A.N This is a new story I wanted to try, and if people like it then I'll be posting this and the Gray Area every week (At least I'll try.) This story is only 5 parts (or more who knows?). Enjoy and Review please xx
Warnings for this story: Language, Mentions of Recreational drug use. Supernatural tendencies.
Chapter 1:
The First thing Lyric heard was her alarm clock.
The first thing she ignored was also her alarm clock.
Needless to say, she was almost late on her first day to school.
"You know for a girl who does the morning announcements, you are almost always late." Nathan said, crossing his arms. Lyric could tell that he was still kind of bitter that she was voted to be the voice of McArthur and he wasn't.
"Hey Nathan, why don't you do your job and turn my mic on?" She smiled just to spite him and wasn't hurt in the slightest when he rolled his eyes.
Lyric waited 30 seconds after the final late bell to begin.
"Good morning to students who are still used to waking up after 12 and teachers who don't want to be here. It is currently 7:18 AM and time for us to chant to a piece of cloth. Please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance." Lyric stopped and played the recording of the Pledge being spoken before continuing, "Don't you just love conformity? Anyway, here's our dotting Principal to go over the handbook you will lose in the next 30 minutes." Lyric scooted away as Principal Brunner mouth 'thin ice' to her. Lyric just shrugged before placing her feet on the table. Nathan chastised at her because she was propping her feet where the equipment was but she just mouth 'bite me' and scooted her feet further down the table.
After a draining 30 minutes of principal Brunner talking about all the reasons not to do anything in school, Lyric proceeded back to the mic.
"For all of those who fell asleep during that, here's a recap! Don't do drugs, smoke, drink or gang-related things at school, or suffer ISS with Ms. Irons. Anyway, it is almost the end of our announcements so to the freshmen who brought too many school supplies, welcome to Hell, and the seniors who didn't bring enough, Happy last first day. And everyone in between, have a great day of mandatory education."
Lyric turned off her mic and stood, stretching and cracking her spine. Nathan just grimaced at her as she grabbed her bag and shucked on her right shoulder.
"Nathan, you're going to run out of coal the way you're grilling me." She smiled. "Same time, tomorrow." She called as she was already out the door.
Lyric's morning consisted boring teachers going over boring syllabuses. But when she walked into 4th Period that's when things really got weird.
It started when her best friend ran up to her as soon as she walked through the door.
"LYRIC!" She yelled as she practically leaped into Lyric's arms.
"Ellie…? What did we say about personal space?"
Ellie took a step back. "Right, forgot you hated all types of physical contact. That's very Scorpio of you."
"You're still into to zodiac?" Lyric questioned. "Figured you would've been back into Buddhism or something like that by now."
"I'm still Buddhist, I just think it's really cool that people can tell your traits just on how the planets were aligned when you were born." Ellie took her seat. "It's brilliant."
Lyric slid in the seat across her. "It's bogus."
"Fine then I guess you won't get your 'happy last first day' gift."
"Oh my god, how will I live with out my 500th Buddha statue?"
Ellie narrowed her eyes. "It's not a Buddha statue. Do you always have to be a sarcastic piece of—? Hot guy, hot guy, 12 o-clock."
"What?" Lyric looked ahead of her, past Ellie's head.
Ellie smacked her hand that was resting on the table. "My 12 o-clock, your 6."
Lyric stopped and turned around a little to see a boy. He looked pretty plain to Lyric. Brown eyes, medium length hair with small messy type curls. He looked like he used to be scrawny but filled out either during puberty or he started working out. You could definitely tell that he was a big personality by the way he smiled, all big with teeth showing as he talked to the teacher. And he was definitely Lyric's type but she didn't want to date anyone and Ellie knew that.
"Stop."
"Stop what?"
"Trying to set me up with a guy, I told you about that."
"Who said, he was for you he might be for me."
"Ellie, you're a lesbian."
"Stop trying to know me." Ellie said, looking past me at the new guy. "I'm going to tell him to sit with us."
"El, don't—" but it was way too late as he was already heading over to our table.
"Hi!" Ellie greeted
The boy smiled at Ellie full teeth. Lyric tilted her head; he's got a nice smile. Lyric thought to herself but then quickly shook off the thought.
"Hey, I'm Elena but people often call me Ellie." Ellie smiled and offered her hand to the boy. Then gestured to Lyric. "And this is my best friend, Lyric, People often call her a bitch."
Lyric gave Ellie a pointed glare, the boy laughed and reached out his hand for Lyric to shake.
"I'm sure that's not quite true." He said to her, smiling.
"You'd be surprised." Lyric smiled back reaching for the hand.
"I'm—" The boy tried to introduce himself but that was when the teacher decided to call the class to order.
He sat down next to Ellie, across from Lyric.
Lyric spent the next thirty minutes zoning in and out of consciousness while the teacher droned on and on about tectonic plates and rising temperatures. As soon the final bell rung students were out of the classroom. Ellie moved to pack her stuff.
"Hey, I've got to see Ms. Cordinski about her studio art class."
"So you can make your own Buddha statues?" Lyric said, with mock excitement.
"Keep mocking Buddha, what goes around come around."
"I thought that was Hinduism?"
Ellie just rolled her eyes and patted her shoulder. "I'll meet you at your locker." Her eyes darted to the boy, whose name she still didn't know, then back to Lyric and mouth talk to him then turned to walk away. Lyric held up her middle finger as she walked off.
"I still don't know your name." Lyric said, as the boy was packing away his stuff rather slowly.
The boy smiled. "It's Leo."
"Your name is Leo?" Lyric laughed. "Elle would freak. What's it short for?"
He shook his head. "Nothing."
"Nothing?" Lyric questioned. "I don't believe that."
"And why not?" he said as they walked out the room.
"Because no mother just names their kid Leo."
"Mine did."
"Whatever you say." Lyric laughed. "But I'll find out your secret."
"Good luck with that." He laughed.
"You don't take a bus, do you? Because I think you missed it." Lyric said, apologetically. She'd gotten caught up in the conversation she didn't know how late it was.
"It's fine, I walk anyway." Leo shrugged.
"I can give you a ride if you want." Lyric countered. "Though, I must warn you my car is extremely old and it smells kind of weird but not weird like, I smell weird. The smell is some weird tea Ellie gets shipped from Tibet or some place like that." Lyric stops walking when they were down the hall from her locker, which Ellie was standing in front of, "I'm babbling, aren't I?"
"Yup, but don't worry about it. It's cute." Leo shrugged.
"Well, lucky for you, I only do it around hot guys. Not that I'm saying you're hot—well, I'm not saying your not hot either. Just that you're not not hot…" Lyric trailed off, Leo raised an eyebrow at her. "I'm going to shut up now."
Leo chuckled as he and Lyric moved to where Ellie was standing.
"How'd it go with Mrs. Cordinski?" Lyric asked as she unlocked her locker.
Ellie's eyes darted between her and the boy, who was leaning against the next locker. "It was fine, she's putting me in the advanced class. It's the push, I need to be Vice President of the Art Honor Society." Ellie paused. "I never caught your name." She prompted.
"Oh, It's Leo."
"Leo?! Is that your sign too?" Ellie pushed.
"Oh, no. I think I'm a Pisces."
"A Pisces…" Ellie nodded then mumbled. "Most compatible with Scorpios…" That earned her a glare from Lyric.
"I'm giving Leo a ride home. You still need a ride?"
Ellie eyes darted between them again. "Oh, no."
"You sure?"
"Yea, I'll just get a ride from Hot Mark."
"Do you even know Hot Mark?"
"Nope." Ellie looked down the hall to where Mark was standing in front of his locker. "Hey, Hot Mark!" Mark jumped and turned to see who called him. "I'm Ellie! Can you give me a ride home?"
"Um, I guess…" Mark said, confused.
Ellie waved a hand at them and turned to walk away, Lyric grabbed her arm. "Ellie, don't you dare get in a car with a stranger."
Ellie pulled her arm away and skipped over to where Mark was. "I can't hear you over my bad decisions." Once down the hall, she hooked arms with Mark as they walked out the building.
"Are you sure you don't want to go check on her?" Leo asked.
"She'll text me the license plate number. This is the 5th time she's gotten in the car with a stranger since we've been in high school. She's says in Buddhism, they believe everyone has the power to do the right thing and that gives her security."
Silence fell in between them for a few moments before Leo burst out. "That's idiotic."
Lyric laughed. "You wouldn't believe how many times I've said that to her. But I learned to just let her do her thing." Lyric slammed her locker closed. "You ready?"
XXX
The beginnings of their car ride consisted of mostly silence, though Leo injected a joke here and there, they mostly stayed silent, listening to Lyric's vast playlist that went from K-pop to indie in a matter of seconds.
After a couple of minutes, Leo broke the silence.
"What song is this?" Leo asked.
"Oh, it's Almost Lover by A Fine Frenzy."
"Oh… it's a good song…"
"It's ok, I know it's very hippie."
"No, I like it." Leo smiled.
"Yea, she opened up for Foster the People when went to their concert during the summer. She was so good, best voice I've heard in a—" Lyric's car made a Klunk! And began slowing down. "That's weird. I just went to the mechanic yesterday."
Leo wasn't paying attention he was looking straight ahead.
Lyric diverted her attention straight ahead. 3 SUV's sealed off the road ahead of them. 3 bodyguards got out and opened the door for 2 people. On of them was a man, he wore suit with a waistcoat but the main thing you noticed about his outfit was the pocket watch with the massive chain that crossed his body. The next was a woman, she was very pretty in an older businesswoman type of way but mainly she was just intimidating.
"Leo… do you know what's going on?"
Leo sighed and pulled out his phone. After sending a quick text, he put it back and unbuckled his seatbelt. "Get out of the car."
Lyric's eyes bugged out. "So let me get this straight. You want to exit the safety of my car to confront the scary people with guns?"
"Precisely." Leo smiled then opened the door.
"Ah, Mr. Valdez! Fancy seeing you here." The woman said, with a rather large toothy smile that was more frightening than comforting.
"Gaea." Leo nodded. "Just leave and nothing has to happen."
"See, now I can't do that." Gaea paced. "How you guys caught wind of it, I'm not sure, but if it's true that she is Poseidon's kid then I need her. Seeing as though you stole the last one from me."
"Percy wasn't yours to begin with." Leo countered. "And she doesn't even know who she is."
"All the better. They say it's best to get a early start, isn't that right Kronos."
"Eleven…Ten…Nine."
"My beloved hasn't been the same since that crazy lady at your camp experimented on him."
"Lupa has nothing to do with his condition. The extreme exposure to the radiation from your laser did."
Kronos was sitting on the ground staring intently at his pocket watch. "The clock never stops, never stops, never waits. We're growing old it's getting late."
"Annie waits…" Lyric whispered, mostly to herself.
"What?"
"That's from a song, Annie waits, my dad used to play it for me when I had nightmares. You know, before he left forever."
Gaea made that toothy grin that made Lyric shiver. "And how much do you know about your father."
Lyric all of a sudden didn't like how the conversation turned to her. All of a sudden it felt humid like ridiculously humid for the beginning of September.
"Umm, not much other than the fact he left me and my mom when I was 5, never saw him again."
"Now, do you know why?" Gaea asked.
"Why does any deadbeat dad leave?"
"Though that's true, it's not the real reason."
Lyric looked at her confused.
"She doesn't know who she is." Leo cut in. "Now I'm taking her to camp."
"Just you?" Gaea laughed.
"It's not just him." Lyric heard a voice behind her. She turned and saw 3 guys standing behind them. The one who spoke had raven like hair and bright green eyes. He was definitely hot in the dorky kind of I don't know I'm hot kind of way.
The next boy was hot and you could definitely tell he knew it. Blond hair fashioned in a short, almost a buzz cut kind of way. His eyes were more sky blue and the only imperfection on his face was the small scar on his upper lip.
"Ah, Percy Jackson, come to escort your sister to camp?"
"What the hell are you talking about?" Percy asked.
"We don't have time for that!" Leo interjected. "Get her out of here."
"I'm sorry, I can't let you do that." Gaea said. Suddenly, there was a large jagged rock erupting from the ground. Flames erupted from Leo's hands and aimed at Gaea and her men.
"Holy shit!" Lyric jumped back, wide-eyed. What the hell was going on?
"NICO!" Leo shouted, as the sky began to crack lightning. "Get her out of here."
The third boy whose name was apparently Nico, ran up and grabbed Lyric by her waist.
Lyric thought she blacked out for a second and when she came to, they were in front of a cable van.
"Holy hell! how did we get here?!" Lyric said, trying to walk away but wobbling. Nico ran over to help her upright.
"Shadow travel." He deadpanned.
"What the hell is that?"
"The ability to transport one's self from different locations by using the shadows in the area."
"You fucking teleport?" Lyric breathe heavily. "What are you guys? What the hell is going on?!"
The side door of the cable car opened and a blonde girl with tamed curls and piercing gray eyes poked her head out.
"Annabeth, you deal with this." Nico said before running off and disappearing in the shadows again.
XXX
When Leo came back to the car, Annabeth stormed up to him and the guys.
"I'm going to kill you guys for leaving me with a girl who knows nothing about us, but right now we need to get out of here. I sense Gaea and her men are regrouping so we need a really big head start."
"Where is she?" Percy asked.
"Passed out in the front seat." Annabeth shrugged. "I gave her a tranquilizer so she'd stop yelling."
"Alright Leo you're driving. I'm not dealing with that when she wakes up." Percy and the rest of the gang climb into that back. Leaving Leo out, mouth agape.
XXX
Lyric woke up with a pain in her neck and a sick feeling in her stomach.
She sprung up but was instantly pulled back by the seatbelt snagging her. She looked over to her left to see Leo driving.
"Where the hell am I?" Lyric groaned.
"Currently?" Leo asked, Lyric nodded. "Maryland."
"How long have we been driving?"
"Several hours." Leo answered. "You're surprisingly calm right now."
"Oh, I have a ton of questions." Lyric sighed. "But not for tonight."
"You sure you have no questions…" Leo said, trailing off knowing she would crack.
"Ok, What are you?"
"You mean what are we?"
"Ok, last time I checked, I can't shout flames out my hands, Human Torch."
Leo laughed. "Well, of course not, you're not a fire."
"Excuse me?"
"Well, you maintain a normal temperature, and when you're angry you don't glow." Leo shrugged.
"So what am I?"
"Well, we don't know yet. But as a category we are Elementals."
"I'm sorry?"
"You know what a Pentagram is?"
"The devil sign?"
"Exactly, but it's really not a 'devil sign'. The circle on the outside represents the world and everyone in it. The star in the represents all of the elements." They stopped at a red light and Leo pulled up his sleeve to reveal a tattoo of a pentagram. "Where the star meets the outer circle is an element, Earth, air, fire, water and spirit. Most people are born in the center, some people are born slightly near a point seem to be attached to it, like someone born near the fire point would be a fire fighter or an arsonist." Leo laughed. "But some are born directly on the point, those are Elementals." He gestures between him and Lyric.
"So you were born on the fire point, flame boy?"
Leo smiled. "Exactly, you got it."
"And what do you think I am?"
"Gaea thinks you're my sister, so you are probably a water." Lyric turned around to the voice in the back. Percy rubbed his eye while Annabeth lay on his shoulder, still asleep.
"What are you on about?" Lyric asked
"What was you're dad's name?"
"Umm, my mom only talked about him once. His name was something weird. Posy… or some—"
"Poseidon?"
"Yea, that sounds about right."
"Do you know who Poseidon is?" Leo asked.
"You mean, besides, a deadbeat dad?"
"He's also one of the most powerful water elemental of all time." Jason said, having woken up too. "My dad, Poseidon, and Nico's dad were apart of this secret operative group called 'The Big Three' and for a while they were unstoppable. Then Nico's dad had his older sister. She was a very powerful Earth Elemental and when they found out just how powerful, The Council killed her."
"The Council?"
"Basically the people in charge of us, against our will mind you. If elementals are seen as dangerous then somebody marks you. And then a member of the Council is informed and they kill you."
"If you, Nico and Percy are seen as so dangerous why aren't you guy… you know."
"We're at a refugee camp."
"Not really a refugee camp." Percy interjects. Just teaches you how to control your powers so you can go back in the world."
All of this started to hit Lyric at once. She suddenly felt like she couldn't breathe. She took heavy breaths like an anvil was pressed against her chest.
"Pull over." She whispered.
Leo pursed his lips but pulled over anyway.
Lyric didn't even wait for the car to come to a full stop before she was running out of it.
"Shit." Leo muttered as he struggled out the car to follow Lyric. "Lyric wait!" Once he caught up with Lyric, he circled his arms around her waist and lifts her up so she couldn't run.
"LET ME GO!" Lyric screamed.
"What are you running for?"
"This is too much!" Lyric yelled. "I had a life, Leo. I was the voice of the school, President of the theatre company, I had friends and I'm sure I would've had a boyfriend by the end of this week." Leo narrowed his eyes at that. "Leo, what about Ellie? What is she going to do when all of a sudden her best friend since 2nd grade goes missing. Leo, what about my mom? My sisters? Do you give a shit about any of them?"
"Do you?" Leo asked back. "Let's say I take you back to the school. You try to go through the year like a normal student, knowing you're not. One day, you get angry, absolutely livid and there's a massive tsunami in Tarboro, severely injuring some but killing hundreds, including Elle and your family. Would you be able to live with yourself then? Knowing that you were selfish enough to refuse training to pretend you're normal?"
Lyric locked her jaw and stared off into the hill that fell before her feet. If she really wanted to, she could just run down it and hide, they wouldn't find her. Then she could go back home, to her mom and Elle. But she wasn't moving, why wasn't she moving?
"Let us help you." Leo pleads. "You can still visit your family and Elle, but let us train you so no one gets hurt. Please."
Lyric sighed as a single tear fell against her will, she nodded.
"Good, now lets get back in the car."
XXX
The rest of the car ride was pretty uneventful. Lyric slept most of the time because Annabeth insisted she needed more drugs. Midway through Pennsylvania, she woke up wedged between Leo's arm and chest. That was about as awkward as the ride got.
When they got to the camp, Lyric quickly realized it wasn't really a camp, just a collection of buildings with a large courtyard in the middle, not unlike a university campus.
"Come on, let's get you to the infirmary." Annabeth said, half catching Lyric, who still couldn't stand straight.
"I'll take her, if you need me too." Leo said.
"Nope, I've got it." Annabeth smiled. "I'll see you later, Perce."
"Are you sure?" Leo asked.
"I'm sure." She said, basically dragging Lyric away.
Leo sighed defeated and started to get his things out of the car. He felt eyes on him so he looked up to see Percy and Jason looking at him weird.
"What?"
"Nothing." Percy smirked.
"Ok, seriously what?"
"It's just, do you like this girl?" Jason asked, eyebrow rose.
"What?! No! I just met her I don't even know her."
"I mean, you've laughed at everything she's said—"
"Because she's hilarious."
"I'm just saying… this is the most you've smiled since Calypso." Jason shrugs his bags unto his shoulder. "It's nice." He smirks before walking away with Percy, leaving Leo dumbfounded.
XXX
When Lyric wakes up next she hears voices.
"I don't understand why I have to share my room." Lyric opens one eye to see Nico and an older man with a woman hanging off his arm. The man was crazy tall with a beard and long hair tied back in a bun. The women had serious gray eyes, she looked up at the man and smiled and when she smiled her expression turned almost wolfish.
"Because, there is no more rooms and you're the only one with a single room." The man said.
"Chiron, you know that's because people don't like me." Nico said. "And I don't like people."
"You'll survive." The woman said, letting go of the man and walking out.
"Chiron please." Nico begged.
"I'm sorry." Chiron answers. At this moment, Lyric decides to groan so they are aware she's awake.
"Glad you can join us, Lyric." Chiron says. "Just in time, as well. Will checked you out and said you were all set, so Nico, here, is going to show you to your room." Chiron turned to glare at Nico almost daring him to protest.
Nico just sighed and turned to walk out the door. "Let's go."
XXX
Lyric decided she was going to become Nico di Angelo's best friend, no matter what.
If only she could get him to stop hating her first, that would be great.
As soon as Lyric moved into her new room, Nico moved to his side and hasn't said anything to her besides the occasional heavy glare.
Lyric eyed the bring me the horizon poster and decided to make conversation.
"Is this the kind of music you like?" Lyric asked. "I'm more of an alternative girl myself but I can appreciate their music. Go to hell for heaven's sake is one of my favorite songs."
"Please stop talking to me." Nico said, before turning away to finish his book.
Maybe later… Lyric thinks.
Lyric's gaze breaks from the window when she hears a knock at the door. She opens it to see Leo holding 2 bags.
"Hey." She says, quietly.
"Hey, how you holding up?"
"You mean, besides the fact that I just found out that I'm a super human with the ability to make tsunamis? Pretty good, I suppose."
Leo laughs. "Don't be silly, you're not trained enough for tsunamis. I'm sure you could make some kick ass waves though."
Lyric laughed at that, hard, harder than she's laughed in the past few exhausting days.
"Well, some of the girls came together to give you some clothes, bathing things etc. I think everything thing's your size so you should have no problems. I'll come get you tomorrow for breakfast then your first training session."
"Alright." Lyric said, leaning against the doorframe.
"Alright." Leo smiles. "See you then."
"See you then." Lyric smiles, watching Leo as he walks down the hall.
Lyric collapses on her bed arms spread. Though she's not tired, she's anything but tired. She felt, exhilarated. She spent her whole life feeling comfortable, never realizing she wanted a change. Now she has it, she can't help the giant grin that spreads across her face. For the first time she feels enthusiastic about what's going to happen.
She feels excited.
She feels free.