(Author's Note: Hello, all, it's WIB! Thanks for clicking on this button for my third fanfic ever! Please read and review! Disclaimer: I do not own the 39 Clues or Percy Jackson & the Olympians)
Chapter One
Orphans
"Would you believe me if I told you I was going bonkers?" My new friend, Pruella Park, murmured as we walked through the snowy field. Pru has lengthy brown hair and questionably dark brown eyes.
"I can't say, but you've always been a little bit, you know, odd," I replied. She shoved me onto the snow and I didn't bother to get up. I stared breathlessly at the falling snowflakes above us. Pruella fell down beside me and we both gazed at the swirling snow.
"Where do you come from, Pru?" I asked her.
"Antarctica. I was born here and I will die here," she answered in a small voice.
"It's not so bad," I said. I moved to my left a couple feet and began to make a snow angel. Pruella shrugged and started her own snow angel.
"How about you, Nikko?" she asked me. I tilted my head to face her.
"Russia." I mumbled. She sat up from the snow.
"Really?" Pruella gave me an inquiring look. I sat up as well.
"Yes." I said as I tucked my chin into my crossed arms. "When I was nine years old, my mother left me with our neighbor, Anna, for two days. While she was gone, I became ill. Anna sent me to America to find good doctors. Anna thought I would die. She dropped me off in America and left me there. She had treated me like I was already dead. I barely survived. I never saw my mother again. I moved here shortly after I was well again." I stood and began kicking clumps of snow.
"Nikko, that's so sad," Pruella said, holding her hand to her heart.
"I don't like remorse, so stop," I muttered. Pruella stood and folded her arms.
"I try to be nice to you, and you get mad at me?" she asked incredulously.
"Pretty much." I shrugged and started trekking back to where we had come.
"Is Mr. T back at the home?" I asked Pruella.
"I think so," she replied quietly. We hiked wordlessly up the remainder of our path.
Later that night, Pruella and I gathered around the little children at the home for story telling. Pru and I are a little old for fairy tales, but I've always found the stories that Mr. T told intriguing. Mr. T is a big man, with a big bulging stomach. He is surprisingly kind and compassion, despite his disgruntling appearance.
"In the beginning there was nothing but Chaos…" Mr. T began. Most of the kids groaned; we had heard this one before. Pru and I shushed them. Mr. T nodded at us kindly. He continued his story. He told of how the Earth, Gaea, was formed from chaos and how her descendants formed the world that the Greeks had known. I listened intently, but soon grew tired, for the story was very long.
Over an hour later, all of the orphans were asleep, save Pru and I. Mr. T ended his story with how the gods lived on to this very day. I didn't believe a word of it, but Mr. T's expression was so serious, I thought that if I were to contradict him, I would be pulverized.
Pru and I carried two sleeping children at a time to the girl and boy's dormitories, I with the boys, and she with the girls. We were feeling like the living dead when we finished, we were so tired.
Mr. T retired to his sleeping quarters and left Pruella and I alone in the living room. We decided to sleep in there; it was packed in the dormitories as it is. After what felt like a couple hours of not being able to fall asleep on couches as soft as Mr. T's biceps, I turned to Pru.
"Is it morning yet?" I whispered. No answer.
"Pru, you awake?" I asked her lump of blankets.
"No," came the grumbling response. I chuckled.
"Pru, look at the stars," I told her.
"Mmmmm," she mumbled, but I heard her turn in her covers towards the windows.
"Mmmmm," she repeated, this time in satisfaction. The stars were beautiful tonight.
"Are you my friend?" she asked.
"Yes," I mumbled. "Why?"
"My friends never last long," she whispered. I sat up to stare at her though the darkness of the room. A light from the bathroom shined dimly about her. She was rapped up tightly in her blankets and I could see tears glistening on her cheeks.
"Why?" I inquired. Pru scrambled off her couch and stumbled toward me. She attacked me with a big bear hug.
"Oof!" I mumbled, embarrassed.
"Thank you for being my friend," she whispered.
"Uhh… you're welcome, I guess," I grumbled.
Pru pulled away from me as if she had been struck.
"What'd I do?" I ruffled my hair self-consciously. I sniffed my under arms. I didn't spell that bad did I?
"Nikko, it's not you who's doing this," she whispered. "It's him."
I stood up from my couch and stepped toward her. She was freaking me out.
"Who? Who's 'him'?" I asked her. I gripped her shaking hand.
"Him," she repeated. Okay, Pru wasn't making any sense.
"He's doing this to me," she sniffled.
"Pru, tell me who he is and I'll take care of him." I said.
"He driving me mad," she croaked.
"What?" I inquired. She gasped. Her hand tightened painfully on mine.
"I can't see!" She screamed.
"What do you mean?" I asked, having jumped at her scream. I heard children running from the dormitories to see what was going on. Mr. T arrived.
"Nikolai, what in all Creation is going on?" he yelled.
"I can't see!" Pruella repeated. Mr. T flicked on the light on the ceiling. Pru's eyes were shut tight.
"Well, yeah, you can't see! You're eyes are closed, silly!" I chortled at Pru's complete overreaction. Mr. T didn't look so sure.
"Pruella, open your eyes," he ordered. Pru opened her eyes hesitantly.
When she did, I gasped. Gone was her lovely warm brown eye color.
Pruella Park's eyes were a ghostly white blue.
(A/N: Thanks for reading, please review!)