.4, In Which I am a Horrible Narrator; Spoilers!
And life went on, as it does, the next year flew by without much trouble. For me at least. The same could not be said about my brother Percy. He always seemed to be at the center of some sort of storm. To be honest I never really understood it, I hadn't read all of his stories I didn't know why everything that happened ugh… happened. It wasn't something that had made much sense to me. I'd been a casual fan at best, I'd read the first series all the way through and then well. Life happened and I'd only managed to read a few bits here and there before my untimely death.
Sue me.
Anyway. As I was saying, life went on. I contemplated my brother's bad luck the whole ride to New York. Mom was asked to attend some sort of medical conference by an old schoolmate or something and she'd decided that it would be a fun trip for the two of us to go on. Like I really wanted to go back to New York after the disaster of my last trip.
Hey, Camp Half-Blood was still technically in the state.
My training with Rhea was different than the formal education I would have gotten at camp but still effective. She spent the summer in Virginia and then when school started back she went back to her home in New York. I'd actually be staying with her while mom was attending the conference. Which was fine, because her titan scent would mask my demi-god scent keeping me protected from all of the monsters that seemed to linger in the big city.
I bet you thought I was going to give the details about my training. But I just couldn't be bothered. I was getting trained, I was coping with my reality and finally moving forward. The real challenge would be what would happen once I returned back to camp after my year reprieve. At the pits of my being, at my very core I couldn't help but the sense of foreboding and dread. No matter what I did or what I told myself I couldn't shake the feeling either. All I knew, was that I wasn't going to like what happened next. Vague and shadowy future knowledge be damned, 'cause it was absolutely no use to me now.
"Adriana?" Mom's voice, calm and cool pulls me from my musings. I turn my gaze from out of the window to look over at her. Anastasia West was a beautiful woman, it was easy to see how my father fell for her. She was petite, as were most of the women on her side of the family, my proavia included. Round face, full cheeks, doe like eyes and small but full lips. There were freckles that were dusted across her cheeks and nose, those same freckles were mirrored on my face but weren't as pronounced as they were on her due to the fact I was naturally tan like my brother and father. Mother was fair in complexion. But I think what my father has found most appealing about her was her capacity to love. This was a woman who would fight for her family, no matter what, until her very last breath.
"Yes mama?" I questioned, tucking one of the wild curls out of my face meeting her eyes. Her eyes were soft caramel color, deep and focused and easy to get lost in. It's where she was most expressive. Window to the soul indeed. The closer I looked at them then, the easier it was to see.
She was worried. Scared even, I knew why to. The reason for her anxiety I had been the cause of after all. I usually was. But this was because of how I'd been right after finding out. Even now my behavior from almost a year ago was still hurting her. Guilt flooded over me once more. I'd been bad off and my mother had suffered because of me. I did this to her.
"You've been quieter than usual since we crossed the Delaware River. What are you thinking about so intently?" She questions, eyes back to the road as the light turns green. I look back out the window, we'd be in the city in about an hour or so.
"I'm worried about my brother." Eventually I manage. I wanted to talk to her about it, perhaps maybe she could quell the restlessness in my core. That she could give me some sort of comfort to ease how I felt.
She raises a brow, I see it in the window's reflection. "Percy?" Mother questions as if she doesn't really follow. I didn't talk about him much, not around her at least. I didn't know how she felt about it. At least it was the excuse I told myself for as to why I didn't. My mother didn't have feelings for my father, not anymore so I don't really think she'd be too upset by the mention of my paternal half-brother but I didn't want to test it.
The petulant ten year old in me couldn't help but to roll my eyes. "I only have one brother mama, well one brother that I've met and claim. Percy says we have a brother named Tyson, a cyclops, but I haven't met him and the rest of dads god kids are jerks or so I've been told." She glances over at the semi-annoyed look on my face and not even a second later burst out laughing.
"Why are you worried?" She asks once her laughter has subsided, probably because of my put out look and pout.
I shrug my shoulders sinking down into the front seat. Ten years old shouldn't really be sitting in the front of a vehicle but the back was full so mom let it slide. "I dunno just have this feeling. Do you think Nona Ray will have a way I can check up on him?" She sighed then, and shook her head.
"Perhaps, you can ask her when we get there. Are you sure you are okay to stay with her? I don't mind having you stay with me at the hotel Adibug?" I looked up at her and smiled.
"No mama, as much as I love you that sounds boring. You'll be too busy." Besides, we both knew it was safer this way. It was the real reason she'd brought me in the first place. I was the daughter of Poseidon, I had a strong scent. No one in Mystic Falls could keep me safe from any monsters that sought me out if mother left me there. We didn't really say much after that. There wasn't a lot more to be said.
Rhea braced herself for the impact she knew was coming. Three. Two. One. Adriana jumped into her arms greeting her with kiss on the cheek before nuzzling her face in the crook of the older woman's neck. The copper haired little girl muttered her spoken greeting in ancient Greek while the Titan queen wrapped her arms around her. She watched with an amused smile as Anastasia West got out of the car, exasperation clear in her eyes.
The mortal woman walks over just as Adriana has let go. Rhea just smiles at the woman who manages a slight smile back, still exasperated but it was a fondness to the look. "She's been looking forward to visiting you since I told her about the trip." Anastasia tells the titan queen who just smiles down at her granddaughters head and places a hand on top of her unkempt hair. Adriana wrangles her way out from under her grandmother's hand and darts off. It's not the first time they've visited her here in New York and her house here was set up almost exactly like the one in Virginia.
With Adriana out of hearing range, Anastasia finally sighs. "Thank you for watching her for me, I know what it could do." Rhea waves a hand at her and continues smiling."Don't worry about it dear. As if any of my children would dare to tell me what to do. Adriana is always welcomed here." The Titaness tells her plainly. Because really who would dare tell the mother of Olympians what she could and couldn't do. Anastasia nods her head with, a sigh escaping her lips.
Rhea can see things about the young mother in that moment that she hadn't seen before. Of all of the mortals her second son had been with, these last two well they'd been something else entirely. She'd seen a glimpse of Percy Jackson's mother, and like Anastasia West, Sally Jackson was a strong capable woman. There was just something about them both, and while they'd both moved on from her son she was quite glad that these two were the mothers of Poseidon's children.
"You should get going dear, or you'll miss you check in time." Anastasia nods her head and heads back to the car. It was a forty-five or so minute drive back and they'd broken the six hour drive up into two days for the simple reason of not wanting to confine the ten year old in a car that long. Now the doctor was facing the consequences of said choice since her conference began later in the afternoon and there would be a rush for her to get checked in.
Adriana appears behind the old titan she waves at her mother while the woman drive away a grin on her face. Rhea looks down at the small child. In her arms is one of the cats she's fostering. "So what do you have your mother so worried on?" She questions, the little girls expression drops.
"I think something bad is going to happen to my brother. Something horrible is coming." Rhea takes a moment. She watches as Adriana shifts uncomfortably on her feet. The woman sighs.
"Let's go inside for now, I think that perhaps a storm is brewing." She ushers them both inside, giving the girl no time at all to protest or to point out the fact there isn't a single cloud in the sky. It seemed they had much to discuss.
Over the summer she trained the girl, she realized what exactly the moirai had wanted with her granddaughter. Pulled from another world, thrown into this one. Rhea was the Titan queen so she knew that nothing was impossible, but still it was just so unlike the moirai to do something like this. It was a dangerous and reckless game the sisters were playing. The prophecy they'd given Poseidon made all the more sense when she learn this.
Destroy worlds indeed.
Hestia wasn't exactly sure what she had expected when she decided to visit her mother that morning. But it wasn't this at all. She eyes the young girl curiously, the feel of brewing storms and salt water comes off of the young child with her middle brother's eyes, but also the slight feel of wrapped reality and death. It seemed that both of her younger brother had tried to lay claim. It was rather hard to determine who the child belonged to. "Hello there." She coos at the small girl after a moment.
The girl blinks. Once, then twice before she responds. "Hi." It's muttered shyly and Hestia gets the feeling that the child was all to aware of who she was.
"Adriana, you know you aren't supposed to open the door." Her mother rounds the corner giving the girl a look to which the fiery red headed child rubs the back of her neck sheepishly. Rhea shakes her head at the child before turning to look at who was at her door. Hestia smiled softly at her mother. It was nice to see her acting like a grandmother.
"Hello mother." She greets with a smile. Rhea returns it and notions for her to come in.
"Hello darling. Adriana this is my eldest daughter Hestia. Your aunt." Adriana now named. Nods her head, those fiery red curls bouncing wildly. There was something familiar about the child that she couldn't shake. Something otherworldly. Lost and misplaced.
Hestia closes the door behind her half certain that the little girl would have followed close to her mother as the old queen turned from them. Instead she peered up curiously at Hestia, eyes wide and intransitive.
"Percy didn't tell me you were so beautiful." The little girl breathes in awe, and Hestia is taken aback for entire half second while she registers what was just said. The reason of familiarity made clear.
This was Poseidon daughter, the marked child.
Okay for the record Percy really needed to start describing these goddesses much better in his story telling because blah they were freaking beautiful. Wait he did mention something about her looking like a child. Honestly it was making my head hurt. Gods and their ability to shift their form, I could just claw my eyes out. Alright that was a little dramatic. But still, why did this keep happening to me.
"Adriana are you alright?" Rhea gave me a look, alerting me to her knowledge of my spacing out. As if i was going to try to sneak anything passed her. Please that just wasn't going to happen.
Because honestly sneaking things past my own mother was hard enough and she was the Titaness of freaking motherhood! Seriously, let's be realistic here folks.
I nod my head taking a bite of the muffin in front of me to avoid answering. She shakes her head with an amused smile. "I see. How are things in Olympus these days my dear? I never hear from any of the others. It seems your siblings have forgotten about their poor old mother." Rhea says sighing dramatically for effect. By the gods I almost choke on my food. This woman.
Hestia just rolls her eyes good naturedly. "Things are as you would expect, the sisters have given a new prophecy and tension is a bit high. I had hoped it would be over." She says wistfully, the worry clear in her ruby eyes. Strange. I wondered what prophecy she was speaking of.
Maybe something to do with the seven. Wasn't that what came next for this universe? Rhea's brow rose at that. "A new prophecy? What have the sisters seen now?" Her own voice wary as if she is afraid. Hestia's eyes soften as she looks over at me as if she's sorry for what she going to say. As if it is somehow going to affect me.
At that moment I didn't understand why she would give me such a sorrowful look. Not when I knew I had nothing to do with what was supposed to come next. But as per usual, I had forgotten. Forgotten how much my appearance would change everything. I was a fool.
"Beware the tide that rises, on a full set moon. Take heed of a child marked, a child from the depths of death. She will bring the heavens to their knees." As the words fall from Hestia's perfect lips. I realize two very important things.
The first was why she looked so sad. Because it all made sense then. There wasn't anyone else the prophecy could be referring to. No there wasn't another demi-god who could be both a child of the depths and death. I was the marked child. If the brand on my neck was any indicator of the fact.
"Adriana?" Rhea's calm soothing voice catches over the raging metaphorical waves caused by my emotions. I know without looking at my face that the fear I feel, the uncertainty, all of it is all across my features.
"I'm going to be sick." I mutter pushing myself from the table and rushing down the hallway to the bathroom. Slamming the door behind me and I fall to the ground, my back pressed against the door. I pull my knees to my chest.
The second thing I realized was a something I'd already knew. More a fleeting feeling than a realization. But it just was more prominent at that moment. A thought I'd been having for a while. By the gods I was screwed.
Utterly and completely fucked. Not even in the good way. Oh no, I probably would have much more preferred that. Because this. This was so much worse.
How could I have been so naive? Fuck.
Oh gods, this was getting really heavy. That was not my intention. To be this obtuse this early on. You know what let's take a moment. I believe in an earlier entry I was telling you about the first of school the year everything changed. Well not really changed, more like started. The prophecy, my prophecy was no longer just a whisper. No longer waiting to begin. Because with that new school year would come the start.
Just a moment, so I can catch my bearings and then we will have resume with ten year old Adriana. Maybe. Ten year old Adriana while entertaining is horribly pessimistic and overy dramatic. Perhaps a break was in order. Yeah, let's take a break from her. Instead we will focus on what I was saying about the new school year.
Stefan Salvatore started school the fall semester after after Elena Gilbert's parents died. Four whole years after my mother joined the realm of the dead. Shit! I wasn't supposed to tell that part yet. Not yet.
I did say my mother would fight for me until her last breath.
It was all my fault.
You know what let's just take a step back. We aren't quite there yet.
I will admit, that perhaps I am in fact an awful narrator. Easily distracted. Jumping from topic to topic. But unfortunately that was just how it was going to be for me. I am a demigod. Unfortunately a lot of my quirks were hot wired in my blood, they were what kept me alive. Survival of the fittest.
Now, where were we. Oh right. First day of the new school year. Stefan Salvatore.
I'll be honest he wasn't all that to look at in person. Too broody, too sad, too much self hate for my taste. Honestly I couldn't fathom what the other girls saw in him. He was just so meh. Not the point. Sorry, like I said easily distracted.
Right. Focus Adriana. Stefan Salvatore, first day of school. You can do this. Tell the damn story.
"Adriana, are you even listening to me. I swear." Caroline's second exasperated huff draws forth the memory. It was a good place to start. The look of annoyance in her eyes. That slight fond smile she gives me whenever i've done something particularly amusing. I missed the innocence of back then.
I shrug my shoulders sheepishly. I wasn't interested in what she had to say. Not when I knew what the implication of him being here ment. Not when I knew just what was about to begin. All I could do was fear the oncoming storm. Vampires, Werewolves, and Witches on my.. I was a long way from the simplicities of camp half blood. Where the only thing I had to worry about was teaching swim lessons and beating Mr. D at pinochle.
He didn't often change up his tricks, and I had a great poker face. Having to lie about oneself ninety percent of the time would do that to a person.
"Spring wedding, settle vibes. yada yada bleh. Care he's not even that cute." I grumble, Caroline swats me playfully and we keep walking down the hall. At this rate we'd be late to history class. Not that I cared, Mr. Turner was a grade A douche and he got what he deserved.
Oh bad Adriana, you shouldn't say such things about poor murdered mortals. But like am I wrong? Besides the man always liked to call on me to read long ass passages knowing full well that I have dyslexia really bad. Like what the fuck man? So I wasn't a fan. Also he was a real spoiled sport during the spring semester when I schooled him on greek and roman mythology.
Adriana demigod extraordinaire 1. Douchebag history teacher 0.
"I forgot you haven't discovered the finer things in high school yet. Poor Adriana." I roll my eyes good naturally at her. Knowing full well that Caroline wasn't saying that to hurt my feelings. She pats my shoulder with fake sympathy.
I didn't get involved with the male population here. Mostly because I'd never be able to be fully honest about myself. A regular human wouldn't be able to handle my truth. Also I grew up with such over the top examples of love, Percy and Annabeth match made in heaven, any of the seven and their significant others, Hades and Persephone I mean the list could really go on. I'd been cheated out of the highschool whirlwind romances because of it though. Why settle when if I held out long enough I could find that person meant for me.
I didn't mind waiting.
"Well when you remember every male from preschool then they sort of loose the appeal." Caroline just giggled.
We were late to history. Neither of us could find it in ourselves to give a damn.
I officially met Stefan a few days later. I didn't do the whole party thing, it was a good way for a monster to get to me so I declined each of the ten different times Caroline begged me to come. My safety was more important than fulfilling the whims of a seventeen year old. Don't get me wrong, Caroline is my best friend I would go to war for her. But I wasn't about to do something I know is reckless and that could not only harm me but anyone else in my vicinity. Just because Hades was my grandfather and liked me didn't mean I was a hundred percent safe from monster attacks.
Being liked by two of the big three didn't account for the one percent that hated me. Especially when it was the king of the Olympians himself. Fucking Zeus.
I was still a kid of the big three, still Adriana West daughter of Poseidon. I was still a threat to the Olympians. They hadn't forgotten my prophecy. Zeus was constantly sending his minions after me in hopes of eliminating the threat to him. All the more reason to hate him. My uncle was a right bastard.
Right, getting off track again. The first time I met Stefan, was a lot like the first time I met the vampire King of the Quarter. Running frantically from a fucking monster that only myself and other supernatural creatures could see. I had just gone out for an early morning run, some light training, that was all I wanted. Maybe a nice swim later. But no… Of course I had to face off with some sort of wigged monkey. Why? Just.. Ugh. It just wasn't fair.
He saw me unleash my trident from the bracelet it concealed itself as, and skewer the damn monkey through the face. The monster turned to a golden dust, coating me it it. Disgusting. I noticed him a few seconds later still holding my trident cursing madly at the sky. Most days I was asking for it, if Zeus ever decided to just straight up smite me well I can't say I hadn't seen it coming.
Hell. I probably even deserved it.
"So." He draws, brow raised looking mystified at the trident. I wondered briefly if the mist actually had any effect on him. But then the look of strange fascination and relief banished that thought almost instantly. In returned I raised a brow at the rabbit in his hand and the blood around his mouth.
"Hiya. Nice rabbit." I state running my hand along the length of the shaft, the trident shifts back into the coiled bracelet on my right wrist. He looks down as if he just realized the rodent he'd been holding. As Stefan goes to make an excuse or you know whatever it was he was going to try to do I just wave a hand at him.
"I've known your secret since the first day of school, don't worry about it. Now if you'll excuse me I have monster dust and sweat all over me and would very much like to take a shower. Afterwards, if you want to discuss what you have discovered here or have any concerns I will be down by the falls." He looked so surprised that I used it against him and took off. I'm sure if he had wanted to catch me he would have.
I knew those woods like the back of my hand, so it didn't take long for me to come upon the path that would lead me back to my car and the main road. Trail running was a good workout and it also proved to be the safest course for me. Just in case anything like today happened. There were less witnesses if I ran in the woods.
True to my word after a quick shower and a snack I headed back to the falls. Stefan was there already, waiting for me I would presume. I wandered over to him slowly, stuffing my hands into the pockets of the light cardigan I'd pulled on before leaving the house. "Looking at you now, if i hadn't seen it I wouldn't have believed." He spoke, I nodded my head as that was the typical reaction I got when people learned of my demigod status. I was a pretty unassuming person, there was nothing truly remarkable about my appearance. Beside the wild red hair that was, I wasn't tall and lean like my brother, or super smart like Annabeth, I wasn't drop dead gorgeous like Caroline or a martyr like Elena. I was just me. A cheater perhaps, too callous at times, not particularly sympathetic, envious of mortals, and bitter.
The point here, was that when you looked at barely 5, 4 weighting maybe a hundred thirty pounds, a little on the curvy side Adriana West. You didn't stop and think wow that girl is a demigod. Most people didn't even look twice when they saw me. I played the role of normal human really well.
Sometimes I even had myself convinced. Just until something Olympian related or supernatural happened. Then the feeling was just gone like a huge slap to the face. Reminding me of how fucked I truly was.
I acknowledge his statement with shrug and a slight roll of my eyes when I stop next to him. "Same could be said about you. By the way, I'm obligated out of friendship to dish out this warning, under no circumstances is Elena ever to be used as food. I know you gotta eat bro but like take that crave elsewhere." He raised his brow looking at me skeptically. Then he just chuckles, huh, hadn't expected that.
"I don't 'eat' people anymore." Stefan does tell me seriously after though, to which I can only shrug my shoulders again. Who was I to argue with him? It was his life. His choice, even if it was pretty fucking stupid.
You didn't see the gods give a damn about the nectar supply. Why would they give a damn about it as long as it kept them alive? Vampires needed blood to survive, it was a universally known fact.
"That's on you man, warning still stands. Don't hurt my friend, any of them, and I won't be forced to skewer your sort of pretty face." Stefan stares at me for a long moment, perhaps trying to gage the level of my seriousness. Just so you know, I was a hundred percent serious. A trident to the face was never a nice experience for anyone, or at least it's what i've been told.
"Do they know?" I'm no fool so I realize what he's doing. I shake my head humoring him. "No." He gives me this look like he almost doesn't want to believe me. Stefan is entitled to his own thoughts, but I wasn't fit the record lying. The Scooby-Doo gang didn't know about what I was, the didn't know anything about demigods or the Olympians. Just like they at that point didn't know anything about vampires or witches.
As I said before, everything was going to change.
XOXOX
So excited for this update! I'm back with this story! Hope you all enjoy it.
Thanks you for reading, please let me know what you think!
Sincerely, LaRae