I Will Survive…Right?
A/N: I think that I'll concentrate more on this story than the sequel because it'll be a nice change of plots for a while. Tell me what you think!
Disclaimer: I own Skylar, Cali, and plot…nutin else…
Cali's POV:
"How did you do that, Burst?" Ace asked me. I shrugged.
"I just touched my flower charm, and…that…happened," I told him, but mostly explaining to myself. Skylar looked between us before trusting his voice.
"What charm?" Oh. Right. He didn't know about my charm bracelet…
"Well," I thought about how to begin, and got an idea. "What is your weapon?"
"It's a sword, but turns into a hat, why?" He took off his fedora, turning it into a sword for emphasis. I held up my wrist.
"My charms turn into weapons, as well." I decided to use my dagger, Bloodroot, as an example. I held it between my fingers and pictured the Celestial bronze weapon in my right hand, and it appeared as it always did when I was training. I saw Skylar jump a little at the dagger engraved with red and white intricate designs, but Nico and Ace didn't move an inch.
"Whoa, how many weapons do you have?" I looked down and frowned; I realized I didn't know. Spear, dagger, knife, sword, bow, and sun. Apparently the flower disappeared after I touched it.
"Six," I counted. "A spear, a knife, a sword, a bow, a sun that I don't know about yet, and my dagger. Plus my new plant powers or whatever you want to call them."
"Cool," he said. I nodded, and then remembered something.
"Oh, Nico, you aren't getting away that easy. Hold the damn flower." He moaned and groaned, whined and pleaded. I just laughed at him. He carefully plucked it from the floor and held it for about five seconds before running and throwing it in the trash. Ace and I laughed our butts off, both of us ending on the floor. Nico glared at us while Skylar looked at us like we were crazy.
"Don't…judge…us," I gasped between laughs. He kept looking at us like we were Cerberus. Then he got up and left without another word. When I could breathe, I said, "What was that?"
"Maybe we scared him away. No arranged marriage!" he guessed.
I rolled my eyes. "Like that could happen."
"You never know," Nico said. I shrugged, not knowing what would happen. There was a knock at my door, and Nico and Ace quickly shadow travelled out. I rolled my eyes yet again and opened my door, revealing my dad. He came in and sat where Ace was less than a minute ago.
"So, Fleur, do you like Skylar?"
I could tell he meant as a friend. I shook my head. "Not really. He totally judged me when I made Nico hold a dandelion, and Ace and I burst out laughing." I started laughing again. He chuckled a little, knowing the story all too well. "Dad, why am I getting married? I'm only eighteen."
"We need you to grow up," he answered simply.
"But I'm not ready to grow up."
He smiled. "Fleur, if you weren't ready to grow up, I would know. I mean, I wasn't ready until I had lived over a century. But I know for a fact that you are ready to be the goddess you were meant to be." I sighed and nodded hesitantly. He pulled me into a hug and I returned it.
"But why does it have to be arranged?"
He pulled away and looked into my eyes. "Because…well, we wanted to make sure you got the best," he explained. The best would be Leo, I thought, but quickly shook that away.
"Thanks Dad."
"Anytime, Sunshine." He kissed my forehead and I laughed a little.
"Hey, Dad, can you sing me to sleep?" It was, after all, eleven at night. He smiled and nodded. He was the god of music, you know.
"You are my sunshine,
My only sunshine,
You make me happy,
When skies are grey,
You'll never know, dear,
How much I love you,
Please don't take my sunshine away."
When he finished the song he had always sang to me as a lullaby, I was already asleep. I had a peaceful, dreamless sleep and awoke refreshed and calm. Until I saw that the desk drawer I kept my notebooks and important books in was broken into and open. Then I was furious.
"Nico!" I yelled. He shadow travelled into my room and I was too angry to be startled. "Why is my drawer open?" He looked at it and his eyes widened.
"Not me! I didn't do it this time, I swear on the River Styx!"
I took a deep breath. "Ace!" He did the same as Nico when I pointed to my desk.
"I didn't do it!" he immediately shouted. I sighed and rubbed my temples.
"Then tell me who did!" I yelled. If someone got their hands on my stuff, I was in big trouble. I may or may not have had doodles of my name with Leo's…Calleo…no biggie…and Calisto Valdez…oh no, I had to get my notebooks back. They flinched a little and I felt guilty. "Sorry, it's just…there's some really important and embarrassing stuff in those notebooks. I don't want the wrong person to see them."
Leo. I really needed to stop thinking about him.
But you don't want to stop, a voice told me.
Aph, please, not now.
Just admit that you love him and I'll go away, she bribed.
Fine. I love him.
Louder.
I love him!
Louder!
"I LOVE HIM!" I accidentally shouted aloud. Ace and Nico whipped their heads in my direction.
"Who's him?" Ace demanded. Stupid protective older brothers…
"Um…uh, well you see, it's…" I stuttered intelligently. "Aph made me say that aloud to see your reaction." They nodded, dropping it for now. We walked out of my room and to the kitchen. Mom was in there helping the tulip on the windowsill grow. I went to the pantry and took out a Hershey's caramel kiss, putting it to my mouth.
"Ah-ah-ah," Mom tsked. "Dinner's in ten minutes."
My shoulders slumped. "Just one?"
"No, we're having spaghetti," she added. I quickly put the chocolate down. I loved Mom's pasta—any kind at all, and it was fantastic. "Thought so."
I laughed. "Mom, have you seen, oh I don't know, two notebooks with pictures of the most adorable puppies ever?"
She raised an eyebrow. "Not that I know of." I groaned and nodded glumly. "You can go do anything you want until dinnertime. You still have eight minutes." I left the kitchen and went back to my room.
I fell back on my bed with my brown hair fanning around my head, and started thinking about suspects.
If it's not Ace or Nico, then who could be? Mom? No. Hades? Gods no. Dad? No motive. Skylar? He is a son of Hermes…and saw me put them in that exact drawer…and looked curious…oh no. It was Skylar. Damn it.
I sat up and sighed. "Nico!"
He 'shadowed' in, as I called it, and sat down. "Yeah, Cal?"
"I know who took my notebooks." He looked at me expectantly. I flinched, thinking about his reaction. Before I could say anything, Ace shadowed in.
"Dude, why'd you leave? We were at the best part!" Then he noticed my grimace. And that's not good; Ace could read me like an open book, which is hard to do since I hide my emotions. "Who was it?"
I sighed for the millionth time that day. "Skylar," I mumbled, not meeting their eyes and hoping they couldn't understand what I said.
"WHAT?!" They heard. I cowered a bit.
"It was Skylar. I mean, all signs lead to him—he saw me put my notebook in that drawer, and he looked curious to me. And to top it off, he's a son of Hermes," I explained. They nodded, calming down.
"So, how do we get them back?" Nico spoke up. I shrugged.
"We confront him," Ace suggested.
I rolled my eyes. "We can't confront him. It's rude."
"I don't care if it's rude. He stole your personal belonging and won't get away with it."
"You can. I'm out on this one. I'll let my over-protective brothers do that part." I smirked. They grinned, knowing exactly how over-protective they were.
They started planning and I tuned them out. Of course my ADHD brain went from my notebooks to my new power to plants to Leo. And stopped on Leo.
I thought about his soft, curly brown hair, and those warm chocolate brown eyes with little dark red specks like embers from a burning flame. I thought about his slightly pointed ears and elfish features. I laughed silently when I thought about the time he went to school with 'Hot Stuff' and 'McShizzle' written on his arms in pen, just to get my attention. Sometimes I wonder what would've happened if I hadn't gone on the quest and left Leo. Would we have gone steady? Nowadays we act like it never happened and we're still best friends. Speaking of which, I hadn't talked to him since I was last at Camp Half-Blood—a month.
I stood up and excused myself, but they were too engrossed in planning to notice. I entered the bathroom and turned on the shower, the sink mirror reflecting the light perfectly, creating a rainbow. I grabbed the drachma from my pocket and tossed it into the tub. "Oh, Iris, goddess of the rainbow, accept my offering. Leo Valdez, Camp Half-Blood." The rainbow shimmered and Leo appeared, working on a project in his cabin. "Leo!" He jumped and hit a metal bar of his head. "Sorry." I smiled sheepishly and rubbed my left arm with my hand.
"Fia! You scared me. How have you been, chica?"
I grinned. Still the same Leo. "I've been hanging on, but barely. I've got some news. You may want to sit down for this." His usually carefree expression turned uneasy at this. "Well, how do I say this? Oh screw it. Leo, my parents have arranged me a marriage." He went from uneasy to shocked.
I smiled weakly. "Surprise?"
"Uh, Cali, I gotta go. See you later." With that, he swiped through the message and disconnected from me. My jaw fell a little and I didn't know what to think. So I didn't think; I cried.
Ace found me there, sitting in front of the shower, sobbing. He instantly knew what happened and picked me up bridal style, carrying me to my bed. He lay me down and sat down next to me.
"Cali, what did he say?" Ace asked softly.
I wiped my tears away and took a shaky breath. "He didn't really say anything. He told me had to go and swiped through the message as quick as he could. Not really the response I was expecting." I laughed at myself. Ace knew I liked—no, loved—Leo. "But to be honest, I was sorta expecting, 'No, Cali, I love you. I'll marry you.'" I laughed dryly again. "As if."
Ace wiped away a tear that escaped and made me look in his dark eyes. "Don't put yourself down like that. He'll come around, just give him time. He's still oblivious—even after that kiss last year." I nodded numbly. "Now, let's have some pudding and make fun of stupid chick-flicks. Okay?" I smiled. He always knew what to say. I went to the bathroom and washed my face. When I came out I changed into red checkered flannel pajama bottoms and a dark purple Guess short-sleeved t-shirt.
I brushed my hair into a high bun and put in my contacts. When I opened my door, Hades was standing there. I jumped a little and let out a small squeal.
"Oh, Hades. You startled me. What can I do for you?"
He studied me. "Calisto, you don't want to get married to the young son of Hermes, do you?"
The question caught me off guard, but I knew the answer. "No, my heart sort of belongs to someone else." I looked down thinking about Leo again. But what I forgot was that Hades could read minds.
"Ah, the young Hephaestus boy. Yes, he is quite suitable. Maybe if you can convince me, I could talk to Persephone about it."
My eyes widened. "You would do that?" He nodded. "Well, how do I convince you?"
He thought about it for a moment. "Why do you love him?"
Oh, that's easy. "He's carefree, but still has a serious side. He always knows how to lighten a dark mood. When I need him, he's there. He's funny, and can always crack a joke. No matter how cheesy it is, he makes it hilarious. His elfish features make him unique, and I love that. His eyes make you feel like you're next to a warm fire, and his smile can light a thousand cities. He—" Hades put up a hand to stop my rambling.
"Maybe I can talk to my wife to change her mind, but I make no promises." Then I did something that shocked both of us: I hugged him.
"Thank you so, so much, Hades. You won't regret it." A ghost of a smile played along his lips before he hugged me back.
"Anything for my step-daughter." I pulled away and grinned. We exchanged good-byes and I went to watch the stupid chick-flicks with Ace.
*Line Break*
The next morning, Ace and Nico were out 'running an errand.' Yeah, right. More like running to Skylar and confronting him. Their idea of confronting was to have Ace hold him off the ground by his collar until he told them where my notebooks were.
Apparently their idiotic plan worked because they came back with my notebooks in tow. I grabbed them and looked through each one, trying to find changes or something. And I found something. In the last page was a note.
Cali,
Now that I know your deepest secret, I can use blackmail. If you don't marry me, I will send everyone in Camp Half-Blood copies of these notebooks. If you do, I will burn each and every copy. Your choice.
Yours truly,
Skylar
Damn it.
A/N: What's Cali going to do? What do you think she should do? Tell me in a review! Ask me random questions about myself! Next update will be on the 26th, okay? Thanks!
Random Song of the Chapter: It's Time by Imagine Dragons
~Cali
