Gracias for all the wonderful reviews! I'm so thankful for all the lovely responses I've received!
This is dedicated to Tessie H. who is absolutely wonderful.
(Sorry about the problem last time, I only just barely noticed it. Once again, perdone la desgracia.)
No flames, por favor.
The Token: Chapter Dos
I awoke and the first thing that came to me was- it's the day of the ball.
Immediately, I sat up and reached to my night stand. I felt around for the lamp and my fingers were met with cold, intricate designs. Snatching it up, I used my other hand to turn on the lamp and I inspected the owl.
It glittered back at me brightly, the soft light making it look like thousand of crystals. The silver owl with it's shining grey stone eyes glittered back up at me. The gold chain on which the beautiful piece was hung made me smile brightly. As I was caressing the owl with my thumb, a pillow was thrown at my head.
"Dude!" I exclaimed, clutching the necklace to my chest as I pushed the pillow off my lap and glared at Jason Grace. "Seriously, man?"
"You turned the light on," Jason grumbled, glaring at me through half-lidded, dazed eyes. He was still halfway asleep.
"Yeah, well we will need to be getting up soon anyways." I retorted, glancing at my clock. Indeed, I was write- it was five minutes to six.
"Yeah, and I could've had those last precious minutes to catch a few z's." Jason sat up and rubbed his eyes like the five-year-old he was.
"Perce, man I love you and all, but freaking turn the light off," Grover grunted from the bed across from me.
"You bunch of girls," I snark in reply.
"Up and at 'em!" Leo trots into the room with the goofiest grin ever. He flicks the light switch on and every boy in my room groans. So, that would be Jason, Grover, Will, Beckendorf, Nico, Chris and maybe thirteen more. Yeah, that sounds about right.
Leo seems completely unaffected at the bunch of girls in the room as they all roll over to avoid the light. As if they're ostriches- if they can't see the light, then obviously it isn't six am.
I chuckle at my lame comparison and get out of bed. Slipping the owl necklace over my head, I hear it clank against my own token- my seashell. I rub my token before I slip off to the bathroom. There are six in this hall. Yeah, you heard me, six. And there are about eight more down the stairs. For twenty guys, you need a lot of bathrooms. Locking the door to make sure no one barged in here, I stripped out of my boxers and took off my own token. The shell is hung on a leather cord, which is worn and soft now. It's the thing I was given when I was three, by my father Poseidon. When I turned eight, my animal was given to me- a black stallion. But back then, I was just a little foal.
And that's where I got the owl necklace. That day, I'd run off from home and my disgusting step-father. When I was given the animal, I had no idea what the heck was happening, I just saw a black stallion- a faded, see-through, almost a mirage black stallion- run towards me. From there, I'd felt myself become the stallion and I'd run farther- where I ran into a girl who couldn't have been any older than I was. She was sitting on a fence, crying. From there, I'd come up to her and nuzzled her. I wasn't to sure I should change back to my human form, so I stayed as a horse. She'd been playful, cheering up when she met me. We'd played for a little while, until the sun was setting. From there, I'd heard her mother calling her.
"Annabeth!" it was a woman's shout and the blonde girl looked up as I turned my attention on her shouts. "Annabeth, darling, where are you? I told you not to go outside the gate without an instructor. Annabeth!"
The girl- Annabeth- looked over to see the woman coming towards where we were. She stood up and glanced back at me, smiling softly.
"You're my very best friend," she said to me, kissing my cheek. I responded in turn with a bray, my attempt of telling her she was my best friend, too, and nuzzled her cheek with my muzzle. "I won't forget you."
When she stepped back, something like realization ran across her expression and sadness filled her gaze. But only for a split second, and then she pulled something from around her neck. When I saw it, I whinnied softly. It was a necklace with a silver owl glinting in the sunset's shimmer. I knew immediately that she was like me- she would be able to change into an animal to. Maybe it was an owl, like the pendant. She lifted the amulet over my head and let it fall onto my chest. Something, like water- or magic- resounded through my body from the necklace. I stared back at her and her grey gaze, I saw my eyes change color. From the hazel of my horse to my own green eyes.
"Now," she whispered, "you'll always remember me." I dip my head in a nod and she turns away, running to meet the woman who called for her. The farther she got, the more of the magic crashed through me from the token. It slammed into my horse until I fell to my knees as myself. I stared at my hands and looked up to see Annabeth waving at me.
I waved back and felt the amulet calm itself as I met her stormy grey eyes once more. Then her mother took her hand, and lead her home.
"Bro, get out of the shower." it was Will's voice, and I jump at the sound of it. Realizing that I spent my time thinking of Annabeth, I rinsed my hair out quickly and turned off the water. The cold and steamy air hit my warm wet body and I shivered. Pulling a towel off the rack, I wrapped it around my waist and grabbed my clothes.
Unlocking the door, I grinned at Will. "Sorry man. Got lost in my head."
Will glanced down at the owl and smiled. "Figures." then he walked past me and into the bathroom.
Not a lot of people here knew my story about the token. They knew it was from a girl, but other than that they didn't know the rest of it. Jason did, Leo did, Grover and Nico did. They were my closest friends and that's all of whom I wanted to know.
Walking back to my room, I saw that my clothes had already been set out. A loose cotton grey v-neck and black running shorts.
"Are your boys ready to run?" Hermes walked into the room, dressed in a loose green-neck and black running shorts.
All the boys, but me and Leo, groaned. We glanced at each other, glanced back at the boys, and burst into laughter. Hermes grinned at us, before turning on his heel and jogging out of the room. Leo and I followed behind him, leading the half asleep eighteen year olds outside to the surrounding forest.
Once Travis and Conner were well awake, they quickly surpassed Leo and I. However, the two of us kept at the same pace, leading the rest of the boys. The run was nice, the scenery peaceful and the cool morning air a nice smack in the face for those still waking up and cooling for those already hit and sweaty.
Two miles later, at seven am, we were back at the school, showering and redressing for the day. A dark green polo and nice jeans was what I wore when I went to breakfast. I sat down at a table with Jason, Grover, Leo, Will, Beckendorf and Nico, a bowl of blueberry oatmeal in front of me.
"Sup guys?" I greet them, slipping into an empty spot between Nico and Will.
"Nothing much," Beckendorf replied around a mouthful of banana.
"Gross dude," Will chided. "What would a girl think?"
Beckendorf rolled his eyes, but shut his mouth and swallowed. I laughed at them and gulping down half my glass of milk. I let out a breath when I was down, and burped. I burst into laughter, as did everyone else at the table. Except for Will- he just shook his head at us. Wiping my mouth, I drained a quarter of what was left in my cup into my bowl of oatmeal. Jason gave me a look as if I was deranged.
"You've been with me long enough to know I do this," I say shoving my spoon into the milk and oatmeal with a slap.
"Doesn't make it any less gross," he mumbled, taking another bite of his toast. Rolling my eyes, I grabbed a spoonful and ate it slowly, making sounds as I did just to make Jason even more disturbed. He shot me a glare before he grabbed his glass of water and threw it at me.
I swallowed and gasped, feeling the water drip from my hair. Glaring at the laughing blonde, I grabbed napkins and fixed up the mess. Jason glared when he saw that I hadn't gotten the slightest bit wet. I grinned back at him- it's sometimes nice to be son of the sea god.
Yes, son of the sea god. Gods do exist- the greek ones anyways. Zeus, Poseidon, Hades- you know those guys? They all exist. And just like in the olden times, they still go rampaging with mortals. My father fell in love with my mother, had me, blah, blah, blah, left because when the half-blood, or "professionally" demigod, turns 3, you have to leave them. Well, that's what the "big three" have to do. Because around the times gods normally leave their children- about five- we are already developing our powers, so around the ages eight and nine, we get our "animal". Every child of a god can turn into that god's sacred animal. So, like Jason, son of Zeus, he gets an eagle. For a child of, say, Dionysus, they get a leopard. If there were any child of Hera, they'd all be vain peacocks. But don't tell the Queen of Heaven I said that. And for me? I'm a black stallion.
A whistle rang through the dining hall. All conversions ceased, everyone getting to their feet. I followed suit, getting up and placing my hands by my sides.
"Alright boys, today is the big day. Every kid under the age of eighteen will follow the schedule as per usual, so get your butts to class." Professor Hedge waited rather impatiently as all the boys seventeen and younger left the dining hall. There were many a fifty or so boys left in the room when the last of the youngins trickled out. "The rest of you, you have to look perfect for the ball. You are to start with haircuts, shavings, the whole she-bang. Nothing will be skipped, and you will all smell like perfect pansies by the time you're ready to dress and leave. I want all boys with names from A to H to follow Master Ares out the west door exit."
The buff man who was the training coach, for weapons, self-defense and army history, was standing by the west exit looking rather bored. He wore jeans, a white tee and a leather jacket. Ares, the god of war, looked like war itself with ripped muscles and a scowl that would kill you if ever directed on you. My least favorite of the gods.
Jason, Nico, Beckendorf left for that one, along with maybe five other young men.
"I now want J to R with Master Apollo at the north exit." I nodded to Will, Grover and Leo as I followed six other boys to Master Apollo, the guy in charge of the sun, music, and poetry. He taught English, creative writing, science and two music classes- guitar and the harp. The guy was pretty chill, but how he ever became the god of poetry is beyond me. Never, I repeat, never ask him to tell you a poem. You will wish you had asked Ares to a swordfight.
Okay, maybe not that extreme, but you get my point.
Down three flights of stairs, turning so many different lefts and rights through who knows how many halls, all silently, can drive a guy crazy. Somehow, though, we all managed to keep ourselves silent and obedient. Not a single one of us did anything stupid, broke the silence, or broke a rule. Just walked behind Master Apollo.
Every once and a while, Apollo would glance back as if he wasn't sure we were still there. But who can really blame him? We're all so silent- I would be checking if I was still there if I didn't hear the gentle taps of my feet against the hard wood floors.
"Okay boys," Apollo finally said as we stopped in front of a gleaming glass door. "Time for your teeth to be cleaned."
When Hedge meant the whole she-bang, he meant the whole she-bang. We were going to get our braces off, our teeth done up to perfection so they gleamed as brightly as the sun- no pun intended- and then passed on to get our hair trimmed and styled.
Today, we all got to be girls. How wonderful..
I hope you guys enjoyed that. It was rather hard to get inside Percy's cabesa. But, I think it went well.
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-Jo
