Chapter One
"Alexandria!" my dad called out of the window from the kitchen, "You need to finish moving your boxes into the van!" I grumpily got up off of the grass and paused my iPod. I had been listening to an audio book, since real books didn't tend to work out that well for me. I have a nasty case of dyslexia, and all of the little letters dance around the page when I am trying to read. Okay, I'm going to try not to get off topic.
I went back into the kitchen and stared at the pile of boxes that contained almost everything I owned. I sighed, then started carrying them towards the van. We were moving from dreary little Parkersburg, West Virginia, to the most amazing city in the U.S. That's right- New York, New York. We had been living in Parkersburg for about a year after living in California, and I will tell you right now, don't try it. My dad had wanted a change of surroundings since he had been living in San Francisco for around 20 years. I had lived in California almost my entire life, since I was only thirteen. Being used to the city, Parkersburg was like another planet. One where the aliens went hunting and listened to country music all the time. Most of our neighbors still had dial-up. It seemed like nothing happened. Ever.
Now I know this sounds kind of odd, but I had a feeling that something big was going to happen there, something that was going to change my life. This happens a lot. I get a vibe coming from… well, I guess it's the future. For example, when something that I won't appreciate is about to happen, I get an odd feeling when I think about the advent. It is sort of like that one millisecond you have between stubbing your toe and actually feeling it, that millisecond where you have just enough time to think "crap." The future isn't what I'm interested in though. I like the past muchbetter. There's just so much we can learn from it, plus the fact that the past has a tendency to repeat itself.
When I thought about moving to New York, I wasn't just happy about being back in city limits. I felt like I was expecting even more out of it, but the issue was that I wasn't sure exactly what I was expecting. I never know what I'm supposed to be expecting. I put the box that I had been carrying into the van, then went back inside and grabbed another, not being very gentle. It turned out that wasn't a smart move, since the bottom of the box hadn't been secure and everything came flying out of the bottom.
"Great," I muttered under my breath. I bent down and started scooping up a bunch of Glee DVDs and a ton of old CDs that I had packed into the box earlier that week. I taped the bottom of the box together, but the stuff back in, and then taped the top shut too, just to be sure. I wondered how hard it would be to open the box again without totally destroying it.
Several trips later, we had everything packed into the moving van. I went through the house again, checking everything over. When I got to my room, I paused. I looked around, but the room was empty. Not a thing was in it, just the way it was supposed to be. I always tended to forget something somewhere, so I slid my closet door open and took a glance around.
On the back wall of the closet, there was a sticky note. When I found the note, the odd feeling I had just a moment before went away, so I knew it was of some importance. I picked up the note and examined it. The note was pale yellow with little music notes dotting the outside. I'm severely nearsighted along with the dyslexia, so I had to look under the purple frames of my glasses and squint in order to read the note.
"One loved by all shall meet his end,
One will be betrayed by another called friend,
One love shall conquer all,
Before Olympus begins to fall."
My first thought was "oh crap," but then I realized that I had no clue why this would be bad news. I had never heard anything about this before, but getting a feeling that this had something to do with moving to New York. Deciding that it was important, I put it into my pink wallet that I kept in my backpack.
I also randomly decided that a doughnut would be really good right now. Doughnuts are just so good. Remembering that we had a case of those little white powdered doughnuts that make your fingers messy, I headed to the remaining box full of food and got the box of doughnuts out.
"Ready to go?" my dad asked while I got a doughnut.
"You bet I am!" I said, then shoved the doughnut into my mouth and jumped into the passenger seat of the moving truck.
I was really bored. Really, really bored. We had just left Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It took about three hours to get there. Seven hours to go. Seven hours. Let me tell you this right now: I do NOT mix well with sitting still for a long time. I have a serious case of ADHD, and I'm always so jumpy. I didn't really have a clue on how to pass the time, so I put my iPod in again. It was low on power, but I didn't have anything better to do. I would charge it when I got settled into our new apartment.
I started to listen to some Glee songs, but once I had repeated them all at least twice, which is saying something since I had so many, I listened to the fourth Pendragon book on audio. I really loved that series, and I reread (or should I say relistened?) them all the time even though I had finished all ten of them. This cycle continued for a long time, with me occasionally asking my dad how much longer it would be like I was a little kid.
We stopped in some small town on the New York and Pennsylvania border for dinner. For a while after that, I rolled my window and enjoyed the scenery. My long, straw colored hair whipped at my face. Not only is it the color of straw, it's pretty brittle as well. According to some people, my hair complements my eyes since my eyes are a shiny brown that's nearly the color of a clean penny. But most people don't care about that since they only usually notice the purple frames of my glasses and abundance of freckles. Eventually, it started to get dark out since it was only March. When it got dark, it also got cold. That means the window went back up. I could barely stand the winter temperatures of West Virginia when I was all huddled up in layers of clothing. In my opinion, anything below 90 degrees Fahrenheit is cold. (A/N It's true!) Los Angeles was much warmer.
Finally, after hours of waiting, I saw our destination. Through the windshield, there was a dark, starless (I found it strange to be able to see all of the stars) night. The highway stretched in front of us, and at the end a bright city.
Here I come, New York!
So what do you think? I need reviews!
I have redone this chapter, so tell me if there are any funky bits or mistakes. This story is now going to run parallel to my cousin SomniumAstrum's Gem of the Sea. Somnium also helped me a ton as far as writing this goes. Now here to do the disclaimer is the mistaken magician that did the disclaimer for one of her chapters! Oh, and he's not an actual magician, but don't tell him that.
Mistaken Magician: NoxAstrum doesn't own PJO, or much else mentioned in this fanfic! She does however have a cat named Hermes! *He throws a rubber ball at the ground, and a huge cloud of pink glitter engulfs the stage. You can't see him leave, but you can certainly hear him stomp off. What kind of magician is that?*
Me: …I think he's getting better. But anyway, Review!