She Will be Loved by Maroon 5

Be My Escape (Acoustic)

by Relient K

Fall For You

by Secondhand Serenade

It was my tenth birthday and all I wanted was a cupcake. Just one little cupcake from this new bakery was all I wanted for my birthday. I had finally made straight C's on my report card AND I had gotten through an entire school year without any slip ups. When I walked inside it smelled like the bread aisle of the grocery store but then the nice warm picture before me would just... flicker.

It started to change between this warm cozy place full of delicious, freshly baked breads and pastries to an old shop where the pink and red wall paper was peeling, the painting on the wall of a large, pink cupcake with a cherry on top randomly got claw marks like it had been slashed numerous times. Even the pastries and breads would randomly start to look green with mold and the entire place would just randomly start to smell like a combination of Siracha, blood, and rotten meat rather than the smell of cookies right out of the oven. And the woman behind the counter would just randomly not look human... at all.

She would randomly have pitch black eyes with no eye whites or irises like someone had colored over them with a sharpie. Her skin would randomly go from a really nice olivey skin tone to green scales and her legs would turn into the bottom half of a snake. And her hair would turn into this gross, stringy mess of black and red.

"Uhh... Dad?" I started to pull on his hand when the horrifying picture and smell didn't flicker anymore but stayed and she started hissing. My jaw was chattering and I knew I looked paler than paper. My hand was shaking. I did not want a cupcake anymore.

"Yes? Hey, you look pretty pale. Are you okay?" Does he not see this monster in front of him or the rest of this shop?

"No. Not really. I don't feel to good."

"Maybe some pastry will help her stomach." The woman behind the counter talked like a stereotypical snake. She held out each 'S' like a hiss.

"N-no Ma'am. I really don't think sugar would help my stomach." I tried to hide behind my father.

"Do you want to go outside for a bit? I can get the cupcake you wanted."

"No! Don't buy me a cupcake! Please!" I started pleading with him to not buy me a cupcake. "Can't you see this place? I just want to go home!"

"What on earth are you talking about? This place looks lovely!"

"No it doesn't!" I felt like I was going to start crying. I wanted to leave. I didn't want to be there another second. I was afraid of the snake lady.

"Is she insulting my shop?" There she was with the hissing 'S' again.

"No no. She's just sick is all. Come on, hon." He tried to pat down my long, wavy blonde hair. I was about to be sick if I had to stay there another second.

Then the snake lady pounced onto my father and began to devour him. I screamed as loud as I possibly could and ran out of the store. When I got out I ran into two teenagers holding hands. One had black hair the other had curly blonde hair.

"Help me, help me please! A scary snake lady ate my dad and I don't know what to do!" I started to plead with them. I was panicking and towards the end I started crying.

"Did you just say snake lady?" The blonde girl said. She crouched down to my level.

"Yes! She had green scaly skin, black eyes with no eye whites, and her legs were snakes!"

"Get back here young demigod! You never got your cupcake!" She started coming out of the shop and I shook like a leaf.

"Go on Wise Girl! I got this!" The boy with black hair and sea green eyes stayed behind while the blond girl, Wise Girl, scooped me up and started running in the other direction. I hung on to her for all I was worth. I kept shutting my eyes and opening them because all I could see was the snake lady over and over again.

Wise Girl took me to an apartment building.

"Sally!"

"What's wrong?" A lady walked out of the kitchen. She had long brown hair that had some strands of grey in it. She looked really young though and she had kind blue eyes, and laugh lines. She had a worried look on her face.

"Where's Percy? Who's this?" She moved to take me from the girl with blond hair.

"Snake lady... The boy with green eyes was fighting the snake lady."

"Snake lady?" The woman, Sally looked at Wise Girl for an explanation.

"Dracanae. Percy told me to go ahead with her."

"Yeah. Percy told her to go ahead so she brought me here... but my dad..."

"What happened to your dad, Dear?"

"I finally got through a year of school without getting kicked out and I had all C's on my report card. As a reward my dad said we could do whatever I wanted. All I wanted was a cupcake from the new bakery nearby. When I first got inside everything was normal. Then everything just started to flicker between cozy shop to a scene out of a scary movie or something. Then the scene just stuck there and I begged my dad to leave but he didn't see what I saw and then the snake lady pounced on him and ate him!" I just kept on screaming and crying. Then the door burst open and I hid my face in Sally's shoulder.

"Where is she?"

"Percy, please try and be a bit quieter. Poor thing is scared to death."

"Sorry, Mom."

"Thank you for helping me Wise Girl and Percy." Percy started laughing at me.

"Why are YOU calling me Wise Girl?"

"Percy called you Wise Girl. I don't have anything else to call you though."

"Call me Annabeth."

"So, Squirt, You hungry?" The boy with Green eyes asked me. I shook my head no. With what I just saw I felt sick to my stomach.

"Percy, She looks kind of pale and sick."

"It's okay. I didn't eat anything today yet so I really shouldn't be. My breakfast was supposed to be that cupcake." I really didn't want to touch the ground yet.

"Ms. Sally?"

"Yes?"

"Can we sit on the couch?"

"I have to finish making lunch. Percy? Annabeth? I want you both to take care of her while I finish making lunch." She passed me over to Percy. He smelled like the ocean and the beach.

"Do you have any plants around here?" I missed the sweet smell of plants.

"No. I don't think so. The only plant there really is her is a plant that is practically dead."

"Let me see it. Please?" Percy and Annabeth just looked at each other. Percy just shrugged and left the room.

"Do you like plants?"

"I love plants." Percy came back with the plant and I felt a sharp twang in my chest. It was shrivled and brown He moved towards the trash can with it.

"No! Don't throw it away! Let me have it! Bring me all the plants in your house, dead or alive." They both looked at me like I was insane. "Pretty please?" Percy just sighed and brought me all the plants. There were seven total. There was a Freesia, Forget-me-nots, Irises, a red Queen Anne's Lace and some flowers of them looked like paint brushes. All were brittle and dead.

"Didn't you ever water these?" I stared at a dead, dark purple flower on the Queen Anne's Lace. My dad never let me have any plants in the house. My mom was a gardener and she abandoned us. Plants reminded him too much of her. Which led me to question how I knew what these plants were. I shook my head. These plants were dead. I couldn't bring them back to life and yet that little nagging part of me in the back of my head whispered for me to try it.

"Can you two go get me some water please? We're going to need a lot of it." They just kept looking at me like I was insane but Annabeth had a sudden spark of recognition. She nodded with a small smirk and dragged Percy out of the room.

I gently touched the tip of the flower and felt a small tingle. The flower sparked back to life.

"Woah. It's beautiful." I stared at the plant in awe. If only my dad could have seen this. He always loved superheroes. Maybe that's what I am... A Superhero like in all the movies we always watched. But really I would be a mutant right? I shall have the mutant name of Botanical Girl! Because my real name is Rose. How fitting to my newfound mutant power.

"Hey, kid, we're back with the water," Percy said. I just kept staring at the plant amazed. "Woah! Wasn't that flower just dead?"

"I knew it. Water the plants Seaweed brain." Soon each plant had dirt that was essentially mud rather than the bone dry soil they were originally housed in. Suddenly It felt like my hand was being guided to the base of the Queen Anne's Lace. I felt a tingle throughout my body and the soil became a little less mud and I could see the water race up the stalks of the plant that was slowly turning green again. The plant ended up being fuller and more beautiful than ever before.

"Oh my gosh. I'm a mutant like in the X-Men! I shall be called Botanical Girl! Why didn't they show up sooner!? I could have wrapped the snake lady in vines that would wrap tighter the more she struggled. Maybe even a giant Venus Flytrap. I could have saved him." I looked down and clenched my fists. I hated that I just now discovered that I was a mutant. I could have done something. I could have let my father live.

"Hey. You were scared. You should be glad it wasn't you. It's going to happen more in the future. At least in the future you will be able to save more people."

"Why on EARTH would I be happy it wasn't me?! I would much rather it be me than the people I love. I hate this. It should have been me." I, Rose Demetrius, have officially failed at being a mutant. I suck at life.

"Because that means you can go on and make them proud that they died for you." Annabeth said. She gave me a large smile. I felt like I was so small. Insignificant like a bug. I loathed the feeling. I was being scrutinized under a microscope. Then Sally announced that the blue waffles were done and I got sick.

"I don't know if I want to be a mutant."

"You're not a mutant. You're a demigod."

And so is the end of chapter one. Give me your feedback and review please! :)