A piece of flying, razor-sharp debris (most likely some of Meneotious's armor) pierced my leg, just above the knee. It impaled my leg, shattering bone, and pinning it to the ground. By the time Apollo's medics reached me, I'd lost so much blood they had to amputate it. Figures. I survive the fall, and then get a leg taken off by flying debris. Freak accident, they called it. I call it luck being a douchebag.

So now, I have a new leg, a prosthetic. Except, its prosthetic demigod style. This means a shiny bronze replica of my old leg and foot, created by the Hephaestus cabin, especially for me. Inside it are thousands of complicated wires, gears, and pulleys, imitating muscle tissue and nerves to the exact point that I can wiggle my shiny bronze toes. Don't ask me how it works, I have no idea. The Apollo medics and Hephaestus engineers worked for five hours to re-create it, (warning- squeamish people skip this part) tying my slit veins and arteries to wires, replicating nerves with sensors and replacing tissue with… whatever the Hades they replaced it with. I was still figuring out all the functions of it, but incredibly impressed.

As Nico and I walked down to the mess hall, holding hands, we were part of the flurry of campers to get to breakfast. My cabin was built right next to Nico's, on top of the valley, where all the new cabins were being constructed. This gave us a good view, but a long walk to anywhere. By the time we got there, most of the food had gone already.

As I grabbed my plate, shoveled food onto it and sat down at my table (alone. How fun.) Chiron cleared his throat. When he does that, you know something big is going down. Every single camper's head perked up.

He smiled. "Good morning campers! I have just a quick announcement to make. We have a new camper here today!"

He looked around for some signs of excitement, which reached the thrilling climax of a few half-hearted claps and weary cheers. "She arrived here early this morning. So campers, if you haven't already met her, meet Jessica Rachel Harper!"

A girl stepped up next to him, with a shy smile on her face. Her long straight black hair was tucked behind her ears, as her dark blue eyes looked at us all in wonder. She was tanned, like she'd spent most of her life somewhere sunny. She acquired a bit more applause- a few wolf whistles from the guys, which she politely blushed at. A Hermes kid called out "Unclaimed?"

"Yes." She said softly, with just the trace of an accent, looking directly at the guy, who groaned, starting up a chorus from the Hermes cabin.

She shrugged, and then turned to Chiron. "When am I getting my uniform back?"

Suddenly, something clicked in my brain. "Hey!" I yelled, standing up. Everyone went silent. "You're- you're the girl from my dream!"

And so there begins another story! WARNING: I may not be able to update for quite some time because I've got exams looming around the corner… DUN DUN DUN. Please review! I love the lovely reviews! If you review you get virtual cookies and everybody likes cookies :D

PS.

Rachel.

This.

Is.

Hardcore.

REVENGE.

MWAHAHAHA.

Reviewers- do not worry. Just click on that lovely green button below! Kthxbye!