AUTHORE NOTE!: I do not own PJATO or HOO and only own my own OCS and am resposible for those of others used in this story!
Chapter One
Beck's POV:
Beck wished that she had just killed that stupid water nymph when she had the chance, and now that ignored chance would come back to bite her right in the ass. She wished she knew that, and that she really did have that cystal ball the boy back in Boston asked her if she had, so she could've predicted it before hand. Now she was racing down the road on her motorcycle, trying to avoid any water sources. But no matter how far away she was from the water, no matter how small of a stream she passed was, the nymph wouldn't stop following her.
Beck sped up, trying to forget about it. Soon she would be back at Camp Half-Blood, no one would know about her little joy ride back to her small Massachusetts home town to visit her older brother, and she could fall asleep in whatever cabin she landed in first. The nymph couldn't bother her there. Only good spirits, saytrs, friendly mythical beasts, and demigods could get past the dragon at the border. And Beck knew that that nymph was definetly no good. She'd known that nymph for a long enough time to know that.
Laughter echoed just behind her, and she cussed under her breath. She used her right hand the move the visor from her helmet so she could see better in the dark, but lost control of the handles. The motorcycle swirved and spun, twirling Becanquior off and spitting her into a ditch.
She cursed loudly as she bounced into the ditch, groaning when she reached a stop finally. "Ugh," She thought, "I think I just bruised my tailbone…" But her thoughts cut off quickly as she heard the laughter again, closer this time, and got up as fast as she could, scrabbling back to her bike. She hopelessly jammed the keys in the ignition, but the engine wouldn't start. Beck started to feel her chest tighten, and her breathing quickened as a feeling of dread sunk in. Would her motorcycle ever start again? Oh gods, what if it needs repairs? She couldn't pay for that! Panic filled her and her thoughts started racing to worse and worse possibilities as she rested her elbows on the handles and put her head in her hands, trying to breath like her older brother had taught her months ago, when the panic attacks had just started happened. Her breathing was shallow and quick, and so loud to her that she didn't hear the cold laughter again, or the sound of water rushing to form the tall, slender body of the male nymph following her, or the slapping sounds of his wet, moss clothed feet slowly approaching her bike.
Beck didn't even notice him until he rested a wet hand on her back and the damp smell of wet leaves and stale pond water hit her. She whipped her head around, scrambling off her bike to stand up and away from him, shoulders squared and one hand on her potion satchel, the other on holding a drawing of a whip. "Stay back!" Becanquior hissed, eyes wide but trying not show her fear. "I have a weapon, and i'm not afraid to use it!" She held up the picture of the whip higher, ready to drop the paper to the ground so she could pluck the whip out of the paper.
The nymph raised a pond-scum green eyebrow. He smirked coyly as he brushed the long, weed like green strands of hair out of his murky brown eyes. "I would think you would like me trying to help you, isn't water calming to you during one of those little, what do you call them? Attacks?" He stepped closer to her, going around the bike. He stepped gracefully as he approached, like a ballet dancer stepping across the stage, one slender blue leg in front of another. "It's an odd thing, those attacks. They're your brain, attacking itself over silly little things. Little worries and bothers. When you obviously have much more to worry about…"
Beck snorted, "Toot your own horn much? You're not much to worry about. For your information, i was worried about my bike." She crossed her arms, "Why are you still following me? Aren't you tired? Because I am."
"I have 2 reasons to follow you. For one, i have yet to receive an apology from you for the horrendous act you committed. The second reason is because of a message for you and your little camp. But i will not relay the message until i get your apology." He crossed his thin arms in front of his leaf-bound chest, seeming to sniff the air. The nymph added emphasis to "horrendous", almost like he needed to remind her how much he hated what she did.
"What did i do again?" Beck thought, "Oh, wait… the date… is he seriously angry anout that?"
"Seriously?" Beck lowered her arms, hand going back to her sides and drawing slipped back into her notebook, "You endured all of the spells and potions i threw at you, the rusty daggers and blunt knives, the miles of virtual dry land, everything, just for an apology and to give me a message? I'm almost offended that you weren't following me for the pure challenge of trying to kill me."
"Would you like me to try to kill you?" The nymph cocked an eyebrow again, looking confused, "Because i will if you want me too." Then he went back to eying her cockily, looking her up and down, "You'd make a nice prize."
"No!" Beck responded immediately, then coughed and tried to cover up her quick answer. "I'd prefer staying alive, thanks." She slumped a bit, sighing and rubbing her temple. She had prepared that drawing for nothing, and now it was going to give her a head ache until she released it for a bit. "So, that apology…"
"Yes, the apology. I'm waiting." The nymph snapped.
Beck sighed again, "The official sounding one or the short one."
"Surprise me." The nymph shrugged, arms still crossed. But he gave her a look that said, "If i don't get a nice, long, formal apology, i will turn you into a water snail so fast your head will spin."
Becanquior groaned, thinking, "Male nymphs are such whiny babies…" But she started the apology anyway, "I, Becanquior Webb, apologize to you, Swamp Water, for declining your invitation of a date. I was rude and i am sorry." She clenched her teeth all through the last sentence, irritated that she had to APOLOGIZE for saying no to a pervy water nymph that only wanted to drag her underwater to drown her and screw her corpse. Like she thought before, should have killed him when he first popped out of the pond near her house and asked her out. And it wasn't even a rude no! She simply said, "No, thanks…" and backed away from the pond. He was the rude one, following her to her bike and popping up at any water source she rested at! And the persistence! He wouldn't stop asking her "why?" until she screamed at him to go away. That was hours, and many thrown knives, ago. It didn't matter to him though. At this point Beck thought he was just following her to annoy her. And she knew he wouldn't stop until she said yes or apologized. "Happy?" She asked, again through clenched teeth.
"Delighted." He smiled, feeling like he had won, "Now, for that message." He produced a note from somewhere in the folds of the leaves covering his chest, and cleared his throat before starting. "'To be read to the first demigod known to be attending Camp Half Blood, from the counsel of nymphs and other mythical minor deities.'" He looked up from the note, "Thats us!" He said, meaning "us" as in fir his kind. "'The nymphs in the surrounding areas of your camp and in your lake seem to have gone rouge. We advise you to trust none of them, and to capture any that seems suspicious and send them to us. We apologize for their behavior, and more information will be sent to your leading centaur upon notification that this message has been relayed to him. Thank you for helping us eventually get these nymphs under control.' Oh, it's signed with a little leaf imprint from the head tree nymph's leaves! Isn't that cute!" Swamp laughed as Beck stood dumbfounded at the idea of rouge nymphs. He tossed her the note with a final chuckle, "Appears you really do need to get back to your camp now, not just so they don't realize you left! Good luck explaining where the note came from without admitting your joy ride, and many apologies for delaying you." He turned on his heel, starting to giggle again. Beck picked up the note and shook off the water the nymph had dripped onto it, and then watched as he dissolved away into the dirt, almost seeming to walk into it, like he was descending a set of stairs. The last Beck saw of him was the back of his head and his hand as it reached out of the dirt to tie back his long green hair on a low pony, and then he fully sank in, no doubt traveling back to Massachusetts in the dirt.
Beck sighed as she read over the note again and again, making sure he left nothing out. Male nymphs were rare but clever, and it wouldn't surprise her if he some how slipped in or out a line without her realizing. Beck sat back down on her bike, and slipped the note into the closed-top basket she had attached to the motorcycle front. She tried the keys again, and the engine miraculously worked this time. Beck smiled and breathed a silent sigh of relief as she road away from the wet foot prints of the nymph and tire marks off the bike.
"At least the engine works, and i didn't have to enchant it this time, so thats a plus. I don't think i could do any more magic without falling asleep, i'm so tired…" Beck thought, her eyes straining to see in the darkness of 2 AM. Only a few more hours until she reached CHB, and then she could give Chiron the message and talk to Nikki about what happened. But a nap would be good before all that…