Chapter 3
Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson nor any of its characters, I just own my own character Antheia/Alyssa.
A dark figure hobbled down a dark alleyway, carrying a small bundle of a five year old girl. He knew his time was numbered, not going to survive from that lightning blot shot, he could already feel his breath falling short. He sent to sleeping child down and pulled out a small bottle filled with a dark purple liquid inside of it. A small note was attached to the side saying, 'Amnesia potion, is strong enough to make memory permanently disappear. But potion will only stay permanent if person drinks full bottle, otherwise it will number years from how much the person drinks. It will also give the person human abilities so it should slow the growth ratio down to human standards.'
Throwing the note aside, he unplugged the cork from the bottle and held it to the child's face, dribbling it into her mouth. His eyes started to close and his heart started beating slower and slower. The bottle was only about half way down when, unable to control himself, he dropped the bottle, thus waking the girl up, before disintegrating into a pile of dust. The girl started looking around, having no idea where she was, the loud thunder clouds scaring her as they covered the sky. She blinked, trying to remember what had happen or better yet, who she was. She peered down the alleyway, seeing dark luminous shadows. Her eyes filled with tears and she gave out a loud sob as she felt her head grow dizzy. She heard a door open a little ways away and the sound of soft footsteps coming towards her. She turned her head and the last thing she saw was a kind-looking women with about a two or three year old boy clinging to her leg. He looked up at his mother and whispered, "Mommy look! There's a strange girl there.."
"Hush Percy," the mother said,"Lets see if anyone comes back for her, otherwise I will take her in my care."
The girl's eyes drooped, and unable to hold them open any longer, she lowered her eyelids and everything went black.
Nine and a half years later:
"Alyssa! Percy! Come down for breakfast." Yelled Sally Jackson, their mother, from the bottle of the stairs.
"Coming!" Answered a soft voice from upstairs. A teenage girl, about fifteen, came walking out of her room, dressed in faded skinny jeans and a light green tee shirt. She had long golden brown hair that softly curled to her waist. Her skin was clear and tan with a spot of freckles running across her nose and her body was tall and slender, with just the right curves. She had lush full lips and emerald eyes that seemed to glow. As she walked past her brother's room, she leaned in, seeing Percy still asleep. With a mischievous grin, she ran and jumped on his bed, landing on top of him. He let out a loud grunt which was followed by a moan as he flung the covers off, thus knocking her off. The boy was twelve years old with dark black hair and deep green eyes, like the sea. His face was droopy from sleep and he let out a loud yawn. He looked down at his sister, who was on the ground next to him, attempting to get up and brush herself off.
"Alyssa? Why did you have to do that?" He asked with a cranky voice.
She let out a light laugh.
"You know that I can't give up the chance to mess with my little brother, I only have a couple more years to do so before you're all grown up."
His eyes held a mischievous glint as he got up from his bed and jumped on his sister, pinning her to the ground.
"Look who's little now, sister."
Her face was a playful scowl, they continued to wrestle until they heard a light knock on the door, causing both of them to turn sharply to face it. Their mom stood there, looking amused as her two kids wrestled. She was leaning against the door, as for once, she looked actually relaxed, like the stress from her work and ugly husband Gabe was gone.
Percy and Alyssa got up, brushing off their clothes, and Alyssa followed her mom out of the room as Percy rushed to get changed.
Soon they were all seated at the table, that is except for their ugly stepfather Gabe, which Percy nicknamed Smelly Gabe, who was lounging in an old recliner, wearing an old white tee shirt with a large stain on it, and his shiny bald head reflecting light from the light bulb above him. He was sipping on a beer as he read some car magazine. Alyssa glared at his with a scowl, hating his guts more than ever. Sally married him awhile ago and she never had the nerve to spilt up with the guy, even though he was treating her like his slave. She felt Percy tense up beside her and she placed a hand on his shoulder, trying to calm him down.
The school bus honked outside and the two children grabbed their backpacks before kissing Mom and running outside.
As the climbed on the bus, Percy immediately rushed over to his best friend, a skinny kid named Grover. Grover had some special disease that left him using crutches for the rest of his life. Alyssa looked around before shrugging and grabbing an empty row, taking out her iPod and plugging in head phones. She had always been the odd ball out.
The bus ride to school was short and miserable. Alyssa stared out the window, listening to Sweater Weather, staring out at the bright sun, wishing for school to finally finish, for they only had a day left. She felt a warmness embrace her as she felt the sun on her face. She had always loved the sun for she knew that the sun was always there no matter rain or shine.
The bus arrived at school and Alyssa waved her younger brother away, knowing that he was going on a field trip and something bad was going to happen. Unfortunately, something bad always happened to her and Percy, for this was their seventh school. Weird people would always stock them or bad incidents would happen, but they seemed to happen more Percy, especially when he was alone.
She felt a hand on her shoulder and she turned around to see her favorite teacher, Mr. Bruner, who was going on the trip with Percy. His face held an expression that said that he knew Percy might get in trouble, but he would be there to protect him. She relaxed and Mr. Bruner glide away in his wheelchair towards the bus, but tensed up again as her least favorite teacher, Mrs. Dodds walked past her, hissing as she went. Wait, Alyssa quickly turned towards Mrs. Dodds, wondering if she heard her right, but Mrs. Dodds kept walking. Alyssa turned around confused before walked off towards her freshman classes, hoping to catch up with her friends before classes started.
It was near the end of the last period when the speaker went on and Alyssa heard her name being called to the office. She grabbed her books and, after being excused by the teacher, made her way down. When she arrived, she found an out of breath Grover and Percy standing there, trying to catch their breath, but when they saw her, they grabbed her arm and started dragging her out of the building.
"Percy! What is going on!?"
"Sorry Alyssa, but we have got to get home, you know Mrs. Dodds?"
"Yeah..."
"Well turns out she is what they call a Fury from Greek mythology and she wanted to kill us.."
Alyssa dug her feet in the ground, making the boys stop and they turned around looking at her. Grover seemed really nervous, as if looking around for a personal stalker or something.
"Calm down! You two are making no sense whatsoever and I am feeling really stressed out."
Grover reached out and grabbed her shoulders, "Look Alyssa, you and Percy are not normal human beings, you each have a parent who is a god, which makes you half god."
They reached the public bus stop, with too many people there for Percy and Alyssa to properly freak out. Grover pushed them towards the bus before crutching on himself. They took a seat in the back with Grover looking around worryingly.
Percy leaned over and whispered, "Hey man, what the heck are you looking for? There's no one dangerous on this bus.."
Grover sighed... "Look Perc, Alyssa, the truth is I... I kinda have to protect you."
They both stared at him, looking like he was crazy. Alyssa thought back to all the times that Percy and her had stood up for Grover, protecting him from bullies. Percy had even admitted awhile back that he had lost sleep worrying that Grover would get beat up if we happen to not come back next year. And here Grover was acting like he was the one who defended them.
"Grover," Percy cut in, "what exactly are you protecting us from?"
Suddenly, there was a huge grinding noise under their feet. Black smoke filled the bus, making it smell like rotten eggs. The driver mumbled a curse underneath his breath and quickly yelled for everyone to evacuate the bus.
The three kids calmly got off the bus and they waiting along with the rest of the people along the side of the lonely country rode. No place you would want to break down on. The only odd thing out was across the street stood an old-fashioned fruit stand.
The items on the stand looked really appealing: heaping boxes of bloodred cherries and apples, and other assortment of rich fruits with jugs of cider placed in a silver tub filled with ice.
There was no one around, just three old ladies sitting in old rocking chairs the shade of maple tree. The middle one had a giant basket filled with electric green yarn, the one on the right had knitting needles, and the one of the left had a pair of dainty scissors.
All three women looked ancient, with pale, wrinkly faces, white hair pulled back behind their heads, bony arms and legs sticking out of withered old sundresses.
But the weirdest thing was they seemed to be looking right at Percy and Alyssa.
"Hey man," said Percy nudging Grover,"check out those creepy old ladies.."
"Tell me they aren't looking at you," Grover said hastily, "they are, aren't they."
"Yeah, weird, huh? You think the are going to knit something with that yarn, cause it match my eyes perfectly.."
"Not funny, Percy. Not funny at all."
The old lady to the left carefully lifted up her scissors. Alyssa heard Grover catch his breath.
"We're getting on the bus," he told us, "Come on guys."
"What?" Percy said. "It's a thousand degrees in there!"
"Come on!" He pried the doors open and climbed inside, but Percy and Alyssa waited, watching as the old lady took a piece of string and cut it, the snip could be heard from four lanes across. Percy quickly climbed on the bus, thoroughly freaked out, and right as Alyssa was about to get on, she met the eyes of the middle old lady, whose face lit up with amazement. She then heard the old lady talk, from four lanes across which wasn't even possible, and say, "Welcome back Antheia." Before they vanished, just flat out disappeared leaving nothing behind but a single apple with a leaf sticking out on it.
Alyssa was interrupted out of her shock when the driver wrenched a big chunk of smoking metal out of the engine and the bus shuddered before roaring back to life.
The passengers cheered.
"Darn right!" Yelled the driver. "Everyone back on board."
Alyssa quickly got on, trying to avoid the horde of people trying to get back on the bus. She walked down the aisle to where both Percy and Grover were sitting, looking feverish but shivering at the same time.
Alyssa sat down, looking worried.
"Grover?" She asked.
"Yeah?"
"What are you not telling us?"
He dabbed his forehead with his shirtsleeve. "Percy, Alyssa, what did you see back at the fruit stand?"
"You mean the old ladies? What about them, man?" Percy asked and his eyes widened, "There not like... Mrs. Dodds, are they?"
Grover's face froze in an expressionless glaze. Alyssa got the feeling that the old ladies were something much worse than whatever Mrs. Dodds was.
"Just tell me what you saw." Grover said impatiently.
"The middle one took the other ladies scissors and snipped some yarn."
Grover's face grew pale and his fingers started to shake. He made a gesture that might of been crossing himself, but it looked to be more powerful. He kept on mumbling, "this is not happening, not again. This shouldn't be like last time."
Alyssa and Percy shared worried glares.
"What last time, Grover?"
He kept on mumbling stuff about never making it. Percy started to reach for his shoulder to comfort him, but suddenly Grover sprung upand grabbed both of their hands.
"Can you two promise me something?"
"Sure." Alyssa answered for both of them.
"Let me walk you home from the bus station."
It seemed like a strange request, but they both promised.
The rest of the bus ride was say in silence, until they were just pulling up to the bus stop and Alyssa looked up with anxiety.
"Grover.. That snipping of the yarn. Does that mean that somebody is going to die?"
Percy's eyes lit up in fear, realizing what she was talking about and all Grover could do was give them a pitiful state, as if planning both of their funerals already.