My name is Aura, and I just exploded. Let me explain.
I don't know who my godly parent is, but I know he still loves me. I feel his guidance sometimes, when I am in a life-or-death situation, and when my mother abandoned me. I was 5 at the time. He led me to the Hunters, summoning a vortex that led me to them. Artemis took me in, and for the last 4 years, I have lived with them. However, in all that time, I have never taken the oath.
My powers are unique, and very dangerous. I can stop and control time. When I freak out, which is common, my power just flies out of me. It's terrifying to know that I could hurt someone without trying to. I can control my powers, sometimes. Only sometimes.
I just had a panic attack, as you might have guessed. Now I sit on my own, in the silver tent that is my home. I can't handle seeing the hunters right now, all the angry, scared faces. The irony is, they shouldn't know. They can't feel the stop, so all they se is me sobbing and assume the worst. This one was worse than the others. I can usually snap out of it after a minute or two, but this time I was sobbing and terrified for a quarter of an hour.
I am incredibly lucky that the rest of my sisters are out on a hunt for a new monster. Being held still in time for more than two hours can be fatal, and I know how close I came to killing all my friends.
"Aura! Can I come in?" I hear Thalia calling to me, but I ignore her for now. I can't risk her too. Thalia was the first to accept me for who I was, not able to control my budding powers, a danger to everyone around me.
"Aura, please, you're worrying me." Fine. I get up, and unzip my tent door. Thalia ducks in and closes the door behind her.
"What happened? Are you O.k.?"She says worriedly, seeing my red eyes. "You had another one?"
"Yes. Thalia, what if you're here this time, what if I can't control it, what if…"I ramble on, feeling tears in my eyes, and trying not to cry outright.
"Hey, hey, it's all right." She says, coming to sit next to me on my bed. "Can you tell me about it?" I tell her the whole story. From the beginning of the attack, to me staggering into my tent and falling asleep, exhausted. "And I just woke up before you came here." I finish, feeling better, but still scared.
"My Gods." Is all Thalia says. I have to ask.
"Is everyone else all right? Did I hurt anyone?"
"No, everyone is fine." She says soothingly. She makes to stand up, but I grab her, preventing her from leaving. "Stay here for a while, will you?" I am only nine, after all. Her face softens, and she agrees. She stays untill I slip into sleep.
The next day, Thalia wakes me up, shaking me gently. "Come on, sleepy head; get up if you want any breakfast!" I climb out of bed, and dress quickly. I grab my bow and knives, placing them in their respective holders. I trot out of my tent, the terror of last night erased by rest.
Breakfast is a fun affair, with lots of jokes and good wishes flying across the tables. The bacon is delicious, the pancakes divine. Of course, breakfast for so many Hunters creates a lot of dishes. I hope it's not my turn...
After we eat and clean up (It was Devi's turn today) we begin to practice. First are our weapons of choice. Mine is a staff, about five feet long, with a blade recessed into the end of it. The blade is about a foot long, enough to do damage. I named it Batu, a word that means 'power' in the language of the ancients. First up against me is a little hunter named Renna. She is quick, and small, so she is harder to hit. But she is young, even younger than me. Only seven… She slashes with a small sword, and I block and sweep her legs out from under her. I pin her down, making me the winner. The next few opponents are easy, younglings mostly, but some are older than I am.
However, I have to fight Thalia too. Hmmm, this will be difficult. I think to myself. However, there is always Plan B. The fight begins. I start with a fast side-stroke, which she easily blocks. Her reflexes are excellent. I can fix that, but only as a last resort. She throws a blindingly fast flurry of swipes and stabs with her knives. I block and parry, barely able to keep myself safe. Yeah, Plan B necessary. I focus myself, and begin to use my powers. At first it appears to have no effect, Thalia continuing to circle me. However, she begins to slow, and I continue my speed. She slows to a crawl, and begins a slash down at me. I jump back, laughing. Thalia is helpless. I race around her, jumping on her back, and at the same time releasing my grasp on time. She crashes to the ground, and the blade in my staff hisses out, coming to rest at her throat. I win.
"Aura wins!" yells Pheobe. " She cheated, used her powers." Grumbled Thalia, not used to losing. "Oh come on," I say "It's perfectly fair and you know it!"
"Fine." She says, cracking a smile. After we chat for a minute, and Thalia gets her breath back, the hunters begin archery practice. Uggh. We all have superb archery anyway, and the practices are really no use, since we all have Artemis' blessing. I wish I could skip it. All bull's eyes, not one miss. Usual practice.
I feel a headache begin to pound, a forewarning of a panic attack. This won't be pretty. I drop my bow and run for the woods. Thalia sees me, and sprints after me. The rest of the Hunters call for me to come back. I hope Thalia can't find me. She might get hurt.
Thalia's POV
I see Aura out of the corner of my eye. She drops her bow, and runs for the woods. I know what this means. Another attack. I run after her. I might be able to calm her down. Maybe this one will be small, My hopeful side says. Not a chance, says my skeptical side. True enough, I run for about two minutes, following Aura. I hear a scream of pain and terror from up ahead, and redouble my pace. Maybe I can get there in time.
I burst into a clearing, and seeing Aura in the center, begin to run towards her. She screams a warning to me, telling me to get back. I can't. She screams again. I've never seen her like this. This one must be huge. She doubles over, about to break. I'm almost there; just a few steps away… And my world slows to a crawl, then to an almost stop. I keep going. I can't leave her alone. I reach her, and place my hand on her shoulder.
Immediately the world seems to fall apart, each little area moving at its own pace, the segments beginning to break apart. My area, with her in it, is moving at normal speed, for now. I grab her and sit down with her on my lap, there to help her ride out her own storm. Aura is sobbing, and clutches herself to my chest, holding on so tight it hurts. She stays that way for hours. I put my arms around her, and the time begins to recover, some areas slowing down, some speeding up. All return to normal pace. Aura slumped against me, unconscious. I sit with her until she regains consciousness. She looks around and begins to tear up. "This can't keep happening." She said quietly. "If I had killed you… I, I, don't know what I would have done." She looks up at me, desperate, and powerless to do anything but wait until she regained control. Time begins to ripple again, this time a result of her emotion.
I hold her tighter, muttering to her, calming her down slowly. Eventually she falls asleep.
Aura's POV
The next morning, I wake up to an empty tent. Thalia must have carried me back to the camp. Wait, it's too early for that, it's still dark. What's going on? I get dressed quickly, and run outside, grabbing Batu, my staff on the way. As soon as I exit the tent, I am blasted by noise and heat. I look around seeing but not understanding. The hunters camp is in flames, all of the tents ablaze, even Thalia's and Pheobe's - Pheobe! The older hunter has a crippling fear of fire. I hear a scream from her tent. Oh, no! Sprinting over to her tent, I rip open the flap to find Pheobe flat on the floor. No, No, No.
I run to her, and she looks up at me with terror in her eyes. I grab her hand, but she won't move. I pull as hard as I can, but she won't budge. The flame is coming through the walls of the tent.
I don't have a choice. I can't leave Pheobe here, if I do, she would die, unable to move, petrified by terror. I have to stop time again. I focus as hard as I can, and the fire begins to slow. I hold the fire still, but my control is tenuous. If my concentration slips, we both die. I slowly drag Phoebe out into the middle of the campsite. My hold over the fire is slipping. I pull Pheobe out of the campsite to where the others stand, screaming for me and Phoebe. With that, my control is gone, and the fire ripples back to its normal ferocity.
I feel drained but proud. I am only nine, but I had enough control of my powers to stake two lives on it and come out fine! Not many can do that. The rest of the Hunters come back with bad news. They found wolf tracks. That means Lycaon and his werewolves. It was a full moon, after all.
We sleep under the stars that night, and the next day, we begin to trek towards New York, from lower Maine. I start to get worse, having attacks more and more. By the time we reach NYC, I can't sleep, because I get them at night now. This is terrifying. I can't do anything; just wait for my power to explode. I am literally a time bomb.
Thalia and Phoebe are the only ones who will be around me. Everyone else is afraid of me. Like distance would make a difference. My life, which was once happy, is quickly becoming hell. Thalia and Phoebe have to stay near me, because if I explode, they will calm me down. Only the youngest of us remains with me. She is only 5, and is named Alyss. She is sweet and kind, but quick on the uptake, and an accomplished pickpocket. Keep an eye on your wallet.