Chapter 1
Below the cliff, the forest burned. Ashes drifted and landed softly among wild auburn curls, hair as untamed as the blaze before her, brought forward on a gentle breeze. Cinnamon colored eyes as fierce as the flames, watching in horror as the most recent place Livia made camp in was incinerated along with the chimera who at dawn had attacked. Shaking, she assessed herself, a few scrapes on her arms, hands and face, no big deal. But the broken ankle was definitely a problem. Cursing under her breath she ripped a strip of cloth off her shirt to attempt to make a makeshift splint for herself.
Once she hobbled around and found some suitable sticks she sat down and wrapped it up, biting back the pain. Sitting back to admire her handiwork, Livia let go of the breath she hadn't realized she was holding in. Body in shock, she was shaking, sweating profusely even though she was also partly shaking from chills that had nothing to do with the early morning long Island chill.
"This is just a minor set back Livia, you can make it to the camp mom told you about, you've made it this far on your own as it is." she sighs looking around. Ash still flying up into the air about a mile behind her. "I need to keep moving before more monsters find me. "
"Touching speech, but I'm afraid the little hope you've been holding on to isn't going to save you now." a male voice spoke behind her, looking around she watched as an acephali stepped out from behind a few close knit trees.
Acephali are a race of men without heads, they're eyes and mouth sit on their breasts. His kind were the kind of scary stories her mother had told her at bedtime, but she never believed they were real. After the last month of traveling by foot, camping and sleeping wherever she could, traveling to long Island to the location her dad told her mom to send her when she turned thirteen, she was beginning to believe anything was real.
Before she could bite out a sarcastic remark as she stood up ready to fight. A battle cry rang out, and out jumped a lithe, but muscular girl with short cropped black and red hair, wearing all black, and carrying a black sword.
"Thought you could escape me? " she shouted, swinging the wicked looking sword through the air as she landed. "The only escape you'll find is to tartarus!" Before the acephali could even respond she sliced her sword through his abdomen and he burst into a cloud of dust. Livia felt her eyes widen, this was definitely different. To put it lightly anyways.
"Wha-? How- ? " she sputtered, sinking back onto the stump she had previously rested on to wrap her ankle. "What happened to him? Who are you?"
"Name's Lilith." The girl smiled shyly and wiped her bangs out of her eyes and sheathed her sword up. "And that was awesome! You could see everything that happened right?"
"I could." Livia winces from the pain of moving her foot. "Are you a half blood too?"
"Daughter of Hades" Lilith bows, "At your service. Are you heading to camp half blood too?"
"Yes. Thank you for saving me." Livia sighs, "I don't think I'd have survived that, I've hit a bit of a snag." she gestures to her ankle and splint.
"Oh shit!" her eyes widen, "Here you hold onto me, use me as a crutch. If any monsters come our way let me handle them."
Lilith wraps her arm around Livia waist and helps her stand, hobbling east they leave the forest fire and the body of the acephali behind them. Falling into an uneasy silence, aside from bird song and Livia's heavy pained breathing, they make their way towards salvation. Camp half blood: Livia's mom promised would be a safe haven for her. After she was born, her dad had told her mom that she needed to send her there or she would be in danger.
Half bloods: half God half mortal, like Livia and Lilith because of their godly blood would be hunted down by monsters as soon as they turned thirteen. It was a coming of age thing, that they had to look forward to.
"So, Livia." Lilith starts, "How long have you been traveling? If it's not too rude of me to say, you look pretty worse for wear and could definitely go for a shower."
Livia snorts, a smile spreading across her lips, "That's an understatement. I've been traveling for a month."
"Where you coming from? You have quite the southern accent. " Lilith looks around them, always alert.
"San Luis, Arizona. It's just on the border of Mexico."
"No wonder you've been traveling a month, you're lucky to have made it this far with only a broken ankle to show for it."
"Where are you traveling from? You don't seem very worse for wear at all. And have an eastern accent"
"Southwick Massachusetts." Lilith smiles. "Was born in Salem though, that's where my dad met my mom."
"I've always wanted to travel to Salem, the witch trials and all the legends are so fascinating."
"Meh, it's a little overrated and exaggerated. Salem is more of a tourist town in my opinion." Lilith had a faraway look in her eyes, "All the old houses are amazing though. Some are even haunted!"
"Is that how you found out you were a daughter of Hades?" Livia found herself asking. "Or did your mom tell you who he was?"
"Well… it was more of a guess really." her face darkened at her thoughts. Livia could see a storm of emotions swirling around the depths of her sapphire blue eyes. She didn't say anymore, Livia didn't want to ask. If Lilith felt she was a daughter of Hades, and was certain enough to introduce herself as such to a random stranger, she had to have good reasons. Reasons that Livia felt she could understand, with her own past being troubled.
Livia tried to steer her thoughts away from the ashes and cinders that defined her, and focus on trying to take things one agonizing step at a time. The woods were thinning and she could hear the sounds of waves hitting a shore. "I think we're getting close." she said through gritted teeth as she bit back another yelp, as she stumbled over a rock she had attempted to miss with her broken ankle.
At that moment they broke out of the forest to a clearing where in the distance, sat a big blue mansion farm house. The exact one Livia's mom had described, just sitting there at the top of a hill, with a big sloping front lawn. On they hobbled in silence, both too focused on getting to their destination to even speak. Livia's heart beat harder, she was so close to safety, she couldn't stand it. Tears started welling up in her eyes, her month long journey was about to come to and end and she'd find out what her future held. A month of traveling across country, sleeping in tents, or on buses when she stole enough money to afford one, fighting off monsters at every step of the way, stealing and scavenging for food to survive. Halfway to the farmhouse Livia thought our luck can't possibly be this good. I'm hobbling on a broken ankle, Lilith is possibly a child of the big three gods. Two half-bloods hobbling for miles undetected just can't happen.
BOOM
It sounded like a cannon blast, the ground shook along with it, causing Livia to stumble on her only good leg, bringing Lilith down with her. To their right sat a smoking crater in the grass, revealing molten rock underneath. Above their heads in the sky, dark swirling clouds had appearing the the partly sunny daytime sky, gone unnoticed by the two girls whose focus was completely on getting to safety.
Lilith swore under her breath getting up to a standing position, "I can't believe I didn't see the anemoi thuellai approaching!"
"How do we fight them?"
"I'm not sure but we'll have to try, what are your strengths?" Lilith asks as she pulls Livia back to standing. "I can summon precious jewels from the earth, and I'm pretty decent with my sword, I don't think that's going to be enough to hold them off so we can get to safety."
"I control fire…" Livia says quietly, she didn't want to have to use it, was afraid of the wildfire beneath her skin that she could wield, but to control it enough to not kill them both? She'd never done such a thing.
"That might be just the thing we need, to stop these guys!" Lilith shouted over the roaring wind that had started to build, getting louder and louder. She unsheathed her black sword. It seemed to want to soak any ounce of light into it, like a vortex. Whatever magic the thing held definitely was unsettling. "Let's back up towards the house though, the more ground we make the better."
"You really don't like fighting the anemia what evers do you?" Livia asked giving the storm clouds a weary look as she took Lilith cue and started backing away as fast as her bum ankle let her, forcing weight down upon it.
"Anemoi Thuellai." Lilith corrected her, "Though at the moment it doesn't matter what you call them as long as we can hopefully make it safely into that house." They were a good twenty feet away from the house now. Fifteen. Ten.
Horses were forming in the storm clouds now, flying around the circular motion even more now, as if being solely responsible for the rotation. A funnel cloud began to form as the horses began to swoop down towards them. "Shit here they come!" Lilith shouted backing away faster. "You good to roast them?"
"I think so." Livia says as she trips over yet another rock with her bad ankle and lands on her butt. Summoning fire to her hand, she feels a warm tingling sensation and then
whoosh
Flames spring to life in the palm of her right hand. Beautiful and deadly, just like she is. Imagining it's a ball in her hand, she flings it at the first oncoming horse. The ball of fire actually leaves her palm and hits the horse on its nose, causing it to explode into ash and cinders.
Stunned into absolute immobility, Livia gets plowed into by the next oncoming horse. Although it was transparent, it hit her like a physical horse would have. Lifting her up off the ground with its head, she clings to it with dear life. Absolutely impossible. The horses mane and tail were transparent purple flames, it's body was the darkest black color a storm cloud could get.
"I've got you Livia!" Lilith shouts suddenly next to her. She jumped onto the horses back, and thrust her sword through the horse. Once again the horse exploded but into dust this time. Livia went soaring through the air to land face first into the dirt of a flower bed.
Crunch
Her nose broke on contact, blood instantly gushing into the dirt causing a pool of blood to form underneath her head. Lifting her head to breathe she tries to gather her bearings, the world was a dizzying blur, her feet and butt were higher than her head. Other than her nose her thighs were searing in pain. Her thighs had made contact with the edge of the porch to the farm house.
Lilith's battle cries could be heard over the wind, she seemed to be handling herself well.
"Bring her inside Leda!" Spoke a calm but loud male voice. She felt hands on her legs, as somebody pushed her legs off of the porch, she rolled over to face the dark and stormy sky before it was blocked from view by blonde hair and big blue eyes the color of the sea, and full of worry. As the person picked her up she passed out from relief and her injuries.