Acquanetta, Daughter of Poseidon
By: Moonlightbear
Disclaimer: these books are so good I wish I could say I wrote them, but I didn't… please give it up for the brilliant Rick Rioridan and Darren Shan!! And the wonderful worlds they created!! All characters that you don't recognize are mine and proud of it!
Author's notes: This is a slight companion story to my Cirque du Freak story: A Vampire by Accident.
Summary: With a dead mother and an absent father, life is harder than it should be. She is a freak among others until one day she meets a very tall man.
Chapter One: A Freak Among Others
Hi, I'm Acquanetta Poole and I am a freak!
When I was younger, I felt ashamed to introduce myself as much, but now I'm proud of it. Where I live now, I'm just as freakish as my neighbors and my friends.
You see, my mom died when she gave birth to me and I guess my dad never knew about me or he didn't care. I was in a foster home for the first six months of my life before this one couple adopted me. Life wasn't easy. My new parents fought constantly; apparently, I was their last ditch effort for them to stay together, but they didn't. When I was two, they both left the house and me in it and never returned.
The second family, who adopt me were really cool, normal, perfect people. The perfect family, who wanted to say, "We are wonderful because we adopt!" Every kid had a chore in the household, even me who just turned three after I moved in. If you messed up, you got a spanking. No one outside the house knew that, but it was true.
It was here in my second adoptive home that I got my title of freak. When my emotions go overboard, water explodes around me. Don't ask me why because I don't know! I don't remember the first time it happened, but my perfect family members used to continuously tell me. I was in the bathtub with my mom (at the time) bathing me and I splashed her, getting soap in her eyes, by accident. This was a cause for spanking, I started crying, next thing we all knew was the water was no longer in the tub, but rather everywhere else and mom was soaked to the bone.
Nine out of ten times that I got spanked or the other kids teased me or pushed me, water would explode somewhere in the room. Two daycares expelled me because they noticed they never had any problems with the drinking fountains until I started to attend. At home the sink, the water dispenser in the refrigerator, the hose outside, a glass of water on a table, or any other water source would go off and everyone in the room would get wet, except me.
Just after I turned five, they took me back to the state, and gave me up. "So some poor other fool could adopt me!" Is what they said. They told the social worker, who was handling my case, every tiny thing I did and to make sure I wasn't given to someone with out them know the facts. My social worker promised them she would, and she did, which is why no one would adopt me, and I went to sixteen, seventeen, or more foster homes in a matter of one year. I lost count. No one wanted me because of my file, whether they read it or I just did something wrong. I felt like a mistake, and cried myself to sleep many nights.
One day I saw this really tall man watching me in the playground (I was always alone, I had no friends). After a few days I thought he was stalking me because I swore I saw him outside my bedroom window once, and watching from down the street. My current foster parents ignored me and were desperately trying to pawn me off on another foster family, so they didn't care. The other kids in the home just laughed and called me a freak, so I sprayed them with water.
My foster parents were happier then ever today, as they called me into the dining room. There sitting at the table was the man I had seen everywhere over the last few days. My social worker was there too and I was told I was leaving this house and going to stay with Mr. Tall. The name fits… I thought as I left to grab my back pack, the only thing I really owned. This wasn't new to me (sudden uprooting), but hopefully this guy knew what he was getting into, maybe that's why he was watching me. Hey, hopes were all I had left, so I got to hold on to them!
"Hold on to my hand," He said, and I did as I was told and we continued to walk out of the house, down to the curb, and up the street. Since I moved in with this foster family I just left, I explored the neighborhood constantly, but I had never seen this wide opening of land or heard the circus was coming to town. I looked behind me where the house was and all there was were trees.
"How?! Wha-?" I said trying to form words that would not come out.
Mr. Tall got down on one knee, he was still six feet taller than me, and bent over so he could look me in the eye. "I too have powers, different but like you." I gawked at him, so that's why he wanted me. "Here we treat each other with respect, and help each other. You can be who you truly are without ridicule, here." Then he stood up and offered me his hand. "Take my hand," We walked. "Welcome to the Cirque du Freak!" He announced proudly.
Ok so I know few will read this because it is the first crossover of it's kind, but please do review!! PLEASE!! Thank you!!!