A/N: Here's the second chapter! And to the reviewers: Thanks for your reviews, they really made my days, and I'm trying to improve some things such as grammar, so thank for those who poited out my mistakes. And, about Winry Jackson and The Lighting Thief, the story is completely unrelated to this one, since they're both going to be very different.
Orion Jackson did not like flying.
It was something he and his mother both agreed to and his older sister, with the new… development in her life, seemed to agree too. But the dream he was having was just too nice. He was flying, but not in a plane or something like that. It was a motorcycle! A flying motorcycle! As a ten-year-old (nearly eleven-year-old), he found motorcycles very cool, even if they were flying. The dream had a nice, warm feeling and it was as if his dream-self was very sleepy, even though the beautiful view of the starry night sky.
So, when his mother woke him up from such a good dream, he was bound to get a little cranky, like every little sleep-deprived kid who stayed up all night watching cartoons.
The worst part was that they were in a plane. The good part was that they were finally getting off that plane. He sulked a little when he got up with his mother, really wanting to just reminiscence about his dream. It was familiar, he was sure he dreamed about it before. But they had already landed, so he would rather not stay in an airplane longer than necessary.
Orion scowled a little more, remembering the reason they were in Little Whinging, Surrey. In England. It was nearly ten years since he was adopted by Sally Jackson, his mother. So, she was bringing him to the place where she found him. It would be better if it was in November First, him "birthday" or really the day where his mother found him abandoned in the middle of the street. His mother had also mentioned she would rather come in November too, but it was better in his summer vacation, so it wouldn't get in the way of school. And there was also the fact that his sister wouldn't be able to come, so they went while she was aways.
This made the young boy sulk even harder.
Orion's sister, Winry Jackson, was at her precious Camp Half-Blood. With her precious new half-blood best friends. And they were probably sword-fighting, monster-fighting or whatever, but they must be doing some fighting from what his mom mentioned. But, really, she had been at that camp since summer and didn't even bother to try to convince their mother to let her come to the trip (ok, the sky was much more dangerous to her than to them, but still).
A month or so ago, at the start of the summer, both Orion and Winry learned that the world of the greek mythology was real, something their mother managed to hide for nearly thirteen years. Well, until Winry's pre-algebra teacher went bird-crazy, turned into the god of the underworld's torturer and attacked his sister, who defended herself with a pen-that-turned-into-a-sword. So, they both became part of that world. Or, rather, Winry did.
Well, apparently, Winry was the sea-god's, Poseidon's, daughter. So, she was a demigod. After a crazy car chase both Orion and Sally Jackson were captured and remained captive so Hades could lure Winry to the Underworld. And, since his sister was rather slow, it worked. After this crazy quest and returning her paranoid all-powerful-uncle's lightning bolt and saving both he and his mom, she decided to stay at Camp Half-Blood.
She still hadn't decided if she would come back.
Orion knew it was selfish of him to feel bitter towards her. Camp was the safest place she could be in, to hide away from the monsters. And there were people like her there. Other demigods who were also dyslexic and ADHD and… People who she could make friends with. But she was still his older sister, who cared for him when their mother was away at work, she fought bullies away, she comforted him and chased the nightmares away when she let him sleep in her bad. So, as hard as he tried to see a demigod hiding away at a safer and better place, he saw his older sister who was thinking about leaving him and his mother.
And it hurt so much that the bitter taste left in his mouth tasted like betrayal.
…
"So, Orion, did you like the room?" His mother, Sally Jackson, chirped happily, looking across the room.
The ten-year-old nodded with a small smile. It was impossible to be unhappy seeing his mother so happy. The room they were in was very comfortable: cream-colored walls, two beds, a TV and a nightstand, along with a huge window. But the smile only lasted a few seconds before he went back to his depressive mood.
"Son, is something wrong?" Sally, the always perceptive mother asked, caressing his head and playing with his black hair as she sat down in the bed with him.
Even his hair could remind of his sister at the moment. They both, although not blood-related, looked a lot like each other. Winry was a little taller than him and, after training so much, a lot more tanner and athletic-looking. The last time he saw her, she had hugged him like crazy, her two messy braids (another thing that must have changed over summer, because he was pretty sure she never let anyone but their mom do her hair in braids. And now she was doing it herself? On her own free will?) falling over her shoulder and he could swear he had seen her sea-green eyes become watery.
Orion had black hair and green eyes too. But his hair was always a mess (his mother and her hairbrush often tried to fight it), he was very scrawny and crazily thin, even with his mother feeding him with everything a child needs (*cough*candy*cough*). His eyes were an intense shade of emerald green that had bags under it, from the nights he spent without sleeping, thinking about his and his sibling's situation. His once brilliant eyes were a dark forest green with his sulking mood. Well, and there was this strange lightning bolt scar on his forehead. But Winry, a little awkwardly, mentioned it looked a lot like Zeus's Master Bolt. He didn't know if it was an insult or an compliment, but he would rather take the latter. He liked his scar.
"No, mom, I'm fine." With the look his mom gave him, Orion sighed. "Ok, I miss Winry."
"Oh, sweetie…" She hugged him tighter, her chocolate-colored hair making a comforting curtain over his eyes. The older Jackson's voice was filled with sympathy, but also sad. "You know your big sister is… still getting used to everything that's going one. Winry isn't used to the dangerous life of a half-blood, so she had to think very carefully before choosing where she wants to stay."
"I know, mom, and I understand, really." The black-haired boy answered. "I'm just not used to it yet too."
"Believe me, son. I'm not used to it too."
…
"I can't remember the last time we went to the zoo, son." Sally Jackson exclaimed happily, going inside the zoo.
Orion nodded with a small smile. He and his mother had a good morning. They ate at the hotel, just some pancakes, that weren't as good as his mother's nor were they blue, and some orange juice too. Then, Sally took him to the street where she found him: Privet Drive. The place looked like one of those out of those "perfect" magazines or movies. They were so simple and just ordinary that Orion was very happy to be living in the busy New York.
The most interesting thing that happened while he was there was watching a very fat boy with blond hair and watery blue eyes that looked a lot like a pig in a wig riding his bike. Or more like breaking his bike just by riding it after four minutes. And, the, he went rolling down the street like a big beach ball, a blond with a horse neck, who was probably his mother, running after him.
Yes, very happy that he didn't live there, indeed.
"Orion?" His mother asked, watching as he snickered while thinking about that pig rolling down the street. When he finally looked at her the green-eyes boy saw that she holding two popsicles. "I got you a lemon one, I know you like it."
Orion happily accepted the frozen treat, licking the (sadly not blue) lemon popsicle. Lemon was actually his favorite frozen, just like his sister was crazy about chocolate and his mother loved strawberry. While eating, they watched the animals as best as they could, since the zoo was crowded with people. After a while, they both agreed to go to the reptile house after his mother saw her dolphins (apparently, he was the only one in the family that didn't like dolphins and though they were evil, not cute. Must be a girl thing).
The ten-year-old liked reptiles very much, almost as much as his sister liked sea creatures and horses. And that was saying a lot. So, when he found a very long snake that could be wrapped around that pig with a wig he saw falling from that bike earlier, Orion nearly squealed in glee (which would be a very embarrassing result of living with only two girls all his life).
The snake didn't really look in the mood for visitors, so it was fast sleep. Orion didn't mind, so he kept staring with at the glistening brown coils of the very long extension of the snake. The snake itself seemed to feel another presence or his eyes on it, so it slowly opened it's beady eyes and raised it's head to look at Orion.
"Sorry." Orion whispered. He knew the snake couldn't really understand him, but it didn't stop him from feeling guilty for disturbing it's rest.
Then, it winked.
Orion remembered very vaguely someone mentioning that snakes didn't have eyelids, but the surreal situation didn't let him think about it. Sure, he just got used to the Greek mythology world, but he was pretty sure he had never encountered winking snakes with eyelids. Not that strange things never happened with Orion sometimes.
He remembered that once, he was being chased by bullies when Winry wasn't around. But, when Orion tried to jump behind some trash cans to hide, he found himself sitting on the roof. He had supposed, at that time, that wind caught him mid-jump. The, after learning that gods were real, maybe one had mercy and tried to help him, like one of those minor wind gods.
Orion also remembered the time where he had a very nasty teacher. And when she reprimanding him, her hair turned blue. He didn't know why she blamed him, but he remembered that she did everything in her power to expel him. Maybe Winry's comment of "If you want to paint you hair and not sound like an old lady having a crisis, don't blame my bother". Funny, because their mother said the same thing. His sister was also expelled too.
But, back at the situation in hand, nothing like this ever happened before. Then, the snake gave him a look that said "It's ok, I'm used to it."
"It must be bad." He know he was looking a little crazy (ok, a lot) to everyone round him, but he didn't mind. If his sister could talk to horses, why couldn't he talk to snakes? He was ignoring the fact he wasn't a demigod. "Where do you come from? I'm from the New York."
The snake jabbed its tail a little sign next to the glass and he turned his head a little.
"Boa Constrictor, Brazil." Orion read out aloud, just because he was used to Winry spending some time trying to figure out the words with her dyslexia. He shook his head to clear the thoughs on his sister and looked at the snake he was talking to. "Was it nice there?"
The snake jabbed its tail at another sign. "Oh, you've never been in Brazil… That's sad. I heard it's nice there, and sunny all the time." The Boa Constrictor gave Orion a look and he noticed what he was doing. "Not that it's not nice her… I mean… I'm sorry…"
Orion wished he could help, but he was powerless. He always was. He was powerless to stop Hades from kidnapping him and his mother. Powerless to help his sister. Powerless to help anything really. Orion sighed as he placed his hands on the glass. He just wanted to help…
Suddenly, Orion felt himself fall forward a little. The glass he was touching… Was gone. It was simply gone. Blinking a few times, just like the Boa Constrictor was, he took a few steps backward. It had vanished in thin air.
The snake uncoiled fast, sliding out in the floor and past him. "Thanks, amigo! Here I come Brazil!" After everything, he was pretty sure that voice was the Boa Constrictor.
"Ok, bye" He waved a little.
The trip was going better than planned.
A/N: I hope you guys liked it. In the next chapter, comes the letters. Review what you think.
