Pink.
Sickening pink.
Never in my entire life had I seen so much pink.
The floors, walls, and ceiling were pink.
The closets, filled with designer clothes, were pink.
The bathroom was filled with pink; pink toilets, pink pictures of the empire state building, even a pink shag bathmat.
I mean, really. How did I end up here? I think it started with my birth.
Well, it has to do with the fact that I am a son of Aphrodite.
Yes. You heard me.
It sounds strange, even now. Me, the outcast, the delinquent, the trouble maker, a son of Aphrodite?
No way.
I'm nothing like those prissy so called siblings. Just because I was claimed by the Goddess of love, doesn't mean I'm anything like her.
I may be prone to crushes and have been a romantic of sorts all my life, but I'm still Spencer Hollis.
I wiped a strand of curly brown hair out of my light blue eyes.
Sometimes I just felt so plain, so normal. It was almost like I wasn't a half blood. I mean, in Aphrodite cabin, it was exactly like my little sisters room.
The only difference was that instead of Hannah Montana posters collecting dust on the wall, it was just blank wall.
That was the worse thought I could think. Last week, when I had come to half-blood hill, I was with my friend John and my little sister.
John. He had wild red hair, the kind that girls always loved. His face was sly like he was secretly plotting something behind your back. He was a big kid, the kind you would see playing football. But he never touched a foot ball in his life. He was a track man, and when he ran, he really ran. He was as fast and swift as a deer, darting over hurtles and zipping through the finish lines so fast you could barley see him.
He was like me a lot. A was loud, obnoxious, and always spoke his mind. I swore, he was like a dog. He was the most loyal friend I had ever known. His amber eyes were all the girls talked about, only mentioning me. But I didn't care about girls that much when he was around. We would make trouble and wrestle and have push up contests until sun down. That's when he would get tired, anyway. He always said that fun was for the sun, and night was for sleep.
But all of that was ancient history.
When a monster attacked us when we were walking my little sister Julie home from school, that's what I remember least about the situation. John had told me and Julie to run, so we sprinted down the street. We lived in rural New York, so there weren't a lot of places to hide. Me and my sister ran, hand in hand, with John right behind us. Once, I looked back at him, and saw him pull back a bow string, letting an arrow fly into the maw of the giant dog like creature.
John told us to keep running, so I did. He kept muttering, Not now, why did he have to take him now. We ran up a hill that I now know as half blood hill. That's when everything slowed down.
My sisters hand slipped out of mine, John acted to slowly. He couldn't grab her hand as Julie was gulped up by the monster. She was only six. My heart was pushed into my throat, and I stopped running. I felt hot tears swell in my eyes, but they didn't fall. I wanted them to, though. John was crying, but he yelled at me to keep going. He stayed behind, but I stumbled ahead. I was in some sort of stupor. Nothing seemed real to me, and I felt as though I was punched in the stomach.
I wished I had been. Anything but this.
I collapsed on a large pine tree at the top of the hill. I looked over at John and the giant hellhound that he was…
…patting. Like his little pet. John's amber eyes were hard and cold, he was not crying anymore. I saw him hold something up in his hand. A silver bracelet, one with a scythe charm hanging by a chain.
I obviously know what that meant now, but I hated to think about it,
The worst part was his smile. It wasn't amazingly bright now. It was more devastatingly dark.
He was laughing an evil laugh. One that has haunted my dreams for so long. Even worse than the image if Julie being swallowed by that beast. I hated myself for that.
Now that I look back on it, I hate myself for a lot of things. Everything seemed so blurry and fading.
The image stopped after that, I blacked out. Only after did I realize that the hell hound had slashed me in my stomach while I was running.
But I heard Johns voice after that. It was layered with a high, screechy dialect, like a scream.
Hate yourself, Spencer. Hate yourself.
And I did.
Every night, I would have dreams about that day a week ago.
And it would always be about John, not Julie.
No matter how much I wanted to hate him, no matter how much I needed to hate him, I couldn't.
I could only hate myself.
I blamed myself for Julie's death. I blamed myself for John turning to Kronos, I blamed myself for all this pink.
It seemed like there was no such thing as happiness anymore.
I sat up in my bunk bed. It was pink, like the rest of the cabin, but I ignored its sickening effects.
I walked across the room and out of the door. I blocked the sun from my face. It always reminded me of John, and I hated myself for that.
I kept my head down, letting my curly locks flood my vision.
I glanced up once in a while to see where I was going, but I was too tired to go anywhere in particular.
I haven't slept at all because of those damned dreams.
I couldn't even blink without seeing Johns face.
How I wished I could hate him.
I knew it was futile.
I quickened my pace as I passed the Ares cabin. They were ruthless to children of Aphrodite like me.
I passed the open door, hoping that they wouldn't notice me.
But they didn't, and I wondered why I hoped at all.
One by one, five children of the war god slipped out of the blood red hut, and surrounded me before I could run.
One of the bigger Ares sons stepped up in front of me, looking down on my small frame with a sneer.
"Hey, Hollis. How's your sister?" I felt angry, but it was impossible to show on my ivory face.
I clenched my fist.
"I see that you take pleasure in people's grief, Lovett?" his face turned red, and I smiled a dry smile.
"Its Leveret, punk. Don't make me cream you." His voice was quivering in short temper, and I knew that if I didn't stop now he would kill me.
But I continued. I needed to be punched.
"Come on, Lovett, lets see if you can break my nose with one hit." My voice was bitter, and my eyes were wild.
Hate yourself, Spencer muttered John's voice in my head.
Leveret pulled his fist back, and it zipped forward. I heard a sickening crack, but I didn't feel my nose break.
I flew backwards, and at the feet of the other Ares campers.
I tasted blood in my mouth, but I didn't feel it. I wished I did though, I could use some pain right now.
My eyes were shut, and I tried to move. I couldn't though, because I knew that if I did, I would see the sun. Then I would see his face.
I let the red of Apollo's rays beat down on me, turning the darkness of my head into a yellow.
Just as it was turning another sickening pink, a shade cut off the light.
I was grateful for the shade, but curious to what it was, I opened one eyes.
I looked into the smiling green eyes of a girl.
And yes, her eyes were smiling. It was weird, but hypnotizing at the same time.
She had shoulder length brow hair that framed her face as she looked down on me, and intoxicated me with the smell of daisies.
Her smile was brighter than the sun, and it reminded my of a warm summers day.
And wow, was she pretty. She didn't have the movie star complexion that all my half brothers and sisters shared, but she wasn't ugly at all. Her features were softer, and looked kind and happy. She had a button nose, one that was dotted with orange freckles from the sun.
A small flower was tucked behind her ear, and I wondered what type it was.
She stared down at me, her gorgeous eyes wide, and I wondered if she was looking at me the same way I was.
She held out a hand, and I gratefully took it. She hauled me up, and for a second I was surprised at her strength. But why should I be? We have to be strong, especially with the Titan war coming up.
I stumbled a little bit on my way up, but the girl steadied me by grabbing both of my shoulders firmly.
I felt my cheeks heat up in a blush, and I noticed that hers did to.
I started stuttering apologies like a crazed maniac, the way I always do in an awkward situation.
The girl just smiled wider. "Oh, don't worry about it! Demeter never hesitates to help a friend!" So she was a daughter of Demeter?
I bet she would understand what it was like to be bullied then.
Demeter's kids, like Aphrodite's, are treated like pathetic weaklings. Often campers comfort themselves with the fact that they're not in our cabin, just to make them feel stronger.
It was a ridiculous how they treated us, like we couldn't fight monsters as well as they could.
We have a scent like they do.
I smiled back at her, unsure what to say. I didn't want her to make me out as a freak for some weird reason.
She held out her small hand, beckoning for me to take it.
I obliged. "I'm Katie, Katie Gardner." Her touch sent shivers down my spine.
"I'm Spencer, Spencer Hollis." I said back coolly. Being a son of Aphrodite can have its perks.
She raised an eyebrow at me, smirking in a way that was unexpected for this kind of girl.
For a second, she reminded me of the Stoll brothers.
"I know a way to get them back. Want in?" she asked, still holding my hand.
I turned a violent shade of crimson, and I cursed my self for it.
Being a son of Aphrodite can only go so far.
I glanced down at our hands, without saying a word. I knew that embarrassed stuttering would follow with even the slightest movement.
Katie followed my eyes, and I saw her cheeks turn pink as she let go of my hand.
We locked eyes for a moment, green and blue. A strange feeling followed, one that made me feel light and… feathery, yeah, feathery… in my stomach.
It felt right, like I was supposed to feel that feeling.
And I was pretty sure she felt it to.
We quickly looked away, not daring to meet eyes again. I guess we were just scared.
I rubbed my shoulders, and she stared at her feet.
"So… what's your idea?" I said, my voice cracking a little. Smooth.
She regained her composure down to pink cheeks, and started talking mischief.
It was about time to. I needed a break from all this.
The moment I met Katie Gardner, I felt like I didn't hate myself as much anymore.
Like there was still a spark of happiness left in the world, even if I lost everything.
And I decided to blow on that spark a little bit…
Okay, tell me what you think!
Oh, and when I said "We have a scent like they do" I meant that some people think that monsters cant smell children of Aphrodite and Demeter because they're so weak. But that's so wrong! They're cool, man. Coolly coolly cool.