Slipping Through My Fingers
Chapter 1: Eclipse
I wrote this during the annular eclipse two days ago. Just popped into my head. Don't worry, there will be more chapters.
". . . and the Sun has perished
out of heaven,
and an evil mist hovers over all."
-Homer from the Odyssey
"Zeus, the father of the
Olympic Gods, turned
mid-day into night, hiding the light
of the dazzling Sun;
and sore fear came upon men."
-Archilochus, A Greek Poet
It wasn't hard to relax in San Francisco. At least it was for normal people who actually found sitting on the beach eating a vanilla ice cream cone in May relaxing. Unfortunately, that was everyone on the beach but one. The beach was right next to the San Francisco side of the golden gate bridge. The beach was called Crissy Field.
Let's focus on the one person who was not relaxed or enjoying herself on this beach. Sure, her happy façade and unusually quiet demeanor would have any person who didn't know her look at her and say "Oh look, there is a very pretty girl eating a vanilla ice cream cone with her family on the beach." Of course, this was no ordinary day. It was May 20th 2012, and the first annular eclipse in sixteen years was happening. That, of course, was why the girl had special glasses beside her. Of course, the glasses would only keep the eclipse from destroying the vision of mortals. And the girl was definitely not mortal.
"Annabeth honey," an Asian woman who seemed to the passer-byers to be the girl's mom said, "put on your glasses."
"Fine!" the girl whose name we must guess was Annabeth reluctantly replied, "But you know it won't help." Any mother who heard this scoffed at the adorable cluelessness of the sixteen year old girl who they obviously thought wasn't that smart. That, of course, shows us that we often do not see the full picture. Annabeth fingered the necklace that hung around her neck, and was strangely a good accessory for her black and white bikini, as she put on her glasses. I believe her exact thoughts at that moment were along the lines of; "Stupid Apollo, he just had to insult Artemis again, now they're going to fight, and they just had to schedule it for an actual day." Of course, her next thoughts were more along the lines of a normal teenage girl's; "Stupid Seaweed Brain, going off and getting himself kidnapped, he should be watching this family skirmish with me." Okay, so maybe not the kidnapped part.
Apollo and Artemis, or the sun and moon as mortals may refer to them, climbed high in the sky and aimed their arrows at each other. All of the mortals oohed and ahhed, but not Annabeth, who took off her glasses; she was thinking about how this was her birthday and how it's just her luck that the year Percy goes missing is the year where they decide to fight. Unfortunately, she couldn't blame Apollo and Artemis for fighting; all of the Olympians had been on edge since Hera's risky gamble. Apollo's Maserati shone it's headlights at Annabeth, and they started flickering in Morse code, luckily Leo had taught Annabeth that. Look at the water. The headlights said. Our fight is a distraction, The Lost One needs help.
"Of course," Annabeth thought, "only Apollo would use Morse code to make a bad haiku." Then she registered what he meant. She looked at the water, to see a dark haired boy about her age fighting two chickens. No, my mistake, that was what the mortals saw. Annabeth saw a demigod fighting two gorgons in the water. He was covered in mud, and since she couldn't tell the color of his shirt, she ran toward the water; hoping to find a Roman demigod to corner and use "persuasion", by that she meant her knife, to find the whereabouts of her boyfriend, Percy Jackson.
Apollo and Artemis, their fight forgotten, aimed their bows at the chickens, I mean gorgons, and watched with interest as Annabeth ran through the surf, kife in hand. She quickly stabbed the monsters in the back with her stick, sorry; knife, while he slashed them through with his pen, his sword I mean. Together, the heavenly twins smirked as Annabeth put her knife to his neck.
"Who are you?" the boy yelled, "And why are you doing this to me?"
"The important question is who you are. I need answers, you can either cooperate, or face my wrath."
"I'm really sick or saying this." The boy replied, 'I don't even know my last name, how am I supposed to give you answers?" His eyes were downcast as he said this, and Annabeth couldn't help but feel sorry for him.
"Aww," she said, "I almost feel sorry for you, but you must know something."
"Well, I know that normal people don't threaten people with knives while there are witnesses. So you must be either crazy, a monster, or a demigod."
"You'll answer my questions before I tell you who I am!" Annabeth demanded. "Where is the Roman Camp?"
"I don't know!" The boy replied dejectedly. "I was sent by Lupa to go there, but I don't know where it is. I can tell it's close though. Now tell me what you are."
"One of your kind, except my godly parent is exceedingly wiser than your godly parent. Unless of course, you are my half brother." Annabeth lowered her knife. She hadn't seen his eyes, but she didn't care. He didn't have the answers she was looking for. Annabeth turned to walk away. As Artemis and Apollo started to go their own ways, she turned back and saw his eyes. Sea green met storm cloud grey and she was about to approach him again, but a wall of water kept them apart. Artemis did not want a reunion while she was in the sky. They continued staring at each other until a wave pulled them apart. The wave crashed, the eclipse ended, and Annabeth screamed; "Artemis! You so owe me one!"
I looked away
Then I looked back at you
You tried to say
The things you can't do…..
And I don't wanna fall to pieces
I just wanna sit and stare at you
I don't wanna talk about it
And I don't want a conversation
I just wanna cry in front of you
-Fall to Pieces by Avril Lavigne
Okay, I know it was a cheesy ending, but I really didn't want to spoil the book. More chapters will come soon. I promise