Blinded

Laken's POV

When I was five years old, my mother taught me something that should have been a very valuable lesson. She told me that the God of the Sun immature, ignorant, rude, and seductive. She told me that if he ever met me, the sun god would make it his personal mission to make me fall madly in love with him.

It's not like she would know, or should know. She only met him once and hated his sunny personality. She was more of a dark and gloomy person herself. That's probably why she fell for my dad, Chaos.

"Laken Summers, daughter of Chaos," she would always claim, "You are destined for greatness."

Personally, I think that's a load of bull crap. I mean, I trust my mom and all, but…how can someone who tries to hide who she is be great? As a demigod, I'm ADHD, dyslexic, and ultimately a rebel. Not like the mischievous type. No, I'm too rebellious for my own good. Which is granted, giving the fact my dad is Chaos and all…put that on top of the fact I'm a teenage demigod, and you've got a mess you are screwed-up stuck in.

See, as much as I trust my mother…I can't stand her. She drives me up the wall. I may be just a mental teenager, but she hovers. She watches my every move. I get that's she's trying to protect me, but seeing as my father is who he is, I can handle myself. I've spent most of my teenage years finding ways to defy my mom, just so I can show her I can handle myself. That's probably how I got lost in my jacked-up demigod mess.

I'm assuming that I should start at the beginning: before I got caught in this mental case I call reality now. So, it kind of started one year prior to today, i.e. my sixteenth birthday. One year? Is that really only how long it has been? I could have sworn it's been longer…

But I'm getting ahead of myself. And I'm also getting a lot of death glares from—sorry; I'll just go on now. I can't tell you who is glaring at me.

Anyway, it was my sixteenth birthday and the only thing I wanted was my driver's license. But, my 'dear, sweet' mother seemed to believe that I just had to have the best birthday ever. Needless to say, I should have seen this much coming.

"SURPRISE!" everyone screamed, jumping out of their hiding places. My mom, closest to me, seemed extremely proud of herself—she was carrying a large red cake. I sigh and put my mom's car keys down. Everyone starts chatting all at once, and it's all I can handle not to put my hands over my ears.

"Laken isn't this just wonderful!" my mother, Carlen Summers beams. "Happy Birthday, sweetheart!"

She puts the cake down momentarily to wrap me in a hug I wasn't exactly looking forward to. "Yeah, Mom, it's great," I mutter. As I pull away, I say, "Mom, this is the one month I have away from camp and it's miserable enough being away from camp. I asked you not to throw a party and make me want to go back all the more."

My mom sighed. "Laken, I'm sorry, dear. I know you miss your friends and I wish I were more fun…"

She hesitates, as if she expects me to interrupt her and say, 'No, Mom, of course not! You are awesome, and don't you forget it!' But I don't because I'm too tired and exhausted to say anything back. "Sorry, Mom," I say instead.

"I just thought you would like a party," she whispers. She gives me another sad look before turning to pick up the cake she put down. "Happy Birthday, Laken; can I at least give you that?"

"Mom," I sigh. She turns, hopeful, but her foot catches on the rug and she gasps. The cake falls, landing all over my shirt and semi in my hair. "Mom!" I gasp, horrified.

"Laken, I didn't mean to," my mother cries, stunned. I barely hear her. Blood is rushing to my face and I take off running. She calls after me, but I don't stop running till I'm locked safely in my penthouse bedroom. Yeah, penthouse. Mom owns an old rundown hotel. It has fifteen floors, not including the lobby or the penthouse. She still rents it out, but not in the month when I come home. She likes to reserve that time for me. She's made the lobby and old restaurant into a large family room, except, of course, keeping the desk to please customers. She made this place as much of home as it could be. My bedroom was remodeled to be the whole penthouse.

I guess she thought it would make me want to come home more.

Not that I don't love my room. No, it's amazing. If I could, my room in the Big House would be as cool as this one. It has all exterior glass walls and windows, and a sliding glass door that leads to a balcony overlooking the Strip. Next door, ironically, is the Lotus Hotel and Casino. I've been tempted to go in there several times. But I never do, because I know I would never get out.

Anyway, the glass window/walls have a type of velvety curtains that close when I flip a light switch. When I close the curtains, my room feels like one of those tents you would find in the Arabian movies and stuff. The interior walls were a large stone-covered wall. They looked like they had water drizzling down them because that's what I asked my mother to do and figure out. It's just a trick with the lighting or something. But it's awesome nonetheless. My room separates into a few main concepts:

My actual bedroom where I sleep and have a desk and a dresser and all the stuff you would find in a typical home.

My nice, large bathroom which I love and adore completely—minus the cleaning day. That really sucks…

My closet, which is probably one-eighth of the entire bedroom. It's pretty large if you think about it. My bedroom is the whole penthouse, so the whole floor.

And finally, my studio…oh, my studio. Not for art or any of that. No, I have no artistic ability whatsoever. I tried to draw a flower. It looked like a stick figure eating a burrito. My studio is for my music. My grand piano, my acoustic guitar, my electric guitar, and of course, the stage with my microphone…of course, Mom decided to make it so that I could record in there. But I don't really like recording the songs I write and sing and play. I like to play them and that's all.

In my bed bedroom, there is a large fireplace. It's my second destination—the first being the bathroom for a long shower to get all the crap out of my hair. After I'm in my fuzzy black sweats and blue tank top, I sit down on the little ledge by my fireplace. My black wet curls start to dry by the crinkling fire and I decide its good enough. Reaching for my bag, I grab my laptop out of it and log into the camp chat that Camp Half Blood's counselor created.

Much to my non-surprise, my two best friends are already online. I laugh despite the bitter mood I'm feeling. Selena Turin and Talon Hale tend to make me laugh whenever I see their screen names. Being a daughter of Aphrodite and a son of Hephaestus, the two always find some way to pull out a joke.

Selena hated her mother for a long time. She was angry at the goddess for leaving her father. In her version of retaliation, Selena created the screen name: Psyche-You to kind of show up her mom. Aphrodite had been jealous of a mortal named Psyche a while back, and instead of (Psych-You) she made her screen name after the beautiful mortal.

Now Talon, Talon was something a little bit…weirder. Being a son of Hephaestus, he was drawn to fire. Not like most kids, but he was utterly fascinated. Which means his screen name makes no sense. When I asked him how he got: AfraidOfFire:-O, he told me it was a joke. From the jokester himself.

My screen name, naturally, was: Causing-Chaos. Since I tend to be drawn to mischief almost as much as Selena is drawn to Covergirl and Talon is drawn to rusty old pieces of crap, I figured it was fitting.

Psyche-You: Omigods, Laken! Where have you been, chica?

AfraidOfFire:-O: Selly, she has a life outside of us.

Causing-Chaos: Gods, Sell. I was driving. That tends to happen when I get a license.

Psyche-You: Talon, FREAK! I know she has a life outside of us, dweeb. But she agreed to log on last night so she could tell me about her life in the Vegs! (:

Causing-Chaos: Selena!

AfraidOfFire:-O: Life on the Strip? What the Hades are you talking about?

I roll my eyes. My friends are idiots.

"Laken," my mother calls. She knocks on my door twice before coming in. I put my laptop down and stand up. Mom is holding a plate of brownies.

Perfect, I think to myself, plotting.

"I sent the guests home, saying you didn't feel well," she explains, putting the brownies on my dresser. "I'm sorry I didn't listen to you, hon. I just thought that you would like it. I mean, you're leaving in a week and I barely get to see you anyway. I just wanted to make the best of your trip and I thought this was a better alternative. I'm so sorry, hon."

"It's okay," I say, reassuring. I walk towards the brownies she put down and look at her. "Thanks for the brownies."

She nods curtly and then walks out of the room, shutting the door. I grab the plate of brownies and walk hastily to the fireplace.

"To Chaos," I say, tossing the brownies in the fire. I sit down on the ledge again and pull my knees up to my chest. "I need your help, Dad. Mom's driving me crazy, and I know she wants the best for me, but it's driving me crazy. I want to go back to camp. What should I do?"

"Well, for starters, you should have given me the brownies in person."

I turn, startled, and see my dad standing by the balcony's doors. "Daddy," I gasp, stumbling forward. I wrap my arms around him and hug him close. "Thanks for coming."

"Your mother…"

"Wants the best for me, she doesn't know what to do because you left her, she's going crazy, I need to help her, blah, blah, blah," I mumble. "I've heard it all before."

Chaos smiles at me. I think. I can never really tell what he does or even what he looks like, because he changes forms so often. "Your mother loves you. She loves you so much she's going to let you come with me. Now, pack your bags."

"What?" I stammer, pulling away. Chaos laughs, and points to my dresser.

"Get packed. We're taking you back to camp," Chaos drawls. I let out a girlish squeal I have never made before and rush to my dresser. "Of course, we're making a surprise detour along the way…call it a birthday present."

"Where?" I ask, though I know he won't answer.

"It's a secret," Chaos says, putting a shadowy finger to his lips. He slips out my bedroom door and shuts the door quietly behind him.

Unable to control my excitement, I rush to my laptop to find Selena and Talon having an argument about who was faster on the lava wall.

Causing-Chaos: Guys, we all know I'm the fastest. Now listen.

Psyche-You: ;P

AfraidOfFire:-O: TELL US TELL US TELL US.

Causing-Chaos: How about I tell you in person?

Knowing that they are slow enough not to figure it out for a while, I shut my laptop and begin to pack.

Chaos POV

"Carlen."

"Chaos?" Carlen gaps at me. "What are you doing here?"

I sigh. "Carlen, I need to take Laken back to camp. She isn't safe. I know you don't want to see her leave. But she isn't safe. Can I please take her back to camp?"

"No!" Carlen hisses. "Haven't you taken enough from me? I barely have enough time with her anyway, and you want to take her away? She's safe here in Vegas. If anything happens, the Lotus Hotel and Casino is three footsteps away from here! She's fine and you are not taking my daughter from me!"

"You have to understand three steps aren't close enough," I murmur. Carlen freezes. "Listen, I only have one detour and then she's straight off to camp where she's safe and can return to you in a few months. Just one detour she needs to help me with."

"What is it?" Carlen questions curiously. I smile, glad to have finally broken though.

Disclaimer: I don't own any Greek gods or goddesses mentioned. I do not own future Percy Jackson characters mentioned. All rights are reserved for Rick Riordon. Had I written the stories, Percy would have kissed Annabeth a lot sooner, Luke would have survived (un-evil) and Rachel would have mysteriously disappeared to join Calypso.

Also, I didn't own this story until recently. For some of my readers, you know this story as Blinded by FearOfFallingUp. I am so relieved she trusted me enough to give me this story and I hope I've done it justice! Please review and read on.

IntoInsomnia