II|=NYE=|II

In Trouble and Suspicion

What was up with all the girls here being gorgeous? I mean, as we walked in, I saw an open door with lots of girls inside putting on makeup and criticizing others makeup. Aphrodite much? Agnes must have been reading my mind because she said, "Those are my sisters. Just watch out for them.

"Uh, okay."

She said with a grimace, "Anyway, just stay out of range. I guess you figured out that I'm a daughter of Aphrodite, huh? How did you know?"

"Well, um, you're gorgeous?" She locked eyes with me. Wow, her eyes were constantly changing colors. That was eye-catching. Ha. Ha. Ha. Get it? Nevermind. Her hand slowly – and I mean molasses speed – and took my hand. Her other hand went to my cheek. This was creepy. I had never been so much as looked at by a beautiful girl before. And now a daughter of Aphrodite was about to judo-kiss me. Her head started leaning forward but there was nothing I could do. It was like her eyes or her beauty or something about her had just paralyzed me.

Man. It was so close. I mean her face was like a fourth of an inch away from mine and her eyes were closed and everything. I was about to feint when I heard a stern female voice say, "Agnes Kellandro! You know what I said about-" Agnes' eyes opened, she backed up, and her head drooped. I looked over my shoulder and saw a pretty girl, well, I say a girl. She looked about twenty-seven and she was dressed in an orange T-shirt and blue jeans. Her eyes were stormy gray and also, extremely wide. Uh oh. Looks like I was about to get in big stormy trouble.

"Miss Jackson I'm so sorry. I just . . . Miss Jackson?" 'Miss Jackson' as I assumed was her name wasn't paying any attention to what Agnes said. She was just staring at me when a boy (again, when I say 'boy', I mean to say a thirty-year old man. Otherwise he looked pretty young) walked into the hall and stopped abruptly next to Miss Jackson, and said, "Nylan?"

"Uh, how do you know my name?" I said. Miss Jackson rushed towards me and so did the guy with the black hair. She hugged me tight. Too tight. I guess this was my punishment. I guess suffocating was a good punishment. But then she pulled away and said, "Nylan! Oh my goodness you've grown! Do you not remember us? And your wings finally grew!"

It was so much at once that I had to think a minute before replying. "Wait, you two are the people who . . ." Miss Jackson's eyes started tearing up. "Why?" I yelled. "Why did you leave us?! Lyria could only barely take care of me and you know it! Why would you do that to us?! How could you be so cruel?! Wh-"

"Nye, stop it!" Lyria was in the doorway with tears rolling down her cheeks. And she was almost screaming. I mean she was mad. "They're still our parents! They had to leave us because something important was happening here. They didn't want to take us because they knew that is was going to be too dangerous! And they are not, under any circumstances cruel. They are as-"

"Okay Lyria. That's enough. Nye just hasn't seen us in a while and needs to get used to being around us." Percy, my dad, had walked over to Lyria. Mom (Annabeth Jackson) was crying, and that just about broke my heart. I had made her cry. I know I'd done that before, but that was when she and dad had to leave us behind to come to this camp because of an emergency. I kneeled next to mom and said, "Mom, I'm sorry. It just came out and . . . well I don't really know. Anyway, I think my back needs a checkup. I sort of have wings."

Mom looked up and smiled. Whew! I was so nice to see her smile, I could barely contain it. She said, "That's okay honey." She took a shaky breath. "Your wings aren't an accident, Nye. You inherited them from your dad."

"But dad doesn't have wings!"

"I know, but he's a son of Poseidon. Do you know who Poseidon was the father of?"

"Pegasus?" She nodded. I was shocked. I was a grandson of the sea god? Dude! That was sweet! I wondered if I could control the currents or make a sword and shield out of water and then turn it to ice like a waterbender. Or maybe turn into a huge water dragon. Mom must've been reading my mind because she said, "Your gift from Poseidon is wings. You can fly, Nylan."

'I can fly.' I can fly! Man, talking about wanting to grab Agnes and literally fly into the sunset! Then I asked mom a really stupid question. "Uh, mom? How exactly do I do it?" She laughed.

"The knowledge of how to fly just comes with the wings."

"But they're so small!"

"Once you get outside, just think of your wings getting big enough to fly with, and that's exactly what will happen!"

"How do you know?"

"Because all Percy has to do, is will the water to do what he wants. Frank Zhang, he was one of the seven of the Prophecy. He just has to think of an animal to change into it. You should go outside and try flying!"

I said I would and run outside and give it a go. It wasn't windy, which I figured was good, because I was probably going to break my neck, even though mom said I would just know how to fly. I ran to a field where some kids were playing alligator charge. I walked in but was stopped, when another kid caught my shoulder and said, "Hey, only the Hermes kids can play in the field right now. Sorry."

That's okay, I thought. Because I wasn't technically going to be in the field. I would be above it. I stepped in the field and started running.

"Hey, stop!" The other kid yelled. The people in the field stopped playing and looked at me. Oh, yes. With all these kids watching me, it was the perfect time to show off. I ran faster and imagined my wings growing and spreading. They grew, all right. And instantly I started lifting off the ground. I started thinking "okay, Nye. Just stay calm and fly normally. Just do it consistently like a bird." I stroked evenly with my wings and started going faster and higher.

The kids down below were looking up in awe. "Okay." I thought. "Now is the time for tricks."

It was like I knew exactly how to do every trick in the world. I just had to want to do a certain loop or barrel roll, and I did it. I flew down at the group of kids who were watching me. I zipped down to them, did a back-loop, a front loop, did a back-flip, landed on the fence, and said professionally, "Anyone want a ride?" All the girls raised their hands. Heh. Heh. Cha-ching! I frowned. "Well, I can't carry everyone. So y'all decide-"

"Nye! Can I come?" Agnes was running towards me with a huge smile on her face.

"Okay." One of the girls stepped forward and said, "You don't want to fly with her. She's way too weird for you."

"What do you mean, 'For me'? She's not weird at all! She's a child of one the most powerful goddesses there is and she has hypnotic eyes! What's so weird about that?"

"The weird thing is that she glows and her eyes are hypnotic. No other child of Aphrodite can do that. And she can't even control it." I looked at Agnes. She caught my eyes and I got that paralysis feeling. She looked away.

"What if its better that she can't?" I said, thinking. I looked back at the group and said, "I'll be back."