Ari G

My feet thudded against the mossy forest floor; my heart pounded a million miles a minute. I felt free, alive. And then I heard the crack of thunder and lightning and a voice rose from the chaos, hoarse and barely distinguishable from it.

"Ari, be aware of everything around you. You aren't safe anymore." it said. And then, I saw a pair of shallow sea green eyes and I froze where I was.

I jolted upwards and looked at my alarm clock, 6:55; I was up early, as usual. I hopped out of bed and quickly got dressed. My bow and quiver of arrows were right in front of my dresser. I picked them up and ran out of my room. Mom already had breakfast ready and it smelled really good. I popped a potato chunk into my mouth and savored the flavor for a minute. Then I grabbed a plate and plopped down on the nearest chair. It was almost time to catch the bus for camp. Camp, my favorite thing this summer.

THWANG! I hit an almost bulls-eye after two weeks of camp. Nobody else but Jason could do what I just did. Everyone else had sat down for lunch at their various spots where their towels lay. I quickly spotted Janessa's flaming head of fiery red hair amongst the crowd of blondes, blacks, and brunettes like me. Janessa was talking to someone, I realized it was Jason. I stopped dead in my tracks and blushed a little. Then staggered forward a few paces before regaining my strength. I sat down next to Janessa and across from Jason. Jason shot me a grin, and Janessa nudged my arm to my bag. I ate quickly without an upward glance at either one of them and then departed for the targets when something gripped my arm, hard. I felt the blood thinning in my arm and spots danced around my eyes. I spun around and was face to face to Jason. The blood in my arm evaporated, and I collapsed with the world slowly fading away.

When I awoke, I was in my school infirmary with a cushion beneath my pale, lifeless arm. I wriggled my fingers a little just to make sure that I still could feel my arm. I never knew someone could grip you that hard.

"ARI! You're awake! I thought you went into a coma and Jason left because-" Janessa ranted

"Wait, Jason left?!"I interrupted

"Yeah! He was really nervous that he hurt you real bad."

"But I wanted to ask him a question!" I whined. I strained to get up but Janessa kept me down.

"It's no use, he's gone."

That night my dreams drifted to Jason. He was handing me something I couldn't distinguish in the moonlit grotto. I saw him fall to the ground and slowly sink through the earth beneath us. I screamed something I couldn't say, and his face vanished from view, a look of panicked pain on his face, he mouthed something, Ari G. Once more I jolted upwards, but this time my arm sprouted with pain, my mom lay at my bedside looking aghast at my horrorstruck face. I turned away and rose from bed. She left me alone that morning and I desperately wanted to tell her about my dream but couldn't bring myself to do it before camp.

At camp Janessa and I stayed at the towel for most of the morning, occasionally scouting for Jason. Eventually I found him at the targets shooting bulls eye after bulls eye with a little bit of anger behind the shots. I crept up behind him quietly and stood there, mustering my strength and courage.

"Jason." I breathed. "I need to talk to you"

He swung around and I stepped back. He looked at me and then looked away. I walked to a tree and Jason followed.

"Look, I had…..I had a dream and….and you were in it. You gave me something in like this deserted cave like place. And then….. And then you sank through the ground and said, 'Ari G.' before disappearing into the ground."

"Ari, that wasn't a dream. That was a foreseen event."

"Is that why you're mad today?"

"No. I'm angry about what I did yesterday to you. I wanted to give you this when I grabbed you yesterday." He dramatically extracted a white-gold chain with a silvery white crescent moon charm on it.

"Jason! It-I-This must have cost you a fortune! It's beautiful!" And with that, he unclasped the necklace and I lifted my hair for him to clasp it on me. By now, so many people were staring at us and Janessa was making admiring eyes.

This was the start of my troubles. When School started, people started bowing down to me like I was some sort of queen or one of the popular girls. 'Nessa was with me everywhere, and she was one of the popular girls. But Jason never regarded me as different in the school life social pyramid, though he did look at me differently now. And then the wonderful day came when he pulled me aside at my locker and asked me to go on a date with him. I calmly said that I would think about it and tell him tomorrow. As soon as he turned his back I blushed furiously. I knew that I would go on the date with him, so when tomorrow came, I told him yes and he said he would meet me at my house that night.

I was daydreaming about the night all day and when I got home I told my mom the exciting news and ran upstairs to pick out my outfit. I couldn't figure out what to wear so I put on a rose-red trailing dress patterned with little water drops. I slapped on mini stilettos and packed some casual wear in my Mark Ecko purse along with my bow and quiver, as the doorbell rang. I went downstairs and slapped my make-up bag into my purse and heard my mom and Jason talking. Then I emerged from behind the archway and saw Jason in a casual outfit and said good-bye to mom. I looked at him with those beautiful eyes, and smiled big and wide.

Our date was then in a deserted grotto on a hill nearby. I watched as Jason pulled out a suit and tie and changed behind a large rock. He held out his arm and I laced mine in his. We entered the moonlit grotto. It was lit up by camping lanterns and there was a small table set off to the side. We ate a peaceful dinner and then he pulled me to the other side of the cavern. He pulled a set of silvery-white crescent moon earrings. Then a hand rose out of the ground and Jason fell to the ground.

"Jason! Jason, grab my hand!"I yelled stretching my arm to him but his body had already sunken through the mossy floor. He looked at me with a look of panicked pain on his face and whispered, "Ari G."

I cried out. And swore I would get him back. The next day, I set out for the Underworld.