AN: Hello hello! I hope everyone is doing okay! Have you guys been paying attention to E3 this year? If you have, tell me what your favorite game announcement has been! I'd like to thank new reviewer Madgirl013, as well as my returning reviewers, and everyone else who's read my story so far. You guys rock :)
Speaking of reviews, last chapter XxDarkDalekXx left me some questions, so I'll endeavor to answer them without spoilers.
I'm going to just paraphrase. Q: Firstly, DarkDalek wanted to know who Elizabeth is more like: Percy or Annabeth.
A: Well, I was aiming for her, personality wise, to be more like Annabeth, but only slightly. She's got Annabeth's intelligence and is a very strong thinker, but she has some of Percy's personality traits as well, especially his impulsiveness. I hope as the book goes on you get to see that.
Q: Whose powers does she have more of?
A: Well descendents of Athena don't really have special powers besides being more on the intelligent side than most of their peers. As you've already seen, she does have water-based powers like her father. I don't want to go into too much detail about the extent of her powers because spoilers, but you are right to point out that it would be harder for her to use her powers.
Q: Does she have all of Poseidon's powers? Can she breathe under water?
A: Again, you'll see the full extent of her powers as both this entry and the entire series continues. However, I will say this. Percy Jackson is, in my opinion, one of the most over powered demigods in this world. I'm not saying that as a negative about his character, but to point out that even by the standards of that universe, Percy is exceptionally powerful. Thus, Elizabeth and Matt both have great potential. They'll never be able to match Percy, but they have great potential. However, for Elizabeth, the greater the use of her powers, the greater the consequences.
I hope I answered your questions. I avoided any major spoilers, and as I said more will be revealed as the story continues. If you have any more questions, or if anyone else has questions, feel free to ask and I'll answer them in the next chapter :)
Alright, that's enough from me. Here's more from Elizabeth. DFTBA!
Chapter 3: I Eavesdrop on My Parents
I breathed deeply, my vision blurry for a few minutes. "Whoa, easy there," a voice said. I rubbed my eyes and looked up again. My dad stood next to my bed. "You doing okay?" That was a loaded question if I ever heard one.
I ran a quick check. I was sweaty, likely from my dream, but my stomach ache was gone, and my headache, while still there, was nearly negligible. "Yeah, I think so," I said. I was still confused and lost. Having a dream about an old lady getting killed can do that. And then I gasped. "Dad! I did it! I unlocked Pos- I mean uh…" Maybe talking about Poseidon's powers within the earshot of mortals wasn't the best idea I ever had.
Dad raised his eyebrows and shot me the smallest of smirks. "I heard about the water pipes. I'm very interested to hear your story. In the car, though."
"How long was I out?" I asked.
"When the nurse called, she said you were asleep, so I figured I'd let you rest and pick you up when I came for your brother," he said. "Think you can stand?" I did so, but my one shoulder felt heavy. I looked to the side and noticed that the ice bag was still strapped to my shoulder, though it had all melted by now. How I'd missed that when I checked myself over before, I have no clue. I slipped out of the school's bed, which I finally realized was really uncomfortable, and followed my father out of the nurse's room.
Matt was waiting outside the door, leaning against the wall, texting. "Who you texting?" I teased. "Your girlfriend?"
"Shut up," Matt commented. "It was just Sierra." His cheeks turned pink. It was a not-so-well-kept secret that Matt had a crush on Sierra. The only people that it was a secret from were Sierra and Matt himself. Sometimes people were the most oblivious about themselves. "Anyway, what happened with you?" he said, trying to change the subject quickly.
"Patience, little brother," I responded. "Prying ears," I added in a whisper.
After a few minutes, we'd made it to the car and were on the way home. I told dad and Matt everything that had happened earlier, although I played down the amount of danger I was in. I think dad realized that, and I was sure he'd had practice doing the same thing with his mom. I left out the part about my dream. It still bothered me, and for some reason, I felt like it was something that I needed to figure out on my own.
"That's awesome Elizabeth!" dad exclaimed after I'd finished telling him what happened. "I mean, not that you were attacked, but that you have Poseidon's powers."
I grinned. "Thanks. I'm really happy about it." And I was. But my head was also swirling around in a whirlpool moving at a million miles an hour, so it was hard to hang on to any individual feeling for long.
"I'm curious about the extent of your powers," Matt chimed in from the back. "You said that the water soaked you, right?"
"Yeah," I responded, not entirely sure where he was going.
"Well, the thing is," Matt explained, "dad and I – we don't get wet in water unless we want to. And also, you said that you got sick afterwards, right? So what can you do and what can't you do? And what are the repercussions?"
I frowned. I hadn't realized that. For all of my inquisitiveness, I had never asked whether dad and Matt got wet. I just kind of assumed they did, same as everyone else. As for the part about getting sick, that was also something I was thinking about. And the way I fell asleep so quickly – my body had proved that it couldn't handle using my grandfather's powers. So what could I do?
"I don't know about all that," dad said. "I'm not much of a thinker."
"You're a professor of Marine Biology at NYU," I pointed out.
"Okay but…" dad faltered, trying to figure out what he was trying to say. I giggled. Dad was a lot smarter than he let on, but he was also an idiot sometimes. "I guess a better word would be speculator. I'm not much of a speculator. I don't know what this means about you or what powers you do or don't have. But I do have a suggestion."
"What's that?" I asked.
"I know you were going to move into the Athena cabin this summer," dad started.
"But you think I should move into the Poseidon cabin?" I finished. I'd been thinking the same thing. To be honest, I'd always kind of wanted to be in the Poseidon cabin, but I was worried I wouldn't fit in without powers.
Dad nodded. Then hit the brakes, lay his hand on the horn, and cursed at the guy who'd just cut him off. After he'd calmed down a bit and we were maneuvering our way through hectic New York traffic again, he continued. "There are a couple of campers in that cabin, if memory serves. I guess they're technically my siblings, but I've never met them. Anyway, my point is that they could probably help you. Teach you about Poseidon's powers. Maybe help you not pass out every time you use them. Obviously the choice is still yours."
"No, I was thinking the same thing," I said.
"Well you don't have to make your decision until we actually get you to Camp tomorrow," dad said. "So you've got a little bit of time to think."
Before long we were back at the apartment building, pulling into the underground parking complex. After we got into the elevator and dad swiped his ID card through the scanner, we rode up to our floor and went into our apartment.
"Alright guys," dad said, "we've still got a couple hours until Jason brings Sierra and Augustus over, so you know, do whatever. I'm going to try to figure out what I'm making for dinner…"
Matt and I laughed and dashed upstairs. I was planning on going into my room, turning on some music, and thinking. I always think better when there's music playing. Matt, however, had a different idea. "Wanna go a round?" he asked.
Now that was tempting. Okay, let me explain. My family's apartment is actually three stories tall. The first is the living room, dining room, kitchen, and balcony. The second is the bedrooms. The third floor has our sparring room. The sparring room kind of served the purposes of a gym. The floors were covered in mats. In the back, there was a whole rack of practice weapons, mostly swords. It was very important to our parents that Matt and I know how to defend ourselves.
Matt, of course, was a naturally swordsman. He moved with uncanny speed and intuition. I was definitely good, there was no doubt about that, but I had to work hard at it. Sword play didn't come as easily to me. I had to fight tooth and nail for every inch I gained every time I sparred with Matt. And I hardly ever won, though I could fight Matt to a draw sometimes; when you're a natural, you tend to not work as hard and make stupid mistakes. But passing up a challenge from your sibling is hard. And besides, I hadn't really worked out in a couple of weeks. I mean, I'd been to gym class, but come on, how much of a workout is gym really?
I bit my lip. "Alright," I said. "You're on. Let me change real quick first. Meet you up there?"
"Deal," Matt said.
After changing into gym clothes I darted upstairs. Matt had already changed into gym shorts and was hacking away at one of the dummies with his favorite practice sword: a blade in the style of a Roman gladius. "Well that dummy won't be bothering anyone anymore," I commented snidely.
Matt turned and stuck his tongue out at me. "You're damn right it won't. Now grab your sword, I'm not waiting all day."
I walked over to the weapons rack and picked up my preferred practice sword: the slightly longer Greek xiphos, like dad's sword Riptide.
I stood facing Matt, my sword at the ready. "Ladies first," I taunted.
"No, please," Matt teased back. "Age before beauty, I insist."
I rolled my eyes. Either I could attack, or we could be poking fun at each other all day. I decided to attack. I lunged forward quickly before Matt could get his guard up. I almost beat him right then, but he managed to throw up his sword and deflect my blade. Our swords clashed ferociously for a few minutes, evenly matched. Before long, though, Matt had managed to increase the pressure and put me on the ropes. I knew I had to make a big play or he would win. Again.
I saw my opening. I dropped to my knees, causing Matt's horizontal swipe to pass clean over my head. Then I did something that wasn't technically within the bounds of sword fighting. I dropped my sword and pounced at his legs. The sudden tackle caught my brother off-guard. He dropped his gladius and fell to the ground. For a couple of minutes, the two of us were a jumbled heap of limbs. But then Matt extricated himself and scooped up a sword. My sword, as a matter of fact. I scooped up his, sprung to my feet and met his lunge.
"Nice job," Matt panted as we both backed up, creating a lull in our fight. "I really wasn't expecting that. Although, tackling me was kinda against the rules."
"There are no rules in a real sword fight," I responded quickly. "You've got to be prepared for anything, little brother. How's the longer sword treating you?"
He swung my practice sword around awkwardly. "It feels off balance," he commented. "But I'll make it work." And with that we were at it again. This time, Matt was being even more aggressive than before. Our swords collided once, twice, and… our hilts interlocked, and with an almighty twist, Matt wrenched my sword from my hands. The blade went skittering across the room, and I found myself with the point of a practice blade under my chin.
"Good job, big sis," Matt commented, lowering the sword.
"Oh, shut up," I snapped back. No matter how many times I lost to him, it still sucked; losing to your little brother just seems inherently wrong.
We put away the practice swords and Matt tossed me a water bottle. We sat on the floor, drinking our water and catching our breath. Matt poured some of the water over his blond hair and it hung long around his face. I was just thinking that he seriously needed a haircut when he spoke. "Hey, Elizabeth," Matt said.
"Hm?" I grunted through a mouthful of water.
"Why do you think it took you so long to finally use Poseidon's powers?" Matt asked.
I just shrugged. Honestly, I'd been wondering that, too. I'd been wondering about my lack of powers for years. But to suddenly get them confused me even more. "I don't know. Gods don't have DNA like mortals, so trying to understand it like that doesn't work."
"I know that, it's just… you'd think that either you would've gotten them as early as I did or not gotten them at all. It just doesn't make sense."
"I agree," I said. "Maybe I'll ask if I ever meet Grandpa Poseidon."
We sat in silence for a little while longer, which Matt broke again. "For the longest time, I thought that I only had Poseidon's powers and you only had Athena's. But now you have both… So I guess that makes me second best."
"What?" That took me by surprise. I had always thought I was second best because Matt had the water powers and I didn't. Besides, Matt definitely did have some of the Athena intelligence. Maybe not as pronounced as me, but it was there. "Matt, you're really smart, too. And besides, you have complete control of your Poseidon powers. I don't. If anyone is second best it's me."
Matt shrugged. "I dunno. Next to you, I'm not that smart. And anyway, I'm the youngest. You've always done everything first. When I do something new it's not as big a deal."
"I didn't use my water powers first," I commented. "And you're wrong. Every time you do something it's just as big a deal as when I did the same thing."
Matt shrugged, unconvinced. "I don't know about all that. But," he sprung upwards, "that's enough mopey talk. I'mma hop in the shower before you can get there." And he was gone just like that. I had never met anyone whose mood could change as quickly as my little brother's. I sighed and pulled myself to my feet, figuring I should head back downstairs and get ready for when Matt got out of the shower.
A couple of hours later, the doorbell rang, announcing the arrival of the Grace family. I ran to the front door, eager to see my best friend. I yanked the door open, and sure enough, there they were. Four of the five Graces. Mom and Aunt Piper were still at their meeting. Uncle Jason cut an impressive figure as always, standing a couple inches taller than my dad and even better built.
Coming in behind him were the three Grace children: the twins, Augustus and Sierra, and their younger brother Riley. Augustus and Sierra took after Aunt Piper more than Uncle Jason, with perfectly tanned skin, chocolate brown hair, and the most beautiful faces you'll ever see. I suppose Gus was handsome rather than beautiful, but I refused to think of the prick that way. The main difference they had with their mother were the eyes: sky blue like their father.
Riley Grace, on the other hand, was the opposite. He was the spitting image of Uncle Jason, with the exception of the eyes, which were a kaleidoscope like Aunt Piper's. When I looked at him, shivers went down my spine as I remembered Ms. Castellan's kaleidoscope eyes. Unlike his older siblings, Riley could not Charmspeak. He made up for this, though, by being able to harness both of Jupiter's main powers: lightning and wind. The twins, though they could both Charmspeak, each only had one of those. Sierra had gotten lightning and Gus had gotten wind. In my opinion, Sierra had definitely got the better end of the stick on that one.
"Hey!" I said, pulling Sierra into a tight hug.
"Oh hey Augustus, nice to see you," Gus mumbled behind her. "Oh hey, Elizabeth, good to see you too." See, what did I tell you? Prick.
I ignored him. "How are you?" I asked Sierra.
"Pretty good," she said. "I'm really excited to be heading out to California tomorrow!"
"I'm heading out to California, too," Riley butted in. "Mom and dad are taking me to see Emily and Hannah after we drop Sierra off at the Wolf House!"
"I heard," I said. "Tell them hi for me!"
"Will do," Riley said excitedly.
"Hey, kiddo," Uncle Jason said, giving me a hug. "Excited to go to Camp tomorrow?"
"You bet!" I exclaimed.
Uncle Jason grinned. "Good. Camp Half-Blood is a beautiful place. You and Augustus will love it."
"Yeah, speaking of me," Gus piped up, "where am I putting my bag?"
"You have to hold it until we leave tomorrow, Gus," I deadpanned.
"Oh ha," Gus said sarcastically. "Since I can't expect to get a straight answer out of you, Beth" - I glared at him; I hated being called Beth - "I'll just go ask your brother. Where is Matt anyhow?"
Notice how he complained about me answering him and then asked me another question? Dunce. "He's in his room," I said, shutting down an argument before one developed. I didn't want to ruin Sierra's going away dinner. "That's where you'll be sleeping anyhow," I reluctantly added.
"What's he still doing up there?" Riley asked.
I shrugged. "Maybe he didn't hear me open the door?"
"Well, I'm gonna go say hi to him, too," Riley said, and he followed his older brother upstairs.
"Your dad in the kitchen?" Jason asked.
"Yeah," I said, nodding. "And judging by the black smoke coming out from underneath the door, he probably needs you to bail him out." Uncle Jason laughed, then headed over to the kitchen door to go see my dad. I turned back to Sierra. "I've got a lot to tell you."
"Since we talked last night?" she asked.
"Yeah! A lot happened today!" And so I told Sierra everything that had happened today, but once again I left out my dream. I still didn't know why, but the dream felt… personal somehow. Like I was the only one who was allowed to know what was in it. It was the first time I could remember not telling Sierra about something, and it made me feel uncomfortable and guilty.
"Wow," Sierra said. "You weren't kidding."
"I know, right?" I said. "And I still don't really understand everything. Like, why did I just get Poseidon's powers now?"
"Hm… That is very odd," Sierra said. "I mean, how do we inherit these powers at all, anyway? Like… It's just weird."
"I know," I said. "I can't even begin to wrap my head around it…" I trailed off, lost in thought and confusion. Sierra, too, sat silently. "But enough about me. You're going off to California tomorrow. Must be exciting!" I tried to be upbeat about it, but in truth I was really sad. I mean, my best friend was moving clear across the country, and it wasn't like I could fly. The chances that Zeus would blast me out of the sky were pretty high.
Sierra gave me a small smile. She opened her mouth to respond, when the three boys came tramping down the stairs laughing loudly. Of course, Matt stopped immediately when he saw Sierra and lit up red. "Oh, hey, Sierra. How uh… how are you?"
"Pretty good," she said, smiling brightly at Matt. "You had your last final today, right? How do you think you did?"
"Uh, pretty well, I think," Matt said. "Riley, Augustus, and I were going to play video games. Do you two wanna join us?" I rolled my eyes. If Sierra hadn't been here, Matt wouldn't have thought about inviting me to play with them (because some people apparently still assumed girls didn't play video games), but Matt was a lot more careful about that around Sierra. Whether it was because he had a crush on her or because she could zap him with lightning I wasn't sure. Perhaps it was a combination of the two.
"I'm good," Sierra said.
"Yeah, Sierra sucks at video games anyway," Gus taunted.
At that, Sierra's eyebrows shot up so fast I'm surprised they didn't achieve escape velocity and go flying off into space. And suddenly all five of us found ourselves playing a game together. After Sierra made her point by winning the first six rounds - never accuse her of sucking at anything, you'd think Gus would've learned that by now - she and I excused ourselves out to the balcony.
The New York skyline was bathed in oranges and reds from the setting sun. It was actually quite beautiful. We leaned against the railing, watching the sun set for a few minutes. "I'm gonna miss you," I said finally. "I know I've told you that before, but I will."
"I know," Sierra sighed. "I'll miss you, too. But I honestly think that this is the right choice for me. I really really do."
"I know."
"Besides, it isn't like we'll never see each other again. There are always weekend trips from Camp Jupiter to Camp Half-Blood and vice versa. I'll see you before you know it."
"Yeah," I said. "That'll be nice. Listen, just make sure to have a safe trip. Don't get into any trouble or anything this summer."
Sierra laughed. "I never get into any trouble. You're the one who's the trouble magnet. I can usually just talk my way out of problems."
I scoffed. "Using Charmspeak to 'talk yourself out of problems' is totally cheating."
She laughed again. "Maybe, but it works. At any rate, I'm the one that should be telling you to stay out of trouble so… yeah. Do that. Stay out of trouble."
I stuck my tongue out at her. "Don't tell me what to do."
"Girls!" Dad called outside. "Dinner's ready!"
Dinner was a busy affair. We ended up ordering pizza from down the street because neither dad nor Uncle Jason could fix the mess dad had managed to cause trying to make dinner. How you screw up spaghetti that badly, I don't know. Mom and Aunt Piper gave them hell when they joined us, and we all laughed and talked like we always did. Dinner at the Jackson residence was always a noisy affair.
Later that night I lay in bed, unable to sleep, my head swirling with an impossible number of emotions; I was excited to be going to camp, sad that Sierra was gone, confused about my powers, and worried about the dream I'd had. In short: I was a mess.
"Shut up," I said aloud to my brain. "We've got to sleep."
I tossed and turned. And, inevitably, my throat started to feel dry. I sighed. I knew that if I got out of bed to get some water, I wouldn't be sleeping for another hour or so. But if I didn't get some water, who knew how long it would be until I managed to sleep. It could be even longer than that. I sighed again and sat up, swinging my legs out of bed.
I quietly went down the stairwell and was about to enter the kitchen when I heard my parents' voices. Normally I didn't eavesdrop, but something compelled me to stay and listen at the door. And when you're descended from the gods, you learn to follow your instincts.
"How is that possible?" mom was saying. "How did she just disappear?"
I imagined my dad shrugging, "I don't know, Wise Girl," he said, "but if she doesn't turn back up soon, there'll be hell to pay. Literally."
Mom sighed. "Why are we always the ones to clean up the gods' messes? Can't someone else do it?"
"Chiron told Leo that he doesn't want it to divide Camp, and you know it will. The Romans don't know either, as far as he can tell. Besides, what's life without a little adventure?"
Mom snorted. "I've had more than enough adventure for a lifetime, Seaweed Brain. And this just seems… impossible. How did anyone steal a goddess?"
Steal a goddess? Someone had kidnapped a goddess? But how…?
"How does anyone steal the Masterbolt?" dad responded. I remembered his story about his very first quest. Some camper had stolen Zeus's Masterbolt for Kronos, and he'd been blamed. I couldn't remember who exactly had been the one to steal it, but dad had managed to clear his name. "Look, there's no point worrying about it now. After we drop Elizabeth and Augustus off at Camp tomorrow, we'll go meet up with Leo. He and Festus will pick us up."
"What about Matt?"
"I told mom that you and I would have to be out of town for a couple of days," dad said. "She was already going to watch him while we took Elizabeth to Camp. She doesn't mind keeping Matt until we get back."
Mom yawned. "Well, if we're leaving on a quest tomorrow, we should probably get some rest."
Dad yawned, too. "Yeah, probably."
I heard them coming towards the door and stood right behind where the door would swing out. Luckily, they didn't turn around as they made their way upstairs. When I heard the door to their room close I finally let out the breath I didn't know I'd been holding and slid down the wall. So, someone had kidnapped a goddess? How had anyone managed that? But perhaps more disconcerting was that it had happened recently. Perhaps today, which seemed like way too big of a coincidence.
Mrs. Dimitri had said something about her master. Was her master the one who had kidnapped a goddess? It seemed possible. And in the world of gods and monsters, coincidences were nearly impossible. That meant that my dream was linked somehow, too…
Well, so much for sleeping.
Thanks for reading! See you all next time!
