A/N ERMAGERDS! :DD So pumped!
Sooo, this is a new fanfic I'm starting, (obviously) which is basically Those Left Behind, just in the world of Percy Jackson, XD. Anyway, I'm running short on time, so I'm just gonna upload this and go. (Goldie was yelling at me in gmail... ._.)
Rated T for occasional course language, sort-of detailed violence, and occasional sort-of mild sexual content.
Enjoy! :D
...
To: PoisonedRose
From: BornFromAFlute
hey mysty! :D
ZOMG so i just finished Blood of Olympus & the fluff is real!
i no ive alrdy asked this a mil times but it mustve changed by now soo.. fave ship(s)? :3
reply from: Poisoned Rose
sup leith. :)
rly uve finished it alrdy?! gods dood u only got that book lik 2 days ago! u read 2 fast… -_-
yea uve asked dat a mil times & the answer is still percico & valdangelo & mystico. XD
reply from: BornFrom AFlute
srsly? u still dont even ship solangelo yet?! it was soo cute! SOLANGELOOOOOOO!
i no i read fast i wouldve thought ud finish it b4 me (i mean considering how much u rant about it all the time u have a problem mysty XD)
reply from: Poisoned Rose
…
u realise i havnt even gotten the book yet, right?
DX u ever heard of spoiler alert?! gawdsdammit dood my mums gonna get it for my bday in 2 months!
reply from: BornFrom AFlute
._.
shit.
Eleven-year-old Mystique Rose Jacobson groaned in disgust.
It was so like Leith to blurt out something like that without asking first, but then, pretty much everybody was like that anyway.
"Watcha doing?" A voice said, right into her ear. Although she had jumped in her mind, she showed no physical sign of being startled. Looking right, she found it was her little brother, William, leaning over the back of her chair.
She turned back to the glowing monitor. "Don't do that, please." Her voice was quiet, but clear.
He stopped leaning over the chair. "What are you doing, though?"
"Emailing Leith, now go away, please." She answered, brushing a strand of white-blonde hair out of her eye. She had a strange way of communicating with people. Whenever she got angry (which happened often), her voice would lower in volume, and her words would become dangerously polite.
She found little brothers, however, weren't as easy to threaten with whispers.
"Why? I'm not hurting anybody." He replied simply, and started walking around her room. "Why do you never let anybody in your room, Mysty?" He asked innocently, unaware that his sister was gritting her teeth.
"My name is Mystique, and that is none of your concern, little one. Now please leave."
"I'm not little!" The eight-year-old protested, but his voice sounded… muffled.
Misty swivelled around on her old office chair and saw him, standing in her closet, looking at something that she had hoped nobody would ever see. "William, no!"
…
"Mysty! Hey, over here!" Mystique heard a familiar voice call. Looking around the courtyard, she spotted her two best friends, Leith Pierce and Quinn Watson waving at her from the other side, and walked over to them at a brisk pace.
"Hello." She greeted, her expression not changing in the slightest.
"Hey, I'm so sorry I told you about the Solangelo thing, that was really dumb, I should've asked first-"
Mysty was holding a hand up to silence her. "It's fine. Not the end of the world." The corners of her lips curved, but not enough to call it a smile.
"Really? Okay. Still, I'm sorry." Leith laughed.
Quinn grinned. "So what did you guys do yesterday besides kill Mysty's dreams of being with Nico?"
Mystique glared at him. "Shut up. He's dreamy."
Leith and Quinn were silent for a second, then erupted into laughter.
"What? He is!" Mysty protested, but they couldn't hear her over their laughs. She rolled her eyes. "Morons…"
"I heard that." Leith giggled, poking Mysty in the shoulder.
Mysty flinched. "I don't like being touched. Not anymore than Crystal-" She stopped.
"Crystal…? Who's that?" Leith frowned.
Mysty looked away. "Nobody. Just a… just a dream."
That was partly true.
She had seen a five-year-old girl in a dream four years ago. The girl had been running from something chasing her through a forest, but she wasn't fast enough. She tripped on a tree root when she was looking back. And then the pursuercame. It was a skeleton, rotting flesh still hanging off of his bones in long, half-decayed ropes.
He kept walking toward her, in long, inhuman strides, reaching out with huge arms toward her. The last thing Mysty remembered was the girl's last shriek.
Mystique had woken up screaming, and her parents had come running. But when she told them about the dream, they had looked at her funny. Everybody else she told about the dream looked at her in the same way, like they thought she was different. She didn't like the way they all looked at her.
But for many nights after that, she had dreamed that same dream, seeing the little girl being chased through the woods night after night, and every time waking up in a cold sweat.
The dreams became so bad, she was afraid to go to sleep, and she couldn't get them out of her head.
Then one day, when she was at school doodling absent-mindedly in one of her exercise books, she found herself drawing the girl lying on the ground in the forest, with the skeleton looming over her.
And she found herself enjoying it. She liked drawing the little girl in the little blue dress sobbing in the woods.
As Mystique grew older, she discovered that it was considered abnormal to draw these pictures, that most people thought it to be disturbing. But she didn't want to give it up. In secret, she drew them. It started out as the same girl (who by then she had named Crystal), and the tall man, but as she continued to draw, she started experimenting and found that pictures of smiling kids sitting beside decapitated animals, and girls clawing their own eyes out, and little boys trying to scream through stitched-up mouths were equally fun to draw.
She liked drawing demented children.
Those were some of the pictures that her little brother had found in her closet yesterday.
And that was why she never let anybody into her room.
"Hey, what class have you guys got next? I have flute." Leith said, shaking Mysty from her thoughts.
"I, umm… Science." Quinn replied, after scrabbling through his schoolbag and retrieving his timetable. "What about you, Mysty?"
"History." Mystique answered quickly and briefly.
"Oh, well that's on the way to the arts block. Walk with me?" Leith smiled.
Mysty smiled back at her, but it still didn't reach her eyes. "Sure."
"'Kay, cool. Bye, Quinn!" Leith said as the three separated, waving back at him.
When she turned back to Mysty, she saw her friend was still smiling. "What is it?" She laughed, and Mystique looked back at her.
"You guys are so cute together. I ship it."
…
"Hey, Leith!" A voice said, and Leith turned to see Alex, her 'sort of' boyfriend waving crazily at her. She couldn't quite say boyfriend, as the two were only twelve, but he took no notice of this rather obvious fact.
Gamers were so oblivious to the world around them.
He grinned when he saw her smiling back at him, and ran across the courtyard, quickly taking her hand in his. "Hello, you. How was your flute lesson?" He asked.
"Great! Miss Nixon gave me a flyer for this musical theatre course thing over the holidays."
"That's awesome!" He exclaimed, and the two walked off to 'their' area of the school, which they shared with a few other friends, chatting as they went.
When they rounded the final corner, they were met with the sight of tweens in their natural habitat. There was Heather, Tori, Shane and Gordon sitting in one corner, their eyes glued to laptop screens. Then came Selena, Chelsea and Aaria, eating sandwiches and reading thick novels, which Leith noticed were titled 'Lord of the Rings'. Afterward came Ella, Mitchell and Sam. Mitchell has had his eye on Ella for a while now, Leith thought, I wonder if he'll ever make a move.
And lastly there was Mysty and Quinn sitting opposite each other. Quinn was doing last minute homework, and Mysty was folding a piece of paper absentmindedly.
"Hey guys!" Leith greeted merrily, and sat down with Alex.
Quinn looked up, smiled briefly, and looked back down at his book, his glasses sliding down his nose. Mysty grunted and moved her head in their direction, but kept her eyes on her paper.
"Wow, you guys are too serious for me." Alex laughed.
"Nah, she's just emo, and he's anti-social." Leith smiled, pointing at each of her friends in turn. Quinn looked up again, grinning back at her. It may have just been her, but it seemed she caught a glint of hurt in his eyes. But then he was looking back at his book and it was gone.
Alex was still grinning. "Sam. This carrot is freaking amazing." he was facing Sam, and she was eating a carrot ravenously, her teeth going up and down like a robot.
Leith groaned. Alex always did this, staring at people and trying to say what they were thinking.
"Selena. I have read this book fifty times and I still cry in that bit. Mitch. I am so in love with Ella. Mysty. Why doesn't anybody pay attention to me? Quinn." Alex paused, not saying anything, but still grinning.
Leith gasped, understanding what he meant, and punched him in the shoulder. "Hey, that's so mean!" But he had started again.
"Leith," he said, staring lovingly down at her, "Alex is a total ass…"
Leith smiled a little, blushing. He bent down closer to her, caressing her chocolate-coloured hair with his hand. They were inches apart.
"...But he's so hot that I have to tolerate him."
She punched him in the arm again.
"Will you guys shut up and get a room?" Mysty butted in.
Alex whirled around to face her, his eyes like lasers, but Mysty's face remained expressionless, apart from a tiny smile.
Just then the bell rang, and Mysty stood.
She looked down at Alex, the small, triumphant smile still on her face. "See you tomorrow." And with that, she dropped something on Alex's curly-haired head and walked away.
Leith picked the object up off the floor.
It was a small, perfect paper crane.
…
A small foot encased in a sleek, tan ballet flat kicked a small pebble sitting on the sidewalk. It sailed in a graceful arc, at a thirty-seven degree angle through the air, over grass and rocks and finally landed, plop! in the lake.
"Yes!" Leith grinned, punching the air.
"Nice!" Alex laughed, high-fiving his girlfriend. "But can you skip 'em?"
He bent down and grabbed a small, flat stone off of the pavement. Closing one eye, he took aim, and tossed it through the air toward the lake. Sploosh…
"Umm," He began, but Leith cut him off when she picked up a stone from the pavement and tossed. It landed perfectly and skimmed across the lake twice before losing momentum and sinking below the surface.
Alex eyed her. "Beginner's luck."
Leith giggled, and the two kept walking.
"So what homework do you have?" Alex asked coolly, his previous defeat forgotten.
"Just a few singing exercises, flute practise, and a bit of english homework. You?"
"Hmm… Video games, or Math equations…"
Leith laughed, replying in a teasing yet commanding tone; "Do your math!"
"Yes, mother." Alex grinned.
The two paused, as they had reached a side-street leading away from the lake.
"Well, I s'pose this is my stop…" Leith muttered, smiling shyly up at Alex.
"Yeah, I s'pose it is." Alex said, and leaning down, he kissed her. It was so sudden, Leith didn't have any time to react, and then it was over. Just another passing ray of sunshine in her world of unpredictable gloom.
She stared at him, and he stared back. It was a perfect moment, filled with anticipation.
Like your fifth birthday, when you were desperate for that little doll with the lace dress or the new toy train set, so sleek and shiny. And you were handed that big box covered with polka-dot wrapping paper and the large red bow, and you shook it, and it sounded just like what you wanted.
Those perfect little moments that you never wanted to end.
"See you tomorrow, I guess." Alex smiled.
The two parted, Alex heading off further down the lake-side road, and Leith turning into the side-street.
Her eyes followed the curly-haired boy until they could see him no more.
…
Brrrriiiiiiiiiinng… Brrrriiiiiiiiiinng… Brrrriiiiiiiiiinng…
"Yes, yes, in a minute!"
Brrrriiiiiiiiiinng…Click!
"Yes?" Robert Pierce asked, flustered. He had just come upstairs to answer the phone, first having to abandon the Fish curry simmering on the stove, and then half-tripping up the stairs, somehow. All the while reminding himself that the caller couldn't hear him yelling at the phone from the other side of the house.
"Um, yeah, hi. I'm Alex, Leith's… friend. Could I speak to her please?"
"This is her father, and she isn't home yet, want me to take a message?"
"What? But I walked home with her, she should be home by now."
Robert frowned. "I can promise you that she hasn't arrived yet. Are you sure?"
"Yeah, I saw her walking down the side street."
"Strange… Well, I'll take your message if you like, and when she gets home I'll pass it on. She shouldn't be too long."
"Oh, well in that case, I can wait. Nice meeting you Mr. Pierce."
"You too. Bye."
Robert hung up and stared at the receiver for a second.
"Daddy?"
He turned hurriedly, hoping to see Leith, but was disappointed.
"Yes, Jane?"
"When's Leith gonna be here? She promised to help me with my ballet routine."
"I don't know, hun. I was just going to go out to look for her. I'll be back soon, 'kay?"
"'Kay."
Robert smiled, tousled the seven-year-old's hair, and left.
It never occurred to him that he may never find his eldest daughter.
…
Leith woke to the stench of car fumes, a smell she wasn't familiar with. It was so strong, the reeking stench of burning fossil fuels. Drifting out of sleep, she realised her nose had been scrunched up while she was unconscious.
"Ugh, what the heck is that?" She muttered.
And then she almost screamed.
She was in an alleyway, surrounded by trash and darkness. There was a window of light in front of her, at the end, and that was where the stench was coming from.
Leith had never been in an alley before, as there weren't any in her small lakeside town in New Zealand, and the experience wasn't exactly pleasant, but she was willing to bet it wasn't much better outside.
All the same, she crept toward the light. At first she went slowly and cautiously, but soon found herself walking faster, the suppressed panic steadily eating away at her mind like acid.
And then she was out, a harsh glare of sunlight in her eyes and the cacophony of motorised vehicles blaring in her ears.
Shielding her eyes, Leith took in her surroundings. She was standing in a street, bordered on either side by huge buildings. On every building there were an uncountable number of windows, and most had huge screens advertising various products. It was too much to take in; she had never seen such a sight in person.
Thunk!
She whipped around, searching for the source of the sound. Somebody had dropped something into a dented trash can.
Under a sudden impulse, and not knowing what else she could do, she wandered over to the bin and stared down into it.
Leith gasped.
She reached down into the bin.
And retrieved the crumpled New York Times newspaper from within.
The twelve-year-old stared down at the paper in her hands, backing away from the bin a few steps.
"Woah, careful there, girlie." A syrupy voice said from behind her. She had backed into someone.
Leith turned. It was a tall man, dressed in an overcoat and a wide-brim hat.
"Oh, sorry."
"No problem, no problem. Say, are you lost girlie?"
Leith paused. "Uhh, why?"
"Well, you were gazing around New York like you've never seen it before."
Leith smiled awkwardly, then frowned. "Wait, how- how long were you watching me?"
The stranger smiled. "Long enough. How about you come along with me now, girlie?"
"Ahh, no thanks, I think I'm fine."
The stranger smiled again, but Leith saw, or thought she saw, a glimmer of menace in his eyes.
"I wasn't asking."
...
A/N Hehehehe cliffie... :D I have no idea when I'll be able to even start the next chapter of this or TLB, there's a lot of new stuff going on at home... (You'll just have to live with it. :P) Hey, the Gods live literally forever, you can wait maybe 1-2 weeks, can't ya?
...
Goldie's gonna kill me...
REVIEW AND YOU GET A COOKIE! (Also, thanks for reading! :D)