Oh my God I'd like to say I'm so sorry for how long this took. D: I'm awful and have absolutely no excuse. Feel free to be extremely angry at me, I am at myself. D:
Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians, The Heroes of Olympus, or H2O.
Chapter 4.
Mira POV-
The way back, I kept glancing frantically around, paranoia taking over. If the hellhound could hurt me so easily, then who knew what else was out there and could kill me in seconds?
About halfway back to the orphanage, I got a feeling of urgency in my stomach, and began to run. Within minutes, I was in front of the orphanage, and could see Dawn looking through one of the front windows. She looked relieved to see me, and I wondered if she'd been looking out the whole time. For the little time I'd known her, she seemed like a very sweet and selfless person, and an awesome friend.
There was an unfamiliar car parked in front of the orphanage, which made me curious. It wasn't like I'd been here for long, but I knew that the chances of getting two kids in an orphanage in a few days were slim.
I walked up to the door and slipped inside, glad that the caretakers didn't notice my entrance. In the adjacent room stood Dawn, who was blatantly eavesdropping on a conversation between the head caretaker and a strange man who glared at me when I came in. His eyes seriously creeped me out because of their bright red color. No one else seemed to notice, but when he looked towards me, I got a bad feeling. As he smiled an evil grin towards Dawn and me, I saw that his teeth were wickedly sharp, and Dawn must have seen it too, for she gasped quietly and tugged on my hand.
Dawn pulled me into our room upstairs and started to hyperventilate. "That man has red eyes and pointed teeth! That is NOT normal. And are you going to explain what happened at the park? How did you get rid of that thing? What is going on?!" she screeched, quietly though so that only I could hear her.
I didn't get the chance to speak before one of the caretakers called us down. "Dawn, Mira! Come down here, I need to introduce you to someone!"
"Dawn, I promise I will explain everything to you. Let's go down there and meet whoever it is, then when we get back up here I'll tell you what happened," I urgently whispered, hoping that she'd drop the subject.
Dawn huffed and dragged me downstairs and into the living area, where the head caretaker sat with two boys who looked around my age, as well as the creepy monster thing that Dawn and I had seen before. One of the boys had acne and a wispy beard, while the other had dark hair, clothing, and even dark eyes. The one with the beard was looking at the strange creature with fearful eyes, and could obviously see the pointed teeth and red eyes.
"Dawn, Mira, this is Nico," the caretaker pointed to the dark haired boy, "Grover," she continued, gesturing to the bearded kid, "and Harrison," she pointed to the monster. "Everyone, this is Mira and Dawn, two of our older kids. I think you two will get along great with Nico and Grover," she said, addressing us.
"Yup, um, why don't we go upstairs? Yeah we should do that. Come on," Dawn rambled, shooting glances at 'Harrison,' looking nervous. I shared her feeling, and the only one who didn't seem to be suspicious of him was Nico, who was looking at Dawn and me strangely. Dawn and I brought Nico and Grover upstairs to out room, and, as I turned to lock the door behind us, I saw Harrison looking at me, a murderous look in his eyes.
"Dawn," I squeaked, "can I talk to you for a second?"
"Sure," she said, walking over to me.
"We need to get out of this place before Harrison tries to finish off what the hellhound started," I whispered so only she could hear me.
Her eyes were wide, but she nodded in agreement. "Where we will go? When will we leave?"
"I don't know, but we need to go tonight. Deal?" I asked.
"Deal. We should go through the window, there's a vine running down the wall that should be strong enough to support both of us," she told me.
"Okay." I turned back to Nico and Grover, who seemed confused. Grover was sniffing the air, like he smelled something weird. "Soo..." I trailed off, not knowing what to say.
"You guys are filthy," Nico observed. Startled at his blunt comment, I looked down to see my previously clean clothes were now covered with mud and blood, as were Dawn's.
"Um, yeah. We got into a little, uh, fight?" Dawn uneasily said. Mentally, I was facepalming at how bad of a liar she was.
"Fight?" Nico asked, a spark of realization in his eyes.
"Um, I think she means that we were playing football and I tackled her," I cut in, not that I sounded any more convincing than Dawn. Both Grover and Nico looked at us strangely. Grover turned and whispered something in Nico's ear. Nico turned to us, a surprised and excited look on his face. He was about to say something, but a bell rang through the premises, startling everyone but Dawn.
"That was the curfew bell, it means it's time for bed," she explained.
"Oh, well I guess we'll see you guys later," I lied, turning to Nico and Grover. They indignantly left, softly closing the door behind them. As soon as the door shut, Dawn and I began packing. It was much easier for me, since most of my stuff was still packed up from last night. Dawn, on the other hand, had to stuff some of her stuff in my mostly empty bag. We waited until the clock read 1:00, then prepared for our departure.
"You ready for this?" I asked Dawn. She nodded, and I was about to open the window. Before I could, there was a soft knock on our door. I looked over at Dawn, startled, and she looked just as surprised as I.
Slowly, I tiptoed to the door and cracked it open.
"Hello?" I whispered.
"Ah, look who it is. You little Poseidon spawn may be annoying, but you sure do smell delicioussss," Harrison hissed. Next thing I knew, I was pushed aside as the door promptly closed behind me.
"Oooh, look, a dessert," he said, looking at Dawn. He turned back to me, prepared to attack. I positioned myself similarly, stepping in front of Dawn to defend her as well. Harrison jumped, but before he reached us, the door flew open and he was thrown backwards by the force of it slamming into him.
"What in the name of Styx?!" I heard Nico's voice shout from the doorway. Before he got the chance to say more, Harrison leapt back up, snarling.
"Son of Hades, prepare to die alongside your satyr and demigod friends!" he screeched.
"Nico! It's a Tanagran Triton!" Grover yelled.
"I thought they were only a myth!" Nico yelled back as he pulled out a long black sword.
"Who cares? There's one right there and it's about to KILL US ALL IF WE DON'T GET OUT OF HERE!" Dawn screamed at the both of them. We all snapped back to reality, and I turned to Dawn, seeing as Nico was set on not letting Harrison go anywhere.
"Dawn, go out the window, the rest of us will follow."
"No, I want to help! Just because I don't have a sword doesn't make me useless," she complained desperately.
I shook my head sadly at her. "Go, I'll meet you down there," I whispered, pushing her slightly.
Huffing, she stomped over to the window, but was tackled by Harrison. Hurriedly, Nico, Grover, and I sprinted over and threw Harrison off of her.
"No. One. Ever. Hurts. My. Friends," I growled, then lunged at him. The next few minutes were a frenzy of claws and talons, as Harrison seemed to slowly be growing scales. When I finally got a break, I summoned the water from the cup beside Dawn's bed and created a wickedly sharp sword.
"Nighty night, buttercup," I said to Harrison, who turned to see what I was looking at. Just as he did so, I froze the water and threw it at him, slicing him clean in half. Like most inhuman things I'd encountered, he turned to dust, which I spread out just in case. Behind me, I could feel Nico and Grover's eyes on my work. Instead of turning to them I ran up to Dawn, who had five long, bloody scars running down her face, neck, and stomach.
"We need to stop the bleeding, give me something," I told Nico.
"Here, give her these," he said, handing me a golden square of something. "It'll help, it's ambrosia," Nico explained.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
He ignored me, took another square from his pocket and stuffed it into Dawn's mouth. Seconds later, golden sparks shot over Dawn's scars and began stitching them together. Surprised, I looked over at Grover, whose mouth was hanging open in shock.
"What just happened?" he exclaimed. Both Nico and I shook our heads and shrugged in confusion. Dawn started coughing and spluttering, her cuts completely healed.
"Dawn? Are you alright?" I asked. Honestly, I was just relieved that she was alright.
"Ugghhh what happeneddddd? OOOHHH Wait! He... monster... AH!" She shot straight up, and I must say, kudos to her for not getting sick from the suddenness of it.
"Yeah. We need to take you two to camp right now," Nico muttered. He whistled loudly, and a hellhound came through the wall. Dawn gasped and crawled backwards, while I let out a mini-shriek.
"Why the heck is that thing here? Get it out!" I hollered.
"Don't worry, Mrs. O'Leary is a nice hellhound. She won't bite unless she thinks you're a chew toy or taste good," Nico assured me.
"Wow, I'm soooo reassured," I groaned, but I helped Dawn up and we approached the dog anyways. Nico helped the rest of us get on, and somehow managed to lift himself on top of the hellhound.
"Hold on tight," he warned Dawn and me.
"Why?" Dawn asked. Before she got her answer, we were going so incredibly fast that I thought my guts were going to fly out of my ears. My eyes closed tightly, I hung on to Nico's waist for dear life. After a few minutes of the awful darkness and speed, we stopped. Off in the distance, I could hear waves and birds chirping.
"Ummm, Mira, you can let go now," Nico told me. I forced my eyes open, and saw him smirking down at me. Dawn and Grover had already jumped down, and I blushed, realizing I was still tightly gripping Nico's waist.
"Sorry," I said sheepishly as I jumped off, feeling sick. As I came down, my feet failed me, and I crumbled to the ground. Slowly, I pushed myself to a standing position and felt my stomach gurgling in very unsatisfying ways.
"Mira, you look a little green..." Dawn commented. Dizzy, I ran towards the closest tree and puked my guts out.
"Ew," they all said. They weren't the ones throwing up on the side of the flipping road!
Once my little show was over, I turned to see them all watching me. "Enjoy the view?" I snarled out, wiping my mouth. They all let out mumbled apologies, then Nico and Grover began walking up the hill.
"Wuh wuh wuh wait, where do you think you are going?" I asked, one hand on my hip.
"To camp, come on," Nico explained, not even turning around. Dawn tugged on my hand, urging me to keep moving towards the giant pine tree. The outline was barely visible, given the darkness, but the almost full moon provided some light at least.
We got to the top of the mountain where the pine tree sat, and Dawn and I both gasped in shock at the sight before us.
Before us lay a gigantic array of buildings, filled with people. There was a rock climbing wall, a forest, the ocean, people running around sword fighting, and even a kid running around on fire. The most amazing thing, however, was the gigantic war ship sitting in the wide open field, workers crawling all over it. From the ship's bow stood a robotic dragon head that looked like it was moving.
"Wow," Dawn squeaked out.
"Yeah, it's awesome right?" Grover said, grinning. "Come on, let's get you some clothes."
"I'll go tell Chiron about their arrival," Nico said, and walked towards a house in the distance. Meanwhile, Dawn and I followed Grover down to one of the cabins labeled Hermes, while explaining everything there was to know about the camp and demigods. According to him, Dawn and I were both part god, and so was everyone else at the camp. Internally I groaned, thinking that it would be harder than ever to keep my secret at a camp next to the water filled with half gods.
Dawn, on the other hand, was thrilled. She especially loved the Apollo cabin, and had made friends with almost all of the campers in it during her first few minutes. The campers were nice to me, too, but, unlike Dawn, they had no clue which cabin I belonged in. For now, they told me, I would stay in the Hermes cabin, but would most likely be "claimed" by my godly parent by or at the campfire tomorrow night.
That night, Dawn and I both slept in the Hermes cabin, as Dawn hadn't been officially claimed by Apollo.
The next morning, with fresh new Camp Half-Blood t shirts and a pair of shorts, Grover suggested Dawn and I head to the sword fighting arena to ask Annabeth about getting weapons. We said goodbye to Grover and slowly made our way to the arena, ignoring the stares we got from passing campers.
That is, until one decided to stick her foot out in front of Dawn, causing her to land flat on her face. Angry, I turned and crossed my arms at the girl.
"Do you have a freaking stick shoved up your butt, or are you just a horse's ass by yourself?"
The beast of a girl glared down at me, as if I'd done something wrong. "Oooh, look, a newbie," she said to the pack of girls surrounding her, all scowling at me. As if by some unspoken agreement, two of the girls grabbed my arms and started dragging me towards a dock on the lake.
No no no. Anything but that.
"Let me go!" I yelled, kicking one girl in the eye.
"Mother of Hera! Styx that hurt. You are going to pay for that newbie, after you have a nice, long swim." She chuckled evilly at the look of terror that must've been apparent on my face.
"Little newbie's afraid of water! I just hope you can swim!" the biggest girl said.
"If you don't let me go right now I swear to the gods you will regret it!" I hopelessly screamed.
"Clarisse, let her down!" a girl's voice cried from the distance. Looking behind the girl who was holding my left arm's shoulder, I could faintly see a blonde girl running towards us, shouting at Clarisse to let me go.
"If you insist Annabeth!" Clarisse replied. "You heard her girls, let her go," she said with an evil wink. In an instant, I was flying through the air, straight towards the lake. All I had time to do was prepare myself for impact, then I was surrounded by water.
The only thing on my mind was to swim down as far as possible. The lake itself was deep enough in the center that no mortal would be able to swim to the bottom, so that's where I went. As I felt my tail grow, I looked up and saw nothing but blue, a good sign. Now, if I waited long enough, hopefully everyone would give up looking for me and I could pretend that I just swam away.
Or... I could try using my powers to create an air bubble around me and I wouldn't get wet and could swim back up right now! Duh, Mira. I laughed at my stupidity and immediately carried through with my plan. It took little effort to create the air bubble, and instantly had legs again, which I used to kick my way back up to the surface. When my head broke the surface, I heard a sigh of relief and two people yelling at each other.
I pushed myself out of the lake and assured the new campers that had witnessed Clarisse's stunt that I was fine. Several of them wondered how I wasn't wet, but I had more important things to worry about. My head snapped in the direction of Clarisse, and my mood instantly became angry again. As I stomped towards her, fists balled tightly, the sky above me slowly started to darken, and small waves began forming in the lake.
"What is your PROBLEM you suagroi?!" I yelled at her face, which was two feet higher than mine, but I didn't care. Gasps were heard at the insult, but I ignored them.
"How dare you call me that!" Clarisse screeched and threw herself at me, tackling me to the ground. As we both struggled for the upper hand, Clarisse's little friends joined her and the rest of the campers formed a circle around us.
"Fight! Fight! Fight!" they yelled, many screaming that they hoped I would win but that it wasn't likely.
Two of Clarisse's three minions grabbed me, while Clarisse and the other started attacking me with punches. As I feigned hurt, I was forming a plan in my head.
Three, I thought as Clarisse landed one on my stomach.
Two, as her friend got me in the leg.
One, when Clarisse got me straight in the eye.
Zero.
My legs shot out to either side, hitting both of the girls (the ones restraining me) straight in the faces, knocking them out upon impact. Immediately, I regained my composure and found myself face to face with the last of Clarisse's minions. She pulled a dagger out and threw it towards my face, and I had no option but to form an ice shield in front of me to deflect it. Both Clarisse and her minion froze as they saw what I had done. I took their shock to my advantage and threw a punch at the smaller girl's face, knocking her out as well. Only Clarisse and I remained, and she had pulled out a deadly looking spear that crackled with electricity.
Oh dear, I thought as she threw it straight towards me chest. My body acted of its own accord, and I threw myself up in a backflip, catching the spear in the process.
Sweet, I didn't know I could do a backflip, I thought.
Clarisse looked like a cornered deer as I raised the spear at her. As I lifted it to the sky, black clouds formed overhead and a lightning bolt shot from the tip of the spear to the sky.
"I surrender! You win!" Clarisse screamed desperately. Slowly and cautiously, I lowered the spear and stepped towards her, giving it back to her gently. Warily, I smiled and held a hand out towards her. For a second, all she did was stare at it, but then she laughed and took it, gripping it tightly.
"Nice to see we've finally got a kid with some skills around here. The gods know we need it," she said. Everyone around us was in shock, staring at either me or Clarisse.
Suddenly, gasps arupted from everyone around us, and I looked around to see that everyone was looking at something above my head. I looked up to see a holographic golden compass with a spear as the needle above me. My clothes felt different, and I looked down to see that I was wearing a dress instead of my jeans and camp half blood t shirt. My hair was styled and I could tell that I was wearing makeup.
Ew.
Annabeth, the girl from before, stepped forwards, a contemplative and confused look on her face.
"We need to go see Chiron. Now."
I am so SO SO sorry! You are perfectly allowed to hate me. D: I'd just like to let you guys know that I haven't given up on this story and now that school is almost over, I'll be updating a lot more. I got a little caught up for a while, but I'm back now. If you liked this, please let me know and I'll definitely continue soon. Again, I am SO sorry! Dx
Thanks for reading (And thanks x100000 if you review/fave/follow etc..) !
P.S. A suagroi is a person with a romantic attachment to pigs. xD