Chapter One
Warm hands cupped my face. I could feel the cold wind rushing around us, whipping my long hair around wildly. I held onto those hands, tracing the lines on them fondly. I could feel the warm breath heat my freezing, ice cold cheeks. I looked up to the face of those hands, but I realized I couldn't see anything. I tried to blink open my eyes, but my vision remained the same blank black. I desperately grabbed the hand, trying to find something tangible to hold onto. I screamed, paralyzed with fear, when it slipped from my grasp. I let myself fall to my knees and buried my head in my knees. I just sat there in the cold, empty area, not knowing what else to do.
"Andy! Andy! Wakey, wakey!" I heard a giggling voice from my right ear. I felt an eager hand try to shake me awake. I tried to ignore the voice and return to my not-so-peaceful sleep. I was good at that.
However, the person continued to stubbornly harass me. I groaned and turned my head over to the opposite side, not facing the person. I felt a sharp sting of pain from my neck as I did so. Giving up, I sat up in my chair from where I fell asleep, leaning over the desk. I saw my four-year old sister's smiling face greet me. I stared at her sourly for a moment, cranky from being woken up, then shook my head. I tried stretching my neck out, but it was still sore thanks to the crappy position I had dozed off in. Now it'll be like this all day, I thought bitterly, what a pain.
"What are you doing here so early?" I glared at Angel, who just smiled brightly back at me despite my harsh attitude, as she always did. She was the only one who still loved me devotedly, like all little kids had a tendency of doing, through my cold front.
"Carter was up already, so I came to see if you woke up," she just smiled at me innocently. I ran a hand through my hair and sighed, still thinking of my sore neck. I got up from my chair and picked Angel up with me. She giggled happily, she liked being picked up. She instinctively rested her small head against my shoulder and carried her to the kitchen where my stepsister, Carter, my mom, and my stepdad were preparing breakfast with delighted smiles on their faces. I looked harshly at the cheerful family, trying to determine if their smiles were genuine or an encouragement act, as I set Angel down at her seat at the breakfast table. Carter caught my glance and smiled a warm, charming smile. I deflected with a cold stare. Her shoulder-length auburn hair was pin-straight and accessorized with a white headband that matched her white blouse and knee-high socks. Her face was flawless and beautifully sickening as usual.
"I was wondering where Angel went," she smiled at me kindly. I just glared at her. "Your school uniform is in the closet on the left. We leave in ten minutes." When I didn't respond, her smile faded and she turned back to pouring glasses of orange juice. I smirked, amused that I had won our little confrontation, and walked back to our room.
The New York mansion was huge and elaborately decorated, thanks to Carter's dad. He was so rich from this oil-drilling business that he owned a couple other mansions in the U.S.A. Sadly, the mansion wasn't built with enough suites for every individual to have their own room, so they forced me and Carter to share. So much for trying to strengthen our "sisterly bond." I slammed the door shut to the room, just to spite my mom, who hated when I did that. Whatever, I was in a bad mood, causing me to act even more cold and harsh than usual, thanks to seeing my perfect family too early. I usually prepared myself after I've completely woken myself up to go downstairs.
I brushed my teeth as I searched for which closet in our huge room that Carter had stuffed my new school uniform in. Yes, we moved again. Ever since my mom married Carter's dad three years ago, we were often changing which major city we lived in. I had been pretty much born and raised in New York City, so I guess I was glad to be back in the restless city.I didn't really get why Carter's dad decided to ship his family around every few months, but I couldn't really complain or else my mom would probably kill me.
After digging around Carter's clothes pile she left conveniently left near where she placed my uniform, I finally emerged with the uniform. It looked clean and preppy, a long sleeve white polo shirt, navy blue wool vest with the school emblem sewed neatly on top, and a checkered red and black skirt. I quickly pulled on the uniform along with some knee high black socks to defend myself from the cold outside. I thought it was really pointless to have girls continue to wear rather short skirts to school even in the winter, especially in New York. I grabbed one of Carter's winter coats and a scarf to give me extra protection against the cold. I brushed my long, silky black hair absentmindedly and hurried to get out the door. The ten minutes Carter had given me were almost up.
As I passed her in the hall with my messenger bag waywardly slung over my shoulder, she looked at me with an astonished look on her face. I just ignored her stares, knowing she was going to get mad at me for wearing her coat. I pulled on my favorite pair of beat-up sneakers and walked straight out the door, not even waiting for Carter.
"Andy!" I heard her call after me in a shrill voice. I looked up at the sky before stepping off the porch. It was covered with pretty puffy gray clouds, indicating snow. The ground was already covered with the astonishingly white substance from the night before. I started walking to school, ignoring the snowflakes falling down on me along with my stepsister's whiny cries.
"Andy, wait up!" she cried, finally catching up to me. She was puffing loudly from her sprint to catch up to me. I didn't even look at her, just lengthened my stride as I attempted to distance myself from her. Sadly, she had longer legs than me, so she easily evened her pace with me. She looked down at me and took in what I was wearing. I didn't even zip up the coat.
"Aren't you cold?" she looked at me worriedly. She was layered up, with at least a sweater and two overcoats on top of the uniform. She looked puffy in all the layers. It was actually pretty humorous-looking.
I shrugged indifferently and turned the corner sharply. I saw a lot of other kids our age layered up like Carter walking in our same direction. I felt my shoes squish the slushy snow near the street. It was a comforting feeling, reminding me of when I was young. I adjusted my bag over my shoulder and entered the gates of the private school. Carter followed me, smiling excitedly.
"Aren't you excited?" she asked me as we walked through the school's courtyard. The large water fountain was still spurting water even though it was snowing, covered with little icicles hanging off the sides. I sighed, hoping that I wouldn't have any classes with Carter. A girl could only hope.
I just continued to ignore Carter and walked over to the registration office to get my schedule. Carter eagerly followed me, smiling at the passing by students charmingly. A few guys our age smiled back at her. I rolled my eyes and pulled open the door to the office, the warm air rushing into my cold cheeks. I almost crashed into someone and caught myself before I could. The person looked down at me carefully, wondering which direction I would walk past in. I looked up at the person, the top of my head only reached the bridge of his nose. He looked about my age with dark silky hair falling into his even darker, deep eyes and olive skin. There was something haunting about those eyes, as if they were the doorways to death. I glared back nonetheless, and he looked startled by my cold attitude. I walked straight on, bumping into his left shoulder in the process, hard. Carter just smiled at him brightly, as if she was apologizing for me. I just roughly grabbed my schedule from the sullen-looking attendance lady and rushed to the main building to find my locker. Carter continued to trail after me all the way and even squealed when she found out our lockers were right by each other. I was getting seriously annoyed at her persistence to befriend me when two girls our age popped by our lockers.
"Carter Esphair? Is that you?" I heard the girl with the long blonde hair scream excitedly. I ignored the scene they were creating right next to me and continued to stuff my extra books into my locker. So this is how they act at Pensely Academy, I thought to myself, like spoiled brats.
"Oh my god, is that you, Olivia?" Carter screamed back, equally excited. I had an urge to punch my locker, hard, from their annoying behavior. God, I needed anger management lessons. On the outside, however, I always remained cold and indifferent even though I was seething on the inside.
"You're finally back!" squealed the brunette, looking just as excited, if not more than, as my stepsister and her friend. They had some kind of hugging session that sickened me.
After lots of "Oh my god, you look great" and "Oh my god, look at that hunk," Carter finally remembered me, as I was trying to tug my bag strap free from the locker door I had slammed shut from my annoyance. She grabbed my wrist and dragged me over to her friends.
"This is my sister, Andromeda," she smiled at them encouragingly. They looked at me with those fake smiles plastered on their face. I just stared at them coldly, trying to get them to break their act. I hated fakers.
"I'm Olivia," said the blonde, tossing her long, princess curls over her shoulder boastfully. Now that I had a closer look at her, she looked like the type of person who would whine for diamonds on her brow. Pretty, rich, and preppy could also be used to describe her. I looked at the brunette at her side. She looked like the sidekick, the lady-in-waiting. Her hair was long and glossy and she towered over petite Olivia. Her eyes were this innocent hazel color. She smiled at me shyly, as if she didn't know what to say to me. "And this is Amy," Olivia introduced for her. "Are you Carter's little sister?"
"Olivia!" Carter laughed half-heartedly. "We're about the same age!" She looked at me with some urging in her eyes, as if trying to get me to play along. I shot her a "not going to happen" look.
"Oh!" Olivia giggled as if she found it very amusing. She seemed like an airhead. "Sorry. Do you go by a nickname? Andromeda is kind of a mouthful," she smiled at me widely, exposing her pearly white teeth. "Can I call you Andy? Or how about And?" she suggested.
"Just don't talk to me," I said bluntly. "That solves your problem." I walked away, my schedule in hand, trying to find where my first period was.
I heard Olivia scoff behind me. "I was just trying to be nice!" I heard her pout. "Because she's your sister." I smirked to myself and walked on.
I reached the classroom at the end of the hall. I stopped outside of it, looking in and trying to investigate what type of learning environment it would be. My thoughts were broken when I heard Carter call for me.
"Andy!" she called. I gave a sharp glance in her direction. She pulled me back toward the office. I stared at her hand wrapped around my arm, as if staring at it could burn it away. "Olivia told me all new students start off at the office, then go to their first class," she said. "What's your first class?" she eagerly asked me.
"World history," I grumbled. It was the only normal eleventh grade class I had. Everything else my mom and Carter's dad put me in were advanced classes. Her face lit up as if saying that made her day.
"Oh my god! Me too!" she said, excitedly. She grabbed my schedule from my hands and compared it to hers. "We have all classes together!"
I sighed and prepared myself for a long day.
Nico di Angelo was sulking in his seat in his first period class. The teacher, Mr. Robert, was just droning on and on about Swahili. Like anyone was paying attention. He brushed his long bangs out of his eyes and stuck his hands in his baggy black jeans. Everyone considered him a rebel for that. Oh my gosh, he's not wearing the school uniform pants, someone call the police.
He sometimes wondered why he let Chiron enroll him in school. Maybe because life in Camp Half-Blood was getting dry.
"Go experience something new," Chiron had told him a day before he informed him that they would ship him off to go bunk with some Hermes kid in New York so that he could go to private school. Nico was still feeling a little bitter towards Chiron because of that. He was sick of being stuck next to all the private school preppies every day.
"And that is why…" Mr. Robert trailed off on his lecture when he saw an office attendant walk in. She shot Nico a disapproving look but just went over to Mr. Robert and whispered something in his ear. Everyone else started murmuring as the two adults discussed. Nico wondered if it would be funny if he suddenly opened a crack in the middle of the classroom right then. He closed his eyes trying to imagine the image. An amused smile tugged at his lips as he imagined Mr. Robert's paled face at the gaping crack in the middle of his speckless classroom. Light, new footsteps treading the front of the classroom forced open Nico's eyes. He saw two girls walk in and stand by the white board in the front of the classroom.
The first girl was tall with a feminine figure. Her face was all sharp and angles, pretty yet strange, and she had these stormy sea gray eyes that radiated warmth. The smile that tugged on her lips seemed genuine, as if she was actually really happy to be in Mr. Robert's classroom. Straight, auburn hair was neatly restrained by a white headband. From where he was sitting, Nico noticed that her long legs were slim and graceful-looking. He blushed at the thought. The way the girl carried herself was graceful in general, he couldn't imagine her stumbling. She was striking and glamorous, but not exactly beautiful. Not like the girl next to her.
The girl next to her was slightly shorter than the other girl, but looked even smaller compared to the other girl due to how thin she was. Her knees, not covered by her high black socks, looked bony. She had almost waist-length, silky ebony-black hair. It had a startling affect compared to her fair skin. Her face was so breathtakingly beautiful, built delicately unlike the other girl's. The most startling feature was her eyes. They were a mesmerizing sea blue and radiated innocence. When he looked a little further, he could see those eyes were looking coldly around the classroom, as if she really didn't want to be there. Not that he blamed her. The expression on her face was indifferent, maybe even a little mad. Nico couldn't help but think her lovely even as she glared.
She looks familiar, he thought to himself, but couldn't place it. His ADHD made it hard for him to recall things like that.
"This is Carter and Andromeda Esphair. They're going to be attending Pensely with you guys," Mr. Robert awkwardly introduced the two girls. Nico rolled his eyes at his lame introduction. "Do you want to say anything to the class, girls?" Mr. Robert asked the girls, trying to make the atmosphere less awkward.
The auburn-haired girl, Carter, eagerly piped up. "Hi, I'm Carter! I hope we can all become good friends!" If it was another girl, everyone would have thought her a freak, but with Carter's smile, she captivated the whole class. "This is my sister, Andromeda. I hope you can welcome her, too!" Andromeda's look changed to an even more threatening one. If looks could kill, Carter would be long dead. Carter looked at Andromeda expectantly, as if waiting for Andromeda to introduce herself. Andromeda, oblivious to Carter's glance, remained quiet.
"Carter, you can sit next to Adam over there," Mr. Robert pointed to her seat next to the popular boy. Adam shot her a wink that would make other girls swoon. Carter just smiled back at him as she walked to her seat. She gracefully sat down in her seat across the room from Nico. Every guy in the room watched her as she did so.
"As for Andromeda, you can sit next to…" Mr. Robert caught Nico's glance in the corner of his eye. He stared at the vacant seat next to Nico. "Nico in the back corner." Andromeda just soundlessly walked over to Nico, without pretty smiles like Carter. Before reaching her seat, she stared hard at Nico. He felt her pretty sea blue eyes pin him down. When he looked closer, he saw that her eyes looked like they were full of knowing, as if she knew what he had for breakfast. They analyzed him. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat as she continued to stare at him.
Suddenly, she broke his gaze and bent over to tap his shoulder. A strand of her long hair tickled his cheek. He flinched away, surprised by her unexpected action. She glared at him expectantly, as if waiting for him to do a backflip. He just stared back at her. She rolled her eyes, frustrated after a minute of waiting.
"Can you scoot in?" she finally spoke, the first words he heard uttered by her. No please. No hint of politeness in that voice. It was a pretty voice, soothing like the wind chimes tinkling to the breeze. It was astonishing to hear it utter such harsh words, though. He clumsily scooted in and waited for her to pass.
She silently sat down in her seat. No thank you, he noticed. He studied her carefully. She seemed even more beautiful up close, even though he only saw the curve of her jaw line. Her pale cheek looked smooth and soft, giving Nico an urge to stroke it. He gave himself a mental slap in the face at that thought. Stop it, Nico, he told himself, and pay attention to Swahili.
Andromeda reached into her bag for a notebook and pencil as Mr. Robert lectured on, continuing from where he had left off. Nico wondered if she was going to take notes, not like anyone really did. She opened the notebook quietly and took up her pencil. Nico's eyes fixated on the pencil, watching as it rapidly moved across the page, sketching out an image. She was a very good artist, the sketch looked near a photograph in how accurate it was. The pencil suddenly stopped moving. He craned his neck to look at the sketch. It was half-finished, a grassy hill with a single lone pine tree sitting on its peak. A three-fourths completed dragon curled around the tree with flames spurting out of its wide, gaping mouth. A cloth hung on one of the tree's low branches. Nico's eyes widened at the familiar sight. Half-Blood Hill, he thought, how does she know what it looks like? Is she a camper? The pencil starting moving again. He moved his gaze up to the girl's face. He was astonished at her position.
Her hand cradled her face as she stared out the window at the courtyard. Snow was falling softly outside. She seemed to be staring into space, not even looking at the paper as she was drawing. It was as if her hand was possessed. He looked at her strangely, not sure what to make of her. She suddenly turned her head to him, catching his glance. He quickly looked away, startled. Her sea blue eyes had a sharp gaze that could rival his dark one. He didn't dare challenge it.
She finally averted her gaze after studying him for a moment. She gathered her long, dark hair into a bun and stuck her pencil in it to keep it together. He heard her sigh and tap her fingers into a beat on the desk they shared, as if she were counting the seconds until she was out of Mr. Robert's class and able to get away from Nico.
When the bell for break rang, I practically bounced out of my seat. I couldn't wait to get out of that boring-to-the-death classroom and away from that sullen guy that sat next to me. I vaguely remember I crashed into him that morning at the office. He looked like a troublemaker, with that dark hair that fell into his eyes and uncomprehendable glint in his eyes. I couldn't read his expression, maybe because he didn't have one. Sadly, as I got away from that, I walked right into Carter who had been waiting for me outside the classroom.
"Wasn't that so interesting?" Carter said, trying to get me to talk. She had been paying attention to the dull lecture our weathered teacher had been giving. I, on the other hand, couldn't pay attention to anything for more than ten minutes. Darn ADHD. "Swahili is so cool!"
I snorted at her comment. I saw her wave to Adam, the tall blonde-haired blue-eyed boy who she sat next to and befriended. He shot her a flirtatious wink in which she blushed at receiving. I had an urge to snort again, but pushed the idea away as I realized someone from the corner of my eye. I narrowed my eyes without turning back to look at the person. I just tucked a strand of hair that had pulled free from my bun behind my ear and walked to my next class, Calculus.
Carter walked in with me and promptly dragged me up to the teacher with her. Her grip was like a vise around my thin arm.
"Hi! We're new students in your class. We'd like to know where to sit," Carter said, a bright smile shining on her face. The teacher turned to look at us. As soon as I looked at the teacher's face, I knew something was wrong.
The teacher had these too big neon green bug eyes on a face with wrinkled features. I assumed it was a she, but it was hard to tell due to the gnarled facial features. Her long hair was brown and stringy, not very complimenting. She was bone thin, so thin that it was hard to look at her with her bones jutting out at the joints. I tugged Carter's arm insistently. She smiled at me as if there was nothing wrong. I shot her a warning glance.
"Carter, I have to go to the bathroom," I said in a whiny voice, hoping my act was persuading enough for her to believe me. She looked at me as if I said the most ridiculous thing in the world.
"You can sit there," the teacher croaked, pointing her bony finger at the table up in the front. At that moment, the guy I had sat next to in History walked into the classroom. He looked astonished to see us there, but even more astonished when he saw the teacher, as if he had never seen her before. That second I knew something was very, very wrong.
He walked over to us, interrupting the teacher who had opened her mouth and was prepared to speak. She looked at him sourly with her scrunched up face but stayed cautiously silent. I looked at him sharply with a glance that said, "What's going on here?" He shot me a glare that said, "Shut up." And so I did.
"Hey, Carter and Andromeda, right?" he said, his voice sounding as if he didn't really want to talk. I looked at him with a questioning glare but let him continue. "I wanted to show you around the school. Follow me." I rolled my eyes at his lame excuse to get away from the teacher. The teacher just narrowed her eyes at him, as if she suspected something fishy.
"That's awfully nice of you but class is starting soon," Carter politely declined. The guy actually looked genuinely disappointed. I gritted my teeth wondering if he was actually trying to save us here or if he just wanted to hit on Carter.
"Come on, Carter," I urged convincingly, as if I really wanted to go. "The teacher will understand. We didn't get a tour around here, so…" I trailed off, interrupted by the teacher's expression. She looked outraged, like she was angry times a hundred. I backed up and pulled Carter with me. The teacher's figure was becoming blurry, as if she was switching forms at supersonic speed. When I blinked again, she had sprouted these shriveled, leather, ugly black wings. Her eyes became dark, empty, bottomless pits. Carter whimpered behind me, as if she saw the same thing as I saw. The guy was pulling me and Carter away from her.
"You will be going nowhere," the teacher hissed in a shrill voice. She lunged for me but I instinctively jumped out of the way. She glared at me, if that was possible with her holes for eyes.
"Run!" the guy called to me and Carter. I started sprinting immediately, not even sure of where I was going. Carter grabbed the guy's wrist and started running with him. He tried to go back, and I wondered why he would even think of doing that. I sprinted my way through the crowds of people, who just looked at me strangely. I kept running, just to get as far away as possible from that creature.
I found myself in empty corridors when I became aware of where I was. I heard footsteps slapping the floor behind me. I could hear them gaining on me. I pushed myself faster, not looking back in fear of seeing the teacher. I felt my pencil that held my hair back in a bun fall out and my long hair whip behind me as I ran. I looked behind me and found no one there. I frowned and slowed my pace a bit, sure that someone had been behind me. I heard loud, rumbling growls in the distance. They didn't sound as far away as they should have been. I turned and looked behind me once more and saw the empty corridor again.
Then, I felt a strong arm pull me towards a little nook in the hallway and a warm hand cover my mouth. I widened my eyes in surprise, not sure of what to do, whether to fight against or let myself be taken away. I slumped back against the person in defeat.
I made the right choice.
Author's Note:
Yay! New story is up! Hope whoever's reading enjoys it. Please review! They are greatly appreciated.
I'm going to be trying to juggle two stories, so I might update a little slower. But keep an eye out for updates if you enjoy this!
~emeraldangel527
