And I Thought My Life Was Screwed up Before

"Vitani!"

I flinched, but went downstairs.

"Yes, mother?" I asked.

"Where is your brother! He should have been home by now!" She screeched.

My eyes hardened.

"Nick died two years ago, mother," I said.

"You need to stop defending him. Now bring him downstairs now!" Mother growled.

"He's not upstairs, mom!" I yelled.

SMACK!

I fell to the ground, holding the side of my face.

"Get up, you pathetic girl, and bring my son down here, right now!" She screamed.

I took a deep breath and got up. I started up the stairs. I paused and looked back. Mother had walked back over to the couch. She would be asleep in the next couple minutes. She always got drunk, but now, it was getting worse. I walked into the bathroom and looked in the mirror.

There was a shape of a hand in pink where she had slapped me. Yet another one. I turned on the shower and sat down in it, one of my mother's razors in my hand. The water poured on me, sokaing my clothes. I brought the blade down to my wrist and sliced.

Nico's Pov

"Wait, which street again?" Percy asked.

I rolled my eyes.

"Um... oh, it's that one!" I pointed at a street.

Percy swerved into the turn lane and turned onto the street.

"Left here!"

The tires screamed in protest as he turned.

"Wait, stop! It's that house!" I called.

Percy slammed on the brakes.

"Oh, nevermind. It's over there."

Percy shot me a look. I laughed. It's weird. Percy and I had become really good friends since the Titan War. I've actually been more...cheerful. Ugh, did I just say that? Barf. Nevermind.

"Okay, so she's in this house?" Percy asked.

I nodded.

"You're sure?"

I nodded again.

"Posi-"

"Yeah, now can we go inside?" I interrupted, slightly annoyed.

Percy rolled his eyes.

"I'm going to Shadow Travel up to her room, you keep her mom busy," I said.

"Okay, you little perv," He muttered.

I glared at him and he put both hands in the air and smiled. I shook my head and went into a shadow.

0000

It wasn't hard. The whole room was dark, but I did hear the shower running. I sat down in a chair and started tapping on the arm of the chair. Then, my head snapped up in the direction of the bathroom. I smelled blood.

I rushed to the bathroom and swung the door open. The curtain on the shower was wide open. She was still wearing normal clothes, and she was holding her wrist out I front of her. The worst part was that there was an open cut that was bleeding. I quickly grabbed a washcloth and held it on her wrist.

"No... leave me alone!" She mumbled.

She tried to push me, but I was stronger than her. I turned the water off and helped her up. Unfortunately, she didn't want to stand. I picked her up bridal style and carried her out into the hallway. I got a glimpse of downstairs. I almost laughed, but I remembered what I was holding.

I Shadow Traveled back by the car and gently put her in the back seat. I got back out of the car, grabbed a rock, and through it at Percy. It hit him in the back of the head. He walked back, grumbling. We got in the car, and floored the heck out of there.

Vitani's Pov

I walked through the playground, holding my head up high. I was walking around, laughing at my brother, Nick, for making a funny joke. It was then that the teachers decided to change us into two groups. Boys and Girls.

Nick went into the boys group and I got stuck in the girls group. There was a bully, someone who thought she was top dog, in my group. There always was. She walked up to me and frowned. I decided to try and play the nice card.

"Hi. I'm Vitani," I said, grinning.

"Shut up, freak."

"Excuse me?" I asked.

"You heard me, freak. I said shut the heck up!" The girl said.

I clenched my little seven year old fists and put them by my side.

"Don't call me a freak!" I yelled.

"Or what? Freak! Freak! Freak! Freak!" The girl started chanting.

"No! Stop!" I screamed.

The girls in the group started skipping around me in a circle.

"Freak! Freak! Freak! Freak! Freak! Freak! Freak!" They kept chanting.

"No!" I cried.

I sat in the middle, crying.

"Hey! Leave my sister alone!"

I looked up, tears still in my eyes. Nick's eyebrows were sscrunched together and he was trying to look macho. He came over to where I was, helped me up, and began yelling at the other girls.

That was one of my favorite memories of my brother before my mother had killed him last year.

Thank you for reading. BTW: Since Hades is the god of the underworld, Nico has the ability to smell blood and sense death. The ages are:

Nico-14

Vitani-14

Percy-17

Annabeth-17

Thalia-17