The

Daughter Of Sun

Ava woke up from the sounds of a large heavy footsteps in the middle of the local park where she slept in a sleeping bag beside the tree. It was more or less safe there, she just had to avoid cops.

Hastily she tried to run but then she reluctantly changed her mind, a policeman was too close. Her sandy blonde hair was tied up in a small bun, her dark blue eyes looked tired. There was no point in running he would've probably caught her anyway. She was annoyed. So she slowly rose to her feet, rolled down her sleeping bag and approached the policeman.

It's been approximately 17 hours since she ran away from home.

She thought she'd last longer.

She planned to go to NYC to her cousin Atticus this morning by bus, she already bought a ticket, which was not an easy thing to do.

Atticus and Ava spent most of their childhood together, they had a very strong bond. Atticus's parents died in a car crash when he was around 10, Ava in her place didn't know her father, 5 years ago her mother died under suspicious circumstances. Undoubtedly, these events left huge scars on their psyches, Ava didn't have any friends, she was highly introverted. Ever since they lived with their grandmother until the last summer when Atticus left for college.

When they were young Ava and Atticus could spend hours listening to their grandmother's stories about monsters, ancient myths and gods. Once she even claimed her fairy tales were real and in fact, based on her youth. As long as Ava could remember herself she was always a skeptic. Logic was everything to her, after that incident she never took her grandma seriously again. Most of their childhood was full of extra curricular activities and immense pressure from their grandmother. She expected her grandchildren to do well, she had high expectations, and neither of them could blame her for that. Her gran always said that Ava could play piano before she could even crawl. They rarely talked about Ava's parents, neither of them liked it. The death of her mother had a huge impact on the rest of Ava's life, she was very young at that time, in fact it happened on her 6th birthday. She could still vividly remember that day, her mother's smiling face, her birthday cake, and most importantly a strange blazing blonde man in a golden suit who gave her a harp as a present shortly after that he left the party, that was the first and hopefully the last time she saw him. Sometimes she wakes up in the cold sweat in the middle of the night because, of that day. The memory of that day is too strong and painful, Ava couldn't stop baling herself for that. That was the first time when she had her 'vision'. It showed her an image of the blazing sun splitting into two and then being absorbed by Earth. After that, her vision was becoming more and more real with even more details. She hated herself for that, she thought it made her crazy, she knew it meant something but nobody else believed her. Even Atticus thought it was just her imagination. Everyone except for her grandmother shared his opinion.

Till the last year Ava was schooled because she was a troubled kid. She got kicked out from 3 boarding schools, last year her grandmother decided to send her to a normal school. Ava never liked that idea .At school her classmates called her a 'rat'. She got this nickname on the first day of the school. She was sitting alone in the cafeteria, casually eating a sandwich as three girls approached her tabled table, the school reminded her of a wolf pack. All the cool kids stay in groups, just like the wolves sometimes kids get out to haunt. Their preys were usually the loners, guess what? Ava was the one. She didn't notice them until one of them called her. "Hey girls look, another freak in the school!" everyone in the room started to giggle. The tallest of the three took Ava's backpack and threw her stuff on the floor. Her eyes were tearing, she didn't notice it. Now the crowd was laughing. "My god! Where did you buy these backpack in the dumpster?" continued the second girl. Ava reached her breakpoint. Her hands started to tremble the girls backed off, "hey, look she is sick'' whispered the tall one. In a matter of seconds the three girls moaned and crunched their faces, they had a stomach ache just like that all of a sudden. "My tummy'' cried the second girl, "It's her fault, she is contagious!" assented the tall one. Then they sprinted to the bathroom. Now the crowd was laughing at them.

Ava and her grandma had a talk about it once when it was exceptionally though. It happened when Ava was 8, she was performing Sonnet 29 at the Chicago Music Conservatory. At first everything was going well, as always, until she saw a bright light from the window. She stopped playing, her fingers started to tremble, her eyes closed, and she entered the vision. This time, the Sun was attacked by both lighting and the planet Earth, the silver arrows were trying to shield it, most of them never got to reach the Sun. There were other creatures that were so bright they nearly blinded Ava. The subjects were reluctantly standing in the corner, watching, and not interfering. It was clear that they had the same issues as Sun, they were literally tearing apart into two pieces. They were beautiful Ava couldn't force herself to stop looking at them, her eyes were literally burning, she was in agony and couldn't anything about Ava nearly gave up, she heard her grandmother's firm voice - 'Ava, Ava, dear, wake up', pleaded she. Then she whispered something gibberish a spell most likely. As far as Ava understood it was in Ancient Greek. It meant, 'Oh father grant the poor child with strength, let it not happen today…'

It worked.

Ava was successfully retrived. Immediately after that Ava was hospitalized, she was diagnosed with Epilepsy. As if ADHD and Dyslexia were not enough to make her life hell, thought Ava. She lost control over herself and burst into tears, she was only a sad little girl after all. She didn't even notice how her grandma silently entered the room, sat on her bed, and gently touched her hands.

'Don't cry, child' she murmured .

'I, I, I… I can't' stutteringly replied Ava.

'I don't believe that it's epilepsy, I, I know it's not, i can sense it!" continued Ava

'Ava…' started her gran but was interrupted before she could finish her sentence.

'Im not crazy! These stupid doctors know nothing!' hysterically shouted Ava.

'Please listen and don't interrupt' The old lady looked firmly at Ava and then carried on 'I know you're not, your visions ,they're very special, people like you, people like us sometimes have them. The great meaning hides beneath them. Your visions are not like everyone else's, they are truly different, and much stronger. I KNOW you will learn how to control them. What was it? With great power comes the great responsibility?'

Ava couldn't help herself but laugh, even if there was nothing funny about it. She laughed so hard because, she thought that madness runs in her family.

The old Policeman took Ava back to her house in the similarly old car which smelled with fresh apples. She was captivated by the beauty of Chicago its broad streets, skyscrapers, and constantly busy people. She loved her home, she loved big cities even more.

Ava was looking at Avenue N Guitars and reminiscing the old times, it was her favorite shop. This is when the bunch of old ladies caught her eye. They were looking directly at her, they did nothing except for that. The three women were short and old, they radiated with wild and cruel energy. Ava turned away and unwillingly emerged into the vision, this vision was different. She didn't see any bright creatures, suns, or lightings. What she saw seemed so familiar and close to her, she saw a settlement most likely a camp, full of children wearing orange t-shirts and other living creatures that Ava found saw goat like men and a horseman who looked at her direction. Then she was in a part of the camp where she saw one couple. Two teenagers, a dark haired boy with beautiful sea green and equally pretty blonde girl with altered grey eyes, they didn't see her. Two seconds later everything changed, the camp was full of corpses, there was a battle. Then the image disappeared, this time she was looking at yet another camp or was it a town? There were both adults and children ,there were more statues, temples and warriors. She saw a tall blonde guy dressed in toga and a purple t-shirt with a sign that was barely visible. The blonde was giving orders to another teenagers. WHOOSH! Same thing, war and corpses. The camp vanished, Ava appeared in a dark dusty place which looked like a cave, it was completely dark except for the green light somewhere far. Ava ran to that light. WHOAH! She was now standing in a giant table, the three old ladies sat on the chairs, they were busy weaving. What's wrong with me, why I do I keep on seeing the old women?, thought Ava. The oldies noticed her.

'We have been waiting for you, Ava Roth." said all three at the same time.

'Who are you and how do you know my name?' gulped Ava. She was scared but she tried her best to conceal her fear.

'A long journey awaits for you' said the Moirai.

The lady who was spinning the thread stopped and flipped a golden coin. The image melted away, Ava didn't get to see the outcome. It made her nervous. She was transported in a room full of dyes and paintings. Ava noticed a very attractive teenage ginger girl. The girl was mixing the paint. Ava approached her, she thought the girl couldn't see her. She was right, probably for the first time in a very long time. The girl was busy, 'Hello' shouted Ava, but the girl couldn't hear her. Ava sat down on the multicolored floor and took her head in the , the girl dropped her brush her face changed. Her eyes became green, not that they were not green before it's just that they became even more green, deadly green! The ginger opened her mouth and started to speak, the green vapor was flying out from her mouth, her voice was powerful.

" The gods shall pledge for help"

The Ancients are rising

The choice is to be made

For better or for worse

The war is coming

The Two worlds will perish

When the girl finished , she collapsed to her feet, and passed away. Ava was shocked, "what does it all mean…". She didn't get to finish her thought. In a matter of seconds she found herself in space, there were no stars or anything only The Earth. It was beautiful and peaceful. Ava was too captivated by the Earth's beauty that she didn't hear the smooth voice at first.

'Hello, Ava' said the voice, clearly it was a woman's voice.

'How do you know my name, who are you?' replied Ava.

'I am the mother of all living creatures, I know everything." replied Gaea. 'And I need your help'

Ava was startled she didn't have enough time to analyze everything that she saw. The vision ended.

She was at home in her bed. Her grandmother was talking to Mr Lloyd, aka the policeman. He looked tired, they exchanged goodbyes and Mr Lloyd left.

'I know you are awake' determinately said her gran. 'I was worried'

'I, I, I had a vision again.' uttered Ava

'I am glad to see, Ava' announced her gran

'It was was different, I never saw anything like that!' told Ava excitedly

There was no answer. Her grandmother was busy packing the bags.

'Granny, are you mad at me? Are you sending me away?'

'No, I am not, not even a bit.'

'Then what it's all for, what are you up to?' asked Ava

'You ask too many questions." was her reply but then she continued 'We are going to New York to visit Atticus'

'Really, but wh…' She couldn't finish her sentence. The old ladies from the street broke the apparent door and ran in like a pack of ferrets with rabies.

"Hello, Ava' giggling said the ugliest one.

'QUICKLY COME HERE, AVA!' yelled her grandmother

One of the harpies sprinted to Ava's bed, she was way to fast for her age! Ava jumped from the bed and ran to her gran. The lady teared apart her bed.

'Woah, that could happen to me!' yelped Ava in awe. Unfortunately for Ava her entire world changed completely just in a couple of minutes. It was she the one who knew nothing!

Her grandmother took out her purse and hit the harpy with it, the poor creature fell down from the window of the 29th floor, or not exactly… Her grandma was busy fighting the other two ladies, Ava couldn't do anything she was powerless and she hated it! She gripped the heavy lamp from the table and launched it at the old harpy so hard it fell on the floor. That made the harpies go mad. 'YOU FILTHY HALF-BLOOD WE WILL KILL YOU AND YOUR TERRIBLE GRANDMOTHER! NO DEMIGOD HAS A RIGHT TO LIVE THIS LONG" With these words two harpies started to change their forms as the other one fled into the flat already transformed. Their faces became even uglier, they bared their wings and exposed their sharp claws. Synchronically they fled towards Ava and her gran. Her grandma was ready, her small pursue transformed into a deadly spear which she used to knock out the harpies. That didn't stop them, they continued to attack. "I didn't fight for 30 years, they outnumber us, and I am getting tired! yelled her grandmother. She tossed her spear and sat on the floor. 'We are so dead!' said Ava in her head. The black aura covered Ava and her grandmother, three armed to death skeletons(heheh)sprawled from the ground and went to fight for their mistress. 'They will hold them for some time' , "Now take my hand, we are leaving Chicago!" "Wait what…" said Ava while taking her hand, her gran had a very strong grip.

Together they melted into the darkness.

They collapsed in the middle of the forest. Her grandmother fell to her knees. She was utterly exhausted.

"Where are we, where's Att, and why are we here?" asked Ava

There was no answer. Mrs. Roth rose up and pointed to the distant arc with Camp-Half Blood written on top of it. 'We are home.' finally replied her gran.

The clouds above changed their color. 'We have to go now! or we will be slaughtered by the sunset' dryly said her gran. It started to rain. Her grandmother was very tired she couldn't properly walk Ava was helping her. "You have to leave me!" said her gran. "Never"

'Good for me! Now you will die together as it was intended." said a cold male voice, but there was no one to be seen.

"Who are you and what do you need from us" Shouted Ava

'You have an honor to be talking to the lord Boreas himself, and you ask too many questions child! said the voice

'Ava run!' begged her grandmother.

The northern wind blew so hard that her grandma was thrown 20 meters away from where she stood. She bumped into the tree and fell to the ground.

'You will die from my hands as you were supposed to 60 years ago, Daughter of Hades' roared Boreas

'I am Angela Roth one of the few living children of The Lord of The Underworld Hades.I know when my day will come, you'll not kill me today or any other day" proudly said Mrs. Roth

The earth started to shake the entire army of skeletons came out from the bottom and attacked Boreas. The strongest warrior ran to Ava and picked her up, the area became freezinglly cold, even darker energy wrapped Angela this time.

"We will see each other again, make me proud' said her grandmother and then jumped into the ethernal darkness.

Ava was already at the gates when her escort collapsed into the pile of bones that then turned into the dust. She remembered this place from her vision, the group of demigods accompanied by the centaur came to help her.

'Hello and Welcome to the Camp Half-Blood we've been waiting for you Ava Roth' said Chiron.

TO BE CONTINUED…