Chapter 2 - I Have an Existential Crisis
I sank to the ground, the sound of my own scream still ringing in my ears. This can't be real, this can't be real... I held my arms over my head as if to protect myself from some unknown, invisible blow. I felt my breath quickening as I remained in my crouched position on the dirty ground, my face pressed into my knees. The reality of the situation I was thrown into suddenly hit me full force, like a batter hitting a home run.
I'm not sure why it only hit me then. Maybe it was the rapid progression of events or my denial when I first woke up. Maybe the adrenaline pumping through my veins. The extent of my senses in that moment Mikey had held his rusty bikechain to my neck seemed, just, wrong, in a way. But not at the same time. Like it was something my body knew but not my mind.
I realized, I hadn't given any thought about my family. I felt guilty, I hadn't even thought about them when I woke up in that disgusting slimy, garbage dumpster. I think I would rather still be in that trash than in this situation, with gods, demigods and monsters.
Was I missing where they were? Was I actually in a different universe? A different time? I didn't know, and I think that scared me worse.
I thought about them, my family. My brother's mouth dropping open in shock as he heard I was missing. Then crying tears even though he had always been so annoying to me, but admittedly, I had been to him too. My mom, realizing I was missing and searching everywhere for me. In hysterics as she called the police station to report me missing. My dad, a few tears streaking down his cheeks silently, though he did not weep for anything.
I failed to choke back a sob in my throat as my tear ducts unleashed a waterfall of salt water. Silent sobs made my body shake until I gasped for breath. My brain was a jumbled mass of hysterics, but with one steady rithm throughout. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no...
After what felt like hours, but was actually just a few minutes, my tears subsided.
I was never a strong person. I cried about the tiniest things, from not understanding homework to regretting minor actions. But I knew that I couldn't just wait for things to get better this time. I had to finally take action to understand what happened, and do whatever I was brought there to do, in a place I didn't know.
I took a deep breath to calm my lungs and gave myself a pep talk. You are strong, you can do this. Everything will be fine even if it isn't. You have gods and demigods on your side...
I stopped for a moment, and realized, how had I made a scream that shattered windows? And the book that had appeared in my hands?
Demigods. They were real. I had had thoughts about them, but with Cade and Mikey attacking it had been driven from my mind.
Apollo was a god, Meg was a demigod. Why not? I could be a demigod. It made sense.
My breath quickened again. On one hand, being mortal could have made things much more difficult. But on the other hand, being a mortal could have made matters easier. What I had been sent for, I thought, no, I knew that it was to help Apollo, Meg and the rest of the demigods and gods.
I took one last deep breath and heaved myself from the ground, my joints popping from staying in the same position for so long. The book that had appeared in my palms had fallen to the ground when I broke down, and I now picked it up. It appeared to be bound in some type of leather, but I didn't give it much thought. I rubbed my eyes with the heel of my hand and then attempted to clean my rectangular framed glasses with my grimy cuff, but only really spread the dirt around more. I sighed at my feet and turned my head to look at Apollo and Meg, who were currently engaged in conversation.
"I have an idea." Apollo was saying, while attempting to stand straight despite his injuries. As he repeated the words of Mikey, I winced as I absentmindedly rubbed the bruises on my neck that the chain had left there.
"I know someone who might help," Apollo continued. "He lives on the Upper East Side. Take me to him, and I shall reward you."
Apollo looked over at me to see that I was now standing up and looking at them, but his attention snapped back to Meg as she made some sort of sound between a cough and a snicker. "Reward me with what?" She said as she danced around, and plucked his wallet and money from the trash. "I'm already taking all your money."
"Hey!" exclaimed Apollo. I wondered where the Upper East Side was. I had never been to New York City. Besides, I wasn't exactly sure where we were right then either.
"I've got your money, I've got your money!" Sang Meg.
Apollo stifled a growl. "Listen child, I won't be mortal forever. Someday I will become a god again. Then I will reward those who helped me, and punish those who didn't."
Meg put her hands on her hips and exclaimed, "How do you know what will happen? Have you ever been mortal before?"
"Yes, actually. Twice! Both times, my punishment only lasted a few years at most!"
Their voices faded into background noise. I already knew this conversation word for word. I thought of Meg, the enigma of the group. One minute open and carefree, the next secretive and closed. I knew, of course, about Nero. Oh, I loathed Nero. I felt bad for Meg that she had been raised that way. I really didn't know how I felt about her, as I had just actually met her, and, in fact, hadn't even talked to her. I knew though, that there was some compassion in her, despite her betrayel in the end.
I was snapped out of my musings by Meg blowing a rather large rasberry. "And I claim your service!"
Thunder clapped in the cold gray sky and ethereal laughter seemed to echo through the city ravines.
"I walked right into that, didn't I?" Apollo said, face adopting a defeated expression.
"Yep!" Exclaimed Meg, bouncing excitedly in her cherry red sneakers. "We're going to have so much fun!"
"Are you sure you're not Artemis in disguise?" Asked Apollo, seeming somehow more disheartened.
"I'm that other thing," Meg said, studying the hundred dollar bill and holding it up to the light as if to make sure it wasn't forged. "That thing you said before. A demigod." For some odd reason I had the urge to sarcastically blurt 'My gosh she's figured it out!'.
"How do you know?" Apollo asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Just do," She said cheerfully, giving a smug smile. "And now I have a sidekick god named Lester!" I gave a small smile at that. It was pretty funny to think of a god named Lester Papadopoulos.
"Cheer up," said Meg. "Who's the guy you wanted to see- the guy on the Upper East Side?"
"Another demigod," Apollo replied. "He knows the way to a camp where I might find shelter, guidence, food-"
"Food?" Meg's ears perked up. "Good food?"
"Well, normally I just eat ambrosia, but yes, I suppose."
"Hold on, wait a minute!" I interjected for the first time. "What do you mean, 'a camp where I might find shelter'?"
"Uh, I meant we," he said quickly.
I huffed unhappily. He acted like he was above everyone else. In a way he was, but he was now mortal, and that changed some things. But even if he was a god, I still didn't think his safety should be far above ours.
"Well, my first order is to find this guy to take us to the camp place!" Said Meg, not acknowledging the words between me and Apollo.
Apollo sighed dejectedly. "As you wish. Let's find Percy Jackson."
As we trudged up the street, Apollo walked next to me deep in thought, and Meg skipped along ahead of us. It really felt, just, strange, to be there. Don't get me wrong, I was still very afraid. But I knew then that I couldn't be paralyzed by fear. I had to be brave, but still feel fear. Fear is what keeps you alive.
I shivered in my thin hoodie, and I wondered how soon I would die of hypothermia. My fingers and toes felt numb already. Pedestrians kept staring at us as we walked by, and I self-conciously tried to brush some coffee out of my long, light brown hair. I looked over and noticed that Apollo had a hopeful expression on his face.
Distracting myself from the cold, I thought about the powers I may have had. The scream. I knew for a fact that I couldn't scream at the right frequency to break glass, or loud enough to shatter multiple windows. At least not before. The book also, that I still had clutched under my arm. It seemed to have just appeared in my hands. I held it in front of me and examined the cover. It read in gold leaf lettering 'Echidna's Guide to Modern Monsters'. Something seemed off about the title, though. I examined it closely, but just couldn't figure it out.
"You guys smell," said Meg, snapping me and Apollo out of our thoughts, and turning around and walking backwards ahead of us. "You look like you've just been mugged."
"I have just been mugged. Also enslaved by a small child!" Exclaimed Apollo. I pondered if getting that chain held to my neck counted as getting mugged, although they hadn't taken anything from me specifically.
"It's not slavery," she said as she chewed on part of her thumbnail. "It's more like mutual cooperation."
"Mutual in the sense the you give orders and I am forced to cooperate?" He sighed.
She stopped by the front window of a store. "Yep. See? You guys look gross."
While Apollo gaped in disbelief at the glass, I stood staring across the busy street, deep in thought. What if their was actually an alternate me in this place? Would I be stealing her life? I shivered at the thought. What if there had been a version myself here, where ever this was, and I was living her life, but with my memories. No Kayleigh, just don't go there.
I suddenly saw something across the street, in an alleyway between two shops. It only appeared for a second, so I couldn't be sure I had actually seen it, but it reminded me off a drop of quicksilver, but quite a bit larger larger. Great, the plague spirits. Nosoi.
I turned around to say that we should keep walking, when Apollo suddenly cried out, "Horrors! Is that- Is that acne?"
"How observant of you," I said dryly, but then I caught sight of my reflection's eyes in the glass.
"What the hell, my eyes are green!' I screeched.
Before, my irises had always been a pale blue-grey, but now they appeared a somewhat light moss green color, with hints of hazel brown around the edges. Nonetheless, my hair what still light brown, reaching just a few inches below my shoulders. My lips were still light pink, and I still had a dusting of barely visible freckles on my fair skin, along my cheekbones.
"You're going to get yourself arrested," Meg was telling Apollo. Thankfully, my exclamation had not been heard over Apollo yelling at the sky.
"What does it matter?" Apollo continued. "I have been made a teenager, and not even one with perfect skin! I bet I don't even have..."
He pulled up his shirt with a look of horror on his face, and although I flinched at the sight of the pattern of bruises covering his midriff, I still gazed at him coldly. It bothered me how self-centered he seemed to be, and at that point I found Meg, even with her somewhat snarky attitude, to be more likable than him.
Oh, no, no, no," he cried, staggering along the sidewalk, almost stepping onto the street. "Where are my eight-pack abs? I always have eight-pack abs! I never have love handles, never in four thousand years!"
"Could you just shut up!?" I snapped, I was really getting tired his complaining, and I just really didn't want to stick around any longer with the nosoi.
"But I'm fat!" Said Apollo.
"Oh my gods, your fine!" I said, exasperated.
"You're average," added Meg, "Average people don't have have eight-pack abs. C'mon."
As we pulled Apollo away, I couldn't help thinking, what if this was just a dream?
After walking for a while down the many crisscrossing city streets in silence, Apollo suddenly asked, "How are you two so calm? You are demigods, walking with a god, on the way to a camp to meet others of your kind. Doesn't any of that surprise you?"
"Eh, I've seen a bunch of weird stuff," replied Meg, skipping on ahead of us.
"Didn't you see me having a mental breakdown in the alleyway?" I asked, gazing up at him.
"Well, where are you guys from?" He said, looking slightly uncomfortable at my sudden, blunt comment.
"The alley." She turned her head to look at us, slowing down to a walk.
"No, but... your parents? Family? Friends?" He prompted.
A ripple of discomfort passed across her face, but she masked it quickly. "Not important."
Apollo sighed and turned to me, knowing that he wasn't going to get anything more out of Meg. "What about you?"
"Michigan," I said simply, going for the minimalistic approach. I was apprehensive that if I said too much, I might somehow give away somwthing that led to questions and suspicion. "As for my family, I never knew my biological parents. I was adopted," I lied. I knew that Apollo had had a child, Kayla, I think, with a man. Don't even ask me how that worked, but I suppose he was a god. But, I didn't know if any other gods or goddess' did, or could, do that, and I didn't want to reveal any inconsistency.
Apollo nodded his head in thought, and then said, "In the alleyway, when you were screaming at Mikey, I noticed that you said something about not wanting to be here, and also, why were you in that alley to begin with?"
"Well, I kind woke up in the dumpster that you landed in," I explained. "And I really don't want to be here, but I guess this is my life now." I looked down and sighed at my grimy shoes dejectedly.
"And neither of you have heard of Camp Half-Blood? Or Camp Jupiter?" He further queried.
"Nuh-uh," said Meg, still skipping on ahead of us. "How much farther to Perry's house?"
"Percy's," I automatically corrected.
"I'm not sure, a few more blocks... I think," he said.
I sighed once again as we continued farther down the street.
Uh, yeah. I really have no excuse for not updating for about five months. I'm just that great at procrastinating. So, to anyone still interested in reading, sorry. But please R&R! This is really just kind of a filler chapter, but with a couple of minorly important things. The next update date will hopefully be around May 13th, 2017.