Me: well here it is! Chapter three!
Lydia: yes, the infamous chapter three. Hallelujah.
Me: well, it's more that it will make you mad. Its chapter four you should be worried about.
Lydia: what? Why?
Me: on with the chapter!
Lydia: oh will you stop with that? And I think you forgot something
Me: what?
Lydia: Acire does not own any of the Percy Jackson characters or places.
Me: oh yeah. Now on with the show!
That night had been the longest night of my life. I knew I needed sleep so that I didn't babble in front of the gods tomorrow. That would be embarrassing. But when I tried to sleep, I found I couldn't. I was too wired up and nervous to relax and pass out for a few hours. Its not like I was over curfew, I called my own curfew since I was in my own cabin, we all were, it's just that sleep evaded me.
Finally I sat up and sighed loudly, glancing at the clock. Crap, it was only twelve forty five. I slammed my head back down on the pillow again, not even trying to sleep. I stared at the ceiling. Great, I thought, what now? I only leave in eight hours and fifteen minutes (A/N *sniffle* I'm so proud of her. Using sarcasm like a pro!). On a whim, I got up, put my sweatshirt on, and walked out of my cabin into the night, heading for the Aphrodite cabin.
I kept my head bowed, hood on, and my hands stuffed in my pouch. Even though I was almost positive that the harpies were off duty, I walked briskly. Better not risk being eaten by one of those creepy things if I was wrong.
I glanced up at the stars as I walked along in the dark. My breath caught in my throat; the sight was beautiful: a clear night with millions of stars glistening like gemstones in sunlight, perfect for stargazing. Only I had other things in mind.
I reached the cabin then and put my ear on the door. I heard snoring, which was either a really good or really bad sign. I pushed the door open and peered inside the dark room. I stepped inside and shut the door behind me, pulling off my hood. Ryan was snoring on his bunk half out of the covers. I walked across the room and sat on his bunk next to him. I took a deep breath and shook his shoulder.
"Ryan," I whispered. "Ryan, wake up."
He shuffled around in his sleep, seeming to notice my voice and put one arm around my waist. I thought he was awake so I smiled at him and waited for him to open those beautiful blue eyes of his. But he didn't; my smile faded fast when I realized he was pulling me down on top of him. Oh crap. My eyes widened and I shook his shoulder again.
"Ryan," I said urgently. No response. "Ryan, RYAN!" I put my hands on either side of his face and shook his head. That woke him up. His eyes shot open and looked alarmed (I didn't blame him for that one), but slowly subsided to calm. Maybe it was just me, but his face looked redder in the dark than it should've been.
"Lyd…wh…what are you doing here?" he asked groggily.
"Well, I couldn't sleep so I decided to come talk to you." I replied nonchalantly. He glanced down and back at me. I realized I was still hovering over him in a very suggestive way. "And that," I added, "was actually you." I moved off of him to sit with my back to the wall, hugging my knees to my chest. He heaved a sigh and sat upright to join me.
"What is it you wanted to talk about exactly?" he asked still sounding a little groggy. I smiled at him in the dark.
"I'm not sure exactly," I admitted. "I just wanted to come talk to you. It was on a whim." He smiled back at me, only his smile was beautiful, I swear his eyes were shining. He stroked my hair from root to tip, stopping a few inches below my shoulders.
"Your hair's so smooth." He praised me. I flushed and looked into my knees, my hair falling around my legs. I probably looked like I was crying or something. I picked my head up.
"Ok stop. Seriously, not in the dark," I said seriously. "It's not a good idea to do anything like that in the dark alone. I mean, I'm gonna be sixteen next month and you're…" I trailed off, hoping he would fill in.
"Sixteen in March, the 10th." He sighed, sounding kind of disappointed. Gee, I wonder why.
"So I think you get my point-"
"Yeah, yeah I get your point." He said kind of pissy like. I frowned at him.
"You say that like it's the only thing you wanted to do."
"Well, if you don't know what to talk about then what the fuck else are we supposed to do?"
I gave him my best pissed off why-the-Hades-did-you-just-say-that look. "Think of something to talk about! Gods, life isn't all physical, Ryan."
"I know." He grumbled, sounding pissed.
"So don't go around trying to charm me into anything like that because it won't work." I said smugly.
Suddenly, he was right in front of me, his hands on the wall on either side of my head. His face was less than six inches from mine. I stopped breathing and tensed, placing my palms to the wall.
"What the fuck are you doing?" I growled at him. But there was something else in my voice, something that I thought was well hidden, but he sensed it anyway: I was terrified. He had me pinned and he knew it. A slow, creepy, evil smile spread across his face and I strained my neck, trying to push my head back even more. But I had no room.
"Aw what's the matter Lydie? Scared?" he chuckled a dark laugh and I fought back a whimper. I didn't answer him.
"Good. I just wanna do one thing…" he trailed off.
"What's your sick mind thinking of now? Get off and away before I hurt you." I threatened through my teeth. He chuckled again and leaned in.
"Pucker up."
Quicker than I thought possible, I brought my arms up from outside his, bent them at the elbow so my forearms were inside his cage, and twisted up, my elbows hitting one another. Before he could howl in pain, I brought one of my knees up and pushed him in the chest with it, forcing him down. In less than a second, he was flat on his back with my knee on his chest and his arms pinned by my hands. His face looked pissed and shocked at the same time.
"If you ever try anything like that without my permission, I'll see to it that your arms are in casts until you're seventeen. Do I make myself clear?" I threatened in a low voice, pressing my hands down even tighter. His eyes narrowed and he just nodded. Maybe he would scream if he opened his mouth. Sweet; little bastard deserved it.
I leapt off him and the bed, striding across the room and out the door without another word. I could feel his eyes watching me leave his cabin, but I didn't look back. I was too pissed.
I was back in my cabin, lying in bed again before I felt anything other than anger. I may have just lost my one and only friend at this place, even if he acts like a rapist when he gets pissed. It just occurred to me that if I hadn't been trained by my parents all these years that I could've been raped tonight. Well, maybe he was just sleep deprived. You never know with that kind of stuff. But anyway, he got what he deserved. Maybe I taught him a lesson.
But I mean, come on. I barely know the guy! I met him today (well, yesterday if you wanna get technical). I'm no leading him on at all (how could I be?), because I might like him from earlier today with what happened. I just wanna get to know him, you know, make sure he's not a rapist and more like the guy I talked to earlier today in my cabin.
Ah well, I wont be the one to apologize first. After all, I did nothing wrong. He needs to apologize. I will after he does, if I need to at all. I just defended myself.
I glanced over at my clock. One in the morning, it read. Wow that only took ten or fifteen minutes. I got up out of bed and walked over to the back of my cabin to the little fountain used for Iris messages. Well, I had to do something since I couldn't sleep, so I decided to play with the water. I sat, crouching, in front of it, moving my fingers. The water obeyed my every finger twitch. At one time I used both hands to make an intricate lace design. Little stuff like this doesn't make me tired much, though I wouldn't mind being tired right now, at one in the morning.
Suddenly, the water started glowing blue. At first, I thought I did it somehow so I inspected my hands, forgetting about the water fun, all the water crashing back to the fountain. Then a pleasant sounding woman's voice told me to deposit one drachma. I looked around me but found nothing. Frantically, I looked back at the glowing water and something caught my eye: a single golden drachma lay on the stones. I reached in and pulled it out, my arm still dry (thank you father and Poseidon), a fact I always found cool-I was only wet when I wanted to be wet.
But anyway, I tossed the drachma into the mist that had suddenly appeared and said "show me my Iris message" all dramatic like. I had a faint smile on my face, but when my Iris message came into view, it faded fast.
Athena and Poseidon stood apart in the throne room, looking like they were having an argument. I didn't know who sent me the message, because both clearly didn't know I was listening.
"Athena, I have won the war fairly and you know it." Poseidon said through his teeth. Obviously, I came in the middle of the argument.
"I know that." Athena snapped back. She began pacing.
"Then why do you try to argue with me about it?" he challenged.
"I argue because I don't think the child should live!" she yelled at him, stopping her pacing. He narrowed his eyes.
"I know your opinion, we had a war over your opinion!" he yelled back at her.
"Then why don't you agree with me? Aren't you even mad in the slightest?" she asked, exasperated.
"I don't agree with you because I don't share your opinion, obviously, and yes, I'm furious." He answered flatly.
"Really, Poseidon? I thought you weren't capable of getting mad anymore!" she yelled in his face. He trembled with fury.
"Yes, I am capable," he sneered, "and I'm furious for a completely different reason than you."
"Enlighten me then! What has made the all powerful sea god so angry?" she mocked him. He took a step closer to her and stared her down.
"The war you started killed my son, MY FAVORITE SON!" he roared in her face. I winced at how pissed he sounded, but Athena didn't even flinch. A shiver went down my spine; my dad had been killed in the war. Athena just sneered.
"It's not like I killed him personally. It's against the Ancient Laws." She answered emotionlessly. Poseidon stared her down.
"But it was your commander! The man you told to go to his battle! You told him to kill Percy!"-Oh shit-"you never liked him, NEVER!" Poseidon roared the loudest yet, but Athena stood her ground. She didn't even blink.
"You have known about this for almost two years, Poseidon. Why bring it up now?" Athena asked evenly. Gods, she doesn't even care that she killed my father in cold blood.
"Because," he exhaled, trying to calm himself, "because the child-"
I swiped my hand through the connection, too furious to listen anymore.
I couldn't believe what I had just heard. My grandmother killed my father. How could Athena be so cruel, so heartless? What did my father ever do to her? Does my mother know about that? And who's this 'child' they keep mentioning? How could a kid have affected the gods so much? A shiver went down my spine again, though I don't know why.
At that point, all my anger melted into sadness. I started crying over my father, again. Why was I so sensitive about it now? I used to be better at controlling my tears, but now I sucked at it. Maybe because it was almost six years since he died. Who knows?
I stood and walked over to my bed. Standing in front of it, I wiped away all my broken child tears before getting under the covers. I snuggled my comforter (the name is well suited) up to my chin. I curled into my usual sleeping position of a ball, even though I always woke up with my legs sprawled, one foot hanging off the bed on my stomach with one hand under the pillow. Always.
I laughed to myself and that cleared my head some. I had always liked my laugh. My dad told me when I was little that I laughed like Poseidon, which I found kind of weird. But oh well, it doesn't matter.
I glanced at my clock for the last time. It read one fifteen in the morning.
Finally feeling sleepy, I snuggled into my covers more, getting all cozy, and fell into a deep, restful, dreamless sleep.
I hadn't known it then, but if I had listened to Poseidon and Athena for two more seconds when they talked about the child, my entire world would've fallen apart.
Me: well there it is! Hoped you like it
Lydia: ah that bitch I can't believe she-
Me: yes, yes we know Lydia you told us remember?
Lydia: and you made Ryan almost rape me? What the- *tackles Acire*
Me: *chokes out* please review *coughs* gotta go
Lydia: you're damn right! Fix this!
