Secrets

Heidi POV

We were only a day into the trip and I was already annoyed. After Chiron had told us all the news about Athena, we went to Rachael, the oracle, and received our prophecy. We finally deduced that Athena was being held in Hawaii, and immediately set off. Now we are waiting at a bus stop in the middle of New York trying not to kill each other. The silence is so tense and awkward that even when a hellhound jumped out of an alleyway near us none of us spoke a word.

After what seemed like an eternity, the big bus came into view. I could hear Jenni give a giant sigh of relief. I have to admit that I was a little comforted myself. I entered the bus last, and let me tell you that that was not a good idea. By the time I set foot in the bus, all of the seat had been taken….except for one…..the one right next to Toby. Reluctantly I sat down next to him but not without shooting a fierce glare in the direction of Jenni and Ace. I should have known right then that nothing was going to go right on this bus.

"Well….this isn't awkward at all." Toby broke the silence with his sarcasm. All I did was look at him out of the corner of my eye. He was staring off into the corner, not wanting to look at me, apparently. My mind drifted off, and soon I was thinking about what had happened between me and Toby before we even knew we were both half-bloods. We had met in the small town we both lived in and became friends. Eventually though we both made a choice and it had produced a bittersweet consequence. I was so focused on my train of thought that I didn't even notice when a seat opened up, so I could have moved away from Toby. Before I realized though, an old lady had sat in the seat which was across the isle from us. That was the moment I realized that we were going to be in the seats for a while, so I settled down preparing myself, not even thinking about what might go wrong.

~~~~~H~~~~~J~~~~~

I think we were somewhere in the middle of Ohio when things got a little weird. And not in a good way. It all started with Toby. Everything was quiet and peaceful and overall happy until he had to open his big mouth.

"So I've been thinking, and I just can't think of who your godly parent is. You don't have any powers!" exclaimed Toby seemingly out of nowhere.

"Thanks." I replied with as much sarcasm as I could muster, "That's a great boost to my confidence." I just glared out of my window fuming at how rude Toby could be.

Suddenly, a severely southern voice came from our right. "Excuse me, but I couldn't help but overhear y'all's conversation and I just want y'all to know what I think. First off, you, boy, should really be more kind to the ladies. We women keep secrets for a reason! And you young lady should not keep secrets from this man! I kept my fair share of secrets when I was a young girl…..but that's not the point! Y'all should be open with each other!" I was progressively getting more and more nervous as the lady went on and on. Her eyes were turning into slits and she had this weird vibe around her. "You, Heidi Mason," she said and somewhere in the back of my mind I registered that I had never told her my name, "should tell Toby about Bryce. Yes I do know about your little 11 month old secret. I can't believe you could keep a secret that huge from your friends! I can't believe you would be that naughty! And you Toby are being naughty too! You can't just go around all your life and insult ladies even if they are keeping one of the biggest secrets ever from you!" At this point she was out of breath from talking so fast and passionately. I just sat there with my mouth open thinking one thought over and over again. HOW DID SHE KNOW! "You are both being very naughty and that is why you must die!"

The silence after that statement seemed to last for years but in reality it was only a fraction of a second. The quietness was broken by a vicious screech that came from the old lady who appeared to have grown fangs. The lady lunged at us and Toby and I jumped up and ran towards the front of the bus. Three things happened at once. The bus driver slammed on the brakes to see what the disturbance in the back was, Jenni and Ace jumped up from their seats to help us with the monster, and the lady that seemed to be a vampire now screamed at us, "If I, the eldest mormo, can't catch you kids, no one will! Y'all naughty children have to die!"

We ran off the bus in a hurry and Toby immediately pulled out his sword and faced the mormo. I suddenly had an idea and I ran towards the forest while everyone was distracted.

I arrived in a clearing a ways into the forest and I immediately called upon my powers over the underworld. The shadows gathered around me and waited for their instructions. "I need you all to fetch me a bow and arrow!" I practically shouted at them. Instantly, the shadows rushed into action and disappeared. A couple seconds later, they had entered the clearing again with a bow and arrow. I abruptly grabbed the weapon and sprinted back to the fight where I saw that my friends where at a disadvantage. Jenni was lying on the ground a ways away, unconscious, and Toby and Ace were both pinned under the mormo with her teeth just inches from their necks. For a split second I thought I was too late, but I shot the arrow anyways yelling "LEAVE THEM ALONE!"

I watched with bated breath as the arrow met it's mark, the back of the lady's neck. Straight away, the mormo dissolved into dusty ashes…all over the boys.

When they finally sat up Toby had such a look of disgust on his face that I laughed out loud. Ace seemed like he was in a daze and kept muttering about how he couldn't believe how that lady had beaten him in a fight. Meanwhile Jenni was waking up on the other side of the clearing.

For a while we all just stared at each other. Finally I broke the silence, "Well, that went well."

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