It was there. It was there that she discovered me. The girl, probably about 11 of 12 years old, had been sitting on the rock. The big rock, the one that over looked the river. This is how the discovering went. She had been sitting on the rock as she did almost every day, looking out at the water. Looking at the rainbows that the river's mist created and at the frothing, foaming waves that crashed at her dangling feet. She just sat there, staring intently at the water, not minding the cool, misty spray or the icy cool waves that licked at her toes. Her expression suddenly changed from her emotionless face to look like she was studying something intently. She asked the water, "Are you angry?" This puzzled me because this did not happen a lot.
"A little," replied the water.
"Do you always talk to people?" she asked, not in the least bit surprised.
"No, not usually. But then again, not many people talk to me,"
"Why are you talking to me then?" she asked the water.
"Because you asked me a question. Everything has a voice if you take the time to listen and if you ask them, they will talk," it replied.
"I have to go. If I come back will you still talk to me?"
"Yes, I don't hold grudges and I remember the few people who have talked to me quite well," and that was the end of that.
I walked home, thinking about my conversation with the water. I decided not to tell anyone because I didn't think the water would like that very much. My name is Alice. I had enjoyed my talk with the water and wondered if that was true, everything had a voice. I sat down on a log facing a rock, and asked, "How are you rock?"
To my surprise, it was not rock who answered, but the grass.
"He doesn't talk to anyone. Everyone thinks that he's forgotten how," the grass explained.
But I tried again. "Rock, are you there rock?"
"It's like I said…" the grass broke off as rock started to speak.
"No one has spoken to me in a long time," the rock said.
"Well, I'm glad you finally found someone to talk to. Grass, I think you owe Rock an apology," I told both of them.
"No, he does not owe me an apology. I did forget how to speak." said the rock.
And I left them to their thoughts.
I went home and I sat before a fireplace that I had built myself, in my room. My parents didn't care now and they never would. As always I brought my food up to my room because I had no interest in sitting in front of the TV while the rest of my family ate like pigs. Any way, I had other, and better, things to do. It's not like anybody was usually home when I decided it was a reasonable time to eat. I usually ate at about 6:00 while they ate somewhere between 7 and 10 at night. As always, I took a small portion of my food and scraped it into the fire. I had done this ever since I had accidentally dropped a grape in the fire and it had whispered, "You will find out soon enough, but for now, thank you," and the grape was consumed by the fire.
The next morning was Saturday so I got up, wrote a letter telling my parents where I was and left.
^..^
I wondered when the girl would be back. I felt angered that a girl of her blood could sit so close to me. One of these days it was going to go too far and I would kill her. I shuddered at the thought. My brother and his daughter would not be happy if things happened that way. The girl didn't even know. "You are the water," I thought to myself but I was still angered by the fact that she was so good with my creations, horses, and that they obeyed her so willingly. The girl would return. She had to.
^..^
I walked down the road until I could just make out the sound of rushing water and turned down the well worn trail into the woods. I walked and came to the rock. I climbed it and took off my shoes. I dipped my toes in the water.
"Are you angry?" I asked the water.
"Yes," said the water, "I am outraged,"
"And why are you outraged?" I asked the water.
"Because you are here," the water replied. I noticed that there was more foam in the water then usual and that the water crashed against the rock harder.
"What have I done?" I asked, and wondered if it was going to go on like this, question, then answer followed by another question and answer.
"Do you know your mother, the real one?" the water asked me and I sighed with relief, the pattern was broken.
"Of course I do," I replied.
"Do you see her every year?"
"Well, no,"
"You didn't see her last year, did you?" it questioned me.
"No," I snapped at it.
"Do you realize the date of which you had planned on seeing her?"
"Yes, June 21,"
"Why is that day important?"
I thought for a second. "It's the summer solstice," I answered.
There was a pause…"Do you know your mother's name?"
"Yes, it is Elizabeth Porter,"
"I am about to change the subject. You know that the twelve Olympian gods can turn into anything they want within reason, correct?" I decided to call it a he.
"Yes, I do know that," I remarked.
"You also understand that the Olympians cannot have contact with their half mortal children more then once a year." He said.
"What is the point of this conversation?" I asked him.
"It would be obvious. You are one of these children. What do you want to be when you grow up?"
I sat in silence for a minute and then replied, "I want to either be an architect or an author."
"Do you know your Greek history and your God facts?" he asked.
"Yes,"
"These traits—"
"I think I can decipher this. You," I said, pointing at the river, "Are Poseidon. You said you were angry because I was here. My parent is most likely a woman who holds a grudge against you. You have also pointed out my traits. I want to be an author when I get older. I have gray eyes. I haven't lost anything in my entire life. I think my mother is Athena." I reasoned with him.
"You're smarter then I thought. You got it right. You'll have to come to Olympus with me…right now." He whispered.
"What? How do I do thaaaaaaaaaaat!?" I screamed as I was swept off my feet by a surge of water. I shut my eyes and suddenly there wasn't water underneath me anymore. I opened my eyes. I was sitting on the floor of a motorized life boat that was speeding along at 100 miles per hour. There was a dark-haired man sitting on a tackle box in one corner, no doubt Poseidon.
We came to a stop. We were at the Empire State Building. Excellent architecture. We walked around to the back and he strode towards and elevator that had appeared right where a dumpster had just been.
"I've never used the visitor's entrance before," he said.
^..^
I stepped into the elevator with the girl beside me. Her eyes were screaming "What the heck is going on?" I decided to have some fun. Right as she blinked, I transformed into a giant spider and when she opened her eyes, she screamed and jumped so high that she missed the ceiling by an inch. I pressed the glowing button that had appeared. Some stupid elevator music began to play and I thought to my self "I'm not going to be able to put up with this for 600 floors!" I sighed and leaned against the wall. Were all elevators this boring? I turned to look at the girl. Her name was Alice. She didn't look like she was ever going to forgive me. I sighed. Just like her mother. The doors opened and we slowly and I said, "Well, that was fun," and Alice looked like she wanted to beat me and we climbed the stairs.
As they reached the entrance, Poseidon evaporated into a thousand particles of dust and reformed in his seat. A few chairs away sat a llama. "Uh…" Alice said, pointing at the llama.
"That is Zeus' favorite pet llama. Watch your hands though; Carl is particularly fond of human/demi-god hands. And never give him a knife. He might stab you 37 times in the chest."
^..^
The look on my face must have given something away because he winced and it was at that point that I realized I was never going to forgive him. I turned to a sharp word that had been muttered loud enough for me to hear and trust me; you wouldn't want me to repeat it.
"Hermes, shut it! We've got a little one!" I scowled at the word. The one who had spoken must have been Zeus because it was full of the authority that Poseidon didn't hold.
A large group of blindingly beautiful people walked in; most likely Zeus, Hera, Athena, Ares, Demeter, Apollo, Artemis, Hephaestus, Aphrodite, Hermes and Dionysus. It was pretty obvious to who was who. I figured that Dionysus was the one with the shirt that read GOT GRAPES? Hermes was, most defiantly, the one with the two creepy snakes slithering up and down the cell phone he was talking on. Undoubtedly, Aphrodite was the one that had all of the male's eyes glued to her. I, personally, didn't think she was all that beautiful or that she deserved all that attention but if anyone ever told her that…I don't want to imagine what would happen. There was no missing Hephaestus, he was HUGE! And that's about all. There was really nothing special about him except for the fact that he couldn't be missed. Apollo and Artemis were the two siblings that were bickering quietly under their breath, the way only siblings could. They were obviously related, looking so much like each other. I was pretty sure that Demeter was the one surrounded by wheat that followed her every where she went, like a puppy but more annoying. The really muscular one, that was Ares. Of course he was showing off, picking up tables and pillars as he walked past some of the other ladies. Zeus was the one in the front trailed by Hera who was the first to recognize that I was actually in existence by her eyes meeting mine in a warning glance.
Then there was Athena, I presumed, my assumptions being correct. She had gray-blue eyes and hair the color of a mixture of milk chocolate and light caramel. She was the last to come in. She glanced around, eyes catching mine. I quickly looked away. The next thing she did amused me because I had given Poseidon the same exact look earlier that day in the elevator, a look of unforgiving hate and loathing. I glanced down at my feet. When I looked up I began to notice the chairs. Poseidon's had a green trident that floated next to it. Zeus's throne had a big bucket full of lightning bolts sitting next to it. You defiantly didn't want to touch those. Hera's was already sitting in her chair, holding a magazine for wedding cakes. The chair that was made completely out of rare metals belonged to Hephaestus. Dionysus's chair had grape vines swirling around it, going crazy.
"Ahhhhhhhhh!" I screamed. Not only were there the two creepy snakes swirling around Hermes' chair, there were also spiders. Oh, gods I hated spiders. They're one of my only weaknesses. Everyone turned to stare at me. I hated this almost as much as I hated spiders, all the attention. Hermes saw where I was staring with pure horror in my eyes, at his spiders. He snapped his fingers and the spiders disappeared in a flash of light. Everyone looked away, everyone except Athena, her eyes reached mine and this time I didn't look away. Athena's chair was surrounded by pictures of her half-blood children. Apparently she had a thing for A-names. Each child had their picture and their name on her throne. The pictures moved. The A-names. Annabeth, Anthony, Alana, Abby, Andrew, Ayla, Allie, Alice, André, and Addy. I was there. Right between Annabeth and Andrew. My picture winked at me. That kind of freaked me out…just a little. "Ahhhhhhhhh!" I screamed for the second time in 20 minutes. There was anotherspider except this one was bigger then a person and had about a hundred eyeballs that stared at me like I was something to eat.
"Hades, OUT!" Zeus screamed. The spider disappeared. Everyone filled out of the room except for Athena and Poseidon who had transformed himself into a glass of water.
"Alice," she said in the voice I had always heard in my head, giving me advice. My eyes flashed back to the pictures.
"Mom," I replied.
"Spiders scare you that much?" she asked.
"Yes," I whispered, that was the truth. It was kind of weird because it looked like I was talking to a stranger yet the voice was so familiar. She must have sensed this because she evaporated into dust particles and reformed as the Elizabeth Porter I knew.
"It was a perfect set up. I was too sick to take care of you. You were adopted. I still got to see you though. When our plans were for the summer solstice, I didn't know what to do but I didn't have a choice. It broke my heart for you to think that I had abandoned you," she said in a pleading voice, "I hear Poseidon gave you a hard time in the elevator, huh?"
In sync, we looked over at the glass of water with hatred in our eyes. The water glass sighed. He'd gained another enemy…for now. Maybe in time I would forgive him but for now the look of hatred would glare at him.
"Katie and Allison, are they…?" I asked. She had gone back to the regular Athena but she didn't seem like a stranger anymore.
"Yes, but it was never a problem for them. The smell of your blood is stronger, easier to catch. There will be problems, and lots of them. You have to go. Watch out for spiders. I know you talk to me, at night you talk to no one in particular but it still reaches my ears. If you need help, I will come. Goodbye for now, Alice Lokwood. I will see you over the summer." And she disappeared. The only people in the room were me and that llama.
"Baaaaa," said the llama.
"You're not a goat," I said.
"Fine, do you have a knife?" he asked me.
"No I do not and even if I did I would not give it to you," I snapped.
"May I eat your hand then? Or do you have any crescent rolls?"
"Honestly, Carl, do you really think I walk around carrying crescent rolls in my pockets?" I declared.
"HAAAAAAAAAAAANDS!" screamed Carl.
"No, bad Carl! These are my hands! Just because you don't have opposable thumbs doesn't mean you can eat my hands off!"
"Will you help me sink a cruise ship? Throw a bomb in the captain's face? Bite holes in the life boats? Push small children over the edge? Make out with the ice sculptures?" he begged.
"No!!!!!!!!!" I screamed.
"Would you believe it is strawberry milkshake? Boat nectar? Tropical fruit punch?"
"What is wrong with you?" I screamed at the top of my voice, "Do you need to see a doctor?"
"I don't think they usually except goats," he sneered.
"You're a LLAMA!!" This was getting out of hand.
"Would you care to join me for a feast?" he asked, a little too polite.
"What will we be eating?" I asked slyly.
"Strawberry milkshake, boat nectar, ice sculptures and, uh, maybe…HANDS!" he screamed.
"That doesn't really fit my appetite, thank you very much," I said. Athena reappeared and took my hand in hers. The skin was smooth and icy cold. It was, after all, immortal skin, it never changed. As she reached me, my hand instinctively reached up to rub the birthmark right outside of my left ear. She reached over and pushed my hair away to get a better look. "Ah, I gave you that," she said. She moved her hair away from her left ear and there it was, an exact replica.
"Not many of my children have that birthmark. So far only you and Annabeth have it. You look a lot like her you know," she said, surprising me, "Your eyes too. They're gray-blue, and the hair. Milk chocolate and light caramel mixed. You're too pale…Why?" she asked.
"I don't know…that is just another mystery, I guess," I said as she slipped her hand into mine. We walked towards the elevator but as soon as we had passed through the entrance way she snapped her fingers and grabbed my wrist. I was absorbed into blackness, like a spider. It was scary. I shivered and I felt her grasp tighten. She was scared too.