A/N: Hello! I'm back! On with this chapter! Edit done the 11/19 at the end.
Disclaimer: As usual, I don't own Percy Jackson, or Heroes of Olympus, R. Riordan does. But if he wants to give it to me... I'll kindly accept! What a nice person I am!
Chapter three: Could it get worse?
I'm going to be honest. I didn't hope to have such a good night. I don't know why, I had the feeling I was going to have nightmares, but I didn't. The next morning, I woke up peacefully in the Hermes Cabin, before everyone. It let me some time to think about the day before.
It wasn't as bad as I thought. Of course, there had been some incidents, but nothing too bad. The prank was just for fun and Clarisse... I didn't really know what to do about her. Should I go clear things with her, or should I let her come to apologize? I was almost sure she wouldn't, but I wasn't the one supposed to go seek for apologies. I thought again of what Chris had told me.
"Don't be too angry against Clarisse. She might seem mean but in real, she's not like that. She saved me and helped me a lot. We're kind of dating, really. If you get to know her, you'll see she's really nice. She just pretends, you know, since she's a daughter of Ares, she must answer to the stereotypes. That's what I don't like about being in bungalows depending to our parents. Once your claimed, you must be as your parent if you want people to say you're a real child of your parent. There's not so much place for your own personality. We have never seen a pacific or kindhearted child of Ares. People would find that ridiculous. And since the war, kids are claimed the day when they arrive, so they don't have time to build their own personality. I'm surprised you haven't been claimed yet."
Was what he had said true? I was sure that the nice things he said about Clarisse were true for him, but the part about stereotypes? Should I be happy of not having been claimed yet? Or rather worried?
He had also said that people lost their personality to their parent's. I could believe that. The Stolls were an example: sons of the god of tricksters, tricksters themselves. But they could have been that by nature too.
Thinking of the god of tricksters. It was really strange. He had been acting so nicely around me, as if I belonged to bungalow 11 and were one of his children... Wait, what if I was? Secretly, I hoped not. Not that he wouldn't be a good father, only that it would be awkward. I had liked how he had taken my chin to check if I had any injuries, how he had given me new clothes, how he had said my name...
Was I having a strange crush on him? No, no, that wasn't possible. He was a god. I had probably welcomed his help when I was lost, that was all.
But him, why would have he done that? "What kind of god of travelers would I be if I lost all my campers after only an hour?" he had joked. He had done nothing but what he usually did with regular campers. My heart stopped for a second then started beating normally again; I realized it had been beating faster as I was thinking of Hermes. Sadness overwhelmed me for a second.
That was the moment Connor decided to wake up and look at me from the upper bunk bed opposite of mine.
"Ally?" he whispered. "Are you okay?" I looked at him surprised he had seen me. With a quick glance, I checked the hour. 5:25 am. Breakfast was at 7:00. Why was he awake so early? And what about you, idiot. A little voice in my head said.
"Yeah. Thanks." I answered with a hushed voice. I nodded towards him and smiled to prove my point, but he didn't take it. Climbing down of his bed, he told me to come with him. I did as he said and followed him outside the bungalow. I felt strange going out in my pajamas, but followed. We went in the little "garden" behind it and he asked me bluntly.
"What's wrong?"
I was surprised. He had noticed that something was wrong and was worried about it? Maybe he was just trying to make amends for the day before?
I was going to smile again and tell him nothing was, but I couldn't. I didn't really know if confessing to a trickster was a good idea but I wanted to. But not about the mixed feelings I had for his father, of course. That would have been weird.
"I-" I started. No, I wasn't ready to put out my feelings, about the god and even about the rest.
Connor sighed, thinking, then he looked at me and asked, with a sly smile.
"Is it a girl's thing?"
I was surprised and started laughing internally – I couldn't do it in front of him or he wouldn't believe me – then answered
"Yes, it is. That's why I don't want to talk about it to you. Not that I don't trust you... Just, I..." He nodded and said.
"It's... umm... okay, I get it... So, you could talk with Piper from the Aphrodite Cabin..." then added slyly "Or Katie from the Demeter Cabin..." I don't know why he said that, but guessed it had something to do with a joke, or something like that.
"If you have anything, you can ask me, you know?" he asked, looking, surprisingly, concerned. I smile, touched that he cared for me and said.
"No, thank you, I'm fine. Just have to get used to be here. Eventually find more about my past..."
He was surprised, I could see it on his face.
"Your...past?" he asked, not sure to have heard correctly. "What about your past?"
Oh, he didn't know. Then, it's true I hadn't told him anything, thinking that he already knew.
"I have amnesia. I can't remember anything before the moment I woke up in the infirmary yesterday."
He looked at me, thoughtfully and maybe also shocked, and finally said.
"You can go ask Percy about that." Percy? Who's that again?
Guessing I didn't know who he was talking about, he added.
"He's the son of Poseidon. He saved Olympus twice." Humm, okay? "And what does it have to do with me?" I asked.
"He had amnesia too." Connor said. Yeah, I understand now.
We talked a little bit more about the day, the schedule and everything, before going back to the cabin, where some of the campers where already waking up.
We had breakfast, which went on pretty well, actually like yesterday night. I tried myself at archery – and nearly killed three persons. I was not angry about the guy that almost killed me the day before, since I was even worse -, sword fighting – that I liked, maybe because I wasn't that bad at it -, mythology and Greek class – to think that I had maybe already learned all that before my amnesia, and had to do it all over again! -.
Then I had lunch and that's when I met the Oh-so-famous, the unique, the savior, the hero of Olympus, the only son of Poseidon (and I skipped many) Percy Jackson.
Honestly, I was a bit disappointed. Okay, I understood that he was a hero, but by the description that I had heard, I didn't imagine him to look so normal. Maybe more like a Heracles of modern times, a Theseus of the 21st century, I don't know! Wasn't he named after a hero, Perseus? I imagined a guy with a six-pack, muscles everywhere, fierce and scary eyes, battle scars everywhere... Travis laughed a lot when I told him that.
But that was maybe why people loved him so much. Because he reminded the world that everybody could be a hero – if you're the child of a god with immense power, of course! That goes without saying.
All that to say I met Percy Jackson. It was Connor who had insisted it met him, still remembering our conversation of earlier. Percy told me about his amnesia, then laughed saying that he hoped it was not starting all over again with me. Yeah, me too.
What made me laugh the most was when he looked at his watch and realized he was late for his date with Annabeth. He said something like "byegottagoannabethgonnakillmebye!"
I hanged out a bit with the Stolls who made me go on a full visit tour of Camp, to make sure I wasn't going to run on Mr D. by mistake again. Talking about him, I saw him looking at me at lunch with a scowl on his face. Travis saw him as well and warned me to be careful, and something about dolphins -what?- .
A few days passed this way and all was well that ended well. End of the story!
Nah, just kidding. That would be too easy, right! Here's where the real trouble starts...
Ever since Hermes talked about The Ball On Olympus, the campers decided to go buy clothes for the event. So, everyday, Argos brought some of then, by small groups, to the closest mall. I think you can imagine the war it was to be the first to go, to be sure to have the best dresses and suits.
And of course, the Hermes were the last ones.
The day before The Ball was the day when we finally got to go. The trip there was pretty calm – on a Hermes Cabin Scale – and we finally arrived to the shops.
"So, guys." started Cecil. "We have two hours, because more could attract monsters. Don't be too noisy, don't cause trouble, don't steal, don't break, don't kill anybody." Ok... wait, kill? Seeing my horrified look, Cecil laughed saying it was a joke. I smiled. The worse was that I didn't really think it was.
The first hour went on fine. With some girls, we started looking for the perfect dress. And, surprise surprise, there weren't many left. All of them found something, but I was still looking for the perfection. I had tried on countless dresses, but none of them suit. They were either too big or too small, too long or too short, too original or too seen. And the only ones that fit me were too expensive.
I didn't have any personal money, so Chiron had lend me enough to buy said dresses, but I didn't want to use it too much, so I had kept on looking for another one, cheaper.
It was while I was trying an umpteenth dress on, a short dark green one, that I heard somebody shout. I listened more carefully: it was Cecil. He was screaming something like: "Careful... Away... Closer... Dangerous... Monster..." Monster? Oh no, oh no, please, not now, no!
I tried removing the dress as fast as possible to get dress in my Camp clothes and go help them, when this damn zipper decided to get stuck. Gods dammit! I started pulling on it, but it wouldn't go down. I tried pulling the dress off without opening it and it worked! At least until the waist, where it wouldn't move anymore. Of course.
The dress was now completely blocked. Maybe if I stayed in the changing rooms until the monster was gone? No, I couldn't abandon my friends. But I couldn't either go out like this. Or I always could...
I didn't even get the time to finish my thought – if that is even possible, can we finish a thought? Let's say the sentence in my mind if it make more sense – that I heard a feminine snake-like voice.
"Where are you? Don't be ssssscared! I am not going to hurt you if you come out!" Oh no. I stopped breathing and made no noise, in hope the thing wouldn't hear me.
Suddenly, the curtain opened and the snake woman – because it was literally a snake woman, with snake legs and all – smiled and said "There you are!".
In hope of getting away, I rolled on the side and started running as fast as I could outside the shop. I noticed Cecil and one of the girls fighting against another snake woman and another one on their left, probably about to try and attack them by surprise. Without any second thought, I picked up a dagger that was on the floor – I think the girl fighting told me she loved using them – and violently stabbed the monster in the middle of the back. It burst in dust, disappeared for now. I was surprised but remember the class I had got two days earlier. The monster was back in Tartarus. At the same moment, Cecil killed the one there were fighting. There was, hopefully, only the one in the shop left. I picked up my dagger and didn't hear the voice shouting. I felt arms grab me and a pain in my leg...
I screamed.
I fell down.
I opened my eyes. Cecil helped me up again after killing the snake woman. He looked panicked. The girl, Vicky if my memories are correct, took out some gaze and nectar to clean my wound. The sight of it made me shiver. The monster had bit me.
Once Vicky was done, we decided to go back directly to Camp, because it was too dangerous and because of my wound. The other campers, that were in other parts of the mall, came to meet us and Connor asked me:
"Ally. What are you wearing?" I was surprised by the question and looked down.
Oh S**t. I had totally forgotten that I was still wearing the dress. Well, wearing isn't the appropriate term, since it only covered my body under my waist, and left my bra to the sight of everyone. A lacy, slightly transparent bra Hermes had given me the day I arrived... Why in the world did he give me a lacy black bra?
That's why Vicky and Cecil were looking at me with a strange face. And everyone else were blushing or laughing, or staring. Could it get any worse?
The trip back to Camp was okay, just very awkward for me. Don't worry, I had dressed but still. Oh my Gods.
Thankfully, I had managed to convince the Hermes Cabin not to tell anyone. In exchange, I had to do the chores for next week. Yay.
Later that night, Hermes came to visit us, to tell us more information about The Ball, like the hour, where to sleep after – the gods had accepted to let us sleep there – etc...
He was worried about the incident earlier that day, but nobody said anything about me, or my wound.
Because that was another thing I didn't want them to talk about. I had convinced them it was nothing, and that we didn't need Chiron to worry about it. They had protested a lot, especially Vicky since she was the one that had healed me, but agreed that it was my decision and that if I wanted it to stay a secret, they wouldn't go against my decision. And also that another week without chores was really great.
Of course, I had lied when I said it was nothing. It actually hurt and was deep, but I had the feeling that if Chiron knew, I would have to stay in the infirmary and not got to The Ball.
Oh, another problem. Because of the attack, I didn't get a dress...
But that problem was quickly solved when Hermes, before leaving, gave me a box. And inside the box was a gorgeous black and silver dress. I tried it on later, it was perfect.
I looked at Hermes and asked him. "Who sent this to me? It's not you?" He chuckled. "No, actually, it's not me." he answered. "I'm not that good at girly stuff. I just received it, with your name on it, and money with it, the exact amount for this type of box to be sent. There was a card for you with it." He then handed an envelope to me, before excusing himself and leaving. Keeping the card on my bed, I got ready to sleep, then, once it was done, I laid down and opened it.
"For Aleetheia.
My dear, sweet Aleetheia,
Here is a dress for you. I heard you couldn't get one because of an incident, so there you go. I hope it fits.
Thank you for the sacrifice when you arrived. I felt it. But why didn't you continue the days after? I was quite disappointed. Don't disappoint me. Don't be like your father.
Last thing. Don't trust the Olympians. They'll just use you, then throw you away. Like they did for me.
Tomorrow, you meet someone on Olympus. You'll recognize him. Listen to what he'll say, and obey. Again, don't disappoint me.
Until very soon,
The Mother."
A/N: There you go! Hope you like it!
Edit 11/19: I'm really trying but next chapter isn't easy to write and I have a lot of work. Hopefully it will come out soon but I can't promise you anything. I'm currently working on it. I'm sorry! Please don't forget to REVIEW because it really helps me and motivates me! I'm still not sure of the direction I'll be taking with this story...
Reviews answers:
Lucas Nee-chan:Thank you! I'm glad you liked it!
Alexa:Your wish is granted! A bit later than planned, uh? :'-(
Nicole-Witch-Poseidon'sLilGirl: That's so nice! Thanks! You've got new information now! Tell me if you've got any clues, I'll be interested to know if you've got ideas about her or what will happen! Thanks, I really try to do as if we were in her mind and it's not always easy to make everything comprehensible.
Until then,
Princess of a Sandcastle (cuz that's my new username, I didn't like the other that much), a.k.a Constance.
