Violet's POV
If Hogwarts was real, I would be placed in Hufflepuff. It's common knowledge that Hufflepuff's are particularly good finders. They're happy, patient, loyal, and usually sweet. They're the optimists of the wizarding world. Unfortunately, Hogwarts does not exist and there is no Sorting Hat to tell me what house I would be in. Though after today, I'm still not sure what's real and what's not. Chiron has never told me that wizards weren't real. He denied Nicolas Flamel, but he never denied Harry Potter. If you catch my drift.
One thing I noticed about myself as I was being towed behind Noah as I cried like a toddler was that I wasn't a good runner. I knew that I had weak ankles and would occasionally roll them somewhat to get out of physical labor in gym class, but I never knew that running on actual dirt involved this much labor. Jumping over tree roots, that was another thing I didn't enjoy. Well, instead of listing everything I hate about the great ol' outdoors, I'll just say that I really, really love air conditioning.
My hitchhiker buddy seemed to be running at full speed without breaking a sweat. She had a hold of my elbow and was sprinting, dragging me just fast enough for me to lose my footing and fall on my face. Twice. My mom, Lynn, was just up ahead of us, pulling something out of her pocket that I thought was her cell phone. When she clicked a button, it began to glow gold and transformed in a bright light into a bow, as in an archer's bow, not a Minnie Mouse bow. I didn't notice the notched bronze arrow until she stopped at the foot of the hill, her bow downwards, but in a ready position. I gawked.
"Mom, what in the world -"
She interrupted me for the twentieth time that day. Obviously, something was wrong. Not that I hadn't picked up on that. I picked up on it earlier. I just realized now that we're in some kind of... Danger. "Don't speak."
A growling sound came from the woods. My mom stood tall with her chin raised high. One leaf stuck out of her short blond hair and, to be honest, I felt safe with her. I knew there was danger in the trees, and I could feel its presence, but I felt safe with her. Lynn was on guard, and she was protecting me and Noah.
"Violet, Noah, run up that hill and don't stop," my mom said. Her eyes never looked away from the woods. "Go get some councilors and tell them that I need back up. If they say I'm mortal, tell them that I'm Lynn Stone, daughter of Apollo."
"Apollo?" Noah said, her eyebrow raising with interest and shock. My reaction was opposite.
"Mom, that's a rocket ship."
I knew afterwards if she could've looked away from the trees, I would've been given her signature glare. Noah, comprehending what my mother was saying before I did, grabbed my arm and began walking towards the hill. I some how felt as though she was pulling me along like a big sister pulls along their annoying younger sibling. I'm not annoying. My mommy says I'm adorable.
"Violet, we have to go," Noah says as she begins to feel my resistance against leaving my mom.
"No!" I snap. "I can't leave her! Mom, Mom, come on! There's people up here! You said there was! If something's wrong with the car-"
"Nothing's wrong with the car," Noah said quietly. "Don't talk so loud."
"I can talk however loud I want to talk!" I snap louder and more forceful. This isn't my usual personality. I'm usually quiet and reserved. Something makes me tingle inside, like an urging to... to go insane. No, I want her to go insane. I want her to feel how she would feel abandoning her mother. I want her to feel fear. I want her to hurt...
Noah grabs her temples, dropping my arm, and closes her eyes as she rubs them forcefully. "Quit it, you idiot!" she yells.
The sensation leaves me as I run over to my mother. I don't know what just happened. I was visioning her watching some dark headed lady abandoning her younger self and being surrounded by spiders, but it all ended when I lost my rage. I cooled and went back to my mom.
"I'm staying with you," I whisper. "I don't know the problem, but..."
There's a quiet thud as Noah falls on her knees, groaning and holding her head. This is the beginning of my first attack - Mom turned from the trees and looked at Noah. This is where her instinct to heal and help came in. Later I realized Apollo was the god of healing, hence her heartbreak of not getting into nursing school, but this showed the monster a perfect time to attacked. It lunged out of the trees and onto my mother. She spun as it was mid launch and fumbled the arrow, but it flew into the trees and the monsters paws hit her shoulders.
There was a slight stunned pause as I took a split second to look at it. It had a lion's head with a scorpion tail, and it was huge, bigger than the lion at the New York City Zoo. Possibly twice the size of that one. It growled at my mother aggressively, but it seemed to be savoring in her fear. I looked down at my mother and saw that she wasn't screaming. She was fighting against it, squirming and trying her best to get free.
Well? a voice in my head spoke. It was a man's voice, which startled me. Are you just going to stand there or are you going to save her?
That snapped me out of my daze. I turned quickly and grabbed a branch that was broken under a tree. I didn't remember that being there before, but I turn quickly and, to my surprise, the branch connects with the lions snout. It howled loudly, and snarled at me. It released my mother's shoulders and, to my alarm, began walking towards me, licking its lips and growling.
Noah was watching. She pulled herself up to her feet and silently ran up the hill. The lion glanced in her direction but didn't seem amused. The scorpion tail flicked at me. I yelped and blocked it with the large branch. It didn't come to me until later that I was surprised I could lift it. The tail shot at me again and I jumped out of the way. It pierced the ground with terrifying speed.
I felt like I could hear my body shaking. I kept walking backwards, keeping my eyes on the lion/scorpion and my branch between us. It roared and swatted it away. The branch clattered on the ground a few yards away in splinters. I gulped.
Suddenly, my mom screamed, "VIOLET! MOVE!"
I dove to the side, not understanding but wanting to live. The lion roared and started to jump at me, but a whistling sound ripped through the air as about a hundred arrows fell through the air and into the lion's side and head. It gave one last weak roar before turning to dust.
I looked at Mom. She had deep scratches in her shoulder, but she seemed to be okay. I looked at the source of the arrows and saw about twenty blond archers (who looked a lot like my mother) and a man on a horse. Noah stood next to them, a relieved look on her face. Next to the man on the horse was an old guy, with a gray beard and a can of Diet Coke in his hand. He seemed to be glaring at me.
Of course, I hurried over to my mom and helped her carefully to her feet. That was a lot of blood. I put my arm around her waist and helped her towards the hill. The man on the horse came down the hill. That's when I realized he wasn't on a horse. He was a horse, with his upper body of a man and his waist down a horse.
"Let me see her, child. I will take her to the infirmary and get her wounds healed."
I hesitated. "No, I got it. And I'm not a child."
"The Manticore has poisonous scratches. If not attended to quickly, she could bleed out or die a slow and painful death." He held out his arms. "My name's Chiron. I will take good care of your mother."
I reluctantly handed her over. Chiron carried her gently in his arms and walked with me up with hill. The old man caught my arm. I jumped, but the man's grip was firm.
"We need to talk," he said firmly.
"Ab-bout wh-what?" I stuttered out.
He dropped his can, crushed it under his sandal, and nodded above my head. "About that."
I looked up. Above my head floated a pine-cone on a stick with a ribbon tied around it. It must mean something, I'm sure. I looked back at the archers, to see their faces, but only to see them bowing for me. Noah bowed, and Chiron had his head lowered. My mother smiled at me.
I had no idea what this meant.
When I didn't say anything, Chiron gave me a kind smile. "Welcome to Camp Half-Blood, daughter of Dionysus."
"Now let's go have some Daddy-Daughter bonding time, kid." The old man took me by my elbow and hurriedly walked towards a giant house.
Daddy-Daughter bonding time didn't go as planned.
The tension could be cut with a rusted butter-knife. I sat across the desk from Dionysus, who happened to be my said father. Questions surged in my head, but I kept quiet and watched as he tortured himself with wine. He had pulled a bottle out from under his desk as soon as we had left Chiron and the others and went into his office. He uncorked it with his stubby fingers and held the bottle to his nose, sniffing with a grin.
"This was a good year," he whispered. Pulling it away from his face, he poured into the golden goblet. I watched closely and saw his face curve into a frown. The wine splashed onto the bottom. He filled it half-way and looked at it with suspicion.
"What is it?" I asked quietly, leaning forward to see if perhaps there was a bug floating in it.
"Zeus doesn't allow me to have wine," he grumbled, carefully taking the beverage. "I'm not sure how much longer until I get to drink it, but if I remember correctly, it's much longer."
I leaned back and watched as he shrugged his shoulders and put the goblet to his lips. I saw him swallow, his eyes budge, and he tossed his cup on the floor. "Di Immortals!" He bellowed. I jumped backwards in the chair, almost tipping it over, but caught myself on a metal rack. What I didn't know was that the rack was his wine collection. He screamed again for me to let go, but I yelped and tumbled down in the chair, pulling the rack on top of me. I covered my head just in time.
Wine spilled around me. Glass shattered on my back and on the ground. I shut my eyes and mouth. The sticky liquid slipped through my hair and soaked my clothes. I held in my scream, scared and worried I was hurt.
The silence that followed was deafening. I raised my head and looked around. The burgundy wine, the color of my eyes, looked like blood around me. The glass cut into my hands as I pushed myself up. Blood from them mixed with the wine. I sat up on my knees, pushing my wet hair out if my face and rubbing it out of my stinging eyes. The room had a new scent. It went from old musty men to sweet wine from Italy.
I looked over at my father. His face with in shock and little specks of the wine were on his face. I stuttered out an apology. He carefully crept over and picked up a broken bottle as if he was picking up a child.
"I've spent... My whole life collecting these..." He said quietly. I saw his eyes flicker towards me. I knew the shock was coming out. He surged towards me and grabbed me by my shoulder.
I yelped as I was pinned against a wall. Images flashed through my head - scenes of vines entering people and ripping out their spines; mad and drunk people running and falling to their deaths off the cliffs in Greece; an insane man screaming and holding his head. I felt like my skull was splitting.
Dionysus released me and pushed me towards the door. "Go on. Go check on your mother. We'll discuss this after I get your mess cleaned up. Oh and no dessert for you."
I stepped out the door to find every person in this Gods-Forsaken place standing outside, some talking to Noah, who sat on the swing and the others waiting for me. I froze in horror. Their eyes glued to me. Mouths hung open and others made "Ooooh" noises. Noah stood on her feet, horrified and looking at me. I noticed she had a Hello Kitty Band-Aid on her finger, but not any other scratch was on her. I didn't notice Chiron until he was standing right next to me on his horse legs.
"We heard the screams," he said calmly. "What happened?"
I looked at my wine stained clothes. "Wh-where are the sh-h-h-howers?"
He pointed to a green painted building with the word "Ladies" across it in Greek. "Right over there."
I pushed through the crowd of people and sprinted as fast as my weak legs would take me to the showers.
